This is a wonderful book full of stories perfect for children and adults. It focuses on values in a way that is positive, endearing and educational. Nearly all the stories have a lesson that is appropriate for the times we live in - even though the origin of many of them lies in books and teachings which are thousands of years old. This is a great book for students of Judaica, teachers, camp counselors/directors, or anyone who tells stories from time to time. It's also perfect to keep in one's own home library to share with others.

A great book with beatuful art and incredable stories. From folk tales to modren setings, this book has lots of stories to warm your heart. I loved it and highly recommand it.

Problems of Market Liberalism first appeared as the summer 1998 issue of the journal Social Philosophy and Policy. It is good that such valuable issues are made available to the public, for the quality of this journal over its comparatively short life span has been high, and the present volume is certainly no exception.

Overall, the volume stands on the cutting edge in its combination of academically responsible yet generally down-to-earth analyses. There's plenty to make one think, and plenty to equip the aspiring libertarian with intellectual weapons of a badly needed kind. By all means, read it. It won't be a quick read--it's high-density material--but it will repay the effort.

After at least two breakups with the same guy, this book kept me sane and occupied when the temptation to brood came calling. Wacky in some ways -- in that Glamour-Mademoiselle-Cosmo quasi-psychobabbly kind of manner -- yet oddly practical in others, "The Heartbreak Handbook" makes a wonderful case for moving on.

When it's 3 a.m. and it's too late to call up my best girlfriend and weep into the phone over the latest weasel in my life, I'd rather have Frankel and Tien's warm humor and sincere empathy than the clinical tone -- if not outright back-patting chirpiness -- of a lot of self-help authors dealing with the same topic.

And no, I'm neither with nor hung up on the aforementioned weasel any longer. So the book must've done some good.

This book is absolutely fantastic at making you feel like you're not the only one out there who feels close to death due to a break-up. No matter how down you are and you think, "nothing can make me smile," I'm not kidding - you will bust out laughing at this book. I've never been so uplifted right out of the dumps before, that I sometimes read it just for laughs and to get me out of other types of blues. The book has a real talking-directly-to-you-like-it's-your-best-friend-when-they're-not-around type of feel. It outlines all the thoughts we've all had about being dumped or doing the dumping in a humorous way that points out how you aren't the only person in the world who's ever suffered so horribly. I especially like the stories of others who have suffered, some are so hilarious that you'll think your own break-up was practically a party. Unlike other books that deal with the psychological trauma and the cycles of relationships blah blah blah this one actually does the job of lifting you up and helping you move ON already. There are several funny quizzes that will leave you in stitches as well as (what we've all been waiting for) how the GUY handles the break-up and what he's going through. But don't worry guys, even with this section, this book is for you too, most of the writing just plain and simple covers all people and all of that yucky, no-one-will-love-me-again pain. Last but not least, it humorously walks you through each day after the break-up and all the neurotic stages you'll be going through, as if you're given a humorous invitation on the never-to-love-again roller coaster ride. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Do not pass this book by if you are a heartbroken woman or has a friend who is. This book is painfully funny from begining to end and you get some really great advice along the way. The author's have included several do and don't list's that range from what to do with his stuff, music, food, and (gulp) dating again.

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Symbols is a work that should not go unnoticed. For the person who has a passing interest, or for the person researching Biblical and Traditional symbolism, this book is perfect. Each entry has the word, along with its Hebrew word and transliteration. There are simple illustrations dispersed throughout the book. I like that. Each entry also gives great historical perspective and proves to be entertaining and informative reading. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Jewish symbols.

As a crafter, particularly in needlework and quilting, I have found this book indispensable. I can find symbols for all kinds of concepts, and can also research what something I've seen on religious artwork and ornamentation. It really is a treasure.

Anyone familiary with Ellen Joan Pollock's life and work, her history with Steve Brill and American Lawyer Magazine knows in their heart that this is the book she was born to write. For the story of Marty Frankel, ultimately a rather small time swindler from Toledo Ohio of all places is really bigger than this sick moron's life. On the surface one might think this is just another tale of a stock trading scam artist who if he hadn't fled the country and made us authorities find him would barely have made the papers. But this is such a degrading and astonishingly bizarre account of a lifestyle that one wouldn't really think could exist is civilized society. It is a condemnation of the internet culture where women can be purchased, bound, abused and discarded. It is a condemnation of the greed that allowed even lawyers at such a firm as akin gump, supposedl one of the top law firms in the country, to lend its imprimatur to a scumbag, as long as the scumbag had the money for a retainer and they didnt care where it came from. it is the story of loose regulation and of crimes that can go because authorities can either be bought up, lobbied out, or are just too busy harrassing innocent people to care about an actual thief. These are gigantic themes in the hands of a master craftsman of gossip and innuendo, a woman known for hiding behind pillars to get her information. When Ellen Pollock says she has interviewed 400 people, you know she has. You see it in the detail of every page which you leaves you wondering- how did she learn that. Her audacity in telling the entire story, even though small minded superiors urged caution is a giant reward for the reader. For days after I finished reading the Pretender, I wondered why we should care about this guy. He is so moronic, so Toledo, and yet rolls along. Does he deserve a book ? He doesn't deserve anything but years in a Taliban prison, he is now serving time in Connecticut. One expects he will be back with a new scam. That will be good news if it results in Pollack being back on his tail.

I read this book over a couple of days and I was thoroughly entertained. Martin Frankel was an ultimate sleazeball, basically a financial psychopath who was willing to rip off thousands of people while quoting St. Francis on "helping the poor."

It's a remarkable, horrifying story. Frankel's sexual perversions magnify to the point where his slutty entourage is actually plotting to have baby girls to groom for his pleasures. (Fortunately, that plot seems to have gone astray.)

Pollock tells a complex story that begins with the nerdy Frankel "trying" to trade stocks and bonds out of his parents' home. I say trying, because the one over-riding theme of the book is that while Frankel talks the talk, he can't actually pull the trigger on trades. In a rare actual trade early on, he accidentally makes $20,000 for a client, and his ego takes off. He compares himself to Warren Buffett, and while Frankel may have had a lofty IQ, his delusions and mental limitations keep him from ever really making money in the stock and bond markets.

Instead, he meticiously plots to take over small insurance companies and raids their funds -- deceiving a host of employees and regulators.

As the scam grows, so does his preverted and bizarre lifestyle.

As I told a friend, "You feel like you need a shower after every chapter."

And of course ... I loved it!

I highly recommend this book to those who like financial literature with a kinky twist.

Here's a fast moving book that I read before the Enron story broke. It was hard to put down as it is truly amazing that Frankel got away with so much, for so long. In the vein of truth is stranger than fiction, here's the story of a white collar crime that was much too easy. This book shows that the ways in which small town prejudice, day to day Jewish stereotyping and the acceptance that weird equals smart is ultimately more perverse that Frankel's own interest in S&M. Certainly, these all too human blind spots allowed him to carry on for a very long time. The book carefully traces the idiosyncratic and twisted path of a guy who scammed everyone, while building his own personal money-for-nothing empire. Now, re-reading this book, post Enron, his bogus financial statements seem to be just another product of the 'new math.'

I have read and re-read this book and find that each reading prompts me to return to different parts of the Tenach. These women invite me to look at different perspectives and make weekly portions review exciting. This work is not meant to be a Rashi commentary and shouldn't be selected as such

As the title states this is a commentary from a woman's point of view. It is not a feminist manifesto. Although the author is knowledgeable this is not a traditional, learned Torah commentary. The author has created various female characters (named for biblical or other traditional women) to create her commentary as a form of dialogue, almost talmudic at times. The flavor is modern but there is little use of external texts. It is a very personnal work compared to more standard modern commentaries such as Plaut or JPS's own excellent 5 volume commentary. The text of the torah itself isn't included but there are summaries of each section.

The author's pleasure in writing this book comes through on every page. It can be a good source for a Bat Mitzvah girl who needs to do a dvar torah and is looking for some non standard ideas that won't be offensive to anyone who doesn't find a Bat Mitzvah itself offensive.

The thing that I liked most about this book is that the artwork was exceptional. The stories have been told again and again, but the visual images bring the stories to life. The geneology chart in the front is a nice touch for anyone interested in passing the book down as an heirloom. Overall, it is a priceless purchase for any Jewish family.

This collection of articles, previously published in the journal "Social Philosophy & Policy", are mostly concerned with some of the ethical and policy issues surrounding the outcomes of the Human Genome Prohject, with a couple of articles addressing the computing field.

I found it a most useful collection, with a number of good, well-written (a rarity for philosophers) and thoughtful pieces on patenting and property rights, the relationship between economics and research, political (mis-)direction, and the protection of the weak in areas of genetic-related counselling. I especilly liked the critique of the utilitarian model of patenting.

Thou shalt not make any graven image

The essential foundation of Judaism is the Torah, known also as the Five Books Of Moses. Included are sidrot and haftarot "weekly readings" and the whole is augmented with Michael Meron's spectacular paintings to showcase quotations drawn from the Hebrew text of the Torah and haftarot portions. The excerpts of the sidrot and its haftarot are taken from the Jewish Publication Society translation. Dr. Ellen Frankel (noted author, scholar, and editor-in-chief of the JPS) provides a brief but informative explanatory essay introduction. The Illustrated Torah is a highly recommended, superbly presented, very welcome addition to personal and synagogue library collections.