I first read this book about seventeen years ago. As a young child, I was drawn into it immediately and was unable to put it down. The plot line was enjoyable and I found the fast pace and action preferable to all other juvenile mysteries. Within a year, I had read the entire Three Investigators mystery series twice and continued to read them as they came out. Now that I have a young son of my own, I re-read the Mystery of the Talking Skull and quickly discovered that it is still a great book! I recommend it for any child and any parent... it's just too bad they've gotten so hard to find!

This was a great book. I liked it so very much. A quick review of the plot. The teens that we all know and love, Jupiter Jones and his Friends Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw buy a strange trunk at a auction. Needless to say the mysterious trunk brings them action and suspense to the reader: A. an $100 offer for the trunk. B. visits to Gypsies, the police station, and other places, C. A capture by a gang, and a slick spy on to them. The whole thing dissolves into a funny yet satisfying ending. This is a Heavily Recommended Book. What a great mystery this is. Read if you like any kind of mysteries. The 3 Investigator stories do a great job of combining aspects of a great mystery book. Mike Lee (A heavy mystery reader)

This slim book provides a very thorough and scholarly, yet slyly humorous, and beautifully written summary of what modern biological and behavioral scientists have discovered about the American Bison and how they live their lives. The author has distilled decades of his own and others' research into a concise yet engaging account of what it's really like to be a bison. I found it a joy to read and suspect that it's one of, if not the, best book ever written about these fascinating and important animals. If you've always been attracted to bison, have wanted to read one book telling the most about them, and are not daunted by wading through a little science clearly presented, then this is probably the book for you.

Most of us grew up with cats or dogs as animal companions. Those who lived on farms had animals of wider acquaintance. Dale F. Lott was the grandson of the superintendent of the National Bison Range in Western Montana, and his father worked on the range as well. He writes, "I first encountered bison not as symbols of the West, the squandering of a natural resource, or a conservation triumph. They were simply the animals I had seen most often when I was a young child - enthralling in and of themselves." He went on to get his doctorate in biology, studying the huge animals he had grown up with. In _American Bison: A Natural History_ (University of California Press), he sums up the basics of bison. Thirty years of teaching seem to have given him an admirable power of storytelling, and his book is not only good for encompassing all the necessary natural history of the species, but also for his expression of personal encounters and feelings for the beasts.

In every chapter, Lott describes with no slight awe how well tuned evolution made these animals for their world, a world which is no longer. The peculiar bison profile, for instance, the huge mound above the forelegs, the hanging head, and the skinny rump, equips them for quick motion around the front feet "on which they pirouette on the sod like a hockey player on ice". A bull has to be able to pivot and twist to protect his own flanks and to dig a horn into the flank of an opponent. He says of the surprisingly complicated system of rumination, by which bison carry around bacteria to break down grass for their future digestion, "It's so sophisticated that neither bison nor biologists would be likely to think of it, yet it was achieved by the perfectly purposeless, aimless, and automatic process of natural selection." Lott has spent a good deal of time in what is left of the wild, watching these animals, and he reports on the complicated negotiations and social systems they have developed. He has written not just of bison, but of the prairie itself, how it came to be, and how the bison, rather than just being predators of grass, kept the grass vibrant through the centuries before they were ranged in. Part of the story has to be that the grasslands are no longer home to bison, and that the paying grasses we put on them are taking away the soil the bison helped build up. Bison are in small herds, with a risk of inbreeding, or being domesticated, with a risk of losing their complex wild behavior.

The worrisome future of bison is not the theme of this book, though. Throughout Lott shows an engaging eagerness to describe anything he has seen in his prairie fieldwork. Cowbirds, for instance, used to be buffalo birds, roaming the plains with the bison and thus unable to stick around long enough to raise a family. They can now stick around non-roaming cows, which do a sufficient job of stirring up insects for them to eat, but they still don't raise their own families; they still deposit their eggs in the nests of some other species which gets tricked to raising cowbirds instead of real progeny. Prairie dog towns are favored by bison, as both animals like closely cropped grass. The bison wallow around and damage the tunnels, but they also "bring something to the party... Of course, buffalo chips don't produce a fertilizer as quickly as, say Miracle-Gro, so the bison are a little like a dinner guest bringing a bottle of wine so new it must be aged a few years to be palatable." Ferrets, wolves, and grizzlies wander through these pages, too. It is an evocative book, beautifully written, by someone who loves these magnificent and forlorn beasts and is obviously eager for the reader to get to know them, too.

I am a former Russian journalist and a documentary filmmaker who has also worked at NASA in the US.

"The Anatomy of Russian Defense Conversion" touches on many more subjects then just Russian Defense Industry. This is a very thorough, informative and important work that analyses the history of US and Russian Defense Industries, weapons exports and conversion, and possibilities of transformation from a militarized to a civilian economy in the new millenium.

The book also reflects on the current state of defense industries in the US and Russia, and "brain drain", or loss of intellectual capital in Russia and other countries after the Cold War.

I found reflections in Arkady Yarovsky's chapter "From the Culture of War to the Culture of Peace" very contemporary, especially in the light of recent events in the Middle East:

"Our time is unfortunately still characterized as "the culture of war." The culture of war is evident first and foremost in the hostilities between people and states, between nations and faiths, and in the inability to solve conflicts by peaceful means... Humanity has made it into the third millenium because the lust for power has been restrained by fear of nuclear war, but this restraint is not to be counted on permanently... The danger hidden in the separateness of people of different countries, unfortunately, remains a legacy for the next century... If humanity renounces the legacy of the culture of war, it can start down the road of cooperation, peaceful creation, and enlightenment. This is the only road leading to the culture of peace."

One can imagine that I, as a small child living in San Antonio, Texas, next to three Air Force bases and an Army base, living through the Cuban missile crisis, thought about the threat of the Russian military. I also met my parents' wonderful emigre' friends, and to this day have had warm relations with Russian people.

This book tells of the enormous cost to the Russian people of building and maintaining their war industry for so many years, a militarized economy where people got second best. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, defense industry just about shut down, but civilian industry has not grown great enough to support the population. There are horrendous unemployment, and terrible health and social problems. There is some danger that the path of least resistance for Russia, if we neglect the situation, could be to re-start weapons production, for export at first.

In my opinion, the United States also, to a lesser degree, has neglected the manufacture of quality consumer goods, importing them instead, and has let its physical economy deteriorate, despite much activity in the financial sector. We, too, have been insufficiently careful of the environment. This book provides some idea of what these trends could lead to, if carried to extremes.

Perhaps the involvement of United States companies in Russia, could lead to more of a recognition here, of the importance of the physical economy. Hopefully, both countries could also work to put industry on a healthy environmental footing as well.

There is awareness of the problem of Russian defense conversion, at high levels of our government. I hope this book helps educate people and sustain that interest.

This book would be great to read to your children if you want to teach them how to read, or you want them to learn about baby animals and what they are called. This book is basicly about baby animals just born and what they are called. the illistrations show what they look like and what their mothers also look like. This book can be used for a nice little bed time story, something to pass the time or do a book report on.(if you're in Mrs. Boon's class.) Wanting to read a short book? get this one.

This simple picture book is great to read to kids in the middle of divorce because all the animals are moms and babies (no dads) doing just fine. You can extend the analogy to your own family situation and kids tend not to "flinch" from the insight.

For all of us who have reviewing as a hobby - and especially for college students, to whom this work is targeted to a text that shows the correct way to present an opinion is a godsend. In today's world, most of us are eager to express our feelings, to communicate our own impressions on everything that surrounds us. Sadly, a lot of our credibility slips through the cracks because of our own inability to present a valid argument, independently of it being true or not (after all, who owns The Truth?). As stated in Chapter 1, under the title of "The rewards of writing reviews", "You will learn to analyze your tastes, your likes, and dislikes, and back up your statements of opinion with sound reasoning" (Page 4).

"How to write book reports" includes all the tools and suggestions needed for effective reviewing. I liked very much the idea of presenting the "History of the Essay", as a reference on how it all began, since right up to the sixteenth century, as the author points out, everything that was considered culturally acceptable was always written in verse. It was since then, that qualified reviewers had been relied upon for almost everything mankind has been interested in trying. Sova devotes a whole chapter to the qualifications of the reviewer, be he an expert scholar or a starting student looking for good grades. Organization is the key not only of effective review-writing but also of everything that makes a good impression. The book divides the actual task of writing the report into three phases: preparing, organizing and writing it, providing in this way an actual blueprint for a flawless work. There are also suggestions on how to review the different literary genres, and an Appendix with further exercises to be done either orally or written, to provide fresh outlooks to the task. To give practical examples, a few sample reviews are provided; of a novel, a play, a short-story collection and a biography.

I hesitated at first about buying this slim volume because I saw it too high school, instead of professionally, oriented. Once I looked at its contents, I felt almost sure I had made a good choice. After having started to read it, I knew I had indeed purchased a simple but valuable volume. The book takes the fear (and boredom as well), out of reviewing assignments. The techniques suggested can be applied not only to literature but to anything related to art and culture, e.g.: music, cinema, graphic arts, etc. Dawn Sova intends to make the task of writing reviews an enjoyable experience, as she puts it herself "Reading, especially outside reading, should be fun" (Page 3). Throughout the book and in only ninety pages, she achieves this with a bang.

As a final suggestion, I would also recommend that you visit the publisher's website, called The Education Supersite, especially if you are just starting your own college period. It can be an invaluable resource as well if you are planning to go back to school, to find out about everything from financial aid to test preparation and universities that offer all types of online degrees.

You already know how to write book reports if you can say what you dislike about a book or why you like it. Book reporting blends opinions with details: you take personal reactions based on your experiences and knowledge from life and other books; then back them up with facts and incidents from the book and with logic and reasoning. Along the way, you need to think not only what the book was about but also why it was written: for example, literature can bring out emotions or teach us something. So in the end, you want to say if the book did what the author wanted it to and if it is worth reading: these are the last thoughts that you leave with the reader. Harry Teitelbaum writes so well that what he says can be applied to any kind of writing, and I like to think that book reporting is the next best thing to the actual writing. His book leads in to other books on short, to the point writing: Mervin Block's WRITING BROADCAST NEWS, Syd Field's SCREENPLAY, Louisa Peat O'Neil's TRAVEL WRITING, and Elizabeth Penfield's SHORT TAKES.

Over the past decade,I have read multiple publishings related to this topic. This is by far, the most concise atlas on the subject that I have come by. It is extremely reader friendly & to the point. It offers precise detail & simple explanation of common, daily performed procedures.The many detailed illustrations are well done and clarify the procedures. This atlas is an invaluable tool to both students and seasoned practitoners. I HIGHLY reccommend it.

A fine text, chock full of illustrations, will be a bonanza for dentists who want to refresh current knowledge or learn more about oral surgury proceedures. Clearly written, this is an essential guide for all dentists.

The best book of electronics in the world

This is without a doubt one of thee most detaild but easiest books to follow in the field of elecronics. It gives detailed information on everything from the very basic resistors, and Ohm's Law, to Thevenin's Theorum. I can't say enough about this book, it is my bible for everything I do. I use it as a study guide and as a referance for those awkward times when I get confused. I love this book.

This book is a very informative text that contains many aspects of Bioinorganic chemistry. It is suitable as a reference text for students in the upper undergraduate and early postgraduate levels who are reading a course in Bioinorganic Chemistry. This book also contains well-classified chapters that makes it easy to refer.

This text has been very useful for me as I am currently doing an uppuer undergraduate course in Bioinorganic Chemistry. The text is very detailed as it outlines underlying concepts as well. The structure of the book is well-structured and makes it an easy reference text.

I have been reading avidly Jerry's War World books for years ( Not easy in the UK ), and to read a full novel rather than short stories was a great pleasure. The story is very well written and readable ( I have now read it many times, normally in one sitting ). The main characters are easy to identify with and follow, and the story has many intresting strands. Those of you that are War World fans will enjoy the twist within, which really confuses you of whom are the Goodies ( The HaBandari ) or the Baddies ( The Saurons ). At the end of the story you are no longer quite sure. It begs for a sequal. What will Sharku do about the HaBandari? Has the Sauron eye finally awoken? What will the tribes do to the HaBandari? Has finally the Saurons realised that the Havonites are worthy to call allies? Come on Jerry get on with, I am dying to know. I can recommend this book to any SF/War fan, if you have not read a War World book it does not matter that much, and could addict you to the series.

I have read all the WAR WORLD series, and it is hard say which is the best. "BLOOD FUED" and "BLOOD VENGEANCE" are both excellant and are a continuation of the overall, ongoing plot. The only disapointments are the deaths of some of the major players and the "yet-to-be-published sequel. So come on guys......where do Hammer-Of-God Jackson, Karl, Sannie and the unnamed babies go next???

What a great book. Read to my two boys age 4 and 6 and they were engrossed in this story of the boy Nicholas who's good deeds for others led to him becoming St Nicholas (Santa Claus). The holidays are a great time to teach kids about thinking of and giving to others and this book offers a great platform for doing just that.

"This is the first in a series of the "Nicholes Stories" childrens books. It is a tale about a boy named Nicholas, whose simple gift of love is seen by Angels, and his wish is a lasting reward that effects the world forever." These books will become cherished family traditions for the holidays.
"The Nicholas Stories have been designed to provide inspiration to young and old and is designed in content for all people of the world."
This book and the others that follow bridge the gap between the true meaning of Christmas and Saint Nicholas while reminding us all to live life with compassion, honesty and belief. I adored them and can't wait to read them to my grandchildren!!