This excellently photographed technique offers step by step instructions and encouragement. This 30 exercise series takes an hour and can be done at home. For anyone interested in Pilates, this is a must-have - Nickolaus incorporated original Pilates routines, Alexander Technique, and his own observations into this spine-stretching, posture enhancing method.

After the hour is up, you'll hardly believe you haven't acquired a brand new, longer and straighter spine. Remember Audrey Hepburn? Her incredible posture and joyous open body position is offered through the Nickolaus Technique!

Fasinating stories on the science side of science fiction! In fact some of the stories in this book were required reading in my undergraduate astronomy class.

I've read many "child raising" books. This one offered great examples, helpful, practical instruction, and wise insight. It helped me see my children more clearly and better understand their views and it gave me valuable approaches to dealing with many important issues. I'm sorry this book is out of print - it should be on every parent's bookshelf!!

If you want to know who's who of the 20th Century, this is the book for you. It has brief paragraphs outlining the lives of various persons who have made a great impact on our previous century. Although it appears to be slanted somewhat to Europeans, that could just be my American viewpoint. It is a great introduction for students of famous world figures. A recommended addition to any library.

Bought this book a really long time ago, in fact, I regret to have lost it now. The stories in this anthology were all very interesting and entertaining, I especially like the one written by Poul Anderson on a world similar to ours inhabited by normal people who just happen to be witches, werewolves, vampires and the like. The others aren't as happy as this and will cater to a more blood thirsty and mature audience. The only bad experience I had with this book was that the last few pages of my favorite story got torn out and I never did get to finish it.

An incredible antology of wizardry short stories by Jack Vance, Ursula K. Le Guin and other award winner writers, if you like magic this book will surely put a spell on you, Wizards is an awesome book with 10 charming stories with the warranty of Isaac Asimov's taste.

-to the beholder an advanced science appears to be magic- Arthur C. Clarke's first law

- From Atlantis to California, from the orient to far-distant worlds, come classic tales of wizardry used for evil and for good. from a sorcerous battle where a warlock's only ally is his werewolf, to demons thirsting for the souls of victims and masters alike, to Conan the Barbarian in a danger-filled contest with the forces of darkness, these are spellbinding journeys into Isaac's Asimov's magical worlds of fantasy: Wizards -

Uno de los pilares de la Ciencia Ficción moderna, imprescindible para los amantes del género. Colección de relatos independientes magníficamente enlazados en el contexto de la Robótica de Asimov y sus Tres Leyes.

If your children love either Isaac Singer or Chelm, look no further than these seven tales. They will treasure the book always, because, as Singer noted in the Foreword to this 1966 volume, "In stories time does not vanish. Neither do men and animals. For the writer and his readers the creatures go on living forever. What happened a long time ago is still present." Singer dedicated the stories to "children who had no chance to grow up because of stupid wars and cruel persecutions" and hoped readers would grow into men and women who "love not only their own children but all good children everywhere." It's hard to imagine otherwise.

The book opens with a tale called "Fool's Paradise," in which Atzel, the son of Kadish grew up with an unheard of disease: He thought himself dead. Lazy by nature, he did nothing at all. His parents tried everything, and finally consulted Dr. Yoetz. After telling his parents to prepare a darkened room to look like paradise, with white satin sheets, the good physician came to examine the young man and pronounced him "dead." Delighted with this outcome, Atzel regained his appetite and energy, and remained animated until the next day. When exactly the same food was brought to him a winged angel told him, "In paradise, my lord, one always eats the same food." On asking the time of day, he was told "In paradise there is neither day nor night."

Atzel could not meet with anyone, do anything, see his parents or his beloved, whom he was told was mourning him but would meet another young man and marry him instead. "That's how it is with the living." After eight days, Atzel began to see the value of living. He would rather chop wood and carry stones than stay in paradise, and would rather kill himself than stay there forever. At that point, Dr. Yoetz told Atzel he was not dead after all. Upon returning to the land of the living, Atzel married his beloved and became one of the most industrious and productive souls in the region. (Many souls now seeking paradise could benefit from this story.)

Not all Singer's fools lived in paradise. Some lived in Chelm, the village of idiots young and old. When it snowed on Hanukkah once, all of Chelm glittered like a silver tablecloth. The moon shone; the stars twinkled; the snow shimmered like pearls and diamonds. And the Elders of Chelm believed that a treasure had fallen from the sky. Rather than trample it, they planned to send a messenger to all the houses to tell the people to stay indoors until the treasure could be harvested. But how could the messenger tell them without himself destroying their riches? Suffice it to say the Chelmnicks ended no richer than they began, but for the laughter they provided to outsiders peering in through Singer's window.

My favorite story, though, is not funny at all. In Zlateh the Goat, the last and title tale, Rueven instructed his son Aaron to take his pet to the butcher to pay for the struggling family's Hanukkah celebrations. Heartbroken, the boy nevertheless heeded his father and set out, only to be overtaken by a snowstorm. I cannot tell what happened, except to say that the tale warms hearts to the core. Alyssa A. Lappen

I first read this book maybe 20 years ago, when I was more accustomed to 'action' sci-fi replete with ray guns and space ships and trying to guess how such technology shaped society (a la Larry Niven, to name one). This book is more like an historical novel, or a future history, like reading Gibbons or Kennedy. What is particularly astounding about this work, which he first published in 1951 at age 31, is Asimov's ability to scale- from the drama of a handful of individuals to the seminal events of the last decades of the ancient, galaxy-wide empire (which does not even remember its Earthly origin!). Unlike Heinlein's _Citizen of the Galaxy_ or _Friday_ (or many others) we do not follow the story of a single person or family in the backdrop of a civilization, but rather, the original Foundation trilogy makes both the individuals as well as the whole history of the galactic empire come alive in an extremely concise work. Here, the context is just as important as the characters, a scaling rarely seen elsewhere. This is the book's greatest strength- which becomes one of its weaknesses: To be sure, and Asimov himself admitted as much about sci-fi in general, the characterizations are not terribly deep. Much time, he has written elsewhere, is required to build the context of the worlds that sci-fi writers create, with little time left to build characters to any depth. But we are watching the fall of worlds, so the relatively shallow characters may be overlooked.

A must read among the classics of sci-fi.

Foundation is set about 12,000 years in the future where the weakening grip of the galactic empire is showing strong signs of decline.

Enter Hari Seldon, key figure in the book, whom, as per his psycho-historical mathematics claims to bring 30,000 years of barbarism down to a mere 1000 by setting up two foundations at the opposite ends of the galaxy. The story about the first Foundation follows and here asimov attacks typical sociological issues and how the infant society deals with them.

It is more of a series of well-connected snapshots over several decades, rather than a contiguos moving story/time line. The only weakness of the book, if you want to call it that, is the lack of good character development... but it doesnt impede the reader from following the twists and turns of the plot.

Foundation is the first book in what is perhaps Sci-Fi's most imaginative and complete series by Issac Asimov. It's almost a sin to not finish the series which include (in order)

foundation and empire
second foundation
foundation's edge
foundation and earth <-- best book of the series

To get most thrill out of the series, i highly recommend reading the robot series (the caves of steel, the naked sun, the robots of dawn, robots and empire) before moving on to foundation's edge and foundation and earth.

This was the first book I have read by Isaac asimov and I can say it was worth the wait. While this book is very old it is still an excellent read. Asimov presents a very convincing future for humanity. The book is broken into several sections that were originally short stories in a sci-fi magazine. They gel togethor perfectly and the overall story is wonderful. This book details Hari Seldon and his prediction of the fall the galactic empire and the rise of barbarism for 30000 years. He however thinks he can avert the disaster and only have 3000 years of barbarism in the galaxy. Based on this he sets up two seperate foundations that are supposed so achieve this goal. This book is focused on the first foundation and it's trials as the fall of the galactic empire begins.

THe characters in this book are good. While each section is short you really empathize with the characters and their lives. The plot is excellent some of the suprises he throws at you are quite extrodinary. My only complaint is some the terminology in this book is quite old and often times is quite funny to read. However the ideas, characters, and plot make up for the archaic wording in the book.

I would recommend this book to any science fiction fan!

Flatland and Sphereland are very well written books, but for entirely different reasons. Flatland is a fun story that takes you into the 2nd (and 1st, and 0th) dimensions to see what life is like there with its final goal to make you speculate on what the fourth dimension would be like. Flatland, the first book, excels at making you grasp the concepts and has a very good story to go along with it. The story seems to be the main focus, rather than the other aspects.

Sphereland is entirely the opposite. Sphereland deals with ideas such as the expanding universe theory others. This it explains even clearer then flatland did. But Sphereland's focus was not on the story, but rather on the theories that it tried to convey. This may be a good thing in some people's minds, but I enjoyed the story of flatland and didn't like it pushed aside to explain the theories. I also didn't like the fixing of flatland to make it less backwards (Besides giving equality to women) since flatland to me was backwards.

So If you want to learn complex Ideas simply and with fun, these are the books for you.

Much has been said about how Edwin Abbott's "Flatland" is a fun and thought-provoking mathematical fiction novel, introducing readers to dimensionality by personifying geometrical shapes. As a high school math teacher, I first read it planning on using it in my class to teach geometry. However, almost as interesting and its mathematical observations are its metaphors and, in my opinion, satires of Abbott's 19th century society.

All inhabitants of the novel's world, dubbed Flatland, are polygons, the narrator being a square. Flatland features a strict caste system, with a polygon's class being determined by his number of sides. A square is higher on the social order than a triangle, for example, yet lower than a pentagon. The rulers, or priests, are circles. Well, actually they are polygons with very many sides, approximating a circle. The lowest figures in Flatland are women, who are straight lines. One can interpret this fictional social order in a number of ways, including accusing Abbott of being classist and sexist. I happen to see this as a critique, even a satire, of our (spaceland's) social order, replete with classism and sexism. "Flatland" also spoofs eugenics and political short-sightedness, so there's plenty to choose from.

After introducing Flatland's social order, the narrator describes a journey he takes to lineland and spaceland, which offers a great way of looking at dimensionality, even for mathematics laypersons. I'd advise reading it slowly or even more than once to be sure your mind grasps all the interesting narrative and dialogue.

Mixing a clever introduction of mathematical concepts with an element of social satire, "Flatland" is well worth reading, even for those who are normally averse to anything that has to do with mathematics. While I still plan on using this novel to teach geometry, perhaps I'll also infuse some social justice issues into my lessons.

Certainly the saving graces of this little gem are its brevity and Abbot's creativity. Much more of the descriptions of life in Flatland would have bordered on tedium. However, the explanation for the banishment of color in Flatland was very clever and one of the better parts of the story. As it is, it's a humorous, demure satire in the Swiftian vein whereby the protagonist, A. Square, teaches us about his world, has a series of adventures, and learns lessons about life (and mathematics) along the way.

I question its value as a teaching tool, though. I fear the Victorian niceties employed in the exposition will seem stilted and nigh unbearable to today's younger audience, especially if assigned as schoolwork. But, I think those who already grasp the mathematics involved (basic geometry) will enjoy it. Also, A. Square's unabashed enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge are qualities one would happily encourage in students.

My favorite part of the whole book has got to be the visit to the King of Pointland. The way Abbot so succinctly portrays humanity's capacity to ignore evidence that does not conform to preconceived notions, then force the facts to fit long established beliefs is a stroke of genius. In Pointland, ignorance really is bliss.

This little tale definitely provided excellent entertainment for the price I paid here at Amazon. If it sounds interesting to you, I suggest putting it on your wish list, and then adding it to the next purchase you make (your wallet will barely feel it).