On the subject of guidebooks, here's one that's tough to beat. Bob Newman has divided North America's Southeast Coast into a series of discrete areas, like images on a strip of film, and then tells what you need to know to fish each area. Excellent maps will help you find your way. If it's true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then these maps must be worth 10,000 words each. Newman also provides lists of accommodations, restaurants, fly and tackle shops, marinas, guides and other services. After dissecting North Carolina, he does the same for South Carolina and Georgia, describing the fishing in similar detail for each state. Then comes Offshore Action, a chapter on "green-water" and "blue-water" species, including tackle requirements and tactics, and another chapter on trip planning, with tips on how to arrange hotel, air or rental car reservations and how to choose a guide. Newman writes in a straightforward, breezy style and tosses in just enough anecdotes to keep things lively. As the subtitle indicates, this guide covers "light-tackle" as well as fly fishing, but the emphasis seems more on the latter. A good index helps make the book user-friendly. Kudos to Newman for a thoroughly written and professional job. With this book in hand you'll run like a train, jump like a tarpon, charge for your boat, swear to catch fish, and pull out your fly rod-Yowza! Steve Raymond

This is an exceptionally gripping book that is rich in character and unexpected turns of events. The author plays on common perceptions and prejudices to lead us into assumptions which are often turned on their heads - and in doing so makes the reader question his/her own frames of reference and the prejudices they give rise to. This book cuts through stereotypes and presents an array of vividly realized characters, from the central figure Terrell Newman - a wonderful and extremely sympathetic character - down to even the smallest walk-on characters, like "Millie", a guy who runs a diner in a small Texas town, to the forensic archeologist who is never happier than when he's digging up long-buried bodies. The ending is a real chiller.

The author has reinvented the detective genre and given mystery and suspense lovers all they could wish for, with a lot more thrown in. It has much greater depth of characterization than you find in most thrillers, with the pace of a James Patterson novel and the kind of forensic detail you'll find Patricia Cornwell (though thankfully he doesn't go in for as much forensic detail as Cornwell, whose description of autopsies I tend to skim through as quickly as possible). Added to that are the psychological insights he wraps his characters in. One of the things I find frustrating with Cornwell and Patterson (even though I find them unputdownable) is the fact that the characters often leave many doubts and unanswered questions behind them from a psychological point of view (Scarpetta and Merino aside in Cornwell's case). Taylor's characters are all very vivid and believable - even the most bizarre ones.

Edwin Newman produces some of the finest edutainment audio series. Bought initially as a bedtime story for my 16 month old son, I looked forward to sharing my passion of physics, math and sciences with him. The more I listened the more I learned myself. I really look forward to more audio edutainment series from Edwin and look forward to learning about new discoveries in physics, math and science and the current day scientists. I hope more scientists will take Edwins lead and share the passion of their work in an audio format. In the future I would love to see audio versions of HyperSpace, Beyond Einstein and Visions by Michio Kaku.

If you can't afford or simply can't find issues of the excellent British film magazine, SIGHT AND SOUND, then this book is for you. It is essentially a compliation of reviews, articles and interviews from the magazine with the focus on science fiction and predominantly horror films.

Assembled and edited (with the occasional review written) by Kim Newman, this book is a fantastic overview of these two genres in the past decade. He traces the rise and fall of the teenage postmodern horror film (i.e. SCREAM) and even devotes a chapter to Kubrick's influence on the science fiction and horror genre.

Whether I agree or disagree with the views expressed in the book, I was always impressed by the quality of writing. S&S only publishes the best writers and shows why the British film magazines are so much better than their fluffy US equivalents (i.e. PREMIERE).

If you like substantial, thoughtprovoking film criticism, this is the book to buy.

The plot is simple, a small town insists upon segregating itself, not by race but by garden. A young girl in the town observes the strife and discord among her elders, each of a different race. But, the discord is not based upon race. The trouble with the people in the town is they do not understand why their respective gardens do not flourish. Each peson refuses to let any other type of flower grow in his/her garden other than the "flower" he/she likes most. The arguing and strife upset the young girl. Soon an elderly woman enters the village. She plants a beautiful garden filled with every variety of flower known to Humankind. Needless to say, her garden grows and becomes the most beautiful in the town. The little girl spends time with the woman and learns why her garden is so strong. Soon the townspeople come together and find that the young girl has planted a garden of her own with the seeds they threw away. She teaches them that it is important for all of the flowers to exist together harmoniously for the garden to flourish. The townspeople agree and begin to rebuild their own gardens by sharing seeds with each other and soon they too have beautiful gardens. The illustrations and writing are beautifully done. Ms. B. Newman is able to teach a very important lesson to all of us, with great aplomb

An essential book for anyone going out on interviews, making presentations, or just navigating their way through life wanting to be and wanting to be perceived as the capable and self-assured person they have the potential to be. This book will help you harness your self "selling" potential and put it into action.

Great book for big brothers or sisters who have a new baby in the family or are expecting a new baby. Most appropriate for children under 7. My child was 2 1/2 and asked me read it repeatedly for months. I feel it helped him adjust to being a big brother.

The book focuses an many specific aspects of funding small business. The language (for non-english native speakers) is simple and easy to read. In the book there are not to many mathematical equations and if they are they are easy to understand. Very nice book for entrepreneurs or managers of small business in understanding specifics of financing small venture.

Small Steps Forward by Sarah Newman

This is a great book written by a very impressive woman. Sarah Newman discovered she had an autistic child when her first son was a few months old. Her first reaction was panic and her next thought was to get as much help as she could. She searched for a book on the subject and found that there were none. So Sarah set to and wrote one that made use of her experience parenting her own special needs child. The result is the book - Small Steps Forward.

As you would expect from the circumstances surrounding its creation, the book is down to earth and practical. It is full of the experience that Sarah gained in the day to day problems of managing, entertaining and helping a small child. Sarah is a practical and highly intelligent woman, so there is plenty of sound advice on how to make the best use of professional advice and where to find practicaql help. The book is written with real understanding for the problems involved and comes to the re-assuring conclusion that parents should remember "it is you who know your own child best."

I read this book when my wife was preparing the illustrations and found the experience very moving. It gave me a small insight into the problems and pleasures of parenting a special needs child and struck me as a book that would be a god-send to any parent of such a child. In fact me and my wife have already given it to the parents of one such child. Furthermore I believe that any parents of a child under 5 would find hundreds of good ideas and lots of good advice in the book..

The illustrations are beautiful capturing the "different" charm and beauty that belongs to Downs Syndrome, Autistic, and other special needs children. Parents or young special needs children will find this a beautiful book as well as a supremely useful one. I heartily recommend this book. Nick Mellersh

Simply excellent. Although it's a college textbook, it's easy to read and enjoyable. I found myself nearly finished with the book before the semester was half over! As Newman intended, the book has a relaxed tone and all of the chapters are tied together with a consistent theme. I now understand sociological theories and ideas--phenomena that I never thought were relevant to everyday life.