My mother, who was from North Carolina with relatives in the Appalachians, read The Jack Tales to my brother and me before we started reading for ourselves. She got really tired of doing so, because we'd ask for them over and over. Fairy tales are the deep learning of childhood, and to hear these stories written the same way our older relatives spoke was wondrous. The stories themselves are a celebration of Jack the hero and Jack the Trickster, told with plenty of humour to keep things interesting and in a voice both authentically American and of universal appeal. I'm delighted to be able to get my hands on a copy - this is a book well worth reading and preserving for the next generation of avid readers.

I found this book in the library of my elementary school around 1965. After I married and had children I had to have a copy of this book for them. They enjoyed Jack's adventures as much as I did. I'm going to purchase several more copies and I plan to keep one for myself and give others away. Read these tales yourself and you will want to do the same.

I first heard the Jack Tales when I was in the fourth grade back in the 1960's. Our teacher would read us a chapter once a week. I had to look good and hard to find a copy for my daughters they have enjoyed hearing about Jack.

In my language arts class, we started the folklore unit. My teacher read us this book to give us examples of folklore tales, and we had a lot of fun. We took a 3 page test on this book and we also took notes. This book brought loads of laughter to us, especially when my teacher acted out the stories with an accent and all. Thanks so much for putting the Appalachian hertiage in writing!

25 oral tradition folktales with their roots in English mummers and mythology. Even the "Lear" story appears under the title 'Like Meat Loves Salt' These are stories written to be read out loud and help to enchant with the wonderful tradition of spoken folktales. There is also a collection of JACK TALES by the same author. This is the same boy of Jack & The Beanstalk fame. He has 17 other tales about him! Fantastic!

I have used this book for years in elementary classrooms, and with my own children and grandchildren. A must for any classroom (grades 1-8). Robert B. Cooter, Jr., Asst. Supt., Dallas Reading Plan, Dallas, Texas.

Insightfull, poignant and to the point..for a sales or customer relationship manager the book is a must. Too often we hear ourselves talk not listening to the customer....this will change some of the ways I treat my customers in the financial services industry.

This book contains a broad overview of the methods and instruments of production and operation management. For me it's one of the best books to get an quick and understandable introduction to the status quo in this area. Absolutely recommended.

Don't be fooled by the title- although it focuses on the dark side of every Wraith, this outstanding book contains tons of important information on all sorts of subjects- from exactly what your Eidolon IS, and when it comes into play, to roleplaying romance and love.

Other important topics covered include exactly how Castigation affects your Shadow- and while your Shadow is by definition your adversary, the isn't always your enemy. There is a lot more to Psyche/Shadow interaction than just "I'm the Good Guy, he's the Bad Guy."

Every Circle of Wraiths should have this one- you owe it to yourselves... and to your Shadows. :)

This book is a good collection of Harris, Uncle Remus tales. Some of the posters have gone into the history of these tales, so no need to repeat that here. However, these tales are best taken in small doses, as Chandler's "Negro dialect" (as it was known at the time) is a bit much on the eyes of the modern reader (I'm an African-American from South Carolina myself and I had a lot of trouble trying to decipher some of this). But the illustrations are quite fitting and wonderful. So if you have a lot of patience and love some good stories, go for it.

These animal stories were banned in the late sixties from many schools and libraries for being racist (the storyteller in the book, Uncle Remus, is a slave and uses the "n" word). But it seems that it's now ok to like these stories again, and a good thing that is, because they are not only hilariously funny, they are also deeply revealing of the foibles of us humans. But perhaps most importantly, they are a treasure trove of African American folklore.

The stories combine folktale motifs brought from Africa by slaves with those of the native peoples of the south, particularly the Cherokee and Choctaw. Since both cultures had stories with animal characters, and specifically trickster rabbit characters, ethnologists have not been able to completely determine which elements are the African and which are the Native American. No matter, since the two cultural traditions blend together seamlessly.

This edition is the most encyclopedic of all the Uncle Remus collections, and contains many different types of tales. There are origin tales, like how Mr. Dog originally came to live with Mr. Man and why Mr. Cricket has elbows on his legs. There are satirical tales, like the one in which Brer Rabbit convinces Brer Fox that it's the fashion in town for up-to-date foxes to have their heads cut off, which is information that Brer Fox, out of vanity, acts on in the way Brer Rabbit hopes. There are Trickster tales --mostly involving Brer Rabbit and Brer Tortoise (who is the only character who can out-trickster Rabbit). And there are tales of witches, magic, and superstition specific to Africa.

It's written in Southern African-American dialect of the 19th century, which can be tough going for some, but there is a glossary in the back (which I didn't realize was there for over a year) that helps. Also, the stories demand to be read out loud, being originally of an oral tradition, and I think you will find that reading them aloud while just following the given spelling will make the dialect more understandable than just reading it silently.

These stories are so wonderful that my teenaged sons, who think it's "babyish" to be read to, will still allow me to read Brer Rabbit tales to them. If you are looking for great Literature that's funny and easy to read, buy this book and have a really good time!

This is one of the best books ever written anywhere by anyone. Personally, I place it among the Taoist classics. Be that as it may, if you don't read it you'll never know what you're missing. If you're looking for crazy wisdom, it's all in here, but don't overlook the ridiculous either because this book will probably put you in stitches, and I ain't just whistlin' Dixie.

This one is definitely not for beginners. It is far too detailed in terms of minute structure of the grasses and is not organized in such a way as to help the amateur in the identification of a particular grass type.

As a first-year botany student, I was overwhelmed by the confusing tables and cryptic systems when trying to identify certain plants. I am so relieved to find a guide like Agnes Chase's First Book of Grasses, where identification methods are made simple, yet remain as factual and dependable as the volumes on horticulture and botany for advanced students. The book is a classic in the world of botany, however the updated fourth edition makes it all the more useful in relation to the ever-changing world of scientific knowledge. This guide is a must-have for any beginner in botany as it opens the doors to the world of agrostology in such a clear and dependable manner.

Although my botanical interests lie mainly in mycology and dendrology, I was truly delighted to find this little book. It is simply the best way to get a conceptual understanding of the structure of grasses and the main genera in a way that will definitely aid your ability to identify them in the field using more traditional taxonomic keys. Normally, such keys lead you from the specific characters to the taxon/concept itself, but with this book, you learn the more powerful concepts that unify and differentiate the various genera. This was a tremendous aid to me in my field identification of this important group, because after reading this book several times, I basically knew what was going on, instead of just "cookbooking" it using the typical botanical key.

I have sort of an amusing story associated with this book. By the time I had memorized this book I could basically identify any grass at least to the genus level by sight, and then I could consult a more detailed taxonomic key from there for the species. I was once sitting around a fire with my fellow mycologists, who were somewhat amused I had somehow learned how to identify the grasses, which, even for a botanist, are an esoteric group. So when they asked what I was doing, I said that once you understood the grasses, even an apparently desolate, boring, sand lot down the block can provide hours of fun. Mycologists are used to spending hours tramping through the woods in search of interesting mushrooms, so they found this quite funny and everybody laughed at the thought.

Anway, Agnes Chase loved the grasses and this book is filled with that enthusiasm in this clear and concise book, helping to make one of the most difficult areas of plant identification easier to deal with.

If you're looking for a graduate textbook, Production & Operations Analysis by Nahmias is your essential text. I'm in a PhD program now, and I found Nahmias' book most helpful. But while I was in an MBA program, I used this POM book by Chase et al. I think the fact that it's on an eigth edition hurts it a little, since the services stuff (as opposed to manufacturing) looks like it's been thrown in as an afterthought, but at least it HAS services stuff, that's a good start - research is kinda hot in the area of services (such as my own research), so you can't expect the textbook to be complete in services topics until the research field matures.

It has an excellent discussion of supply-chain management, and is pretty comprehensive in all POM areas, at least in a qualitative way. The quantitative stuff is rather sporadic, which I think is a good thing - the undergrad/MBA student can learn POM issues without getting bogged down in quantitative details. If it is missing anything, it would be in revenue management (which has lately been incorporated into the supply chain) and risk analysis. Perhaps next edition...

I am an MBA student and I used this book as the textbook for the course "Operations Management". The book is very good and helpful, very well written too. It also contains a CD-Rom with PowerPoint presentations for each chapter and some multimedia too. It covers all the basic concepts for Operations Mgt. in Manufacturing and it also tries to apply all this concepts in the service industry. Although, I would really like to see more coverage of the following subjects in the next edition:

Supply Chain Management, ERP, CRM, EBusiness, etc.....

Really well-written book with great coverage ... including SAP, service operations, strategy, etc.

This is a part of our heritage as Americans. We all have some folklore that helps shape our lives and upbringings. It is the underlying history that does not get placed in the history books. We unfortunately do not teach this stuff in schools. America, being an extraordinary melting pot has a great diversity of tales to be told. This collection includes ballads, tall tales, fiddle tunes, childrens song and hymns. It is a quality overview of American folklore. It will set a yearning in your soul and make you wax nostalgic for lemon-ade and Tom Sawyer. This is a small chunk of what it means to be American.