Stone Books

Follow the simple step by step directions for a beautiful "rock garden."

Whether you are simply curious about rock painting, or have a desire to paint flowers on rocks, this book is for you. It is well written by a world class rock artist and teacher and in addition to offering know-how, it is an encouraging book that shows the way to get involved in this fascinating and not too expensive art form.

Great seller! Excellent product, fast shipment. Will do business with seller any time.

This book was as I expected it to be.. the demonstrations were clear and instructons easy.. I ordered it because of an episode on the Carol Duvall show in which the author painted a beautiful bouquet on a simple smooth rock ..I have ordered other books of the same nature from Amazon before and have been equally satisfied.

It was such a pleasure to receive Lin's book about painting flowers on rocks. I have several of her other books which has brought us lots of hours of fun and fantasy. We appreciate her talents and her sharing her ideas with others like us. Her flower painted rocks are perfect for places like cemeteries that don't allow fresh flowers. It helps bring beauty to our loved ones graves without the work and worry of live plantings. The rocks require "no watering!" Thanks Lin for all your creative ideas.

For nearly half a century Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909- ) has inspired and educated managers-and influenced the nature of business-with his landmark articles in the Harvard Business Review. Here, gathered together and framed by a thoughtful introduction from the Review's editor Nan Stone, is a priceless collection of his most significant work.

One of our leading thinkers on the practice and study of management, Drucker has sought out, identified, and examined the most important issues confronting managers, from corporate strategy to management style to social change. Through his unique lens, this volume gives us the rare opportunity to trace the evolution of the great shifts in our workplaces, and to understand more clearly the role of managers in the ongoing effort to balance change with continuity.

Now, these important articles and essays are strategically presented here to address two unifying themes: the first examines "The Manager's Responsibilities" while the second investigates "The Executive's World". Accompanied by an interview with Peter Drucker on "The Post-Capitalist Executive", as well as a thought-provoking preface by Peter Drucker himself, a complete picture of management theory and practice emerges, both as it was and as it will be.

Infused with a perspective that holds new relevance today, these essays represent Drucker at his best: direct, wise and challenging. Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management, sure to be studied, debated, and enjoyed by everyone concerned with management, everyone concerned with management, is a timely offering from one of the most respected and prolific authors to appear in the Harvard Business Review.

At 90, Peter Drucker is, by all accounts, the most enduring management thinker of our time. Born in Vienna, educated in Austria and England, he has worked since 1937 in the United States, first as an economist for a group of British banks and insurance companies, and later as a management consultant to several leading companies. Drucker has since had a distinguished career as a teacher, including more than twenty years as Professor of Management at the Graduate Business School of New York University. Since 1971 he has been Marie Rankin Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University in California, where he still teaches in the fields of management and business policy. He is the founder of The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and has counseled numerous governments, public service institutions, and major corporations.

Drucker is a writer, teacher, and consultant with a long-term business perspective second to none. His twenty-nine previous books have been published in more than twenty languages and span sixty years of modern history beginning with The End of Economic Man (1939) and Managing in a Time of Great Change; Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices; Innovation and Entrepreneurship; The Effective Executive; Managing for Results and The Practice of Management. Nan Stone is the editor of the Harvard Business Review.

Peter Drucker has 60 years of experience teaching and writing about management. This collection of essays, first published in Harvard Business Review, outline Drucker's views on managerial responsibility. Among other things, this book also includes his insights on making more effective decisions, improving staffing choices, locating innovative opportunities, and aligning your theory of business.

Drucker outlines the five essential management principles:

1. Management is about human beings. Your task as a manager is to make people capable of working together.
2. Management is embedded in culture. You must be able to use parts of your history, tradition and culture as building blocks for a common corporate culture.
3. Management is responsible for growing an organization. Integrate training and development into your organization at all levels.
4. Use yardsticks like market standing, innovation, productivity, human development, quality and financial results to measure and improve performance.
5. Look for results outside of your company, in the products and services you deliver, not relative to internal processes within the company.

Drucker also outlines six steps to guide decision-making:

1. Classify the problem. Is the problem unique to your company, or the beginning of a more general problem?
2. Define the problem. Make sure the definition explains all the observable facts.
3. Define the boundary conditions, like objectives or goals, that your decision must satisfy. When the conditions change, your decision must change with them.
4. Decide. Usually you will have to compromise eventually. Decide what is right.
5. Take action. Make sure your employees know what the decision involves, and who is expected to do what.
6. Get feedback. Gather information on the effectiveness of your decision. Make sure your decision is still relevant to current conditions.

This is one of the most, thought provoking books, I've read this year. In the first part of the book, Business philopher, Peter Drucker protrays and verbally the business model of today, and highlights the necessary interactions of managers with the model. In the second part of the book, Drucker breaks away and reveals a series of startling revelations about today's business.

The theory of business is what Drucker, defines as "what a company gets paid for." Drucker states when big companies get in trouble they blame "complacency, arrogance, mammoth bureacracies", as a plausible explanations. However, the problem's root causes are rarely identified and the prevously stated explanations are rarely right. Most companies fail, to perform well, at what they get paid for.

Drucker defines the parts of the business environment, as: environment (society and its structure and the market), mission (customer ), (core competencies) and technology. Why is this important? The assumptions about environment, mission, and core competencies must fit together. Drucker drives home the point by contrasting the sucess of non-profit organizations with profit organizations, stating we can learn from the success of non-profit organizations, namely: well define mission, lack of deep management hierarchy, individual responsiblity, a deep understand of individual roles and purposes, and cohension between expectations and results. Secondly, the theory of business must be known and understood through out the business. Drucker stresses the importance of learning from the non-customer. And Lastly, the theory of business must be tested constantly.

The Effective Decision process involves the follow sequence of steps: 1. Classify the problem 2. Define the problem 3. Specify the answer to the problem 4. Decide what is right rather than what is acceptable 5. Build into the decision the action to carry it out 6. and test the validity and effectiviness of the decision against the actual course of events. This is an high level sketch outlining a model for effective decision.

Drucker provides two methods, to help make, people decisions. The two creative approaches are: determine if the right people has right qualifications, perceptions, and talents; and make sure the individual understands the job. The first approaches advocates careful selection of the individual, by determining, how well the candidate fits the job assignment. The second approach measures the new manager's understanding of the job. The process requests, the new manager to write on paper, what they think will make them sucessful, in their job. Senior management reads the paper to determine, if the manager has grasped an understanding, of the job, and revalidates their decison about the individual being the right person, for the job.

The discipline of innovation encourages managers to separate the reasons for successful management, into two groups: systematic and non-systematic innovation. Both systematic and Non-systematic opportunies exist within an company or industry because of unexpected occurences, incongruties, process needs, and industry and market changes. Systematic innovation begins by analyizing the sources of opportunity. Innovation is perceptual and conceptual by definition and innovators must go out look, ask, and listen. Effective innovations start small. Small Innovations can lead to large implementations. Without innovation the company will go out of business. Innovation keeps a company competitive in the market and capable of meeting customer needs.

Technology has created a great diversity of information. In order for a manager, to be effective, managers need to identify the information they need to effective perform their jobs.

The world is moving to a society of organizations. Companies are moving to global economies of scale. People interact with various organizations to achieve results. Because of this new organization theory, outsourcing is preferred when no direct management hierarchy exists to a Vice President. Outsourcing provides high skill specialist, management, and senior management. Companies are achieving better results organizationally by outsourcing business process where possible.

Management is responsible for creating the knowledge worker. Historically, significant increasing in productivity were the result of a management core build established. Management is responsible for building the skilled worker. Organizations are made up of individuals, who have a high degree of technical skill and knowledge. Information must be convert into knowledge and manager's communication ability dictates the level of effectiviness in using the skilled worker's knowledge. Organizations represent a network of specialists, rather than a strong command and control heirarchy. However, technology of itself does not increase productivity.

How do managers increase productivity? Managers increase productive by helping the knowledge worker to work smarter - not harder. Management creates the knowledge worker by empower them with specialized skills and knowledge. Productivity gaps are closed through training. Management must decide who gets trained. Training the right people increase the worker's capability, compensation, and productivity. Performance can only be achieved by the worker working smarter not harder. Only ten percent of the work is effectively and producing ninety percent of the productivity and profit. Thus, over ninety percent of the work is ineffective. It is management's responsibility to reduce this inefficiency. Drucker will later introduce his activity oriented decision model to help managers reduce the amount of inefficiency.

Managers are responsible for creating and maintaining their carreer path. Receiving a higher education degree and employment, in a large company does not guarentee retirement, with the company. Managers are responsible for designing and maintaining their career. Fragmentation of purpose and thought must be overcome to reduce confusion and losses. Knowledge workers must learn how to produce. This requires the knowledge work to remain current, with changes, in the business environment. Their contribution in large part depends on the knowledge workers ability to adapt and learn smarter ways to produce.

Activity Oriented Decision model prevents loses and failures. Activity Oriented decisions combine value analysis, risk analysis, quality analysis, and process analysis, into one. Decisions resulting from managers who follow the activity oriented decision model don't risk losing capital. The combination of the various information sources, associated with the activity oriented decision helps the manager understand the potential value of the venture, the potential value, the risks of failure, and the cost of modifying or implement new processes, and the long term affects on quality in the organization.

The activity oriented decision model is a conceptually definition and the practical discipline proposed exciting possiblities. Activies are analyzed, defined, and sequenced. Resources are allocated to the activity. The activity outcomes are measured to determine, if they are meeting requirements. Managers weight the risks by asking "what are the benefits of the activity?","What are the fallout impacts for failure to implement the activity?", and "what are the impacts to the organization long term by implementing the activity?"

Analysis of the process, results in time and budget allocation estimates. Schedules provide time lines and sequences linked to a resources. Managers must coordination various organizations to gain access to a resource. A resource represents a individual in a specialize field of knowledge. Communication and coordination are necessary to effectively manage various resources, so each individual understands, what is expected and what to produce. Budgets and time provide the boundary of the activity problem. Its possible to have a budget or schedule which exceeds the boundary of the problem, making the activity unfeasible. To avoid this problem, the manager must provide clear objectives to be developed and maintained. The objectives scope must stay within a predefined problem boundary.

Peter F. Drucker is known as the "management guru's management guru". The articles in this book explain the reason. Each article is a landmark in the field of management.

In the preface Drucker shows why he has become so famous. He shows his strength of recognising trends and how these trends will affect business, people, and society. This preface is followed by a short introduction from the editor.

The book consists of two Parts, The Manager's Responsibilities and The Executive's World, with each consisting of 6 Harvard Business Review-articles (out of 32 articles and growing). The book also includes an interesting preface, an introduction by Harvard Business Review-editor Nan Stone, and an interview with Peter Drucker.

In Part I - The Manager's Responsibilities, the articles discuss the managerial responsibilities of the manager, although Drucker prefers the term "executive". The articles discuss general management such as the decision-making process, effective management, strategic management, and innovation.

Part II - The Executive's World, Drucker discusses the history of management, the transformation from the traditional command-and-control model to knowledge-based organizations, information technology, and non-profit management.

The book concludes with an interview with Peter Drucker, which is based on his 1995-book 'Post-Capitalist Society'.

The book deserves the five-star rating since each article is fantastic. Perhaps some of them overlap, but it is amazing that some of the articles written in the 1960s are still very valid today. Drucker's writing style is simple US-English.

It should be mandatory for every M.B.A. student in the world.

The work Sidra has done with the Inner Patriarch has saved my life. This work is creating real change for the future of young women today. I feel blessed that I'm able to pass this on to my daughter.

Another great exploration of our many selves especially with relation to our feminine nature and all the "stories" we are brought up with about feminine and masculine.

Also check out Sidra and Hal's book "You Don't Have to Write a Book", a lesser known classic from these pioneers in learning about ALL our selves!

The work Sidra has done with the Inner Patriarch has saved my life. This work is creating real change for the future of young women today. I feel blessed that I'm able to pass this on to my daughter.

This book brings a revolution in consciousness. In my private practice, the Inner Patraiarch provides an essential key to unlocking the doors of business power,successful relationships, and modern spirituality. In my personal experience, integrating the Inner Patriarch has brought my dreams to life -- and has enhanced my relationships a thousand-fold

Sidra Stone shows us that the feminist revolution has to be an inside job. It doesn't matter how much we try to change the world outside of us - if we're still carrying the expectations of the patriarchy within our own psyches, it's not too likely that we'll be able to change. Dr. Stone not only shows how the Inner Patriarch functions within women, she gives clear and creative ideas about how we can disengage from this energy and even turn it into an ally. Working with this has been an enormous help to me personally on a daily basis. Since reading this book, I am much more aware of the messages I receive from my own Inner Patriarch and can take action to calm him down and rebalance my life. I think The Shadow King is one of the most significant books for women (and the men who are in relationship with them) written in the last 20 years.

This book is great! It is an easy and very enjoyable read! I recommend it to anyone traveling to China or for pure amusement. I have read many books about china and this has to be the best one yet!!

I bought this as a gift. It turned out to be a delightfully helpful little guide for the recipients.

Larry and Qin Herzberg have managed to create an inexpensive, easy-to-carry but highly informative--and very humorous--guidebook. It seems to me to stand by itself in terms of genre. Derived from many experiences of taking student groups to China, taking his own private trips including some with his wife Qin, and creating an insightful documentary video on China today (a joint project of the two), this little book is full of sound advice for novice travelers/first time tourists and seasoned businessmen alike. One of the most valuable parts is the short introduction to the Chinese language, incuding an appropriate (i.e. ralistically manageable)number of useful Chinese phrases. So before you go to China get ahold of this book; you will not be sorry--I guarantee it!

I just moved to Shanghai a month ago and bought several books beforehand to familiarize myself with the culture and etiquette. A friend of mine gave me this one as a going away present. I read it on the plane over (cover to cover - it's a short book) and it was the most candid and informative books on China that I've read so far. Larry writes in a story-like format so it keeps your attention and helps you retain the info better. The encyclopedia-like guide books just don't keep me engaged after the first few chapters. His amusing anecdotes help portray Chinese life and accurately describe the people, customs and culture. I would highly recommend this book to anyone visiting or moving to China. I've convinced my family and friends to buy the book to help prepare them for the culture shock when they visit.

I just returned from my first trip to China, so this is not a theoretical review of how helpful the Herzberg's book is. I began using their tips from the moment we set foot in the Guilin airport. (It's empowering to know where to find the toilet paper!) We encountered various situations that should have been strange to me, but weren't. Some of my fellow travelers wondered how I knew what I knew. I don't know what guidebooks they had read, but they clearly didn't contain the same down-to-earth, real life info that the "China Survival Guide" does. (The book gets bonus points for being small and for being written in a truly entertaining manner.)

This book is OK but for the beginner trying to get the most for your money in explanation of precious gemstones, I don't really recommend this book a necessity for right away. You can enter it to your reference library at a later time. It is a good book but doesn't have enough details needed at first for identifications.

Where to begin? Photos, interesting facts, chemical compositions, broad range of stones!!!! The perfect reference for jewelers, libraries, hobbyists, homeschoolers- and to all you crystal/light workers, here is an awesome way to get a view of the crystals mentioned in the text-only guidebooks. See the Rocks & Minerals guide also.

I took out this book in the middle of fourth grade. I loved it so much I kept it till the end of the year. Then I took it out again in fifth grade, along with the Moths and Butterflies book from the same series. These books are wonderful tools for projects, assignments, or just plain fun! I'm planning on buying this book soon once I earn enough money. (I'm broke T_T)

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS AND THIS BOOK HAS TERRIFIC PICTURES AND VERY CLEAR AND CONCISE DESCRIPTIONS. EVERYTHING THAT I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SUBJECT IS ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK. THERE'S A VISUAL GUIDE TO OVER 130 GEMSTONE VARIETIES AND A COLOR KEY FOR EVERY GEMSTONE. THERE ARE SO MANY INTERESTING BITS OF INFORMATION HERE THAT THE READER GETS A COURSE IN HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, SCIENCE AND FOLKLORE. FOR INSTANCE, THE CUSTOM OF WEARING BIRTHSTONE JEWELRY STARTED IN 18TH CENTURY POLAND; THE MASK OF TUTANKHAMEN WAS MADE OF LAPIS FROM AFGHANISTAN AND THE BEAUTIFUL PINK MORGANITE WAS NAMED AFTER J.P. MORGAN. THIS IS A SUPER REFERENCE BOOK!

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK CALLY HALL PERSONALY FOR SUCH A EXCELLENT WORK ON GEMSTONES. THE WORK CANNOT BE DESCRIBED IN WORDS. I AM A JEWELLER AS WELL AS GEMOLOGIST, GOT QUIET IMPRESSED WITH SUCH PIECE OF ART.

Judith Dupre's book is a keeper, a volume to be read and treasured for generations. It's for those with a relative who fought in World War II, and those who have visited Gettysburg, seen the Liberty Bell and marveled at Mount Rushmore.
Ms. Dupre infuses major historical events with glowing new life. She fills her pages with interesting facts and profound truths, explaining, for instance, why the triumphant Indian Americans were not commemorated in the first 120 years after the Little Bighorn Battle in Montana. Other battles -- from Gettysburg, World War II, Korea -- yield important cemeteries. Ms. Dupre's presentations range from the familiar (Statue of Liberty) to the unfathomable (Saint-Gaudens's monument to Clover Adams in Washington's Rock Creek Cemetery.) In a book that easily stirs emotions her description of New York City prisoners burying the unclaimed bodies of convicts at Hart Island ("the marginalized are interred by the marginalized with dignity") is especially poignant.
The book will be valued by those with connections to these sacred sites, but it belongs in the collections of all who are tuned into American history.

Bravo! MUCH MORE than a "coffee table" book! Dupré's thoroughly researched and cogently presented text outshines the fascinating graphics. "Monuments" taught me more than I had intended to learn about the subject, and made me realize memorials talk about history in an unique way. I would recommend this book to any and all readers, especially those interested in getting a new and intriguing take on presidential and military history.

What impressed me of this work is how well it was researched. It has many side stories. Names and dates are carefully reported. The linkages to similar memorials or concepts are included in shaded boxes as ancillary threads. Was also impressed on the timeline, that reveals how the event that is memorialized eventually came into fruition of an actual memorial.

My only criticism is not clarifying the geographical location of the monument (it assumes the reader knows where it is).

The bonus is including ample space on the mass-conscious inpromptu memorials, such as leaving teddy bears, flowers, notes on the side of a tragedy or catastrophic event. I would add to that the silent and passive solitary memorials left by people along roadsides, memorializing a traffic accident. Or even the placement of a geocache, a box in the woods containing a logbook, such as the one in Western Pennsylvania in remembrance of two teenagers killed ["In Memory Of Clairenda and Loretta" GCQHZP]

On the discussion of people mourning by leaving items at places such as the Vietnam Memorial, Oklahoma City, Columbine, the author however missed to mention that the same people that visit such memorials can actually take an object that is laying there. The items left are considered as abbandoned property by the National Park Service for 30 days, and only thereafter picked up and inventorized into the national museum system. In the meantime, the same item can be picked up by visitors, and the memorial acts as an exchange place. ... very much like a geocache.

This fascinating and unusual book is beautifully produced- it would make an excellent gift. It's a kind of treasury of richly detailed visits to a wide variety of different kinds of monuments. Dupre describes each one historically, evoking the powerful emotions behind the monument or memorial so that the original need can be felt and understood. The book gives us access to the people who created these monuments, and for whom they were created. Scholarly and also profoundly intuitive, Judith Dupre understands that a monument is by definition a labor of love, and has given us one.

Judith's books are always enjoyable but there is something especially wonderful about this one. It isn't just history or architecture, she finds the heart of why we remember, the purpose of these places. The histories are told with sensitivity and care, and the dozens of people that inhabit the book are portrayed colorfully and with close observation of their humanity, something usual lacking in ordinary history books. Having been to Manzanar several times and wandered over its acres myself, her narrative touched me and brought alive the people and the time.

I would recommend this book to anyone with even the slightest interest in the human side of history.

Though the title says "Grow Rich" and most people will instantly think in financial terms, this book really gives you nuggets of wisdom to bring you all of Life's "Riches", from better values, better relationships, better self-confidence, etc.

I loved the chapter formats meant to be one lesson per week for the year, though I read straight through the book. I still go back to the book often and read just one or two of the chapters just to keep it fresh and remind myself to stay on the right track.

I read the weekly content every day for the whole week, which gives me time to reflect on what I've learned as part of my daily critical thinking exercise. Although I am only up to week five, I am extremely excited to see what unfolds in the remaining 47 weeks. The content each week is only 1 1/2 to 2 pages long and takes less than 5 minutes to read. Each day I glean something new from the material and work it into my daily living. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to achieve a greater understanding of success - not just financial, but all areas of living.

**** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ****

This book is not about money but I can certainly see how people who would incorporate the knowledge in this book could get ahead. For me this was a book of "Golden Rules", which if followed, would definitely bring riches to ones life. I don't know of a single person I wouldn't recommend this book to. Get it, you won't be disappointed.

Highly motivated people will love this book. It is a must read for anyone that I meet who wants a little more out of life. It is hard not to get bogged down with all of life's challenges - and to loose sight of what we all want. This book will put things in perspective. It will also provide you with a guidebook for success that can be used over and over.

I've read the book several times now, I find value with each reading. One note, I get so motivated by reading it, that I cannot read just one passage a week. It is broken down into 52 segments to be read at different times through the year. I simply could not do that, I had to read it in one setting.

I hope you will find as much value as I did. It forced be to get up and do something magnificent with my life. I sincerely hope that you will find motivation from the text - go out and achieve something remarkable.

Napoleon Hill is the recognized expert on all things success. In this book, Hill reveals how you can grow rich, and keep your mental act together at the same time. Typical of Hill's writing style, the book is easy to read, and features numerous examples from his real life experience. Specifically, this book covers, among many other things:

Why some succeed and others don't.
Helping your children succeed.
Overcoming fear
Living your own life


This book focuses on achieving success through positive relationships and a healthy mental attitude. For more information on achieving financial success, you may want to read "The 17 Principles of Creating Wealth," by Phillip Collinsworth.

This book is for people looking for the meaning of life, a meaning to be found only in the search for God. It explains the quest of Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science at the end of the 20th century, a new Christian denomination, but also a way of thinking and living. Very scholarly, very interesting for people who feel concerned by "the new paradigm".Rolling Away the Stone: Mary Baker Eddy's Challenge to Materialism (Religion in North America)

Steve Gottschalk has done another thorough job of research into the life and times of Mary Baker Eddy. His careful analysis is greatly appreciated.

For those who remember Stephen's articles for the Christian Science periodicals, this is classic Gottschalk. In other words, it is highly detailed, well researched, well thought out, and tends to be much more theologically based than the writings that come out of the Publishing Society. He also has a marked tendency to drift from his focus on occasion, and to get side-tracked onto peripheral lines of thought. In general, a candid and thorough look at the later years of a remarkable life. More analytical and less folksy, this book belongs alongside the biography by Gillian Gill - as both a supplement to it, and as an effective insider's look from someone who truly understands Christian Science theology perhaps even better than many at The Mother Church.

Stephen Gottchalk's writing is articulate and illuminating. A fascinating book which I could hardly put down. Very inspiring and enlighening at times. He thoroughly understood his subject and brings forth his vast and detailed understanding to the reader in a way that is easy to comprehend. It clears up fallacies and inaccuracies . It is an important book for sincere readers.

Very few books make me want to read to the end. This one did. Someone could actually use this to deepen and widen their faith of God as taught
through Christian Science. I could return to book and reread it. As Mrs. Eddy said to understand her was to understand Christian Science. So I
highly recommend this work. This is not light reading it more like a textbook. But I like that if its well done. Deep thinkers well enjoy this
read.

Here's a review from one of our kids:

I think it is interesting to make the story about magical cloned kids.Yet in the end, the main character was one himself. It was a fantastic book and I enjoyed it.The cover isn't special, but that proves you can't judge a book by it's cover.Sender Unknown isn't a book you want to skip to the end. I would recommend it.

Two weeks ago, we had library class and were told to pick a book that looked interesting to us. I started my hunt around our library. At first, I started reading Missing Girls, but it failed to keep my attention. So I found this book, Sender Unknown, by Sallie Lowenstein.
As soon as my eyes hit the page, I was immediately sucked into the fiction of this book. I could totally relate, even though it is a fiction book. The main character is a boy named Mark. He is fourteen and LOVES computers. His first job is a computer repair guy, but he soon realizes this is not the job for him. Once he assumes a new occupation, which included wearing suites and dress shoes, he purchased an old home. Before he knows it, he starts to receive catalogs with numerous toys in them. Out of the blue, he decided to purchase an action figure. There are no refunds or returns... Mark is in a PICKLE!!
I really liked this book. I could relate to Mark because you don't always know something's going to turn out rottenly until you've done it. I would definitely recommend this book to all ages. It teaches a great lesson in life.

If you are looking for a great book, look no further. Sender Unknown by Sallie Lowenstein is sure to entertain anybody that reads it.This book is about a guy who buys an old house in a small town with old toy catalogs dropping from the mail slot everyday. He gets tired of so many catalogs, that he decides to order something from them, but when the first packages arrive, he finds something he didnt expect. Even more trouble awaits him when he hosts a business party in the middle of winter. After the packages, anything can happen. Lucky for him he has his friend Lady A., and taxi driver Pete to help him out.
My favorite part of the book is definitely when he orders ten dolls from some of the catalogs, and gets pretty surprised when the big packages get pushed into his doorway. Not only do I like this part because the author really paints an image of what is happening in this scene, but also because this is the twist of the story and if what happens in this scene hadn't happened, then the whole book would have been pretty boring.
I would really recommend this book to anybody that likes mystery with some but not alot of fantasy. You can't guess and get right of what will happen next; it is all up to the author to decide. Oh and one more thing, next time you see a tag that reads "no refunds" you better make sure you will get what you expect before ordering anything!

My book is called Sender Unknown. It's by Sallie Lowenstein. A man named Mark buys action figures, and when he gets them they turn out in a whole different way than what he expected. He adopted three orphans so he would not be lonely, but when he ordered action figures for the kids from the catalogs the action figures ended up being real people. These action figures came from catalogs as cloned children with super powers. For example, one could fly and another could hold things that weighed more than most little kids could carry. In addition to the three orphans, Mark ended up with six or seven more cloned children from the catalogs. These children were non-refundable. The catalogs stopped printing a long while back, but they still kept coming to Mark's house. Mark wanted to figure out why the catalogs kept coming. So he hired a man named Pete to figure out who was sending the catalogs and how these kids with super powers got there. Mark wants to send the kids to school, but everyone thinks they are not normal enough and people will make fun of them. So he doesn't send them to school. He sends snail mail asking if any other children were bought from the catalogs and did not turn out as they thought they would. He found out that other people had bought from the catalogs, and they had the same experience.

Yes I thought the book was exciting because it keeps you wanting to read until the end of the book. One thing I wanted to know is where the kids were from. Sometimes I thought I was in the book because I felt it was really going to happen. One of the reasons why is some of the things could really happen like cloning, but other times it made me know it really couldn't happen. For instance they can't clone Humpty Dumpty a cartoon character. So I know I couldn't really buy a real character. Yes the story interested me because I never read a book about cloning people and story characters it was interesting to read about something new and different. I thought these were people who sounded realistic. One person was Mark, who works and still acts like a kid since he graduated school when 14. Another character is Eliot. He's annoying he thinks if you have lots of money don't save it use it. And he thinks Mark's weird when he says his kids have powers and he got them from a catalog. Four other people are Kate, the sister Lady A, Mr. Cannady and Pete. Pete, Lady A, Mr. Cannady, and Kate are smart, didn't just believe you, and stubborn. I thought the ending of the book was disappointing and good cause they never told me how the catalogs got to the house without him seeing. But they did tell me where the kids came from.

There is a lot of dialog, conversations, and it's very descriptive, and the narrator talks a lot. `This house has been unoccupied more years than it's been occupied said the seller." "What's wrong with it?" That's an example of conversation. The author's vocabulary is interesting cause she uses a lot of old words and words I've never heard of. I think it's interesting that she goes from Narrator to dialog and more. One example is "I've got a client meeting me at the shop to pick up things." "I'll be home." Promise." "He hung up." That's one thing I think is interesting about her writing. Instead of just writing, "Mark said," the author writes, "Mark said wearily." Another example is instead of writing, "Pete said" the author wrote, "Pete grumbled." The author does a lot of descriptive words to show the tone of people talking. For example Panic was crawling out of his stomach into his throat. The author writes in a very futuristic style. For example people have powers, people, also they don't read books any more they play on computers. Also they don't play with toys that's old fashion. An example is "Mark said" he was going to buy something from the catalog for his sister's daughter. "Kate said" no I don't want her wasting her time playing when she can be on the computer getting smarter." I thought the falling action was good because it led you to the conclusion you didn't expect. At the ending they told where these weird kids were from. They were cloned. That's why they said before they came here it was cold and damp.

If I was to rate this book I would give it an 8 because it was an awesome book but the ending wasn't what I hoped for. I thought they were going to tell how the catalogs were coming without him seeing. Also I thought he was going to get to read the note to hear about his big job in the experiment. I definitely recommend this book. There are a lot of great things to it like there's a lot of great new words for me, and she was very descriptive.

Another thing I didn't talk about is the kids had super powers like the characters in the catalogs. That's who their identities are. People from catalogs. Finally to sum it up I thought it was a fantastic book even though the ending was a little disappointing. If I were to change the ending I would put how the catalogs were coming without Mark seeing. Also I would tell who made the kids if it was the scientists who just disappeared made them or dome Rascals did it. And that the pages wouldn't be ripped out so he could find out a lot about the big experience. Last of all I think should read this book.

This book will create a magical journey for people big and small. The storyline is wonderful, and is very creative. The story is about a misfit genius, that moves into an old house. he orders from the catalogs, to buy gifts for his relatives and friends, only to find that the toys he took for "dolls" and "action figures" turn out to be real, living,breathing yet magical creatures.The misfit genius ends up taking care of all 12, and this story tells you what happened, how, and the adventures they go through. This book is truly amazing, and will make anyone, big or small smile. I loved this book very, VERY much.

This gorgeous giant book, measuring in at 16" x 12", capture the beauty and uniqueness of Ireland through spectacular photographs. At times in this book, not only do you see a panoramic photograph spanning two 16" wide pages, some actually extend further through a folding flap to measure over 38" wide! In addition to the beautiful photographs the authors have included detailed written descriptions.

People of all ages that are interested in the history, landscape, and culture of Ireland will thoroughly enjoy this book. The list price is $75 according to the inside flap, making it a bargain at the current Amazon price.

This is the best photo book of Ireland I have seen over ten years, and the text is excellent.

This is a great book to give to someone who will be traveling to Ireland in the future, has visited before, or is just a huge fan of this amazing country and wants a good coffee table book. The photos are gorgeous and really showcase the beauty of the Emerald Isle. There's also a great variety of photos: not just from one area of the country. It also gives you a bit of historical background. There are several pages that fold out to reveal huge panoramic shots. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Ireland. It really is spectacular!

First of all, please note that this is a coffee table-type book. It is oversized and oddly-shaped. So if that bothers you, steer clear.

BUT the size is very appropriate to the pictures! It's a large-rectangular book that fits the panoramic wide-angle photography inside of it! The photos are intensely colored and the paper used in side the book is a thicker, glossy high-quality paper. Some of the most gorgeous photographs of Irelands landscapes, castles and towns are in this book. It also includes a bit of history.

FYI... the book normally comes with a slip-cover that has the same cover design printed on it that the actual book cover underneath has. Nice touch. A lot of books of this fashion do not have the same cover printed on the actual book itself, but only the slip-cover.

Very nice. If you love photography or Ireland...or both....this is the book for you!

I bought this book because my dad's side of the family is Irish and I'd hoped to one day go. The book is a gorgeous addition to my photography book collection...and my desire to go to Ireland has been upgraded from 'one day hope to go' to 'can't wait to go!'.
--Vicki Landes, author of "Europe For The Senses - A Photographic Journal"