This book does an overall good job of demonstrating ASL grammar and vocabulary. Sometimes the vocabulary words include English usage without specifying that the particular sign is not used in that manner in ASL. Other than that, it is a very good course, and provides a good understanding of the interaction of facial and body language with the manual signs for complete communication with the Deaf.

I HAVE JUST FINISHED TAKING THE FIRST LEVEL OF ASL CLASSES AT THE COLLEGE I AM ATTENDING AND I HAVE FOUND THAT THIS BOOK CAN BE VERY HELPFUL IN LEARNING ASL, BUT IT DOES HAVE IT'S DRAWBACKS. SOME OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS WERE A LITTLE HARD TO SEE SO I FOUND MYSELF MAKING THE WRONG HAND SHAPES AT TIMES. ALSO THE BOOK ONLY HAD ONE SIGN FOR EACH WORD. FOR EXAMPLE THE ENGLISH WORD "RUN". THERE IS A SIGN FOR RUNNING WATER, RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, RUNNING AWAY, ETC. THE BOOK ONLY HAD THE SIGN FOR RUNNING AWAY. THE BOOK DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH SIGNS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT MEANINGS OF THE WORDS. IF YOU ARE TO BUY THIS BOOK ONLY USE IT TO ACCOMPANY A CLASS OR A LESSON FROM A PERSON WHO IS EDUCATED IN ASL. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO LEARN ASL WITH ONLY THE USE OF THIS BOOK. WITH ANY LANGUAGE YOU HAVE TO NOT ONLY READ WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING, BUT ALSO SEE IT IN ACTION. I RECOMMEND THE RANDOM HOUSE AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE DICTIONARY IF YOU WANT TO SEE MULTIPLE SIGNS FOR SINGLE WORDS.

After a semester of Siglish, I took 4 semesters of American Sign Language (ASL) in college as my foreign language requirement. The course was superby taught by a husband and wife team, both who worked at residential schools for the deaf for over 25 years. This book was the text for the first 2 semesters and I still have it on my shelf.

Extremely detailed, lots of exlplainations and superb drawings. The text is spiral bound, which is awesome for laying a book flat while practicing signs. If you carry this book with you in a backpack, however, you should keep the book in a protective bag... the spiral binding makes the book very vulnerable to pages ripping away while being jostled in a backpack.

This text should not replace classroom instruction. There is no text that can replace a real human being explaining how one sign looks exactly like another depending on context, facial expressions and body language. You can easily embarrass yourself by assuming you can figure out the drawings and go about conversing in ASL with someone w/o the benefit of real one-on-one practice with another human being. Signs like "prostitute" and "shy" are almost identical to the learner and if you're talking to someone and you say "I'm shy," you might end up getting a bunch of raised eyebrows if you don't do it just right. Signs for "lemon" and "lesbian" are also very closely similar... you can imagine the types of mis-understandings that can occur if you don't learn these signs properly.

This warning is not meant as discouragement. If you have already learned the manual alphabet and find yourself to be quite adept, ASL will probably be a breeze to you... at least it was to me. Some people really take to it and others don't. Spoken language is not my strong suit and I was a late talker to begin with. If my college didn't offer ASL as a foreign language requirement, I would have never graduated. Regardless of your aptitude, study and practice is essential for good, rapid signing... and more importantly, signing that can be understood. Even if you become a wiz at signing, you must have practice at reading other people's signs or you won't be able to have a conversation. It's been 8 years since my last ASL class and wlithout anyone to practice with, I've forgotten a lot of signs, so I constantly refer to this book... it's a great reference for those wanting to freshen up on forgotten signs or to use to learn in the classroom or with a study partner.

I picked this up recently on a whim and was delighted with it. It is a quick but very satisfying read. Each story has a female lead and an element of romance, but the stories are driven more by character than love. It reminded me of Colleen McCollouh's Ladies of Missalonghi.

Most of the books by O'Rourke in my library are old westerns. I was drawn into the book and read it in one day. Wonderful narration and characters, I felt like I was in the Depression era Midwest.

THE HEAVNELY WORLD SERIES is a book with many short stories. I didn't realy like the book because I got the my characteres mixed-up form story to another. The book starts in the early years of baseball, and ends with baseball in the last 50 years. This book would be good for people interested in the history of baseball. I didn't find the book interesting untill the end, when I was familuar with some on the players. If you like old stories of small town, barnyard, baseball up to today campetition of baseball, I would recommend this book to you.

Somehow it seems entirely appropriate that the baseball fiction of Frank O'Rourke--the realism of which which benefited from the insight he gained when he practiced with the Philadelphia Phillies during Spring Training in 1949--should be populated by thinly veiled characters from baseball history. It's kind of a case of life imitating art imitating life, or vice versa. At any rate, these 18 short stories are wonderful in themselves, filled with small town prospects looking for that one big break and veterans on the back sides of their careers, looking for just one more moment of magic. But there's an added pleasure when we realize that the aged pitcher Grover Bell, in The Last Pitch, is based on the immortal Grover Cleveland Alexander, or that Dane Bjorland, in Flashing Spikes, is modeled after the notorious shortstop of the Black Sox, Swede Risberg. And in the centerpiece of the collection, The Heavenly World Series, Mr. O'Rourke brings many of the great departed players back to life (sort of) for a match up in the great beyond to determine, once and for all, whether the Nationals or the Americans have the better League. With John McGraw managing the National League and Miller Huggins commanding the American and Bill Klem umpiring--the only ump to make it to Heaven--even the Lord wonders if this is a good idea.

Now, I'm a pretty big baseball fan and a lover of baseball writing, and I've got to admit I hadn't heard of Mr. O'Rourke until this book. I was so surprised at that, upon
discovering the quality of the writing here that I checked my three volumes of the Fireside Books of Baseball and there's not a single one of his stories anthologized there. One of the more intriguing things I found was that there was a TV-movie version of Flashing Spikes directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart and Jack Warden, with cameos by Vin Scully and Harry Caray, Jr. What wouldn't you give to see that one?--but it looks to be out of print. Most of Mr. O'Rourke's novels appear to have been Westerns, but of course the Western has mostly had its day. So the legacy of Mr. O'Rourke would appear to have been at a low ebb, but, thankfully, his widow and the folks at Carroll & Graf have put together this superb collection and hopefully it will serve to resurrect his reputation. His baseball stories deserve to be remembered, read, and enjoyed.

GRADE : A+

Frank O'rourke, the author, does an excellent job of developing the four main characters -- True Benton, Jan Schmidt, Colonel DeLight and his daughter, Celia. Good storyline that moves along. "Big 50" was my first O'rourke paperback, but will probably not be my last.