Roberts Books

My God!! What a story Robert Humphrey has put together. Nick Hoskins reminded me of Gavin McLeod as a somewhat bumbling reporter but it would take a Tom Cruise to pull off the romantic protagonist who makes this story a masterpiece. It's been a long time since I found a book I enjoyed enough to read twice in the same week. I will treasure this story for many reasons but mostly because it brings to life a subject that heretofore has been the subject of science fiction. The clones in the story are much like what I imagined, i.e. real people with real feelings and emotions and desires. Mr. Humphrey manages to draw the reader into the minds of these "creations" to experience normal human emotions on a grand scale. I sure hope to see more from this author very soon.

I read this work on a lark because the title was intriguing, but I was not prepared for the impact this story would have on me. If you like a story that will stay with you, then this is the one for you. Several weeks after finishing Humphrey's novel, I still find myself going over certain scenes, playing them out in my mind. Masterfully told, The Mendelian Threshold has more "beef" than your average fare, with colorful and believable characters, marvelously descriptive locales, and a terrifying look at the near future. Trust me, this story is a screenwriter's dream, with all the elements already intact and a final conclusion that will tug the heartstrings and jog the memory long after the book is retired to the shelf. Definitely a keeper!! The only other thing I can say is....BRAVO!

If staying up all night to read a "Help-Me-I-Can't-Put-It-Down" first novel is your style, then by all means, look no further.

Fully fleshed out, believable characters sided with compelling snappy dialogue are only but a raindrop in the sea of Humphrey's cloning storyline. The reader can not resist the sudden pang of concern for his journalist, Nick Hoskins before reaching past the first sentence ... "The shrill end-of-tape warning signal echoed through the great hall, and thirty-odd pairs of icy blue eyes suddenly focused upon what I thought was my secure hiding place."

Murphy's Law? Perhaps.

Barbara (c)2000

With his debut novel, The Mendelian Threshold, Robert Humprhey succeeds in doing what many first-time authors fail to do; draw the reader in and keep him/her hooked from the "In-Your-Face" opening to the spellbinding end. Humphrey's ability to weave intrigue with romance, tension, and humor makes this the kind of read which calls for an encore presentation. His Mulligan Stew of characters springs to life in such a manner, one almost feels like part of the story. As their lives mesh and secrets unfold, one can't help but cheer on the lovable Nick Hoskins and his cohorts in making the world a better place. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Mendelian Threshold and applaud Mr. Humphrey's great talent as a master storyteller.

What a great story! From the very first sentence, Robert Humphrey grabs your attention and keeps you turning pages... exactly what makes a book worth reading. I kept waiting for it to slow down, but it rarely did. Nick Hoskins, as an investigative reporter, is a completely believable character. I expected another story about cloning to be filled with the usual science fiction razzmatazz, but instead, I kept finding circumstances that are already leaping off the news headlines daily. Humphrey has the foresight of H. G. Wells, the charisma of early John Grisham and the suspense and intrigue of Dean Koontz...which makes me wonder, where the heck has he been? I certainly hope to see more from him very soon.

We live in a life-care community. I shall try to give this book to our health care center activities person, and to anyone I know who is having difficulties with dementia in a loved one, as well as to the active clergy of our acquaintance. The point Hill makes--requesting equal rights for the demented dying as for those who are in full possession of their mental faculties--is one that had never occurred to me before I read this book. I kept thinking (naturally) of my own mother, who for at least six months, and perhaps longer, didn't know anyone, and who seemed not to have anything at all to "get off her chest." Hill's entertaining (yes, it is) story of her wonderfully eccentric and charming parent made it clear that no matter what is happening, the person it's happening to is still somehow the same as in years past, at least enough so that it is cruel to ignore his or her need for expression. Whether there are old wounds to heal or bridges to mend is really secondary. Read this lovely essay and learn!

This is the most moving memoir I have ever read. The intimacy Sheridan Hill shares with her readers and close attention to details is breath taking. I could not put it down. Astonishing and simply beautiful.

This is a must read for the hospice community and the families they serve.

I could not put this book down, so real, taking us to that uncharted territory, the death of our mother. How do we stay present, how do we understand our relationship, how do we face death and find life?
Sheridan Hill tells her story with such detail and honesty. I am no longer afraid of death, for my parents or myself after reading this book.

Refreshing for the heart -- as eternal family values wait til the end of one's life to come to light. I want my siblings to read this. How I wish I had had time with my own mother before her passing!

I'm one of the "baby boom" generation, we who once shouted "never trust anyone over twenty-five!" And now we are in our forties, fifties, and sixties, often facing alone the crisis of the death of a parent or loved one. Our culture has ill prepared us for this passage, a society that dwells on youth and so carefully hides away death. I lost both of my parents several years back and only wish I had first read Ms. Hill's book, it would have served as a guide, and reaffirmed as well the rightness of decisions I made for the sake of my mother and father. It is not a book about death, it is a book about living and sharing to the fullest one's final journey with a parent.

I will freely admit I wept repeatedly as I read Ms. Hill's beautifully crafted tome which honors and celebrates her mother's final months. Reading it made me realize that so much of what I experienced was valid, that I was not alone in my feelings and gave me new and hopeful insights into my own life and the spiritual journey of my mother and father.

If you just read these reviews and do not buy the book, please heed her advice from this reviewer. Listen to your parents now, talk with them, share and recall all the moments, good and bad, and fight with all your passion to insure their time of passage is a time that is respectful of their dignity. Though I do hope you purchase this work even though the subject might be the last one on your mind at this moment. For someday it will occupy your life front and center and Ms. Hill is a guide you can turn to and trust.

After solving the mystery of a nearby haunted castle, the Three Investigators have their second case. It's not as exciting, finding a missing parrot, except that the parrot stutters. But the case quickly goes from mundane to interesting, as they find that this case involves 7 birds, all taught to repeat a part of a riddle. And it soon becomes dangerous when they realize that others are interested in the whereabouts of the parrots, and will stop at nothing to get them, including kidnapping. The Three Investigators will need all their smarts and some luck to solve this mystery.

The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot has all the frights of The Secret of Terror Castle, but with a truly puzzling mystery to solve added in. The plot is extremely clever, and draws the reader in expertly with the riddle of the parrots. New investigative methods are introduced, sometimes with good results and sometimes not, but the genius of this series is apparent in this book. I loved it 30 years ago when I read it as a kid, and my son and I loved reading it now. Exciting and interesting enough to keep even reluctant readers coming back for more. And as others have commented, I definitely think there's potential for a movie here. (We managed to find the old Alfred Hitchcock version).

In this second book about the Three Investigators, Robert Arthur has exceeded the achievements of the first. Whereas The Secret of Terror Castle detailed the boys' attempt to prove their investigative powers, The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot relates the story of the boys' first real case. Having been charged with finding a missing parrot, they soon find themselves intimately involved in a search for a valuable work of art. The story is much fuller and more satisfying than that of the first book. Here we see the case evolve from a seemingly simple, far from dangerous search for a missing pet to an expanded search for seven mysterious parrots (the significance of which are not at first apparent) and finally to a race against an international art thief to acquire a lost masterpiece. Along the way, they face mysterious foreigners working against them, make sense of an enigmatic coded message, and ultimately triumph (albeit somewhat by accident). Admirably, they also go out of their way to generously help a young Mexican immigrant and his uncle establish a more comfortable life for themselves.

This is the Three Investigators at their finest. The mental acumen of Jupiter Jones is put to the test, and once again his mental prowess proves up to the task. For an adult such as myself, some of the obvious clues are not picked up on in as timely a fashion as I would expect, but one must remember that even Jupiter Jones, genius that he is, is only a lad. This book is an unqualified success, eminently enjoyable to both young and old alike. I feel just as I felt twenty years ago upon first reading these books--anxious to read about the boys' next case.

Even though this is only book # 2 of the 3I series, this is far and away the best book. I re-read it several years ago and I remember getting this adrenaline rush surging through me as the story progressed. It was one of the best young adult books I've ever read. I would re-read it, but I've since moved from my parents' house, where it's under lock and key.

Even if you're a Hardy Boys fan, give this book a whirl. Help yourself to the first book, too (Terror Castle). The rest of the series isn't nearly as charming as this one.

This book is the second in the series, following our introduction to the Three Investigators in "The Secret of Terror Castle." As we learned in the first book, the Three Investigators are Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews. Jupiter is the intelligent, sometimes inadvertently arrogant member of the group who has a tendency to be condescending. Pete Crenshaw is typically the muscle of the group. Pete is usually quite fearless. Bob Andrews, who begins the series with a broken leg, works at the library and handles records and research for the group.

In this story, the boys are investigating the case of a missing parrot at the request of Alfred Hitchcock. A friend of Mr. Hitchcock had recently purchased a parrot that stutters, and shortly after the purchase the parrot disappeared. The Three Investigators are on the case!

Initially, the boys, and perhaps the reader, might wonder whether this mystery is going to be interesting. Never fear. The boys soon encounter a renowned art thief and a suspicious fat man who threatens the boys. The three boys also discover that there are more parrots missing and that their mystery has compounded. The mystery deepens as the boys learn that a mysterious man trained the parrots and the parrots may be speaking a riddle that could lead to a treasure. This story has enough twists that many adults might find it entertaining.

Quite a few children's mystery book series have become classics. Most people are familiar with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift. Even the Boxcar Children are relatively well-known. However, Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators were well-written books that offered an intelligent, interesting and more contemporary alternative to many of the earlier classic series. Many people recall the earlier series well, but the Three Investigators series, which Robert Arthur wrote and debuted in 1964, has, for now, largely been overshadowed by the other series and generally forgotten. Fortunately, all of these books are available either from Amazon or from other internet sources.

If you are looking for mystery books for children and you are looking for an alternative to the Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, I highly recommend the Three Investigator series.

Enjoy!

The Three Investigators series is MUST reading for all kids. As a teacher I encourage all of my students to delve into the adventures of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews. None of my young readers has ever been disappointed!

This (the second book in the series) mystery is one of the best. It's a fast moving story that gives readers a lot of mystery and action. All the familiar Investigators charms are here: bad guys galore, red herrings, riddles and clues, chases, and the fun of the revelations in the last pages.

I strongly encourage anyone who reads (no matter their age) to pick up this series. It'll put a smile on your face and make you glad that you shut off the TV and dove into a book.

I purchased this book because my husband and I are planning a second child. Our daughter is now four years old, and I suffer from several problems postpartum that I have seen numerous specialists about. I am currently under the care of an acupuncturist and am definitely benefitting from the information in this book. I agree with the author 100% in that without the proper nutrition and suplementation, it is hard to recover from pregnancy. Here's to a very healthy second!

In the West there are a few misconceptions that need to be dispelled. The first is that your body does not have to go downhill after pregnancy. The second is that the postpartum period is a genuine time for recovery and should not be neglected. A Natural Guide to Pregnancy and Postpartum Health is so helpful. It really lays out a comprehensive and clear outline for your nutritional and supplemental needs during pregnancy and postpartum. The bottom line... women's bodies get depleted during pregnancy and postpartum which can lead to all sorts of health problems. The authors of this book have mapped out a path to really overcome these challenges. They have also created a line of supplements which are truly fabulous. I have used them all the way through my pregnancy and now postpartum. Thank you Dr. Raffelock and your wonderful team.... you are truly setting new standards for health in America.

This book gives so much information about biochemical processes in the human body, that most people will benefit from it. I have never had a baby, yet it was incredibly helpful to me. I've bought this book as a gift for many friends and I highly recommend it.

This book is so excellent! Everyone should read it, whether having a baby or not! It explains why our body needs certain nutrients and how easily nutrients can become depleted and stay depleted for years and lead to disease. It explains the "why" of things you're always hearing, such as don't eat sugar and flour, or eat more protein. Once you read it and understand how your body works, you feel really motivated to make the extra effort to provide your body with the foods it needs. Also, this book explains some very important things that you need to know postpartum. Especially, if you have a second child, the nutrient depletion from the first child will make your second pregnancy difficult if you don't start restoring nutrients as soon as you can. I wish I had known this before my second pregnancy. This book is very helpful! Get it asap! In our society there is hardly any acknowledgement of how much your body goes through in having a baby. POstpartum problems aren't addressed. Women are expected to have a baby and then be back at work a few months later. This book explains why you need to help your body recover, and what you need to do.

This book is the first one that I have personally read that actually addresses physical needs and deprevations after pregnancy. I have been reading this book since my fourth month of pregnancy and I continually find myself using it as a resource for feeling like I did before my pregnancy. I am recovering so fast. I actually gained 60 healthy lbs. during my pregnancy and after only three months I have shed 50 of it. To be honest with you, I haven't had time to work out, but if you read in this book, now isn't the time to stress our bodies that way; we are equiped to recover naturally and Dr. Raffelock is an expert on just that. I recommend this book to any woman in post-partum recovery. However, I felt that it was even more beneficial to have this book as a resource durng my pregnancy, because it set the right tone for the events to follow.

One of the best all around references I have found. It gives you the important info you need and cuts out the fluff.

This book is a must for chiropractors who's practice includes pediatric patients. It is a one stop source for everything I have needed in practice.

The 17th edition of the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics is available now. I have seen it on the publisher's website. This textbook is one of the main physician-level educational sources for pediatrics, and I highly recommend it for the personal libraries of all medical professionals as well as those in training. No matter what your field, there will always be the potential that you will become responsible for caring for a child. However, it is usually best to find the latest edition for any textbook.

THis is THE textbook of pediatrics. I own Rudolphs and Oski's as well. This is the book to buy (or read if you have MDconsult). It has the best diagrams, graphs, authors, and is the easiest to read. Don't waste your time with the minibooks such as currents or the mini Nelson's. Just read this one. You'll be glad.

When I was on my PA Peds rotation, I often consulted this great reference in the medical library. Now, that I have my own book, I know its value. There is no other Pediatrics book out there that is better than this one. Don't waste your money on less expensive books like Current Pediatrics which doesn't cover half as many topics as Nelson. Also, for a great little pocket books, try Harriet Lane and Current Clinical Strategies Pediatrics 5 Minute Review.

If you long for the days when photography, real photography, was black and white on film, then you will love this book. Of commercial necessity it has been years since I maintained my own darkroom and printed my own prints . . but how I miss the magic! This book brings it all back and in so doing opens some new creative channels in my mind as to how to get beautiful prints in the digital age. If you're a purist, you will love this book. If you are a pragmatist you will find ways to correlate traditional methods to digital processing and printing (even though the book does not address the topic of digital at all.) If you are serious about b/w get this book then work with your own shots and in your own workflow until you can emulate the look of this master.

In this third part of Adams' technical writings, you'll find a guide to go from what a camera recorded (it talks about a negative, but can be well applied to a digital raw file) to a fine print delivering "what you saw and felt" to the viewer.

Even if it applies to B&W, I find that much of the content can be applied to color work if you think a bit more about it - mostly now, in the digital age with separated luminance and chrominance controls.

You'll also read some good ol' kitchen recipes about developers and toning... These will be less and less useful, but can bring back the smell of the darkroom to your memory ;o)... And quite often, the principle that based the recipe can be applied to another media.

A reference, whether shooting film, digital or glass plates (and of invaluable interest for the two former).

Ansel Adams is the master of photography, black and white, but still photographic principles and concepts have been throughly tried and tested by him and he teaches you so much in his series starting with "The Camera" and ending up with this book which focuses more on the final piece. The 2nd book in the series is also so very crucial because it outlines and describes his "Zone System" in great detail. A must have for any avid photographer and a great shelf reference for any professional. Now go out and shoot.. waste some film for crying out loud and get some awesome shots :)

The book is excellent. Although these techniques are not widely applied today, with appropriate experience and thinking this knowledge can be applied and transferred to modern software like Adobe Photoshop. It can help relate modern and classic photography printing processes (traditional vs computerized).

One little remark would be for the publisher. The paper the book is printed is gloss with quite a high reflectance index. This results in making reading the book at certain angles quite impossible for your eyes.

In this book, Adams said Expression is more important than reality, idea more important than fact, the print more important than its subject. For it is only in the print that such magnificence can be unfailingly orchestrated. Those words made me think that what is good photograph. The book opens with a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit brief, history of photography before getting down to explain printing techniques.

The majority of the text concentrates it's efforts in educating the reader in the art of B&W photography. This book tells readers that what are good prints making techniques. After reading this book you will feel like that your printing skills are very improved. The reader will see many wonderful pictures as examples, that will surely create a better impression as to what type of pictures Adams takes.

This book covers all areas you may need to run your operation and then some. It includes everything from menu planning and the proper equipment needed to marketing, how to hire good employees and how to handle inspectors. No aspect is missed. No matter what area you are concentrating on, it is covered in this book. From colleges and churches to prisons and nursing homes. It even includes a history lesson on the non-commercial food service industry. Being able to know these little facts will impress clients and vendors.
The authors even advise on programs to look for when purchasing a computer to run your operation and how to design an attractive Web site. It's a step by step guide for someone just starting out in the industry. The authors clearly break down the many, many aspects of the operation. Even offering advice on how to spice up the menu (roast beef becomes succulent roast beef with Au Jus and peaches become yellow cling peach slices.
Although the size of the book may seem overwhelming at first, it's less intimidating when you realize that about half of it is useful charts and forms. All are extremely detailed and helpful. Most you will want to copy or tweak a bit and use. You will probably want to take notes or have a highlighter handy while reading this book.

Many books claim to be the end all be all when it comes to instructing managers and preparing them to lead a team in the food service industry. None of them compares to The Non-Commercial Food Service Manager's Handbook. It is a step by step guide to every part of managing any non-commercial food service industry, whether it's a church, a prison, a nursing home or even the military. I have never seen a more complete and thorough explanation of what is required of a manager. With its in-depth explanation of money management, menu planning, purchasing and inventory, food handling, safety and literally dozens of other necessary components to being an effective manager I highly recommend this book for anyone looking into management as a career.

The food industry is something that is increasingly under scrutiny for new legislation whether on the type of food served, or the conditions under which it's prepared. Anyone who is taking on a management role in a non-commercial establishment such as in a nursing home, or is perhaps considering setting up their own catering business supplying food for companies will find this is THE book that will not only get their business up and running, but will do so in such a way that it should run smoothly and successfully.

The book is a comprehensive guide to the non-commercial food industry. It covers everything from the basics of what a non-commercial food service is, right through how to set up accounts, the kind of equipment you should have, how to hire employees, statutes you must adhere to, marketing and so on. Everything you could possibly need to know in order to run a non-commercial food service is right at your finger tips. Everything is set out in a logical manner so that you can either read it right through before even starting your business, or use it as a reference guide to dip into when you need to know something once you are established.

At over 600 pages, it's quite a hefty book, but the style of writing flows easily and the print is eye-friendly so that the amount of pages and sheer volume of material presented in it isn't as off-putting as it could be!

Accompanying the book is a CD that contains the forms presented in the book in a ready to use format. This makes the book not only a great reference manual for the industry, but also a hands-on guide to get either started, or better organized in your business.

There would be a lot more people with the confidence to start up their own businesses if there were more "how to" manuals like this one!

Have you ever been in a hospital during lunch time but were afraid to try the food? We've all experienced bad cuisine at places like hospitals, schools and churches, but after reading The Non-Commercial Food Service Manager's Handbook by Douglas Robert Brown and Shri Henkel, I realized that it doesn't have to be that way. If you're a food service manager, then this is the book you can't live without.

It discusses real issues like bookkeeping, operational expenses, necessary computer programs, endless menu ideas, recipe costs, inventory, equipment, packaging, nutritional information, delegation tips, kitchen cleanliness, equipment, first aid, inspections, dishwashing, and food storage. Nothing is overlooked, not even the signs of food allergies, customer service issues, marketing and advertising, catering, taste testing surveys, personnel issues, and surprisingly - how to deal with kickbacks from vendors.

I love the fact that it discusses the history of food service - going back to the time of chuck wagons - and how it provides checklists, forms, employee quizzes, and actual case studies. After reading this book I not only was hungry, but was looking forward to my next meal at a hospital cafeteria.

The Non-Commercial Food Service Manager's Handbook by Douglas Robert Brown and Shri Hinkel is a solid reference source which would be indispensable to a new manager and a helpful resource to even the most seasoned veteran.

It effectively covers all the bases for this niche, with everything included from history and menu planning to quality control, labeling regulations, employees and marketing. Filled with numerous checklists and questionnaires, restaurant managers can easily tailor their plans and ideas to best suit their specific needs, whether their restaurant is part of a church, school or prison. It offers numerous reference sources, both on and offline, for further research as needed.

In so thorough a publication, it would be nice to see some information or links on the many non-commercial restaurants that also grow some of their own food onsite, benefitting their bottom line as well as the residents, workers and patrons. Other than this slight omission, it could easily be called the bible of the industry.

This book is intended for graduate students of English who might need to acquire a reading knowledge of Old English for their studies, but who are not necessarily knowledgeable in Indo-European linguistics or familiar with archaic, highly inflected languages.

The author begins with a simplified but fairly comprehensive grammar of Old English which runs about 40 pages, and covers pronunciation; an explanation of gender, number, and case(s); the forms of the definite and relative articles; strong and weak verbs; adjectives; nouns; additional sections dealing with more advanced declensions/conjugations of nouns and verbs; and i-umlaut.

I read the grammar several times initially, and returned to re-read several times as I progressed through the readings, to review some of the concepts. As an earlier reviewer noted, you don't want to rush through the introductory grammar in your haste to get to the Old English texts; only confusion and frustration will ensue.

I should note in respect to pronunciation that Prof. Diamond uses distinctive symbols to denote palatalized C and G, which allows the beginner to avoid having to check the rules constantly to determine if a given C or G needs to be palatized in its environment within a word. This allows the student to pronounce Old English with confidence from the beginning, and I found that I quickly internalized the use of palatalized C and G using this method.

The readings are interesting and challenging. They are printed with Old English on the left- and Modern English on the right-hand page, allowing the student to plunge right into reading Old English without memorizing long vocabulary lists, with minimal flipping back to the glossary. The readings are graded, increasing in complexity of grammar and vocabulary as one progresses, and also incorporate fewer word-for-word translations as the student is guided into Old English poetry; this makes the student work harder on translations as he/she advances through the readings, and prevents excessive reliance on the Modern English.

There is a full glossary in the back, which includes all divergent verb and noun forms for the student's convenience. For example, it lists "seoles", the genitive singular of "seolh"; and "slog", the preterite singular of "slean". For a beginner, these situations might otherwise be nightmarish, trying to feverishly determine the infinitive of the verb or nominative singular of the noun, sufficient to look it up and find its meaning.

This book fulfilled my fondest hopes, allowing me to gain a reading knowledge and proper pronunciation of Old English in a relatively short period of time, and I highly recommend it.

This is the first Old English grammar I studied, nearly 25 years ago, and it remains perhaps the best one-volume introduction to Old English around. Concise, simple, and accessible, this text has both a reader and a grammar in one cover, containing selections from the major Old English poems and prose works.

The prose works include 'The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan', selections from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the preface by Alfred the Great to the medieval work on Pastoral Care by Pope Gregory. There are relatively few Old English prose works that have survived into the present day; there are even fewer authentically Old English pieces, as many Old English prose works are in fact translations of Latin pieces, and for some reason adapted their grammar to the Latin original rather than the Old English natural pattern.

The poetry exhibits the paired-verse pattern (although the translations accompanying them do not strive to keep the metrical pattern). The poetry include majors works such as Caedmon's Hymn, The Battle of Brunanburg, The Battle of Maldon, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, maxims, riddles, and other poems. There is no Beowulf contained here, nor any other heroic poems (such as Deor), as Diamond states that these are the most likely follow-up readings after one gains a grounding in Old English, and the poems contained here are often overlooked by students save for the most dedicated of scholars.

The texts here are normalised to Early West Saxon dialect, with a grammar very simplified; concepts are introduced that are directly useful for the texts contained herein. The glossary is similarly normalised, and cross-referenced for various verb forms and other vocabulary links such as prefixes and alternatives. In a remarkable insight on how students use texts, Diamond states that, for the purposes of this introductory text, notes have been eliminated, as students rarely refer to them anyway. The section on metrics introduces the five principle types of verses, as well as some minor variations.

Diamond includes a brief bibliography with dictionaries, grammars, commentaries and more; this is now somewhat out of date, but also shows the slow pace at which some aspects of Old English scholarship proceed, with references going back to volumes published in the late 1800s.

A very useful and fun text from which to learn!

I bought both Prof. Diamond's Old English Grammar and Prof. Baker's Introduction to Old English after checking them out from my local library. They are both excellent works, but I prefer Prof. Diamond's book for a couple of reasons.

First, although trivial, I have learned other inflected languages such as Greek and Latin and they always present noun declensions for the various cases in the following order: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, etc. Prof. Diamond presents noun declensions in the same way while Prof. Baker's book presents them in the order nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, etc. It throws me off just enough to be irritating when I am trying to memorize the case endings.

Second, as mentioned in other reviews, Prof. Diamond presents translations with each text. This makes it possible to learn a few words and them jump straight into the texts without having to guess whether or not you understood the various pieces.

Prof. Baker's book has its merits such as its companion website and its more detailed discussion of grammar, but I would recommend starting to learn Old English with Prof. Diamond's book.

One more point - if you are considering buying both keep in mind that many of the literary samples in both overlap so if you buy Prof. Baker's book you should buy it because you want a better understanding of grammar not because you want more samples of Old English.

I was lucky enough to take Old English, Old Norse and Beowulf in old English from Dr. Diamond at the University of Nevada, Reno. What a wonderful teacher... His book was a wonderful introduction to Old English.

A must for all Asatru Folk who need to learn Old English. The smart idea the writer has is to skip the Latin transations and to only use poems written in Old English, this way you learn the words as well as the grammer. Wyatt Kaldenberg

My five-year-old daughter was fascinated with this book even though it didn't include fairies, animals, or dinosaurs. I was very happy with the information they presented which gives some basic information about Dr. King while not treating his death in such a way that might overly upset sensitive children like mine. The illustrations are wonderfully done and my daughter looked them over carefully for a long time. It is a wonderful opportunity to launch more discussions about racism and the way we treat other people because of their gender, race, or religion.

I LIKE THE STORY BECAUSE HE TOLD THE LIFE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.WHEN HE WAS A LITTLE BOY HIS FREINDS SAID THEY COULD NOT PLAY WITH HIM BECAUSE HE WAS BLACK.

Martin Luther King , Jr was born in Atlalta , Goagia. He was born on January 15 , 1929. He led the March of Washington on August 28, 1964 and gave his speech.
THe book was really great.

DR.king was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929. He played football when he was a child. He couldn't play with his friends because he was black and they were white. He wanted to change this and changed the world.
I really like the book. He inspired me to keep the Golden Rule.

DR.King was born in Alanta Gorgia. He like to play football &baseball. He played football in his backyeard. One day his friends couldn't play with him because he was black. He wanted to change this and changed the world.

This is a wonderful book and a steal at the Amazon price. It has been as low as $150 but now seems to be climbing again. Don't be fooled and wait for the new edition coming out in October for $50 ($31.50 at Amazon). The new edition features approx. half-size reproductions of 12"x6" as opposed to the FULL-SIZE reproductions of the original gatefolds from the magazine (approx. 22"x11") in this pricier first edition. As a subscriber since the late 60s, this is a great trip down memory lane as well as a wonderful nostalgic look at the playmates that were before my time. It's a revelation to see those Playmates as they appeared for the first time full-size. And what a treat to have the ones I was familiar with and pasted on dorm room and bachelor apartment walls now preserved fold and staple free in a durable hardback format.

Awesome price from Amazon. Always the best deals and an excellent product that is worth the price. Beautiful photography and very sexy ladies. AA++

I had always thought of writing to Playboy to beg them to publish a book of their centerfolds. Nothing can compare to the awe-inspiring beauty that is captured by the full-sized centerfold images. This item is a must-must-have for any true Playboy fan. I will never part with this beautiful collection which was truly a godsend.

Just as Taschen are releasing a 2nd edition of the massive 'Stanley Kubrik Archives' on October 8, so too are Chronicle Books, releasing a 2nd edition of this huge book of Playboy centrefolds with a $50 retail and $36.50 Amazon pre-order price. - Oct.4
At this moment, Amazon has a very large discount ($150, not $500) on the first printing, probably due to the spreading awareness of the future edition. It is apparently not an up-to-date issue, including the centrefolds from Nov. 2006 until present, though it probably should be after waiting 23 months for the new edition. Wait till October, or 'get it while it's hot'.

This item is spectacular in every way. This book comes in a leather case that, by itself is truly amazing. As expensive as this item is, it is really worth every penny.

DOWNSIDE
This item is huge and weighs almost 40 pounds so Amazon charges like $12 in shipping costs. Thankfully, I was able to purchase this from a 3rd party seller on Amazon and saved quite a bit of money when I added up the item cost and shipping (the 3rd party seller only wanted $3.99 for shipping)!! It came real fast in perfect condition. I am thrilled with this purchase.