O Books

Very interesting and great recipes

Every recipe I've tried from this cookbook has gotten raves, and considering the source, many of these recipes are terrifically easy (no specialized knowledge or equipment required). O'Connell has no fear of cream, butter, and salt, so this isn't everyday fare, but for special occasions, holidays, birthdays, and nights when you really want to impress, this book is indispensable. The Amazon price is excellent too, and the book's worth every penny. Definitely destined to become one of my favorite cookbooks (it's coffee-table pretty, but my copy is already smeared with butter and dusted with flour).

This beautifully photographed book was a vivid reminder of the unique dining experience we had at the Inn. Recipes are easy to follow and results have been great. I especially liked the "pantry" section at the back of the book. Thank You!

Not only gorgeous, but absolutley oen of the mouth taste titillating cookbooks I've ever seen (along with their first book, Inn at Little Washington Cookbook)... and everything is do-able!!

I've bought this book a few weeks ago. Prior to start selecting the recipes I usually read any cooking book like any other book. I just found out that I was putting marks in all of the pages, so I stopped doing it and instead, I started cooking each one of the recipes, choosing whether I wanted fish or meat.
Even if you replace or adjust some of the ingredients, the result it's absolutely amazing.
Try the recipe that has a picture in the cover, and you will see what you get from your family, friends, or even for your self. Don't skip the decoration, it's easy to prepare and looks stunning.
This book was for sure a very important addition to my small library of cooking books. I have slightly more than 200 cooking books.
MT-Japan

Browsing is a journey through life, times, places, cultures. Looking up often offers surprises. This book is a kick.

murdered by the media

These words are no longer in use, as we no longer converse truly and freely as a nation of English and slang speakers

This volume is little more than a nostaligic curio, like Dr. Johnson's dictionary, or the great Ambrose Bierce's better.

The only English slang currently in use is that receptive vocabulary emitted by our media, and not expressive nor creative as our one way media permits no conversation. We are made to listen, to hear, to receive, only. The internet alone allows literacy, and look at the level of written speech there. Yet even there the formerly great oral tongue is lost.

The most vibrant languages heard throbbing through our land are now those not dictated by our anglo media. There alone does the uniquely human aural ability live and breathe. And thus this massive dictionary properly fades away unfinished.

In any case, what anglo librarian would permit its presence in a library?

Intriguing for historical reasons alone. Not useful for comprehending the language one actually hears around oneself, as no living and present language is heard. Just dust off your old Lord Buckley collection instead, or the Mercury recording How To Speak Hip. Not even riding the city bus helps anymore.

Forty years ago our Amrican language was still richer, more diverse, more playful, more subtle. Now we have only whitely phosphorized talking heads bleating how we must speak and thus how we must think, and by limiting our vacabulary limiting our capacity for free thought. Our only hope is a healthy jolt of James Joyce and the trembling Twain.

Oxford University press is currently undertaking the massive editorial work required to finish this ground-breaking four-volume set that was started more than 25 years ago. The third volume, covering the alphabetic range of P through Sk, is due to appear in March 2007. Volume IV, covering Sk through Z and including a bibliography of tens of thousands of items, is planned for two years later.(...)

I must agree with settimio biondi from Italy. Having purchased the first two volumes, we've been waiting for 7 years for P~Z. This is an excellent, comprehensive work. Hopefully, Oxford...or someone with a sense of responsibility...will finish the final volume.

We have been waiting for this dictionary for a long time. Specifically, since 1975 when Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner issued their second supplemented edition of the "Dictionary of American Slang."
Editor J.E. Lighter, a researcher at the University of Tennessee, is somewhat disparaging of Wentworth and Flexner, the only previous lexicographers to take a healthy swing at American slang. (I don't count H.L. Mencken, who compiled many lists, but not in a format that a working writer can use.)
Lighter faults their "looseness of definition, unpredictable allocation of citations and a certain historical naivete." Maybe, but their book had, and still has, the most important merit a dictionary can have -- it is useful.
Also, theirs goes through Z, which is more than Lighter can say in 2006, 12 years after his Vol. 1 came out and many more years than that since he began.
Also, Wentworth and Flexner's volume is wieldy. Lighter's dictionary has many excellencies, but handiness is not one of them.
Wentworth and Flexner covered the whole of American English in a small volume of two pounds, six ounces. Lighter covers one-third the ground in a massive folio of six pounds, one ounce.
Lighter is often, but not always, more comprehensive. Take bum.
W&F give this useful word 26 definitions in a page. Lighter gives 29 in three pages, but three of his usages have earliest dates since W&F's last effort. It looks like a draw, but it's not, quite.
W&F give a nice little essay on the finer gradations of meaning of bum (in its sense of vagabond); Lighter is less preachy on usage, letting the extensive quotations do that work for him. This is the approved method for serious work, but although Lighter's citations often seem repetitive, their length does not always ensure completeness, as we shall see.
W&F derive bum from the German bummler, idler, but Lighter appears to think this an example of historical naivete, finding bum sprung full-blown in 1864, without any certain antecedents. (In its sense of fundament, it goes back in English to at least 1387.)
Turn now to cracker. Lighter gives it nearly half a page, in the sense of "a backwoods Southern white person regarded as ignorant, brutal, loutish, bigoted etc.," tracing it to 1766. W&F does not have it at all.
Lighter is clearly ahead here, but there are problems with this definition.
First, it is politically correct but lexically incorrect. A cracker is not a white person but a white man. Like its synonyms redneck and woolhatter, it is never used of a woman.
Second, not one of the 31 citations even hints at a usage that would explain how the Atlanta professional baseball team in the old Sally League (slang for South Atlantic League; I will be interested to see if this makes it into Lighter's Vol. 3, if I live long enough to see it) came to be called the Crackers. Or how Georgians' and north Floridians' own nickname for themselves came to be crackers, the way people from Indiana call themselves Hoosiers.
Lighter does also give five other definitions of cracker: beans, a remarkable individual, dollar, a poor skier who often loses control and a light-skinned Negro.
Taken in all, Lighter has lifted the compilation of American salng to a new, much higher level -- except for Hawaiian American slang.
Except for go for broke, which is listed as "apparently originally Nisei or Hawaiian English," I cannot find any slang words from the Hawaiian dialect of Standard American -- even though some words in Standard Hawaiian have migrated into Slang English, like kahuna.
There are many definitions in Lighter of grind, for example, but none for the ways we in Hawaii use it as noun and verb (for eating). Chance um is missing, too, and give um and blahlah.
The absence of Hawaiian American Slang (Alaskan, too) is a serious fault, but on the whole the book is a corker ("a person or thing of extraordinary size, effectiveness, quality etc.," originally English slang traced to 1882 but brought into American by Mark Twain in 1889).

Joan Biskupic's biography on Sandra Day O'Connor is one of the best biographies I have read. She discusses Justice O'Connor's life from before she became a Supreme Court Justice to when she announced her retirement. Not only did Ms. Biskupic discuss how the court changed in the early 1980's with the addition of the nation's first woman Supreme Court Justice, but she discussed how this effected the other justices as well. Moreover, the reader who may just be wanting to learn about Justice O'Connor learns about all of the Supreme Court Justices that she served with during her tenure. It is an easy read and would be a great book for high school and college students, who were not born yet when Sandra Day O'Connor first joined the Supreme Court and gave them an idea what she had to contend with to get her job and also what life was like during the 80's, 90's and early 21st century. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the life of Sandra Day O'Connor. She is truly a very interesting woman and a role model for young women today.

No author to date has fine-tuned the story of O'Connor from ranch to robes as well as Ms. Biskupic. The extent of her study and interviews shows, but does not become an academic report. It is fresh and insightful, and certainly as amusing and straight-shooting as its subject.

If you are interested in the law, the Supremes, history in the making, or simply the politics of what it means to be a woman in the law, this is the book you want to read.

As an admirer of SDO for quite some time, this book opened me up to admire her even more. This book told me so many things that I never knew. It also explained her reasoning behind many of her decisions, both as a justice and in life. Worth the read.

Joan Biskupic's biography _Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice_ provides a compelling picture of the first woman Supreme Court justice and of the inner workings of the Supreme Court through four presidential administrations. Biskupic combines assiduous research with a writing style that makes the intricacies of Supreme Court proceedings accessible and fascinating. The biography is impressive on many counts, especially in how it captures O'Connor's skilfull handling of the challenges of being the nation's first female Supreme Court Justice. Throughout, Biskupic's stance is balanced, outlining the strengths of O'Connor's jurisprudence while acknowleding O'Connor's critics.

While the main focus of the biography is on O'Connor's work in the Supreme Court, the early chapters offer a snapshot of O'Connor as a driven career woman, a devoted wife and mother, and an adroit politician. Biskupic shows how O'Connor's life on the family's "Lazy B." farm in Arizona was a formative influence, even though her parents consciously separated her from the farm in order to give her more educational opportunities at a private school in in El Paso. Her father's independence and opposition to the expansion of federal powers in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, and O'Connor's experiences as a trial lawyer, an Arizona state senator, and a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals shaped an approach to law based on pragmatic, narrow definitions as opposed to overarching theoretical positions in rulings. As Biskupic shows, O'Connor's Arizonan, Western roots are manifest in her respect for the Tenth Amendment, which gives to states those powers not directly assigned to the federal government.

Biskupic is sensitive in tracing O'Connor's role as a trailblazer (though, often, in a purposefully understated way), and the biography shows how attitudes toward women have evolved from the 1950s to the present. O'Connor, for instance, despite graduating in the top 10% at Stanford University's Law school in 1952 and having been a member of the Stanford Law Review, received no offers at firms. One prestigious firm, Gibson, Dunn offered her a legal secretary position, which she declined. In an irony reflective of social changes, when Fred Smith, Ronald Reagan's White House Counsel and a former lawyer with Gibson, Dunn, and Grutcher, interviewed O'Connor in 1981 for the Supreme Court vacancy, O'Connor asked him if it was an interview for "a secretarial position." Biskupic begins her book with this effective anecdote, and the biography throughout reveals how O'Connor astutely negotiated gender prejudice in public life.

Biskupic also offers a detailed picture of O'Connor's important votes related to Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, capital punishment, and Bush v. Gore as she became increasingly the fifth tie-breaking in a deadlocked court. Biskupic chronicles O'Connor's evolution as a jurist, arguing that her role as a centrist often made her a baramoter of where the nation as a whole stood. Biskupic points out that O'Connor's legislative background as an Arizona State Senator--as a person who ran for office and thus who was directly accountable to the electorate--gave her a unique perspective in the Supreme Court with its life-time appointees.

Chapter 15, "Scalia v. O'Connor," highlights O'Connor's judicial pragmatism and minimalist interpretations, offering a contrast with Scalia's philosophically driven understanding of law on originalist grounds. In this chapter, Biskupic addresses critiques of O'Connor's decisions and legal reasoning from both the right and left. This chapter is fair in its discussion and highly informative about different approaches to law and about the role of the Supreme Court, in general.

An anecdote at the end of the book reveals O'Connor's personal style. In an interview with Biskupic, Clarence Thomas recalled O'Connor's congeniality and even the subtle impact this had on the court . O'Connor had attempted for a number of years to convince the other justices to eat lunch together after listening to cases. Although Thomas and other justices initially resisted, prefering to work on cases, he and others later relented. Thomas remarks, "Now, you have a group of people who really enjoy other's company." Biskupic argues that such tact helped lead to O'Connor's ascendant role in the court.

Biskupic's biography chronicles O'Connor's own life and provides a view of the day-to-day dynamics of the Supreme Court, including shifts in the court with retirements and the investitures of new justices. The biography, while telling many important stories affecting American law and life, maintains a clear argument of O'Connor's unmistakable influence.

This is a most engaging portrait of a model justice in the common law tradition. Justice O'Connor is a true American icon of humble and hardworking origins rising to the heights of leadership based on character, critical thinking and an ethic of service. Her good will and civility toward those with whom she disagreed is an example to follow. The narrative is well informed, nuanced and flows steadily in a current that merges national, judicial and personal events in the judge's life most artfully. A wonderful book about a wonderful lady and an excellent Supreme Court justice. It is the likes of Sandra Day O'Connor that make one proud to be an American. And though I've never (yet) voted Republican she is also one more beautiful reason to love Ronald Reagan.

Sheehy claims that her writing of this book was the breaking of silence on a taboo subject. Her aim is to provide information which will help woman better understand what they have been going through. She claims that traditionally women have been poorly informed on the subject. She claims reliance on friends, on mothers does not bring the kind of full knowledge of the subject required.
She provides many stories and examples, and gives a real sense of how varied this 'silent passage' is. A minority of women go through it seemingly without problems, but for some it is wholly unbearable. One question which is central to the book and really unanswered regards Hormone Replacement Theory , and its advisability. Recent studies have pointed to increased levels of cancer of those who have taken the hormones.
Sheehy repeats herself often, beats her own drum, but is a clear writer whose work no doubt has been of real service to many women who have suffered without understanding what exactly they were going through, and why this is not something to feel guilty or be stigmatized about. Sheehy's strong believe that knowledge and understanding can be of great help seems to me correct and fair.

This book is an excellent overview of menopause but needs further updating in light of the current controversy over Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). The author is still all aglow over HRT, and it is heralded within the pages of this book as if it were the end all, be all for menopausal women. While this was the general prevailing medical view, it seems that further research has put its value in question somewhat, and HRT is now at the heart of some heated medical controversy.

Still, if the reader is aware already of this budding medical controversy over HRT, the book does offer some insights into menopause in an informative and fairly concise fashion. This should prove to be especially helpful to the hordes of baby boomer women who are entering this phase of their lives. The book also provides information into holistic, alternative ways of addressing some of the issues attendant in menopausal women. It appears that nature may provide some palliatives that some women may find preferable to the drug-infused approach of some medical practitioners.

Overall, this is an excellent, well-researched book and one that a lay person can read with ease. It provides interesting insights into the emotional, psychological, and medical concerns of peri-menopausal and menopausal women and discusses some of the remedies that are available, if necessary, to ease women through this major life passage. The book has clearly been a labor of love for the author, and she has endeavored, with success, to remove the mystery that has enshrouded menopause for so long.

Chapters are short and easy to read. This book deals not only with the technical aspects that most books do, but primarily with particular women's experiences with those various aspects--especially their feelings. This is what is left out of most of the other books. I recommend this book together with a more techinical book. But if you can only buy one book, buy this one instead. The main thing this book left me with was a feeling that instead of menopause being something that will just happen to me, there are a lot of things I can do, in a proactive sense, to manage the menopause. This is the most positive book I have seen on the subject, and helps me decide about all the questions to discuss with my doctor. Without reading this book, instead of being ready with a list of questions for my doctor, I would have passively listened to whatever he said, and thought that was it.

but I feel better now, and I attribute my new outlook to having read The Silent Passage.

Those of us approaching or in the midst of our passage into menopause owe a great debt to the pioneering women who lifted menopause out of the dark ages and brought it into the broad light of day. One of these early pioneers was Gail Sheehy. With the exception of her views on Hormone Replacement Therapy (as other reviewers have pointed out) this book offers a lively, energizing, well-researched overview of menopause. I read the original edition about ten years ago and have considered the deeper meaning of the title of this groundbreaking book. "Silent Passage" carries echoes of another revolutionary work, Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson. Silent Spring foresaw a day when pollution would destoy the reproductive cycle of birds, and they would no longer sing their songs. The Silent Passage echoes that notion. It not only implies that in menopause women suffer in silence but also that the clear, vibrant voice of women at midlife and older had been silenced. Now, thanks to pioneers like Gail Sheehy, we are demanding that our collective voices be heard!

--Suza Francina, author, Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause and The New Yoga for People Over 50.

I believe that a well written short story is easy to imagine but difficult to capture. Mr. O'Hara, however, seems to capture different moments and ideas in his short stories with effortless flair. His writing is both sparse and ornate--which is just the way I like my stories. His words took me to places that were magical and raw. Reading The Swan also made me want to visit the Sacremento Valley immediately.

Mr. O'Hara has given us such a gift with this book. I will read it again and again. I am honored to have it in my collection.

lavish Lines/luscious Lies

The Swan: Tales of the Sacramento Valley is the debut book of Andrew F. O'Hara, a former patrolman and current editor of the online magazine, The Jimston Journal www.jimstonjournal.com. Mr. O' Hara's book is a collection of short stories and from past experiences, any collection of short stories that I've read with the exception of Carol Riley Cain's Ghosts, Spooks and Spirits of South Texas, have been rather dismal or uninspiring to say the least. But this little 140-paged book was a welcomed change.
The Swan, as mentioned before, is a diverse range of short stories. From humorous yarns about a nagging wife to a patrolman who's losing his sanity and resorting to alcohol for some solace, there is something here that caters to everyone's taste.
There's a mantra that has been around for many years now and that is, "never judge a book by its cover." Well when one glances upon the cover of The Swan, they are greeted with an image of a swan with its wings poised in the air as it glides along the shimmering waters of some anonymous pond or lake. This image of pleasantry does somehow go hand-in-hand with the stories of this book as they are beautifully written. Every tale was unique and written in a fresh approach but what was really distinctive was the method in which the author was able to breathe new life into each character. From start to finish, one has a vivid picture in their mind of the character's actions in all the compositions. My favourites are "A Poet's Song" and "An Act of Cowardice" because these contain, in my opinion, the strongest characters of the entire collection. In "A Poet's Song", an old husband and poet, has to listen to the nagging of his wife as she no longer likes to see him writing poetry. Her biting words or comments ring in the ears of the reader and you cannot help but feel pity for the old man. The main character in, "An Act of Cowardice", is a World War II vet who feels guilty about a deed he did in his past and although anyone in his position would've done the same if they were in his position, his feeling of guilt resonates with the reader. Another talent that O'Hara possesses is a certain richness in his descriptions. For those of you who may never get a chance to visit the Sacramento Valley or indeed the US, Andrew paints a scenic picture of the location in which each tale is set in. It's these attributes that make Tales of The Sacramento Valley a worthwhile addition to your bookshelf.
If you're remotely interested in compiling a book of short stories, then The Swan is a must read as O'Hara expertly displays how it's done. With splendid characterisation, picturesque descriptions, and excellent stories, this should be on everyone's "to buy" list and would make a great gift at Christmas to pass away the winter blues.

Aidan Lucid
www.iol.ie/~thelucidreview

Andy O'Hara is a storyteller who understands the value of a good story, well told. And that is what you'll find in The Swan - a collection of very good stories, very well told by a writer who understands that a whispered word can pack more punch than a raised voice. These are stories of love and death (and really what else is there worth writing about?). They are not easy stories and they are, perhaps, uneven (which is just another way of saying you'll have your favorites). They are written with a gentleness of spirit that some might call old-fashioned. So be it. I just call it good writing.

This 2007 revised edition is a collection of wonderful provoking short stories. Each as engaging as the one before. The descriptions of the small towns made me feel that I was in each place; seeing and feeling the scenery, people and even the stars.
I could not put it down. My only disappointment was that there was not another story and I had to close the book with its beautiful cover.

This is the new Swan, the 2007 Edition with feathers all bright white, fluffed and ready to lull and captivate you at the same time. Andy O'Hara has improved on the un-improvable this time around. The weave is tight, but so smoothly done the stories blend into each other, carrying two common themes to fruition by the turn of the last page. The fun is how Andy has taken the reader on a swing through his beloved Sacramento Valley. He describes obscure towns giving us a mental picture along with the smell of the dust, the fields, the eucalyptus groves and more. The stories, Andy claims, are fiction, but I would bet most have been drawn from his own experiences. A great read and a great buy, one I will enjoy over and over again...J.B. Bergstad

Absolutely superb. This is on the true cutting edge of the effects of custody exchanges on children.

As a marriage and family therapist for forty years I have heard the switching hour event described over and over from the point of view of divorced or divorcing parents. Flesberg's book describes it from the child's point of view. This allowed me to feel and understand the pain of divorce from a different and more striking perspective--one that both therapists and toubled families need to know more about. Flesberg's section on what can be done to reduce the child's stress during the switching hour is particularly helpful.

Dr. Flesberg has produced a book which meets the needs of working professionals, parents, and parents who are working professionals! It is well written and researched. I have already begun using this in the parish. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who loves kids, loves parents, or both.

The Rev. Lewis A. Groce
Trinity Church
Tullahoma TN

Dr Flesberg has condensed many years of pastoral experience and academic research into this small, practical, accessibly written book which can be confidently placed in the hands of busy parents, pastors, and anyone else who cares about children. A skilled teacher, she guides the reader into empathetic understanding of the experience of children of divorced parents, and provides clear, wise suggestions for how to help. I have already recommended The Switching Hour to a number of friends and relatives, and will continue to do so.

I found The Switching Hour to be very informative concerning the different issues that children face after their parents divorce. I particularly liked the blessings for the children on page 100 and 101. We have begun using them as we see our grandchildren go with their biological father for visits. I would recommend this book to anyone needing advise in dealing with divorce.
Rick Otey

This book teaches us what everyone should know about Autism and I can't thank Miss O'Neill enough for her insight. And her poetry is lovely!
Autism is a different way of being and should be respected and appreciated.

My 7 year old son is autistic and has opened doors in my mind and in my heart to things that I never knew existed. He changed how I view the world entirely. I've never ounce wished for him to be like other children, nor would I ever teach him that something is 'wrong' with him.
He is unique person, an interesting person. He is different and that's okay, differences is what makes our world beautiful. I am so glad that I found this book and I not only recommend it as a 'must read' but as a 'need to read' for anyone on the spectrum or for anyone who's life has been IMPROVED by an autistic person :)

I am Autistic, and I love this book. Autism is not a condition, it is a personality type. This book succeeds in making that point. This book is all about acceptance of the Autistic individual, a refreshing change from books about eradicating Autism from the face of the earth. I would also recommend "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau. I believe that it is another book about how an Autistic person views the world. It is of my own opinion that I think he was Asperger's Syndrome.

Ms. O'Neill gave me a chance to see and feel some of the things my beautiful 6 year old son does. He is Autistic and truly a gift. The words to thank Ms. O'Neill for this opportunity of letting this "big worlder" inside my sons private world, escape me. I had highlighter ready and used it often. I will refer back to many passages for years to come.
I was unable though, to give this the highest rating due to the very personal experiences and generalization of them for all autistics the author gave. I felt the authors pain from past discriminations and crule treatment especially in a public school setting. My son is now in 1st grade and fully mainstreamed. He is obviously different to the other children. The kids in his kindergarten class last year and now in 1st grade are nothing but affectionate, kind, patient and understanding. I do not feel it is wrong to mainstream some Autistics. They are individuals and each situation is unique. What is good for one may not be for another.
I also believe this book may not be for the parent of a newly diagnoised child especially if the child is very young. There are portions of the book that are hard to handle for even the experienced parent like myself. What I mean by "handle" is Ms. O'Neills statements that lead me to think she is totally against any intervention at all. While some parents might be looking for the "cure", which in my opinion is pointless and also is denying your childs special gifts , others want to help their child learn to deal with the big world around them. Our goal should be to find a balance. We should give them all chances of being able to cope with life, possibly become independent and to rejoice in who they are and what a gift they are to us and the world.
I encourage you to read this book, though I caution any reader who might not understand this is one persons experiences and may not reflect all Autistics lives.

I will struggle to find words to describe this book, though I can say I think it is beautiful and it is one of my favourites. This is such a lovely, strong, positive look at the autistic experience. It is practical and well informed, realistic, and yet inspirational. I don't know what else to say other than read it, and perhaps a warning... as a person on the spectrum myself, during and after reading this book I felt so much more relaxed and comfortable about being me that I felt even more disconnected than ever from the neurotypical people with whom I must share my life. This book is not just a book for autistic people though... it will give invaluable insight and advice to anyone who wants to see 'through the eyes of aliens'.

This author, while she writes with crystalline and seemingly fragile prose, is absolutely uncompromising in her view that autistic people are a unique form of human being who should not be forced to conform to the standards of other people.

By this, she does not mean that autistic people should not learn, or that there are no difficulties associated with autism -- critics often read it as if she says this, but she clearly discusses autism's unpleasant side. She also clearly demonstrates ways to teach autistic people, although, like much of her book, she seems to base her details on a combination of her personal experience and some dubious but well-accepted research. There are more factual errors than it would be possible to list in a review, but this ends up not mattering much to me in the end. Most autistic authors overgeneralize about what the experience of autism is like; O'Neill is no exception to that rule.

What bothers me most about this book, however, is the view that autistic people are fragile creatures that must be shielded at all costs from the "big world". One would think, reading this, that we were all special little dolls made of porcelain. It makes me suspect that the author has experienced the horrors of being abandoned to the clutches of an uncaring and hostile world, but has not experienced the at-least-equal horrors of being overprotected to the point of imprisonment. As such, she unflinchingly advocates residential homes for autistic adolescents, and naively believes that it is possible to tell a good one from a bad one by visiting. Having been placed in a beautiful, abusive residential home as a teen, I'm forced to disagree. You can't judge a book by its cover -- as surely the delicate face on the cover of this book full of tough ideas shows -- and you can't judge a residential home by its appearance on visiting day. Thinking we could led my whole family into grief that none of us have recovered from. After experiences like that, I'm quite willing to take my chances with the abuse the "big world" could dish out -- at least in the outside world you can pack up and move on if you don't like a place.

The only other noteworthy potentially dangerous advice in the book is the author's equally naive belief that herbal remedies are automatically safer than traditional medicines. Plants can be just as poisonous as extracted chemicals, and while I have used a few herbal remedies, I used them with that knowledge in mind.

The author, who has a gentle writing style that belies the strength of her plea for acceptance, never once wavers and says, "Well, in this case autism should be cured." She doesn't believe in prolonging suffering. She believes that unusual-but-harmless things about autism -- like augmentative communication techniques and stimming -- should not be stopped in a person just because more neurotypical movements and communication styles are the social norm. She does not believe in social norms that exclude certain kinds of people, and she explains why very well.

Even among the other books that urge acceptance of autism, a person is unlikely to run across a book with such a pervasive and unswerving attitude of this kind, even in the years since its publication. This is an important book, a historic book, and a book which, if read properly, can translate to an attitude of accepting *all* autistic people as real and valid human beings as we are, and learning to teach us and learn along with us rather than force us into a mold we can never fit. It is a rare book that can cause me to discard nearly all of my misgivings about the details, but this is one of them. I would recommend reading it along with William Stillman's _Demystifying the Autistic Experience_. I would prefer to give this a 9 out of 10 stars, or 4.5 out of 5, but since there are only 5, rounding up can't hurt.

This book has everything for those of us who are timid about investing. Ms. O'Shaughnessy shares insights and information which help both the novice and experienced investor navigate the world of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. She uses anecdotal and even personal stories to inform and amuse throughout the book. There is an incredible amount of valuable information and tons of resources for the reader, and Ms. O'Shaughnessy covers the pros and cons of many investment topics. This user-friendly guide is a winner!

In the past, I've approached all investment primers with the same enthusiasm I reserve for visits to the dentist. But after my first half-hour with this one, I was happily hooked! Not only is the investment advice top-notch, but the method of delivery outstanding. O'Shaughnessy exhibits an amazing ability to make sophisticated concepts digestible. Her breezy writing style makes the advice seem like it's coming from a trusted friend, and her sense of humor keeps you smiling while you learn how to make that first -- or second -- million.

The Unofficial Guide to Investing is wonderful. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be dragging this fat book around in my brief case as I travel around the world on business. I'm too busy to spend a lot of time reading or even thinking about my own finances, which is why I especially like this book. It covers all the bases and the author writes in a style that is fun to read.

This book is engagingly written with wit & humor as well as lots of factual material and sound advice that you can actually use. Clear and straightforward for the novice, there is also lots of information and advice on on-line investing information and tools for the web-accessing sophisticated and savvy investor. Whether you are a novice or an experienced investor, Ms. O'Shaughnessy serves you up lots of good advice and information with respect and gentle humor. A good read, and a keeper for later reference with wonderful resource and reference material as a supplement at the back. - A San Diego cardiologist

Over the years, I've concluded that most financial books are unrealistic in the marching orders they give us, their poor readers. I'm a long-term investor (not a day trader!), so I don't appreciate a lot of fancy financial formulas that require a great deal of thought or time. Thank goodness the author of The Unofficial Guide to Investing understands that. She provides solid advice that makes an awful lot of sense to me. I also appreciate all the tips she sprinkles into the book's margins. For instance, I discovered how I could very easily determine how much my savings bonds are worth. I also learned the phone number to call to find out how much my Social Security benefits will be worth someday.

i love this book very simple to follow very easy yet the outcome so fantastic. This is good book for quilters of all ages and all levels of skill.

Excellent book of Christmas applique designs! I did take my book to a copy shop and enlarged the designs, but this is easily and inexpensively done. Beautiful and colorful use of fabrics. Applique designs are simple to make. This books inspires fun and creativity. Definitely, one of my very favorite quilt books.

This purchase was made for my wife who states:-

Having had the book for a few weeks now, I find the contents very informative, and the instructions easey to follow. I can recommend this product to any would-be enthusiast.

I found this to be a charming project. Very versatile for making one block or many. Also, the possibilities were endless for decorating and using materials, buttons etc on hand. Instructions were clear and it could be easy (iron on ) or more experienced (hand appliqued completely.) I will be making several for next year. (Not enough time for this year)!

I can't wait to make this quilt. I saw one made up at a quilt show or something very similar and couldn't wait to find the pattern. It is just so clever and fun. My quilt group is planning on making it as a block of the month. I am so happy I bought this book, it makes me smile every time I look through it.
Sincerely, LPotts

I liked this so much, I even give it as a gift. The movie was great, but the book is so much more. In the movie Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman are the leads-in the book, the leads are heavier,plainer, normal girls going through all of the drama. I think it makes it a touch more compelling. This is more graphic than the movie, though, it does touch on adult themes such as child rape so be aware if you do let a younger one read it.

Where the Heart Is,is a book about seventeen year old Novalee Nation, who is seven months pregnant. She is headed off to California with her boyfriend. Little does she know, that she will soon be stranded at A Wal-Mart in Oklahoma. With a big adventure Novalee finds love in this small town and learns some life long lessons.Willy Jack was sick of his life, sick of lieing and as drunk as could be. While struggling through the train yard he falls and passes out. As the train comes rushing on the track Willy Jack has no idea of his fate. The terrible pinching pain was throughout his legs, instead of loosing a few fingers he lost both of his legs is my favorite part in this book. I would recommend this book to everyone. The meaning of the story is so bold it shocks you. By reading it you learn lessons and you can enjoy it at the same time. While I was reading this book it caught me never wanting to put it down. Feeling like you are an actual character in this book makes you think about the situations messaged throughout it. The constsnt mystery of what will happen next is why I would recommend this book.

Do you like heart warming, dramatic books well then you sure would like this book. This book has very unike names and wonderful characters. and how Novalee has wondrerful miricles and devistaving tragices.This book has a wonderful story written to it. Billie Letts has a great imagenation. If you read this book then you'll never forget it. Take it from me and I'm only a kid but this book is truley amazing!!!

Billie Letts created a true gift by writing this wonderful little book. I've passed it on to lots of friends who had never heard of it and it became their favorite book too! The warm, real, funny, quirky characters captured my imagination, making me laugh and then cry! The names of the characters themselves were enough to capture my heart!Such a strong name,"Americus", and "Novalee",a wonderful southern invention. Read this book... you will fall in love with it. Billie Letts... please write anoth

A warm inspiring story of a young woman abandoned tragically at a Wal-Mart. Novalee Nation struggles to build a life in a small town and is given lots of help by people others might consider society's outcasts. Never looking back, Novalee moves on. She is able to, or because of circumstances, is forced to look beyond the surface and she locates exactly Where the Heart Is. A lot of quirkly misfits carving out a community for themselves. I didn't want it to end.