Stevens Books

I found your book to be interesting knowlegible and Thank you for the quick delivery.

Hi,

I read this as I was going through therapy. Together I was able to sort out my ways of reacting to people and how they got setup. He believes you can only have one of them, but I think I had three. I have different histories to explain each, but now I have them under control. If only there was a book that would help me sort out my Dyslexia this easy. (Sorry for the spelling errors.)

Good read. (If you know anything about Dyslexia it's hard for me to read at all, but this was worth it.)

BB

Although the basic premise on which this book is based is what is known as the "chief feature" from the Messages from Michael book, I think Stevens has done a brilliant job of cutting out any psychobabble as well as any NewAge hippie-ism and purely focussed on the practical, usable, efficient methods of dealing with that aspect of our personality which most affects us in a negative fashion.
It may seem simplistic and yet the more I look at people, the more obvious it becomes that they are in the grip of one of the seven types of dragons (or rather one of the pairs of dragons) and it is truly the only think limiting them from showing their true potential through. The history of how these dragons are formed is particularly useful I think in that it not only shows you how you became the way you are but also highlights dangers you may encounter as a parent and hopefully how to avoid creating very pronounced dragons in your own children.

An excellent book. I am normally very critical of any self-help type book, but this one really does produce results (of course you have to apply the principles, but that's up to you, not the author!)

"Transforming Your Dragons" describes in great detail the seven personality patterns that keep us from living fully and successfully (aptly called personality "dragons"). Jose Stevens provides overviews, detailed descriptions of how they develop and operate, checklists and exercises that can help anyone be more effective, more successful and live a happier life.
I have used this book until it's dog-eared for myself, used the many tools from the book and Jose's workshops with clients, and have recommended it to countless numbers of people.
The dragon tools have helped me immeasurablly to be more successful in business. By learning the fear patterns (my own and those of others), I am able to know when others are operating from their dragons and change my approach to allow them to be themselves, reduce their fear of me and my ideas, and in the end, I can be more successful and have more win/win situations. It has also helped me to be a better person by knowing my own dragons, being able to feel when they are at work, and work to tame them.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in self growth, as well as anyone who must negotiate in business or personal life to get things done.

I was expecting the usual self-help book, with idealistic but generalized and useless exercises, flowery language that doesn't really say anything, and thinly-veiled advertisements for other books or products. Thankfully, this book has none of these. The writing is clear and direct, and the exercises are real and empowering. This book has helped me learn more about myself in a few days than I learned over the course of many years prior. Often, I felt the book was directed specifically at me, so accurate were the descriptions of the ways in which the "dragons" manifest themselves.

My one complaint (very minor) is that the section on maturity was almost overtly political, and in general not very useful or relevant to the core of the book. Happily, you can skip this section without hindering the usefulness of the rest of the book.

All in all, I recommend this book without any serious reservations.

We have used the other "Unofficial" Guide books and this one had good info that we used while in Vegas. Excellent reviews for shows and food. We were not disappointed. Would like to see Timeshare Accomodations included in the lodging. Our timeshare experience was excellent. A great option instead of the standard hotel. Another excellent "Unofficial" guide.

Great source of information for my Vegas trip. I love all of the unofficial Guides. Great for finding in city discounts and information.

My wife and I spent a week in Las Vegas recently. We've been going there every few years. The information and maps provided come in very handy. The hotel reviews are on the button. We stayed at the New York New York, and the review was about right. Last year, we stayed at the Monte Carlo, and again, the review was on the button. We had some excellent steaks at Mon Ami Gabi, not far from our hotel. If you plan on staying in Las Vegas for longer than a week, you will want this book.

I really like these "Unofficial" guides. Las Vegas changes so much that you almost have to buy a book yearly but I waited for 4 years to buy this one and it's just right! I can't tell you how accurate the information is until I take my trip but it sure has helped in the planning stages.

If you want the skinny on Las Vegas this is a great book to read. With a city as spectacular as "Sin City," you want an authoritative book that spells it all out. This book does just that. Definitely worth reading before you go to the glamor capital of the world.

Frank Scoblete: author of Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution! and Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution!

It is a great story, told with a unpresedented pasion and feal of both the human mind and spirit as well as the extensive historical knowledge of facts and myths.
I just hope to see more titles from The author MR. STEVEN WILSON who is, in my opinion one of the best wrighters today.

I stumbled on Steven Wilson's work by fortunate accident and was very favorably impressed with this novel. "Voyage" was well-researched, well-written, and very entertaining. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in WWII history and submarining!

Mike Stanley
Boise,ID

As a fan of World War II historical fiction, I've read a lot of examples in this genre, and their quality ranges from excellent to dismal.
Shortly after beginning "Voyage of the Gray Wolves", I knew that I had found one of the best examples. Steven M. Wilson's craft allows the reader to share in the emotions of the characters and the dialogue, while still making the pulse race during tautly written battle scenes. The fine treatment of the main characters, both Allies and Axis shows that just in real life, war is rarely about absolute villains and heroes. Rather, Wilson will have you deeply engaged in the exciting victories and crushing defeats of the brave men on both sides of conflict.
"Voyage of the Gray Wolves" is a highly recommended read, and stands up well next to other excellent examples, such as "War of the Rats" by David L. Robbins, or "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer. I look forward to Wilson's next foray in this genre...

VOYAGE OF THE GRAY WOLVES is a fast, exciting novel full of adventure and daring. Wilson does a magnificent job of basing his story around Guenter Kern, a German U-Boat captain who realizes that Germany is loosing the war quickly. His mission is a long-shot last hope to the ailing country. Kern faces difficult choices throughout the novel as he begins to clearly see how desperate Germany is. He also has to decide how far he is personally ready to go to remain loyal to his homeland despite his growing discouragement and sickness of a terrible war. Ultimately, Wilson does a great job at making the reader relate to and like Kern. Watching Kern as he is forced to make impossible choices will make the reader appreciate the often horrible intricacies that exist in war. This book will be especially enjoyable for those generally interested in the World War II era, but every reader will enjoy getting to know Guenter Kern.

Review:
Voyage of the Gray Wolves by Steven Wilson
Paperback 352 pages by Pinnacle Books

It is 1944 and the Battle of the North Atlantic is still as rampant as the winter swells. Hitler, Himmler, and others have a grand design that will, in their minds, create a turning point to the war. Their best remaining U-Boat Commander is chosen to lead a squadron of new Type XXI U-Boats against England.

The struggles of this makeshift squadron depleted by the ravages the allies are pouring on Germany make for a great read. They base is a perpetual cloud covered fiord in Norway which was an abandoned fishing village.

The training, problems with the untested boats, supplies, a decrepid tender, untrained crews, and the sudden arrival of
the SS add a great suspense to the book. Those events and the weapon that they are to use make up most of the very good read.

The story also has the approval of Michael DiMercurio and Joe Buff who are also premier submarine novelists.

The books is available at Amazon.com and other outlets. Get it, settle in and read a very good story.

As far as I know, this is the only available publication on Thiebaud. The book covers the artist's career from his early pastries paintings to his recent large-scale landscapes. It also enables the reader to discover less "typical" works, like the portraits of his wife.

However, what makes Thiebaud's paintings striking is their thickness, the way the artist works through the layers of paint, what we call in French "la matière". It is not only the color, which of course is present in the reproductions that fill this book. Unfortunately, that is somewhat lost and therefore I was a bit disappointed when I opened this catalogue for the recent retro on Wayne Thiebaud. The reproductions should have shown more close-ups and details of the works. For this particular artist, something is lacking.

I had ordered this book to share it with my adult painting students in a class I teach. It was to inspire a lesson about painting pictures of pastries. What I found was so much more. The book provides an informative overview of a variety of types of work by this artist, both realist and pop artist, with fine quality reproductions of the art work.

Remember that old Frank Sinatra song that served as an inspirational film for rainy day grade school entertainment in the 50's? Well, if there is an artist who has captured the imagination and dreamy reveries of life in the past century, the quieter, more ebulliently committed time to joy and the simple treasures here, that man is Wayne Thiebaud. WAYNE THIEBAUD: A PAINTINGS RETROSPECTIVE is a beautifully designed catalogue raisonne of the pop artist's oeuvre that toured the country a few years ago. Organized by curator Steven A. Nash of San Francisco (the artist's home) this book is beautifully illustrated with all of the iconic images of pies, cakes, candy apples, etc. that everyone associates with Thiebaud. Yet it gives equal time to the inimitable 'landscapes' of the hilly terrain that is San Francisco, valleys of Northern California, and beaches. Thiebaud's ability to flatten vistas into geometric patterns can be compared to Richard Diebenkorn's purely abstract Ocean Park Series of paintings: both artists understand space, color, and the excitement of the line.

Accompanying this 'delicious' array of Thiebaud paintings are essays by both Nash and by Adam Gopnik of 'New Yorker' who aptly praises Thiebaud as a man in the same company of Americana as Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and John Updike! That about sums it all up and this essay alone would be reason enough to buy this important volume of American art history. Simply superb. Grady Harp, October, 2004

This is the definitive book on the works of Wayne Thiebaud, which accompanied the very successful exhibition at the Whitney Museum. Thiebaud is best known for his hyper-realistic paintings of food, so luscious and sensual that they have universal appeal. When Theibaud first started painting in this style, he was compared to the Pop Artists, such as Warhol, Wesselmann, Indiana and Ramos. However, Thiebaud always tried to set himself apart from these artists, because although he agreed with their use of repetitive images as a comment on the banality of American consumerism, he wanted to paint well and believed that a series of soup cans painted poorly did not reflect his goal as an artist. It took many years after the Pop Artists became famous for Thiebaud to achieve the recognition that he deserved, partly because he was considered a regional artist who painted in California. This book is the seminal treatise on the works of Thiebaud and is therefore a must read.

an excellent book with excellent reproductions. i enjoyed it.

101 Words You'll Probably Never Need to Know But Can Use to Impress People is a great book to own. Borrowing it from the library or skimming it in the bookstore (you cheapskates!!) is not enough. You must own it to, as my high school English teacher used to say, "Chew, Digest and Assimilate" every savory bite!

I write and do public speaking, and I can tell you it's LOTS of fun to toss in one of these words without missing a beat, while studying group reactions on the sly!

I do love this book!

As a long time subscriber to the author's "Word of the Day" website, I looked forward to the publication of this book. I was not disappointed. The book contains the definitions of a diverse array of interesting-although often little used-words, together with very clever illustrations to illuminate each definition. I found the book to be highly imaginative and a fun read. I would recommend it to any reader age 10 and above who is looking for a fun vocabulary building tool.

Steven Fantina is the webmaster and editor of "Word of the Day" online website (www.wordofthedaywebsite.com) which is devoted to expanding the vocabulary of its visitors. Now he has gleaned 101 of the most audacious attempts to help the non-specialist general reader to build and employ a truly sophisticated vocabulary. The cartoon illustrations of Joel Barbee wonderfully showcase Fantina's word choice selections making learning these new (and very unusual) words quite "student friendly". From Pneumatology (the study, theories, and/or doctrine of the spiritual world or theologically the study of the Holy Spirit); to Griffonage (illegible handwriting); to Vaticinate (predict or prophesy), 101 Words You'll Probably Never Need To Know But Can Use To Impress People will easily prove to be as fun as it is informative.

I am the author of this work and just wish to clarify the comments of one reviewer below. His reference to "the F word" included in my book corresponds to the word "floccinaucinihilipilification" (not a typo or misspelling). which means "the estimation of having no value." Rest assured that 101 Words You'll Probably Never Need To Know But Can Use To Impress People is a family friendly work.

Every entry is accompanied by a cartoon-style drawing that accentuates its definition and helps readers to retain its meaning.

After the first reading I found some highly useable words for use in e-mail and have been amusing myself by using some rather tasty words. Not only did this book assist in my own amusement, I also had some conversations in which a few words were quite useful.

The humorous cartoons throughout the book really do help you remember the words. Then, each word has been used in a sentence. The word is in bold and is followed by a description.

For Example:

10) DIPTEROUS (dip ter es) - having two wings

....claimed that their dipterous contraption would actually become airborne.

Picture: Dragon flying across opposite page with a smile on his face and the word "DIPTEROUS" beneath the picture.

Now if someone is going on and on about something, you could always tell them that they are only presenting a psittacism to you and then you should absquatulate before they find a dictionary. There are all sorts of ways to amuse yourself with this book. I'm going to try to remember one word a week and in that way increase my vocabulary. Whether you impress people or confuse them silly might depend on how much they love words.

If you are like me, you will be reading the back cover of this book and want to look up a few words. Of course the index makes no sense "at first" because the listings don't correspond to the page numbers. Well, I guess this is a chronological index (When looking up DIPTERIOUS you will be sent to listing 10, not page 10) and you might not read the sentence at the start of the Index if you are looking up "Stultiloquence" instead of "Aquiline." If the author wants to make the index more usable, he might want to put that "warning sentence" on every index page.

After figuring out how to use the index, I did go through a bit of a tergiversation myself and realized that the book is easy to use when you can look up the words in chronological order. Still, I would like to see page numbers too. Maybe the author could put two headings, "Chronological Listing and Page Number" and make everyone happy.

If you love words, this will be highly entertained and personally (not to be a philodox or anything), I loved the picture of the Bandersnatch and Dragon the best and all the pictures add a does of humor to a list of seriously difficult words. I hope this will not be the last book because I could see an entire series of these books for word hungry readers.

This book is dedicated to all the Word of the Day subscribers.

~The Rebecca Review

I am delighted to hear David Winston's voice reflecting his skill and wisdom as a herbalist in the book Adaptogens Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress. This book brings to the reader the opportunity to learn from both the traditional herbal knowledge on this important subject along with the information coming to the subject from science and modern technology. The book has the flavor of a more traditional herbal bringing in the subtle skill of energies unique to each individual plant which belong to this group and introducing the reader to the concept of formulation of adaptogen plants. The reader can truly begins to experience the Art of Herbal Medicine reflected in David's writing voice.

Good reference book on how important this topic is to overall wellness and the individual herbs use.

This is a much needed book, on an importent catagory of herbs,
by highly knowledgable herbalists.

Adaptogens is a book that shows skillful research and imparts that knowledge beautifully. I was thrilled to find this book is one that I will refer to often and each time will enrich my life. Life without knowledge is like a peel without a bannana. this book is an extraordinary find. A book like this can make our world a better place.

I have studied folkloric herbalism for many years, and in the last three years it has become a passion. This book is wonderful, and is by far one of the best books available as an in-depth reference and treatise regarding these valuable green allies and their medicinal properties. Enlightening to the new herbalists, and invaluable to the more experienced.

Angus and the Hidden Fort, by Steven A. Corirossi, was one of my favorite books. It's about [a small]kid who found a secret fort and it actually belonged to someone very famous years ago. To find out who it is, you got to check this book out. I loved how Steven wrote the ending. He added so much detail that I was disappointed when the book was over. This book is one of those books that you wish could never end. I recommend this book to six graders and up because I don't think that little kids would understand. If there are anymore books by Steven Corirossi, I got to read them!

Angus And The Hidden Fort by Steven A. Corirossi is an engaging novel for young readers about Angus McBride a nine-year-old boy, and his best friend Andrew Sills, who when exploring Black Hawk Park, discover the legacy of a one hundred and fifty year old mystery. Angus And The Hidden Fort is a highly recommended, adventurous and exciting tale, and one that opens with an unknown individual fleeing the wrath of two bare-chested Indians and proffers tantalizing hints as to the who and the why of the chase, until the stunning revelation of the end. The debut novel of a six-book series, readers will appreciate author Steven Corirossi's talents as a first class storyteller and will look eagerly forward to the new two titles: Angus And The Mysterious House and Angus And The Forgotten Trails.

Angus and the Hidden Fort is a very funny, mysterious, and exciting book. Although some words in this book I didn't know, by the time I was done with each chapter I had at least one word to add to my vocabulary list. I could read this book over and over and never get tired of reading it.

I was so excited to learn about this new adventure series--set in Central Illinois--that I just had to write and tell the author how grateful I am... it isn't too frequent that I can share with my 5th graders such wonderful, family-friendly stories that practically take place in our own backyard! Both Angus and the Hidden Fort and Angus and the Mysterious House are creatively and well written chapter novels that not only my students enjoyed, but I did as well. We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of Steven's third book, Angus and the Forgotten Trails... hurry up!

The book was a nice adventure story for boys or girls, although more geared to boys because all of the main characters in both time frames were male. Going back and forth in time made for more interesting reading and there was an element of mystery about the characters from the past that made the reader want to keep going to see what really happened and to whom.

The protagonist in the present was an adventuresome boy and I could imagine more stories of his exploits from the author. As an adult, I found the book a little simplistic and fairly predictable; still, I enjoyed the yarn and read it all. I think youngsters could picture themselves involved in this kind of exploration, doing a little detective work and trying to figure out some of the unexplained happenings.

These are retold fairy tales, but not the funny ones. Still, by exploring the tragedy, warmth, and soulfulness of these tales, deeply talented authors delve into the soul and try to find comfort int hese new flavors of fairy tales.

This anthology is one of the most emotionally wrenching and satisfying collections of stories that I've read-not just from fantasy authors, but from anyone. Dealing with the darker aspects of childhood, including abuse and alienation, the stories and poetry are full of depth and transformation; magic, despair, and ultimately hope. Some exceptional stories are "The Armless Maiden" by Midori Snyder, "The Juniper Tree" by Peter Straub, "The Lion and the Lark" by Patricia McKillip, "The Lily and the Weaver's Heart" by Nancy Etchemendy, "In the House of My Enemy" by Charles De Lint, and "In the Night Country" by Ellen Steiber. The poems are all beautiful. This book is definitely on my desert island list.

This is a short review.

Actually, this is not a review atall, although I should say it, shortly and to the point: The ArmlessMaiden is a gorgeous anthology, one of the best I've ever read.

This is just a message to people who might stumble upon it in a bookstore or library.

The message is: read it.

You will not be disappointed.

This book has a myriad of short stories, poems, & essays about survivors of child abuse. They are all worked around fairy-tale themes but not Disneyified: no handsome prince comes to rescue a child; instead, these children escape through their own courage & perseverance. An AMAZING book. A shame it is out of print--but I've seen copies used & in remainder bins at bookstores so do yourself a favor & keep looking! This book will make you shudder, weep, cringe, but ultimately leaves you w/a feeling of hope. All the pieces are good, but standouts include Terri Windling's, Charles De Lint's, Ellen Steiber's, & Munro Sickafoose's. Another wonderful aspect is that Windling ignores genre boundaries & hence you see authors such as Sharon Olds & Anne Sexton represented as well. Highly recommended!

I love adult fairy tales, but it seems that all too often, writers pump up the sex and violence to render the tales "adult", rather than more deeply exploring the human emotional dramas in the stories. Maybe that's why I love _The Armless Maiden_. The tales and poems here do include sex and violence, yes, but at their heart is the triumph of the human spirit.

If we look carefully at fairy tales, many of them are actually about what we would now call child abuse. Cinderella was neglected. Handel and Gretel were abandoned. Donkeyskin suffered incest. And there are so many more. And in most of the stories, the protagonist rises above the situation somehow--in the old versions, usually by gaining fortune and position. In the stories in _The Armless Maiden_, the triumph is more often psychological. I read once--I think it was in a book by Marina Warner--that the essential theme of the fairy tale is transformation. In these stories, we see victims transformed into survivors.

These are serious fairy tales for our times, and I recommend the book both to abuse survivors and to those who did not suffer abuse (trust me, everyone knows someone who did). My personal favorite contributions are Emma Bull's poem about Cinderella's stepsister regretting the friendship they never had, and Ellen Kushner's "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep", the story of a young girl in the custody of a cold-hearted guardian, and haunted by the ghost of the woman's unhappy daughter.

If every general manager in baseball (Ed Lynch, are you reading this! ) was forced to study this book, entire paradigms of baseball lore would suddenly be pushed aside in favor or fresh, rational, and rigorous principles of management. All of the statistics provided in the prospectus are, of course, second to none, but Michael Wolverton's relief ratings (ARP, ARA, etc.) are truly something special. I have always been amazed at how even the most "knowledgable" baseball minds accept simplistic statistics like ERA and saves as valuable appraisals of a relief pitcher's talents. It's as if the baseball gurus have failed to adjust to post-1950 baseball with its growing reliance on bullpens and decreasing reliance on starting pitchers, and the completely different conditions in which relief pitchers work in comparison to their starting compatriots. Yet these same "experts" have accepted without question the notion that a team must have a real "closer" in order to be a contender. Wolverton blasts these assumptions to smithereens with his analyses, and his elaborate calculations, yet pristine conclusions should revolutionize how the later innings of games are viewed. Throw in the authors' passionate defense of wise treatment of young pitchers, their funny yet consistently incisive comments about hundreds of players, their willingness to challenge age-old fallacies like "veteran leadership" and the genuinely historical perspective they bring to the table of baseball debate, and you have one of the most informative and entertaining baseball books I've ever read.

Where once there was only Bill James, now it seems there are oodles of annuals offering scientific analysis of baseball, and a zillion more offering fantasy advice. What makes Prospectus far and away the best? Yes, its analysis is spot on, and contrary to the review above, they have nothing against the Colorado Rockies. Yes, its comments would be helpful at a fantasy draft, although this book is much more about "Real" baseball. No, what makes the Prospectus the best book is the humor. You'll laugh out loud more often than reading any comedian's book on the NYT best sellers list, that's for sure.

BP debunks myths, explodes fallacies, and takes sabermetrics to a new height. It has an excellent method for evaluating and projecting performance, but many other credible methods can found elsewhere. BP's riches are found in the essays and player commentaries. Its insights will reshape the baseball debate in the coming years. Roster management, pitcher abuse, big markets v. small markets, tools v. skills -- the debates defining our age and the age to come are all discussed fully and insightfully here.

BP readers will in short time find themselves looking at baseball in a much more complex and accurate way. They will find themselves at greater and greater distance from the newsstand knowledge of those who rely on magazines and Baseball Weekly. They'll be better fans for having read BP. No other book provides so much. BP2K is the best value on the market.

Baseball Prospectus is a must-have for any hard-core baseball fan. These guys do a fantastic job of stripping away the nonsense and the myths and really analyzing the facts to come up with some really useful observations. Also, the manner in which they do it is fun, funny and engrossing; never just a cold statistical survey. All fantasy league players should buy this book immediately, but it will be a great read to any fan of the game.

All of the reviews of Baseball Prospectus above are spot-on -- it's easily one of the most insightful and ENTERTAINING baseball publications (are you listening, John Benson?) and a must-read for those who take the game seriously.

But be warned -- if you think that baseball analysts "look at stats too much" or still believe that batting average is a pretty good way of assessing a hitter's performance, then you will be way out of your league. Even after 2+ years of studying the Prospectus' methodology, I'm still occasionally befuddled by the statistical measurements used.

Let's just put it this way: there are NO REAL STATS in Baseball Prospectus -- all stats are adjusted (based on park factors, team factors, etc.) or projections for the upcoming year. It's the ultimate in "fantasy" baseball -- yet it tells you more about the "real" game than any non-STATS book out there. And -- to repeat -- it's extremely well-written, provocative and hilarious.

A brisk plot that spins an exciting and never-predictable story; great characters to like and to loathe; a cinematic writing style that makes for a very visual book as well as one with some depth; a complex and likeable narrator--altogether a book well worth reading and enjoying. Highly recommended.

This book has it all...plot twists, well-developed characters, and a villian we can all despise. It is a fun read - believable and well-written. I am recommending it to all my friends.

Behind the Curve is a remarkable, compelling and unpredictable thriller. The sinuous plot is both enticing and captivating, without being overwhelming or cumbersome. The author draws the reader through the text with delicate humor and wit, and quickly establishes a rapport with the reader. Steve Chance has an articulate and descriptive style that compels the reader to descend into the varied settings and become quickly entwined with the characters in the book.

The author made the characters real- it's difficult to forget them. This book's a real treasure crying for a sequel! It's comforting, fast reading.

I really enjoyed Behind The Curve. The book really captivates the reader from page one. Myself, I am quite an avid reader, and found this book to be a pleasant relief from the "cookie cutter" novels that have recently flooded local bookstores.
Highly recommended, a great read, from a new and exciting author!