You get what you pay for. This short book provides enough info so that one has a VERY basic understanding of Japanese grammar and sentence formulation. Some of the vocabulary is outdated and it could have been written with a more readable layout, but then again, you get what you pay for. Okay for the beginner, but certainly not as a standalone.

This book was my best tool for learning Japanese. I recommend getting the course with CDs or tapes if you can. This course will introduce you to most common words and phrases you will need, and you will need to apply yourself.
I lived in Japan for about 7 years on and off. Japanese is a tough language. I was not fluant, but I had no problem tavelling without an english enterpreter, and I constantly received complements on my accent.
I recomend the 'Essential Language' courses for any language.

While this guide boasts having a beefy number of pages, the information is what is lacking. Only the largest universities (i.e. University of ____ or ____ State) are properly defined in the performing arts areas. The majority of colleges out there are not the most popular but should be given this advantage anyway. Instead, a grand majority of this book's universities are shown as not even having fine arts programs when they actually have fantastic ones. I bought this book with the hopes of being able to narrow down my own college options and was appalled when I saw that it clearly does NOT own up to "700 programs are profiled--more than any other guide." So, when you're out searching for universities offering performing arts, just go to CollegeBoard. It's a much safer and cost-effective deal.

This is a good book for 2 reasons. It clearly profiles college music programs, and also recognizes that there is a lot to be learned at the high school and summer camp level. The irony is that some high scools and summer camps are actually better than some colleges.It is very easy to read.

Ladd's book is nice reading and it does serve to balance out Putnam's work "Bowling Alone." I attended an NCA conference where Putnam was a featured lunchtime speaker. I bought his book and was surprised that he chose to play so fast and loose with the numbers. What I felt was that Putnam uncovered some databases and started working on how all of it could be tied together, but many of his charts and graphs lack any semblance of continuity. The data are often not from the same time periods and the scales on many of the graphs totally lack a Y-axis descriptor. In some cases, the lines are deceptive in the graphs.

In any case, Ladd does a less flamboyant, but equally compelling, job at inspecting the state of American social repsonsibility in his report. This book lacks the same PR machine that Putnam appears to have behind his book (maybe Putnam's title and cover are flashier?), but I found it to be a more sobering read. Please, before you go citing Putnam in any of your own literature, buy and read this book first.

This book is a must for any waiting for Putnam's Bowling Alone. It is straightforward and honest--examining the data that does and does not support Ladd's theories. On the whole, it is a good source with excellent figures that leaves the reader with an optimistic outlook about our current situation as well as our future as a "nation of joiners"

Carol Everett's Scarlet Lady: Confessions of a Successful Abortinist convicted my wife and I that the abortion industry is the immoral and money hungry, multi million dollar monster that we always believed it to be. Mrs. Everett puts her own reputation on the line by showing what she did during her tenure as an abortionist. Yes, she calls herself this, even though she never picked up the knife or suction tube. She explains how low this profession can go by falsifying pregnacy reports, using pressure tactics like how much more money it will cost for an abortion the longer they wait, and even participates in the illegal transportation and the cover up of an abortion patient's death. She even brought her daughter into this life she led. Anyone interested in how the abortion industry lies and winds its way into everyones lives should consider this a must read!

Carol Everett can paint a vivid picture, and in The Scarlet Lady she paints an unflattering self-portrait. "Money, money, money. That's where my heart was," she often proclaims. The Scarlet Lady reveals how low she was willing to stoop to make a buck -- even to the point of complicity in a patient's death and the cover-up afterward. Carol's conversion to Christianity, and her exit from the abortion business, is movie-of-the-week material, and even the unbeliever will find her story riveting. An eye opener, and an excellent read.

Covers the origins of several Marvel classic characters and teams, including the X-Men, Iron Man, The Avengers, Daredevil, and Silver Surfer. Following the reprint of each origin is a reprint of a more recent story involving that character.

this volume brings us the first tales of some of the most popular comic heros today..Iron man ...the invincible golden avenger when he was grey......daredevil....who is enjoying incredible popularity even today due to the writing of kevin (dogma) smith...the strangest super heroes of them all the X-men, who are now the stars of a blockbuster summer movie (which was also pretty good by the way)...the mighty avengers...featuring the hulk, thor, ironman....i enjoyed tracing the origins of these

pop culture icons...and recommend the essential marvel line of books to anyone who would like a better look at these nostalgic tales.

My attention was returned to this book by Amazon's "Buried Treasure" link. I tend to treasure it as such and strongly recommend it remain buried. If you would enjoy succumbing to the rantings of a decrepid, self-bombed, relentless little thief, then this book may be for you.

Wild amazing mind of Harry Smith, poet, archivalist, anthropogist, shaman, revealed in sudden bursts of illuminating starfall. Read these interviews and dance with a firebreath world. Planets spin and we spin with them. Great.

Everett Grist supplies an excellent starting point for collectors interested in advertising playing cards. Playing cards appeal to collectors because of the artwork (on the backs and faces), the historical significance, the advertising, and of course the relative affordability and availability. This book covers primarily U.S. cards, by which Grist probably means U.S. card makers as there are at least a couple of non-U.S. advertisers represented. The card backs take center stage, with no supporting text or images of faces cards or unusual pips or suits, such as noted in Gene Hochman's Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards. The backs, however, are reproduced as full color plates. Cards are arranged alphabetically by advertising category (airlines, banks, food, hotels, etc.), then alphabetically by advertiser. The price guide should be used as a guide for pricing similar decks in mint condition in the original box with jokers and other inserts (calendars or bridge instructions) intact

This book is a sweeping synthesis of American politics up to the time is was written (around 1970). Ladd's framework divides American history into three more or less distinct periods, divided by the Civil War and the Depression. Each period has its own political agenda that grows out of the social situation, and the political parties develop around these changing agendas. I read the first part about the 'Rural Republic' and the second about 'crash industrialization', and they are both quite informative and well written. His analysis of the election of 1896 as the final victory of industrial society over agrarianism is perhaps the most daring interpretative assertion of the book (at least the parts I read), and it is an appealing point. However, he fails to mention that the election of 1900 had the same two candidates and essentially the same results, which creates some doubts with regards to how final this victory really was.

It is also possible to point out that he probably understates the autonomous powers of the parties and the political system to mold society and mass opinion. Furthermore, he shows little or no interest in groups not represented in or by the system, and his minimal discussion of culture and identity is mostly concerned with extremist movements. Against these objections it must be said that he presents a relatively simple and parsimonious model and is quite successful in explaining major developments. This is impressive and fairly rare in historical writing, and although this book is getting old, it is still a good introduction to the main trajectories of American political history.

I highly recommend this book for children. This book has great artwork. You can discover alot about the Anasazi by looking at the pictures. The pictures are in earth/clay tones. The story is very good too. It is very acurate. I have read many books about the Anasazi tribe and this is one of my favorites. It is for a third grade or above reading level.

Most of the contributors to this volume belong to the American Baptist Churches, USA (the former Northern Baptist Convention), but there are also contributions from National Baptists (African-American) and Southern/ex-Southern Baptists. The essays explore the classic Baptist tensions between an emphasis on liberty and the individual and the emphasis on gathered community (both as local congregations and associations) and responsibility to fellow Baptists, other Christians, and society. All of the diverse authors agree at least on this much: that the creative tension must not be relaxed. If/when the individualist/liberty pole is/has been overemphasized, Baptist identity has often been amorphous. On the other hand, if/when the corporate/gathered community pole has been overemphasized, the result has always been authoritarian tyranny and loss of the freedom that characterized Baptist life at its best. (The now-fundamentalist controlled Southern Baptist Convention, my former denomination, is the perfect example of the second problem.) The now-fundamentalist Southern Baptist Convention, because of its huge size, has almost defined "Baptist identity" for everyone in the U.S. by default. It has left non-fundamentalist Baptists (whether evangelical, centrist, or progressive/liberal in theological orientation) searching struggling for a sense of "who they are." All too often, the temptation has been to define themselves by reaction: We are not like the fundamentalists who currently lead the SBC. But it is not enough for individuals or groups to say what they are not. That's why there has been a rash of books like this one where non-fundamentalist Baptist have attempted to articulate a clear identity. The current work, as a collection, doesn't crystalize a single vision, but it does help define the pitfalls in overemphasizing certain classic polarities that, for authentic Baptist life, are better kept in creative tension.