This book is Terrific! It gets right to the point and doesn't waste time or words. It makes learning fun & easy. If you have never written a web page or are just beginning HTML, this book is JUST RIGHT for you.

Now I can't wait to get all of Ruth Maran's other books. School was never this fun. Thanks, Ruth for creating a book series that REALLY DOES THE JOB! A+++

This book not only tells you how to design web pages, it SHOWS you, and with excellent color pictures as well. The instructions accompanied by the illustrations are very easy to follow. An excellent book for those who are new to web page design.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn HTML... especially beginners. It's completely visual (GREAT for a visual learner like myself)... and in COLOR! Each description is well organized, and it's a very simple book to navigate around. They show the actual computer screen to explain what you will be doing. It makes it so easy! It covers everything from basic HTML tags, changing the appearance of your website and publishing a webpage. I would have loved to have this book a few years ago when I first started working with HTML! If you want to get into programming but have no experience, try HTML -- you might like it! :) This was the first book I bought in this "Teach Yourself Visually" series, but after reading and using this book all the time, I plan on buying one for ALL the different computer related topics. This book definitely deserves an A+.

I received a copy of this book back in the early 1990s and have gone back to read it on several occasions. The book is massive consisting of over 730 pages in a large 12 x 10 format. It contains hundreds of illustrations including several color plates and some really amazing paintings of various types of ants and hive culture.

The information is exhaustive ranging from the extremely technical to the conversational. Parts of the book will be mainly of interest to the hardcore entomologist but the majority of the book is easily understood by the layman, well maybe not always easily but it's not too difficult and it's worth the effort.

I can't imagine a better or more complete text on the subject of ants. Anyone with any real interest in the subject should not be without this book.

This is an excellent book. If you love ants, or you are starting to study them, or simply like to read excellent science books, this one's for you. It is very well written, and, although it is technical in many aspects, it is a delight to read it. It is full of pictures, diagrams and graphs of almost any aspect you can imagine. Almost any subject that the book addresses is explained at length in a clear and understandable way. However, there are some parts of it where you need some background in biology and mathematics to understand the book.

Both Holldobler and Wilson, who have a strong background in ant studies, have outdone themselves. In this book you can learn about virtually any aspects concerning ants, from their anatomy to their classification and more. And besides this, the book also teaches a lot of things not only related to ants but more general, like evolution and kin selection (applied not only to ants but also to eusocial insects). Learning so much about the ants makes you change your viewpoint about this little animal and makes you think about how incredible nature (or God) is to create such beautiful, incredible animals.

Of course this is a great book. But it's also very big...and very technical. I know more about insects than the normal person and I was lost after the first couple pages. If you want a neat ant book read Journey to the Ants. It's more down to earth and easier to read and written by the same people. I wouldn't try to tackle this until you got a few entomology courses under your belt....

Without doubt the most important book I've read.

Madame Guyon has reached depths in Christ which we cannot understand without having gone there ourselves. This book will inspire all to go deeper in there walk, no matter where they find themselves.

A must read for every Christian. Truly a classic. Most important piece of literature from any century. I will reread many times.

I first read Jeanne's autobiography about 2 years ago. I've never read any book other then the Bible itself that had such an effect on my understanding of each days circumstances and how God brings many pleasant as well as unpleasant people and events into our lives for the purpose of making us like His Son, Jesus. Jeanne, through God's Spirit, helped give me a new revelation on Romans 8:28, Proverbs 3:5,6 and Psalms 37:23, all speaking of Providence. God is at work in my life setting me apart for His purpose and making me Holy. I thank Him for this book. Madame Guyon could relate to the Apostle Paul when he says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distreses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." If you truly want to be God's and His only, you must read your Bible and this book will help bring you to agree, "Christ in us" can be a reality.

I read and reread this book. For those who follow Fr.Keating's books on seeking God within, this is an excellent companion. They seemed to be saying the same things! That God lives in your heart and through comtemplation He will draw you to himself. Guyon does not come out with a specific prayer methodology like Keating but she speaks the same things, prayer of silence, letting go of the false self, abandonment to God. Strange chpt 2 is kind of asterixed, I considered it extremely foundational.

This is a classic and I say get Keatings books as you get this and you have a solid intro to the Christian spiritual journey.

Ps: this is not journey of bliss and Guyon tells about the travail you will go through until you reach the inner abode where God resides and where your true self can be found...

It is a very detailed, helpful and inspiring vegetable gardening book. I go through the book almost every week. Nice pictures and writing style. I hope Mr. Ed Smith will write more books on vegetable gardening!

I absolutely love this book. The gardening system is sound and organic, and it is presented in clear, simple language in a lovely, easy-to-grasp design. So often gardening books are long on written advice but short on visuals. Or they are ONLY visuals, with the text nothing more than captions. This book has it all.

The title says it all. This is my vegetable bible. Being a novice, I was looking for something as simple and informative as a "Dummies" book but without insulting my intelligence. Not only is all the information you need to start or continue a garden, the pictures fill in details that as a first time grower I might not quite understand in words. His explanations are simple, concise and extremely informative. Most of all, it's filled with little hints throughout the book so that you may have a successful garden. It was the best purchase I had made on a gardening book so far. Thank you Ed! Happy growing!

This is the first book I've read in E.F. Benson's "Lucia" series, and it is fun-filled ride indeed. For Benson novices, Lucia Lucas is a middle aged, recently widowed (in this novel), perfectly nice upper middle class woman who just happens to have the mind of Machavelli. Missing her obvious calling for World Domination, she is instead content to rule the social life of her small English village with an iron fist. As "Mapp and Lucia" begins however, Lucia has long since deposed any serious threat to her social dominance in her immediate vicinity, and decides fresher pastures are in order. She packs up her things (including , of course, best friend and right-hand-man Georgie) and moves to Tilling, where she expects she will be made society Queen in no time flat. Unfortunately for Lucia, Tilling already has a Queen, one Elizabeth Mapp, and she has no intention of relinquishing her crown.

The scene is thus set for a true Battle Royal, only in Tilling the battelfields are luncheons and dinner parties, and the weapons fruit gardens and lobster recipes. The results are very very funny, as the genteel of Tilling spend a breathless year thoroughly enjoying each swipe, snub and put down. The hilarious climax has our heroines floating out to sea on an overturned kitchen table, with Lucia's last audible words promising delicious gossip just as soon as she gets out of her current mess.

Benson draws his characters exquisitely well, I found myself flat out liking her. She is an Englishwomen of the 1930's, past her prime but still youthful, who just happens to be blessed (cursed?) with the personality of an Alpha Male. The resulting battle of wits with the formidable Mapp is fascinating; Mapp is clearly not her intellectual equal but through a mixture of deviousness and and cunning manages to pull the carpet from underneath Lucia's carefully laid plans time and again. The supporting characters are equally well written, with best friend Georgie and Mapp's crony Diva especially amusing.

All in all, a funny, entertaining and biting satire that is well worth reading whether you are already a Lucia fan or are picking up a Benson novel for the first time. Highly recommended!

This popular tale is a delight even 70 years later. The reader gets to know very well the primary characters in this social comedy. Benson does a superb job of describing the genteel battles between the two ladies in Tilling,concerning Lucia's much coveted lobster recipe, and invitations to dine. The men are, of course, secondary to the plot.They hover around the ladies like courtiers. I think that Georgie, Lucia's devoted and platonic friend, is my favorite character-perhaps the most genuinely nice person in the book. I sometimes even feel sorry for Miss Mapp when Lucia takes over social affairs so thoroughly! I wonder what would happen if Lucia and Miss Mapp were both interested in Major Benjy!

I cannot say enough about this adaptation. Prunella Scales produces the voices excellently. For those who do not know Lucia and Mapp - They are Elizabeth mapp and Emmeline Lucas - two ladies whom both consider themselves social queens of the village of Tilling. The ensuing war includes Fete's garden parties dinner parties and climaxes with the crafty Miss mapp attempting to steal the recipe for Lobster ala Reisholme and being caught by Lucia, they are then caught in a flood and whisked out to sea on a kitchen table - it's hilarious when listened to. The conflicts between these two are scarier than Snipes and Stallone in full flow.

this book should be your marketing and PR bible! There are 678 pages in this book and every one is packed full of invaluable information. If you're looking for a book on attracting clients to your small or home-based business, this is the ONLY one to buy!

I read this book cover to cover in about three days. I have used the knowledge I've gained to grow my own business. I also share the information with my accounting and consulting clients to help them grow their businesses. The book is very readable and the methods are definitely "real world". One of the many useful topics is finding a marketing strategy that works for you. Many people find cold calling an excruciating way to get new business. This book provides a wide range of marketing activities that are much less painful and more effective. If you want to grow your business, this book is a great investment. For me, it more than paid for itself within a week.

I not only purchased this book for myself, but a copy for my business partner; mine was too furry with Post-Its, notes, and dog ears to let it out of my sight! I have lived with this book close at hand for the last month, and feel it has brought tremendous focus to my business development activity. It is very readable, well organized, and packed with specific tasks to speed you on your way to success. Unlike marketing and business books that are long on theory, but fall short of actions and tasks, I translated this book, chapter by chapter into a project plan to carry my company, Big Head Interactive, through the first year. A Must Have, with spare copies for gift giving!

I think everyone will find something to relate to in this book! For the generations of people who lived and fought during World War II, this book will bring back memories of that intense and brave time period. For younger generations, you will experience a sense of pride and patriotism as you read about those who fought for our country. Author Ivan Mehosky makes us feel as though we really know his father, Colonel Mehosky. I could not help but think of my own grandparents as I read this wonderful narrative.

As a professional educator, formerly a teacher of U.S. History and now a Principal, I found Ivan Mehosky's work a wonderful read and tribute to his father. This is the type of book, one with a personal story, which is so very useful to show students that those wars which have ensured their freedom are more than dates on a timeline or points on a map. Several times, I felt like I was part of the battle myself. The story goes much deeper than a book about war. Mr. Mehosky does an excellent job of telling the story of an era gone by but not forgotten. Being from the Reading, Pennsylvania area myself (Col. Mehosky's hometown), I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to attend a local book signing for A Story of A Soldier. It was incredible to see how the book touched so many. Old classmates, with yearbooks in hand, and neihbors from the old neihborhood showed up to greet the author and talk to him about his father, Col. Mehosky. They talked about the "good old days" long before he ever entered the Army. The stories I heard reminded me of things I had heard from my own family about the early part of the 20th century. This is a great book for anyone with a passion for that time period. Without question, this is a book for anyone who is a fan of the human spirit and the American Dream.

This book follows the military career of a man who deserves a sincere thank you, not only for his heroic actions in WWII, Korea and Vietnam but more importantly for his steadfast committment to providing leadership and superb training for the men under his command. He taught his men to think and react and without a doubt his leadership saved countless lives. At whatever rank, Col. Ed Mehoskey, an original member of H Co. 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne (HBO's and Stephen Ambrose's epic Band of Brothers focused on E Co.)led by example and raised the "Bar" to heights that were attainable and necessary to prepare men for battle. War is hell but when the going got tough, the tough men under Mehosky's command got going! This true account of a soldier's military career spanning nearly 4 decades is testimony to the American Spirit. Mehosky is a great example of the "Greatest Generation" and he personally instilled in his men the desire to "Be the Best". Learn what it meant to go three up and three down and to be trained and ready for combat under any circumstance. This excellent book left me with a greater knowledge and understanding of the sacrifices and triumphs an officer in the US Army had on the men under his command while geting ready and fighting to defend the freedoms we Americans hold so dear. For any reader who wants to know more about the spirit and courage that has propelled America to become the leader of the Free World you must read this book. God Bless Col. Ed Mehosky and the men of his generation and above all else God Bless the USA.

Ingrid Sischy, the editor of Interview Magazine, once taught her creative director the art of shutting up and just looking at a photo. It's a simple technique - yet it works. If you take 15 minutes to just look at a photo, eventually the photo will begin to speak to you. This lesson is even more profound when you allow the photos of "The Family of Man" to speak to you. Each photo encapsulates a tiny portion of the human experience and serves as a vivid mirror of our own spirit. As we journey from birth to death we see all the flaws and fascinating qualities that make the human being a beautiful work in progress. And while the book is only 5% words I've yet to complete it. Why? Because I've found myself watching closely each photo for the amount of time it takes to finish the chapter of a book. And each "chapter" that I've seen tells me several things: That we are all bonded by love, struggle, survival, passion, pain, fears, dreams, belief and hope.

This book details the Family of Man photography exhibit composed of photos that Edward Steichen collected from photographers throughout the world. From the intro by Carl Sandburg (his brother in law), to the photographs of birth, life, death and the emotions and events in between, the book shows true humanity through the eyes of the camera. Featuring works by many famous, but yet unknown photographers, this book is a true treasure. When you glance at its pages you will discover new perspectives, or maybe something inside yourself. This is not a picture book, but a photo biography of the human race. If you are tired of coffee table books that sit unopened, pick up this book a few times and share it with your friends. You will read it again and again, discovering new secrets with every turn of a page.

I recently purchased this book, after having grown up with it in the 50s and 60s. The photographs are as stunning, vibrant and moving as I recall, and I realized that I had clearer memories of this collection of pictures than those in our family photo album - which probably says a lot about my family and cameras?!

Anyway - there's something VERY 50s about these photos - the Germans look "German" - the Irish look "Irish", and so forth. This collection of photos presents a very UN-MELTED "melting pot" at the same time it reveals a universal humanity and compassion. There's palpable joy, sorrow, pain, love, beauty, ulginess and every other human emotion depicted here. It's a beautiful book you won't be sorry you got!

This book serves as a wonderful technical manual on how you 'should' make a film; usually, that means the most expensive way that independent and underground filmmakers (the target audience) cannot afford. When editing a film on video, you don't 'have' to complete an online edit, spending about $40 per hour at pro editing facilities. You can easily do a quick offline and release it much cheaper with almost the same results.

The book would be a whole lot better if it shared methods and tricks on cutting production and post-production costs down, enabling young filmmakers (with little or no money) to actually finish their films. That is the bottom line, really. The technical side of filmmaking is learned very quickly on your own. Making people think that they have to go the expensive way is counter-productive.

Still, an extremely helpful read.

-N. Foster Tyler

The Filmmaker's Handbook is a comprehensive guide to the art & science of filmmaking. Though it is currently falling abit behind with it's coverage of digital technology, as this is moving so fast it's hard for any book to stay current.

It has a lot of excellent information though, and goes into detail many other books lack. It's useful as a reference guide, and not so dry that it doesn't make an interesting read. If you are studying film, or want to get into the industry this book is a must have.

The media has traditionally been an extremely specialized, not to mention prohibitively expensive, field. With the introduction of digital production and editing, however, the material costs and requirements for video and audio production is decreasing rapidly, with quality levels already remarkably high and increasing annually.

This book provides a superlative introduction and overview to all of the key subjects in producing a lower- to higher- budget film. Though the title makes reference to the digital age, analog equipment is discussed when pertinent as well, and compared to existing and emerging digital technologies.

The technicalities of optics for lenses is fully detailed, as are filters, microphones, stands and other equipment, recommendations for each field of what emergency supplies to have on hand, editing and previewing equipment, software, to name but a few of the countless topics covered. A truly comprehensive and detailed work.

Anyone with a serious interest in this field can learn from this book the fundamentals needed to get started in extremely high quality digital production. Given the materials and information provided, the cost of the book is truly remarkable. Any reader will complete any section feeling like an expert on the subject. One does not have to begin with experience in the digital arena, however, nor even in video production. Even as technical as this work is, it leads the reader very carefully through all which is pertinent and necessary.

A single possible minor shortcoming, is the description of the process of digitizing analog recordings or an actual/ambient environment, into a digital format. One totally unfamiliar with digital concepts may find the analogies provided a bit difficult to follow. It provides enough of a foundation, however, that an interested reader can seek out more technical and/or accurate descriptions of this process. A very small criticism to an otherwise truly excellent work.

Knight's Castle was the first Edward Eager book I read and after that I could not get enough of them. Thirty years later they still make me laugh out loud and marvel at how surprising they are.

The element of surprise is the key, and what I've always felt Harry Potter lacked. Eager's kids are regular kids--just like the reader and her or his friends--who stumble across some thing or other that turns out to be magic. The children can control the magic thing, but first have to figure out exactly what it is, how to make it work for them, and what the catch is because there is always a catch. In the meantime all sorts of goofy stuff is going on all around them and they've got to corral the magic if they want it to do something special, which they always do.

Most of the books feature an age-range of characters, and a good balance of girls and boys. Eager's kids are always readers(which is why such fabulous things happen to them!) and which is fun for children who are readers themselves.

Any kid with a sense of humor and a yen for surprises will love these books.

A series of classic, semi-connected books by Edward Eager, the perfect appetite-filler for those waiting for the new Harry Potter/Redwell/any type of fantasy book. Funny, cute, sweet, well-developed, well-written, with strong lead characters and delightful sidelines characters. The magic is unusual, in that it crops up in places (such as a thyme garden) that you wouldn't expect.

"Half Magic" is the first of this line of books, in which a Nesbitlike cluster (Jane, Mark, Katharine and baby Martha) discover a little charm. It grants wishes - but here's the catch, you only get half of what you wished for. For instance, if you wish for a house to burn down, all that will burn down is a treehouse or toyhouse. A series of zany adventures follow, including a trek to medieval times and to the Sahara. The final double-wish is touching, to say the least.

"Magic By The Lake" take a different journey, in which the kids travel to a lakeside house. Of course, the lake has magical properties that allow them to journey through time and space at their wishes. Of course, some of them work and some backfire in hilarious ways.

"Knight's Castle" skips twenty years into the future, when the four kids are grown, and two have kids of their own. When Roger and his family have to travel to their cousins' house while his dad has surgery, he encounters a magic soldier figure who will grant his wishes -- by zapping him into the Ivanhoe setting, with all the toy splendor around it!

"Time Garden" is the sequel to "Knight's Castle," in which Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack are shipped off to an old house for the time being. They encounter the froglike Natterjack, a creature who allows them to use the magic thyme in the thyme garden. If you word your wishes correctly, you will go where you wish to go...

With delightful illustrations by N.M. Bodecker, these books are a must for fantasy readers. Eager's tales are tightly bound together, but consist of vignette adventures, ranging from one a day to one a week. A timeless delight.

Long before Harry Potter, there was a set of equally wonderful books about magic that had a profound impact on my childhood. I think I must have read these thoroughly imaginative and wonderful books hundreds of times each...snuggled under the covers with my purloined cookies and a flashlight.

Beginning with "Half Magic," which takes place in the 20s, these books are timeless. They are stories about intelligent, thoughtful children who come across something magic (in "Half Magic," it's a nickel-like coin; in "The Thyme Garden," it's a magical toad) and go on to have incredibly fanciful adventures. The joy of the books is that the children react, not with wide-eyed wonder, but with a great deal of skepticism. They quickly find out that they must learn the rules of the magic to make it work properly, and that is no easy thing. Along the way, they need to adopt a form of teamwork and discipline--especially when fighting dragons ("Knight's Castle")!

The children in these books, both those of the 1920s and those of "modern life" (probably the 50s, when the books were written) are highly literate. As a child, I loved the bon mots from "Little Women," "Ivanhoe," and "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table." Will today's computerized kids get the inferences? And if they don't, will they want to find out more about these classics?

All I know is that even today I can vividly remember the scene where the kids, stuck inside a summer cabin on a hot, rainy day, make hot cocoa and pack winter provisions as they sit around a bucket of water waiting to be transported to the South Pole ("Magic by the Lake"). I still love these books, and am thrilled that they are still available.

A must for bookish children; a must for parents who yearn for a simpler time.