Audiobook Books

My daughter has learned several animal sounds thanks to this book. She loves the bright pictures and the song. We read this one often.

I'm really torn on this book. The animals and the format are wonderful. The illustrations are cute. I was surprised when I got four pages into it, and Old Macdonald had a shotgun. Then by the end of the book, he was squeezing the last drop out of his whiskey bottle. I would love to see the publisher update the book and replace these drawings. I'm all for free speech and letting kids read the classics in school and not banning books. I'm just not ready to explain guns and alcoholism to my toddler. I don't know whether to take the book away from her or let her read it and hope she never asks.

This is a fantastic book that reveals a new animal on each page. Fun to read/sing with your child. Book features 6 farm animals, with some more animals/farm sounds listed on the back page if you wish to extend the song/story.

Be warned, there are some small images of Farmer MacDonald shooting a rifle and an image of him tipping out the last drops of what appears to be a whisky bottle (Though I do believe that most young children will not recognise the bottle for what it is).

A fun book none the less

We like this book because each page reveals a new animal that was hiding on Old MacDonald's farm. Each page also reveals the noise that animal makes right along with the famous kids' song. The cutouts, hidden animals, escalating noise on the farm, and the farmer's increasing discomfort make for a fun read. At the very end, a whole new slew of animals and noises are presented, just in case you still have breath in you to keep on singing.
The illustrations are fantastic. They are fun, colorful, and present animals behaving in pretty funny ways.
This is a repeat read, as so many kids' books are.

This is a terriffic book for use in the music classroom, and at home. As a book that can be either sung or read: it is versatile. It's large size and colorful illustrations draw kids attention. I have personally found it to be very effective with my kindergarten through third grade students. I highly reccommend it to anyone looking for a good book for younger kids that can be sung or read!

The Inspirational Sharon Salzberg does a beautiful gentle talk and meditation all about love and living. I noticed a difference in the way I felt about life after listening to it only one time. It is an important tool for meditation and an awakened happy life. You won't be sorry to own this one.

Highly recommended! I really enjoyed Sharon Salzburg's introduction to the Buddhist metta practice, Lovingkindness Meditation. This is more of an education/explanation of metta than guided meditation sessions (i.e., she does not have long, substantive, discrete meditation sessions, but works brief examples into her explanation), but I found the explanation so good that it gave me an excellent intro to metta, which I subsequently felt like I could practice on my own. In fact, I had an interesting and symbolic dream about a mentor/benefactor figure the same night I had tried out the metta practice and included him, so it seemed the meditation reached my subconscious too!

Ms. Salzburg's presentation is detailed, conversational in style, and easily accessible to Westerners without seeming like a simplification, sentimentalization, or co-opting of the original practice. Her examples and stories given along the way make metta seem doable and practical and not like some overly idealized level of compassion that is impossible for many of us to reach. The Sounds True website has sound samples of this work (and many of their other authors' CDs and cassettes), something Amazon should be doing as well. If you like this tape, you might also enjoy the meditation CD (also available on Amazon) by Bodhipaksa titled "Guided Meditations: For Developing Calmness, Awareness, and Love," which includes a complete metta practice, along with two other meditations. I found Salzberg and Bodhipaksa's works very complementary--the Bodhipaksa CD gives a complete 27-minute meditation session of metta in an incredibly soothing voice, while this tape provides the in-depth explanation that gives the practice sense and purpose.

This book almost perfectly describes my thoughts and feelings in my marriage. I've been married nine years and my husband still doesn't understand me. I'd really like for him to read this.

Outstanding book! I learned alot, but my wife appreciated me reading it even more because of the things we can now discuss more openly. Quick and easy to read - with a very handy cheat sheet up front to remind you of the key points once you get done. To score even more points with your wife - get her the corresponding "For Women Only" book so she can learn some surprising things about you.

1. How to be clever enough not to marry at all ? (People told me: "Don't do it", but I tought I was clever...)
2. When you are married how to get rid of her with minimum of negative effects to the child and minimum costs.

Problem: This book would like that you think that you can have happy marriage with women = sorry, it's impossible, but if you want ... well, keep on trying, (ha,ha, ha, ...)

I listened to the audiobook of this. My first problem was that the authors chose to use the book as a vehicle to spread their misguided brand of evangelical Christianity. This was an affront to my intelligence.

Secondly, they clearly had no idea how to conduct a proper scientific study. The information presented in the book was based on an amateur survey and should be given little or no credence.

I would recommend to the authors that if they wish to publish further works on topics like this, they should go back to school and learn about statistics, random sampling and how to conduct scientific studies. Then, they should realize that there is no place for religion in books of this type.

If the authors want to write about their religious beliefs, that's fine, but the title should clearly reflect that so people who have a genuine interest in the workings of the human brain do not waste their money.

Both books were interesting. But scanning the reviews for both books today was more illuminating.

"For Men Only" - helping men figure out their fairer partner - garnered about 90 comments thus far. The few negative reviews (less than 3 stars) were from two apparently unhappily-married guys, and a woman suggesting if you didn't already know what women wanted you were clueless. The rest, mostly by women (my best guess here, given the pronouns and screen names used by reviewers), offered glowing commentary of how important it is to understand and meet a woman's needs. Ah, the importance of patience, kindness, listening. My favorites were the ones in all capitals and exclamation points. Yes, yes, YES, YES!!!

Now scan the "For Women Only" comments - all 212 of them. Thus far there are 29 negative reviews (including 16 "1 star" votes) for a book on how ladies can better love their men. There were a few unhappy guys, mostly complaining the book wasn't "biblical" enough, but the bulk came from ladies insulted (!) by the idea of compromising their feminine selves for some man.

The ladies offered such loving things as:

"Unfortunately, this book is only going to help you if you're a fat nagging religious close minded wife who's let herself go."

"The entire book was about stroking a man's ego at the expense of anything the woman may want."

"This book is full of generalizations and stereotypes that should have gone out of fashion at the same time as beehive hairdos."

"If you want to find a reason to play into all of the broad societal expectations about your personal appearance, your sexual boundaries, and general steps to becoming a Stepford wife, then this is your book!"

Or my favorite: "There is an underlying "good" here that is twisted in a package that will be ultimately damaging to our children and to ourselves. Yes, we must be careful of our spouse's emotional, physical, sexual, and relational needs. But we must do this out of love and respect that is guided by a sense of mutuality in the marriage relationship, not by catering to an unhealthy sense of self-worth that is so pervasive in the responses of Feldhahn's participants. Feldhahn has taken these unhealthy responses and twisted them into normal "healthy" responses that women must then take care of through their behavior and appearance. We should not buy into this myth. Rather, we should take seriously the feelings of low self-esteem, poor attachment, and an un-Biblical view of the role of women in a marriage relationship that were demonstrated by the participant's responses and work to improve the messages we are sending the men in our society."

Obviously a graduate of Women's Studies at Wellesley College.

Now, don't get me wrong. The large majority of both men and women who read these two books found them helpful in understanding the opposite sex a little better. Most couples also found them to be good conversation-starters, important for any relationship. Having scanned both I also thought there was plenty of useful info in each. It's hard, though, to miss the more gracious thoughts liberally applied to his book about her, compared to the begrudging admission in the other that, well, men like being loved too.

Speaking of usefulness, perhaps the person these books helped the most was a former boyfriend of Ms. Rhonda Pyle of Corpus, TX:

"My boyfriend gave me this book in hopes that I would read it and think that what it was saying was insightful and profound. He thought it could help make me into the woman he wanted me to be. I just want to say to the women that are considering buying this book: I broke up with my boyfriend of two years - who I was going to marry - shortly after he gave me this unhelpful, uninspired piece of material. I was glad though; it revealed to me the kind of man he was. I don't think this helped me understand men more; it just made excuses for them. I remember thinking how often it excused men's insecurities and how women should just be OK with this obvious fault. I'm a Christian woman, but I don't believe that women have to be pushovers for men in order to be a righteous woman in their marriages..."

Wherever you are, bro, count your blessings. You dodged a bullet thanks to this little book.

Perhaps Ms. Rhonda's unwittingly found the most important reason to buy Shaunti's stuff: Give a copy to your (prospective) mate and see what happens. If it gets devoured and put into action, you're a lucky guy/gal. If it remains un-opened on the nightstand or ends up in the garbage disposal, perhaps you should reconsider your options...

"The 33 Strategies of War" is an interesting and accessible collection of various strategies and ways of understanding conflict. Easy to read it has a wealth of well organized information - to include the Greene's explanations of strategies, historical anecdotes to support his convictions and ideas to approach various situations. These approaches are much more than simply how to maneuver an army - one of the book's strong points is it's ability to help you understand and embrace conflict. It does this by clarifying what conflict is and demanding you to see it all around you as a sort of generative opportunity.
Of course everyone will take something different from this work - and with the multitude of history stories and quotes it has a lot to offer. The almost overwhelming resources contained within this book are well organized (unless you have a Kindle version in which case the quotes are highly disruptive, breaking into the text in what one could only hope was a completely unintentional manner).
Organization and an over abundance of sources make this a nearly encyclopedic collection of strategies, and the writing style aggressively asserts the importance of conflict in day to day life. At the same time, the interpretations and suggested strategies are often times nothing but a restatement of previous thinkers' strategies, which have just been quoted. These interpretations seem to have no applicability: they are not for people in day to day situations (dealing with motivating the troops, coordinating attacks ect.), and they are far too general to be of any use to either a business manager or a soldier.
One of the most glaring examples of this work's sloppy construction and over simplification marketed as wisdom and power is the sections in which the author himself supports and states arguments against learning strategy from a book.

In conclusion this book is short, easy to read with a multitude of sources and information - ultimately providing an experience that is too general to prove particularly beneficial for any one person or group. However, it does have some strengths in it's collection of general tenets and approaches. The only real benefit you should be able to claim after reading this book (unless supplemented by personal knowledge and investigation) is a wider understanding of some of the elements and aspects of conflict and warfare.

As a soldier and academic I can't help but personally feel that this is an uppity self-help book with little to offer the professional soldier or business person who would be better reading a more detailed, better applied, and more reasonably and thoughtfully argued analysis of applicable methods of dealing with material, personnel, adversity, confrontation and outright conflict.
The average reader, with no particular needs or demands, may still find this an interesting, perhaps helpful book (I don't mean to disparage this audience) but the seeming simplicity of 33 turns into expansive sources and glossed over analyses of partial strategies leaving the reader with a mound of partially formed ideas of questionable relevance and applicability.

Robert Greene writes in a powerful and concise manner with a focused topic. Previously, he wrote the "48 Laws of Power", an amazing book which took forms of power and breaks down the use and methodology of power with historical cases. He does the same here but with Warfare. The topic is not limited for use by real warriors. Indeed, if Clausewitz said that "War is diplomacy by another means," then one would have to ask if "Diplomacy is War by another means." If so, then the diplomatic exchanges that we all have every day in business, politics, personal relations (not all are positive!) are indeed a form of warfare with the stakes being our present and future circumstances.

For the individual who wants to become a stronger `warrior' in today's world, this book is essential. One can become a warrior in a number of important causes: Freedom, Democracy, the Environment, Education, etc., It depends on one's interests, but the labrynthine corridors of power and strategy still apply. With this diverse perspective, Greene deftly uses strategists from various disciplines: Lyndon Johnson, Julius Caesar, Joan Crawford, Ted Williams, and more. These historical cases provide excellent studies for the student warrior. His story about Alfred Hitchcock (whom my aunt worked with in the film industry) was very telling in terms of his perceived detachment but total control.

"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparat bellum." An old Roman generals advice: "Whosoever desires peace, prepares for war." This is not an urge toward conflict but one of defense against complacency. I enjoyed Green's use of military terminology throughout, especially the use of grammar that suggests a timeless quality to his observations and truths. The format of the book is excellent. People from many backgrounds will appreciate its knowledge.

Michael Mandaville, Author "Stealing Thunder"

I truly enjoyed this book. There are very few strategy books that are as detailed, yet readable. As part of my kendo training, I've read a number of Japanese strategy books such as Book of 5 Rings, which are essentially incomprehensible unless you have training. The best strategy book I've read prior to this was The Way and the Power by Lovrett, which is also readable and excellent.

This is my third Joost Elffers book and along with the others, it is a great example of using historical references for learning how to become better. This can be a pleasure read, a historical text, or a self-help book. The quotes are very relevant and bias breaking, and the stories are taken from all types of civilizations and cultures. I am a big fan of this book as well as other Joost Elferrs books

When I mean powerful, I mean POWERFUL. I couldn't have read a more influential book--aside from the 48 Laws of Power--than the 33 Strategies of War. At first, I thought this book was only about war and the strategy of blowing people up. Instead, it's about survival. What intrigues me about Robert Greene's masterful work is that he doesn't make things appear perfect. He's not your typical motivational speaker where if you have a tinge of hope, everything will be juuuust fine. No, that's not how it works. It's the law of attraction plus action. We all go through trials and tribulations, and Robert reminds us that to survive in today's world, we can't lead a life of boredom and slothiness. Remember the famous question, "What do you want to be when you grow up"? Well, I believe that more than half of the human population still can't come up with a clear answer. And I don't want to place myself above anybody else because I could include myself in that bunch. However, after reading this book, it made me realize that it's a dog-eat-dog world, and to survive you must " fight like hell" to get out alive.
That's as far as I will go with my review on Robert Greene's work of art. If you cross this book in a bookstore or library, pick it up; take it home; and start to change your life.

This is most helpful to get yourself to sleep. Louise has helped so many but I cant help think how many more would benefit from this gentle meditation she gives. The only criticism would be with the quality of the sound could be better, but it works so dont hesitate to buy.

You have to listen to this with an open-mind. It really is a great way to begin to retrain old, negative thinking.

I picked up this book back in 3rd grade, and it was the first book that got me in trouble for reading in class. I couldn't put it down. I must have read it once every six months back in elementary school. The story is great, the characters lovable...but the main draw is the ease to identify with the protagonist.

Every kid wants to be, or has felt like, Maniac Magee. I especially recommend this to kids with divorced or deceased parents. When I was little, this book inspired me, and I just know it will inspire generations to come.

As with any book, there are people that LOVE this book and people who hate this book. Teachers are often critized for assigning books because they are on "some list" instead of assigning books students will actually read. I am a teacher. Let me assure you, that at least in my case, I did not choose to assign this book becuase it was on a list or it won an award. In fact I read this book after a student suggested I read it [I have a section where students can recommend books to other]. After reading the book, noticing it's content and genre I started asking around. I found that many 5th and 6th graders liked this book. This is what started our teachers to consider this book as assigned reading - not because it ended up on a list.

Critiques made by others:

1. Confusion

Some students have difficulty undertanding parts of the book. The book is very detailed which has different effects on different students. Some get confused and bored because of the details while others like the details because it helps them understand where Maniac is coming from. I start this book off talking about Tall tales and exaggeration. Then we read the intro which reads like a Tall-tale : "Some say...". This clear some of the confusion.

2. Language

I am VERY cautious of language. I get very frustrated when authors (be it books or screen plays) add in language. I think it takes more craft to allude to language without actually using it. I have read many reviews concerned with the language. I do not feel that this is a concern in this book. The book does mention trash-talking. And although there are some examples (very mild by any standard), the majority was alluded to ("they cursed" or "trash-talking" instead of using the actual words].

3. Racism

I noticed that a few people critized the author for making very racist statements when he described the different colors of black and white people. I think that these people read too much into this. I have friends of many different colors, countries, and cultures. We have had MANY discussions talking about our true colors. We laughed at the terms black and white, because they truly do not describe us.

Also, I know there is concern that the town is racist. Unfortunately, there are still places like this in the U.S. I have found that this has started some really good discussions in the classroom.

Run to this Book!

The Best of Juvenile Fiction

The story of Maniac Magee is a folk tale for today's kids. Jeffrey
Lionel Magee--known as Maniac Magee--runs away from home. His parents
died while he was only a baby and he had been living with his aunt and
uncle. One day when he couldn't deal with his caretakers any more, he
ran away from home and just kept running. That is where the legend of
Maniac Magee begins.

Maniac is a true folk hero, right up there with John Henry, Davy
Crocket, and Johnny Appleseed. Jerry Spinelli writes at the beginning
of the book, "The history of a kid is one part fact, two parts legend,
and three parts snowball." All through the book, the reader has to
figure out which parts of Maniac's story are fact and which parts are
legend.

The first day Maniac arrives in town, he runs into Amanda on the
street. Amanda pulls a book from the suitcase full of books that she
carries with her at all times and gives it to Maniac. This is the
beginning of Maniac's friendship with Amanda. On that first day in
town, Maniac also beats the high school football team in football and
saves a boy from a group of bullies. Already, Maniac has made quite a
reputation for himself.

Throughout this exciting book, Maniac has to deal with issues that
affect real kids today. The town where Maniac stays is segregated.
Most of the white families live on one side of the train tracks and
most of the black families live on the other side. Maniac makes many
people unhappy when he makes friends that are both black and white.

Also in the story, one of the characters in the story never learned
how to read. As readers, we learn a lot about education and illiteracy
in the United States. There are many connections young readers can
make to their own lives at school.

While the beginning of the book might seem a little confusing, stick
with it! This book really becomes excellent after the first couple
chapters. It takes that long for the reader to get used to Jerry
Spinelli's style of writing. Spinelli writes clearly and mixes in
beautiful and poetic sentences to keep the writing interesting: "The
old man gave himself up willingly to his exhaustion and drifted off
like a lazy, sky-high fly ball."

Once you read this book, you will definitely want to read other books
by Jerry Spinelly.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers 1991
Reading Level: 5.4
194 Pages
Genre: Fiction

Maniac Magee is the story of a young boy whose parents die in a tragic accident. He is left in the care of his argumentative and unpleasant aunt and uncle. He runs away and the book tells about his travels as a homeless boy in search of a home.

Maniac seems to become attached to a town divided in two: the blacks and the whites. Maniac, however, is a young man before his time and cannot understand why the two sides are so opposed to each other. As he journeys back and forth across a line that all others are unwilling to cross, he realizes that they are much more alike than any of them can imagine.

On both sides he finds families that take him in, and show him how compassionate people can be, regardless of their skin color. He also finds people on each side who represent the ugliness that people can often show. There are also individuals who represent all different facets of people in the world. But through it all, Maniac's adventures teach a few lessons incredibly pertinent to today's society.

While the voice of the book is confusing at times, the book is exciting to read and as mentioned before, addresses several issues that are at the front of society today. As an inner city school teacher the issues are particularly real. I read this book as a student and loved it then, and now as a teacher, can even more understand how important it is for students to read this book. I would recommend it for either individual students looking for a good book to read. However, I feel this book is particularly suited for whole class readings, as I feel it lends itself to many class discussions about topics that students will find relevant and most likely have opinions to share.

After reading Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, I have learned a lot about what it takes to be a good friend. I thought I had good friends before I read it. Friends are supposed to be people you can laugh with, remember forever, and trust enough to ask for a payday loan without any threat of interest. Spinelli produced in Jeffrey Magee a completely different kind of friend.
Maniac, as he came to be known by other characters in the book was homeless, needy, untrusting of most others, independent, and reclusive. He preferred running through town and sleeping with animals at the zoo to staying with his stiff, staunch, and insensitive foster parents. When he does run away, he finds himself in the same town his parents died. He discovers there the racial hate, socio-economic oppression, and disbelief in people he thought he had run away from. But he also discovered that the people there revered him as a legend.
Spinelli wastes no time complicating Magee's life. Soon after he runs away, Maniac is sought after by a neighborhood bully, ousted by racist adults, hunted by arrogant unsupervised white kids, and indebted to the first kind person he meets. Spinelli creates a lovelable boy, with many of the same characteristics as Tom Sawyer, and a lot of the same plights many of his readers recognize from experience. Only one thing makes Magee stand out from all the rest.
Magee is blessed with a shroud of heroism. In his own meandering and misanthropic way, Maniac saves a retired minor league pitcher from his lonliness, restores the legend of a fallen big brother, returns courage to a fearful bully and reaffirms a girls faith in humanity. He also teaches a town to accept differences on both sides of the track...in spite of color differences.
The novel is colored with humor, charm and sincerity. Spinelli seems to be unfolding real events on a neon canvas. So bright and amusing they can't possibly be real, these moments resonate with whispers of reality. Parts of Spinelli's childhood seep from the pages, touching the lives of all readers and embracing the childhood some have yet to leave behind.
Readability is enhanced by short fast paced chapters, a subtle thread of suspense and a genuine curiosity about what Maniac Magee will do next. No matter who reads this book, Magee is sure to run them down leaving their minds stamped with Jerry Spinelli's gifted writing.

I laughed, and I cried. This book is so good that I may actually keep it instead of taking it back for store credit.

We chanced upon the Rabbit Ears series when my cousin came to town for a visit. What a wonderful treat for our granddaughters. Kipling has always been a favorite of mine, and it was fun to share him. The recordings are quite good, and they easily held the interest of various cousins ranging from 3 to 11 years old ( even the very cool 14 year old was listening).

The Monkey People story is a very sophisticated and easy to understand story that can be enjoyed by all age persons. Further it teaches a moral lesson about the need to take action rather than just talk.

The voices and the music are so well done on these that they are great for the whole family!

This is a fun collection of the Just So Stories. The readers add so much fun and the music adds sparkle to these classic tales.

An enjoyable story, that almost seemed to be a set-up for further adventures by the two main characters. The story had some of the feel of other Janet Evanovich tales, but did seem a bit rough at times. This is excusable, as it was an earlier story, originally published over 15 years ago.

I was very pleased when I received my audio book. Not only was it in excellent condition, I received it promply. I really enjoyed this book.