This is a great book. It just came across my desk and I am going to order two copies for my neighbors' kids. The book, centered around a freckled Chinese-American girl who is imagining the different shoes she could put on and the various adventures she would have is well-written, with beautiful and colorful illustrations. The verse is very funny and the overall book is fresher than most kids books that I have seen of late. A real treat!

I gave this book to my friend's growing daughter who adores SHOES! I've been told it's been read everyday for 3 weeks straight now! Ironically, the Fink is her favorite. Look out Teletubbies, and hang on to your red purse, Tinkie Winkie...here comes the Fink!

I'd been looking for a book for my younger brother Livingstone for several weeks (he's just learning to read) when I stumbled across this delightful nugget. The hero of the story is a young girl who realizes how important it is to believe in oneself in the course of a search for a pair of truly glorious shoes. The prose moves quickly and the illustrations are cute and lively. I have to confess I've read it to myself more than once. Best of all, Livingstone can read almost the whole thing himself after just a few days. I would recommend this book unconditionally to anyone with children.

I wish this book had been put together a long time ago. It's a very useful service to researchers. When doing research for my own book "Mr Jefferson's Academy, The Real Story Behind West Point" (now, "West Point"), I went through the books available on John Adams/Thomas Jefferson, but found I had to resort to the original documents. It took a massive amount of time. That's one of the reasons my book took several years to complete. This book could have saved a lot of time, and can do the same for any reader or researcher. It's not only comprehensive, but also, well written. If you're interested in an in-depth read on Thomas Jefferson, I recommend this book. (To get a closely packed distillation of Thomas Jefferson, my own book has a biographical chapter that has been distilled from what could easily have been hundreds of pages of opinion, interpretation, and speculation to 40 pages of facts. The rest of the book is gleaned from what he, himself, read!)

I agree with the reviewer who wrote the book about West Point who said this book is a service to researchers. Why it's a magnificent research tool. I'm using it copiously at this time for a scholarly work I'm on sabbatical to work on.

What a joy it is to read the correspondence between two of America's greatest founding fathers. Through this collection of letters we begin to get into the minds of men who created and shaped this nation. We read of their dreams, expectations and fears for this new nation as well as typical correspondence between friends. That is when they were talking to each other. When the two men weren't, Abigail continued to write Jefferson to try and heal the breach. My favorite letter is from John Adams to Jefferson to tell him to stop writing his wife. This is a book for anyone who loves the human side of history and enjoys getting to know the real people behind the legends. I first read it in college, and then spent ten years trying to find it again. Now that I have, it will never leave my bookshelf.

There are plenty of books out there on the shelves about wireless technology. When I first took this book into my hands - that's what I expected. Needless to say: I was positively surprised about Cap Gemini Ernst& Young's different approach to wireless technology. They not just covered technical aspects (just like everyone else), but even more importantly, how all this translates into the daily business environment. This book will stay on my desk as a source of continuous reference and will not collect dust in my book shelf.

The authors do a superb job explaining the applications of wireless solutions for all readers - those very technical and those who are not. The information is concisely written and is not dry and boring. In addition, the case studies that were presented flowed very well with the material. This is the first book I've seen that disects each step of the architecture design process - the charts were a great visual guide.

One of the best books I've read on wireless technology. This book provides not only a blueprint for building a web architecture, but also illustrates how to integrate wireless design into your enteprise. It's like two books in one! Each section covers a unique case study for wireless. It's a rare chance to learn from the big 5 pros.
It's a great book for a beginner or someone with years of experience.

This book and "New Recipes from Amish Country" are, without a doubt, my most used, most read and most worn cookbooks in my library. These cookbooks are not only wonderful for their recipes, but also for just curling up on the couch with a cup of coffee to browse through. The pictures and stories are wonderful. Marcia Adams is one of my favorite cookbook authors on the market today. She knows what she's writing about and her books are incredibly enjoyable to go through, not to mention educational.

My favorite recipes out of Cooking from Quilt Country - Whole Wheat Bread (wonderfully easy and very delicious), Cinnamon Rolls (great icing!) and Potato Pancakes (I still haven't found a recipe that can match the flavor of this one)

This is a delightful book that offers interesting glimpses of the Amish lifestyle and preserves some wonderful recipes. I greatly enjoy the photos and anecdotes in this book, as well as the terrific recipes.

I make the Hot Water Pie Crust in nine-crust batches and freeze it (it freezes perfectly). It is the easiest pie crust recipe I've ever used and tastes just like Grandma's. We don't have pie often, due to its fat content, but when we do, this crust never fails.

The oven-fried chicken recipe is also a winner. Again, it has a lot of fat, but it's great for special occasions and company dinners.

Kudos to Marcia for ensuring that these treasured recipes aren't lost, and for providing a peek at a unique way of life.

This is the best cookbook I own. The recipes are relatively simple but also unique in a way. I especially like the vegetable dishes. I use this cookbook as a wedding present all the time. My wife makes the Amish apple pie and it is the best. Every New Years Day I make the cabbage rolls and they are outstanding. The crushed ginger snaps make it special. Men and women who cook should own this cookbook.

I have been a huge fan of Phil Borge's photography for years and was delighted to see that he recently published The Gift. Not only are the photographs fantastic, but the narratives that coincide with the photos really bring the book to life.

Besides belonging in anyone's library, this book is a perfect gift. It chronicles both the generosity and selflessness of the Interplast volunteers, and it highlights the triump of the human spirit. It makes you understand the impact that one human being can have on another human by sharing the gifts that are natural to them. It is nice to read about this type of humanity during a time when we are constantly bombarded with negative media images.

I recently purchased "The Gift" because I have two other books by Phil Borges -- "Tibetan Portrait" and "Enduring Spirit" -- which both have incredibly beautiful portraits and stories. I couldn't get through "The Gift" without crying; the images of the children are so beautiful and touching, and their stories are amazing. They are all so brave! This is a very special book.

my daughter recently gave me this book for my birthday; it is a wonderful, beautiful book. The stories and images of individual patients are especially moving; my favorite is Ester, one of the little girls treated at the hospital in Peru. there are some wonderful photographs of her comforting her dolls the night before her surgery, tucking them into their own bed and telling them not to be afraid ... she must have been so anxious herself. Her story really stands out in my mind.

Pessoa was a true acrobat of the imagination. The Book of Disquiet is a collection of epiphanic journal or diary prose kept by Pessoa and found decades after his death. The prose is truly some of the most gorgeous musings about everyday life and existence that any reader could ever find. The poet's world is laid out exquisitly and paradoxically for the entire benefit of those who read.I can't say I've ever found such beauty in the pages of a book before. If you like literature albeit simple or complex this book is something that you will immediately cherish for a very long time.

"If i think, it all seems absurd to me; if i feel, it all seems strange; if i desire, he who desires is something inside of me."
Sums up the book perfectly. Pessoa explores one of his many personalities. "The Book of Disquiet" explains, in complete depth and faith, the beauty of a lonely, existential, moment by moment life. He explains the beauty that people forget. He explains the world, his perception, as if every moment were the last.
"The book of disquiet" is one of the most insightful books a person can read, but only if one has imagination and an ability to let go. Bernardo Soars, Pessoa's personality who wrote the book, is extreme and eccentric. It isn't easy reading, and it won't affect you if you can't overlook the fact that life doesn't go on like Soars'; that there is more in thinking, dreaming, and desiring than Soars admits. What makes the book so special is how Soars can forget everything but the thought and the moment, and how he can analyze and critique and put into words something that most of us forget to remember. "The book of disquiet" reminds me, at least, of how to appreciate my own mind. It is the only philosophy-like book that i enjoy (as yet) because it is the real thing and encompasses a forgotten part of real life.

What, in all sincerity, can be said of Fernando Pessoa's Book of Disquiet? The book presents us, as with any superb literary work, with a problem of translation. That is, of translating into value (good, bad, average) an expressive incoherence (the aphoristic style) that is manifested in the heteronyms that Pessoa was, in the dispersed identities, and in the fragmentary incursions into the absurd(real) that pervade the book and brings forth the 'disquiet-ness'. 'Conventional' writers need a 'plot'(could be a subject-person, an event etc) as an anchor in which to secure coherence and from which meaning is derived. Pessoa's genius (like Kafka, Beckett, Lawrence, Blanchot) lies in his deliberate abandonment of (monotonous)anchors and his intrepid embrace of diversity(in the most general sense imaginable) and immanence(one feels 'floating' within life). This author will, I am certain, be recognised as one of the greatest European literary genius.

This is a good story. Maybe if I hadn't read so many of Henri's other books, where he recounts some of the same experiences as in this book, I would have been more moved. It was helpful and touching to read about this relationship Henri had which had such a profound influence on him, and in which his theology culminated. He had been realizing for several years that we are all called the Beloved independent of what we do, have, or how we look--but this was most pronounced for him through his relationship with Adam.

So it is worthwhile getting a fuller picture of how Adam taught Henri so many important things about God and himself, but if you have already read many of Nouwen's books (written after he went to L'Arche), much will be repetitive. But evenso, the story and concrete examples of Henri living out his theology are really beautiful. And as someone who works closely with and sees God in people with developmental disabilities, it is wonderful for me to see how Henri saw God in Adam. One of the other reviewers accuses Henri of romanticizing relationships with people with disabilities, but I do not find this to be the case. It was clear that Henri was writing a book about how he encountered Jesus in Adam, and of course focused on incidents that would show that. I did not find the book lacking just because it mainly talked about the peaceful and beautiful moments, because the purpose of the book is to show us how God is in every person, and in a special way in people with disabilities; and it comes across loud and clear. I recommend this short book, though it is definitely not my favorite by Nouwen; it could easily be read in one afternoon.

For all of us who have ever wondered about the value of a life--what gives value to a life, what is a life worth living, what guidelines does our culture, our society, our nation put on life?-- Henri Nouwen, through his own search for the answer to those questions, provides the answer by laying down his success at Harvard, Yale and Notre Dame and caring for a man named Adam who can do nothing for himself. The story of the professor/priest who comes to look to Adam as his professor, his teacher, is what God's love can do when we mere humans listen to His voice. Of what infinite value we are to God, each and every one of us. Thank you, Henri Nouwen and all the people at L'Arche. It is a wonderful life-affirming book in the midst of a time when life is not affirmed much.

Adam, God's Beloved, by Henri J. M. Nouwen, is an excellent book for a family caring for a special needs person, for the friends of special needs people, and for anyone wanting to understand the special world of those that are "different" from them. We are parents of a very dear special needs boy, and this book offered me a much more positive outlook toward my son than this world tends to offer. I was blessed and touched by Henri Nouwen's identification of Adam with Jesus. This book is realistic and inspiring at the same time--par excellente!

I think this is one of the coolest Chicken Soup books. Its 101 stories to heal the heart of our nation. Right when I saw it at Shopko I wanted it. I just got it for my birthday and I have started to read it. So far I really enjoy it. My Mom has read some of it and also liked it. It has sad stories in it like one is about a person whos reltive died in the Twin Towers. there great stories about September 11, 2001 The chapters are

September 11, 2001
Amarica Responds
The World Resonds
Renewed Patriotism
United We Stand
Reflection
Wheres next?

All the Chapters are fulled with good stories

When I was shopping in Sam's with my mother and nephew and fiance I was looking for a dvd. I found nothing I really wanted to buy. Seemed to me I can no longer really buy a good flick these days. So there I was walking the aisle getting bored out of my mind when I stumbled on this book. At first I was a bit angered that the Chicken book series would sink so low to print a book about the September 11, attacks to make a quick buck. I started to read just to see what they printed and I came across the poem "I AM THE AMERICAN FLAG", by: Howard Schnauber on page: 206. There I was reading and feeling some pride about to burst through me and I wanted to cry. The partiot in me shed some tear. My fiance asked me what I was reading that was making me cry. I showed him. In turn he asked me why not buy it. I did. It'll be worth it. Some of the stories are beautiful and some will make you grateful we live in the greatest country in the world. But this patriot who believes in God and Jesus is proud to say that I am proud to be an American living in the Republic of United States of America.

I picked a great one as the first "Chicken Soup" book to read from start to finish. I read the majority of this uplifting book as a metro train commuter to and from my duty station, the Pentagon. Having known three of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, I had personal reasons to read this book. I found the many short, direct, and moving stories from common people, and their sharing of their deepest emotions, very comforting. I consider this book to be another step in my continuing personal program of coping and healing. I believe many others would also find reading it a great spiritual and emotional experience.

The only flaw with this outstanding book is that it is almost exclusively devoted to or focused on the World Trade Center heroes, victims, survivors, and volunteers. The book has very few stories about what happened at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. I commend the authors for their tremendous job in compiling these great stories from the thousands received and for publishing such an important book in such a short time to help so many. Tragedy and devastation were equally shared by friends, family, and acquaintances in New York, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania. I believe this book should have included a few more Pentagon and Pennsylvania specific stories since the book's cover proclaims, "Stories to Heal the Heart of Our Nation."

One of the few personal accounts of the Terror-famine in print. A terrible and very depressing story, there is no happy ending, no justice, just a hollow sense of loss and revulsion, that something as horrendous as this could have happened - and that those responsible could get away with it. However, despite all of what I have said, I still strongly recommend this book. It will not make you happy but it will inform. For that is the greater tragedy - modern ignorance of what the people of the Soviet Union endured under Stalin. Read this and do not forget.

Upon first reading the diary of Anne Frank, I have become interested in other "similar" types of narratives. Miron Dolot certainly gives us a captivating and sometimes heartwrenching account of when Stalin and his henchmen in Moscow carried out this policy against the poor Ukrainians during the early 1930s. This famine did not only effect Ukraine but Kazakhstan and possibly other areas as well. The story of the famine told by a young teenage boy is very insightful. Such a sorrowful chapter of history.

"Harvest of Sorrow" by Robert Conquest is another good book on the same subject. This one, however, is briefer compared to Conquest's book and can be read in the course of a weekend.

Dolot's book should be read by all interested in European history. I also agree, that it should be used in schools.

This gripping and disturbing eyewitness acount of Stalin-orchestrated famine in the Ukraine leaves me horrified. Human beings and their governments can be so dogmatic and cruel that they are ready to destroy anything and anyone who stands in theier way.

The book is preceeded by a wonderful introduction written by Adam Ulam, an expert on Soviet and Eastern European politics, and a brother of the world renoun mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, whom I, as a historian of scientific and technological ideas, consider one of the co-creators of the hydrogen bomb. The book itself is written by Miron Dolot, a pen name of a survivor of Stalinist famine in the Ukraine. He vividly describes decisive actions of the communist regime against the Ukrainian peasants. These actions are underhanded and heavyhanded at the same time. No trick, no deceit, and no brutality was spared to crush the peasants and Ukrainian nationalism. The Soviet elite, almost all of which consisted of humanistic intellectuals, despised private property and the markets. They wanted to destroy every vestige of peasant independence, and they dispossessed them by forcing them into government-owned collective farms. These kolhozes were exmamples of inefficiency and apathetic attitude. In the meantime, the hunger that resulted from dispossesssion and vicious persecution of somewhat-well-off peasants who were called "kulaks" and "enemies of the people" devastated entire villages. The regime rewarded productivity and initiative with death and exile to Siberia.

This book strongly suggests that utopias do not work. They are concocted by resentful intellectuals who have no technical training (writers, historians, lawyers) and who despise what they cannot understand: the markets, rural life, international finance, and major corporations. When power is acquired by a small group, everybody outside this group is a potential victim. No more ominous sign of the truth of this statement exists than the Soviet government's successful attempt to starve millions of its subjects in the name of ideological slogans and visions.

A decent collection for the hard-core Dilbert fans, but a little stale. Adams aparently hasn't run out of variations on the cubicle, purchasing, and boss jokes, which are becoming repetative. Dilbert's mom and the World's Smartest Trash Man also are included, but only as incidental characters to a main storyline. However, Catbert's best strips are included and are some of Adams finest moments. Also, Alice is becoming a more mainstream character, and her handling of the Boss is humorous and refreshing. Overall a decent Dilbert collection, although not one of the best.

It is difficult to maintain freshness when you have to churn out a cartoon a day. Some artists manage it better than others. Some know when to quit (Calvin's author), while others go on far too long with basically one or two gags (see Cathy or Garfield). While Scott Adams has had some dips in pure entertainment value, he is remarkable for maintaining a high laugh quotient more times than not - and his latest collection - "I'm not Anti-Business, I'm Anti-Idiot" is a winner and a keeper. The topics are trenchant and oh so accurate while the themes are embarassingly familiar to everyone who has had to share a cubicle. From Alice trying to control her fist of death to Catbert the evil HR Director - all work types are here - and will probably receive their own xeroxed copy of a pertinent cartoon - sent anonymously, of course. Best to get your copy and do it to others, first.

There is a reason that many workplaces ban Dilbert cartoons- they are just too darn close to the truth. I've lost track of the number of times that I've laughed myself silly after finding one of his cartoon arcs describing some experience in my own working career.

In his biography, Scott Adams is described as both an engineer and as a member of Mensa. Inspite of this, however, he has a sense of humor....

I'm sure that this confirmation of the absurdity of corporate "culture" has helped more than a few intelligent wage-slaves maintain their sanity over the years. It almost maintained mine.