Gowie Corby is a tough English schoolboy who is enemies with everyone: Stuart, the self-important captain of the football team, Johnathan Johns, the brainy, prissy teacher's pet, and especially the odious and sniveling Heather. Then one day a black American girl named Rosie comes to school, and surprisingly, she and Gowie become friends. They are complete opposites; Rosie is brainy, hard-working, and optimistic, while Gowie is unstudious, rebellious, pessimistic, and fascinated by fictional horror. Gowie is able to confide his family troubles to Rosie and her friendship helps teach him how to get along with the people he despises. This book is written from Gowie's point of view, and his humorous narration of events and adept characterization of his teachers and schoolmates makes for a very interesting read. Viewed by another person, Gowie would just be another bully, but by reading his retelling of events readers can sympathize with him.

I never read this book, but when I was a kid I had the audiotape version, and when I actually came across the real thing many years later, I found that there weren't many serious abridgements.
I used to listen to this constantly. The main characters, Tyke and Danny, and their schoolmates and families, are fun, and the stories (most chapters are self-contained episodes, covering the events of their last year of primary school) were all entertaining.
I'm American but have always been a serious Anglophile, so I loved all the little details that make this story English (a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings, a pantomime play of King Arthur, Action Man toys, etc).
I think my favorite part of the story is the twist at the very end. Of course, I can't say what it is, because that would ruin the story. As a young boy, I never even questioned the ending, even though as I think about it now, it was very strange.
This book is probably best for kids ages 8-10, or as a read-aloud book for a younger child.

Devastatingly accurate and funny picture of primary school life and one child's attempt to beat the system. Tyke's determination to protect dim Danny from his educational fate is the spark that sets the story ablaze - but the 'identity-kick' in the last chapter is the knockout! Aimed at 8-12 year olds

I remember this book from 6-7th grade in England. I've given it 5 stars from a childs perspective, although I would love to re-read it just for the fun of the memories it has attached to it.We read this in english class in school...but there were MORE Tyke Tyler books, I'm sure of it. Someone please confirm this! I think I remember 3 books...and I always got excited when the teacher presented us with a new one. But weren't the kids the teacher picked to read annoying?! The ones who read so slow you lost track of the story while they stuttered on words such as "supposedly"! The twist in this book is very cool and very clever but kind of ruined it for me. I won't say what the twist is but it is very, very clever on part of the author.I see this is now out of print, which is a shame, but from the point that the year is 1999...children now may not get as much fun out of it because things have changed so much since I was in 7th grade 12 years ago, like the "Cane" for example...which I think is mentioned.Anyway, if you see this book..buy it! If you are a kid buy it, and also if you are in your 30s and are having a crisis buy it too!

This book was great. Although I did not read all of it,I still loved it.

Tamworth the Pig is a mighty and eloquent Animal, who spends his time masterminding political campaigns, including "Save The Trees" and "Grow More Grub". His allies include the local children, Thomas and his sister Blossom. Together with Rab the much-suffering stuffed rabbit and Hedgecock, who isn't quite sure if he's a hedgehog, they experience many fine adventures in an English dale. Well-written with an underlying respect for man and beast alike, this is a delightful book for grown-ups and children. You're never too old for the Great Tamworth

This book, a long poem, is good. I read it because of my interest in weasels and their kin. It's interesting, to say the least, and jumps to anf fro between a rat, his daughter and a whole lot o' minks. If you like drama and poetry (or minks, weasels, and ferrets), try this book. It's unique!

Characteristics of this book (and ratings out of 10). Note that all ratings and descriptions are in comparison to other books.

Difficulty of material: 8 (not necessarily a good thing for everyone), the book is more difficult than most freshman physics texts (calc-based), but there are some derivations that were left out or some were poor in explanation.

Examples: 5, the setup of the examples appear as though they would be excellent, and the setup was a good idea. However, Tipler did a poor job in his carrying out the explanation portion of the examples. Because of this, some of the examples are difficult to follow. This is probably the most important point of the book--examples are crucial to problem solving! Tipler's text doesn't stand up.

Problem Planning: 7, some of the problems have terrible setups, others are simply just vague. In one problem you have to assume a weight for the problem, although this was difficult to discern from the problem description. It was just confusing about how the problem should be approached. Tipler should have actually given the statement "assume a weight," instead of leaving it vague. Another problem had two different masses for answers. That is simply poor planning. The positive aspects of the problem set is that, at least for some colleges, the answers to all the problems can be found on the college's website. Also, there are lots of problems to work, and the conceptual problems are, for the most part, well done.

Compared to Other Books: I have 5 other physics books and this is by far the worst of them. Serway's or Young's books are FAR better. There is far more explanation and the problems are just as difficult (Serway's has even harder material in some aspects). The other texts contains more and better derivations (assuming you are looking for the hardest editions). Other books give much better material for the amount of money asked for.

If you must buy this book for class, I would recommend getting an additional used book (from an author other than Tipler) for reference. You may find you use other texts more than the assigned text because Tipler's text is poor. Also, problems on physics tests are usually from other books--so working problems in other books can only help test grades.

This is the best physics book I have ever seen. The text is well written, the examples are great. What sets this book apart from other physics textbooks I have seen are these advantages. Examples are set up in columns so that on the left, it tells u whats going on in english and on the right, whats going on in math. There are great section summary pages and problem solving guides at the end of every chapter. The problems are each labeled with a difficulty, and they are creative problems. There are optional sections which you do not need to read but enhance what you are learning in lecture and reading. Overall, a great book.

The first equation that you see in this book is that "Tipler= Quality"

At first, this seems a little pompous and presumptuous. But it is alas, oh so true. When I first started physics this year, I had no experience of calculus. I thought taking a physics course based in calc was going to be hard. I was wrong, as Tipler's explinations were so well done that I found the math to be easy. Although its true that most of my physics learning came from my high school teacher, the only thing he lectured on where things that came almost directly from Tipler. This was convinient if I didn't feel like taking extensive notes. By the end of the simester, I had mechanics mastered. With Tipler by my side, the biggest challenge in learning physics was overcoming my own lazyness.