I came upon this book in the library with no prior knowledge of the book or the author. From page one I was captivated by Mark's life story and finished the book in 2 days. I'm surprised that it never received more recognition, as it has become one of my all-time favorites. It covers so many topics...religion, homosexuality, family relationships, love and loss...that anyone can relate to and identify with. Written with honesty and humor, I highly recommend this book to everyone!

I loved Mark's honesty. It wasn't just about being gay, or fatherless. It was about searching for identity, friendship and meaning. His superb writing and sense of humor made a serious story delightful to read.

Matousek's book crosses a lot of genres:gay/Jewish/writer's life/memoir and ends up being universal. He is also an excellent writer and some of the quotes from other writers (Pessoa,Kazin) are really thought-provoking. The book rises above the usual litany of abuse and self-pity endemic to many memoirs. This is the best memoir I've read since Paul Monette's Borrowed Time.

This book saved my sanity. It gave me the education I needed to take charge of my own fertility. It explained things that the doctors didn't. It was a source of reference to back up what they did say. Most of all it gave me the confidence to walk away from Doctors that didn't specialize in my needs and to find someone that did. AND every room in my Doctors office had a copy of this book! - Get it - It's worth every cent.

Now in its third edition, The Couple's Guide To Fertility has been completely revised and updated to represent the latest scientific findings to help infertile couples become parents. Research on genetics, fertility drugs, and the latest minimally invasive surgeries to correct infertility problems are all discussed in great depth, but with attention to lay audiences. A comprehensive, valuable, "reader friendly" guide.

A person who is just getting his feet wet in the frightening and confusing world of infertility, obviously finds himself overwhelmed. The medical jargon today, all those acronym -- GIFT, ZIFT, IUI, PCT, BBT, LH, FSH, HCG, HSG, IVF, not to mention PROST, TOAST, SUZI, FREDI, etc. can just make your mind spin. There are many difficult moral decisions to make as well. Dr. Goldstien's book is a perfect "beginners' bible" to infertility. It explains every facet of the experience in great detail, and patients become better medical consumers as a result. In addition, Dr. Goldstien is the #1 recommended urologist in New York City, and is widely used by the Jewish community in N.Y. He is very knowledgeable and sensitive to the needs of the Jewish community and the restrictions they have concerning male infertility. Recommended reading for everyone -- whether you want to seek help, you are in the thick of being helped, or are almost beyond help..... Lots of luck to all who are struggling with this excruciatingly difficult life's experience!

This is a beautiful book of short stories about the laughter & tears experienced between mother and daughter and, in some instances, 3 generations of mothers & daughters. There were a few stories that I really didn't see the point in and didn't understand why there were included, but all-in-all, the stories made me laugh and cry. I purchased the book as a mother's day gift for my mom, but had to read it myself first!

It's a great gift for yourself or mother/daughter. It's an enjoyable and sometimes tear-jerking read and sometimes a mirror of a relationship you have/had or would like to have.

My daughter & I enjoy Chicken Soup For The Mothers And Daughters Soul.It not only touch our souls it touch our hearts.It is very hard to stop reading it.I would like to Thanks the Authors of this book for bringing back an older favorite of my daughter & I ,That was to sit down & read together.Chicken Soup For The Mothers And Daughter will not only touch your Soul it will touch your Heart.I I pray that God continues to bless you.Please write more books soon.I would love to have an complete series of all your Best Seller Book,This book is a treasure that All Mothers & Daughters will enjoy for years to come.Many,Many Thanks,Again***** Frances,You are a hero.You touch so many people near you & very far,That is what makes you a hero to me.Your book will not only warm & touch the hearts & Soul of Mothers & Daughters,It warms up every one that has a heart.Hugs,

Above average writing sets this book apart from others of its genre. Stories are engrossing without seeming contrived. All in all, a well put together collection of stories, quotes and cartoons that ACTUALLY is inspiring.

There are some good insights in this book (and some really nice pictures). However, I was put off by the author's tone, which is pedantic and mildly condescending, and I was unimpressed by his grocery-list application of the insights to the game. The Sun Tzu quotes were appropriate but gratuitous, and the author does not apply the simplicity which has made "Art of War" such a classic. Where "The Art of War" is about fifty pages (including third-party commentary), "The Art of Soccer" is about four times that length.

Brevity would have greatly improved this book. The real insights (primarily regarding the importance of using space in effective soccer) were covered fully in the first chapter or two; the details in the later part are covered more eloquently and carefully in other works (see "Coaching Soccer Successfully," by Roy Rees et al ...

For an intermediate coach or player this book could be quite helpful, but I suggest skimming rather than reading it.

I have played soccer for many years and this book would enable many coaches and players to better understand each others roles so much better. This level of understanding takes many years to develope. This book could really help to simplify that process. This book takes sun tzu's principles and applies them to soccer.In the business and martial arts communities,it has always been said that these principles are applicable to all times and places where people compete against each other.Thus this interpretation can be made applicable to basketball, hockey ,etc - ALL SPORTS.

If you are involved with a team which has the basics of feinting, dribbling, and passing, then this book will take you to the next level of understanding of how and why positioning should work. As the author points out early, 10 minutes after a game starts you can't tell whether the team is using a 5-3-2 or a 3-4-3 because the game is really about space and how to set up spaces, manipulate it, and work into it. Really a great understanding of the game as it is played and not as a bunch of X's and O's. You MUST read this book if you coach or play U-12 or above.

very detailed & the best explanations of what intervals, scales,chords,modes etc. are and how they are built. you will make strong the topics by solving well designed exercises. i have been studying it about 1 week and so happy to see my rapid progression.

Quite the best explanation of music theory, for both classical and contemporary music, that I've come across.

Mark Harrison does not "put the cart before the horse" (as he explains himself) and as such brings clarity.

Even though there is some repetition to bring home important points, overall there is a delightful brevity.

Don't even think of skipping any.

The appendices contain a very useful set of triads in all keys.

Highly recommended. I can't wait to order volume II.

I have 3 of mark's books. This one, the second one and the pop piano book. The one I like most is the pop piano book but this book is almost required reading. On with the review!

This book teaches music theory and it is what you will get. It is very clear and moves in a slow steady pace. If you pay attention you will never lose yourself. It is ideal for someone learning alone because it has exercises at the end of each chapter you can use to brush up on what you just learned. Just like chemistry (which is what I always read!) theory isn't going to take you anywhere. You need to use it too. This is almost prequisite reading for the "pop piano book" unless you already have a good grasp of music theory. I use it in conjunction with my keyboard playing. If you just read and go through the exercises, you will learn but you will forget too! So it is recommended you actually use what is learned in conjuction. This will not tell you how to "use" the theory. That is up to you. Play your instrument frequently!

So if you always wanted to know the background about music get this. Stop memorizing chords having no idea why they are what they are. The print is clear, large, easy to read. But I don't like the binding on the book. kind of weak.

The above advice is given to our humble narrator, Fishboy, from the mouth of a 'rumored cook' on board a ship at sea. Fishboy has seen the cook's predecessor cleaved in two with an axe by a sailor who was angry about the food he and his shipmates had been served. Fishboy decides that he most likely doesn't want to become a cook.

Author Mark Richard has definitely stirred the literary soup in FISHBOY, his debut novel. There's a quote on the back cover from a review in ESQUIRE: "An eloquent fever dream, a tale told headlong in the language of incantation" -- and that 'fever dream' description fits this work to a 't'.

As I read my way through this ghost story, a fable replete with inner fables, I felt like I had been dunked into a boiling pot of Herman Melville and William S. Burroughs, illustrated by S. Clay Wilson (those of you who remember his 'perverted pirates' underground comix of the 60s will cringe at this reference), with the film directed by David Lynch. Richard's story bubbles and seethes -- he evidently relishes giving the reader the feeling of being unstuck in both time and place, for there are characters and images in this novel that are plucked from sundry eras and locations, stirred up into an intelligent, interesting, albeit not always appetizing stew. This is a world turned topsy-turvy, reflecting 'reality' like a cracked mirror.

Richard's metaphors are sometimes staggeringly beautiful and captivating -- the sea turned to shorebound landscape with mountains of waves, the land turned to ocean by the rolling tide of subterranean upheavals. Consider this short sample from p.163: 'A loose timber from the sun's sunken wreckage floated up and was dawn on the water. In its cool red light you could see how the waters around us were disturbed from beneath. Globes of old air rose to the surface and shattered, spritzing blooms of kicked-up mud. Mobs of waves rushed crowded swells, slapping faces and knocking caps off to the wind.' Whew.

The narrator of the story -- we know him only as Fishboy -- starts his tale by telling us (from p.1): 'I began as a boy, as a human-being boy, a boy who fled to sea, a boy with a whistling lisp and the silken-tipped fingers of another class. A boy with put-away memories of bedclothes bound tight about the head, knocked by a hammering fist; the smell of cigar and show leather and the weighted burlap bag, thrown from a car into a side-road swamp.' The odyssey he undertakes is a fantastic, circular one -- and he views it with an extremely limited perspective, realting the events that occur with both sheltered naivitee and blinding insight.

The novel is sub-titled 'a ghost story' -- and that it is, although it is unlike any ghost story you are likely to have come across. Richard has imbued this work with a 'graspable' surreality -- and I'm not sure if it's the reader or the story who is doing the grasping. This is an unusual, highly unsettling read.

This book catches you from the first sentence/ paragraph and doesn't let go. All rules are off in this book from grammar to linear plot. This is not at all irritating. It's refreshing that Richard assumes that the reader is clever enough to keep up. This is easily one of the best books I've read in years. It has been 3-4 years since I last read it, but I still have lucid memories of passages. Too bad Richard doesn't publish more.

Whoa! Like a cross between William Burroughs' "The Western Lands" and Amos Tutuola's "My Life In The Bush of Ghosts." Surely Mark Richard's "Fishboy" is on that level of mastery.
It took me about two months of casual reading to get through this short (227 pages) book but it was worth it. Getting lost in this book is part of the journey, as you'll soon discover. Eloquent chaos and heart wrenching beauty. But not for linear readers!

Lucy learns some valuable things during the course of this book. She learns that a teacher can be a friend and confidant. She learns that writing about events and her feelings can be a wonderful release. She learns a lot about poetry, because it is her teacher's favorite thing, and he starts each day by writing a poem on the blackboard. The final thing she learns is about being judgemental. Sure, her classmate Andy is obnoxious and irritating. But once she sees why (his abusive stepfather), Lucy learns compassion.

The book I read was For Your Eyes Only (FYEO). The author is Joanne Rocklin. I give this book five stars because it is very funny. The best part of the book is when Andy writes in his notebook. I like this part because his pictures are very detailed. My favorite character is Lucy because she goes through her life in a notebook. This book is great. I really think you should read it!

This is one of my all time favorite books. It is amazingly good. There are lesson's learned, and it's really fun to read. I've read it 6 times!!!!!!! I can't stop! This is a really good book! Definately worth every penny :)

After reviewing this book again, talking with many dentists from the US and Europe, and doing even more reading. I am downgrading my opinion of this book.

I still stand by Dr. Breiner's assertion that "silver/mercury" amalgam is bad for you. Not only is the mercury frequently toxic to many people, but amalgams are not bonded to the tooth like composites or ceramics. This requires the dentist to drill out more tooth structure to make the amalgam hold, thus leaving the tooth even weaker. Additionally, since the amalgam is not bonded, amalgam offers less physical support to the tooth (than bonded materials) and the tiny gap between the amalgam and the tooth can sometimes (but not always) lead to secondary tooth decay. (All of which lead to more tooth problems down the road).

The issue on both root canals and fluoride is still up in the air (IMO), but something that we should all pay attention to. From what I've read, topical fluoride is okay, but fluoridated water may not be so great for you. If you require a root canal, ask around about BioCalex as an alternate form of root canal therapy.

As for Electro-dermal screening a.k.a Electo-accupuncture According to Voll (EAV): Voll was a German scientist who did his research in the 50's (if I recall correctly). From my understanding, his research has never been verified or validated. I have many German friends who are medical doctors and they have never heard of this device or methodology of testing. As far as I can tell, EAV is a total scam that is frequently used by naturopaths and homeopaths to drain money out of people's wallets. Outside of that, EAV is completely useless.

In a nutshell, the chapters about amalgam, fluoride, and root canal issue are a good introduction. IMHO, the rest is either completely false, dubious, or a waste of time/money.

Personally, I would skip this book. There are better and more up-to-date sources on the amalgam, fluoride, and root canal issues. Though if you don't know anything about these 3 topics, this book might be a decent primer for you.

This book alerts readers to information traditional dentists don't want you to know. Mercury is a known poison. Mercury in dental fillings, Dr. Breiner explains, appears to leach into your body. Can mercury poisoning cause Alzheimer's Disease? This book, written for the lay person, sets out a convincing case for banning mercury in dental fillings -- and a very convincing case for running to your dentist to have all of your silver fillings quickly replaced.

This well-written book highlights the relationship between "whole-body health" and dentistry. It's a must-read for anyone seeking hidden causes of some serious ailments.

This was the second of two books about the effect of toxic dental work on a person's overall health. Thank you Dr. Breiner for getting the word out. If you have silver fillings and/or root canals in your mouth - - and if you have ANY health issues, this is a MUST READ! It is very well written and thoroughly researched. Hopfully all dentists of the future will care enough about their patients' health to pursue continuing education if the field of holistic dentistry. THANK GOD I had my amagams removed (just after reading this and another great book). Everyone should read this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book covers the main XML Perl modules and provides good starting point for working with XML in Perl. The book includes coverage of modules used for XML generation and XML parsing (both tree-based and event-based). It also provides coverage of advanced topics, ...as AxXit and Web Services using SOAP. Personally I found the chapter on event-based parsing to
be the most useful. Although the SAX examples are fairly simple, I was able to successfully convert some of my own
code from XML tree-based to XML event-based parsing which provided a significant performance improvment.

The only downside I found with the book is that it needs another round of editing, information is repeated, sometimes
the repeated information is within one or two pages of each other, which I found annoying.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is new to working with XML and Perl.

A really good overview of the 'state of the art' in the XML/Perl world.

Things I like most about this book :

the content is structured and clear to follow

the didactic style provides 'real-world' examples with explanations, which can easily be modified and extended

It is so succinct it can be read in a weekend. Both highly readable and informative.

I hate to admit it, but I have not felt the need to buy the O'Reilly Perl & XML book yet.

(Keep up the good work New Riders)

This book surveys two dozen of the more important XML modules
available for Perl. It is aimed at the intermediate-level Perl
developer who has little exposure to XML and wants to know what the
fuss is all about, or who just needs a roadmap to find his/her way
amongst the hundred-odd Perl modules available on CPAN.

I found the book generally acceptable as computer books go. The
layout of the book is useful and visually pleasing, the section
headers are descriptive rather than cutesy or humorous, and the
authors write seriously and stick to the topic. The program examples
are to the point, and the authors have made a clear effort to come
up with plausible problems to solve rather than using completely
contrived examples. The example XML documents all have DTDs and
Schemas to define their format, which is good practice and refreshing
to see.

The range of topics is good, covering less obvious topics like SOAP
and web delivery of XML documents with AxKit, as well as the expected
discussions of parsing via SAX and DOM.

The faults of the book are twofold. The first problem is the need
for another round of editing. The program listings are almost all fine
(but beware the typo in p. 166, line 24 in the listing) yet the text
is sometimes repetitive and could use another round of tightening up.
Yes, this is true of almost every computer book, but hope springs eternal....

More disappointing to me was the second problem, which is inconsistent
focus. It's in the nature of a survey book to prefer breadth to
depth, but still I found the authors choices on what to discuss and
what to ignore were sometimes curious. I learned that there are SAX1
and SAX2 standards, but not what the difference is between them, nor
when I should prefer one to the other, nor what improvement they offer
over XML::Parser. There is a three-page discussion (p.155-158) of the
entirely-obvious production of XML documents with "print"
statements but no mention at all of XML encoding schemes and how they can
bite you in Perl 5.6.

My spot check of the index was an unhappy experience (the index won't
tell you that the document validation features of XML::Xerces are
mentioned on p.100) and the URL for the book's errata (p.xviii) gives
a 404 error as of this writing.

I'm an experienced Perl programmer with a little XML already under my
belt, so the book was helpful to me in giving me an overview of my
options for my next Perl/XML app. It's not in the Camel book's class,
but it is useful for the intended audience.

I had been looking for a book about creativity, I wanted to understand the process more, and hopefully increase my productivity. This book was one of 12 that I bought related to the design and creativity area, and was by far the best I've read yet. It gives so much information about the process of idea generation that even I understand it more now (and I've been doing it for 4 years). I have already used the advice on handling clients to great success, and I'm reading the book a second time round.

This book is a MUST for all designers at all levels!!

Enjoy

A lot of time is wasted in the creative business just doodling and waiting for one's muse to pop in and show us the light. This book takes the sloppy creative process and pretty much streamlines it into a more productive method of thinking things out and solving problems.

While there are examples of real creative work, the book focuses more on process than one product. If you're constantly living on mental post-it notes and flying by the seat of your pants when coming up with new ideas, this book might just be the ticket for you to get the creative process more organized. I have seen a few reviews that cited a problem with the size of the font used in the book... I held the pages of the book up to my computer monitor and find that the font used on this webpage is actually smaller than that used in the book... so if you can read this page, you can read the book. :-)

Mr. Oldach does a great job of putting into words ideas, thoughts and tangents that I always wanted to capture in words throughout my career, but now I dont't have to. Mark insightfully outlines the design process as a launchpad for creative solutions, not a rigid, constricting container. If your a designer, a must have.