What an amazing source of information!! It is a definate must have for new parents. This detailed, yet easy to understand book offers specific chapters by age including newborns. It give prevenative information on health & safety including tooth care, controlling stress and travelng abroad. Of course first aid and diseases and disorders are the bulk of the book. It is well written easy to use and include helpful illustrations and photos. Every household should have one, but certainly families with children, of any age should have this book to refer to.

The Mayo Clinic Family Health Book is like having six resource books in one. Information from Mayo is reliable, easy-to-understand and reviewed by some of the most respected physicians in the world.

Part I: Living Well
Part II: Common Conditions and Concerns Through Life's Stages
Part III: Making Sense of Your Symptoms
Part IV: First Aid and Emergency Care
Visual Guide: Anatomy and Common Disorders (color photos and illustrations)
Part V: Diseases and Disorders
Part VI: Tests and Treatments
Glossary and Resources
Index

Each disease mentioned contains information about key signs and symptoms, a basic description of the disease, illustrations, how the disease is diagnosed, potential consequences, information on treatment, and information on prevention.

The comprehensive index in the third edition is easy to use. For example, information on "scoliosis" can be found on pages 235, 603, 774, 980, and 981. (Page 980 features an illustration.)

There is also a complete listing of resources for more information including addresses, phone numbers and Web sites. I particularly like the section on symptoms. You can just look up a symptom such as "back pain" and learn more about conditions that cause back pain. The book then directs you to the page containing detailed information about that condition.

I'm looking forward to what I hope will be the interactive DVD version of the Mayo Clinic Family Health Book in the future.

Having been to Mayo Rochester, I was thrilled to get this book. It is MASSIVE. There is so much good info in here it's hard to know where to start. There are detailed illustrations of all of the body's systems, pictures of various skin disorders, instructions on how to deal with all types of illnesses and symptoms, info on healthy eating and diet, and info on various drugs used to treat a myriad of ailments. This book should be in EVERY home.

Dr. Komp deals head on with the issue of innocent suffering. This is where "the rubber hits the road," in belief in God. Why does a just God allow innocent people, especially children to suffer? Of course, there is no answer to this question. Dr. Komp shows us that she has on occasion seen the face of God through children who are dying of cancer. Dr. Komp has weaved her personal experiences with the biblical book of Job. The result is a holy tapestry which helps us to feel the presence of the divine.

This volume along with it's companion "Emmanuelle" also published by Taschen present the great works by comics/illustration master Guido Crepax. The black and white linework is beautifully reproduced on glossy paper and is sure to satisfy fans of Crepax. These are a very nice improvement over the paperback editions published by NBM.

Tempted by super-vamipres, when I got around to running an Elysium game it was a total disaster. I would suggest this book only to those serious roleplayers who can create monstrously powerful characters and not get into a single barfight with them. You really need to know your stuff to make this one work!

Elysium describes the society of Elder Kindred, with all their philosophy, their intrigues, their squabbles and their struggles for power. It contains new backgrounds, merits&flaws and Gehenna cults. It is well written and provides details about daily life in a Camarilla city (though everything happens behind closed doors). The book claims that every Elder behaves like that, what I guess can't be true. Like in mortal society most people don't want the trouble a leadership brings. And after centuries of "Salon"-affairs Elders could get bored by kindred politics as well. Unlike Sigmund Freud mentioned, not every son wants to kill his father, likewise not every childe wants the final death of her sire. Apart from that, Elysium offers many good facts about vampire high society.

But again, there is absolutely no conjunction between age and generation! On the first pages Elysium even claims that older vampires have a younger appearance, what sounds completely nonsense.

Ever wanted to play a Vampires campaign at a "slightly higher" level of power? Or are you just a power gamer? Either way, you'll love this book. It's got rule for creating Vampire characters that are hundreds of years old, and that have all the power that conveys (and all of the problems too. There's nothing like having your arch-enemy be in control of military forces equal to a small country. Oh well, such is the price of power). It's also very useful for GM's creating mentors, Princes, sires, or anyone else that's just damn powerful

I am at a complete loss as to how anyone could have liked this book. ....

The author goes through great lengths to set up these characters and their lives (hundreds of pages of overly descriptive prose about asian finance, artifical ensemination and retirement homes), and all for absolutely no reason. Almost none of it had any bearing what-so-ever on the story or ultimately on the fate of the characters. ....

Out of the all of the many books I've read in recent years this is probably the only one that ever left me extremely angry at the author, because I enjoyed about two-thirds of the book only to feel like I was deliberately kicked in the teeth in the final third.
Now what bothered me wasn't the fact that it didn't have a cookie-cutter "they live happily ever after" type of ending, I've enjoyed and recommended other books which had dark, even grisly endings. But at least when authors like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Lawrence Block are explicit they do so with a purpose that serves their story, and they know where to draw the line.
But "Afterburn" is needlessly cruel and openly sadistic, putting it's main characters through unbelievably graphic physical torture, which Harrison describes in excruciating detail. In the end I couldn't find any purpose it had served, other than what seemed to be an inexplicable attempt by the author to punish his readers.
When I finished this book I felt sucker-punched, with all the stomach-churning sadism I had endured reading it I found the end held no real surprises, no ironies, no last minute saves, no poetic justice, or any thing else of substance to justify what Harrison puts you through. This was the first and will be the last book I'll ever read by this author, I hope to never stumble upon another like him.

I've read two of Harrison's previous novels, and I consider him to be probably the most gifted writer currently churning out thrillers. His stories are far from cookie-cutter, and his novels tend more toward thoughtful meditations of moral issues than by-the-numbers romps that proceed and conclude predictably. "Afterburn" is no exception, and yet I could not help but find it the most disappointing of the Harrison outings I've read. It is not the graphic sex, which seems to be part of the package for Harrison, and always seems to serve some more compacted function than the titillation of the reader. Nor is it the graphic violence, a new addition to Harrison's arsenal, which, again, seemed as much meditative as it did gratuitous. The problem for me was that the many narratives did not mesh as well as I wanted them too, his characters at time devolved into the cartoonish, which I have never seen happen in his writing before, and in the end I just stopped caring what would come next - again, something new.

Harrison is an absolutely gifted writer, and the book is worth reading if for no reason than to enjoy his sparkling prose, but "Afterburn" lacks the precise control that made his previous works such stand-outs. If you are considering reading this novel, I strongly urge you to first find a used copy of the (sadly) out of print "Bodies Electric," which will provide a much better of example of what is worth celebrating about this man's writing.

this film suffers from bad writing& trying to showcase non-big screen acting David Caruso.he should have stayed on Blue.Nicolas Cage is okay.but only Samuel L.Jackson keeps your attention.this film goes nowhere fast.despite having names there's no Chemistry.

All right, so he's not the most convincing goon. It's still amusing to see him in this role. I'd say these nay-sayers need to lighten up. As a poor country boy unfamiliar with the urban crime cliches and plot twists, I can honestly say I enjoyed this movie. No, it's no masterpiece, but it is entertaining enough to be worth seeing, even buying at such a reasonable price. Caruso and (as they all admit) a fine supporting cast do very well with a now conventional plot that is at least not as droll as they say. This is probably the first time I've rated something higher than others. Strange.

When David Caruso made headlines by leaving the hit TV show "NYPD Blue," the question people were asking was "Is he making a mistake?" Looking back on his career the past few years, we have to say that he did. But you couldn't tell that from his performance in "Kiss of Death." He's actually quite good.

Caruso plays Jimmy Kilmartin, a reformed car thief with a wife and baby who is desperately trying to go straight. Before he does, though, he reluctantly agrees to help his worthless cousin Ronny (Michael Rapaport) on one last run. If he doesn't, then Little Junior (Nicholas Cage), a sadistic killer, will bury Ronny. Naturally, things go bad. A cop gets shot and Jimmy ends up taking the fall by himself.

True to his personal code of honor, Jimmy won't rat out the others no matter how hard the sleazy DA (Stanley Tucci) pushes him. Then Ronny starts to move in on Jimmy's wife (Helen Hunt) and things really go wrong. Jimmy agrees to make a deal and cunningly manipulates events so that Little Junior takes Ronny down.

Three years later, Jimmy finally gets out of prison. The DA's not about to let things drop, however. He wants Little Junior bad and he'll do what it take to get him, even if that means using Jimmy and his family.

The plot of "Kiss of Death" is loosely based on the 1947 original-a class film noir-which featured Victor Mature, and Richard Widmark in his star?making role. (Remember his maniacal giggle as he pushed the old lady down the stairs?)

The story's been updated and it is grittier, realer and even more gripping. Novelist Richard Price ("Clockers") wrote the screenplay and he is one of the very best writers working in movies today. He has a true affinity for the seedy side of life and the characters and situations that populate his films are always enthralling to watch.

The direction by Barbet Schroeder ("Reversal of Fortune") is tense, well?paced and energetic. The acting is very good, especially by Caruso and Cage. Caruso is a very subtle and contained actor, much like Robert Mitchum, a veteran of many films noir. Also like Mitchum, Caruso seems like a powder keg about to go off. He projects seething fire and intensity without overplaying his hand.

Cage is mostly known for his dimwitted nice guy, hero roles, but he shows here that he has some real chops, creating a maniacal thug with a hair?trigger temper. With his pumped?up body and goatee, he has a hard look that goes great with his intense persona. It would have been very easy to go over?the?top with this part, but Cage never does. This is a very good performance.

The ending is the weakest part of the movie. It seems that the filmmakers ran out of gas and had to settle for less than the picture deserves. This is not a great crime film like "Goodfellas" or "Pulp Fiction," but it still makes for an enjoyable viewing.