Keogh provides tons of tips and tricks for avoiding those nightly battles to get a child to do homework. Best of all he provides cram notes on every subject so parents can brush up on math and other subjects. Keogh's method makes every parent look like a professor in the eyes of their child. I also enjoyed his down to earth stories that I think every parent can relate to. This is a great follow to his other book Getting The Best Education For Your Child. I highly recommend this.

When I was 13, I tried to build an artificial neuron in a test tube, storing the 'weight' of the neuron in electroplating of a mechanical pencil graphite rod. But, I burned myself badly with nitric acid and ended up in the emergency room. I unfortunately wasn't allowed to finish the project.

Reading this unique oral history of neural nets, I discovered that Benard Widrow did the same thing in 1959 (minus the burn part - he was 30 at the time and didn't have to sneak the acid of the science store room at school) and invented the 'Memistor' and Memistor Corporation.

I learned a million other details about neural networks and their history in this book and now feel like I know some of the people interviewed here personally.

I don't even have to read this book without knowing that it's very informational because my father wrote it, so it has to be good.

This is the story of Lolly, Spider and Sam, three kids who have just eaten lunch and have to wait a while before they can go swimming. To pass the time, they decide to tell each other stories about rats and cats.

The first story, Lolly's, is a dead-on parody of an old-style phonics reader:

'The cat sat by the rat. "I see him," said the cat. "I see the rat."

The rat saw the cat. "I see him," said the rat. "I see the cat." And that was that.'

Spider and Sam naturally hate this story, and they work to top each other with much more entertaining stories, always about cats and rats. This is one of my favorite kids' books, by one of my favorite kids' author/illustrators, the late, great James Marshall.

I think it's an overlooked classic -- even better than some of Marshall's more popular works (such as the "George and Martha" series), and right up there with his other masterpieces: "Miss Nelson Comes Back" (written with Harry Allard) and "Fox and His Friends". All three feature very funny and surprising twist endings.

If you find you like this book as much as I do, you'll want to check out its two sequels: "Four by the Shore" and "Three Up a Tree". Those are also highly enjoyable, but this one is the creme de la creme.

Parents: This is a book they will love, although you may love it more. School librarians: BUY THIS BOOK! Publisher: Please restore this to print in a library-binding edition!

This is one of the most engrossing books I've found on this subject. If you're amused by Old English texts and runic inscriptions with lively translations, this book is a must-read. Two thumbs up! Way up! Delightful summer reading.

If you are an advanced spirit, you will enjoy this book. This book helped me reflect on the significant person who has come into my life and why we have come together. We feel the same way about Mother Earth and have had similar encounters with the spirits in Nature and Mother Earth herself. This book expresses it succinctly in the phrase..."When Spirits Touch". This book made me aware of the individual changes going on everywhere and that when two individuals who are at the same spiritual level, become one, they can the change the world.

An excellent book for teaching the importance of reading and gaining an awareness of simlarities in plot. Poor Winnie learns that she may the next 'stuffed chicken for dinner' as a result of not wanting to read a famous tale. The story takes the reader on a rollercoaster of 'what-ifs' and creates wonderful moments for predicting text. I will be using this story for numerous lessons in my classroom, from developing a sense of story to partner predictions. Excellent illustrations, too!

A play in three acts, a very simple setting, and only four characters who live in a small, university town in America: a middle-aged couple, Martha and George. And a "young and innocent" couple, Nick and Honey. They all meet in a room, in Martha and George's house, very late one night, for a nightcap. And then...all hell breaks lose.

The play tears apart both marriages: the middle aged couple, who seem to hate each other and in the end turn out to be much more devoted to each other as it would seem. The young, seemingly perfect couple, who turn out to have lots of problems of their own. In three heart-breaking scenes, using dialogue that cuts like a knife, Edward Albee has written a masterpiece. He manages to give a clear-cut, honest picture of the reality of marriage, the reality of love, and the fears that go hand in hand with love and intimacy. At some point, in act three, Martha talks about her husband- and it's probably one of the best pieces of literature I've read:

"...George who is out somewhere there in the dark...George who is good to me, and whom I revile; who understands me, and whom I push off; who can make me laugh, and I choke it back in my throat; who can hold me, at night, so that it's warm, and whom I will bite so there's blood; who keeps learning the games we play as quickly as I can change the rules; who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy, and yes I do wish to be happy, George and Martha: sad, sad, sad."

What more can I say? just read the play, and if you get the chance, watch it performed in the theatre, too.

Considered by some to be Albee's masterpiece, Virginia Woolf presents all of the playwright's main themes in this tightly compressed play. In a mere three acts, Albee breeches social as well as physical masochism at its most malevolent while displaying its truth-revealing effects while exposing its subconscious motivations. As for other Albee-eque motifs, there is his presentation of truth verses reality, linguistics aerobics, and, as par, a heavy dose of black humor. Albee remains faithful as a master of literature in that he never lapses into didacticism even when his characters voice personal soliloquies. As an aside, the play does differ from the famous film in that the former takes place within the confides of George and Martha's household, thus keeping their guests, Nick and Honey, as metaphorical prisoners throughout the night. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the play, upon a close reading, is Albee's almost virtuoso execution of symbolism, especially Christian (comparable to Henry James). Highly recommended.

Wow. I never thought I could like a play so much. I had to read this for a class in college, so I admit that I didn't know what I was in for. I would've never thought that I would enjoy reading a play. This is a work of art with every line having meaning and significance.

A quick summary of the story without giving too much away: This is the story about an elderly couple who seem to hate each other with a passion. They're rude, loud, offensive, and insulting. When they invite a younger couple to their house, things quickly start to get out of control, while the elderly couple use their guests as sheilds and pawns in their brutal arguements and such. The story ends with a shocking resolution that will catch you off guard.

The dialogue in this play is so beautifully written. It reads like the way people actually talk. That is why I enjoyed it so much. It also enriched the characters that much more. Edward Albee did a magnificent job of weaving a tale that seems so realistic it's as if we are there at that house on that very night. There are no minor characters; everyone is important in a very significant way. It is refreshing to be able to get to know each character and the hopes, dreams, ambitions, and the conflicts that lie within.

I really enjoyed reading this wonderfully structured play. Much so that I have already read it at least seven times. It is a very easy read. And since it is mostly dialogue, it really doesn't take long to read. You could easily finish it in a day or two if you really put your heart to it. Even if you don't enjoy reading novels, maybe this is the solution. There is no lengthy descriptions of what color the characters' eyes are or what they're wearing. Just good old dialogue that will have you hooked from the very beginning. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is an outstanding play that will forever remain a true classic in American Literature.

Part of this favorable review comes from the fact that I grew up in Palo Alto and the S.F. Bay Area. The book is about language, about communication, about the need we all have to achieve it, even if it means shaking up our life. The coincidences of the plot all work to perfection. It works. The book makes you believe all things are possible, all things can change, and it's never too later. It also presents a sadly accurate view of gay love in the Bay Area. It's a fine, fine book.

Carry me like water uses some very fun and surreal Mexican catholic imagery and new age spiritual imagery. More importantly, it has the best character development of any novel I've read. I highly recommend this book!

This is the finest writing I've ever seen - you literally forget you're reading a work of fiction. The characters and their stories are so finely crafted, no coincidence is beyond belief, no emotion too handily displayed. This book breaks your heart and fills you with joy at the same time. So unfortunate that it's out of print.

Lytton Strachey wrote that the most illuminating histories tend to "shoot a revealing searchlight into obscure recesses. . ." (Eminient Victorians). The history of the Illinois frontier ought to be one of the truly fascinating recesses of American history -- it is, after all, the scene of the confluence of multiple cultures and influence: the prehistoric Sac and Fox cultures arising from the rubble of Cahokia, the greatest North American pre-Columbian culture; the French and British Influence; the American settlement and finally the Mormon Sojourn. This ought to be a rich ground for historical writing.

The end result is highly disappointing. It informs but does not inspire. The writing is tedious and bogged down and seems to have no focus or theme. This is a standard academic text, calculated to put its reader to sleep. However, the Bibliography is a helpful springboard to other research on the subject.

Read this book when it was first released and have not been able to keep it out of my mind ever since, so I just finished reading it again. As a student of history, my greatest interest is in how the people lived and felt who shaped the events we call history. James F. Davis helped me to visualize how people lived and how they felt about the events they affected and that effected them. Especially impressive is his understanding of the mindsets of Yankees and Southerners and how this evolved as the State matured and grew. I give "Frontier Illinois" my highest unqualified recommendation.

I have just finished James Davis's book of frontier history and felt compelled to not only add my kudos to the growing body of discerning Amazon readers but also to set the record straight. The reader from Springfield, Illinois is clearly mistaken when he accuses Dr. Davis of "poor organization and editing." As pointed out in other reviews, the two figures are not inconsistent; one is national while the other is for Illinois. Davis's editing skills are superlative; that is abundantly apparent when one reads the finely-tuned notes to his DREAMS TO DUST: A DIARY OF THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH 1849-1850 (1989, University of Nebraska Press). Legitimate criticisms are always valid. Unfortunately, the conclusions of the reader from Springfield are neither.