Nonfiction Books

First off i would like to say that that is nuts that their is a video option to leave a review. Technology has come far in such a short time. None-the-less, i ordered this book because i didn't feel like paying $140.00 US dollars for it at the college. Even that in actual value those $140.00 paper bills are only worth about $1.40 Us but its ok. the book is aight. It is like most other spanish books in which i have looked at. I think it's also well laidout and is very comprehendable for just about everyone. I would recomend it to anyone wanting to learn some espanol. Also if anyone would like to take it off my hands en la media de mayo (in may) email me. Adios amigos.

I purchased the book for my son's language arts class. It seems to be a great resource for information.

This vocabulary series is the best one that I have found to illustrate how the word is most often used. The vocabulary list is also well thought out; the words are actually in frequent use. You can't go wrong buying this series.

In the vocab book you can find many new words that you need in your life, so be smart and kind enough to study this book.

This book has a lot of good information about how math concepts were discovered over time by Archmedes. Some of the concepts are involved, but it is written at a level that allows young children (8 yrs and up) to access the ideas. The text could easily be used to branch off to classroom/home study science or math explorations. An excellent introduction to the possible depths of mathematics/science study in a light manner that children will find engaging.

EVERYTHING that Archimedes is supposed to have "discovered" already existed in Africa, thousands of years before "WHITE" Greeks existed. The Ancient Egyptians "THE MASTER BUILDERS" had already discovered "ALL" of the Arts & Sciences. The Greeks & Romans were students of the Ancient Black Egyptians, before they destroyed the Egyptian Civilization by raping the women, killing the Priests, forbidding the speaking of the language & burning the Library of Alexandria. Ask yourself this question, if the Greeks were such Great Mathematicians why did they go all the way to Africa to set up this Library, and where are their Pyramids? Huh?

Africa & Africans were the fountainhead of knowledge, at a time when the Whites had recently emerged from the Caves of & Hillsides of Europe, where they were walking on all fours and eating their meat raw, not having the knowledge of fire. Go back and read the ancient historical accounts by Herodotus, where he describes not only the Scientific Wonders of the Ancient Egyptians, but also describes their race as being of "Burnt Skin & Woolly Hair, & that they describe themselves as "THE" Most Ancient of Peoples.

WHY ARE THERE NO ANCIENT RUINS IN WHITE CIVILIZATIONS BUILT BY WHITE PEOPLES? (Stonehenge and other monuments in Europe were built by Blacks who peopled what is called Europe millions of years before the first Whites arrived. Google "Grimaldi Negro", the first inhabitants of Europe. Also see "The Making of the White Man" by Paul Guthrie & "Black Spark, White Fire".

THIS IS THE SAME TYPE OF RACIST LOGIC THAT POSITS THAT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA, WHEN EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT BOTH INDIANS & BLACKS WERE HERE FIRST, BUILDING PYRAMID CIVILIZATIONS.

For further edification read: "The African Origin of Civilization" by Cheik Anta Diop (Renowned Senegalese Physicist & Linguist), "Stolen Legacy" by George M. James (Greek Scholar) & "Black Athena" by Martin Bernal (which shows that Early Greece was peopled by two successive waves of African colonization who laid the foundation of both Minoan & Greek Civilization. Take a close look at the Minoans, they are of African stock, as were the early Greeks prior to the invasions of the Barbaric White Dorians, who brought no Civilizing influence to Greece.

Racist White historical analysis cannot replace cold hard facts such as the Pyramid Civilizations appearing only in Black Civilizations such as Egypt, Mexico etc. The Pyramid culture in the Americas begins with the Thick Lipped, Broad Nosed, Wooly Haired Olmec Civilization, "THE MOTHER CIVILIZATION" of the Americas.

FURTHERMORE, WHOSE TO SAY THAT ARCHIMEDES WAS WHITE, AS GREEK CIVILIZATION AT THAT TIME, HAD BLACKS AS WELL AS WHITES.

Truth crushed to Earth will Rise Again!!!

My 12 year old and then my wife have read this nifty little book before I got to read the father's day present. I generally like less-than-one-hour biographies with pictures, particularly of inventors.
Great book for readers at 4th grade level and above.
For adults, if you admit to liking cliff notes, I would recommend this book on Archimedes first, before buying something more scholarly.

This book is about Archimedes' life. He found out how to measure a circle and the principle of buoyancy. He invented the Archimedes' screw. He moved a ship full of cargo with one hand and a machine he built. And he did all this without electricity. I think that you will love this book.

Placing scientific theory in historical context is a concept that sounds dreadful. My children loved it. They adore the comic stories of Archimedes. My eight year-old son couldn't put it down. As a parent of a boy to 'hates to read,' it was AMAZING to hear my son giggling and laughing out loud while studying history and science on his own. What was even more thrilling, was listening to him apply the knowledge to everything from playing with Knex to a catapult.

In the hospital: When your resident asks you to write orders for 17 medicines on one patient, you'll be glad you have this... It's in everyone's pocket. Make sure you have this year's copy. This is the one with small print and no spiral binding. This is almost ALWAYS quicker than the PDA. I've raced people. Also, no batteries to rely on.

We love Spelling Workout. My 6 year old is a proficient reader and has used a phonics based reading program. This workbook makes her slow down and think about how the words are spelled and we also use our "best handwriting". She spells words exactly how they sound which is cute for family but usually not the correct spelling. I find this workbook the right amount of practice with 3-4 letter words to build a solid foundation for further writing.

I homeschool my son who just turned 6 in September. He would have started K this year in public school, but we are working on a first grade level. We use this for our spelling book. It works closely with our reading lessons. My son enjoys it and is enthusiastic about the lessons. We usually do two pages a day, take one day to write his own sentences using the spelling words and then a 'test' on Friday. We even do a four unit review test. It has improved his reading and he is more apt to write sentences now. We will continue with this series.

I learned about this workbook from several homeschooling sources and decided to give it a try. I do not home school but was looking for an enrichment/bridging activity to complete with my 6 yr. old son over the summer. This workbook is designed for the child in 1st grade and while we have not completed the book yet I am very pleased. The lessons only take about 15 minutes to complete and cover the same topics my son's teachers have been covering in school. There are 36 lessons in the workbook (perfect for doing over the summer.) The topics range from letters, beginning sounds, ending sounds, short/long vowels, blends, and digraphs. There are several reviews throughout the book to test your knowledge of previous lessons. I found this workbook correlates perfectly with the material currently being taught at our public elementary school. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting extra practice or to prepare for entering 1st grade!

Once Upon a Potty -- Boy
This book is a classic! It is well written and geared toward little boys and their specific body parts related to potty training. I think it helps to teach our son about his body and elimination in an easy and simple way.

I don't know if any one book actually helped get my son to potty train. I think it helped put the idea into his head though. Potty training is more difficult than I ever imagined, but I think we're getting there. I recommend this book though. Kind of odd drawings with pictures of the boy's rear end, but I guess kid's need to see it. Maybe.

Do not purchase this book. I looked for a few books to get my son excited about potty training. I don't consider myself to be an ultra conservative type, but after the first few pages I was appalled. I've read this book to my son once. Even my 10 year old daughter was disgusted by the book when she heard me reading it to my son.

This book did not catch my son's attention, for many reasons - I am sure. The illustrations were very bland. The book reads more like a textbook (with the exclusion of proper names for body parts). I think the author was more worried about being gramatically correct then having a fun to read book with an enticing cadence. One last thing... How can we expect our child to relate to Joshua's potty experience when his potty looks more like a bowl, large planter or old school pitcher?

I have used this book prior to potty training 3 generations of boys in our family. I introduce it about 6 months before I think each child will be ready for training. The kids love the story and the fact that the pictures are anatomically correct! They carry the book with them wherever they go and eventually "read" it to themselves.

This book is not a toilet training method or an end unto itself. I think it is best used to prepare children for the idea of using the potty. As a parent educator, mom and grandma I recommend it to all parents to use along with Toilet Training in Less Than A Day.I've never known these to fail if followed accurately!

This book is fabulous. Beautiful illustrations and very funny!
My little boy adores it and it's helping with his potty training.

What a wonderful find this was! Meticulously drawn expose of life behind the iron curtain and the nature of the human spirit. A gem of a book and the grandchildren aren't getting their stickies on this!

We in the West often cannot believe,or rufuse to believe what it must have been like to live behind 'The Iron Curtain'.Surely we are told,those tales of repression are merely 'Mc Carthyite propaganda' and 'cold war nonsense'.For some strange reason the idea of a socio political system that murdered more than one hundred million of it's own people while enslaving over a billion more is just too much to face.Leave it to a 'mere childrens book' to show us a slice of life behind the iron curtain.Peter Sis's book does more to open our eyes to life under communism than a spielberg movie ever could(or ever would).Using simple drawings he communicates the hopes and fears of those trapped on the other side of "the wall".Hope springs eternal and oppresion is ever present in a world where a young boy only wants to draw pictures and listen to music without the authorities telling him what to do and how to think and behave.Art and music were seen as powerfull tools and therefor powerfull weapons by soviet rulers.Play a guitar in the West and you were just like everyone else..maybe you could even make a living at it.In the East,a guitar or paintbrush or pen could get you imprisoned or even killed.The West was forbidden fruit.While the West tuned in turned on and dropped out in 1968,the people of Eastern Europe cowered against oppresion,while the West could'nt care less.Revollution was in the air,please dont confuse the issue by pointing out the results of said revollution.While we in the West fictionalsed socialism,it's victims turned to us and our freedom as if it were a drug.The Beachboys..the Beatles..Led Zeppelin.Powerful stuff.All the while the hopes and dreams of one little boy(and countless others)survived the brutallity of socialism and eventually survived to witness the collapse of the Iron Curtain.Sis survives and his artistic life continues.I dont know if this book can be compared to the likes of such works as "Maus" or other well known graphic books.It is a simple book,simply illustrated and simply told.But it is told well.But please dont think of it as a 'mere childrens book'.I can think of only too many grownups who could take a gander and maybe learn a thing or two.But that may be asking too much.Already i can hear some say "he's awfully tough on those poor socialists and way too easy on America".No...he is merely telling the truth...a small slice of life as it was.In fact,the reality was far more grim than even hinted at in this book.This is a simple book.An easy book.A good book for children (of all ages).This is a great book for a budding young artist or musician...or tenured proffessor or even Bay area resident.Liberals should love this book as much as conservatives(how many books can that be said of?).

I am a great fan of Peter Sis and collect all his books, this was my last acquisition. Being the same age and growing up in the same place, I can relate to everything he has to tell, and on top of it, between the lines my own thoughts and memories always resurface and add more dimensions to his story. My favorite of his books is the Tibet through the red box. There is an adventure, suspense, politics, the mysterious Tibet, and everything told so beautifully and illustrated with incredibly sweet detail!
The Wall is an important book and had to be told to the world, though many similar stories had been written on the subject. This one adds yet another facet. Again, the illustrations are fabulous, yet for me, personally, opening the book took some time. Apprehensions, goose bumps, unwillingness to relive those times and reopen old wounds...
In another of his books, The Three Golden Keys, on the publisher page is a tiny note: Thank you for a dream J.O.! A nice reminder that Jackie Onassis, who then worked for Doubleday, was an editor of the final outcome. It is somehow missing in his future books :(
So, yes, a good book to read, an important one, and hopefully it will lead to curiosity about his other books. They are too good not to own and collect.
By the way, did you know that Peter Sis made beautiful wall mozaiks for the New York subway station at 86th Street and Lexington? You must see it!

i read a handful of books over the holidays. this one hardly counts, since it took about a half hour to read. but i really enjoyed it. it's the illustrated autobiography of the author, who grew up in the prague, behind the iron curtain. he was an artist and musician, and the story tells what it was like to be a struggling artist in a repressed, controlled, communist state.

i loved his drawing style, which is comic-book-y, but with tons of detail. and the addition of selections from his journals adds a great sense of real-time to the text. if you like illustrated books, this is worth it.

Imagine a life where you could only draw what the government said you could draw. A life where you couldn't listen to music or read books of your own choice, you couldn't grow your hair long, and you were asked to report your parents if they said anything negative about the government.

This was what life was like for Peter Sis and countless others who grew up in Cold War Era Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule.

Through journal entries, captions, and the story of a boy who loves to draw (Sis), we get an account of the Cold War era from 1948 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The boy in the book is allowed to draw anything he wants at home, but when he starts school, he can only draw what he's told to draw. We learn how easy it is to brainwash children who are encouraged to report their parents if they hear them say anything against the government. To Sis, this is the way life is until he gets wind of things he isn't allowed to know about: rock `n roll music, the Beatles, Elvis Presley. We then learn what it's like to be oppressed, to be denied freedom and get glimpses of Sis' dreams to be free.

Sis' graphic-novel like book effectively conveys tone through color. With black and white sketches, the only splashes of color are communist red and the colors in the boy's drawings. During the Prague Spring of 1968, the colors in the book brighten, demonstrating hope and cheerfulness--colors of freedom. But they quickly go back to the black and white drawings when the totalitarian regime comes back in full force.

A stirring book, I recommend this for older kids who are able to grasp the seriousness of the content and even high school students who are studying the Cold War.