Please note -- This book is exactly what the title says -- a BEGINNING shepherd's manual. If, like me, you are a beginner, you'll appreciate the clear and consise language the author uses to explain sheep and various aspects of sheep production. After reading this book, you'll know what questions to ask if you're considering raising a small flock. A more advanced book on the subject is "Raising Sheep the Modern Way," which delves into more details, and which I thoroughly recommend.

I found the book a nice reference for a beginning slide player such as myself. Not much detail where scales are concerned, but enough to get you started. Has a few alternate (open) tunings as well, and good tips on proper technique. And small enough to keep in the guitar case!

This is an excellent guidebook for practitioners. It includes a well-written chapter on the collaborative approach to assessing families and giving feedback. It also describes skills and strategies to help parents learn to handle their children more effectively. The authors have not only shown this approach is effective for aggressive and disruptive children, they have also pioneered the adaptation of the approach to anxious children as well as children with medical problems. For another good book, see Webster-Stratton & Hebert (1994): Troubled Families Problem Children: Working with Parents, a Collaborative Approach.

In my field I must read many research studies dealing with various topics. I've taken research classes and have learned to recognize key statistical concepts but I must admit that I've never fully understood how they work, what they really mean (no pun intended) or how they were derived. Don't get me wrong. I've studied, but most texts were just too advanced right from the start. Now that I've read and worked through the sample questions in this text I finally feel ready to tackle more advanced texts. The language used is clear and concise with clearly presented examples and applications of concepts. The sequencing is well thought out and quite seamless. I highly recommend it for anyone just starting research classes who has had little or no preparation in statistics. However, knowledge of basic algebra is a must. If you haven't had algebra for some time, you may want to brush up a bit.

I love the method used in this book and 1 hour CD. It's so easy that even I have learned to speak the basics in Spanish. My parents speak Spanish and I never learned the language until now.

The "Horn Book Review" finds the presentation of this book "stilted," and calls the illustrations "dreadful." Good grief! This isn't intended to be F. Scott Fitzgerald for kids, nor an introduction to the fine arts. It is a "trying to teach Johnny that his penis is called a penis" book, and it works wonderfully for its target audience!

A brother and sister are taking a bath together. As they wash, and then dry off, they talk about the various parts of their bodies: which parts are shared by both, which are for boys only, which are for girls only, and what their proper names are. If this is "stilted," I suppose billions of parents routinely engage in "stilted" dialogues with their own kids in the same pattern.

It's refreshing to me that the book presents a boy and girl together, and educates both genders about *all* the body parts of *each*. There should be no shame or falsely-imposed mystery about basic human anatomy, and neither the author nor illustrator fall prey to that trap. The presentation is straightforward and honest in a way that young children understand and appreciate. The illustrations are accurate without being hideously graphic (the problem with so many of the "line drawing" books that lose children's interest with their black-and-white cross-sections of genitals), yet they are not so cartoonish as to be unclear.

My son loves the book, as do his young friends (many of whom have the book at their house, too), as did my three godchildren. Let the staff of the "Horn" have Gray's anatomy, if they choose -- my family likes "Bellybuttons are Navels," and I think your family will, too.

Original Post (2000): This book is great if you're looking for places that are off the beaten path. For example: instead of going to Muir Woods to see redwoods (and hordes of tourists), head off to Heritage Grove in La Honda for a chance to be one-on-one with the mighty trees (and check out the banana slugs as well!). I've only hiked about 4 of the 70+ trails so far, but they have all been worthwhile. Highly recommended!

Update (2003): Wow - I'm glad "13 out of 13 readers" found my review useful! :-)

Three years later, this now lovingly-worn book has accompanied me on a dozen more hikes, from Mendocino to Big Sur. Friends and visitors are always amazed at how I've been able to magically find these spectacular places! The Appendices with Suggested Hikes are quite useful -- I have yet to be disappointed with the "Grand Views" of various parts of the Bay Area, for example. I can thank this book for providing many special memories, photos, and aching limbs (hey, the author was not joking about those "strenuous" hikes!).

Oh, I also purchased another Marc Soares book, "100 Hikes in the San Francisco Bay Area". While some hikes do overlap with this book, I'd recommend as a nice companion volume -- especially if you live inland (like me) and don't always have time to head to the coast.

This is a nice and easy story that you will read in one or two days and you will remember your student days, how you wanted to be with a girl/boy and he or she didn't want to be with you. Not to mention the parents of each one telling you that he or she is not good for you.
The story won't give you anything but your memories, is a nice story to read even if you are angry or sad.

This book explains how the Rasch model imposes a measurement system upon data. It explains how counting is misleading and how the Rasch model permits sample-free item calibration and test-free person measures. The concept of fit is explained as well. While the formulae are included in this book, one does not have to be a mathematician to understand the ideas. This book will serve the novice and the veteran well.

This book is wonderful to help kids learn positive ways to deal with conflict. When Buddy the dinosaur's friend Rex continues to "wreck" everything Buddy learns to set a boundary. He tells Rex that this is not OK, but that he wants to be friends if Rex can respect his stuff. I'm using this book this summer with a group of kids with emotional and physical needs to help teach them to stand up for themselves and also teach respect and a bit of diplomacy. It is a shame this is out of print.