Stuart Books

I found myself laughing out loud when I read this book. I love Stuart and the way he handles his family and life in general - a very good read!

I bought the book as a gift for a friend, and was thoroughly satisfied with it. It is really funny and I was really happy with my purchase.

I think it really would have helped. This book is supposed to be daily affirmations, but basically is Stuart's year long diary. He is a member of several 12 step programs, and has really learned a lot from them, and has made friends who also attend them. One thing he hasn't learned from these meetings is leave his extremely dysfunctional family alone and quit trying to solve their problems for them. What I like about his book:
Let go of the result.
If you're scared to do something, go ahead and do it, and you'll wish you'd done it a lot sooner.

What I thought was improbable:
Stuart taking multiple plane flights to visit his family.
Stuart going to bed for weeks at a time with Oreos, Hydrox, etc.
Stuart never has any day-to-day problems that the rest of us have.
His friends always have plenty of time on their hands to try to get him to get out of his bed and open up his door.
Andrea losing 140 lbs in about 10 months.

But other than that, this book has a lot to say. Franken is quite knowledgeable about codependency. It's worth reading, but you must have a sense of humour.

When Stuart Smalley first came out I didn't quite see the appeal. Now with 5 years in The Program, I finally get the joke. I have lent this book to a lot of folks in my home group and we all agree that it's pretty impossible not to laugh out loud while reading it. What a funny, smart insightful man. Seriously one of the funniest books I've ever read, though I might not have "gotten it" without my familiarity with 12 step programs.

I have read all of Al Franken's books up to this point with the exception of this one. I had been a fan of Franken since his days of Saturday Night Live, particularly his Stuart Smalley character. This book further demonstrates the depth and intelligence of his humor.

The book is very similar to the movie based on it (Stuart Saves His Family). Having already seen the movie, I was anticipating certain events in the book once I started reading. Despite my previous knowledge, I found the book to be laugh out loud funny. The humor of the Stuart Smalley character is based in him trying to help out others, yet being a mess himself as is demonstrated by his membership in several support groups.

Even people passing through my home who picked this book up from my coffee table and read a few pages have enjoyed what they read. It is not hard to get the joke. This is a easy, but fun read.

In my opinion this book is an excellent resource for those suffering and those who know someone with diabetes.

My teenage son was diagnosed recently with Type 1 Diabetes, it was very scary not knowing anything about Diabetes. This book is easy to understand and it explains everything about Type 1 diabetes. Wonderful help to me.

Great book for the Type 1 patient or the parent/spouse/family member of one.
Gives good suggestions on a variety of topics. Well worth the money.

I have found this book VERY helpful. From time to time we have questions/concerns that come up, we have found easy to understand answers/advise for real life issues.

This book has helped us so much.
The doctors don't help you too much so you are left with a million questions and this book has helped so much.
This disease is so overwelming and this book is so helpful in easy to understand words.
Instead of going into a panic when something happens we now just go to the book and it calms us right down.
Thank God this book is here.

It is so interesting how many adoptees there are on here who are my age and raving about the book. I am 24, and I was adopted as a baby. I grew up reading this book and always understood that I was adopted. This book was SUCH a comfort to me and I would read it over and over. I came on here to buy one for friends who are adopting, in hopes that it will be of comfort to their little one. I definitly recommend this book, it was a great help to me.

I'm 23, my younger sister is 20. We are both adopted from seperate birthparents.
I don't remember not knowing I was adopted. I remember reading this book a lot though. My cousin and I would read it out loud to each other and laugh at the pictures. When my sister was old enough, two or three I think, I started reading it to her. This book is something that will always be a good memory. It helped me understand who I was and what it meant to be adopted.

As an adoptee, I remember reading and re-reading this book many times with my parents. This book was always on my bookshelf and did much to help me understand adoption, babies, family and most importantly the love my parents have for me. Like a reviewer before me, my original copy has been lost, lent with love to another family who had adopted a child. Now I can't wait to pass this on to another family, my friends who have recently adopted their own child. I know reading this book together will help strengthen their bond as she grows.

An earlier review criticized this book's readability and appropriateness for children. As a child who owned it, I do not believe that is an accurate assesment.

As a 25 year old adoptee, I have tremendously strong and positive memories of this book. Like other reviewers here, I can't remember the first time I read it... it was always a part of my reading life as a child.

I adored this book back then. I must have read it quite literally hundreds of times; enough so that at one point my mom had to sew the spine back on.

Once, I brought it to school for show and tell. I used it to show the other kids that I was pretty special, because there were books written about me! It just made me feel that my history as an adoptee was valuable.

I recommend this book to any families with adopted children, absolutely. Of course, open discussion about adoption should first and foremost come from the parents themselves... but as long as that is accomplished, I really believe that many adopted children will cherish this book as much as I did.

I'm a 23 year old adoptee and this is the book my mom and dad used to tell me when I was little. I still share the book with others and recommend it to parents of other adopted children. It took them reading it to me a few times before I finally got it, but that's because they started young and wanted me to always know. Because I was told at such a young age and because it was treated as nothing to ever be embarrassed about I grew up thinking it was cool and something that made me special. I recommend this book and this approach to any and all adopting families! The illustrations will make you laugh out loud (ex. a baby coming out of a gumball machine)! This book is WONDERFUL!

Used to listen to this on tape and wanted to replace it with cd so I could listen to it in the car. If you want to get a taste of life in 1660's London, this is it. The written diaries are also fascinating but fairly hard to read, so Kenneth Branagh helps us out here. Anyone interested in English history will be very pleased with this diary. If you don't yet know who Pepys is then, for sure, you need to buy this. I've listened to it at least twice over the years and alway hear something new with each listening. Highly recommended!

I chose to listen to this book because I felt I "should" be better acquainted with what can arguably be called the most famous diary in history. I looked upon it as a chore that would improve my mind.

I may have, indeed, improved my mind but it turned out to be no chore! What an absolute delight. I've read many historical novels that weren't half as exciting, funny and fascinating as this book. I kept having to remind myself that this man REALLY lived through all these things -- the plague, the great London fire, the machinations of the court.

Plus, his willingness to expose in frank (and sometimes bawdy) detail his personal life, health, sexual dalliances, etc., brought *him* as well as his times vividly to life.

I doubt if trying to read through the actual diary would be as much fun, but the editors' careful selection of entries culled out the best bits while never losing continuity.

And what more can I add to the praise of Branagh as narrator? The man is a phenomenal talent and shows it in this book. Never over-acting, he manages to convey a perfect tone (for instance, just the hint of a whisper at the more personal parts, as though Pepys was confiding in us).

All in all, this book convinced me that improving my mind doesn't HAVE to be tedious.

Of course it is not the complete Pepy's diary but is wonderful to listen to while on long drives. Kenneth Brannagh as the reader brings life into the English language of yesterday. I wonder if a movie is in the offing.

Samuel Pepys' Pepys' Diary is an outstanding classic which comes to life in audio cd format, narrated by Kenneth Branagh whose background in film and direction lend to a vivid narrative indeed. Pepys' classic has lasted centuries because it records in vivid descriptions the bygone world of 17th-century London life: this vivid written word in turn translates well into audio and brings a rich history to life.

I loved these tapes. I concur with the reviews that they are addictive - better for a long country ride than a harried rush hour. Then let Pepys (Branagh) be your witty and engrossing travel companion.

It obviously helps to be familar with the Restoration to enhance your enjoyment of these diaries; though many with even a general background will still find them entertaining. Highly recommended.

Each section gives a problem as an example and gives you step by step methods of how to approach and solve a problem. There are some sections that focus only on how to setup problems, but most are integrated within the examples given. It is a very useful tool to use when trying to break down tough questions. The hardest obstacle, when given a problem, is determining the physics and setup behind it. This book does its job well and is worth every penny.

There are only so many ways you can solve certain types of physics problems, and this book shows you all of them! It is perfect for both the people who just want to take a basic physics course AND those who want to continue into more complex, calculus-based physics. Lots of examples, thorough explanations, and very well organized. A must have for physics students!

Stuart E. Loucks has written a time honored cult classic publication explaining all you would ever want or need to know about the wonders of modern day physics. I would highly recommend this book to people of all ages, races, religions, and genders. I wish I could say I had one favorite part of the book, but every part tingled my senses with witty and highly intelligent phrases like "Now You Try It!" This book is a great read for all, and at only $28.95 it sure is a steal. Mr. Loucks is a great teacher and he loves to give out extra credit!

I really couldnt imagine taking my 1st semester physics without this book... it is almost like a universal solutions manual.. that helps you find the solution to any problem. Explains theory and problem solving techniques without being too wordy. I would reccomend this book to anyone taking physics... period!

This book is designed as a work book to amplify and diagram the most common problems in first semester physics, better known as that ugly little world of Newton and his Mechanics.

I actually took this course from Professor Loucks at American River College. He is well suited to author this book as his in class lectures contain detailed explanations and step by step problem solving for projectiles, collisions, circular motion and that sliding block on an incline... thing. He puts a lot of effort into diagramming and explaining the problems in class and he translates that well into this volume.

The subject matter is laid out the same as the course and helps you build the skills for the course step by step. The needed equations for each problem are always listed and he walks you through all the steps of what variables you need to solve for each type of problem. I used this book like a work book when doing homework. When preparing for exams, I used it as a reference book double checking proper methods and steps needed to solve any particular type of problem. Professor Loucks does an excellent job walking you through the problems. I found it helpful enough that I am not selling it back.

If you check the "Search Inside This Book" feature, you will see a very basic problem. The publisher would be better served in showing you a more complex problem like projectile motion (p56) or the block and incline plane (p71 or p93) so you can see how extensively Professor Loucks sets up Full Body Diagrams, identifies the unknowns and equations and works you through each problem.

The graphics and diagrams in the book are nicely done. Although I know Professor Loucks fancies himself a chalk board Rembrandt when diagramming problems...the stick Batman jumping into the boat, a stick eagle flying and dropping a stick fish, a lump of coal falling into a stick cart... the graphics in the book are much better than Professor Loucks' in class drawings.

This book is an outstanding aid and reference guide for the course. It helped me to learn a ton from first semester physics. If you are anywhere near Sacramento, take Professor Loucks for Physics. His stick drawings and his help in the labs alone are worth the price tuition.

The price of the book will be well worth it when you are trying to solve an hour and thirty minutes worth of Professor Loucks' problems in a one hour exam...

Student ministry is so strategic, young people need a clear path to right and wrong, more importantly the ability to make good decisions on there own, After 25 years of youth ministry I was pleasantly surprised to find a book that puts the essentials students need to understand before leaving home and the keys to good decision making all in one book, each check point gives students a deeper understanding of not just what, but why, we are to follow God's direction, Andy is gifted at getting to the main things the plan things, he and his team have given student workers one of the most valuable tool they will ever have.

I read this book for a youth ministry class in college and it is probably the best youth ministry book I have ever read! They cover a lot of ground and make it applicable to real life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Great resource for anyone who minister to youth. I bought this book for our youth ministry team. It has helped them to focus on the important issues that youth face today.

I can't wait to start using the checkpoints as laid out in this book, or use it to create our own version.

Andy Stanley and Stuart Hall have done amazing "legwork" for Youth Leaders everywhere in defining essentials that are usable now. To find out there's curriculum to go along with this book was a lifesaver.

I highly recommend this book to help define your YM strategy.

this is the most practical book for streamlining a youth ministry i have ever found.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

This series of books is absolutley wonderful and I recommend them to any parent or grandparent, especially this book!! It teaches children how to be positive, kind and loving to themselves at a very young age which is a key ingredient to creating loving, kind adults who make a huge difference in the world when they grow up.

I like to play this CD to help create a happy and healthy background environment in the car for my daughters. One thing I really liked about this CD is that it encouraged my daughters, who are 5 & 7 years-old, to talk about what was talked about in the CD.

We were first introduced to I AM a Lovable ME! shortly after our son was born. The messages are positive and uplifting, and our son really enjoys the vivid, colorful illustrations. We also recommend another book in this series...Take a deep breath...watching our little guy "take a deep breath and breathe out slowly" and seeing the calming effect on him (and us) is incredible! Thanks for this awesome series of books...we're looking forward to reading them to our next baby too!!!

I bought this book for my nephews and they absolutely love it. It is the first children's book I have seen that not only has a story, but an important message as well. It teaches children to love themselves and be happy with who they are. It really boosts self-esteem and is a valuable lesson to teach all children. I would highly recommend it. It makes a great present.

Excellent textbook. Covers very systematically, and with ample regard for modern methods (something most organic textbooks lack), everything from first semester orgo to the beginning grad level. Only major deficiency is the general uselessness of the index -- makes looking things up difficult. But overall, a great textbook.

This book provides with a complete review of all the major organic chemical groups and gives a detailed and thorough presentation of their chemical structure as well as their reactivity. It also deals with a series of organic reactions that are considered as the basic ones in organic chemistry with a good overview of their mechanistic pathways.
Finally, the writers offer plenty of examples in which these reactions are used in the synthesis of pharmaceutical or other compounds.
Without a doubt, one of the most useful, comprehensive and complete book in organic chemistry for both beginers and advanced organic chemistry students.

This book is good. It explains the concepts clearly and wont ever leave you thinking "how the hell did it do that??"
However, Organic Chemistry 6th edition by Francis A. Carey accompanied by the enormous solutions manual is the best Organic Chemistry book on earth, hands down. It presents the ideas in an order that is compounding, so that everything you do in earlier chapters is reinforced with the following chapters; and it presents the concepts as clear as day. Once you've learned to push electrons everything else is cake.
Perform the problems in the back of each section and read the solutions manual after each problem and you wont get lower than a C on any test, guarenteed.

other books that follow mechanism (as opposed to functional group) approach to learning organic chem:

Organic Chemistry by Marye Anne Fox, James K. Whitesell (ISBN 0763721972)

"A Guidebook to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry" and "A Primer to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry" both by Peter Sykes

Organic Chemistry by Joseph M. Hornback (ISBN 0534389511)

Look at my other reviews for other chemistry books.

Very well-written organic chemistry book. Without detailed explanation, the approach the authors use makes organic chemistry a little easier to learn, and the examples and explanations in this textbook are superb. I don't highly recommend organic chemistry, but if you want to learn it, I highly recommend this book.

After my wife and I found out we were pregnant we bought half a dozen different books from Amazon about pregnancy. The two types of books we were looking for were those that track what's going on with the development of the baby and the other type was books that said what my wife's body was going to be going through. For the second book, what to expect when you're expecting has seemed to work the best, but for the one tracking the baby's development, Watch Me Grow has been our favorite. It tracks the development week by week, and short and straight to the point. Another resource we found online was a website called BabyCenter.com. We signed up for a newsletter that sends the same kind of info this book has every week to tell us about what's up with the kid.

I didn't find this book until my second pregnancy. It is very informative and the pictures are captivating. This book, along with the NOVA Miracle Months dvd, helped to explain to my older daughter (6 at the time) all about the developmental stages that her unborn sister was undergoing. I have since shared this book with many other women in my workplace. I al so keep a copy or 2 on hand to give to friends and family as soon as I hear that they are pregnant. The earlier in a pregnancy that this book is received, the more it can be enjoyed :)

The product was received in excellent condition. I was very satisfied with the delivery, and the book. I've purchased several pregnancy books over the years, but this book shows details I'd never seen before. Thanks! I would definately recommend the seller to other online shoppers. I'll definately refer others to shop online with Amazon.com as well.

This book has very good week-by-week illustrations. This is my first baby so my husband and I enjoy looking at the pictures each week and "seeing" what our baby looks like in the womb.

I live 2,000 miles from my pregnant daughter and this book helps me feel a part of her pregnancy. The information is great and not too much. The photos are unbelievable! I absolutely recommend this book!

Having just finished the novel "Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel" I can honestly say that I enjoyed the book very much. I would recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in the history of WW2 and particularly to the sons and daughters of the American soldiers who participated during the last couple of years in the fighting in Europe during WW2. There is a bit of locker room talk in the dialogue sometimes but that is exactly how the GI's talked to each other when they discussed their personal interests like girls, sport, music and dancing. Those of us who were there at this horrible time will experience the athmosphere all over again. The history background is well researched and free of errors. The book also makes clear to everyone how similar the situation was for the civilian population regardless in what country they happen to live. At the end of the day it was the US Air Force which won the war and got rid of the insane and evil government which had taken hold of Germany at that time.

A beautifully written story, Dear Mom, Dad and Ethel shows us how, in the face of war's uncertainty, man naturally seeks to form and sustain relationships, and savors them all the more. A timely piece.

This book is a treasure. With the numbers of this generation (my parent's generation) dwindling before our eyes, the importance of books such as this which capture the mind set and feelings of this era cannot be over-emphasized. A special thank you to the author and to Mom, Dad and Ethel! Read it, you will not be disappointed!!!

I am the surviving co-author of Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel: World War II through the Eyes of a Radio Man. Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel combines wartime letters, a love story, and six years of historical research. It is based on the experiences of my late father and co-author, Eli Ellison, who was an air corps radio truck operator in the 327th Fighter Control Squadron in Western Europe from 1943 to 1945.

A previously posted review, subsequently deleted for other reasons, indicated that the reviewer thought Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel was non-fiction. It's hard to see how she could have reached that conclusion. The cover image at the top of the main page clearly indicates that it is "a novel." A review posted by Midwest Book Review says that Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel "blends fiction and history." An endorsement by Belgian historian Jacques Wynants in the Editorial Reviews Section notes that Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel "mixes fiction and history." Finally, the word "Fiction" prominently appears on the back cover of Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel.

That being said, Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel is about 90 percent true. The wartime correspondence in Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel was transcribed from original V-mail letters written by my father to his parents and sister Ethel while he was overseas. Most of the remaining text is a synthesis of my father's strongest memories, library research, research of trusted historical websites, and considerable material provided by Mr. Wynants and other authorities. Additional sources and consultants are given due credit in the Preface. Over 35 pages of endnotes and references appear after the main text. In addition, there are nine pages of wartime photographs provided by my father, The Imperial War Museum in London, and Belgian sources. Two images of original V-mail letters in my father's handwriting, with army censor's stamp visible, are included in the book's photographic section.

Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel could not be told as non-fiction because there were some factual gaps in my father's memories, and we wanted to protect the anonymity of certain people. Some names, ranks, and/or physical descriptions were changed. However, the overwhelming majority of events depicted in Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel actually occurred.

The plot summary of Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel appears below. The real-life Eli Ellison was the model for the Don Quix character.

PLOT SUMMARY

On October 7, l942, Don Quix enlists in the Air Corps. He's slated to be an aerial gunner, but his flying dreams are shattered when he's caught AWOL with buddy Ken Jackson. Don manages to become a radio truck supervisor in a fighter control squadron while Ken goes to a demolition unit.

As an army engineer, Ken barely survives D-Day on Normandy's "Bloody Omaha." During a baseball game in a French forest, Don moves his head slightly, saving himself from a sniper's bullet.

Arriving in Verviers, Belgium in September 1944, Don and his fellow radio men endure frequent buzz bomb attacks. Due to a miscalculation in army strategy, they find themselves on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge.

Don's reunion with Ken, now a tech sergeant with a bomb disposal outfit, is marred by tragedy, dampening Don's torrid love affair with beautiful seamstress Denise Vervier. Denise's husband, sent to a forced labor camp in 1940, is presumed dead. When he unexpectedly returns, Don and Denise face a heartbreaking choice.

Dear Mom, Dad & Ethel: World War II through the Eyes of a Radio Man is a novel that blends fiction and history. Set during the deadly battles near the end of World War II, it follows a would-be air gunner as his hopes are broken one by one. When caught AWOL with a friend, his military ambitions are reduced to being a radio truck driver. In Belgium of 1944, he experiences tragedy, and falls in love with a beautiful seamstress whose husband was sent to a forced labor camp in 1940 and presumed dead - then unexpectedly returns alive, forcing a heartbreaking choice. A handful of black-and-white photographs enhance the vivid story, brought to realistic life through the memories of veteran and co-author Eli Ellison, and collaboratively enhanced with the skills of his son, attorney, reporter, and co-author Mark Stuart Ellison.