If you are interested in aesthetics, this is an essential. I am doing research on the German Enlightenment, and only Croce offers a detailed discourse on thinkers whose importance only matches their obscurity. The first half of this book presents Croce's own aesthetic theory: an atheistic theory with a Hegelian twist (he wrote what is living and what is dead of Hegel) that is spiritual without being religious. The second half of the book is the real gem. This is a detailed history of aesthetics, in all its obscurantist glory! Do not deny yourself a book that is both an illuminating introduction to aesthetics via its history, a penetrating theory of aesthetics, and a great reference book for an aesthetician. The man who coined the term aesthetics, Alexander Baumgarten, is developed in this book ... one of the few books that goes beyond mentioning his name and importance.

This is an excellent, easily usable guide that helped my six-year-old Jackson and I collect all 100 shards and get to the end of the game...

Except that it's NOT the end of the game. There's one more level -- the Dark Star -- that isn't even mentioned in this guide! And since it's not mentioned, we were left on our own in defeating the final boss, O2 and officially beating the game.

Which we did, of course.

WOW! if you have Kirby 64 (like me!) you MUST order this! It will help you finish the game in no time!That's why I ordered it....

Kirby 64 : The Crystal Shards is a very complicated game that is truly a bit hard to master. But with another book in a series of Prima strategy guides will help you. This strategy guide is complete up to date and has everything from how to get all the shards and how to master Kirby's moves. It will teach how to successfully block, swallow, and destroy all the enemies the gamer will face.

Prima's guide will fully explain each of the 6 levels and the final boss level. Colorful pictures show where each and every single shard is. It even comes with a list of enemies an friends. Easily understandible and never a bore to read.

The guide also explains each of Kirby's 30+ moves and tells you how to master them, use them, and vary them. This guide is definetly useful for anyone stuck on a level or boss or planet. With 6 planets and at least 3 levels on each plus a boss battle, most gamers will get stuck, but its time to get unstuck! Kirby 64 : The Crystal Shards : Prima Official Strategy Guide is a gamer's must have!

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I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in signing with their baby. It gives you a good start in signing. The book does not show the entire ASL vocabulary, but it is a start. The author encourages you to make up signs that are easy for your baby to learn or just watch your baby make up signs of his/her own. The video is necessary only if you need a visual in learning the signs, otherwise, the book tells you everything you need to know to begin signing with your baby. Just be warned that this is a very long process and you must be patient. I began signing with my baby at 7 1/2 months and she did not sign until 10 1/2 months and she wasn't consistent until she turned 1 year old. Now she signs without a problem and I am able to understand what she wants now. I highly recommend this kit, it is a great resource for any parent.

Well, I tried Baby Signs and found it to be full of talk about using Baby Signs and short on instruction on when, where, how and why to use Baby Signs. Making signs up was very frustrating - I'm not a creative-type person. I want a system that's proven and works. Then I found Joseph Garcia's book here at Amazon.com. Garcia's book is excellent!

Garcia's book is clearly written. It tells you exactly why, when, where and how to use American Sign Language with your baby. Garcia also reviews several studies reporting the benefits of sign language for hearing children. The instructions on how to teach the signs and how to make the signs are quite detailed and specific, so you'll know exactly what to do. (But not so detailed that you're lost!) Garcia also discusses how children sign differently than adults and how their signs may change as their signing ability improves. This is useful in "detecting" a child's first attempts to use a sign. If you're not watching carefully, you'll miss them!

The video is enjoyable and well-done - it's broken up into short, easy segments. It adds another dimension - you see many examples of children signing so you'll know what to expect from your child. More tips are given for teaching signs, including specific recommendations for additional signs to teach later. Garcia performs all the signs at the end of the video as a reference library of sorts. Seeing the signs in action was very helpful. Illustrations of signs can only show so much. The signs are timed so you can forward to the exact point where a sign is for easy review. It's also a neat way to show the signs to your child.

Lastly, the quick reference guide is very handy. It's much quicker than fumbling through the reference section at the end of the book. The guide is laminated, so baby won't tear it up easily. There's also a place to mark which signs you have shown baby and which signs baby can perform. It's useful for showing relatives or babysitters what baby is "saying" to them. You might want to get a spare guide just in case.

In summary, I've found the book, video & laminated reference guide to be very useful and helpful. I highly recommend them all!

I'm an American Sign Language Interpreter, and I have a number of Deaf friends who have both Deaf and hearing children; the children without exception were signing with their parents (and with me!) by the age of nine months, and some earlier. I knew if I ever had a child I would sign to him or her, and confer this advantage. I never really thought of trying to sell hearing parents of hearing children on this idea, though, because learning ASL is a major undertaking.

However, I found the contents of this video to be very respectful of the language ASL, while admitting that signs, and not Sign Language, is being taught.

That being said, what is taught here is a very good foundation for learning ASL later. Unlike a lot of "sign language" introductory books, this doesn't focus solely of the semantics of handshapes, but on the idea of whole body language, and the importance of observation in communication. For example, people using this video will pick up facial expressions, and learn to maintain eye-to-eye contact, rather than eye-to-hand.

Also, creativity is stressed over memorizing handshapes, so that the signs are more meaningful for the child. This is very appropriate in that Deaf children of Deaf parents use a lot of "home signs," which are signs unique to that child's or family's usage, are used when a child is very young, and are easier to produce or in some way more meaningful for the child than the "real" sign. Home signs are discarded when a child starts school. At any rate, this is an excellent way for children to begin to be creative and expressive in the way they communicate many YEARS before they will be able to do so with spoken language.

The text is readable-- something a person with a baby can pick up and put down-- you don't need hours of uninterrupted concentration. The video and the reference are child-friendly, so that older children won't be left out.

As long as this remains child centered and communication centered, and doesn't become about rote memorization of signs, this will be a wonderful thing, an odyssey for parents and their babies-- and so much fun! I remember beginning sign language; it is such a joy. I discovered things my body communicated without my realizing it, and I also discovered that I could be much more observant by paying attention to just a few simple things.

Have fun-- so much awaits you!

I've read almost all of Ken Follett's books and would rate this as his second best, behind Pillars of the Earth, and right up there with Eye of the Needle. It has the usual stock elements found in any thriller: an admirable hero, a despicable villain, a vulnerable but brave young girl, but infuses them with real humanity and builds to a crackling and suspenseful climax. As in other Follett books, he makes the conflict many-layered: The hero (Major Van Damme) wants to apprehend the villain (Alex Wolf) not only because it can have an effect on the progress of the second World War in Egypt, but because they have a past together, and because the girl he is falling in love with has been used as "bait" for Wolf. Shades of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious.

What I like about Follett's best work is that it really delivers the suspense and resolves the story in an incredibly satisfying way. Like many spy novels, there are contrived situations, but he "gets you to turn over the next page" (Ian Fleming's goal as author of the James Bond books) so eagerly that you just want to see how it ends. His female characters are far from cardboard as well: both of them are fully realized. And, best of all, he makes everyone vulnerable; he knows that we can identify with characters that have strengths and weaknesses, instead of the usual cast of robots exchanging gunfire from speeding cars.

So far I haven't read a Ken Follett book that I haven't enjoyed. I love the way the author combines historical events with powerful characters. Enjoy!

This is the first novel I have read by Ken Follett and I am about to start Eye of the Needle. This book was fast-paced, exciting and well written. It had everything you need. A good story, action, adventure, style, and beautiful woman. Please read this book.