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!

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The other reviewers have just about said it all: in short, this is a GREAT book!
I would just like to add that it is good to have ONE book that over ALL the essentials of Linux as compared to those who cover just PARTS in one book and more PARTS in another (just to sell more books?).
I own MANY books on Linux, but if I were forced to discard them all but ONE, THIS is the one I would definitely KEEP! When you have the BEST, why mess with the REST? :o)

Lloyd W. Cary
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I finally became so frustrated with the Crash-A-Lot software from Redmond (some of us actually have work that needs to get done, OK, Bill?) that I decided to give Linux a try. I bought a copy of Mandrake and after some fiddling got it installed on an old laptop. The problem was, I really didn't know what I was doing. It ran even more slowly than Bill's stuff (although it didn't die of embarrassment and crash every time I looked at it funny). I knew there had to be ways to make it run better, but I was clueless about how to go about it. The stuff that came with the disk was almost useless, and the books in the stores seemed to either be written for somebody who ought to be getting juice and cookies before nap time or for major software gurus. Then I discovered this book. It explains how Linux works, how to set it up, and how to make it work better. HE ACTUALLY EXPLAINS HOW LINUX WORKS! Here and there I had to go elsewhere to look up a few terms and some stuff he assumes his readers knew (how to get into BIOS, on my ancient Thinkpad you hit F2 as soon as it starts up), but for the most part it's all there. I recommend reading this thing all the way through, even the chapters about stuff you don't think you will need, before you try anything because his approach is to talk about something like partitioning a hard drive and then a few chapters later approach it from a different angle and add some more useful information. If you want to hit a topic all at once, there is an excellent index. I'm going to give Debian or Slackware a shot and between the online documentation at their sites and this book I think I can handle it. I know some of you guys hate to ask for directions, but save yourselves a lot of trouble and read this book.

Having used Linux since 1995, my biggest struggle has been in finding reliable sources of information. This book is such a source and and all around excellent Linux guide.

I run Slackware and Debian so I wasx hesitant that I saw Red Hat, SuSE, and Caldera featured, but that didnt matter. An non-distributipon-specific, clearly written explanation is given and then they take small detours into each of those distributions, pointing out specifics to those (usually under X).

I began this book in chapter 8, User Administration and continued through. I am self-taught which has it's own merits, yet tends to leave holes in my "home-grown Linux Education". This book filled in the gaps and have made me an much more competent Linux user/administrator.

I can not write as a new Linux user so I can not honestly say how this book would be for some one totally new to Linux (although my guess is that it wouldn't be a bad choice to start off with!)

When in the company of other Linux users, I find they talk about things without explaining what they are, where they are found, what they do, or what other options may exist. Those are the kinds of holes I had in my Linux education. Now, init, X configuration, mysterious configuration files, and many advanced topics that I had desperately been trying to understand and piece together, are all much clearer to me now thanks to this excellent book.

In summary, this book has helped this Linux user to sort out and relate the commands and configuration that once "kept me in the dark".

Even now, more than 20 years later this book is permanantley in my mind as being an all time classic. Not only does the story inspire me as to its imaginative structure but also the illustrations within the book brought the story to life. I can still remember to this day peering through the crack of the fridge door trying to catch even the smallest glimpse of Chilly Billy turning off the light. This is a book that all adults should return too, to remember that there is no need to ever forget the limitless imagination of being a child. Next time you're in the kitchen see if you can catch out Chilly Billy as he skates around the fridge.

I read this book when I was 6 years old during 'reading hour' at my school. We would be expected to read a book every week or so, and I must have read hundreds! This book was special. And now, nearly 13 years on, the title 'Chilly Billy' still fresh in my memory, I'm searching to find this special book again. As a child I was drawn into the fantasy of the story - this is the work of a true genius. I remember clearly the little details added, like the suckers on Chilly Billy's shoes so he could walk up to the ice-box. Every child should have the opportunity to read this magical tale, and every adult should be reminded that imagination does, and should, be stretched like a rubber band. Who switches off the light in your fridge when you shut the door...?

It's a book for peaple who like to use their imagination , not only has this book earned 5 stars but so has the intreging sequal , Foot-prints in the butter . The charactors are funny, creative and all have somthing to do with the fridge or food in it. My favourite charactor was stripey normin the caterpillar who met Chilly billy by being on a lettuce in the garden and it was transfered into the fridge. It's a great read for anyone at any time.

When a collector bought a ragged book of maps in a secondhand Belgian bookstore in 1967, he had no idea he had turned up a lost cartographic treasure: an early atlas created by the sixteenth-century cartographer Gerardus Mercator. The 17 maps, reprinted for the first time - in exquisite, full-size facsimiles tucked with an opulent book into a slipcase - are justifiably pricey. Margaret Foley, "Discover" magazine, June 1998

...Those not able to visit the relic in person can examine a facsimile of the one-of-a-kind atlas, compiled by Mercator around 1570, with an inaugural release by Walking Tree Press. The seventeen replica maps are accompanied by a richly illustrated, large-format book - published previously in French and Dutch - featuring essays by an international team of map scholars.

The authors leave no aspect of the fascinating history of the "Atlas of Europe" unexamined...The seventeen frameable facsimile maps are newly color-corrected and expertly printed. The text illustrations are drawn from collections throughout Europe and the United States. The hefty volume, stored in its own green slipcase, provides readers with a tactile adventure --something that tends to be overlooked in modern publishing - as well as a feast for the eyes and mind. Walking Tree's elegant edition combines the high art of maps with first-rate scholarly pursuits - a marvelous union Mercator would endorse. --- "Mercator's World" November/December 1997

Born Gerhard Kremer of German parents in the town of Rapelmonde near Antwerp on March 5, 1512, Gerardus Mercator (like many other intellectuals of his time, very early in his life Latinized his German name) was a mapmaker, scholar, and religious thinker whose interests ranged from mathematics to calligraphy to the origin of the universe.

In 1544 he fell victim to the Inquisition, partly due to his Protestant beliefs and partly due to suspicions aroused by his wide travels in search of data for his maps. He was fortunate to be released after seven months with the charges of heresy lifted and his head and limbs still intact.

His 1564 wall map of the British Isles (included in his atlas) was the first detailed and accurate geographical picture of those islands -- and was used by a Scottish traitor to help France and Spain invade Britain and overthrow the Protestant Tudors. Mercator was one of the first mapmakers to cut up maps and bind them inside boards, later coining the term 'atlas' to refer to such collection of maps. One of the most revolutionary inventions in the history of cartography, Mercator's cylindrical world map projections (first used in 1569) enabled navigators to plot a long course in straight lines and has greatly influenced our image of the world to this very day.

In 1967 an anonymous buyer purchased a large, tattered book of maps in a second-hand bookshop in Belgium and unknowingly brought to the present a long-lost atlas by this renowned 16th century cartographer. The Mercator Atlas of Europe: Facsimile of the Maps By Gerardus Mercator Contained In The Atlas Of Europe, Circa 1570-1572 is a beautiful book showcasing seventeen facsimile map prints (suitable for framing) and a large-format 96-page book with 100 illustrations (80 in color). The Mercator Atlas of Europe is an ideal and highly recommended memorial fund acquisition selection for academic and community libraries.

For anyone who struggled to understand why the nephron concentrates, then dilutes, then concentrates again the urine, this book will do much to ease your pain. Since medical school I've purchased Editions 1, 3, & 5, just so that I could keep up with my interns & residents. Here's how he does it:
#1: short book, (you know how intimidating those tomes can be)
#2: lots of diagrams
#3: end-of-chapter questions (with answers & explanations)

If you want to understand the Kidney, no matter where you are in your studies or practice, I wholeheartedly recommend this text.

Renal physiology can be very difficult to truly understand, and yet an understanding of it is essential to understanding so many aspects of physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Studying diuretics for cardio pharm is nightmarish unless you understand the physiology of the loop of Henle. Vander takes this difficult yet important subject and makes it easy to understand. The book reads extremely quickly, and the flow-charts and diagrams are amazing. I never even opened Berne & Levy for renal phys--I read Vander's book (which is no longer than B&L's renal chapters) and cruised through renal phys. I am writing this review now, a year after I took physiology, because I am now studying for the USMLE Step 1. I have not looked at Vander's book in a year, but I still remember renal phys, and reviewing it now is the easiest part of my studying (the only easy part, in fact). That is because, thanks to Vander, I actually understand renal physiology. A great book!!

For any medical student that needs a comprehensive, but easily understood explanation of the structure and function of kidneys, I highly recommend Renal Physiology by Vander. It is very well written, and covers all the basic principles that you will need to know to understand pathologies associated with the kidneys.

Arthur Morrison's novel provides an excellent (if harsh) counterpoint to the relative gentility of Great Expectations or Wuthering Heights. You may be thinking, "Dickens and Bronte didn't pull punches," but read A Child of the Jago, and suddenly Pip's life will seem downright bucolic.
Morrison gives the reader a window into the seamy underbelly of Victorian London, and exposes unimaginable living conditions and inhuman treatment. This book is a must-read if you enjoy Victorian literature. It brings to life a part of London that must be experienced to be believed.

The Jago was one of, if not the worst slums in London. Dicky Perrot is the main character of the story and we follow him form age 8 to about 17. His fight for survival and the responsibility he feels for his mother and sister whilst his Father is in prison makes you feel like crying. He has nothing and knows, as the local eccentric put it, that the Jago had got him and that there are only two ways out for him - to become a "Swellmobsmen" ( successful thief ) or death. Dicky is encouraged by the local Parson, Father Sturt, who is tireless in his work with the people of the Jago, to try to make something decent and honest with his life and enjoy all the things that the people who he robs enjoy and manages to secure him a job as a delivery boy for the local chandler. Unfortunately for Dicky he is dismissed thanks to an old friend who does not want him to take the straight and narrow path. After this Dicky goes down hill fast, he loses patience with his mother who takes to the Gin and leaves Em his sister to crawl in the gutter and fend for herself, his Father, disenchanted with life after coming out of prison, does his one last fatal job and at the end we see a small, poor desperate Dicky and like his old friend Beveridge told him years before, there are only two ways out of the Jago... Find out which way Dicky gets out in this excellent and realistic portrayal of life in a London slum at the turn of the century.

Although the language is a little advanced for early readers, the story is very tellable. There are many threads to this story that come to life through the illustrations. The story is told in an interesting, dynamic way that gives pause for wonder, such as the conversation between Sir Ector and his son Sir Kay. Their personalities come through and we can appreciate the types of men they are. Another moment is when Merlin plans the timing for Arthur to draw the sword from the stone. When, asks Arthur. "After all have tried and failed, whenever that may be," replies Merlin.

A dynamic painting of a tournament with thundering hooves, flying pennants, and lances at the ready illustrates perfectly our idea of a medieval joust. The illustrations seem cinematic in that they always shift the viewpoint. Now we see the action from street level; in the next picture we view a crowd scene from above. We are comfortable with such shifts from movies and TV.

The illustrations evoke "chivalrous" ideas. The son, grieving that he has to leave his father's house, rises bravely to Merlin's bidding in a sequence that culminates in the "Youth Triumphant" painting, when the young Arthur raises the sword over his head. The idea of "chivalry", respect for one's elders, telling the truth, and being brave is well interwoven and are excellent topics to discuss with children.

The final picture, the crowned Arthur dressed in white and gold, holding the sword in his hands under the white blossoms of a tree, is such an archetype of the young, white hero that it verges on the comical. But I have to remember that this is a children's book, and mine will get enough of my cynical views when he's ready for it, later.

I recommend this book for 6 and up. The young ones will love to be read to, and the older ones will enjoy reading it.

This is a great book based on the original Arthurian legend. If i could, I'd give it more than 5 stars. Arthur is given to Merlin by Uther Pendragon and is raised by Sir Kay. When his "brother" forgets to bring his sword, Arthur...if I said anymore, it'd get carried away and I'd give away the ending.

Realistically, this book thoroughly delves into the "deeper things" concerning scripture. Let he who "has an ear to hear" understand, and the less intellectual stand aside.

Covers an amazing amount of material from the time the earth first started coallescing from space dust all the way through to the 1970's (the edition I have was published then, I'm not sure if it's been updated). The structure is perfect for categorizing political and cultural events to capture the essence of what was happening at a given point in time. It's designed to jump in and out of chapters (very good index, chapter headings, timlines, short sections). Each chapter is written by experts on that time, so you get the sense that you're always hearing from an expert, although each chapter "reads" a little differently.

I've been taking it with me traveling for the last 15 years to Japan, Russia, Greece, Italy, Germany. It's a great way to read about what was happening as I've travelled to historical sites.

Death of a Swagman was written in the mid point of Arthur Upfields career and shows in his attention to detail and his ability to capture the feling of Australian country towns in the early part of our century. The story is a good detective novel in its own right with plenty of plots and action and red herrings. Bony's relationship with Rose Marie is used as a strong pivot point throughout the novel giving a useful viewpoint of the running of the town from a child's perspective. The advantage of this book over other bony novels is the character development of the subjects. This gives a depth and humanity which remains after the story is finished. The narrative of the swagmans lifestyle and its mythology is addressed here with great detail and provides a refreshing glimpse of a bygone era.