Foote Books

Textbook as described, good shape, no marks or highlights. Quick delivery and good price, thanks! Purchased for class, but really enjoy some of the readings, great collection of authors.

I don't have any complaints. The book was brand new, so of course there were no problems with it. The book was delivered in a timely manner.

I purchased these volumes of the anthology for school and, while I am not generally a fan of reading out of anthologies, this whole set has been very beneficial. I plan on keeping them after I finish the class in order to use them when I become an English teacher. The author introductions are helpful and insightful, providing sufficient background on the writer so that the reader may better understand each story by having a basic knowledge of what the author was experiencing in his or her life. The footnotes areexcellent, giving definitions of archaic words and phrases that might not otherwise be found without extensive search into the customs of the English language. Overall, this was a good purchase, and I will use it often in the future.

Another too thick, too heavy, too expensive textbook anthology of American literature. There're FAR too many selections to cover in a university survey course (which is all these books are good for--no one would read them for pleasure!) and a lot of them are pretty mediocre. When will these dinosaurs collapse under their own weight and some enlightened editors come up with something truly useful, meaningful, and inspiring? No wonder the reading public is is shrinking--these obese anthologies destroy any desire to read and study literature.

The college bookstore was TOO busy this semester. I took a couple of minutes and LOTS OF FAITH in ordering the volumes on-line. This order was shipped and at my home before I could blink!

Easy to read, this book accomplished what I was looking for: a complete high-level view of chinese history.

The few things I would have like to be a bit different:
- More maps, there are quite a few of them, but more would have helped
- Less on art, I did not care about history of Chinese art, but about China and Chinese people
- I was surprised that events like the building or the great wall or the decision to cut itself from the rest of the world by burning its navy was treated so quickly. I think some key events like these should have had a bit more time dedicated to them.

However, all-in-all, I'm glad I read this book. It reads like a novel, not a class textbook, and for the first time allowed me to have a better understanding of the Chinese history, beyong the last few decades I had learned in High-school.

I now need to find an equivalent book on India...

Highly informative and readable; wonderfully illustrated both with photographs and maps. This was exactly what I had hoped for.

I used this book as a reference text for a course in Ancient Chinese History. The labeled illustrations are a pretty good reference for the components of the class that require us to identify and date archaeological pieces. Ebrey does a good job giving an overview of all the various things happening in China, however, it truly only skims the surface. In addition, points of controversy are not really discussed. Among the academia, there is debate of one of the groups of Chinese people- the Xia. In this book, Ebrey identifies the Xia as a group that does exist. Depending on who your professor is, you might get a different spin on the situation and the Xia might be considered mythical. While this isn't a serious point of contention, there might be other discrepanicies like this between what Ebrey writes and what others think.

Now this may be nitpicky, but the book doesn't do very well with sitting in a backpack. If you intend to take take it around with you, you'd be better of buying a hardcover version. The binding comes loose relatively easily and it's printed on this beautiful, heavy, glossy paper.

Buy this book only if you're looking for a quick read and a good reference.

As a single volume overview of Chinese history, you couldn't ask for much more than this book. It is clearly written, objective and very readable. The most significant events in Chinese history are all covered (albeit in only superficial depth, necessarily.) The book also tries to describe developments from the perspective of ordinary people, not just the emporers. Cultural and technological advances are covered as well as the major military conquests. Finally, each chapter is concluded with the author's analysis of the period and comparisons to other contemporaneous civilisations.

My only criticism is that the Japanese atrocities during World War II are glossed over, only the Rape of Nanjing is mentioned, and even then, only the lowest bound of the estimated death toll is given. If you read only this book, you might get the impression that the Japanese occupation was a relatively benign experience.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking an introduction to Chinese history.

I'm a Chinese living in China. Because of politicized history accounts in China after 1949 I have little interest in official history books in Chinese. But I like this book very much; for me it provides a totally new perspective on the evolution of our culture, peoples and economy etc. The rich pictures in the book make reading easier and more interesting.

I read a blurb about this book in Newsweek since Donna used to write for Newsweek. Thought it might be worth a shot. Was a whole lot better than I expected. It's a story of four teachers--Rachael, Phillip, Hrag, and Taylor. They teach at Locke High School in South L.A. It is mostly black and Latino kids and what they go through during their first year at the school. I have to tell you, I gained a whole lot more respect for teachers after reading this book. Why anybody would want to do this job, I don't know! It's a good read. You get into it right away. If you are a teacher or know a teacher, read this book, but I think anybody would enjoy this inside look at this remarkable school.

I read an excerpt of this book on NPR's website, and it caught my attention. The book itself then caught the rest of me. Extremely well researched and written, I could hardly put it down. Capturing the human side of TFA and the vast challenges of our education system, this book - and its subject, the "Corps Members" of TFA - give me hope for the future.

I decided to read this book because I am currently in the process of applying to Teach for America and wanted to find out the truth about what it's like to teach in a challenging public school in America as a corps member. What I found out were those things and more. I didn't expect such a detailed account of what it takes to make TFA work as an organization nor did I expect to read stories from school administrators and especially not a corps member who quit. He believed that TFA "trumpeted the success of teachers making `significant gains,' and because the corps members are all psycho, and because they have always been told they can do anything they set their minds to, they chase this impossible goal, running themselves ragged to change the world."

I don't know what it's like to teach in a school like Locke, but I think Donna Foote tells it like it is. She reminded me how important the quality of a teacher is to a child's education and how dedicated corps members are to their cause no matter how overwhelming it might be. The four corps members depicted approached their teaching in different ways but each seemed to make a difference in their students' lives by the year's end. Reading this book made my heart sink and then rise again. Wendy Kopp's story alone is inspiring, but I felt like I actually knew the characters in this book while reading. I couldn't put it down.

This is a must read for anyone thinking about applying to Teach for America or anyone who has a negative view of teaching as a profession. For me, it reaffirmed my dedication to the cause of education reform and reassured me that TFA is a place I belong. For others it might do just the opposite.

Relentless Pursuit is a strong examination of one of the nation's most intriguing volunteer organizations. The struggles of the country's education system, particularly within impoverished urban communities, is nothing surprising to most people. But the extent to which Teach for America is involved in these struggles (and their methodology) is not common knowledge. By focusing her efforts on tracking a handful of teachers at a representative LA school and a few administrators they are involved with, Donna Foote goes a long way to illustrate the situation and some of the important questions brought up by the Teach for America phenomenon.

This is a good and valuable book. It has some limitations that prevent it from being a great book.

The book's strengths are its detailed depiction of the challenges and triumphs of 4 Teach for America teachers in a troubled high school in LA, Locke High School. The book gives a real feeling of the challenges these teachers face because of neighborhood gang problems, the poor academic preparation of many students, and issues with classroom discipline, educational bureaucracy, and the overall atmosphere of the school.

The book also gives a thumbnail depiction of the history and current operations of TFA. This includes a detailed view of how TFA selects "corps members", TFA's philosophy of "teaching as leadership", TFA's developing approach to assessment and curriculum, and TFA's expansion plans. There is also a detailed depiction of the work of the TFA program director who is overseeing the four TFA "CMs" at Locke.

This book would be useful in anyone wanting to understand some of the challenges in the very toughest urban high schools. The book would also be of interest in anyone wanting to understand TFA as an educational reform organization.

The limitation of the book is that it doesn't really explore the broader implications of TFA within American education. For example, the book mentions perceptions by the Locke high school principal, and some of the CMs, that much of the teaching at Locke High School is not good. However, none of this "bad teaching" is shown or explored. The focus is narrowly on the challenges and triumphs of the TFA teachers.

As another example, the book does not explore whether it is possible for TFA to really be the way to radically transform American education, and how. TFA currently selects relatively few applications from a highly select group of idealistic college students. It then does a unique boot camp kind of training. To what extent is any of this replicable on a broad scale? This is unclear, and is not adequately explored in the book. Perhaps TFA's most important future role in American education will be as a way of getting some highly talented people into education, where they can play a key role as educational leaders.

The combination images--black & white photos with outlined clothes--were very amateur and uninspiring. I just let my 2-year-old scribble all over them while we talked about potty training.

My little boy has a mild case of autism so I really wasn't sure if it would help. It did - he even likes the stickers that came with it. Its still taking a little more than stickers. Each time he gets a row filled, I take him to the 99 cent store to pick out a toy. He tells me he wants a sticker after he goes potty..

My Potty Activity Book is a great way to make potty training fun. There are pictures to color in the front and you can discuss what is happening as you color just like you would point out pictures in a book you might read to your child. The book reduces pressure. I like having the option of coloring this with my child with light conversation during training vs always asking, "Do you want to go potty?". I also like that the pages are perforated so I can give one at a time to my child and have the option of posting them on the refrigerator or bathroom wall. In the back are many unique tips that are short and straight to the point so I could easily skim them and find some that really helped my son. The tips are great for busy moms who don't have time to read lengthy discussions. I would recommend this book as a supplement to anyone who wants to make potty training more fun or needs a few more easy tip ideas.

Tracy Foote's "My Potty Activity Book" was just what my son needed to make that final transition out of diapers! Each page features pictures of children and different aspects of potty training (ie) various types of potty seats, washing hands, rewards for using potty, etc. Unlike other potty training story books, every page contains an activity that your child may participate in, such as coloring, connect the dots, and matching games. This book also contains over 45 potty training tips that address situations such as motivating your child, night time training, and using public restrooms. As an added bonus, each page is perforated and may be removed from the book and hung in a place where your child will be reminded of the activity featured on that page. This book was definitely an asset to successfully potty training our son!

My Potty Activity Book, stickers and tips are a great addition to your potty training routine.

The book arrived much larger than we would have expected and contains many pages of activity fun using drawings and real black and white photos of children.

It's not just a book to read through, it's an every day extended activity book. Parent and child can read the book each day over and over, but also interact with creative coloring and stickers day after day, page after page.

With your help, your child can proudly check off each milestone they reach on the progress chart and in the end, you have a keepsake activity book with a congratulatory certificate in the back for potty training completion.

Even if your child isn't fully trained by the end, you've still spent a lot of fun, creative and quality time together working on potty skills without all the pressure and frustration! <...

Confession - I have been a Shelby Foote fan since reading his novel "Shiloh". I was first exposed to his "Civil War: A Narrative" trilogy while in college. Volume three came was released fall of my senior year. I have read the first two volumes and am about 125 pages into volume three at this writing.

C. Stuart Chapman has written an enlightening and well-written book that conveys an impartial message. His writing lets you know he is a Foote admirer.

What I like best about the book is it tells a good story. Foote came from Greenville, Mississippi. His family was a wealthy, plantation owning family who had lost their money before his birth. His mother was Jewish - a Rosenstock. His boyhood and lifelong friend was Walker Percy, who later became a celebrated novelist. Percy's influence and friendship cover most of Foote life. Percy Walker died in the late 1980's.

Shelby Foote had his faults. They were clearly pointed out by Chapman. They included his womanizing, dropping out of the University of North Carolina, getting a court martial and booted out of the Army with initially a dishonorable discharge, later commuted to a "other than honorable" discharge. He has two failed marriages. His getting future wife number two pregnant before marriage. It took an intellectual woman who was a classmate of Jackie Kennedy to finally tame Shelby Foote. She abandoned her medical doctor first husband and two children to marry and become Mrs. Shelby Foote number three. He exaggerated the depth of his friendship with the man he idolized, Nobel winner William Faulkner. Percy Walker frequently floated a loan to Foote in the early years which allowed him to keep writing.

I found it interesting that when Foote moved to Memphis he lived in the inner city and did not seem to have issue living in a transitional neighborhood. Foote contempt for academics was interesting. I felt at times he wished he was one, but he knew he lacked the sheepskin credential.

The roll of the Ken Burns series on "The Civil War" to make Foote a national name, providing the fame he longed for, and to make him financially solvent with the record sales of his books after the airing of the PBS mini-series was enlightening. A star was born.

This is a good book, well written, interesting, and won the 2002 Eudora Welty Prize. The author C. Stuart Chapman received his Ph.D. from Boston University, where he studied American literature with an emphasis in Southern literature. He earned an M.A. at the University of Georgia in 1994, where his thesis was "Locating the Other in New Orleans: Southern Post-World War I Cultural Representation in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Katherine Anne Porter's Old Mortality, and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire." His doctoral dissertation was a biography of Shelby Foote. His undergraduate work was at Rhodes College in Memphis. Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler in February 2008.

Mr. Chapman has an uncharacteristic nack for breaking down the complexity of his life in a witty and enormously entertaining way. A gem that should be on the bookshelf of any student of history.

I have to disagree with the earlier, anonymous reviewer who says this book is drivel. I found it an enlightening and well-written book that delivers a non-partisan message, but it is written by someone who truly admires Shelby Foote. What's wrong with that? Foote is a wonderful historian, even though as many have said his volumes on the Civil War tell the story almost entirely as one of big battles and great men.

Chapman does not let his reverence for Foote's writings get in the way of telling a good story. And what a story! He came from the long-ago vanished South of the aristocrats, and along with his boyhood friend Walker Percy, who later became a celebrated novelist, the two of them tracked the changes in Southern society in their novels and other writings. Foote had his faults too, as Chapman notes ruefully: he exaggerated the depth of his friendship with the man he idolized, Nobel winner William Faulkner, who lived but a hundred miles away; he was a womanizer who just couldn't keep it in his pants; his relationship with his daughter Margaret, who became attached to the Seattle rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, was troubled to the point that he denied they were related; and his position on race relations wasn't a very activist one. Even his relationship with Percy was strained by the two men's seesawing careers and who was up. who was down, at any given moment. The Ken Burns thing happened at exactly the right time for Shelby Foote, and from now on, people would no longer be confusing him with Horton Foote--no relation.

Chapman's "LIFE" makes me curious to see the publication of "TWO GATES TO THE CITY," the novel on which Shelby Foote again and again dashed his hopes, an unconquerable manuscript that was worth its weight in tears. Maybe someday we will see some version of it. Until then, we have all his other books to read and re-read at leisure.

C. Stuart Chapman's biography of the great historian of the Civil War is not worth purchasing. Chapman's great failing is to draw negative conclusions about Foote, as through Chapman's viewing of his subject through the lens of 21st century politics. A press secretary for the leftist Rep. Barbara Lee, Chapman's biography castigates the historian for having failed to offer himself up as a martyr during the Civil Rights struggles of the 50s and 60s. With such a "foundation" set in place, the edifice is not a pretty sight to see (or read).

A distinctively Southern voice explores a distinctively Southern figure in C. Stuart Chapman's portait of Shelby Foote. The book not only places Foote's work in context, it provides a literary glimpse into the South as a whole, not only during the Civil War era of Foote's best known works but the Civil Rights era as well. Foote clearly exemplifies the Burdens of Southern history -- both C. Vann Woodward's and Robert Penn Warren's varieties. Chapman gives us a fascinating look at a complicated man in his place and time.

This is the same type of feel-good no-footnotes-it-just-crowds-the-page pseudo-history for which fiction writer Shelby Foote is famed. Others have written three volume sets on the Vicksburg Campaign (Bearss), but Shelby Foote seems comfortable boiling it down into a novella. It makes for a nice quick read, but others wishing to get their hands dirty with some real history should opt for Bearss, Grabau (98 Days), Winschel, or Timothy B. Smith (Champion Hill).

For some it may be unclear just how Grant finally took the city of Vicksburg and who to tell it wisely but Shelby Foote! Shelby Foote is probably one of the best authors of the Civil War around and it is certainly easy to understand why in this very informative book! Foote carefully explains all engagements in and around Vicksburg that eventually come to light towards the finish. Every event is descriptively written covering many naval strategies along the Mississippi, Yazoo and other rivers which were of importance to naval affairs of each opposing side. Grants struggles to capture the city are indeed covered by many in depth chapters which cover the naval and land assaults. Also to help build the story, strategic moves in and around the city by Sherman and other generals make it easy to understand the Union grip upon Pemberton towards the end. Another interesting part of this book was about Grant's personal dealings with daily life and how alcohol was a problem. Besides just mentioning movements and battles in this book, condition of troops, officers and citizens of Vicksburg is also presented well. Pemberton's decisions towards the end to surrender easily give the reader a true sense of desparation upon the part of Pemberton to seek help from Johnston for most of the seige which never came. Such writing makes it clear of Pemberton's motives to defend yet finally surrender the city to Union forces as a the stranglehold is built up from the start of the book and to the end!

As the country experiences the greatest philosophical and political division since the Civil War, I return to study the very bloody war that defined America as a nation. The best way to study this war is through the excellent narrative of Shelby Foote, featured in the acclaimed Civil War documentary by Ken Burns.

Shelby Foote has written infinite volumes about the civil war. However, I wasn't ready to immerse myself into those thick encyclopedia-looking things. Instead, I tried to ease myself with The Beleaguered City, which is an excerpt from these volumes. And it was an excellent choice.

This book, gave me an intimate account of what the seventeen-month campaign was like. From the infinite marches, to the bloody battles, the constant skirmishes, the digging of the trenches, was visualized in front of my eyes to the realization that this was one of the bloodiest campaigns the humanity has ever known.

Foote does a great job with the character development as well. From the worried, on the edge, ready to be labeled a scapegoat Grant, he evolves to the "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The opposite happens with the Confederate generals, as they go from overly confident winners, to being slaughtered battle after battle.

Vicksburg is the turning point of the Civil War, and Shelby Foote is the present day authority on this war. If you want to really understand what happened during this campaign this is the book to buy. The excellent prose, and wealth of details will make it a fascinating read.

This is, without a doubt, the best book on the seige of Vicksburg that maybe was ever written. Never have I gotten more insight into the heart of Grant as well as a blow by blow description of the problems that befell this Union Army in undertaking what some have called an impossible victory.

"The Beleaguered City" is an extended excerpt on the Vicksburg Campaign from Shelby Foote's absolutely superb three volume narrative history of the Civil War. The Vicksburg Campaign is a gripping story in its own right, the central dramatic thread of which is Union General U.S. Grant's struggle to capture the great Confederate citadel on the Mississippi.

Grant, stubborn and taciturn, will try a variety of methods to close with and subdue the Confederate forces defending Vicksburg. His initial approaches fail, sometimes spectacularly, and it is only when Grant takes the great risk of cutting loose from his own supply lines to cross the Mississippi river and place his own army between two Confederate forces that he is finally able to place the city under siege. The Vicksburg campaign marks the coming of age of Grant as a mature senior leader, the kind of general who can plan, fight and win campaigns at the operational and strategic level. His success at Vicksburg will lead directly to his summons by Lincoln to lead all Union armies.

This book is highly recommended to the student of the Civil War and to the casual reader looking for an absolutely page-turning account of the Civil War meant to be read as literature.

This book has a lot of examples and is a keeper. This was a required text in one of my college courses and was a fun easy read. It is structured by common mistakes others have made so it allows you to learn quickly by example.

This book is very dry and hard to read. There is some great information enclosed yet it is really hard to access. I also didn't appreciate that at every moment possible the author seems to downgrade the ability of the self employed, multiple times it is suggested that under no circumstances should you chose to be a sole proprietor, which for me seems to disregard those that are starting out on a smaller part time basis.

This book was a perfect tool to benchmark my design studio. After 14 years of business I found that Foote's advice, assumptions and calculations were right on the mark ... even for a business in New Zealand. Highly recommended.

This is not for me. It is pretty good for interesting reading, but not made for freelancers like me.

This book is divided into four sections: organization, personnel, marketing, and operations. It also has four appendices. I really liked this book very much. I'm a volunteer SCORE counselor who regularly counsels SCORE clients on starting their own small businesses. I highly recommend the instant book to people similarly situated to my clients since it will help them better grasp and understand what is involved in starting a business.

If you want to put together a business plan (and you should if you want to start a business), then use this book to help you by looking at the following chapters:

1. A Solid Foundation
2. Structure and Facilities
4. Organizing
9. Positioning
10. Promoting
12. Pricing Your Services
15. Financial Issues

After you prepare your business plan and have your business up and running, then you'll be able to:

14. Grow the Business
16. Personal Issues (Cash Out).

I particularly liked the Case Study #6 in Appendix 2 (Failing to Institutionalize the Company). And Appendix 3 (A Designer's Short Course on Marketing) was very well done. Chapter 10 on "Promoting" was very well done given the amount of pages devoted to it.

I was a bit disappointed with the Sample Business Plan Form included in Appendix 4. But the book is not exactly set up to cater to people trying to write a business plan. So I can't be too critical here.

This book is packed full of content regarding the business of graphic design (and small business, in general). It will be well worth your time in reading it if you have any interest in small business. 5 stars!

It is a rare treasure to find a book like this. "Correspondence" gives insight to the artistry, friendship, and psychology of two gifted writers/curmudgeons.

A little advice to the prospective reader. Forgive Shelby Foote his apparent crankiness, which may be the most notable feature of this book. As other reviews note, Percy is absent through much of the volume. Foote's tone, already tinged with youthful didacticism, is transformed into a soliloquy which is boastful and (at times) rude.

Appearances may be misleading, however. While on the surface egotistical, Foote's often incisive letters betray far more complex motives. He searches for true conversation, for a way to gauge his art (his central pursuit). Percy may come across as aloof, or even vague, but this may be due to the hidden lifelong friendship behind these letters.

A wonderful read

Pity Shelby Foote. Most people know his as a writer of books on the Civil War. But when you read this book of letters you see that what thrilled him most was reading great literature.

The reader of this book of letters between two friends will be thrilled by talk of literature. Foote is like Herr Settembrini of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain". He is so overwhelmed by humantistic learning that he finds he must educate his friend and mentor Hans Castrop, in this case Walker Percy.

It is ironic that the prodigy in this case, Walker Percy, soon eclipses the mentor. Walker Percy agonizes in his early letters about his inability to have his novels published while Foote publishes his books in rapid succession. But today Percy's "Moviegoer" and other books are still read while only Foote's "Shiloh" is really still popular. It seems Foote is stuck with Civil War fame have written his long classic on the war.

Reading Foote's letters is where I discovered Flanney O'Connor. Walker Percy and Shelby Foote spoke highly of her here. They also talk about the important of reading Marcel Proust, Faulkner, and a dozen others. Toward the end Foote begins to spew forth on the merits of reading the Greek classics. It is his description of these books and their authors that adds to one's own literary education.

The first part of the book is a little annoying because Shelby Foote threw away the letters that Walker Percy sent to him for the first many years of their correspondence. So you keep reading Shelby Foote but are not privvy to what Walker Percy as to say.

I don't know when I have enjoyed a book of letters so much. Usually such things represent only a given writer's letters to a variety of people. This volume is a correspondence between two friends that covers five decades and in it one is able to see them grow, change and take delight in a constant verbal duel that must have been going on from the time they first met as teenagers. For two decades this 'conversation' is mostly a monologue because Foote didn't start saving Percy's letters until the 70's, but it is often easy to imagine Percy's letters from Foote's responses - his answering specific questions and arguing against certain statements.

It is so much fun to see Foote trying for 50 years to get Percy to read Proust, and Percy simply ignoring the injunctions. This is just one of the ongoing literary 'wars' that are fought between these two significant writers who, while being diametrically different in style and theme, were the closest of friends from the age of 14.

I found that once started, I couldn't stop reading. From the first chatty letter from Foote in which he proposes his desire to be a great novelist to the last 'letter' - a message read at Percy's memorial service - the book has the forward momentum of a good novel, the intellectual give and take of a Platonic dialogue and the warmth and humor that only good friends can bring to lifelong disagreements. I think this is a great book and, for all who think that literature is important, a wonderful window into the thinking of two fine minds.

I bought this book because of an enduring love affair with the literary works of Walker Percy. As an addition to the literary biographies of Percy written by Samway and Tolson, the letters serve their purpose well. As a letters volume on its own merits, The Correspondence of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy is unbalanced. Apparently, Foote didn't start saving Percy's letters until the exchange had been occurring for some time. Nevertheless, it is thoroughly interesting to observe Foote's massive ego as he lectures Percy, having the knowledge that Percy ultimately became the far greater literary star. If you've already delved deeply into the work and history of Walker Percy, you'll need this book. If not, find a different starting place, this is not a good place to begin.

This was a great read, but each of the correspondents disappointed in their own ways. Percy's letters are written in an intelligent but notably vague style; Foote's have more bite and literary polish, but at the same time display a nasty streak in his personality that remained invisible in his brilliant _Civil War_.

It's a bit sickening to watch on as Foote seduces the wife of a local doctor, and later recommends to Percy (oh so wittily) that he use pillows to prop up the crotches of female UNC undergrads so that they might better serve his wishes.

On the bright side, it is hilarious to watch Foote react to a letter from a clueless librarian accusing him of failing to mention Gettysburg in his history (she seems not to have realized that it was a multi-volume work). Even more importantly, the entire collection is thought-provoking.

If you have an inquisitive child and you are a little rusty on science facts and figures, this is the book for BOTH of you!! Fun and interesting to read. A great reference book as well. A little on the pricey side, but packs a lot of information in one place. Great illustrations. Nice layout.

DK makes some of the world's best books for kids; that is indisputable. It's easy to nitpick, of course. The precision photography of the DK books, and the very attention to detail can render the technology information obsolete fairly rapidly. But for the here and now, DK books have no rival. However, they may well not last beyond the now. Here's my pet peeve with this particular book: It is so big and heavy, that if your kids love this book as much as mine do, the cover will quickly separate from the book, leaving the whole thing vulnerable to unravelling. We've lost our contents and index already, now we're losing our science history pages! I'm so sad about this! This book literally falls apart under its own weight, when handled by children. I will attempt a hold-together fix with some duct tape, but I'm not sure how long that will last. This book is such an incredible resource, and kids will spend hours reading it to themselves or dragging it over to you for an explanation of this or that, but its construction is not sufficiently strong for its weight and target age level. A tough paperback binding would have been a far better thing. Kids need strong, strong books. If you want to keep this book in spiffy condition, then by all means put it up on a shelf, defeat the purpose of buying it in the first place, and then your kids can sell it on e-bay in 50 years or so as an antique curiosity. If you're some hyper-organized size-5 perfect freak of nature, you can keep it on your special shelf of fragile books that you personally take down and read to your children for 25 minutes every day after Yoga, and then you can do the same for your grandchildren, if your kids ever let you see them. If you let this book just get enjoyed and learned from freely, you can expect that a: Your kids will love it and learn a lot, and b: The book won't last two years, unless you only have girls, who tend to be less destructive little beasts. I don't think girls will attempt to place this book as a bridge between couch and coffee table, then jump on it. Boys might. Punks.

and I truly mean this. For adults, adolesents and kids as young as two years old, this is a great resource and highly enjoyable book for all ages. My 3 year old LOVES it, my 5 year old LOVES it, and when flipping through it with them together as a bedtime book, I almost always wind up reading and adding to my own knowledge-base myself. This is a book that you would expect to retail for $50 and at this Amazon price, it is a real deal.

This is a book well suited to give a overview of a wide range of scientific topics. It may not be the end all as a scientific reference, but will spark your child's interest and imagination about science. After reading this book, your child will want to go on to more detailed books about their specific areas of interest.
The book is organized into chapters of broad topics such as Matter, Reactions, Materials, Electricity, Sound and Light, Weather, Space, Living things, etc. The breadth of subjects is a welcome change. The school curriculum of elementary children tends to be patchy, and this book fills in many gaps that they may not even touch on in Science Class.
Each page is filled with colorful and attention grabbing illustrations. There is a short synopsis of the subtopic and then the page is filled with factoids which match the attention span of children this age.
My son enjoyed this book immensely and it was his favorite for two years. It was a great nightime "story" book.

This book is great. It gives many pictures and illustrations. It helped me immensely with my science class.

I just received this book a couple of days ago and it has been the best book I bought rescently. I have only read the first three chapters and I don't seem to be able to drive my eyes off of it. It is clear, organized, straight to the point and well illustrated (good examples). Buy it, together with with "How to be a graphic artist without loosing your soul" by Adrian Shaughnessy and, if you apply the knowledge that these two acquired and dare to share with us, there's no way you should fail in your intent to build your own business in the creative field.

If you are a newby in design bussines or still studying, do yourself a favor, read this book before attemting anything else and you will be better directed in even the task of deciding if you really are going to be a graphic designer for the apropriate reasons or if you should really do something else. If you have been into this for some time already, you will still learn many things that you are still doing wrong and so on...

Listen, go and buy it... Period!

Cameron Foote's books and monthly newsletters are truly must-have resources for graphic designers, from the lone freelance to a busy studio. I teach design, and this book is one of about three that I have recommended to every class.

A fantastic book full of valuable insights. Most of these "how to run your business" books are drab and full of what amounts to blah blah blah. I have found this book to be revolutionary in the way that I organize my business strategies, developing a more proactive mind set, and restructuring the entire operation of running a creative studio. Amongst the hundreds of design books on my shelf, this is the one that is currently helping me the most. The tone is not pretentious, nor laymen. Designers are demanding individuals, and as a professional designer, this is necessary reading.

Very helpful, concise and confidence building resource for information on how to run a small design firm.

The sub-title of this book is "The Complete Guide to RUNNING a Small Graphic Design or Communications Business" and as such I have given it a 2-star rating. If it was re-titled "The Complete Guide to STARTING a Small Graphic Design or Communications Business" then I would probably give it a 5-star rating for readers based in the USA and a 4-star for those elsewhere.

If you are in position where you are considering starting up your own business or going it alone as a freelancer then this book contains a lot of valuable information and good advice and I would highly recommend reading it before you go any further.

Those outside the USA should be aware that some sections of the book will not be relevant (for example those focusing on company registration procedures and tax issues) as they are based on US law and regulations -but there is still a lot of other good advice.

I would estimate that around 3/4ths of the book focuses on pre start-up and start-up issues so, if like me, you are currently running your own business then much of the content is already redundant and, while the remaining content is informative, this does limit the overall usefullness of the book.