Bound For Shady Grove is Steven Harvey's celebration of the music arising from the southern Appalachian mountain communities. Harvey's essays derive from the four seasons of a life in music. The early pieces describe playing music in the log house of friends born and raised in the mountains, or entering a banjo contest and losing with style. Then there are his essays about fiddles and the devil, homemade instruments and homemade weapons, a trip to England to trace mountain songs back to their elusive sources. As Bound For Shady Grover progresses, the mood darkens, with essays exploring the connection between music and resentment, loss, and death. Harvey's explorations showcase descriptions of music, hills, and people, and take the reader just where the music and the mountains took him. Bound For Shady Grove is very highly recommended and rewarding reading for students of Appalachian history, culture, and music.

'Bound for Shady Grove' is a collection of personal insites into music and life. The music and words of some Appalachian ballads are woven with events in Steven Harvey's life, playing in a banjo competition, a trip to England, recovering from heart surgery. I found an instant kinship in his outlook.

I used this book as a guide for a two-week driving trip through New Mexico. It was fantastic! I was especially glad I took it along -- because I lost a day due to a flat tire and it was so easy to change my plans and not feel like I was missing out on something great. The details are excellent and the authors must have truly enjoyed researching the restaurants, lodging, and points of interest. Good choices, all!

I first read this book as an undergrad, and then again the summer after my first year of teaching in the Writing Project. I found so many useful things that I could actually impliment in the classroom. Z and D offer many easy to follow suggestions that set off that "why didn't I think of that" response. They also suggest that we "break the red pen" habit when "rewriting" our students' papers. As I finish up my first full year of teaching, I look back and see the many times I turned to Z&D for help in solving a writer's problem.

Having about 20 years of study and practice in various healing systems, I recommend this book as a practical and comprehensive tool for the study of Reiki and life energy. It will be of interest to newcomers for the history and basic techniques of Reiki. It will be instructive to practitioners and teachers through the case histories and integration with chakra energetics model. The knowledge presented is in the tradition of the original method which provides energy balancing at all levels-physical,mental,emotional, spiritual. This book illustrates the on-going development of Reiki as a growing complentary modality in the healing arts. John Harvey Gray is one of the original US Masters and has dedicated his life to sharing and teaching Reiki through classes and the establishment of Reiki wellness centers.

Terse, well written, an absolute gem of a book. This book by Dr. Wachsman demonstrates why you absolutely need someone by your side 24 hours if you are in hospital. We need a web site to rate doctors. Maybe I will start one.

We often hear how the elementary schools need to be reformed; very rarely does the reform reach the high school level. Most people think it's too late by then. This book encourages change, and the authors are speaking from experience, not from a textbook. Daniels, et.al., have outlined 11 essentials for running an effective secondary school that focus on students and learning. What a novel idea! They're simple ideas, but their implementation is vital. The book is easy to read, inspirational, and motivating.

"Best Practice" appears to be the latest whole language code word. Many of the "best practices" suggested here have little or no solid foundation on convergent, juried, replicable research. To say that these practices make common sense is simply not evidence enough to implement them in our schools. For the first time since the Progressivism of the 1930's educational reform is not coming from our colleges and universities. They have, after all, perpetuated the "best practices" that have been failing our children since they were first widely implemented in our public schools in the 1950's. Reform is coming from political leaders, as in the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, and scientific researchers who have been commissioned by Congress. Whole school reform that is based on scientifically based, EFFECTIVE practices demonstrate positive change in the first year, not in the three to five years indicated in this book. The "Report of the National Reading Panel" would be a good place to start looking for effective school reform practices. This writer is the Coordinator of Instruction for a large, urban school system.

As part of my school's curriculum committee, Best Practices is on our assigned reading list. After reading the introduction I was shocked to find the book not only interesting, but also easy to read. The book's main premise is that school reform, what ever direction a school chooses to take, is a process, not a magic potion. Meaningful school reform, according to the authors, could and prbably should take at least three years. No one standardized test and no one curriculum can be a cure-all for improving student performance. Best Practice tells how to begin the process of reform to produce improved student performance in an environment dedicated to that process.

As an instructor of a graduate level education course, this book is an excellent example of the best that is happening in classrooms. It is filled with practical and engaging ways to involve students in their own learning. A must for all first and 20 year teachers.