F Books

What a great story that took me back to growing up...well written...great details that make the story all the more real and enjoyable! Hope there is another book following.....

Pat Schmatz has written a poignant and entertaining story of growing up and adjusting to difficult changes. Strong characterization and skillful plotting makes this book about an ordinary girl facing extraordinary circumstances a wonderful read. And you'll love Mrs. Estronsky!

Having come from a single parent family, I could really identify with the feelings Jackie was having. I think this is a must read for kids who struggle with being present and honest with themselves. I was awestruck with her courage to deal on life's terms. I'll be passing this book on to the many kids in my extended family.

Mrs. E is a deceptively simple and thoroughly engaging book. It is a well-written, interesting story that balances lighthearted and funny moments with meaningful family themes about single parenting, sibling relationships, the impact of divorce on adolescents and teens, and the life-changing potential of the teacher-student relationship. An inspiring, hopeful must-read for adolescent girls.

This book touched me. As an adult whose parents divorced when I was about the same age as Jackie, it took me back and allowed me to feel along with Jackie what I couldn't then. This is a must read for girls stuggling in adolesence and for women who have been there. It is exceptionally well written, easy to read and enjoyable. I highly recommend it to read and pass along.

These are really nice quality cards. My daughter loves it when I get them out and it's nice for me too because on the back of each card is written some questions/interactional phrases to use when presenting the card. It comes in handy when I'm really tired and can't think of another thing to say about a particular animal. After a few times, she can pick out different animals from a selection of a few when prompted. Nice & fun language development tool.

It's silly that these cards are labeled for ages 4-8. My son has loved them since receiving them for his first birthday. He loves to shuffle through the cards, pointing and demanding to know what the animals are called and attempting to imitate their noises. The best thing about them is the card format - a novelty compared to all of his books. I will definitely purchase other sets.

I have found these cards to be the best and sturdiest for the price. The Baby Einstein ones were a disappointment in comparison. These had 16, Baby E had only 10. The box (which my daughter loves) is sturdy cardboard and has a velcro closure, as opposed to a flimsy box she squashed in 2 seconds. And the cards are the biggest difference -- very sturdy and professional looking! If you're looking for great cards, this brand is the best.

My 14-month-old enjoys handling the cards and never seems to tire of pulling them out and putting them back in the case. She likes the textures on the cards, and we have fun making the sounds of the animals pictured. As she gets older I think she'll get more out of the content of the cards, making this purchase an investment that will be useful for a few years.

My son has learning delays and loves the "Animals" collection. He has started to learn his animals and loves to feel parts of the animals on the cards. "First Words" is just as amazing. "Things that Go" is not as tactile. We have them all and find them to be the best card collection out there.

Started reading this on the book counter at the local B&N and couldn't put it down. Fascinating premise and wonderfully vivid excursion into turn-of-the century New York. Stylish, well-researched and entertaining.

Boorstin has a unique voice and take on the period and an interesting speculation on what I understand to be a missing period in the life of William James. This book gives a vivid and entertaining picture of life in New York a hundred years ago. Recommend.

"Newsboys'" boasts a page-turning plot as well as the wonderful ability to make you think about important life questions. I read the entire novel during one ten-hour stretch of business travel ... and it made what could have been a grueling day of planes and airports a day of pure joy. The plot kept me entertained, but the philosophical elements kept me both hooked on the book and repeatedly pondering my own life and choices. "Newsboys'" may not be in the same literary league as E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime," but it's much better than the current crop of historical novels typified by "Carter Beats the Devil" -- a lot of research in search of a purpose. I finished the book feeling enriched, invigorated and determined to do better at all things. Any work of art that leaves you feeling like that is a great and rare gift.

The gifted philosopher and psychologist William James suffered a mental collapse at age thirty. This fact is well known by anyone familiar with James' works, but what remains unclear is what happened during his convalescence. "Twenty-one pages (as much as forty-two pages of writing)" were cut from James' diary that surely held some answers about his dark hour. Thankfully we have Jon Boorstin who writes so well from James' point of view that we need to be reminded these writings are actually not James' confessions but historical fiction. "The Newsboys' Lodging House" brilliantly extrapolates upon the missing pages to form a cohesive and believable account of what led James to become the renowned modern thinker and progenitor of Pragmatism and the Will to Believe.

The novel jumpstarts in 1908 Cambridge with a stranger imploring an attention-grabbing question, "Is you my father?" That teaser grabs the reader's unequivocal attention as James elegantly recalls how one chance encounter at McLean Asylum in 1872 with Horatio Alger, a writer of boys' stories, inspires him to leave the asylum and research "the question of evil" among the poor newsboys of New York City.

Boorstin has magically crept into James' psyche and delights us page after page despite many somber expositions that detail James' anguish over evil's place in the world. Reading in fact becomes compulsory as we eagerly await an answer to the stranger's aforementioned question. In the meantime, Boorstin expresses James' ideations in an entertaining manner and more succinctly than several philosophical tomes.

Bohdan Kot

As a lover and student of philosophy, I have a prediliction toward pragmatism. And as I have a prediliction toward pragmatism, I have a fondness for James. And as I have a fondness for James, I found this fictionalized account of a 'missing period' of James's life interesting (if not a bit strange and obviously fabricated).

In this novel, John Boorstin is envisioning James in his thirtieth year. This is when he experienced his mental breakdown leaving him an inch from suicide and in complete emotional paralysis. He had spent quite a few months, we know, in a mental institution, but here, the diary stops - the pages referring to this few-month period have been cut out of his diary, leaving the period a complete mystery.

Boorstin imagines a scenario that as far-fetched as it is (and the author acknowledges that) is interesting and at very least entertaining. James goes to New York with little money where, in fascination with Horatio Alger, volunteers to instruct children at a Lodging House for orphaned kids. It is there he meets a 9-year-old boy called Jemmie and becomes determined to save this child (who James is convinced is good at heart, but slipping into street-life) from the cold and hard world of the streets. Therein, James finds himself ensnared in quite a few 'plots' that gradually help him become his own person (as we know that when the 'missing period' was over, James was remarkably more directed and focused).

As I do not know how many people reading this will be as familiar with William James as us philosopher types, there is one part of the novel I think that may get lost on those not as familiar with James. Though one need not at all be a philosopher to like this novel, the story very much ties into the meaning of James' philosophy of pragmatism wherein 'truth' is said to be dictated sometimes by the 'facts' and sometimes by 'what we personally need to believe'. So as not to get too philosophical here, I will copy one paragraph from the novel that beautifully explains:

"Until this moment, I had thought true belief to be absolute and beyond one's control, the inevitable expression of one's fundamental knowledge of the workings of the world. Now I saw that we created our beliefs even as we cherished their eternal permanence. All of us are bound up in beliefs which express not only our deepest truths but our deepest needs."

This is very much a part of James (both as a psychologist and a philosopher, James being equally adept at both). Boorstin's goal, in this fantastic but quite engrossing tale, is in part to give us a 'real live shot' of what James' pragmatism looks like in practice through James' very own eyes. The result is a very good novel that will at once entrhall you and capture your philosophic imagination.

Reading this book gave me some insights into my own management style. All of us can use improvement, and this book has been a guide for helping me reflect on my decision-making methods. As someone fairly new to the world of business management, I found this book helpful and entertaining at the same time. It is a relatively easy read, with the exception of the "Afterword" and Appendix" chapters. The first is fairly profound, and forces the reader to think deeply about his/her business approach. The Appendix is largely mathematical, and was a bit difficult to follow, but in fact makes perfect sense.
In short, this is a useful and entertaining book for managers.

The approach here is unique: Categorize the mistakes managers and business owners make. Rather than a list of incorrect behaviors, this method produces some generalizations that are truly useful. I have read a lot of books that recommend specific actions to take, and a few that specify the actions to avoid, but none of them catagorized them as well as this book. I found I could take away the broad generalizations and apply them almost immediately to improve my management performance. Most other books bog the reader down with too many details that may not apply to a specific manager's situation.
It seemed to me that the specific behaviors listed within each category mostly served as illustrations and examples to be certain we would understand how to apply the categories. Also, there was humor to remind us that the first rule of management is to avoid taking ourselves too seriously.

The method the author uses is imaginative. He does not tell us what we should do to be a good manager. As he correctly observes, most good management consists of avoiding mistakes, and not merely applying some special technique. If we could all avoid the rocks, our businesses would not run aground. From my own experience, I can say that most of the management failures I have observed have been caused by blatant mistakes, whereas most of the management successes have been less about brilliance than merely avoiding dumb decisions and bad behaviors. This is well stated in this book.
What I find remarkable is the method the author uses, which is to put the mistakes in the form of hypothetical examples - people with names. This takes the hard edge off the somewhat sarcastic tone of the criticisms. While I don't care for sarcasm, Melden makes it work here. What especially makes it work is the accuracy: A lot of the people depicted are like people I have actually encountered during my career.
Finally, I have to compliment the middle chapter with its list of business cliches. This chapter was hilarious, and by itself would be worth the price of the book.

Nine Ways to Ruin a Business is written in a humorous tone, but provides some practical guidelines on the kinds of thinking and attitudes to avoid. By showing others' errors, it tells what kinds of actions we should stay clear of. Although I manage only a department, I believe the pointers in this book would be useful to managers of divisions, and even entire corporations. I have one suggestion for the reader. If you buy this book for a superior, tell him or her that you're sure they will find it hilarious. That should avoid damaging any egos.
A great book!

I had already read The 9 Ways of Working, and I assumed this would be similar. I couldn't have been more wrong. While I liked "Ways of Working", this was a much more useful book. It talks about actual behaviors, not just general ways of working. I am a bit embarrassed to admit it, but when I have been off my game, my management methods slightly resembled some of the persons depicted in this book. I can see more clearly now why some of my projects did not do as well as others. Another aspect of this book that I liked was the simple, straightforward description of bad method. It is a very sensible book, while remaining humorous.

I had a breast cancer scare recently and happened to have this book which I hadn't read. I actually stayed up all night reading this beautiful book. It turned out my "scare" was a cyst, but as a hospice nurse I see with so many women it isn't. It's real. These stories are amazing, and yes sad, because some are the most amazing survivors, and some sadly do not pull through. But every experiene you read about is rich with the person's life, self, friends family and the hardship on everyone when a person gets a diagnosis of breast cancer. I would recommend all women to read this book, it is important to see how we all must do our examinations and how very real breast cancer is for women. This book will leave you touched, maybe a little worried, but also with a feeling of being blessed that you got to see the life and feel a part of the struggles of other women.(and yes, men too get breast cancer, and there are stories of men too). I would recommend it, but it is an emotional book.

As a physician who specializes in breast disorders of which cancer is obviously the most important one, I can highly recommend this book to families and friends of women with a diagnosis of breast cancer. Ms Stevens insight into the emotional issues those of us close to someone with breast cancer experience are enlightening, intelligent and always helpful. We can all learn from this book.

With much talent and compassion, Ms. Stevens has shared her own story with breast cancer, but also the stories of other women and men. Recognizing the impact this type of diagnosis means for the individual, but also the family and friends surrounding them, Ms. Stevens shares each of their stories from their own perspectives.

A wonderful book where you can learn from those who have traveled the paths before you.....

Everyone knows someone who has/had breast cancer. My best friend went through it 10 years ago, so I thought I knew all about it. Recently, as a 6th friend shared her battle, I realized I knew very little about breast cancer. That's when I picked up a copy of Barbara Stevens' book, "Not Just One in Eight."

Today, I purchased my 8th or 9th copy to give to someone who is afraid to get a mammogram. I have given this book to friends with other friends who have breast cancer, mothers of daughters with breast cancer, husbands of women with breast cancer, and my own sister. This book gives everyone who is touched by this disease the most important gift of all: knowledge. And knowledge is the power to fight back.

I had information from 6 very emotional sources before I read "Not Just One in Eight". Now I have an arsenal of information from 20 detailed and individual accounts. Both the mystery, and the fear, is gone. I don't have breast cancer, and we have no family history, but I feel confident that I now know how to recognize, meet and defeat this "boogey man" should it ever come calling.

Every woman alive today should sleep better after reading these stories and accumulating the combined wisdom Barbara Stevens shares with us. Every man with a mother, sister, wife or daughter would also find valuable knowledge and power by investing the time needed to read this book. This book IS for everyone!

I am a 4th year medical student-Intern in Seattle, WA. I see many breast CA patients and they always present with the understandable anxiety and emotional lability concerning their situation. The patient is bombarded with information in the form of ideas and supposed "cures" from multiple sources. This is why I recommend this book to patients. It helps them sift through all the information and make informed decisions. They are NOT the disease--they just happen to have the disease. This book has all the information my patients need to understand what is going on, including personal stories which they can identify with. It also presents the options available and educates patients on the pro's and con's. But most important it gives them peace of mind, which is critical when dealing with a life threatening disease. It helps them move through the journey more centered and with a focus, which, in my opinion has a significant impact on outcomes.

On Falcon's Wings is terrific story telling. The story and characters bring to life a period and place I knew very little about -- despite being a World War II history aficionado.

Historical enlightenment aside, this is simply a thoroughly enjoyable read.

This book drew me into a relationship with each character and ultimately I was living their anxiety-ridden, bleak existance with them every step of their journey. Absolutely one of the best books I have ever read.

Umpleby's story maintained a strong feeling of tension from beginning to end. It gripped my attention and interest from the very outset and never let go. I was particularly impressed by the keen insights provided of the reality of the human experience of war, of one's copuntry being occupied and dominated by a ruthless foreign power, of the heights and depths of behavior to which otherwise ordinary people can rise or fall. I got so involved with the Czech boys frantic efforts to survive that I nearly screamed out loud to Pavol at times,"No!No!No! Don't do that!!!" It's clearly a five star read for me.

If you like historical fiction, you'll love this fast-paced, compelling story about five teen-age boys whose lives take a disastrous turn during the Nazi occupation of Prague. The author very wisely chooses to focus on teenagers whose naive, impulsive, and rebellious nature is in constant tension with the Nazi troops. Their journey reveals the absolute cruelty of war and the psychological domination that occupation gives the occupiers -- not unlike what we've recently witnessed at Abu Ghraib prison.

The characters are so real and so beautifully drawn that I became very involved with them. I struggled with them as they weighed the risks of fighting back or submitting. Those who break through the barrier of fear pay a high price as heroes or martyrs.

I read the last 125 pages in one sitting because I had to find out how it turned out for the five boys I had become so fond of. This is a five star read -- one you won't soon forget.

"On Falcon's Wings", set in World War II Europe, moved me more than any book in recent memory. The author's obviously extensive research certainly paid handsomely helping him bring faithfully to life a setting and historical period fraught with powerful emotions and grave dangers. The portrayals of the settings, scenes, and characters all ring very true; there wasn't a false note anywhere. The drama builds steadily developing the backgrounds and personalities of five Czech teenagers seized by the Nazis and transported toward the German military front in Russia. The tension mounts quickly as the youths struggle for survival and attempt to escape and elude their captors. At times it becomes almost impossible to lay this book down. "On Falcon's Wings" is a timely reminder to us all of the devastating effects an empire building, totalitarian government can have on its most humble and righteous citizens and subjects.

In my search to learn more about the era and the war I almost joined, I've read a lot of book about the war in Vietnam, including many specifically about the air war, and the pilots who fought it. "On Yankee Station" stands out from the pack. It's not the usual "There I was at 20,000 feet.." memoir; this is a critical look at the global strategy and the local tactics of the Vietnam war told by someone who had a unique view from the cockpit. It's also a blistering critique of the men who sent them to Vietnam, and manuy of those who commanded them- men that the authors see as dangeous amateurs, incompetant in the art of war, who needlessly wasted lives with arbitary rules. Well worth reading.

This remains one of the best books about the Vietnam War and the Air War in particular. I read this book again and again. All Naval Aviators (including us Marines) should have this book in their library. Find a copy before it becomes impossible to do so. I don't think I have read a more honest, focused and reasoned book about the war. Good combat descriptions, artfully done. Excellent comments about morale. And brutally accurate accounts relating to wartime leaders, and specific consequences of their folly.

This work is a clear-headed, no holds barred look at the Vietnam air war from the naval perspective. Don't let its even tone fool you. It cuts to the bone and damns by simple observation, with no need for editorializing by the authors. It points up the facts, fictions, failures and achievements of the naval air war against North Vietnam in a quick, easy style, with superb organization and excellent supporting material in the appendices. Any student of the Vietnam air war who misses this title is not a serious person. It is required reading on the subject, and should be complemented by Marshal Michel's "Clashes" for the USAF side of the story.

John Nichols, callsign "Pirate," folded his wings in September 2004. OYS remains his testament to those naval aviators who follow in his slipstream.

I never had a better friend. And neither did anyone else.

This book on the naval air war over Vietnam should be required reading not only for all military pilots, but for every military and civilian official who is involved in planning strategy, tactics, or military weapon procurement.
But don't get the idea it's a boring book; besides giving the reader a clear view of what happened in the air over Vietnam, the author makes his points in a very readable fashion, not by preaching but by simply pointing out what we did, and why we could have done so much better -- in the conduct of the war, in providing better (often SIMPLER) equipment, and in better training.
It's definitely worth obtaining from an out-of-print dealer or from your library. Even if you have no connection with the military, this will expand your understanding of that period in US history.

This beautiful book with a purpose deserves the 10 national awards it has won. It is poetic, haunting, poignant and touching. The prose and the pictures transport you to another place. Anyone who loves New Orleans will not want to miss having this book on his or her coffee table! But read it, too! The author won the PMA Benjamin Franklin Award 2007 for "Best New Voice Nonfiction" and the book also won the "Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book." A treat for all the senses, the eyes and the heart.

This is a great book: it is a passionate "love song" dedicated to New Orleans. The photos and text will tug at your heartstrings.

WOW...what a big beautiful book! For anyone who has a connection to New Orleans...buy it...give it...treasure it...well written, throughly researched, amazing photos and layout...sure to be an award winner! Thanks for putting your heart into this volume!

No ordinary coffee table photography book, "Orleans Embrace With The Secret Gardens Of The Vieux Carre" is a 388-page memoir of the New Orleans French Quarter featuring 49 historic black-and-white photographs and 320 full color illustrations. While the overall book draws from the previous work of Roy F. Guste, Jr., the photographs by Louis Sahuc are bonded with a personal and compelling narrative text by T. J. Fisher. Readers will encounter a work originally intended to be of local interest, but in a post-Katrina world, has emerged with universal attraction as a memorial and a motivation to restore a once great American city to its unique and original glory. Enthusiastically recommended, "Orleans Embrace With The Secret Gardens Of The Vieux Carre" will prove to be of immense interest to several categories of readership including: gardening enthusiasts, historians, architects, photographers, and anyone who has every walked along the avenues and admired the parks, gardens, and buildings of the New Orleans French Quarter.

Read this book. Highly recommended.

This is an excellent resource. I really enjoy the depth of the subject matter covered by the author.

If you are interested in American history, this is it! Highly detailed, consist of short pieces, which can be read as stand alone articles. You need not read in sequence. Morison ensures that each section is understood by a lay reader. Sheds light on historical events at sociological angle. You will understand what and why people did throughout decades. What they were thinking, and why.

There are some minor factual errors here and there, and some setions may have been written different. Anyway, extremely good reference book.

Each student should have this book!

You can do no better than to learn U.S. history from Morison. This work, part of a what was a single volume spanning origins to 1963, displays extraordinary depth and breadth of scholarship, written with a superb command of the language that makes our history fascinating.

The first volume of this three volume set is exceptional. The breadth of this work is substantial. In fact there is so much ground covered in this work that many truly momentous events are covered in what seems a very short number of pages. Most of us think that the history of the US goes something like "The pilgrims wrote the Mayflower Compact, jumped off the boat, ate thanksgiving turkey, hung some witches, dumped some tea and declared independence." Morison does a fabulous job of filling in the spaces. Morison's style is very engaging as well. It is interesting to note that this volume was published in the 60's so there are frequent mention's of communists themes and when the author mentions native Americans he means people that were born in this country even if they had ancestors from England or other European countries. Highly recommended.

The first volume of this three volume set is exceptional. The breadth of this work is substantial. In fact there is so much ground covered in this work that many truly momentous events are covered in what seems a very short number of pages. Most of us think that the history of the US goes something like "The pilgrims wrote the Mayflower Compact, jumped off the boat, ate thanksgiving turkey, hung some witches, dumped some tea and declared independence." Morison does a fabulous job of filling in the spaces. Morison's style is very engaging as well. It is interesting to note that this volume was published in the 60's so there are frequent mention's of communists themes and when the author mentions native Americans he means people that were born in this country even if they had ancestors from England or other European countries. Highly recommended.

Marcia Prescott's "Perhaps She'll Die" zips along at just the right pace. Chantalene, the main character, has just the heart, beauty and courage to be featured in a series. This independent young woman puts love of family and righting a wrong ahead of personal safety. The mystery, written in the mold of Mary Higgins Clark and other great storytellers, is a winner. Chantalene's ride into town astride her horse with the wind whipping her cheeks has the atmosphere of frontier justice and modern-day womanhood. Ah, to be young again, riding a horse under the hyacinth-blue skies of Oklahoma. Let's hope Chantalene gallops her readers onto the pages of a new adventure soon.

This little mystery perfectly captures rural life and thinking, the effect of trauma on a child, and the strange ways those we know best can surprise us. A very satisfying read that will take you out of your world for a few hours.

If I hadn't read good reviews of this book and just looked at the cover, I'd have passed it right by; I can't really say why! But this was a surprisingly well-written and intriguing book. This is my first book by M.K. Preston and I'll now try another!

This was a wonderful read. The story moved and I was caught up from the first page. The mystery was cleverly devised; even though all the clues were placed, I was surprised by the outcome. The characters were intriquing and felt like real people. Their conversation was natural and engaging; I loved the interraction between Chantalene and Drew. It was tantalizing and fun. Marcia K. Preston's first novel is like experiencing Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's house. You want to eat your fill, but you don't want to wait too long for another helping either.
Once while away from the book, I kept sensing a scene, returning to it in my mind like one does with a song that will not be banished from the brain. Eventually, I realized that it was Tetumka and Chantalene's ranch and Whipporrwill's corral that I was seeing in my mind. That desolate place was with me...and I was longing to be back with the characters and see what might happen next. An excellent first book that leaves the reader begging for a sequel.

Chantalene, a young woman haunted by dreadful memories, returns to her home town of Tetumka, Oklahoma. Twelve years ago, in one horrible night, her father was lynched for a crime he didn't commit, and her gypsy mother, LaVita, fearing for her own life, ran away and abandoned her.

Now Chantalene is determined to find out what really happened, and who killed her father. The townspeople aren't exactly thrilled to see her, and things start going dreadfully awry from the first page. Fortunately, she finds an ally, Drew Sander, a New York tax attorney, who is also returning to Tetumka, but for very different reasons. I won't tell you what happens, of course; you'll have too much fun reading this book for yourself.

Author Marcia Preston writes an engaging fast-paced thriller that hooks the reader from the very first sentence and doesn't let go until the end. The mystery has many levels--child abuse, traumatic memories, frontier justice, and the characters' search for their own integrity. Not to mention a delightful hint of romance. I can recommend this book for a really enjoyable read. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.