I found this to be one of my favorite books when I became a new mother. It's full of support, information, and inspiration from so many moms! These moms thoughtfuly share their feelings, their real-life stories and things they've learned along the way. As I read and re-read this book, I feel like I'm sitting around a table with good friends. I really enjoyed the different sections -- Redefining Ourselves * Choosing Home * Taking Care of Ourselves * Living with Changes * Growing in Unexpected Ways. It addressed so many thoughts that were going through my mind and made me think about things I hadn't even thought about before. The essays and poetry made me laugh and cry, think and contemplate...I felt such joy at becoming a mother and realized what a wonderful journey I had ahead of me... This is the best new-mother gift I can buy for friends and family!

How exciting and satisfying to read a book of stories, and feel that you could have written so many of them. That wonderful "you took the words right out of my mouth" thought keeps reoccuring! This book legitimizes and supports so many feelings that new and veteran moms have along the road of parenting. Each story is so candidly written that you feel you are empathizing with your best friend. I have marked some stories that energize me as a mom, to read periodically. Otherwise, I enjoy flipping randomly to share another mother's intimate perspective. This is a terrific shower gift!

I first read this book soon after my baby was born. Reading a book by other *real-life* moms was just what I needed then, to know it was okay to have bad days, and to share the joy of the good days. Since then, this book is my first choice of a gift for friends and relatives expecting their first baby.

I've read this book twice, and I will most likely read it again in the near future. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of romance novels, but this is good. I accidentally stumbled upon this book while cleaning my basement shortly after I moved to a new house; there were about 20 books the last people who lived there must've forgotten. That accident opened up the doors to a new wonderful story. My only complaint is that I wanted it to never end. The book is almost 500 pages long and I managed to finish it all in two days. Great story, you can never get enough of. Highly recommended

I've read this book twice, and I will most likely read it again in the near future. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of romance novels, but this is good. I accidentally stumbled upon this book while cleaning my basement shortly after I moved to a new house; there were about 20 books the last people who lived there must've forgotten. That accident opened up the doors to a new wonderful story. My only complaint is that I wanted it to never end. The book is almost 500 pages long and I managed to finish it all in two days. Great story, you can never get enough of. Highly recommended

Elusive Love happens to be one of those rare books, in which you keep hoping they meet but somehow never do. The ending is great! I generally prefer books with more mystery than romance - however, this book is definitely a keeper!

I was totally captivated by the pictures painted of the prairies and the characters in "A Fine Daughter". Each person was flawed in some small way, in other words, human. By the time I reached the end of the book I felt so involved with each character I couldn't bear to leave them behind. Loved it!

This book reconnected me to the prairies that I grew up in. The author's words joined pathways of memory that I had forgotten, she returned me to a childhood I had filed away as completed. I honor her for making me young again.

this book was great. i am currently reading another book off the new york yimes best sellers list, and when i picked up this book, i just couldnt put it down, it was 100 times better than the other book.

I first read the book with my daughter and then shared it with my Girl Scout troop. It was very inspirational and a joy to see some many innovations coming from women.

A fascinating collection with just the right tone. And MelissaSweet's inventive illustrations will inspire creative thinking byfuture inventors!

The inspiring nuggets of information in Catherine Thimmesh's book have my mind racing--do I have an invention lurking somewhere inside of me? The author's concise, information-packed, yet fun narrative will intrigue children and adults alike, many of whom will turn page after page saying, "I never knew that!" Judging from the chronology of inventions on the endpapers, Ms. Thimmesh has many more stories to tell, and I can't wait to read them. Melissa Sweet's collage illustrations are the perfect complement, fascinating in their detail and ingenious in the textures and materials she chooses. I've already bought several copies of this book; one to keep and others to give as gifts. I can think of many children who will pore over this book with great interest.

The other review nicely describe this gem, but makes it sound like something only a scientist could understand. I'd just like to add that any intelligent person will have no trouble following this lucid account of the first two years of Los Alamos.

This book is THRILLING in the scope and depth of its description of HOW the bomb was made. This was a unique historical event in that the best brains in the world, stimulated by a sense of extreem urgency and given, in effect, unlimited physical and financial resources accomplished in the space of three years somthing that in the 1930's was considered as Science Fiction.

The book is highly readable and understandable by non technical people. This book is proof that "once upon a time" we did things "Right the First Time" in this country. An outstanding historical and technical account of the "ultimate" invention.

Very well written and does not overwhelm the reader with technical minutia. This is an excellent companion to Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb and will please any student of the history of science.

When I first picked up this series, it was after I had read the Guinevere Trilogy, by the same author, Sharan Newman. My mom had gone to a conference for Mystery Writers and picked up a bunch of her books, including the first installment of her Catherine Levendeur Series. I fell in love with it, and each year my mom returns to the conference she gets me a signed copy of her latest adventure. The character was very headstrong then, but now, in this sixth part of the continuing series, Catherine has taken motherhood, and life in mideval France to a more mature level. It's very enjoyable to see how the characters of Edgar, Catherine, and their children have changed over the years in the stories, but it may not be as strong as in the first few.

In this novel, Catherine, her husband Edgar, and the rest of her family trek the miles to distant Germany to save her younger, estranged sister, Agnes, from an undetermined fate, as she was accused of the murder of her new husband. The conflicts are understandable and believable as we see her struggles to hold a family together in a time and place of racial anger and missunderstanding with the various culture clashes.

Sharan Newman's views and enterpretation of the time peroid are amazing and fantastic to see, but some of the plot becomes rediculous and confusing, as well as Catherine's strange newly-found, docile sense of motherhood. It seems that she is no longer taking on the mysteries of this novel, but leaving it to her husband. I enjoy this series very much. It is a must read! Take it from me, you should pick up this series, but don't be dissapointed if the attitude changes from book to book. The years do go by swiftly, and Catherine is, and always will be a little too headstrong for her family, no matter how any children she has! Try it out for yourself!

Ms Newman does it again - a perfectly detailed, well-written mystery. This time, I even had a hard time figuring out "who done it", which isn't always the case with her books. Once again Catherine, Edgar, and their children are on the road. First, to visit Catherine's old convent, then on to Germany to help Catherine's sister beat a murder charge. Her lovely, graceful sister has turned her back on devoutly Catholic Catherine and her Jewish family (it's a complicated tale - your best to start with the first book, Death Comes as Epiphany and go from there!), but Catherine still feels the pull of family ties. Now, sis has been charged with her bridegroom's murder and she has no one to defend her, except Juhan, a more-than-slightly dangerous knight. Meanwhile, it's a dangerous time to be Jewish in Europe, fanatical Christians are preaching vengeance against the Jews - and Catherine's father is feeling the pull of his birth, to return to his Jewish heritage. The complexities of the family that Catherine's sister has married into make solving the mystery a bit more tricky than other Newman books. In fact, while the mystery elements are always good, they are surpassed by the development of characters and relationships. What will become of Edgar's sister Margaret (who plays a big role here) - will she find the good match for bloodlines that her birth demands, or will her attachment to Solomon (Catherine's stoutly Jewish cousin) grow, and vice versa? Will Catherine keep getting pregnant every time she leaves Paris? Will Hubert really leave it all behind to live openly as a Jew and how will that affect his wife and children? This book develops these side characters - including Solomon, one of my personal favorites and Walter, a knight from their past on his way to the crusades. Stay tuned - I have a hunch that things will continue to be very interesting for our Catherine and Edgar!

In this latest book, we get to see the lives of the aristocracy and the peasants in Trier. Catherine and her family deal with murder, family relationships, and offshoots of the established church. I am always fascinated with the glimpses of the Jewish communities as well as the disagreements within the Catholic Church. We get a feel for the difficulties of life in those days, and the strength needed to overcome them.

I must say this is a pretty cool book although not for the squeamish. Graphic full color photographs that read like crime scene photographs or stills from a horror movie.

There's the sexy display between two praying mantis before the male becomes a post-coitus snack. Another praying mantis dances merrily on the head of a fat shiny toad before meeting its inevitable end. Caterpillars greedily gorge themselves on tomatoes only to be sucked dry by more ever present praying mantis.

The most graphic scenes though are the ones with the pinkies. Pinkies being born amongst a white blood smeared backdrop only to be gobbled up by another fat toad.

It's sick to look at and even a bit morbid at times, but it's Mother Nature and a testament to the circle of life and the survival of the fittest.

Truly fascinating but not for those with weak stomachs.

The book consists of excellent photographs of various critters (bugs, frogs, spiders, mice, snakes, etc.) eating or being eaten by others. Not for the squeamish.

The more prudish reader might also be disgusted by the scenes of hot, steamy preying mantis sex.

For those with the stomach for it, the material presented in this work provides a fascinating and detailed view of a small part of the world we live in.

Fantastic. Brilliant. Phenomena and Occasionally Revolting. I want more.

"Life is Hard and Then You Die," I saw this bumper sticker on the rear of a car about the same time I got "FoodChain." I felt that this would be a great subtitle for this provocative book. The photography is stunning and Aperture, one of the leading publishers of fine art photography, has done a dazzling job in portraying the moments between life and death. Catherine Chalmers has given the layperson insight into the world that we live in but seldom see. Her progressive plates vividly take you from birth to death and then back again to birth. Caterpillar eats tomato, praying mantis eats caterpillar, tarantula and a frog eat praying mantis, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

If you thought sex was fatal because of the roulette of disease in our world today, consider the bazaar appreciation that a male praying mantis gets from his lover. Chalmers captures the strange "thank you" the female gives by devouring the male-head first. This book is a collectible and should be in your hands and library. Highly Recommended

I liked this book because there are more than 2 characters. And it was pretty funny too.My first Catherine Hart and I'm comming for more.

I thought this book was the best book that I have read so far. I loved how Zach was very honest with Kelly about what he wanted and didn't "beat around the bush". It was great how they all learned to work together and I am sure that I will read it more then one time.

And so many other words I can't even list them all! _Horizons_ grabbed me right from the first page and wouldn't let go. It has everything you could possibly want in a story -- adventure, romance, intrigue and danger lurking around every corner. The plane crash and subsequent events were very true to life. Ms. Hart delivers a well-rounded group of characters who all have their own *very* distinct personalities. Using this cast of lovable, delightful rag-tags she lets you see how many people react to adversity in so many different ways. I finished the entire thing in one day -- I simply couldn't put it down. I was riveted and on the edge of my seat with each turn of the page. You'll enjoy every minute of your time with Kelly, Zach, Blair, Alita, Gavin, Sydney and the others. But you'll especially get caught up in the romance between Kelly and Zach and you'll rejoice as they discover love amid the danger and tragedy and as life blossoms where there was so much devastation. Don't pass this up!

considering that i want to be a vet, i guess you could say that any book i read is "outstanding", but i really give this book nothing but loud cheers for the way it makes you almost "weak" i love animals so much and i always watch "Emergency Vets" on Animal Planet and i even volunteer at an animal hospital in La Jolla, Ca. i love being around animals, and my dream is to be a vet. i want to thank you for this outstanding book, i loved it!

This is an excellent book for anyone who dreams of being a veterinarian, like me. The book talks about all types of different veterinarians, such as holistic, large animal, small animal, and more. This is a great book and a must read for anyone interested in going into the veterinary field.

Very good book for those who are younger

Ms. Stier presents a well thought out overview of the duties of the President of the United States. The descriptions are well suited for the young reader.

I am a Kindergarten teacher and I really appreciate having books to use that give accurate information on topics I teach. This book does a super job describing the responsibilites of Presidents. We are even told that not everyone will agree with the decisions that the President makes and that the President will not always agree with congress (veto). The kids loved the part where the President's dog is in the newspaper because she had puppies. The use of children in the illustrations was appealing to my students. Preschool, Kindergarten, First Grade teachers should get this book!

This book is the perfect combination of fun facts and information about the office of the president. Students learn about our country at an early age, and this book is written in the right style to appeal to younger children. Easy non-fiction is the biggest trend in children's literature today, and this book is a wonderful example of it!