If you have the late Ron Luciano's books (The Umpire Strikes Back" and "Strike Two", you have a lot of the stories that former Major League umpire Ken Kaiser tells in this book. If you can't find Luciano's books (they are long since out of print), these stories are FUNNY and an insightful look into the world of an umpire. Argumentative, intimidating, and expressive is the man known as Ken Kaiser. He was one of the few umnpires to ever make the major league baseball players top 10 list of umpires.. at the same time he was on the BOTTOM 10 list of umpires!! I guess what I'm saying is, you'll either like it, or hate it. I liked it a lot, besides the repeated stories.

This book was laugh-out-loud funny. Not that it is all one-liners, but the humor is spread throughout the book and often catches you off-guard. I would compare it to Dana Carvey (if you like him) -- good humor that is increased by one's ability to put yourself in another's shoes.

I have never umpired professionally, but I have umpired enough amateur games to know that Kaiser is right on the money on much of what he writes. That might make the situations more humorous for me than a "typical" reader, but I doubt it. The writing is easy and friendly and requires very little knowledge of baseball (I would say none, but that might be a stretch).

Definitely glad that I read the book!

This picture dictionary features large and clearly labeled illustrations ranging far beyond the usual scope of picture dictionaries. Useful for ESOL collections for students from middle elementary through adult and university level.

Unfortunately, this book is now out of print, but if you can find a second-hand copy somewhere, grab it. "What's What" covers pretty much the same ground as DK Publishing's "Ultimate Visual Dictionary". If you own both (and I do) you'll find that they compliment each other quite nicely. "What's What" covers areas that the other book doesn't (courtrooms and prison yards, for example, are presented with labels, for instance -- very helpful if you're writing a courtroom or prison story and you want to know what the names of everything are.) Likewise, "Ultimate Visual" covers areas that "What's What" doesn't.

In short, both books are essential to writers, researchers, or anyone who just wants to know what the name of something is.

As a long time reader of polar history David Fisher's "Across the Top of the World" came as a breath of fresh air.

The story proceeds like a polar expedition, moving through the degrees of latitude as the author relates his current adventure aboard a Soviet ice breaker and related artic history at the same latitude.

Fisher treats the subject with humor and sensitivity. Journals from the period were dry and sanitized. Fisher takes the reader inside the adventurers.

A splendid introduction to polar history.

Unlike regional or national bird identification guides, this book contains very targeted information about how and where to observe birds in the Chicago area. It includes maps of numerous suggested areas for effective birdwatching around the city (downtown, as well as suburban areas to the north, south and west, and even into NW Indiana). It also has information regarding local birdwatching and ornithological groups.

For example, it may say that one bird can be observed "over the Des Plaines river in springtime." Or that others are generally found only in the suburbs or rural areas fringing the city, though local colonies may establish themselves in the lakefront parks. A nice touch.

Additionally, each bird description a time-graph that charts the relative frequency of sightings for a given species in the Chicago area over the course of a year. Together with the visual identification chart and the descriptive text, it helps the beginning birder judge whether s/he really just saw a female "English Sparrow," as opposed to a "Song Sparrow," or a "Field Sparrow," etc.

Bird identification is by way of paintings, and not photos. The paintings are not as detailed or reliable as some other volumes (e.g. Sibley's Guide), but they are sufficient for the book's limited purpose which is as a local/regional supplement to these larger and more detailed tomes. Recommended.

Want to show your kids or students just how fun math can be? Students of all ages will thoroughly enjoy finding the answers to these crzay riddles by doing the math problems, then turning the calculator upside down to read the answer. This is a great item to keep in the car with a calculator to keep kids busy while on a long trip or running errands. You'll wish there were more of these books when you finish the final riddle.

The Doctor and Romana are relaxing on Brighton Beach when K9 has a little accident - he really should have been waterproofed. So they leave the metal mutt to dry out and start a different holiday, at the Leisure Hive on Argolis. Argolis is a sterile wasteland since the war with the Foamasi, and the Leisure Hive is the only way they can continue to survive, through the money paid by galactic tourists. But its not all fun and games, and their is murder afoot, and the Doctor is the number one suspect...

Season eighteen of Doctor Who, Tom Baker's last in the role, starts off with this story. This story is a great improvement on what we were served up in season seventeen and the novelisations also had a change as well - many of them are now written by the original authors, rather than the ubiquitous Terrance Dicks. The upshot of this is that the novels themselves are fresher, and tend to expand on the original TV serial rather than simply recounting them.

This one has a good storyline, with several twists, and David Fisher's writing style is quite good as well.

This little book is probably the best of it's kind and is invaluable for the budget travellor. It contains accurate descriptions of accomodation and restaurants in different price ranges. My only comment is that the writer is a little harsh on Calangute, yes it's a busy, bustling tourist town - but I didn't see 'heaps of garbage' and the town starting to 'stew in it's juices'. However generally I loved this little book, the photos were great and I would have been lost without it!

An informative and engaging account of the history of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This is the sort of book that whets your appetite for more research and funding as well as for more information on the subject. I was particularly impressed with their style - clear, entertaining and thorough. It made me want to read more of their books, whatever the topic. A highly recommended book for folks interested in science but afraid of the math.

Unlike some of Potter's other books concerning young animals' rash behavior (Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten) or adult animals' ignorance/trickery (Jemima Puddle Duck, Mr. Tod), this book simply tells the story of Jeremy who is almost eaten by a fish while fishing on a lily pad. No life lesson, but a sweet story and some of her most beautiful illustrations ever. Especially great for budding fishermen/women!

This is an invaluable book, especially for writers, designers and hardware store-goers who need to know what a thing is actually/properly called (lest they resort to constructions like "the wizbo," "the whatchamacallit," and "the whosis".) Look up a word in the index, then turn to a photo or diagram that illustrates it, with all of its component parts identified by name. Everything from a 747's cockpit to 20 kinds of windows (including those on a slot-machine) are among the thousands of listings. That the book doesn't get five stars is owing only to the fact that the index uses a type which is too small for old eyes.