R Books

The interelinear portion of this book is great and many of the other reviews have done a fine job of explaining why. I would just like to add how awesome the concordance is that comes along with it. It is arranged by strongs number (rather than the english word) and thus makes it a much more useful tool for finding relevant cross-references. I definitely prefer it to a Strongs concordance and consider it to be my favorite concordance bar none. This book is just an incredible tool for the serious studant of the Bible.

I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a bit of insight into the original wording of the scriptures. I'd prefer an Aramaic interlinear, but this one is a good buy until that comes along.

Print is a little small but crisp and clear, binding is good.

If you really want to understand the New Testament you need an easy way to find the original Greek word behind the words you read in English and then, a list of quotations in English of all the contexts in the New Testament where that particular Greek word is employed. That is exactly what this book efficiently does. This is probably the most valuable "next book" beyond the New Testament itself.

This book has really helped me in my bible studies to get the most accurate translation, from the original spoken language of the bible to english. Example, Baptism is a translation of the true meaning immerse.

This interlinear is good in that each Greek word has a Strong's # above it, to easily find the word in a Greek dictionary that uses Strong's numbering system. However, if you are serious about delving into the Greek, it seems that you would eventually want to at least learn the Greek alphabet, in which case you would not need these numbers to look up Greek word definitions. Also, the type is easy to read. Also, the book contains a Greek concordance at the back, to quickly see where a particular Greek word is located in the NT.

First, let me preface this review by stating that I am an extreme novice, in the serious study of the scriptures, so don't regard my opion too highly.

I do not trust any one completely, when it comes to the matter of my own salvation, which is very much dependent on my understanding of scripture. I have what I regard as a healthy contempt for doctors of divinity, and conferred degrees; all people are subject to common human frailty, and are thus subject to being deceived, no matter what seminary they attend, whatever academic degrees they have obtained, and however sincere they may be. Once a concept is accepted as true, it generally is highly resistant to being rejected, even after the light of truth has revealed it to be error. What I am trying to say, is that generally, children in a Baptist Sunday School class, generally grow up to become Baptist theologians, and Lutheran children likewise usually grow up to become Lutheran theologians, and so on. I know that all theologians have their own particular set of presuppositions and biases, and these biases necessarily affect their interpretation of scripture, even though they may strive valiantly to resist all subjectivity, when called upon to perform the holy, sacred, and even frightening work of translating the scriptures.

McReynold's has chosen a scheme of scripture translation, which only renders a single English word, for each Greek word. That is, he has not sought to enter into speculation regarding which shade of meaning a Greek word has, depending on the context of the passage, nor I suppose, it's grammatical placement (where the word is placed in the sentence), as well as other factors that I am not seeing, due to my great ignorance. This may seem like a severe drawback, and to some extent it probably is. However, consider that it has the advantage of being relatively free from the theological presuppositions and biases of a translator, who sincerely tries to help along the scripture, to say what he believes it is trying to say, and you will then see that McReynold's translation is inherently more trustworthy in this respect. To my knowledge, no other interlinear, nor Bible version, is translated this way.

Being that I am so easily deceived, because I have virtually no background in Greek, I find this interlinear to be a preventive bulwark against the subtleties of man. Better yet--if I understood biblical Greek fluently, I could generally dispense with using interlinears; but for now, they are a necessary help, to bridge me over to the original writings, to some degree at least.

The plight of the people of Libby and the other sites around the country is very sad and you want to hate WR Grace and the previous mine owners and operators. While their reponsibility is not in doubt, the book could have been improved by more information about what exactly they knew and when. I'm sure Grace et al. did not cooperate with the authors, but the extensive litigation should have made some of this information available.

I am in the middle of this book and I find it very compelling. I was interested in customer reviews and when I read the last review on how the story is not yet complete because many of the victims of this scandal do not have health insurance, I felt compelled to write.

Everyone will be making a profit on this story. WB Grace made their money and now the media will make their money. While I agree that the authors have done a wonderful public service uncovering this environmental disaster, I would like to suggest that a substantial amount of the money made on this book (and the perhaps subsequent movie) could be donated to the victims. If not for their illness, there would be no story. I was recently appalled to learn about the monies that were made by media stars on the Watergate scandal while Deep Throat (whoe courage made it all possible) was not doing quite as well. For the media to make money off these stories without providing for the victims is not right either.

I want you to read this book. It is important to you and your family. I consider myself a knowledgeable person and I don't remember this scandal when it came out in 2000-2001. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I live in southern CA, but the problems with asbestos effects all of us in the US. Attic insulation, talc products and even gardening/soil products have asbestos risks that have been used and available for sale up into the 1990's and beyond.

I must have read a review or heard one of the authors in an interview...but somehow this book made it onto my "Must Read" list. When I received the book, I questioned why I had gotten it, having forgotten what motivated my interest in the first place. But I started reading and have found this book to be a treasure.

The story is one of deception, corruption and greed on the part of Big Business, in this case the mining business. The owners and executives misled their workers, investors and the government agencies that regulated them into turning a blind eye to the dangers of asbestos in their products.

While the deception of the miners in Libby was unconscionable, the book goes on to document the Bush White House withholding information that the air in and around the World Trade Center was not healthy! Can you imagine, after a tragedy like the WTC disaster, that your own government, that you rallied round to give support, would turn on you and withhold information that the air that you breathe is full of cancer causing dust? Which tragedy is worse?

The book is truly a must-read.

Lastly, I want to point out the courage of the reporters, editors, doctors and the outstanding EPA field workers that fought to get this story out. Whistle-blowers, whose main motivation is to right a wrong, are oftentimes rewarded by getting fired and branded as outcasts. This book is ultimately a story of courage and perserverance of those determined to overcome the obstacles of standing out and doing what's right.

The author Andrew Schneider tells the story of uncovering a scandal of major proportions. It is a frightening, chilling story of hidden dangers allowed by government officials whose jobs are to keep us safe. It is the story of a mineral still used in our country whose lethal dangers were recorded by Pliny the Elder. Asbestos cannot be safely used in any manner.

This book is a masterpiece of investigative journalism - well written, throughly researched and truly in the interests of the public.

The authors do a superb job of combining all the science and politics with a touching picture of the real Americans who ultimately paid and are paying the price for corporate greed and governmental push-overs.

If you read just one book this year, this should be it!

As another reviewer's pointed out, in American Meth the author intersperses his own tragic story of losing virtually everything he had to his spouse's meth addiction with intermittent chapters addressing the history of methamphetamine. I found the historical sections interesting - they were short, clear and to the point. But even though the author is reticent to the point of gentlemanliness about the details of the almost complete destruction of his life and family that came from his being unlucky enough to love a wife whose meth addiction came to blot out everything else in her life. However, the downward trajectory is clear, and we are able to fill in the blanks ourselves.

What I respected about this book is that the author didn't depend on sensationalism or lurid details, because, really, he doesn't need to. And it is precisely that kind of not-quite-but-almost objectivity which makes this account so chilling, and so real. The sense is that of hearing a witness account of seeing his house fit by a category F4 tornado. It's horrible, and it could happen to anyone.

When I finished the book I felt a terrible sense of loss. I would recommend this book. If you're unfamiliar with the subject of meth (not that I am; I'm not), it seems like a good place to start.

VERY painful read. Living in SW Missouri, where there are burned out meth houses in every block in the poorer areas of our community, I found this book to be very realistic. WARNING: NOT for younger readers. Don't give it to your 10-year-old.

A brilliant synthesis of little known history intertwined with a very believable yet painful relational experience. This book simply sheds light in dark spots in our own lives that we did not suspect ever existed.

We are all being affected by the growth of Methamphetamines in America. Whether you need a cold capsule and have to present full proof of identity and sign a form to get it or you live near a neighboring house that frequently smells of cat urine (and no cats reside there) or you suddenly realize that your entire savings has disappeared along with your spouse's sanity, Meth is out there, everywhere. In Sterling Braswell's non-fiction book, "American Meth," we discover where it all started, where it is going, and how deeply this epidemic has spread through our culture. We also see the very personal and real story of Sterling's own life being controlled by the drug use of his wife.

The subtitle of the book, "A History of the Methamphetamine Epidemic in America," really describes it well. In alternating chapters, Sterling gives the relatively unknown and sordid details of how this drug came to be, and the story of his own life dealing with the use of it by his wife. The history is an eye opener, to be sure. The first commercial use came in the form of an inhaler for congestion - each containing the equivalent of fifty-six amphetamine tablets. As appetite suppressant and a boost to the metabolism, this substance found a purpose, and later was also found to help children with ADHD by helping them to concentrate more easily. The stage was set, healthy people were hooked, and the epidemic began.

Did this drug alter the course of history? I'd say, in more ways than one. Perhaps we are paying for that now. Hitler received daily shots of Amphetamines from his personal physician. In 1940, as England faced the onslaught of Germany, with a severe shortage of pilots and planes, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding understood that more could be gotten from each pilot if a measure of control over the body clock could be achieved. 73 million amphetamine tablets, "Bennies," and inhalers were made readily available. On the other side, similar measures were being taken for Kamikazie pilots and Japanese soldiers. By 1949 millions of inhalers were being dismantled by recreational drug users to get at the amphetamine soaked strips inside. Yet, the U.S. assistant Surgeon General testified in 1955, saying that as far as he knew, amphetamine was "not addicting in the true sense of the word."

The clock ticks on and the story evolves into the raging addiction that millions of Americans face today. The personal story of Sterling continues too, and we see how his wife found a source so close to home for her high that it was right under Sterling's nose. Her addiction affected every aspect of his life, and while mistakes were made along the way, he was truly helpless to change the course of events. Perhaps that is the purpose of the book, to change the course of events from here on out.

Every American who could become affected by Methamphetamine drug use, every spouse, brother, mother, cousin, co-worker or friend, should read this book. Every politician who claims to be on the front of the war on drugs, every police officer who IS on the front lines, and every judge hearing cases of possession, distribution, and the manufacture of these substances, absolutely need to read this book. One person at a time can again alter the course of history.

With American Meth, you get two things. The first is the author's personal story with methamphetamine. And the second is a brief history of the drug. The chapters alternate between these two subjects throughout the book. The obvious strength of this book is the former, the author's ordeal with methampetamine in which his wife is an addict. His story is so horrible, unlucky, and honest that I quickly began skipping the historical chapters. This turned out to be to my benefit since the historical aspect of this book, while interesting, came across as suspect. No matter how well researched his information, the author is biased due to his personal experience, and in addition, he lacks the authority to write this kind of historical record as his previous career had been in the software industry. Overall, I recommend this book strickly as a real life document to the horrors of methamphetamine, in that respect, it really is an amazing story.

I'm looking into returning the book itself, just because I already own American Shelter from 1981, and it is the EXACT SAME BOOK. If you don't already own it, it is a great reference.

I own the poster American Shelter by the same author, and wanted to see the explanations behind the dates and titles. As an architectural historian, I've studied many of these styles, but there are some new variations of house styles that are not part of any other reference book. This book has fun graphics and easy to follow descriptions. For the trained historians, architects, etc., this book is an amusing addition to your collections. To the architectural housing enthusiasts, this could be a helpful resource.

In the world of architectural field guides, there is a division between the guides that rely heavily on photographs and those that use line drawings to represent buildings. Photographic field guides are good in that you can see actual historic homes. This is a valuable thing for people who like me live very far away from historic areas and rarely see a building over a hundred years old.

However, the great problem with photographic field guides is that it is often times difficult to understand a building style by looking at one or two representative photographs. What's worse is that often times the eye is drawn to details like electric lines or automobiles. One can spend more time trying to identify the decade the photo was taken than on concentrating on the image. For this reason, I prefer field guides that use line drawings to represent buildings. In my opinion, line drawings are a better tool for teaching the different architectural elements that come together to form a style.

Of the field guides that use line drawings, Lester Walker's "American Shelter" is the very best. It is the best for two reasons. First because of the sheer number of styles he identifies. In this book he details 103 styles whereas a typical field guide will usually identifies 20-30 unique styles. Second and foremost, Lester Walker is a very talented artist. His drawings are not hyper technical like the Historical American Building Survey (HABS) drawings which one finds in some field guides. They have a lot of personality which seperates them from what I call the illustrator school of architectural drawings.

I have been collecting field guides for a number of years and this is my favorite guide. That is not to say that there are not other very high quality guides. However, if you need to purchase just one field guide, this is the one. Hopefully, this book will inspire you to start collecting architectural field guides which in my opinion is a most worthy hobby.

I purchased this book while I was an undergraduate studying city planning. This book has been on my shelf since it was published and I still use it quite frequently today. This is a fantastic reference for anyone interested in housing, architecture and urban design. In fact, I highly recommend this book to any planning students with a housing or preservation focus. You will not regret having made the investment!

If you ever have reason to write (fictionally or otherwise) about American architecture (chiefly domestic), you shouldn't miss a chance to add this volume to your shelves. (It's included in the file I always send to Old-West mavens wanting to know what they should read.) Chapters range from two to eight pages in length and cover everything from the earth lodge of the Southeastern Plains Indians to the projected space station now three years past due. Typically, each includes the time and region in which the original style was most abundant, a few paragraphs explaining its history and salient features, and a number of finely detailed pen-and-ink sketches portraying exterior details and often cutaways and floor plans. The book can also be used as a field guide to help you decide what kind of house you happen to be looking at. From log cabins to Frank Lloyd Wright, Mount Vernon to the humble Quonset hut, every major kind of American house is here. This is an item that cries to be brought back into print. Until it is, don't miss a chance to pick up a used copy if you're afforded one.

If the answer is "YES", then you have to buy this book.
You will be guided to "DO IT YOURSELF" of building the amateur and other band antenna...

This was my first time ordering from Amazon. Fast delivery.
But the unhappy is the ordered book missing the included CD-ROM disk.
Although Amazon credit back the book price, I need the losted CD disk.
If Amazon can help to get back to CD disk, I would completely happy the services.

The book was supposed to come with a CD-Rom. This person told me the CD was missing when they went to package the book. They sent the book free of charge and returned my money. I was told if the CD was to be found it would be sent free of charge. I consider this tops for customer service.

This is the stuff all electronics professionals/amateurs/hobbiests' dream about.These are must-have electronics books,I get them every year or so....they are jam-packed with electronics theory and practice.Fantastic.

THIS BOOK WILL ANSWER ALL OF YOUR Q'S!!! WITH ALL THE REF MAT IN THIS BOOK I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE PRICE WOULD BE ALOT MORE!!!

I purchased Jain's "The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis" for a 3-month graduate course, and I must admit that, in retrospect, I was a bit daunted by its size upon receipt (we were to cover the entire text). Further, I had my doubts about the relevancy of the text in the current environment, given its age.

But I must say, both of these initial questions proved wholly unfounded.

I've never used a text quite like this one before; it is a significant departure from the standard engineering text that weighs heavily on the side of analytical proof and mathematical equations, while foregoing textual elaboration. On the contrary, this book adopts a conversational tone whereby the author develops all of the book's topics in great detail, relying on substantial insight and experience. Truly, a breath of fresh air.

There's such a richness about this text, that a careful read--while admittedly quite time-consuming--is bound to give the reader a sense that he has just become the beneficiary of a heck of a lot of wisdom.

All of this is not to say the text is overly-subjective; in fact, there is plenty of detailed analytical analysis. It is just to say that the book is different, and one that exudes quality communication: it reads more like a lecture than it does lecture notes.

So, back to my initial doubts. It turns out that the verbose depth of material which constitutes the book's 720 pages is really a foundation of its main qualities: it is a very readable and highly-detailed exploration of the art and the craft of performance analysis. And it's for that foundational reason that its age is irrelevant.

A solid book indeed. It has the right mixture of theory and practical cases well dealt with. The techinques must be tried for performance analysis and implemented in real time projects.

This old book is one of the most valued on my shelf. I was first exposed to it in a graduate class, and I have to say that the book is so good I was not aware that my professor was not a good instructor until I had him a second time in a class where the textbook was less than stellar. Don't judge the book by a quick perusal either. At first glance, especially if you are looking at Part I, it looks like one of those books on Six Sigma that will put you to sleep. In fact, the vast majority of the book is quite interesting.

Part II, "Measurement Techniques and Tools", are where things get interesting. The good part about this entire book is that it uses problems in the analysis of computer systems as the basis of presentation for all tools presented. The graphs are excellent, the mathematics are largely self-contained, and if algorithms are presented they are usually given in numbered steps and an actual computer program shown. This is one drawback of the book - it uses the ancient Simula language for its demonstration code. However, if you are familiar with C, Java, or any of the other mainstream procedural languages, you'll find that Simula looks like very readable pseudocode, so this should not be an obstacle to understanding.

Part III is a section dedicated entirely to probability theory and statistics. Starting with the simple definition of the mean, this handy section not only derives all of the statistics you need in this book, it talks about common mistakes made in applying them.

Part IV is about experimental design and analysis. Using the mathematics developed in part three this section talks about all aspects of designing a proper experiment for the measurement or simulation of a computer system, including common mistakes and the best choice for the size of your experiment.

Part V presents the key issues in simulation modeling. First it discusses simulation terminology, simulation design criteria, and stopping conditions. Random number generation is the subject of three chapters in reference to inputs to your simulation. Finally there is a chapter on the commonly used distributions such as Bernoulli, beta, binomial, etc. that talks specifically about random number generation algorithms for each of the distributions presented. What makes this section so valuable is that although you may have possibly seen the math before, more than likely you don't know the value of each kind of distribution. This section makes that issue clear in terms of modeling computer performance.

Part VI is on queuing models, and is probably the most difficult section in the book. Although it is one of the better written pieces I have read on queueing theory, it is not as easily grasped as previous sections based on reading the textbook alone. There are examples present, and the book does a good job of presenting "the big picture" as to the use of queueing theory in computer performance analysis, but you may need outside material to really grasp how to set up a queueing problem from a mathematical standpoint.

No other book I've found does such a good job of discussing all of the topics covered and clearly tying it into practical issues in measuring and monitoring system performance. I highly recommend it.

I'm a performance analyst. I couldn't do my job properly without this book. It really is that simple.

This is an absolute gem. I really think that this book must be read by every CS/EE engineer. Performance analysis is always something that comes as an afterthought and engineers think that some some "mathematical" guy called a perf analyst will stop by after the product is completed and analyze the product. This is def wrong. PA should be done at every stage of production.

This book has been written assuming a novice reader. Several parts of the book have to re-read to really understand what the author is trying to convey, but trust me you will really appreciate it.

I suggest reading the following parts of the book(in order):

Part I (whole)
Part II (4, 5, 6, browse {7,8}, 9, 10 ) 10 is cool stuff..impress your peers with this
Part III (whole) read, re-read, re-read till you have digested every line..worth it really!!!!
Part IV (whole) read, re-read, re-read till you have digested every line..worth it really!!!!
Part V : You can skip this if you are not into simulation.
Part VI : Not really that easy to follow. I suggest Gunter's book for this.

I had a good time reading through this reprint of Morris Morgan's 1893 translation of Xenophon's "The Art of Horsemanship" (350 BC). Unlike many of the other ancient Greek translations and authors, this one is very easy to read.

The text itself is fairly short and reads quickly, sprinkled with wisdom. After the text is another short portion from 1893, which talks about "The Greek Riding-Horse", based on Xenophon and all the other available sources. Additionally, the footnotes to the text are quite interesting--I read them, for the most part, en block after reading the text.

As the title implies, the text is a very hands-on, practical guide to "everything you need to know" about how to take care of and look good riding a horse, reading like a "Horsemanship for Dummies" book. If you're interested in Ancient Greece and horses, you've got to read this short "instruction manual", though if you're only interested in the ancients, it's still fun to breeze through this text, nevertheless.

If more people took the time to educate themselves about horses and horsemanship in general and Xenophone's book in particular, perhaps we not see so many "show horses" of various popular breeds so physically manipulated by in breeding for only one or two specific traits rather than breeding for the whole horse. What was true in Ancient Greece is truer still today - without good feet, balance in the body and common sense a horse is worthless. Bravo to Amazon for bringing us this excellent book dirt cheap!

The material in this book is thousands of years old but amazing in how modern the approach is to horsemanship. Most of Xenophon's advice is timely even today. It shows how little has changed over the centuries.

This is a must if you are passionate about horses. It is so clear and to the essential point that it is a pleasure to read.

Xenophon covers several aspects of horsemanship, from grooming, leading, and choosing a horse, to mounting, riding, and training a war mount. Very, very interesting to see what is still applicable today. While this isn't a "training" or even a "horse care book," its a great historical reference from those interested in how horses we cared for and trained 2000 years ago. However, for those looking for a story or a book to teach riding skills, I suggest you look elsewhere. Those interested in dressage will find this worth-while, as it is considered the oldest text on the subject.

I just adopted my furry son Riley, and this book has been very helpful. I'm a novice cat owner and, although I'm familiar with cats, I was a bit nervous about deciphering behavior and making his transition easy on both of us. The Complete Guide to Cats is very practical and down to earth - every suggestion comes with several ways of implementing it. I found the guide to behavior and the section on feeding and litterbox selection to be particularly helpful. The section on breeds, while interesting, was a little overwhelming - my guy is an orange tabby of no particular breed and I got a little hung up on the various grooming requirements before I figured him out.

A well written and well informed book that would be a wonderful addition to the bookshelf of anyone who has a cat or is considering adding a cat to their household. Highly Recommended!

Whenever I have a question about my cat, I whip out this book and find my answer in seconds. It presents the information in in an easy-to-find, simple format. I would recommend this to any cat owner. I bought one for my mom when she got a cat.

As anyone who knows me knows, I have cats. I seem to attract them, well, like cats! I have cat joys and cat tragedies especially prominent in the past few years, with two outdoor disappearances and one indoor death, yet with wonderful new additions and the experience of sharing my home with seven new kittens born under my desk one summer, and five more from a different stray the next summer.

I had always considered cats low maintenance, essentially self-sufficient. This was a requirement to me, as I'm not home very often, and when I am, I can't spend too much time on cat duty. This was the reason I opted for cats over dogs. I was raised a dog person. But dogs require attention several times a day. Sorry, can't do it...

Well, with all that happened in the past year, I found that cats, while generally low-maintenance, have periods nonetheless in which they need special care and attention (even if, like Emma, they don't really want it). Thus, being a person in the education mode, I decided I needed to learn more. It just so happened that one of my book clubs was offering the ASPCA Complete Guide to Cats, so I ordered it.

This has been a gem of a book. It is complete, concise yet filled with information, well organised, colourful and picture-ful, durable (slick coating on the covers and a finish on the pages means the cats can walk across with dampened paws and not destroy the book, useful when it is opened when I attending their needs).

The first section discusses how and when to bring a cat home. It addresses such issues as cats and kids, preparing the home for a cat, your own readiness, and which kind is most appropriate for which environment. It also discusses what to do when welcoming your new friend into the home. Food, vet care, litter (to box or not to box, ah, that is a question!), and how to introduce new cats to other cats is discussed.

The second section is a reference guide to cat breeds. In addition to specific breeds organised alphabetically (Abyssinian to York Chocolate) it talks about coat palettes and patterns, colourations, paw and toe issues, and special needs. The breed section identifies special grooming and dietary needs, lap- and kid-friendly breeds, energy, and of course, wonderful photographs of representative cats for each breed.

Section three gives a bit of biological and physiological information, about cats, as well as (if it is possible!) some insight into the psychological functioning of cats. Are they really that smart? Are they really that clean? It addresses mating habits and catnip addictions, too!

The fourth section has been the most important to me, Taking care of your cat. It discusses briefly everyday feeding and care, but then has a good section on potential health concerns, what to do in the case of injury and illness, gives home nursing tips (important with Emma), and how to deal with both the beginning and end of the lifespan, which, with new kittens in the bedroom and a declining Emma in the living room, I was dealing with both ends of the spectrum.

This is an excellent one-volume reference to cats, useful for anyone who cares for cats. The appendices have glossaries, telephone numbers and resources, and recommended readings to continue a feline-related education.

But, if you just pick this one up for the pictures, it would be worth it for that too. And you might just learn something along the way--always a plus.

This was a really good book. The author did a good job at explaining the behaviors of cats. He also points out which breeds are good in which homes. The color pictures are just beautiful... and some are extremely funny. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has even a smidgen of interest in cats. There are so many breeds that I did not know even existed! He also shows pictures and descriptions of mixed breed cats and even points out the benefits of spaying and neutering! So full of information. It had me in awe and I thought I already knew alot. I HIGHLY recommend this book!

This was my favorite book growing up. I don't even know how many ties I reread that book.

I absolutely adore this book. The storyline is beautiful, but more than anything it leaves you with a an imagination full of possibilities. I loved this book as a child and I still love it now. It's a great magical book for children. Who didn't pretend that they had magical powers? Love it!

Actually, my 5-yr old daughter and my 7-yr old son really enjoy this story. My daughter asked me just this morning if she could get another copy to donate to her school library. I wish it came in hardback cover!

I read this book when i was 5 or 6 and loved it.My love of unicorns started with this book and i think its a good start for young kids.

I first read this book when i was about seven and in the "fantasy" stage of life. LOL. it struck me as cute when i first read it.
Star the baby unicorn presents the perfect character for a child to focus on.
on the first page it tell about Star's birth, and then goes on to tell about why the unicorns and the dragons are enimies. after, star is requiered to learn about courage so she can be the final unicorn in a spell to make the dragons friendly(it requires eight unicorns but there are only seven). i recommend the book "the cabbage moth & the shamrock" by Ethel Marbach, in addition to this book.

I'm not sure what the publishers were thinking when they chose a picture of a white horse and a cowboy as the cover illustration for this great poem about the ninth-century Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the Great. It sets the wrong mood for the story.

Anne Perry, the enormously popular writer of historical fiction, just recommended this ballad by G. K. Chesterton as one of five must read tales of historical fiction. (See the Wall Street Journal's online Opinion Page for April 21, 2007 in an article entitled "Past Tense.") Here's part of what she said:

"This is the story of the English King Alfred's desperate stand against invading Danes in 878. England is conquered, and Alfred is a fugitive when he sees a vision of the Virgin Mary that bids him call together the remnants of his people for a final battle. "The Ballad of the White Horse" is an epic poem of courage, passion and unsurpassable beauty."

If you'd like to read other tales and poems by Chesterton, you might want to get "The Ballad of the White Horse" as part of a collection of his poetry that I edited for not much more money. It's called G. K. Chesterton's Early Poetry and has "The Ballad of the White Horse," along with two other books of Chesterton poetry under one cover. That means you'll also get his best humorous poetry, "Greybeards at Play." No less a writer than George Orwell ranked Chesterton as one of the three best writers of funny poetry in twentieth century England. The poems are a riot of the ridiculous and are accompanied with equally funny sketches he did.

And although Anne Perry and I have the same last name, as far as I know we're not related. Her's is a pen name. Mine is a real name. I guess I'm not creative enough to invent a name for myself.

G. K. Chesterton's Early Poetry: Greybeards At Play, The Wild Knight And Other Poems, The Ballad Of The White Horse

Mr. Chesterton has a masterful skill with the pen; _Orthodoxy_ and _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_ are wonderful books--but _The Ballad of the White Horse_ is heartbreaking in its power, beauty, and nobility. With a stunning use of alliteration, rhythm, and imagery, Mr. Chesterton teaches the reader about true hearts, true faith, and true sacrifice. I have bought a few copies of this book to give as gifts to friends, and I eagerly recommend it to anyone who will listen. This book is a must-have for any individual interested in expanding their knowledge of great poetry!

Out of the thousand or so books I have read in my life, if I were to put the Bible aside (since the Bible speaks with a special authority to believers and cannot really be compared to other books), I have read no more than five or six books that I would call truly great. That means there are only five or six books I would rate at five stars. This is one. Yes, it is that good.

I have never read any author who could make the English language sing the way Chesterton does in this poem -- for over a hundred pages. In contrast to contemporary "poets" whose "poems" consist of a bunch of strange words scattered apparently at random on a page, whose meaning, if there is one, is far beyond obscurity, Chesterton had apparently unlimited ability to create rhyme and alliteration, and then he bound it all tightly in the sing-song ballad style that carries it all swiftly along. The words of this poem are glorious to hear, and really, this book should be read aloud, so that one might hear the music of the words.

And few have ever been able to match the way Chesterton paints pictures with words. I will quote one passage, and hope it is not to long, to illustrate this. The scene here is Alfred's army making one final charge against the Danish camp:

Then bursting all and blasting
Came Christendom like death,
Kicked of such catapults of will,
The staves shiver, the barrels spill,
The waggons waver and crash and kill
The waggoners beneath.

Barriers go backward, banners rend,
Great shields groan like a gong,
Horses like horns of nightmare
Neigh horribly and long.

Horses ramp and rock and boil
And break their golden reins,
And slide on carnage clamorously,
Down where the bitter blood doth lie,
Where Ogier went on foot to die
In the old way of the Danes.

It would be hard to imagine anyone anyone describing such a violent scene in so few words any better than Chesterton does in that passage. And this passage is but one of dozens of glorious word-pictures that Chesterton's poetry paints in this book.

Beyond its magnificent use of the English language, this book also contains much philosophical insight -- insight that, although first published in 1911, is directly and clearly applicable today. Chesterton expresses very clearly the way that Christianity has formed the heart of Western culture over the ages, and the way that Christian faith -- which seems all about self-denial and thus sadness -- leads to unconquerable joy.

The book, of course, is not perfect; no work of literature can be. There are places where it gets a bit too preachy for my taste. But the book's flaws are few and minor, while its good points are many and glorious.

How good is this book? I have read it at least 50 times in my life, and I still enjoy reading it. In my opinion it is one of the truly greatest works written in the English language. It is one of the few books I have read that truly deserves five stars.

I had read some of Chesterton's fictional books, most of which contain poems which he has written, and I very much enjoyed his poems, so I decided to get a book of his poetry. This too I really enjoyed, so I decided to get another book of his poetry, this time it was The Ballad of the White Horse, and this book simply blew away all of the rest of Chesterton's poems. In fact, it simply blows away most poems by anyone. I have read Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton' Paradise Lost, Eliot's Wasteland, Chaucer's Canturbury Tales, etc., but I can honestly say that I enjoyed this epic far more than any of them. I am not saying that it is a better written poem or that it should be ranked above these classics, but I am saying that it is much more exciting to read than the others. Somehow Chesterton makes his poem involving: you are drawn into it and cannot put the book down until you have finished the chapter. He wrote it in such a way that the verses beg to be read quickly, and as I read I found myself reading faster and faster, until I was stumbling over the words and had to slow down again. Chesterton, like no other poet whom I know of, paints a picture of glory, honor, bravery, and captures the true spirit of an idealized Medieval War. The poem resounds with the drums of doom, the cries of angels, the hordes of invading barbarians and great deeds of heroes of old. If I were to recommend owning one epic poem, this would be the one.

Overall grade: A+