Amerika Jones has a beautiful voice but its wasted on her renditions of the dialect poems...as typical of most Dunbar orators I have heard the dialect is delivered in the most stiff, over or un-dramatic styles...its terrible whats out their, I wanted this tape to be wonderful...I love and have a deep respect for his works... but this production does no justice to the beauty of his words. Audio tape of Dunbars dialect poetry, are available if you would like to hear the "character" in his poems and not the "Amos and Andy caricature"...

"I Know What The Caged Bird Feels" could easily have been called "The Best of Paul Laurence Dunbar's Poems" because these poems are all my favorites. Ameria Jones' reading of the poems is well-paced, energetic, sensitive and very satisfying. I look forward to what I hope will be a second volume of Dunbar's poems available on Amazon.com. I would never have found this treasure trove of his poetry in a regular book store.

This thin "magazine" was disappointing in that for less money you can get simillar descriptions of training, along with far more reference type material and general information (it is only 50 pages). The authors clearly think they are the ultimate llama trainers, and you have to tolerate this attitude throughout the book.

I have gone to the Barkman's classes and have trained many of my llamas this way. Paul Barkman is in a class with Monty Roberts. Paul's understanding of all animals (he worked with elephants for a long time) is intuitive. The book is written in a very basic way, it is a no-nonsense guide to basic training without any bells and whistles. It's just good old understanding your animal, your llama will thank you for buying this book.

I am a minister (UCC) and a scientist (a real one). This book is but one from a group of so-called creation-scientists. As a minister/scientist, I have to say this book, and others like it, are unhelpful garbage. I believe that science and theology must go together - and have preached that they must, and that they very well do go together in a beautiful and meaningful way. But to do that, one has to have a mature enough faith to realize that the Bible is not a record of scientific fact.

As far as creation-science books go, Ackerman's book is easily one of the worst. His conclusions consistently cross over into the realm of science-fiction (and really bad science-fiction at that), which only makes sense, since his data and his starting points are also equally into the ream of bad science-fiction. One thing the fundamentalists like to do is ignore actual scientific data, and simply cite other creationists (assuming they even cite anything at all). Since they are, obviously, speaking for God, I guess they don't need footnotes or reproducible science data, or anything else that anyone would need making an argument. And that's what appalls me so much about creation-science (and all fundamentalist theology, actually) - that writers have no need to try to sway their audience, they simply imply that everything they say is true, so why does it need to be cited, proven, or substantiated? I am appalled at books like this because they obfuscate the real issue (of a majestic, mighty, beautifully creative God) to ke! ep their parishioners from actually thinking. I mean, thinking leads to questions, and once they start questioning a fundamentalist theology, they realize it is wrong and bad, and they move elsewhere. So, books like this are excellent resources to keep your laity and your parishioners ignorant, confused, and afraid of the world outside the church, and, therefore, books like this keep their almighty donations in the church.

It's even more bizarre when a psychologist, which isn't even really a scientistic, tries to venture into the realm of using psychology to prove a creationist stance. It's so funny, it's worth reading, but it's so funny, it makes me sad that some so-called Christians actually think this way, and *don't* think it's funny.

Please remember I am saying this as a minister, who serves a church, and who loves the church mightily. But I also believe that evolution is yet another magnificent manifestation of our wonderful creator's process. The Bible is about faithful life for us, and the faithful (and most times unfaithful) lives of our forebears. It is not, and I am very confident in saying this, a science textbook. Evolution does not go against the Bible at all. I don't think that one has to be a creationist to believe we are created in the image of God - I believe God created everything (but not in the strict order given in the two *very different* creation stories ni Genesis), and I also believe that evolution is certainly plausable, and the most likely vehicle for God's creation. Ackerman believes, and I don't know why because he never says it, that if one is an evolutionist, then one cannot possibly believe that we are created in God's image. Well, folks, I am an evolutionist, and I do believe we are created in God's image.

Please, I ask the authors and the followers, please open your eyes and realize that books like this are written to keep you ignorant of truth, incapable of thought, and powerless under your clergy-persons and elders and deacons and other people who benefit from your fear of going to hell.

Read this book **only** because you should know what the creation-scientists are doing. But for all means, don't read this book thinking that you will find something true in it.

"In God's Image After All" unfortunately only serves to continue to perpetuate the world's idea that Christians are obnoxious, ignorant, money-hungry, uncompassionate hypocrites. Huse doesn't offer anything that might make evolution "collapse", but simply serves to further collapse the relevancy of Christianity to today's world, and serves to make my job even more difficult since I must even more diligently apologize for my brethren when speaking with non-Christians to say "No, Christianity is not like that at all - Jesus actually expects us to think for ourselves, and not blindly follow the people who have a financial interest in keeping us ignorant."

Ackerman's brief work (101 pages) offers insights as to how psychology (of course, there are so MANY schools of psychology; perhaps it is better to say, "psychological theories that do not downplay the preponderance of evil intrinsic within people":)) supports the Biblical perspective of fallen human nature and creation in general.

Chapters include topics not often covered, among them: Normal Unhappiness (worth the price of the book itself), Moral Inconsistencies, and The Reality of Choice.

The chapter about "Normal Unhappiness" claims that most people have an emotional thermostat that maintains a "moderately unhappy" setting. When great things happen, they are high for a while, but then settle down to that setting. When tragedy occurs, they tend to get down for a while, and then work up to it.

As a pastor of 22 years who has dealt with people at all levels (visiting the babies at the hospital, teaching kids, counseling, marrying, visiting in the home, the hospital, and conducting funerals), I will vouch that the author has an authentic view of the realities of human nature. It fits with "what is." Go for it.

This book is the fruit of a joint effort by a theologian and a literary scholar. Though the presentation is somewhat rambling and vague, it is interesting in several ways. First, their main conclusion is that the Gospels are too diverse and even contradictory to provide the groundwork for a realistic picture of Jesus. That position is unusual among theologians, though Robert Price advances similar views in his recent Deconstructing Jesus. But it has been advanced with great force by several non-theological writers, especially in the last few years. A thorough discussion of the matter is to be found in Earl Doherty's website, available on Amazon.com. Second, Barnhart and Kraeger rightly recognize the value of George A. Wells's several books on the subject of the historical Jesus. This is remarkable, since the theological establishment has for decades chosen to ignore Wells. There is time for a change. Third, Barnhart and Kraeger try to employ modern literary theory for their purposes. This is natural: literature and theology have much in common. They consider, they say, literary criticism as "a way to conduct important biblical research without the pressure to solve the difficult historical-Jesus questions". To me, this seems to be giving up on history. Literary criticism is about interpretation, not historical truth. So is theology. If their book leads to this insight, it has served a purpose.

This book is the fruit of a joint effort by a theologian and a literary scholar. Though the presentation is somewhat rambling and vague, it is interesting in several ways. First, their main conclusion is that the Gospels are too diverse and even contradictory to provide the groundwork for a realistic picture of Jesus. That position is unusual among theologians, though Robert Price advances similar views in his recent Deconstructing Jesus. But it has been advanced with great force by several non-theological writers, especially in the last few years. A thorough discussion of the matter is to be found in Earl Doherty's website, available on Amazon.com. Second, Barnhart and Kraeger rightly recognize the value of George A. Wells's several books on the subject of the historical Jesus. This is remarkable, since the theological establishment has for decades chosen to ignore Wells. It is time for a change. Third, Barnhart and Kraeger try to employ modern literary theory for their purposes. This is natural: literature and theology have much in common. They consider, they say, literary criticism as "a way to conduct important biblical research without the pressure to solve the difficult historical-Jesus questions". To me, this seems to be giving up on history. Literary criticism is about interpretation, not historical truth. So is theology. If their book leads to this insight, it has served a purpose.

The book starts well, but never truly develops the characters. I wanted to like the main character, but never really got a chance to know him. The plot is thin, and deals mostly with internal conflict. Because of that (internal conflict in a not-fully functional character), it was a flat read for me.

I wasn't expecting much from this, an early Russo, which from the cover blurb looked like just another potboiler pulp fiction.

So I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of characterization and the fast-moving story. The writing is pretty-much classic Russo, which is to say among the best in the business.

Oh, there are quibbles -- the story takes place on a different planet which is apparently indistinguishable from earth, the science of being an empath is never explained, the ending builds and builds only to kind of peter out in the end -- but overall this book surprised me by providing a very entertaining read. Let's hope it's back in print soon.

This book is more of a novel of these three cities. Don't expect to pick up this book for the first time while you are on the trip and pick out places to see. The sites are buried in paragraph after paragraph of text, which is not very useful when you are there and trying to figure out what not too miss. Read it before you go on your trip and make notes of the places to visit. We were looking for the book to include a bullet list of some type with the "must see" places in each city. With only this book as a reference, we decided to wing it instead of reading.

Previous reviewer seems to have missed half their own point. If you are looking for Frommers or Fodors, BUY Frommers or Fodors! The world doesn't need any more of that ilk. That market is well established and those books are good at what they do.

We're the type of travellers who basically use the Net for more time sensitive things -- the changing food and lodging scenes in any given locale. Anymore, that type of info in a book holds a distinct disadvantage versus online sources. Given that we are already armed with that info beforehand, we don't need to pay for a guide book to resummarize it.

Once you strip that off, what's left? Info on the sights, changing attitudes, culture. 90% of what is known about the Forum, St. Pete's, etc. doesn't change. That background is suitable for book treatment. The key is distilling this info in such a way that it doesn't come off like an encyclopedia entry (the trap which the Blue Guides fall into - yawn). This the Cadogan Guides manage to do quite well. The writers do have a particular point of view on things, but it is thoughtful one and makes good reading.

Again, every travel book doesn't apply to every travel situation. If that were the case, maybe we could all get by on Fodors. This book has marked out a different spot on the map and it is doing a very good job in that spot.

This was a very exciting book about a team of SAS soldiers in Russia. Ryan certainly lives up to his standards.

Chris Ryan is a man who knows his topic and he his writing style is fantastic. I loved every minute of this book, and read my way through it in a few days. That's a huge feat for me, so I must stress how incredible I found this book.

I suggest you to find something better to read. Even if the auctor is an award winner, that doesn't mean that all what he writes is reliable. A last suggestion: even if you'll read this book, don't be panicked: real possibilities of genetic engeneering are far better than what he suggests to be in his book.

Mr Raeburn's book is a wake up call to all those who think our scientists have all the answers. He exposes Big Agriculture's propoganda that we (they ?) are in control of our food supply. The immense diversity of edible foods is the true secret of nature's success, while reliance on a few varieties of grains, fruits and vegetables could spell disaster for the world's food supply.

In my opinion he doesn't get into the argument enough about the control exercized over Governments and Agricultural Depts by huge multi-national agricultural corporations, whose sole purpose is to increase shareholder earnings (its the "nature" of the beast).

For example Mad Cow disease is most likely one of the side effects of incomplete science used by those Ag Corps who used bovine hormone treatments to artificially increase yields ! The thought of the future side effects of genetic engineering, when most scientists say it is as much an art as a science, really scares me.

Despite the relatively neutral stance Raeburn takes, his work is still a good wake up call. His questioning the "playing at God" scientists, many funded by Big Industry Agriculture, has drawn critics to say his book is scientifically unfounded. This is a simplistic argument often used by self-serving interests and ego-sensitive scientists.

A good follow up to reading this book is Edward O Wilson's, "The Diversity of Life".

Very disappointing. Perhaps I had the wrong idea of what the book would cover but I had hoped to learn types of learning disabilities and how to deal with them educationally. That is not the scope of this book, despite the title. It does not address LD in depth, test results and their meaning, educational alternatives, etc. My main concern is the misinformation about IDEA federal law and the rights of the learning disabled. Specifically, there is the sentence that states a school evaluation "can take up to six months or longer." (p.27). Federal law under IDEA states that the school has 45 days to complete their evaluation after the parent signs the consent. PLEASE don't wait months to have your child evaluated.! The earlier the intervention, the better the outcome. I would not recommend this book.

I would not be so quick to assume that this book does not have some highly valuable information that would not typically be found in the typical 'disability' book. (Sorry - I was forced to give a rating - so I opted to give it a (5) to average out the above (1). Hope that's okay.)I would think that it would not attempt to cover LD's in the 'in-depth' manner the above reader expected, but rather to concentrate more on the day-to-day issues that most parents wrestle with; at home, at school, with neighbors, with friends and extended family, etc. The issues reach far and wide, and are highly complicated. In reference to the legal aspects, this is only one small part of the overall picture. And regardless of how the law is stated - it still must be carried out, before the child benefits. IDEA 97 is there, in place, ready to use. Do the schools follow it? No. The question then becomes, 'What does a parent do? How should they handle it? How can they fight the system and win - and yet benefit in time and still survive as a family? These are not issues covered under the law - and yet every bit as important in learning to cope with, while finding strategies that either can provide temporary relief, or even just hope for the future. In our experience, it is true that the evaluation process can take (6) months, and there can be many, many legitimate reasons for this. In our experience, it was to our benefit overall, as we wound up with a better evaluation that gave profoundly more accurate, definitive data. This book just may provide some rare, highly insightful information you'd never find elsewhere.

This book was written by a professor at the University of Nevada and is aimed towards the academically inclined. After weighing the various policy considerations of range management, it fails to reach a convincing conclusion. Government regulation is not the evil policy envisioned by the author, and is preferable than letting be set ad hoc by self-interested red neck cowboys.

I came across this book while doing research about ranching in the American West -- this book is by far the most interesting, comprehensive and well-written book about the cattle industry that I've found.