Sherman Books

Plutarch tends to be moralistic and tangential. Thucydides slows down his narrative with an abundance of detail and set speeches. If you want a good, straightforward "rumpty tumpty" presentation of exciting and dramatic historical events, then Diodorus is your man. He doesn't shy away either from describing violence and brutality when necessary. Although Plutarch's characterization and Thucydides's clarity are beyond compare, Diodorus's history can compete because its sweep is so much grander.

This volume from the Loeb Classical Library, Greek on one page, English on the other, covers the period 431 BC to 405 BC. This, of course, is the period of the Pelopennesian War and so, in a sense, Diodorus's history is clashing head-to-head with that of Thucydides. In the event it stands up quite well. Although Thucydides presents a much better account of events in Greece, Diodorus edges him in his account of the Athenian expedition against Syracuse. He also finishes the war whereas the history of Thucydides breaks off in the year 411.

The most important event of the so-called Pelopennesian War happened very far from the Pelopennese. This was the Athenian attempt to capture Syracuse, which, although well planned and supported, ended in disaster. After initial victories, the Athenians just failed to wall off the city, then a run of bad luck saw them reduced to fighting for their survival until another fleet and army arrived to reinforce them. This sudden advantage, however, was thrown away in a single night by a confused attack in the dark on the heights above the city. After this, still confident in the strength of their 'invincible armada,' the Athenians saw even this, their last hope, whittled away in a series of naval battles. When there was still hope of escaping with their remaining ships, their superstitious commander, Nicias, delayed the attempt because of an eclipse of the Moon. This allowed the Syracusans to finally trap and destroy their would-be conquerors.

Following these exciting events, the drama of the book is maintained by Athen's attempt to survive the onslaught of its enemies. For a while the brilliant political and military talents of Alcibiades succeed in reviving Athenian power, but following his undeserved exile, the Athenian fleet is decisively defeated and Athens is helpless.

Diodorus rounds off events in Sicily by describing Carthage's response to the Syracusan victory - a massive invasion of Western Sicily - and the advantage taken of these events by the Syracusan general Dionysius, who used this emergency to seize power and set up his famous dictatorship.

As Always with Loeb editions, each page is dated in the side margin so that the chronology of events is always clear. Also, this volume comes with two maps showing the area around Syracuse in detail.

Alexander the Great, was born on or around July 20, 356 B.C.E., and is my favorite personality to read about in history. To me he is the whole package general, statesman, conqueror, and philosopher. The smartest man who ever lived, Aristotle, tutored him. Alexander conquered more of the known world than any other figure in history, accomplishing all this before he dies at the ripe old age of 33. Some people called him conqueror and violent overlord. Some other called him civilizer and even God! All of them yet, called him "The Great". He was the first man in modern history that took this name, "The Great"! Even as a young boy, he shows great promise.

Diodorus a Greek historian who lived from 80-20 BCE wrote 40 books of world history. He is an uncritical compiler who used good sources and produced them faithfully. His work is one of the oldest works available and is based on eyewitness accounts. He does a better job than most in explaining the battle scenes, and seems to be more balanced in his admiration and criticism of Alexander then any of the other early biographers. I love his Bucephalus Story, and I recount it here so you get a flavor of the promise this young Alexander shows.

The legend begins with Philoneicus, a Thessalian, bringing a wild horse to Philip for him to buy. None of the hands was able to handle it, and Philip grew upset at Philoneicus for bringing such an unstable horse to him. Alexander, however, publicly defied his father and claimed that he could handle the horse. The bet between Philip and Alexander was that if Alexander could ride the horse, Philip would buy it, if not, Alexander would have to pay the price of the horse, which was 13 talents, an enormous sum for a boy of Alexander's age to have.

Alexander apparently noticed that the horse had been shying away from its own shadow, and so he led it gently into the sun, so that its shadow was behind it, all the while stroking it gently and whispering into its ear, (Alexander seems to be the original horse whisperer). Eventually the horse let Alexander mount him, and Alexander was able to show his equestrian skill to his father and all who were watching. The incident so impressed Alexander's father, King Philip that he told the boy "Look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of you, for Macedonia is too little for thee". He named the horse Bucephalus, which means Ox head, and rode it across Asia, founding a city in its honor in India after its death. This story gives you an inkling about the man.

This book is a necessary read for students of Alexander, I also recommend Plutarch's and Arrian's work, and from contemporary writers, J. F. C. Fuller and Tarn. Most of Alexander's greatest military traits are in the area of military logistics and to understand his genius in this area I highly recommend reading, "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army," by Donald W. Engels.

As a retired U. S. Army Major, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ancient warfare, and history.

John Sherman (Registered Occupational Therapist and Certified Shiatsu Therapist) draws upon her years of experience and expertise in Take Me With You! Do-It-Yourself Natural Health, a thoroughly "reader friendly" informational guide and reference to the practices of acupressure and aroma therapy, as well as common herbs that can all be used to inexpensively enhance health and overall wellness. Black-and-white diagrams and a wealth of practical wisdom in down-to-earth terms fill the pages of this excellent and recommended personal heal care "how to" manual.

The book is written so anyone can understand and use the information on a daily basis. It provides valuable information on prevention, healing yourself, and has helpful ideas. The pictures are clear and the directions are very easy to follow step by step. You can learn the important pressure points quickly.
I have used the tehniques to travel 22 hours on a plane and did not get air sick, swollen limbs, or suffer from jet lag just from using a few pressure points and following the helpful hints.
The herbal and aroma therapy is also very helpful for relaxation and improving health. I highly recommend this book to anyone!

Shantella Sherman have really took off the gloves on this one! This book is exciting, entertaining and most importantly applicable to life! From beginning to end, I must say the way the characters were explained, it was like seeing this book play out before my eyes and I couldn't stop reading for fear of missing the show! Please go and get your own copy of the book!

This was an awesome book. After reading the first few chapters, the suspense was killing me to know what would happen to the characters. As I read on, the suspense kept growing until I couldn't take it anymore. I skipped to the last few chapters. Even though I skipped ahead, I still felt compelled to read the chapters in-between. I was happy that I did that since it filled in the gaps of how did that happen, etc. I would recommend this book to anyone and would suggest that you do not skip ahead like I did.

Starting with the history of filmmaking and ending with directing itself, Eric Sherman covers every aspect of making a movie in between. This is the first book I've found that actually tells you step-by-step how to create a film. The information is invaluable for anyone, from the amateur home video maker to the experienced film director. The chapters on Shots and Editing are especially useful. If you want to refine your filmmaking skills or if you only want to gain a better understanding of the movies you watch, this book will help tremendously.

I have a bit of special insight on this book, as I was fortunate enough to take the author's private filmmaking course, upon which this book is based. Many filmmaking manuals dwell on the technical aspects of filmmaking without covering the key concepts and basics that one needs to truly understand the film medium and how one goes about communicating in it. This book does that. In class, Eric would tell us how Hollywood film professionals -- people who had been involved in the business for years -- would take his course and exclaim that they had come to understood film for the first time! This slim but punchy book covers those basic and includes the exercises from Eric Sherman's course, so that anyone can begin to make films after going through and doing the exercises. I did, and I had never even shot a video before the class! This book is standing the test of time because it contains information that will never become dated. I highly recommend it.

I needed this book when I was a young 20 something. The crazy thing is that some of us 30-, 40-, and 50+ somethings still need this book. But this book is foundational for having healthy relationships among women-friends and subsequently healthy relationships with men. If you were never properly educated by the elder women in your life, then connect with the mother-wisdom in Girlfriend's Code of Ethics.

For many of us the wisdom in this book seems like it is common sense. But once you read it, you will see how many us have made these mistakes and continue to do so.

This is a must read in a society that would have you to believe that there are not enough men to go around for women who are looking. The truth of the matter is that you have to know that that special man is out there for you and that perserving and nurturing our community of women is KEY to all relationships in general becoming healthier.

If you want serious wisdom cloaked in mother-wit, then this book is for you.

The Girlfriend's Code of Ethics

My friends and I just absolutely loved this book!!!! I laughed, but remembered some of the things I have done to undermine my own friends. It's a great read and not too lenghthy.

This is the perfect book for a first time sleep-away camper who is experiencing overnight separation anxiety. The storyteller, a novice camper, has filled the text with heart rendering fears and exaggerations that would cause most parents to rush back to camp to retrieve their child. There is a happy ending however, when the sun comes out and normal camp activities begin. The illustrations humorously portray the fears this first timer has, with all the "grossness" today's kids seem to love. Since we remember the tune to this Sherman classic of years ago, we've sung it to our grandchildren, who in turn, have memorized the text, melody and all. A great addition to this book would be a CD with a recording of the song for the reader to enjoy.
Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah is a great addition to our grandchildren's library.

I loved this book! The illustrations were great! I hummed the song while I read it! It is definitely being packed in our daughters duffle bag when she heads up to camp this summer!

The rating I gave this book is for the purpose of recommending it to others and not for accuracy of content. It is definitely an interesting read and its content will really shock you -- especially if you are a decendant of one of the park's 400+ displaced families, or a frequent visitor to Shenandoah National Park.

In recent years, the Park has acknowledged the "true story" of the mountain families and their hardships surrounding the creation of the park and no longer sells the "Hollow Folk" book. This book is full of misinformation, prejudice against "mountain folk" and damaging (so called) "expert" research and opinions.

Amazon[.com] does not allow reviewers to give a book a rating in the NEGATIVE numbers on historical accuracy, so I am unable to give a number on how the mountain people were depicted in this book. However, as I feel its a must-read for anyone interested in the families of Shenandoah National Park.

Driven by greed, a small handfull of businessmen and executives, boosting the formation of Shenandoah National Park, lied about the quality and nature of the land they proposed to include into the NPS system. Based on those lies, and in the face of much opposition that they managed to stifle, they got a Park approved by congress. Pressed to cover their tracks and eliminate all traces of the inhabitants of the mountains, they were at their wit's end to flush out all forms of civilization to prove their prior claims of primeval forests. Policy-makers, including, C. L. Wirth, professor at the University of Chicago and Miriam Sizer, social worker, met for two days at George Freeman Pollack's Skyland to decide the best course to take. They needed to justify funding to move the inhabitants off of their land, and concluded that a two-month census of such people would be conducted. Data, so-called, was collected from sites that had experienced the worst degradation so as to portray the mountain people as a sorry lot of senseless, immoral, filthy, deviant, poverty-stricken primitives. Arno Camerer instructed that ". . .the hollow folk were not to interfere with full speed ahead for the park; the conference saw them as nuisances and obstacles." [Darwin Lambert, SNP Administrative History, p. 94] The information collected supported the "SNP Evacuation and Subsistence Homesteads Survey," which former realtor, L. Ferdinand Zerkel said, "would justify a thesis or report of large booklet. . .or book length." To anyone who knows the decendants of the families who were portrayed, this book is a prime example of academia at it's worst and the reform movement at its peak; a smear campaign designed with the specific goal of eliminating all traces of the mountain heritage and its worth. Any member of any minority could relate to the tactics and massive contradictions embodied in the Hollow Folk text. Having eliminated nearly every authentic trace of this prescious heritage, the National Park Service, aided by it's own select authors, has been freed to "interpret" its version of the mountain culture, a beast that's "right different" from reality. Hollow Folk can be hailed as a sampling of the power and partnering of special interests, media, government and academia are capable of, absent an educated electorate. The same special interests in the form of foundations, associations and well-healed private partners boost the Park today, and vilify the same people in much the same, but more refined, fashion.

Companies spend billions of dollars writing business plans and then performing and measuring against the objectives they contain. If we can go to such great lengths for something as fleeting and superficial as a greenback, how much more of an effort can we make in living life intentionality. This book, more than ever I've read, is perfect for not only casting a vision for living life to its fullest but also executing against that vision in way that's both incredibly doable and effective. I couldn't give it higher marks!

This is one of the best, most practical books ever written on the subject of time management and rating the priorities in your life. If you are too busy to read a book -- this book is a "must read" for you.

This book is very informative and complete, while being simple enough for the average person. Everything you need to complete your divorce without hiring a lawyer and going to court, including all the forms required by law. The book is republished every year to keep up with changing laws. The publishing group provides help from lawyers via telephone for working out the fine details of your particular situation. A person can save a tremendous amount of money, time, and stress by going this route. I highly recommend it.

Nolo Press was founded in 1971 specifically for the purpose of publishing the first edition of this title. The Nolo principle is that not all legal transactions require retention of a lawyer, and in the state of California, for an uncontested divorce between two parties, tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees can be saved with the purchase of this $30 title (which is regularly 30% off from Amazon).

This book is a step-by-step guide to the divorce process and each of the forms necessary for filing for divorce in California. The text explains the hows and whys of the filing process and warns of potential pitfalls that can cause filings to be rejected or invalidated in the future.

My husband and I separated after a two year marriage and worked amicably through the process with the aid of this book. We knew that we would save a bundle of money by avoiding hiring lawyers to do discovery on our behalf, and we wanted to split up our property and move on as painlessly as possible. We each purchased a copy of this book and used it to file all the forms in our county courthouse. There is a helpline for telephone consultations at a reasonable rate, and we spent a few hundred dollars to get advice on the Separation Agreement we had drafted together (detailing financial and personal property separation as well as our agreement on our joint mortgage). We got big bang for our buck by having a helpline lawyer personally go over our Separation Agreement and we were confident with filing all the paperwork ourselves.

This book is intended for unconstested, fairly amicable divorces. If one party is out to "get" the other, the services of a lawyer may be required. Nolo recommends mediation before litigation if at all possible, to save money and effort. The authors remind the reader that lawyers do not have the consumer's best interest at heart--their first priority is to protect themselves from malpractice lawsuits, and so they will be as thorough (and costly) as possible to meet that need.

If you are considering leaving your spouse and do not anticipate an amicable divorce, I would recommend purchasing Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce instead of this book. That has all of the overview information of this title, with additional specifics on mediation and litigation that will help your case if it is going to be in those arenas instead of the do-it-yourself category.

This is an amusing but insigtful look at a complex subject. The drawings are hilarious and the humor makes the whole subject a lot less threateninng.

This was a fantastic book! I highly recommend it to any woman who is going through this stage. Joyce Ben-Kiki and Robin Herman present a humorous account that address issues any woman can relate to. This book makes a great gift!