There is such a beautiful marriage between the words and illustrations of this book. A treasure for any friend.

This book is a wonderful gift to give to someone you love. It is beautifully written and illustrated. The story, a journey about discovering the "heart of friendship", is very touching.

I was given this book by a special friend and found it to be a great gift for me to give others. Anyone who has been there for you needs to receive a copy. Sometimes the best gifts are ones like this that can be re-read and may mean something new as life and friendships change. I no longer see the friend who gave me mine, but feel close to her each time I read it. My only problem is remembering to whom I have given copies of the book. Solution: I now write in the back of my book the persons name/date/event so that I don't give the same book twice! I also do this with another great gift book called "Hope for the Flowers".

This volume makes important contributions to our understanding of the Chinese revolution. . . . The entrenchment of networks of loyalty among local leaders and higher level officials of the emerging party-state is a central element of the authors' analysis. As the state extended its control over both the urban and rural economies, it increasingly monopolized the allocation of scarce resources. . . . Given the authors' trenchant critique of the Communist party's economically irrational commitment to rapid, large-scale collectivization, it is unfortunate that they have not addressed the implications of their work for the decollectivizing rural reforms of the post-Mao era, when many aspects of the peasant household economy have been restored. Perhaps there is a sequel in the making

It has been two years since I read this book, but I see it hasn't had a review yet, and I think it deserves one, so I add my two bits.

A very detailed analysis of the developments in rural Chinese society over a period of massive upheaval. Provides tremendous insight into the social mechanisms at play, and the interplay of contemporary political movements with the traditional power structures in rural China. For anyone interested in or involved in rural development in China, a drama which is still going on in the 21st century, a must read. Also recommended for anyone interested in the interactions between policy-directed, centrally planned development and the way society responds to it.

Would like to see a similar follow up on the years between the cultural revolution and the present.

This is a great book for a detailed introduction to reproduction. It contains all the proper terms for male and female anatomy along with simple non-offensive illustrations. The anatomy is diagramed, and the hows of intercourse are explained in words, but there are no diagrams of intercourse. It goes into specific detail about human reproduction and sexual intercourse in a very easy-to-understand format for elementary-aged children. This book explains the anatomy and the hows of reproduction from intercourse up to birth with just the facts, without comments about love, marriage, or religion, so anyone who wishes to explain the specific details to a child could do so with this book and then add one's own beliefs to supplement it. It is out of print, but not out of date.

In 1949, years before Joseph Campbell became a popular hero for our meaning-hungry age, the great scholar and mythographer published "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," the book that made his academic reputation and helped to launch a new appreciation of the universal relevance of mythology to contemporary experience.

For actor/director and therapist Paul Rebillot, author of "The Call to Adventure," Campbell's work provides a context that he uses to create a ritual structure designed to bring the archetypal hero story into direct contact with here-and-now experience. Propelled by a period of intense personal crisis in the late '60s when he lost touch with ordinary reality, Rebillot discovered firsthand the demons one must face in the quest for wholeness and integration. He is convinced that it is the lack of meaningful rituals of transition and initiation that creates much of the spiritual emptiness of our acquisitive consumer society. In a world currently dominated by biochemical experts who give Prozac to record numbers of patients as part of an enormous medical bureaucracy, he has turned his fascination with the roots of theater, his training in Gestalt psychology, and 25 years as a group leader at Big Sur's Esalen Institute and in Europe into an experiential process that he calls "The Hero's Journey."

The book itself is a combination of Rebillot's story of his development of the process and clear instructions on how to use it. It has been designed as a guidebook either for an individual ritual of self-discoveryor use with a group. Readers of Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf may remember the Magic Theater visited by its protaganist; Rebillot's connected exercises can take a willing reader into an imaginal place as deep and vivid as that.And it's as much fun as you had as a child at play---though this game is one that's been told and played since the childhood of the human race!

Included are beautiful meditations for centering, grounding, and group-bonding as well as a wealth of insights from an artist and healer who has made transformation into a life's work.

Generation gaps are erased when Grandmother shares her special box of memory keepsakes with her granddaughter. In turn, the little girl helps her own mother to realize that it is okay to take time to look back, even as we attempt to cope with the changes of today. Memories of times and things gone by surface as the mother packs her mother's belongings and moves her into her own home. Grandmother's hat box, the hand-made wooden box long forgotten by mother, and the daughter's own shoebox provide 3 generations of the joy of saving!

This book absolutely overflows with memories for anyone who has grown up attending the Iowa State Fair. The pictures that date back from the very first fair to the most recent years show just how the Iowa State Fair has become a pasttime for so many families and groups of people. It's a very heartwarming book for an Iowan to have in their home. Growing up, the Iowa State Fair was my family vacation destination each year, and continues to be. The pictures in the book and stories enrich my many memories and also have enlightened me of the history of the Iowa State Fair as it has grown over the years and turned into an absolute two-week hysteria for all visitors. This book is just wonderful.

Outstanding reference for mathematics instructors or researchers in mathematics education. Editors present a variety of research agendas from the various authors. Informative addition for the educational researcher's library.

This book costs about 50 cents a page - that is not obvious from the description - for that price you'd expect 500 pages, it is less than 150.

Give me a line and I will sell you my copy for half the price.

I think that this is a good book for anyone who wants a job in this field. And you probably don't think so but I do and I am only 15 years old.

So give this merchandising book a try and see how you like it.

Are colours percieved in the same way in all cultures? This is a fascinating question connected with the discussion on linguistic relativity. Unfortunately, many works on colour either disregard the issue or build upon Berlin and Kay's classic work. Written in 1969 "Basic Colour Terms" consists of a simple theory: Colour Terms are acquired in a certain order: "primitve" peoples have fewer colour terms than industrial societes. The only problem is, the theory is wrong. Here is why:

The colour samples are restrictive because variation in luminosity or reflectance are not included. At the same time, however, the stimulus array is also very complex and the labelling task forces the informants to make judgements and choices which they rarely encounter in real life.

The research is unrealistic. How many Europeans would be willing - and able - to classify 350 (!) colour chips?

The colour research of Berlin and Kay (and their followers) is being conducted in "linguistic isolation"; that is, hardly any notice is taken of how colour terms are used by speakers and hearers in every-day interaction. Morphemic, syntactic, semantic (other than naming) or pragmatic issues are not dealt with.

With Berlin and Kay's system it is also easy to make the colours fit the thesis.

While Berlin and Kay's research has revived interest in the subject much effort has gone into defending a flawed theory. For a more frutiful approach see the section on colour terms in Wierzbicka, Anna (1996) Semantics: Primes and Universals. Oxford: Oxford UP.