This is suchhhhhhhhh a coooool book!

---Ben

The semi-autobiographical "Freak," developed with director David Bar Katz, made its Broadway debut at the Cort Theatre on Jan. 20, 1998. The book is a 1997 draft adapted for reading. The HBO show, filmed by Spike Lee, garnered for Leguizamo a "Best Performance" Emmy in a variety or music program. "Freak" follows two other Leguizamo stage shows, "Mambo Mouth" (1991) and "Spic-O-Rama" (1992).

The book renders a highly suspect, obscenely comical portrayal of Leguizamo's family and friends during his growing years. Describing his birth, Leguizamo says, "My first view of the world was upside down and between my mom's legs. And they wonder why I have problems." One of my favorite scenes from the book was when Nuyorican (New York Puerto Rican) Leguizamo meets up with his first "militant orthodox feminist vegan radical Latino separatist," in other words, a West Coast Chicano.

The book's design is highly complementary to the text. On the front cover, a big-mouth drawing of Leguizamo is pasted over a vibrating hot magenta and aqua striped background. A bright yellow, boldly lettered "FREAK" emerges from behind Leguizamo's head. Inside the book, the beginning of each scene triggers a repeated, visually stimulating opening sequence. The scene's title is set in an 84-pt. gray fringe typeface boxed by a 1-pt. white border on an all-black background, followed by a second page at the center of which is a cropped circle of Leguizamo's mischief-filled smiling face. The opening lines of the scene spiral outward, gradually increasing in size, from the face. On the third page are the opening lines repeated again (in case you skipped reading the text spiral). Thereafter, the rest of the text follows. Other quirky design details infiltrate the book. I'd keep this book in my library for its design as much as its content.

John Said Himself That This Was Based On His Life And How He Really Exaggerated It For The Play And Then To The Book.I Have Seen Part Of The One-Man Show On HBO And I Thought It Was Really Funny.The Book Contains Some Pretty Funny And Weird Subject Matter.I Think That The Elaberation Of The "Characters" In The Book Were Really Funny And Had Some Cool Dialoge.One Part I Thought Was Grose-Out Funny Was His Father's Way Of Trying To Get The KFC Lady To Help John Became A Man.It Is Certinaly Not For Delicate Ears And Open For Open Minds.Hope You Like My Review...Feel Free To Look At My Others.Bye,Bye Now.....Have A Good Day

Buy this book,go see the show,try to find a copy of the show on video tape.It's great.

When I saw the page I recognized the cover of the book, but I could not believe what people were actually writing about it.

First I want to say that I am an undergraduate biotechnology student. I have a very strong background in biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, tissue culture techniques, and immunology; but I have not had any classes dealing with anatomy or physiology since Bio 101 way back when. I have read and am quite comfortable with Alberts Molecular Biology of the Cell and Stryers Biochemistry, and even a handful of primary journal articles, so I do know how to read a textbook.

Now with that out of the way, let me say that this book is completely incomprehensible. It is so full of anatomy and Latin derived words (which it does a poor job at explaining BTW) that I can only assume that it was meant for medical students, and to have physiology an a prerequisite for it, but it doesn't even have an introduction describing the recommended background or whom it is supposed to be for. In fact, most of the book is devoted to the physiology of sensation and movement, not neurobiology. Now if you have the background for it and thats what you are looking for then it is a very thorough text that goes into a lot of depth.

If you are looking to understand the biochemistry or molecular aspects of neurobiology, find another book!

As an undergraduate Psychobiology student, this text served me well in my Neuroscience course. In all honesty I never went. I just read this book. I got excellent marks in the class. As a serious slacker and bibliophile, I recommend this textbook for any like-minded student.

As an undergraduate Neuroscience major I found this textbook to be highly informative and well-written. It was used to a Freshman-level course, and was easy to understand, yet thorough and interesting. The graphics are well done, and the format is better than most textbooks I'm used to. Anyone, even with minimal science experience could dive right in and learn a great deal. It may not be advanced enough, however, for grad or medical students. As a reference it does okay, but there are more-advanced texts which would probably do better. All-in-all it is an excellent book. In-fact, I liked it so much that I didn't sell it back at the end of the semester and keep it on my bookshelf for future reference (and future classes!)

This book will be of interest to former Fulbright exchange scholars in particular and to those interested in international education and cross cultural exchange more generally.

The books that have been available on the history and background of reggae have (almost) always been organized around the rise of Bob Marley and the Wailers and have (again, almost) always shown an overconcentration on what went on in the UK (as opposed to Jamaica).

Katz's book is blessedly different. For one thing, it's an oral history (as opposed to a researched/analytical history) and as such, he lets the artists and producers and other figures speak for themselves. This gets the reader much closer to the source than any other similar text. The story also unfolds in the same way that a bunch of guys shooting the breeze in a bar might tell it which I found extremely compelling. It is also the very first book on reggae that made me really understand the nature of the connection between London and Jamaica (besides just asserting a large expat community in London). Not only that, but it's the first time I remember reading anyone giving credit to the NY scene as well.

Because of the anecdotal nature of the book, it's hard to hold the writer accountable for it's weaknesses. It's not really set up to be a research tool (it's hard to find specific facts or specific stories) and after reading it for a while, you realize that there are several voices missing from the narrative. Some have been exposed to death in other places (Marley, Peter Tosh, Lee Perry) but there are others I found conspicuous by their absence (Inner Circle, Brigadier Jerry, Yellowman).

Finally, I just LOVE the focus on musicians. These guys are the real heart of reggae but have long stood in the shadows of the singers and producers.

This book tells a lot of great information on how to start a career of marine biology. You learn about how a marine biologist decided to be a marine biologist and if marine biology is the right occupation for you. This book was very helpful since I'm planning on being a marine biologist. It also teaches you about the kingdoms of the sea and their Latin names. In addition to this great book there is a wonderful cd. It tells you all about this marine biologist and her life. Also it shows you pictures of what she sees when she dives . I think the cd is really the big learning help. It is full of facts. This is a great learning opportunity for youngsters. I give this book 4 golden stars!

This book is a good one for a girl, like me, who wants to be a paleontologist. The illustrations are very colorful and it has some pretty good information in it. At the end of the book the author gives some kind of "lesson plans". The author tells you about her own experience as a paleontologist and gives you some ideas on how to decide if this is the right career for you. All in all this is a pretty good book. I think I would recommend it.

How we rate a book depends primarily on what we are induced to expect from it. The title suggested that this book would offer ways to increase one's range of thinking styles.

Instead, what I found to my disappointment, were trivial exercises that aim to change routine habits. Most of it is about deliberately changing the way we perfrom our routines and mundane daily activities - like closing your eyes and opening your bathroom tap, taking a new route to a familiar destination, getting exposed to strong and unusual smells etc. This might be of help to those who have considerably aged and require any sort of mental stimulation to activate their brain cells. For someone like me, working as a bank clerk at the age of 30, brimming with ideas on creativity and imagination techniques, these exercises really do not make much of a difference.

I think what the younger population needs for brain development (not in the physiological sense) is a solid exposure to the different ways of thinking - analytical, logical, creative, lateral, absrtact, visual, holistic, intuitive, pattern-based thinking etc and ways to improve memory. The more tools you have to choose from the more ways you have to tackle and solve a problem. This book doesn't do a thing towards this objective.

If you feel what I mentioned in the last paragraph is what you're really looking for, I would whole-heartedly suggest Karl Albrecht's "Brain Power". That book really deserves to move up in the sales ranking. ("Brain Power" focuses on thinking methods. For memory improvement the only book you need to read, in my opinion, is "Your Memory" by Kenneth Higbee).

What follows might be an unkind comment, but I should mention it because the title does not suggest it, "Save this title for the time when you are old and senile".

"Keeping Your Brain Alive is easy to read and the neurobic exercises are easy to do. I thought they would interfere with my usually hectic day but far from it. The Science is also easy to understand and very logical. It is encouraging to think that I can actually do something to help keep my mind fit as I move along in years. I believe this book is important. That's why I'm takingt the time to comment on it. It is something we boomers can do, pardon the pun, without thinking about it!

Keep Your Brain Alive By Lawrence C. Katz,Ph.D and Manning Rubin

Reviewed by Nancy Newman whose novel "Disturbing The Peace" is to be published by Avon Books this fall

If you've been suffering periodic memory lapses lately and are worried a your middle-aged brain is turning to mush, take heart. Help is here in the form of a terrific little book called Keep Your Brain Alive by Lawrence C. Katz,Ph.D. and Manning Rubin. Based on the latest scientific research from around the world, the book offers a short explanation of how the brain functions, then goes on to describe a unique program called neurobics (aerobics for the brain) which can keep your mind healthy and agile even as you and your brain age

The balance of science and exercises is organized and written in a way that let's you understand enough about what's happening in the brain without bogging you down with technical explanations. Basically the system uses the brain's ability to produce it's own nutrients that strengthen and preserve brain cells and applies that to the discovery that nerve cells in adult brains can be stimulated to grow dendrites with these nutrients. As we age our lives tend to become so routinized that we rely too heavily on only one or two senses and many pathways in the brain's circuits become inactive. As a result there is a thinning out of dendrites. Since these threadlike tendrils receive and process information from nerve cell to nerve cell, our minds can begin to feel sluggish.

But according to the authors, this situation can be vastly improved by presenting the brain with unexpected combinations of the senses in novel ways, thereby stimulating it to increase the health and complexity of its dendrites and thus giving memory and mental agility a boost.

The eighty-three exercises offered in the book are simple, fun and easy to integrate into daily life. Try brushing your teeth or buttoning your shirt in the morning with your less dominant hand. Scramble the location of familiar objects in your office. Take a whiff of pungent spices at an ethnic market. Make your way through your bedroom without turning on a light. You're giving your neural pathways a workout. Soon you'll be thinking up your own neurobic exercises. Growing older doesn't have to mean growing dimmer, say Katz and Rubin, not if you start living neurobically.

What a fun book! My son is 11 months old, and I've been singing to him since he was an infant, usually made-up songs. When I saw this book I thought it would give us a whole new batch of songs to sing, and it HAS!!! My baby loves these, and when I sing them to him he just laughs and laughs, and I laugh - I can't help it. They are hysterical!

...Some of the images are gross in a harmless way (a food fight, a dirty bedroom) but the songs are very appropriate for small children, and lots of fun for the Mama and Daddy singing them, too. My husband says he found himself singing "Brother Mitch" the other day at work!!!

This book is terrific. If you have a sense of humor, and you sing to your babies, this makes a good addition to your book collection.

We're constantly nagging our kids about what to do and what not to do; what to say and what not to say. If you've taught your children well enough they will be able to take this book with light humor and not turn it into "potty talk" and "bad behavior". Yes, it has a picture of a (cartoon) little boy's naked butt flying out of the tub. Is it dirty? No - it's quite accurate. I don't know about you but my kids don't wear bathing suits in the bathtub. And as far as stinky diaper change goes... that's our favorite song right now because we have a new baby in the house and his 4 year old big brother loves me to sing it when I'm changing the baby's diaper.
Afraid of the food fight song? Have a picnic outside and LET the kids have a food fight. What's the big deal? Let them be kids. Let yourself be a kid again.
Let the kids laugh a little. They have many years ahead of them to be grown up and politically correct.
OUR RATING: We think this book is GREAT!

The illustrations are fantastic. The lyrics are even better. What more can I say? It really is a great book and my daughter loves it. I'd like to see a CD with these songs (and more); the accompanying sound track would be hilarious. If you like to sing to your kids and have a great sense of humor, make sure this is on your list of books to buy.

The authors show commendable effort in tackling such an ambitious project. Unfortunately their scholarship is often spotty. One example of many: they base their discussion of Jehovah's Witnesses on superficial, secondary, non-scholarly sources. They state that Jehovah's Witnesses "reject the use of tobacco and alcohol, and will not accept blood transfusions." (P. 158) This is more-or-less correct regarding blood transfusions, but the authors of this book are obviously not aware of the fact that the scholarly literature concerning Jehovah's Witnesses documents widespread alcoholism among the Witness leadership. Similarly, on page 456 and elsewhere, the authors make sweeping statements concerning John Calvin, statements that they fail to document, and which, in fact, constitute gross oversimplifications. On the other hand, the authors, with more attention to research and more mature reflection, are no doubt capable of writing a much better book some time in the future. They need to go back to the library !

This book was enjoyable to read. Books looking at messianic beliefs through history seem to be a burgeoning market. A better one covering the same material is Norman Cohn's The Pursuit of the Millenium. As well, there are books that cover a very specific part of the picuture, such as Michael Barkun's Religion and the Rascist Right, examining British-Isrealism and Christian Identity. Part of the charm of Messianic Revolution is its looseness in defining radical religious politics. It often seems the authors include an idea or group simply because it interests them and then they shoe horn it gently into the narrative. This may not make for a authoritative book but it does keep the story and subject interesting and should lead the reader to read more on this subject.

Any brief review carrying a theme through many centuries will cover certain aspects in an overly simplified or superficial manner. But the test is if in the end the information provided grants us insight that would otherwise have been lacking. "Messianic Revolution" by Katz and Popkin stands up well to this test. Although at certain points early on the book seems to drag, by the second half all the pieces tie together well. The reader gains an understanding of where many messianic concepts current today had their origin. Such understanding can on the one hand break down prejudice caused by ignorance, on the other hand it can give the reader healthy caution in reviewing his own religious concepts. It is important to note the use and constant potential abuse of prophetic interpretations.

If we understand historically where we came from and how we arrived at this point at the turn of the millennium, we can have our eyes that much wider open as to what will or will not occur in the next.