I greatly enjoyed this book. It is the story of one teacher's career- both the positive and the negative.

I've just had the privilege of reading "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Teacher" by Edward A. Joseph and feel that I should express my appreciation for being allowed to enter the private world of Teaching in urban America. How, one might logically ask, can this be regarded as a private, largely unknown endeavor, given all the publicity the field of Teaching receives? It is simply because the intensity of the emotional involvement is just not appreciated or understood by the general public. This memoir does an admirable job of permitting the reader to share in that intimate experience.

The book is not voluminous, employing short chapters which actually heighten the effect of the hard-hitting commentaries.

The Epilogue has a paragraph which I consider to be very important:

"In addition, the education community needs to restructure the schools so the teachers can teach and the students can learn more effectively. Increasing the amount of curriculum that students have to learn and teachers have to teach is not the answer. High expectations are important, but the setting in which education takes place must make achieving these expectations possible."

I think Joseph is suggesting a more widespread implementation and acceptance of the Alternative High School concept like Yonkers Prep. I assume also that, while such an implementation would undoubtedly be desirable as part of a restructuring, his thoughts are not limited to only that. The solutions of fundamental problems inherent in our system are so daunting, complex and elusive that they would appear to require daring and drastic measures as yet not seriously entertained by those in positions of influence and authority.

In any event those closing thoughts seem to set the stage for a follow-up book on this subject. I look forward to it!

The author gives great insight into the the trials and tribulations of a teacher working in a large school system. Especially interesting was the section about the beginning of Yonker's Prep, the alternative school that the author helped start. It is obvious that there were many difficult times but it is also apparent that the author loved the actual teaching. This is a great book to read for any one but especially teachers and those that may want to be teachers.

I adopted this book as a supplementary text for my Introduction to Environmental Studies course. Most texts written for intro ES courses focus on the origins and status of environmental problems that we now face, but they do not typically do a very good job of telling students where fundamental ideas about the environment came from.

This book provides an accessible, understandable summary of many of the bedrock concepts and philosophies that the modern American environmental movement is based on. The author has gone back to landmark papers and books that have moved us in the direction we are now headed.

This book will introduce you to the ideas of people like Robert Thomas Malthus, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, Garrett Hardin, Arne Naesse, and other major contributors to environmental philosophy and the development of modern environmental consciousness.

If you are looking for a good primer on the history and development of environmental consciousness, then this is the book for you. And the author does it all in less than 200 pp.

The only downside I can see to this book is that it's kind of pricy for a relatively slim paperback.

Still, I give this book 5 stars for general coverage and retaining its focus.

Alan Holyoak, Director of Environmetal Studies, Manchester College, IN

When I wrote "The Age of Environmentalism," I intended the book to provide a brief history of the modern environmental movement. Specifically, I focused on the period 1962 to 1973, the early, formative years of the movement. I have researched and written about Rachel Carson, Paul Ehrlich, Barry Commoner, Garrett Hardin, the Deep Ecology Movement and many other people/events that were important to modern environmentalism. The book attempts to tell "both sides" of the several stories. That is, I attempt to provide a critical review of each person's contribution to environmentalism. We've included lots of photographs as well. The book has been favorably reviewed by the Ecological Society of America and by the National Asociation of Environmental Professionals as an "even-handed" treatment of the modern environmental movement. Many professors have adopted the book for their classes. It enjoys trade book sales as well. I've received some wonderful letters from readers around the world. Read & enjoy! And please let me hear your comments.

This is by far the best alternative health book I've ever read. It tells you everything you needed to know about your health but were never told. All those niggling little ailments that we all get yet brush away until something bad goes wrong with our health - it gives symptoms and remedies. I have been consulting it for 23 years to fix up heaps of conditions.

Anyone who wants to understand why certain foods, herbs etc. heal all kinds of disease should read this book. It shows what the cell salts are, how they work and why any disease is attributed to a lack of certain cell salts. This is the best book of its kind and is required reading in many alternative health colleges. A tremendous resource for understanding why food, herbal and other therapies work, plus giving a ton of practical information.

This book cover all aspects of the ADD / ADHD child. Good recommendations on meds. for different types of ADHD and why.

I read a borrowed copy and was ordering my own book within 24 hours. Both as a professional working with "at risk" children and as the mother of a child with a psychobiological disorder, I whole-heartedly recommend Dr. Horacek's book. In a spare 211 pages he gives perhaps the clearest most readable discussion of neuroanatomy and neurotransmitters I have encountered. He covers medical management and includes a fascinating glimpse of drug manufacture and marketing, the FDA, and the quandry faced by medical practitioners (hence insurance companies and consumers) in labeling a collection of behavioral symptoms. This book's cost might give some pause, but in my experience one would have to combine 2 or 3 other less readable texts to approximate the content of this single volume. It's an ideal purchase for those who want to know "why".

These novellas require readerly effort and patience. In what at first seems like a bit of a patchwork they tell a sort of blinding truth, in the tradition of Hasidic folk tales. God is not only a presence, but a character. In a mirror of the human mind, an assortment of worlds - places, times, emotional and mental states - somehow coexist. There are important yet homely recognizable details plucked from bourgeois prewar European life, but no quaintness in the descriptions of the characters' histories in Europe (mainly Germany, Hungary, Austria, Rumania) and then Palestine and Israel. For example, the protagonist segues quite reasonably from a consideration of an ice cream cone to the burden of his father's mental illness - in several paragraphs. Love among people (parents and children; men and women) is often a troublesome thing. "Women, Joseph thinks, yearn to embrace a man, and a man yearns to embrace his Creator [...]"

Patience is required, and rewarded. The presence of the several languages (German, Yiddish, Hebrew, Arabic and the English of the translation) is the tip of the iceberg, really, in these stories that attempt so much. Definitely worth reading.

This book contains two novellas - each excellent and unlike each other.

The Book of Joseph is written in a mix of poetry and prose. It follows, to varying degrees of detail, the lives of several individuals who lead intersecting lives. Don't consider this "just another Holocaust novel" - it is a significant and unique addition to the corpus of Jewish Holocaust literature.

Katschen is a very low key novella following the life of an orphan in Palestine - describing life through the very imaginative child's point of view. Katschen's view is a delightful mix of naivete, taking words literally, and a vivid visual imagination. His life is followed through care by an aunt, by an elderly uncle, thru a kibbutz, a friendly Arab, the police and finally by his father - a man confined to an insane asylum through most of the story.

Both tales include footnotes that translate the bits of German, Yiddish, Hebrew and Arabic that occasionally occur. This multilingual facet is the only trace of a scholarly background on the part of the author.

Yoel Hoffman is an author with absolutely stunning control over his story - an unerring sense of concrete detail in sparse prose. I have yet to find any of his work less than awe inspiring.

The "New Jerome Biblical Handbook" remains one of the most important books to come out of religious publishing in some time. It is an absolute essential for the busy clergyman who does not have the time for the in-depth reading and studying required for the far more academic "New Jerome Biblical Commentary". It will also make a worthy addition to the personal shelf of any informed layperson who wishes to become more biblically literate. It should also be found in every parish library.

What the "Handbook" does, is condense and distill the dense and academic material in the "Commentary" and present it in an easily recoverable fashion. The reader will gain insights into every book of the Bible, as well as into the basics of modern critical methodology, without requiring the technical training of the academic or seminarian.

From a theological standpoint, the "Handbook" could best be described as "moderate", rejecting both the anti-intellectualism of the fundamentalist far right as well as the deconstructionist tendencies of the far left. The editors did their work well in presenting a balanced picture of the best of modern biblical scholarship in an easy to read and comprehend format.

Certainly worth 5 stars.

I heartily recommend this book to all those who wanted a quick reference about the Bible! Maybe viewed as a supplementary to the NJBC, I find this book a handy one to bring along during my theology classes, and a useful tool for easy reading. The best handbook made for the best bible commentary!It has charts and visuals not usually found in the NJBC, which I think helps summarize and condense the immense scholarly works found in the NJBC.A great Companion to NJBC!

Stanislavski in Rehearsal has been the most influential work that I have come across in regards to developing my craft. The book spells out the Method of Physical actions, which was what KS was working on when he passed away. This work also disgards/de-empasis some teaching in his earlier work, like emotion memory. This is a must read for all actors, escpecially one's who are interested in the work of Stanislavski.

This is a good book. Buy it, specially if you're tired of the mumbo jumbo that is being taught under the name of Stanislavski by the so-called "Stanislavski experts."

As an English graduate student looking forward to a career of teaching, I have read several books on the subject. This particular text is one of the most useful I've seen so far. The articles cover a myriad of teaching approaches and exercises for potential students.

While not forcing one particular philosophy on the reader, articles by authors like Peter Elbow, Douglas B. Park, Lisa Ede and Andrea Lunsford offer different perspectives on different ares of the teaching process. These articles help the reader decide how important "audience" is, and whether literature has a place in a freshman composition course.

Chapters cover such areas as: "Teachers," "Students," "Approaches," "Perspectives," "Composing and Revising," and "Styles," among other things. This book would be incredibly useful for a new teacher, a potential teacher, or even a student interested in further developing his or her own writing skills. The book offers ideas for a teacher to help a student with typical writing roadblocks: how to start, how to get organized, and how to overcome writer's block. An invaluable tool that has helped me not only develop my own philosophy on teaching, but has also helped me in my own writing process.

This is a complete English translation of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Before reading this, I started the Burton translation and never finished it. The language was very awkward, it seemed Burton purposely made it sound antiquated and in the passive voice. Instead of suiting the translation to the preconceptions Europeans had about both old and Eastern writings, Mardrus made a literal translation into French, and Mathers translated that into English. The result is not only a more acurate translation, but it's not the least bit awkward and is a joy to read. This is the only English translation of the book I recommend.

Almost nothing can be said about the Thousand Nights and One Night, except what is obvious to anyone who understands its substance. It is one of the truly essential pieces of world culture, and probably the most extensive universe of stories in history.

Something must be said, however, for those who are NOT aware of the extent of this work. This is not the simple batch of a dozen or so stories -- Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad, and the like -- that most people think it is. This is over 2400 pages of narrative, comprising close on 100 stories -- some of which are themselves as long as novels, and many of which contain smaller stories within themselves. The stories range from the profoundly epic to the delightfully whimsical, and there is variation in mood and length throughout the series that it not only serves as a collection of discrete stories but functions as a unified whole.

As such, the attempt to read the Thousand Nights and One Night in its entirety can not be a halfhearted one. The reader must be prepared to invest considerable time in the reading. The rewards, however, are incalculable. The complete experience has few parallels in fiction, because few works of such volume possess such unity. Reading moves from the hasty and immediate to the comfortable and regular. The difference is akin to that between listening to a 3-minute pop song and listening to a 30-minute symphony. The individual stories fade into memory, retaining their own identities but also falling into place within the whole.

I will not attempt to address the individual stories themselves in any detail. Suffice it to say that they narrate love, lust, sex, war, peace, contemplation, action, commerce, politics, art, science, and many other things, in the spheres of the supernatural and the mundane. The Thousand Nights and One Night is a virtually complete panorama of human existence, with each story a component scene.

I will, though, address the issue of translation. I have perused other editions of the tales in varying degrees (although this is the only one I have read completely). In the first place, any translation which omits some stories is not worth consideration. Although there is some controversy over whether Richard Burton (the first to translate the tales into English) corrupted the original text and inserted spurious parts, there is nothing to be gained by being persnickety in this regard. This edition contains more tales than most others I have seen, and therefore is more likely to contain the "right" tales somewhere inside. On a less abstract level, this text is simply more fun to read than most others, and, as mentioned, there is more of that fun text to be read.

Also, it can be plausibly speculated that this translation is particularly likely to have fewer Burton-induced inaccuracies, since it is not in fact a direct translation from Arabic to English. This 4-volume edition is a translation into English, by Powys Mathers, of a French translation, by J. C. Mardrus, of the original Arabic. It is somewhat surprising that an indirect translation such as this should be of such high quality, but I have found it to be so. In particular, this Mardrus & Mathers version includes substantial verse passages (which in other translations are often rendered as prose) and is refreshingly frank in its translation of the more ribald passages (which are numerous).

The Thousand Nights and One Night is not merely a book that can be read; it is a world which can be experienced, and the memories of that experience can mingle almost indistinguishably with memories of reality. Only a work of this size can work on large and small levels, with many intricate details but also many large thematic components. As an added benefit, by the time you have finished reading the fourth volume, your memories of the first will be fading, so you can begin a new reading immediately, and experience the joys of the Thousand Nights and One Night all over again.

The stories contained within are truly wonderful. They oftentimes read with such beauty and vividness that I almost believed I was there! If there's such a thing as a darn-near perfect translation, these books are it imho. Why not introduce your children to the tales of the Arabian nights via these books? I'm no historian, but these tales have a much more authentic feel than others that I encountered as a child. Read a few stories each night, and enjoy the whole series over a period of time! Or dive in and don't surface until you're done!

"I'll try and do anything and be anything you want if only you'll keep me." This is how "Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery begins.
Anne Shirley is a twelve-year-old girl who is brought to Green Gables only to find they were expecting a boy. The Cuthberts however, are one over by this queer, imaginative girl with bright, red hair and decide to allow her to stay.
Green Gables is a lovely, little farm just outside of a small town on Prince Edward Island called Avonlea. It is surrounded by fields and forests, which hold many surprises for adventurous Anne.
Throughout this book Anne's fierce temper and wild imagination often get the better of her, but she usually manages to squeeze out of these scrapes.
Anne's melodramatic nature and fiery temper keeps you interested as you read this marvelous book.
Montgomery's humorous writing style gives life to the characters so that you feel like you are meeting them in person.
I think that this was a wonderful book filled with humor, drama and tears. I would recommend this book to anyone that has ever had a dream and loves a good book.

first of all, let me begin with I LOVE THIS BOOK! I have read this book more times than I can remember...easily more than a dozen...thus, I am going to set my mind to write a glowing review of it.

This book portrays a stunning sketch of Canadian History and Culture in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The character personalities are so real and so amazingly "human" that one cannot help but fall in love with them. You really get a taste of PEI in its glory.

This story is set in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island (Canada), a fictional settlement which is really Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, the place where Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author grew up.

The main character is Anne Shirley...and eleven year old, enigmatic, imaginative, sparkling, highly intelligent orphan who is sent to Green Gables, a farmhouse in Avonlea, under the impression that she was to be adopted by a pair of elderly siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthburt. But, apon arrival to Green Gables, Anne discovers that there had been a horrible mistake...the Cuthburts never wanted a girl...they wanted a boy who could do the chores and help Matthew with the farm. Anne was was in the "depths of dispair". Matthew, on the drive home from the train station had taken a great shine to Anne and had his heart set on keeping her, regardless of any mistake. Marilla, however, was not so easily enchanted. She agreed to let Anne stay at Green Gables on trial, to see if she would behave herself and lend a helpful hand to Marilla. After the trial, Anne is welcomed to Green Gables and flourishes under the love of the Cuthburts and all Avonlea folk. Anne, however, has one big problem. Her Hair. It is a hopeless shade of carrotty red and Anne felt that it was the ugliest hair anyone could imagine. She was extremely sensitive about it and she was horribly embarrassed about it. On her first day of school, Anne's hair was made fun of by Gilbert Blythe, the smartest and handsomest boy in school. "Carrots! Carrots!" he said. Anne's temper got the better of her and she was so angry she broke a slate over his head. After that, for many years, she snubbed Gilbert every time he spoke to her and he developed a boyhood crush on her.

Ah, but to keep this review interesting and the book mysterious, I will stop telling you the story and begin reviewing. The characters in the book are so well-defined that it seems to you that you know every character personally, like an old friend or neighbour.

And by all means, don't let the age recommendation fool you either...this book can be read by all ages alike...and I have no doubt that this book will still be my avid favorite at the age of 85.

The book is not boring, contrary to many opinions of those who read the first chapter of small print and historical settings. The discriptions will place you right into the heart of the story and you find you will laugh and cry while reading this story. Every time I read it I cry at a certain part which I'm not sure if I should reveal to you for fear of spoiling the good parts in the story, but it is dreadfully sad. If you read the book, then you will know what part I am talking about. The one saddest part in the whole story.

Although this book has some old ideas and ways of expressing them, you will learn a great deal of Canadian history through them and there's no doubt in my mind that this book will still be popular decades and most likely even centuries to come.

Anne of Green Gables is one of my all-time favorite books. Anne is a person almost everyone can relate to in some way or another. Anne is launched into the "depths of despair" as soon as she finds out the horrible truth that the Mathew and Marilla really sent for a boy from the orphanage. Her fiery temper gets the better of her at some of the worst possible times. Such as when she vows that she will never forgive Gilbert Blythe for calling her carrots, as if smashing a slate over his head is not enough. This is a wonderful book that L. M. Montgomery has really shown her skill as a writer and novelist in. I have read the entire Anne of Green Gables Series and am also, like another reader, saving them all for my daughter some day. If you want a book that you can thoroughly enjoy, this is the one, although I have one warning that you may have a hard time putting it down.