As soon as I flipped through the first couple of pages, I had to have it! This book really shows the love these great animals deserve. It's great seeing other spoiling their 'kids' like my husband and I do. If you love your pal/buddy/baby, you gotta get it!

This is one of those where actions speak louder than words with the many pictures in this book. It's great to know there are those who love their dogs as much as my husband and I do. This book will make you laugh - you gotta have it!

Joyce Spizer is the only writer who could possibly makes us feel outrage on behalf of a monster. How does she accomplish this? By showing us the failings in the justice system and the social supports and the schools that could have prevented the deaths of the 70 people of which Glen Rogers has killed, that we know about. Joyce's most shocking revelation is not that Glen may be the one who actually killed Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. This will most likely be a matter of fierce debate, as will her contention that Glen Rogers' depravity is partly due to his unfit parents, who have rendered all but one of their seven children forever damaged (they have 300 arrests between them.) Her insight into judicial errors of L.A. County and Florida makes you take seriously her argument that the law enforcement officials who failed to stop Glen Rogers before he killed his first victim are as much to blame for the ruined lives as Glen himself. Joyce sets out to do something revolutionary, and succeeds in sounding a "wake-up call" to all those who just wash their hands of troubled at-risk juveniles.

I haven't ever picked up a true crime book before. I really enjoyed this book. You can tell it was well researched! Some of the family interviews must have been very difficult. I learned a great deal about the mind of a serial killer, or at least this one in particular.Also, I learned a whole lot about trial law and porphyria (the disease Glenn has). It was very insightful.

My 3.5 yr old little boy loves this book. Mama Polar Bear is busy making a surprise for Polar Bear Claude but he wakes from him nap and thinks she doesn't love him anymore because she's too busy to give him a cuddle! Little does he know until the end that she is making him a surprise and that his Grandma Polar Bear is coming for a visit.

Adorable story - heartwarming illustrations.

My three year old daughter always asks me to read this to her. Are you a busy parent who doesn't always have time when your preschooler wants you to play with them? Then you will relate to Claude's mom as she tries to pull off a suprise party for Claude the polar bear. Mom tries to direct Claude to various activities as she attempts to get ready but time goes slowly for Claude who only wants to spend time with his mommy. Eventually Claude gets tired of waiting and when he decides that mom is so busy and she does not love him anymore he runs away to the garden. A happy ending occurs when Claudes grandmother shows up for the party and Claude sees what his mother has really been up to. Busy parents can relate to Claude's mom dilema of having things to do while wanting to spend time with their child while preschoolers can emphasize with Claudes impatience. The illustrations are so adorable and wait till you see what Claude's mom fixes to eat at the party, yum! A great story to enjoy with your child. I recommend it to all.

As the proud owner of two fat cats, I enjoyed this book. I thought my 20-lb cats were fat until I saw some of the critters featured here. If you are a cat person, you'll like this collection of incredibly fat and funny felines.

The book "Fat Cats" by J.C. Suares, is a great book for anyone that has a cat, loves cats, or has friends or family that appreciate this truly unique creature. This book isn't a story but more of a pictorial essay of cats that are, well FAT. They are some really cute pictures in the books of people who love cats that are "weight challenged". The most amazing picture is that of a cat that weighed 43 pounds!!! All the pictures in the book are black and white photos and this book makes a great gift. I leave the book on the coffee table and always have guests picking it up to look at these incredibly beatutiful cats!

This is a wonderful story about a pond of frogs who grow bored with their pond. Through an exciting and frightening event they learn to enjoy their pond once again. The story sends a message to children that being content with what you have is an important step to being happy.

This book is an absolute delight. Stories for young children by a master are so very rare. Gurumayi offers a charming story, which carries a deep lesson for children and parents alike - when you face your fears, they disolve, and joy is restored. An absolute joy.

The author deserves great praise for a very well written account on a subject often ignored by historians. The people of Sindh have been excellent traders for a few thousand years and the author has done well to describe the development of 2 Sindhi networks developed in the past couple hundred years.

I'd highly recommend this book (and not only because it covers the history of my ancestors).

sb

BY LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

The Global World of the Indian Merchant 1750-1947: Traders of sind from bukhara to panama

By Claude Markovits, Cambridge, Price not mentioned

This is a book many of us have been waiting for. Periodic pronouncements have been made about the resilience and prescience of the Asian trader operating within and against the writ of the colonial economy of the 19th and 20th centuries. Along with these, the long debate on the world economy has sustained a level of interest and enquiry about the dynamics of non-European commercial activity in widely dispersed areas of the globe. Serious gaps and doubts have, however, remained and we are often left wondering, "Whose world economy was it anyway?" Was Asian enterprise a tedious aggregate of small, but countless, transactions indulged in by the colonial state with its own calculations and compulsions.

On the other hand, the visibility and movement of Indian merchant groups in the emerging global economy since the 19th century have invested the Asian experience with a certain significance, which, in turn, warrants a closer examination of the process, its antecedents and its projections. Claude Markovits's study attempts precisely to do all this and more, with the result that we have a narrative that is rich in detail, sensitive to the play of historical configurations and supported by a theoretical framework that is balanced and not overly ambitious. He focuses on two communities - the Shikarpuris and the Sindworkis, and through them proceeds to weave a story of dispersal and circulation, rather than that of a unitary diaspora with overarching Indian connotations.

Markovits argues that south Asian merchant movements were essentially temporary migrations and that the settlements, when these did occur, were largely involuntary. Nor did these correspond to any unitary category of caste, territory or religion and were in every sense the outgrowths of regional compulsions and local realities. The experience of the two communities chosen by Markovits, the Shikarpuris and Sindworkis, illustrates the juxtaposition of local processes with that of the global economy, where the activities of merchant groups took on a fuller meaning.

Obviously, such an approach is admissible when dealing with the operation of a colonial economy and not that of a national one, and it is no coincidence that the study should stop at 1947. Within this framework of local and global history, Markovits teases out a fascinating story of the merchant networks of Sind region, that has suffered an overdose of orientalizing descriptions. He also traces their emergence in the context of 18th century transition politics and their expansion in the high noon of British imperialism and Russian centralization. There is also the story of their spatial advance from Bukhara to Panama. The relocation of the south Asian merchant networks in the world economy in the 18th century is a well-established fact, even if its implications are not so well drawn out. The 18th century, in particular, is seen to have constituted a turning point in the positioning of the Asian merchants who suffered major reverses and in the process facilitated the marginalization of Asia in the newly emerging world economy centred firmly in Europe. The process of relocation was not coeval with that of decline and dislocation, and according to Markovits, it was marked by sharp regional and sub-regional variations.

Additionally, the establishment and workings of the colonial economy reared a sub-stratum of commercial functions and operations that were deftly handled and taken over by enterprising indigenous groups. It is within this context that Markovits positions his communities. He argues that far from operating in a residual space left open by the colonial dispensation, these merchant networks adapted successfully to a trading world dominated by European capital through a complex process of collaboration and conflict. The Shikarpuri and Sindworki networks developed under very different circumstances. The surge in Indo-Central Asian trade from the 1840s enabled the Shikarpuris to rework an existing network of caravan commerce and credit transactions under the dispensation of the Uzbeg khanates of central Asia. Meanwhile, the Sindworkis regrouped under the British dispensation and took advantage of the extension of the colonial economy from Bombay into Sind to operate a trade of truly global proportions. The Shikarpuri network was forced out of its base in Sind by changes that followed in the wake of colonial subjugation and changing configurations of commercial exchange. They exploited their old connections with central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan to emerge as principal moneylenders and traders, especially in the khanate of Bukhara. The details of the network have been deduced from a mass of legal material that the Russian authorities felt compelled to share with the British government in the eventuality of any death-related succession dispute involving a British Indian subject. One of the most striking features of the network to emerge from this legal discourse is the working of Shikarpuri panchayats in most localities of central Asia. The Sindworkis, on the other hand, were very much part of the colonial economy and began as modest peddlers of native crafts to a European clientele. This venture expanded substantially to include, in subsequent years, a wide range of curios that found their way into the European markets. Their initiative and intrepidity were quite remarkable. Consider the trader who protested against Australian immigration restrictions and flashed his credentials as a trader of repute who bought and sold exotic goods besides carving the occasional tortoise shell or setting a piece in jade. Curios became doubly important as the tourist traffic caught the fancy of European visitors, enabling a massive expansion of Sindhi enterprise on both sides of the Suez that soon turned to trade in textiles and financial speculation.

In all, this is a fascinating story of commercial dynamism. What makes the story even more fascinating is the exploration of the proclivity to spatial and social mobility among the networks. Caste did not play a central role in forging solidarities. The affinity seemed very much to lie with the region and with the ability to travel extensively and, in the process, ensure a circulation of skills and entrepreneurial labour.

Circulation however, remained confined to males, very rarely did wives accompany their partners. The absence of female company did not, however, deflect the passion for riches as merchants alternated between celibacy and permissiveness to balance the sexual economy of circulation.

Arthus-Bertrand displays the most amazing photographs of breeding quality livestock that I have ever seen. Anyone who appreciates animal husbandry, agronomy, or farm animals in general will love this book. The photographs of bulls are exceptional!

This is the only photography book I've ever purchased, simply because I couldn't put it down in the bookstore. Since buying the book, I've passed it around to several friends -- some who are familiar with livestock -- and some who are not. Makes no difference. It's impossible to look at this book without going through the whole thing, page by beautiful page. The animals look strangely like their owners (or is it the other way around?). Each portrait is stark and simple, drawing your eye to the relationship between animal and handler. Buy this book. You won't regret it. Outstanding gift!

Claude Dubois' inviting drawings lend to an appreciation of this very simple story of parental endearments, which embarrass a daughter when friends tease. She loves her parents and wonder if everyone has an affectionate nickname in this gentle picturebook story of a mouse and friends.

Lola is having a great first day of school until Lulu asks if she has a nickname at home. When Lola replies that her parents call her baby-cake, sweetie pie or fairy princess, Lulu and the other children can't stop laughing. But Lola soon learns that everyone from the police officer to the baker has a silly nickname. When Lulu makes a surprising confession, Lola learns an important lesson about sharing. Hello, Sweetie Pie is a delightful and entertaining tale of little hamsters is so well written by Carl Norac and illustrated by Claude Dubos that young readers will be able to instantly identify with these charming characters and easily absorb their life lessons.

Creo que este libro es una obra imprescindible para todo aquel al que le interesa la historia de la rusia sovietica durante el periodo de Stalin porque te da una vision extremadamente clara y precisa de la situacion durante la colectivizacion del campo, durante las purgas y de la paranoia que se extendio entre la sociedad rusa por culpa de Stalin. Pero sin duda lo mas importante es que refleja el "desconocimiento" de la sociedad rusa sobre la situacion real de rusia durante ese periodo a causa de la falsa propaganda stalinista, en verdad se establece una situacion de "doblepensar"(segun G.Orwell). En definitiva creo que sin duda alguna es una obra imprescindible para enteder ese periodo de la historia. es excelente.

This is a book I read 20 years ago. It is a follow up book to his first: I Choose Freedom. The story revolves around Victor's attempt to challenge the French Communist party's attempt to slander his first book. He took them to court and he WON! but it was to entail a long an arduous legal battle where the monetary reward was small but the reward for the human spirit was immeasureable.

Images: The Piano Music Of Claude Debussy Paul Roberts (professor of piano, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London) is a meaningful, superbly presented, in-depth analysis of the French piano music of artist and visionary Claude Debussy. Chapters focus in depth upon Debussy's individual songs and go into minute, deconstructive and comparative analysis, observing common threads in Debussy's work and that of other masters such as Chopin. A scholarly book deftly written at the college-graduate level, Images is highly recommended as the perfect companion book for a true connoisseur of Debussy's music. Two music CD's of Debussy's work, performed by Images author Paul Roberts, are intended as companions to Images but are sold separately.

I would be able to write a more erudite review of this book if I had my copy beside me, citing examples of wonderful writing, interesting anecdotes and illuminating images. Unfortunately, I loaned it to my piano teacher, and she won't give it back! She has fallen in love with it. I think I may have to give her a copy as a gift if I ever want to see my copy again. Paul Roberts was here in Portland last June for the first Piano Festival Northwest. He gave a lecture, a master class and a piano recital. His abilities in all three areas are distilled into this book. He has studied Debussy and the cultural "stew" of Paris during Debussy's life. He has studied Debussy's piano works and performs them sensitively. And finally he can explain all of this in a most entertaining manner, in person and in his writing. The book is not easy to read in a summertime-beachy way, but it is certainly not academic or pedantic. It is lively but thorough, engaging and thought provoking. It also contains many examples and musical excerpts which can be studied with a view toward performance of the pieces. As an amatuer pianist, I can appreciate these sections without being able to perform the works, and my teacher takes the examples as points of departure or new interpretive ideas for works which she has performed in the past, but can now see in new ways. Of course, if you've never heard of Debussy, I suppose you might have no use for this book. Otherwise, buy it. (I have no connection, family or business, with Paul Roberts.)