Roberts Books

This book is about an eleven year old boy named Foster. The story taken place in 1941 during World War Two. In the story Foster learns the importance's of friendship and the pain of loss. Foster's older brother, Mel, gets shipped off to fight in the war right after he enrolls to get away from their abusive father. Times were hard for everyone then, especially for those who had family members over seas. Foster creates a club to help the men fighting in the war, the YWE. Life went on and Foster made some new friends and nearly lost some old ones. But then one day, a letter arrives that changes the families life forever.

I would recommend this book for people who like old time historical books. i though this book as a real good source of information on America's past.

Foster's War

Foster's War is a great book that shows how the Americans acted and lived during WWII. It is a fairly long book, but it isn't really long. This book can be a little confusing a times because some of the chapters don't relate at all to the one before or after it. But if you love WWII and are interested in it, I strongly recommend Foster's War by Carolyn Reeder.
The main character in this book is Foster, an eleven-year old boy living through WWII. Foster also faces some problems during the war, like his Japanese friend being taken to a camp and his father getting a little caught up in the war. Along with that his brother signs up to fight in a plane before the war and is called to fight after Pearl Harbor is bombed on December 7, 1942. His father becomes the air - raid warden for his neighborhood and is encouraging Foster's family to get involved in the war and discourage the Japanese. He even gets mad when Foster has his brother be the Japanese in a game of war. But during the war horrible things happen to his family; and to find out these things read Foster's War by Carolyn Reeder.
Foster is a normal kid who does normal things. Before the war started he would read comics, play a little chess and play with his best friend Jimmy. He didn't have any friends besides Jimmy, but that was okay with him. He was thought of as a weird kid and everyone made fun of him. But after a little joke he plays on a classmate that they took seriously, he became very popular and everyone wanted to be part of what he started.
My favorite part of Foster's War is when Foster makes his little brother be the Japanese in the game of war. It is my favorite part because his father gets very made at Foster when he finds out. He thinks it is a disgrace that Foster's little brother had to be the enemy Japanese. This part of the book shows just how much the average American disliked the Japanese during WWII.
Foster's War has many strengths and a couple of weaknesses. One of its strengths is it's well written and Foster is just like a normal kid, and all the trouble he gets into during the book could happen to anyone. Another strength is there is a variety of characters and they are all very different, so it is hard to confuse them once you've read about them. Foster's War also gives a different view of the war; a lot of books shows what happens the soldiers and how they fight. But this book shows what happens to the regular people and how they act and support their troops. Its weaknesses are that chapters can be completely unrelated and it can be confusing. Foster's War can also be very predictable and it's pretty obvious what happens.
Overall I think Foster's War is a great book that tells you a lot about what happened in America during the war. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about WWII that's not just about fighting, people getting captured and cities getting destroyed.

Foster Simmons has an evil father. His brother leaves for world war II and Foster wants to help the soldiers, too. How is Foster going to help the U.S? I read this book from when I got back from school to when I went to bed. It was funny,addicting, and was suspenseful(very suspenseful).

In this book the only war isn't just World War II it is also in Foster's home. His father beats him and constantly puts him down. In order to get away from his father Foster's older brother Mel signs up for the army causing him to leave school. The three youngest children have developed skills they can use together to get away from their abusive father's ways. When the family messes up the slightest bit he overreacts and begins his attack. After the family learns of Pearl Harbor they begin to worry about air raids and the safety of Mel. Foster's best friend Jimmy is moved to an internment camp because he is a Japanese - American or a Jap in the words of the adults. The book goes on talking about the war. This a great book for middle schoolers. I really liked it. 5 stars!!!!!!

Foster's War

Do you like World War II? Well if you do then you will enjoy Foster's War by Carolyn Reeder. Carolyn's first book was called Shades of Gray. It won the Scott O'Dell Award. She also wrote two other books called Grandpa's Mountain and Moonshiner's Son. I would give Foster's War a 5 out of 5.

Foster's War takes place in San Diego, California during World War II in 1941. In the beginning the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Foster's older brother, Mel, got sent to war. Foster later started getting into conflicts with his dad. Foster's best friend, Jimmy, who is Japanese, has to move away into a Japanese neighborhood. Later in the story the family gets news that Mel is missing in action. About a week later the family receives a telegram saying that Mel was killed in action on June 4. Finally, Foster and the rest of his family started to get along together. To end the story Foster's dad buy Foster and his brother Rick a fancy train set. There were several conflicts in the story. The main conflict was when Mel went to war the whole family was worried about him. The dad was mad about Mel going to war, because Mel didn't get his father's permission and he forged his father's permission. The other conflicts that weren't as important was when Foster's best friend Jimmy had to move away to a Japanese neighborhood and when the whole family didn't get along so well.

Here are a few main characters in the story. The main character is Foster. Foster is 11 years old. He loves his older brother Mel a lot. His best friend is a Japanese boy named Jimmy. He is an average kid like everybody else that's goes to his school. He is the founder of the Youth War Effort.
Another main character is Mr. Simmons. He is Foster's dad. He is always mean and angry. He works long hours at the aircraft factory. Everyday when he comes home he complains. He also gets angry with the family a lot. One last thing that he does is go around the neighborhood to make sure everybody's light are off when the have an air raid. The last main character that I'll mention is Mrs. Simmons. She is always nice to everybody. She tries really hard to keep the family together no matter what happens. She also helps around a lot.

The author shows the theme well. The theme of the story is, sometimes bad things have to happen in order to bring a family together. She shows this by having Mel go to war first. Then she shows the family getting into fights. When they got the news Mel was missing they got a little better. Then when they got the telegram about Mel was killed the family almost came together. Finally when the dad bought them the train set you can tell that they came together.

Foster's War was a great book. I would give it a 5 out of 5. You would enjoy this a lot if you like World War II. If you don't like World War II you will still enjoy it. For a grade level that I would say that like it is probably 6th to 8th grade. Ages 10 to 14. I think this book will be a classic and kids will continue to read it for a long time. The strengths of the book were the way the story was wrote it. The weakness of the book was the very little detail or not much action of World War II. She focused more on conflicts that happed at home. This book was almost like the book The Outsiders. In The Outsider, by S.E. Hinton, were two groups that hated each other by their looks and how they lived. One of the groups came from the Westside that were rich and had a lot of fancy things. The other group where from the Eastside that were poor and were nothing were like the rich group. Also in The Outsiders a bunch of people had to die to bring a family together. In conclusion, Foster's War is a must buy book.

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What a head-trip! While the Pearly Gates of Paradise may be more than a few minutes away, you are almost certain to enjoy the journey with this book in hand. I purchased this book from Amazon back in 2002 and apart from the curling cellophane-coated front cover, I have nothing but praise for it. It simply gets better, every single time I read it - not unlike sipping some fine vintage even as it ages.

It must be difficult to write a book on a subject so intrinsically mathematical while retaining a healthy, comprehensible tone with a twist of the ridiculous. Schroeder has an enviable sense of comic timing in addition to his peculiarly personalized insight into the world of Number Theory. It is pretty amazing, considering the broad and variable scope of his exposition that the entire opus did not descend into an inexorable chaotic mess of formulae. He skillfully manages to avoid the quagmire of complexity by properly abbreviating lengthy explanations with diagrams, pretty color prints and even the occasional cartoon aside. This leaves him enough time for the most engaging (not to mention informative) anecdotes which allows him to bring the reader into certain obscure fields of research - bilingual poetry, cheating at roulette and on how to kill Germans with Gift(s) - so to speak.

Do not be fooled by the casual tone of the book because this is anything but a cursory tour. In fact, if this is your first encounter with Chaos and Fractals, it may be better to have more than one supplementary text at hand. (I suggest Peitgen, Jurgens and Saupe's Chaos and Fractals: New Frontiers of Science.) Schroeder's book is written for serious students, who want to see some practical (and sometimes not-so-practical) applications of what were once mere mathematical monstrosities. Neither Weierstrass nor Cantor could have predicted that their little monsters would turn out to dominate the physical world. This book gives you an insightful look at how far non-differentiable functions have come since those early pioneering days.

Go ahead and buy this book. It is what every scientific book should aspire to be - brilliant and funny (exactly in that order!)

This is a one of the best semi-technical mathematics books I ever read. What I mean by "semi-technical" is, you need somewhat of a math interest and education to appreciate it, and if you have that, you can read it casually. You don't need pen and paper; it's not a textbook. However, occasionally you will want to grab the pen and paper to verify what the author writes.
For an ex-math person as myself, this book is an eye-opener as to how many areas of life are touched by fractals and chaos theory. Everything from nature, to economic markets, to music, to just plain theoretical stuff is mentioned here. And the writer delivers it in a well-organized, lucid, entertaining, and passionate fashion. And it is well-illustrated, which really helped me understand....
I'm on my 3rd reading of this book since 1992, and if I wear out the book, I'm buying another one! I rank this up there with "Prime Obsession" as the two best non-textbook math books I ever read.

For the uninitiated! --The author combines insight with story telling. He has a story to tell, and does it well! Not only does he know the theory inside out, he has the ability to get accross the central points so it (almost) seems easy, in any case entertaining, using pictures (including cartoons), humor, and equations when they are needed. He further make clear the many fascinating links between chaos theory, algorithms, technology, and areas of pure math, such as number theory. Highly recommended!

This book can be read in two different ways:

The first one is intended for the uninitiated who wants to get an introduction to chaos and fractals; the way Schroeder guides you into the chaotic phenomenae that occur everywhere around us is clear, elegant and funny. He plays with chaos and makes the reader part of this game.

The second way to read this book includes a warning for scholars: This is not a textbook! The mathematical background used to explain this game is strong. Shcroeder lets the committed reader to work with the maths by himself, so you must have paper, pencil, and computer near to you in order to enjoy the book's whole potential, in this case Shcroeder has all the experience and knowledge on the matter to guide you through "this infinte paradise" in a very firm way.

The only thing I'd wish from this book was a new hardcover edition, I've read it so many times that my copy is getting very spoiled.

If you are still interested after reading this book, but you want a little help with your maths then I'd recommend "Chaos Theory Tamed" by Garnett P. Williams. It will do the trick. However if you just want to fall in love with chaos without complications, then you should read "Chaos: The Making of a New Science" by James Gleick.

This book is a complete guide of all possible situations in science where you may encounter chaos. It provides for every situation an intuitive as well as very formal view of every problem and the corresponding solution. The main drawback concerns its relative inaccessibility for non-scientific people, it requires a quite important scientific background to understand the formal part. Anyway, even for the lay-man, it can be interesting to read, in order to understand the widespread of chaos and non-linearity in real-life situations, not just the purely scientific-related ones.

However, the treatment is terrific, with excellent description and explanations of the how's and why's, at an intuitive level as well as a very rigorous one ! I don't think i've ever read a book of such a high quality...

This book is worth its price, and without a doubt deserves the time you'll need to go through it.

If you are not a Robert Utley fan you soon will be. This second in a two volume series, Utley shows once again why he is the king of frontier US history. This is an excellent piece of scholarship and writing.

Recounting the final, massive push by the Regular Army to subdue the American Indians, this volume covers the 25 years after the Civil War when control of the Plaines was wrested from the Indians, from the first skirmishes with the Sioux over the Bozeman Trail to the final defeat and subjugation in 1880.

Proud of the Unites States Army and is accomplishments while simultaneously sympathetic toward the Indians, Utley traces the campaign directed by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. The result is a very evenhanded account resting comfortably between the "the barbaric band of butchers depicted in the humanitarian literature of the nineteenth century and the atonement literature of the twentieth." The people we meet are simply a group of ordinary men doing the very best they could under remarkably trying circumstances that were often under equipped and ill supplied.

A great deal has been written about the United States Army during the Civil War. But tales of the postwar army can be just as thrilling as stories from the war, though this portion of military history is, sadly, often overlooked. Robert Utley attempts to correct this oversight in this excellent book, which deals with the nature, structure, and activity of the portion of the army engaged on the frontier from immediately after the Civil War until Wounded Knee. Arranged in an order that is easy to follow and is logical if not always strictly chronological, each major military operation against the Native Americans is handled with skill and sufficient detail. The result is a fascinating look at the army as a whole.

The main value of this book lies in the fact that it provides an outstanding overview of military operations as a whole (as opposed to books that treat just one battle or campaign). The work fills in many holes that will undoubtedly exist for anyone who has studied a part of the Indian Wars, and who would like to have a more general overview available to them. Anyone who has studied the Little Bighorn, for example, will find in this book a wealth of information that will explain in great detail many of the factors that led up to that action and also many of its ramifications. This book is essential to any study of Western history, especially military history.

Robert M. Utley offers the sequel to his _Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian 1848-1865_. In this second installment, Utley attempts to eradicate the myth of the frontier Army as blazing a path of glory westward that has been portrayed in Hollywood movies. Rather, he argues the frontier regular Army was only one of several contributing factors to the subjugation of the Native Americans. Other determinants such as westward expansion by waves of immigrants, and professional buffalo hunters attributed as much, if not more, to the Indian demise as did the soldiers. In a sense, Utley offers the antithesis to Dee Brown's _Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee_. The author highlights the Army's role as a frontier police force carrying out civilian policy that lacked cohesive strategy against the Native Americans. Utley begins with a general survey of the United States Army in the post-Civil War years. The author outlines the relationship between the War Department, its near autonomous bureaus, Congress, and the Executive Branch, with brief discussions into the tenures of Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, command-staff functions, and logistics. Chapters on weapons & equipment, and outpost life round out the first half of the book. Utley remains objective and unsympathetic at times to Blue Coat and Indian alike. For example, in his discussion of General George Armstrong Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn, Utley, a noted Custer scholar, blames the boy general for the debacle. The author cites several reasons for the defeat of the 7th Cavalry. On the surrender of Geronimo in 1886, Utley credits both Generals George Crook and General Nelson Miles equally for their improvisations in overcoming logistical hardships in the harsh Sierra Madre Mountains. Acknowledging that the elimination of the Chiricahua Apache from Arizona was the prerequisite for re-establishing peace to the area, Utley does not sympathize with Geronimo's plight. It was only after the removal of the Chiricahuas, hostile and neutral alike, argues Utley, that peace was finally brought to the Southwest. In the final episode of the Indian wars: Wounded Knee, Utley engages in mere semantics. The author depicts Wounded Knee as a "tragedy" not a "massacre," the term generally preferred by the Indians. Utley feels the idiom inappropriate because "massacre," points to "deliberate and indiscriminate slaughter" which, he feels this occurrence was not. Utley believes, the soldiers tried to restrain from firing on women and children, however, in the melee, hitting innocent non-combatants was unavoidable. In the chapter titled "The Problem of Doctrine," Utley sees the Indian wars of the late nineteenth century through lensesmirroring the war in Vietnam (this book was first published in 1973). Utley observes the U.S. Army applied conventional tactics in an unconventional war. He illustrates how hostile Indians were oftentimes indistinguishable from peaceful reservation Indians. The hostiles utilized guerrilla tactics-hit and run raids and disappeared into the night. By day, the warrior factions would easily blend back into the general Indian population. If this be the case, it can be argued that the United States military had learned nothing from its own history. Robert M.Utley, often seen on the History Channel, and preeminent military historian of the period, has once again consulted a vast array of archival material. His evidence is equally balanced between primary and secondary sources, with endnotes after every chapter. The author consults an impressive collection of Government documents including a detailed list of Congressional and Senate papers in an impressive bibliography. Generous, easy to read maps, and a peppering of period photographs make this an essential addition to any library.

Utley does an excellent job of showing what post-Civil War Indian fighters faced. First was the transition from the Union Army fighting Confederates to the U.S. Army fighting Indians.

Utley documents how that work was made much harder by the cheapness of the War Department and Congress. Downsizing the Army drastically to save money wasn't enough. Congress stuck most the infantry with leftover muzzleloaders rather than repeaters, meaning that their Indian foes usually (Winchester-armed themselves) could bring superior firepower to bear.

Meanwhile, the frontier Army had to go through the twists and turns of War Department, or Interior Department, twists and turns on Indian dealings, and in different high-level officers having different approaches not just to Indian fighting but to Indian truce and treaty negotiations.

Meanwhile, the grunt work, as typical, was to be done by the infantryman, not the cavalryman.

Read the whole story of his struggle to do his job in this book.

This is a good book about the US Army, Indians and the early west after the civil war. It follows events and gives points of view that are not clouded by the normal politics or attitudes. It is a clear account with facts, the probable intentions based on facts, and the actions. It allows the reader to get a good sense of the period and actions. The book gives enough detail to back up the facts but does not go overboard. This is a good start at studying the time period and the US Army at the time. Being into history, it was highly informative. It is a great book for those who want to read about the period but not get heavily into research. It goes deeper than just a brief summary but I think it gives just enough to allow understanding. It is easy to read and flows from chapter to chapter.

This would have to be my fav book in the series. It's all about Adrianne the warrior saving Ravenswood from the dark soreress and spider witch. And a beloved chacater lost from the old sreies comes back in action with Adrianne. Hope will enjoy this book!

This book has action,adventure,and it deserves more than 5 stars. I started reading them when I was 7 years old & I thought I wasn't going to like these books.When I started reading,it was excellent.But if you like adventure and very good books, this is the book for you!

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was great yet it was quite long, still it was a good book. Wierd things are happening at Ravenswood and to Adriane as this ghost wolf attacks her, not to mention Dreamer as well. Adriane goes on a adventure with her friends to save Ravenswood, the mistwolves, and Storm, but will she be able to save them on time?

I'm a 14 year old reader and love the Avalon books, I started reading them a couple years ago. It's been a long time since Adriane's starred in one of the books, since Cry of the Wolf, (though, she had a sizeable roll in Trail by Fire). Now finnaly, Rachel Roberts has written another book starring her and her pack mates. In my opinion, Adriane has always been the best caracter by far, it's to bad most of the books are about Kara, she's OK, but not that great of caracter, at least not as great as Adriane. The basic plot for the book is as follows, it starts off with Adriane having on odd dream, where the "Spirit of Ravenswood" asks for her help, telling her she must find "missing mistwolves". Was the dream real or wasn't it? She trys to ignore it for a while, but soon, un-mistakably concludes something is terribly wrong! And so begins the quest of saving the "spirit pack", the lost mistwolves Adriane was told to find in her dream. I wont say anything more so as not to ruin it for you, but I thought this a terrific book with an interesting story, very well written too. This book features many Avalon caracters as well as Adriane, including some new ones, and some not seen in a long time, which you might like if you're an Avalon fan. My only complaint is that the plot can get a little confusing in places, mainly because there's so much new stuff in this book, but all in all, it is very enjoyable, and probably the best in the whole series, and is one of my favirite books ever! (I LOVE the Silverwing Sequence by Kenneth Oppel, and a lot of the Warriors books by Erin Hunter, as well as Cry of the Wolf in the original Avalon series.) But I would recommend reading the others in the series first, it makes more scence that way.

This is the third installment in the Avalon: Quest for Magic series. Adriane's point of view is shown in this book. It starts off with Adriane in a dream that the spirit of Ravenswood is sick, and because of this, Ravenswood is in danger. She wakes up to find that her grandmother is sick as well. Adriane is still grieving from the loss of Storm, when her grandmother is sent to the hospital, and Dreamer starts acting strangely. Ravenswood is put in danger in two ways, and only Adriane can save it, but her magic is being affected,and she feels as if she's losing everything again. That's only in the first few chapters. All in all, an extremely good book with a very satisfying ending.

This product is in amazing shape, thank you for being so eager to send it out so quick. It came just in time and I love the book. Thank you Jamie

Anually rewised and printed, always with the same good quality information.
Presented in a practical and easy to use form !
Impossible to live without in a critical care unit

This is a truly indispensable guide-- I keep one at every site where I work (I am a primary care nurse practitioner). I highly recommend it for any health care provider!

The classic guide. A must for any med student or resident as well as anyone who might prescribe antibiotics.

This little guide may seem confusing at first glance, but it is quite helpful once you figure out how to use it! You'll still need a prescribing reference for dosages, etc. but this gives you a place to start.

This book is a must have for coaches of any level and experience. The book contains so many good ideas and skills to work with.

As a player and a coach, it is outstanding. The book contains ideas for practical skills development - including theories and specific practice plans.

from basic conditioning to advanced play development, this book will help the coach bring his players up a level. the player reading it will see improvement in their game. the drills are explained in a clear manor and will definately improve the ability of the player. the section on play making is outstanding. when teaching some of the plays to my bantam and midget players, it was like a light bulb went on in their heads when they caught on to the play. this is a must have book for any one involved in the game of hockey.

This book covers all of the basics very well. Essential reading material for any level of hockey player and coach. I have read it over and over again.

evry word is important, the previous edition was better, in my opinion, than the current version. A must for every student of the game and anyone who is serious about coaching. I have not found anything else like it and read it over and over.

When I wanted to improve my game I asked people around for the best book to get. They recommended this one and after seeing myself improve I recomend it to.

I was looking for a book that was geared for people who want to work out at home and couldn't find anything until I found Home Bodybuilding. The format is based on three steps which are the mental, physical and nutritional. The book also has separate sections for men and women as well as exercises with weights, without weights and even infomercial equipment. I liked the author's straight forward approach which doesn't have any agendas like other books I've read (i.e. like Body For Life which the author of the book is also the founder of the supplement company EAS which is promoted in his book) and he provides lots of good information which works. He is also very motivational and the book is filled with inspiring observations, quotes and affirmations which are helpful. The last part of the book is devoted to the mental aspect of being successful working out at home and while being a bit apprehensive about it at first, I'm a believer now. All in all, a well done book I'd whole heartedly say "get".

I've read the reviews on this site about Home Bodybuilding and have a few observations people may find helpful.

First of all...

1) If a book is rated five stars, look to see if it's rated with just one five star rating or many. Chances are, if there's more than one glowing review, many other people have found the book equally as helpful.

2) When there are negative reviews, check and see how many there are and if there are commonalites between each of them.

I bought this book many months ago along with the Men's Fitness Home Workout book and have found each to have their strengths and weaknesses.

While the Men's Fitness book has more photos and exercises, it lacks much of the periphery elements of the mental components of motivation and just how hard it is for many of us to get started and stay motivated working out--especially at home AND by yourself...HELLO!

I like both both books very much. There must be a reason why amazon.com pairs Home Bodybuilding with the Men's Fitness book. They compliment each other quite well.

Finally, I'd like to give a few observations on what the reviewer "Judge Knott" wrote regarding the Home Bodybuilding book and how this reviewer must not have read the same book I'm looking at right now as I write this review. Specifically:

"There are many exercises shown that can only be done if one has access to expensive, complicated gym machines. (Yo! Isn't this supposed to be for h-o-m-e workouts?)"

If this reviewer would've read the book and understood its purpose, the author Robert Wolff states in clear language that he wants to give readers exercises they can do with freeweights (barbells and dumbbells), without weights (bodyweight only), with machines (if they have those in their home), and even informercial equipment.

"There is a sloppiness and an imprecision in the way many of the exercises are described."

I've got a library full of nutrition, exercise and physiology books and the exercise descriptions and illustrations Wolff uses in Home Bodybuilding match how the others illustrate how the exercises Wolff Describes should be done.

"The whole book is written at a reading level equivalent to that found in "The National Enquirer" or "The New York Post."

I'm reminded of a quote that a 20-plus million copy bestselling author once said, "Don't worry; If you write for the seventh grader, the Ph.D. will understand it too."


"It's also filled with cheerful, peppy, Oprah-like self-help sayings and anecdotes that recall Dale Carnegie in an extremely good mood. They bored and annoyed me."

Look at the other reviews who seem to greatly enjoy this author's writing style. Then click on reviewer Judge Knott's other reviews. For such a scathing review of this book, it was surprising how many of this person's reviews fall into the scope of fine arts and NOT nutrition, fitness or health. Perhaps returning Home Bodybuilding and getting a book on the order of the "New York Metropolitan Ballet of Workouts" might be a better fit?

My purpose is not to deride of belittle the above reviewer. All of us are entitled to our own opinions. However, when coming to this review forum, my only request is that any of us have a fully formed and educated opinion that doesn't selectively omit the good or not so desirable points of any book. That way, we can all learn and be helped by what anyone says--good or bad.

For my money, Home Bodybuilding was money well spent. Thanks for letting me have my two cents worth. Best to all!

I almost quit working out (again) if it weren't for Home Bodybuilding. I have two kids, a full-time job and no time for a gym and I needed to find something that would help me keep in shape. I'm so happy that I found this book.

The book has five parts and they are:
Part I--Getting Started
Part II--Nutrition
Part III--The Basics
Part IV--Body Specific
Part V--The Mind

It is also broken down into giving workouts and advice for women and men (a good thing since I have no desire to have big muscles) and it has lots of good workouts and exercises you can do at home or in the gym.

It seems to cover all the basics by featuring exercises and workouts you can do with barbells, dumbbells, machines, no weights and exercises with just your body and even using infomercial equipment.

Yeah, I admit it. I bought the Total Gym a year ago and after a few months of using it (it now sits in the garage, thank you) it's more like the Total Joke, but that's a whole different review.

Anyway, this book has been really helpful and if anyone is looking for a no non-sense way to get themselves in good shape and do it at home, this is the book I'd recommend.

I like the Men's Fitness book a lot and thought it woould be all I needed for working out at home, but I have to say I was wrong.

While the MF book provided lots of tips and plenty of exercises, it didn't give me the missing pieces I was wanting to help put together an effective home workout program that took into consideration my need for having a thorough exercise, nutrition, AND motivational program.

It's tough for me to go to the gym and even tougher for me to work out by myself and at home. But the Home Bodybuilding book has made it so much easier and enjoyable. It not only gives lots of information about exercise and nutrition, it also convincingly explains the ways of how to get started and stay on a home workout program. It's been those ideas that have helped me reach my goals quicker than I imagined possible.

I'd like to see the author do a follow-up book with more information on home workouts. I've noticed that as I've gotten into to workoing out more, I'm wanting more and different ways to work out.

This book works and is highly recommended.

This book is great for someone who is starting out.
However, I found that the book was lacking in variety of exercise for a person who already knows the basic weight training exercise.

I found that the book did not go into much detail in all the chapters, it was more like a breif summary.

I guarantee after 8 weeks you will be looking for another book that provides a variety of exercises so that you can alternate and stay motivated.

I am using Mr. Deigh's book as part of a project at work. If you are going to use any book as reference for Public Relations of any kind, then this is the book to use. It is concise, easy to follow and Mr. Deigh makes very good points throughout the book. Thank you for putting great informaion into print! I look forward to your next book

Perhaps the most useful aspect of this book is helping today's business leader understand blogs, podcasting, social networking and other new forms of mass communications. As newspaper readership continues to drop like a rock down a well, the great promotional opportunities are expanding on the Web. As someone who teaches public relations through the continuing education arm of UC San Diego and writes on marketing CLIENT SEDUCTION: A Step-by-Step Lead Generation System for Professional and Technology Service Firms Pain Killer Marketing: How to Turn Customer Pain into Market Gain, I read many books about the field. Robert Deigh has created an excellent guidebook filled with practical tips. I will recommend this book to all my lifelong learning students who want to improve their companies, careers and personal causes.

As a PR practitioner, I plan to get this book into the hands of my clients. It can help them in a fun, informative way understand the reality of public relations--in other words what works and what doesn't. Robert Deigh knows his stuff and he knows how to communicate it. I hope that university PR courses adopt this as a text. It's the practical advice that folks starting off in the PR profession need.

Learning to use PR correctly to promote your company is difficult, but Robert has created a GREAT guide for business owners and PR professionals to improve their ability to gain visibility in the market place. This book was an easy and humorous read that I would highly recommend.

If you are only going to buy one marketing/PR book this year, this is the one. How Come No One Knows About Us is part primer on public relations and part quick PR guide for the busy professional. Written for both lay people and marketing pros alike, this clear and concise yet funny `how to' aims to supply you with everything you need to know about how to market your business or product. The book's apt subtitle is The Ultimate Public Relations Guide and it fits. It's truly chock-ful of everything you need to get your marketing plan in gear. But the best parts, I think, are the Rapid Read Checklists in every chapter. What a great idea! Makes it so easy to put Deigh's advice into action. Virtually every question I had about how to raise the visibility of a business was answered in this neat, engaging, and well-written volume. It's a must on every business bookshelf.

This order was handled above and beyond the call of duty. They handled everything, including the problem of USPS losing the package. No questions were asked and the book was reshipped immediately. Thank You for the great service.

This book opened my eyes. I'd finished a Ph.D. in computer science, and had a decent exposure to quite a few programming languages and paradigms, before coming across this book. I was surprised to start working through this introductory book, and find myself learning new things! The book transformed my approach to programming.

From page one, HtDP starts talking about good program design, and gives a methodical approach. Until this, I'd always thought programming books were "here are ten small example programs; go write ten more." That's hardly teaching. But HtDP builds up a straightforward design recipe, to guide programs along. If I get stuck or have a mistake in my program, 90% of the time I realize it's because I strayed from the book's recipe. The approach is language-independent, although some programming environments make it much easier to implement the design recipe; the book provides links to a good (free) Scheme environment, which it uses for its code examples too. (I've come to use that environment day-to-day). My code--in any language--has become much more robust, and when I do have a bug I usually locate it early, thanks to this book.

In addition, HtDP made me think about things I'd taken for granted: How is assignment to a variable fundamentally different than assignment to a structure's field? Even, *why* do I use assignment statements in certain situations, instead of choosing a functional approach? How often do my programs actually need the efficiency of imprecise floating-point arithmetic, vs using bignums which totally liberate me from numerical inaccuracy?

Although the text is available on line, I cherish my hardcopy. This is a book to first learn programming from, and one to revisit every five years.

As a programming do-it-yourselfer I've had many conflicting responses to this text -- it's didactic style, its attention to detail, its sometimes patronizing tone, its rigor and broad scope and at the same time its immersion in minutia and quiddities I have never encountered in 'computer books' I had ever perused. Perhaps it's my liberal arts background, or love 'em/hate 'em sensitivity to all those broad stiff-spined textbooks I had carried in back-packs since childhood, combined with a disdain for the authoritative stilted style these educators exude -- despite their patent love of their subject. I felt at once both patronized and condescended to.
From the very start of their journey into a detailed six step-by-step process that show the reader how to analyze problem statements, how to formulate goals, make up examples, outline a solution, and test a solution the authors proclaim their pedagogical ends: "We [...] believe that the study of program design deserves the same central role in general education as mathematics and English. Or, put more succinctly, everyone should learn how to design programs..." This is not a textbook, this is a revolutionary pamphlet calling for educational reform. I had read nothing like this in the tens of 'Dummies' and 'In 24 Hours' books I had exposed myself to. One part priggish, two parts pedagogic. I often found myself asking for whom was it written? First-year college student?, ambitious would-be high-school programmer wanna-be? Math mavens? Surely not a middle-aged bookish clerk who tastes run more to Turgenev and Dostoevsky than Turing and Dijkstra. But then I demanded more than mere anonymous web-lurking from my lowly pc. I remember myself many years ago trying to learn BASIC on a massive time-share computer and telling myself surely there was had to be more magic to computing than this. Well, after reading more texts and having had to unlearn the 'Dummies' and the 'In 24 hours' style of disinformation I had finally found the marrow of a discipline that is as demanding as any I had ever come across and as vexing as any artistic rigor I had ever been inspired by. Come be confused, come be amused, amazed and intellectually abused. Sorely, if I find I have little talent for this excruciatingly logical endevour, I have also found a full-blown appreciation of such daunting computational cheekiness. Much to learn here, and this is only the "core subject of a liberal arts education." What had I been wasting my time on all those years as a professional student?

I have been professionally developing software for about 5 years. I found this book to be one of the most useful and helpful books to help my coding skills. Even though I have been programming professionally for a few years and have a computer science degree, I learned a lot of new neat concepts from this book. It also helped to me to remind me of all the basic good practices that I have forgotten.

It is also an excellent book for beginners. The books doesn't use a popular programming language like Java to accomplish its goals. Instead, it uses Scheme so the student can focus on the concepts rather than syntax. It also teaches great concepts and breaks the problem down on how to solve various problems. Also it isn't "hardcore" like SICP-- it is very friendly to non-MIT level people.

Great book! I liked the way the author approaches how to begin designing programs. I am half-way through the book and I am finding it very entertaining. Yeap! I recommend this book.

What a book! It is so easy to read and understand. I wish this book was around when I was going for my BSME. It is a great reference book that all designers should have on their shelves.

This book is so interesting to browse through. As a mechanical engineer I really appreciate it, and it comes in handy for getting ideas. Great illustrations and descriptions! I highly recommend it.

As the title states, "Mechanical Components" is what this book is all about. This book contains a wealth of information for anyone in the engineering, machinery design, or troubleshooting arenas. It is not only limited to the aforementioned users but also to the home user who wishes to make repairs to home, car, boat, etc. At just under 7 pounds and 3 inches thick, this is a massive manual to read through any specific areas of interest or to simply use as a reference when needed. The reader will find many graphs, illustrations, and explanations for almost every type of mechanical component, sub-assembly, and individual parts in this book. Typical uses of parts as well as unconventional ideas are thoroughly detailed. This is not a book for anyone seeking information or ideas for "mechanical movements", but it will greatly supplement any other mechanical reference books you may have in your library. Before reading only 2 pages of the book, I had no idea how many ingenious uses that a simple flat washer could be applied to!

I am a farmer who enjoys making machinery. I design my contraptions on paper, then using a CAD program to refine the designs. Having no training in engineering I am frequently using references such as "Machinery's Handbook" and "Moving The Earth" and "Mark's Standard handbook of Mechanical Engineering" and others.
I have to say, that Parmley's book is a treasure trove of information, with heaps of unusual ideas for common compnents such as O-rings, rubber balls, pipe connections, washers and many others, plus hard information about more complex components such as gearboxes, cams, governors etc etc.
This is a big book, with many pages (numbering within each section only), lovely clear diagrams, and enough but not too many tables, formulae and specifications. It can be browsed cover to cover, (as I am doing for the 2nd or 3rd time), open a page at random and be fascinated, or look up specific topics in the excellent index.
I have read the other reviews on this book, and clearly it is a valuable rescource to professionals. I can tell you that it is also a fantastic mine of information to the interested amateur.

This volume contains the most comprehensive list of mechanical components and variations on any given theme that I've seen in one place. Additionally there are significant extensions to computation methods and overviews not found elsewhere. It is an extremely high value book.