Nonfiction Books

I LOVE this book!! This has a various problems. They separate each sets of problems for A-C. I had a 100% every quarter with this text book. The reason why I deducted a point is that they don't always explain the harder problems. I personally think they shoudld make more different examples of problems. I have a great math teacher, so she explains stuff that I am not quite sure. But this book should be used only by advanced and intermidiates math students. This book moves with a fast past and it uses a lot of difficult math terms for special eds. I that because of my friend and I know their pace. [...]. A great source for step-by-step solution incase anyone don't know what it is. My school purchased the account and it is a great accomidation to this book. I am an eight grader in advance math, my class went through the whole book!!! LOVE IT!!!

I picked this book up the other day and i thought it was really good. I like all the programs it tells you how to do.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH THE BOOK IS GREAT AND BRAND NEW NOT A SCRATCH ON IT AND FAST SHIPPING. GREAT SELLER AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! **********

This is a well thought out Algebra textbook. I started teaching from it earlier this year and have grown to appreciate it very much. I am especially pleased the more I compare this to other books. Most math books these days are little more than pretty colors, crazy fonts, neat pictures, lots of distractions, and very little actual math instruction. This book, on the other hand, actually focuses on the math, explains it reasonably well, and has great sets of real example problems and practice problems of all difficulty levels, including lots of practical problems that aren't forced or contrived. It is not perfect, but it is the best I have seen.

Pros:
*Lots of math rather than lots of silly distractions
*Appropriate difficulty level - not "dumbed down"
*Good examples worked out and explained
*Good problem sets for homework and practice

Cons:
*Some explanations are just a bit short, although most are good
*Factoring, the hardest topic, is early in the book, which makes it difficult for some students

This is a pretty good comprehensive textbook for students of all levels. There are twelve chapters in the book, plus a glossary, various helpful appendices, and an index. The book contains "A" (easy), "B" (intermediate), and "C" (challenging( problem sets for every topic covered. Also, enrichment topics are included, including "Extra," "Challenge," "Historical Note," "Application," and "Career."

Like any other book, this book does, however, isn't absolutely perfect. One thing about this book is that the explanations in this book at the top of every section summarizes important concepts and gives some examples and definitions; however, the examples often only cover the "A" and half of the "B" problem sets, and the "C" problems are often unexplained. Also, the textbook seems to be designed for slightly more advanced students, as the problems and pace of the text isn't for beginning or struggling students.

One note is that this book isn't the best tool to teach yourself math, although it is an excellent source for problem sets, and also serves as an excellent reference for algebraic concepts. I would recommend "CliffsStudy Solver Algebra I" if you are having trouble with Algebra I or if you want to teach yourself math, because this textbook is not designed to be a tutorial. I have tried to teach myself many new math concepts, but this book didn't always help - though I did some new problem solving strategies from here. Sometimes the explanations were simply skimmed over too quickly.

Overall, this is a great book. It's really helped me with my math grade, but this is just one of my math books which helped me. With teacher guidance, one or two more study guides, and most importantly, a dedicated self-motivated mind, you are bound to be a success in algebra.

I bought this for my best friend who is pregnant with her first child. I wrote in this journal almost on a daily basis and look back on it with great joy. I hope to give this to my daughter someday so she can enjoy the journey with me. I also HIGHLY recommend the first year journal, it will be a keepsake for the rest of your life.

I am so glad that I purchased this book. It is fun to read each week and see how your baby is growing and what to expect. My husband and I love to read it together. I also like how it gives tips for nutrition and relief for common aches and pains. It does not create "anxiety" like most pregnancy books. It also is a great gift for expectant mothers (I have purchased a few for friends). You will not be dissappointed.

I bought this when I was pregnant with my first son and absolutely loved it. My husband and I would read it together every night. I just purchased it for my niece and she is enjoying it as much as I did!

I ordered 2 books same day and time, the first came with in 2 days. The pregnancy journal took over 2 weeks. The condition was good, I just think thats a long time to ship anything.

I started using this book when I was about 3 months pregnant and since I didn't know when I conceived and didn't remember when my last period was I counted backwards from what my doctor said was my due date. My husband and I would read a page everyday and it was a nice bonding experience. Even thought it's not written by a doc I found it pretty accurate as far as the comments that tell you you'll be having backpain, swelling, etc, etc. I would not take this as a medical resource book but more as entertainment

Have you filled a bucket today is a wonderful book about being kind to others! Filling someone's bucket or bucket dipping is such an easy concept for children to understand. It has helped make my children aware of other people's feelings. I highly recommend Have you filled a bucket today! And I have heard fabulous things about "the bucket lady!"

This book is fantastic. I am an elementary school counselor and it was a big hit when I read it with the Kindergarteners and 1st graders at my school. After a month they are still talking about filling peoples buckets. The story and illustrations are very well done and it's easy for kids to understand. I highly recomend this book to any parent or educator. It's even a good read for adults!

I would rate this book 10 stars if possible! My 2 &4 year olds love this book because it explains when kids are being hurtful and how they should handle the situations. We end each day by asking whose bucket did you fill (it has even become a part of our behaviour chart!). LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

EXCELLENT, Get this for every child and teacher in your life! This book is an amazing way to get character education across to your children and family.

I'm not sure which age bracket this book targets, but I have a friend whose teenagers reference it all the time. Now, my four year-old does too. She now has something she can express when she's at a loss for words and it's difficult for me to get what's bugging her out in the open.

I haven't read the adult version, though it's been recommended by friends. I think I'll stick with this for a while, since it's become one of the most highly-requested books during our evening reading time together.

This is one of the best well-written books I've read in a long time. His powerful story of a ragged, poverty-filled childhood with an abusive, neglectful, alcoholic father is very compellingly told.

Bragg's focus is on his strong and yet victimized mother. The only nagging thing that bothered me is Bragg's adulation of his mother to the point that he neglects the fact that she bears some responsibility for continually going back to the loser and exposing the kids to the financial and emotional depravation that occurred.

I will read his other books because the writing is so crisp and clean.

In this first volume of his trilogy of family memoir, Rick Bragg (b. 1959) takes us to rural Alabama's deep south, and through his deft story-telling introduces us to his people and their ways. With Shoutin' and his two subsequent bestsellers, Ava's Man (2001) about his maternal grandfather and The Prince of Frogtown (2008) about his father, Bragg has earned an avid readership. It's easy to see why. His family of origin epitomized the poorest of poor white trash. His grandfather could neither read nor write, his grandmother dipped snuff, they picked the banjo, danced a jig, cussed like sailors, drank their homemade moonshine like it was water, and brawled at the slightest insult to defend "honor." Bragg spent one semester in college, then started writing, first high school sports, local stories, anything. In 1993 he won a prestigious Nieman fellowship as a journalist to spend a year at Harvard, and in 1996 he won a Pulitzer for feature writing at the New York Times.

Shoutin' works well at many levels, but it's especially about embracing one's family with all its blessings and curses. Bragg introduces us to his violent alcoholic father who repeatedly abandoned his family until his early death at age forty-one, his two brothers, and most of all to his mother Margaret. In his telling, she's a hero's hero. She was effectively a single mother who raised three boys in destitute circumstances. She picked cotton and did other people's laundry at night, swallowed her pride and accepted welfare, and slept on the sofa in their tiny shack. His chapter on taking her to New York City for his Pulitzer award is worth the book alone. She had never been on a plane before and didn't own a suit case; for her few trips before then she stuffed her clothes in paper bags.

In an interview Bragg once described Shoutin' as a failed effort at revenge. His attitude toward his past is deeply ambivalent. On the one hand, he's deeply proud, as every person should be of their family. With brutal honesty he describes the angry chip he's carried on his shoulder about the endless putdowns and insults about his people. He'd prove the cultural snobs wrong, by God. On the other hand, his journey leaves rural Alabama as only a distant reflection in his rear view mirror as his professional reporting takes him around the world. The revenge he savored would come, he thought, when he finally saved enough money to buy his mother a real house for cash. And he did; it would be "a house of healing." But the day she moved in his two adult brothers brawled in the front yard, and his mother returned to her shack before settling in to the new house. And so, he admits, life and the power of place are far more complicated and rich. Bragg has now come full circle; today he teaches writing at The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.

Destined to be a Southern classic, Bragg's "All Over But the Shoutin'" rings true. It is not only a well-written, journalist's memoir, but offers readers who aren't from the South an insightful look at why Southern men often act as they do.

On the one hand the book is a rags-to-riches story about a poor white boy from the cotton fields of northeast Alabama who reads, works and writes his way out of poverty; from being a small-town sportwriter all the way up to to heading the Atlanta office the New York Times and winning the Pulitzer Prize. Like visiting with an old friend and having a glass of ice-tea and an all-afternoon, after-funeral conversation under the shade-tree in the back-yard back home, Bragg recounts his career via the Talladega Daily Home, the Anniston Star, the Birmingham News, the Miami Herald, the LA Times (very briefly), and the New York Times. Running throughout are stories and themes of: the homeless in the mean streets of Miami; the class-structure and deaths, rapes and tortures of Haiti (which he covered two or three times for the Miami paper and the NYT); his year at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow; covering Harlem and the violence experienced by the storeowners from robberies and murders; covering a tornado that hit on a Sunday morning near his hometown in 1994 (and the resulting shock to the faith of those who lost loved ones in a church that day); and, the 1994 Smith murders in Union, South Carolina and the Oklahoma City bombing.

That said, the real theme of the book is his love, concern and focus on his relationship with his mother back near Jacksonville, Alabama, his two brothers -- one older and one younger -- and, how to regard the life and his relationship with an abusive, hard-drinking and usually absent father. Having roots in the Sand Mountain area myself, I can attest to the fact that there must be something in the water (and moonshine) around there as meanness, drinking and sn snake-handling Sunday-morning gospel religion are "par-for-the-course." There's a tightrope facing folks around there trying to rise above their circumstances - it heads upward and, instead of a net, those who slip, fall into a hard life of factory-work, or worse yet, no work at all. Then, clutching for a Bible or the bottle -- and, sometimes both -- men and their families work like hell to survive.

This book will become a must-read for anyone interested in Southern area studies, Southern literature, or just understanding the Southern psyche. While we're all different, I have to admit that the "Southern man" I see throughout this book is similar to those of my own family, and men I've known all my life -- a different breed, with a hard, determined drive to succeed be it through books, muscle or whatever. And, as Bragg points out, though we're every bit as smart in our own way as well-schooled intellectuals, don't mess with the chip on our shoulders -- as that very well may bring out a bit of the rattlesnake that lurks in our dark side.

While not easy to read from cover-to-cover over a few days, it's a great book to place on the bedside table to read a few pages at a time.

I bought this book based upon all the hundreds of positive reviews but almost instantly regretting the purchase. I found Mr. Bragg's writing style annoying. What works in a newspaper article doesn't seem to work for books. Mainly, I found the one liners coy (I think they were supposed to be zingers that put the chapter in perspective or gave it an ironic twist, or tried to overdramatize the chapter.) Whatever the reason, I hated the last lines of each chapter and felt they were smug and insulting. Really, please let me make my own emotional discovery at your words, don't insult me by forcing me to have the same emotional discovery you had when you wrote them.

Another annoying Mr. Bragg's has is another dramatic writers trick of starting many sentences with the same words. For example, the following string of sentences:
"He never said he was sorry.
He never said he wished things had turned out differently."
He never acted like he did anything wrong."

This trick is over used and jolts the reader out of the story. If you don't know what I mean, go to the library and read the prologue. Ugh.

Usually I stop reading a book that is this annoying but it was the only book available to me and I was stuck with it.

I have never read, heard, seen a better picture of the South than that in the first five pages of this book. Not the Scarlett O'Hara fictional Old South, but the real red clay and hard rocky ground of the Upland where the overwhelming majority of people live.
This should be mandatory reading for anyone who trying to understand the current presidential election. You'll learn more about who these people are and why they do what they do than you will by listening to any political pundit or blogger.
It's also a great read. Bragg is a skilled and honest writer who is not afraid to show the whole picture, warts and all.

BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT! It was recommended to us by a reading specialist.
It makes it very easy to recall definitions. I actaully bought it for my
6th and 3rd grader. They will read it for fun. LOVE IT!

I am very happy with this book. It's fun and easily to read, my grandson love it. He read it almost every day.

I bought it becuase the reviews are so positive and it's great! it's really easy and fun to recite words with these cartoons and I acutally color them when looking at them make more fun as well as keep me concentrated. I'd definetly recommend it if you consider yourself as a visulizer...just types of people who read best to learn!

This is a fun and easy way to learn vocabulary words. Who doesn't want to learn effortlessly? Now you can "read" cute cartoons and expand your vocabulary at the same time! I've been using this book with my students for years -- always good for a memborable laugh!

I have used these Vocabulary Cartoons since the first editions were available. I think the students enjoy this type of study. I have loaned many of my copies to students and colleagues. I am glad to see the extra vocab in the 2nd edition. I even have some of my own that I have added. This also makes a good project for the "talented artists" who may not enjoy studying vocab, but who learn as they provide cartoons. These students have fun as they learn. They work with students who provide the meanings and links. We highlight a synomym.The name Burchers comes to mind when I think of Vocab Study. You should invite students and teachers to submit their ideas. (I am retired, but I know this would be such a good project.)

This book is captivating and impossible to put down even now as I approach age 30. As a girl I found it spellbinding, the kind of book that makes your own world and time dissolve around you and casts directly in the life and time of the characters. It is far to rare that an author can weave that kind of story. Elizabeth George Speare certainly has that gift. Don't hesitate to buy this for the children in your life. Also by E. G. Speare be sure and check out The Witch of Blackbird Pond and one of my all-time favorites, Calico Captive. Enjoy and keep a clock nearby as you're surely going to lose track of time while reading this book.

The voice reading Sign of the Beaver was pleasant and easy to listen to. Since I was not listening to the whole book in one sitting, it was difficult to find where on the CD I left off. It would be more efficient to have the track for each chapter labeled on the CD.

I have used Sign of the Beaver as a read aloud just about every year I have taught! I teach 4th grade, and have always had great reviews from my students. The text and vocabulary are advanced for some fourth graders, so it is a terrific way to expand their vocabulary and knowledge without having frustrated readers. I have collected a class set over the years, allowing every child to read along. I highly recommend this book!

This is a great book about a boy who forms a friendship with and Indian boy named Attean, and in fact with his entire family. I found it a pleasure to read, because it offered a different historical perspective than most books that come from the white man's perspective. While Matt was white, most of the book is filled with his interactions with the Indian people. We get a glimpse of how they lived, and how very practical it was as opposed to the white man's way of life. It was more in tune with the land, for sure.

I'm getting off track, but I was very touched by the story. Matt is essentially invited to join the Beaver tribe by Attean and his grandfather, and Attean calls him his brother. The warm acceptance that grew between the two boys was heartwarming, and toward the end it brought tears to my eyes, but not due to sadness; instead due to the love the two boys shared.

As a fourth grade educator, I would never introduce this book to my students as anything else other than an example of popular culture that perpetuates stereotypes of Native Americans. Attean and other Native American characters speak in broken English, giving the reader the impression that these characters are inferior to their White counterparts. The terminology used is highly offensive (squaw)for both Native people and for women. The relationship that Attean has with girls in his tribe as well as with animals is unrealistic and down right inaccurate. Joseph Bruchac and Michael Dorris are two authors which do an excellent job of writing from the Native American perspective.

As an author...this is a necessary reference book for me. It takes a great deal of research for such a presentation. I sincerely thank Author/Editor, Robert Lee Brewer, and Assistant Editor, Chuck Sambuchino, for their very timely efforts into the publication of the Writer's Market, for the benefit of all writers. Peggy Inez, Author, [[ISBN 978-159858-400-4, The Gully.

I didn't even know there was such a book with so much information about publishers. This book will save me time finding the right publisher.

I have been looking to buy Writer's Market for awhile. I was surprised with all of the inforamtion that is stored within it's pages. From Freelance writing to Greeting Card companies. Not to mention that there are other Market Books out there. If you are going to submitt poetry to be published, there is a seperate Market book just for poetry. I find this book very usful, and it will help me in the right dierection of where to send my manuscript.2008 Writer's Market2008 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market (Novel and Short Story Writer's Market)

The 2008 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition cuts through the guessing at to which publisher I need to look at and which are not right for my work.

This addition also has the online access to it's resources. Easier to search. Great addition.

This resource guide is on the short list of desk references for writers. This includes people who write books, articles and more. It is thoroughly researched, comprehensive, extremely well organized and written, has fantastic resources and is full of great ideas.

The detail and accuracy of this book is amazing. For example, in the query letter section, good and bad examples are given to help you write the best query letter possible.

Topics include, but are not limited to: How much should I charge?, How to find (and Keep) the right agent, Script Agents, Book Publishers (the section is huge!), Playwriting and more.

This is an essential resource for any serious writer!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

This book was perfect for our son who just turned 10 and was starting puberty. It answered every single question he may have wanted to ask us but was too embarrassed or afraid. I would recommend this book to every mother/parent who has a son & would recommend that you read it first. Some of the content will be a review for your son - other content will be new!! I am so glad I found this book- it really explained what was happening to his body. Everthing from pimples, shaving, jock itch, etc.

I purchased this book for my son and he liked it alot. This book made it easy for him to talk to me about issues he had allready. I recommend this book its down to the point but not in a bad way.

I got this book for my 10 year old son. It is a good book with all the "needed" information, but yet isn't too detailed on things they don't need to know about YET. It was very well written & I think it a good starting point for families w/young boys.

I bought this for a gift for a boy about to turn 13. I looked it over before actually giving it and was impressed. It was a good mix of information presented -- not just the biology of what is happening but also emotional and social changes. There were even sections about dealing with bullies and how your friendships may change as you grow. The wording was matter of fact, but casual enough to appeal to a tween. I liked the message that waiting to have sex was the best choice, and the book substantiated this message with the reasons why. I think when the time comes for my own children to start reading up on these topics I'd like to supplement this with something that goes into more detail about the biology -- but this is a great overview.

I bought this book for my 10 year old. I was very pleased with the way it explained things. I read the book to him and answered any questions that he had as we went along. He did not have very many, because it was explained very well. However, there is a part in the book I did not read to him, which is the reason why I did not let him read the book by himself. The part touches on sex, which I don't have a problem with except for the fact that it explained oral and anal sex, and I don't feel like a 10 year old should know about things like that.

This book tells stories that you never learned in history classes but should have. An excellent fast read.

unlike the displeased idelogues who gave this book a one star rating I will actually review the book.

the book provides many important facts about american history that largely go unnoticed in public schools.

the book moves beyond history as a national monument that is heavily sanitized and politicized to reflect the values of private and state power, and clearly points to the mounting skeletons in our closet.

enough information is provided in comic book form that if a reader wants to read further in more scholarly directions they will know what to look for and verify the validity of the information Zinn provides.

I was honestly disappointed when I saw it was a "comic book".
But after reading the first few pages I realized it was just as good as the full original people's history of the u.s.
I think it is very accessible for high school students and for someone who suspects they have an interest but not willing to put forth the time and effort to read the original non-graphic form.
I recommend it as "light" heavy reading.
Neil Gahn

Zinn's greatest work. Fascinating, Frightening, Reality. This cartoon book is completely historically accurate. Zinn's work is impeccable; he has received rave reviews from the NY Times for his People's History of the United States.

A must read. I will be giving this book to many friends.

This was a great read. Seeing history through comic images was unusual and fun. The history is obviously biased, but I learned a lot that I had not known.

I initially bought the CD version of Sunburned Country thinking it would keep me from driving off I-5 into a feedlot while traversing San Francisco to LA and back. As it turned out - Mr. Bryson's account is so much more than caffeine or background entertainment that I must revisit this book (without the roar of Big Rigs or BMW's) to experience the details, wonderful insight, amazing adventures and most of all - hilarious perspective that he brings to Australia. Hearing it read by the author adds the perfect pitch to this journey, which has made this "book" a treasure!!

Bill Bryson's take on Australia is hilarious. I'm going there in a few weeks and can't wait to compare my experiences with him. This is a book that will have you chuckling, laughing out loud and then marveling at his insight and sense of humor. A must read for anyone interested in Australia and that part of the world.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bryson-sunburned.html
excerpt: (C) 2000 Bill Bryson All rights reserved. ISBN: 0-7679-0385-4
It is the home of the largest living thing on earth, the Great Barrier Reef, and of the largest monolith, Ayers Rock (or Uluru to use its now-official, more respectful Aboriginal name). It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world's ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures--the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish--are the most lethal of their type in the world. This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. Pick up an innocuous cone shell from a Queensland beach, as innocent tourists are all too wont to do, and you will discover that the little fellow inside is not just astoundingly swift and testy but exceedingly venomous. If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. It's a tough place.

Oh yes, I read it, also the German version Frühstück mit Kängurus, both several times. And I will have to warn you: First you will read a lot about a lot of things, events and facts you never never knew before, and secondly: You schouln'd read this book in public places (like buses, trolly, metro, libraries etc). You outbursting laughter will make people worried about your well being.
You will not be able to narrate from this book to your family or as a teacher to your students. At least not continuously for more than 3 minutes. Bill Bryson is not a clown, he is very serious ..... me too.

Bryson really captures the essence of Australia by detailing his experiences and interactions in different places throughout the country. Using humor or strange conversations, he conveys the attitude and friendly personalities of the the Aussies. While spending long passages describing too many historical details that he might only find interesting, he dives deep into the culture and history of a country most people know nothing about. Seeing as I just moved here, this introduction was perfect to welcoming me here. :)

This funny account of travel in Australia isn't necessarily the greatest of Bryson's works, but it is worth a read! You will find it entertaining, with his usual piercing, sarcastic, and witty insight.