What a joy this book is! My children, including my teenagers, were enthralled with the story, it's meaning and the lovely illustrations. It reminds me so much of the 'picture books' of my childhood. Dale Smith is an incredible children's author, as proven by his other books, Over is Not Up and Night Time at the Zoo. His illistrators are of the finest quality. The collaboration with Pat Day-Bivins makes this a great book for all ages. What a message! We will enjoy this book for years to come.

My first impression was what a lovely book! Then to discover that the story led me into another one with which I was very familiar and loved. I felt comfortable with this and was able, through the small rabbit, to become a part of the story. I also found that the rabbit family exhibited strength in their loyality to one another. In this time of broken families becoming more the norm, I loved enforcing family bonds to my grandchildren through this delightful and beautiful story. Both the story and the lovely paintings will be enjoyed in our home for years to come!

When I purchased this book for my child, I never dreamed that I had purchased such a wonderful treasure. What a wonderful book. It helped give my child a reminder that no matter where she is or where she will be in the future someone is there who loves her. When I read the book, I also had tears of joy for such a wonderful story. Don't miss this book. It's story is so appealing. It gives your child an understanding of Easter. It also has a audio tape that comes free with the book. The authors of this book have told a story that will go with your child to adulthood. It truely is a classic .

In this first book in a five-volume set collecting all the short stories of Philip K. Dick, we get a chance to see the first stories he wrote and published and can learn that from the very start, Dick was a great writer.

This is one of those rare story collections where there absolutely NO bad stories. Each one is a well-written and interesting piece; some have a dark humor, others are utterly horrifying, but each one is good or great in its own way.

Written in the 1950s, these stories are a refreshing change of pace from some of the more banal sci-fi pieces to come out of that era. The emphasis here is not on the science (which is often unexplained) but on the fiction: the characters, the mood and the plot. Adept at the plot twist, Dick often resolves his stories in logical but unanticipated ways.

From evil toys and malicious butterflies to trolls and lethal towels, Dick puts us in a number of worlds not far removed from our own and entertains us from first page to last. I look forward to reading the other four volumes in this set; some of the stories I have read before and others I haven't, but I'm sure I'll have a blast with all of them.

There are three consistent aspects to PKD's (Philip Dick's) work that I find compelling:

1. He constantly asks the (most important) question, "What is the nature of reality"?

2. He repeatedly states and offers evidence that the answer to the question "What does it mean to be human?" is the ability to feel empathy.

3. His plots involve such "ordinary" people, and have excellent character development - so you quickly get to understand them. Meanwhile, the story involves some bizarre science fiction device , idea, or condition, that he makes a part of this very normal human's world. You're quickly drawn in by the master.


PKD spent a significant amount of time thinking and writing about philosophy. In a way, reading his stories is an entertaining way of doing a survey of his take on the world's philosophical history without having to read (and understand) endless tomes of the great philosophers. You can see how this changes in PKD as you read different books in the Collected Stories series.


Philip makes it abundantly clear that he hates much of the stupidity that mankind inflicts on itself. War is a commonly expressed example of this. Of course, with the science fiction plot theme, he can easily spread examples of this through time, through the galaxy, and beyond (even to gods, other sentient races, etc).


As is tragically true so often with deep thinkers, Philip's life was far from carefree...As a consequence, and the fact that he's obviously a man bent on searching for TRUTH, his writing often has a dark underlying feeling. Comedy is sprinkled through the stories, but it too has a dark quality. Even the moments of greatest joy provide a somewhat bittersweet feeling, due to the background of the plot worlds. But again - reading PKD is not a dose of happy-pills, it is about TRUTH, whether pretty or not.


No matter who you are, these stories will make you think and I suspect learn a thing or two. They cover such a variety of plots that almost everyone is bound to be pleased by some, alarmed or saddened by others, and to feel a surge of empathy for some situations and realize that (bizarre as the situation may be) - this too is human.


I think it would be truly impossible for any thinking person to read and reflect on the 118 stories in the 5 volume series and come away completely unchanged. And for the vast majority of us (to borrow a PKD novel title) "Cosmic Puppets" with empathic capabilities, I'm betting the change will be for the better...

Reading the collected short stories - Volumes 1 through 5 - is like watching the old Twilight Zone. Weird and wonderful stuff!

Full of real-life examples that provide some intuitive insight about the issues that may arise when modelling time series and forecasting. Requires some initial knowledge in statistics and algebra but if you're involved in time series modelling, it should be your first book. All the data thats used is available in the authors webbsite for downloading, very nice.

To make this review short, I will say that I agree with all seven points made by the reviewer from New York, NY, whomever he or she may be. Franses is clear, concise, authoritative and up-to-date on all the advances.

I particularly like the nice coverage of GARCH models that are new to me. It is a great introductory text especially for economics majors. For more advanced books and other treatments of time series consider Kennedy's fourth edition of "A Guide to Econometrics" or the suggestion from reviewer "New York, NY". Also my listmania list on time series will give you several sources to look at.

Recently, I reread Franses book and expanded my review, which now includes 10 benefits.
(1) Organization by key features of economic time series (trends, seasonality, outliers, conditional heteroskedasticity, non-linearity), rather than by methods, which provides a practical foundation for the various methodologies. The order in which chapters are presented reflects the order of difficulty in modeling trends, seasonality, etc. Even if there were no other benefits, this organization makes it worthwhile.
(2) Appropriate level for first book on time series models as applied to economic time series, explaining more difficult concepts GARCH and VAR without excess detail. Box and Jenksins book is more a textbook; Brockwell and Davis is also more advanced; Hamilton is comprehensive and technical, but not as friendly. This book is very approachable even if you have had only 1 or 2 statistics courses. In economics, many people are interested in forecasting, and Franeses here is a good start. If you are looking for a more advanced forecasting book, try the recent books by Clements and Hendry from Cambridge U Press.
(3) Clear distinction of the steps of model identification, estimation, diagnostics, and selection; something which other time series analysis books do not seem to do early or easily. (4) Delineates stochastic and deterministic models in the second chapter, providing a framework for when to take differences (eg. ARMA vs ARIMA). His timing is excellent. Many people I have interviewed on time series do not understand why they need to difference (eg use prices instead of returns) or why to transform the series (eg use logs instead of actual values).
(5) Generous use of examples with real not simulated data with a website to download all the data, making it possible to import, graph, and analyze on your own.
(6) A website containing printing corrections. Techincal books are likely to have some errors, but very few keep websites to list what those are.
(7) Revealing graphics, especially for conditional heteroskedasticity, the 'CH' in GARCH. Figures 7.1-7.3 illustrate the concept that large returns tend to follow large returns very cleanly.
(8) His notation is clear and consistent, yet not overwhelming: conventional Greek letters, only 1 level of subscripting, matrix noation where appropriate; even the results are neatly presented, as standard errors appear in () below their point estimates. Finally, Franses uses the same notation from chapter to chapter where the term is the same--not so common when chapters written by different authors.
(9) Great appendices: extensive and updated references, a thorough subject index, and an author index. My only suggestion for improvement is that a second edition or the website should contain some exercises. Highly recommended.
(10) The price! There are books published under Wiley at 3 to 4 times the price! under Springer Verlag for 2 to 3 times the price. Certain books are worth the money, but Cambridge University Press paperback publications, when written well, are exeptional values. I encourage the ambitious time series student to look at other time series books, including one written this year by Franses including Quantitative Models in Market Research.

A warm, compassionate and loving reflection of how true love in marriage can be. Tom Mullen's words inspire and encourage commitment, acceptance, understanding, forgiveness and Love.

First I read this book to myself and then my husband and I read it aloud following meals. Tom Mullen's faith, common sense, dedication to his wife, Nancy, and willingness to work with her to grow together through out their long, happy marriage sets a good example for all of us. The book documents how two people found joy in daily life, supported each other during illnesses, and other challenges. The author's sense of humor helps the reader find things in his/her own relationships about which to laugh. This book is a "good read" for all. It will be of interest and helpful to those just contemplating marriage as well as those who have lived many years together.

In the wake of sadly epidemic and chronic divorce statistics, A Very Good Marriage is a memoir to be treasured. It is the compelling and inspiring story of a Quaker husband and wife who stayed together and earned happiness through two careers, four children, and chronic health difficulties. Written by Quaker pastor Tom Mullen after the death of his beloved wife Nancy Mullen, A Very Good Marriage is a story of hope, of life, and of facing challenges united. Very highly recommended for anyone seeking a true story of lasting and meaningful marital love in a challenging and complex world.

Words don't do justice to the work & imagination of Ray & Charles Eames! This is a beautiful book covering the creative minds of two of the best modern furniture designers. Filled with great pictures, & very complete text of their design & the many other things they created besides furniture.The Eames' are my biased favorite, if you love modern 50's furniture,fabric, & art you must have this book.They worked for the infamous Herman Miller company, who has reissued many of the Eames furniture pieces available again today.As creator of the modern molded fiberglass chair, & molded plywood, the Museaum Of Modern Art has Charles' chairs as Art, which they are & comfortable too!More than comparable to their Danish counterparts,this couple brought us sleek,smooth lined furniture that will take us into the space age for at least another fifty years!(check out A.I.-incredible backgrounds of modern furniture!)

This is a wonderful addition to any coffee table! I learned so much about this creative couple that I never knew before. The pictures are A+ & very well done. If you are a fan of Eames furniture, you cannot live without this book!!

The Eamses were innovators in many fields such as Architecture, furniture design, film, etc. But to my mind their gretest acheivement was the definition of a new profession, 'Graphic Design', or as I beleive they called it, a 'Design Office'.

Up till then, there was 'Commercial Art', and 'Art Departments', and whatever styling was applied to an industrial product was done as an afterthought, and usually by an amateur.

After The Eamses, a new recognition that the design of appearances was a craft and a profession, and not just an art, was born.

This book demonstrates in many ways, how Ray and Charles Eames applied this and many other insights to the various fields of endeavor that they entered and changed forever.

If you enjoy tasting the finest of foods that have been all time traditional favorites and you want to know how to prepare them yourself, this cookbook is for you. This book opens up the doors of cooking and makes you an instant expert. Contains the best chili and fried chicken you can imagine. I create 11 to 13 different pies every holiday and the pies comes from recipes right here. People think I am the best cook around, I wouldn't be without this book. The soups will imspire you to not only learn how to create these soups but come up with inventions of your own. Seriously, this book is a must have for someone that really wants to learn how to cook and needs a great recipe that will inspire them to continue. I have a whole library of cookbooks but this is my favorite one and the one that gave me the encouragement to make cooking my hobby. The chicken frickase is the all time best chicken recipe in the world. Make that and mashed potatoes and corn and you will have any man coming back for more.

I have all the series of "The Beautiful Cookbooks" and the America and the Mexico one I believe are among the best ones.

Great cookbook with wonderfull recipes that are easy to reproduce. Currently looking for another copy to purchase as the moving company lost a considerable amount of our personal items and included was our favorite cookbook.

Although not on quite the same level of Volumes One and Two in this five book set of all of Philip K. Dick's short fiction, Second Variety and Other Classic Stories is a worthwhile read for any PKD fan.

Dick cranked out stories very quickly in his early years, and some of these tales do have a certain sense of being rushed, but others, including the title story are nothing short of brilliant. As usual, Dick focuses on dystopic futures that are politically and/or environmentally ravaged; usually these stories have a level of humor too, but others in this collection are more purely downbeat.

While some stories are just okay, I particularly enjoyed "The Golden Man," "Second Variety" and "Foster, You're Dead." There are some other great ones, too. I would recommend this to any science fiction fan who wants to read some truly original fiction; this is another good collection of Dick's short stories.

The man is good. If you have not read any of Philip K. Dick I would highly recommend any of his books. He is by far the best Sci-Fi writer ever. Some of my favorite short stories from this book are "The Father-Thing, The Golden Man, The Hanging Stranger." Heck, they are all good. They remind me more of episodes of "The Twilight Zone" then just Sci-Fi.

This book, third in a set of five from Citadel Press (who are doing similar definitive collections of Robert Bloch & Theodore Sturgeon), collects all of Dick's short stories, the vast majority of them from the 50s - not coincidentally, the high-water mark of the sf pulps. All are introduced by later-era sf writers like Tom Disch, Norman Spinrad & this volume's John Brunner; unfortunately, all take pains to point out that the true value of these stories was in their raw wealth of ideas, which Dick later cannibalized and expanded upon in his novels. During his short-story tyro period, Dick wrote fast and furious (how does a story a week sound?) and the conventional wisdom states that these tales are too one-dimensional, formulaic and crudely-written to have much artistic quality on their own merits. I strongly disagree. While Dick's later novels are of course worth reading, these early stories literally SEETHE with fevered imagination: it's important to note that he does not employ recurring characters or settings here. He literally starts each story with a blank canvas, which only makes his prolific output that much more astounding. All of his obsessions and central themes are already present, but emerging as they did against the backdrop of the American 50s, the oft-noted 'flaws' in these small gems lend an eerily authentic surrealism and subversive power that his 60s and 70s work (when the world he lived in was already waist-deep in 'science fiction time', to use a Spinrad phrase) somewhat lack. Actually, Dick's COLLECTED STORIES, like much of the most resonant 50s sf, can be savored as much for their horror-story frissons, or their mythic and allegorical properties, as they can as pure speculative fiction. (And one could make the argument that such work, produced under the spectres of McCarthyism, The Bomb, flying-saucer sightings, a growing militarism and the incipient gray-flannelled paranoia festering in the newly-minted utopia of suburbia, was much more daring and revolutionary than similar Dick-inspired work published in the far-less-restrictive, anything-goes 60s). Sure, many of the characters in COLLECTED STORIES read like print versions of Kenneth Tobey and Morris Ankrum, but therein lies their power; they're true to the era in a way that 'better-written', more fully developed protagonists probably couldn't be. Anyway, to cut a long-winded sermon short, readers drawn to either sf or horror, as well as those who nominally detest both genres but do enjoy a touch of strangeness and obsessiveness in their fiction, should run out and buy SECOND VARIETY and the other four books in this series. You may be surprised to find many of these 'one-dimensional' stories, written hastily for money, clinging like burrs to your subconscious long after the work of Great Authors have slid noiselessly from memory. Mandatory reading.

I have a great respect for Thich Nhat Hanh and the many works that he has done in his years with us. This book is another example of his striving to present the joys of Zen to the western world. His poetry, charity, and daily life reflect a pattern of mindfulness that many will never experience. I fear though, as he states, that the Western world will not be able to fully grasp Oriental Zen practice, and a western form of it has arisen. I appreciate the book's simplicity, and honesty. May peace be with you today...

i had always had a semi-interest in buddhism, derived from ecstatic readings of 'dharma bums' by jack kerouac (another must-have), but disappointed as i couldnt find 'big sur' at the bookstore a month ago, i chanced upon the religion section, and zen keys shone out on the shelf, i picked it up, read a page of thich nhat hanh's contemplative prose, and immmediately bought and took it home devouring it in my bedroom for hours. Nhat Hanhs compassionate and understanding approach to Zen Buddhism makes learning about it easy, and also very rewarding. his take, which is no ones take at all but rather the truth, about zen makes for free-minded thinking thru the eight negations, mindfullness of everyday life, and the wisdom of the zen masters in the kung-ans at the end of the book. i cannot help but be forever changed by this simplistic yet beautiful overlay of Zen Buddhism. anyone, everyone, Americans and materialism and all, MUST read this, dont lose your life in forgetfullness and apathy and be lost in worldly pursuit, be a monk.

Hardly a day goes by without a new Thich Nhat Hanh book - which is a very good thing. A Buddhist monk who fled the American War in Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh leads a world-wide community centered at Plum Village in south-west France. A critic and target of both the Communist regime and the U.S. backed South, he became well-known in America and a friend of Martin Luther King and Daniel Berrigan. Just as Chinese political oppression forced Tibetan Buddhists onto the world stage, Thich Nhat Hanh's exile allowed the West to come to know Zen better.

"Zen Keys" is one of his earlier books and, unlike many others, is not a meditation text. "Zen Keys" is a serious introduction to the history and practice of Zen from the Buddha to the present. And Zen is practice. Unlike Western religions, Zen does not rely on dogma. Zen and Buddhism are methods of enlightenment, coming to know the real world. We have learned to "see" they world through reason and emotions. Reason and emotions are not bad; they are insufficient to come to know the world. "Reality, he writes, "is only reality when it is not grasped conceptually." (112)

Zen is the practice through which we come to know the world. Using some of Thich Nhat Hanh's books and other works, I have tried meditation. No, I have not attained enlightenment, but I have discovered all too many ways in which I have failed to see reality. Have I come to be a better human being because of "practice"? You'll have to ask someone else. And, yes, it is disconcerting - but so freeing - to realize that my idea of myself is a construct I've assembled over time and not who I am.

As Thich Nhat Hanh points out, Zen and Buddhism do not lead to "navel-gazing". He is a proponent of engaged Buddhism, a modern term which reaches back to one of the oldest schools of Buddhism. He writes that in living in the world we have created, "What we lack is not an ideology or a doctrine that will save the world. What we lack is mindfulness of what we are, of what our situation really is." (155)

Take that, you Communists and Capitalists!

Having lived around the boneyard for a number of years this book helped me remember some of it. My father would and still passes by alot of the airplanes today on his way to work or what ever. It was interesting to read it from an Englishman's point of view.

This is a worthy successor to Philip D. Chinnery's previous pictorial essays on the Boneyard (1987's "Desert Boneyard", and 1989's "Desert Airforce"...both out-of-print). The format is larger, and the quality of the photos is excellent. There's also a tantalizing mix of aircraft...you can hardly wait to turn the page and see what glorious old bird is baking in the hot desert sun on the next page. You really get a feel for the place, and you see more on these pages than you'd ever get to see in real life; mostly because the tours don't take you everywhere Chinnery was able to go. You'll see F-105s, F-102s, F-100s, F-4s, A-7s, F-111s, B-52s, even A-10s, C-141s, F-14s, F-15s and F-16s. Plus other, much older aircraft, helicopters, utility aircraft and aircraft types too numerous to mention. There's a fine section on the early history of the base, and descriptions of the storage process, too. I think you'll like it.

This book has much detailed information on the history of the storage yard at Davis-Monthan AFB, in Tucson Arizona. Seeing has to how I am an aircraft nut (Mostly military), I got a kick out of the fact that all the pictures were color! And the photos are almost all of aircraft. Rare aircraft included are the XB-19, B-36, RA-5C, C-133 and the NB-52E. The only problem is that just one photo of each of the above aircraft is in the book. In addition, the book also has details about how the aircraft are preserved in storage and what uses they have at the yard. Not all are scrapped or salvaged of parts, but some go on to civilian lives as firebombers or transports and some are sold to warbird collectors. For example, The Pima Air-Space Museum has many aircraft that are on loan from D-M (Then again, it is very near the base). This has to be the best book ever on the place that is mistakenly called "The Boneyard".

Many of the pro-Laetrile works that I have read were written by private citizens and laymen, and as a result one would say that these were not qualified to make claims. And such accusations have been made.

Now we have hard evidence in favor of Laetrile from a MEDICAL DOCTOR! Finally! A qualified source since Dr. Ernst Krebs' initial discovery has been found. A must read to accompany World Without Cancer by G. Edward Griffin.

Dr. Binzel backs up the information found in "World Without Cancer" with actual case histories and results.

For those that think that Laetrile is the only component in cancer treatment, this book shows why, and how, cancer needs to be treated - a combination of vitamins, diet and laetrile.

Actual programs used to achieve 82% success rates in treating primary cancer, and 65% in treating metastates cancer, show you the vast difference between "orthodox" cancer treatment, with success rates of less than 10%, to this "un-approved" treatment.

Most definitely something you want to share with your friends.

After frequenting alternative medicine newsgroups, which are full of "cancer cure" vendors, it's nice to see a book that is written with a large degree of humility. Dr. Binzel has, for many years, used the controversial chemical "laetrile" to treat cancer. The first 96 pages are stories of his legal struggles and court appearances (including a few major newsworthy cases in which he was called to witness to the efficacy of laetrile). In some ways his run-ins with the state read like a good novel. While a very conservative company publishes the book, I (a moderate) did not find any grand conspiracy theories.

The last 40 pages are devoted to his controversial approach (diet, laetrile, enzymes, Vitamin A, etc) and his results using his therapy. He even includes photos of some of his success cases. The results are clinical data and are thus not considered as scientifically valid as a randomized test. However, his statistics suggest that he is onto something. For instance, his five year survival rates for metastasized cancers (cancers that have spread throughout the body) are impressive at 60%. His results for primary tumors are higher at an 80% 5 year survival rate. However it is important to remember that his data have not been published scientifically and thus have not been peer-reviewed. However his statistics do show that the laetrile-metabolic approach should not be characterized as "completely worthless." I would say to read this with an open, yet critical mind (as all non-fiction should be read). Anybody who has read the popular 70s book, "Laetrile Case Histories," will see an immediate similarity between that book and, "Alive and Well." In some ways this is the "Laetrile Case Histories" for the new millenium.