This is one of the best TOEFL books available. The grammar section is so strong that you can build up your grammar skills very easily. Lots of explanations and lots of examples. Very, very, very good book.

What a wonderful concept for a story. This is a terrific book with a perfect ending. The characters are well developed and very human. I enjoyed this book very much.

It is unfortunate that the original printing of this novel was not tremendously successful, despite some excellent reviews (most notably in Business Week, of all places). The characters are original (especially Wilbur), the story is well crafted, beautifully written, and full of humor, and the ending is perfect.

No doubt someone (hopefully Covino himself) is penning a script for a film version.

When are you going to write another one, Mike?

The only downfall for this novel is perhaps it's timing. I think it is the victim of being "before it's time". Perhaps Mr. Covino is a Aquarius.

But I think it will be sooner than 50 years.

The Negative is the future of literature. And I pray that someday it is given that credit.

Dedication to the Oxford English Dictionary (aka: OED), Norman Lewis' Syntactics and Etymology, for example, as well as life-long devotion to Pythagorian Theory and Polynomials, provide undeniable essential foundations as a preparatory for the CBEST that not but one (1) or even ten (10) Study Guides can match... Lifetime devotion to diplomacy and communicative-logic skills remains foremost; not one study guide but the avid reading of many volumes of study guides that scholars recount and recommend to be critical foundations...

I really can't recommend this book, since there are so many errors in it. Test preparation guides should really be much more circumspect about printing errors.

I used the Clifftestprep book by Jerry Bobrow to prepare for the CBEST, which I took on June 8, 2002. I found the book to be very concise. The book reviews the things you'll need to know to take the test -- reading comprehension, math, and essay. The book gives good tips on test-taking techniques. Also, there are numerous mini-tests, and four complete (4-hour) sample tests included. I actually spent four hours one Saturday afternoon taking one of the sample tests, and it was great preparation for the real thing. As for the comment left by the previous reviewer about there being some errors and typos, I think I did find one or two typos out of 400 or 500 solid pages of text and examples, but these few minor typos were not a big deal at all, and in no way detracted from the valuable knowlege the book provided. I say, check it out.
--Mark V.
p.s. I get my results in two weeks. I hope I pass. I'm fairly confident that I did pass.