As anyone who knows me knows, I have cats. I seem to attract them, well, like cats! I have cat joys and cat tragedies especially prominent in the past few years, with two outdoor disappearances and one indoor death, yet with wonderful new additions and the experience of sharing my home with seven new kittens born under my desk one summer, and five more from a different stray the next summer.

I had always considered cats low maintenance, essentially self-sufficient. This was a requirement to me, as I'm not home very often, and when I am, I can't spend too much time on cat duty. This was the reason I opted for cats over dogs. I was raised a dog person. But dogs require attention several times a day. Sorry, can't do it...

Well, with all that happened in the past year, I found that cats, while generally low-maintenance, have periods nonetheless in which they need special care and attention (even if, like Emma, they don't really want it). Thus, being a person in the education mode, I decided I needed to learn more. It just so happened that one of my book clubs was offering the ASPCA Complete Guide to Cats, so I ordered it.

This has been a gem of a book. It is complete, concise yet filled with information, well organised, colourful and picture-ful, durable (slick coating on the covers and a finish on the pages means the cats can walk across with dampened paws and not destroy the book, useful when it is opened when I attending their needs).

The first section discusses how and when to bring a cat home. It addresses such issues as cats and kids, preparing the home for a cat, your own readiness, and which kind is most appropriate for which environment. It also discusses what to do when welcoming your new friend into the home. Food, vet care, litter (to box or not to box, ah, that is a question!), and how to introduce new cats to other cats is discussed.

The second section is a reference guide to cat breeds. In addition to specific breeds organised alphabetically (Abyssinian to York Chocolate) it talks about coat palettes and patterns, colourations, paw and toe issues, and special needs. The breed section identifies special grooming and dietary needs, lap- and kid-friendly breeds, energy, and of course, wonderful photographs of representative cats for each breed.

Section three gives a bit of biological and physiological information, about cats, as well as (if it is possible!) some insight into the psychological functioning of cats. Are they really that smart? Are they really that clean? It addresses mating habits and catnip addictions, too!

The fourth section has been the most important to me, Taking care of your cat. It discusses briefly everyday feeding and care, but then has a good section on potential health concerns, what to do in the case of injury and illness, gives home nursing tips (important with Emma), and how to deal with both the beginning and end of the lifespan, which, with new kittens in the bedroom and a declining Emma in the living room, I was dealing with both ends of the spectrum.

This is an excellent one-volume reference to cats, useful for anyone who cares for cats. The appendices have glossaries, telephone numbers and resources, and recommended readings to continue a feline-related education.

But, if you just pick this one up for the pictures, it would be worth it for that too. And you might just learn something along the way--always a plus.

This book is ideal for someone who is considering adopting a kitten or cat. It has abundant info on breeds, including each breed's talkativeness, activity level, and temperament. The numerous photos are captivating. It deals with basic aspects of feline life phases, health & bodily functions, and behavior. It is a useful guide to the cat owner regarding the basics of pet care & problem solving. This is quite a thorough book for being a slim volume, and it was my constant companion through kittenhood.

By the way, our cat has stayed with friends several times when we were out of town, and I have found it useful to loan them _Aspca Complete Guide to Cats_ along with the kitty. It is an entertaining read for the sitters and puts my mind at ease.

If you already have a cat and want more in depth reading, I recommend _The Character of Cats: The Origins, Intelligence, Behavior, and Stratagems of Felis Silvestris Catus_ by Stephen Budiansky, which I found fascinating.

An excellent book about cats...Helps you to choose the right cat for YOU & YOUR family, to understanding cat behavior, to basic & emergency health care, and much more. The full-color Reference Guide to Cat Breeds is excellent & concise...It shows the different coat colors - from deep to dilute, the different patterns - from Solid to Tabby, to Pointed to Vans, and Feline Head Shapes, Eye Shapes, Body Types, and more. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in cats.

Warren Murphy has created a fantastic tribute to the Destroyer series in "The Assassin's Handbook." Witty, engrossing and engaging, Chiun's character comes to life between the pages. I couldn't put it down. It's a must-have for everyone, not just Destroyer fans.

Anyone that's read any of this series will want one of these books ! Also, be advised that Warren Murphy now has 2 websites where you can order Destroyer merchandise...(Now if the rumours of a new Destroyer movie are true !) I've been an avid fan since the series originated back in the 70's and now my teen-aged son is a fan as well.

The companion Guide to the Thirty Year paperback series, "The Destroyer" by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. A must for any devoted fan of this series, or even for those who appreciate the wit and humor of the series.

More rare yet, is the remaining author, Warren Murphy's approachability and availability. Few authors are so readily available to the public, and this alone is worth discovering Mr. Murphy's other writings.

Mr. Murphy remains one of the few, now dwindling, list of writers from the old school. Educated, self-made, plain speaking writers of thought and creativity. One of the remaining few who make the "new breed" of "formula" writers seem effete, cliched, and redundant.

Like a ship's captain, a CEO is only as good as the latest weather report. If a chief executive unknowingly steers his or her ship into the path of a hurricane, that ship's in trouble, no matter how skillful a seaman that captain may be. And unfortunately for CEOs, hurricanes - in the form of disruptive changes that remake markets overnight - have become almost an everyday danger. Authors W. Warner Burke, William Trahant and Richard Koonce argue that the most critical function of a corporate leader today is to monitor and respond to these rapid shifts in the external marketplace, or business climate. To illustrate this point, they offer insightful profiles of leaders who successfully guided their companies through the storms of organizational change initiatives. These profiles are especially effective in giving the reader both a sense of the personalities of these dynamic executives and a practical breakdown of the methodologies and strategies that they employed. We [...] strongly recommend this book to senior executives, would-be change agents and anyone curious about how to navigate the turbulent environment of 21st-century business.

After reading BUSINESS CLIMATE SHIFTS it was clear to me that this book was as much about leadership as about change. As a thirty year middle manager who has participated in both the planning and implementation of change, I was extremely pleased to read throughout the book that, although the companies were focusing on the customer, they all recognized the importance of the employees. The one common denominator throughout the book was that how management treats the employees is how the employees treat the customers. Although Colin Marshall at British Airways and Roger O. Goldman of National Westminster Bancorp. have distinctively different styles, they both recognized the importance of employees in the change process and demonstrated that leadership is key to effective and efficient change.

Starting my career in government late in life, I have noticed a reluctancy of federal executives to get the rank and file involved in major change initiatives. I suggest that any government manager or executive contemplating change read BUSINESS CLIMATE SHIFTS. The lessons learned from those who have been there, both government and industry, are invaluable and provide a framework for developing issues and questions that need to be addressed before any major shifts or changes in organizational culture.

This book is a must-read for anyone involved with organizational change -- whether you are managing the change or experiencing it from the "front lines." These fascinating Q & A's gave me real insight into the process. I recommend Business Climate Shifts to any forward-thinking person in the corporate world today.

In Conversations with the Capeman, Richard Jacoby brings to light with concise objectivity, and yet a fierce sense of empathetic compassion for his fellowman, the bizarre and wretched existence of Salvador Agron. Jacoby, through both letters and a personal observation of Agron during their twenty year relationship...takes his readers on a horrifying journey with the capeman. From the mean streets of New York's Spanish Harlem where he roamed 'till the age of sixteen as a mindless, illiterate young predator...throughout his twenty odd years where he experienced the entire cycle of hell in New York's prison system. From the initial empty minded rebel, to the well read psuedo-revolutionary, tutored by elders in Marx..Lenin..Mao..Franz Fanon, etc. ... to Jesus Christ for some sense of redemption, to homosexuality to fill the emptiness in a soul where nobody had ever truly lived. And finally, culminating in death shortly after his release from prison. Salvador Agron was never to know a serene existence. But as small miracles would have it, the dehumanization process was over, and somehow, I couldn't help but lay this book down with the feeling that the "Capemans" ultimate victim was, Salvador Agron.

It is a wonder how a book like this wasn't published before. To tell such a compelling story with such first hand information is the way it should have be done. Richard Jacoby, a friend Salvador Agron counted on, was as good as his word. He gave an account of Salvador's life that couldn't have been told by anyone else. Not always do we get to have inside information on a person, especially a convicted criminal, society doesn't allow that...Here we have it all, every account that needs to be said is written down, everything that you wanted to know about life in prison, and life on the street for a young man who really didn't have a chance in an era that was new to everyone. Good job Richard, definitely take a bow for this true to life book.

I just recently finished reading this book and i was at a loss for words. It was overall shocking. But thats what I loved most about. It was all truth it captured his (Salvadors) life as it happened,which was most important,and the words were his own. We know what he suffered through and what he cherished most. I can honestly say when I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I loved it. Its a great read!

CONVICT CRIMINOLOGY IS AN EDITED BOOK THAT FEATURES SOME OF THE BEST KNOWN ACADEMIC SCHOLARS IN THE FIELD. I especially enjoyed the chapters written by the ex-convict professors. They are the real experts on crime and corrections. The reading is cutting edge, state-of-the art, a new paradigm in criminology. This book will blow the cob webs off the walls of the ivory tower. This is a new criminology!

RICHARDS AND ROSS EDIT A FASCINATING WORK ON THE LIVES AND OBSERVATIONS OF VARIOUS SCHOLARS WITH DIRECT EXPERIENCE IN THE PENAL SYSTEM. THIS EASILY DIGESTIBLE BOOK SERVES AS AN EXCELLENT REFERENCE WORK ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF CRIMINOLGY, AND IS RECOMMENDED BOTH GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. THE BOOK FEATURES 9 CHAPTERS BY EX-COVICTS THAT ARE NOW PROFESSORS OF SOCIOLOGY, CRIMINOLOGY, OR CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

There a lots of how to books out there but Behind Bars is something different. This book is assecessible to the general public and gives its readers, an inside perspective on prison. The language is clear and its points are made simply and directly. As an educator who has worked with "street kids," this book will be a useful tool at letting my students appreciate what it means to become ajudicated. Behind Bars is a "how to book" that you hope you will never need, or that your family or friends will ever need. But, on the other hand, maybe we do need to read this book so we get insight on this huge American industry. In order to be a well informed citizen I believe you should read this book.

While this book may be a good read, I'll never know because the pages have fallen out of the book like leaves, from the first moment I opened it. I've spent much time trying to retrieve and organize the wayward pages, to allow me to read what might be an interesting story. I have personally never experienced such a shoddy product.

When Liana Robertson's teenage son disappears, she is forced to work with her ex-husband Cullen Llelleyn to find him.

Liana and her ex-husband Cullen hate eachother, 100 years of family history has taken care of that. A beautiful pearl called The Pearl of Great Price has disappeared also, along with their son, a pearl that has ripped the families apart by greed and jealous and even murder.

One hundred years ago Liana's grandfather Tom found The Pearl of Great Price only to be murdered by Cullen's great-grandfather Archer in order to own it. One hundred years of unhappiness follows the two families, passing the pearl from family to family until Liana and Cullen finally unite the two families by marriage.

Now the pearl is missing and so is their son. Liana and Cullen must face their problems to find their son and the pearl.

I found this story to be boring in places, but very good in others. It went back in time too often leaving out the main characters, Liana and Cullen. Not enough romance and I left feeling like there should have been more.

This book is a saga, a journey two familes share. Tom Robeson finds a pearl in Australia's waters and his best friend, Archer Llewellyn murders him for it. And with this The Pearl of Great Price throws the two families into generations of turmoil. The Pearl is the catalyst. The people are the story.

Liana Robeson, Tom Robeson's granddaughter, is the current owner of the pearl. Once upon a time she met and married Cullen Llewellyn, Archer's great-grandson. They thought their love was enough to mend the generations of trouble between their families. In the end, the marriage ended and the only two things they shared was a son, Matthew, and the family legacy, the history of the pearl. Now Matthew is gone, and in order to find him Cullen and Liana have to delve into their family past and their personal past. They have face their personal demons, and face each other.

Beautiful Lies is a story of discovery. From San Francisco to Australia, the book weaves a tale of hope and love. Liana and Cullen discover their family past, they discover their son, and more importantly the discover just what they both lost when their marriage ended. BL is a beautiful tapestry that showcases Richards talent in a story of betrayal and hope, of beauty and darkness . . . of a love that is destined to be.

An excellent book for those taking a chemistry course or those who need to be refreshed for an upcoming comprehensive exam. It is straight forward, to the point. This book contains subjects that are most likely to appear on exams. It adds simplicity, if possible, to chemistry. A well deserved investment if you want to improve your grade.

I am in a chemistry class this year and I am using a book titled "Chemistry" by Raymond Chang. I decided to buy this book as a reference as my textbook has trouble explaining some of the concepts and problems. When I received this book, I noticed that it only covered up to about chapter 8 in my 32 chapter textbook. Although it only explains the fundamentals of chemistry, this book does do a good job explaining those parts.

This is a great resource for anyone wishing to learn basic chemistry or for anyone wishing to brush up on long forgotten basics. It explains challenging concepts using simple terms which can be understood by most people. I am very impressed with the author's teaching style.

this is shakespeare's most accessible comedy. it's a farce about mistaken identities among identical twins. nothing complicated here. the play has it's funny moments. it's not the bard's best comedy; that's 'much ado about nothing', imho. but this is not a bad place to start.

"Methinks you are my glass, and not my brother."
So says Dromio of Ephesus, one of the members of two sets of estranged twins whose lives become comically intertwined in this delightful, ingenious, & aptly named Comedy of Errors. Being an avid Shakespeare fan and reader, I unequivocally consider The Comdey of Errors to be Shakespeare's finest and funniest comedy. Antipholus of Syracuse and his long lost twin Antipholus of Ephesus along with the two twin servants Dromio of Ephesus and Syracuse become unceasingly mistaken for each other making for a hilarious and entertaining farce of a play.

The Comedy of Errors has been copied many times since in literature, movies, & sitcoms, although it has never been duplicated.

There is no doubt that this comedy of Shakespeare's is delightful, crazy fun. You could call it the father (or mother) of all sit-coms. The play is suitable for middle school production and viewing, with some modifications. For my students and myself I prefer the Folger's edition of Shakespeare's plays for three reasons. First, the footnotes are easy to read and across from the text. 2. The choice of illustrations and 3. The introductory information. When purchasing for my students, though I have tried other publishers, I now always choose Folgers.

This book is a good collection of Harris, Uncle Remus tales. Some of the posters have gone into the history of these tales, so no need to repeat that here. However, these tales are best taken in small doses, as Chandler's "Negro dialect" (as it was known at the time) is a bit much on the eyes of the modern reader (I'm an African-American from South Carolina myself and I had a lot of trouble trying to decipher some of this). But the illustrations are quite fitting and wonderful. So if you have a lot of patience and love some good stories, go for it.

These animal stories were banned in the late sixties from many schools and libraries for being racist (the storyteller in the book, Uncle Remus, is a slave and uses the "n" word). But it seems that it's now ok to like these stories again, and a good thing that is, because they are not only hilariously funny, they are also deeply revealing of the foibles of us humans. But perhaps most importantly, they are a treasure trove of African American folklore.

The stories combine folktale motifs brought from Africa by slaves with those of the native peoples of the south, particularly the Cherokee and Choctaw. Since both cultures had stories with animal characters, and specifically trickster rabbit characters, ethnologists have not been able to completely determine which elements are the African and which are the Native American. No matter, since the two cultural traditions blend together seamlessly.

This edition is the most encyclopedic of all the Uncle Remus collections, and contains many different types of tales. There are origin tales, like how Mr. Dog originally came to live with Mr. Man and why Mr. Cricket has elbows on his legs. There are satirical tales, like the one in which Brer Rabbit convinces Brer Fox that it's the fashion in town for up-to-date foxes to have their heads cut off, which is information that Brer Fox, out of vanity, acts on in the way Brer Rabbit hopes. There are Trickster tales --mostly involving Brer Rabbit and Brer Tortoise (who is the only character who can out-trickster Rabbit). And there are tales of witches, magic, and superstition specific to Africa.

It's written in Southern African-American dialect of the 19th century, which can be tough going for some, but there is a glossary in the back (which I didn't realize was there for over a year) that helps. Also, the stories demand to be read out loud, being originally of an oral tradition, and I think you will find that reading them aloud while just following the given spelling will make the dialect more understandable than just reading it silently.

These stories are so wonderful that my teenaged sons, who think it's "babyish" to be read to, will still allow me to read Brer Rabbit tales to them. If you are looking for great Literature that's funny and easy to read, buy this book and have a really good time!

This is one of the best books ever written anywhere by anyone. Personally, I place it among the Taoist classics. Be that as it may, if you don't read it you'll never know what you're missing. If you're looking for crazy wisdom, it's all in here, but don't overlook the ridiculous either because this book will probably put you in stitches, and I ain't just whistlin' Dixie.