Z Books

Susan Dawes concisely summarizes day to day strategies for enhancing personal and family life. As she says "When mom's happy, everybody's happy". She presents a variety of suggestions for fulfillment whether one works outside the home or is a stay-at-home mom. She makes wonderful suggestions regarding dealing with demands and pressures facing American families. Each chapter is chocked full of great ideas that I have used over and over. These include topics from taking care of yourself to discipline. Her social work background is evident but the book is presented in a very readable fashion. As a woman's health nurse I recommend it to expectant moms as well as moms who are already experiencing parenting. It is a must reading!

Susan Dawes is a joy to interview. Her down-to- earth book is a must for Mom's and Dad's everywhere. Well written and entertaining. It will delight your audiences!! Darcy Blake, KUDL 98.1 FM

"When Mom's Happy, Everyone's Happy" is a brisk and lively read, but more importantly, it is also an excellent and insightful resource for modern Moms (and their husbands and families) in a stressful world whose demands compete with the good and enjoyable family life. Written in a light and highly readable manner, the first section provides valuable, very useable tips and ideas for Mom; the second, for the whole family. I highly recommend this book for Moms and Dads and Children seeking more from their lives and relationships with each other. I have found it useful and recommend it to new mothers and learners of all ages and types. "When Mom's Happy, Everyone's Happy" is a happy and helpful read for Mom and her whole family.

Charles RB Beckmann, MD, MHPE, FACOG, Chief, Women's Health / OBGYN, Samuel U Rodgers Community Health Center, Clinical Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Missouri at Kansas City

Susan Dawes wrote a wonderful book. It's very easily followed and very easily applied. She has some wonderful suggestions in her book including but not limited to: ways to take a holistic approach to your life, things to do to improve your relationship with your husband, ideas for giving yourself a break and creative ideas for shortening your days (when you are at home with children). I read this book from front to back several times and still reference it periodically. I agree when mom's happy, everyone's happy and this book brings me one step closer to happiness.

i keep this book right by my side and i read other books about the jfk assassination.when i come across a new name,i find the name in my a to z reference book and read a quick summary that gives me a fairly complete picture om who this person is.

Just got through reading this book. What a wealth of info. I am now going to read High Treason, which is referred to many times in the A to Z book. If you don't walk away from this without a doubt that there was a major conspiracy, I don't know what planet you're from. Just when you think you know who did it, there are more and more people introduced to the theory, leaving you consumed by curiosity. What a great book. This books lists alphabetically the people who were involved in the assassination, the Oswald shooting, and the Tippit shooting.

I have been reading books on the assassination of John Kennedy my entire life. Then I came across this book, "Who's Who in the JFK Assassination", I couldn't beleive it. Never before did I read through a book so fast and when I was done, I had to go back and start over. It's not really meant to read cover-to-cover, though. When I am reading a book on the assassination, and see a name I don't know, I can flip to it in this book and know just who this man is. For anyone who has looked at the assassination, they know you come across hundreds of names and you can't remember them all, thats where this book came in. Let's say I see the name Ruby Henderson; I can look her up in this book and find out she saw TWO men in the 6th floor of the TSBD, one of whom had a rifle, but she thought they were with the secret service. Anyway, I would tell ANY person looking for information on the Kennedy Assassination to get this book anyway they can. What else can I say, Michael Benson did a GREAT job.

Michael Benson, whom I know from research conferences (and who mentions me a few times in his follow-up book), has written a great compendium of information on the JFK assassination. This is truly a great all-in-one-place volume. Get this!
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I LOVE this book! I have given it away as gifts for several years now. It makes a great wedding/bridal shower gift - throw in some spatulas and measuring cups and you've got a great gift. My husband and I love to page through this book. There is something new on each page. Great basic kitchen information.

I originally bought this book for a friend who was afraid of her kitchen. She's been married for two years now, and LOVES this book! I bought a copy for myself and have similarly found it useful.
This book is convienent to use during the cooking process: if you don't understand a certain word in a recipe, look it up in the Kitchen Companion! It's alphabetically organized by ingredient or term and is meant to be used with recipes, not by itself. The entries offer a description of the item as well as helpful cooking suggestions and even some interesting background information on where things come from. It's beginner-friendly, and is a joy for more experienced cooks as well.

Williams-Sonoma's `Kitchen Companion' is at least as good or better than books I have seen from similar commercial enterprises such as Home Depot and Smith and Hawken. The stated object of the book is to make up for the fact that fewer and fewer people learn how to cook at their mother's (or grandmother's) apron strings.

While the subtitle, `The A to Z Guide to Everyday Cooking Equipment & Ingredients' gives the impression of a dictionary approach, the straight alphabetical organization is compromised by a second objective to make the book interesting to pick up and read in your armchair instead of simply being a reference when you want to noodle your way through an unfamiliar recipe, tool, or ingredient. Thus, the book is organized much more like an encyclopedia with big articles on group subjects. Thus, instead of thirty (30) articles on individual herbs, there is one article on `Herbs' covering all common varieties.

I have mixed feelings about this organization, so it is important enough to point this out for your consideration.

As far as the quality of the material in the articles, I believe it is very high, although just a bit conventional now and then. For example, the article on microwave ovens says everything you would expect it to say, including the warning that when you double the volume of food, cooking time will also double. What it does not say is how inconvenient it is to use a microwave oven for certain tasks and how careful you have to be with your timing. Similarly, the article on how to make an omelet covers all the basics and firmly distinguishes the omelet from scrambled eggs or any other egg dish, and provides reasonably good diagrams, albeit a bit small and hard on the eyes. On the other hand, the article on the omelet covers much less than many good treatments I have seen.

In considering whether to buy this book, you must ask `For what information would I go to this book before going to `Larousse Gastronomique', `The Joy of Cooking', or Shirley Corriher's `Cookwise'? Of course, if you have none of these books, you will go to what you have. And, as a standin for these other books, this one is pretty good, especially for the relatively low list price.

If you have no other general cooking references and you are new to cooking, this may be one of the two or three best books to get. If you already own twenty cookbooks and have been cooking for at least a few years, you may want to pass on this, as I would if I were not reviewing it.

The book has a decent bibliography, but I think it would have been far, far better to have put references to other books at the end of each individual article. Then, this book would have been a uniquely valuable encyclopedia, extending our horizons far beyond its covers.

This is an incredibly valuable kitchen resource. If you are looking for information on apples, for example, there is a complete section on all different types of apples, which ones are best for baking, how to choose them, etc. That type of information is available for any type of food you can think of, plus kicthen tools and information, comparisons of different types of cookie sheets, saucepans, etc. This is in my top three food/cooking reference books.

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; 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.

You've Got Manners is a delightful, creative book which makes learning manners a fun and interesting "game" for children of all ages. It can be used as a learning tool whether at the dinner table, eating out or traveling, and all family members can participate. I love the author's use of illustrations and vivid primary colors which are instrumental in keeping a child's attention. The author also cleverly incorporated another learning tool, the alphabet. I can unequivocally recommend You've Got Manners for every family's library.

The charming characters, bright colors, and friendly verse make this book a delightful learning experience into the world of manners, for children young and old. I recommend it highly.

I ordered this book for my young granddaughter who, at nearly 3 years of age, is ready to consider simple discussion of table manners. I am generally delighted with the book and believe it is one that can grow with a child, having applications even into adulthood.

I was startled, however, to find lie-lay errors on pp. 7 and 55. I also note numerous other small changes that would greatly improve a future edition. For example, some pages are written in the imperative, some are written in the declarative....some are in the third person, some are in the second person, and at least one (p. 44) slips into the first person plural. In addition, frequent use of unnecessary quotation marks is distracting.

The book fills an important niche in a child's library, but it is limited by the above weaknesses. I do not mean to be critical....I have corrected pp. 7 and 55 in my edition and will enjoy this charmingly illustrated book with my granddaughter. You could do the same.

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; 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 book has given my three children confidence in dealing with other kids at school. They have learned new respect for themselves and others. We have learned so much from the other three books. I'm hoping she plans to continue to write more books on this topic.

I gave a copy of this book to my two grown daughters, to read to their children. The whole family has decided this is a group effort - and really good information. The examples and illustrations are very attention-getting, and the wording is friendly and easy to understand.
This is a book that will help a lot of children and adults feel better about the way they communicate with others.

This book addresses the way children can be courteous to each other, considerate of their friends' feelings, and respectful to their friends and to the adults they come in contact with--parents, teachers, parents of friends and others. The lessons, however, are good for all of us. If adults practiced them more often, there would not be as great a need for the children to learn them because they would parrot our good conduct. As a retired teacher and grandmother of five children, I encourage parents to start reading Respectful Manners (and all the preceding books by Ms. Elerding on manners) to their children as early as possible, to instill in them the polite way to act with parents, friends, teachers and other adults they encounter in life. The book is timely and ageless.

I'm a busy Mum as I look after my twins aged 11 and have just returned to work as a teacher. My brother bought me Chris O'Kalan's "A to Z of Education" and I dipped into it yesterday but it keeps drawing me back like a magnet. The information it contains is absolutely essential to me both as a Mum and as a teacher and the anecdotes are side-splittingly funny. Although I give it 5 stars I would hesitate to let my children read it just yet as in parts it is just a wee bit near the knuckle. But for me, as I said; absolutely essential, I suspect I will need another copy fairly soon as this one will wear out quickly due to my constantly referring to it. Invaluable. Absolutely Essential.

All my friends at school want to borrow my copy of The A to Z. Its cool and its also funny and we all enjoyed the characters especially the ones from the PE Departments cos theyre SO TRUE and SO REAL. I like the story under "Art Department" best and the funniest is the one about "Ban". Seriously wicked.

Chris O'Kalan is not the real name of the person who wrote this book but I think I know who did write it and I am afraid lots of other people do too and so it wont be long until someone tries to get this book banned. They may well succeed. That, I feel, would be sad because it is filled with useful information. I would recommend it to anyone, even if they are not directly involved in Education and I wish I had a copy when I was still at school in Liverpool but I suspect that 'Chris O'Kalan' taught me and if I am correct, that was quite an experience. Good luck Mr O'Kalan.

Bought this crazy book on impulse and never have I laughed so much. But it is also crammed with useful info... I suspect the reason why this guy Chris O'Kalan wants to stay anon is because many of the characters in his (her?) anecdotes are probably real. I'm not a teacher by the way but I do have young children and the stuff about drugs in the book will hopefully give them a clear understanding of the problems without making them paranoid. I'm dipping into the book not reading it through and constantly find myself laughing out loud. A gem.

I was born in Grenada but grew up here in the US. My parents and other family members made sure that I knew my culture. Although I have been back there many times,after reading this book, I was able to get eeven more knowledge of all that was instilled in my cultural knowledge by them. It is a great conversation book between family and friends who are not from Grenada. Well worth the read and teh money.

This book is a valuable resource for anyone seriously interested in Grenada. It is an enjoyable and informative read.

It makes great reading for those of us who of Grenadian heritage but have lost the connection to our culture. The book provides valuable historical information that is often lost over time and is a wonderful tool that I can share with my daughter.

"A-Z of Grenada Heritage" is an oversized, 283-page, color illustrated [on quality paper] compendium of useful information about multiple aspects of the island of Grenada.

John Angus Martin writes to the point and provides facts of historical and contemporary information in an easily understandable manner. Excellently chosen photographs and illustrations catch one's interest.
Martin backs up his knowledge with references.

A partial entry example:

"FISHERMAN'S BIRTHDAY is a Roman Catholic festival celebrated on 29 June each year as the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. In the town of GOUYAVE, one of the largest fishing communities in the islands, festivities are the 'grandest' and are attended by visitors from all across Grenada. Under the French the parish was dedicated to St. Pierre, the patron saint of fishermen. After church services in each parish and the blessing of fishermen's boats and nets, there are boat races, eating, drinking and merrymaking for the remainder of the day; the merrymaking dates to the mid-1960s . . ."

"A-Z of Grenada Heritage" is recommended for library 'Country' collections, for every travel and tourist-related organization's reception area, for those who live on the Spice Isle, for those who visit Grenada, and for those who plan to visit Grenada.

The book is a delight; there's nothing quite like it.

I have long been a fan of Bronwen and Frans Stiene's methodical approach to factualizing Reiki's history with lots and lots of important facts, photos, and documents that have been lost in the retelling of Reiki for Westerners. By now, most people have heard the two versions of Usui Reiki. The books written by the Stiene's are so valuable in aiding the reader to understand the environment in which Reiki was truly developed.

These are authors who are passionate about their subject matter, and have created a wonderful pocket-sized book as a perfect resource to keep handy. If you love Reiki- BUY THIS BOOK.

A-Z of Reiki Pocketbook is an encyclopedia of everything Reiki. This handy little book contains everything from Advanced Reiki Training to Zui-Un. In between there are interesting mini-biographies on many of the key players in the founding, growth, and development of Reiki; information on the different methods and variations of healing; and clarification about the vocabulary, symbols, and mantras used in our practice.

When I ordered this book, I expected that it would serve as a nice little reference book. I assumed I'd flip though the pages and find some interesting facts. In this regard, I was not at all disappointed. This book is full of fascinating details. In fact, I started reading the first entry and sat down and read the whole book. I came away from the experience with a deeper understanding of my craft- not only the history, the lineages, and all of the different variations but also feeling like part of a community.

I would suggest A-Z of Reiki Pocketbook to anyone interested in studying Reiki. Those new to Reiki will find that the information contained in this book will clarify a lot of the misinformation that they may read from a variety of sources. Once they continue in their practice, these same individuals will use this book to deepen their understanding of the tradition that they reflect and how they can grow as a healer. Thereafter, the book will well used as a reference resource.

This is one of those books that is so useful when you know that you know something but can't "put your finger on it". It's different from most Reiki books in that it has Reiki related facts arranged in alphabetical order. It's a bit like a mini encyclopaedia.

It's a good tool for Reiki shares if you fancy having a quiz and need to get hold of some bite size facts to throw at your students.

It doesn't go into huge amounts of detail on any of the topics but that's not what it's here for. Easy to find information is where it's at and it does the job very well.

Rebecca Holton
Reiki Master/Teacher
Japanese Usui Reiki Ryoho

Another fine book from Frans and Bronwen Stiene.

This book is, as its title suggests, a lovely sized book ideal for slipping into pockets and handbags!

It is an A-Z of everything Reiki and cross referenced (using words typed in bold face) for ease. I like the fact that the information includes both traditional and non traditional Reiki related facts and information presented in an unbiased, well researched and concise way. The book is dotted with small but wonderful pictures, symbols and photographs which make the book a delight to look through.

This book could be useful in many situations, as a teacher of reiki it is ideal to have on hand for questions that you either do not know the answer to or those questions where sometimes you know the answer but it is just "sitting on the tip of your tongue!" Just open it up skip to the right word and there is your answer (a handy book for both Reiki evenings and courses alike).

As a person new to Reiki you can use the book to look up things as you try to find the path right for you and seek answers along the way. For those somewhere inbetween on the journey it can still answer many a question and I know that when I first opened it up I found lots of interesting fascinating facts that were new to me,it was interesting to read about 'Leiki' and the Japanese pronunciations of words for one but there is also lots of wonderful snippets to be read on the history of Reiki.

I can, and do, highly recommend this book to those interested in Reiki on any level and shall treasure this little book full of little treasures!

If you were ever interested in any silent film comedies, then you must have this book. Besides profiling the major comedians like Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Langdon, and Laurel and Hardy, this book has large articles on W.C. Fields, Raymond Griffith, Lupino Lane, Colleen Moore, Larry Semon, Mabel Normand and others. One "classic" film from each is discussed in detail. Just about every obscure comedian that ever appeared in their own series or as a supporting player. There are also sections on topics such as different types of comedy, European comedy, etc. There are also plenty of illustrations. This is one reference book that a silent comedy fan will always want to have near.

As in his previous books on Laurel & Hardy, The Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin, British author Glenn Mitchell has brought his unique insight and wonderful writing style to this encyclopedia on silent film comedy. This book will delightfully jog the memory of almost anyone who had ever enjoyed a silent fun fest. Everyone is here from legends such as Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd and Langdon...to the more obscure such as Lloyd Hamilton, John Bunny, and even the Ton of Fun! You too can have a ton of fun within the pages of this bit of must reading for any film comedy fan.

When you are a silent film comedy enthusiast, a book like this one is a must. There are very few reference books on silent film comedy, making this book essential for one's collection. Many books cover information about the stars, but very few cover the rich and varied history of the film studios famous or otherwise, another big plus for this book. Praise to Mr. Mitchell for his meticulous and massive research. The only improvements to this book would be a larger format and filmographies. And now Mr. Mitchell, when will your Keaton encyclopedia be coming out?

British film historian Glenn Mitchell has once again produced a most welcome paperback dealing with silent screen comedy. This time, Mr. Mitchell covers the entire spectre, from Jimmy Adams to Tammany Young, thus succeeding where others in recent years have utterly failed. There are plenty of places where to look up pertinent information on Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, etc.; even Charley Chase now has a biography on the market. But where can you read about the careers of Dee Lampton, the fat boy in "A Night in the Show," or George Ovey, of the long-ago "Cub Comedies"? Only in Mr. Mitchell's fine -- and thankfully! -- reasonably priced book. The "A-Z of Silent Film Comedy" is a must-have for any serious film scholar and highly recommended even for the casual fan.

one of the best books on the jfk assasination, ive read well over a dozen on the subject & this one was up near the top. Probably not the best written, the author makes a couple of minor mistakes including referring to the 1957 appalachin meeting of mafia bosses as the meeting in the appalachian mountains! however, does include some very important info about the people responsible for the jfk assasination- those same cia agents, cuban exiles & mafia bosses who were active in the plots to get rid of castro. read this along with craig roberts' Kill Zone & u will solve the mystery surrounding the jfk assasination. This book gets to the point of the actual people there in dallas that fateful day & craig roberts' Kill Zone shows the conspirators who actually ordered the assasination. Read them both if u want to know the truth about who killed kennedy.

I recently had a holiday in Cuba and found this book available in English everywhere. I found it very convincing as to who was behind the conspiracy. If you plan a holiday in Cuba pick up a copy there.

The same group that was trying to kill Castro did succeed in assassinating President Kennedy. They are: anti-Castro Cubans, CIA, mafia, and the Watergate burglers.

"ZR Rifle" appeared at about the time when Fonzi's "Last Investigation," Scott's "Deep Politics," and Prouty's "JFK" showed up in the bookstores. Since Ms. Furiati has been characterized as "sympathetic" to Castro's revolution, I approached it with caution, only because I needed to know if the book itself could be discredited as another strand of misinformation in an entire web of misinformation spun over the course of forty years.

What I find instead is another well-researched and objective attempt to explain more clearly the strands in the conspiracy web already suggested by the contemporary literature. As I began reading "ZR Rifle," I attempted to verify each fact presented in succession against what I know from other independent sources. I relaxed those efforts after fifty or sixty pages because the book is well-footnoted and the documentary support for its explanation is solid. The book, which can be read in one sitting, adds more detail and clarity to the speculations and background provided by the other authors of this last decade's research.

"ZR Rifle"s strongest point is its reliance on documents and testimony provided by General Fabian Escalante, a veteran official of the Cuban State Security Service -- Castro's intelligence agency. Imagine, if you will, a country in a state of seige, a country made a pawn in the dangerous game of Cold-War nuclear weapons strategies, and a country that began to suspect itself as the intended scapegoat of a conspiracy hatched on American soil to murder an American President. Escalante occupied a position at the center of Cuba's own investigation to discover the Truth about the Guns of Dallas. Such a perspective provides ponderous advantages, because, unlike the problem of the fox guarding the chicken-coup, Cuban intelligence was able to place its own agents among the Cuban-exile community with a primary objective of turning up new facts. And these new facts substantiate what we already know about the complicity of David Atlee Phillips and other non-mob actors within the CIA itself.

The book presents a new challenge for researchers of both the "serious" and armchair variety who want to unravel the complicated inconsistencies concerning the "Oswald in Mexico" story. Cuban documents -- specifically passport applications -- controvert the idea that Oswald was never in Mexico. The facts that document his presence there raise additional questions as to why the CIA propagated the photos of the beefy-looking Oswald imposter, and the meaning of last November's revelations about voice-print identification inconsistencies with the real Oswald. The one certainty that stands out, other than the Cuban evidence, is that all the paradoxes concerning Oswald in Mexico bear the trade-mark of David Atlee Phillips.

My own model of the assassination has the shape of an hour-glass, or two pyramids each facing the opposite direction and intersecting at their apex. As with any methodical murder investigation, the "bottom-up" approach represented by Furiati and Fonzi fills in the details of the actual operations and execution of the conspiracy. Prouty's book, "JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Assassination of . . ." represents a perspective from the other pyramid. The implications about the power-elite responsible for the Guns of Dallas are clear, but more evidence is needed. Americans in the year 2000 can easily vote on their suspicions alone. Those citizens of a more cerebral inclination can simply cut to the chase and formulate their own alternative replacements to the US Constitution. But to actually implement such a change requires massive public support that can only derive from a ponderous body of facts.

That is probably why Furiati was unable to publish her book in the United States. Again, there is a smoking gun in the hands of unidentified media influentials. One can only speculate that someone -- someone -- still worries about the sort of name-dropping that occurs on page 15 of Furiati's book. The fact that the ARRB Final Report was published in the same month that Congress voted to impeach Clinton, and that chapter 6 of that report contains thought-provoking comments about the individual mentioned by Furiati -- is no mean or insignificant coincidence.