Nonfiction Books

I read this book before I gave it to my Granddaughter. I am truly impressed by all the Jonas Brothers. Nick Jonas sounds like a wonderful, spiritual and gifted, young man. The entire Jonas family sound like a great support group for these boys, as they climb the ladder of success.
The book is a very fast read. Most of it is taken from interviews. I will give you a good insight into the boys. If you like the Jonas Brothers, you will love them more, after you read this. If you don't know how you feel about Jonas Brothers, after you read this book, I think you will be a fan. I know I am.

I have been teaching foreign languages for 33 years and this is the dictionary I always ask my students to buy. My students must agree with my high opinion of the dictionary as my was stolen off my desk! I looked at other dictionaries before replacing mine but my choice was pretty clear from the start. Any dictionary that a student will take, must be one heck of a dictionary. I like the multiple choices for each word and how they give them in context. Do your Spanish teacher a favor, buy yourself this dictionary and leave hers on the desk.

I borrowed this dictionary from the local library to help me with my ESOL class (I have mostly Spanish-speakers). True, it doesn't have all the words I need but I really love it: it has so much! I also have decided to buy one for my daughter who's taking Spanish in college because she can't lug her BIG dictionary around with her and because she's not always doing her assignments in her bedroom (hence she's not using a dictionary at all if not in the room). When I majored in French 25 years ago, the dictionary with which I became VERY intimate was about the size of the U. of Chicago Dict., 5th Edition, and I was a wiz at finding what I needed, i.e., the bulk of what I needed was in something this size, and SIZE IS THE POINT here. When we need more words and nuances, use the bigger dictionary with MORE WORDS in it, the one we usually leave at home. But for flexibility AND ACTUAL "USEABILITY", use THIS ONE! As it is right now, Daughter keeps calling home and saying, "How do you say ...?"

the University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary is the very best Spanish-English dictionary available. It includes cultural notes and one can always find the needed word.

The Chicago dictionary and I have been together ever since its third edition, which was the best of its day. The fourth edition set a standard that I have not seen equalled. The fifth edition is a great disappointment, a wastrel son that has squandered the intellectual capital bequeathed him by his forebears.

Gone are all the fine distinctions that make a language not simply intelligible but meaningful. Gone are the phonology and history of the language that gave structure to our understanding. Gone are the regional precisions that, in this day of continent-wide cable TV emanating from Buenos Aires, Caracas, Mexico City, Miami, and Los Angeles, become ever more important.

On the bright side, the fifth edition's typography, while cramped, is easier to read.

But I can recommend the Chicago no longer. The fifth is decidedly for the short-attention-span crowd. If you don't want a dictionary written for elementary students, either get the fourth edition or look to a different publisher.

Remember the rubbish kids used in high school Spanish, taking their "Spanish" from the lady from Yourtown USA, who had never spoken Spanish in a Spanish-speaking country, or even spoken Spanish with a native speaker of Spanish? Remember the jocks taking "Spanish" in college for the distribution requirement, with the vacant looks on their faces, who got passed for football, or because their parents were alumni? Remember the textbook style stuff these people used (meaning bought and never cracked)? If you're nostalgic for that era, here's your "Spanish Dictionary". The U of Chi Spanish dictionary was always a bit brief, and the present crew seems to have thought that it should be even briefer, so here you have a "Brief Spanish Dictionary". It used to identify a lot of regional usages, in fact that was a selling point. Well, people complain about how much regional variation there is in Spanish, how slangy it is. Even Spanish native speakers! So, let's trim it down! Leave it to the New U of Chi Spanish Dictionary to lead the crusade against local idiosyncracy! Don't let those people in Chile or wherever get away with using their own lingo. Snuff it out! Don't list it, don't bother with it. It ain't there, no problem.
If the word ain't in your "Spanish" textbook, it ain't in this "dictionary". Welcome to "Spanish 101", eternally on the 101 level. No sangria, no senyorita, nada. No seas tonto, compa. Compra otro diccionario y aprende el castellano.

The Enlightenment was the turning point that created the World as we know it. The transition from the superstition and intolerance of religious dominated society, to the modern educated (at least in theory) democratic, science based lives we enjoy today.

This book is a good collection of examples of the kinds of thinking, and the free expression of those thoughts, that was impossible, and usually fatal in earlier times. Ideas that challenged the established order, and caught on like wildfire in the coffee houses and fraternal lodges where the future leaders of society gathered.

There are more complete and more detailed books available, but for a broad introduction to many of the important sources of the Enlightenment phenomenon, this book is a great start.

Dr. Kramnick does a disappointing job editing the selections in this volume. I constantly found that they missed key points to the individual papers, which lend a great deal to their meaning. It is always difficult when compiling an abridged reader of this nature. What stays in? What goes out? I recommend skipping this reader, if possible, especially if you are interested in the Enlightenment. Stick with the source documents for the "whole story".

This was the most helpful anthology when I needed to write a research paper on seventeenth century religion. It has sections for almost all aspects of life and contains various selections that truly show the Enlightenment spirit!

The eighteenth century Enlightenment is one of the most interesting and exciting periods of intellectual history. The thinkers of that age had a sizable impact on concepts of science, nature, politics, religion and society. How do we become immersed in the wealth of writing of that period, however, without giving up job and family in order to read the works of the Enlightenment authors?

This reader is an excellent book for novices and experienced readers alike. It is an excellent 600+ page book filled with short, pithy excerpts from the key thinkers of the period. Actually the writings go back as far as 1620 with an excerpt from Francis Bacon where he puts down the Greek philosophers and introduces what is to become the scientific method. Beccaria comes up with novel thinking on crime and punishment. Does the death penalty deter crime? How about the punishment fitting the crime instead of being meted out at the whim of some aristocrat?

Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau and Paine weigh in with their political philosophy. The skeptics speak up with their religious criticisms. Manners, morals, art, war, and gender and race issues are all discussed by the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft, David Hume, Reynolds, Pope, and Bentham.

Bite sized as these entries are, they give the flavor of Enlightenment thought. And, importantly for the general reader, they are all mentally digestible. You don't have to read every paragraph six times in order to get a glimmer of the authors' meanings. The represented authors are not just from France either. The best thinkers from France, Italy, Germany, the United States and Great Britain are represented.

The Age of Enlightenment, the Rise of Science, the art, and literature of the eighteenth century has always been an interest of mine. So you can imagine how amazed and elated I was when I came across this gold.

It has all the big enlightenment writers such as Voltaire, Diderot, Leibniz, Paine, Addison, Pope, Montesqieu, Franklin and many more. It gives a great run down of the wit, the result of the evolution of thought, politics, society and reason as seen in the words of these great minds.

The only thing that I didn't like about this is that there is no Hobbes, which is only a minor quibble. I just thought that since there is Descates, who is not of the eighteenth century enlightenment (17th century and dryer than dust), but a major influence (like Hobbes was included, Hobbes, who was a major link from Descartes to Locke should be included and the provacative and ENLIGHTENING words from The Leviathan should grace the pages of this indispensible book and yet another superb volume from the Viking Portable Library.

This is a question every elementary child asks their parent or teacher. Don't know the answer? Read this cute book and you will find out! A great book to teach one science concept of fall. Do leaf rubbings of leaves collected on a walk and you and your child will have a great afternoon of learning. Excellent text and pictures.

I used this book this semester while student teaching with a Kinder class. The kids really loved the illustrations, and the explanation of why the leaves fall. They were fascinated with the explanation of the pigment for red, yellow, and orange already being there. I'd reccomend it with older children too, as they might enjoy the science behind it even more, and there's more opportunities to actually have them describe the leaves and observe leaves in a section the way the book shows us we can.

I have this book in my preschool classroom, but it is not one that I read at storytime. We use it as a resource when one child begins to question how or why the leaves change color. It is a helpful resource for me as an adult to understand the process, yet in simple language and with pictures to make it interesting for children.

We are huge Todd Parr fans. This book is one of our very favorites. I especially appreciate the message that no feelings are bad,and that there are so many ways to express them!

My son really enjoys when I read this book to him. He has learned to act out the feelings like "scared", "happy", "crying" and "cranky"... we both laugh together everytime we go through this exercise when we read the book. It has also helped me control his toddler tantrum - when he starts being cranky, I simply remind him of the book and tell him to act out the other "feelings" - and he totally forgets why he was cranky! Thanks, Todd Parr! I would definitely recommend this book to parents of other toddlers.

Illustrations are fun and funny, and helps me (Dad) "illustrate" emotions for my young daughter. She finds the faces funny.

Great way to teach kids that everyone has feelings - some serious and some silly. Drawings are fun, and the message is beautiful.

I was hoping for a book that covered normal feelings like happy, sad, proud, etc. Instead this book is about off beat feelings like "I feel like camping with my dog." I am sure this is an appealing story for little children with all of the bright colors and pictures. However, if you are looking for legitamate feelings this is not the book.

A book that the primary children will love with great illustrations and information about the sea.

I used to watch the series on PBS when I was younger! It's great to see my daughter getting into this now! She loves the series of books and DVD's I purchased for her and just can't get enough of them!

My 8 year old loves The Magic School Bus series of books (he does not like the show). He read this to me for reading but we also use them for science. In this book we look at the bottom of the ocean and each of its phases - shore, intertidal zone, continental shelf, continental slope, deep ocean, trench, mountain, island, reef. It has just enough ridiculous to make it fun. Recommended for ages 6-9 years and reading level 3rd grade.

The magical Ms. Frizzle takes her class to the ocean in "The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor." The bus transforms itself as needed, from a submarine to a surfboard and the class clothing changes with it from scuba gear to Ms. Frizzle's beachball sandels. The bus travels the continental shelf to the deep ocean floor and on to tropical coral reefs, with numerous excursions for children to examine the details.

The illustrations are filled with facts, labeled wildlife and wise-cracking children. The information is easy to swallow as well as interesting and the humor relies on lame sarcasm and a silly lifeguard -- kids should love it.

These books are very complex. A lot of little "notations" accros the pages. My daughter is a little overwhelmed by it. More suitable for an 8 or 9 year old

If you have this book along with the tapes that go with it then it will help you with understanding spanish words during a conversation.

A required text (and the main one too) for my first Creative Writing class, Three Genres does just what it advertises: analyzes, dissects, and discusses the aspects of writing and reading fiction/non-fiction, poetry, and drama. Written and compiled by Professor Stephen Minot, Three Genres serves as a very handy assistant to getting started in writing your own material, mainly thanks to Minot analyzing various stories and poems and dissecting them to the last detail. Minot also further delves into avoiding the pitfalls that plague newbie writers, which is in fact the most helpful part of the textbook. Of the various stories and poems collected here, there is material from Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg, Shakespeare, John Updike, and Carole Oles among others; which nicely display the varying forms of literature and what one needs to tackle each genre of writing. All in all, for aspiring writers, Three Genres is a helpful and handy guide to get your feet off the ground, and should definitely be checked out by anyone and everyone interested in a career in writing.

Exactly as ordered. New and on time
Thanks

Excellent book to help young children learning basic addition skills. We started this book when my son was 4 years, 8 months. The going was slow for a while, but now we are more than halfway through the book, and I no longer have to guide him on every step. Prior to this book, he had not spent a lot of time learning to write his numbers (this was his first numbers workbook), and now he can write his number 1-29 without help.

For the reviewer who mentioned the pages were full of too many math problems for one sitting, I agree. We improvise, and I divide each page in half with a marker. He gets a sticker for each half-page he completes.

Most importantly, my son's confidence has dramatically improved. When we began the book, he was unsure of himself and easily confused by the many numbers, but time and patience has won out--and he races to get his book now.

I received this product in a timely manner,product in good condition.

I just love the Kumon workbooks because they are so well organized, with pages that are simply laid out and they introduce the information incrementally. It appeals to the learning style of my five year old. I was a tiny bit disappointed by how extremely simple this workbook is. It only covers adding 1 and 2 to the numbers 1 through 29. It says it right there on the cover but somehow I missed it. I would say it's definitely pre-school level and not kindergarten as I'd hoped. I'll probably just do a few of the pages with my five year old and order the next book to do this year with her and let my four year old use this when I need her to have busy-work. The information builds very slowly in this workbook and so it might not be ideal of the child who likes variety in their workbook pages or who struggles with being under-challenged or gets bored really quickly. However for my daughter this will be perfect.

I have brought all of the Kumon workbooks. Most of the other workbooks are full of bright colorful pictures with lessons containing just the right amount of sit down work. That is not true with this book. It is just pages full of problems -- too many of them for one sitting. They call it simple, because you are only adding 1 to numbers 1 to 29, but it is a bit much for a child trying to learn this for the first time. The book is fine for speed improvements, but find a different book for first time learners.