Leo Richards autobiographical poetry hooks you from the start and doesn't let go. Deeply moving.

The book has some very practical suggestions and formulas that can be used to control noise in real engineering problems. This it does by first reviewing the basic terms, definitions and international standards in acoustics. Several practical formulas for design of noise control systems are discussed and given in the text. Formulas for calculation of sound propagation in various practical situations are also given. I recommend this book to people who have an interest in reducing noise in most practical problems.

The book is also suitable to students in mechanical, aerospace, automotive, electrical, environmental, highways and building engineering who have an interest in acoustics or noise control problems. The book is however not suitable as a class textbook as not many formulas are derived neither are there many worked examples or tutorial problems that can assist a student to prepare for examinations.

Author, Nancy White Carlstrom and illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon have combined their talents to create a truly beautiful bedtime story for the young child. Nancy White Carlstrom whose family moved to Alaska wanted to create a book that was reflective of the flora, fauna and traditions she found there.

Included in her lovely poem are both animate and inanimate items as mountains, rivers, trees stars, moon, moose, wolves, bears, foxes, and mice brought to life as members of the family, grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts, cousins, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers. The book supplies a profound and visual picture of our inter-connection with nature and each other that are frequently found in Native American folk tales.

The Dillons are well reputed children's illustrators who specialize in illustrating stories which fairly represent many different cultures. Their illustrations in this book are outstanding and really I would love to have some of them framed. This book as other outstanding children's book could serve as a coffee table book for adults to leaf through and drool over.

The book is for children though and it provides a wonderful warm feeling for children as they nestle into their bed on a cold winter's night or even in the summer. How special it is for children to know they are loved by many different family members as they fall asleep.

This book is the ultimate collection of Leo Rosten's humorous stories about Mr. Kaplan, a student in The American Night Preparatory School for Adults, where immigrants are tutored in the baffling mysteries of the English Language. Mr. Kaplan is dedicated, hard-working, and intelligent, yet concepts of English grammer, vocabulary, and pronounciation just refuse to sink in. Like when he claimed that the plural of sandwich is "delicatessen". Or his idenitification of the comparative and superlative of good as "Good, better, high-class". Or his immortal patriotic speech about "Judge Vashington" and the egregious betrayal by "Ben and Dick Arnold."

But much more than a bogged-down student, Mr. Kaplan is a good-hearted and strangely eloquent man who regards his malapropisms as creativity rather than error, offers moral support to students less self-confident than he, and frequenly crosses swords with his more competent but less imaginative classmates, many of whom are equally vivid, loveable, and quirky: Shy Rose Mitnick, cantankerous Norman Bloom, sultry Olga "I am Woomon" Tarnova, bubbly and laughing Nathan P. Nathan, and of course the infinitely patient teacher and straight-man, Mr. Parkhill.

_O Kaplan, My Kaplan_ includes all the stories from _The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N_ and _The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N_, plus a host of new stories and new characters. The book is the creme de la creme of Mr. Kaplan's world and should NEVER have gone out of print!

This book is supposed to be a children's book, but I think it's appeal is far reaching. I read this book as a child and as an adult, I still turn to this book for fun and comfort. In fact, I keep a (well-worn) copy in our guest cottage -as we live right by the beach- to invite visitors to not only find pebbles on the beach, but find the child that still lives on in all of us....

Professor Steinberg takes art criticism to a new level with this book of essays on twentieth century art. This is a man who has spent his entire lifetime studying the work of Picasso, Rodin, Pollock, and others. And he puts it all together in 400+ page book that is easy and fun to read, even for the casual art lover. Which doesn't mean that his book is dumbed down or that it isn't brilliant and groundbreaking. He makes observations so keen and accurate that you really begin to believe there is method and logic and order to art (or at least great art). His choice of an artist's work to support his theories is always convincing, especially when he shows artwork in a sequence (for example, all the different versions of Picasso's "The Women of Algiers"). Some of the best parts of the book are when he explains the "Cubist simultaneity of point of view" or what a wrongly fitted limb on a Rodin's sculpture might mean. He's also a very good, clear writer. At one point, he'll be discussing the minute details of paintings and then he'll brilliantly link these observations to an artist's entire body of work or to art in general. One drawback: all the photographs of artwork are in black-and-white.

As a Douglas County transplant and an English teacher, I relished both Heilman's depictions of life and livelihoods as well as recognized his elevation of the spirit and humanity of this portion of the globe.

One may compare the witty short-takes of Robert Fulghum's "Kindergarten" series and Norman McClean's "River" collection to that of Heilman's "Over-stories".

This collection of writings is refreshingly simple backwoods as well as elevated highbrow. It is both for and about life, as one man has experienced it, told in such a way as to be universal in its appeal and understanding.

I use these stories in my classes to bring the world my students live in within the walls of academia. If nothing else, then to show them that it is possible to enjoy and recognize the beauty of something even when you feel you are surrounded by nothing at all.

Leo Lionni created a baffling, even maddening, encyclopedic compendium that describes, illustrates, arrays, and summarizes a host of imaginary plants---his parallel botany. Besides the detailed descriptions of these odd plants, Mr. Lionni, who is best known for his various children's books, rendered numerous illustrations of the various parallel plants. But he doesn't stop here: 23 figures and photographs of various scientists, researchers, explorers and parallel plants together paired with another 32 plates or charcoal or pencil drawings fortify the seeming reality of the world of parallel botany. (Keep in mind that a number of these plants are not visible.) The end notes to the chapters add more authenticity, and I assume, that many of the publications cited are real. The only component lacking is an index.

There are layers and layers of complexity to this spoof, for Mr. Lionni draws the reader into more than the facts and lore of his creations by also intertwining issues about philosophy, language, and the scientific method. He presents multiple points of view bantered by experts in this subject matter, and this debate enlivens the discussion. He firmly roots the research by drawing upon imaginary but real-sounding folk tales and legends, made more real by invoking actual historical figures. Hence, imaginary notes from Magellan's historian or the Greek philosopher Heraclitus are dissected and scrutinized for clues and encounters with various specimens from the realm of parallel plants. Such luminaries as the Swiss biologist Max Spinder or the Greek botanist Professor Spyros Rodokanankis, and many more, espouse their various theories and findings, often disagreeing about their findings and the implications of their research.

His methods remind one of both Borges and Lovecraft, two masters at creating real-sounding imaginary worlds supported by tier upon tier of crafted scholarship and science.

This book is unique and arguably the last, and the only, word on the subject of parallel botany. Some consider it hilarious, others a mere spoof, but certainly it is more than that, for Mr. Lionni expended considerable effort and time to document this imaginary segment of the plant kingdom. The fact that a major publisher issued the book in hardback suggests someone thought highly of this idea.

I take away a sense of astonishment at the amount of detail invoked to underscore the verisimilitude of the premise, and see this book as a wry jab at the reductionistic tendencies of a scientific method that seems at times to value cataloging over understanding our world.

(I also once had a vision many years ago that may have come from whatever source Mr. Lionni tapped for Parallel Botany, a vision of an asylum that housed crazed and dangerous plants that I rendered in an oil painting a friend of mine smuggled into the art gallery in the Saturn Bar down in New Orleans.)

This was the first book I ever read on my own, cover to cover. It changed my entire philosophy about life. Of course, I was 18 and hadn't yet established a concrete philosophy to begin with, but I went on to read other Leo Buscaglia books and from there I built my foundation. I suggest this book for everyone but especially for those entering into adulthood with no clue where to begin.

Pezzettono is a lovely story about ones worth and acceptance. My son loves it. He chose it as his favorite book of second grade. He made a diorama to celebrate its message of self-discovery.