My son and daughter - aged 5 and 7 love this beautiful little book. The concept of continuous doubling of the number of ants that keep returning to the nest intrigues them. Although the book stops at 512, my children insisted that we keep doubling the number "up to infinity". Well, we kept on doubling until we ran out of paper!! The illustrations are wonderful, complementing this terrific children's treasure.

my four- and five-year old children love this book. it's one they request over and over again when it's story-time at home after dinner or at bed time. they love the little ants who invade the neighborhood picnic and discover a treasure trove of treats that they eventually haul little bits back to their labarynthian home. each time they make the trip they bring more ants, each time doubling their number. my kids very painlessly learned their first multiplication lesson - doubling the number each time. a very cleverly conceived, thoroughly enjoyable book.

This charming, beautifully written and illustrated story helps young children understand the concept of "doubling" numbers. Each time the ants revisit the picnic, they bring more ant friends(in fact, exactly twice as many) to help haul the goodies back to their ant home. The simplicity of the story and each successive illustration with the ever increasing ant army subtly teaches the "doubling" concept. This is a must for any home library.

I bought this book and read it to my son almost 15 years ago. He is now a junior in college and to this day, when we see someone doing something stupid (ex; driving carelessly), he looks at me and says, "He's pulling a Louis James." This book was and still is a bond for us. We know what a "Louis James" action is and nobody else does! I've recommended this book to several of my co-workers who have small children starting school. This book is a precious gem to me - - after 15 years my son and I still share the humor and message of this book. It's a classic in my heart!

I saw Bill Morrison come to my school and he had a copy of the book with him and it was a great book. I would reccommend it to anyone if the y are interested in Locksmithing.

This is one book kids will remember. It is very creative and funny. The made up names seem to stick with you. Highly recommend for children 3-8 YOA.

More super stories from the great characters of Springfield! Here's what this issue has to offer:

"A Trip to Simpson Mountain": Grandpa tells a story of his childhood days before television that sounds oddly enough like a cross between The Waltons, Beverly Hills 90210, Leave It To Beaver, The Brady Bunch, and the Partridge Family (must be a coincidence).

"Kill-er Up With Regular": A classic Itchy and Scratchy short from the "1930s".

"Waitresses in the Sky": Patty and Selma lose their jobs at the DMV and end up living with the Simpsons. Can they find the job of their dreams at Mr. Burns' airline (you'll love the insignia on the planes) or will they break under the pressure (actually, the "No Smoking" sign)? Would make a hilarious T.V. episode.

"Apu's Incredible 96-Hour Shift (without Getting a Break)": The legend is true, but not so impresive considering Apu didn't have a customer for 95 hours and 54 minutes of the famed shift.

"What's the Frequency Simpson": Similar to the T.V. episode where Lisa and Bart co-anchor a kids' news program. In this comic, Bart and Lisa take over a public access channel to start a new sensation: SimpTV. SimpTV offers such entertaining and informative programs as "Geek Patrol" hosted by Martin Prince, "Bad Boy" starring Nelson Munz, and "In the Kitchen With Wiggum" where Ralph creates many tantalizing dishes involving paste. The television elite of Springfield (aka Krusty the Klown, Troy McClure, Bumblebee Man, Kent Brockman, and Dr. Nick) try to shut the renegade channel down.

"Bumblebee Man in !Ay, Que Lastima!": Short about the trying personal life of the yellow and black striped character we thought we knew.

"The Dame and the Clown": Dragnet take-off where Otto is Detective Friday and Moe helps Marge escape an abusive relationship to return to her true love (Homer the Sailor Man).

"Get Fatty": One of the funniest of this book. This comic has a topic similar to the T.V. show where Springfield is named the nation's fattest city. In this comic, President Clinton plans to shape up the country's fattest town with the "worst cholesterol count in modern history." He sends his fitness ambassador Rainier Wolfcastle (aka McBain) to whip Springfield into shape. The worst offenders must lose 10 pounds in two weeks or face the consequences. Can they (or, more to the point, CAN HOMER) do it?

"The Quest for Yaz": This comic continues the storyline started in the T.V. episode "Three Men and a Comic Book." Milhouse's dream is to own a 1973 Carl Yastzremski baseball card when he had big sideburns--but is Milhouse willing to steal to get it?

This is the first simpsons thing I had ever bought-and once I read it I went and bought a lot more>! This is one of fav. simpsons comics.

Waitresses in the sky is the only bad one in this book.A trip to Simsons mountain is the best.All the others are good too.

Hi! I am also one of Andrew Fraknoi's former students and we used this book in our class. It's awesome! It is very well written and he makes it very easy to understand everything about the planets and the Universe. He is also an awesome teacher so if you have the opportunity to take one of his ASTRO classes at Foothill College-you should take it!

If you have any interest in Astronomy, this is a must have book for an introduction to the subject. It is a non-mathematical introduction to the subject and is extremely well written. The book was intended for a non-major science subject in college, but even if you are not attending a class on the subject, this is still a great book to learn from.

I personally don't have the hard cover edition but I have the paper back edition. I plan to purchase the hard cover edition when I have the money for it. I can expand a little on the subject matter of the paperback edition, which I'm sure is simply a stripped down version of the hard cover book. It covers the history of astronomy to the latest theories in the field. Such topics as gravity, planets, the Sun, stars, thermo-nuclear fusion, black holes and quasars are explained in a easy to digest manner. I found the topic of how thermo-nuclear fusion especially facinating as I always wondered how stars (like our sun) generated it's energy, I knew it was fusion but did not understand how it functioned, all was made clear to me.

There are also plenty of visual aides and pictures in book. A large majority of images are directly from Hubble Space Telescope that will leave you breathless at the beauty and vastness of space. The book also directs you to websites that will expand on the material covered in the book. Great stuff!

Fraknoi, Morrison and Wolff have done a tremendous job in writing this book. Kudos to the authors for taking to the time to do it right.

This book is great if you want to get a feel for all the different astronomical objects, what they are and how it all fits together.  I like the way the authors start with the Earth and then move on to the other planets, the stars, galaxies, clusters and eventually to Relativity and the Big Bang, without digging too much into the details.  It's a thought-provoking book and I recommend it to anyone who is eager to get into the field.

As an amature local history buff, I'd heard of the Sophia tragedy, but this book beautifully illustrated who and what was lost that awful day, and her loss meant to the community. The author brings to life the people aboard her, the efforts to save them, and all the ironic poignancy that always accompanies a disaster? How could the captain have know that first day was the only chance he had of escape, that the weather would never improve? Definitely a good read.

When I read "The sinking of the Princess Sophia" I had no idea that it was that desperate, and that unfortunate of what had happen. This book is a very good book that coincides with the Titanic, it is a book that shows the passengers that went on the Sophia for her voyage, to the last trip, and the sinking. If you want to read a book that is about a little known diaster, but still has the qualities of a big sinking.Read it! It is thought provoking and very well written.

One of the best shipwreck books to come along in a great while. This book is both readable and well researched (increasingly rare, in this field) with none of the flaws common to current maritime disaster books.....no recreated dialogue, no unsupported claims, no conspiracy theories, no "just plain making things up." If you are interested in this sort of thing, and have been disgusted as of late by the avalanche of really bad books (most of which relate to the Titanic) then this history of a little known tragedy might be just the thing for you.

Let's start this review with some reality. If you read the buying info carefully you will note the book is only 36 pages! So you are not going to get a college course in all of the Simpsons methods!...This book only gives you info on the Simpsons core family...Bart,Lisa,Maggie,Marge and (My Fav) Homer! Just learning to draw his stubby fat fingers is a riot! And yes,....you do learn secrets! You learn the secrets to the scale and balance of these characters....that Marge's hair is about 2 bowling balls high, bart's hair has 9 points, Lisa's hair has 8 points, you learn how many eyelashes each character has and how to place them, how the eyeballs should be placed on the head in comparison to the nose, how each characters hands and feet details should be drawn..... True, it is only 36 pages but it does give you all you need to start drawing the Simpsons family. What did I not like about this book? I really wanted tips on Mr. Burns, Moe, Smithers, Krusty.. Who is this book for? This book might be for a beginner but I doubt it. Want to learn how to draw? Look elsewhere. Someone with some skill or ability who wants to learn how to draw the Simpsons? Yes! On the side for extra cash do you street sketch, air brush at the local mall, do cartoons, do charicatures? Well, then get this book and use it to expand your portfolio. Are you just a kid (8 yrs to 88yrs old) who loves the Simpsons and wants to be able to look cool with your friends by drawing them?Get this book, live your life, be happy and have fun!

OK. I do not understand what some of the people hear have posted. They say they were lied to and it was supposed to unlock the secrets of how to draw The Simpsons?

All it says on the book is "Study basic construction methods!", "Discover the techniques of bulgy-eyed characterization!", "Uncover the mysteries of Simpsonian anatomy!" and "Learn the secrets of the overbite!".

Could someone please tell me where it says it unlocks the secrets of the Simpsons? No you can not. What is to know? They are just circles and squares that have been down sized.

I people get so worked up over a drawing book, what is next?

The book is a good tool for kids and adults alike. It shows many different facial features and different scenes so you would be emersed for hours.

A Good Choice.

Have A NiCE LiFE!

Ryan

Okay, what is the deal with these silly complaints that this book doesn't reveal any "secrets." What secrets? If anyone believes he or she will be able to instantly draw cartoons well after simply reading this or any other book, they need to get in touch with reality. The bottom line is: the secret of doing ANYTHING well -- and that includes cartooning -- is to PRACTICE. A LOT. That said, this is a great little book. It's written with a generous dose of humor, and it tells you exactly how to draw the Simpsons in certain poses. In other words, it's a good basic cartooning book if you are interested in drawing these specific characters and are willing to do the practice necessary to learn to draw them well. Once you're familiar with the construction of those little yellow bodies, then you can start making them do what you want them to do. (PRACTICE, remember?) If you have talent and imagination, it may also help get you started on drawing your own characters. No magic, no secrets, just a good book on how to draw the Simpsons.

I read through this book very quickly, because I know most of the stuffs. There are couple good examples in this book, which will work. Few samples on the CD do not work.

If you don't have a clue what programming is, DO NOT buy this book.

Even though this book has some valid points, too much space was taken up by the writer telling us how he was going to reveal to us the smartest and easiest methods of making more money. Not until page 63(out of 93 pages) does he start talking directly about his new methods and they boil down to techniques to increase the sales of this book by suggesting that anybody in Network Marketing should hand out this little book to prospects. His style of writing uses lots of words that are capitalised, in italics, bold faced or with quotation marks. This makes the text difficult to read. On the whole I was disappointed by the book and I would not recommend it.