Ross Books

I have been a fan of the writing of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross since college. She has a writing style which is tender, kind and honest. As with all of her other books you will find answers to your questions and feel comforted by her words.

Questions & Answers on Death and Dying is an extremely helpful resource to those who are bereaved or are on the cusp of being so. It is also a good introductory book, as was its predecessor-On Death and Dying-to the area of counseling psychology, specifically thanatology, the study of death and dying, for there are many issues in the dying process that are addressed: nonverbal symbolic language, prolongation of life, sudden death, suicide and terminal illness, fear, faith and hope to old age and just plain coping. Encompassed in the very latter, coping-wise, is not simply the patient and family but also the medical staff. The dynamics of dying have a process and to witness a loved one going through that process is obviously painful; it is the agonizing but inevitable hurt that no one wants to go through. But it can and will make the living stronger. This work in particular is helpful in many respects, because it is not necessarily a "how-to" guide on how to grieve or cope; it simply tries to answer the most fundamental and frequently asked questions that people have in respects to death and dying, i.e. emotional and physical pain, loneliness, anger against God and healthy people and finding some caliber of meaningfulness in their life while simultaneously being in the throes of the dying process. The questions asked are sincere, moving and eloquent. The dam of curiosity is opened, and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross eloquently answers all questions, even ones we would not even think of asking. Her insightful and kindhearted responses go to the core of what we're all essentially curious about; she herself admits that in doing this work, it has created a religious belief system that she believed was nonexistent, as one question illustrates: "In all your research on death, what is your personal belief of what happens after death?" "Before I started working with dying patients, I did not believe in a life after death. I now do believe in a life after death, beyond a shadow of a doubt." What is so nice about this book is that it is a gap filler to the first book. What Elizabeth Kubler-Ross started with in On Death and Dying, the general public-the living and the dying (by their questions)-completed with Questions & Answers on Death and Dying; it went full circle, and it reads as such. This is a valuable work to have. Many, many topics are addressed, and there is no compassionate condescension or nihilistic overtones, just truth, information and loving understanding.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross gives an in depth look into questions related to death and dying. This author helps answer those questions whether you are a family member of the dying or a healthcare provider, this book will help you!

This book should be on the book shelf of every household. It presents difficult information in a way that focuses thinking and allows patient and family to make effective decisions about the end of life.

This book has some really good information in it, but there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing" I found it almost boring with the redundant questions and answers. This book could have been half the pages and still good. Good read, but very repetitive.

A great book. Dr. Kirwan has outdone himself with this book. A great book for anyone interested in trees, history, or just great stories!

We purchased Remarkable Trees of Virginia as a gift. We previewed it before we gave it to my brother-in-law. Wow, it is truly stunning in its presentation! It covers landscapes and city-scapes and everything in between. Its photographs and settings span the humble to the truly remarkable. I highly recommend Remarkable Trees of Virginia as a truly remarkable book.

Remarkable Trees of Virginia by Nancy Hugo and Jeff Kirwen-- Remarkable Trees of Virginia-- is a beautiful book! the photographs of all sorts of trees in Virginia are wonderful, and Nancy Hugo's text (along with Jeff Kirwen's research conducted over several years and many miles in Virginia)is informative while being down-to-earth (or, perhaps, more accurately for trees, up-in-the-sky)and engaging. The reader/viewer is given a very personal, though still scientific, look at Virginia's wonderful trees--from the historic to the familiar. The book is also quite timely, since some of the trees pictured are threatened. The book makes the reader want more than ever to save and savor Virginia's (and the world's) precious forest environment.

I was able to work with the author while images of two trees from Lee County, Virginia were being taken. The folks have done a great job, the images are sharp, and the book size is large. This is one of those books that will be even more interesting to read during the cold days of winter.

Enjoy a state wide tour of magnificent trees while enjoying a cup of coffee in your living room. The pictures are spectacular and the stories behind many of the trees are charming.

I prefer the new Mermaid text to those in the anthologies primarily because the notes are on the same page as the text. I don't think the background to the play in the introduction is quite as thorough as it could be (the Oxford being more complete I think in that regard), but his notes are helpful and his history of production, though short, is revealing. I tend to side with those that attribute this play to Middleton, but who knows? The play itself is a wonderful mixture of the melodramatic revenge plot with a surprisingly comic over-view of the world in which it takes place.

PreShakespeare, but a lot of fun to read! I enjoyed it very much--- has to do with a man who is carrying around a murdered girlfriend for almost ten years-- he is planning revenge on the king...

This dark tragi-comedy resonates with the dramatic potential of Hamlet, but and edge particular to Jacobean Drama. A play which is still relevant today (many students related it to "The Godfather"), and brimming with cinematic violence, lust, deception, vengence, and, with all this, communicated through beautiful poetry.

Brian Gibbons, editor of the New Mermaids second edition (1991), describes The Revenger's Tragedy (1607) as a minor masterpiece. Judged against contemporaneous revenge plays like Hamlet and King Lear (and even Titus Andronicus), the term 'minor' certainly does not imply inferior. Minor or not, I agree with the four previous reviewers: The Revenger's Tragedy deserves five stars. Also, it is much easier reading than most Elizabethan and Jacobean plays.

Despite its title, The Revenger's Tragedy is no more bloody than Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (fifteen years earlier) and it is certainly not as insanely gruesome and brutal as Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (1594). No dismemberments and no cannibalism. Bloody, yes. But not excessively so.

Nonetheless, we learn of a murder, a rape leading to a suicide, and yet another aggressive seduction (or rape, if need be) that is in the planning stage. So ends Act 1. Revenge and mayhem follow.

The plot is not unduly complex. Vindice desires revenge for the poisoning death of his betrothed, Gloriana, by the lustful, aging Duke. Vindice also indirectly blames the Duke for his father's death, though "he died of discontent, the nobleman's consumption". Vindice is perhaps obsessive; he has retained Gloriana's skull and sometimes speaks directly to her.

In disguise he provokes discord between his enemies and leads them to plot against each other. (This ruse reminds me of Malevole's subterfuge in John Marston's play, The Malcontent.) A poisoned skull, a mistaken execution, and a murderous banquet highlight the later acts. The play concludes with an ironic twist, possibly added as a moral lesson, or simply to surprise the audience.

Hats off to either Cyril Tourneur or Thomas Middleton, or whoever may have authored this fascinating revenge play.

Update July, 2007: I recently encountered reference to this lesser known play in a murder mystery. Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972, wrote sophisticated mysteries under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s. Thou Shell of Death (1936) is a revenge murder patterned on The Revenger's Tragedy. In the first scene Vindice speaking to the skull of his dead mistress says: "My study's ornament, thou shell of death, Once the bright face of my betrothed lady ...."

OK. The jury has more or less decided that "The Revenger's Tragedy" is not by Cyril Tourneur after all, but by Thomas Middleton. This is on strictly scholarly grounds. Either way, it scarcely matters, as this play is strictly sui generis. It's like nothing else either Tourneur or Middleton ever wrote.

The best way to think of it is as standing in a relation to the classic Jacobean and Elizabethan tragedies of Kyd, Shakespeare, Webster and Middleton sort of like the way Quentin Tarantino's early films stand in relation to previous Hollywood classics. Whoever wrote this, they were Taking The P*ss. The play starts in next-to-top gear, and accelerates into warp speed fairly quickly. Few other plays of the era (this is roughly contemporaneous with "King Lear", to give you an idea) are so ruthlessly efficient. The basic plot is put in motion by two brothers, Vindice and Hippolito, who are a bit cheesed off because the egregious Duke (of wherever) killed Vindice's wife cause she wouldn't put out. From here proceeds a bizarre and increasingly unlikely series of revenges, climaxing in a frankly chortlesome mass slaying. Vindice is the juiciest role - a bit like Shakespeare's Richard III, he guides the audience through the action, but with far greater economy and far less wrangling of conscience, not that Crookback Dick is noted for his remorse.

By the end, the stage is littered with bodies, and Vindice and Hippolito cheerfully go off to execution, with barely a qualm in sight. This is truly the most cynical and the funniest of all Jacobean tragedies. Whoever wrote it, be it Cyril or Tom, was thinking along the same lines Howard Hawks was on when he (Hawks) turned "Rio Bravo" from a Western into a chamber comedy. It's all thoroughly reprehensible, and great fun. You want depth, try John Webster.

There aren't many four-hundred-year-old plays that I laugh aloud at whilst reading, but this is one of them. Pace the opinion below, it couldn't have less to do with Jonson's careful layering of reality if it tried. It's a brisk, bleak, savage cartoon. Full marks, whoever you were.

Superb collection of the six volume stories about Samantha, the young lady growing up in New York in 1904. Wonderful to have a single hardcover volume with all the stories. Very good pricing, especially at Amazon. However, you should know that the historical sections found at the end of each of the six stories in the bookset are not included in this volume. Only one historical section is at the very end. Still excellent and super value. A book to be treasured!

I had to buy two sets of all the new AG books...one for me and one for my 36 yr old daughter and her 5 yr old daughter! The other set was for ME!

Brought the hardcover book on Amazon at a Cheaper price. My daughter loved the book (she also owns the doll). Book was delivered in a timely fashion and was not damaged. Packaging was great and the book came with a surprise free necklace. My child loved it.

I really thought it was awesome. What I really liked about it was that you could really picture in your mind what things would have been like in the Victorian times. Everybody might enjoy it too.

This is a beautifully illustrated, great story book for young girls. Also good reading for adults as well. I wish this edition had included a Look Into The Past section at the end of the book, instead of the preview of Nellie's book. But the "Welcome To Samantha's World" book fills in the omitted information.

A friend and I compared the Boxed Set of Samantha's 6 stories and this All in One Book and were surprised that this version is lacking the informative "Looking Back" sections that are at the end of each of the 6 stories. The Welcome to Samantha's World book that you can buy separately does include some of the photographs and captions from these "Looking Back" sections. But it was slightly disappointing to see them omitted in this newer editionof the American Girls series. It's a beautiful and convenient book, and the stories are wonderful, but if you really want the nonfiction history included originally, buy them separetely or in the boxed set. It is interesting to note that another girl's (Kit ?) new all-in-one edition did include a Looking Back Section for at least one of the stories...so check before you buy if that part is important to you.

Without repeating other reviewers: SHIFT is more than just a book that describes concepts or espouses theories. It does give these, but it is also a practical workbook designed to assist anyone in shifting their lives.

For each of the 12 key obstacles, the authors provide several tools for working through these obstacles. Some people have trouble meditating, so there are energy medicine (tapping) techniques as well as excercises (qi gong and tai chi). If one type doesn't work for you, use the others, or use them all.

I will echo other reviewers who say the book is easy to read and the concepts are clearly and simply put in a conversational style. You would expect a book of this magnitude to be a massive volume, but it so simple and straight-forward it is really quite compact. It is easily carried in a purse or case. It is in my brief case when I go to work just in case I need a "booster." Read this book.

If you're interested in changing your life, pick up this book. In 12 chapters, Tracy Latz explains the various blocks that prevent happiness and self-fulfillment. Recognizing our own power to overcome or dissolve these blocks, Latz emphasizes the importance of imagination and honesty with ourselves. The writing is direct and clear, a refreshing change from many books on this subject. By giving an abundance of real-life stories, Latz helps us understand how anyone can shift his or her mind and heart to realize happiness and fulfillment. I'd recommend purchasing the accompanying CD (just download into your MP3 player) to meditate wherever you are. This book has helped me become a more relaxed, open, and sensitive person. I hope it will for you, too.

I found SHIFT: 12 Keys to Shift Your Life to be so transformative for me that I sent my sister and my best friend a copy of the book along with the companion meditation CDs the next week! I finally was able to make sense of why The Secret never seemed to pan out for me when I tried to use the concepts they discussed. I finally realized how I was creating my own obstacles to my own happiness and then I used the techniques in SHIFT to disperse those roadblocks. My sister had gotten excited about Tolle's newest book but found it hard to stay focused on reading it as she got lost in the intellectualized concepts. I found the concepts relayed in SHIFT to be so easy a (and entertaining!) to follow that I knew my sister would just love it as much as I did. This book is a keeper and not just a fad or trend. I want my kids to read this! How much easier it would have been to have known what Tracy Latz and Marion Ross teach if I had learned it as a teen!! I am an instant fan!

THIS BOOK GIVES YOU GREAT INSIGHTS INTO THE INNER SELF. GREAT READING WITH MANY SPECIFICS TO IMPROVE YOURSELF. IT MAKES A GREAT GIFT !

This is the first book to actually point out the power of our own negative self talk and the chaos it creates in our lives. The authors go further to give the readers tools and techniques to rapidly disperse the blocks that are keeping them from moving forward in their life. This book is really easy to read. Each chapter includes very interesting real life examples of people that have used these techniques to change. I have identified with many of these examples. I used this book to go on my own inward journey to become aware of the obstacles I put in my own path. I intend to keep this book on my bedside table to refer to daily when problems arise. I really feel that it's a wonderful book to keep me on course. This book is much more practical for me then Eckart Tolle's recent book A New Earth, which took me 70 pages to get into. The Secret was another read that left me wondering why the menu that I ordered from the universe was never delivered. Shift : The 12 keys delivers.

Ross and his character, Monbari, team up to tell tales that will shake you, wake you and quake you!

Ross has a realistic style I love - and he makes you stop to think - "could this really be?" You'll answer the question "Yes!"

This is a GREAT collection of short stories, beginning with the Prologue and continuing through the last page.

I was hit with, "TEST DAY" all too true, "TO DINE FOR" now I know why I never liked buffets and "The Bodies In The Bell Tower" - trust me I may never go to a bell tower again!

Highly recommended - I love his style, his imagination (a bit weird!) and his creative talent!

Ross teams up with his character, Monbari to shake you up, wake you up and quake your thoughts!

His short stories are excellent, but boy are they going to make you think! It is a good read from the Prologue to the last page.

My favorites: "TEST DAY" (so true), "TO DINE FOR" and now I know why I have never liked buffets and "THE BELL TOWER" - I'll never go there again!

A bit of a frightening look at what could be, is, and what we fear, but WELL written! A darn good read!

SHIMMERVILLE IS NOW ON MY TOP 5 LIST. MY MOUTH DROPPED AT THE END OF EVERY STORY. SO ENGAGING, SO WELL WRITTEN. GARY EARL ROSS IS A MASTER STORY TELLER. THE WAY HE WEAVED THE SHORT STORIES TOGETHER WAS BRILLIANT.

Fans of macabre themes and of authors with the gift to weave these dark ideas into something meaningful will appreciate Shimmerville, Gary Earl Ross's engaging new set of shorts about some of the more challenging themes here on schoolroom Earth.

Ross, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center, proves that the positive attention he garnered following the release of his previous story collection, The Wheel of Desire and Other Intimate Hauntings, was not merely a stroke of good luck: readers with an affinity for harder edged themes like homelessness, institutional learning, murder and divorce (just to name a few) will not be disappointed with this glimmering, shimmering engagement of a book.

Tapas, desserts, a little of this, a little of that. For reading pleasure order Shimmerville, a dish delectably and diabolically seasoned. This compilation is scary, creepy, unsettling and beautifully written. Many of Ross's stories and style call to mind other creative geniuses. "Test Day" (Orwell), "To Dine for" (Bunuel), "Out of the Closet" (Stephen King), "The Unborn" (Koontz), and finally..."Of Shadows and Silence", the author himself, Gary Earl Ross.

We began reading this book to our daughter when she was brand new. Now it is one of the few she requests with regularity and repeats the words along with us. She loves the colors and the details of the bugs in their pajamas, as well as the short sentances she has memorized and shares in the storytelling.
A great book for all parents, and a beautiful message of safety and security for kids of all ages.

This book is "cute as a bug." The illustrations show various bugs in their PJs going to sleep. My 19 month old daughter asks for the BUG BOOK every night. Only complaint: the illustrations are done on white paper; a blue background might have added a more night-like setting.

AS a director of a nursery school, I am always looking for wonderful books..."Snug As A Bug" is just that!

This book is absolutely wonderful. My 3 year old loves it and he even knows the words by heart. The pictures are outstanding and the rhymes are very easy for small children to follow and remember. This is a very enjoyable book.

I buy books for my grandkids, ages 4-6. They have been read to since birth and all love books. I am the "Book Grandma" so they get a book for each occasion. I am so please with this book, they giggle and laugh at the words and illustrations. I would highly recommend for this age group and also for new readers.

I have been passionate about Steve's first book, "10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children" for years and am so excited about having these same qualities and values expressed in the office. In fact, I see these tools as invaluable in all relationships and community aspects of our lives. I have given this book to the top management of my work place in my effort to lead from "down under":-) I am fortunate to work in a wonderful environment and believe that communication is something you "can't do too good." They (Steve and Craig) have a way of very succinctly conveying very profound and workable concepts.The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children

What's the elephant in your office? What's that one big thing, that underlying behavior that no one ever talks about? The issue much too overwhelming for a quick fix approach.

Ultimately, all the quick fixes in the world won't work. We all know that because we've tried them. Attempts to solve problems tend to end up in a finger pointing game. Happy people motivation schemes create disillusioned employees who feel undervalued.

The answer is so obvious that we've missed it. That elephant has to be exposed. Then, instead of looking for problems look to the strengths of the company to build a stronger foundation. In order to do this though, the employer has to change the way he or she manages. Listening, really listening. Being truly open to hearing about those elephants. Take the high road and use each elephant as a chance to learn and grow. Be dedicated to creating a wellness culture. Stomp the Elephant in the Office shows you how.

This book is incredibly insightful and caused me to look at company culture and my own professional behavior in a completely different way. We really do have the choice, no matter what our level in the organization, to be a driver of a positive work environment or a contributor to a negative one. This book provides practical tools that enable you to make a difference immediately in how you communicate with others, motivate team members and resolve challenges. I highly recommend it.

This may be the single most helpful book that I have read to help bring out the best in an organization. I have been in the business world for 25 years, and this book has me viewing my role as a leader completely different from the past. The tools that Vannoy and Ross provide the reader have had an immediate impact on my business.

I read this book once and have gone back to it countless times since! The simple and practical tools have a place in my everyday life, making both work and home more enjoyable!

You know those "little" irritating things that happen at work (a miscommunication with a co-worker, an email with an indecipherable tone, someone who keeps taking the meeting off track, a conversation where you WISHED you'd said something differently and replay it 100 times in your head, etc.) that you eventually realize aren't so little...because they eat up your time and energy and send you home cranky, where you might spend even more time complaining about them? Well, Stomp the Elephant in the Office is the roadmap to navigate these things and move on to doing your "real job."

Thank you, Vannoy and Ross, for illustrating simple and practical tools that give me back much-needed time and energy!

As a fan of Americana, I am so glad I read this book. (again and again) It has seriously enriched my reading life. The author has done a fantastic job of blending humor, facts, interviews, rumors, and heresay into a fascinating and well written account of a unique place. Thank you so much for this insighful book.

I now realize I was born 25 years too late. In the current world of homonginzed travel on Interstate highways and sleeping in cookie cutter motels, it is always nice to stay "some place different". After reading this book, we now know what is lost each time a place like this falls to the wrecking ball of progress.

I did see the relocated & rebuilt facade of one of the Coral Court units a few years ago at the Museum of Transportation in St Louis. The materials used were first rate. Motel chains would never build like this today - much too costly and would effect the bottom line and make stock holders angry.

The book mentions both the good and bad of the Coral Court. I'm still upset after reading what became of the main entry sign, but we still have our memories and the many pictures in this book.

Anyone who is a true "roadie" will appreciate Shellee Graham's effort to bring the Coral Court alive with her words and photos. Thanks, Shellee, you have created a masterpiece! This is truly a wonderful memorial to the beautiful Streamline Moderne that is no longer.

Before its unfortunate demolition in 1995, the Coral Court Motel enjoyed dual renown. The Streamline Moderne marvel was both the most beautiful motel along Route 66 and the most notorious "hot sheet" motel in metropolitan St. Louis.

Shellee Graham's tribute to the Coral Court honors both sides of the legacy. (The text is rated PG, though I suspect the author would have little difficulty producing an R- or X-rated version.) Ms. Graham, a noted Route 66 photographer, combines her own images with period shots and numerous interviews to trace the birth, life and death of the Coral Court. Highly recommended to fans of Route 66 or roadside architecture -- as well as anyone who ever took advantage of the covered garages attached to each unit for an hour or two of private, er, "rest."

Shellee Graham's photography and research, combined with essays and comments from former patrons and employees, result in a gold-plated tribute to a long-standing lodging stop on the outskirts of St. Louis, MO. Constructed in portions, prior to and after World War II, the Coral Court Motel was an icon of luxury during the early years of the Baby-Boomer generation. Sadly, it lost its glamour as its facilities faded from modern accomodations into delapidation as the 1940's evolved into the 1990's. The author's dedication (along with those of like-minded groups) to save it from demolition failed, however Shellee Graham has lovingly restored it into both its prime and demise. This is a very worthwhile book and mandatory reading for anyone who has ever stayed in a non-chain motel. For anyone who has an interest in the evolution of travel facilities, this is a must-read.

Great for rambunctious kids!

Let me say, first, that I really like this book, as do my young nieces. Those four stars weren't an accident.

However, there are a few possible concerns.

First, this book is, unsurprisingly, full of slapstick. Pianos falling on heads, kids sticking pins into their dads, men falling down the stairs, that sort of thing. Lots of comic violence. If this is not your thing, please check the book out at the library before buying it.

In addition, there's some comic semi-nudity, notably the scene where a lion rips the entire back off a man's outfit. Pretty funny, nothing obscene, but, again, if this isn't your thing, read before you buy.

Finally, in a book spanning, what, 32 pages? There's only one depiction of non-whites, on the N and O spread. Every other person in the book is white. Yeah, I understand that this is a retro-style book, like something you would've seen in the early part of the last century... but we're not living in the early part of the last century. We're living in the 21st century. It would have been trivial to add more non-white characters in this book. It's not a bad book because of this fact, it just could've been a better book because of this fact. Little disappointed there.

But yes, all that aside, this is a good book, and I really recommend it.

Bought for my now 6-month old granddaughter. She really enjoys the sounds and joins in with her own.

My little boy loves this book and has loved it since he was a year and a half old. It combines great pictures that have lots of action with action words that really grab a kids attention and without any effort they learn their ABC's along with the words. For little boys especially I think they enjoy things more that come with a sound track and this fits the bill perfectly.

This is one of the greatest books I own. The wood type is printed in fun, explosive color and the illustrations are warm and hilarious. They make for a book that puts a smile on my face every time I look through it. I've given this book to a four-year-old niece and a grandmother in her seventies, and both of them adore it.

A fun book that has nastolgic illustrations--very cool. A silly, yet clever read. Artistic, a true craft with 19th century type-set once used for circus and Wanted posters. And hip. A great addition to your child's library. As an adult, you'll enjoy it.