Interpreting early handwriting in wills, deeds, and other documents can frequently be difficult. Add to that the conundrum of unfamiliar words and terms, and one faces an exercise in sheer frustration. Paul Drake's book, "What Did They Mean by That?" addresses the latter issue with encyclopedic clarity.

Dr. Drake enriches the content of his dictionary with abbreviations, full phrases, colloquialisms, military expressions, Latin legal terms, and newly-coined words. Interspersed throughout the 334-page volume are black and white illustrations as well as inserts containing fold-out exhibits of early handwriting. In addition to simple definitions, Dr. Drake includes examples of most of the terms as used in complete sentences.

One does not normally consider reading a dictionary as entertaining. This reviewer read the work with rapt attention and wry amusement in many instances, appreciating the evolution of meaning over time and context.

Dr. Drake has fashioned a valuable tool, useful not only to historians and genealogists; but also to writers in every genre.~

Words from the past give insight to the speech, occupations and material goods of our ancestors. In addition to terminology, such as the names of many courts and legal processes, this collection of more than 3,000 words includes many descriptions of early furniture and foods, common medical terms and herbal remedies, and many expressions, once common, yet now all but forgotten. The words found here are seen at every turn of research; in court documents, church records, books, newspapers, letters and songs.

A fine dictionary of terms nowhere else defined; critical to good research and understanding.

If you dont know how to answer your kids questions then you need this book. My mom gave it to us at an age that we already knew, but it gave a new look at how we got here and we passed it on to the rest of the kids in the family. Now I need one for my own children. I strongly suggest this book if your children, whom you think are too young, are asking questions and you cant or dont know how to answer.

My mother gave me this book when I was young and now I bought it for my daughter. She is 8 years old and has already read it many times. She has asked honest, intelligent questions about reproduction and we have had many wonderful and informative discussions about the subject. This book is a wonderful tool for any parent. I recommend it highly.

My parents gave me this book as soon as I learned to read, and it was an amazing tool. Thanks to it, I never believed any of the lies and speculations that went on in elementary school, and I was never tempted to experiment sexually, because I saw making love as a tool to achieve reproduction. (Naturally, my parents explained the rest as I got older!) I recommend this to any parent who is nervous about how to approach the "birds and bees" with their children!

This book is great! It is about three girls that live in a small town and they have all kinds of adventures together! In this particular book Pam (one of the girls) finds a abandoned pony!!! It was wandering around on a property that nobody has lived on in about a year! It looks horrible! She has to help! She can't do it on her own so she asks her friends. The owner is going to sell her to the meat buyer!!!! Will Pam and her friends' save the pony? Can they?? Find out if they can save the beautiful black pony from death when you read "The Wild Pony" by Jeanne Betancourt.

This book was one of the best book's I read. It was about Anna Lulu and Pam and how they helped a head shy pony they found. and at the end, one of the pony pal's friends bought the pony. IT WAS A GOOD BOOK!!!

The Pony Pals are great detectives! This is one of my favorite Pony Pals books.

The British seem to be particularly adept at coming up with whimsical ideas, making them happen, and then writing about them (cf. comedian Tony Hawk's Round Ireland With A Fridge, and Playing the Moldovans At Tennis or journalist Andrew Marshall's The Trouser People to mention just a few recent examples). Shand continues the tradition, concocting a scheme to buy an elephant and march around India on its back. This quick-reading book is an account of his adventure in India, where he purchases an emaciated 30-year old elephant ... from a pair of saddhus (mystic holy men) in the province of Orissa (a few hundred kilometers SW of Calcutta). His goal is to walk her from the coast to the great elephant market on the banks of the Ganges at Sonepur Mela, some 1000 kilometers north, in Bihar, where he would sell her.

However, as he soon discovers, elephants have a lot of personality, and he quickly falls in love with his. The pleasure of the book is not its travelogue description of the sights and sounds along the way (although these do break things up), but the mischievous antics of the elephant and the discovery of its personality as a loving and lovable creature. Tara, the elephant, displays remarkable intelligence and wit over the course of the journey, although at times Shand does veer into anthropomorphizing her. While he doesn't go deep into the role of the elephant in Indian and Hindu culture, it's clear from his travels that they are widely revered as symbols of Ganesh, as bystanders often often small prayers and alms to Tara.

Shand's own lessons in becoming a "mahoot", one who is versed in the ways of elephants and able to ride/guide one, is an equally fascinating and touching story. An older and younger mahoot are along to train him, as is a photographer friend and two rascally drivers with a support Jeep. It's a fun adventure, with a suspiciously fortuitous climax at the market, when Shand discovers he can't bear to sell his elephant for use as a moneymaking curiosity. It's a touching book in many ways, although some readers may be put off by the notion of a Westerner traipsing around a poor country on an elephant, especially given India's colonial past. Still whatever one may think of that, Shand's love for the animal is clearly genuine. He's written a followup book (Queen of the Elephants), that's apparently not as good.

A remarkable story about one of the few Europeans to enter the mystical, beautiful, dangerous, austere and disappearing world of the Indian Mahoot. Shand writes honestly and insightfully about his experiences on an elephant Trek through India which makes the book all the more refreshing. An easy afternoon read by the fire with your map of India on your lap.

A wonderful, tender and very funny account of Mark Shand's journey across India on Tara, a female elephant of great charm. The reader cannot but fall in love with her, she is such an endearing personality. Mark Shand and I certainly did so. A great yarn of friendship and love between man and elephant. An assorted and unusual crew of travel companions is to be found here as well. But the greatest delight every time I re-read this book resides in encountering Tara time and again. She easily steals every scene which features her. Very highly recommended!

Paul E. Morin has written a book which, through its simplicity and the interactions of its three main charachters demonstrates the good in people and that there is hope for a better life. I enjoyed reading this interesting and uplifting book.

Triangular Reflections is a beautiful and wonderfully written novel. Not only was it written out of love, but it is very inspirational. I rarely read novels of fiction. I found myself immersed in this book and read it in two days. The main characters that have been developed in this story are rich. Each of them has depth. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a dynamic plot.

This novel was a wonderful book to read! It was interesting and it grabbed my attention from the beginning. It made me laugh and it made me cry. This novel kept me on my toes and I couldn't put it down. Really--really good.

The pictures are beautiful.

I was hoping for a bit more detailed history on all the instruments, but it does provide a good overview of the history.

The high quality pictures are a sight to behold. This is a great coffee table book.

I bought this book because I liked the first part of "The Complete Guitarist" book where the history and dissection of the guitar is shown.

This book is full of pictures and descriptions of a lot of guitars. The book is divided by guitar type, from acoustic, archtop, solid-body electics, semi-solid electrics and basses. The descrptions are short and give way to the pictures, but the guitars that demand, by respect, more description are given more pages.

The guitars shown are from all over the world and thus aren't limited to a specific market. Its cool to see how a russian guitar is made.

The only thing I would have liked is a timeline, but the book isn't formatted this way and its fine.

All in all a very fun book to have. No theory, nothing to tell you "practice damn it!", just enjoy.

If you were to never read one word of the text of Mr. Bacon's fine book, it would still be worth the cost. Encased between the two covers are some of the finest photos of guitars you'll ever lay your eyes on. Not only are there pictures of your "standard" American-made guitars (Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker), but also "axes" from around the world. Bacon has also included some interesting and unusual guitars as well. This is a book that you will go back to over-and-over; it's that interesting.

I believe that this is a good book to introduce children to the Christian faith. It is definately not a fiction. It lets us know and apreciate the passion, the sacrifice and love that our dear Lord suffered for salvation of the world. We celebrate Good Friday because on that Holy day, the Lord opened the gates of Heaven to all His people and reminds us how a wonderful God humbled Himself on the cross for the love of us to save us from eternal damnation. Any person who claims to read and know the Bible should agree with simple truths like this one. By the way If any Christian believes that the Bible is the inspired word of God, It was the Catholic Church aproximately in the year 400 A.D who came with the decision that the gospels we read today are worthy for the faithful to believe. The Catholic Church never deceived any one when it comes to faith and morals, but rather lead them to holyness and sanctity and prepare the faithful to eternity which all of us Christians know is the destiny of mankind.

I was looking for a "real" Easter book for the kids. Found The Very First Easter by Paul L. Maier. I can't tell you how much my girls LOVE this book. The format is a Mom and Dad telling their son about Easter based on scripture. Both the writing and the illustrations are just excellent!!!

This book follows the same format as Paul Maier's companion book, The Very First Christmas. Maier embeds the story of the first Easter inside the story of a 10-year-old boy named Christopher, who lives with his mother and father, a forest ranger, in a remote area of America's western mountains. As Christopher and his parents are sitting around the table dying Easter eggs, Christopher wonders aloud what the true story of Easter is. His Dad picks up the Bible and the two of them begin to read aloud from the book of Luke.

The narrative follows their discussion as they read, with Christopher asking questions that any child might typically ask -- "How do we know Jesus was really God?" "Why did they hang people on crosses, Dad?" "But if Jesus had a solid body and wasn't a ghost, how did he get through the walls?" Maier's format works well in this setting. Quotations from Luke tell the story, but the discussion between Christopher and his Dad explain the Easter story in a way that seems natural and easy to understand.

While the text of this book is quite good, what makes this book a excellent addition to the Easter collection is the outstanding artwork of Francisco Ordaz. Beautiful, full page pictures take up the right hand side of each spread. These realistic and detailed illustrations do a superb job of furthering the viewer's understanding of the Easter story. Especially well done is a portrayal of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane and an illustration showing the women standing in amazement before the empty tomb. The Very First Easter is an wonderful book to share with a child, or anyone, who wonders what more there is to Easter than bunnies and painted eggs.

If you love to read books about the history of empires and success stories, you will love this! I currently work for Bank of America Bank Card Services (Visa) and I loved it. I knew a lot of the history, but there were a lot of things I didn't know.

It is a must read for anyone who works in this industry or has a card.

If you're looking for the more positive side of the Visa story, or of the impact of American Banking systems, this is a great start. Not a lot about statistical results and analysis, this is more of a story about the people side of building one of the largest global enterprises on the planet, and how that came about during the past 3 decades. Paul Chutkow is not a finanical analyst or banker, so he brings a fresh perspective to the story, and it's a very compelling read. This is also a story about leadership and vision, with the leading characted being Dee Hok. Paul Chutkow has captured many insights into the strategies in building Visa, and how the obstacles were overcome. The pictures of course are wonderful, and the historical views of many different phases of consumerism make this an important read for the student of payment systems. With the new dot-com startups of the day scratching their way in the markets, such as PayPal, BillPoint, and so many others, this book helps us develop a keener appreciation for the visionary and dramtic efforts of the 'fore-fathers' of the payments industry. I really enjoyed learning about the battles Dee Hok worked through to create that little start-up, to eventually be called Visa. The business development and marketing decisions in working with the International Olympic Committee are important for any marketer, and I was introduced to some important people in the the history of credit card fraud. I do recommend this book whole-heartedly, and I will be referring my asociates working in the payments and banking industries read it.

This book is a fascinating read about the history and evolution of "plastic." The book recounts how the visions and innovations of a few revolutionized the world of banking and provides an interesting profile of Visa's rise to global success. Particularly interesting was the story of Visa pioneer and innovator, Dee Hock. Additionally, the historical look at San Francisco in the late 1800s and early 1900s, both in photos and text, was a real treat, especially for this East Coast transplant to the Bay Area. The photos and graphics of Visa's early advertisements are fun to see, especially the Visa "chicks" -- an ad concept that would not fly today. This is a compelling, educational, and even inspirational story -- it's a great read and should be a welcome addition to any coffee table or library.

Compared to books such as "Voluntary Simplicity" by Duane Elgin and similar books, one realises that many of these ideas are nothing new when one reads Walden by Thoreau. In fact, what strikes me is that we as a Western society have not overcome many of the issues pointed out by Thoreau 150 years ago. Thoreau left Concord MA "disdainful of America's growing commercialism and industrialism", the slavish materialism of that society then. One wonders what he'll say if he would see the extend today - in the post Coca-Cola society. But then Thoreau was a man who clearly stepped to his own drum. Becuase of slavery, he refused to support the state on moral grounds. How would his views have been tolerated today?

I am not luddite, but my favourite quote from the book is this: "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing to communicate". Does this say something about the Internet, newsmedia and our contemporary information overload, or what?

I liked the introduction and footnotes of Meyer. Just enough to provide context and explanation, but never intrusive. This book is as relevant today as it was during Thoreau's lifetime. Highly recommended.

H.D. Thoreau is the first and most important figure in U.S. Radicalism. This collection provides the essential background for the latent radicalism inherent in American politics, especially as it was vocalized in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements of the 1960's.

Disobedience is the shorter of the texts, but probably more important. It is an attempt to justify moral anarchism and a call to act on individual judgements about justice.

Walden can be interpreted as an important treatise against consumerism and the dangers of specialization, as well as an appreciation of the natural environment. Those interested in anti-globalization/anti-free trade movements would do well to read Walden to gain an understanding of where anti-consumerism came from and an examination of its ethical implications. However, it also pays to remember that Walden is a failed experiment and, in the end, Thoreau returns to Cambridge.

Thoreau, as political philosophy, has certain problems. Moral anarchy and denial of the social contract is difficult to replace in civil society--Thoreau makes no more than the most vague references as to what could replace it, seeming to rely on the fact that his personal sense of justice is universal.

Nevertheless, Thoreau's conscience has resonance and is as relevant today as ever. His rejection of consumerism as the basis for society and its stratification also teaches important lessons.

Thoreau represents that first step in understanding the other part of American political thought--extremely different from that of the Constitution and Federalist Papers--but with profound connections to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King.

I can only speak from experience on this one. This is one of the most remarkable books I've ever read. Thoreau influenced my views on liberty, justice, and integrity [following what is right, not merely that which is deemed law]. The inner journey Thoreau got me started on has continued throughout my life. I credit him for instilling within me the concept of "Teach me how to think, not what"--invaluable to the fledgling independent thinker and philosopher. I highly recommend Ralph Waldo Emerson, in conjunction with Thoreau.

An alternative title to this book could be "What I learned losing my ego." After describing a meteoric rise to the top of the Chicago food chain, Jim Paul essentially boils down the secret of his success to being a cocky punk with an exceptional lucky streak that eventually had to run out. I think he gives himself less credit than he deserves in ascribing all his early success to luck- it takes confidence and selling ability to take advantage of the "lucky breaks" he got- but that is beside the point. His main message is that success fed his ego until he felt that winning was his birthright and he could do no wrong, which led to inevitable downfall.

One small quibble: the ironic thing about his stories of loss are that he was 99% there most of the time- if he hadn't of let the bean oil get back to zero he could have walked away with at least a couple hundred grand in profits, if he hadn't let the stock options bot for 1/8 or whatever it was go to zero after seeing them hit $4 he could have had six figures in profit there again, etc.... I almost got the impression that even the big downfalls in this book were actually more success stories with "oops" endings tacked on. I didn't understand the blurbs on the back of the book talking about how it shows you the perils of the trading game. What perils? The perils of not taking a huge, monster profit when it is sitting in front of your face? Which is why I have to think that the book will probably just reinforce the ideas that the readers already had when they pick it up. Someone with a big ego and a small mind could still easily read this book and think in the back of his mind "Nice story, Jim- good thing I won't make the same mistakes you made because while you just thought you were the man I actually AM the man, heh heh..." But hey, who can reach that kind anyway?

The last half of the book reads almost like someone else wrote it, and has some very good points. I really liked the way he took comments from a bunch of the "pros"- traders who have won big and kept their winnings- and juxtaposed their ideas to show how their thought processes were totally different and often contradicted each other. It really hammers home the point that there are multiple paths up the profit mountain, and that discipline and defense are often the only common elements among diverse strategies. I also thought he made a really great point about odds- that the reward to risk ratio on a trade has nothing to do with the overall probability of success for that trade.

An entertaining book worth a weekend read.

The title of this review is a chapter in Jim's book. I bought this book after Jim passed away on September 11, 2001 in 1 World Trade Center. He told us about this book in 1997, and I was so glad it was still in print. It is an excellent book, and it is written by an extraordinary individual. When I met Jim I could tell he was amazing, and his personality comes through in this work, which is part autobiography and part trading treatise. Jim's rise and fall and subsequent rise again makes for an incredible story, and his insight into the markets are superb. Even if you are not interested in the market, this book is worth purchasing just to learn more about Jim's amazing life story. Jim is candid, funny and dynamic in this work. I wish the world had more people like Jim Paul and more books like "What I learned While Losing a Million Dollars."

We all focus on how to make money all the time. How come most of us are still getting nowhere? What is wrong with this approach? This book will give you an answer.