V Books

I have had a Stedman's and Taber's medical dictionary for years (20+) and they had gotten a bit long in the tooth so I bought this book and Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary as I thought Dorland's looked slightly better than Stedman's. I decided to compare definitions of a word in both books and Mosby's definition was impressive enough to have me make the purchase (amiodarone was the word, a cardiovascular drug). I used it while studying for a recertification examination and found it by my side as I went through several other books.

This book was the single best resource I had after purchasing almost $1k worth of new books!

The quantity of definitions may not exceed Dorlands, but the QUALITY of the definitions is SUPERB. You get not only a skeleton, minimalist definition but a mini-tutorial of each topic. Just the dermatology related definitions alone with pictures kept me from buying a dermatology book. Definition after definition I looked up - and this went well over a thousand words, perhaps 2 or 3k words - resulted in getting an excellent authoritative discussion of a topic, giving the most salient points in a concise and highly readable form. I had in excess of a 99% 'hit rate' of finding highly useful information with each lookup. Doing this with Dorland's gave me the most trivial definitions in comparison, often little more than the pronunciation of the word and a circular reference to another definition. I gave up after about 100 words as an exercise in time wasting.

I put this book right up there with the Merck Manual as absolute must haves for any serious student of medicine - from the senior specialist to the beginning nursing student. I give it the highest accolades.

I have two more words for how this helped me study for my exam - THANK YOU !

I am glad I bought this one to cross reference and for more thorough definition for my med term course; it got lots of vivid pictures which I even like. I highly recommend this book.

I purchased the Mosby's Medical Dictionary and I am extremely pleased with it. It has many color photos throughout the book so you can see examples of diseases, skin disorders, etc. It is a great book, well worth the money, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Item came just as described and on time. I would definitely work with them again.

I got this book because it had such awesome reviews. I'm going to be taking a test in the near future, and you're allowed to use a medical dictionary, and I picked this one.

I've been taking practice tests. On the first practice test I took, the first 6 out of 7 medical terms I tried to look up weren't in the book. I was stunned, and several of them were pretty basic words that I just wanted to get a very clear definition of.

I'm not sure it's even going to be worth lugging this book to the test, or even keeping the book. I may just sell it and try another book.

Jane

This is one of my childhood favorites; I had this book growing up but lost it somewhere and when I found it here I bought it.

This is a book from another time.

Here's a summary of the action: Sal wakes up. While brushing her teeth she notices that one is loose. She tells her mother. She makes a wish. She goes to tell her father who is digging clams. On the way she sees a fish hawk, a loon and a seal. She tells her father. She drops the tooth in the mud and loses it. She picks up a seagull feather. Sal, her father and her sister go into town. Her father cannot start the motor on the motor boat so he rows across the bay. Sal tells several people in town about her missing tooth. The motor is fixed. The grocer gives Sal an ice cream cone (her wish). They return home for clam chowder.

That's it.

But this is a book from another time.

The cadence is graceful, the illustrations spare but satisfying, and really, when it's over you realize that everything that needed to happen, happened.

There is much wonder in small things...

My 8 year old thought it was old and boring but he did seem interested in a few parts of the story. Probably a little outdated for kids these days but I loved it. It was the kind of story I would read when I was little, but I am going on 50.

This is a very long, very wordy book. It's not suitable for last minute bedtimes, nor for toddlers.

It's very suitable for kids in the older end of the 4-8 range, or littler kids with a good attention span, though.

Not much happens in the story - girl loses a tooth, gets her wish of ice cream, has clam chowder for lunch - which is just the way real life works. It's so well-written that you don't even *notice* that the story moves slowly, you might as well be talking about your own life.

I really sound like I'm criticizing, but I'm not. All the points I'm mentioning actually make it a good book. Really :) Definitely don't pass this classic book by.

To a child, every morning is a new start with infinite possibilities; at least that's how it should be. In this classic 1953 book Robert McCloskey brings a child's simple world to life. McCloskey, better known for his Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal, gives us another look at little Sal. The story is timeless and his line drawings bring the children to life.

The simple coastal lifestyle of more than half a century ago may be hard to find today, in part because of the high local tax valuation of shore and island properties. Still, if you were to take a child to the rocky coast of Maine this summer, she could be little Sal in the clam flats. One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffin) is full of that magical atmosphere where the land and ocean meet. We all want that magic!

McCloskey's Caldecott-honored book tells a simple story. Young Sal wakes up on a sunny morning in Maine with an adventure in store. She and her little sister are going with their father in the boat to Buck's Harbor to dig clams. There are idyllic family scenes, lessons from their father about the world around them, ice cream cones at the store, and the disappointment of a loose tooth lost in the clam flats.

Simple stuff? It certainly is, and just the sort of simple stuff children thrive on. Sal's morning may be long ago and far away, but the curiosity and wonder of a child's new day will be with us forever.

Linda Bulger, 2008

Somehow, when I read this memoir of a former Poor Clare, it stimulated a long past memory of when a Franciscan friar told me of a favourite, private prayer of Francis of Assisi: "Lord, who are you? Lord, who am I?" One wishes that Beryl and Vittorio had ever been taught to approach both those questions in a solid fashion, or to develop the maturity to truly formulate an answer. The picture which emerges is of sincere, dedicated people who were truly seeking God, but who, perhaps because of the lack of any genuine spiritual direction coupled with an excessive stress on obedience, never developed a true clarity of vision. They seem to be a spiritual mess - not wicked or crazy at all, but so devoid of a sense of personal identity and integration of their values into their lives that one wonders if they had any clear picture of vocation, or even of what love for one another entailed.

To the author's credit, she does not turn her reflections on her life into a 'novel form.' The text raises many questions and provides few answers. There is no element of "we were in the wrong places - we found each other - love conquers all" - and, since things are seldom clear-cut or resolved in this life, it is an honest image. The Scent of God is more a reflection than a standard biography. Many books by former religious mock the life in the convent, or show that the candidate was totally unsuitable, or provide an image of monastic life as either gruesome, romantic, or laughable, and there is none of this here. The paradox is that Beryl seems well suited to the life in the cloister overall, and details which may raise the reader's eyebrows (a mattress stuffed with husks for maximum discomfort; an anorexic being cruelly reproached as if her symptoms were wilful 'bad example') do not detract from a generally positive sense of Beryl's being a good candidate.

Much goes unexplained - and there were areas where a more detailed treatment was neglected when it could have been enlightening. The obsession with the novice mistress is all too common when one is in a situation where pleasing her is seen as the sign of a call to obedience, and when every moment of one's life is under her controlling eye. Yet, just using this as one example, Beryl does not explore the situation with mature hindsight.

Neither Beryl nor Vittorio, at age 30 and 57, seem to have either spiritual or emotional maturity. Vacillating and overly magical in approach (there are multiple instances when Beryl sees dreams or portents as divine signs - winning a book confirmed she was to be a Poor Clare), one wonders if they even understood what true love and commitment is at that point. Beryl's character is highly irritating at that point - narcissistic, totally blind to others' situations and given to childish self-centredness and a sense of 'look at all I gave up,' a supposedly mature celibate who was caught up and flattered with her attractiveness. In one scene, where Beryl is treated for a skin problem and the doctor places her hand on his penis, it is astonishing that a grown woman would see this as flattering, enjoying having aroused him, while being blind to the degradation and abuse.

As Beryl mentions at times, things could have gone differently had she had counsel available. The bishop from whom she putatively seeks advice, then tries to impress, apparently neither sees this nor points it out, which shows he had no abilities in direction or discernment. The tragedy seems far beyond a lost vocation. One wonders if either members of the couple had enough sense of vocation or self to make a choice.

Many elements, again unexplained, are highly puzzling. For a priest to wish to be laicised and marry, yet want to confine intercourse to marriage, is understandable. For him to take his prospective bride into the bed with him is bizarre. One wonders why - a test of control of himself? How did he not become physically aroused - was this a by product of the cancer? Why would a couple who wish to observe the virtue of chastity take such chances?

The memoir is not the weary "I only became a nun because the Church thought only religious were holy - I left with the new theology of marriage" balderdash. My sense was of recording of memories, many which the author herself may not fully understand, which showed a sad lack of the "Lord, who am I?"

My life as a man could hardly have been more removed from the one lived by Beryl Singleton Bissell, so I was unlikely to be interested in a book about someone who become a nun at an early age. Yet I found myself riveted by this story which moves in and out of Puerto Rico, New York and Italy, through a long search to define the meaning of faith and to work past the many obstacles encountered along the way. This remarkably fast-paced book, for all its emphasis on a contemplative life, is jammed with intense experiences all lived before the age of forty, and it is so well-written that it immediately establishes common ground with any reader. I give it my highest recommendation.

I don't normally read memoirs but I was intrigued by "The Scent of God". From the very beginning, Beryl Singleton Bissell's prose drew me in as if I walked into her life and shared her childhood, adolescence, and later her tumultous life after leaving the convent. Her story is so honest and raw and I admire her candidness in revealing a love that no Catholic girl/woman would openly confess. Walk with her as she grew up with an alcoholic father and a manic mother. See what it's like to struggle between the secular and spiritual world. Find out how life's twists and turns mold naivety to resilience and survival. Grieve with her as she says good-bye to a love that she fought heaven and hell for. You won't be disappointed.

I just finished this book very early this morning and have been haunted by it all day. Never has a story been so moving for me. Beryl's will and pure sense of the self is astounding and through all of her life challenges, particularly those revealed at the end I believe she still manages to stand tall and find comfort in her journey. There are no mistakes in this life and this story was a gift to me as it actually has strengthened my faith in God. Don't miss this read -- it's a must have for every library.

When I was an adolescent growing up in a small Kansas town, I sometimes dreamt of becoming a nun--even though I was not Catholic. My cousin, Virginia, had given her life to God and went off to a convent. It all seemed so dramatic and selfless, and I admired her courage and commitment to a life of prayer and spiritual discipline.

I have always been intrigued with the women who left their homes, families, friends and all their personal belongings and took vows of poverty and chastity. And I've also been curious about what life is like behind those sacred walls.

When I discovered Beryl Singleton Bissell's memoir, The Scent of God, I devoured it, savored it, dog-eared the pages and filled it with yellow highlighting. I only do that with books that speak to my heart and soul; I know that I will return to those pages again and again.

The Scent of God takes the reader behind the walls of a convent and into the heart and mind of a young woman who wanted more than anything to be "good", to please God and to be loved. While perfectionism and a compulsive need to be in control of her mind and body led to anorexia, controlling her heart would prove to be more difficult.

This is a story about choices, commitments, faith and love. It is about the choice that Beryl had to make between her calling and an Italian priest who won her heart.

Beryl's memoir is beautifully written, weaving in the rituals of everyday life in the convent with the emotional and spiritual evolution of a young woman who comes to trust herself as well as God.

This is another book I read cover to cover in one sitting. I'm sad that it's over. The thoughtfulness and ethics and, well, honor of the writer touched me. Lots of cool insider info without compromising security. No bitchy backstabbing. No gratuitous back-slapping either. A very easy read that I couldn't tear myself away from. A couple months back, the current president was in my city for a couple of hours and the amount of disruption to traffic was startling. I now have far more appreciation for how difficult these visits are and how much orchestration they involve.

I wanted to get a little more background on the life of a Secret Service Agent. I found this book filled with interesting tidbits of information. It was an easy read that I found entertaining, as well. His recounts of what it was like working around the Reagan administration, the Pope's US visit, etc. kept me interested for several hours worth of reading. It personalized some of the details that the public often may not realize.

This book is well written with just enough detail to keep you in every scene. It hooked me from page 1 and kept me interested all along.

If you have any interest in the presidency of Ronald Reagan or the Secret Service, I highly recommend this book. The tone is very matter-of-fact, but what comes through is what an honorable person Joseph Petro is. He lost out on a possible N.F.L career when he was drafted for the Viet Nam War, but our country, and especially its elected officials during the time of his service, gained a great deal.

A very engaging book.

I found this book extremely enlightening as to what life as an Agent in the USSS will be like. Petro does a wonderful job at writing about what he is allowed to disclose yet still keeping the reader engaged. If you are interested in the USSS, you should read this book during your application process since little is know about the Service.

I grew up on the south side of Chicago during the 80s and had many friends who were "taggers" and got up every chance they got. They had spray-cans, hollowed-out deodorant sticks somehow replaced with ink, fat markers, Griffin, and who knows what else. Though I myself wasnt a graffiti artist or writer or tagger, this book is a great ride down memory lane for those of us who grew up on the streets. For those of us of a certain age, this book, "Subway Art", along with movies like Breakin' I AND II, Beat Street, original hip-hop and old school house music were all of a specific time and place. This book will make you want to break out the Pumas with the fat laces, bring out the tile and start back-spinnin', but it is also one of the the earliest, most definitive and detailed books on graffiti ever.

Wow, this book just took me back to my days in the Bronx and the 2 line.
All the greats are in this one..Doing those T and B's and hitting the yards, and dodging the DT's Now those were the great days of the BRONX.
Long live
MIKE170..TAV 1..ALE..AJAX..SUPER SEX..BLADE..COMET..FUZZ..POPEYE..
MIKE 170....

I started doing graff back in the late 90's; I was 14 at the time and to be honest with you; like all great writers we were all toy's at one time but has time went by and we got better with our skills, we all have read this book at one time or another. On with the book review.
This book is just simply AMAZING...you have old school pieces from the Godfather of Graffiti: SEEN, BLADE (which he has painted 5,000 trains during the golden age of the MTA in NYC; since I saw the graffiti scene on the trains at the tender age of six and seven in NYC, I was simply amazed at that age on how people could sneak in at night and do this with spray-paint but I digress), LADY PINK, and the list goes on. If your just starting out in graffit, this is a great book on to connect letters, bubble letter's, block's, and some old school color schemes, though I would not call it the Bible of Graffiti, it is pretty darn close to it. Check it out.

This classic book, along with "Broken Windows: Graffiti NYC" is all you need to know about NYC graff. Anyone up needs both of these books. Knowledge is king!

Subway Art. What can I say? This, Style Wars, Beat Street, Break Dance... they all had their influence on me (& a whole generation) back in the day.

Hip Hop isn't what it used to be, though. Most of what we hear these days is mixed up with R'n'B, commercialised, repackaged and shipped for your dissatisfaction. If you ask me... when it comes to Hip Hop, stick with the old school.

I was brought up in Melbourne, Australia, and did quite a bit of graffiti there during the 1980s. Melbourne had plenty of weird & wonderful characters who were into graff back then. The vast majority have gone their separate ways. But there's always the rare psycho who's still bombing (I'm not referring to the younger generation - but to old school dudes who are still around). There's also those who got into graphic art and made a career for themselves out of graff.

I recommend checking out some of the original Vaughn Bode cartoons for yourself through a simple Google search.

Additional to this, I recommend Getting Up: Subway Graffitti in New York" by Craig Castleman. It has some pictures of trains and so on, but it is more for the reader. A copy was stolen from a local library near me - go figure.

And if you're ever in NYC... Check out the Hall of Fame. It's located on the corner of 106th Street and Park Avenue.

I owned this book before I even had children. I used it in the classroom as a teaching tool. To drive the point home, I would have the children try to mix piant together to make their shade of skin pigment. They were amazed at how no one is white, and no one is black.

This book is an example that we are different, but we aren't alone...There are others like us. We ARE all the same inside...

I bought this book in addition to the "never forget a face" memory game for a 3 year olds birthday party. One can never have enough multicultural things in such a global world!

Dirty Sally
Whoever you are is great look at introducing youngsters to cultural diversity. "Culture" basically refers to commonalities that run through a group of people with a shared heritage. Sometimes children probably believe that her culture - way of doing things - is the "right" one and that others are a bit "funny." As you read Whoever You Are, you can begin to look at other cultures with your child, aim for an appreciation of differences. Eventually, this will lead to an increased appreciation of the incredible variety of human attributes, flexible thinking, and less prejudice and stereotyping. This type of conversation has to take place. That is why I wrote a children's' book entitled, Dirty Sally..The untold stories of mixed race kids who find a new identity, love, faith and forgiveness through GOD.
There is an interesting story behind the title. I was often taunted or teased about being biracial. Some of my family members and friends called me Dirty Sally. Dirty Sally is an old slavery term used to identify the descendants or offspring of Sally Hemings, a former slave and the late President Thomas Jefferson. Sally Hemings was biracial her mother was ½ white and ½ black and her father white. This book focuses on the misconceptions surrounding racial identity and the importance of choosing one's racial identity. Dirty Sally is a must read not only for inter-racial families, but for all parents hoping to instill in their children a sense of understanding and compassion. I believe that change requires resistance and within that process we can help heal some of the wounds that continue to inflict on racially mixed children. Purchase available on Amazon.com the ISBN# is 9781432707743
For more information or to contact the author, Myrtice J. Edwards visit [...]

I bought this for my daughter who we adopted from Guatemala. It is one of her favorite books to read at bedtime and I love it too! Perfect for any adopted child!

I love this book. It has beautifully colored illustrations to go along with a wonderful message that no matter how different we all are, we are all the same in many ways...we all smile, laugh, hurt, cry, and experience joy, love, and pain the same way.

I actually like this. It's a good and colorful read for kids of all races and great for young readers.

I really enjoy this book. Anyone with any medical knowledge (or none at all!) will like it. My number one reference book right now!
It arrived fast, perfect condition.

This is an excellent resource for all FNP students. This book is like a Bible for FNPs, Even the Dr I work with uses it as reference. I am looking forward to an updated edition, and maybe a CD Rom to download into my PDA.

I received this book in a timely manner and in excellent condition. I experienced no delays and was 100% satisfied with this order.Clinical Guidelines in Family Practice

I can't stress enough, if you are an NP or faculty, this is a great book to use in practice or to have as a reference.
Excellent Book!!

This book was recommended to me by my preceptor during clinical and It has helped me so much! I wish I would have got it earlier in my education.

Great book especially for novices! It gave you enough information to prepare for the birth, understand and know what to anticipate. We had 2 books handy while our chi gave birth to 6 puppies! Puppy birth is very similar to human birth in alot of ways. So, if you've been through child birth whether it's yourself or a loved one, the main thing is to remain calm and be there for your dog. They will appreciate you for it!

This book was of great help, particularly when our pups began to dehydrate after birth. There were only 2 things it did not prepare us for, having smaller than normal litters and the mother's nervous behavior affecting her care of such a small litter. According to the emergency vet on holiday call, there are breed specific behaviors which play into the mother's care and can interfere. My only wish was that I could have found a book more specific to my breed. As a general instruction manual, it was of great help. The two little pups are dear and are doing well now, 2 weeks later.

We just had a litter and everything went great. There are nine healthy pups. We had to do the slinging thing with one pup, and with the illustrations and directions it worked and the pup is healthy. We didn't loose one!!!

I bought this book to help me get through breeding my two Yorkies. It was comprehensive and easy for the non-vet to understand. If I had a question, it had the answer.

Excellent book. My dog just delivered 8 healthy puppies. I had read the book several weeks earlier and kept reffering to it as the whelping approached. It directed me all through the process and I learned many things that helped me avoid what would have been costly mistakes.

Peter Drucker continues to inspire posthumously.
Every day the insight from the reading helps me to assess my personal life and how it affects others.
Excellent book.

Think about your daily physical exercise regimen. Now compare that to the mental exercise routine you use in your journey to become a life-long learner. Come up a little short? The Daily Drucker will help.

In my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit, "The Drucker Bucket" honors Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, who was welcomed to his heavenly home in 2005, just a few days shy of his 96th birthday. His seminal book, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, runs 839 pages. Here's the Drucker Bucket core competency:

"We are privileged to be leaders and managers and we steward that privilege by being lifelong learners and practitioners in the art of management. We don't just give lip service to management--we are disciplined students of great leadership and management thinkers like Peter Drucker, Ken Blanchard and others."

I encourage my clients to read at least one book by Peter Drucker every year. If you're in management, why would you not want to learn from the management guru? To dip your toe in the Drucker Bucket, read The Daily Drucker.

Bestselling author Bob Buford, who graciously wrote the foreword to my book, mentions Drucker in the foreword, "Peter always said, `The purpose of management is not to make the Church more businesslike, but more Church-like." Drucker was a gift to all of us. This is the perfect book.

I think one has to be mature enough to understand, at least on some level, and appreciate the wisdoms of Mr. Drucker collected in this compact and very intense book, but once you get them, you become a different person.

This book offers excellent insight into Drucker's writings on business philosophy. For those who have never read Drucker at all, this book is a great starting point, as it encapsulates much of his writing into a single volume. The book is of particular value to anyone working in a service-related company, especially in a society where knowledge is one of the most powerful assets managers are required to protect and preserve.

An entry from January 7th reads: "Knowledge workers own the means of production...the organization needs them more than they need the organization..." The action point listed is, "Attract and retain the highest producing knowledge workers by treating them and their knowledge as the organization's most valuable assets."

The information provided in this book, when put into practice, will help any manager become more efficient and reflective about how her/his actions fit into the bigger picture. The foreword, by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, is also very worth reading and gives a little-seen and inspirational glimpse of Drucker.

The book was in good condition and was delivered on time. It is a great read!!

I have never personally experienced an incident like Julia, but I found her book inspirational. When confronted with a life-threatening health issue, Julia and her family found the courage to move forward and recover against all odds. Her book is written with a humorous tone which shows her positive attitude and her unending goal to get well. Her book taught me that you need to figure out what is important in life, not lose sight of it and never give up. I would highly recommend this to anyone... whether you have experienced a situation like this or not. Definitely one of the best books I have read in a long time!! I couldn't stop turning the pages and finished it within a few days!

Julia Fox Garrison is one very ballsy broad with just the right kind of self-effacing and acid sense of humor and gutsy determination to see herself through a bad situation. Following a massive brain hemmorhage or stroke, whatever you want to call it, which very nearly kills her and leaves her whole left side flaccid and useless, she makes up her mind that she is going to come back from this, even if it kills her - which, if she'd listened to her doctors, could very well happen. For months she denies that she's in denial about a complete recovery, but after more than a year of rehabilitation, she is finally forced to admit that she'll probably never be perfect again, and begins to appreciate what faculties and skills she has recovered. Besides the obvious humor sprinkled throughout the book, there are also the awful moments, the incredibly sad ones. Like the time she realizes that even her 3 yr-old son recognizes her limitations and becomes used to getting all his support from his dad - the night she goes to him in the night when he is crying and tries to help, and Rory says: "I want Daddy, I don't want you ... No, you can't help me. You have your own problems. You fall down and you need help and you need someone to get you up."

Or when she makes a visit to her old office and endures the stares and the tentativeness of her old colleagues: "... because you simply don't look the way you looked the last time you were there. You are on industrial-strength doses of steroids as well as a cocktail of other drugs and your face is swollen and misshapen, like a pumpkin head."

Or when she and her husband, Jim, who has done everything for her since her stroke, make love for the first time in more than a year: "When you are done, you both cry a little and hold each other. 'Now we're a couple again,' Jim whispers."

In the end this is a book about not just determination and guts, but about love, and about a very supportive family (Julia's husband, parents and 8 brothers) who help her back to wellness. Anyone who has ever suffered a debilitating illness and struggled back to some semblance of health and dignity will appreciate this book, as will their friends and family members. It is quite simply a great story. - Tim Bazzett, author of Love, War & Polio

Julia Garrison Fox writes her experiences after suffering a stroke at the age of 37. This is a must read for all healthcare professionals especially those who work in the rehabilitation field. She pulls no punches and write candidly about what it feels like both physically and emotionally to go through a life altering incident. This is a wake-up call for all in the healthcare field, we are real good at treating the body but we sometimes forget the human spirit we are also caring for.

I really loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Although I've never suffered any of the physical impairments that the author has, her story is very easy to relate to. Not to mention that it serves as a reminder to all of us to never give up, and to never take anything for granted.

Ms. Garrison's persistance is to be admired, as is her sense of humor through ordeals that have broken the spirits of many. Kudos to you, Julia, and may you never lose your courage, love of life, and wonderful spirit!

I am a rehab nurse and I just couldn't put this book down.

Yes, all of the portraits are not flattering of folks in the healthcare profession. We must view patients as people, with all their likes, dislikes and quirks.

I found it to be a very funny, uplifting first person account.