Nonfiction Books

Although undeniably written for a younger adolescent audience, this textbook introduces very clearly the principles of the French language that one would find even in a much higher level book such as "Parallèles, Communication et Culture," and is intended for an audience with no background in French. Nearly all French words and phrases are introduced with the English translation upon being first introduced. One aspect of this book that places it among my favourite textbooks is that new vocabulary and grammatical concepts are clearly separated from the main text in individual boxes, allowing one to quickly locate a forgotten word or point of grammar. One should not be discouraged from using this book simply because of the age of its intended audience, because one will not learn "kiddie French" or some such grotesque thing.

This book is one of the worst french books i have ever seen. This one is the first one so you would think it would have just a little more english than french to help the students understand french grammer, writing styles, etc. But it doesnt, everything is in french and the authors dont explain anything. No voc list! just a bunch of words mixed together. The authors wrote the book for litte middle schoolers. Lots of little play songs and games, YOU DONT LEARN FRENCH. The other level books are just as bad as well. The kit we got came with a vissual tape and CD-ROM, that was even worst, the speakers were way to fast and the drills didn't help you if you weren't in those particular situations (I lost my keys and stuff like that).

I think this book was great! It had many great resources. It was very organized and I'm looking forward to the next book. It made life a step simpler!

In trying to compensate for my white trash/private school education, I found this book, as well as the science book "The Canon" by Natalie Angier extremely helpful.The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

I read a lot of books. Some would say that I read too many. Over the years, I've read some really great stuff. But this is one of the few books that I truly fell in love with. As I was reading it, I found myself saying, "I love this book!" over and over again. It's a quick read, divided into short chapters that can be read in a matter of minutes -- so even someone with a short attention span can read a chapter in a single sitting. And it is written in such an easy-to-read style that it can be understood and enjoyed by readers of any age. It was written with young readers in mind; but it is so wonderfully written that adults will love it just as much as kids will. The writing style is beautiful. I wish I could write that well. Everything is made so clear and easy to understand that it's a delight to read. It's hard to believe that this book was originally written in German and translated into English. I don't know who deserves the higher praise, E.H. Gombrich, who wrote the original German text, or Caroline Mustill, who translated it into perfect English prose. But what impresses me even more than the writing style is the content. This is simply the best history book that I've ever read. It provides an overview of all of world history from prehistoric times to the 20th century (it was originally published in 1936, and covered events up to the aftermath of World War I; but this new edition contains a final chapter that gives a brief overview of the events from World War I to roughly the end of the Cold War). And it does a masterful job of capturing the "big picture" of world history without getting bogged down in the sort of details that no one but historians really care about (as many history texts do). After reading this book, you will have a good, basic understanding of the overall course of world history. And you'll enjoy every minute of it. Imagine a history text that is never dry or boring, that is never difficult to understand, that never bogs you down in useless details you don't care about, and that is actually a pleasure to read. THIS is that history text. I would recommend it for everyone: schoolchildren, college students, and adults. (And it would make the perfect gift for a young person. Anyone who is old enough to read, understand, and enjoy Harry Potter is old enough to read, understand, and enjoy E.H. Gombrich's "A Little History of the World" -- and it's a lot more educational.)

This is an amazing little book. I am a big fan of brevity. And this book takes the prize. Apart from providing a delicious overview of world history, this brilliant work contains fascinating trivia on every page. If you've ever wanted to know the answers to the following questions, this book will do it with elegance and grace. Why are the days of the week named the way they are (Sunday, Monday, etc.)? What is the story behind the Gordian Knot? How does the Chinese script work? How was the marathon race invented?

A quick, nearly pocket-sized history of the world. Clearly intended for children, but I enjoyed getting a refresher. I rate it three stars considering its uneven treatment of some pretty important facts (lots on Napoleon, but no mention of the Black Death of the 14th cen.?), and its need of a healthy dose of editing.

I bought this book, based on other reviews, with very little knowledge about history. The is the PERFECT book to learn about history. I'm not a big reader of books besides computer manuals, but now I'm intrigued enough to dive a little deeper into the past. When I got the book, I was going to take it one chapter at a time, but I couldn't put it down. It's an easy read. A lot of wars have been fought, lives sacrificed, people persecuted for their religion, and........well, you'll just have to read the book to find out. : )

I use this book in my Spanish class and find it to be a great level of difficulty. It's not too hard, not to easy. Great for Spanish II Honors classes. It would be a little hard for regular level.

I took Spanish 1 using another company's textbook. But I switched to use this book for level 2. I hated it imeediately. There are too many words for beginners that are throughout the book and worksheets that are certainly not on Level 2. There are many vocab words and phrases that should be learned a lot later in Spanish. I would love to return to the other company's textbook.

I picked up this workbook as supplemental material because someone on a homeschooling website recommended it. Well, I've wound up depending upon it as my primary 7th grade math book (leaving my Saxon Math books almost untouched). Great, clear exercises, and plenty of 'em! (Though if you're an adult who's brushing up on your own math while helping your children, you may need to rely on a text to explain exactly why the authors are choosing to solve problems the way they are....i.e., there are always alternative methods to solving equations, and I've been sure to explain to my son that there are several ways to arrive at the same answer, a key point in understanding decimals, fractions & percents.) Please, Spectrum, continue past 8th grade!

This product is written in a very simple, clear cut form. There isn't a lot of fluff, which is great when you just want to learn the facts. It explains how to do the problems, then gives plenty of opportunity for practice. My 4th and 7th graders use these titles as their primary math resources.

I bought this book to keep my child fresh on math during the summer. The work sheets were great. As this was a review of what she learned during the school year she didn't need direction. If you are looking for a book to teach math, this isn't it- but it was PERFECT for our needs.

I purchased grade 7th and 8th. No wonder they stop there because it's the same materials all over again. Just buy either one, 7th or 8th, and use it for both grades because unless you need more practice problems, it's the same topics.

Just what I wanted! It's a wonderful practice book that covers all the basics. Lots of repetition, which is what I felt my child needed to really get comfortable with operations. I'm using it to keep his skills from backsliding over the summer.

Recieved item on time, right when we were told it would arrive. Book in very good condition.

Several good ideas in here - easy to put many into practice. A quick read, too, which is a bonus for teachers under a time crunch!

The only person who can motivate an unmotivated student is the unmotivated student. All a teacher can do is provide a classroom environment that maximizes the chances that his students will choose to get motivated.

And that's where this book comes in. It is packed with useful and practical suggestions sorted into five big ideas: Emphasizing Effort, Creating Hope, Respecting Power, Building Relationships, and Expressing Enthusiasm. A brief introduction, including research sources, is given for each big idea, then the author gets right to the strategies.

Don't be fooled by the relatively unassuming size and the more then reasonable price. If you teach, this is a book you will use until you've used it up. Then you can buy another copy and another, and you still won't be out the price of many of the educational motivation books that sit pristinely on my shelves collecting well-deserved dust.

I am a teacher at a private school and this book has really open my eyes to some solutions that I can use to motivate some of the most unmotivated students. It is great!!!

I have had students that say they don't care or don't know what school is for. If they are reachable, this book can help a teacher reach out to a student and give them hope. This is a nice guide to reinforce what most teachers already know but need some reminders once in awhile.

I would like this book a lot more, except: There are mistakes. For example, when asked to graph the coordinate (-4, -2), you go to -4 on the x axis first, then down to -2 on the y axis. She had it backwards. If you don't know what you're doing, and you're taught incorrectly, how are you to learn?

Also, she will present simple information and then give some difficult, and I dare say impossible, problems to solve. If I were learning multiplication, and the teacher threw in fractions, integers, and other things I hadn't learned, I would, of course, get lost. Then my confidence would suffer.

I'm gleaning what I can from this book, but there must be far better ones out there. I don't recommend this.

I've had to brush up on Algebra (I haven't used it in decades) and this book does an outstanding job. As a previous reviewer noted, the graph (on page 31) pertaining to rational/irrational numbers is; indeed, incorrect but, as far as I can tell, that's about the only error (BTW, the book does describe the difference between the two sets of numbers correctly - only the diagram is wrong).

Generally speaking, the exercises were excellent and so were the explanations. My only criticism are 1), I wish there were more exercises) and 2), all of the answers need to be explained - there are a few "tricky" questions that are very difficult to figure out if one hasn't used Algebra in a long time. It would be very helpful for the author to come up with a workbook that was correlated with each chapter in "Painless Algebra," in order to further reinforce concepts covered.

The final chapter, on quadratic equations (the bane of my algebraic existence) was the only one that provided much grief. As with most things in mathematics, there is more than one way to find a solution. I ended up using solutions found in other books, that were a bit clearer. Of course, that may just be me and I certainly wouldn't use that criticism to prevent others from using this book - overall, "Painless Algebra" was very well written and I would highly recommend it to others.

This book is easy to understand. I had forgotten absolutely EVERYTHING about algebra. This book is good for anyone who will be starting like I did.

There is also a CD Rom that teaches it (called "before you know it algebra"), It doesn't come with the book Painless Algebra. it's also geared towards younger kids, but it's good to have as many resources as you can when self teaching, so it can be explained in more ways than one for more understanding.

These books saved me from having to take pre-algebra as a prerequisite course in college, and I was able to start my degree program earlier. Buying the book saved me hundreds that I would have had to shell out between the classes and the expensive textbooks.

This book is a good refresher, much like Cliff Notes. It could be a bit more explanatory in areas, but overall it is a great book to thumb through for the basics.

I am homeschooling my son, so I bought this book as a way to make Algebra easier for him. He's only in third grade, so I don't need it yet. However, I was explaining something to him regarding a calculation and wanted to see how the book would describe it. I thumbed thru the book and the first diagram I saw was on page 31. It was of the different number systems. It incorrectly showed that irrational numbers are a subset of rational numbers. I was a math major in college and know otherwise. Also, the book describes it otherwise. Because of this - the first thing I saw, now I'm questioning the whole series. Sad.

Beautiful pictures that tell a story, either separately of in sequence. The pictures alone make for a great team building game, as participants try to line up in order without speaking.

This is a great activity for church groups and/or school staffs! I've done it at a pastor's retreat and at our school staff development. It was a great activity for both groups!

I was shown this as a perspective game. Tear all the pages out and then shuffle them up. Then have a team put them in an order. Don't tell them there is a specific order but let them figure out how it works. Each person on the team will see a different part and then they will all put it together. Then talk about perspective and how each person's can be different so we need to work together to get the complete picture.

The first book, Zoom, is fun and fascinating when "read' for the first time. Re-zoom may be equally clever, but is basically just more of the same. If someone has seen the first book and gets the gist of the "zooming," then the predictablilty of the next page of Re-zoom takes away from the "wow" experience of the first book. If one were to read only one of these books, I would definitely recommend the first, Zoom.

If you have never seen any books by this author before then I would recommend purchasing "Zoom". It's amazing which made me slightly disappointed with this one. I was hoping it would be just as good as the first but it was harder to follow and wasn't as fun to look at. I wish I had not bought it.

A friend of mine has this book, she is a school teacher. I figured that since I don't know how to cook, I could learn from this book... I didn't but it was a cool book..

You are not selling kids on healthy eating if you shill for Dunkin' Donuts at the same time. There are literally thousands of better food role models to have your children follow. Rachel Ray and her slimy, hyper-sanitized ilk are little better formers of youthful opinion than are the folks at McDonald's (and dear god I hope that we all are trying to aspire beyond McDonald's).

If you and your child go ahead and make Mark Bittman's simple Minimalist recipe from the NY Times, you will develop in both yourself and in the child the ability to eat with a varied palate and to try new things that don't come from cardboard boxes or wherever Ray gets her pre-packaged goodies. Bonus: If time is of the essence, Bittman can provide you with 101 meals in 10 minutes each (plus time to boil pasta).
How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food

My son, 9, is a budding chef and fan of Rachael Ray. He loves this cookbook because it is fun to read and the recipes are yummy! I love it because it is broken down into age oriented categories. The recipes spam from easy recognizable (with funny names at times) to ones a bit more discerning, perfect for a child chef who is a serious devotee of cooking shows!

The spiral binding makes this book very usable for small fingers.

"Cooking Rocks!" was Rachael Ray's first venture into kid-friendly cooking. It's a cut above "Yum-O!" in its simplicity,and it's clearly made for kids. "Cooking Rocks!" translated her half-hour hits into family accessible recipes.

"Cooking Rocks!" is colorful, easy-to-use,and the division of labor between adults&kids is reasoned out. There are recipes clearly aimed at kids-like Fruit "Sushi",Worms&Eyeballs, and Ray's ubiquitous "Pasta,Cheese,and Trees." It's whimsical without being overly cute. There are also meals adults&kids can enjoy alike,such as Tomato,Basil,and Cheese Baked Pasta,as well as Cinnamon-Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter Sauce. On the other hand, as befits a Dunkin' Donuts spokeswoman,the recipes contain a lot of fat and sugar. This is from a woman who started her Yum-O! charity to combat childhood obesity. There are also Ray's usual unholy food combinations. The Chicken Catch-a-tory Ravioli Stew is a sure recipe for constipation. The Hot Dog Pizza with sugared cucumber slices (pickles?) sounds indigestion-inducing. The pizza cheeseburgers are from Ray's "throw it together" philosophy. Yuck-O!

"Cooking Rocks!" is a mixed bag. Not great, not awful as its follow-up. It's mediocre.

I enjoy cooking. The Kitchen is like my science lab, it is great to taste and try new things in the kitchen.

A cookbook written with children in mind can either talk down to kids or can treat them like equals. most of this book treats children like equals. However it is cutely illustrated with cartoony images of Rachel Ray, which to me, belittles the kids.

The recipes are family oriented cooking tasks that kids and adults can make together. It has plastic slicked stock is the kind I think most cook books can use

This book is good cook book for family and people that want to teach children to eat well. I like what is here..if you have kids and want to have your children to learn to cook, this is your book

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

This book is expensive and practically useless for self study, but a required text at my university-- and if you are reading this, then it is assumable that you are in the same situation and you're about to have to suck a mighty sour lemon. I am sorry to tell you that this book along with the workbook, which you will have to purchase separately if your school requires this text (for an additional $56 at the time of this review), are a big waste of money.

It is disorganized in it's approach and introduction to the language, the pertinent information is skimmed over, and some of the lessons presented are written in an ambiguous and confusing manner. For example, there are many short articles written in Spanish throughout the text which lack translation, which is a pain, but to top it off, some of the words used aren't in the glossary either.

Admittedly, the book is attractive, with many beautiful photographs and cute illustrations dealing with cultural aspects, but IMO, it is a substandard learning tool considering the hefty price tag. The publisher must make back-room deals to get colleges to require this text, forcing students to buy it. And if the student(s) receive Pell Grants or other financial aid, the taxpayer is actually buying it.

Unfortunately, you can't really get away with buying this book used because of the accompanying MySpanishLab. The professors usually utilize the online MySpanishLab to assign homework and the new books come with a product key that is required for access-- but for one user only. The exception being that if you happen to be able to take your Spanish courses during the summer sessions. As of now, the publisher has not set up templates for the MySpanishLab for the 3 week summer classes, so you won't need the key. But this may soon change.

However, to be fair, this book may not such a bad deal for a college class because it is used for Spanish 1 and 2, so you don't have to buy another text for the 2nd class. Still, it is a disappointment because it is not worth keeping after completing the course work for a future reference, nor does it have resale value because of the need to buy it new to get the key to access the lab.

The "Practice Makes Perfect" series by Dorthy Richmond and "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish" are far superior to "Arriba!" for learning, and much more affordable. I wish my university taught from them. Since they are great for self study, I can only imagine the superior learning experience I would have had if these books were the ones used for my classes. Fortunately, I had a fabulous professor and she compensated for this book's inadequecies.