Robinson Books

I purchased this book simply to replace my original copy, which I loaned out and which was never returned. Reading this book has been a favorite part of my Christmas for many years. While I regret losing my old copy, I am thankful I will now be able to carry on this tradition.

It's a fun story about an untraditional Christmas play. It shows how good can come of seemingly negative changes and find some unexpected, meaningful outcomes.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The worst kids in the neighborhood decide to be in the annual Christmas Pageant and turn the weeks leading up to the event into a very funny, read. I've read this book to many classrooms of children over the years and it's guaranteed to make them listen and laugh.

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I like books and I don't know if this is my favorite book but it is excellent. We read it as a family every year at Christmas. It never fails to touch me. It is fun with a redeeming message.

I have read this book at least once a year for 15yrs and now I'm reading it to my kids. It's a quick read, I can't put it down.

The Big Hungry Bear was a favorite of my grandchildren and I took great delight in reading it to them while they cuddled on my lap. They are grown now and I have a great grandchild on the way and bought the book as a gift for my grand daughter to read it to her new niece. It was the book I had my grandson (the father of the new baby) read to me when he first learned how to read. I'm sure the "greats' will enjoy this book as well as the Christmas Big Hungry Bear book too.

This has been one of my favorite books to read to children since I was young. It is just a really fun story!

My 6 year old son loves this book. It is a short story and keeps his attention.

We are very happy with this purchase. we were a tad surprised at the size of the book, yet that has been some of the fun of reading it. We have known this story for years and it was nice to add it to our library.

This was my 20 year old daughter's favorite book when she was little. I am attending a baby shower where we are supposed to get a book instead of a card, and since it's for my first grand niece or nephew I wanted to give one that meant a lot to us. My daughter said there was no way she was giving up her copy, so I had to buy a new one. Even after all these years, my daughter and I can still quote over half the book. I was just thankful I was able to find a copy.

This was one of my favorite holiday stories when I was a child. Now I share that classic with my children, and I hope someday they will pass that along to theirs.

It's a wonderful, funny, and heartwarming story.

My mother read it to her kids, I read it mine, and I've even shared it with those who'd never heard of it. What? Never heard of it? Shame...but that was resolved.

No Christmas should go by without revisiting one of the finest classic Christmas tales of the ages. And it's so convicingly Seuss, you just have love it. How could we not love all the Whos down in Whoville! While my kids are beyond reading this story now in the off-season, they still like to have their dad pull it out and read the story while assuming the appropriate voices for the characters.
Quite simply, every household that celebrates Christmas should have this story as part of the holiday traditions...whether the kids are 2 or 20 or 40.

Can you imagine growing up without the Grinch? In my country we collectively had never heard of this funny little fellow until the advent of the film. Fortunately I was introduced to him the Christmas of 1990 (still way past childhood, of course) and have enjoyed the story every year since. My children were so taken with the story that at one point we read it daily, no matter the hot summer sun beaming through the windows and there being no Christmas tree in sight.The easy, typically Zeuss-ian rhyme meant that we could recite it off by heart, without the need to actually read. Since, we have widened our library of Zeuss-material to include many other favourites.
There are plenty of reviews detailing what happens in the tale, for me it is important to share the sentiment that accompanies it, especially with the advent of Christmas. The sentiment of Christmas being about sharing, about having peple around you who matter, about enjoying togetherness and being happy.
Final note: I wonder if anyone has explored thematic and plot- similarities between Zeuss' story and Dickens' classic 'A Christmas Carol'. To what extent was Zeuss influenced by Dickens?

A classic story that everyone who even slightly appreciates Christmas. Dr. Seuss tells a convincing story of the true meaning of Christmas and gives us a surprisingly complex character at the same time, someone who discovers he hates Christmas for all the right reasons. The illustrations are Sessian-wonderland, and the lyrical read is an artistic blast.

Like everybody else, I know the story of the Grinch. It's even better in print than on screen, so, yes, buy this book if you haven't.

An absolutely beautiful and deep character study. You don't have to be a Trekie to enjoy it.

The book was well written and Robinson's knowledge of the lead seems so very authentic.

He created an entire backstory that blends in very well with the DS9 series. It makes watching the show in syndication even more fun, especially when Robinson is on, because it's like you, the viewer is in, on the secret.

I look forward to seeing more of his work, be it as an actor or as a writer.

Having enjoyed DS9 and having heard about this book through Memory Alpha, I noticed all the positive reviews and decided to give it a shot. It was well worth it, the book is completely engrossing and a joy to read. I wish Robinson would write a sequel.

Someone, just lock Andrew J. Robinson in a room and make him write more. Seriously.

Deep Space Nine was my favourite of all the Trek series, and Garak was my favourite character, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when this book arrived. It is amazing. It goes so deeply into what makes up the Cardassian mind and society, every unanswered question that one could have about Cardassians is answered in this novel. I didn't want it to end! The author is also the actor who played Garak, and the insight he provides about his character is wonderful, poetic, and so moving. Anyone who has ever enjoyed an episode of DS9 needs to buy this book. I've read it three times, and I still enjoy it more than any other sci-fi book that I've read.

This book is very detailed but you have to be wary of the slants. Sugden writes witness Matthew Packer down and dismisses his important testimony, and he also leaves out an important section of a letter that was published in the Telegraph in November which alludes to the capture of the killer (the "hideous bellowing of the news boys" letter). He also gets the Hanbury Street writing wrong. This was "Five - another fifteen and I give myself up." Sugden has it has "Four - another sixteen and I give myself up" - an absurd message which gets the total right but has changed the compenents to fit the assumption that the Fairy Fay murder did not happen. I find the book fairly morbid and irksome to read, and this is not because of the fascinating subject matter but the way that it is written. This subject needs a sharp-eyed Daniel Defoe, or a Jack the Ripper A-Z with all the rubbish taken out.

There's not a lot I can add to the great reviews other people have given it except to say that this book, while not being released as recently as some others, is still essential reading for anyone with an interest in the facts about the Jack the Ripper case. Sugden is a historian with impeccable credentials and research skills whose insights are a welcome addition to Ripperology.

I got interested in this book knowing that I was soon going to see the JtR exhibit in London, so I started reading it before I left on my trip. Unfortunately, when I got to the actual exhibit in July of `08, there was little there that the book hadn't covered--although I got to see some of the original police reports, the Ripper letters, and an interesting timeline display of suspects (most recently added to in 2007). This book is organized in such a way that it gives an intimate profile of both the victims and the suspects and the crimes themselves--which were truly horrific. The author relies mainly on contemporary sources, yet certain references make you aware that he has pawed over other accounts proclaiming "evidence" in order to separate the wheat from the chaff. So what you get is real scholarship, of a sort, and the author's best guess at the end as to Jack's identity. The many photos in this book also help to tell this unhappy story. Will this mystery ever be solved? I doubt it, having read how many missing pieces there are . . .

First let me state the categories of people who should (please note the emphasis) study (not 'read') this book: -
1. Anybody who is interested in the any or all of the following: the Whitechappel killings, the subsequent frenzy, investigation into the murders, armchair investigations by "Mycroft" wannabes, and the literally literary withchhunt being carried out over the past century & more to "unmask" the killer;
2. Anybody who is interested in understanding the socio-economic dynamics of the world's largest, richest, proudest and yet ruthlessly exploitative (of its own citizens, esp. the young and the women) city at that point of time when the nails were finally being hammered into the coffin of the 19th Century that had experienced the pinnacle of British glory;
3. Anybody who, after being overfed on the serial killers (Hannibal et.al) produced by the "hot" American novelists, actually wishes to know how it is like to be chasing a black cat in an enormous dark cavern while blindfolded;
4. Anybody who actually thinks that "the truth" might have been out there at some stage, but even with a centuries old "cold" case something can be done (unlike some trashy attempt sub-titled: "CASE CLOSED").

This book is not only accurate and free from all the popular & obscure misconceptions, it is also a living proof that history can be made more attactive than fiction while staying rigorously free from falsehoods. Recommended to everybody belonging to the afore-mentioned 4 categories as well as to all who, after reading some new adventure pitting Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper, start pondering over "what if.."-s.

Like many others, I have been interested in the story of Jack the Ripper. When I finally decided to read about the crimes, I wanted to read only the best, most definitive account. I believe that Sugden's book fits the bill. He sticks only to the facts; when he theorizes, he presents an opposing view as well. He does not claim to know who Jack the Ripper was, but he does put forth a theory. After having finished this book, I cannot imagine that there is much of anything else to know about the case. I would highly, highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading an emotionless, fact-filled book about Jack the Ripper to pick this one up.

This is the first wine book that does exactly what it promises.....you will be able to read a wine bottle label in the store or wine list in the restaurant and know what you are buying and buy what you want. That is a great boon to all wine drinkers out there, the majority of whom didn't have wine training in finishing school or a butler/sommelier at home. I have always know what taste I like but now I know how to read the label to find the type of wine that I want. This book will serve the experienced drinker as well with a system of classifying wine into groups for organizing your wine celler and advice about making those all important pairings with food. This book makes a fantastic gift as well.

If you have room for only one wine book, this is the book to own. Andrea Robinson nee Immer is a master sommelier who started out with Kevin Zraly at Windows on the World, and has become one of the great wine teachers in the world. I met her in 2001 at the Wine Expo in Boston, attended a wine tasting of Australian wines, and took her intensive three day course on wine at the French Culinary Institute last fall. My initial impressions still stand [from my wine diary]:

It was a joy to watch Andrea Immer in action and to discuss her book for a few minutes afterward. Her approach to learning about wine is superb, and I recommend this book strongly to anyone, beginner or more advanced, who has any interest in learning about wine. Her enthusiasm and knowledge is infectious.

The approach works; Robinson has taught her approach to thousands of people -- restaurant guests, sommeliers, chefs, waiters, bartenders, in a wide variety of restaurants and bars. "The light goes on every time."

Check the Comments for a summary of Andrea's approach to learning about wine.

Robert C. Ross 2008

This book came in the mail very quickly and will make a great Xmas gift for my husband.

Andrea Immer Robinson's Great Wine Made Simple (2005) succeeds brilliantly in making sense of the complex worlds of wine. I have read several introductions to wine, including Michael Broadbent's Michael Broadbent's Wine Tasting (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides), Jancis Robinson's How to Taste: A Guide to Enjoying Wine, Mark Oldman's Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine: 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style, and Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Complete Wine Course: 2008 Edition (Windows on the World Complete Wine Course) and I recommend them all, but I learned the most from Andrea Robinson's book. Her original and easy-to-follow approach will greatly enhance the appreciation of wine for new and experienced wine drinkers alike.

There are dozens of wine grapes, but Robinson reduces this complexity by emphasizing the "Big Six." These are three white grapes (riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay) and three red grapes (pinot noir, merlot/cabernet sauvignon, syrah or shiraz) that provide most of the world's quality wines. Each group of three is listed in ascending order of body style, i.e., light, medium, or full. She clarifies these styles by comparing their weight, richness, and thickness in the mouth to skim milk, whole milk, and cream. Robinson then lays out tasting sequences with easily available wines that show the distinctive quality and body of each grape. You quickly get an idea of the world's primary wine styles.

In the succeeding chapters on taste, Robinson recommends that you taste wines side by side in carefully chosen pairs that will highlight key tastes. This method is far superior to tasting one wine at a sitting. Wines can generate a seemingly infinite number of tastes and here Robinson simplifies things by concentrating on pairs of wine that exemplify the major style terms of dry, crisp, oaky, tannic, buttery, grassy, spicy, floral, and Old World vs. New World.

In another great innovation, Robinson introduces flavor maps of the wine world combining where grapes are grown with climates. The maps are a bit hard to read at first, but well worth the effort, because they help you predict what a wine will taste like once you know where it's from. For example, white grapes grown in cool climates may produce light bodied wines with apple or pear flavors while white grapes grown in warm climates may produce full bodied wines with pineapple or mango flavors. I found the flavor maps to be the most valuable part of the book, because they help you organize the world's wines into a system that explains why they taste the way they do.

The remainder of the book is more conventional in its approach, with surveys of French, Italian, American regions and so on followed by such topics as shopping for wine, wine and food, and wine gear. In these sections, Robinson continues to communicate key information about wine without oversimplifying.

I think Great Wine Made Simple does make a few missteps. A major omission is that only the briefest mention is made of serving temperatures. She does note that whites tend to be served too cold and reds too warm. Robinson's 2008 Wine Buying Guide for Everyone, which I also highly recommend, does a satisfactory job explaining how to serve various types of wine; but I like Andrew Oldman's general rule that white wines should be chilled for several hours and then removed 15 minutes before serving while reds should be refrigerated for 15 minutes before serving. Robinson could have said more about how to analyze the finish of a wine. Here I like the approach of her mentor, Kevin Zraly at Windows of the World in New York City, who describes what you should expect at fifteen second intervals in the minute or so after you have swallowed the wine.

Robinson occasionally criticizes other wine writers for being too technical. In part she does this because she feels that beginners will lose interest when confronted with overly technical prose, but this assumes that readers don't know how to select a basic introduction to wine as opposed to a more advanced book. Robinson's ideas easily stand on their own and are not strengthened by disparagement of those who write at a more detailed level or use specialized wine terminology.

To end, my criticisms are minor compared to Robinson's substantial achievement. She has assembled an impressive apparatus for appreciating wine. My wine knowledge increased by several orders of magnitude after having read her book, and I know I will be returning to it for years to come.

This is simply the best introduction to wine and winetasting that I have found. Many wine books get bogged down in minutiae, without telling you why it is significant. For example, they will spend three pages telling you about the soil and climate in a small region of say, France, without telling you how it affects the flavor and quality of the wine (i.e., why you should care). Somewhere in there will be a vague one sentence statement about how the wines taste "fruity" or "fresh." Andrea Immer's book actually concentrates on how to taste wine, using all your senses, and what specifically to look for in the color, nose, and flavor. She gives you a list of wines to taste, and through a series of tasting exercises you learn to recognize different flavors and aromas in wine. Her flavor map is an ingenious way to explain what flavors to expect from wines of the same grape grown in different climate zones, and it works! One heads up though, be prepared to drop some change on these tastings. Many of the tastings in the earlier chapters are affordable, but in the later chapters (read France and Italy), we found some of the wines to be cost prohibitive. While the earlier tastings are absolutely essential to getting the most out of the book, we chose to dispense with some of the later ones (Maybe some day I'll buy that $80.00 Barolo). My suggestion: Buy the book, do the tastings in the first five chapters, and learn a heck of a lot about wine.

This is a must have reference book for all wine enthusiasts, wine professionals, students of wine, and sommeliers.

I would recommend this for anyone interested in wine from the novice to Robert Parker (I'm betting he has a copy). Four friends have purchased this book after looking at mine.

The Oxford Companion to Wine is a great encyclopedia for wine lovers. It covers a great breadth of topics, deeply enough to be informative, but in a short enough fashion to keep this under 1000 pages. Coverage includes wine growing regions, wines, vine varietals, wine making, barrel making, bacteria, and on and on.

One thing this is not - it's not a review/criticism of specific wines (which tend to become out of date too quickly to be useful in book form).

Highly recommended.

Along with most of the reviewers here, my wine-knowledgeable friends, to whom I gave this book as a wedding anniversary present, were extraordinarily pleased. They tell me that they learn something new from it every day, and that it has "everything about wine" within its covers.

I have been working in the wine industry for many years and I have never come across a more complete reference book. It is worth every cent.The Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd Edition

I was surprised that this book was copyrighted in 1998. It seems that we have just now caught up with what she knew back then about essential fatty acids. That part of the book is very good and I am glad that we have finally caught up with her on this.

I haven't tried any of her recipes but I it seems that many of the recipes do not follow her traditional Greek way of cooking. I mean canola oil, for instance, certainly is not a part of traditional cooking anywhere. It is a relatively modern phenomena. She also uses white sugar and white flour in some of her recipes. Come on! These things were not part of the traditional Greek diet. And, really, do you think they used low-fat dairy products. Give us a break!

If you would like help to improve the way you eat, you should read this book and keep it as a reference. This book stays in my waiting room and is in the waiting room of a number of cardiologists.

I found this book to be a fascinating, but very practical study of nutrition. It was presented in a way that is easily understood. It lays out a plan that the average person can apply to their daily life to change over to a healthy life style. I would say that reading this book was a life-changing event for me----I have also shared this book with my family and loved ones.

I looked into buying some books to discuss the Mediterranean/Crete/Omega diet. I did like this book the best compared to the others I had bought (Mediterranean Prescription, and The Anti-inflammation Diet and Recipe Book). This gave a worded description of how the author ate growing up and gave a concise way to think about what you are eating - think fresh and simple.
Like most "diet" books there are sections on why this works scientifically and some meal plans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is helpful but I did skim the first few chapters. There is also a "food pyramid" and many helpful tables as to what you should try to fit into your diet.
I have been following the advice of this book (adapting the meal plans to what is doable long term for my spouse and I) and I can honestly say that I feel good, calm, and not hungry. Plus I love it that drinking a glass of wine with dinner is acceptable!
For people who are looking for a face lift on your diet, I do recommend this book.

Nothing contained in the book that hasn't already been printed about food and etc. They advocate Canola Oil over Olive and that is the first I ever read that. Other than that I wouldn't recommend to purchase it.

I have Lupus and was looking for a cleaner, something different daily eat book.

Jackie and Me is a book about a kid named Joe Stashack. He has the power to touch baseball cards and go back in time to when that card was printed. Joe is supposed to write an essay on African-American Heroes. He loves baseball so much he does his report on Jackie Robinson. There is also a contest where the best essay wins a trip to Kentucky Kingdom. Joe really wants to win. Joe goes to his favorite baseball card shop but they don't have a Jackie Robinson 1947 card. Jackie will break the color barrier which is not an actual barrier but it is the law, yet in 1947 he hasn't broken it yet. So they don't have the card, but they do have a Jackie Robinson 1947 signature. Joe is able to travel back through time and he learns something from Jackie. You must stay cool and do not use violence. This is a great book. -Andromeda Grade 5

The book I am reading is Jackie and Me. It is written by Dan Gutman. I think this book deserves five stars because it has real events but at the same time its fiction. It's about a kid who travels back in time to meet Jackie Robinson. But the next thing he knows he gets stuck back in time. So the next thing he tricked ant a bat boy to give his Ken Griffin Jr. Card back the key to get back to his time. He also wrote Babe and Me Honus and Me.

Jackie andme is the best baseball book ive ever read but the thing i hate about it isthere is a kid namedant whosi very negative and hecalls african americans bad names thatwe cant speak of but i would recomend the book if you like baseball.

This book was very powerful in climaxs and the segregation.As I read this I was mad at the terms and the abuse the african american people had to stand up to and in doing so were at risk of being killed.But at the same time I enjoyed hearing about the early 1900's ball players so i rate this book a 4 star book.

I purchased the book as a gift for my children. They love the series and have all of them. I highly recommend the series. It engages the minds of the readers in a fictional, imaginative way for those avid baseball lovers.

This book is by far the best test prep book for the SAT. No one else gives you the tricks and strategies that Adam gives. This book raised my score by over 300 points to over a 2300. You have to buy this book. Seriously. Don't listen to the crazy lady who gave this book one star. Together with the College Board's 10 Real SATs, you'll be set.

This is one of the best book I've ever read. It contains lots of tips and strategies that help your master the SAT. It also points out some quandaries that some people usually got stuck in the SAT and provides the solutions. Because this book focus mainly on strategies and tips, you may need to buy other SAT prep book to practice yourself.

When I began teaching SAT courses I couldn't answer all the multiple choices for the reading or math questions myself so I read 13 books on the SAT to see if I could understand why the right answers were right so I could help my students (and keep from being embarrassed from not being able to answer their questions). After reading his book and doing the exercises I finally understood the basic principles and I was able to teach them to my students. I understood how the math questions were constructed and the best strategies for maximizing a student's score. I understood how the Critical Reading questions were set up and I taught this to my students and the results were amazing! This is definitely the best book on the SAT.

This book is by far the best I have seen. Adam Robinson knows what he is talking about- if you are going buy only one book, no doubt it is this.

I have tried everything--$1000 SAT prep classes (no help, they are only for students who have no idea what the SAT is), doing constant practice from the Official Study guide by College Board (kind of helped but there aren't any explanations for the answers!), funny vocabulary books to help memorize vocab, etc.

None of those really worked.

Until I stumbled upon RocketReview. Everything in this book was SO USEFUL and fun to read too (it reads like a story that the author is narrating, not a boring textbook), with practice problems along the way, crucial tips, and an interactive CD.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK...if you are skeptical, just look for it at the library or something and read a chapter. The study tips are strange at first, but once you read his explanations into why they work--BAM. You understand how to not only take a test, but do math problems the easy way without all those complex calculations, save A LOT OF TIME on those long boring reading passages, etc.

I spent about 8 months trying to raise my SAT and took many practice tests. I had reached a plateau at around 2050-2070, and my parents were disappointed. I googled SAT prep books and bought this book and in just a month of studying over the summer (just reading the book, about an hour each day and doing everything it told me too--not very difficult), I raised my SAT score which I took in October by ***100 points*** which puts me in the range of all the colleges I am applying to as a senior now (Ivy Leage-level, etc). Before, I thought the Critical Reading section was IMPOSSIBLE. After reading this book, I found it to be really straightforward, pretty easy, and sometimes fun.

Get this book--it is a MIRACLE worker