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I love how this cook book has lots of healthy recipes that are full of flavor - not just grilled chicken! I have made several recipes for friends and family and all were really good and easy to follow. I will make adjustments to some of the recipes to make them more my taste, but I do that with most recipes anyway.

Weight Watchers Take-Out Tonight! : 150+ Restaurant Favorites to Make at Home--All 8 POINTS or Less

This is an excellent cookbook. I have been a Weight Watcher member forever, and I never saw this cookbook for sale. I have bought the ingredients for Chicken Chow Mein and Vegetable Calzones.

The delicious chapters are: Deli Specials; Chinese Classics; Greek Diner Delights; Viva Mexico!; Beyond Sushi; Now, That's Italian; Totally Thai; and Treasures of India.

As an experienced cook, I am not a fan of low-fat cooking and fat-free substitutions. So I was hesitant to give this cookbook a try. I am so glad I did. I love it. I am following Weight Watchers to shed a few pounds and I find these recipes to be really delicious, close to the real thing and easy to do. So far I have made the Shrimp and Pork Wontons, Kung Pao Shrimp, Pan-Steamed Vegetable Dumplings, Chicken Empanadas, Japanese Eggplant and Tofu in Garlic Sauce and the Neopolitan Cookies . This really satisfies my craving for ethnic food and still allows me to get creative in the kitchen while following Weight Watchers. My non-dieting boyfriend loves the dishes I cook from this book. I highly recommend this cookbook for people who love to cook and are following WW or just trying to eat healthfully.

This book arrived in a timely manner as promised. It has some great recipes that my husband and I have enjoyed in the last few weeks. Every one that I have made has turned out well except for the Chapati (Next time I will roll the dough into 5" circles instead of 6"-7"). The only issue that I have is that the book is already falling apart. I plan to take it apart, hole-punch the pages, and put it in a binder. In spite of that, I highly recommend this cookbook for all of the delicious recipes that fit in our weight loss plan.

I chose two recipes out of this cookbook -- a Mexican chicken and rice dish and a Greek pasta casserole. The Mexican chicken and rice dish was so spicy, it was unpleasant! The Greek dish had the opposite problem -- it was incredibly bland. Neither one was inedible, but it wasn't anything I'd ever cook again.

I guess I'm in the minority -- I was super unimpressed. My family picked at both meals, and refused to eat the leftovers.

21 June 2008 - In this remarkable guide to the major challenges, both foreign and domestic, that face America. Zakaria claims too much democratization and decentralization, two notions that are often hailed as universally good, can be disastrous. This argument is not new, as he readily admits. What is new is the contextualization of these problems to the modern world. Zakaria brilliantly analyzes both foreign and domestic policy through the prism of what he calls "Illiberal Democracy." I read this several years after it was written but the analysis is surprisingly proving correct. I love being a libertarian...we must return to our constitutional roots.

Good analysis. But just touched (it was democracy that produced Hitler) and dropped extremely serious issue of social, ethnic, religious, intellectual, knowledge, etc. diversity and its role in democracy functioning. This analysis and ways to make democracy more efficient and more "dictator resistent" must be continued without any political correctness.

Zakaria is a brilliant mind. I was first introduced to him by some of his writings in Newsweek. His one page articles are often insightful and offer readers new perspectives. I didn't like everything about this book but yet I cannot resist giving it a perfect 5 stars. Zakaria offers readers a new model of looking at societies. His book reminded me of Jarred Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel". Both these books tackle the topic of why certain countries and regions are more prosperous. For example, why are governments in Europe and USA so much more effective than those in the Middle East? Unlike Diamond's book, Zakaria acknowledges many factors including luck. His analysis incorporates many disciplines such as history, religion, philosophy and of course geography. Diamond's emphasis was mainly on geography. Zakaria does not pretend that he knows all the answers and most importantly offers readers issues to consider and think about. Zakaria acknowledges that increased democracy is a work in progress and may not necessarily be all bad.

Domestically, he delves into the new trends in "democratization and marketization". He cleverly expands this theme beyond politics to other topics such as law, medicine, and journalism. As a physician, I witness democratization in medicine constantly. We spend over 15% of our GDP on healthcare and yet our outcomes as judged by the country's morbidity and mortality is worse than Chile and Greece where they spend less than 7%. Democratization in medicine plays a big role in these poor numbers. The public "votes" in a sense how healthcare dollars get spent. Patients (ie: consumers) often dictate what studies and procedures should be performed.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in looking at the world in a new way.

This book is an excellent look at the promotion of democratic and economic reforms abroad. The main question in the book which Zakaria seeks to provide an answer to is whether economic reforms (and market reforms) should come first or democratic and governance reforms should come first over the other.

It is about the sequencing between economic and governance reforms. Which should be liberlized first? Which type of liberlization should the U.S. and international financial institutions promote? Should the U.S. promote economic market reforms in other nations or require nations to first liberalize their governance and institute democracy first. Zakaria argues in favor of economic and market liberalization and states that this has usually come first and then governance liberalization and then the creation of democratic institutions usually follow. He argues this by showing examples.

One of the main theses is that once a nations GDP rises above a certain level, the political institutions usually develop and liberilize into democratic ones with more wide-spread participation by a middle class.

This is an excellent book at the intersection of economics and international trade and the promotion of democratic political institutions. Having said that, I do not like the subtitle of the book - but that is a question of marketing for the publisher. We'll watch nations like Singapore and China to see whether liberalization of their governance follows their economic liberalization and thus confirm or deny his hypothesis.

Here is a critical (but not flawless) book. In it, Fareed Zakaria reminds Americans of an idea that was obvious and fundamental to the founders of our nation, but is now anathema to most: That Democracy and freedom are not one and the same, and that too much Democracy can quickly become the enemy of freedom.

That probably sounds strange to most Americans, which is why Zakaria wrote this book. We've been raised to believe that Democracy is unquestionably good and that more of it is always better. In reality, that's a pretty new attitude. At the time of this country's founding, Democracy was viewed very skeptically. The Founders knew that left unchecked, the majority could be an even worse tyrant than an individual because it would have the illusion of morality on its side. For that reason, our nation's government was set up as Republic, not a Democracy (think of the Pledge of Allegiance). A Republic allows the people to choose from pre-screened applicants for leadership roles and then delegates leadership to them.

Zakaria argues that the gradual breakdown of the protections against the Tyranny of the Majority as we've moved further and further towards democratization has had a vast negative effect. Politicians most focus increasingly on the short-term approval of voters in order to get re-elected and are kept from using their judgment and long-term outlook.

The book is filled with eye-opening insights and makes you aware of problems you may never have considered before. It is one of those books that has the power to change your outlook on major issues. That said, it isn't perfect. Zakaria needs to fully form his ideas just a little more. He obviously is a fan of the free market in most cases, but then says that too much of the free market can act in the same way as too much democratization (he uses the downfall as the Book of the Month Club as an a example of cultural diminution brought about by too much free market.) It's an interesting point, but the reader is left wondering where Zakaria thinks the free market is good, and where he thinks it should be cut back. He needs a clear rule to say, "Use more until "X", then stop." There are a couple cases where Zakaria seems to want to have his cake and eat it too, and that rarely works out.

None of that stops this book from being a very important read for modern Americans. I believe Zakaria is striking at the central issue that will determine whether America can retain (or maybe even reclaim) its current and former glory, or whether it will slip off into history. Zakaria doesn't sound an optimistic note, but at least he's done his part to sound the alarm. I applaud his efforts. Read this book and give it to your friends as well.

I am so impressed with this book I am considering it as Christmas gifts for my son and perhaps a brother. I checked it out of the library and enjoyed it so much I purchased it.

Who would have thought you could cram so much information into one book. This has been a wonderful tool for my husband and I who are in the process of establishing our little retirement ranch. Excellent resource for anyone moving from the burbs to the country.

This book covers a huge range of country skills, including a companion planting guide. I wouldn't be without mine!

So cool. Where else can you get a book that will tell you how to build a pond and raise livestock, wire an outbuilding, and cut wood? This book has a little bit of everything in it and I'm glad to have it as a resource when I move out to the country in a couple of weeks. It's not exhaustive, and there are probably things in it that I'll want to know more about, but the diagrams are very clear, the discussions neither patronizing nor over my head, and most of all it has a cheerful, you can do it feel that makes me excited about my future challenges.
This would also be a good (if big) book to share with someone who used to live in the country and run a farm, just for their interest and amusement. My dad, never a farmer, would have loved this book for the bits of interesting things in it to read and think about.
Don't know if I'll be self-reliant after using this book, but I think I'llb e keeping it out on the coffee table for quite a few months.

The book was definitely basic and it covered lots of information that would be useful on a farm. However, it was not helpful in how to develop the farm system, it was very piece meal and stand alone information, it also deferred its solutions too much to the chemical industry.

Daryl Carter has created a new genre and a signature style that is elegant, classical, and comfortable, where the new mixes with the old, and less is certainly more. His equal parts of restraint and creativity create an amazing combination. This book is like a slow, beautiful, casual walk through a well designed yet livable home. I wanted to stop, sit down and enjoy being in many of those rooms. Daryl Carter is already important as furniture designer, lighting designer, and interior designer and if this book is any indication likely the next Martha Stewart like figure for home furnishing.

I was delighted to see that Darryl Carter's book The New Traditional was identified as "destined to be a classic" in the current issue of Oprah's magazine O at Home - and in the company of books by such design luminaries as Parish-Hadley, Mark Hampton and Terence Conran.

(Note: Cyber stalkers roam with freedom on Amazon)

"The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story" by Julia Reed is an enjoyable book--for the wonderful characterizations, for the bon vivant attitude of the writer and her crew, for the generosity of spirit during a catastrophe, for the genuine difficulties and joys in restoring an old house, and not least for incomparable settings in the incomparable city, New Orleans. This is definitely a book that merits a second reading.

Reed's "New Orleans story" happens to be unusual. As a journalist and editor for Vogue and Newsweek, she had the opportunities of meeting and interviewing famous people like Walker Percy and Ann Rice. But her stories were not just stories, but connections. Growing up in a well-off family allowed Julia more opportunities than most. She became part of the group of people in her family and family friends who went to New Orleans to visit--quite often. However, as an adult, she settled in New York for a writing career as a journalist.

She relates early her family's connection with the Percys, not to boast, but to make connections. It is a Percy house that she and her husband buy on First Street when they decide to settle in New Orleans. But that is a long way in the future.

There is a long affair with A in her adult visits to New Orleans. Julia is quite frank about her hedonistic life style until she is in her early forties, meets John and decides finally to settle down. She wants this settling. But first there is the apartment on Bourbon Street in one of the hidden gardens with banana trees and other tropical plants that a city below sea level with its thick humidity is known for. Even though the kitchen is tiny, Julia entertains. She is one of those people who collect the odd assortment of people who can do extraordinary things. I so envied her cooking and entertaining and dining and drinking as extravagantly as she did.

When she and John decide to marry and find a house, it takes them a year to find exactly the right one on First Street (a house owned by a Percy brother) in the exclusive Garden District, but, oh, what work is necessary to modernize it, and oh, what problems that restoration causes.

Julia hires friends or friends of friends or people who knew people who--well, you get the idea. And she sticks with them even when they create expensive problems. That is one aspect of Julia's nature that defies understanding--her misplaced loyalty. Then again, her telling of this story of mishaps is part of the charm of her story.

The second half of the memoir begins one month after she and John move in: Hurricane Katrina strikes. As a native Louisianian who lives in the northwest area, I know the Katrina story, but not from the inside. The most interesting part of this memoir was reading about the slow but steady rebuilding of various parts of New Orleans, particularly the restaurants. I was proud.

Once New Orleansians could return, she and John begin the long process of restoring parts of the house that had already been restored. They were lucky in the minimal damage done to their house. However, and this was my second favorite part, what Julia did for the National Guard out of Oklahoma and other rescue groups was the epitome of generosity. She and John bought tons of New Orleans types of food to replace military MREs: gumbo, sausage, rice and beans, ducks, hams, turkeys, which various restaurant friends cooked up for the soldiers, who, I am sure, will never forget their stay in New Orleans or its hospitality!

One tidbit to share: The residents of Audubon Place, a gated street, hired Israeli commandos to protect their property from looters. Another tidbit: Julia was assigned to write a story for Newsweek about New Orleans in the aftermath. The photographer assigned to her team was the very one who shot the famous photo of the Afghani woman which appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985.

"The House on First Street" is definitely worth reading for those interested in various views of Americana: the restoration process of a house built in a by-gone era, an insider's look at the most catastrophic hurricane to hit the United States, and food, oh man, Julia's description of the food for which New Orleans is so famous! However, the really best reason is to read the painstakingly gradual restoration of a great city that almost died.

(I deducted one star for all the reasons explained in other reviews. I simply chose not to address those negatives in an otherwise enjoyable reading experience.)

In contrast to many other reviewers, I found "The House on First Street" a very enjoyable, warm, entertaining and highly educational read. I know that these adjectives, for some people, should not apply to the book describing New Orleans before, during, and in the aftermath of Katrina, and therefore they do not approve of the style this book was written in. For me, however, each event, however tragic, results in an explosion of creativity in many very different moods, which is always a good thing, because any work of art immortalizes the subject and makes it history (there are many comedies about World War II and Communism, for example, and they are appreciated even by the survivors - or maybe especially by them).

Julia Reed's memoir about her life in New Orleans, written in a brisk, magazine-style prose characteristic for a journalist, is a charming tribute to the Southern way of life. The epicurean (some would say hedonistic) descriptions of festive meals (I think it is remarkable, how she remembered or wrote down all the menus throughout the years), drinking in copious bars and pubs, parties, Mardi Gras parades, krewes, Carnival, unreasonable spending sprees, make the book a life-affirming proof of human nature. Even in the times so difficult as the post-Katrina year when life in New Orleans was as far from normal as could be, the city's inhabitants found a way to get back in style.

At the center of the story is Reed's house in the Garden District, and she concentrates on its purchase, history, renovation and visions of her future life there, meanwhile introducing many colorful characters and the portrait of the city. For me, whose knowledge of New Orleans and Louisiana history has been close to null, this book was a great introduction, especially that it provides a lot of references and (I hope) renders the spirit of the city and society in an easily approachable manner. The subject of tragic events caused by Katrina is introduced with a great dose of humor but solemn enough to give a grasp of their gravity, at the same time giving hope for New Orleans' future.

It is true that Reed's narrative can be perceived as infinitely snobbish (intended, I assume) and it took me a while to get used to her way of telling the story, also I was sometimes annoyed by her overuse of certain phrases (like "a tad"), but I read her book with pleasure and can recommend it as a good summer read for those who want something light, but more informative and serious than romance novels or detective stories.

I lived in New Orleans for several years, luckily I managed to move far away a couple of years before Katrina, so I missed all of that. So when I learned about this book I thought it would be fascinating to read about someone else's experiences living there and dealing with contractors and construction (like I did) and going through all the horror of Katrina. In the end, the book was not fascinating, it was a bit tedious, sometimes infuriating, and occasionally interesting and maybe even a little entertaining.

I don't want readers out there to think, based on the author's experiences, that all the locals hang out at Galatoire's drinking vodka all day because no one expects you to come back to the office after lunch. I worked for a living, I owned a tour company and later I had office jobs. I assure you if I spent all day drinking my lunch at a super expensive landmark restaurant someone would definitely care and I would dearly pay for it. In fact, I never knew any locals who ever even went to Galatoire's, no one I knew could afford it, and Galatoire's is considered to be mostly for tourists anyway.

Julia Reed is obviously pretty wealthy, so it was hard to identify with her or commiserate with her when her fabulous 6,000 square foot Garden District millionaire's mansion had a leak in the sunroom. It's hard to care when she gets a checking account from daddy with $5000 in it after she evacuates from the storm when so many other people didn't have anything. It's hard to give a damn when sometimes it seemed like all she really cared about was getting her servants back after the storm. My New Orleans friends and I never had servants, my house was nowhere near the Garden District, I lived in the 9th ward, I owned my own business and worked hard as hell so I could eat at places like Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, Angeli, and Coop's Place---none of which are expensive or owned by John Besh and other star chefs/friends of Reed's. And that's not to say that she should be criticized for being wealthy and having a far cushier life in New Orleans than I did, it's just hard to care about her and her story when she has so much and when I was there I watched most people all around me suffer daily under crushing poverty and extreme crime.

What I found rather repugnant was her attitude towards the people who came from all over the country to rescue the stranded and starving pets. She seems to find great sport in making fun of them and belittling their efforts. When she sees an aviary rescue van she wonders what's the big deal about rescuing people's pet birds while New Orleans has some wild parakeets that fly around the city. Well, maybe because these pet birds are not wild and they're not flying around the city, they're trapped in cages unfed and unwatered alone and dying in hot or flooded houses crawling with mold, maybe that's why there were people out there trying to rescue them. I found her comments ridiculous and unfeeling, she was more worried about getting her house finished, her servants back, and her expensive restaurant hang outs reopened so she could hurry up and get back to her normal leisurely life.

On top of everything, the author's obsession with alcohol throughout the entire book, mentioning it in some way just about every 2 pages or so, gets very tedious. Very few people I knew living in New Orleans were this obsessed with drinking, and the ones that were desperately needed rehab. Tourists, of course, go to New Orleans in droves specifically to drink and stagger around the garbage piled streets of the French Quarter, but honestly, all the locals I knew and did business with and were friends with all around the city were far too busy to sit around drinking and obsessing about fine wines and expensive liquors all the time. Julia Reed's New Orleans is nothing like my New Orleans, and that's a shame because the New Orleans I experienced was a lot more realistic and gritty, as well as fascinating and entertaining.

In taking us from the comfort of observing yet one more upscale redo of a home and the ensuing 'perfect' life of the future occupants into the change of course Katrina forced upon every resident of New Orleans, Julia Reed exposes many of the shocking still kept secrets behind of the veil that has been dropped by the current administration over our collective memories about the horrific disaster and the even more appalling mismanagment of relief as perpetuated at every level of government in this country. The way people have found to survive, thrive, revive, and celebrate post-Apocalyptic New Orleans is touching, memorable, and a call to action. Julia's book is call to not forget Katrina, to not forget the underserved people in our land. Julia show us that they can be the poorest folks who are lost and also lost everything or the poor national guard who are doing their duty, living on the edge seeing horrific things daily, eating horrible rations, until Julia brings some real food and the touch of our common humanity to them, in their service to protect and help restore this iconic part of our country. Y'all read this inspiring book and then go forward to help lest we forget. It won't hurt if you commune to eat/cook/serve some good New Orleans food in the process! This is going to everyone on my gift list along with an invitation join me in action in New Orleans and in the myriad pockets of despair in this country. It is so nice and easy to take out your checkbook and to help folks far away, so very much harder to see and deal every day with what is right in front of you. So, mirror the grace and good humor of Juila Reed in her courageous coverage and restorative love: it won't hurt and it may be just what we need to save our wonderful country.

I am utterly flabbergasted by the content and tone of Ms. Reed's book. I found it utterly distasteful, not the least bit charming, boring and shallow. She puts Marie Antoinette to shame. I expected to enjoy and love this memoir about New Orleans and Katrina, instead I felt throughout that it should more aptly have been named, "How I Managed to Eat Lavishly, Still Drink My Favorite Champagne and Decorate My New Mansion, as Katrina Wrecked Thousands of Lives Around Me." Ms. Reed's book, replete with recounts of all her grand, costly Katrina gestures (such as buying dinner for 700 National Guardsmen without bothering to ask what the bill would be), and after having her jewelry stolen, remarking that the good thing about having your "serious" jewelry stolen is that "inevitably", its been photographed at parties, so it makes it easier to trace and find it, is a primer for insensitivity, smug self-indulgence and not only bad writing, but bad taste. Even as the dead, bloated bodies floated by her, we are subjected in pitiless detail to her merry non-stop drinking tales and her utter relief at finding sensational restaurants open so that she can eat great meals. HELLO? Perhaps she experienced some other, different Katrina as she is surely not talking about the one we all know about now. Today, as Hurricane Gustav makes its way--possibly--to New Orleans, perhaps it's yet another excuse for Ms. Reed to pop open a cork on some champagne?

Very solid and innovative new age tournament poker strategies presented in this book. Definately a book for advanced players as some of the mathematical situations detailed in the book are beyond the grasp of beginners. The book is very well written.

I think this book will help anyone. From a beginner to someone who has played in tournaments. It's more appropriate for those with some knowledge and strategies of their own, but really anyone can benefit from this book.

This is a great tournament book! They discuss so many new concepts that hasn't been mentioned before in book form. These concepts can be found in different poker forums as in 2+2 forum. One of the concepts that is mentioned is bubble effect. They will discuss how to calculate the real value of your chips in different situations in a tournament and how it will effect your decisions. Many of the concepts are very helpful for sit and go as well, especially when you want to squeeze in to the money often. I highly recommend this great book. The authors have done a great job writing this.

I was a little skeptical, if not curious as to what would be written in this book and as to how useful the advice would be. I had read Kill Phil and thought that the ideas were very basic and not very applicable to intermediate and advanced players. When I spent my money on Kill Everyone and read I could not stop reading. Why? Because the 2008 Aussie Millions main event was coming up and the book focuses on bubble play, equilibrium strategies and prize pools and equities; concepts which are very important in the major events. All the money in poker is to be made in or around the bubble and when approaching the final table. Kill Everyone is the best for these situations and therefore very much worth the read. Part one of the book shows how to accumulate chips early on and I found a particular example useful for me in the 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event. For No Limit Hold'em Tournaments this book sets the new precedent. Lee's latest book Let's Play Poker is brilliant for sit and go's. Use these books to improve your skills and reach your poker playing potential.

If you play freeze-out tournaments (Anything else played today?) you'll find this book to be an essential source-book and reference. An understanding of the concepts and examples presented will give any player a better foundation from which to make decisions - and from which to approach the optimum decision at critical points.

The discussion of play on the bubble is alone worth much more than the price of the book. For example the authors present analysis of how often you should push as a function of your bubble factor (ratio of equity loss from losing to equity gain from winning the confrontation) and your opponent's calling frequency. Most players know intuitively that you should push more frequently when (a) your bubble factor is greater and (b) your opponent is more likely to call. But a chart showing the results of the calculations gives insight that can't be gotten otherwise.

One short section attacks the myth that the big stack should call liberally to knock out small stacks. That discussion alone can make the difference between just finishing in the money and making a big win. If you have ever called or raised a bit loosely to knock out small stacks only to find that you've doubled up one or more and made them into real competition while crippling yourself then this section is must reading.

I could continue with examples, but the book is only 348 pages - probably shorter than my examples would be.

I do have a single criticism. The authors (properly) use the Independent Chip Model but without fully explaining the assumptions on which it relies. Like most other authors they do explain that it assumes equal skill for all players. However, they neglect to mention that it also relies on two other assumptions: (1) that all players will receive equivalent hands over the limited time of the tournament, and (2) that play is based on only your hand and statistical behavior of your opponents. If you're in the middle of a tournament, assumption (1) probably doesn't apply for the limited number of hands remaining, and in any given hand other things - tells for lack of a better word - frequently become more important than either of these assumptions.

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. But, be prepared to study rather than just read for it contains more, much more, than a list of starting hands and advice to play a tight aggressive game.

This book is what i had hoped to find. My son has a vivid imagination and talks incessantly. But, when it came time for him to write he would write the simplist of sentances, ie. "I like blue." I was unsure of where to start. With this book I have four years of direction and an understanding of what he should be accomplishing. I have been using this book for 2 weeks now. I can already see a difference. I would never have thought it would help so quickly. I am glad that this book was released just in time for me. I look forward to years of using this book.

my daughter HATES to write. we've been using this program for a week, and already the sentences chosen to copy are so intriguing for her she actually requested we check out the book it's taken from. this is the child that doesn't have patience for chapter books. she's already read through 24 pages of it within the first two days of starting it. but i digress...

this copy work and narrative work is exactly what my daughter needs. mrs. bauer is precisely right when she teaches the parent that writing from thoughts is a two step process and the children need to be taught how to do those steps separately (copy work & narration - parent writes the narration). my child continuously gave me zippy little narratives because she didn't want to copy down big long sentences after she was done thinking it through. with the time to grow her writing ability even five words at a time while simultaneously strengthening her summary and narration skills, she is now on the path for inevitable success.

the best part is these writing exercises take no more than 5-10 minutes per day, four days per week. ahhh, gone are the cries in protest when i announce it's time to do writing! thank you susan bauer yet again!

CAVEAT:
Take this preliminary review with a particular grain of salt, for I am an English teacher who unabashedly embraces "The Well-Trained Mind" philosophy behind the Wise-Bauer/Buffington writing team. While this review is a bit premature, I am hopeful that my children will reap benefits similar to those acquired through their related Peace Hill Press grammar and history series.

THEORY:
SWB explains that her motivation for this book was her experience as an ivy league college professor of literature and history. Simply put, her well-educated students could not write well. She argues against the theory that one should "Give the children high-interest assignments and have them write, write, write, and revise, revise, revise." This is not how I was taught to write, but it WAS how I was taught to teach, and I, too, endured the blank and panicked students' stares produced by that philosophy.

SWB compares writing to a foreign language. The conventions must be absorbed before the non-native speaker is fluent. Says Wise-Bauer, "Imagine that you have had a year or so of conversational French...After the first year, your teacher asks you to explain the problem of evil in French...(it would be impossible) to express complicated ideas in a medium that is unfamiliar... The conventions...need to become second nature -- invisible -- so that you can concentrate on the ideas rather than the medium." Speech is natural and necessary. Writing is not. Many can, and do, get by without learning to write well.

PRACTICALS:
In Writing With Ease, the elementary years are less about creative output, and more about intake and foundations. The small book is packed with week-by-week exercises (36 for each year) aimed at building one layer at a time. She covers roughly four years in a succinct 216 pages: Years One and Two: Narration, Copywork and Dictation; Years Three and Four: Putting the Steps Together. The copywork samples come primarily from fables, fairy tales, and childhood classics such as "Little House" and "Charlotte's Web". No dull prose allowed.

SWB then thoroughly describes the writing process taught through the middle and high school years, giving this homeschooling mom courage. Says Bauer, "The goal is to turn the young writer into a thoughtful student who can make use of written language, rather than struggle with it." She adds, "Good writing requires training. It demands one-on-one attention." To that I respond with a heart-felt "Amen, sister!"

I've given it four stars after I've previewed the contents, but I hope to add the fifth after the year is over.

NOTE: Some teacher prepraration is required. SWB models the lessons, and then you will cull material from the student's texts and literature books. It's actually very simple to implement and takes very little time. I like to take passages from literature relating to other subjects they are already studying. My kids, second and fourth grade, respectively, love it because we are done in 5-10 minutes. SWB also gives short grammar cues for you to subtly tie in to the lesson.

MY TWO CENTS:
I am ridiculously grateful to have my hands held when it comes to teaching writing to my own kids! I used to teach grammar and composition on the middle and high school level. I left public school dismayed by the students' response to writing in general (never mind the heinous grammatical butchery -- the slaughter wrought through "texting" still haunts me to this day). They hated and feared writing. I never expected prose worthy of Faulkner, but the ability to write simply, clearly, and meaningfully was beyond most -- even the "honor roll" students were woefully inept and overwhelmed by the simplest assignments. I had 145 students x 100 assignments (there were always many who would never in a years' time complete a single writing assignment) X 36 weeks divided by the few hours I had after the 100 daily "administrative" tasks (I actually had to spend the first precious minutes of each day doing a "clothing check" for violations -- Argh!). There was little time to address the fundamentals so obviously lacking, and even less time for meaningingful (and mostly ignored) editorial, instructive feedback. I'm thankful for the experience, for I might never have known the joys of homeschooling.

it is what it is. now obsolete. i'd buy the "missing manual" series if i were to buy another photoshop guide.

Great information and details. This book is so easy to follow and understand. It's great for starters and pros.

As a complete novice to PhotoShop, this has been a great book for me. However, I am more interested in photo retouching using photoshop and so probably should have bought a book that focuses on that subject. Overall, though, it's well written, informative, and easy to follow. I would recommend it for someone looking to gain all around knowledge of PhotoShop and its features.

There are many better books out for teaching about photoshop. I had to buy this book for my digital photography class. Anything from Scott Kelby is better.

Quick responce for delivery of an most satisfying product. meets my need for initial training in Photoshop and is truly Classroom in a book.

This is a good, basic handbook/manual for herbalists. It's not difficult to follow and has clear instructions.

If you want a good guide for herbal medicine making this book is for you!
Each method of medicine preparation described is easily understood and mastered.
I reference this constantly in my studies under Jo Powell([...]).

AWESOME BOOK!

This man's witty guide to do-it-yourself herbalism is both entertaining and informative. Very interesting and useful guide.

Good beginner's guide ,no heavy processing ,no knowledge of chemistry needed. If you're going to play with this stuff you aught to also have a herbal PDR.

This book seems to be "the authority" on this topic, however, I would NOT have bought it had I known that...

1) ...the hippie-dippy thing was so prevelant. Ok. So anyone who is looking for a book about making their own herbal preparations is a bit of a hippie anyway, but the new-agey spiritual practices and views promoted compromise the integrity of the book. Because I don't really plan on communicating with the plants I harvest, as the book recommends. It felt as much a spiritual textbook as herbal preparation texbook. I have several "herbaly" books, but this leans a little more "fruitcake" than the rest. Knowledgeable and experienced fruitcake, but fruitcake nonetheless.

2) ...the amount of information was much more than I, a hobbyist, could possibly ever use. For those pursuing herbal medicine more seriously, the abundance of specific information is fantastic. I typically enjoy "too much information", but this was one time I found the info and amount of detail difficult to wade through. And the design/layout didn't help. Do not consider this book as a "simple overview" on the subject.

3) ...the book had no specific information on several of the herbs I had wanted to use. There are 35 most commonly used herbs that are featured for preparation and use. The simplification is largely appreciated...unless the herbs you want to use are not on the list. That said, the list of 35 did contain the majority of herbs I had wanted to prepare.

So yes, this book has (almost) all the information you'd want on preparing your own herbal medicines, which would normally have earned it five stars. But the flaws I mentioned reduce its value significantly, and for that I do not plan to keep it in my collection.