I'm just a student in high school, and not long ago was recieved the part as Lady Macbeth for our school play Macbeth. My drama teacher recommended this book to me to get an in depth analysis of my character and the rest of the play. I bought the book and I was totally blown away. The information packed in here is tremendous. In this book is everything you'll ever need to know about each play and every character, even if they don't have a speaking part. This book has also helped me with the other Shakespeare plays I read during school for Literature. It's a great study and reference. It's helped me understand so much about the characters and the play, I recommend this to anyone who reads Shakespeare for school or anything, this tells you things even your teacher wouldn't know. It's been truly a life savor, to me and the rest of my cast who couldn't understand what was going on or what their character was about.

I'm a Shakespeare major, and my shelves are bowing under the weight of all my Shakespeare books. SHAKESPEARE A TO Z is the book I reach for most often, whenever I've got questions about the plays.

This book truly is the essential reference, but it is much more than a typical reference book. It's readable, interesting, and thorough. Inside, you'll find passages on every single one of Shakespeare's characters, no matter how minor; detailed analysis, as well as an act-by-act plot summary, on EVERY play; information on locations used in the plays, and MUCH more. Virtually every topic/character/place/important thing in a play is covered in this book.

I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Shakespeare's plays, or is involved in the study of Shakespeare. This book not only serves as an accesssible reference, it's also full of thought-provoking facts and ideas.

I am neither a student nor a professional academic, and I don't usually review reference works. SHAKESPEARE A TO Z, however, is much more to me than a "mere" reference book. It has become a silent companion and a private tutor. Before attending a play by Shakespeare or an opera based on his works, I read (or reread) the synopsis of the work in question in SHAKESPEARE A TO Z.

Early seventeenth century English. as it is spoken, is occasionally a mystery to the twentieth century American, and opera, often sung in Italian, can be even more of a mystery. Further confusion can come in an opera, if one isn't familiar enough with the plot to know whether the young soprano dressed in male clothing and playing the part of a male is: a.) a female deliberately cast in the role of a young male, or b.) a female playing the part of a female disguised as a male. If I've "done my homework" and consulted SHAKESPEARE A TO Z before attending the play or opera, I have no problem following the plot regardless of language or gender of the performer.

As an aside, I wonder if it was more, or less, confusing in Shakespeare's time when all roles were played by males. Under those conditions you would have been treated to the spectacle of a male actor portraying a female disguised as a male. Phew!

If I have taken the time to delve further into this wonderful reference, I have a good chance of also understanding the historical context of the play and the motivations of the various characters. Shakespeare is sometimes subtle and frequently devious. Knowledge of background and motivation helps to better understand what is happening.

Some contemporary directors add additional confusion by using deliberate ploys such as having the same actor play multiple roles. If I've prepared properly, I am not confused.

While I personally use this reference mainly to enhance my enjoyment, I am absolutely convinced that it is a valuable source of information for students and an even more valuable instructional tool for teachers. When I was in high school, many long years ago, I didn't enjoy Shakespeare very much, mostly because I didn't totally comprehend what I was reading or seeing. Had I had access to SHAKESPEARE A TO Z, accompanied by a little properly applied pressure to consult it, who knows, I might have come around to enjoying his works much earlier in my life.

This book is NOT for someone who is not in tune with Qabala.I am still looking for instructions HOW TO.For someone who is deep in to study of Qabala it may be OK, however simple instructions would have been a great help.

Earlier this century, Paul Foster Case (of the Golden Dawn tradition) was able to fill in a few missing pieces to the knowledge then held about the Cube of Space, and building upon his discoveries, David Allen Hulse has taken the Cube to another level, discovering a definite story told by tarot cards placed correctly in its 22 positions. This story is one of initiation, and I was fascinated to watch the author describe my own spiritual journey with uncanny accuracy. I believe the story can help any readers see where they have been, where they stand, and where they next need to go. And not only does Mr. Hulse describe this journey, but he also uses the tarot symbolism to pick up on subtleties we may not have noticed about our own journeys; by looking at the principles behind the path, he helps to show how it is we can progress.

Author David Allen Hulse brings us a mystery in his fourth book, New Dimensions for the Cube of Space. Mr Hulse, a scholar of ancient languages and a Qabalistic Adept, reveals the secrets of the long forgotten, mysterious Cube of Space formed from the 22 letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet.

New Dimensions for the Cube of Space: The Path of Initiation Revealed by the Tarot upon the Qabalistic Cube is designed to bring new insight to the study of both Qabalah and Tarot. By matching the 22 cards of the Major Arcana to the ancient Hebrew letters, Mr Hulse defines the components that form the Cube, revealing a map that clearly shows where we have come from, where we are now, and where we are going in our evolutionary journey toward spiritual awakening.

Follow Mr Hulse as he explains how this cube of letters reveals its deepest secrets when linked to the major Arcana of the Tarot, creating a map of the cosmos known as the Cube of Space. The book is full of easy to follow graphs and tables for colors, elements, planets, and Tarot-to-Qabalistic correspondences. There is even a pull out so that the reader may have their own cube, a real plus in enhancing insight.

Although not a book for the beginner, New Dimensions for the Cube of Space is a must have for the Adept. Come and explore these hidden secrets to gain insight into yourself. David Allen Hulse is a man of vision waiting on the world to catch up. For all of us, I do hope it's soon.

M.L. Benton, Publisher, Echoed Voices. Copyright © September, 2001

This book made me realize that radio is not just about playing music. It is about sending and reciving waves to make the public happy.

This book focuses on the history of radio from 1899 to 1954 and thus has nothing to do with RCA's CED VideoDisc system, but one of the key figures in the account is David Sarnoff, so a lot of the early history of RCA is covered. In addition to Sarnoff, the book focuses on the technical radio pioneers Edwin Howard Armstrong and Lee de Forest. In some respects this book is a reflection on the development of the modern computer, as parallels can be drawn between these radio pioneers and computer industry figures Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison.

Read some years ago & book now lost. Fascinating in that it vividly displays the genius, sometimes luck, unstinting effort, inspiration, and often the "happy" accident that is part of basic effort when one breaks ground in a new quest in pursuit of a dream. Much of this history could not be repeated in our 2000 world because those opportunities no longer exist. An example is Sarnoff's success in getting meaningful work at the tender age he did in the story! Mankind's unflagging quest goes on but in different ways. The first way of making news available at the instant it occurs certainly shrunk the world. The process continues. Recommended highly for the radio buff of any age!

Building Left-Brain Power is somewhat of a bittersweet book because of it's inconsistency throughout the entire book. The
book begins with "easy" logic puzzles such as unscrambling words
and such and ends with the hardest logic puzzles which are
code-breakers.

The book provides a preface at the beginning of most chapters
to give you help in trying to find a logical way of thinking to
tackle a particular problem. This quality I found to be unique
and very valuable as opposed to most books with logic puzzles
just poured in there and leave you frustrated because you can't
figure them out.

Here's what's horrible about this book though. There are type-o's
in the answer keys (which I was amazed at how terribly obvious
they were considering they were not caught before publication). I only spotted two obvious ones though.

The other thing that drove me nuts was that there was no logic
whatsoever to explaining how they arrived at some of their
answers. Many times, I gave other people the problem to look at
WITH the answer that I had looked up and asked them to figure
out how they came up with that answer...no one knew. Was it
another type-o? No clue.

This book has some great qualities, and some terrible qualities
which I thought averaged it out to a 2.5 star book, however, I
rounded up because of the very inexpensive price.

I am currently using the book "Building Left-Brain Power" in my homeschooling activities, and was planning to complete one chapter per week with my 10-year-old daughter Jasmine, but she loves this book too much to put it down! We started on Monday and have already finished 2 chapters. I'm really looking forward to the number exercises. I love math, and can see that all three of my kids will do really well if we continue using the same type of challenging exercises together in school.

~kira
homeschooler & mother of 3

I am currently using the book "Building Left-Brain Power" in my homeschooling activities, and was planning to complete one chapter per week with my 10-year-old daughter Jasmine, but she loves this book too much to put it down! We started on Monday and have already finished 2 chapters. I'm really looking forward to the number exercises. I love math, and can see that all three of my kids will do really well if we continue using the same type of challenging exercises together in school.

~kira
homeschooler and mother of 3

...you will find part of your story in this book. A second reading may be required to appreciate its sociological insights. My primary satisfaction in first reading it was actually hearing about others who've had experiences similar to what have been the most defining yet harshly individuating and closely guarded experiences of my life. Especially poignant were the first realizations of serious mental illness, but the ongoing survival stories were important as well. As many stories as were outlined, I was still left wanting more. ...

In _Burden of Sympathy_, sociolgist David A. Karp presents a well-articulated view of how people today are trying to cope with mentall illness in their families.

However, it's important to note that the mental health system generally provides little help for *families* of the mentally ill, so the many people Karp interviews are very much trying to learn to cope. Therefore, this is not the book to read if you're looking for guidance. It is, however, a revealing picture of what it means to have mental illness in one's family today.

For example, this book's focus in on the caregiver and his/her relationship to the patient. Almost no one is prepared for the personal, spiritual, moral and emotional challenges (not to mention financial) that seem to burst on you when someone you love has a mental illness. The people in _Burden of Sympathy_ have not gone the whole journey, and this is particularly reflected in one mother's account. She and her husband are not able to fully acknowledge their son's illness until he cruelly -- and possibly life-threateningly -- attacks his brother. The mother expresses concern that because she is completely enveloped in caring for her ill son, that she's failing her other children.

The effect of mental illness on families is almost a system in itself, and due to the focus on caregiver-patient in this book, that system is not illuminated. Children who do not play a caregiving role are also profoundly affected and challenged, and have needs of their own that often are not met -- with consequences casting a long shadow over the rest of their lives. I hope David Karp will explore this issue in future books.

In addition, many of the other inteviewees are also completely enveloped in the mentally ill relative -- with hard consequences for their other relationships and lives. This, in my opinion, is where we are most challenged and most ill-equipped to deal with mental illness in our families. How do you get to acceptance? How do you distinguish your needs from theirs? How do you maintain that balance? How do you embrace the "4th C" (detailed in this book) of "All I can do is cope with it [the situation]"?

_Burden of Sympathy_ is a beautifully drawn picture of how caregivers attempt to cope. This book won't offer guidance in coping, but will offer you the solace of knowing you're not alone.

To write this book Karp, a sociologist, performed three-years' worth of in-depth interviewing of family members of mentally ill patients and attended support groups among these family members at McLean's Hospital in Belmont, MA. He also read extensively on mental illness and living with mental illness, mostly from sociological literature and some from medical books and a few medical journal articles. When I first looked at the book at the library, I noticed the chapter called "The Four C's." Looking at this chapter was what caused me to take the book home. I ended up reading almost the entire book carefully.

Throughout the book, Karp discusses and quotes 60 caregivers (by "caregivers," I mean someone with a close relative with mental illness) talking about their relatives and about their own feelings, always focusing on the caregivers' reactions to the events surrounding the illnesses. Karp's main concern is with the obligation family members feel toward their mentally ill relative(s) and with how these family members cope with fulfilling their obligations toward the ill person(s) while trying to live their own lives. One theme that reappears often is that many mentally ill persons refuse to acknowledge their illness at one level or another, thus making their familial caregiver's role more difficult. This includes elderly parents who refuse to get help as well as young spouses with manic episodes who place blame on their healthy spouses. Another theme is the evolution of family caregiver emotions, from those of surprise and pain and hope at first to resentment and even severing of relations in some cases.

Karp notes that parental care and obligation is the strongest of the familial ties with the mentally ill. He also covers numerous siblings, spouses, and children of people with mental illness. Some of the interviewees have both a parent and a sibling with an illness; some of these people are living with the fear of suffering the development of the illness themselves. Many wrestle with depression, seemingly as a result of their problems with their sick relative.

Most of the patients related to Karp's interviewees have depression, mania, schizophrenia, or some combination such as bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disease. Most or all have had hospitalizations. Karp manages to cover a wide range of family relationship and ages with most of the concepts he introduces, thus emphasizing the similarities among those involved with mental illness in the family. The level of illness discussed is generally major.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is powerful and brutally honest, with no happy ending or false hopes. Another strong theme in this book that is visited over and over again is the chronicity and incurability of much mental illness. Quote after quote from the family members discusses early hopes of cure that are dashed by later episodes of illness, medications that work for a while and then stop working or never work at all or cost too much, and hospitalizations that accomplish little besides crisis intervention. At the beginning of each support group meeting Karp attended, the members of the group recited the four C's in unison: "I didn't cause it. I can't cure it. I can't control it. All I can do is cope with it." This is probably the most important part of the book for family members of mentally ill persons. Karp discusses the four C's extensively, claiming that they unite the realms of "...science, therapy, and spirituality." He discusses cause, cure, and control separately. The lack of a section on coping at this juncture is curious; it may imply that the entire book is about coping or that Karp doesn't feel equipped to offer coping advice.

Reading this book was the closest experience I have had to attending a support group of family caregivers for mentally ill persons. As I read the chapter about the four C's, I could feel my own relationship with the four C's. Although I tried hard to consider myself an outsider, I was surprised at how many of the issues addressed in the book are ones that I am familiar with. Reading this book, I felt like part of a group that I would rather not be part of. Because of these feelings, I think other people with mentally ill family members might get something out of this book, but I am not sure a psychiatrist would be comfortable recommending the book.

Along with the four C's, Karp and his interviewees discuss a poignant group of problems that family caregivers face, such as the balance between allowing a person with mental illness to be independent and keeping him or her safe but dependent. Karp claims that, for the family caregivers, too much control results in being controlled by the illness. He acknowledges, however, that giving up control is not simple, as it may result in severe consequences for the patient, which can then tax the family.

The last chapter containing caregiver quotes is called, "Surviving the System." This section covers the family members' experiences with hospitalization, including the difficulties of getting a patient hospitalized sometimes when it is needed as well as insufficient care often encountered during hospitalization. A section is devoted to discussion of psychiatrists. Although most of it is not complimentary, Karp is careful to include some praise of psychiatrists.

Karp concludes with a sociological perspective on mental illness, somewhat summarily. The only optimistic aspect of this book is in the form of Karp admitting that he has heard of a few success stories. He mentions a few people who seem to have conquered these usually devastating mental illnesses, and he includes successes where he finds them. The book is not pessimistic, either. It is alive with the voices of people who are grappling with mental illness in a loved one. The book offers company and understanding, if not solutions, for family members of mentally ill people.

This dictionary is not perfect but itis useful especially ESL BEGINNER

We bought this dictionary for general and school use for our kids and it does the job quite well. I Highly recommend it!

I'm a Junior at a 4-year college; since my initial schooling for learning English up to this date, I've relied on the Longman Dictionary Of American English, A Dictionary For Learners Of English. It has been my best guide through the process of learning and using English.

I didn't know this was a girl-starring book before I got it for my boy, but he loves the book anyway. My husband said he refuses to read the book to our son, but I found him reading it to him anyway.

I think this book is very helpful in starting the potty training process. After reading this book several times with my daughter, she wanted to copy what we read in the book. She is not fully trained yet, however, she has gone potty 6 times after reading this book.

potty training! She loved seeing her favorite Sesame Street characters in the book. The book is more geared for girls than boys. I think every girl who is potty training should have this book.

Disappointing. Many pictures are dark and/or fuzzy. I find that hard to distinguish features of different hawks.

HAWKS IN FLIGHT by Peter Dunne is a useful book because it includes many photos and drawings of various species of Raptors in flight. When you see a Raptor, you generally have no way to identify it except by it's flight profile. Feather markings simply cannot be seen when a bird is sailing on a current of air or scuttling after prey. Once in a while I've surprised a hawk at rest, but generally it is well hidden in the leaves of a tree and takes off before I can get a good look. Even the Cooper's Hawk I see on my morning commute along the parkway is usually sitting back on a branch waiting for road kill (he is one fat lazy bird).

The photos in HAWKS IN FLIGHT show the birds as seen from the side flying close to the ground and as well as overhead. The book also includes drawings showing birds that resemble each other juxtaposed side by side as they would never appear in nature. Some of the photos are not very clear and the drawings are darker than I like, but no less a birder than Roger Tory Petersen recommended this book which nicely complements his own books.

Although the title includes the reference to hawks, the chapters cover Buteos, Accipiters, Falcons, Kites, Harriers, Eagles, Ospreys, and Vultures. The chapter on Accipiters covers the Cooper's Hawk, the hawk I see by the roadside in Washington DC. We also see Falcons chasing our song birds. A whole lot of back-stabbing goes on in this town.

There is no other guide which even approaches Hawks in Flight for thoroughness, clarity, and utility. Anyone who seriously pursues the sport of hawk watching must have this book.

For those just starting out in hawk watching, and for general use by even the most serious hawk watchers, I strongly recommend another work by Dunne et al., Hawk Watch: A Guide for Beginners, which is a large-format condensed version of Hawks in Flight. this book does focus exclusively on eastern species, however. Having both books is ideal.

Mr. Rachlin and Sweeny make no excuses for writting a dry book. "The field of basic accounting and finance frankly offers little that is new or exciting." Sorry, I just couldn't take this tone. Try the McGraw-Hill 36-Hour book for a more lively presentation of the basics.

After purchasing one of those "for dummies" type books on Accounting I purchased this book. I have found it to be an easy and quick read, clear, concise, to the point and very helpful. I was looking for something simple and just wanted to cover the basics - this book met my needs perfectly.

This book about finance and accounting concepts is especially useful to professionals with no formal training in finance, budgeting, investment or accounting. As an urban planner and development advisor, I am often presented with land use proposals which are framed in financial and accounting terms. This book offers a clear and simple approach to these disciplines and has given me the tools to make much more informed decisions in my work. I highly recommend it to others in my trade and to those, like me, who often glaze over finance and accounting terminology.

Sibley has done a great job of putting pictures, text and maps together in this guide. Regrettably, though, all that info. on 1/2 a page (2 species per page) makes it difficult to see/read; especially with older eyes.

In addition, I still think Peterson's paintings are the best in presenting the birds in a manner closest to how they look in the field. Sibley's paintings are a bit stark compared to the real thing. On a recent trip to Madera Canyon, I noted this when looking, in particular, at a Lazuli Bunting, and a Rufous-Winged Sparrow.

Sibley's new guide is very good, but I still keep "Roger" in the fanny pack, and Sibley back in the car as reference.

Good birding.

Of the making of many books there is no end, and so here we have another volume from David Sibley, author of the (large) Sibley Guide, hands-down the best field guide available to North American birds. Even that book has its disadvantages, though, and Sibley (or rather, one is forced to suspect, his publishers) has sought to remedy two of them--namely, its physical weight and misleading range maps--by dividing it into two considerably more portable volumes. Unfortunately, while the book now fits into generously proportioned pockets, and while the maps are tremendously improved (residents of BC, AB, and Nunavut may disagree...), the new layout made necessary by the smaller format essentially vitiates the original guide's great advantages. Gone are the startlingly large-scale images, replaced by what are for most species literally thumbnail-sized illustrations (well, I've got biggish thumbs); for most species, the images now float in the gutters and margins next to the text. The captions to these images still provide a tremendous amount of information, in a few cases even more information or more clearly stated than in the "big" Sibley. But the cramped layout means that it is impossible to compare some similar species without flipping pages; Western and Cassin's Kingbirds, for example, are on different openings. The great strength of the original guide was the vertical orientation of the species accounts, and now that that is gone, the book barely holds its own against the more traditionally designed and meatier NatGeo. I suspect that birders sophisticated enough to use this volume efficiently will not need it; and those who need it will find it frustratingly cluttered.

This guide is well layed out,provides excellent pictures and text and is the perfect in the field answer to The Sibley Guide To Birds.