I recommend this book to any one who likes excitement or good adventure. It's very exciting because you don't know if Will or Jess will find water or food. It has a lot of adventure because Will and Jess have to travel through sand storms, quick sand, and desert. When Will and Jess go through the sand storm they have to take shelter in an abandoned cave. It's a very tight space and it's hard for them to breathe. They have to go without meat for days before they find a weak ox, which they then cook over an open fire. I like the characters in the book because they are very independent and different. Will shows his self-sufficiency when he tries to go ahead to look for the rest of his party in the valley. In conclusion, if you like good adventure and great excitement, this is the book for you.

Twelve-year-olds Will and Jess Brantcourt are a twin brother and sister travelling west with their family to California in 1849. Because of their father's stubborness, the Brantcourts end up being separated in the desert from the rest of the wagon train. Now their wagon has broken down and their father is seriously ill, and the family is unable to continue. Now Will and Jess are the only ones that can save their family from death. So the determined twins set off across the desolate, dry, and unforgiving deserts of Death Valley. The valley threatens to live up to its name every moment of Will and Jess's desperate journey to find help as they encounter heat, thirst, hunger, and dangerous creatures. But they're determined to carry on and not give up, because their family is counting on them. This was another great book in the Survival series. I highly reccomend it if you like historical or survival stories.

Death Valley was another great book in the Survival! series by Kathleen Duey and Karen A. Bale. This book was about a brother and sister, Will and Jess Brantcourt. Mr. Brantcourt has decided the family will go west to search for gold in California, even though no one else in the family wants to go. Then he decides they will take a shotcut that will supposedly get them to California faster - one that goes through the cruel, unrelentingly hot desert of Death Valley. Then Pa gets sick from an injury, and the Brantcourts' wagon breaks an axle. Now, it's up to Will and Jess to go find help for their stranded family - for they are the only hope the Brantcourts have left. But can they survive in the desert with only scant food and water, and get help for their family before it's too late? Read this exciting book to find out!

I am currently going to college and I took a course on the Vietnam crisis and war, and Even the Women Must Fight was one of the last books that we read. After reading books that focused mainly or even completely on the American experience in Vietnam, it was extrmely interesting to read about how the Vietnamese saw and dealt with the war. The thousands of civilians who added such strength to the North Vietnamese war effort were people who had been described in all of the sources we read as 'coolie' laborers--people conscripted by the govenment to do necessary work. To read the accounts of women who fought in the war, or risked their lives to maintain the Ho Chi Minh trail simply added a new dimension to my understanding of the Vietnamese side, and indeed of the entire war itself.

As a college student studying the America's war with Vietnam, I was struck by the determination and nationalism that the Vietnamese displayed in their battles against foreign occupation. Seeking to further my study and learn more about the perspectives of the Vietnamese I turned to Turner's book Even the Women Must Fight. The information that I found in the book I could not have found anywhere else. Turner's extensive interviews and personal memoirs from women who fought in the Viet Cong opened up a previously unreported accounts of what Vietnamese women accomplished in their war with America. These women's successes are truly amazing and much deserving of a book documenting their vital contributions.

Karen Turner's book is a well researched, interesting and compassionate discussion of women who made up the backbone of Viet Nam's fighting forces. She does not overwhelm the reader with intellectual theory and in doing so she brings us closer to a source of history ignored and overlooked for decades. It's difficult to write about and interview former soldiers who continue to suffer the effects of such enormous violence, but Turner does it with great insight and awareness. This is the perfect book for history students or university faculty who want to hear the voices of Viet Nam's strongest fighters.

This book by Blanche McCord has the most fantastic, easy to follow recipes. Everyone absolutely loves the food I make when I cook from this cook book. Example: While camping last weekend one of our friends sampled a little of the red pesto pasta salad. The next day before we left he asked if I had any left. I said yes, that he should help himself to it. Later when I returned to our RV I spotted the empty container that had held the salad. He couldn't help himself. He finished it. Aside from the food being out of this world, you get insight as to why the food that comes out of Ananda is so outstanding.

I recently stayed at the Expanding Light Yoga Retreat and was awe-struck at the wonderful, flavorful foods created by Blanche. Eating was truly a spiritual experience that left everyone with satisfied bellies, calm minds, and smiling faces. As a vegetarian who loves to cook, there was no question that I would leave this place without this book. I have been nothing but delighted to read and create beautiful meals that are easy to make, maximizing the yield of flavors from just a few ingredients which I almost always have in my kitchen already, and well explained. The interview with the author at the beginning of the book, having spent time with her at the retreat, truly exemplifies the spirit in which she approaches her meal-planning and cooking-creating healthy food with a loving heart warms the spirits of all who share in eating it. The meal plan suggestions are truly thoughtful and outlined according to the season of the year. I cannot say enough good things about this book, and I have given it as a gift to a vegan already (almost all the recipes are vegan!). I highly recommend it to anyone.

We've been vegetarians for many years and have all the popular vegetarian cookbooks--but this is something different. The recipes are healthy and yet very tasty. I would say these recipes satisfy. I especially liked the menu ideas in the back of the book, which offer very creative and thoughtful combinations. It's also very interesting to learn how this yoga retreat makes their food "better"--I found the tips very helpful and inspiring.

I read this book after an experience that I had in college. It was very easy to read and also informative. "Free of the shadows" is a great book for anyone who has experienced sexual assault. It is also a good book for family and friends to read who are trying to help a love one get through a difficult time. I loaned the copy I had to a friend, who in turn loaned it to a friend. I have been looking for a copy of this book for years! Ever bookstore that I went to told me that they couldn't order it. They said it was unavailable. I am very happy to see that this very resourceful book is still in print.

This book is fantastic. My friend was raped, and I wanted to get her a book that wouldn't scare her but would answer her questions thoroughly. This entire book is a series of VERY helpful questions and answers grouped by topic in chapters. A good book for raising self-esteem and helping get on with life. I agree that it is definately NOT scary to read, and definately one of the more gentle books to read. This is an especially helpful book in my case where my friend believes it's her fault, when it really wasn't. It helped a LOT!!

At first I thought it was overly simplistic. But I think its like that for people to be able to read it immediatly after a rape. Anyway, I think its very good. As rape tends not to be something that is openly discussed amongst even close female friends, (for me anyhow) it gives the opportunity to outline some pretty basic guidelines which- sadly just arn't discussed as freely as they should be. Very good. I thought I was pretty aware, but this reinforced and highlighted perspectives that lurk in the mind, but werent addressed. Surprisingly informative. Made me realize how far reaching the effects of the rape were and how recovery from the effects of the rape were just as important as recovering from the rape/assault itself. If you are on the recieving end of unwanted sexual attention, this is a great book. I have found that there seem to be very few books about rape, which is surprising, as I have always found rapes and assaults to be far too commonplace in this society. I think the word rape puts a lot of people off, because they think it always refers to something quite extreme or violent, but sexual assaults are often not 'OTT', but can be just as scarring. -meaning the act itself is one of violence, but the rapist will not always beat people up or yell etc,. It might be a threatening act, but be equqlly as damaging to the psyce as a more voilent rape scenario.

This is a very clever book of poetry for young children. My youngest grandchild received it for Christmas, and we have had so much fun reading it together. What really amazes me is the incredible artwork. The detail and the intricacy of the beadwork is awesome. I hope there will be more of these beautifully illustrated books in the near future.

Peggy Wiemann, Huntington Beach, CA

I am a grandmother who reads daily to my grandchildren. This book is expertly written, is very playful and upbeat, appeals to children as well as adult dog lovers. It holds the children's attention and is a spring board for questions. Loved the art work! I have purchased 12 more books for gift giving and expect the receptients will enjoy it as much as we do!!

I am a teacher and a mother. Everyone from my two year old to my third grade students enjoyed these entertaining, rythmic poems. My students now want to write dog poems of their own! Not only did my students enjoy listening to the poems, but they also enjoyed reading the poems themselves.

This was the textbook that I used for my first year in nursing school. It gives complete instructions with pictures and rationale's. It has wonderful little tables that teach you everything from patient teaching to signs and symptoms of diseases. I would highly recommended this book to any nursing student.

The Best Fundamentals of Nursing Text I have seen. Covers every concept with rationale's. Great photographs with complete descriptions. The companion book is a great asset to accompany the text while in the field. Just everything that the Nursing Student needs to know. I am very pleased with text and would highly recommend it to everyone!

Kozier and Erb, as my first year nursing classmates and I lovingly refer to it as, is the best thing that every happened to nursing students.

This books covers all topics that a first year nursing student could dream of needing. Each procedure is listed in a procedure box with step-by-step instructions including preperation and rationale.

The book also includes model care plans for common diseases/conditions. Boxes highlight assessment findings, critical thinking, and nursing diagnoses.

I can't say enough good things about this book! Let me put it this way, if my house were on fire, Kozier and Erb would be the first book I throw out the window!

The Go-Diet is a very moderate low-carb diet with practically no restriction of calories (usually the calorie intake was up to 2,500.) Dieters can have 65 grams of carbohydrate a day and no more than 12 grams of carbs at any single meal. They're supposed to eat a lot of yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk and not to be worried about the carb content in these products. This makes a lot of sense if one considers the growing body of evidence for health benefits of probiotics.

One of important points is fiber content: no less than 25 grams of fiber every day, mostly it comes with plenty of raw vegetables: 5 servings of leafy and cruciferous veggies.

The diet is high in calcium, magnesium and all other minerals. It contains vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K and requires practically no supplements.

The research results are consistent with another low-carb diets studies like these:

"Compared with the low-carbohydrate diet, the high-carbohydrate diet caused a 27.5% increase in plasma triglycerides and a similar increase in LDL-cholesterol levels; it also reduced levels of HDL cholesterol by 11%."(Diabetes. 41(10):1278-85, 1992)

In the article "Treatment of obesity with low-carbohydrate diets," the authors concluded: "Concentrations of plasma triglycerides and cholesterol turned to normal during therapy. There were no side effects on the gastro-intestinal tract." (Medizinische Klinik. 70(15):653-7,1975)

"Serum triglycerides decreased more after the high fat diet (52mg/dl) than after high protein diet (67 mg/dl)." (Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 4(4):451-9, 1985)

Please read more on evidence-based low carb dieting at bestlowcarbs.com

I have every book on low-carb diets that has been printed, but this one makes the most sense. After another low-carb attempt my cholestrol, etc. tests showed increases. Scary, very scary to me. This diet raises the monounsatured fat, lowers carbohydrates, increases fiber and is nutritionally balanced with normal protein levels.(Just as the cover states.) The weight is coming off, as with other low-carb attempts, but the blood test numbers are better and that is what we all aim for, right? The most encouraging part for me is that the Go-Diet is well balanced....you can live with it for a lifetime, even with an occasional "slip". I should have read this book first. I would have saved a lot of money and wasted time. Written by intelligent and compassionate professionals.

This diet worked for me and now i don't have to be ashamed to go in public anymore. Thank you Drs. Goldberg and O'Mara. God Bless!!

The eyes of University Presidents and Vice-Chancellors all around the world light up as they think of those hundreds of millions of potential students out there, just waiting to pay money to study at their Universities - "If just 1% of them came here.... $$$$!!! Information Technology via the Internet and on-line delivery of our courses - will that provide the answer?" As Universities (and other educational institutions) rush to establish a presence in the "virtual" education market, often building Internet classrooms that in many cases resemble the "Field of Dreams" model - "build it and they will come" (they don't, and won't, of course) this book is a welcome steadying contribution.

Let me declare an interest before going any further - I am the author of a chapter in this book. That said, the book provides a serious collection of research articles aimed at making some early sense out of this fast-growing area. It is important to remember it is early days yet and much of the research conducted to date, and the practice, is preliminary - a problem compounded by the rapidly changing technology.

While most of the chapters in the book paint a generally optimistic picture, there are many problems, pitfalls and dilemmas identified. These range from restrictions and difficulties involved in state financing of education, through the difficulty of authenticating student work and testing of students, technological limitations, special dedication and skill attributes required in students, the suitability of some courses to remote delivery, to library strategies. This suggests that at least in the eyes of these practitioners (and most of them are) it will be far from plain sailing. Somebody needs to tell those Presidents!

There are several chapters that provide guidance in (very early) "best practice" and these present a useful if somewhat disjointed guide for those considering running such courses. Perhaps a future work could attempt to establish a "best practice" manual, although as the courses come to conform to a standard blueprint the competitive edge will blur.

For academics the book identifies many areas for additional research. These include further work in the potential take up of on-line education by both students and Universities, the influence of the isolation effect, measurement of learning achievements, and interaction of students with the technology.

Overall the book offers a very good collection of experience and research. There is much more work to be done and many more experiences to be had. Uninversity management (and many academics ) will push to move ahead - there could be a lot of fallout, but in the end is it just possible this could be the University of the future? For a small percentage of students - maybe.

This book provides an outstanding range of ideas, research, and insights into distance learning programs. The book is enlightening about how to improve distance teaching and learning, the design of these programs, their successes and failures, and how they are impacting institutions of higher education,

This book is designed and written for higher education institutions which are considering or are engaged in distance education as a new education communications channel. The book's greatest strength is that it contains perspectives from many different individuals who are actively involved in distance education. The topics cover many different areas such as: defining distance education, implications for higher education, attraction of online distance education, future of distance education, faculty perceptions of distance education, teaching effectiveness, strategies for success, service providers for distance education, quality assurance issues, success factors, and many others.

Those in higher education will often adopt a new technology without fully investigating the potential and cost of the technology. This book has an excellent section on the benefits and disadvantages of using distance education. It is noted that distance education is not a panacea but it is another useful technology that can be used to enhance learning and meet needs of students who are not able to attend a traditional class-learning environment.

The reader was very impressed by the excellent end of chapter references. This will allow anyone who desires to investigate more fully the issues raised in the book to do so. The chapters dealing with various distance education delivery models and implementation will be useful to those who wish to move forward with this technology in their organization.

The reader highly recommends that those interested in distant education take the time to read this book before they embark on distance education. The book will help to minimize "re-inventing the wheel" and thus save time, money and effort.

Great plot, fascinating action. A great read.

THE BOOK IS WONDERFUL. I started it at midday and then sat in the shade all afternoon, hardly moving until I finished. What a great story. I really felt for the characters, I want the lodge for my own and I practically had to glue the last bit together to keep from peeking ahead. EXCELLENT READ.

Claire and her husband, Keith sought a new life in the countryside, opening an inn they named for the scenic, beautiful falls that drew them away from the hectic urban life. It is a joy that is doomed to a short life, however. In an unbelieveable turn of events, Claire finds herself widowed when Keith apparently commits suicide by leaping into those same falls.

Yet, Claire is unable to accept this. Determinedly, she forces the handsome sherriff to help her find out what really happened to her husband. This quest is one that will open up secrets all across the town. There are a surprising number of suspects and hidden motives. Only two things are clear, times are very dangerous, and Claire is finding herself falling for Noah, her reluctant ally.

Small towns are filled with secrets and lies. You will be fascinated by the unfolding story that Ms. Harper reveals. The complexity is baffling and intriguing, and the romance rewarding. Neither aspect draws away from the other, but the love story is complemented and interwoven expertly into the mystery.

Most Americans either fear public speaking or do not know how to properly give a presentation. Get To The Point gives many helpful insights to the many aspects of presenting your points in the best light.

Very often, the average audience member comes away with 10% of the content of a speech. Get To The Point helps the presentator maximize that 10% and maybe even icnrease it. Authors Berg and Gillman emphasize the importance of getting to know your aduience from many points of view. Know your relationship to the audience and the aduience within itself. From there, a good presentor will use clear concise jargon and possibly throw a few key buzzwords for effect. The importance of a conservative dress code as well as a confident animated matter are also emphasized.

Many other key details are explored such as the types of questioners at a presentation such as the fillibuster. Gillman and Berg detail well how to deal with this type of personality as well as how to handle yourself when interrupted. The conservative approach is very level headed.

Other topics such as meetings, job interviews, and introducing speakers are discussed in detail. Special effects in presentations are also discussed. Because this book was written before the invention of PowerPoint, many fo the visual aid examples are a bit out of date. However, the bottom line point illustrating that the speaker makes the presentation rather than the effects, still overrides any technology advances taht Get To The Point does not incorporate.

To summarize: Get To The Point meets its mark and will help out budding speakings greatly.

Gilman and Berg achieve two primary objectives: They help their reader to determine, first, what the most important "point" is; then, they help the reader to "get" to it ASAP with clarity and precision. The same principles of the program are relevant to every situation in which there is a need to communicate but it is important to note that this is not a "how to" book for those who need help preparing and then presenting formal speeches. "Rather, we are referring to the relatively short and informal talks with clearly defined objectives that take place most often in a work-related context." The authors prefer the word "presentations" to "speeches" as in a one-on-one situation in which someone must persuade her or his supervisor to make a certain approval decision or take a specific action. I think this book is very well organized. The authors have dozens of key points which they get to in exemplary fashion. Their approach is practical rather than theoretical, based on many years of real-world experience with training all manner of persons who needed to understand how to say what they meant inorder to get what they wanted. Although most of the examples in the book are in a business context, the lessons to be learned are also relevant to presentations elsewhere, such as a committee report to members of a church, a briefing to members of a social organization, or participation in a "Career Day" program at a school. The authors also explain "How to Introduce a Speaker" (Chapter 24). In earlier chapters, they offer some excellent advice on other subjects such as "Clothing: What the Well-Dressed Presenter Wears", "Picture Perfect Videoconferencing", and "The Job Interview." For many people, this may well be the most valuable book they read during the next 12 months.

This book tells it like it is. How to get the point across to various audiences using a variety of media. This book must be in every executive's library.