Storytelling with Children is a "how to go about storytelling with your children" book. It does NOT provide instruction on how to create a story. It does offer much information about why adults should be telling stories to their children. It also offers much about when we could tell stories. Included is a lot of anecdotal information about how people are actually going about storytelling with their children.

In reading, I found this book to be gentle and encouraging, with a spiritual (not necessarily religious) touch that seems badly needed these days. Children suffer from a real lack of connection with their parents. Parents suffer from a real lack of connection with their children. Although this book won't cure it ALL, it certainly discusses a large piece of the puzzle.

In closing her book, Nancy Mellon comments, "I like to imagine a world in the new millennium in which wise and playful storytelling surrounds all little children..." She goes on to describe this vision as a regular time for the gathering of family and special friends for an evening of storytelling and music. This would be time WELL SPENT!

Storytelling with Children is an inspiration - with a very practical outlook. As a teacher, therapist and workshop leader, Nancy Mellon shows you how to pull stories from your own experience or a child's, using small anecdotes, memories or observations. She helps you overcome fear and doubt, and discover the wellsprings of your creativity. With a lighthearted touch yet a deep respect for children and the adults who love them, she acts as a guide to one of the oldest and greatest acts of communication and sharing - that of spinning a tale out of shared experience or sometimes (it can seem) out of nowhere.

Parents, grandparents, teachers and anyone with a child in his/her life will discover how to make up stories for birthdays, and for important events such as birth, death, or moving house. They'll learn how to incorporate a child's fears and difficulties - or simply the ups and downs of everyday life - into a story that will help to resolve them. For those who worry that their kids are spending too much time with the TV and computer, this is the perfect antidote. For those who love reading aloud to children, the magic of creative storytelling offers something even more nourishing. Adults who start off feeling tired or uncertain find themselves "enlivened and cared for" as much as the children do. They feel closer to their child and more in touch with themselves. For children, the gift of a story made especially for them, is priceless.

Diana Reynolds Roome...

This phenomenal book not only explains why telling stories is important, but also gives many examples of how to get started. The author provides lots of inspiration and encouragement and gives you the tools you need to weave stories into your everyday routine - "transition times", traditional reading times, times when children are doing something you'd like them to stop doing, to pass time waiting in lines, in the car, etc. I've learned a wonderful new way to interact with my children. Once you start telling stories - your children will never let you stop - and you won't want to either.

In his Preface to this collection of forty essays and poems, Zaleski
writes, "we see that certain themes remain constant" in the
Best Spritual Writing series, "as if hard-wired into the soul:
the struggle with evil; the quest for God; nature as the ophany; the
sense that we inhabit two worlds, one divine, the other human--all
too human" (p. xvi). Although I found his five-star, 1999
collection more compelling overall, the contributions here both stir
the soul and move the mind. Or, in the words of Thomas Moore's
Introduction, these writings "should help us get through life
rather than above or around it, . . . should turn us inside out,
peeling back our skin of literalism, and remind us to hear the divine
and angelic music that sounds through in any good piece of
writing" (p. xviii).

This collection takes us on spiritual
journeys both literally and figuratively. With her "rucksack on
a cold March morning," Gretel Ehrlich follows the 800-year-old
footsteps of St. Francis, "wanderer, seeker, ultimately
saint" (p. 101). On her pilgrimage, she discovers "walking
and giving, walking and singing, walking and praying: the path was a
proving ground for sainthood, and walking was ambulation for heart
and mind" (p. 107). We also travel with Natalie Goldberg to
Kitada, Japan, where she visits the grave of her Zen teacher,
Katagiri Roshiin a downpour. She writes, "I prostrate three
times on the wet earth and I kneel in front of his stone. Pushing
the dripping hair from my face, the rain running down my cheeks, I
speak to my teacher: 'I am here. It took me a while, but I made
it'" (p.139).

Through the death of his wife, Christopher
Bamford discovers the meaning of life, that "each person's life
is a spiritual journey" (p. 8), and that "time, each
moment" is" a gift, a grace" (p. 4). Anita Mathias
learns that "domesticity, marriage, and motherhood are smiths in
which the soul can be forged as painfully, as beautifully, as amid
the splendid virginal solitudes of the convent" (p. 218). In
the most humourous essay in the book, John Price describes his
near-death experience with a pheasant while driving through Iowa.
"It made me wake up, become more observant of what's lurking in
the margins," he writes. "What's lurking there, despite
the rumors, is the possibility of surprise, of accident, of death.
And if it's possible in this over determined landscape for a pheasant
to kill a man, then why not, too, the possibility of restoration,
renewal, and, at last, hope?" (p. 264).

I was pleased to find
several of my favorite writers here, and discovered a few new writers
I am eager to read beyond this anthology. While Wendell Berry
questions "the hopeless paradox of making peace by making
war"(p. 37), Annie Dillard finds "sparks of holiness"
in the depths of "our bleak world" (p. 86). In her essay
(excerpted from her excellent book, FOR THE TIME BEING), she
observes, God "does not give as the world gives; he leads
invisibly over many years, or he wallops for 30 seconds at a time.
He may touch a mind, too, making a loud sound, or a mind may feel the
rim of his mind as he nears" (pp. 96-7). Linda Hogan writes
that the cure for "soul sickness" is "not in books.
It is written in the bark of a tree, in the moonlit silence of night,
in the bank of a river and the water's motion" (p. 153). Bill
McKibben compares the secret of Gandhi's life, "renounce and
enjoy" (p. 225), to the spread of the voluntary simplicity
movement. "Here is the secret reason," he writes,
"that some people in the rich world have begun to get rid of
some of their stuff, move to smaller houses, eat lower on the food
chain, ride bikes, reduce their expenses and scale back their
careers: if you can simplify your life, and it requires a certain
minimal affluence to do so, then you can have more fun than your
neighbors" (p. 232).

I have rated this collection with four
stars only when measured against Zaleski's five-star BEST SPIRITUAL
WRITING, 1999. However, it is likely other readers will give this
book their five-star approval. It may interest some readers that
Zaleski also includes a list of the 100 best spiritual books of the
century in this volume.

G. Merritt

This is a beautifully crafted collection of spiritual writing, comparable to looking at a finely woven piece of sacred tapestry. Writers Kimberly Snow, "Rearranging the Clouds", John Updike, "Religious Consolation", James Van Tholen, "Surprised by Death", Jacques Lusseyran, "What One Sees Without Eyes", Natalie Goldberg, "The Rain and the Temple", and Ann Hood, "In Search of Miracles", are among those selected by Philip Zaleski and a panel of distinguished writers and thinkers to perpetuate this ongoing series of books honoring great spiritual writers. The aim of the 2000 series was to capture the spiritual pulse of this century, not of the earlier ones. More than two hundred books were nominated by the panel. This collection represents a wide spectrum of religious traditions. I liked that it embraced the everyday aspects of spirituality in our lives. Highly recommended reading! Hopefully, the 2001 series will include James Davis, "Rosetta Stone of God", Philip Morimitsu, "The Seeker", or Harold Klemp, "Child In The Wilderness".These three authors offer similar stunning insights and soul searing reminders of our ability to connect with Divine Spirit daily.

Book was very factual. I do not recall the road to the "On Time" ferry having a 90 degree turn to the dock. It was more like an arc. The bridge road was at 100-115 degree right turn. The DA, my next door neighbor, needs further examination. The author should not assume she drowned. An autopsy would have painted a far different picture. Money buys many things.

Since the only other review of this book doesn't make any sense, I thought it necessary to write a coherent one. This book is truly incredible. It proves Ted Kennedy's guilt with clarity and integrity. The facts are simply undeniable - if it weren't for Ted, Mary Jo would be alive today. The Kennedy family has long been America's sweethearts. It is high time that they are revealed as murders, philanderers, cheaters, liars and losers. Sorry, but this is coming from an Irish Catholic who is ashamed to admit that the Kennedys claim some ties to the land of her origin! They are all bad but Ted Kennedy is the worst. He should be behind bars- this book will tell you why. Read it - it's a well done piece of detective work and it will hold your interest. It may also make your blood boil - but that's not the authors' fault! DOWN WITH THE KENNEDYS!

I often have found that religion, instead of talking about how much we have in common with each other, serves to divide us (or at least that is what I feel is preached to too many). That said, this book was very interesting in that it helped me understand some of the central texts revered by others. I only read about 60% - 75% of it though. I stopped reading when one of the chapters in the book made it glowingly clear to me where the hatred of those who are not "us" stems from in one religion. I hoped this book would help me see our unions, life already shows us too much of our differences. The book itself, outside of what I got out of it, is very educational.

Being not from a very religious background I purchased this book, I guess looking for something. Believing that no one religion is the "right" choice I chose this sampling if you will, of each. Reading this book slowley so as to connect with each phrase and idea, to understand the meaning of all the words of all the religious concepts and their origins. Is to see that they are so similar, almost identical in so, so many ways. I have a very demanding and at times very violent job, I have seen more senceless death and pain, than I will ever forget. Basically I am not, nor I have been considered a saint. This book changed the way I look at people and think about people, all people, in such a refreshing manner. Although violence is an every day part of my life, I have no enemy, I hold no grudge. After a "battle" I am humbled, and pray for the fallen, not because of what I'll do, but because they don't know. I have such peace of mind although dailey life is filled with drama. Read this book, read it slow, you will feel these words reach down and open your eyes.

A Traveler's Guide to Spacetime is a wonderful introduction to the realm of Special Relativity. Moore presents the material in interesting format combining imaginative scenarios of evil space cadets with intuitive yet complicated equations.

Not only did Thomas Moore write a great book, he is also an excellent teacher. It is relativity made easy. Be sure to look for the Six Ideas that Shaped Physics if you really want to learn general physics. Moore emphasizes the models of physics, not the equations generate dby these models.

When I picked up "Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace," I assumed it was a recent publication, one of many focusing on helping children cope with the aftermath of September 11th. But this book by Shelley Moore Thomas with photographs by Eric Futran was published in 1998. Of course, it is so easy in these present times to forget that peace was a good idea way back then as well.

This book provides simple examples of ways in which both children and adults can bring about peace by doing things to help and care for one another and their world. It begins with the simple idea that "Somewhere today...someone is being a friend instead of fighting." Futran's color photographs reinforce the simple gestures that make peace possible, from making sure children do not get sick to fixing old toys to give to new friends. Young readers will certainly be able to relate to these simple ideas and incorporate them into their own lives. To underscore this idea the last pages shows a young boy reading "Somewhere Today" while the text adds "someone is reading a book about peace and thinking about making the world a better place." These simple proscriptive ideas are well worth sharing with your children or young students, who will probably have some equally good ideas to add to this list.

This is an excellent and accessible book for young readers which makes the concept of nonviolence a personal thing. Given the recent frightening episodes of violence in our schools and communities, this book contains a valuable lesson for us all, and has a thought-provoking ending which gives the text a real immediacy. The photographs are beautifully done and fully complement and extend the text. What a good job the author and photographer have done in bringing us this gentle and useful book!

It is time that we got back to teaching our children the basics of life -- love and kindness! This is a great book for parents to read WITH their children. What a better way to teach your children about life, than to read and learn with them.

You should read her first book -- "Putting the World to Sleep"

This is a wonderful author!

Utopia is a classic masterpiece that conveys More's vivid imagination of the Island of Utopia. Although most of the characters are fictional, it is intriguing to learn about the true values of European societies during the 16th century, when More actually wrote the book (although many scholars believe that the exact year was 1515). Truthfully, the book is quite easy to understand. All More tries to do is convey his own views of how society should be through Raphael. Moreover, the use of imagery in Book I is quite fascinating, including the constant references to Roman and Greek myths and beliefs. It is also quite remarkable to see that the story begins to be more and more interesting after More and Giles come back from dinner. To make a long story short, I think it is a great book because of the actual time it was written in since most pieces of literature written at that time were either lost or destroyed.

As a social critique of Enlgish and European society, this book is very effective. It is also beautifully written. But it should not be read as the depiction of what society should be like. Thomas More, a wise and brave man executed by orders of Henry VIII, knew that Utopia shouldn't be taken very seriously, and that is exactly why he used the word Utopia to name his famous island. Utopia, in latin, means "in no place", that what can not exist. The problem is that this simple fact was not understood by many. And so, "utopianism" was born. The preposterous belief that there is a universal and definitive form of organization for human societies led to disasters like Nazism and Communism. By organizing everything perfectly (according to who?), these systems become the negation of the very essence of the human being: its innate imperfection and its need to be constantly changing, always on the move. It is simply impossible that some political, economic and social system resolves once and for all the troubles of humanity. Problems are exactly what make humans progress and reform constantly. Besides, the State has proven indispensable for survival, but also limited in what it can accomplish (in Utopia, the State provides everything for everybody). Stagnant societies degenerate and disappear, or remain to live from the charity of dynamic societies. Closed, perennial social systems, simply don't work: there is abundant proof in history, ancient or recent. "Utopia" is an excellent account of human shortcomings and a good tale, but it is not, nor was intended to be, a recipe with solutions for the world. Aldous Huxley and George Orwell have shown us what might happen in a supposed Utopia. The Communist world was worse. And Anthony Burgess clearly shows us in "A Clockwork Orange", that in "perfect" societies, the only way to practice freedom is violence. Let's not be perfect.

It's unfortunate that it seems as if most of these reviews were written by people whose only knowledge of More has come from the (mostly incorrect) opinions they have formed after reading this book. I don't think one can truly understand its import until he or she understands where Moore is at this point in his life and what he previously wrote ("Life of Pico", for example) and what he wrote later (while in prison, perhaps). No, he wasn't expressing his views through Raphael. In fact, it's clear that Raphael is an opinionated fibber (i.e., he discovered Utopia after Vespucci's fourth voyage? There were only three and Morus knows it...) and his account is purposefully filled with contradictions. There's more to it! More is raising issues, trying to make the careful reader think (and shame on some of the other reviewers for not being careful readers). And once you've read this book, read enough More (ha!) to understand what was going on in the bigger scheme of things, such as More's relationship with the other Renaissance humanists of his time and Henry VIII.

Three cheers for Dr. Harper!Finally someone who is not afraid to go against the societal stream and denounce widely held beliefs about eating and dieting. Truly a voice "crying in the wilderness" showing the way to freedom and a fuller life. Eating is such a key part of living that to help individuals see it as a positive part of life instead of another challenge will truly help them along the path to becoming more "soulful" and ultimately more content and fulfilled in their lives. I continue to struggle with employing the Tao of Eating and ignoring the voice of society that controls eating with rules and calorie counts, but this book gives you practical help to get on the right path to eating and stay there. It is about time we address a society that is spinning out of control in this area, even if it is one reader at a time.

The Tao of Eating is a well-written book that embraces a wonderful eating philosophy. Before you start another diet, read this book by Dr. Harper. It is a step by step guide to a return to the natural way of eating (and living). The Tao of Eating is easy to read and easy to understand. Everyone can benefit from this book. A reader from Wilmette, IL.

This book is the answer to "weight control obsession." Anyone who is able to distance themselves from "dieting to control weight" will profit from reading this book. It offers a way of living that incorporates eating as a natural part of life. Everyone who is willing to read this book with an open mind will benefit by gaining a more peaceful life by integrating eating with the needs of body, mind and soul. As with any obsession, it takes courage to confront one's "diet-weight-loss" obsession. If you dare to do this, you will not be disappointed. If not, it is your loss. This book has changed my life !!! A satisfied reader from Chicago.

This book will help you pass the exam if you are diligent and already fairly VB-savvy. On the bright side, it does cover all of the exam material. However, many topics are covered at a VERY shallow level or are discussed in confusing terms. Worse still, other areas seem to have been written by someone who had read Microsoft documentation but hadn't actually taken the time to understand what they had read or to test out the stated concepts thoroughly. Particularly obnoxious is Chapter 12. The author is clearly way out of his/her depth when it comes to designing and implementing COM components. The lab exercise to implement a callback procedure for asynchronous processing is laughable, as the steps it leads you through never kick off an asynchronous process (clearly showing that the author doesn't really understand what asynchronous processing is). The author thinks that because the windows message queue remains responsive, it proves that asynchronous processing is being used. Oops, sorry, wrong answer.

If it's important to you to really explore these concepts and learn something useful, supplement your use of this book. If there is anything that you read here that seems contradictory, or unclear, or is just plain new to you -- pull up keywords in the MSDN library and go to town. Get hands on to try things out in VB if something in the Hawhee sounds fishy or if you've never had real-world experience with a particular concept. Get the Appleman book for a reference on the Win32 API(you should have it anyway). Take a look at the Pattison book (Programming Distributed Applications with COM and VB6) for information on COM and how VB fits in. These two books will serve you well as references for a long time.

If you just want to pass the exam, and don't care about actually understanding and being able to apply the information that you're being tested on, just buy this book. You'll probably slide by, even if you have to give it a couple of tries. Just please don't ever come work for my company -- I'm positive I wouldn't enjoy working with you.

I decided to buy this book because of the high ratings in this site and is pleased to report that this is the best book I've seen that covers both exam 70-028 and 70-029. Make sure to do all the exercises at the end of each chapter to have a hands-on experience of the concepts being taught. Exam questions at the end of each chapter also makes you retain more of what you've read so make sure you go through those too. Although this book is by no means complete, gaps could be filled in by searching some of the topics it missed using the product's online help. Specially lacking is its Package and Deployment chapter. The accompanying CD gives you some feel on what it is like to take the exam but Transcender comes closer to the real thing than the software packaged with this book. Errors in the text and the exercises could sometimes fluster you but a quick trip to the publishers website for the latest errata for this book could help you catch the more obvious mistakes.

Overall, this book is a valuable resource for the exam and as a handy reference even after the exam.

This is a very good book. Unlike so many other exam prep books, the authors display a deep understanding of VB and computing in general. You get help in passing the VB exams PLUS a deeper understanding of the subject itself. You can tell that the authors are interested in helping you become a better programmer and they have a lot to offer in the furtherance of that cause. Also, the material is presented in a comprehensive way. After you pass the tests, you will want to keep this book on the shelf as a reference. (There are a few errors. If you read carefully, you will spot them.) Here is something that I learned: the reviews that Amazon publishes are a goldmine of information. Getting past Microsoft certification is an important and difficult mission and if you embark on it with an inferior study guide, things are going to be rough: tear stains on your mouse pad -- deep teeth marks on the book itself. I found this excellent book by reading the Amazon reviews and I will never buy another computer book again without reading them first.

Tanizaki's 1933 essay is an excellent introduction to the Japanese aesthetic. True, it IS the personal reflection on one man who, were he anyone else, would probably be dismissed as a curmudgeonly crackpot. However, 'western bashing' is not the issue here -- a point that he makes repeatedly is that had Japan remained closed to the influences and technology of the west, those things that have developed in Japan (and, arguably, later developed Japan) would have had a very different complexion. Although he does not speak for all Japanese, the points he makes -- tastes in architecture, decoration, etc -- appear over and over in ordinary Japanese people's homes and lives, even today, 70 years later. (I recommend this book to anyone going to visit Japan -- it gives most Westerners an entirely new perspective on how to view Japanese art.)

The ideas in Tanizaki's essay on the Japanese appreciation for shadows and nature-based arts and architecture should come as little surprise for those familiar with the Japanese culture and tradition. Tanizaki's suggestion that these inclinations came from practical origins made sense (a lot better than the still-common theory that the Japanese idea of aesthetics is a result of different, Japanese genes). It also seemed to me that the Japanese were more inclined to resign themselves to fate and find beauty in what was at hand (like the shadows) than to fight nature and create light at the expense of beauty.

What interested me most was the fact that Tanizaki has a "us versus them" mentality, not so much that Japan or the West is better than the other, just different. However, it seems that if a young Japanese person were to read this essay today, it would seem just as "foreign" as it does to an American.

Nevertheless, it was interesting to read Tanizaki's essay, which discusses everything from the theatre to the bathroom, gold and lacquer, women and race. One cannot help but read Tanizaki's essay without feeling his loss at the erosion of traditional society and the innate beauty within it. At the same time, it makes you look around and notice the lack of beauty in our everyday lives (in terms of art and architecture). America, too, was once a land of shadows and a people who we probably able to appreciate their beauty. Tanizaki probably never considered the fact that his culture and ours are really not so fundamentally different.

If you read this essay, don't get caught up in Tanizaki's occasional bad-mouthing of Western culture (remember that he probably would have never dreamed that this short essay would be translated and read in the West!) Instead, treat this as a rare look into a common Japanese mindset and an opportunity to see for yourself whether Tanizaki's praise of shadows is a worthy one or not.

Reviewers are treating Tanizaki's essay as a self-righteous narrative. It is, rather, an exposition of one man's aesthetic, which, perhaps mistakenly, he attributes to a nation. At the same time, he derides this nation, Japan, for relinquishing traditionalism, in favor of utilitarianism. Tanizaki did not use this essay to belittle western civilization- he used it to emphasize how western civilization was not, according to his perspective, complementary to eastern civilization. This essay is a powerful opinion piece, reflecting one man's disdain for, or arguably bewilderment at, the changing times and the dissolving of a time and place he loved. Tanizaki is a brilliant essayist; his work is revealing of passion and insight. To take this essay as an insult, or as "boring" and "whiny," is the crudest possible assessment. At best, demeaning the essay by ridiculing it as foolhardy words written by a grumpy old nationalist does nothing but prove Tanizaki's points about the incompatibility of western and eastern aesthetic. I don't believe all of what Tanizaki said to be true, either of aesthetics or of ethnic predispositions to given aesthetics, but I believe he had a valid case as foundation for his essay, and I strongly recommend reading it.