This book is a must for those who want to enhance their life with the fullfilment of a complete relationship. It demonstrates with concrete examples the "how to".
Congratulations to the authors.

What an excellent book! The authors share from thier heart on a conversational tone that make for an enjoyable read.

Thanks go to Amy Zerner & Monte Farber for giving validation to the struggles and persoanl growth that happens in every relationship. Thier humor brings the complicated task of finding yourself and your true love into easy terms.

I thoroughly enjoyed Love, Light and Laughter. I found it to be one of the best relationship books I have ever read... Not only this but the book is easy to read (it really grabs you and you can't put it down) and the title Love, Light and Laughter clearly states the style of the writing. Congratulations to Amy Zerner and Monte Farber for creating a next level book on relationships!! A must Read!!!

This book provides great advice and practical, well-designed exercises. Once considered radical by most lawyers, the book has helped reform legal writing, teaching a generation of lawyers that their writing "should not differ, without good reason, from ordinary well-written English."

The book is also a model of effective prose. It's clear and understandable even to a first-year law student. Yet it's also valuable to seasoned lawyers, especially to those die-hard lawyers who insist that legal writing should remain dense, and often incomprehensible, just because it's always been that way.

Well-respected experts such as Wydick and Garner reject that notion. And clients, who often succeed or fail (and sometimes live or die) by their lawyers' words, should reject it too.

This book was required reading for my first year in law school. After having read through it, I am glad it was. I wish that more lawyers were required to read it.

'Plain English for Lawyers' helps everyone write effectively from the Law Student, the practicing Lawyer, the Judge on the Bench, or just somebody that wants to write a persuasive or complicated report how to

Several frequent exercises are included to give the reader an opportunity to practice. Examples are plentiful, and illustrated well.

The last chapter covers punctuation. This chapter makes the book a reference worth keeping. I would recommend to anyone needing a reference for writing briefs, memorandum, or legal correspondence to keep this book on hand.

I first read this book in 1989, and I loved it. It made so much sense, yet it seemed so radical to a young associate at a large law firm. But the advice in this book has been around since 1978. Back then, it was breaking new ground. Now, its advice, though common among plain-English advocates, is still needed by the practicing bar. How great it would be if every lawyer followed Wydick's advice in this book.

This easy to read, well thought out guidebook to electric guitar playing is a true revelation to the begining guitarist.
The author organizes his lesson plan perfectly, showing how the primary major and minor scales are layed out on the guitar fretboard. Not only will you get the usual "here they are" dot matrix diagrams, you are also presented with a unique way to visualize and dissect these scales that allows for quicker memory uptake when it comes to key transposition. In other words, the author's insights on guitar fretboard logic are well worth the price.
Added info on attaining and sustaining technique, tone, and style while playing the modern electric guitar and amplifier makes this a must read for anyone having a love affair with their axe.

i picked this book up almost 20 yrs ago that's hard to believe, and i'm living proof this book really works if you apply yourself to it (...). this is for those folks who don't really care about the theory thing or learning songs per say or reading music. but it is very geared to the person who wants to learn to play the guitar by feel, very easy to understand anyone can sit down with this book and learn the lessons, you WILL get out of this book exactly what you put into it and that's a promise i can say. very well written easy to understand terms for the beginer as well as the professional guitarist. i find myself constantley refering back to it just to freshen my skills. if you really want to learn this is the holy bible for the guitarist
richard lee wilson

Bought this book 10 years ago and it proved to be the best guitar book for any blues or rock interested newbie. Wonderfully written in style, approach, even the fonts and graphics. Not a huge book, but it has the essence...and teaches it very, very effectively.

Alas, lost my copy after loaning to my son (who learned even quicker BTW and quickly passed me), especially as my time to play diminished.

Recently I wanted to reteach myself, and sought out this book...was aghast! at the fact that it is out of print...Luckily, got one of the last new ones (thru amazon). Just as good now as it was then...possibly better as I have seen in the intervening years how few 'teaching' books attain this level.

I shall cherish it for it's own value, and the memories, forever.

Net: Highly, highly, highly recommended....a great achievement by the author worthy of note on his tombstone some day...

I was mesmorized by this book! Herb Ritts has the ability to not ownly create a beautiful portrait, but to capture I personality of his models. Each photograph tells a fabulous story of fantasy, glamour, and often just everyday life. I would highly recommend this collection. Among my favorite celebrity photos: Johnny Depp on the set of Edward Scissorhands, Jim Carrey dressed as a Mermaid, Tom Cruise on the set of Mission Impossible 2, the tattooed arm of Axle Rose, and a mysterious grin by Roy Lichtenstein. These photos are also large enough (most are at least 8x10) to remove and frame.

As an amateur photographer, I have always found Herb Ritts to be one of the greatest modern photographers living. Similiar to many celebrity photographers such as Richard Avedon, David LaChapelle, and Annie Liebowitz, Ritts captures the essence that is celebrity perfectly. Whether it is the photograph of Madonna and Sean Pean as a loving couple, or a gathering of today's top supermodels (all nude) Ritts has an eye for detail, as well as an approach few photographers nowadays don't utilize, direct communication with your subjects. In the past (and even in the present) celebrity photography can be a pain as many celebrities tend to want their agents around them whenever there is a shoot.

Many of Ritts photographs in this compilation happen to be of a homoerotic nature. Ritts, who is openly gay, captures the essence of male sexuality perfect, and the results can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of their orientation.

I hope in the future Ritts comes out with another huge compilation of his work. His recent work with such celebrities such as Monica Lewinsky and Janet Jackson should be published in a volume, but for the meanwhile, purchase this book for your coffee table or library. It will make an interesting topic of conversation with anyone. Ritts is pure genius!

It is excellent. Sensual, lyrical, erotic, powerful, sometimes whimsical and as hot as the Arizona sun. Ritts is America's Rennaisance photographer and his pictures and videos of Jan and Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cindy, Nicholson, etal, etal, are must-views in exhibit, too. His work is up there with contemporaries Leibowitz, Scavullo and helmut newton...you have got to see his work!

One hilarious book! Tells about a monster who sure loves to eat food. Has pretty funny rhymes and quotes in the story. Has a ton of laughs in it! Just a good book for someone who loves to eat food! One of the funniest books I have ever read!

This book is absolutely the best childrens book. I have had my name on a list at another book store for two years and they kept telling me it was out of print. I decided to look here and voila I see it. I am ordering eight copies to give to each of my grown children (and one for grandpa to keep for when the grandchildren come to visit) so they can read it to their children.

This is a very funny book about a big animal who keeps making people mad because he always wants food, and they keep getting upset with him. This has a lot of funny rhymes about food in th story, and there are some great pictures. Awesome and funny book. For anyone who loves to eat.

An intuitive, rigorous and a beautifully conceptual approach to calculus is what distinguishes this book from the thousands of run-of-the-mill "Calculus I" textbooks published every year.

This is not surprising because 1) Courant and John were both important German-born mathematicians, both schooled in that great mathematical mecca, Gottingen, both making fundamental contributions to many classical branches of pure and applied mathematics. Courant is an especially important mathematician since he not only studied under the greats Minkowski and Hilbert - even serving as the latter's assistant - but founded the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in New York, modelled on the Gottingen Mathematical Institute. 2) That typical German thoroughness and emphasis on the mastery of the "fundamental concepts", so dear to German textbooks, is evident in all sections of the book, particularly in the introductory material on the number continuum, functions, continuity etc.

The exercises at the end of chapters are substantial and excellent, and help to develop proof skills in students as well as a subtle mathematical intuition.

Mathematics is best learnt by studying books written by important mathematicians. Classic books like these should always serve to prove the truth of Abel's dictum that to master mathematics one should 'study the masters and not the pupils'.

My review of the first volume pretty much applies here as well. How many *calculus* texts have an introduction to complex variables, and the theory of analytic functions? This is the only one I've ever seen, and I don't think anyone else could make it more enriching than Courant. Useful material on vector calculus, the theory of matrices, and even introductory material on the *calculus of variations* (something we usually don't see at *all* in the undergrad curriculum) is included. It is refreshing to have an instructor like Courant, who doesn't assume we can't follow higher mathematical roads, but also doesn't sit at the other end of the spectrum, just waving a wand and "poof, here is the result".

Courant also published a standard reference work (also two volumes, I believe) on Mathematical Physics. While the level of mathematics required is post-grad, I was still able to read sizeable sections of it without getting lost.

We can only hope Dover decides to publish Courant's works one day, to make them a little more affordable. But still, you can buy both volumes of Courant's intro to calculus for about the same price as a modern calculus text that waters down the material, and on top of that, provides inadequate explanation for the material it does cover.

I don't use the word "superior" lightly, but this book definitely warrants it. Courant was a first rate teacher and mathematician, and his brilliance shows in his exposition. The main obstacle to some readers may be that Courant does not follow the "cookbook calculus" approach that seems so rampant today, but actually bothers to prove his results. He does, however, reserve most of the more difficult proofs for the appendices at the end of the chapter, which is most appreciated. The result is an exciting read, yet rigorous. The reader is very well prepared for future courses in mathematical analysis, and even has a leg up on real analysis. While Courant's insistence on proof does mean that the student needs to have a basic grounding in proof methods, this is usually a standard part of the undergraduate curriclum. Anyone with a background in symbolic logic will instantly be able to follow the proof methods, and most discrete math courses have a section on proofs. In any event, ignorance of proof methods will not detract much from the book's value. Courant rightly recognizes that calculus should be taught in a logical, yet rigorous presentation from the beginning. The absence of this in modern texts mean that students learn how to manipulate formulas, but have no idea what makes the results they are assuming true. The "mechanics" of calculus and analysis, the most crucial thing to be learn, is missed. In particular, I enjoyed his presentation of integration *before* differentiation, which goes against the grain of basic calc texts, yet is historically and pedagogically correct. Integration actually paves the way for differentiation, and gives more motivation for the FTC. In addition, most texts on real analysis work in that order anyway, as an understanding of Lebesgue measure and integration is crucial to understanding the process of differentiation. In addition, I don't think I have ever before or since seen such a careful explanation of the theory of the logarithm or exponential functions. Again, the presentation makes it work, as just introducing the "exponential function", then a little later, the "log function" as the "inverse" of the exponential function is, to put it mildly, artificial and distasteful. The natural progression from the definite integral definition of the logarithm to the exponential function is displayed in its full glory.

In short, Courant manages to present some of the most crucial results of calculus and basic analysis without boring the reader to tears with arcane details, or worse, leaving the reader hanging on important theorems and ideas. This is a balance only a great mathematician could strike, and it is clear why this book remains a classic after almost 60 years.

Note: The second volume of this work covers the multivariable portion of calculus, and will be more difficult to follow without prior exposure to the subject. However, the introductions to the theory of matrices and the calculus of variations are very readable, and it is recommended that the reader take the time to peruse them. Also, don't miss the material on special functions, lightly touched on in the first volume, but explained in fuller detail in the second.

.............two to four year olds will just love this book, especially if they like gardens and bugs and are inquisitive! Your youngster is sure to love traveling with this little ladybug as she slips under a rock, into a flower pot, past an ant and under a door, into a warm cat's tail and finally into her home in the leaves! The interactivity is wonderful in this book. Your child guides the little cardboard ladybug along her path and through every other page and onto the next to discover her next adventure. Should the cutout get lost, the book includes a pattern for making another. This won't likely be necessary as the plastic pocket on the front of the book seems pretty sturdy and fits the ladybug snugly.

The language in this book is quite simple and sure to be understood by very young children. Each of the eighteen pages also contain only a few lines. The illustrations are cute and each scene in the garden is quite eventful, which is sure to captivate a young mind! I'm buying this book for my four year old nephew (an avowed ladybug lover) and I think he's sure to fall in love with it!

We have a blast with this book. The concept is very cute...a ladybug is being munched out of her home by a snail and goes on an adventure to find a new one. He literally does...walks through the book! My two year old and four year old ask for this story consistently. Buy this one!

I ordered this book for my daughter's 3rd birthday and I was so pleased. She thinks this book is so much fun. She loves to insert the ladybug into the openings in the pages and then get it on the other side. And I think the illustrations are beautiful. She is always careful to put the ladybug (which is quite sturdy) back into the holder on the cover so I don't think we'll lose it.

Read this book with Terence Mckenna's Food of the Gods. They work well together. Don't be afraid of the subject. If you've read the primary literature avoid this book unless your running a "trip" mission and you want to turn people on. These two men are giants on the subject. Forget the review. Buy the book out a repect. Schultes and Hoffman were trippy before most of us were born. P.S. All that God stuff, it's importmant but it was the thrill seeker in all of us that got us here.

The spiritual powers of healing and hallucinogenic plants are surveyed anew in Plants Of The Gods, a revised and expanded edition of a true classic which paring color photos of the plants with a wealth of solid botanical details. This revision covers the traditions of different cultures which use the plants, uses of hallucinogens in sacred rites and prayers, and solid coverage of the rituals themselves.

Plants of the Gods is a condensed ethnobotanical encyclopedia of hallucinogenic drugs with nicely illustrated cultural/art/chemical information . This book illustrates why these psychoactive plants have been so important, nay, a necessity of primordial human consciousness and experience because of their medicinal, teleportal, and communicative capabilities. It even includes a beautifully annotated color-picture field guide lexicon. It begins with a history of plant hallucinogens and then explores their cremonial/ritualistic use in various cultures around the world, creating a sense of their cultural AND artistic importance in other societies that ACTUALLY RESPECT and don't abuse them. Plants of the Gods leaves you with a sense of respect for these plants when you realize that smoking pot in some basement just to break rules is like a rites of passage sacrament practiced by many tribal cultures who know the importance of this experience which we seem to have neglected and even outlawed. Thoroughly descriptive, yet easily digestible,it reads more as a quick refrence guide /bedtime story than a book-"book", but is captivating and informatively engaging at the same time.

I recently got this book and have read 100 pages so far. It's full of fascinating tales of Karajan. For instance, I did not know he was a devotee of the "rehearsal-free" concert, that he believed in "spontaneous" music-making. I also didn't know he was actually a very shy person who preferred solitude and not the "jet-set" life-style. Also interesting that he sometimes suffered a sort of speech impediment -- stammering. Seems his words couldn't keep up with his mind.

Though I'm eager to finish this book and view it as a terrific addition to my library, I have some qualms with the writer's style. On the cover flap it's said how Mr. Osborne's writing is lauded for its "readability" to both musicians and non-musicians. And being a NON-musician myself I was hoping to see clear, clean English. Yet, Mr. Osborne never fails to use a lot of pretentious lingo such as Latin and French ("annus mirabilis" and "anuus horribilis"?), as well as highfalutan words like "ratiocination" and many others (be sure to have a Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary on hand!). He also uses many arcane musical terms like "re'pe'titeur" yet fails to translate them for the non-musician. Terms like "legato" and "cadenza" -- albeit not as arcane -- also remain untranslated.

Perhaps a truly "readable" book on music is impossible? Given the gigantic ego of so many writers of music?
Still, all in all, this remains a magnificently researched and put together book.

This is probably the ultimate biography of a complex and controversial personality in recent musical history. The book is conventionally structured: it is based on a detailed chronology supported by a rich factual database on Karajan's accomplishments as an orchestra builder and manager, recording artist and film maker. Stretching to more than 700 pages, the rich detail of Osborne's account certainly is one of the main attractions of this book. We learn a tremendous amount about Karajan's working methods, contract negotiations, concert tours, recording schedules, casting policy, press reviews, etc. As the story progresses Osborne branches out in all kinds of directions, gradually weaving more and more threads into the basic narrative. Given the quality of Osborne's prose this never becomes tedious. And it really does learn us something substantial about the breathtaking speed, economy, tenacity and versatility of the Karajanesque genius. There is no doubt that the book as a whole transcends the merely anecdotal. What emerges is a rich, multifaceted, holographic image of a great artist. What is even more impressive about Osborne's book is that it gives us an idea of what constitutes the essence of great conductorship. Instead of being confronted with woolly and simplistic generalizations about a certain 'Factor X' that allows an individual to coax exactly the right sound from a full symphony orchestra, we see the conceptual foundations of this most elusive of disciplines emerge in all its technical, psychological and somatic richness. Therefore, this book is definitely a must-read for any classical music lover, irrespective of personal predilections with respect to the man himself.

This book is the most fascinating description of the stunning life of the mythical Herbert von Karajan. It gave me a more "real" feeling of a person I admired for so long. Richard Osborne's book helped me with the demystification of one of the persons I admire most - artistically speaking - aftera all, he was only human and with many flaws... The book is really a wonderful synthesis of the life of this incredible conductor. Is without doubts the best Karajan biography I ever read. And the little writings of Karajan ("die probe", as an example) are lovely little pieces of history. Wonderful!

Excellent book, it takes a bit to stick with it, but the modern day excerpts/perspectives threaded into the book give it a good historical perspective. This is a good combo to go together with Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun".

- for anyone seriously interested in our nuclear heritage, weaponeering, or the NWEPS program. Gives INCREDIBLE insight as to the minds and directions these young physicists were going.

This book is a must-read. Simple, concise, straightforward technically. You gotta read it, 'nuff said.

This is an incredible book. This is originally a compilation of Robert Serber's notes he gave to incoming scientists at Los Alamos in the 1940s, explaining to them the purpose of the Manhattan Project and the expected means by which they would achieve their goal. This particular copy, courtesy of the University of California Press, contains not only an introduction by Mr. Richard Rhodes (author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb - strongly recommended), but notes throughout the Primer itself by Robert Serber. It is fascinating to read comments on a document by the man who wrote it many years afterward. Be warned: This is NOT a how-to book, and does require some basic knowledge of calculus and physics. It is, however, unbelievably interesting, and worth the cost to add it to your collection.