Biography Books

This book is the real deal - tells you the good and bad. I really enjoyed it - read the whole book in one day! I am convinced this is the right path for me - I am so glad I am in the program at in Rochester NY

This book was an easy read and has the experiences of a WLS patient goes through before and after surgery and an example of the 'dumping' episode one hears about pre-surgery. I have travelled internationally extensively in my career and I fully understand what the Author is saying about her great travels, eating, spending etc. and because she can do them now as before she felt prohibited to do so, she inturns shares her experiences. I didn't take this as a 'look at how great I am' book, rather a look at life and your eating life after surgery. Her receipes look easy and most ingrediants can be purchased at your store. It is not a surprise that the author has a website of product one can purchase. I do find them extremely high in price and the average income person would only be able to afford a few items.

Good book for anyone that wants to get a realistic view of Bariatric (Lapband) surgery and the food you can eat.

I really enjoyed this book. Unlike some other reviews I don't think that she came across snobby or stuck up or full of herself. I think she came across as a woman who had finally gained confidence and was finally getting a chance to experience life! Yes, she has money and therefor has the means to travel and go shopping and throw parties, but that shouldn't be a reason to not like this book. Susan Leach worked hard to achieve her goal, and I think her story was very inspiring. The only reason I gave it 4 stars was because I wish the book had been longer. Half of the book is recipes and I think she should have maybe only had 1/3 be recipes, and then most of the book devoted to her weight loss story. I think the only reason people don't like this book is because they are jealous of her life style. But I for one, really enjoyed it and it inspired me a great deal. I recommend it.

I have to admit, I found this book disappointing. I am pre-surgery, in the qualifying stages, and have done a lot of research. I hear about dumping and emotional changes and mood swings and changes in relationships with people, as well as with food. So I expected this book would give me a realistic view of what to expect ahead.
I know each person's experience is different, but I got tired of the diary of what gourmet food she was able to eat each day after surgery...plenty of ! points throughout the narrative, like a pre-teen's diary, but not a lot of useful information. I was also disappointed she went right on eating absolutely everything pre-surgery to say goodbye to food, and then found she can still enjoy gourmet delights, just in tiny portions. Most of us are not gourmets, and it is not a healthy approach to weight loss surgery to have your last supper three times a day every day before surgery. You need to get your head in the right place first, and for me, it is breaking the food addiction. Susan obviously is able to continue her love affair with food without skipping a beat, just tiny portions. There's very little about the emotional changes to expect, etc. - her life seems perfect, she can afford the plastic surgery afterward, etc. There was nothing about the psychological aspects involved, just the good times with friends and sharing delicious food and being loved. It just wasn't the kind of book I'd hoped for.
On the positive side, though, I will say the recipes are good, and are broken down into WLS portions and normal portions.
I guess I was expecting a "real" person with real issues, but instead this book is about someone who has her cake and eats it too.

by a superb biographer. I loved the first edition so much that I wanted to buy the second edition with the new material and Mr. O'Brien doesn't disappoint. This is a sympathetic look at a complicated woman and a talent actress. Yet while the biographer looks at his subject sympathetically he doesn't make Kay Francis a saint. He brings forth a flesh and blood well-rounded human being with faults and foibles like everybody else, but who was essentially kind-hearted and misused by the studio in the later part of her film career. In the end Kay triumphs! and so does this well-written and researched book.

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with this book that author Scott O'Brien did on a magnificent lady that I was
fortunate enough to have played her daughter in two movies..." I FOUND STELLA PARISH" and "COMET OVER BROADWAY" . I was Warner Bros first child star under long term contract so therefore knew much about what happened "behind the scenes". I have often cringed at some of the books I have read about some of my co-stars or very close friends that other authors have written about but Mr. O'Briens books show what lengths he goes to substantiate his stories and facts without filling in with apochryphal tales. He did this when he wrote a biography on my dear friend Kay Francis and I salute his very high morals as an author. Lets have more books written by Scott O'Brien!! Most Sincerely Sybil Jason

I ordered this book for a gift and was really disappointed in it. I wish I had read the other reviews before I bought it. I would have saved my money. I will probably end up keeping it and purchasing something else for the gift. I can't believe how small it is.

First off...I have poor vision, that's right, and I wear contacts. If you've had failed lasik boo-hoo, and then pull out your magnifying glass. Not liking a recipe book only based on the size/cover/lack of photos is the STUPIDEST thing I've heard. How many of you reviewers have Joy of Cooking in your cabinets? Yeah, that's what I thought...

All of the cookie recipes are GREAT and her holiday bow-tie cookies recipes are very good and she gives great advice too that even inexperienced cooks can understand. (The cocktail recipes will knock you under the table though so watch out.) I would recommend this for anyone who loves the holidays and loves baking and loves Paula Deen.

The recipes are outstanding. My one and only dissatisfaction thus far was that the caramel corn she described as addictive was overly sweet - but everything else is yummy.

HOWEVER (and it is a big however), the book is very tiny (the size of a thin paperback), so more suitable as a stocking stuffer than a gift cookbook.

Also, the light green and red print is very Christmasy, but would be impossible for anyone with less than excellent vision to read. (IMHO, a larger book with black lettering would have been far superior ... I can read it, but like things as bold as possible in the kitchen.)

The recipes also appear (word-for-word!) in her other books -- so my recommendation would be to buy one of them, or look for this at a tag sale. If it were Paula Deen's only work, it would be stupendous, but is grossly overpriced for a tiny, hard-to-read-in-the-kitchen copy of the recipes in her other books. Paula Deen's recipes are outstanding, but you don't need more than one copy of the same recipe.

Paula is my favorite cook... I bought this book for me and my grandma.. I made the yummy6 cut out cookies... I also liked this book for the CUTE Stories that are inside.. The advice is great. LIke don't let anything stand in the way of family,, always go home for the holidays,,, I am 27 and listening to Puala about all of it,, she is so great!

I love the Southern influence, and the stories, and the humor in this book. The recipes remind me of learning to cook beside my mother in a cramped and noisy kitchen. This brought back fond memories and several recipes that were very familiar from my upbringing but which I had forgotten. I am so pleased to have this book in my kitchen cupboard and I plan to use it for many years to come.

While this book has many innovative ideas in it, it makes perfect sense. It is easy to read, although so full of great thoughts and inspirational concepts that I had to slow the pace just to digest it. It speaks to the heart and the process of reading is healing in itself. I highly recommend it to anyone searching for their hearts desire, or just plain looking for answers.

A purported running dialog with the Christ figure with commentary/amplification by the author interspersed throughout the dialog. This is an extremely worthwhile read, being a "clarification" or "re-statement" of what the Christ's original doctrine was -with elucidation of that doctrine. That original doctrine dovetails nicely with expositions found in The Conversation With God series, Course in Miracles, and even the Seth material (which supporters would say should happen if all these sources are indeed different perpsectives on "truth"). There are enough additional and further clarifications in this work to make it absolutely a "must" for readers interested in this genre. The author's work "the Keys of Jeshua" is also a must read, being a "how to" put the principles into action in life to achieve a different life experience. This work belongs in one's special tomes on "truth and living".

As one who has been committed to the Path for a LONG time, I feel confident in saying that the new version of Love Without End is the
most complete Spiritual Teaching you will ever find.

Each sentence is a Gem ... that you could mediate on for quite awhile.

I have read this book (and marked it up really good!) at least six times.

A Miracle of LOVE indeed...

Gratefully,

Dr. David Kamnitzer

I find this book to be packed with information on the nature of reality. Unlike my experience with many books on spirituality, I find myself returning to this book again and again. The truths that Jesus reveals in modern American English hit home whether he is explaining the nature of the heart, the physics of the universe or the ten commandments. Here is revealed both the deep love of Jesus for all people and an unflinching guide to all of life. All of this is presented free from dogma, free from religiosity, and free from condemnation.

The warmth, love, compassion, wisdom and joy that radiate from this book is, at times, overwhelming! For me, this is a book that one must keep so that it can be referred to time and again, as I simply am not spiritually advanced enough to get most of the information on a first, second and maybe even third pass. I hope to hear Glenda speak some day and I'd love to see her painting up close and personal. Buy the book and cherish it!

If you love the real life stories you hear on NPR this is for you. Touching and poignant, listening to these give you hope and understanding for people in many different walks of life.

This was a great purchase. I haven't finished it, but wish I would of known about this sooner.

I had never heard of the StoryCorps Project until recently. Since I am facilitating a memoir writing group, I ordered Listening Is an Act of Love.
I loved it! Every page was a gentle focus on real people's lives. I highly recommend this book. Don't miss it!

StoryCorps is America's largest oral history project and was begun in 2003 by Dave Isay.

I became aware of this book while listening to the StoryCorps excerpts that air on NPR Friday mornings. One morning in particular I heard the story of the unofficial spokes people for StoryCorps, Annie and Danny.

Their love affair is told in the final pages of the book, the chapter entitled "The Story of StoryCorps." When my daughter and I heard their segment on NPR that morning on our way to the coffee shop, we were held mesmerized until it came to an end. It was one of those "transfixed in the parking lot" moments. We sat there, tears streaming down our faces until the end. We didn't go inside for our time of coffee and conversation until we could compose ourselves. That was the day I heard about and decided I had to have this book.

There are two versions, one which comes with a CD and one without. I made the mistake of saving a buck and going without. I recommend getting the CD. I suspect it makes the experience all the more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, the book is fabulous and full of stories that fill your heart with light and love.

Every section of the book has heart-wrenching pieces. Stories that will define the American experience. The section entitled Fire and Water is particularly emotional as it deals with stories from the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 and Hurricane Katrina.

I will recommend this book, and give it as gifts to my parents and others.

These are great stories from everyday people. If our legacy is the stories of our lives that we share with others, then this CD is what we should all be recording for our family and friends. I only wish there were more than the 20 included.

I LOVED THE BOOK.... I LOVE SNOOP. IT WAS VERY GOOD I READ IT IN 2 DAYS...
SNOOP I WILL SEE YOU AROUND.....WINK

A painfully honest but depressing look at what it is like to grow up under the worst conditions. The slum didn't grind her up but, until the wire, she caused grief for society. Help, to her, came from unexpected places and a wonderful set of foster parents. It is a story that we, who grew up in kindness and a clean environment filled with good role models, should read.

I am very pleased and satisfied with my book, it came in a timely manner

Where the boundary lines of art and life intersect stands Snoop. A mind-grabbing account for even the unfamiliar reader becomes riveting to a fan of "THE WIRE". Watching the show I had the feeling Snoop the actress was too authentic to have been strictly portraying a fictional character born in the pages of a script. Her auto-bio piece confirmed what I'd suspected.
Thinking as a fan, I was somewhat disappointed by the books length - who could blame me for wanting to know more? However, the quality of the storytelling, done in the understated manner of many a street player that's secure in who they are and what they've done, gives depth to the words. Making length a non-issue when all is said and done.
Snoop being "discovered" by Michael K. Williams/OMAR the way she was is the ultimate testimony to the philosophy that fate is only the beginning of good fortune. Being in the right place at the right time isn't enough. When the window of opportunity opens you also have to be prepared to jump through -- something Felicia Pearson has done both feet first!
Like a fiend in "Hamsterdam" that picked up the needle, once I started the book I couldn't put it down. Finished it up in one sitting on a Saturday morning. If you decide to pick up this book, don't have plans for a while; you'll be like "Old-Face Andre" or "Little Kevin" were in one of those abandoned buildings... hemmed up with no hope of getting free.
One!

GRACE AFTER MIDNIGHT is the striking autobiography of Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, star of the critically acclaimed HBO series, The Wire. In the short but poignant memoir written with David Ritz, Snoop recants her upbringing in the tough streets of Baltimore, the place that both raised and almost killed her.

Born with cross-eyes and crack in her system thanks to a drug-addicted mother, Snoop had much to overcome in the first moments of her life. She was no more than three pounds at birth, but surpassed the grim expectations placed on her. After years in foster care, she was taken in by a loving older couple, Cora and Levi Pearson. They offered her a good home with Christian values and worked to make sure Snoop had a better life.

By her pre-teens, Snoop had her first taste as runner whose quiet strength took her far in the game. At 12 years old, she was witnessing murders, drug deals, shakedowns, and way too much for a girl her age. One of her mentors, a man known as "Uncle," took Snoop under his wing and tried to get her abandon her dangerous behavior, but it was too little too late when Snoop ended in the Jessup State Penitentiary at 14 for murder.

While there she turned her life around, gaining a new appreciation for doing the right thing. With Uncle's help, she left there feeling like she could do anything - and quickly found her good intentions weren't worth much. That is, until she met Michael K. Williams from The Wire, landing the role of a lifetime with no acting experience.

The rest is history.

Snoop's story is compelling and heart wrenching. You see the innocence of a child wanting her mother and a heart growing cold from rejection. You also glimpse a woman truly turning her life around, trying to obtain the grace after midnight she found in prison. And you also witness a woman true to her sexuality, being openly gay all her life.

For that, she should be applauded.

Although a bit confusing in his presentation of dozens of key characters unfamiliar to the reader, Lawrence paints an extraordinary sketch of a time and people otherwise just a footnote to World history. The richness of the text and word pictures were worth the time spent laboring through massive amounts of detailed narrative.

TE Lawrence (1888-1935) the British soldier, poet and scholar wrote this insightful personal account of the Arab Revolt based on his war journals which is as confronting as it is poetic and beautiful. How could one not be enthralled by the writings and perspectives of a fine intellectual mind tormented by the reality of war and hypocrisy? What makes this book unique and powerful is Lawrence's sensibility as a poet and a soldier. Even if you are not into war history, this is a riveting book you can't afford to miss.

This is one of the great books of the 20th century. That it could be written at all is almost a miracle in itself. Take a brilliant Oxford student trained in the old classical tradition, place him in the Arabian desert as advisor to the wild Bedouin tribesmen during their revolt against the Turks and have him write with an acute sensitivity and unparalleld insight into what was transpiring before him and you may have some notion of what the book is like.
It's a long book. You will learn a great deal about blowing up a railroad bridge in the desert, about camel rides, thirst, and hunger and the heroism and brutality of war. The portraits of Sheik Auda, Sherrif Ali and Prince Faisal of the two Arab boys who Lawrence takes under his wing are masterpieces in and of themselves. The nobility and savagery of the desert tribesmen contrasted with the cold stoicism of the British and the inculcated cruelty of the Turks are just some of themes addressed during the course of the work. There are brilliant passing insights as to the Semitic inspiration for all the revealed religions and their relation to the desert beautiful descripitions of the terrain the weather and the obstacles encountered. When Lawrence says that from the beginning he believed the Arab revolt would succeed because it grew out of a sympathetic population was opposed by a modern army that could not garrison the territory occupied one wishes that President Bush had read it instead of just seeing the movie. Read it yourself.

The Hejaz War of 1917 was written by Colonel T.E. Lawrence at the Paris peace talks in 1920 -21. Lawrence understood the Arabs thay did not conquer territory but they brought the Arab tribes together to conquer the Ottoman Turkish Army whom they considered poor soldiers. The Hejaz is the Red Sea coast parallel to the extinct lava fields of the 3,000m high Hejaz mountains. The Hejaz railway, linking Damascus with Medina, was attacked by Lawrence's Hejaz army until the Turks could no longer repair it. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the bible of Guerilla Warfare and should be read by General Petraeus US Armed Forces Commander, Iraq.
The taking of Damascus intact in 1918 by the arab army before General Allenby's allied army at least ensured Sheikh Feisal became King of Iraq. The Sykes -Picot treaty of 1916 ensured the Middle East was divided up by Britain and France directly leading to the present Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Rightfully regarded as a modern classic, this book is nevertheless not light reading. This is a result of the density of information, as well as Lawrence's writing style, which often makes a re-reading of passages necessary to fully grasp them, besides his use of some unusual vocabulary. But by the time one has completed the journey to Damascus with Lawrence and his Arabs, one has almost got a taste for his own peculiar style, even if one cannot always agree with his views, which however, were pretty progressive for a man who grow up at the height of imperialism.

There are, however, many contradictions in the man. At the start of the book, for example, he sympathizes with the unwilling Turkish conscipts, illiterate Anatolian peasants who really wished to be back home, led by a militaristic officer caste fresh from the Armenian genocide. Later in the book though, little sympathy is shown, and on one occasion when Lawrence was angered by the Turks, he did nothing to stop their massacre on their defeat, and left all their wounded where they fell - every one of hundreds froze to death in the cold winter night...

But when one considers that he lost both brothers in 1915 in France, his father in 1919 of the Spanish influenza, and his closest friend, and probably boyfriend, Salim Ahmed, shortly before his entry into Damascus, one can be more forgiving of his attitude. And who can forget his botched execution of Hamed, who'd killed another man? To avoid a blood feud, Lawrence suggested that he execute the man, which was insisted on by the Arabs. 3 shots with his pistol, one of which hit the man on his wrist. No wonder he said he couldn't sleep that night. Or his having to shoot long-time compatriot Farrah in the head as he was too seriously injured to move, and wanted to avoid the inevitable torturing to death of Arab prisoners. Enver Pasha, the Turkish commander, had thrown so many men live into his furnace that he knew just how long it took before you heard the sound of their heads popping. Considering this background of brutality, Lawrence comes across as positively humane.

The book has it's lighter moments though. Who can forget the tribe of the Ageyl, who were so poor they used to go into battle stripped to their loin cloths, both in the belief that it reduced their chances of infection if they were hit, as well as to protect their clothing from bullet holes or blood stains...the young Arabs urinating on others' wounds as the only antiseptic treatment in the desert...the Howeitat treatment of snake-bites - bind up the part with snake-skin plaster, and read chapters of the Koran to the sufferer until he died. Life was hard, and luxuries were few, something which seemed to attract Lawrence even more towards his mission of reaching Damascus and driving out the Turks, even if his conscience continued to bother him that the British Govt's promises to the Arabs were unlikely to be fulfilled.

Finally, Lawrence claimed he left the original manuscript on the train, and had to rewrite the entire book from memory, an amazing feat considering the wealth of detail here. Actually, it would be a superhuman task, and Robert Graves, one of his best friends, believes the story was a lie. The implication is that Lawrence made out that he'd had to rewrite the book by recalling his memories as a cover for the fact that parts of the book are invented, and many facts changed, and that this would be the perfect excuse should his information later be found to be inaccurate. But why claim to have blown up over 70 bridges when the real number was around 20 or so?

The answer is that this is a work of literature, and not a military textbook. We'll never be really sure of which parts are exactly true, and which merely invented as representing what typically happened. It's not always light reading, so set some time aside for this one, but when you get to the end, you'll be glad of having made the effort.

As a true Farley fan I could not put the book down. It had parts that were funny, recalling specific skits, movie parts, and characters. It also includes a lot of real stuff that is tragic but true. I have passed it around to all my friends to read, its def entertaining and a story that is sad but true.

I am a huge fan of Chris Farley, yet was young while he was at the height of his career. Thus, I never realized what was happening and so it blind-sided me when I heard of his death. This book was so amazing and I feel like I know a lot more about this great person. He fought so many demons and was unable to overcome them. I am now educated, enlightened, and heart-broken for this lost soul. So, for anyone who may like Chris, this book is such a must-read.

What a freat in-depth look at one of the most beloved comedic actors of all time. Even if you were not a fan of his, Chris Farley's struggles and triumphs will touch you.

Chris Farley always struck me as accessible- one of the few Hollywood stars you could have a beer with, whose celebrity wouldn't intimidate or put him out of touch with average shlubs. And that's just how he's described in The Chris Farley Show, an oral history in the same style as Live From New York (James Miller and Tom Shales). You know the character in Tommy Boy and the Chris Farley Show skits on SNL? Yeah, that's exactly who Chris was- down to earth, nervous and plagued by insecurities, lovable and endearing, humbled to be in the presence of those he admired, and funny as hell. Farley didn't seem to have many detractors; I don't remember reading much bad press when he was alive, and the hundreds of friends, family, comedy legends and/or professional colleagues, girlfriends, and influences interviewed for the book rarely speak about him in less than glowing terms (except for deprecating his addiction). Some, like Alec Baldwin and Norm MacDonald, are downright reverential of Farley, and provide some of the book's memorable quotes and touching stories.

Just try keeping up with Farley, though, if you did get him out for a beer. Described as relatively indiscriminate about whom he partied with, there's a good chance you'd score a drink with him if you approached him on the right night, but unless you have Robert Downey Jr's constitution, you'd be left in the dust (or under the table, as it were). Farley was an eater, boozer, and user of epic proportions, who went to rehab dozens of times in his last year of life alone, and whose autopsy showed the clogged heart and beaten liver of a much older man. The CFS does an excellent, no-holds-barred job of exploring the roots of Farley's addictive personality, from a dangerous Belushi obsession, to a host of insecurities, to thinking a comic is obliged to be falling down drunk, to an enabling and abusing family.

Farley's father was a figuratively and literally (600 pounds at death) enormous influence in his son's life, who bought booze for his underage Chris, thought rehab was for the weak, and turned a blind eye to Chris' increasingly scary signs of losing it all. Some of the enablement tales are as legendary as they are irresponsible, like when Mr. Farley whisked Chris out of a weight-loss clinic, got on a plane with him to a resort in Florida, and joined his son on a several day eating and drinking binge. Kudos to author and older brother Tom Farley for taking an unflinching look at how his dad- and to a lesser extent him and his brothers- was too ensconced in his own substance problems to have been more of a help to Chris. Following the book's transcript of Chris' sober, motivational speech to a rehab audience, to his falling hard off the wagon after three years of sobriety, is like watching a slow moving train wreck.

Written by the older Farley brother in order to remember Chris as more than a collection of video clips and SNL reruns, The CFS is chock full of hilarious and poignant stories, the vast majority of which I'd never heard. It is real inside stuff, from tales of high school and overnight camp pranks, to details of his relationship with guys like David Spade and Tom Arnold, to grisly details about substance abuse, to anecdotes of what went on behind the scenes of SNL. Farley was devoutly religious and not ashamed to attend church regularly; he helped the homeless and destitute in a quiet and dignified way, in many instances unbeknownst to loved ones; he missed on chances to star in on The Cable Guy, Shrek, and Kingpin; he had OCD tendencies; and he was probably more funny off camera than on. If you weren't already aware of the tragedy of losing Chris Farley at the tender age of 33, the alternately touching and laugh-out-loud tales detailed here will convince, reinforce, and remind you.

Hey I am huge fan of Chris Farley but this book just doesn't do it for me. it's just story after story of something funny or not funny Chris did through his life, told by someone else. I thought it was a story about his life but it isnt really. I found it entertaing but mostly boring and over drawn. I think it would make a GREAT MOVIE, but as a book it failed to take you into the depths of the words

Joe Simpson's disastrous experiences climbing Siula Grande in 1985 make for one of the greatest true adventure stories of the twentieth century. After Joe's accident on the mountain, he and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, nearly achieved an unlikely descent. When Simon is unable to continue Joe's rescue, he does the unthinkable (which Joe does not blame him for), and Joe's hellish troubles begin.

Sounds like the outline for an exciting and heart-wrenching adventure, doesn't it? Unfortunately, Joe was not an experienced writer when he penned Touching the Void, his first book, and it clearly shows. The reader is often disoriented by Simpson's use of mountaineering jargon (e.g., cols, ridges, and gullies). And although the book provides a brief glossary, it's not easy to picture what he's writing about if you've never seen a couloir before. In short, although the story has universal elements, climbers are likely to feel most at home in the account's setting.

There are some wonderful observations and images in the book, but these gems rarely glitter against the more plentiful heaps of clichés. The book needs to be edited and whittled down, and the IFC film based on the book is an absolutely spectacular rendering of Joe's experiences--the film captures what Joe is unable to accomplish in this book.

It's difficult for me to write a review recommending a movie over a book, but I'm positive that you'll enjoy the film much more. I found the book difficult to finish even though it's only around 200 pages long, yet the movie had me riveted from the beginning; I felt physically colder watching the movie, for example. Joe is certainly not the worst untrained writer to publish a bestseller, but in Touching the Void his weaknesses as a writer does not properly relate his greatness as a climber.

After watching the movie version of this book I wanted to read Touching the Void. I usually like to read the book first but in this case I am glad that I did it in reverse. I am not a mountain climber and do not know the terms used in the sport. So watching the movie helped set up the book to where it made a lot of sense. The book provided a more realistic vision of what the climbers thought and felt. It put me there with them. I am in awe.

This is a very boring book. I thought it would be an action packed survival book, but it put me to sleep.

Touching the Void is one of the best books I've ever read. Wow. I am still kind of stunned. I started it way too late at night and couldn't put it down. I went to work the next morning with only four hours of sleep.

It's not even that the writing's good, per se. It is - it's VERY good. But the story itself and the way he wrote it is just amazing.

I've read a lot about the high altitude hallucinations people have (conversations with your feet at 27000 ft or people sitting on your ice ledge telling you they have tea set up just around the corner) but his experience was not at all like that. He had what he calls a voice inside that was insistent about keeping to a timetable and doing certain things, especially as he dragged himself off the glacier. It was deeply fascinating and the only thing that made the suspense at all bearable was that I knew he must have lived, since, hello, holding his book in my hands. I could not put it down.

I was also really impressed with the sections written by his climbing partner, Simon Yates. OUCH. Painful and honest but not self-exculpatory or irrational.

Augh. This is the worst review ever. But, jeez. Read it! See for yourself!

If you liked "Into Thin Air," then you will love this book, which is just as brilliant and perhaps even more incredible. If you've been to Peru, even better. Great writing, great story, and an unforgettable tale. Again, a rare book that once begun, is almost impossible to put down. Simpson has written some others, but none as good as his first. Read it. And try his "This Game of Ghosts" if you want more.

What's most important is that parents can act out the song verses to amuse and entertain their little one. The book is very average.

This is a great & very durable book for little ones in the 1 year to 2 year range & who are just learning songs.

This is a pretty cute book! I believe it has most of the "If you're happy.." lyrics in it - I've been trying to teach him to clap his hands. It is pretty short - only a few pages, but he seems to appreciate it.

Was looking for the right books for the very little ones in the family, for Christmas. Saw this (and others in the series) and felt I had found just what I was looking for. Lively, colorful illustrations, activities for parents and little ones to do together. I wound up ordering even more, after my original shipment. The hardest part was which ones to choose!!!

My daughter who is 10 months has loved to have all the books by Annie Kubler read to her since she was 5 months old. These books by Annie Kubler are great starter books for a child's library!