The approach the authors used is refreshing, easy to read. I believe E&M serves up the importance that trust is one of the core ingredients to success in both personal and professional lives. It is refreshing to read because the message of trust comes through as told in a parable. After having read the book, I ordered 5 to be sent to my customers that I consider "key customers." Highly recommend this book to "anyone" as the message the book delivers is for "everyone."

This book focuses on two issues that are crucial to relationships, working and personal, in today's society. The principles of worth and trust are key in any relationship, and as I read the book and reflected over previous experiences, I realized that, more often than not, the problems began because I was missing these two aspects. The Eagle & the Monk presents these and other principles in a simple, yet not childish manner. I found the questions at the back of the book especially helpful in focusing on the areas in which I personally need improvement. I think that everyone can find at least one of these principles in which they are deficient. The book helps readers recognize and address these problems.

As a rabbi, I seldom read books about business. The fable format of E & M, however, was so compelling that I could not put it down. Change is a part of all of our lives. The authors make a convincing case for the need to embrace rather than resist it. They then show us how to do so effectively. The teachings of this book apply not only to business but to all aspects of life and relationships. The EAGLE & THE MONK could become a classic! I plan to use it for staff and Board retreats at my synagogue. Stephen Fuchs, Congregation Beth Israel West Hartford, CT

I found Sandys book very revealing and honest.I am obese and I have always felt that people dont understand the challenges obesity causes. Her struggles with the weight loss has given me hope that someone does understand me and that there is hope for me. Thanks Sandy for a job well done.

Congratulations to Sandra whose "Slow But Sure" provides a sane and realistic guide to confronting a weight problem. In my efforts to deal with my weight, I have purchased and read a myriad of diet and weight books, many of which are now used merely as door-stops. Most of them provided unrealistic and unhealthy programs, and none of them included honest descriptions of what it's like to be obese and the problems one faces while trying to reduce, nor did they include tips on how to cope or suggestions for how to personalize your plan. Sandra's book did. Without being boring or long-winded, "Slow But Sure" supplies the reader with sound, accurate information for a healthy eating plan as well as exercising - which many books skip or gloss over as exercising is seen to be unpalatable and unappealing. It is, however, one of the keys to a successful weight reduction plan. Her descriptions of her trials and difficulties, both with the dieting and with day-to-day living itself, were very encouraging as they confirmed that this book is indeed written by a lady who has gone through it and is writing from experience and knowledge. This was very comforting and reassuring to me as I've also experienced some of the things mentioned. This is exactly who we need to provide us with usable information on how to lose weight. I feel that only a person who has lived it can understand the challenges, problems, difficulties and discrimination an obese person faces daily. Sandra provides intelligent and reliable tools and advice in an upbeat, humourous and honest way. The many photos are also much appreciated - they were inspirational and encouraging as, from photo to photo, Sandra shrank. I was privileged to be able to speak with Sandra and can confirm that she is intelligent, caring, empathetic and knowledgeable and is truly one of the nicest people I've ever spoken to. As Kirkus Reviews states, this book is "a motivational read, full of good advice, yet funny too.". My own copy of "Slow But Sure" is now tattered and dog-eared from many re-readings. To all of you future purchasers of the book -- I assure you that this book is well worth your money and is in fact cheap at twice the price. Get your copy and start reading without delay so that you, too, can benefit from this great book!

Slow But Sure is such a motivational book. I was able to associate with the author and realize I am not alone in my weight loss adventure.Sandy is funny and makes me feel like I am right there with her every step of the way. I have never felt so many different emotions while reading a book. I was happy, sad,and even exctied for her when she finally won the battle. I have told all of my friends to buy the book. The best weight loss story I've ever read!!!!

This is a good book for every one. I am a high school student with a job as a pharmacy tech. I am most of the way though my Bio H class of sophmore year but with a dictionary and online websites for little help this book can teach you everything
most chapers include:
a slight review on the body system that the drug affects such as the first few chapter have to do with cholinergic drugs on the nervous system followed by a few paragraphs about each drug what it does, what is used for theriputically and adverse affects, also there is some times an antidote. if you are looking for a good book stop because this is easy to undersand and has a ton of information
-Andrew

This is a good book for every one. I am a high school student with a job as a pharmacy tech. I am most of the way though my Bio H class of sophmore year but with a dictionary and online websites for little help this book can teach you everything
most chapers include:
a slight review on the body system that the drug affects such as the first few chapter have to do with cholinergic drugs on the nervous system followed by a few paragraphs about each drug what it does, what is used for theriputically and adverse affects, also there is some times an antidote. if you are looking for a good book stop because this is easy to undersand and has a ton of information
-Andrew

I used this book to study for my second year pharm class, and it has to be one of the best medical texts I have used so fair. It is an excellent balance between not enough info, aka ridiculously simple, and sweet jesus Katzung! It is concise, well organized, and has helpful pictures. I can't stress enough that if you are in the market for a pharm book THIS IS THE ONE!!!!!!!!! You will thank me later as you get your H in pharm!

The weirdest thing about this book is that the beginning is so true-to-life. The book was written several years ago, but the story is very much in sync with what is going on in the world today. This is my fifth Marcinko book and it's one of his best. It's his second fiction work, a follow up to Rouge Warrior: Red Cell, which is the main reason I didn't give it five stars. The action scenes in Green Team are much more exciting than Red Cell, but the plot just doesn't stand up to the latter. It develops at a break neck speed, but its quality fluctuates right up to the end. First time Marcinko readers will probably get hooked, just like I did with Rogue Warrior: Task Force Blue, only to be more pleased with the discovery of his first and second books. Marcinko's crossing of the thin line between reality and fiction might annoy some readers who are not used to his style, but I think it's a very original welcomed breather from the "2+2=4" formulas of other action books. Marcinko is not the writer Tom Clancy is, but then again, Tom Clancy is not the warrior Marcinko is.

Marcinko lives large and plays hard. This book, along with the rest of the Rogue Warrior Series, is hard hitting and action packed. This dude does it all, says it all, and doesn't take crap from no one. Execellent reading for someone whose tired of the slow moving far fetched action of most fiction books out there. I read Red Cell just three months ago, and I've read almost all his books to date. It's KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) read the book and get hooked!!! Anyone for a Bombay?

I'll admit to this guilty pleasure: I love the Rogue Warrior books. Not because they're great literature, but because they're just plain fun. I'm a Marine combat vet, so I can usually detect the (very) fuzzy line between military fact and fiction, but with Marcinko's books I throw up my hands in the amphibious salute and just go with it. Demo Dick's literary swagger is intoxicating, and his larger than life character is THE male archetype. All of us guys want to pump iron at Rogue Manor, throw down the double Bombays, and go shooting and looting with the SEALs' best.

It's not "the best book I've ever read," nor is it the SPECWAR primer that Rogue Warrior is. But for some unadulterated macho fun, Green Team (like the others in the series) can't be beat.

I love reading small Christmas books in December, just to put me in the "Christmas" frame of mind. I usually read classics (A Christmas Carol, The Christmas Box) but each year, I also buy a few new Christmas books. This year, I read The Christmas Wish, a very nice, very touching and very entertaining story of love, forgiving and self-discovery.

Will comes home after his grandfather's death to take control of the family business. While there, he discovers something awful; his grandfather was probably having an affair with a woman named Lillian. For Christmas, his grandmother asks Will to find this Lillian so that they can make things straight and discover the truth. Will goes on a quest to find the mystery woman, but the quest also turns into a discovery of himself as he will learn how to enjoy life and how to really love again.

The book has some very touching moments and the story is quite engaging; it still was able to surprise me in the end. This is the perfect book to read around Christmas time; it will lift your spirits and put you in the mood for the most wonderful time of the year... Guaranteed!

This book is excellent. The author has put together an intriguing and well-written Christmas story that has a wonderful and touching ending. I would recommend this book as a must read this holiday season.

If you're tired of all the murder, the violence, the anti-heros, "The Christmas Wish" is just the book for you. It starts out as a very simple story, but soon begins to blossom into an uplifting message, without being preachy. I cried so much reading the last two pages I could barely focus on the words. Richard Siddoway makes his characters seem very human and real. This book is a must-read for the Christmas season or any other time. Truly a "feel good" book!

Young boys like this too. I think too often we steer boys away from books with girl protagonists, and that attitude stays with them. A 3 to 5 year old boy might delight in the rhymes just as much as a girl of that age. Seeing girls often develop language skills earlier, the use of books such as these with well-controlled, thoughtful use of language is useful for boys too! I loved Madeline (I'm over 40) and thought the illustrations aren't groovy - it's tough in the computer age! - they are quite whimsically delightful.

Kids I know like this book.

I missed the Madeline books completely when I was a child, so my daughter and I discovered them together. It's an education seeing Madeline through her eyes. In Madeline, my daughter, who is somewhat shy and leery of new experiences, has a heroine who is smart, spunky, and completely in control of every situation.

I like Madeline the character a lot more than I like the books. I've found that very few writers can write wonderful verse, and I don't include Bemelmans in that august company. Some of his rhymes flow nicely together, such as the opening lines of the first book:

In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. Some of his rhymes are jarring:

and soon after Dr. Cohn came, he rushed out to the phone, and he dialed : DANton-ten-six --

'Nurse,' he said, 'it's an appendix!' Everybody had to cry --

not a single eye was dry. . . . Madeline woke up two hours

later, in a room with flowers.

Still, the story isn't bad. A brave little girl is rushed to the hospital, has her appendix out, then shows off her scar. She makes it so exciting that all the other girls want their appendix out, too. Even my daughter wanted to have an appendix scar, until I explained just what that would entail.

A short children's story about a young girl who lives with eleven other girls in a home in Paris and who has to go to the hospital to have her appendix removed. It was a 1940 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustration in a book for children. This book, and others in the Madeline series, have become classics in children literature and every serious student of children literature should have it on their shelves. Children love these books.

For the purposes of review, this should be considered "unrated," as I never rate memoirs or heavily autobiographical writings.

Casually written in the author's own voice, this sojourn goes to many surprising places, and the writing style, difficult for me to follow at times, faithfully mirrors the confusion, dislocation, and transportation out of which this clever book was written.

We need more books that not only tell us, but show us, that personally lived versions of the Hero's Journey are needed to get to the truths that really work for us.

I can't review a book without commenting on the medium: shame, shame on the publishers and editors! The pages are cheap, thin, paper; the text runs all over the page; and the text has a number of typos and spelling errors that it's the house's job (not the author's) to correct. Do it right or don't do it at all.

The author calls for informal groups to discuss the problems of our nation and its place in the world. Amen! (...)

If you're young in spirit, this might be a good book for you to read.

This is a painful book to read. In fact it is a hard read for those who have pap and fluff books pushed on them constantly. Or who are used to being told what wonderful people they really are. But like anything that involves getting healthy it is a book I needed to read.

Why? Because it raises questions and demands answers that in my case I didn't like being asked. To Live A Lie on page 216-227 is in itself worth the time required to read the book. It is just one example of how the author tweaks our comfort zone. In this case the typical suburban, upward mobile career person who from their home to work is sheltered in the car cocoon, and in their office and in their home and artificially shielded from the real world. The real world where ones child asks why poor people don't live in the nice type of house they live in.

I appreciated even though it hurt sometimes, his wisdom about race, economics, the sexes, and our nation. I don't agree with everything he espouses, but he addresses some serious issues in a thought provoking way, that I admit really made me think and look at my role in the scheme of things.

Transcend is more than 'just a book about travel'. It is more than a 'biography', and it is more than a philosophical and a psychological work. The writer takes us with him as he travels, not only physically, but also emotionally and psychologically. We see what he sees. We feel what he feels. All the while, we are traveling with a 'guy from Queens' whose eyes open wider with every scene, and no matter what our philosophical orientation, our eyes open wider too. Richard Joseph's world is no longer an island defined and isolated by Queens, New York City, American protection and culture. The book was written before September 11th, yet his shock at the reality of what he sees as the curtains of Oz fall around him is prescient of our shock at the reality we see around us now.

Because the writer takes us through time as well as through physical space, he is in a process of growth throughout his work. And because the writing is so vivid, sophisticated yet down-to-earth, we grow with him. Interestingly, he never really leaves home. As much as Mr. Joseph's yearning drive sends him across the United States and then across the world, he always returns, sometimes reluctant emotionally - to an unchanged Queens - where the unchanged view is fixed painfully in Richard Joseph's past. An ongoing connection between the larger picture and the smaller, between the mountain top and the valley - in which the valley's inhabitants cannot see - can never see - the view from the top of the mountain. Yet there is a constancy and an underlying love for family which holds Mr. Joseph in place; while finding his way through a whirling vortex of events and psychological change, is fundamental and draws him back to his roots, perhaps against even his own wishes.

We are a 'guy from Queens' when we first venture out from a movie like cityscape description of that setting. We see the hands of the crowd clawing at the window, trying to reach us with malice, when we are sick and feverish on the train in India. We feel the snake on our boot and the terror. We should all read this book. It is for everyone. Hopefully it is only his first book. You will be spellbound - as I was.

This book was <> according to Frederick Busch, who reviewed it for The New York Times.

The quote above just about says it all. The book read like fiction and was carefully detailed. All of the medical terminology was easily understood and thoroughly explained. The authors stated that the theme of the book is "the emotionally-charged intersection of SIDS and infanticide."

Almost all of what we have known of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) for the last 20 years was based on work done by Dr. Alfred Steinschneider in upstate New York. His findings were based primarily on two children (Molly and Noah Hoyt) who died while under his care in the early 1970s, following the deaths of three of their siblings in previous years. Steinschneider thus "determined/concluded" that SIDS was familial and caused by apnea (pauses in breathing while sleeping). To combat these deaths, he pushed the use of home monitors for babies who were considered "at risk". His landmark paper in 1972 in The Journal of Pediatrics shaped medical thinking for the next 20 years. Yet he had used only a tiny sample and had no control group. This article and subsequent ones cleared peer review committees despite obvious flaws. He arranged facts to fit his theory over the next years. His fundamental deception/fabrication was that apnea episodes were documented in the hospital for the two children who died --but there was NO documentation!! In fact, Steinschneider had repeatedly ignored concerns of the pediatric nursing staff about the mother, Waneta Hoyt.

I found it incredible that a hypothesis was presented and accepted by the medical community based on only 5 cases and 2 deaths! I think this shows how desperate people were for a quick way to predict and prevent SIDS. Because of the prevalence and acceptance of this theory, Munchausen Syndrome by Prozy (when a parent, usually a mother, harms or kills a child, usually to get attention) was rarely considered when a very young child died.

In the next 20 years, the monitor business became a multi-million dollar business and many people got rich from it. Steinschneider himself never owned stock in any monitor company, but his research was underwritten by one of them, Healthdyne, whose fortunes then became dependent on the doctor's continuing research findings about apnea. A vicious circle! Also, leading SIDS researchers conducted seminars, which were funded by Healthdyne grants, then gave out information on monitors to the participants.

What particularly disturbed me was the fact that Dr. David Southall, from England, had refuted Steinschneider's theories and proven them to be false with very extensive research of his own But until the 1986 Apnea Consensus Conference, no one appeared to listen to him. This conference was the first time that Steinschneider's theory was formally investigated or questioned by an official group of his peers.

In the early 90s, a coincidental series of events led a district attorney in upstate NY to begin investigating the deaths of the Hoyt children. This led to the 1994 arrest and conviction of Waneta Hoyt for the murder of all five of her children. The authors make it clear that not only was the mother on trial for murder, but that Steinschneider's theory was also on trial.

The trial's outcome demonstrated that the entire premise for SIDS for the last 20 years was false. In the words of several prominent pediatric forensic specialists: if there is one infant death in a family, it is probably SIDS. Two deaths should be considered suspicious. Three deaths are homicide.

What was especially shocking to me was the information in this book about Massachusetts General Hospital's SIDS program. Mass General had positioned itself as "the" place to bring babies thought to be "at risk" for SIDS. Yet the program, run by Drs. Kelly and Shannon, disciples of Steinschneider, was governed by a false, 20- year-old theory. The pediatric department had had a long history of ignoring suggestions of child abuse, some of it fatal, when a young doctor named Tom Truman arrived for a research fellowship in pediatric critical care. Truman secretly investigated all of the deaths of children who were "at risk" and found that in 155 deaths which occurred after multiple "events" (instances of unconsciousness, etc.), Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy was never considered, even in one family when the "events" stopped after the children were placed in foster care.

The authors said: "In the Shannon-Kelly team, some [abusive] mothers found the allies they needed. In their babies, the doctors found the data they needed. Locked in this symbiosis, Mass General appears to have become a Munchausen haven, while contaminating the research of SIDS with highly dubious data."

I would highly recommend this book not only for its interesting subject matter but because it was so well done. The meticulous and documented research was presented in a scholarly yet easily-understood manner.

This book is a must read for those in the forensic pathology field. A physician, through falsified data, single-handedly brought about the multi-million dollar infant apnea monitor movement, inflicting untold damage to the truth in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome while at the same time aiding those parents who murder their children!

I recommend this book to true-crime enthusiasts; pediatricians, family physicians, nurses and anyone engaged in health care delivery; to health policy and health research technocrats; to social workers; to law enforcement professionals; and to anyone who wants to understand how mothers can smother their infant children ? and almost get away with it. It is a journalistic treatment of what has become to be know as "Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy," where mothers surreptitiously inflict harm on their children to gain the comforting attention of their physicians and others. This story was the basis of a "Sixty Minutes" segment aired around 2001.

Story starts with the prosecution of Stephen Van Der Sluys for the death of his 16-month-old son in Upstate New York in 1977, asserting that the death was due to deliberate smothering by a parent and not the medically fashionable "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome." The "SIDS" Syndrome had considerable medical support. A National Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Foundation existed to increase general awareness, and the selling and use of breathing monitors for sleeping infants had become a big business. But prosecution expert Linda Morton, forensic pathologist from Dallas had seen many cases of child abuse that family physicians overlooked or attributed to SIDS. How many more cases of murder had been explained away by SIDS? And is SIDS something that can "run in a family"?

"Death Of Innocents" goes on to tell the disturbing story of the family of Waneta and Timothy Holt in which several infant children died SIDS-classifiable deaths occurred -- always privately when only Waneta Holt was alone with them. In 1994, Waneta Holt was tried for murders committed two decades earlier. The prosecution represents a case of law examining science. Alfred Steinschneider, M.D., Ph.D. had made a career out of SIDS and a portion of the data in one of his articles in a scientific journal had described the Holt family. Although the identity of the "SIDS" infant patients was masked, prosecutors were able to identify the cases from public health records. The discovery, case-building and trial make exciting reading. And beyond this, the story is fascinating because it is a case of Law correcting Science. Although many scientific experts had assumed that SIDS can "run in a family," there was no unimpeachable scientific evidence for this based on "near miss" SIDS episodes recorded be sleep/breathing monitors under controlled circumstances. The "scientific conclusion" of SIDS running in families was based more on assumption than on hard science or high epistemological standards. One expert's assumption became a mass of experts' unexamined opinions. The appearance of Dr. Steinschneider as a defense witness put his science on trial.

Firstman and Talan's "Death Of Innocents" is a truly momentous story. And like a mountain, their story can be viewed from its many aspects -- medical, scientific, legal and social. It is many stories -- of an attention-starved loser who kept killing her babies, of prosecutors who were not afraid to take on "medical scientists" and of the growth and modification of a medico- scientific theory. Firstman and Talan have produced an authoritative chronicle and encyclopedic work which will stand up to scrutiny from all directions.

The important take-home message from this book is that SIDS is, indeed, a natural and infrequent phenomenon. It can be a valid explanation for the loss of one infant in a family. But when a family loses a second infant to apnea (cessation of breathing), the circumstances must be examined very carefully.

This is a great book for both beginners and experts, due to the variety of the dishes and their simplicity. It is a great companion to Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room, which offers tips and recipes for entertaining. These are two basic cookbooks that everyone should have, and would make excellent housewarming gifts. An extra treat would be the addition of the authors' chocolate cookbook: Chocolate on the Brain, which matches the other two books for ease of preparation, the wit of the text, and the guarantee that every recipe will turn out delicious.

I just got this book last week and have already made six of the recipes. I'm not a beginner in the kitchen, but I do have time constraints (work and college). The recipes in Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen are not only quick and easy to follow, but incredibily tasty as well. The recipes for Hearty Lentil Soup and Egg Salad with Dill and Mustard will become part of my "must make again and again" file.

This book is excellent! Not only does it have easy to follow instructions, the recipes actually taste GREAT! This cookbook has helped me survive my college years without starving! I still refer to it frequently when I need to fix a good, quick meal. I highly recommend it, especially to beginners in the kitchen! You won't be disappointed!

Oh my. What a marvelous work of art for Mr. Brautigan. They tell us never to judge a book by the cover...but what about the title? That alone should prompt intrique and conjure a very special image, a very personal image. I guess that was what compelled me to read further and what had followed was a wonderful boatride down the magical river each of us has in our literary souls. And I believe that is the essence of a great book. I will not use this space to begin to describe the book or provide a synopsis...that is a delicate morsel for you to taste on your own. I will, however, confess that this magnificent feat of imagery and storytelling is wholesomely unique and true; it is one of those special "books" that escapes classification and floats in the clouds of your own dreamscape. The book made me delve into a world entirely of my own fantasy (where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies), yet maintained a spectral reality of a grim undertone at times. An extremely invoking book, chock full of sugar-sweet sugar-bitter jellybeans for thought and contemplation. And isn't that really what writing is all about? If you die without having read this little book, I guess you could say your soul was deprived of a little candy and restrained from attaining a fresh sunshine glow of multi-colored watermelon sugar rainbows. We all have the rainbows within us; this book temporarily halts the rain and lets them shimmer...

I've read perhaps a thousand books in my life, and this remains my favorite. At first glance it appears as simple as a children's story, but its ideas sprout like watermelon seeds in your mind and grow to intertwining immensity. One is drawn into Watermelon Sugar and reincarnated into its world at each reading. And multiple readings are a certainty. As the characters boil watermelon juice down into its essence and so build their world, Brautigan boils down essences of love, jealousy, curiosity, angst, family, and art to build for the reader a life in distilled complexity. An author simultaneously approachable and bewildering, Brautigan is a must-read, and In Watermelon Sugar is doubtlessly his finest work. Brautigan offers more in one of his two-page chapters than many authors give you in their life's work. If he had written this review it would have taken three short sentences, said more, spoken more clearly, left you with unforgettable images to savor, and given you a laugh or three along the way. For an insightful critical analysis see Terrance Malley's volume on Brautigan in the "Writers for the 70s" series (Warner, 1972).

I fell in love with this book the moment I read the first page. Richard Brautigan's books are by far the BEST. If you want to go places far beyond the imagination, he can take you there. Even tho it has been well over 20 years since I read THIS book, "In watermelon sugar" will come down off the shelf once more. Splended reading for all ages. Forget the norm. Just let your mind wonder.........strange places, streets of the never once traveled, rivers flowing with fairy-tale creatures. Explore!!!