I think that if you are into literature than you might like this book but I think that it wasnt as great as my professor said it was going to be

I read this book for OAC english. It is very hard to understand when Darl Narrates. Other than that it is a well written novel.
Knibb high football rules

i love the way willian faulkner wrote this book,u get each characters own thoughts, and personal expierences of the adventure this family went through. In the begining of the book, i guess it was because theyre were so many diferent nerators, it was kind of confusing, and hard to get into. But as i progressed through the book i found myself not being able to put the book down in curiosity of what would lie before me in the folowing chapters. i dont read much but i enjoyed this book.

I ordered this book hoping to have help identifying the birds at the feeders in my back yard. This books wasn't much help. Most of the photos are tiny--all you see is a bird shape sitting in a bunch of bushes or trees. The photo of the cardinal and blue jay are excellent--but who doesn't already know what these birds look like? Also there was too much information on habitat and migration patterns. I suppose that some people would think this was important. All I know is that there are dozens of gray birds feeding my backyard and I still don't know what most of them are called.

I'm going to buy another book, hopefully with larger pictures.

Birds of the Carolinas is an essential reference for the hobiest. It is particularly useful in identifying transients, and in differentiating between similar species based on habitat and time of year. The book contains excellent photographs of most (but not all) of the species referenced.

Incredible color pictures. Easy to read and well organized text

Anyone who knows Spain and bullfighting can only cringe (or hoot in derision) upon reading this ridiculous book. One has to wonder if Michener ever really visited this country. Among the many inaccuracies in the book, I'll list a few of the craziest: he has Spaniards spending pesos (the currency in Spain is pesetas), he has the locals referring to El Puerto de Santa Maria as "Santa Maria" (which no one does), and he has two bullfighters blaming a third for ruining their chances of getting carried out of the bullring in triumph (this simply never happens--each bullfighter is judged on his own merits). And the book is just badly written--somehow managing to be dull and melodrmatic at the same time. The "fiery gypsy" is an absurd stereotype, and all the characters are presented in the most wooden and amateurish manner. Only John Fulton's fine illustrations save the book from being a total loss (but Fulton--who was himself a matador--should have been ashamed of himself for being party to such a travesty).

I found that this book captured the beauty of Seville in all of it's grandeur. It described the love and passion of bullfighting and how it is reflected in the religous faith of it's most devout. The book accurately describes the love and devotion that the Spanish in Seville have for Our most Holy Mother. She is love and she is above all things. The book tells of how Our Lady peforms all kinds of miracles for those good and devout to her.

Hearing about the bull fights before visiting Spain I thought how cruel and terrible. My opinion was based on ideas I do not share and a culture I do not understand. In Madrid, I experienced a bullfight sitting next to a local. What I learned to appreciate that day. Now reading "Miracle", again my perspective has been changed. And isn't that what truly good reading does - changes our perspective? Michener teaches about the history and glory of the bullfight creating an understanding with the reader. While still not my choice of sport for the treatment of the animal, I better understand the bullfight. Thanks, Michener!

I would recomend people who are interested in fantasy, Atlantis, or time travel to read this. This book was very interesting to me because I'm really into fantasy and Atlantis. This is an extremely interesting theory of the destruction of Atlantis and it could very well be true. Another reason this is a good book is because of the conversations that Prince Ram and Roy have after Roy confesses he is in the Prince's mind. I thought that those were the best parts of the book.

As an Atlantean expert, I found that "Letters from Atlantis" tallies with the information given in Bruce Coville's "The Search for Snout", Disney's "A:TLE", and many other resources. It was also a terrific read, though the end was a bit less than I had expected. Anyone looking for more information on Atlantis, Atlantica, Athilan, Romany Star, or time travel should definately read this!

Julia "Atlantima" Butler
Master in "The City of Atlantis" ~ Neopets.com
The Lost Empire Poet ~ FanFiction.net
Diehard A:TLE fan ~ AIM
Devoted follower of St. Milo

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is about a man, Roy, who travels back in time to Atlantis in a Prince's brain, and you won't believe what he discover's

I believe that English teachers should make a list of books that teenagers could understand without having to rely on cheat sources. My advice to you would be to choose books that you can understand easily without driving yourself crazy while writting your critical analysis. Death of a Salesman is not one of those books that can be easily understood, in my opinion.

For all you who have heard that this play is hard to follow, I would not disagree. Yet despite the difficult comprehension, Miller does an excellent job in relation to the characters' psyche. There is a much deeper meaning to this work. It explores the never ending chain of the importance of family. A must for all whose family is a little distant among each other. Touching, moving, extraordinary.

I read this play in one evening. At times I found it hard to follow, but I REALLY enjoyed it. Soon after I rented the movie with Dustin Hoffman which solidified the story in my mind and moved me to tears. A very compelling story.

A fine first book for students and those who want a reference book for COBOL/400. There are numerous errors and some info that is meant for ILE COBOL/400 rather than the COBOL/400 (such as usage of the INITIAL PROGRAM IS clause in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION...

I first learned COBOL on an HP-3000 about 12-13 years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't use COBOL again until a few months ago, so my COBOL skills were rusty indeed when I found the need to create COBOL programs on the AS/400 I use at work. PROGRAMMING IN COBOL/400 was exactly the refresher I needed.

Although the first few chapters were primarily a review of good programming practice (use of flowcharts, pseudocode and printer spacing charts), the remainder of the book provided a good, reasonably comprehensive discussion of COBOL programming concepts.

The book is organized in a fairly straight-forward manner, starting with a look at the different divisions of a COBOL program. While I have yet to encounter a book that describes the four divisions and their sub-sections in a way that makes it easy for me to remember what is required, and in what order to place them (I tend to copy old programs, remove everything that is not used in the new program, and rewrite the Data and Procedure Divisions), this book's discussion of these constructs is as good as any, and better than many. The author introduces new concepts when discussing the Procedure Division in an effective manner, starting with the basics and gradually building towards more advanced concepts. The index is, for the most part, comprehensive and useable. The appendices at the end of the book cover topics that may be useful to some programmers, without cluttering the main text of the book with material that most AS/400 programmers do not need because they are probably already familiar with it (such as the AS/400 environment, PDM, etc.).

My gripes are mostly trivial, and should not discourage a potential buyer from purchasing this book. First, the overview of programming concepts probably would have been better in an appendix. This is very basic material, and not necessary for most AS/400 programmers to review. Second, since input and output specifications are such a large part of COBOL programming, copies of a printer spacing chart in the appendix would have been nice. The author shows the use of these spacing charts in several examples, but all have sample data filled in on them. Finally, some of the discussion appears a little dated. As I understand, this book is basically a rewrite, geared specifically towards the AS/400, of a "classic" COBOL text. Unless I am mistaken, the original source for this text was the book I used in high school to learn COBOL in the first place, and it is apparent to the reader that much of the content has been adapted to the AS/400 environment.

Nevertheless, this is a very readable text on AS/400 COBOL, and I would recommend it to an AS/400 programmer--or any other programmer, for that matter, as COBOL is a very standardized language--without hesitation.

An important, timely & vital point is being made by these authors. I listened intently to their ideas, mostly while jogging. I loved the prehistoric stuff, but after that it all became pretty familiar. I agreed with their thoughts on controlling our technology instead of it controlling us, but there's not much we can do about it when, in so many ways, we *are* our technology. Still, it is good & inspiring & true. Everyone should read it. I just gave it three stars because in the middle sections my running pace slowed considerably, indicating non-involvement.

I love Burke's books, especially Connections and The Day The Universe Changed. Combined with the author's great presentation, they are some of the finest non-fiction audio books in existence.

Unfortunately, this one really loses its way about half way through its course. What starts out as an excellent outline of prehistoric human development devolves into a meandering, unrealistic plea for changing human behavior.

Of course, you could just ditch the second tape in the set and listen to the first cassette several times. It's quite good on its own.

Axemakers Gift is the world's best kept open secret. Very enjoyable sound on only two cassettes is multiply distilled encyclopedic overview of the most significant and interesting things that have happened in the entire history of the world. Each world-changing phenomenon leads naturally to the next and shows their possibly hopeful implications for the future If I had my life to live over I would wish very early to hear Axemakers Gift to become instilled with its attitudes of confidence, cheerfulness, fearlessness, compassion, good will, hopefulness and unpretentious incredible erudition. It would give me a sound foundation for facing life instead of trying to think there was something wrong with me because I couldn't see things the way people told me to. I always knew somehow that when I was dying I would figure out what things had been all about but young people who hear this tape can start out from the first with a grounding that will give them enthusiasm for looking for new ideas and, even if they go down the tubes, I guess at least they'll have a sublime understanding of their real part in the great scheme of things. I listen to it again every few weeks to get my fix of sanity and truth and good will in the seeming hopeless of a "gotcha" world. All my thanks for Axemakers Gift, The Day the Universe Changed, and Connections.

I am already predisposed against Cliffs Notes simply because of my belief that they contribute to what Allan Bloom calls, "The Closing of the American Mind". Using Cliffs Notes to understand literature is comparable to taking a Polaroid photo of the Mona Lisa to hang in your living room. However, I was in a bookstore and started wondering how bad these Cliffs Notes really were so I started skimming through the one which purports to analyze Poe's short stories since I have read these several dozen times. The result was worse than I expected. My aversion to Cliffs Notes had, heretofore, been that it felt like cheating but I had always assumed the details were as least accurate. What I found was that the "facts" were just plain wrong and thousands of lazy students would never even realize it.

For example, on page 54 of the Cliffs Notes is the following quote from the discussion of "The Cask of Amontillado": "Earlier, he [Montresor] had let all of the servants off for the night..."

No, he did not. In fact, Montresor specifically told them not to leave as is evident from the lines in the actual Poe text:

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance , one and all, as soon as my back was turned.

Then the editor goes on to explain an exchange between Fortunato and Montresor regarding the Free Masons just after Fortunato had made an enigmatic gesture with the De Grave bottle:

Cliffs Notes: "At this point Fortunato was sure that Montresor didn't understand the gesture..."

Actual Text of Poe: I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grave... He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand. I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement -- a grotesque one. "You do not comprehend?" he said. "Not I," I replied. "Then you are not of the brotherhood."

Cliffs Notes: "...[Free Masonry], an order that Fortunato was certain Montresor couldn't belong to."

Clearly, Fortunato was not certain, at first, that Montresor was not a Mason for he repeated the gesture. Only after Montresor admits to not knowing the sign does Fortunato realize this. Yet the Cliffs Notes editor claims this is another example of Fortunato attempting to insult Montresor.

Finally, this line from page 56 of the Cliffs Notes is an absurd mistake: "Fortunato then showed him a sign of the masons - a trowel which he brought with him".

But as the actual text shows it is Montresor (the narrator), not Fortunato, who has the trowel: "It is this," I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire. "You jest," [Fortunato] exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. "But let us proceed to the Amontillado." "Be it so," [Montresor] said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak

I was not inclined to read any further to see if the editor was equally maladroit with the facts in the other short stories since my poor opinion of Cliffs Notes had already been confirmed. Poe probably has the most precise use of the English language of any American writer and deserves better treatment. It is intellectually lazy to make such sophomoric mistakes and a disservice to those who naively depend on Cliffs Notes for accurate information.

I had to read "Fall of the House of Usher" for my English 11A class, and when we started I was beyond lost. This really explained things, and made it possible for me to excel on the topic. I normally don't go for this sort of thing, but I took the chance, thinking, what would it hurt? It worked!

I used these Cliffs Notes to review for a test, and they were extremely helpful and in-depth enough to refresh my memory on some of Poe's short stories. However, if one attempts to use these Cliffs Notes without having read Poe's stories, he or she will become completely lost. Because the descriptions of each story skip around a lot (they keep jumping from events that occurred at the beginning of the story to ones that happened at the end of the story), it becomes rather confusing for one who has never read the story to follow the sequential events of the plot without getting lost. When I used these Notes for the purpose of reviewing, however, I found that they adequately refreshed my memory enough so that I did not have to read the entire stories again.

These two books were a waist of my time and money. I highly recommend that you not buy these. I did not like them because it was about nothing. I read and read (waisting time and time) trying to find something. "Did I?," you ask....NO! these are horrible books. Thank you.

Some people did not think much of the play, but I thought it was an excellent play. The charecter laura in the play is a crippled girl who feels that she is unable to do anything because she is crippled. Laura keeps a glass menagerie and is very attached to it because she feels they are like her, fragile and transparent. One of the glass charecters resembles her because it is different from all the other animals. Tom, who is Laura's brother wants to leave his house and do something adventurous with his life, but can't until his sister finds a suitible match. Amanda is their mother, who feels self-pity because her husband left her and she has to take care of two children. She keeps reminding Laura of how she always had so many gentelmen callers and Laura has none. This play ended sadly but made a good point.

This review is of James L. Roberts' Cliffs Notes for "The Glass Menagerie" and "A Streetcar Named Desire," and not the plays by Tennessee Williams. Roberts begins with a look at the Author's Life and Background to explain how Williams' personal life and experiences are directly related to the subject matter of his dramas. His look at "The Glass Menagerie" offers a Synopsis and a list of Characters, as well as an introductory section of Structure Through Memory teachers/readers will find useful before they start reading the play. The Scene Summaries & Commentaries make a point of signposting the analysis (A, B, C, etc.), which is also quite useful. As always, those dealing with these yellow books with the black stripes can make the best use of the analysis if they look at it after they have read the corresponding section in the play. This is a tad difficult with Williams since he does not use traditional "scene" divisions, leaving it to Roberts to make those divisions. A Character Analysis of all four characters follows.

Roberts follows the same format in looking at "A Streetcar Named Desire," setting the play up in terms of Structure Through Contrasts. I do want to point out that his Character Analysis on this particular play shows as much depth as you will find in any Cliffs Notes. Even thought he has to deal with two plays in this one volume, Roberts presents a lot of useful analysis that underscores the importance of character in these classic plays by Williams. "The Glass Menagerie" is almost a forgotten play at this point, but "Streetcar" remains a classic drama of the American theater. A minor complaint is that Roberts does not deal with the "happy" ending tacked on the celebrated film version, but that will just be another fascinating class discussion you can have if you screen the film (the "restored" version, of course). Give your students the opportunity to see Brando's performance, the finest in cinema history.

I had read Bridges before I'd ever seen the movie, but after doing a Tearjerker marathon DVD night with the girlfriends, I was struck by how much better the movie was than the book. I think Waller really did make an effort to reflect how these two people feel and what they meant to each other, even years later, but failed miserably to do so. Maybe it was the challenge of trying to put it all in words versus watching the romance being play out on screen. I have not read his other books, but I certainly am looking for them now (that's why I was on amazon.com today). I'm not giving up on him, but I would recommend the movie over the book any time!

The story involves a woman who is married and comfortable - her husband is a very good provider and truly loves his wife as much as he is capable. Their is no romance between the couple, but they do care deeply for each other and do a fine job of raising their children and provide a loving home for them. A stranger rolls into town one day and stops to ask directions. A mutual attraction quickly develops between the wife and this interesting stranger. They are unable to stop the powerful romance that comes upon them like a strong force. Ultimately, she is left with the decision of leaving her life as she knows it and running away with a man that has evoking feelings inside her that made her feel so alive, or doing the right thing for her family - faced with the decision, she is with her husband in their old farm truck on main street, she sees Robert leaving town in his pick up and she knows it's now or never.

This book left me in tears. I saw the movie, and it doesn't do the story justice. This is one of the best books I have ever read.

If you want to read about real undying love, this book is a must read.

"The Bridge of Madison County" by Robert James Waller.

To a casual reader, the book appears to be just another juicy love story between a divorced man, Robert Kincaid, a writer-photographer from Bellingham, Washington and Francesca Johnson, a farmer's wife in Madison County, Iowa. In August 1965, he was 52 and she was 45. To a serious sensible reader, the book is much more than that. It is a powerful book.

Kincaid was on an assignment to photograph covered bridges in Madison County for 'National Geographic' when he dropped in on a farmhouse on a country road. A woman was sitting on the front porch. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for a covered bridge out this way, and I can't find it. I think I'm temporarily lost," he said. "You're pretty close. The bridge is about two miles from here," she said. "I'll be glad to show it to you, if you want."

They spent next four days together in the farmhouse. Francesca's husband Richard and her son Michael, 17, and her daughter Carolyn, 16, were at Illinois State Fair. They fell hard for each other in these four incredible days. They danced in the kitchen to candlelight, and they made love in the kitchen, in the bedroom, and in the pasture.

Then he was inside her again, whispering soft words into her ear as he loved her, kissing her between phrases, between words, his arm around her waist, pulling her into him and him into her. And she murmured, softly, breathlessly, "Oh, Robert . . . Robert . . . I am losing myself." He was an animal. A graceful, hard, male animal who did nothing overtly to dominate her yet dominated her completely, in the exact way she wanted that to happen at this moment.

"What are we going to do? he asked at the end of four days. "There is this damn sense of responsibility I have. To Richard, to the children. Just my leaving, taking away my physical presence, would be hard enough for Richard. That alone might destroy him," she said. "On top of that, and this is even worse, he would have to live the rest of his life with the whispers of the people here. And children would hear snickering of Winterset for as long as they live here. As much as I want you and want to be with you and part of you, I can't tear myself away from the realness of my responsibilities."

"Oh, Michael, Michael, think of them all those years, wanting each other so desperately. She gave him up for us and for Dad. And Robert Kincaid stayed away out of respect for her feelings about us. We treat our marriages so casually, and we were part of the reason that an incredible love affair ended the way it did," said Carolyn after reading the letter her mother left. "They had four days together, just four. Out of a lifetime."

Yes, Francesca and Robert spent only four days together out of a lifetime. They wanted each other so desperately. And yet, they endured the rest of their lives away from each other. Why? For what? To do the right thing. The right thing for Francesca was to think of Richard and their children. The right thing for Robert was to respect the feelings of Francesca. Herein lie the strength and power and moral of the story "The Bridges of Madison County."