W Books

Wonderful books for kids. My 7 yr old grandson loves them, and reads and laughs the entire time.

This is the best book I have ever read. It is mainly about a half-naked boy who is a hero. The part I like the best is when the toilet and him fought. This is very cool book.

I love spending time with my grandson and this book is fun to read with him. I also love to hear my grandson laugh.He likes to read now and he takes the book to school for others to read.He likes all the Captain Underpants books.This is an excellent read...

Captain Underpants is a great epic novel series by Dav Pilkey.With his new book Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking toilets we discover his power against talking, eating, mad toilets. He uses cafeteria food and his underware.This book also has more flip-o-ramas than ever.The flip-o-ramas are filled with even more juicy underware fighting.Captain Underpants beats the talking toilets with underware and his extreme power.
George and Harold,the main characters,try to help Captain Underpants but just stir up more trouble.Captain Underpants not only has to worry about the evil talking toilets but also freeing George and Harold.Captain Underpants ended up winning the battle and freed George and Harold.Over all,Captain Underpants is an awesome fighter and awesome warrior.

My eight-year-old loves this book, and I think it's hilarious myself. If fighting vicious toilets using underwear and cafeteria food sounds funny to you, you'll love this book.

This book does teach a certain amount of contempt for adults and suspicion of cafeteria food to children. In that sense maybe it's emblematic of our society. I have found it necessary to sit down with my son and explain that all of this is FICTION, and has nothing to do with the real world. Did that have any effect? I don't know. I suppose it's worth it to have him reading.

With Fire and Sword takes place in 17th Century Poland, and it chronicles the war between the Cossacks and the Polish gentry, from the perspective of the people involved. Once again, I'm reminded that this is an immeasurably more interesting way to view history than rote memorization of names and dates, and I wish I could go thump all my history teachers over the head with this big fat book.

It's mostly about Pan Yan something-or-other (the names gave me fits), a distinguished young lieutenant in the service of Prince Yeremi (or Yarema--I never did figure out the difference--I'm guessing one is the familiar form?). He's returning from a mission, when he sees a man who's been attacked and nearly killed, so he rescues him. The man turns out to be Hmyel...whatsis, whose feud with his neighbor is what starts the Cossack rebellion.

Pan Yan meets a young woman and falls in love, but her family has promised her to Bohun, of whom she's afraid. Much of the book concerns Pan Yan and his friends' attempts to rescue her and get her back together with Pan Yan, with an extremely brutal war in the way. Pan Yan is a romantic hero, a knight in shining armor, full of honor, devotion to duty, and devotion to his lady.

His friends are fascinating and entertaining characters. There's his squire, Zjendjan, who's a tricky young man, always out to make a profit, but nonetheless absolutely loyal. There's the giant Podbipyenta, who's vowed to remain celibate until he can best his ancestor's record and chop off three heads with one stroke. There's the diminutive Michal who's a master swordsman. And there's Zagloba, fat, older, prone to extreme exaggeration, a drama queen, who's a reluctant hero.

The Prince, Bohun, the rebel leader, and the government officials are more minor characters, but like the main characters, they're made real, and their motivations and doubts and emotions are all clearly drawn.

The story goes from one hair-raising situation to the next, and just when it looks as if things will be okay after all, something even worse happens. I think I read, either in the foreword, or in my research when choosing this book, that it was initially serialized in a newspaper. If it wasn't, it should have been, because that's how it reads. I could easily imagine reading one of the segments and then anxiously waiting for the next edition so I could find out what happened next.

I was quite pleasantly surprised by how entertaining and readable it was, by how engrossed I became in the story, and by the fact that I wasn't tempted to put it down and read something else, even though it took me the better part of a week to read it.

So, why only 4 stars? It's purely for the enjoyment factor. I did enjoy it, but it's not something I'll ever read again, and not even something I feel enriched by. I didn't finish it thinking "what a great book!" I'm not a student of history, or of eastern Europe, so the fact that it's written from apparently the wrong side of that conflict completely escaped me (until I read the reviews that pointed it out, of course).

I'm glad I read it, and I'll remember the characters, but I doubt I'll look for the other two books in the trilogy, or by Sienkiewicz's other works.

The great Polish/Lithuanian empire ruled all of central europe at one point - from Berlin to Moscow. I'm betting most of you weren't even aware of that. I wasn't either until I started reading more of european history. In developing a friendship with some people of Polish descent they recommended this author and his nobel prize winning novels to me. I was daunted by its length and by the date of when it was originally written. However, I started reading and have been hooked on these books ever since. I have come to believe that Mr. Sienkiewicz is the father of the modern novel. This is not a stilted 18th century read!
It gives you history (from a polish perspective) with fictionalized characters and a compelling story behind the backdrop of the calamitous decline of a once proud and powerful empire. The characters are heroic, tragic, conflicted and wonderful to follow. You will love this book and the several sequels in this decades spanning story.
One doesn't win a Nobel prize in literature if they can't write and Mr. Sieniewicz earned his.

I have read "With Fire and Sword," "The Deluge," and "Pan Michael" ("Colonel Wolodyjowski") and I recommend all of them highly. The characters are memorable and well-developed, the heroes are likeable, and even the villains are understandable as people with very human motivations.

Ask around a bit and you'll find no shortage of folks, men in particular, who became readers via their encounters in youth with class adventure tales: The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Ivanhoe, the Lord of the Rings, etc. ask again and you'll find almost no one whose heard of half the Nobel Laureates in Literature, fewer who've read them, and none enjoyed many of them. All the more remarkable then that one of the great adventure authors of all time actually won a Nobel and somewhat tragic that so few have read him in recent decades. But Henryk Sienkiewicz has made something of a comeback and it could not be more welcome.

Sienkiewicz is the great author of Poland--indeed, to some extent his works are said to have created and helped to maintain the strong Polish identity that prevailed through the troubled 20th Century. When his books were first published -- mostly late in the 19th Century -- the English translations were done by Teddy Roosevelt's friend Jeremiah Curtin and, whether they were adequate for their time, they are are terribly dated now and have served to put off potential readers. Add in the fact that neither the Nazis nor the Communists had much interest in fostering Polish patriotism and you've the recipe for lost classics. But then, fittingly as the Iron Curtain was crumbling, Hippocrene Books commissioned a new translation of his greatest works, The Trilogy and Quo Vadis?, by the highly-regarded Polish novelist W. S. Kuniczak, and these eminently readable versions won Sienkiewicz a modern audience. New translations of other works followed, then a terrific film version of In Desert and Wilderness, and a massive Polish television adaptation of the Trilogy. Suddenly we've a surfeit of riches and some catching up to do.

If you're just starting out it might be wise to begin with Quo Vadis?, a stand alone tale of Christians in Rome that really deserves a fresh film treatment. But it's well worth your time to dive into the Trilogy, the first volume of which is the magnificent With Fire and Sword. Set in 1647, amidst a Cossack uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it tells the story of a young Polish patriot and hero, Yan Skshetuski, and his love for the beautiful Helen, who is also coveted the brutal Bohun, who fights with the rebels. Pan Yan's twin tales give us epic history and grand romance, while his compatriots offer comic relief. There's his wily servant, Zjendjan, whose semi-faithful service somehow keeps lining his own pocket. There's the mopey giant Pan Longinus, who has sworn a vow of chastity until he lives up to the example of his forebears and takes off the heads of three enemy soldiers with one swing of his massive battle sword. There's Pan Michal Wolodyjowski, whose bravery and feistiness belie his diminutive stature. And, best of all, there's the Falstaffian Pan Zagloba, who makes up in drinking capacity, gluttony, and biting wit what he lacks in zeal for battle, as he keeps his one good eye peeled for threats to his corpulent frame.

It'll take you a hundred to a hundred and fifty pages to orient yourself and get used to the odd names and nicknames, but the subsequent thousand pages go by far too fast. It's one of those stories you don't ever want to end.

I've read Kuniczak's translation of the Trilogy and greatly enjoyed it. It was my introduction to Seinkiewicz. However, while reading it, it seemed somehow incoherent, like something was missing. It also seemed impossible that the companions of Zagloba would be so credulous of his boasting.

I went and found a copy of the 1890 translation of the Trilogy by Jeremiah Curtin. What a difference! Though the language is somewhat archaic, the story flows so much better and the character of Zagloba is much more believeable. There is more context to his antics, and his companions are presented as far more skeptical of his boasting, making the story much more realistic.

Kuniczak seems to have omitted and simplified much that appears in the Curtin translation, to the detriment of the story. Many believe the Kuniczak version is superior, and maybe it is more accessible, but I recommend you find the old editon in the basement of the local library and read it first.

Being an Elvis fan, the title caught my eye. Realizing it was a series I began with the first book - Murder on a Bad Hair Day. Yes, these are humorous mysteries. I'm reading at work in the breakroom and I just laugh out loud. Ms. George is funny, she creates a storyline and a plotline and her Alabama sisters are far from amateur sleuthes, they are just two retirees who are at the wrong place at the wrong time and making the most of it as they invite the police in for coffee and orange rolls. Sadly, it stops with this book as Ms. George, a retired schoolteacher has passed on. But I am eternally grateful to have joined her and "Vulcan" for the great ride, stepping over the dead bodies they happen upon.

This final book in the Southern Sisters mysteries was a delightful book as they all were. Bitter sweet in the reading as I continued to enjoy the antics of Mouse and Sister, all the while knowing there would be no more. The 8 book series was a delightful read and I so enjoyed sitting down to romp through the Birmingham area with an unlikely pair of sleuths. I will forever wonder what happens to them all and what other troubles the two sisters could have worked their way through Had Ms George continued with us. She and her delightful characters will be missed.

I love Anne George. Too bad she didn't write more of these before she died. I truly enjoyed reading this book to the very end. In the back of the book it states that she is an award winning writer and poet. I suggest reading them all - they really are entertaining, especially if you are a senior!

If you like a mystery book that is light and does not go into gory details then Anne George is for you! I read all types of mystery stories but have enjoyed the Souther Sisters Mysteries emensely. It is a shame that Ms. George passed away in 2001.

I cannot go to my grave without sharing the delight I have found in Anne George's books about Murder...., starring the two sisters. I am happy to say that they bear a great resemblance to my sister and I! I have laughed so hard that, yes, I really did wet my pants. But that's not hard to do these days ( I am 64 and obviously not Southern 'cause I just told you my age!). Anyway, I have read ALL of the books. I know because I searched so hard for more that I found out Anne George had DIED! 'Course I was sorry - I mean, real sorry - because by that time, I had gotten addicted to those I have come to consider my true blood sisters! I am so sorry I didn't discover her books before her untimely demise. Maybe I could have convinced her that she owed it to her public to write some more. Anyway, you have a treat in store for you if you like to laugh like I do. Best readings from my house to yours! PRH

A language reference book that's a page-turner? Yes, it can happen, and Hall and Schwartz have done it. At least one right way to almost anything in Perl that you might want to do, and then some. Clear, concise, no-nonsense guidance and explanations. What else can I say -- I wish I had a book like this for C!

this book is "MUST HAVE" Perl book!
It gives you great idea to simply your code and algorithm.

I'm fairly new to Perl (but not to programming) and this book is great. I really like the format of the code examples, and there's a lot of wisdom here on writing good, idiomatic Perl.

This book shows you some efficient and interesting ways of using Perl. It is very informative and I often use it when I want to see if there is a better way of doing something.

This is a good book for getting a handle on intermediate level Perl and its idiomatic uses, arranged as a series of 60 'items' -- the debt to Effective C++ is obvious. This is not a tutorial on Perl, you should at least be at the level of The Llama and ideally be somewhat acquainted with the material covered in The Alpaca, too. Although similar ground is covered in this book to the latter, I would treat this book as a way to shore up your previous knowledge, rather than learning it for the first time.

The content holds up surprisingly well for 1997. The opening chapters cover a lot of the oddities and gotchas of life with Perl, such as slicing, the various connotations of undef, a persuasive defence of $_ and where + is necessary to disambiguate. The final 'miscellany' chapter also contains useful information in a similar vein. And this also appears to be one of the first books to detail the now famous Schwartzian transform and the Orcish manoeuvre for sorting, so it has a certain historical appeal.

Equally, the chapters on debugging, references, regular expressions and object oriented programming are also pretty good. It's just that there are now several other books that cover these topics. If you only want one book in this style, Perl Best Practices bestrides the field like a colossus, being more comprehensive, and better written. Not that there's anything wrong with the writing here, it's never boring as such, but it does feel flat.

Nonetheless, Effective Perl Programming does the job it sets out to do fairly well, and I find you can never have too much help in explaining the nooks and crannies of idiomatic Perl, so this is still worth getting hold of, particularly because you can find it at an extremely reasonable price.

It seemed that this book was simply to get in more minor ideas. Still, it was handled well with some very nice description.

I enjoyed this book. It's about the Animorphs' discovery of a chat-site about Yeerks. I thought that it was an okay book, but they don't seem to mention the people in the chat-site anywhere else in the series (I'd have thought that a whole site full of Yeerk-aware people would be a major thing, but that's just my opinion), so if you are just looking for important books in the series, you can skip this one.

In this book, Jake discovers a web site about Yeerks. He shows it to the others and they see the chat room. They decide to pay a visit to Web Access America (not AOL, A reader from U S A). They go to the airport because WAA is too far to fly in bird morph. There they fight over wether to morph flies on a United or Northwest plane (they choose United). Marco eats some shareholder's first class lunch and Jake (?) wonders if there will be an in-flight movie, and Marco (?) says not a movie, the flight's 1 1/2 hours long, more like an in-flight cartoon! Tobias in fly morph is funny. When there in the WAA building, Jake, in tiger morph, Rachael, in Grizzly morph, Cassie, in wolf morph, and Tobias, in his natraul form (hawk), mop the floor. An employee says there crazy, why are they mopping the carpet? Ax and Marco sneak in to the computers (everyones distracted) and find out who MegMom, Fitey777, and Gump (screen names from the chatroom) really are. It turns out Fitey777 is Joe Bob Fenistre is the CEO of WAA. Jake gets a rhino morph and They go to Joe Bob Fenistre's house. I'll leave it at that

Jake has made an amazing discovery: a web site about the Yeerks. Should the Animorphs investigate? If they do, they might walk right into a trap. And if they don't, they'll never know if they're fighting their enemies alone.

Jake and the gang go on a yeerk web page track down fenstre. the find out the the yeerk in side him is a twin of the yeerk in visser three thats why he ordered his men to shoot a the birds (rachel an Ax in bird morph) because visser three is the only controller that has the morphing abillity

I purchased this for my 8 year old daughter as a birthday gift per her repeated requests. She already had Farmer Boy, and chose this as her next Little House CD. She and her 12 year old sister both love these. We've read Little House books as a family, but now they can listen over and over.

This is a good CD. Cherry Jones' performance is excellent, and the fiddle music adds a wonderful touch for those who wish they could have heard Pa's fiddle.

As for the story, who doesn't like Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic stories of pioneer life in America? She brings it to life like nothing I've ever read, and I read everything I can get my hands on about American History. Laura give us such a detailed picture of her family, Pa's leadership, Ma's gentle manners, their work ethic, life in the 1800's, old-fashioned morals, and so much more. If my kids listen to this over and over, I know they'll gain so much that TV or movies cannot begin to give them.

The Little House series are great read aloud books.

Our daughter is five and this series is perfectly age appropriate, even though an older child would enjoy them equally as well. For younger ones (three or so), there is a great picture book series called "My first little house books," or something like that. One of these is a story based of a chapter in this book and is called "Christmas in the Big Woods."

These CD's are great for long trips in the car. The narrator's voice is wonderful. The adults will find themselves enjoying listening themselves.

"One the Banks of Plum Creek" is the best of the series. It is the one where Mary and Laura go to school and where the character of Nellie Olson is introduced. Her brand of spoiled rotten meanness is nothing short of tantalizing to a five year old. Also, there are the wonderful Christmas chapters.

Just excellent, all around. I highly recommend the books to read alound and the CD's.

Whether you have read the Little House books or have never heard of them, this book on tape is wonderful for everyone from small children to adults. The narrator who reads it does an amazing job of capturing the childhood wonderment and emotions Laura was trying to convey. It is also so interesting to hear the way families lived back in the 1800's. I could listen to this book on tape over and over again.

Laura Ingalls is now eight-years-old, her sister Mary is nine, and Carrie is still just a tiny tot. While they are all still quite young, they are expected to help out with the chores around the house - from sweeping to dusting, cooking and setting the table. But this year, the girls are in a strange new place. Looking to settle in an area where a school and church are close by, and the Ingalls' have a chance to grow a wonderful crop that will provide quite a profit, the family heads to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Traveling by covered wagon, the family, along with all of their belongings, travels all the way through Indian Territory, across Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa, stopping at their destination in Minnesota. There, they are surrounded by Norwegian's who speak very little English. However, they are good neighbors who assist them in times of trouble. Trading their horses for a home located under the ground, Laura's family begins to call Minnesota their home. And, before long, Pa has built a lovely home by the banks of Plum Creek. He believes that his wheat crop will provide enough funds to pay off their debts when the time comes. But when locusts invade in cloud-like swarms, eating everything in their sight, the family must endure hardships that were unexpected.

But things are not all bad. Having never attended school before, Laura and Mary are finally near enough a schoolhouse where they can attend daily lessons that help them develop reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. It is at this particular school where the two older Ingalls girls are exposed to children - both male and female - who are close to their age. Some of whom title Mary and Laura "country girls." But the label does not affect how the two sisters view themselves, or their family; and only gives them the courage to befriend various girls who love to spend time with them. It is at school, however, that Laura encounters the spoiled, yet oh-so-pretty, Nellie Oleson, who goes out of her way to give both Laura and Mary a hard time. But Laura isn't having any of it, and resolves to get even with the vicious Nellie, even if it upsets her Ma and Pa. Luckily, with Ms. Beadle - the schoolteacher - around, Laura and Mary have the confidence to stand up for themselves, and receive the education that their Ma always wanted them to have; while getting the socialization they deserve. But even attending school doesn't excuse them from having to assist their family when the going gets tough.

Up until last year, I had been a diehard fan of the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE TV series, but had never had the opportunity to delve into the wonderful tales told by Laura Ingalls Wilder herself. Upon reading the introduction novel, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, I quickly fell in love with the Ingalls family all over again; and, since then, they have taken up residence in my heart, and kept me fascinated with the various adventures they experienced throughout their lives. Laura is such a lively, brave, fun-loving character; whose ambition, kindness, and, oft-times, naughtiness, make her appealing from start to finish. Her relationship with her family is hard to resist, as she manages to please and displease them on a daily basis, all to the jovial laughter of her father. I believe that Pa (Charles) is one of the most important characters in the series, as he is such a kind, loyal man; who rarely scolds, and spends his downtime entertaining his family with music from his fiddle, and stories that leave you chuckling. The family, as a whole, are the type of people you would absolutely love to have the chance to know. They are kind to strangers, helpful to neighbors, and both Ma and Pa are two of the most selfless people in literature. The information regarding Rocky Mountain locusts was both interesting, and frightening; but truly provides a wonderful history lesson for the young reader. While the introduction of the devilish Nellie Oleson provides quite a bit of humor, as she and Laura trade insults with one another at almost every meeting between the two. Ingalls did a marvelous job of penning such a cheerful addition to the series; and, thus far, ON THE BANKS OF PLUM CREEK has become my favorite LITTLE HOUSE book yet. A can't-miss addition to the series!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

ON THE BANKS OF PLUM CREEK -- Who could forget the plague of grasshoppers, or spoiled Nellie's encounter with the crab, or Pa's sojourn in the blizzard, among other adventures?

We -- my three homeschooled grandchildren and I -- are going through the Laura Ingalls Wilder series of books for the second time. We read them aloud during story time, and love every minute. These are books written about an American pioneer family in the 1800s with a strong moral compass. In an unsentimental style, the author writes simply of the day-to-day life she experienced firsthand growing up. As the title of this review suggests, a central theme, not only of this book, but the entire series, is that "Pa loves Ma, and Ma loves Pa, and all's right with the world," including in the face of all kinds of adversity and opportunity alike.

I enrich this time for my grandchildren by stopping occasionally to explain and discuss what we are reading about, be it an unusual word usage, a custom no longer practiced, how to do something by hand, historical facts... We have even stopped to do some research and measure out the height of a bear. Our family tradition is that the eldest grandchild (now 11) reads the last page of these books. Otherwise, I usually do the reading. We also try to get started right away on the next book in the series, the same day as we finish the one before, so as not to lose our momentum.

After going through the series the first time, we discovered (almost by accident at the local library) several other series of books, written by other authors, about Laura's great-grandmother Martha in Scotland, her grandmother Charlotte in Boston, and her mother Caroline in Wisconsin, so we decided to start over with the first of those books and carry on through. There is also a series about Laura's daughter Rose which we have not gotten to yet.

Reading through the other series in order has been time well invested. Like Laura, we have strong family roots in Scotland. We have four generations of our family living within close proximity, so my grandchildren know my father, their beloved great-grandfather, quite well, and this series helps them gain a feel of family and historical continuity, generation to generation. (Check for related book series under: Martha Years, Charlotte Years, Caroline Years, Rose Years).

I am investing in and building our own set of all these books in hardcover, having told my grandchildren that I plan to be around to read them to *their* grandchildren!

I absolutely LOVED this book when I had my saltwater tank. It was invaluable for selecting the right fish for my set up. (Great detail on behavior, aggressiveness, space needs, whether or not compatible with coral, feeding needs, etc.) And the pictures can NOT be beat! Now that I am doing freshwater, I am trying frantically to find a book that was even half as useful and I am somewhat hard pressed. This book is a must have in my opinion.

This is an excellent quick guide to help you learning more about salt water fishes. It not only helps you deciding what fishes you want next but is also a very helpful guide to carry when shopping for new fishes. You can easily identify fishes that you don't know, with a scale with 1 to 5 on how hard it is to have it at home and compatibility with other fishes and invertebrates.

The highlight of this book, in my opinion, is showing pictures of Angelfishes when they are both young and adults, as their pattern change completely.

This book is great for when you want all the basic facts on a potential fish tankmate right there at your fingertips. Quick to find what you need, and very to-the-point. Great handy guide.

If you have a salt water aquarium, this is the one book you must have.

If you need a quick, comprehensive marine fish reference book this is the one to get. It is small enough to bring with you to the fish store and get a quick rundown on behaviors, ease of keeping, etc.

If you ask the fish store about a fish, they are probably looking in this book for the answer.

Even though he died in 1998, everything in this book is still valid.
From little simple tips like allowing a little extra time to get somewhere to making sure you have gas in your car so you won't forget to put some in when you are rushed to controlling phone call interuptions this book is chock full of little tips.
Even things like putting your keys in the same spot to having your doors keyed to use the same key, he just keeps on offering ways to save time and hassle that you can avoid if you listen to him.
One of the pioneers of real estate infomercials, he speaks to you on how to enjoy your life.
Shortly before he died he was sued with frivolous lawsuits, so ignore the ignorant reviewers that talk about that. He set up his estate so they couldn't touch his wealth. Good for him. Glad to know Givens kept his money shielded from buzzard lawyers.
Learning how he overcame a hard childhood to go on to live a life most would only dream of should inspire you to do the same.
All in all, a good combination of both inspirational reflecting on his growing up to practical advice once he had made it as an adult.

This is one of the best "self-help" books I have ever read. I am
re-reading it in case I missed something.

Like his financial books, Charles Givens offers a no nonsense system for becoming your best. You will learn how to flatten your fears, generate goals and add several hours of productivity to your day with more free time for fun to boot.

The tape is an overview. The book is very thorough.

Highly recommended along with Stephen Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Interesting that some people are surprised that Charles Givens produced this audio tape program and the book of the same name--SuperSelf; interesting because this is how Givens started way back in 1975 with his first company The Success Motivation Institute which was incredibly successful. SuperSelf is a program designed to take back control. To destroy the control others or events have over our emotions and the direction of our lives. To stop waiting for our ship to come in and go out and swim to it. Not to wait for things to happen but to make thing happen. Not to find ourselves, but to design ourselves. To take the action in our lives to make our dreams into reality.SuperSelf will show you how to design the rest of your life to become the best of your life and to live your dreams.

I read a classic self-development book on my recent flight called, Super Self Doubling Your Personal Effectiveness by Charles J. Givens. Charles is one of the long-time motivational speakers and rags to riches type person that people like to read about. Often I find these people to be somewhat shallow but the basic message is right.

In the book he shares a number of success strategies. The first one is to learn from the experience of others rather than your own. In my opinion, this is true wisdom and this is something that I still seek.

Charles Givens' outline is very basic and is what you would see in almost any self-help book:

1. Have dreams and goals. (I always thought the difference between dreams and goals is that goals were dreams with action)

2. Develop strategies to achieve these.

3. Practise â" consciously and continuously apply the strategies at every opportunity.

4. Habits - as I have often said before, we become what we repeatedly do.
Results, with these new skills and abilities, you will achieve results.

I would not make it as linear as that, I would make it into a circle. As results start to happen, then new dreams and goals need to be set. I feel a need to constantly revisit goals.

Overall this is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in improving themselves and achieving goals in life.

His program takes it right from the goal setting through the time management area. It is a great refresher on what we need to do to be successful. I always seem to need this. I know what I should do but I frequently fall back into not doing it. books like this challenge me to once again play at the top of my game all the time.

Various animals give appropriate comparisons as to how much they love their child, everybody goes awww, and the baby goes to sleep.

Really quite sweet, and beautiful artwork. A good gift for somebody's first mother's day, or for their baby shower.

This is a wonderful book about the love of a mother, all kinds of mothers, and their children. The illustrations are beautifully done and it's simple message is moving.

I am really surprised at how the one reviewer who gave it two starts took it. The idea is NOT that you love your child more than a warm summer breeze or even that the horse does. The idea is that a warm summer breeze is endless, and so is the horse's love for her child. The idea is that there are million grains in the mill, and the mama mouse loves her little one more than that. Each comparison is that a mother's love is infinite in comparison to what is relevent in that creatures life!

Please, if you have a little one in your life, buy this book for him or her. It is one you will treasure. I have been reading it to my daughter since she was about 3 months old and she still enjoys it (15 mos at the time of this review.

I received this book as a gift from my mother. It was in a pile of books my mom found at a yard sale and sent prior to the birth of our first baby. I never looked at the book until the first day that our son was home from the hospital. I picked up the book to read it to that sweet new little life. I wept tears of joy as I read each page. It is truly a beautiful and poetic book, and one I will treasure always. I've given this book now several times to expecting friends and family.

I wish I had read the description closer. I wanted a board book. Oh well - Great book!!

This is my favorite book to gift to new parents. Whether they've been blessed with a baby boy or girl, this is the perfect book to start off a life-time of reading. My other favorites are "Cookies Bite-Size Life Lessons" and "Jamberry"...there's just something so special about picture books, isn't there?

This is a classic, and an important work in quality control/6 Sigma. The material is getting somewhat dated as far as examples, but the princples are timeless, and as valid today as they were 25 years ago when the book was first written. Deming's no nonsense approach is both easy to read and easy to understand. Strongly recommend for any manager - particulraly one where there is a Six Sigma environment.

This book is excellently written by the late Dr. W. Edward Deming who was "heckled" out of America post-World War II by the American management leaders for his less-then-conventional managerial practices. After being heckled in America he was invited to Japan where that countries business leaders were re-building their nation. Dr. Deming's 14 Point Program was an instant success and he was soon heralded as the "Father" of modern Japanese Industrial Revolution. Japan honored him annually with the awarding of the Deming Award of Excellence. He was eventually called back to his native America where he continued to lecture until his untimely death in 1993. He was an icon of American management practices.

Written in 1982, this book was the author's attempt to help America out of its crisis. You may recall that under his tutelage, Japan underwent a significant turn-around in the manufacturing sector and began whooping the collective American butt. What was the cause of the crisis? According to Deming, it was top management's inability to manage.

Deming offers a solution to the crisis. His aim is to help "transform the style of American management." Deming lists 14 points, which are the basis for the transformation. Check them out. A couple of them may surprise you.

Deming stresses the value of statistics. A couple of the chapters are tough for those not familiar with the discipline (a reason for the crisis). Those familiar with Six Sigma will notice the similarities with Deming's teachings.

It's been 26 years. Is America out of the crisis? If Deming were alive today, he'd probably say that some have heeded his advice, but too many have not, and that much of the issues we've seen with American corporations in recent years are evidence of that. Fortunately, his book is still available to help.

If you have not read Deming, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this one. If you happen to have already read it, read it again. Pick up some of Deming's recommended readings as well. There is a lot to learn, and re-learn in this one.

-- Nick McCormick, Author, Lead Well and Prosper: 15 Successful Strategies for Becoming a Good Manager

Edwards Deming's powerful book Out of the Crisis outlines a way to improve American manufacturing by encouraging management to plan for the future and foresee problems to eliminate waste of manpower, of materials and of machine time. Quality must be designed in.

Timeless ideas permeate this book. One of the major themes in the book is that quality must be built in at the design phase. I have seen numbers as high as 80% of the cost is driven in during the design phase.

Deming's 14 points and other ideas have permeated and morphed into many companies in the United States. Lean manufacturing, six-sigma, robust design and more can trace their roots to the work of Edwards Deming.

This book is extremely valuable to understand the historical roots of quality and lean thinking. It is equally valuable as a guide for any design and manufacturing company looking to improve in today's competitive world.

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

As the title says, if you are a manager you MUST read this book. Read it even if you aren't a manager.

Deming knows quality, bottom line.