This book, while offering some good guidelines for general fitness, does not have adaquate, specific, workout plans to address the various areas of fitness. Any book by Stew Smith, especially Maximum Fitness, or The Boot Camp Workout does a better job without all the high-and-mighty "I am a trained professional so just do as I tell you" attitude that these authors show. This book is written by several different people and as such. lacks continuity and a definitive workout plan. Alot of it comes across as the various authors' opinions. Do yourself a favor and buy Stew Smith's books instead.

Unfortunately the latest is not the greatest. The author's idea of functional training is that the most important element in any excercise is instability. However, I rarely find myself doing heavy lifting while balanced on an oversized inflatable ball. Sure, there are some good uses for Swiss Balls, but they're more of a supplement to traditional heavy weight routines. This is the type of training that I have always found most "functional". Unless you have very poor balance or you do most of your activities on an unstable surface, then other types of training will probably give you better carryover.
Basically, this book is capitalizing on a recent trend in the fitness industry towards functionality. Unfortunately, nothing in this book will help you move furniture, open a pickle jar, or become a better athlete. Take a look at books by Tsatsouline, Kubik, Bass, Strossen, Siff or others for more thorough books on fitness.

Great book on an important trend in fitness. Whether you want to train for sports or just want to get more out of your workouts, this book details a variety of programs and exercises that add innovation and fun to your routine. Recommended.

THIS BOOK WAS NOT GOOD AT ALL AND I DIDN'T ENJOY IT AT ALL BECAUSE IT WAS STUPID.

This book is not that great and it makes us Reb fans look stupid for buying it.

This book is thoroughly delightful. A sequel is sure to follow, for there is much of which to make fun about Mississippi State College.

What I had hoped would be an invaluable resource for a collector turned out to be a coffee table book with lots of nice pictures and not much more. Descriptions such as "may be wool or silk" and "possibly Taisho" indicate that more research might have served readers well. Since many of the photos are from the private collection of the authors, who claim to be the country's largest supplier of vintage kimono, it reads more like a catelogue of their inventory than a resource book. As I said - if you're looking for more "books for looks," this is it. Serious collectors need to look elsewhere.

As a 25-year kimono/textile collector and enthusiast of Japanese traditional culture (not to mention former vintage dealer), I give this book both stars for the gorgeous photos.

The book content, alas, is a mess. First off, I doubt it was edited. There are numerous typos and spelling errors (e.g. "Japanes"), grammatical mistakes, and captions that will tell you to look at something that's not in the photo! (What green kumihimo tie? No ties were shown!)

An editor needs to clean up the author's writing, as some sentences make no sense, and grammar mistakes are rife. I was reminded of the "junior high essay bloopers" that make the rounds. I'm not sure if it's fuzzy thinking or just bad writing, but the author also seems to confuse colors, techniques, and fabrics, as I found several sentences that were the moral equivalent of saying "Growing on trees, green apples are a kind of pie." (An example: "Lined entirely in white with accents at hem and sleeves of flowing sage green called bokashi." [sic] Would you know that bokashi is a technique, not a color?) At one point, tsumugi is identified as a kind of ikat(!). There are also numerous misidentifications, the most obvious one (to me) being a characteristically early Meiji kimono being identified as Taisho era (~60 years apart). No rationale is given for assigning dates (for example, design elements, placement, fabrics, techniques, linings, etc., are valuable clues in dating a kimono). There are also context statements presented without justification (i.e. "may have belonged to a geisha/been a wedding kimono" etc.). The most baffling was a 1920's wedding kimono that said "Probably a rental." Since rental wedding kimono are a post-WWII phenomena, why would you conclude a 1920's kimono was a rental? As for the value figures, pricing is either artifically inflated (some price guides do this in an attempt to jack up the market) or heavily regional to Washington D.C. On the West Coast, full retail would be half or a quarter of what is listed. Kimono shows/sales would be much, much less. EBay auctions would be a fraction. The bibliography is also very short and fluffy, mostly focusing on kimono as art and actual wearing, with "When Art Became Fashion" (L.A. County Museum of Art) as the sole historic source.

It's a gorgeous book, but deserved to be better written and edited, not to mention researched.
Jilara

Lavished with full-color photographs throughout to show examples of colors and styles of kimono textiles. Hundreds of photos! It fully explains fabrics, periods, etc and includes a glossary of terms. I'm a beginner kimono collector, and this is a very useful book for my needs.

The authors included suggested prices to pay for kimono -- an incredible asset! Book was published in 2001, so pricing is relatively current. People have also suggested The Book of Kimono to me, but I passed in favor of this book, because I'd rather have current info including the pricing.

I'd like to address one comment in the "official review" above. The writer said: "The authors don't cite sources for the information they provide, and it appears that much of it is anecdotal, gleaned from working within the industry. Although the images are appealing, the lack of authority for the information provided makes this a marginal purchase." I disagree!! The authors are merchants actively involved in buying, selling and collecting kimono. What more of an authority on collecting could you find than that? Having spent 5 years in grad school myself, I have respect for academics, but the quote above seems to imply that this book is less valuable if it's not grounded with academic authority. I don't think academic authority is necessary; indeed, this book is more valuable without it for the purpose it was written to serve. Don't let that stop you from getting this book.

This book is packed full of research reviews, and some may want to take the time to read through these along with other current research and then formulate their own ideas regarding literacy and Deafness.

However, for the person seeking straight-forward information and easy-to-understand practical suggestions, this is NOT the book!

A key researcher in his field, one does not doubt the author's expertise. Perhaps future versions will prove more user-friendly.

This book uses very difficult language. It is not easy reading. I found that the author use of language was hard to understand.

This book is a compilation of the current research regarding deafness and literacy. This book is geared toward researchers and educators. It is very extensive in nature and contains information necessary to properly educate Deaf children for improved literacy outcomes. Previous reviews of this book have been harsh, I do not know what the purpose of this information was for other reviewers, but all educators of the Deaf should read and know this information. We have (as educators) have been using outdated "user-friendly" and "easy to understand" information regarding deaf-education. It's time to start challenging ourselves and our students.
I would recommend this book for all educators and interpreters of Deaf children.

All I can do is concur. In all cases you should skip this book, but especially you should skip it if you have any regard whatsoever for the English language. If you are interested in Ligeti (whether or not you're a musician), you should read instead GYORGY LIGETI (20TH-CENTURY COMPOSERS) By Richard Toop.

I'd rate this higher just because I find the subject so fascinating were not two very good alternatives available: Richard Toop's "Gyorgy Ligeti (20th-Century Composers)" and "Ligeti In Conversation". There is no need at all to suffer through "Gyorgy Ligeti: Contemporary Composer"'s extremely affected and nonsensical mauling of the English language, its banal observations, its specious reasoning.

In my opinion Gyorgi Ligeti is one of the Greatest composers of the 20th century and this book is a fine introduction on him, it was first published in 1983 but was updated in 1997.

After a short introduction there is an interview with the composer and in part two the author traces Ligetis career and his development as a Composer.

If you have not heard Ligetis music check out the great Sony edition of his works, for those who know him and want to know more about the man and the composer, this is a good book to start with, it is not long, about 180 pages so there is not room for a detailed analysis af his works but it covers the basics well enough and has some notation samples of some his major works. The book ends with a list of Ligetis Works and Recordings.

Another good book by Paul Griffiths is his Modern Music.

Dudley takes his place along with the other historians (some very capable) who seem to criticise the Church for what took place at Nicea as the usurpation of power by Constantine. Obviously there is an element of this at Nicea, but to claim, among other things, that Christians were not already and from the beginning worship and celebrating the Eucharist on Sunday and that it took the emperor to settle it is a stretch. Argue if you want, but at least read a few other books that are not so biased. If you think that the Church became something radically different after Nicea, you have some learning to do. The Orthodox tradition only makes sense, however, if you believe that some theological opinions are more faithful to the apostolic tradition than others. In other words, "rainbow theology" is not how the early Church functioned. If she did, then the Lord's apostles were in extreme delusion, for they too discerned light from darkness in aspects that were not strictly moral (i.e. gnostic trends, although many false teachings lead to immorality).

I recommend Davis' "The First Seven Ecumenical Councils" and Allison's "The Cruelity of Heresy" to start with (and no, they are not "let's dump on the heretics" sort of books). Others include "God For Us" by LaCugna, "Jesus as God" by Harris, "Christology" and "THe Tripersonal God" by O'Collins.

If you're interested in the cannon of scripture, check out Metzger's "The Canon of the New Testament: It's Origin, Development, and Significance".

To the previous reviewer from South Africa, who was disappointed that the Bible canon wasn't extensively discussed in this book about the Nicene Council: the reason why is because that subject was never brought up at Nicaea.

The Council was convened at Nicaea at Emperor Constantine's request to resolve the Arian controversy about the nature of Christ. It also fixed the date on which Easter was to be celebrated, and decided that the bishop of Alexandria would have a kind of patriarchal authority in the East, like the bishop of Rome had in the West. The canon was not dealt with there, so look elsewhere if that is all you want to find out.

The book goes into good and interesting details on the life of Constantine and to a greater extant on the history of the council of nice which made christianity a formal institution. I was VERY dissapointed when the book FAILED to deal in detail with the books/canons that were LEFT OUT (LOST) of the conventional bible. The book only lists those books/canons that were included, BUT fails to inform the reader as to those canons/books that were omitted (lost) or excluded from the conventional books adopted at the council. To be honest I baught the book for this (excluded/lost canons) part! Yet the book does well to inform the reader as to the main issue that was brought to the council, viz. the divinity of Jesus the Messiah (Christ). It also informs the reader of some of the agreements reached by the council regarding the church and its formalized religion: especially that Sunday was decided solely by Constatine to be our Sabbath, while the proper rest day is supposed to be Suturday..

The book should be called overview of briggs and stratton engines. I found that the book lacked any usefull information for the home do it yourselfer. The book has little information on the primer bulb type carberator and little to no information on trouble shooting and solving problems of this type. His vage explanation as well as confusing illistrations has me regreting that I purchased this book.

Dempsey basically says, theres two kinds, lots of varation, and if you have a problem, take it to a shop.

Lacking in clear illustrations.

Why did I need to spend $...to read this ?

I gave it one star because 0 was not an option.

I believe that this book will be a great book. I am having trouble with my engine and i would like to read this and figure out my problems. I can't wait to get it.

I have never seen such a worthless book. Nothing could be more wrong than this book. Because it was so bad, I think I'm gonna become a Clemson fan and go buy "I Hate South Carolina"!

Book response: I'm starting to believe that the author is a graduate of USC.

Excellent book packed full of reasons to hate Clemson University. I really enjoyed reading it and I'm Not a USC fan!

I'm not sure where the author got his facts from. Especially since FSU has a great record against out-of-conference opponents, and many of the graduates have become successful professionals outside of football and within. Unfortunate that someone decided to publish this.

Mr. Finebaum superbly demonstrates that he is a true fan of the University of Florida (motto: where Probation is a Tradition). Unfortunately, that is the only thing superb about this pathetic attempt at humor. May I suggest an alternate title: "If you can't beat 'em (and we can't), whine about it!"

Now here is a book that illustrates how football players at FSU can graduate while not being able to read or write. FSU has long recruited the dumbest and corrupt high school football players. What the author points out is how FSU lets these players drink, use drugs, and "have fun" with female student body. Also interesting is the schedule that FSU plays. Calling it the easiest schedule in the land might go a little far, but the author does point out that FSU continues to loose to ranked teams, in particular the SEC (Fla,Tenn).

I am an FSU alumn, but it is time we admit that we have a questionable team at best.

Oklahoma State University offers a class called excuses 101, and this is to prepare graduates for a lifetime of being able to make excuses for playing second fiddle to the Oklahoma Sooners. It's really kind of sad that a graduate of OSU has nothing better to do with his degree than to write a book downing Oklahoma University (And it only sells for $4.95). The book is terrible, and a perfect example of a jealous aggie. Don't waste your change on this garbage. Go buy a National Enquirer instead, they are about as reputable!

What a waste of time. No wonder it sells for under $5. Just another poor okie state aggie, who "CAN'T HANDLE BEING SECOND FIDDLE, LITTLE SISTER, AND SUFFERING FROM SOONER-ENVY". Don't waste your time and money.

This is one of the best books in history! It's really cool how he describes how bad OU is! The only thing is, there are at least 303 reasons to hate the book which uses Oklahoma State in the name instead of Oklahoma. That's all I got to say about that. Oklahoma State Rules! Throobeck!