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Used price: $4.25
Buy one from zShops for: $25.98
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List price: $18.95 (that's 58% off!)
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Used price: $1.29
Collectible price: $9.53
Buy one from zShops for: $6.48
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What makes this book special and very worth buying is that it is the only book that i know of that has techniques for predicitng or assessing the timing for marriage. Rose Murray delineates very good technique for looking at a person or a couples horoscope and seeing marriage in the stars...and the date of the marriage too! I have tried her techniques and they seem very solid and valuable.
Also the book is very good fun, with lots of charts of interesting and quirky people. I had a really good laugh reading it.
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Used price: $16.28
Buy one from zShops for: $43.99
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List price: $10.95 (that's 20% off!)
Used price: $4.75
Collectible price: $14.95
Buy one from zShops for: $7.67
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You want to improve your American English vocabulary?
You also want to avoid the verbose academic methods?
Stop here! You get it!
I've just finished "504..." today and frankly, I'm fully satisfied. Murray, Julius and Arthur have set up a very intuitive and captivating course: a set of 42 lessons cut up in 7 sessions, each session separated by a review.
How does a typical lesson work?
You have a list of 12 words in a yellow vignette, so you can see what you're gonna learn in a quick glance. The details appear on the right: for each of the words, you have: their standard pronunciation(s) (essential!), their definition(s) and 3 examples of common use. After that, a short article using all of them is presented. The coolest thing is you often meet in the example sentences and articles the words you learnt before. It's a good way to practice them again and test your learning. And you know what? Some articles can even teach you many things beyond English!
Then come 3 exercises. Two are repeated over the lessons: you have 12 sentences with blanks and you fill them in with one of the words. The second standard exercise is an illustration and you are encouraged to find which of the words is hidden behind.
The 3rd exercise varies, depending on the lesson. You can expect one of these:
* Make up your own 12 sentences,
* Find synonyms or antonyms,
* Find the words from their definition,
* Find among 12 phrases those which don't make sense.
Each lesson should not take you more than an hour, maybe even less. Besides, it happened from time to time that 1/2 hour was sufficient for me.
"Okay", I heard you say, "but I'm still not convinced. How did you do in practice?"
Well, generally, I tried to follow 5 lessons a week, i.e one after my workday.
I looked at the new words I had to learn and checked the pronunciation. I repeated each word 10 times aloud, even if I didn't know what it meant. Afterwards, I repeated all the list up and down as many times as needed (between 3 and 5 times) for my pronunciation to be a reflex. I didn't want to take bad habits of pronunciation by reading the definition first and realize half a minute later that my mouth and my tongue hadn't done their job correctly, you see. A word is like a girl's name. She likes to hear her name pronounced correctly. When a boy meet a damsel for the first time and plans to keep in touch with her, he longs to know her name and he'll carefully use it the next time. I think it's the same for a word. Try to be nice to it and name it correctly before living with it. You should do this for *all* the words: if pologamy is illegal, polywordy isn't ;)
So, as soon as I was at ease with the pronunciation, I read the examples *before* the definition. Why? Because I wanted to guess the meaning: I had noticed that a word is all the better memorized as you feel you already know it somehow. Finally, to check my guess, I read the definition and went to the next word. I repeated the process twice, just to be sure. Of course, the 2nd time was faster. Then, I did the exercises.
What if I already knew some of the words? In fact, out of these 504 essential words, I already knew 1/3 of them but I don't regret anything because I saw a great number of them used in contexts I would never have suspected :), so I felt richer anyway.
About the exercises, I told you you were asked sometimes to create your own 12 sentences. I confess I happened to find it not challenging enough. In that case, instead of 12 independant phrases, I wrote a little story using the 12 words, like in the article. It's a good way to develop their loyalty and challenge your creativity.
But it isn't the end yet! In case you'd be still afraid not to be trained enough, the 7 reviews in the yellow pages are here to reassure you. They are organized somewhat differently compared to the lessons.
Each review contains 7 exercises:
1) Choose the good word in phrases between two suggestions,
2) Find opposites,
3) Rebuild newspaper headlines,
4) Find words from their definitions,
5) Complete a letter with words from a list,
6) Find analogies,
7) Make sentences with words that do double-duty.
Of course, you'll find again the words of the immediately previous lessons but also a few more from even farther ones.
The exercise on analogies is tough sometimes, that's really my opinion. Words that do double-duty are very exciting because you learn that some words you have been taught as verbs for instance can also be considered as nouns or adjectives.
I needed 3 months to complete the method and I enjoyed it like a little kid.
So, if I convinced you, enjoy it too! :))
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Used price: $1.98
Collectible price: $8.95
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I'm moving to Fairbanks Alaska in just under a year, to attend college and then teach somewhere in the "bush".
Anyways, after just doing a quick glance at Alaska books in the local bookstores, I saw this one.
It's just amazing.
It rises FAR above any other guide book I've ever seen...I had to buy it on the spot.
What sets this book apart is a combination of things.
1. The photos.
this book is FULL, I mean FULL, of very good quality professional/artistic photos.
2. It doesn't skim.
This book is one of the few books on Alaska that I've seen that didn't just skim over the Arctic and Seward Peninsula regions.
These areas all have very detailed descriptions, photos, climate info, sun rise/sunset info.
It delves into even the minor towns such as Kiana, Anaktuvuk Pass...etc.
3. It includes literary ESSAYS written by professional authors about certain areas...and there are at least one or two essays in every regional subgroup detailing everything from culture to climate to history.
4. As mentioned above, this book details the history of Aaska as well. And just like everything else in this book...it doesn't merely gloss it up into a 3 page chapter.
it gets very much into virtually every aspect...and includes historical photos, carvings, etc.
Overall, this book is incredible.
It transcends what is traditionally a guide book and becomes something anyone would read to learn about Alaska.
Very good book, definitely recommended.
~ Will
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The photography is beautiful and artistic, printed in a format just large enough to give you some idea of the grandeur of Alaska without making the book too unwieldy to take along on your trip. Also included are historical drawings, sketches, and high-quality maps. Its humorous in parts (what is a "sourdough"?).
This book goes beyond the normal guidebook which might list town, lodging and restaurants. It starts off with a fascinating history of the entire state, a discussion of the people of Alaska, the wildlife; then discusses four major areas of Alaska (and their history, people, etc.). It helps you get to know the state.
The descriptions of food, lodging and tours are adequate, but you may want to supplement these listing with a AAA guidebook or travel agent.
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Used price: $49.99
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Following this is a section using clear line drawings of findings such as clasps, wires, and tools, with explanations of how they are used. Line drawings are also used to show techniques, especially a variety of ways to finish the ends with clasps and knots. For me, this is the most valuable part of the book for learning techniques new to me. The directions are mostly good, but there are some that are difficult to follow just by reading. It works better to get everything you need and just start following the instructions step by step until you figure it out. My previous beading experience helped me understand the instructions better.
The last section of the book has an assortment of projects making necklace and earring sets, with line drawings, photos and written instructions. The designs are beautiful but too extravagant for me, and being published a few years ago, a little outdated in style. However, the techniques shown can be used to redesign and create pieces suited to one's tastes.
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Used price: $9.90
Buy one from zShops for: $9.50
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The last four chapters consider what has been written about Americans of African, Mexican, and Asian/Pacific descent. The Mexican-American chapter is very brief (there's more in his earlier book, Latin American Homosexualities), the two African American chapters extensive and provocative. Well, the whole book is provocative. Sometimes overeagerly?
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The first part criticizes social theories while presenting an account of the de-assimilation of lesbigays and the misuse of AIDS to regain medical supervision of gay men's lives. The second part addresses social roles, same-sex couples, and "community" as that term is used by sociologists and by gay men. The third part looks at the unsatisfactory research on African-, Mexican-, and Asian-Pacific- American lesbians and gay men, relying heavily on memoirs and prose fiction.
Although not providing a unifed narrative -- Murray is perhaps overeager to embrace the fragmentatary quality of postmodern life -- this book provides much food for thought about minorities (sexual and other kinds) in North America, a mordantly critical sensibility, and a sometimes daunting command of the social science literature on lesbians and gay men (here, there, and elsewhere).
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