I started a bakery/deli in 1993 using a professional baker and this book as my foundation. In time I also learned to use advice from my customers and from other pros. Still, the whole lot of the experts, save one, gave less useful information than did this classic by Joseph Amendola.

Theories of dough fermentation and the like are of especial importance for any new baker. When something goes wrong, too, this book has a good trouble-shooting section.

I heartily recommend this book to any baker, commercial or men and women trying to please their loved ones.

Other books you should add to the shelf are Professional Baking and Quantity Cooking.

This book truly makes bread and the hows and whys of baking exciting. It offers information covering the scope of baking: from simple to complex. It provides formulas and oh so many recipes. Definitely a keeper.

The Baker's Manual is a book that anyone who is serious about baking should have! It has all the foundational information that you could need and then some. If I could only have one book about baking, this would be my choice!!!

This was an entertaining and insightful world of Management Consulting. The book is filled with practical quotes, funny and at times pathetic anectdotes of Management type errors.

The Balancing Act takes a fresh and innovatinve approach to the many demands of leadership and organizational development. Well researched and easy to read. There are many gems that are worthy of re-reading when impact of concept is fully understood and implicaitions for change. I strongly recommend. Kurt Southam, Ph.D. Management Consultant

This is an excellent look at what motivates people, and what business leaders need to do to revitalize their organizations. It is one of the best I have seen at assessing and molding the cutlure of an organization. A colleague and I liked it well enough to visit the Praxis Group and meet two of the authors. We found them to be very engaging, down to earth, and exceptionally talented at the analysis of an organization's leadership and culture issues.

Colonel Joseph H. Alexander has brought forth an outstanding book on "The Battle History of the United States Marine Corps". His skill in writing is further enhanced by his selection of photos, maps, and sketches, and the inclusion of sidebar stories gives the reader more "meat and potatoes" in regards to the men and machines of war.

Col. Alexander's manner of writing and attention to detail brings you up close and personal without over-glorifying battle. The narratives as well as true-life events are quite captivating, and will hold your interest from beginning to end. It's refreshing to note that the book does not bog down in trivial detail, but keeps moving right along taking the reader from one account to the next.

Upon finishing I would recommend getting a copy of "A Fellowship of Valor" on VHS tape, to accompany the book. Both are extremely well done and give you the very essence of the USMC.

This one book says it all when it comes the United States Marine Corps!

This book is great. It doesn't have much technical info, but it more than makes up for that in the depth of the combat history of the Corps. Notice this book describes combat history, so you won't find a description of recruit training or anything, but you will find information on every Marine Corps combat action from when the first Marines fought(unnoticed by most)in the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War and beyond. Don't think this is just a general history book, because there are plenty of specific battles and actions described in good detail in this book. World War II is described more than any other conflicts, but otherwise all conflicts are described relatively equally.

This book is just great, it tells you everything you would ever want to know about the USMC, in just 1 book. This book tells you how the Marines fought, why they fought, how the fought, and where they fought. Its just a great book period.

I loved this book because it was so encouraging and I could not believe that I was reading an interview by Steven Seagal, my hero. I am taking aikido and he pointed out that one should empty oneself like a cup and be humble in the dojo. That is what I tried to do.

I found A Beginner's Guide to Aikido to be most informative. It covers everything that a beginning aikido student needs to know. It is easy reading and has excellent information for future reference. I particularly enjoyed the comments by Aikido Masters Steven Seagal, Mitsunari Kanai and Mitsugi Saotome respectively. This text is recommended for my students study.

Reynosa Sensei has gathered the essentials and details of the day-to-day practice of Aikido, as well as in-depth interviews and articles with Aikido masters, and brought them into one comprehensive guide. Japanese dojo etiquete is complex and seemingly random to outsiders. This book provides the Aikido practitioners, beginner and experienced alike, with a manual to these nuances. Concise explanations to any number of practices can be found here, and the interview with Steven Seagal Sensei provides a rare view into the mind and motivations of the most famous and accomplished of Aikido masters since O-Sensei himself! Interviews with other masters of this gentle art round out the abstract portion of this presentation. If you're curious about the art, this book is for you. If you've recently signed up for Aikido and remain unsure of how to act or the meanings behind things, this is for you. If you've been studying Aikido for a number of years, you'll still find a number of revelations. No picture book, this is cover-to-cover information, including terminology, descriptions of basic techniques, etc. I heartily recommend it; Reynosa's book is required reading for my students.

Benedict's Dharma is a rare find--a book on spirituality that is lovingly burnished by practice. Benedict's Rule was above all a work for practical application; what few understand is how well the Rule translates into Eastern practice.

Rarely have I enjoyed a book as thoroughly as this one; I regretted reaching its final page, for the journey it provided was such a delight. Yet the greater truth is that this book is meant to be a passageway, pointing the way to greater spiritual understanding and greater self-knowledge. The truths it uncovers are applicable to anyone who is serious about leading an authentic spiritual life.

This book is an exceptional treasure, offering significant and practical insights on every page.

Benedict's Dharma is a rare find--a book on spirituality that is lovingly burnished by practice. Benedict's Rule was above all a work for practical application; what few understand is how well the Rule translates into Eastern practice. Rarely have I enjoyed a book as thoroughly as this one; I regretted reaching its final page, for the journey it provided was such a delight. Yet the greater truth is that this book is meant to be a passageway, pointing the way to greater spiritual understanding and greater self-knowledge. The truths it uncovers are applicable to anyone who is serious about leading an authentic spiritual life. This book is an exceptional treasure, offering significant and practical insights on every page.

"There is fire in the Rule of Saint Benedict" (p. 121) David Steindl-Rast, OSB, writes in the Afterward to this collection of Buddhist reflections on that Rule. Written in the sixth century, Saint Benedict's Rule is a set of guidelines governing Christian monastic life. This 137-page book is the result of a two-week "Encounter" between Buddhists and Christians, in which Norman Fischer, Joseph Goldstein, Judith Simmer-Brown, and Yifa were participants. Their "fresh take" (p. xiv) on Saint Benedict's Rule is followed by a new, 80-page translation of that Rule by Patrick Henry, OSB.

The Rule was written to practice "Christ's way." Christ said, "Whoever perseveres to the very end will be saved" (p. 97). For Buddhists, Benedict's Rule is about "walking the path to spiritual awakening" (p. 105). That is, both the Rule and Buddhist dharma offer "general guidelines for an inner journey" (p. 1). Judith Simmer-Brown notes that the Rule offers us insight into living a contemplative life amidst the demands of everyday life, or "anyplace you find yourself" (p. 3). From a Buddhist perspective, Benedict's Rule is about learning to live life "so it gets into your bones, under your skin" (p. 34), and about living with "a love of true life and a longing for days of real fulfillment" (p. 36), for this was "Christ's way."

It is evident from this book that "the monastery wall is always permeable" (p. 81). Benedictine monasticism is designed to lead one to spiritual riches on the path of humility (p. 95). It is possible, we're told, to practice a contemplative life outside the monastery walls. "The world is vast and wide," Norman Fischer writes. "Why put on your robe and go to the meditation hall when the bell rings?" (p. 89). Daily practice is "the common ground" for monastics of East and West (p. 124), and in his excellent Afterward, David Steindl-Rast, OSB, concludes that "lay practitioners are running away with the monastic ball" (p. 126). "Step out into the dark night," he writes, "raise your eyes to the starry sky, and you will experience what contemplation was before it had a name" (p. 126).

We find Buddhists and Christians travelling the same "ladders and bridges" in this harmonious book. Buddhist or Christian, this book will appeal to to that monk or nun cloistered in each of us, who is interested in "a life spent seeking the truth."

G. Merritt

Review of "Beowulf," Norton Critical Edition edited by Joseph F. Tuso and translated by E. Talbot Donaldson.

This is one of those works that has stayed with me, and I can understand the fascination it has exerted on so many people for such a long time. "Beowulf" is the jewel of Anglo-Saxon literature, written around 1000 AD, but composed most probably a couple of centuries earlier. This is a "primary" epic, like Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" because it shares with them its oral origins. Unlike "secondary" epics, such as "The Æneid," which has a clearly identifiable author creating the verses, "Beowulf" belongs to the oral tradition of the Old English "Scop," the teller of tales. The story is a known one, but fascinating nonetheless: Beowulf, a man who was not appreciated by his own people, the Geats (in Sweden), finally earns their respect and admiration, so much so that he can render assistance to a foreign king, a Scylding (Dane), whose realm is under attack by Grendel, a monster who kills men and eats them. Beowulf fights Grendel, and Grendel's mother, ridding the Scyldings' land of their presence, earning the king's gratitude and reward, and earning honor and glory for himself. But the story continues: Beowulf goes back to the Geats, in time becoming their king, until he must fight a dragon that is devastating his kingdom. Behind this very succint description of its plot, "Beowulf" has magnificent digressions, details, and a very effective challenge to the system of feuding. The digressions are necessary to explain the customs of that particular time and people. One of the most effective ones happens in pages 35-36, when we are told of the arranged marriages between members of feuding nations, and how that tactic is doomed to fail in a society that never runs out of reasons, or excuses, to feud and wage war. Another important digression takes place in pages 51-52, related to the battle of Ravenswood, and is again firmly tied to one of the poem's most powerful themes: the feuding society of vendettas that involve entire kingdoms must be disposed of.

"Beowulf" is glorious and tragic epic at its best. It opens with a funeral and it ends with a funeral. There is treasure given as offering to a king at the beginning of the poem, and treasure that is buried in order to get rid of the problems of society at the end of the poem. The men are brave, violent, and long for the death of heroes. The women are given as war prizes and considered booty (not much room for feminist characters in epic tradition). Old age is cruel because a society of feuds values youth and strength above all else. The monsters must be destroyed if the world of men (and women) is to go on. Grendel, the "walker-alone," must die if the wine-hall of the Scyldings, Heorot, is to have scops telling stories, and men drinking and eating as before. Here is the principle of "until" applied to its best effect: things are just fine at Heorot until Grendel shows up and kills so many men that nobody uses the wine-hall for fun anymore. Things are fine in the land of the Scyldings until Grendel starts killing people. Everybody celebrates Grendel's death at the hands --literally-- of Beowulf until the next night, when Grendel's mother avenges her son by killing a man. Beowulf goes back to his land, becomes king, and everything goes well until an angry dragon starts destroying towns. Basically, this is life: things go well until they don't. The poem manages to remind us of something so obvious that we yet tend to forget, especially if we drift toward happy endings.

As with most Norton Critical Editions, this one has been put together with the student in mind but is still interesting for the general reader. Donaldson's prose translation is clear and to the point, and the footnotes, even though not as abundant as I would have liked, are helpful. The essays cover almost everything you always wanted to know about Danes, Geats, Feuds, Old English Scops, Prosody, and Poetry, Historical background, and more, including perhaps plenty of what you really do not want to know. Particular attention deserve two essays: Edward B. Irving's "The Feud: Ravenswood" (my teacher, Mrs. Georgianna, really likes this one), and J.R.R. Tolkien's "Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics." This last essay is also included in the excellent, and sadly out-of-print, book "An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism," edited by Lewis E. Nicholson, and it has become a classic.

The only thing I would add to this edition, apart from more footnotes, is the original text in Old English. Other than that, this is simply an excellent addition to the vast Beowulf literature, presenting us with the true grandeur and pathos of epic glory at the threshold of enormous social changes.

I was getting very tired of learning about every culture but my own in school. We were learning about Africa, South America, and Asia nearly all the time. I suggested to my teacher that we read Beowulf, and celebrate Anglo history. Being a reasonable man, he agreed. Well, let me tell you- it was one of the few times the public school system gave me my assignments that excited my "passions for learning" .................... Buy Beowulf and learn about a hero and his quest to save his people.

Many and many tales of myth and legend have survived the countless years since their conception. But, very few of them are as compelling as Beowulf. Any fan of mytholology theology and philosophy will have a field day with this tale, and any fans of such other classics as the Odyssey, the Iliad, and the Gilgamesh, will deeply love, adore, and cherish this tale of trial and tribulation, and conquering the greater evil.

If you are planning to open a 529, you need to get this book. I found it well worth the price, and after using it was comfortable with opening a 529, and which one to use. He also has a great website at savingforcollege.com

Saving for their children's higher education is a daunting task for most American families. State-sponsored savings programs referred to as "529 plans" provide Federal (and often State) tax advantages to many savers, but parents need to evaluate all the options. Furthermore, a burgeoning array of 529 plans makes the decision of how to save for college more confusing than ever. Enter author Joseph Hurley, who presents all the key issues in deciding whether and how to choose a 529 account in a straightforward, reasonably easy-to-read style. He lets you know what questions to ask, and then provides the answers when possible.

The first section of the book provides an explanation of 529 plans, including their history and benefits; an overview of how they work and what to look for in a 529 plan; comparison with other means of saving for higher education; and income tax, financial aid, and estate planning issues. The second section of the book provides a description of each state's plans, using a common format that answers the most basic of his "what to look for in a 529 plan" checklist. Contacts to get further information from each state are also included.

Much of this information is available on the author's excellent "saving for college" web site. This book will be most helpful to you if you want to learn a lot about 529 plans without scrolling through screen after screen of information (i.e., if you'd rather curl up with a book than stare at a screen). For looking up specific bits of information, the web site may be all you need.

A very comprehensive look at saving vehicles for college
education for your children or grandkids. Well written
and a very balanced discussion of the adv/disadv of each
type of investment consideration to include the 529s for
various States but also Roth IRAs, Saving Bonds, etc.

The author's web site is also of much value.

Better Than Money Can Buy is a must read for managers of volunteers and volunteers alike. The book does a wonderful job of illustrating the many important signposts of successful and loving servant volunteering and leadership. The book made me laugh, cry, reflect, and grow. This book will change and improve your abilities as a volunteer.

Better Than Money Can Buy shows a way to gain higher levels of awareness and confidence that we are all here for a divine purpose. If you follow this handbook for personal transformation, you will find this compilation of stories and lessons points to "service" as a key to unlocking many realizations as to how we can all make a positive difference with our lives. I can easily imagine Mother Teresa, Rev. Billy Graham, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama all endorsing the message in this book.

The true stories from Human Service Alliance demonstrate the magic that can happen when one consciously practices loving and serving others. This very inspiring book outlines a recipe of ways to think and act that will bring increasing levels of understanding and appreciation for why we are really here. Human Service Alliance's evidence that serving as a group makes the "journey" even more meaningful, convinced me that I needed to go to Winston-Salem, NC and experience the stories first-hand!

Better than Money Can Buy: The New Volunteers is a wonderful moment by moment look into the beautiful world of selfless service. Not only does it discuss what selfless service really is, but it offers practical tools that the reader can put to use in daily life. These tools can help the reader become of service wherever he or she might go - whether it be in the workplace or in the family or wherever one might volunteer.This book offers the inspiration to know that there are people out there doing things to change the world for the better and they are doing so joyfully, energetically and purposefully. Thank You Dr. Danziger and Mr. Kilpatrick for assuring us that we work not alone!

Between Two Rivers has the ability to intermingle the characters with the reader. His writing allowed me as the reader to get involved with the lives of the characters, to cry when they cried, to laugh when they laughed, and to rejoice when they rejoiced.

Mr. Joseph has done a superb job of writing a novel that is a struggle to put down. I highly recommend Between Two Rivers. I too look forward to his next book!!!

Between Two Rivers has the ability to intermingle the characters with the reader. His writing allowed me as the reader to get involved with the lives of the characters, to cry when they cried, to laugh when they laughed, and to rejoice when they rejoiced.

Mr. Joseph has done a superb job of writing a novel that is a struggle to put down. I highly recommend Between Two Rivers. I too look forward to his next book!!!!!!

Between Two Rivers joins the reader with a group making its way through wild, dangerous territory. Their goal - a place of peace and happiness. Mr. Joseph deftly blends the essentials of a true "page-turner". The well-paced narrative makes this book difficult to put down once started. Struggles to survive against villains and nature, friendship and personal sacrifice, honor and heroism, humor and sadness, adventure and surprises - all abound. And, a touch of romance. The characters, good and evil, are developed in sufficient detail to make them quite interesting as individuals. Descriptions of the physical surroundings absorb the reader into the scene. Although fiction, the characters, events, and the surroundings are realistically portrayed and the reader quickly comes to believe this could be a true story. I highly recommend Between Two Rivers to all who enjoy well-written, attention-grabbing novels with real bite! I look forward to Mr. Joseph's next offering with great anticipation!

I recommend this book to everyone going to see birds in my country. It provides accurate information on distribution, status and densities of the 394 species recorded in the Czech Republic. It describes in detail all of the important bird areas and best birdwatching sites in the country. According to a recent catalogue (April-September 2001) it is one of the best-selling titles at NHBS (UK). Jan, zoologist

Although I am not traveling to the Czech Republic, I purchased Kren's book Birds of the Czech Republic. This book provides vast amount of data on breeding and winter densities previously unavailable from this central European country. Also valuable data on numbers of breeding birds during the past 20 years. Juan, ornithologists

This is a wonderful book on birds of my country. It summarizes the most current information on status and distribution of 394 species recorded in the Czech Republic. Everyone who plans a trip to the Czech Republic should have a copy.

Josef Chytil Chairman Czech Rarities Committee