I am also the mom to 2 little girls from China. I bought the book at the recommendation of a friend and when it arrived, I quickly opened it to see what she had 'raved' about. The book opened to page 6, the poem Ghost Mother - which is about the Mom's fears and interpretations of her daughter's night-terrors. It is a brief poem, and as I read it, I audibly gasped and could not stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. Here on this page were the words that ran through my head all of those nights when I, too, tried to help my daughter through the darkness. My fears and heartache were splashed across every page of this book -- as well as my joy and pride and love for my girls.

Both Joan and Joel have detailed the experience of adopting a child from China, probably from anywhere, so well. The emotions are deep and genuine.

I read aloud from the book that night (last night) and as I sat, voice quavering, tears streaming from my eyes at times, smiles darting across my face some times, the same emotions played out across the face of our au pair as she listened to the words. It was wonderful. They are wonderful words.

As my 16 month old slept soundly upstairs, my 4.5 year old came over and took my hand - "Momma, don't cry", she said so sweetly. I hugged her close and showed her the book, the photos of the Siegel-Solonche family. "She is from China"? Yes, she was adopted and came to live here with her Momma and Daddy, just like you - "and our baby" - yes, and our baby. "Then you are crying happy tears?", yes, honey, I am crying happy tears.

You will too .........

What a treasure! These poems reached out to me and caught me up in the moments & thoughts of both the adoptive parents and their daughter, Peach Girl. They brought back again similar moments with my own biological daughters, like the questions a child can ask, "Do the days ever end?". They made me feel new ones: wondering what that first mother, in China, was like and how she felt. Some poems, like Joan's "Dandelions", teach me about the adoptive experience: seeing your daughter in this world, "You are bending in the grass/picking dandelions", and wondering about the world from which she came, "I think about your country/where not long ago/you were a bundle left on a roadside". Others, like Joel's "Bath", bring humor: "Wars begin like this./America wants China to take a bath" or the not-often-heard feelings of the new father, "I Have Spent The Day Saying Father." All are filled with such love. This is a book to share with any parent, grandparent or child.

When I had my daughter in 1993 I bought this book after careful perusing in the store in which I bought it. It was important to me to find a book that listed MANY names and that it had correct meanings attached. My daughters name was found in this book as well as all three of my sisters children and a few other friends have looked it over in the process of their own pregnancies. I am actually going to buy a second copy, for myself...as my original is dog-eared and has many notes in the margins.
With names like Nani, Kalea, Logan, Danica, Oriana, Sheena, and Dara (some of the children I personally know who were either named from this book or whos names are included inside) you cant go wrong, in fact I judge how good a baby name book is by these names..if they are not there..it is not a complete enough book...and this one has them ALL! As we go through the process of finding a name for our newest addition, this book is a great resource, and will be in our family for generations.

When I became pregnant with my first child in 1996 I immediately began thinking about what I would name my unborn baby so my father gave me this book of names to help me decide. This book is a great read for parents that are not really sure what to name their kids. It is also great to find out what your own name really means and prevent yourself from making the same mistakes some parents have made naming their children. I think I have memorized the entire book. I have become a bit of a name nut since I received this book. If someone needs help with a name - they just call me. Hopefully my children will appreciate my dedication in searching for their names. I certainly appreciated the help.

Phoenix in the Ashes is a collection of six stories. They are both a demonstration of the range of Joan Vinge's talent and an clear indication of the importance of characterization in her works. All the protaganists in these stories are alienated in some way from their culture and each must resolve their own eccentric problems.

The title story involves two individuals, each an outcast in their own society, who learn to fulfill each other's needs; it strongly reminds me of the Gift of the Magi in tone. Voices From the Dust has two scientists who detest each other, but find common ground when an alien presence seizes control of their minds. The Storm King is a tale of emotional growth, as a noble boy learns empathy. The Peddler's Apprentice also has a boy growing both emotionally and intellectually, finally gaining some measure of wisdom. Psiren has Cat coming to grips with his power and guilt. Mother and Child tells of an alien who develops a degree of affection and appreciation for humanity through his contact with a human woman and her child.

Each of these stories involves an individual who is in some way almost unique in their society, but these stories have a larger theme of the uniqueness of all persons. They seem to say, forget the averages and concentrate on the distinctly different aspects of each person.

The only problem I have with Joan D. Vinge is that she doesn't write enough. Of course, quantity doesn't replace quality. And Vinge exemplifies quality to me. Enjoy!

Phoenix in the Ashes is an amazing collection of Ms. Vinge's short stories. Each story has an afterword written by Ms. Vinge, which gives the reader insight, into what inspired that particular tale, which I found to be a very pleasant experience. This collection is something any fan of Ms. Vinge must get, unfortunately at this time it is out of print. One story in particular flashes back on Cat from the Catspaw, Psion, Dreamfall series, and is set in the time between Psion and Catspaw when our hero is recovering from the mental-psionic breakdown he suffered because of his time spent in the Telhassium mines of the Federation. This interlude in Cat's life is just one of six tales included in this collection. The other five range all the way from a desolate future Earth, where technology is considered to be part of the evil spirits (Phoenix in the Ashes), to a sort of world where humans who can see clearly or even hear are considered "blessed" or "gifted" and has an incredibly suprising plot(Mother and Child). All the stories in this collection have characters of depth and intriguing story lines, in spite of the short length. There is no way to sum up this collection as each story is an individual gem, of a different color and cut set in the ring of adaptation and survival

This is a great book, with brilliant choices. Some of these poems feel like exactly what I needed to read right now and I bought copies for lots of friends, too. Joan Murray has a great ear -- her picks are superb: I love the Billy Collins, the Stephen Spender, the Jane Kenyon, John Berryman, Muriel Rukeyser -- The book also introduced me to Jennifer Michael Hecht's poetry. I bought her book, The Next Ancient World and all I can say is, BUY IT -- she will rock your world and if it is already rocking -- well get this book and Hecht's book...and see what happens.

When I saw this book at the bookstore, my first thought was Oh no, is this a book reacting to the events of September 11th? I picked it up and sure enough, it was published after September 11, but after reading the introduction I decided to buy the book. The editor has always loved poetry and for years has saved poems that were important to her in a binder labeled "Poems to Live By." She includes, at the end of the introduction, a poem she wrote a few days after the attack on the World Trade Center. She says "It was clearly an occasional poem, admittedly not a great poem." Besides this poem, there is only one other that might have been written in recent months, and this is "Try to Praise the Mutilated World" by Adam Zagajewski, which appeared in the New Yorker's first issue after September 11, and which alone is worth buying this book for.

These are not feel-good poems that give easy comfort. Instead, you will find here companionship in another person's way of seeing the mixture of suffering and happiness that is always around us. The book is nicely divided into sections, each title giving a hint of how the poems in that section look at uncertainty: Death and Remembrance, Fear and Suffering, Affirmations and Rejoicings, Warnings and Instructions, War and Rumors of War, and Meditations and Conversations. Mostly these are 20th century poets, many of them contemporary poets writing today (such as Billy Collins, Sharon Olds, Gerald Stern, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jane Hirschfield, and Seamus Heaney).

Sit and read these poems to feel what it means to be in this world. There is such a wide range of subject matter in this book, that there is probably a poem here to help you through any dark night you might find yourself in. But these 60 poems are one person's choice and any collection like this is only a beginning. The editor suggests that if you find any of these poems useful, you copy them out by hand and put them in a binder. I would take that suggestion a step further. Start your own binder, of poems you discover yourself.

Shenton's book is the best work I've read yet that questions the link between HIV (or ANY virus, for that matter)and AIDS. Anyone who reads this book will be utterly transfixed by it. It is both fascinating and frightening to read about the unanswered questions that continue to vex scientists, researchers and the like about the supposed link between HIV and AIDS. What is more frightening, however, is the extent to which these individuals will go to prevent these gaps in AIDS theory from becoming public knowledge, and how they refuse even to entertain any other possible explanation(s) for AIDS other than their precious "virus." Meanwhile, people continue dying.

Shenton's telling of a decade of investigation is a complementary part of the AIDS puzzle in main started and mostly filled in by scientists Robert Root-Bernstein and Peter Duesberg; - and Shenton journalistic comrades such as Jad Adams and Michael Fumento. Deductive, objective analysis of all the medical "reporting" of the AIDS statistics have always led to the realization that "you can't get there from here" in trying to understand what the establishment (NIH, CDC, WHO, etc.) has almost successfully rammed down the throats of Americans, and in doing so has killed tens to hundreds of thousands of patients decades before their time. The immense value of Shenton's work is that it is a lifesaving read for those who want to make their own decisions when confronted by a blood test that comes back "positive" for HIV antibodies as one can then refuse to be a fatal victim of the toxic therapy that is currently in vogue, and in fact one can then proceed to take the proper steps to fully recovered health as pointed to by this book and the other authors cited above.

In this March-April 1998 Harvard Business Review article, editor-at-large Joan Magretta interviews Michael Dell, the Founder and Chairman of Dell Computer.

"How do you create a $12 billion company in just 13 years?" Michael Dell did this by introducing the direct business model in 1984. In this formula, he would sell personal computers directly to customers and build products to order. It bypasses the dealer channel, thereby eliminating reseller's markup and the costs and risks associated with carrying large inventories of finished goods. But according to Michael Dell, the direct model turns out to have other benefits. "You actually get to have a relationship with the customer and that creates valuable information, which, in turn, allows us to leverage our relationships with both suppliers and customers. Couple that information with techology; and you have the infrastructure to revolutionize the fundamental business models of major global companies." The article takes your through the development and amazing growth of Dell Computer, including its well-known customer segmentation and the unsuccessful initial entry into retail business.

This McKinsey Award winning article is great. Michael Dell gives great insights into Dell Computer's successful direct business model. He discusses how it works and explains the strengths and weaknesses. The article is written in simple US-English. Highly recommended!

I have read many business books and my personal feeling is the vision is great yet the execution plan is more important, Dell is
a visionary and practioner, that's what differentiate this book from all the other visionaries...I would recommend this book for all managers in corporate America.

My 5-year old son and I are big fans of Joan Walsh Anglund. We have most of her books, and this one may be our favorite. It is so sweet. And of course, those drawings are so lovely. She depicts different children of all colors and race. It always leads to a good discussion about God.

I introduced this book to my daughter at age 2. It became one of her most favorite items. She carried it everywhere and I read it to her often. I think that it presents prayer in a positive, easily understood form for small children. In reading the book together, I also began to see an aspect of my prayer life that needed expansion.

This is a very practical book dealing with quantitative aspects of microbial risk assessment. Nicely written and very useful!

This book synthesizes diverse materials from microbiology, statistics, and risk assessment, covers applications to water, food and other exposures to infectious pathogens

If you are a woman at mid-life (and I think that covers a span of some thirty or forty years), this is the book you should keep under your pillow every night. Joan Chamberlain Engelsman has written a tiny tome (110 pages) that turns into volumes as it rests on your psyche. Ever since Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty have been exposed as bimbos and frauds, women like Engelsman have understood our serious need for tales of out own and have labored to fill the gap. The book begins with the ostemsibly simple myth of a Queen who cannot wear her mother's cloak but must instead fashion her own out of flax that she grows herself, half of her mother's cloak, and yarn from gifts she had previously bestowed on the king, her children her sibling, and which she must now reclaim. As Engelsman is quick to acknowledge, the story of the Queen's cloak is hers only in so far as she was the first to write it down. In fact, the story belongs equally to all of us. For the bulk of the book, Engelsman shows us how she, her students, friends, and colleagues have read and continue to read this myth. The invitation to the reader is clear: use what you can from our "cloaks" but read the myth many times, knowing that there is nothing more truthful than your own reflections and knowing also that your responses and reflections will become enriched with each reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is a great story about a woman's journey through this life as she begins to look for herself and learn how this is done. It is told from a woman's perspective and is positive and affirming for both men and women. My own struggles were written here and I can see the light at the end of my own tunnel. I think men who read this can have a new lense through which to see the women in their lives.

Tate Whitelaw is the youngest of the Hawk's Way Whitelaws and she is also the only girl. Tate has three very overprotective big brothers. At the age twenty-three Tate runs away and right into the arms of Adam Philips. Adam was first introduced to us in Honey and the Hired Hand, when he was in love with Honey, the woman who eventually married Tates brother Jesse. Tate does not know that Jesse, the brother that she lost touch with, is living at the neighboring ranch. Adam decides that if he tells Tate than she might run off, so he keeps that info to himself. Adam tries to ignore the sexual feelings that he has for Tate, but eventually he gives in. Tate goes in town for a doctors visit and on her way out she runs into Honey Whitelaw her brothers new bride. Tate invites them over for supper. Only Jesse shows up mad as heck to get Tate away from Adam. Jesse is sure that Adam is using her. She refuses to go, but Jesse returns with Tates other two brothers, a shotgun, and a priest. The brothers fully intend to have Adam make an honest woman of Tate. It is hilarious. I love how protective her brothers are of her. Adam has been hurt in the past and is not sure if he can love and trust Tate. Adam is sure that Tate has been involved with one of the hired hands. Adam has to get over his issues and decide if he can make a future with Tate. I really enjoyed this book, it has been one of my favorites of the Hawks' Way series.

JOAN WRIGHTS WOMEN THAT ARE STRONG AND ABLE TO FIGHT THE DRAGON THEMSELVES AND GET BACK TO THE CASTEL WHILE THE GUY IS STILL LOOKING ARUOND.