Everyone knows Robert Louis Stevenson; everyone has at least one of the myriad books of his poetry. There are some stunningly illustrated collections of his poetry out now, notably two by Thomas Kincaide, among others. But how many of us have actually read all or most of his work? I'm guilty as charged.

This smaller, quieter version of Stevenson's poetry helped me finally, actually read all the Garden poetry. True, the illustrations are spare, but delightfully accurate. My children (7 and 10) were not as mesmerized by this book as they are by others with fanciful graphics, illustrations and larger type to accompany the poetry.

Still, this small book found its way into my purse to be used for waiting moments, e.g. at the orthodontist, doctor, and also to my bedside, where it's shear diminutive size did not dissuade me from reading "for only a minute or two." And within Stevenson's words and language lie the ferment of creative pictures. I liked to have my children close their eyes while I read short poems to 'force' them to use only their mind's eye.

I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures, moods, and images Stevenson conjures and at long last can understand why his poetry remains so classic.

Most everyone knows that Robert Louis Stevenson was sickly, both as a child and as an adult, and the happy result for the reading public was his nearly feverish flights of imagination. Here, in an edition of his classic "A Child's Garden of Verses," that fever is complemented in spades by the fantastical illustrations of English artist Joanna Isles.

Isles uses an arsenal of utterly frivolous flowers, borders, insects, birds, kings and queens, fairies, and more to expand upon the imagination exhibited in Stevenson's poems. The children in these pictures are depicted as being in charge, being at one with their environment, and being delighted to be alive.

Some of the illustrations hint at the influence of artists more famed than Isles (Henri Rousseau appears to be a special favorite of hers--see the illustration for "The Unseen Playmate," in which a boy lies down in weeds that might have sprung from the edge of Rousseau's painting "The Dream"). Using both primary colors and pastels, Isles creates a world within the world of Stevenson's verse. The marriage of the two is a happy one.

When I was younger, well 5 actually, I had the chicken pox. This was one of my mom's favorite books. The words in the poetry just soothed me. It seemed like the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, knew exactly what I was going through.

You can't forget about the little toy soldiers (a poem) at your feet because when you are sick for days, you can imagine all kinds of things in your mind. The curtains billow like sails, the bedpost is your anchor. I sat there in bed and just floated away with the fun of having someone to share my illness. It seemed like a had a friend right there with me.

I loved the pictures too. The little kids are old fashioned and it made me laugh because the boys wore silly clothes, but they fit the time period, my mom said.

I love this book and keep it by my bed when I need to be relaxed.

Hayley Cohen

... I would have never purchased this book.
I love the idea of giving my little 2 and a half year old a universal approach to tales and stories from all over the world. I new Rudoph qualified. I had no idea that there was a monster in the story; note that it was the one thing that impressed her, and she asked me what it was.
I wouldn't suggest it to anyone that wants to introduce the idea of Santa Clauss to their child.

I was very impressed with this book . . . a beautiful book, wonderfully illustrated, containing the original story, which did not have the Abominable, or Herbie, or Yukon Cornelius, like the later movie. I remember as a child in 1951 listening to the original story on 78rpm records put out by RCA and have attempted for years to find the original story. Although I did notice some subtle differences in the words . . .the original referred to Rudolph's, er, "forehead" (Santa was too polite to call it a big red nose) . . most of the text stayed true to what I had memorized. Definitely a book not only for children, but for us baby boomers who remember the original. A must-have to hand on from generation to generation.

Yes, the other reindeer make fun of Rudolph's red nose. (I would hardly call this bigotry.) That is the point of the story: Rudolph overcomes adversity and the other reindeer learn to accept differences. Even the elves learn to accept a dentist and the misfit toys are given to boys and girls who love them. Maybe the USA reader should have watched (or read) until the end of the story instead of making snap judgements like all of the other reindeer.

I used this book, along with a host of other books, transcripts, articles and recordings of capoeira to complete my undergraduate thesis in anthropology. Regarding an earlier post here, i don't think that Lewis was trying to necessarily undermine the black African origins of capoeira, but rather his experiences with capoeiristas around Brazil led him to focus on the wholly Brazilian cultural aspects (samba, too, is a cultural phenomenon with roots in Africa). While i do belive that his treatment of the African origins of capoeira were sketchy, this is to be expected as the data on capoeira's African origins is not very clear, and to the best of my knowledge is to date a matter of conjecture. The only truth regarding that matter is that capoeira did come from Africa with the (primarily West African) slaves and developed into modern capoeira while in Brazil. This last part, "in Brazil", is something that I stress in the sense that although many Caribbean and South American nations received slaves from the same parts of Africa, only Brazil's slaves and mulattos produced capoeira.

More to the point of this type of entry: the book is a definite must-read for anyone (capoeirista or not) interested in the modern expressions of african diasporan culture.

Yes, I think this book deserves five stars, because it gave me insight; both professional and personal. Training Capoeira for seven years (including two trips to Brazil for the same reason) has taken me to the strange border between two cultures: my own Danish average European socio-historic background, and the Afro-brazilian transcultural vegetation in which Capoeira flourishes. Alouring - and as Lewis notes: deceptive, Capoeira as a performance reveals conflictuality on the Afro-brazilian social and historical level, which differs from the writers own background; in this case quite similar to my case. The task of relating to this difference is met by Ring of Liberation through respect of the ontic 'way' of the capoeirista, and at the same time maintaining an epistemic approach. What this means, is that Ring of Liberation can be read by the intellectual layman as well as the non-brazilian capoeira enthusiast, as a guide to experiences already had or about to happen...great stuff!

I found that this is a VERY true to actual accounts of Capoeira. I've been practising Capoeira myself for a while now, and this book reflex the views that I, and most of my Groups shares. It would seem very one-sided, but you NEED to be a Capoeirista to fully understand the concpts and ideas and history of this book. To me, A VERY GOOD BOOK ON WHAT I BELIEVE

PEACE

After seeing the Disney movie, I wanted to read the book.

The book was better than the well-scrubbed Diseny version, be warned, though, that it doesn't pull its punches as far as Klan violence is concerned.

I, too, greatly enjoyed "Journey to Matecumbe" but don't rate it the equal of (let alone better than) "Travels of Jamie McPheeters," one of my all-time favorites. Matecumbe was made into a movie, called "Treasure of Matecumbe" (by Disney, I think). It featured the wonderful Joan Hackett, Peter Ustinoff, and (as I recall) Robert Foxworth.

I'd seen the movie before I read "Travels." After reading "Travels" I was looking for more R.L. Taylor books and found "Matecumbe" and realized it was the one made into the fun movie. I'd love to see "Travels" made into a movie!

For those who loved "Travels," I also recommend the Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Greg Matthews.

Probably the best "fun" adventure story I have ever read. Just when you think the story is coming to a conclusion on an issue, it reopens. All along the well thought up characters keep you laughing and amused at what happens next. This book is written along the lines of a Tom Sawyer or Huckelberry Finn, but takes the adventure and fun to the next level. I would recommend it to anyone who loves to read and has the time because you won't want to put it down.

This book starts off in Arundel where Captain Mason falls for a young girl maried to a older cold husband. The young captain Mason enters the Revolutionry war but is captured and put in Dartmoor prison. After a sucessfull escape he is caught with the young girl by her husband. He sends the man back to Captain Nason back to jail and has his own wife arrested. Captain Nasoon survives a massacre in Dartmoor prison but is realeased and is reunited with the youg girl.

I did not like this book. Not that the book was bad but I do not believe it was good. I'm writing a report on the book and I will try to post it on the internet so I can spare anybody the waste of time in reading this book.

Sjakulc Sjakulc Sjakulc Sjakulc Sjaukulc Sjakulc Sjakulc

This novel, first published in 1931, has gone through many editions. It is written in the style of the period, e.g., Errol Flynn type stories. It goes into excessive detail at some points which can make the story drag a bit. In some ways, it reflects a Thomas Hardy type writing style. It is a narrative style as told by the main character. Some parts of the action were borrowed by later writers.

The setting is March 1812 to April 1815. Merchant captain Richard Nason is trading with the British, carrying supplies to the British Army in Spain, and is generally opposed to the war, when he is pressed aboard a British Royal Navy sloop. His attitude changes and (after escaping) he takes a privateer to sea in July 1812 after war is formally declared. Details of sail handling and such are held to a minimum, and much of the story takes place on land. He becomes enamored with the young wife of an older English landowner, Sir Arthur Ransome, first meeting her before the war, then again aboard a ship he captures.

After various adventures he is captured and imprisoned at Dartmoor along with his crew. A major part of the novel is concerned with Dartmoor prison commanded by the evil Royal Navy Captain Shortland. The prison was par for the course for that time period. Similar conditions were found in both Union and Confederate prisons during the American Civil War 50 years later. Deaths from disease were common in active Army and Navy forces, usually higher numbers than battle deaths, and deaths in prisons were undoubtedly higher (smallpox, typhus, etc.). The novel describes the deliberate massacre of American POWs three months after the war ended.

Captain Nason, of course, survives (narrators usually survive), meets the woman again, etc.

Lively Lady's protagonist is the son of two of the main characters in the earlier Arundel books: Arundel and Rabble at Arms. While not as epic as either of its precursors, Lively Lady illuminates a little-known episode of this country's history, when our war against Britain in 1812 (in effect a side-action of the Napoleonic Wars) was conducted at sea largely by private vessels licensed by our fledgling government to attack, capture, and destroy Britain's ocean-going commerce.

Roberts can come across as a bit stodgy and old-fashioned--and certainly not "politically correct"--to modern readers, but if you make allowances for his writing reflecting his times, you'll be richly rewarded with fascinating details and great storytelling.

The problem with using advoates as authors is that you only get one side of the story. In the case of EMDR, for instance, there is research that says a) the eye movements are unnecessary and b) its effects do not last as long as Cognitive-Behavior Therapy based exposure procedures. This really undercuts the second part of the title of this book "for Long-Term Change". Stories and anecdotes are often entertaining but for true treatment help see a professional who reads the scientific research and is not a cheerleader for every fad that comes along.

I found this book to be a remarkable and consise description of a complicated topic. The authors summarized the state of the field of short term dynamic therapy. They held no information back and identified the areas of controversy, particularly conflicting opinions and data on the use of confrontation in the Davanloo approach versus the approach preferred by McCullough and Alpert. Furthermore, the inclusion of EMDR as a dynamic treatment was inovative and exciting. Neborsky and Solomon's chapter on "Changing the Love Imprint" explained how EMDR and the STDP's may have a common therapeutic action, which was helpful to me as was their integration of attachment theory. Finally, David Malan's chapter on the science of outcome evaluation and what we might learn from his career was an inspiration to read. I hope this group continues to write and create more material for clinicians like this!

The recent no-name reviewer from Atlanta who attacked Short-Term Therapy for Long-Term Change's lack of research must have bought some bootleg copy that omitted its hundreds of endnotes and citations. Its dozens of pages of transcribed therapy sessions will hardly be dismissed as "anecdotes" by any mindful reader. The book's six contributors are tops in their fields. Calling them "cheerleaders," as no-name does, is a whooper bordering on delusion. This book is the best available overview of the latest breakthroughs in short-term psychotherapy available.

At slighly more than 200 pages, *Captain Caution* may be Roberts' shortest novel after *Boon Island*. Its historical context- privateering during the War of 1812- makes it very similar to *The Lively Lady*, which I consider a superior novel for its handling of the love story and its potent evocation of Dartmoor Prison. However, a more discriminating reader will probably admit, with Booth Tarkington (Roberts's closest friend) that it is "about an entirely different sort of privateering, and about a phase of war imprisonment wholly unlike the sorry interlude of Dartmoor."

The plot is rather simple: returning from Canton and unaware that war has started between America and Britain, the merchant barque *Olive Branch* from Maine is captured by a British ship and its crew sent to Europe. Among them is the hero, Daniel Marvin, a.k.a. Captain Caution, and the Captain's daughter, strong-minded but easily blinded Corunna Dorman, whose budding attraction to Daniel appears to be crushed by her holding him responsible for her father's death during the capture. As always in Roberts' novels, the two lovers are separated by external forces and the book is basically a story of the hero's undaunted efforts to regain his dulcinea.

*Captain Caution* was a tough sell for Kenneth Roberts, and for the right reasons, I think. Carl Brandt (who must have been Roberts' agent) said that "the absence of the heroine for such a long period... would make monthly magazines reluctant to use it." And reluctant they were. As Roberts noted in his diary on October 25, 1932, "*Captain Caution* has now been to every slick magazine in the United States, and has been unhesitatingly rejected by all of them". Even the editor of *Adventure*, a magazine which Roberts said did not "pay much" and was therefore a "last resort", commented that "slackening of interest in the principal characters had killed all possibility of making *Captain Caution* into a serial".

Indeed, the main characters are much less endearing than Roberts' other creations. Daniel Marvin is first shown as a rather powerless victim and only begins to show the resourcefulness and endurance of the typical Robertsian hero much later into the book. As he puts it himself, "I've always looked for easier ways to do things, and almost always there's an easier way. It appears to me most people make things as hard for themselves as they can." His inventiveness, in the course of the novel, leads him to come up with modern boxing, the gangway pendulum and a winning formula for roulette (in whose efficacy Roberts, who was later completely duped by dowsing, may well have believed.)

For all this deluge of creativity, however, Roberts fails to give Marvin the enduring personality traits of the other fictional natives of Arundel he so lovingly protrayed. As for the love interest, Corunna Dorman, she is so deluded about both the hero and the scheming villain, Slade the slaver, and is so consistently wrong and angry, that her redemption falls rather flat.

In fact, I really thought that she would be another red herring, like Mary Mallinson in *Arundel*, while the much more lively niece of Talleyrand's would turn out to be the novel's Phoebe Nason (I consider the scenes between her and Marvin as really the most delightful of the whole work.) I found the combination of youthful naiveté and deep wisdom in her character really brilliant, and her advice to Marvin priceless: "You are doomed to be an unhappy young man if you think that no woman is a good woman unless she has made no mistakes and had no desires, ever; and in case you wish that sort of good woman, you must be careful to marry a plaster saint out of a church."

It does seem as though Roberts was more inspired by his minor characters than by his protagonists this time: Lucien Argandeau, the bragging, loquacious French privateer and ladies' man, ranks among Roberts' best drawn supporting characters, up there with Cap' Huff and King Dick.

*Captain Caution* also lacks the historical texture of Roberts' longer pieces of fiction, and feels more like a Patrick O'Brian novel, focusing on plot and dialogue rather than on immersing the reader in the period by richly detailed descriptions (indeed, O'Brian may have been inspired by this novel: at one point, Marvin escapes capture by pretending he has cholera aboard, a trick which Maturin uses in *Master and Commander* with the same effect.) In other words, if you want painlessly to absorb the equivalent of a dozen historical volumes, you would be better off with *Lydia Bailey* or *Rabble in Arms*.

This said, *Captain Caution* is a rather enjoyable book, though definitely of a lighter sort than the rest of Roberts' fiction.

Keneth Roberts wrote many great novels and Captain Caution is another fine example of his descriptive narrative style. You find yourself engrossed in the lives of the main characters from the battles at sea to the horrible living conditions upon the prision ships in England. There are twists and turns that will suprise you. Only Roberts could make history so vivid.

Very well written chronicle of our turbulent beginning. I highly recommend for readers of all ages.

This book is not meant as a precise historical account of the journeys of Lewis & Clark, but a study of the Missouri River and its surrounding areas as the explorers saw them, vs. how these areas have changed since then. Also, the portion of the Lewis & Clark journey west of the Rockies is not included, as the book sticks to the Missouri River. The most blatant changes in these ecosystems are the straightening and channelization of the river itself, which has led to massive environmental (and economic) damage for a pathetically small amount of barge traffic; plus the conversion of vast prairies to farmland which has led to serious losses of native flora and fauna. The book becomes a messy mixture of travelogue, as Botkin describes how to reach key areas of the river, and musings on the environmental health of these areas. While Botkin has had well-deserved success in environmentalist circles, his attempts to draw up naturalist ethics and morality significantly weaken this book. A lack of focus and the squishy writing of a college freshman are also damaging. Botkin is prone to god-awful metaphors, starting the main narrative awkwardly with "Rocks are nature's books; minerals are its words" and populating the rest of the book with more groaners like "Rocks Tell Stories and Soils are Nature's Braille" (subtitle of chapter 25). His attempts to wax philosophical on mankind's modern lack of connection with nature, while correct in spirit, are also unsuccessful in the writing department. See the awkward comparison of a pelican's spiraling flight path to society's shifting concerns for the environment in chapter 6, or the predictable comparison of prairie dog towns with an ideal human society in chapter 32. This book had the potential to be a real winner as both a travelogue with a historical twist and as a treatise on environmental philosophy. Unfortunately it merely flirts with those two strengths without really nailing them, and is sunk overall by weak writing.

This is a fantastic book for anyone visiting the Missouri river.

Book has handy maps, illustrations and reference points for the person making a modern day trip. Notes by Stephen Ambrose and Robert Redford at beginning and end of book commend book as well!

If you are only mildly interested in Lewis and Clark before reading this book - afterwards you'll be completely astounded by their feats!!

Nothing is as constant as change on the unfettered Missouri River. Few stretches of the Missouri remain as Lewis & Clark observed them. The river, as Botkin observes, is "nature's landscape painter". The canvas is continually changing in response to the forces of a river draining one-sixth of the U.S.

Botkin presents us with the story of the first navigation of the river by Lewis and Clarke, through the river's channalization by the Army Corp of Engineers, to present efforts to restore and interpret the river.

But, this book is more than an inventory of facts and issues. It contains vivid illustrations of nature's interrelationships and wry observations on the irony of man "improving" nature.

This is a very practical, pragmatic, yet poetic book.

I am finding the English translations predominantly British and scores of American English words and expressions missing. I thought this was because I bought mine in France but my LaRousse pocket dictionary doesn't have the same problem. I am writing a series of books and use this constantly, hours and hours every day, and so I am further able to see a disturbing trend: the things females talk about, the words and expressions they use tend to be the shortest entries in the book! This is making my research very rough going since half my audience is female! This may be a function of the American vs. British thing; maybe British females aren't as fluent with psychology, for example, as American women... but I doubt it. Talking about emotions and relationships is a pretty globally female trend, yet many of the words describing these things are labelled "Psych", as though they are used only by professionals when in fact in the US they are part of the vernacular. This is forcing me to cross-reference three or four times to be sure I'm using the correct form of the word.

My next complaint is that the meanings are sometimes inaccurate. For example: the second connotation of the word "appreciation" is "gratefulness" and the onlyFrench word they supply is "reconnaissance." The sense "like, admire" is not addressed at all. There are many examples like this and I am not really sure to what it can be attributed but I can't imagine it would be a good resource for college students if it doesn't work for a writer.

This is my experience and I would love to hear an American provide some tips because I bought 2 versions of this brand!

"Harper Collins Robert French College Dictionary" has a rather long name, but that is the only big blame I have for it. It quickly opens the door at the request of any French enthusiast.
This well-compiled lexicon covers almost all the contemporary words that French natives use in daily conversations. It has a good structure, and its double-spaced outlay makes it easy to locate words. However, intending (American) buyers should bear in mind that this edition paid more attention to the Queen's English than it did to the American one.

Robert is a competitor of Larousse, who edits a very academic dictionary.

The Robert French dictionary is not allowed in Catholic schools, and there is a good reason for this: all the words that make the French language are in there, including the slang words that are so capital in this language (you usually meet at least one slang word per sentence in spoken French) and, of course, the dirty ones, so that you know them and can avoid using them ;)

Collins did the same job in Britain and, of course, these two people had to meet one day and decide to give their own two centimes and pennies on how to improve the Entente Cordiale, linguistically, of course.

If you had to buy only one French dictionary, make it monolingual or bilingual, I would recommend the Robert, or the Robert & Collins dictionary.

I purchased this book and hungrily read it cover to cover. I had looked at the reviews and was expecting a book that would transfer the skills of improvisation to a corporate environment. The book is well written, but does not deliver on its promise. It spends way to much time rambling on about sizes of groups and spiritual references. Of the 263 pages, about 10 are relevant to corporate trainers, and improvisation techniques that are appropriate in business. Disappointing.

Robert Lowe provides a hands-on guide to using the techniques of improvisational theater to increase spontaneity and creativity in the workplace. He shows how to use these "improv" techniques to improve communication, break down bureaucracy and help people in your organization express their talents. He includes many examples, including guided visualizations, fill-in questions and exercises, along with personal stories and accounts from his workshops. While some of the tips on creativity and visualization will sound familiar to those who know self-help literature, Lowe's background in theater and improv makes his approach fresh. We [...] recommend this book as a useful guide for top managers and for anyone leading or working with a group or team. Here's why the show must go on.

I read this book from cover to back, constantly discovering wonderful new things that as an exeperienced improv performer, never quite knew or understood. Mr. Lowe does a splendid job at presenting "easy-to-read" metaphors on how the art of improv can benefit the small to the very large corporation. I would highly recommend this book to not just the savvy CEO but to the SAVVY improv performer who wishes to break out of the stage arena and right into the corporate training world.

Hold on to your seat, Lowe doesn't just present old Spolin games, he defines their use in our technological highly-communication-based era.