John Adams, Second President of these United States, is certainly enjoying a revitalized reputation thanks to David McCullough's best-selling biography. But for younger students who are not yet ready to tackle that weighty tome, Marlene Targ Brill provides a solid introduction to the man for this volume in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series. The story begins with what Adams considered to be his most important accomplishment as President, which was keeping the young nation from going to war with France. But Brill establishes right from the start that this patriotic man was frequently an unpopular public figure. At the start, Brill offers the verdict of history on John Adams as pronounced by Benjamin Franklin, who said Adams "means well for his country, is always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes and in some things absolutely out of his senses."

This book covers the boyhood of John Adams in Braintree, Massachusetts, his education at Harvard, his career as a lawyer, his marriage to Abigail Smith, and his involvement in the movement for American independence. After the Declaration of Independence was adopted, Adams planned on retiring from politics, his life's work accomplished, but his nation was not even close to being done with him. After a decade of work in the Foreign Service, Adams was elected to two terms as the country's first Vice President (a New Englander to balance Southerner George Washington), and then faced the unenviable task of being the person who followed Washington as President and was then in turn replaced by Thomas Jefferson. In perhaps the greatest irony in American history, both Adams and Jefferson would die on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

I have always admired Adams ever since I became enamored of the musical "1776" and enjoyed "The Adams Chronicles" mini-series. This is not a slick looking book but it does provide more than adequate coverage of the life of its subject, which is supposed to be its purpose. There are better looking juvenile biographies of Adams, but they do not provide the amount of information Brill presents here. This volume is illustrated with dozens of black and white illustrations, mostly engravings and illustrations from Adams's lifetime, as well as maps, pamphlets and signatures. The book contains a detailed Chronology of American History that lists virtually ever year from the birth of Washington in 1732 to the crash of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, when this book was published.

I was very impressed with this book. The story is strong, exciting and not a bit sentimental or over done. Madeleine is a wonderful heroine.

MADELEINE VERCHERE'S story is based on a true account of colonial French Canada of the 1690's. 14-year-old Madeleine is left alone with two younger brothers at the Verchere family's fort and few others when the Iroquois Indians attack. We follow the brave and determined stratagems of Madeleine and her small circle.

The qualities of courage, self-sacrifice, familial love and devotion abound. (Doesn't the mere mention of those chararacter qualities make you feel desperate for our current generation??)

Usually at the end of a book I'll say "yea, that was a good book but I would change this or that to make it better" I honestly can't think of anything I would change in this master re-telling of Madeleine Verchere.

I wish Ethel C. Brill had written a dozen other books. She is a sharp writer and this is an excellent book.

Dr. Palsetia is to be congratulated on writing a very well researched book on the Parsi community of Bombay, India. He has researched the most valuable original sources of the Parsi community like the "Parsee Prakash", "Rast Goftar", the "Panchayat Publications" etc. to put in about 400 pages one of the very best readable book on the history of the Parsi community of Bombay in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. With elaborate footnotes and an excellent bibliography, Dr. Palsetia has lighted the very salient features of the Parsi community in one volume, what would otherwise occupy over a dozen volumes to treat a complex and difficult subject. I urge every Parsi and friends and admirers of Parsis to study this book to obtain a correct glimpse of the Parsi community of Bombay. The publishing house of Brill is to be once again congratulated and thanked in providing scholars with an excellent monograph on a difficult and rare subject, as they have often done in the past. I have no doubts this book will be a standard reference for several decades on the history of the Parsis in Bombay.

Aguilar I Matas provides a rare yet necessary look at the complexity of Rgvedic SOCIETY instead of focusing, as many do, on Rgvedic religion. He shows that aryas were a heterogenous community composed of a number of groups including the ari and the suri. The Rgveda promoted suri ideals and Indra religion. This text also depicts the ari as antagnistic to the supremecy of Indra and the soma sacrifice while venerting Varuna as sovereign deity. This book is essential for any scholar of Vedic tradition.

For me, as a beginner in sales and non-English native speaker, this book helped me quite a lot in writing sales letters to new customers. Before I knew only old-fashioned, boring phrases. And now I see that I improved quite a lot (especially when I am comparing them to my colleagues' who are still using the old style.)

A season is a lifetime is the story of Duke's back-to-back championship seasons. It is an interesting, insightful look into the relationships coach K has with his players. There is no collegiate program better than Duke's, and there is no better book about Duke than A Season is a Lifetime

Stone's book is full of completely relevant detail, documenting with his knowledge of personality and history, those revolutionary and disturbing times in Naples. Exploring book reading habits, printing, attitudes on the ground toward the Inquisition, local thinkers and their place in the larger intellectual world of the times, it makes captivating reading. He is doing what Vico might have directed him to do: get under the skins of the people of the time. His presentation of Vico as a seminal political thinker also opened my eyes to other aspects of the philosopher - my focus has been too "one-sided" - since I am focussing on a Jungian analysis of Vico (Mr Stone may cringe when he hears someone is attempting that). In any case, Mr Stone has helped me in my quest to discover what "type" Vico was. He makes tantalising hints at possible Masonic research Vico was involved with - I am based in London and is has proven hard to read it here; but I did locate it in the New York Public Library - I have not been able to complete reading as yet, but it was a thrilling experience to read the 80% I did manage sitting in that hot room in New York.

Found Freud in your search? You are no amateur or you are a real explorer of unkown lands. Even a beginner with Freud can enjoy this brilliant analysis of the fun behind wit and jokes. Don't think knowing why things are funny will reduce your pleasure in them....far from it, you will understand yourself and others better, you will find added sparkle in wit and discover the land mines hidden in the tall grass of laughter. Though not for the linguistically challenged, Freud richly rewards the determined reader. Take him on

This book has been around for a while, in many different printings. Every time I see it in a used bookstore I buy it, so I will have it on hand to give to the next person who asks me about photography.

This book has everything you need to know about photography, from discussing the various types of cameras to lighting and metering techniques to how to develop and print your own film. It is well organized and easy to understand. It is written so a beginner will have no trouble with it, but with enough information to get you to a pretty advanced stage. What more could you ask for?

When in college, I took a photography course from a well known and respected photographer in the Bay Area. This was the textbook we were to purchase. I have since turned to photography full time. I look to this book for little things from time to time and I am glad it is there. It is like a little mentor. I recommend it to all people I speak with who say that they would like to know more about photography. It is a great book. One you will use over and over again. One that will not grow dust on its' cover.

I spent some time at a local bookstore looking for a good book for my sister-in-law who had just picked up the hobby of photography. Since I spent time making a living from photography, I was looking for a well-illustrated book that covered all the basics that beginners would need. Plus more advanced subjects as well. Easily readable, thorough and well organized. Plenty of actual photos that provide clarity to the subject matter. None of the other books were as good. At the checkout I was surprised at the price. A little steep for a gift, but I still bought it. The book is that good. If I were to write a book on photography, this is the book that I'd write.

I love this book. I bought it about four years ago and it inspired an interest in plants that has led me to pursue a bachelors in botany. It is an incredibly informative resource about plants but it also contains enough of the author's personal experiences and pearls of wisdom to make it a lovely book to curl up with. Maybe I have an odd sense of humor but this book elicits a chuckle every time I open it. The pictures are black and white line drawings but they are very detailed, much more helpful than the often out of focus color photos in a lot of other plant id books. Plant identification requires patience and attention to detail and this book provides the details needed for accuracy. It is important to keep in mind that if you are identifying plants in order to harvest them you should always always always check more than one reference before eating them. This book is not only worth the cost, it is the best edible wild plant resource available.

This is a fantastic book. Very thorough information about finding, identifying, harvesting, preparing, and uses of edible wild plants. The plant drawings are fantastic and much easier to use than color photos. I enjoy his emphasis on finding edibles in your lawn or other "not so wild" places. Also includes lots of invaluable information on poisonous plants to avoid and poisonous "look-alikes" to beware of. He has a great sense of humor and an entertaining style. I bought the book and then had to immediately by another as a gift. I just got lunch by weeding my driveway...

This book mentions about 100 of the most likely medicinal and/or edible plants that you will encounter, whether in the woods, at a park, or along the sidewalk. The drawings are superb, and the information on the chemical and nutritional components of why the plant works as food or medicine is clear and thorough. The recipes are easy to follow ( I hate to cook). Best of all, the author has a great sense of humor making this one of the most readable books of its kind. I can't reccommend this one highly enough: it's become something of a "bible" for me.