I was introduced to the Microsoft Office Guide when I became the Technology Teacher for 1st through 8th grades. The curriculm for 7th and 8th grade was to learn Excell and Access - which I had never used. Therefore, I opened the book, went through each step for both chapters on Database and Spreadsheet. The book was so well designed and organized in presenting and educating that I learned quickly! The material gave me a strong understanding of each program - so much so that people feel I have been working with Excel and Access for years (I was already strong in Word). This is a great book for people wanting to learn how to use the software (especially if you need it for upgrading your career!) It is also a great book for teaching and trainers for colleges or organizations. (If my kids can do it! So can you!) Questions? You can email me at MSTOMAS@aol.com. Take care

This text offers 75 practical strategies that foster strategic learning and literacy training in all classes. It offers ideas that are appropriate for K-12, postsecondary, and especially ESL/EFL teachers. It provides a framework for initiating, constructing, and utilizing content and strategic knowledge that is applied to real-life applications. Of all the "quick-tips" books that teachers have available, this is one of the best. It provides teachers with the ability to bring reading, writing, and problem-solving into every classroom.

Secret song of Sera is the story of Sara, who's messed up by her doctor while having her breasts removed. Sara's boyfriend can't deal with the scares so they break the relationship. Sara end up leaving Calfornia for New York, and there she meets Alex, but she's so insecure that relationship have problem. I throught the book was good.

Imagine being a smart, beautiful, and confident woman who has it all, and then try to imagine your world crumbling at your feet the night that you discover a lump in your breast. This was a reality for Sara Davis the main character in Elaine S. Brown's novel "Secret Songs of Sara." Sara has it all: a good job, a beautiful body, self-confidence, and a man who loves her. That man's name is Reese and he and Sara are very much in love and they both feel that their love can withstand anything.

One evening while getting dressed for a date with Reese, Sara discovers a lump in her left breast. Her initial reaction is fear, and then once the fear sets in she gets very upset. Sara does not share this discovery with Reese or her family, the only person that she tells is her best friend Val. Val and Sara have basically been friends since birth, and they have no secrets between them.

Once Sara calms down she decides to make a doctor's appointment to get the lump checked out. Due to unforeseen circumstances she cannot see her regular doctor and ends up at a clinic. The clinic then makes her wait additional time before she can be seen. The delay in having the lump looked at is driving her crazy and as a reader you can feel her anxiety as you turn the pages of the book. After Sara sees the doctor, he decides that a biopsy needs to be performed on her breast. A biopsy is basically a procedure in which tissue is extracted from the body and examined. After this procedure is performed the doctor informs Sara that the lump in her breast needs to be removed, so she has it removed. After this surgery Sara develops complications, as a result of these complications she loses her left breast, and gains an ugly scar. Throughout the book she refers to the scar as her "hollow image." This scar not only affects her physically, but mentally as well. It basically destroys all of the self-confidence that she once had.

During the surgery and after she loses her breast Sara cuts-off all communication with Reese, giving him lame excuses for her absence. She feels that Reese is so focused on her beauty and perfection that there is no way that he could love her with a horrible scar and a single breast.

"Secret Songs of Sara" is a very emotional book. Though I have not experienced what Sara had gone through, I could feel her emotional pain as I turned the pages of the book. This book also showed how much emphasis that society and women themselves put on their breasts: either they are too big or too small; when they should really be happy that they have healthy breasts. I really enjoyed this book and on the RAW scale, it is a 5.

Reviewed by Simone

I could not put the book down. I had to finish it. Usually I skip to find interesting arts. I skipped nothing. I read every word.

finally, here is a book that shows with real people and real places the effects of the us of a's (the land of equality?? not) throwing out of the desegregation ideal. i happened to grow up in two places, Montgomery County Maryland (the chapter on this is right on) and also, a suburb right outside of Detroit, Michigan (the chapter on this is right on, too) and it's true that Montgomery County was this place that was pretty integrated but forgot about the importance of that when achievement became the big issue. the only problem with this book was the last chapter, it was on a topic which i really wanted to read about but could not stay awake. all in all, a good book that any good progressive needs to have on his or her bookshelf. C.

This is an excellent book that I sat down to read for a class and it turned out to be actually compelling in many parts. The case studies (most of them) were excellent and persuasive. The book would have been better from more of this style all around, and maybe some connections -- some of the chapters were dull, but overall, a really complete overview that gets you thinking.

This is a fabulous overview of our nation's wholescale abandonment of policies and practices that had created desegregated schools in many cities and regions. The book, while scholarly, is really useful for activists, parents and other groups wanting to hang onto racial integration. I recommend it to anyone who cares about this topic.

I would say there are samples of other books, like "Revolutionary Suicide", I don't see exactly why, as this book ("Revolutionary Suicide") isn't out of print...and the fact that you have people like David Hilliard behind this isn't really a good selling point for the true defenders of The Cause. anyways, there are some scoops I would say in this book, and it allows a better understanding of Mr Huey Newton

I searched this book from beginning to end, and nowhere does it mention Newton's stay in Cuba. If I am wrong please correct me.

What IS it with goofy liberals who *think* they know what "The Cause" is and take it upon themselves to diss someone like a David Hilliard??? For the record, Mr. Hilliard was the childhood friend of Dr. Newton, the BPP Chief of Staff, and has more true knowledge, fervor and *experience* in "The Cause" than any ne'er do well might think s/he posseses in their small liberal brains.

This compendium is essential reading for anyone interested in revolutionary politics in general, and for an inside look at the theoretical underpinnings of the BPP in particular. Talk a lot but do nothing liberals aside.

This book was very enlightening in the aspect of the features of Microsoft Office 2000 yet it was a very pricey title. The book comes with pages full of information and screen shots so you know exactly what to do and how to do it. This book is definately good for those who want to learn all about the features of Microsoft Office and know how to use them. The book also cover everything in depth and explains everything FULLY, so you don't have to wonder what the next step is. A must read -- if you feel like waiting on it ;)

I liked this book. Elaine Brown was incredibly honest in her writing, especially when she wrote about her sexuality. Most of us would have omitted certain incidents that she included--getting lots of money after a night with a rich donor, getting beat up by a lover, sleeping with her friend's husband--yet it makes her story very human because it expresses the complexity of human interactions. Her mistakes helped me to identify with her, though I am not African American. She was very vulnerable in her relationships with men, even though she was the head of the Black Panther Party. The Party gave Brown the opportunity to work toward correcting social injustices. But the environment was filled with guns and violence directed both inward and outward, as well as much sexual exploitation. At the end, I was happy when she flew away from her Panther life because she eventually feared for her life and she had begun to incorporate some of the violence of the male Panthers in her actions. Yet she also accomplished much good through her association. Elaine Brown has many talents to give the world and I hope that she is continuing to work towards the goals that attracted her to the Panthers in the first place.

I originally read this book in my senior year of high school and i became hooked. I still read it today for strenth and inspriation. Elaine Brown has opened her mouth and told us her experience of this institution, and let me tell you, it is so refreshing to hear a different,female approach to the Panther Revolution, not the "we-shall-overcome-no-matter-what" side, but the ugly, scary,emotional, real side of the lessons she learned from being a major part of this party, and also what she had to endure to get there. I will give no secrets away from this book, all I will say is that there are strong women and there are women of strength. She may not have started out as either one, but by the end, she, and many others became and helped define what it is to be a strong woman and be a woman of strentgth. This book will shock you, and inspire you to do your best in this world at whatever it is you choose to do durring your existence.

I had to read this book for a Women's History Class, and I am so glad. I now have a better understanding of what the Black Panther Party was all about, the in's and out's. Another reader commented that Elaine "slept her way to the top" but I don't agree. Yes, she had many lovers, but you have to look at the reason why: Where was her dad? She has alot of misplaced "love" and searches everywhere for it. But that is not the purpose of the book. Part of being a female Panther was to "oblige" the male Panthers that were doing what they were supposed to. Also, during the time the book speaks of, the sexual values we have today did not exist.

The struggle for racial AND gender equality is not over. She was one of the few people who actually FOUGHT for it. Elaine: Wherever you are - I commend you.

I studied out of 7 different preparation books, and this one, by far is the worst one! The questions in this book are really difficult, tricky and unlike the CLEP exam! The questions in the actual CLEP exam arent tricky like the SAT or GRE, they are straightforward. For some reason, Peterson's has decided to put in SAT-like questions on their practice exam. This book should be thrown out of the market because its NOTHING like the real exams! I would recommend Princeton Review's Cracking the CLEP, and Review for Clep Examination by Comex Systems. The REA also writes really accurate practice exams. If you are taking English, I also recommend you purchase "The Writer's Reference" by Diana Hacker. That was probably the most helpful book in brushing up on your English.

I found the practice exercises in this book to be very helpful, and I did really well when I took the CLEP afterwards.

Looking to maximize my ability on the CLEP tests to avoid taking numerous classes that I have no interest in. If you'd like to get practice on these tests, than this book may help.

Elaine Brown may have had Panther bookkeeper Betty Van Patter murdered on orders from Huey Newton, according to strong circumstantial information recounted by author David Horowitz, former movement member, in his book "Hating Whitey". Even by her own writings in "A Taste of Power" she comes across as a dangerous psychopath who gets sensuous gratification from seeing people brutally beaten. If you buy this or any other book by her, you very well may be giving money someone involved in a murder.

See chapter 9, "Black Murder, Inc." of David Horowitz's book "Hating Whitey" for the full story on Elaine Brown.

Elaine Brown presents much more than the title suggests. Rather than restricting herself to the case of Lil B (Michael Lewis) by itself, she places this case in a setting of racism, both in history and in our time, nationally and in Georgia, in such a way as to challenge both the white power structure as well as the African American community to face up to our abdication of responsibility for the marginalized, especially the adolescent African American males. The handling of the case of Lil B is symptomatic of this abdication, beginning with Atlanta's blindness to the existence of the Bluff (a drug infested block of west side Atlanta); moving on to the self-absorbed ambition of some of the African American leadership; and ultimately indicting the white power structure's arrogance rooted in the so-called brilliant insights of Thomas Jefferson on the subject of African Americans. Brown is well versed in her subject, articulate in expressing her views, and forthright in calling for action from all segments of our contemporary society. Brilliant piece of work.

Rarely ever have I read such a sorry backward looking message. I picked up this book with interest. Yes, I am a proud progressive Democrat who believes in every American's right to good health care, housing, education, equal rights and privacy. Yet, I wanted to see what a conservative African American could find so wrong with the agenda of civil rights and economic mobility. What I found was laughable. The author's "points" are barely points at all. They are mostly attacks - quite defensive ones, indeed. These "attacks" seek to paint the author as white as possible, with a conservative brush which stems further and further to the far right as the reader goes into this book.

This book is a joke, simply put. African Americans and minorities - as well as whites - in America today do not need the Republican party of regression and privatization. The GOP of the past - with its occasional moderation and conserving conservatism - was bad enough. Yet, today's nativist and Southern-based and increasingly regionalized Republican party has no rooms for minorities or forward looking whites.

The author says that the GOP has room for minorities. That is wrong. The GOP will never have room for minorities until it changes itself dramatically and becomes the Democratic party. This book is a joke, as well as a defensive attempt to paint oneself as white as possible!

As for me, I will never be a part of a party which bashes unions and working people(as well as their public protections), caters to the interests of the rich and bigotry and attacks public safe guards for the poor and at-risk.

It has been said, quite correctly, that a black man voting Republican is not unlike chicken little voting for the Colonel for President. As GOP policies show, people of color are not welcomed in the party. Just look at the facts.

The GOP has tried to abolish basic civil rights guarantees for minorities and women, as well as the handicapped. They decimated the safety net under Reagan and tried to do it again under Gingrich and Dole in 1995. They favor privaitzation of Social Security and Medicare, the brunt of which would fall on blacks which are too old and too poor to bother to protest. They favor deep cuts in food stamps, Head Start and AmeriCorps. They in 1995 proposed deep reductions in public education spending, as well as Affirmative Action and pro-woman aid in colleges. They favor eliminating the income tax on the wealthy. They favor deep restrictions on the civil rights of immigrants. They favor English Only laws and repealing all gun control laws. They favor reductions in urban aid and public works. They refuse to back national health insurance or national job unemployment insurance.

Does this strike a picture of a conservative party that is dying to have black support? Of course not. The author is crazy to ever think that the word 'African American' and 'Republican' will ever go together. Sell outs never cease to amaze me!