Tracks Books

Katherine Switzer's story truly inspired me to give qualifying for Boston another shot, and this year i trained my heart out and improved my marathon time by over an hour, breaking 3:20 and qualifying for Boston for the first time. I thought of Katherine's story as I ran my marathon and used it to make me stronger all summer long. It is the best book I have ever read, it made me realize anything WAS possible if i trained hard and believed in myself. Thanks Katherine!!

Wow, I loved this book. I remember reading an excerpt from it somewhere online several months ago and I was so engrossed in it that I finally had to buy the book recently. And I was not disappointed - the entire book was incredibly easy and engaging to read. The only minor exception was that the last third of the book kind of got away from what made the book so interesting the first 2/3, but overall I would still give the book five stars without a thought. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed reading a book as much as I did this one.

the only few words i can use to describe this book is that it was a truly....inspirational and fantastic read. great book, i was so engrossed in it that i finished it in two days. runners and non runners alike can enjoy it. running for women has come a long way. i have read it once and will read it again. go ahead people buy it....you will never regret having this book in your collection.

As a woman born in 1980, I really had never grasped the concept of what the generation before my birth had done. I never really understood what the world believed about the abilities of women. Katherine Switzer's story is powerful and amazing. I'm so glad I could grow up believing that I could do anything. The book is well written and powerful.

This was hands down one of the most inspiring running books I've ever read. Kathrine's foresight into the sport of running amazes me - we can thank her not only for bringing the women's marathon to the 1984 Olympic games but also for today's modern marathon "comforts" that didn't exist when she first hit the streets of Boston.
I read this while training for a marathon and her story kept me going during those long and painful runs. This book is a must-read for any runner, male or female.

This book has everything I need to know about computer networks. It's the best book I read about networking.

I read a review of the new Network+ exam from CompTIA, and this book was listed as being one you could use in studying for it since no books on the new exam were out yet.

Skeptically, I plunked down the money, read the book, and took the exam. I passed with 95%!

This is one of the best books I have read in preparation for the Networking Essentials Exam. The tear out booklet is amazing and was a great help the night before the exam. This book uses a lot of excellent illustrations and examples to explain concepts and ideas. The 'Key Concepts' section in each chapter focus on important points to remember for the exam. Using this book helped me pass this exam on first try. I highly recommend this book to anyone preparing for exam 70-073. This is the only book you will need to buy!

This book is fantastic and it covers in its pages what most books do in 600+ pages of fluff. The advantage is you don't get lost in the influx of information. I highlighted the book from front to back, then purchased the Transcender study engine - every question in that engine was answered in this book!

Unfortunately, I had to take this exam twice. So, be ware, do not depend on this book for the MCP exam. I am wondering about other people who previewed this book and said that they passed the exam using it???

I do not recommend this book for those who are planning to take the MCP exam. This book covers almost 50 % of the material of the exam. There are some poor parts in it which represent some objectives of the exam. These poor parts are: troubleshooting, performance enhancement, topologies, and protocols. From experience, I can tell you the following points are mentioned heavily in the two exams and were not slightly covered by this book which are:

*Troubleshooting: It does not tell you about the way to low-level troubleshoot a bus topology networks, which include measuring resistance in different parts of the network .

*Performance Enhancement: nothing about window size and packet size for TCP/IP protocol.

*Topologies: Nothing about mesh topologies.

*Protocols: Nothing about the TCP/IP suit and IPX/SPX suit. It does not mention which protocols are under these Protocols and to which layer do they belong to.

Besides, the sample test at the end of the book is silly and does not represent real MCP exams.

There are so many books on New York's attractions that one might wonder at the need for yet another, but this book is a key and the first to focus on a hundred off-the-beaten-path destinations, from small museums and nearly forgotten historic places to odd shops and small oddities. A geographic arrangement aids in the journey, with chapters offering addresses, hours, directions, web sites, and long paragraphs of enticing description. Recommended for any travel library strong in New York City attractions.

Suzanne Reisman is a wonderful guide through off-the-beaten-track New York City. This guide is well-written, entertaining, thoroughly researched, and full of wonderful gems for any traveler or NYC dweller looking for quirky, fun, and enlightening things to do around town. I love the troll museum. Highly recommend!

Having recently moved out of NYC after a LONG time living there, reading this book makes me want to move back right now! I wish I knew about all these cool places while I was living close by.
This book highlights a lot of little-known and interesting places all over the city that are easily accessible on public transportation. The wide range of places means that anyone can find something of interest. It is organized by location, so the visitor can plan on doing several things with one trip and gives great directions on how to get there and what to expect. A little bit of the history of each place rounds out the vivid descriptions, so I felt like I was actually visiting the places just by reading. What a great and out of the ordinary guide-book!

Indeed, this travel book is truly unique. Blending fascinating information with humor, mild expletives, and Yiddish phrases, Ms. Reisman creates a relaxed writing style that is as appealing as the colorful cover is eye-catching. The perspective traveler wants to peruse the book from cover to cover as if it were a novel, and not just a catalog of destinations, in order to discover what she has to say. The reader is simultaneously enlightened and entertained. Whoever dreamed that guidebooks could be so much fun?!

I love love love this book! I've been to 3 of the places so far and love that everything is easily (mostly) accessible and pretty spot on with the descriptions in the book.

Plus, each attraction's description is not only digestable, but filled with a great traveler's context, unlike some Lonely Planet versions where you never really get the context of WHY something is fun to visit!

Well, there ain't no put on about this brush popper! he writes it like he rides it.

I remember several of these brief tales from Baxter's time on NPR. When you are reading the tales you can hear his accent. Very enjoyable, I highly recomend any of his writing and poetry. Baxters works are a quick read that has you looking for more of his tales. Baxters political quips are also refreshing.

My husband and I have listened to Baxter for years and I resently purchased a book and a CD for his birthday .The order was easy to get thru Amazon , the price was good and the merchandise was delivered on time. Thanks Amazon, Jean

My son in-law LOVES this book. It was a gift to him from myself and my husband. He can't get enough of this author and absolutely LOVES these books.

My husband can't put this book down! Baxter Black's clean and side-splitting "talk" is entertaining for all audiences. My mother, my husband, and my best friend have all loved this book.

The Fast Track Course on How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal is a solid, non-nonsense guide. It's gotten me off my rear-end to do my own book proposal, in large part because it makes the steps seem far less daunting.

The author, being a publisher, writes from experience as a person who reads book proposals all the time, and so you can bet that his advice will boost your odds when it comes to pitching your book. While it may be true that publishers will have their own quirky preferences, everything in the book just makes so much sense that it's sure to at least drive your own submission towards the top of the stack -- as long as you have something interesting to write about in the first place!

But we start with that assumption, don't we?

Thanks to Mettee for providing authors with a template for the nerve racking task of how to format a book proposal. Under his guidance I have produced a concise proposal and sent it to publishers with the confidence my book idea will be selected for publishing. A must read for new and seasoned non fiction authors!

As a publisher and publishing consultant, this is the book I recommend to writers and new publishers. It is direct, concise, and engaging. Writers serious about professional nonfiction book projects would be wise to read and use this book.

This is an excellent and concise guide to writing a nonfiction book proposal. The author covers a lot of ground in less that 115 pages and does it in an entertaining and engaging way. In general, the book is very well-organized, has text boxes with useful tips, good cartoons used sparingly and powerful quotes that are offset in the margins.

The organization of the book is broken down into three chapters: 1) First Things; 2) The Query Letter; and 3) The Proposal. The rest of the book contains a sample book proposal, query letter, agency contract, nonfiction book proposal checklist, information on formatting a proposal, a section on author's rights and various references.

In reality, this is ALL you need to start putting out book proposals. In addition to high quaility information, the tone of this book is positive and encouraging. It also contains ALL meat and no FLUFF. You will learn a lot about the basics of getting published and be entertained at the same time.

Another book worth considering that iks also good, but geared more toward scholars is Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing). I have also found Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction. The ideas in this latter book are excellent, but this two-time Pulitzer winner has somewhat of an arrogant tone to his writing. If you can tolerate this, you will save yourself a lot of trouble when you get down to work. (Personally, I have found him to be right with his suggestions, but I would have preferred him to be "right" from a position of more "equinimity."

This short book goes to the heart of creating a book proposal. It includes information not easily available in other books such as a sample agreement from a literary agency, a sample book contract and detailed information about the shape of a query letter. As Mettee says, "The job of a query letter is to get an editor or agent to ask to see your full proposal." As an acquisitions editor, I know firsthand that too few writers invest enough energy into the query letter process.

In many regards, this book is an adequate introduction to the topic of book proposals. For other writers, it will leave you needing more detailed information than contained on these pages. From my perspective, it's important to study every single available resource on this topic. I recommend this book.

The Investment Train is certainly worth the money. Mr. Curatolo's examples are easy to understand for our everyday living experiences. I find the "Quick Review" he has at the end of each chapter and the definitions at the end of the book to be very helpful. I definitely want my two children to read this book because I feel it gives an overview of every stage of our investing lives.

The Investment Train is a very informative book. As a reader edging closer to retirement I found that the author broke down the basics of investing and retirement in simple, logical terms that even I could understand. The book really helped me understand how my assets should allocated at this point in my life and I would recommend it to anyone who needs direction when it comes to investing. I started investing a little late in my life but thanks to this book, I am more confident that I can reach my goals and retire comfortably.

This short, consice book is worth it's price! I highly recommend this book to people of all ages that want to take control of their investment future. Joe really knows how to make you understand the complicated world of investing and I now feel like I have a much better grasp after reading this book. If you take the time to use the information, you might be teaching your broker a thing or two!!

The Investment Train was very informational. A fast read, Joe puts complicated "investment jargon" into laymen's terms, allowing the reader to fully understand the basics of investing and retirement. I highly recommend this book to those who plan on building for retirment, or retire soon. This book will help investors ask their financial advisor those pertinent questions important in understanding where their portfolio stands, and how to make the most of their money.

I am a young investor and found this book very informative. It is an easy read and explains complex situations in a way that's easy to understand. I especially like the way the graphs and visual aids help readers understand the concepts introduced in the book. With the help of my financial advisor, I now feel I can make better informed decisions on my investments. I would recommend this book to young and old who simply want a clearer picture of their investments, or are looking for a place to start.

When I first got this book I read it through like a novel . it is that interesting!! Then, as I used the book as a field guide I realized that birds make much more of a mess than we realize and that trackers can easily mistake bird sign for that of man or other animals without this knowledge. Lots of things that I thought were mystery disturbances in the woods were solved for me with this guide. No other bird book touches it for bird behavior.

This book is a much needed guide to bird sign and tracks. It complements Elbroch's guide to Animal sign. It is well written and informative.

This is a guide to identifying bird families or individual species by clues they leave behind of their presence. The title may appear, at first glance, to be a typo. It is not. As the authors explain on the first page: "Sign refers to all the possible signs of their passing: sign of feeding, gathering material for nesting, the nests or cavity holes themselves, pellets, droppings, feathers lost during molt, or kill sites."

This book appears to be packed with too much information for a beginner to digest. But its actually quite good for anyone who is interested in birds and would use such a book more than once or twice. The information is organized by types of sign - tracks, feathers, feeding signs, droppings, nests and roosts, etc., rather than by species. This allows you to read about whichever subject you're interested in and to take in the basics behind, say, interpreting signs of feeding, rather than getting bogged down by details specific to a certain species.

Due to the nature of the topic, the squeamish may not enjoy all the pictures. However, the pictures are certainly not as gruesome as they could have been.

In the introduction, one of the authors writes: "real tracking is bigger than one lifetime. Tracking, as our ancestors knew it, was a body of knowledge handed down from generation to generation. Each person added to this knowledge..." The authors clearly see themselves as a continuation if this process, referring to and giving credit to other excellent books, such a Rezendes' "Tracking and the Art of Seeing".

To my knowledge, this is the only book like this specific to birds. I feel this would be an excellent gift idea for that hard-to-buy-for bird watcher.

petervtamas@mail.com

I really got excited when I saw this reviewed in National Wildlife magazine. I often see bird tracks or even a nest when out walking but didn't know how to translate that into useful information. This book clues me in on the bird that matches those signs.
The author, a renowned tracker, spent 14 months, 12 hours a day studying bird tracks, scats, nests, feeding signs and roosts plus collected information from museums for this book.
Users of this guide may also want to try:
-Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streeets and Highways
-Scats and Tracks of the Southeast (also guides for other areas)
-A Field Guide to Desert Holes
-A Key-Guide to Mammal Skulls and Lower Jaws
-That Gunk on Your Car (insects)
Bird lovers now have another tool to identify birds.

Call me cynical but in the last twenty years I have seen field guide publishers recylce the same old info over and over again, just adding a new tabulature or color photos. The text is minimal and always leaves me wanting more.

Not so with this book! Mark and Eleanor have created something that goes well beyond any field guide currently on the market concerning birds! This stuff is new and never before seen except for experienced birders in the field. It is easy to use, fun to use and it will help anyone learn more about birds, their habits and sign. The photography is stunning as well.

I cannot over-recommend this book. Go get it, now!

Ricardo Sierra

Upon leaving the corporate world to nurture our first born, I came across this book. It was a very helpful tool! It gave me help I needed to transition rolls from Corp Woman to Family Manager. It helped me see myself in a new light. The term HomeMaker is so matronly and out dated. With my new title as Home Manager and new job description I was ready to tackle the days ahead with confidence. This book gives sooo much practical advice. It's like having a granny sharing all her secretes and golden nuggets to keeping a house in order all the while balancing the delicate relationships of wife, mother and friend. Written well, organized chapters by subject, meaty & written in plain english with no unnecessary fluff. It is a wonderful book and I'm so glad I got my hands on it! More than a good read, it has templates and loads of suggestive advise to getting the job done efficiently and quickly. The Family Manager Takes Charge is a must have for those seeking more sanity while running the home.

Walks you thru the very basics to start each project. Simple and easy to do.

I have been a housewife for 17 years and I still learned a lot of great time saving tips from this book. This is definately the kind fo book you have to buy, not borrow, so you can hilight and tag pages that jump out at you. It has columns for notes, budgets, etc. This is an absolutely perfect book for a shower gift or anniversary gift for a new bride--I am excited to give a copy to my daughters when they leave home.

I just got this book a few days ago, and have been reading it in my spare time, but already I've organized the office, my daughter's closet, and the kitchen cupboards with Kathy Peel's advice. This book not only gives great tips and advice, but gets you motivated to keep a clean, organized and orderly home. I'm only in the 4th or 5th chapter so far, and have gotten so many great ideas for keeping a more smooth-running home. My husband has really enjoyed coming home every day to a more organized, neater home. Our biggest problem is clutter, and she gives great advice for getting rid of clutter and controlling the influx. We have a lot to do yet, but I'm excited to take back our home with Kathy Peel's helpful instructions.

A lot of organizing books repeat the same old principles. Kathy's book applies an entirely different creed! Family managers become CEOs of the family which gives us a whole different perspective and value system. I highly recommend this book. Even after you get the concept down, there is a lot of information in the book you will want to have on the shelf as a reference.

Joe Henderson & Joe Ellis do a fine job of covering just about every running injury humanly possible. Strengthening, stretching, proper technique, cautions, encouragement, this book includes it all. As a gravity-challenged strider, I personally consider this a valuable resource, and recommend it to anyone who walks, hikes, or runs.

If you run fewer than 30 miles a week, have never uttered the words "my coach" or "my physiotherapist," have never won more than a goodie bag at a 10k... in short, if you are a committed, non-elite, non-professional runner, this book is a must.

This is not to say that professionals won't benefit - they will. But for those of us who don't receive regular training-level medical attention, the great value of this book lies in its ability to clearly distinguish nagging pains that you can often home-treat from those that - even from the first twinge - signal something more serious. Add it to your running library.

If you are a runner for nontrivial amount of time, you are very likely to experience some sort of injury already. I did. And I hope I could have bought and read this book before I started running.

The book covers many common forms of injuries experienced by runners, and gives several treatments you can practice in home. Even if you do see a doctor later, the book is an excellent introduction to what happens to your injury so you can coordinate with your doctor in a more helpful way.

The book is written in a very plain and easy to follow way which is a big plus for non-medical background person like me.

I recommend this book to any runner. If you just start running or plan to run, buy and read this book. You won't regret it and could avoid many possible painful results.

I find that this book has been very helpful in my running and triathlon training. The first few chapters are very good, replete with some basic theory about running and remaining injury free.
The second third of the book is very informative regarding injuries and their treatment.
The last part of the book has great stretching exercises, and good information about how to stay injury free.
My only criticism of the book is based on a comment that my physical therapist had. I've recently had big problems with sprained ankles in both feet and receive physical therapy from a PT specializing in runners. I discussed the book and the chapter on ankles with her and she mentioned that the chapter only describes the author's success and that for every successful treatment outcome, there are lots of not-so-total successes. It would be helpful to understand both.
But overall, a worthy book to buy and read and re-read as the need arises.

Not only did this book manage to supply the info I needed in enough detail to be meaningful, particularly with the case studies, it was actually an entertaining page-turner. The author had such a human voice and managed to entirely avoid the tone of smarmy condescension that seems to be rampant in books of this sort. I was particularly won over by his willingness to even poke fun at himself as a case study. I certainly came away with a new respect for the field of podiatry in sports medicine.

Mr. Tanner's second effort of cryptofiction about the ever elusive Sasquatch is excellent. The start is a little hard to get through because of some redundancies in explaining items that most readers probably wouldn't need, but from there it takes off and the reader has to keep up with the twists and turns much like a real hunt for such a creature would be like. The character development is an added dimension that is rarely seen in many of the novels like this. Then there is the twist at the end. Watch out for that, you'll be reading it twice.

Dallas' second cryptofiction book was a real treat to read. Bigfoot is my favorite cryptid and the reason I found Dallas' books in the first place. I looked forward to reading it and I was not disappointed. Dallas made another leap in authorship by adding in character development, something not always seen in books on subjects like this, but it was welcome to me. Once again I was entertained and educated, the hallmarks of good books. Happy reading.

This book follows the adventures of anthropologist Ian McQuade, who had an experience with a Bigfoot as a child. The story revolves around his efforts to find the supposedly mythical creature, leading him to Ohio, where two strange discoveries are found-one, a videotape of a large, white-haired Bigfoot-type creature, the other of the famous "Minnesota Iceman", kept in a meat-packing plant. The search next leads him to Washington State, the Mt. Saint Helens area, where a colony of Bigfoot creatures is attacking a research group who have an old Bigfoot captive. The story climaxes in the caves in and around Mt. Saint Helens, specifically Ape Canyon and Ape Cave. I won't give away anymore details, but it comes to a satisfying conclusion and really leaves the reader satisfied. A highly-recommended book, especially if you are thinking of a Christmas gift.

I began reading The Cryptids Trilogy just for this book. I liked the first book well enough but it could have been better. Here in Tanner's sophomore book, he has improved and I enjoyed it much more. However, I must give both sides of my thoughts.

The first 50 pages or so of the book are very sloppy. It seems like Tanner wrote several different beginnings and then opted to stick them all in. I found many annoying redundant items in these pages. 1. Everytime he used the word 'cryptid' he had to explain what it meant even though he already explained it 4 pages previously. 2. He did the same thing with "El Diablo Rojo, or The Red Devil", man that was bothering me like someone can't translate three simple Spanish words. 3. Most of all, in the first 50 pages, he constantly rehashes the first book (Shadow of the Thunderbird - SotT) and McQuade's camping trip as a boy. You can get away with it maybe twice but then it just got irritable. These are the only reasons why this book gets 4 instead of 5 stars.

Now on to the good, other than the beginning, I truly enjoyed this book. Once you get past the bogged down beginnings, the story is well written and entertaining. Tanner cut down the James Bondish parts of the Chimaera Foundation and focused more on developing McQuade as a character. Ranging from McQuade's despondence over not having Alma around to becoming a lead investigator and team leader facing his childhood fear, the character becomes much more connective than in 'SotT'. Starting off with a filmed sighting in Ohio to the involvement of the Minnesota Iceman, we get some background on Albert Myers, the conspiracy theorist, and are introduced to new character the spitfire Belinda 'Billye' Carlton. From there we moved to Mt St Helens for the rest of the mission.

The story from here is not quite what I expected and therefore I enjoyed it more. He does a great job using a Foundation contact tracker in Bobby Dandridge to inform the lesser knowledgable members of the team about numerous bigfoot encounters (Ostman-kidnapping and Beck-Ape Canyon attack). Trying not to give away the ending, I was very sastisfied with the inclusion of the Wendigo mythos as well. Tanner manages to give a different view of this legend too. I was also grateful that the Ian-Alma-Amelia triangle was dropped to the background and was a bit concerned that Alma would show up to save Ian by the end, thankfully she remains absent. One minor miscue is there was no direct closure issue for Cyril Pritchard which is how the book opens the set-up.

Overall, kudos to you Tanner on an improvement over SotT, and now I am eagerly awaiting book 3, Wake of the Lake Monster. Just stay away from a jumbled beginning. I will definitely read this book again in the future.

It you're a Bigfoot fan and like rip-roaring, rollercoaster-ride adventure, this novel is definitely not to be missed. Ian McQuade is back, this time without Alma, and he's assigned by the Chimaera Foundation to go out and discover a Bigfoot. First, he has to retrieve the Minnesota Iceman from a meatpacking plant in Ohio where it has been stored all these years....and he winds up at Mt. St. Helens, encountering an eccentric and aged Bigfoot named Karloff and the even bigger--and meaner--mythical Wendigo, which turns out to be a relict population of the extinct Asian Gigantopithecus, the Ultimate Big Ape. Ian is forced to make major decisions for the expedition, a new experience for him, and he is aided by a new heroine named Billye Carlton, a bellicose and cranky young woman who beats Ian up a couple of times before she gets to like him. And the blockbuster ending is just what I've come to expect from D. L. in his novels.

D. L. has named several of his characters for his friends. Loren Coleman, probably the most celebrated cryptozoologist in the world, appears as himself, as a mentor to Ian. Billye Carlton is, of course, Billye McCarty of Oklahoma, our mutual great friend and D. L.'s relentless editor, who leaves no comma unturned and no misplaced hyphen excused. She does a bang-up job, whipping her author's creativity into its most readable form. Author Lee Murphy appears as a park ranger, and there is even a minor character named Ella Howard, for me! To say I was thrilled at that is a gross understatement.

In "Track", D. L. has not only lived up to my expections after reading "Shadow of the Thunderbird", but surpassed them. Now I'm eagerly awaitng his third novel in the trilogy, this time dealing with lake monsters. Water cryptids don't ring my bell, but I know the new novel will have my complete and extended attention.