Owen Books

This is the best bible I have purchased in years. The details of the item are correct. If you are looking for a great study bible, this is it. Look no further.

Wonderful purchase. The large print is very easy to read. The layout of the bible is very easy to maneuver and find what you are looking for. Easy to find scriptures for many many topics. I would definitely recommend this item for purchase.

This was supposed to be a large print edition. Their definition of large certainly is different than mine. I would call it a small to tiny print. I would never have bought it if I had seen the print size.This is a very large bible with much blank space on both sides of the page which makes it much larger than it needs to be.

Easily, the best bible I've ever owned. The resources in the back are perfect for both the new Christian and the seasoned believer. Worth every penny and then some. I plan to get a Thompson Chain Bible for my wife, too.

I purchased a nice leather, wide-margin Thompson Chain Ref. Bible that I could use to transfer all of my notes into from all my other Bibles. It was bulky but worth using only one Bible. I have used the Thompson Chain Bibles for years. It has been my favorite style Bible of all Bibles. This new wide-margin Thompson Chain broke my heart. The pages are so cheap and thin that no matter what type of pen you use, it shows on the opposite side, as if it was written on that very page. This has never happened on my older editions. I have certain quality and brand name pens that I use and have used for years on my Bibles so this would not happen. They even work on "cheapo" award paper bibles. It would seem that a $100.00+ Thompson would hold up better, but it doesn't.

I must be honest and admit that I have not contacted the company for a refund or exchange, but I am contemplating it. The fact that a long-time buyer and believer in Thompson Chain products would have to put up with this hassle caused me to caution future buyers - not of the layout or notes, because these have not changed and are awesome tools for the true Bible student - but definitely of the quality of the leather and paper used for the pages today. If you take notes in your Bible, beware!!!

The Cd begins with the powerful witches scene-great music-definitely causing my students to sit-up and listen.

The Dover Thrift Edition is a good choice for a reading text because it presents the entire, unabridged play, and has enough notes to be helpful to inexperienced readers without overwhelming or distracting them. The omition of a scholarly apparatus makes the Dover Edition more flexible and keeps it from becoming outdated.

This product was great. It helped my students and I read and comprehend Macbeth so much better than us trying to read it and comprehend it. The actors voices are great! I think they do a great job being the characters on tape!

Virtually all editions of Macbeth will have at least some annotations. Rummaging through five different editions, I preferred the Yale University Press version, edited by Burton Raffel, as having the most comprehensive and comprehensible notes, as well as an excellent introduction to Shakespeare's play. Raffel not only explains the meanings of obscure words, but also gives brief notes pertaining to relevant history, geography, stage directions, etc, that are rarely addressed as fully by other editors. In addition, Raffel frequently gives the proper way to stress the syllables in a line when reading it aloud, which can be extremely helpful. (However, in most places these stresses need to be very subtle, so that you don't sound like "taDUM taDUM taDUM".) And Yale's page layout is among the clearest that I've seen.

(To find this edition: at Avanced Search, enter ISBN 0300106548; or, enter Macbeth as title, and either Raffel as author or Yale as publisher.)

As a bonus, this edition includes at the back a long essay on the play by Harold Bloom. This is not an uninteresting commentary, but Bloom desperately needs a good editor. His essay is not only at least three times longer than it should be, but is startlingly repetitious. Yale would have been wise to have asked Bloom for a rewrite.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a dramatist whose genius is universally acknowledged, with a reputation as an actor, playwright and poet. He lived in an age of vast and significant changes characterised by the rise of the middle class and of a centralised government and the disappearance of medieval religious beliefs. England was transforming into a modern state. This was a time when self-realisation, self-respect and boldness of thought and action was idealised. Shakespeare's drama merely reflected the dramatic times of the age.

Shakespeare's genius can be reflected by the variety of his productions, where out of the 36 plays he has left, no two are alike and he managed to articulate the diverse subjects with exceptional expertise, handling both tragedies and comedies with ease.

Macbeth is a tragedy, intended to teach us a lesson about the human condition. The play is a tragedy about a wealthy Scottish noble called Macbeth who kills his king to gain the throne. During Shakespeare's time, this was a terrible thing to do, and from then on, Macbeth was doomed to die a tragic death.

The play starts with three witches confronting the great Scottish general Macbeth on his victorious return from a war between Scotland and Norway. The witches predict that he will one day become king. They also predict that another General called Banquo will be the father of kings, although he will not ascend the throne himself. The Scottish king, Duncan, decides that he will confer the title of the traitorous Cawdor on the heroic Macbeth. Macbeth, with the urging of his evil and ambitious wife murder King Duncan and ascends to the throne of Scotland.

Macbeth and his evil wife begin to do strange things, partly because of what they have done and also because they never get a whole night's sleep. Macbeth thinks he has to kill two of his former friends because he believes that they threaten his new throne. His efforts fail and he is eventually killed.

My mom loaned me this book (she reads all of his books) and I loved it! It was so intriguing and suspenseful. I loved the characters and even the characters flaws that caused them to want to be `top dog' in the rescue/investigation. Immediately after I read it I was ready to read it again, but my mom wanted it back. LOL

A hostage situation, set in an old slaughterhouse that is dark and sinister and smells of death. Bad enough already! But to have the hostages deaf children and their teachers was genius as the whole communication aspect is turned on it's head.

I found the characters compelling, even the bad guys!
Having finished it, I feel I have far more understanding of the complexities of a hostage situation and far more insight into the experiences of the deaf.

A thriller that stands out!

This Book is one of my favorite books I have ever read. I raed this book in two days and I am not a person who reads a lot but this book is so good in my opinion, I gave it to some of my friends and they all read it just as fast as I did if not faster. This book is filled with suspence, action, turns and twist and the plot is really well written. I also really enjoyed the story line it was very intriguing.

Jeffrey Deaver never ceases to satisfy. As usual I couldn't put it down.

This has to be one of the best thrillers i have read; I finished reading it within 24 hours and then couldn't stop thinking about the characters. Even though I didn't find the 'love story' between Arthur Potter and Melanie to be at all credible this didn't spoil the story for me. Highly recommended if you're looking for a good page-turner that makes you think.

His latter books are much better, but this is a good start to the series. The main characters are strong and he captures the historical atmosphere very well

Great, great character - just love this detective - mystery, mood, setting great too. Enjoy!

I thoroughly enjoyed Abel Jones'adventures. Mr Parry has brought the era of the Civil War directly into our homes with his wonderful book. The narrative voice of Abel Jones in the storytelling is refreshing.

This is not one of your usual mysteries. For this, you travel back in time to the first autumn of the Civil War, and the author's magnificent style puts you right into the sights and sounds and smells of the time. The protagonist, Captain Abel Jones of the US Army, tells the story in words that go nearly 150 years back down the corridor of time. He was wounded in the First Battle of Bull Run, and he describes his combat with bloodcurdling realism. Now, limping and confined to a desk job, he is ordered by no less than General McClellan to investigate the death of a young officer who was a poster-boy for the abolitionist cause. Jones quickly discovers that the death was a murder, and we are off to solve the mystery. The plot is fairly simple, but that does not matter. The strong point is the feeling you get of being right there in that long ago time, so different from today. The plot and the style wrap together to give a truly enjoyable mystery.

"Faded Coat of Blue" is the first novel by Ralph Peters, writing under the pen name of Owen Parry, in a series of books featuring Abel Jones, a Welsh immigrant to the United States caught up in the civil war and tasked to serve as a special investigative agent by President Lincoln.

Ralph Peters is an excellent writer with many wonderful books published under his own name (do yourself a favor and find a copy of The War in 2020), but he has surpassed himself with this series. I feel I cannot do justice to the excellence of these novels with my meagre command of the English language. This is by far my favorite series of mystery books, which means I am placing these novels ahead of the works of Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, Lee Child and so many other ferociously talented writers. I hate having to add the adjectival qualification "mystery" when proclaiming this my favorite, but Colleen McCullough's Rome remain the best series I have ever read. Despite that forced admission I can honestly say that outside of that one reservation, these are some of the finest books I have ever read and they simply excel on every level.

These are not mystery novels so much as they are literature which happens to be built on a mystery and historical fiction chassis. The characterization is the best I've ever seen, the setting, story, and plot are executed with mastery, and even those who think they know the civil war are going to get a doctoral education that is as stunning as it is revelatory. The author accomplishes something in these novels which I have never seen executed nearly as well anywhere else: he knocks you out of your comfortable 21st century mindset and prejudices and forces you to deal with the events and period of this novel as experienced through the lens of the mindset and prejudices of those who lived then. Many times a great writer will sweep you away and transport you to another time and place....but I don't think I ever seen it done better than in these novels. The ways the characters think, speak, react, process information, their values, their beliefs, their insecurities, their assumptions are all as thoroughly 19th century as it is possible to be. It's just shockingly well done.

This book, and the entire series comes with my unreserved recommendation. This first one, Faded Coat of Blue, is in my opinion a little more difficult than the ones that follow because it does take a few days to adjust your own perspectives enough that you can relax and understand that this book is abolsutely true to it's period on even an unconscious level. Once you've made the mental transition and realize that you have been authentically transported to another time and place there is very little quite so enjoyable as these novels.

I buy this book regularly as a gift to others to expose them to the beginning of this wonderful series. Everyone invariably goes on to purchase the rest of the books and become fans that are just as impressed and rabid as I am. Do yourself a favor and get this book as soon as possible. It will rank as one of the better things you will ever read in your life.

Colin Lindsey

A simple but a great story that explores some very important issues. Do you wonder why God is silent while people suffer and die? This book explores that issue, and I think it does offer some worthwhile insight.

The book was in great condition and arrived promptly to my door. For me, the typeset was a bit small, but the book appeard to have been brand new. Silence has been very thought provoking. A must read for anyone of Catholic background.

As author stated in the preface of "The Life of Jesus", he is for "Japanese readers who have no Christian tradition of their own and who know almost nothing about Jesus"
1. Two Roman Catholic priets/missionaries from Portugal crossing dangerous oceans to reach Japan. Then giving up everything:Pride,
faith, freedom, and love(?)
2. Courageous Native Christians. Accepting their martyrdom with silence.

There is no balance between these two. There is no reality.

This is a book written by a Japanese for Japanese readers.

How proud is God? How should God's people uphold his honor? How exactly should the gospel transform human society?

These questions lie at the heart of Silence. Written in the wake of World War two by the Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo, Silence tells the story of the persecution of Christians in seventeenth century Japan.

Although proselytizing efforts by Francis Xavier had been successful in the previous century, the 1600s brought about ecclesiastical quarrels between Roman catholic and protestant missionaries. These squabbles often went hand in hand with political and military shenanigans between competing European powers in Japan. Japan's leadership came to view Christianity as an essential part of this distasteful western mess, and severe persecution quickly became standard fare for the newly budded Japanese church.

Endo's protagonist, the young Portugese priest Sebastian Rodrigues, enters Japan secretly in the midst of these persecutions, along with a monastic colleague, Francis Garrpe. They encounter crude but strong faithfulness among the Japanese believers, who undertake great sacrifice in order to protect the padres from the authorities.

Eventually, however, they are betrayed by a weak-willed Japanese Christian, and their trials begin in earnest. Rodrigues's faith is tested to limits which comfortable modern western Christians may never be able to properly understand. His captors torture him psychologically in order to make him renounce his faith. This is not a simple temptation or test of honor; it is not Rodrigues's mere conscience at stake. If he submits to the authorities by trampling on Christ's portrait, his peasant flock goes free. If he does not, they will be tortured to death.

This test is one of the most soul-churning passages of literature I have read. What will Rodrigues do? Will he apostatize? How important is his honor? How important is God's? As the pastor of these simple peasants, is it better to renounce his faith to save their lives, or better to embrace martyrdom and doom them?

Initially, I found myself cheering for Rodrigues's perseverance and martyrdom, but by the novel's end, I was shaken and unsure. In the West, Christendom has a long and hallowed tradition of persecution stories, from the early believers in Jerusalem, to the church in Rome, and in various places throughout the centuries. Although Christ gives approbation to those who are persecuted for his sake, human sinfulness, such as it is, can even distort the meaning and value of martyrdom. Even the brightest lights in Christian history sometimes succumb to an unspiritual triumphalism. With the benefit of time, we often come to see some of Christendom's triumphs as accreted with sin and pride.

The first believers in Japan did not have this cultural background narrative to inform their consciences. They had only an immediate pagan background confronted with the fresh, non-accreted startling news that God has suffered, endured shame and humiliation, and forgiven their sins. This gospel surely would have motivated them to endure great persecution, but at the same time, the gospel is the story of a man who suffered in order to release his friends from condemnation. In that light, martyrdom for its own sake is dubious at best.

What is true religion? The bible maintains that true religion consists in looking after orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping oneself from being stained by the world. Those two mandates, it seems to me, should never be at odds with one another. If Rodrigues had refused to trample on the fumie (the term for the sacred image of Christ), he would definitely not have been looking after orphans and widows, but rather sending them to certain doom. However, would his simple act constitute "being stained by the world?" Would he be a Judas and an enemy of the gospel? There is a prominent strain of Christianity, very much in the tradition of the western theology of glory, which says "yes". Endo's answer, more in tune with the theology of the cross, is "no".

I am inclined to agree with the latter.

I knew a little about this book before I purchased it, since it was referenced in an article I read for one of my doctoral courses.

This book is about the missionary activities in Japan back in the 1500s and 1600s. What would YOU do if you were faced with the choice of stepping on the face of Christ or allow other people to suffer?

Read the book -- and be prepared to THINK! It's worth every second you spend in it!

The reason books become classics is they convey wisdom pertanent to all ages. This history is one such classic example of Rhetoric, RealPolitik, Politics of Personality, as well as the higher themes of Honor, Loyalty, Duty, Courage. etc.
I'd give the book five stars but this translation is only adequate. I loved having the greek on the page opposite the english translation, as well as the convenient, carry-anywhere size of the text.
A must read if you wish to be considered truely educated.

Thucidydes' History of the Peloponnesian War was one of the most important books ever written in the history of Western civilation and world history.

In opposition to Herodotus who wrote earlier, to whom Thucidydes was a student and reader of, Thucidydes was a realist and discussed the interests, positions, and power politics that occurred between the Athens and Sparta and their respective leagues (allies; combined military operations by treaty). As opposed to Herodotus, who is sometimes known as the father of history as Herodotus was arguably the first person to write history in the sense that we know it today, and who still utilized unseen forces, gods, spirits, etc., as guiding world history, Thucidydes focused more on the human aspect and what he could gleem from his travels and research. Thus, many historians point to Thucidydes as being the true progenitor of history as we know it today.

The political intrigue, the military and political strategic considerations, the actual boots-on-the-ground description of the battles, etc. are vivid, detailed, and make for compelling reading. I especially like the stories concerning Athens and Sparta's fighting on the island of Sicily.

All students of rhetoric will also find some of the finest examples of it within its pages (i.e., Pericles' funerary oration, etc.). The descriptions of the debates within the assemblies shows the considerations that both the Athenian and Spartan led leagues and their populations had to consider.

This is the first book on international relations known and is the first work to utilize a realist interpretation of international politics. It is studied at the war colleges and by all scholars of international relations, and by all serious students of grand strategy.

This book is excellent, in the Greek sense, that is Arete.

I am a total history buff and this book has really expanded my knowledge. Great to use in class to gain that upper hand in the philosophical arguments. I highly suggest you pick it up.

There are three main translations of Thucydides available for the English reader:

Thomas Hobbes' 1628 version. Although made over 300 years ago this translation is still considered a classic by many in the English-speaking world. His vigorous and lively Jacobean English prose will enchant those more literary minded souls, but Hobbes version has been noted for some inaccuracies due to the lack of proper understanding of the original Greek language text.

William Smith's 1754 translation. Most know of Crawley and Hobbes works but Smith's excellent 18th century version has been almost forgotten. Smith's prose is as majestic and virile as Hobbes while avoiding the sometimes vapid modernity of Crawley and Warner. While a bit hard to read for most modern readers Smith's prose is worth the effort if you stick with him. Some things were not meant to be "dumbed down".

Rex Warner's Penguin edition. This is the version offered here. Warner is excellent for those who want to avoid the archaic and more challenging prose of Hobbes, Smith, or Crawley. He is very clear and lucid in his rendition of the text. For those of you who are first embarking on your exploration of Thucydides I would recommend this edition.

A true masterpiece of historical literature. As modern today as it was when written. Any understanding of human and national behavior is incomplete without a thorough understanding of Thucydides' magnificient work. One of those works you could read every year of your life and never quite come to terms with the totality of the lessons it contains.

I have been learning English for 5 years and thought my vocabulary was more or less good, but...reading this book made me realize that my vocabulary is really poor. I am happy to have this book! I really liked the part where it explains the common usage errors, such as common and mutual, former and latter, fewer an less, that and which etc. I feel much more confident now when using these words. I have also never heard before the words EGREGIOUS, PAROCHIAL, REBUKE, STAGNATION and lots of other words, I am not sure I will use them some day, but at least I know these words now and it just feels good! :)

...abridged dictionary with a couple of example sentences for each word...infinitely better books are available -- search for George Feinstein, D.J. Henry, Margaret Richek.

Easy, fast, effective and fun way to improve your vocabulary. It will be a good investment!

I think there are two ways to inprove your vocabulary....or maybe three: 1) Read literature written with an "educated vocabulary" and either circle the new words or make a word list of the new words---books like those written by Charles Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities" or "David Copperfield" for example, or, 2) go through a dictionary from front to back 10 times for repetition---alittle hard for most of us to do, right?, or 3) Work through a work-book like this one that will teach you words selected by the author. I think this is a very good book for doing #3 above....use a word work-book. Two things are for sure, the ONLY way to learn new words and remember them is to put the words into your "long term memory". And, the only way for the average person to put words into their "long term memory" is through "REPETITION"---Going back again and again to your "word list" or to your circled words in the book to remind youself and test youself on the words and their meanings. This book will help identify the "new words" you need to learn and it will provide for "repetition" of those words so the words will go into your "long term memory". And....and....then you'll know some "edicated" words to use on your teachers so they'll think you're "smart"! :o) But, seriously, one way tests test for "smartness" is to give a vocabulary test. The theory is that "if a person knows alot of words they are smart". This may or may not be true but that's the way The SAT and other tests test for intelligence. Thus, this book is very worth your time and effort. Get a copy of the book, impress your teacher, and maybe you'll be admitted into a college someday so then you can become a teacher yourself who teaches these words to students. Or, you could become like Frank McCourt, a world famous author. One thing I am sure of though is that having an "educated vocabulary" WILL permit you to do things you would not be able to do without it. Any comments? boland7214@aol.c

I used to work as a professional SAT Reading coach, making big bucks; the key issue for most of my students was vocabulary. Rather, VOCABULARY. (The other is slowing down and thinking as--not after--they read.)

Many questions on the SAT reading section amount to vocabulary questions.

What this means is that if you want to improve your SAT scores, if you are an ambitious student trying to get into one of the top schools, there is no two ways about it: you have to study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

You cannot study simply one book, or even one series of books. You have to study several series.

However, the Princeton Review Word Smart series is the best that I know of. You should start here. Even if you think you have a good vocabulary, start here just to be on the safe side, and you can move on later.

You would recommend studying any of the vocabulary books that I've ever seen--but I recommend mastering the Word Smart series. These really are by far the best--if you are shopping here, it probably means you need these books.

If you were one of my students, your parents paying lots of money, I would force you to master these books, and I would ride you like a horse until you did. And then your scores would come up, your parents would love me and tell all their friends, and I would get more jobs and more money. That's how it works.

Anyway, these are certainly the best vocabulary books on the market. Even if you're studying vocabulary for some other reason, these are probably still the best.

Good luck!

A fun read. Good storytelling and great artwork. Fray is not Buffy. She is a street rat and a thief, and very spunky. Worth reading!!! ~~~Liandre

Which means snappy dialogue, great action scenes and interesting plot. The art is excellent, and there's even a giant dinosaur in there somewhere! It's very different from Buffy, Fray is more like the anti-buffy; a thief('grabber), working FOR the mutated bad guys and running from the cops. Oh, and she's a brunette. Highly recommended, especially if you're a Buffy fan.

This is a decent story, but nothing that exciting. Melaka Fray is a cross between Dark Angel, Faith and Tank Girl, if you want a comparison.

In the future, there are plenty of mutants, so vampires go less remarked on than they would if they wandered around in the current day.

She has no Watcher, except for a demon that turns up to tell her a few things. Apparently being born with a twin brother has done a few odd things.

Her sister is a cop, which also gives her grief, and the vampires are growing in nmumbers and organising.

Certainly better than "Buffy: Season 7", Fray captures some of the goofy spirit that made the television show so enjoyable for so long. However, despite Whedon's best efforts (or maybe because of them), it still feels like a toothless attempt at TV series.

There are no emotional connections deep enough to surprise or shock the reader, although that doesn't stop Whedon from 'shocking' revelations at every turn.

The art is better than average, and supports the gimmicky future that Whedon has built.

Still, a mildy entertaining (if self-indulgent) contribution to the Buffy mythos, if not to the comic book industry as a whole.

I have officially been converted. I can now say that I'm a Joss Whedon fan. I never watched his previous vampire sagas, Buffy and Angel, however, I did catch his excellent series Firefly, his sci-fi series which was more up my alley.

Fray is also a futuristic tale, taking place 200 years into the future of the Buffy universe. It has been a very long time since the last slayer, and the time has come when one has to be called upon. Enter Melaka Fray, a thief with a complicated history. While she's a crook her older sister, Erin, is a police sergeant. To top it off, four years ago her twin brother Harth was killed by a vampire when he was helping her steal and she has never forgiven herself for it. A demon named Urkonn finds Mel and reveals to her that it's her destiny to become a slayer.

That is the set up, and the pay off is quite enjoyable. The story moves along at such a rapid pace that it was impossible for me to get bored. Whedon's writing is very cinematic with plenty of conflict, twists, and surprises. We're introduced to Mel plummeting from a skyscraper and hitting every flying car she can on the way to break her fall. There's a lot of action in every chapter, but plenty of humor, drama and witty dialog in between to balance it out and keep me satisfied.

The artwork by Karl Moline works really well. I had never seen anything he worked on prior to this. I always took the time to appreciate the landscapes of this alternate future, and he's just as adept at illustrating a good fight scene as he is at getting across a character's emotions through facial expressions and body language. Inker Andy Owens, does well and the colors are provided by Dave Stewart whose work I'm very familiar with who is joined by Michelle Madsen here.

A very enjoyable read all the way through. And if you need proof that you don't have to be a Buffy fan prior to reading this to appreciate it, then consider this it. Bring on the sequel!

The tabs are sturdy on this book and there are lots of them! The only draw back is that on some of them the little punch out that lets you get your finger get under the tab to lift it, was still in place. That made its a challenge the firs ttime we tried to read it! There also aren/'t a lot of pages, but I guess you get your bang for your buck, especially if you kid is a big Thomas fan!

This book is a wonderful learning tool. On one page the flaps contain numbers 1-10, another page has railway cars carrying each letter of the alphabet. And what kid doesn't love to lift all those flaps!

My son loves Thomas & Friends and flap books, so this was a hit with him. One of the flaps was not completely cut, so he has messed it up trying to get it to open. I guess I will sit down and try to get it opened up and then reglue the top back down. Other than that...great book!

My 3 year old loved this when he got it last year however he ripped off the flaps so luckily when a friend got him another one he knew enough not to rip it. It encourages parent/child interaction which every child needs for development. The flaps are somewhat difficult to open initially so adult helpful supervision is recommended.

This book is so sturdy! My 2-year old loves to rip off flaps on lift-the-flap book but he hasn't done it on this one! It's great - we can make up stories about everything going on under the flaps and I will ask my son to find things for me that are under the flaps. It also can teach letters, numbers, and the alphabet, but my son doesn't care about that - he just wants to lift the flaps! We have had this book for almost a year and he still loves it. We will have this book a long time.

My daughter is only 14 mos, so I have to admit, this review is based on the first part of the book. The best thing about this book is that I learned some new songs and accompanying singing activities that my daughter seems to really enjoy. The regular activities are pretty basic and you are probably already doing a lot of them. For instance, stacking, looking in the mirror and pointing out body parts, and playing with bubbles! I'm glad I bought it used :)

If you are someone who has not worked with children or been around children for an extended period of time this book would be very helpful. It has creative and fun ideas for playtime with the ones under 6 months that my husband found very useful. I recommend it for husbands, grandparents and new moms.

I love this book! It is filled with great ideas, and organized by age range. The pictures are large and very helpful along with the descriptions of the activities. Even if you think you may have thought of some of these ideas on your own, it's hard to know when to introduce each activity and what specific skills it is building. This book is a great resource.

i found the activities in this book uninspiring. i was already implementing 99% of them just in my everyday interactions with my infant. i was hoping for something that would further enhance the development of my child, but it turns out the things that naturally occur to a parent are just fine. my baby is only 3 months, so perhaps the activites for older babies will be more interesting. the play for newborns was a disappointment.

This book is very good and give you a lot of ways to interact with your infant and to help his development. However, a lot of the things are things child development books tell you to do and include things that are products on the market.
For example, the book has how to make tummy rolls from towels but, i had already purchased the boppy tummy time mat for this. If i had known or even thought about this towel method before I bought and opened the package then I would not have purchased the boppy.
A couple other examples are the play mat and mobile. This book tell you how to make them with things you already have in the home. Not much use if you have already assembled the baby's room and used the play mat. This is pretty much how things in the book are. There are no NEW ideas in this book.