change Books

This is a good mystery, and the copy I received was new. It arrived in a timely manner. Sunny Randall is an outstanding character.

PI Sunny Randall's father has been called back as a consultant to the Boston police department. A cold case that wss never solved has now become a hot case when a serial killer reappears after a 20 year absence. He brings Sunny into the case as an assistant.

This is an interesting, fairly quick read that will hold your attention. It has some side issues about relationships and about Sunny's family. It brings up an issue that has been discussed on an Internet Forum about the ability (or inability) to share your space with someone as Sunny deals with issues in her personal life.

It is not so much a mystery as the guilty party in the serial killing case is identified early. It is more a procedural issue about dealing with the situation.

The plot was extremely linear. There was only one suspect and he was discovered early on. The final reveal of motives was like a 5 minute voice over. Mr Parker came recommended but I guess he's just old and tired now.

He used to be able to write - good plots, tight dialog, believable characterizations, good reads. In this and others of his recent books - inane dialog, stupid plots, cardboard cutout characters, really boring, predictable reads. Lucky thing I borrowed this - if I had paid for it I'd really have been annoyed. It's a waste of time.

Spare Change by Robert Parker teams up Sunny Randall and her father in a case involving a serial killer who drops coins next to the bodies of his victims. Although Parker's dialogue is always razor sharp and his characters well delineated, there's a certain perfunctory quality about the plot that perhaps comes from writing too many crime dramas over the years. You won't be disappointed by this book, but you won't necessarily remember it as one of Parker's best, either. A good airport read. You'll enjoy yourself between the soft drinks and the on board movie.

Donald Gallinger is the author ofThe Master Planets

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU'RE SELF TEACHING!

This is book is required for my general chemistry for science majors class. What a terrible book, I hope that there is a better chemistry text out there.

My first complaint is the large number of mistakes I've found in the book, usually a missing division sign or unit. Without searching I've found at least five in the two months I've been using this book. This is a fourth edition, for the price of the book and this many reprintings I expect a better editing job.

Secondly it is written from the stance that the reader has a science background and often I find myself puzzling over a single problem for up to an hour trying to figure out how the author arrived at the conclusion (And I have a science background). The writers make too many assumptions when writing out an example problem and don't adequately explain their reasoning. Each concept has two example problems, the first has the solution written out. IF you want to know the solution for the other "example" you're going to have to buy the solutions manual for an additional $65.

Third, the solutions manual has mistakes as well, even comparing the answer from the back of the text to the solutions manual the authors are not consistent.

There are not very many simple problems to drill a student with a concept, the authors approach is the exact opposite. Assume the reader "gets it" after a single example problem and then at the end of the chapter increase the difficulty level of the problem ten fold. The problems are good if you want a challenge and want to develop problem solving abilities, but are useless for developing the fundamental concepts that the book is supposed to teach.

I would recommend the Silberberg text to someone who wants a refresher, but if you're new to chemistry, avoid at all costs!

along with chemistry the central science by brown, this is a great book. i think using both books in tandem is well worth it.

It is a very good text book and it was cheaper than the bookstores at the university.

Although this book essentially starts from scratch, I'd recommend it to people who have already had high school chemistry. If you haven't had that, you should still do okay, but you may have to spend some extra time and effort since some of the most basic concepts are only skimmed over. They spend much more time on the material that you probably didn't cover in depth in high school chemistry.

First off, I would say that the book's content is excellent. It is an introductory (sort of) textbook, but it covers most of its topics in plenty of depth (at least as much as you would expect from an introductory general chemistry textbook). Also, the book does a great job at explaining the material in a clear fashion and it provides tons of illustrations. It is a very visual text and the author is obviously aware of the fact that visualizing chemical structures is extremely useful in understanding many of the concepts. This is especially useful in the section on covalent bonding.

The book also provides tons of useful exercises at the end of each chapter. The exercises range from very easy to fairly challenging, but they never seem too frustrating. Generally, I'd say that the exercises leaned more towards "easy" and are mostly just straight-forward applications of the material. Note: If you're having trouble, check out the ChemSkill Builder site. The exercises help a lot and it gives you useful feedback.

Whether it's for a class or for self-study, I would pick this book over any other.

This book is in very good shape. It is a paper back version but the contents are exactly the same as a hardback version. The pages and chapters are the same. The cover of the book has slightly curled edges due to it being used. Other than that, the book is in good condition.

People who are giving this book a poor review either have not read the book (some admitted to that) or are completely missing the point and did not stick to the routine. The bottom line is what gives you the most bang for your buck in the most efficient manner possible. In other words, doing the least in order to get the most. You will get that from this routine. IF you follow the recommendations and stick to it you will be getting a lot of bang and not have to spend hours of your time each week trying to get it. The book is not so much "anti-cardio", it's just that cardio is not nearly as effective and "healthy" as we've been lead to believe, so why risk injury doing it. We've been fed a complete bill of goods when it comes to cardio. The FACT of that is strongly pointed out and backed up in this book. Aerobic exercise does very little for the heart and nothing for the lungs. That is fact. It's also not nearly as effective a weight loss tool as you would think. The people whose doctors are telling them to do cardio for the health of their heart are uninformed doctors. Autopsies of life-long marathon runners show extreme artery blockage just like someone who's never run a step in their lives. Even Ken Cooper, the father of the aerobics movement, admits that aerobic fitness is not necessary for good health. Fitness does not equate to health, that's the point. I've been a life long runner who, now in my early 40's, may have a bum hip as a result. Don't make that mistake! I've quit running and now only lift weights and do some walking. If you enjoy something that is also "cardio", such as tennis or walking, continue to do so if those activities give you that enjoyment. This program will only serve to enhance those activities, you just don't HAVE to do them to be healthy.

In simple, non-scientific language, this book explains why going slow is the way to do it. I've just started using this approach and it seems to work. The book falls a bit short by not showing showing a wide range of exercies.

I have waited years to review this book: I bought it five years ago with "The Power of Ten" when I was a professional Pilates instructor. At the time, I was 33, and working as a Pilates teacher in the busiest Pilates studio in the city--of which I was the owner. I did this program for three months without following the dietary recommendations other than cutting out bread and pasta. Clients who hadn't seen me in a few months looked dumbstruck when they saw me: "WHAT are you doing? Your hips are gone!"

Some people are foodies: I'm an exercise-ie. I like trying new ways to work out, and one of the things that made me a good Pilates teacher is that I made a point of trying to figure out which exercises worked best for certain body types. One of my students who took from me for years came to me one day, and said, "I love this stuff for the meditation, but I've gone back to the gym. Heavy weight training is the only thing that makes me physically smaller."

I had a hard time believing her: weight training with light reps and little weight had always made me bulk up--one of the things I loved about Pilates is that it didn't make me bigger.

However, I was frustrated with the fact that although Pilates had done incredible things for my coordination, flexibility, strength and overall appearance, and it had made me lot thinner than I would be without it, I had never been able to make my legs much smaller. (Prussian ancestors. Enough said.)

So, I started reading about heavy weight lifting, including another book like this called the "Power of Ten". I chose the routine in this book over the "Power of Ten" because it seemed safer. The exercises in this book use a very limited range of motion--they specifically avoid challenging your balance or using your rotator cuff with your arms out to the side, movements which I had seen injure clients when done with a heavier weight, both in my own practice and from people who had shown up to my studio with black eyes. (Stability ball and heavy hand weights. Hmm...that will end well.)

Anyway, from following this program, I became the thinnest I have been in my adult life, with the exception of the years I went to strict Iyengar yoga classes three days a week. (I love yoga, but to really get the muscles activated you have to concentrate in ways that feel like work. Now that I work for a living, some weeks I'm not up for that.)

Aside from the fact that this takes less time and less mental effort than some other kinds of strength training, I never felt like I was about to get hurt while doing this routine. Traditional weight training programs use movements that might injure some people precisely because of the large range of motion required; the number of repetitions required by standard weight training can cause overuse injuries or injuries because of poor form when you have to do so many of them.

All in all, I highly recommend this workout. But, I disagree entirely with the idea that this is all you need. I found that I had much better results in terms of lack of pain and tightness when I did this workout and then did the Pilates matwork for thirty minutes afterward: we've all seen those guys at the gym who are bound up by their arm muscles. That's what happens when you use a muscle to the point that it has to repair and then don't re-set the resting muscle tone to its normal length--the muscle heals shorter. Not good.

Also, I found that it was really helpful to do a Pilates machine workout on the third day to work out the lactic acid and to remind myself not to start hunching over with my newfound, but still-not-entirely healed-and-slightly-painful strength.

Finally, you will have to do more exercise than this workout if you are expecting to lose fat: both authors are from cities where people walk. I think that fact causes an error in the thought process used by both authors to evaluate how exercise effects the human body; their test populations were doing this with another form of exercise before they started weight training. Furthermore, most of the people featured in both the "Power of Ten" and this book have active jobs like teaching and modeling. So, the experience of both authors had to be that doing just this workout once a week will make you thin--but, the results are actually from walking with this workout.

Truly, without some extra activity, it doesn't work: I found that when I stopped being a Pilates teacher and got a more sedentary job, this was not enough exercise to keep me from gaining weight, even though I was actively dieting. There is a, 'calories-in, calories-out' truthism here. Also, both human growth hormone and metabolism are stimulated by intermittent activity, which would require more than once a week exercise. (See the book, "The Spark." by Gaesser.)

In addition, you need to walk or run or jump or dance for other reasons--there is a lot of evidence that even very mild cardiovascular exercise improves brain function dramatically in a way that strength training does not. If part of your goal as you get older is to keep your marbles, weight training is not enough.

That's not to say you can do this and keep up a heavy workout schedule: it wouldn't work--it would just be overtraining. However, when combined with some kind of Pilates, yoga, or stretching, and even a little bit of walking, um, well, yeah, this is the magic bullet.

After I decided to finally get serious about starting a resistance training regimen a few weeks ago, I received several e-mails from my blog readers who told me to look into the "slow burn" method for training. I had no idea what they were talking about because I wasn't really into weight lifting until recently. It turns out this was a unique form of weight lifting that was developed by Fred Hahn in conjunction with two of my favorite low-carb advocates: Dr. Michael Eades (who should be our next president, ya know...LOL!) and his lovely wife Dr. Mary Dan Eades.

Hahn as been a professional trainer for over two decades and believes people have been given useless information as it relates to exercise. As a natural skeptic of anything regarding health since starting low-carb, my curiosity was piqued. Rather than doing hours upon hours of cardio training every week, Hahn says, why not invest in a deliberate and very intense weight lifting that is unlike anything you've ever seen or done before? That's what The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution is all about and it will radically change what you think you know about building muscle.

When these strategies outlined by Hahn and the Eades are implemented correctly, your body will get stronger, burn more fat, rev up your metabolism, and you'll do it faster than you ever thought would be possible. In fact, he says you can get all the workout you need in just 30 minutes a week. Yep--A WEEK!

In conjunction with a healthy low-carb lifestyle, you'll be lifting slowly, feeling the burn in your muscles quickly, and getting stronger and stronger as the weeks go by. Whether you have access to gym equipment or if you can only fit it in your schedule from home, it's all in this book and then some. Specific detailed instructions about the exercises you need to do are included and they answer all the questions you may have about each one.

After spending a lifetime of torturing yourself on a treadmill to try to lose weight with little to no results, maybe it's time to give The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution a try to get stronger, feel better, and do your body some good.

I was very interested in the concept of the slow burn work out. The book began with interesting concepts and theories though a bit brief (book is only 181 pages). However when it got to the exercises' it only had 13 for the gym and it looked like exercise for dummies in slow motion. There is minimal description and use info with no alternatives. Also, since muscles tend to adapt to the same routine there were no alternatives for developing a long term program.

This book is a total waste of time and money. The Eade's duo have done a real disservice to their Protein Power reputation by putting out a quick money raising hack of a self help book.

I must admit, being a big Danielle Steele fan, I have been disappointed in her last few books. But Amazing Grace is a real hit! I couldn't put it down! I read it in two days. She doesnt repeat herself all the time in this book as she does in previous books. It's solid story from cover to cover. I highly recommend the book!

Although I found the romance between the nun and journalist unbelievable. I did find this story heartwarming.

While this is a typical Danielle Steel novel, I didn't consider it one of her best. The plot was too predictable. Shipping was TERRIBLE.

I wont say it was a great book, but I will say it was a great read. I enjoyed it and read it in a few days. I disagree that it was a boring book. I have not read her before but will try another of hers, if they are similar than I will be happy with that.

In this novel, Danielle Steel has created several genuine characters who really deserve your attention and admiration. The storylines are interesting and you won't find any two characters with the same set of problems to face and deal with. Yet each character faces his or her own set of circumstances in his or her own way and deals with them honestly. Amazing Grace is one of Danielle Steel's better novels.
Jo A. Fulkerson
Author, For Love of Teddy

I enjoyed this book because it forced me to take a long, hard look at myself and what I have been doing to get in my own way. If you are serious about changing old patterns get this book.

Very interesting hints and points how to meet people who match with your intrests and needs.

This book was recommended by a psychologist I met while traveling in southeast Asia. Even though the title is a strong, the book is amazing. It is an easy read and really helps you look at yourself. This book does NOT put the blame of being single on others or your environment. Each chapter focuses your issues/hangups with relationships. You will need a small notebook or a few sheets of paper to do the exercises at the end of each chapter.

In addition to looking at your issues/hangups, it also helps you realize what you are looking for in a partner and reflecting on past relationships.

Now that I have finished reading it and have talked about it with my friends, they want to buy it too.

I found this book too be a little depressing and misguiding. The author gives many examples and discussions of realtionships that went wrong which may be helpful in deciding to get out of a relationship but doesn't do much to help find a good one. The viewpoint is definitely biased towards the female side of what intimacy should be like which I feel is unfair to men and not helpful. Men are men, thank goodness. The author also prescribes to the idea that no one will love you unless you love yourself, that you have to get past your fears of intimacy before you will find the right person and that commitment phobes are people with "issues" (as opposed to being just your standard every day jerk). In general the book is unmotivating and not real world.

If you have ever wondered why you're single, this is the book for you. It surpassed my expectations and is something I'll be recommending to friends. The book deals with the complexities in personal relationships and causes you to analyze your own behavior and confront some of your issues. It is LESS about men and their behavior and more about you: Which is the way to find healthy love by having happiness begin with you. Some great topics it covers are: examining your hidden ambivalence, how to say no when you're in the wrong relationship, how to detect and avoid men who aren't going to commit, and the best part: how to identify and say no to "BTN's", which are better than nothing relationships. A pivatol point in the book was when she discussed how you can be with a really great guy, but there might be one thing missing. And if it's something big then you have to walk away rather than settle for someone who is "almost" Mr. Right. I think many people settle and this book will show you how not to.

This book was paradigm-shifting and worldview-changing. And I considered myself generally "with it" as far as technology and globalization is concerned.

Friedman is fantastic at showing the world the way it is but revealing all types of processes and events happening in the background that very few people are aware of. He made me realize how ignorant I was without making me feel stupid.

He shares a few words on the future and what we as a country should do, as well as what each of us as individuals should do in order to keep up with global competition and supply-chaining, but the majority of his treatise is on what's happening now and how it's already affecting our world. From outsourcing typical jobs that Americans have relied on for so long, to the revolution of "uploading" and every Tom, Dick and Harry providing their own content that is more easily accessed and more up-to-date than the big content providers, this new flat world is already here, as Friedman points out. It's both exciting and nerve-wracking; and I look forward to more of it while still dreading it a little.

I thought this would be a good book. No new ideas are even presented. Save your money. Let me see if I can sum it up.

China and India are taking wealth from the US due to the fiber optic channels. No kidding.

Everyone has access to information due to the Internet.
OUtsourcing is great for both sides.

America better learn or we're doomed. (I summed it up)

Anyhow, he failed to mention AL GOre invented the internet and we'll all die by global warming soon enough.

Tom Friedman ' s , The World Is Flat , is the consumate synopsis on the "world" we live in today . We live in a world economy , and all nations must adhere to this fact if they are to survive and compete . Anyone living today should read this book---or listen to it on Audio CD which I have done 4 times---so he/she is cognizant of the ever-changing world and the challenges ahead . If you have not read Friedman ' s book you are ( somewhat ) ignorant of the 21st century world .

Very interesting review of the developments of the cybernet revolution and its implications for human development.The remaining question is "What's next"? From "flat" to "point"?!

This book is anything but a broad and well-considered critique of where the author sees us heading. I suppose it can best be viewed as a survival kit for our current century. "Survival" does not inherently make life more interesting, beautiful or purposeful. For the fortunate few who find the projected future particularly adaptive, the life ahead of us might be bright and rosy. But for the many, it could simply spell out a higher level of consumerism and considerable ennui.

On the plus side Mr. Friedman manages to provoke the reader into a speculative frame of mind and a critique of our evolving world -- should "it" manage to survive! In the pursuit of an affordable future for most of us and a frantic pursuit for wealth-maintenance by the few, will traditional quality of life issues continue to even get addressed, let alone preserved? Can we afford to treat global war(n)ing as somewhat of a side issue while its growing impact creeps down the coastline of the Americas and threatens more havoc. If the world economy is becoming so robust, why can't we solve the energy and environmental crises and possibly save future humanity? What does the current failing in this regard reflect about contemporary human values and real quality of life issues?

Overall, I found the book to be a vivid and accurate depiction of where we are and where we are heading - certainly worth reading. But there is a paucity of philosophical underpinnings that weakens the foundation for projecting a vastly brighter future ahead of us.

This is my first GMAT guide so far but I have found it very helpful. Every section reviews standard test taking as if you have never taken one before. Also, it goes into deep enough details that you feel comfortable when taking all of the sample tests. This book may not be the only book that one should purchase before taking the GMAT, but it is a helpful tool towards doing well.

Apart from the official guide, there isn't much to choose from out there so Kaplan provides a needed resource.


* Questions don't reflect the same degree of difficulty as the real test but at least there is an attempt to present new material as opposed to the "real" questions that you will come across in other resources.

* The coaching style Kaplan adopts in offering advice on strategies is useful. Timing is always an issue so a good tip I would offer is apply the strategies to your weak areas first and test them out.

* Still on timing but from another perspective, whilst everyone is different, Kaplan should recommend a specific prep time and not sit on the fence. Realistically, prepping for the real test requires more than a month - and before you shout you did it in less (!) I'm talking about the least stressful approach.

* Neither the official guide nor Kaplan tackle the complexity of the math tests - I would recommend additional resources if you are weak in this area - possibly EZ.

If you are only just embarking on this path, I suggest that you take your first practice test "cold", i.e. without referring to any guide whatsoever. THEN start your coaching program. You will find the measurable improvement as you continue to take practice tests (and you should take as many as you can)will motivate you and give you the confidence you need to keep going!

In conclusion, could you pass the test without this book - perhaps, but why take a chance? It's not perfect but it's very good. Is there a better one out there? I haven't come across it yet so if someone else has, would be glad to hear of it.

I hope this helps someone out there.

I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to prep for the GMAT. I had previously purchased a Kaplan book in prep to take the PCAT- and it was a great preparation for that test, so I had no hesitation in going to Kaplan a second time for GMAT prep. The format for GMAT was unlike any other test I had taken, but this Kaplan book was right on with explaining how to tackle the different types of questions they throw at you.
I didn't have much time to prepare for the test, so I focused mainly on my weak areas (in math!) - and ended up getting a 600 , enough to get into my intended program.

I think this is a very good review product for the GMAT exam, especially for the ones who work full-time and try to prepare for the exam. The information is very helpful and the explanation is detailed. I am glad that I chose this book to help me to prepare for the GMAT exam.

This is a helpful guide to studying for the GMAT, but not an exhaustive one. I recommend using it at the start of your GMAT studies to get a good introduction to the test's mechanics and a general sense of each section. For practice questions and more in-depth, area-specific review, look elsewhere.

The book provides a succinct, easy-to-understand summary of each section and the key takeaways, but if you have any area-specific weaknesses or knowledge gaps, this book will not be enough. For example, there's a great section in the back that provides a review of almost all the basic math knowledge you'll need to have down cold, but the explanations given are short and sometimes represent only one way (and not always the fastest or simplest way) of doing a particular type of problem. Knowing all the basic math is not enough; you have to know how to apply it in many different ways under time-constrained conditions. The Kaplan guide is not going to fill that need for you, and in fact, if you use some of Kaplan's strategies (e.g., plugging in numbers) without a good grasp of the underlying principles, you could be worse off because the GMAT is designed precisely to trip you up on such mental shortcuts.

The practice questions skew toward the difficult side and answer explanations vary from decent to good, but as other reviewers have mentioned, some of the questions are not representative of the actual types of questions you will see on the GMAT. I also noticed a few typos and question errors sprinkled throughout the book and the CD, which seemed sloppy for a guide book to a test where attention to detail is key, and one that has already gone through multiple editions.

In short, if I could do it all over again, this is how I would use the book: at the start of my prepping, read over the strategy sections to get a basic understanding of the GMAT, and later on in my studies, do the practice questions once I've exhausted all Official Guide practice material and have those down cold.

I have a friend who bought this book and is using it to lose weight. It is actually working for her, as unusual as the idea sounds. I plan to begin it soon.

Dr. D'Adamo's Eat Right 4 Your Type identified foods for my blood type that make me feel better. Eat Right 4 Your Type was a revolutionary work. The GenoType Diet is an evolution of Eat Right 4 Your Type that integrates genetic identity with nutrition, and creates individualized diets. He separates us into six separate genetic types - Hunter, Gatherer, Teacher, Explorer, Warrior, and Nomad - and describes how to figure out which type we each fall into. Then he prescribes what foods to emphasize and what we should avoid for our type. The book reveals how diet and lifestyle affect gene expression and how we can influence the turning on and off of certain genes so as to positively impact health, weight, and longevity. His writing style is lively and enjoyable. This book is innovative and interesting, and I especially appreciate its emphasis on how our eating and lifestyle changes can positively impact our bodies all the way down to the level of gene expression. Good accompany books are Eat Right 4 Your Type and THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong, Live Your Dreams

Figuring out your geno type on Dr. D'Adamo's GenoType Diet can be confusing and definately requires a friend to help you with the various measurements. But changing to some of the strange foods and avoiding foods you've eaten all your life turned out to be remarkably easy for me. I found all my cravings disappeared almost immediately. In seven weeks I lost nine pounds without dieting--in fact I ate more than I normally would, and my sinus condition cleared up.

It was funny to me that health foods like yogurt that I originally had to teach myself to like were actually on my toxin list. And foods like ostrich (one of my diamond foods) which I would never have considered trying, not only tastes great, it made me feel wonderful and very energetic.

My daughter and I were shopping and stopped to eat at a large restaurant chain that had ostrich on their menu. Normally I would never have tried it, but it was on my list so I thought "What the heck". Shortly after we left my daughter remarked that it had certainly perked me up, and I noticed that I felt a remarkable sense of well-being that I don't feel after eating beef--one of my neutral foods.

My daughter is a Gatherer and has never been able to eat white or brown rice without a tummy ache. We discovered both of them on her toxin list. But Basmati brown rice was on her superfoods list and she was amazed how good she felt after eating it.

That's another point the doctor makes. There can be one Explorer in a family of Gatherers, (or any combination of types) which could explain why the health of one member of the family may not be up to parr while the rest of the family is thriving. What's healthy for the rest of the family may be all wrong for them.

Dr. D'Adamo noted that when he was in school what was stressed were all the tests that discovered which foods people were allergic to, and some poor people found themselves with almost nothing to eat at the end of the testing. What he has discovered is that there are superfoods for each GenoType that actually rebuild the cells of the body. If you go into this plan with an open mind and decide you're going to track down and try some of these outrageous sounding foods you'll not only have a good time--you'll feel great.

Having had good results with Dr. D'Adamo's diet and cookbook based on my blood type, I looked forward to this new book. When I got the book, I glanced through it . . . and was discouraged to see that I was going to need help to apply the measurements.

So the book sat there, and sat there, and sat there. Finally, I decided that I would try to do it on my own. It wasn't easy to do the measurements. But I was intrigued.

But I really couldn't finish the measurements without help. I talked my wife into helping me, and she had a hard time figuring out the answers.

In several of the measurements, there was essentially no difference between measurement A and measurement B and the ties went one way rather than the other. That seemed odd. I also found the directions to be ambiguous in several cases, but I did my best.

I was still looking forward to seeing what foods I should emphasize. Here is where the book threw me for a loop. Many of the items on the superfoods to emphasize were ones that I've never seen in a grocery store. Here are some examples: goat, rabbit, emu, ostrich, partridge, pheasant, quail, squab, bullhead, butterfish, carp, chub, croaker, cusk, drum, halfmoon fish, harvest fish, ocean pout, sucker wolffish, goose egg, quail egg, sailfish roe, paneer cheese, Romanian urda, adzuki bean, chia seed, lotus root, lotus seeds, moth bean, sapodilla, hard-long bean, babassu oil, camelina oil, chia seed oil, grape seed oil, hemp seed oil, oat oil, perilla seed oil, shea nut oil, tea seed oil, amaranth, fonio, Job's tears, teff, kanpyo, oyster plant, acai berry, canistel, carissa, cherimoya, cloudberry, feijoa, goji, mamey sapote, konjac.

The list of foods to avoid was equally obscure. I'm sure I won't have any trouble missing those.

There were a few foods I've avoided because they are high glycemic that this book promotes for me (honey, watermelon, etc.). Since I have trouble keeping the weight off, I'm not so sure what to do in those areas.

The main encouragement is that the book's description of my health was pretty accurate (lots of undiagnosed illnesses that puzzle doctors, extreme sensitivity to environmental pollution, lots of allergies, gallstones, liver problems, etc.).

Unless I wanted to read an awful lot of scientific articles, I just have to take it on faith that the work is accurate. That leaves me feeling uncomfortable.

I'll probably mainly use this book to add a few more items to avoid. So I'm not so sure how much it helped me to have read it. The supplements list wasn't well explained so I doubt if I'll use those.

So am I better off for having read the book? I don't know. That's why I gave the book three stars.

I am a naturopathic doctor that has practiced for 12 years and seen many patients. Healing can be such a struggle sometimes. It is almost as if we are walking in the dark sometimes. Patients get better, than worse. What happened?

I need a clearer understanding of diet, and more specifically which diet is best for which patient. This is the best answer out there. If there is a doctor that has done more research on the issue I would like to know who it is. I have only had the chance to try the diet on myself and a few dozen clients, but I am very encouraged by the results.

I read through the reviews, and being human paid more attention to the negative reviews than the positive. All that I can say is that I heard Dr. D'Adamo speak at a medical conference where he discussed his research and was also awarded donor of the year for his contribution to a group promoting the use of natural medicine.

It is complicated. But Dr. D'Adamo makes it clear to focus on the parts you can do. I read a letter from a mom trying to institute the changes for her whole family at once. That is impossible. I did myself first, and after seeing good results I have genotyped my kids. Once you get the pattern it is actually a fun way to get the family thinking about their bodies and the influence that the environment has on them.

I think there is a lot to gain by understanding this work. I have a picture of one client that went through major changes by just understanding the message of Dr. D'Adamo's bloodtype diet. I am looking forward to more healing for my clients through the genotype diet.

[...]

As the educational jargon increases and changes, it is important to keep abreast of the latest. This book provided information which I really needed

Today the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported that although American high school seniors are getting better academic grades, their literacy and mathematics skills are actually regressing. The most likely culprit: grade inflation. Yet the drumbeat among elite educrats to adopt the Professional Learning Communities fad throughout the nation's high schools continues unabated. While PLC is certainly not to blame for the trend documented by these latest NAEP figures (it hasn't been around long enough), its dumbfounding popularity among education reformers is proof that the current educational leadership in this country is not to be trusted. How should we define "academic achievement"? Both PLC and (to a lesser extent) the federal No Child Left Behind law define it as all students performing at the same level and all teachers teaching their subjects the same way. In other words, the goal of PLC is conformity--the exact opposite of what a quality education in a democratic society should stand for.

When teachers and students are pressured to conform to the same standards, it is inescapable that the standards themselves must be mediocre. The kind of school climate advocated by DuFour will only lead to more teachers handing out more A's for less work, or for inferior work. The most gifted and motivated students will have to be ignored because of the constant pressure on teachers to keep the low end of the student population from failing. But what if we started at the high end of the spectrum instead, teaching everything as if it were an honors class? Our brightest and most hardworking students might achieve their full potential and save us all from the intellectual wasteland our country is becoming. The middle and low-end students would have to struggle to keep up. And yes, a lot of them would be likely to fail...at least until they discovered the will to apply themselves and take their own education seriously. It would be a hard lesson for them, but a valuable one in the long run.

Unfortunately, there are no well-funded think-tanks, education professors, or consultants advocating this approach at the moment.

The collaborative work of Richard DuFour (Superintendent of Adlai Stevenson High School District 125, Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Robert Eaker (Dean of the College of Education, Middle Tennessee State University), Professional Learning Communities At Work: Best Practices For Enhancing Student Achievement offers the reader informed and informative information on how to transform any private or public school into a results-oriented "professional learning community" based upon practices from some of the best schools in the country. Professional Learning Communities At Work covers curriculum development, teacher preparation, school leadership, professional development programs, school-parent partnerships, and assessment practices. Of vital interest to education professionals, Professional Learning Communities At Work is completely accessible and highly recommended reading for parents and other non-specialist general readers with an interest in improving their community schools and school systems.

Professional Learning Communities at Work (Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement) by Dr. Richard Dufour and Dr. Robert Eaker, is a well-written/user-friendly piece of literature. This book may be useful as a text for graduate and/or post-graduate level students who are studying and/or working within the area of education, administration, and/or curriculum and instruction. It is also an excellent resource to have if you are dealing with staff and/or curriculum development. The basic premise of the book goes about showing how (via PLC's (Professional Learning Communities)/Small Learning Communities) school staff and administration can work collaboratively to help change, redefine, and/or shape their school's mission and goals. Through this teaming process and through the steps/best practices the authors suggest; school improvement, cultural change, and positive curriculum development and implementation can more likely be achieved.

Another book from a writer who says "I was anti-nuclear but I think different now". What sort of message can we expect from somebody who says "In 50 years of operation, they have caused no deaths to the public"? Obviously she has never heard about Chernobyl, or the cancer clusters near Sellafield and La Hague. And still she does not answer the questions that environmentalists raise about nuclear power: What are we going to use when we run out of uranium? what do we do about people living near nuclear power stations who get sick and die? What are we going to do with nuclear waste? Not to mention all the "what-if's" about accidents and possible terrorist attacks. This book shows you one side of the story, and hides the other one.

The good sides of this book are manifold. First of all, probably due to the fact that the author is a professional novelist, one has to say that "it reads like a book": it is difficult to put it down, and the fourhundred something pages are read with ease and fun. The second good side of this book is that it is full of very interesting, and not always well-known information, even to people in the field. It is a mixture of technical issues and human relationships.

However, there were two points that irritated me somewhat. First of all is the somewhat naive attempt at "showing that we are environmental activists too". The arguments put forward should stand by themselves, and not because the authority in the book (Rip Anderson) and his wife are also local concerned activists for one or other ecological cause.
The other point I found disappointing was the somewhat simplistic technical treatment of several key aspects in the nuclear power happening. The main point I found disappointing was the missing of a clear discussion of fuel reprocessing, fast breeders, thermal reactors and so on. These subjects are touched upon, but they are very vaguely treated ; nevertheless, this is an essential part in the future of nuclear power if it is to have a future. In other words, at the end of the day, you have to take some expert's word for it, as the book doesn't give you the means to verify some aspects yourself in a logical derivation, even though most of the information in the book is factually correct.

That said, this book is a very good read for people who have been fed on the vocal absurdities spread around by anti-nuclear activists such as Helen Caldicott. A read of both is probably a good thing, but one should start with "Power to save the world", as it gets most of its facts right.

Ms. Cravens has written a very good book discussing the complete nuclear power cycle from a lay person's perspective. Her discussions concerning power baseloading and comparing nuclear sources to coal sources for powering the national power grid are narratives that are rarely, if ever, discussed outside of the power industry due to the emotional issues that nuclear power brings forth in people.

As a non-technical author and former protester against nuclear power, Ms. Cravens tackles the subject material of nuclear power, the security issues, health issues and comparisons to other major power sources with a thoroughness not usually seen at this level. Her approach to "tag along" with noted retired DOE scientist, Rip Anderson and his openness and patience towards teaching a non-technically trained person the ins and outs of the nuclear power cycle add to the narrative. The unique approach she takes to treat her investigation of nuclear power as a personal journey leads to Ms. Cravens' ultimate understanding that nuclear power must be one of the power sources we rely on for our power needs as we go into the 21st century.

The book provides an excellent overview partly due to the length of time it takes for Ms. Craven's accounts of her travels and interviews to be written. Ms. Cravens does not try to write this book in 3 or 6 months just to ride the coattails of the latest nuclear headlines. Instead she took the time she needed to fully understand nuclear power, other sources of electrical power and the subject of baseloading before finalizing her book. The time was well spent as she is able to competently write about the use of nuclear power in today's world of shrinking inventory of carbon based fuels, greenhouse effects and increasing international tensions.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is truly interested in the discussion and future of nuclear power. It does not answer every technical question but that was never the goal of the book. What Ms. Cravens' book does is address the necessary critical technical and nontechnical questions about the nuclear power cycle and the power needs of the United States from a layperson's level. This book should be used as reference material for any critical discussions or debates concerning the pros and cons of nuclear power.

It's thorough and thought provoking -- enough to motivate me to look up parallel information as I read through the book.

I really like how the author balances risk and benefit throughout, and gets her readers to think in those terms. There seemed to be little glossing over hard facts. Overall, the book takes away my concerns about the risks of nuclear, especially as compared to other sources - like the filthy coal industry. I love the idea of solar, but her perspective on the toxic manufacturing and disposal process for solar cells helps answers questions I've long wondered about. She isn't against other forms of energy generation - just puts them in perspective. Nothing is free, easy, or perfect.

It was amazing to learn about the incredible advances in reactor technology and how it can be done with a tiny fraction of the waste now generated.

Her dissection of the disposal issue takes away the scare factor.

The book informs a highly emotional discussion in a rational, reasonable way and demolishes a lot of mythology. There are parts I had to re-read to digest, but it's written about as easy to understand as it could be to cover the subject with the depth it does for a layperson.

If you like your science with endless, irrelevant narrative concerning facts arbitrarily selected by the author based on their romantic attachment to whatever, then this book is for you. I bought this book for some meat-on-bone reading. What I got was tedium ad nauseam. "The driveway and an area around a garage were occupied by an ancient wooden hay wagon with iron-bound wheels from the Idaho ranch, a battered van, an antique school bus Rip had turned into a camping vehicle, various tools and farm equipment, and a metal-working shop with sheets of corrugated metal, lengths of pipe, and coils of wire". (p.22) Oh PUH-lease. Let's get on with it. The book reads like a kindergartener's first reader, and the name of the scientist involved adds to this feel. "See Rip run. See Rip exhale carbon dioxide. See Rip's exhaled carbon dioxide contribute global climate catastrophe."

The chapters on WIPP and subsea were the best, and are the sole reason for my giving this book two stars. As a degreed engineer, I could seriously have done without the grandma-knows-best, romantic visions of the environment discourse.