I am a first time mother of a two-year old and found myself able to relate to this book. It has answered many of my questions concerning a number of topics, such as tandrums, sleeping problems, discipline and so much more. I would recommend this book to any parent who has a child entering the "terrible-twos." Unlike many parenting books, this book divides the second year into three different month groups, which allows you to see the progress your child will make throughout the whole year. I feel as if the book has given me hope for the coming year, that I still might be able to keep my sanity, as well as manage my overactive little girl.

Stone Desert was very realistic. It was hard to follow at first because every (hike) or adventure had a lot of little interesting facts. I would get lost, like the Craig did while he was exploring and hiking in the canyons of the Stone Desert. I could almost feel the cold rocks and how it would feel to find water when there was so little to find. I liked that he found pottery, paintings and left them undisturbed for other people to enjoy. He had a pride that came through to me in the book that I hope other people can enjoy and be proud of. This pride will keep special items and treasures around for other people to see and enjoy. Danny

Art Wolfe is a very good photographer, but I have to agree with the person who wrote the first review and say that this book was a bit of a disappointment. Wolfe didn't seem to spend a whole lot of time in Colorado, as most of the photos were taken from only a handful of locations. Also, about half of the photos were taken by Wolfe's assistant. That being said, there are definitely some nice photos, especially if you are looking for photos of Colorado wildlife.

I bought this book because I am in the process of photographing a Colorado photography book myself, and I wanted to see what else was out there. Although there are about 10 very impressive "close-up" photos in this book, the rest of the images, especially the landscapes, are fairly marginal. In addition, most of the images were taken from just 4 or 5 locations throughout the state. So it doesn't really give a thorough representation of the variety of scenery in Colorado. I do believe that Art Wolfe is one of the nation's best nature photographers, but I think he puts out a few too many books, thereby sacrificing quality. I would recommend this book over any of John Fielder's books, but David Muench's Colorado II is still the best Colorado photography book I have seen.

I picked up this book when I was going out to see and hike the Grand Canyon. The book is much more interesting in context, i.e. you've seen and undertand the scale and the environment of the Grand Canyon. The book has a series of short vignettes, arranged roughly chronologically, about explorers, miners and assorted neer do wells that really gave life and reality to my experience hiking and exploring the Canyon. Each of the stories is concisely written and illustrated with period photos in B&W.

The author claims that "Matt," the central figure in this story is a composite of more than one client. If so, how much truth is in the account of this allegedly feral child who runs naked and wild through his home, defecates at will in the basement, screeches at people and throws feces at visitors? Matt's mother is illiterate and often confuses words, e.g. she calls a "diagram" a "diaphragm" and the author "Keggie" instead of Ms. Craig.

Matt has a kitestring of diagnoses, all of which the author appears to tax on his overwhelmed mother and stern father. Later in the story, it comes out the man is really Matt's stepfather and Matt's mother had other children who were taken into custody.

If a "Matt" ever existed, how much of this account is factual? As the other reviewer noted, mental illness have a biochemical/neurological base. Abuse and neglect compound any problems, but these twin evils don't necessarily cause neurological impairment....

...but as has been stated here, how much of it is true is unknown. That does take away from the effectiveness of the story, but it is still an interesting look into the work of social work and "the system" used (or not used) when dealing with difficult children and their families.

The character of Nellie will effectively enrage you with her inept manner of "parenting", which serves to further illustrate one of the points of this book, which is that the system and its individual workers can only do so much.

Eleanor Craig, as the author of this work, seems to be trying to take on the niche carved out by Torey Hayden in the portrayal of disturbed children, although Ms. Hayden's works have never had the "composite of many cases" disclaimer attached, adding to the real-life drama of her work.

From other reviews I have read, this is definitely not one of Ms. Craig's better works (I picked it up at a second-hand shop) but her others are more read-worthy. I look forward to checking them out even if just for comparison's sake.

I loved this book. Ms. Craig is a dedicated and caring human being who does not give up. Nellie, Matt's mother,who was in extremely difficult straits, had the courage to begin to trust another person, in order to help her son.

I didn't agree with a lot of the suggested solutions to the techniques or examples she has listed about that specific technique mentioned in the book. For example, for technique #12 Shock Value, the author wrote "If your daughter won't stop telling little lies, tell one of your own and let her see what it feels like" I felt the book was also not very well written. For example, for each "Seeing it In Action" she seemed to focus on 4,8,9, and 12 yrs. olds. For each technique, she tells you why it works, gives a deeper message about that technique & seeing it in action which gave examples about what to do about that specific technique.