I found The Forest Family very difficult to understand. There was such a mixture of stories thrown together -- everything from biblical (Ruth and Naomi) to King Arthur. I couldn't identify what the author was trying to communicate to her readers or who, really, was her intended audience. Even though this book was in the children's section of our library, I wondered at times if the themes or message weren't adult in nature. Pages 72 - 74 focus on "What does a woman really want?" I found myself asking why I was reading this book to our 8 yr. old son. I was as perplexed at the end of the book as my son was (yes, we finished it). Although I do not believe in censorship, I question whether or not this book should be advertised and promoted as a children's book.

This book should not be used as a teaching tool. It is full of incredibly bad errors, and it does not aid to teach German. The texts have not been proofread, and it is evident that OCR has been used throughout to scan in texts from other sources, BUT the OCR text has not even been edited for errors! Therefore, innumerable errors are present throughout, such as "clas" written in German instead of the word "das".

Furthermore, the questions used are not clear, and are often ambiguous. The focus of the questions does not assist a student to learn German: it merely serves to confuse the student further. The questions themselves are often grammatically incorrect. The questions often use examples which clearly show that the author of the book is not familiar with many facets of the grammar himself, because he refers to accusative objects when they are clearly in the nominative.

This book is a disgrace to the field of academics.

I find it ironic that, throughout a book whose aim is to focus on learning grammar and effective use of a language, that the texts themselves have not even been proofread properly and that errors remain from scanning in a text through Optical Character Recognition. How is one to learn grammar from such a textbook, given that the author himself makes so many errors in grammar himself.

I am appalled to know that this is being used in German classes in some educational institutions. Had I been subjected to such materials, I doubt I would ever have learned German effectively.

If you are witless enough to find this book useful, you should probably stay home. I decided to return it within about 30 seconds of opening it. Where to begin? The book offers an "action plan" whose steps include "1. Decide which job or jobs you ideally want. If possible this should be something you are skilled and/or qualified in. 2. Decide which country or countries you would most like to live and work in. Which European language do you know best or could you learn most easily?"

I bought the book especially looking for help in preparing a CV for Germany. The "How to prepare a CV" section tells me that I should include "your full name, clear contact address and telephone, school qualifications..." As opposed to what?! What does Hempshell think the reader would expect goes on a CV?

The author wastes pages on individual country sections where you might learn that "Further reading on Germany" includes "Let's Go 2000: Germany" and "Germany: The Rough Guide". As I said, if you buy this book looking for information on getting a job in Europe, and you benefit from being informed that travel guides have useful information on a country, you will be safer staying at home.

I didn't like this book at all. The information was wrong, the author had no idea what he was talking about, and the wording is just terribl

It is the opinion of other authors that the Gold Clause is still illegal (and thus unenforceable), and thus one should proceed with caution before following the advice in this book. Perhaps that is why this is the "only" book on this topic? File with the "how to beat the I.R.S." books which offer similarly dubious advice.

This is possibly one of the worst books about groupwork with adolescents that I've ever purchased. Not only was the presentation itself very poor (sloppily formatted, typos on some of the pages) but the content was so simplistic and obvious that it was almost embarrassing. Halebsky's suggestions are for exactly the type of activities/discussions I throw together in 3 minutes when I haven't had time to prepare a "real" group. My participants are extremely demanding--they need to be entertained and active while participating in the therapeutic process. I was hoping for a book that would give me some fresh new ideas about providing experiences for them, rather than the same old chitchat which they find repetitive and boring, but this book wasn't it. Maybe the population I'm serving is more difficult to work with than Halebsky's target audience, but I was very very disappointed with this offering.

I ordered this book because, as a person that has hepatitis C, I am desperate for useful information about this confusing disease. There is very little good, practical literature available about hepatitis C. This book might be of some value to a newly diagnosed "hepper", but I found that it focused mainly on the spiritual aspect of healing. It also outlined a "12 step program" for hep sufferers. I personally get my spiritual needs met through prayer and religion. I want facts on nutrition, alternative treatments and other ways to make this disease more bearable. I would not recommend this book to anyone that is seeking to educate themselves about this "mystery" disease in order to improve their quality of health. Get some milk thistle extract, improve your diet, use appropriate supplements and keep on seeking the truth about this insidious disease. This book won't help you with the real burdens of hepatitis C. Honestly, David Highum

No surprises here this volume was not worth the money I paid for it. As plain and colorless as a textbook can be. I recommend Richard Marius "A Short Guide to Writing About History" instead.

Apparently Mark Bennett spent his childhood drawing draftsmenlike designs of the houses in his favourite sitcom. These drawings were collected in an art show and a successful book resulted. Now Mark is back with a tongue in cheek guide to etiquette as it is portrayed by TV shows. Har-de-har-har. What this book lacks in humour, it certainly makes up for in the author's frequent asides to his former alcoholism, depression and various other monkeys on his back. This book reads like a bad diary by an almost humourless comedian.

Although the author of this book had good intentions, he based the entire book on a wrong scriptural interpretation: that Samson was a man trying to mask his fears of acting tough, or as the author calls it, "The Samson Trap". But the Bible itself does not indicate this. The Bible does not say that Samson was afraid of anything. The author, and many other writers, focus on the negative aspects of Samson's character, while the only place where the Bible gives a direct commentary on Samson's life describes him in an extremely positive light (Hebrews 11:32-38). His weaknesses can only be accurately studied in the light of his strength, which is his faith in God's grace despite his own weaknesses and failures. Vincent Cheung and Phil Stanton give much more accurate teachings on Samson. Vincent Cheung's teaching on Samson can be found at this web site, FaithPower.com.