Nonfiction Books

IF YOU WANT A GOOD BOOK TO LEARN SPANISH, GET THIS ONE!!! I LOVE IT!

the book is okay, i would suggest using the companion premium website and purchasing the program cds - set of 15. the latter is available through the publisher's website.

This is everything I could have hoped for in a foreign language textbook; it is an instructor's dream. Now...if they only designed a text of equal quality for Portuguese!

I actually ordered the wrong edition of the manual, but that's not why I didn't give it a great rating. I'm using the Mosaicos textbooks for a basic Spanish class, and I don't like the way they're set up. They teach phrases before grammar and put all the vocabulary at the end of the chapters instead of the beginning. Coming out of years of Latin where we learned the fundamentals first, I've had a hard time adjusting. Frankly I don't think I'm learning as well on this new set up.

Worst book I have ever used to learn a language. Who ever wrote the book was into a lot more than teaching. You need to use this disc or that disc or use the internet. The Prenhall is not very user friendly either. The book is very confusing.

This was a good price, much less than my campus bookstore.

this cuaderno is really lame. some of the activities are useful. most of them are very 2nd gradish--they don't make you think at all about what needs to be written, all exercises follow the same formula, you jsut substitute a different vocab word/verb. the listening comprehension (done in a language lab) is good b/c it helps you train your ear, but even some of those exercises are silly.

I rated this book a four star due to the excellent information it provided, it is also easy to read.

The title is a bit misleading, as the content of this book can be categorized as basic interpersonal communication methods and style.

The information is aimed at a general audience, perhaps, more useful to someone with communication difficulty. There is some helpful information on learning to be genuine, although, not sure genuineness can be learned!?

I am a communicator and expressive, therefore, the information was slightly elementary for myself. This book is a useful refresher, however, the title is slightly misleading.

I was hoping for something more in depth, about creating and increasing charisma and elements of mystique.

Hope this helps. Again,useful information for a non-communicator and a younger person or inexperienced communicator.

This book isn't horrible. There ARE some gems in it. The reason why "IA" gets the low rating is because there is SO MUCH FLUFF!!! He could've done better. There are some internet blogs that offer more content than this book. Just type the word charisma in your search engine. If you just NEED a book, Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" should do it.

I thought this was a pretty good book. It goes into a lot of detail on how you can make your personality more attractive to others. Great for attracting people of the opposite sex or establishing relationships in the work environment. I'd reccommend it as supplemental source to The Mystery Method.

The books begins by stating the truth that we all know about attraction but often deny, due to fear and uncertainty. They take this information, elaborate on it and help you design your way to increased ability to attract what you really want. The perfec companion for this book is Sex and the Perfect Lover: Tao, Tantra, and the Kama Sutra

i got this book with the male female attraction in mind, but as i'm reading i realize that this is actually a useful book in life in general. filled with tips and open eye facts that usually pass by us without noticing. knowing these aspects of personality, can impact business life as well as social life. you learn that you can bring joy into someone's life not to attract them but just to make them feel good.

This was exactly what I was looking for. Got it within a reasonable time frame....very pleased

This text is very complete and goes over all the concepts of biology like five kingdoms, cells and ecology. It is written with the student in mind and a very helpful text. I also used The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations by Patrick Leonardi (Volume 1, 2, 3)
These 3 study guides were very helpful for exam preparation and showed me what I needed to study before the test.

The previous reviewer was complaining about a shipping error, not a comment on the text itself. There is a huge and amazing lab book that goes with the text and that must have been what had been delivered. The book that goes with this ISBN number is a terrific Biology text. I researched several high school biology books, and this is the best I found. The writing is clear and makes difficult concepts easy to understand and the graphics make it easy to read. Add the biology lab book and it makes a complete high school biology program. I would highly recommend this for any homeschooling family.

My kids (and I) found this book hard to follow. It is much too complex for the age grop it is intended. Hard to follow, follow, follow ... Try to remember this next September!

I listen to this CD just about every day and find the relaxation part of it wonderful. My problem is that I always fall asleep before I get to the part where Dr. Weiss starts taking you back to your younger self and then on back to your previous lives.

The CD is fine, it's me! I really enjoy the CD and have decided I need to sit up rather than lay down while meditating with this CD. I would recommend it to anyone interested in reincarnation or just meditation.

Found the first (of two) tracks to be nearly identical to the first track of Dr. Weiss' other CD "Spiritual Progress Through Regression"... haven't yet heard the remainder of his series of CDs, but suspect the only difference is in the second track of about 20 minutes.

The CD is very relaxing, though I didn't apparently go 'deep' enough to need to be awakened, and I will listen to it again... but I'm not sure if I would have needed the other discs in the series as the second track didn't offer much different.

Brian has the perfect voice for this kind of thing. This CD is part of a series of 3. I have all 3. I love them all.

Brian is a graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School. Part of his private practice is in hypnotic regression therapy. Brian begins by guiding you into a very relaxing state of consciousness, then into a protective bubble of light, so you feel "safe" enough to let yourself go. He releases your mind from the time/space limitations so you can remember "everything". You then walk down a long staircase to a beautiful peaceful garden where your body goes into a deeper relaxation state so it can heal and rejuvinate. You then see a beautiful building, ascend its steps, and meet a beautiful being (spirit guide), enter the building to receive healing there, in a special room, covered in light reflecting on you through the crystals. You can even adjust/tune the crystals to direct specific colored light beams into specific body parts. This is really quite nice and if you are already familiar with energy concepts/healing with color and crystals/and advanced visualization techniques, this CD will be especially precious to you. This is an excellent treat for your inner and outer self. As you absorb the healing rays, you can ask questions of your guide and review the possible origins of your illness/problem/symptom, etc. (so you can recognize and analyze it/them and then release them). He encourages you to let go of negative emotions of fear/anger/sadness/anxiety/tension/etc. that affect your health and encourages you to feel the positive emotions of peace/love/harmony/joy. You then say goodbye to your guide and return to the garden and rest in a very peaceful state while you kind of set the healing in place. Then you awaken gently.

I usually zonk out and my subconscious takes over.) With meditation or subliminal programming CDs, I believe that they work on the subconscious level, even if you fall asleep. Even if you think that is baloney, then at least I had a very peaceful sleep. What is it the former Bionic Woman says on the Sleep Number Mattress commercials?--"recuperative sleep" or something like that. Sleep really does provide a great opportunity for your mind to help you recognize problems and consider solutions, and also to just shut down and relax. So, if you use this CD for nothing else than a good night's sleep, that alone is worth the price of the CD, especially in these high-stress times. Think of this as a mini-vacation that you can take any time for the cost of lunch or dinner.

There is a second relaxation and meditation experience where you again go deep into la-la land, first by relaxing every cell in your body and relaxing the peacefulness in your heart and filling yourself with a healing light to rid yourself of illness and restoring every cell to its perfect state. Again you go into a protective light bubble and go into a deep state of relaxation where you are beyond the space/time limitations. You return to the garden for healing and peace and go into a journey to your past through a reflective mirror. You move through the mirror to reexperience the past or the future and look for answers for your current lifetime. You are encouraged to just enjoy the experience and not worry about if it is real or not. Of course, Brian brings you back when the experience is over, to feel well rested from your mini-vacation and very peaceful.

You will likely have no problem waking up if there is ever a need to. My experience has been that you are deep enough to completely experience this mini-trip but somehow stay available to the current world if you need to be.

I recently attended a conference where Dr. Weiss was a featured speaker, along with John Holland and Candy Diaz. All 3 of them were great. That conference was actually where I bought the 3 CDs, but they are less expensive at Amazon. I continue to be very pleased with the HayHouse authors I have found. Brian Weiss is one of several.

I was very satisfied with this book. I was tremendously satisfied with the prompt delivery.

When I saw this book for the first time I realised that a serious topic can be approached in the wittiest ways: by making it attractive to its audience; the concise explanations plus the artful presentation make it a must!!!

I borrowed this book from the library first, and was so happy with the contents, that I decided to buy it. I will be using this book for college, but also for my homeschooled children. It contains many details for first time writers, but is a great reference for those who have been writing a long time.

I ordered this for my niece in Virginia and it was just what she needed for school.

I needed this book for my high school children and amazon not only had it in stock, they had the best price. I bought it and received it almost immediatlely! Great job and service. I will continue to shop amazon. for all my book needs.

The latest edition of Writers Inc is a great resource for any student or teacher, but does not provide the extensive list of prefixes, suffixes, and word roots included in my copy of the 1996 edition published by D. C. Heath and Company, a Houghton Mifflin company. I recommended this book to a student who was looking for such a list. We were both disappointed that these lists had been removed. If you have an earlier version, don't count on this one being exactly like a previous edition.

This book is required reading for all incoming freshman at the top ranked engineering school in the U.S. The book is very readable, insightful, and useful.

A fascinating study of how the mind works and the effects our gut reactions can have on our decisions, "Blink" hammered Gladwell's point into me in an engaging and entertaining read. The writing is easy but intelligent, and I loved the specific examples and stories, particularly one about the war games. Not only do they help support Gladwell's notion but they're enough to create enjoyable stories by themselves.

The main idea I took away? First impressions aren't everything, but they're a lot more than you realize.

A very interesting and clever book. We know more than we might think when it comes to making judgments. Malcolm Gladwell provides excellent examples of how we can improve our decision making by paying more attention to our intuitive side. He's not suggesting that information gathering and research be ignored, only that we also consider the benefits to be derived from learning and making decsions in a different way. His examples are fascinating and the book's long term high ranking is well deserved. It's a hard book to put down.

Where does it all go, after you are done experiencing the experience, thinking the thought, feeling the feeling? Nothing is ever lost. The subconscious is like a vast warehouse, limitless, in fact, and as Malcolm Gladwell illustrates in "Blink," we access all that is stored in that warehouse with every blinking and waking moment.

Usually, we call this instant access - gut instinct. Or, the inner voice of wisdom. Instinct, however, is nothing magical or mysterious. It is simply our accumulated and stored knowledge over a lifetime. If there was ever an argument for listening to those who have some serious and well-lived years under their belts, this is it. "Blink" illustrates with numerous and widely varied examples how life experience, the more the better, contributes to our ability to make quick, yet sound decisions. In fact, the quicker, the better.

"Blink" is about what the author calls "thin slicing." He defines this process as the moment of time in which we all make snap judgments. Two seconds, two minutes ... and we make an assessment of a situation or a person or a circumstance. The fascinating thing is - these snap judgments are, more often than not, precise ones. It is when we begin to over analyze and rationalize that we tend to go awry. The trick is to allow the accumulated wisdom rise up and do its magic, trust in it.

Then again ...

Gladwell never does make a concluding statement in his book, and perhaps it is up to the reader to decide (do it quickly?), but his many fascinating examples and his reports on various studies can lead one to think these snap judgments are the way to go - or, then again, thinker beware. For all the many situations in which that moment of initial wisdom is uncannily precise, there are other times that our deeply ingrained biases muck up the clarity of that process. Gladwell cites data to illustrate how stereotypes, for instance, persist - no matter how gallant our conscious efforts to overcome them. Telling yourself you don't really think what you think simply won't work. Only exposure to experiences, or positive visualizations, will change the false ideas and images our subconscious has absorbed over time. All of which is a strong argument for "garbage in, garbage out." That is, be careful of what entertainment you choose (e.g. pornographic images, violent movies or games, etc.), because no matter how hard your conscious mind tries to guide you toward decisions and behavior that is more appropriate, your subconscious will always, but always win out.

The idea of what you present to your eye is what you will later project out to the world is a convincing one, as the author finds himself unable to beat the test on stereotypes when he has to react quickly. Only exposure to more positive images over time can change his test results and dislodge his prejudices.

Gladwell discusses this phenomena of instant response-true response in a manner of ways. How patients respond to their doctors (we sue the physician who has a lousy bedside manner, even if more skilled, but remain loyal to the physician who spends as little as three extra minutes talking with us); how facial expressions, when viewed on slowed down video, will without fail, always reveal deceit (there are facial movements that arise from our subconscious that we cannot control, and no matter how quickly we think we have our facial mask in place, there is always that instant that our faces tell the truth); the intricacies of marketing and advertisement and why the obvious ad, even when based on feedback of focus groups, may not be the effective choice; how military decisions by experienced military leaders are successful, but fail miserably when they are constrained by strategic analysis; how micro-managing in workplaces can only lead to mediocrity while suppressing creativity and innovation; how speed dating may be most effective in finding potential lifelong connections (we read about research that can pick out successful, longterm relationships in observing as little as two minutes of interaction between a couple - and no, it isn't the couple that argues that breaks apart); how our societal subconscious biases for certain physical characteristics, such as height or gender, often mislead us to make dangerously faulty snap judgments (Gladwell observes that most of our leaders are tall and male, and that our corporate world pays tall men higher salaries, factoring dollars down to the inch, regardless of intelligence or ability). On and on, in one fascinating example and study after another, Gladwell intrigues with his findings.

And you know he's right. You know it ... in your gut. But if the author doesn't make any overall conclusion from all of this fascinating data, then the reader is left to her own wiles. Experience counts more than credentials. What we expose ourselves to on a regular basis molds who we are, how we view others, what choices we make and how we behave. Biases and prejudices are far stronger than our conscious will to overcome them; we must align our environment to align our subconscious. Our deepest self forgets nothing. All we have ever done and been and seen and observed leads to who we are today and tomorrow.

All of which gives one pause. But don't pause too long. It is that initial millisecond that may matter most of all.

As a person that has worked in manufacturing organizations all of my life, I often wondered how the grizzled veteran managers could always tell what was going to happen next. They didn't seem to be any smarter than the average Joe but somehow, they could predict the future. That is, the future of action or behavior A would result in item B materializing, just as sure as the sun rises in the morning.

This book is a landmark because it explains these mysteries to me. Not only is the book a highly interesting read, but it is an invaluable guide for those in managerial positions. Not only do I practice what it preaches but I also teach the concept to others.

I high recommend this book and have included it in my Amazon lists and guides. If you are in management, you need this book in your collection! Michael L. Gooch, SPHR Author of
Wingtips with Spurs

The summary: This book is a great combination of thick board pages, big cartoon people, bold colors and vivid images, and interesting interactive flaps. It's great for holding a babies attention and getting them engaged.
My daughter is 6 months old, and this has been her favorite book since she was 4 months (which is a really long time in baby age ). At first, she just watched me lift the flaps and her eyes would get wide. It was the only book that retained her attention. Now that she's a little older, she loves to try to open and close the flaps herself. Also, the colors are vivid and the pictures are interesting and bold, so she can stare at one page for several minutes and remain interested.
I've bought several of the other books by the same author that are the same theme: Where is baby's belly button; where is baby's mommy; Daddy and me. She likes all of them, but this is her favorite. Every page has a big picture of a child, which seems to be part of the tremendous appeal. And I like it too, so I don't mind reading it 4,000 times! :-)

We are on child #2 with this book and both of my kids have requested it over and over and over and over. My youngest, 19 months, is 'reading' it to us. It has even helped him learn a few body parts!

It is easy to understand, fun for the babies and easily read by my other kid. What could be better? Well, maybe a space age polymer that keeps the flaps on when an overzealous toddler continues to try and wrestle them off.

Five month old grandson loves these little books! Great way to spend time with your little ones - reading a great little book just for him/her. Sturdy, easy to clean and the perfect size for little hands & fingers. Can't go wrong with these little books for babyshower gifts or birthday gifts for little ones!

Save this one for a kid who won't pull the flaps themselves, because they *will* rip them, unfortunately :(

But the content is great, that simple style that kids like. I don't have a problem with the choices in body parts or language, either - "I've got" is colloquial, but it's perfectly acceptable, and the kids you're reading this to can't read anyway.

My daughter LOVES Where Is Baby's Mommy and Counting Kisses, so I thought this would become another favorite. However, it is not nearly as interesting - the phrasing is boring, and is bugs the heck out of me because most of it is gramatically incorrect. "I've got"?!?

I assume that it's because Karen didn't actually write this one, so from now on, I am sticking to ones that she actually wrote.

And for what it is worth, my daughter can be VERY rough with pages, and thus far, ALL of our Karen Katz books are still together. Wrinkled and crinkled, yes, but not one of the flaps has ripped.

My 17month daughter loves this book! I was into Richard Scarry books growing up and really wanted my baby to like it. Initially I was afraid the illustrations would be too busy for her, but that is clearly not the case. This book is one of three books (the others are big book of animals and book of words) she brings to me just about every thirty minutes, which is driving me a little crazy but I'll just have to deal with it. She really gets into the scenes especially scenes of the circus, zoo, farm, grocery, home, beach, ships, trains, etc. and has built up quite the vocabulary. She's saying the names of the animals and their sounds, bodyparts, the landscape such as tree, sun, moon, cloud, flower and can point to most anything in the pages. The scenes of the airport, trucks and "when you grow up" aren't engaging her yet but I'm sure later when she gets it more.

Richard Scarry books are a beloved classic, they are and will be on the bookshelf in our home (until the grandkids). ;)

I LOVE this book! I had it when I was a child. My favorite word in it is on the kitchen page "Batter Spoon"!!!

This is the only word book I remember reading with my mom back in the early 1980s. I still have my old hardcover edition after more than two decades. Every few years, I dust off the cover and go through the pages to look back fondly at the all-too-familiar pictures. Someday, I hope to pass on this book to my kid/s who will probably enjoy it as much as I did.

I can't forget this book, because of it had several great factors. It covered almost every place a kid may see, with it's name to know what the object is. Each page shows kids different work spaces, lands, city life, even inside a home, room by room.
This would be an excellent book for preschoolers, and even younger as well. Children and their parents may create their own stories with the detailed scenes.

I had this book as a child, although the version I had was longer and more PC. This is a great word learning book. The only drawback is that all the characters are animals, so it has to be for a child who knows the animals are simply playing people roles and doing people things. I would recommend to anyone with kids. You cannot go wrong with this book. The older version is better since it has more pages (20 more pages), but it is hard to find in good condition and at a decent price.