Rhythm of Compassion is a must-read for those of us who are seeking an understanding of our purpose and asking 'how in the world can one me make any difference for the world?'

In a beautifully sustained metaphor of breathing in and breathing out, Gail Straub shows us that caring for ourselves and serving others is not an either/or proposition -- that both can be achieved with balance and a sense of rhythm. The gentle but rigorous (for those who venture deep) exercises, along with the touching stories of very real, regular people who seek their truth and place in the world opened my heart to understanding how we all deeply long for our connection to ourselves, one another and our planet.

This book has acquired "permanent resident status" on my night table (along with The Invitation) as a ready source of inspiration and comfort. I re-open it to any page and am touched by the reverent tone and deep truth that it holds. It is at the top of my gift-giving list for this coming year and probably will be for many years to come. It is truly a gift for our world.

Gail Straub tells the truth in this heart-filled book -- her own truth and the truth of many other seekers. This is Truth with a capital "T": deep, complex, juicy, messy truth.

Throughout it all, a bright light of love and hope shines for our planet. This book is a blessing, and will be of special interest to those seeking to deepen their experience of life by being more generous to themselves, to others, and to all creation.

In a fresh and first-person way, Gail Straub's book resonates with the deep wisdom of great teachers from East and West, including the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Mohandas Gandhi, Dorothy Day, and Mother Teresa. This is a field guide for seekers of the truth in all its many disguises. Highly recommended!

Gail Straub writes from the heart in sharing her story and that of her students. The Rhythm of Compassion offers clear insight into balancing the interplay of self and other amidst the complexity of life. I shared a copy of this book with my mom as a means of helping her to understand the kind of issues I've been working with in my life.

This guide provides excellent pre-retirement planning suggestions. Has traps, obstacles and helpers outlined for quick review and advice. Has a number of "tools" in the form of worksheets to assist in planning for both before and after retirement events. Presents a number of post-retirement ideas with several suggestions of how to manage and/or increase your income in retirement. Authors are somewhat short on information for the mid 50's retiree concerning how to access 401k and IRA funds without penalty between 55 and 59 1/2. No info on what forms are needed and where they are available, or what needs to be filed and where. Has one slight reference in the appendix on how to accomplish withdrawals without penalty. Having read a number of retirement planning books available on the bookshelf, I found this volume excels in providing useful information not found in similar guide books.

Although this book deals with many aspects of retirement and retirement planning, what distinguishes it from the dozens of similar books I have read is a truly outstanding calculator for determining how much money will be available then and how much needs to be saved or invested to eliminate any shortfall. It includes pensions, social security, and savings and investments. It factors in life expectancy, income sources that will automatically increase with inflation and those that won't, savings and investment growth rates, withdrawl rates that must increase with inflation(which--unbelievably--some calculators don't consider). It allows for early retirement (that is, it doesn't factor in social security until it's available). Similarly, it allows for staggered commencement of retirement income sources (for example, a pension that starts at age 65 while you may start social security at age 62). I've not found another calculator that does ALL of these things! I couldn't recommend it more highly.

This guide really lays out, step by step, how to think and act to plan your retirement. I found this a surprisingly quick read, comprehensive, easy to understand and specific -- from spending, lifestyle, insurance, investing issues. The book makes a great gift for friends or parents because too many of us are not paying attention to the easy "Action Items" that each chapter ends with. Highly recommended!

This book does wonders for a far future GURPS campaign. The world and ship generation techniques are excellent. Lots of cool gadgets too. The weak point of Space is it's lack of detail on creating alien races. But if it were more detailed they wouldn't have needed to make GURPS Aliens right?

Ahem ...

This is one of the best roleplaying books I have ever read and certainly among the best for GURPS. If you want to create a pace-based science fiction campaign, this is the book for you whether you play GURPS or not. Everything is in here: spaceship design, alien races, solar systems, planetary governments ... all organised in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion. If something seems to techy to you - leave it out! If you want hard sci-fi with colony ships and no aliens, GURPS can oblige. If you prefer Flash Gordon to Carl Sagan, GURPS has the reactionless thrusters (scientifically divided into slow and fast) primed and ready for take off. If you are desperate for a REAL hard sci-fi setting, then GURPS Traveller maybe a better purchase but if you're itching to create your own strange new worlds, this is the book.

Generic in the best possible sense.

Yes, it's a little crude, but it also deals with something that we all have and makes it funny. The tales of Walter and his gas had me laughing so hard I was crying. Young kids will get a kick out of this.
If you do story reading to yound children at schools, this would be a fun book.

Walter is a dog. A dog who farts constantly. His new human family tries everything possible to cure Walter. At one point they even try giving him low fart dog biscuits. Walter is so afraid to fart that he holds his gas in. You'll have to read the book in order to find out just what happens when two burglars break into the house at the exact moment Walter can't hold back anymore. Great fun for all.

Preston McClear, author The Boy Under the Bed

My mother and I happened upon this book while shopping one day. The title being so offensive, we decided to check it out. The small bookstore became filled with our laughter as we turned the pages and tears filled our eyes as we read of Walter's "little gas problem ". Fart is a word not used in our household ( we prefer "puffer" ) but the word was so common in the story it almost seemed a lovable attribute for Walter ! A great book with a lot of laughs for any age !

This book seems to be geared towards classic ASP developer who wants to learn about ASP.NET. There are chapters explaining the difference between ASP.NET and classic ASP and migrating Web applications from classic ASP to ASP.NET. Some code examples use HTML with embedded VB, some use HTML with code-behind files coded in C#, and some use HTML with embedded C# code. The book discusses .NET architecture/framework in some detail and explains complicated topics such as: MSIL, CLR, and JIT quite well. The book covers a lot of territory, including ADO.NET, working with XML data, HTML and Server Controls, Validation Controls, Debugging, User Controls, and Web Services. There are several appendixes which cover ASP.NET syntax, ADO.NET object model, VB.NET language reference, and C# language reference.

This book is a concise and incomplete reference of ASP.NET, but that appears to have been author's intent. It's well written, well organized and easy to understand. I think the intended audience, which is a beginner-to-intermediate Web developer, will find it useful. The author makes an assumption that the reader is familiar with HTML, XML, VB or C#, and knows how to use Visual Studio.NET. DO NOT buy this book if you studying for Microsoft Certification exam/s, it's not intended for that purpose.

I am a Classic ASP developer. The company that I work for has recently decided to pursue .NET for future web development. This was the first book that I read in order to get a grasp of the changes from Classic ASP to ASP.NET. I have to say that this book was a GREAT introduction to a lot of the new features of ASP.NET.

There are a few things I would like to point out when considering buying this book:
1.This is a beginner book. No advanced topics.
2.Good coverage of the different types of controls available in .NET.
3.Quick and easy read.
4.Only basic coverage of ADO.NET.
5.Source code available as a download.
6.Assumes that you have VS.NET although I used ASP.NET Web Matrix.

There were some typos but nothing ridiculous.
Overall I like this book. Good price for a good book.

The title says it all; if you don't have a lot of time to read and just want examples that show you how to get started, this book is for you. The sections on validation controls and ADO.NET were particularly helpful to me: simple code that works, helping me gradually shift my paradigm while still being productive in the transition.

Although the appendices contain some lightweight "refresher" language and class references (which do what they are expected to do), your deeper needs may not be met here. If you need a more complete view of the .NET framework, try Steven Walther's ASP.NET Unleashed; on the other hand, if you want to get your brain around the web controls and data access that form the core of most ASP.NET applications, look no further than ASP.NET By Example. It does what it claims to do, without being everything to everyone... which works very well for its typical reader, the time-starved developer who just came to be shown how to get the job done.

Middle to High Schoolers as well as adults will pick this book up out of curiosity and immediately become engrossed. The question and answer format encourages browsing, and the book includes lots of nice features such as an index, a section for related reading, a section of web addresses and mail addresses for space related organizations. Students will find useful report information presented here in a fun format. The book also includes a number of photographs and drawings relating to the questions it helps answer. Students will discover the many effects of living in space from one of the men who has spent the most time there!

Great book for a middle school or high school library. Answers lots of frequently-asked questions about astronaut's life in space.

"Memory's Glass", is a collection of essays dealing with parts of the author's life. The vingettes themselves are small peaks into life and history as seen by a rural Virginia boy. Although this book is tinged with nostalgia, it is full of meticulously crafted, bitter-sweet recollections that do not shy away from the darker side of existence. The book seems very much to be one man's spiritual journey, concerned with the continual loss of innocence and the ways in which man must handle such losses. Overall, it is an engaging collection that comes from this reader with high praise and equal recommendation.

This book is a good reference for those who works on erosion and sediment control. Needs more information concerning the type of construction necessary for erosion control, because this book touches this subject faintly. I rate it 4 stars because all other information is covered extensively and clear. My interest in this book was for erosion control, but when I tried to look for the information, I was dissapointed. But comparing this book to other similar references, this is the best you can ever find.

A good book for beginners and advanced beginners. Advanced players will already know most of the stuff mentioned in it - but may gain new perspective. I've been playing tennis for two years without having undergone any formal coaching (and have read this book only recently) - so I found out lots of useful, new stuff.

The 1-2-3-4 approach to explain each new kind of stroke/shot is novel and players would do well to follow it till the shots come effortlessly. It also serves to explain each shot by breaking it into four essential parts. There are enough illustrations to follow what is being described in the text.

In addition to describing different strokes, they tell you about the strategy part of the game - the mental game after you've practiced the physical part enough. I still haven't got good enough to put these strategies into practice, but it helps to have them at the back of your mind.

Drills for players of different levels are suggested. I found some of them pretty obvious drills (e.g. Serve and return drill is to have some person serve and you return it) while others were non-trivial to think of (e.g. Two Up-One Back Passing Shots).

The last few chapters discuss the non-play aspects of tennis - like diet, fluid replacement. I am mostly interested in playing the game (infrequently, at that), so I did not benefit much from reading these. People who are planning to take up tennis as a regular or professional activity should pay more attention to these topics.

Overall, I would recommend this book for anyone who has not taken any formal coaching in tennis, or for people who have not played much tennis. Advanced players would be better advised to borrow the book from somewhere and glance through the pictures and see if they find anything they think they are weak on and read only those portions of the book.

As a semi-pro woodworker I found this book to be invaluable. It has detailed drawings of just about any type of joint or furniture item you can imagine. The first section is a discussion of wood and it's properties and then there is a detailed comparison of wood joints. Mortise and tenons, miters, dovetails, etc. are all discussed.

Then the book moves on with chapters dealing with various classes of furniture, desks, tables, beds, cabinets are all discussed with clear exploded diagrams.

Although the book does not contain detailed, measured drawings, it shows the conceptual details of how to make functional furniture. Additionally there are references to detailed plans that you can access via the internet or purchase to make typical examples of each piece.

Especially helpful are the "standards" sections at the start of each chapter. The "nominal" dimensions for tables, beds, kitchen cabinets are all given along with illustrations.

If you're serious about woodworking and furniture making, this book belongs on your bookshelf.

As a novice woodworker, but a professional trades instructor, I found this book to be a wonderful source of information about traditional and contemporary styles and techniques in furniture and cabinetmaking. It introduces the fundamentals of furniture anatomy, styles and wood movement. You are then moved along to joinery and furniture subassemblies with detailed and very readable illustrations. The strength of the book is, indeed, in the illustrations. The project section illustrates, by example, the styles and techniques introduced earlier but allows Woodworkers the freedom to add dimensions of their own. It is a very useful guide for those who are looking for ideas and allows great freedom to customize the design without getting too far off track.

This book is a wealth of ideas and illustrations. Every page has an illustration (non measured drawing) giving details of types of joinery, moldings, etc. that can be used in furniture making. The book is also a staring point to get ideas how furniture can be built. It illustrates how hundreds of types of furniture (beds, cabinets of all sorts,...) can be built according to different styles. This is no cookbook for furniture (such as "Country Pine Furniture" from the same author), but it is ideal for people who have acquired a little assurance in building furniture and are ready to make their first (or second) steps in designing their own.