If you enjoy French literature in translation, you should already be familiar with the name of Norman Shapiro--one of our pre-eminent French-to-English translators. Quite simply, whatever Mr. Shapiro chooses to translate results in a highly enjoyable, entertaining addition to my French lit. bookshelf! If you find pleasure in Richard Wilbur's Moliere, Donald Frame's Montaigne and Rabelais, Richard Howard's Stendhal and Baudelaire, Burton Raffel's Chretien, or Merwin's Song of Roland--then you owe it to yourself to investigate Shapiro's La Fontaine translations--four volumes to date: "Fifty Fables" and "Fifty More Fables" published by Illinois, "La Fontaine's Bawdy" published by Princeton, and the present book, "Once Again, La Fontaine" published by Wesleyan. These books are--alas!--one of the best-kept secrets of High French Literature to Read for Pleasure.

Also, Shapiro has translated volumes of Verlaine and Baudelaire for the University of Chicago press (two very handsome paperback editions), and do be on the lookout for his edition of Ronsard/Marot/Bellay from Yale University Press!

The publisher's annotation fails to mention *anywhere* that the CD included with the disc features 26 fables read by actor Douglas Sills, of Broadway's The Scarlet Pimpernel fame. He does a delightful job of interpreting various characters.

My 2 1/2 year old loves this book. It is simple and fun

My son Steven is now seven years old. He has Down Syndrome. This is his favorite book and he knows it by heart. It brings him so much joy.

Don't bother with the 7-volume set by the same author. It covers too many subjects in not enough detail. THIS is THE trauma set to own for the practicing OMF surgeon and residents. There is hardly a question not answered within these large texts. Surgical anatomy is reviewed, the pictures are excellent, it is well written, and it is current. It is a book that you should acquire as one of your first titles while an OMF resident. Useful for ENT and Plastics, as well, but really covers the discipline of OMFS trauma nicely.

The Previous editon (1991) was recommended in "A Basic List of Recommended Books and Journals for Support of Clinical Dentistry in a Nondental Library" in Bulletin Of the Medical Library Association, July 1997.

This is a readable, interesting account of the events that led to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Although listed in the juvenile literature section, it is a mature and fascinating text.

This book accurately portrays the other 1492, not the discovery of America, but the persecution of the Jewish people of Spain. Finkelstein intellegently lays out the facts of the historical events of the time in a way which both young readers and adults can comprehend. The book was mentioned in the New York Times book review several years ago and is a must read for any history buff.

When I picked up this delightful book, I fully expected it to be a "no-brainer" quickie read -- what a surprise! Barbara Geisler weaves a fascinating, well-balanced blend of mystery, history, anthropology, and arcane and religious studies. If you are a history/anthropology buff -- you will be delighted. The author gives enough detail to feed your imagination and teach -- but not so much that it becomes a pedantic bore. If you like mysteries -- this is as well-crafted as most of the better ones on the market. If faith and religion are your bailiwick -- there are wonderful little bread crumbs left on the trail of this tale that enhance the experience and give the reader a little extra to ponder. It is an easy book to read -- but not "lightweight". I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to the future offerings in the "Averillan Chronicles" Highly recommended!

Other Gods: The Averillan Chronicles is a female protagonist-centered response to the Brother Cadfael mysteries. Set in the twelfth century Norman England of the wars of King Stephen and Empress Matilda, This challenging-paced medieval mystery incorporates historical details of daily living and speech patterns as well as beautiful landscape and environment descriptions into the tale. Dame Averilla, infirmaress of the Benedictine abbey at Shaftesbury, seeks to find the lost Laece Book, King Alfred's collection of precious herbal lore, and to find the lost Dame Agnes, thought to be possessed. Her search abilities, sleuthing skills, and faith are put to the extreme test by a complex struggle for power among Norman and Anglo-Saxon women of rank who are cohabitants of the Order. Amidst rumors of witchcraft, the return of "Old gods" of the forest, and continued civil strife and disorder, Dame Averilla must find her way with the help of several unlikely allies. She strives to uncover the truth despite horrible and fearful obstacles and in the end is rewarded. Other Gods: The Averillan Chronicles does a highly credible job of recreating a sense of fear and despair and loss of order that must have characterized this age, reverse side of the faith which sustained it.

This is a terrific book , that is full of common sense and information. In a clear way, and with deep knowledge, the author, share with us, many years of work and observation, just close to the little patient with CHD. I'll be waiting next edition. Thanks.

Norman Silverman, a pioneer of ECHO, has done it again. No pediatric cardiology fellow should be without this masterpiece during his or her fellowship. This was the best money I have ever spent (since my last trip to New Orleans!).

I have worked with Dr Silverman at UCSF for 2 years. He is the ultimate mentor, teacher and clinician. Reading his book is like taking a course in ECHO from the master himself. I can hear Norman talking to his fellows as I read his book. Because this book approaches ECHO anatomically and utilizes specimens from the necroscopy suite, it makes it easy to master the art of ECHO in normal and abnormal hearts (and includes a section on transesophageal ECHO as well).

This is an AMAZON MUST BUY. DO NOT MISS OUT!!

Well Penguins grammar book was a bust, but this dictionary is awesome!

I didn't know how great it was until I lost my copy of it and had to buy the Oxford one. This dictionary is like 20 times better than the Oxford one!

If fact, it was no suprise to me as the other Penguin foreign language dictionaries I own are also top notch. Buy this one and you will need no other as it has everything from common words to idioms and even naughty words as well.

One might think that there are many good dictionaries available - false! But this one is a diamond among rocks. I knew it when I saw the word "schadenfreude" there. This dictionary covers the widest range of both languages, academic and slang, terminology, everything! You can stop looking for the good Russian-English dictionary - this is it!

My children love this book. Big Bird and Barkely palying.....what else could entertain babbies better.

A delightful book about Big Bird and Barkely. It has been a favorite with all 4 of my children. We are now on our second copy. Don't get me wrong it is very durable but after 6 years of heavy handeling by little fingers...you get my point. A copy is even going into a memory chest so thier children can enjoy the same book years from now.

THE POEMS OF GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS. Fourth Edition based on the First Edition of 1918 and enlarged to incorporate all known poems and fragments. Edited by W. H. Gardner and N. H. Mackenzie. 362 pp. Oxford and New York : Oxford University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-19-281094-4 (pbk.)

For anyone who is interested in Hopkins, and everyone should be, this is the standard and authoritative edition. It gives us the only complete and accurate text which for the first time puts the poems in their true chronological order.

The poems have been arranged in four sections : Early Poems (1860-1875?); Poems (1876-1879); Unfinished Poems, Fragments, Light Verse, &c. (1862-89); Translations, Latin and Welsh Poems, &c. (1862-67). The book contains a useful and informative Introduction and Foreword, and is rounded out with very full Notes, a series of Appendices, and Indexes of titles and first lines. It is also beautifully printed on excellent paper, stitched, and bound in a sturdy glossy wrapper.

Hopkins had a unique sensibility, and brought something very special and of great value into English poetry. He seems to have had the ability to enter into the intelligence and feelings and spirit of all life forms, whether animal or plant or even landscape, to resonate with the indwelling divinity within them, and to somehow magically bring the miracle of their vibrant being over into his poems.

Hopkins is in fact a striking example of the fully human sensibility as described in the works of Heidegger and the great thinkers of the East, and exemplifies a quality of sensibility which most of us seem somehow to have lost. We skate dully and blindly over the surface of things, but Hopkins plunges into the depths of being and carries us along with him. In other words, he puts us back in touch with reality, with what life is really about. Hence his enormous value and importance.

In a complete collection such as this, there are bound to be many poems that fall short of greatness. For the newcomer to Hopkins, one suggested approach might be to first read some of his greatest poems, poems such as 'God's Grandeur,' 'Spring,' 'The Windhover,' 'Pied Beauty,' 'The Caged Skylark,' 'Binsey Poplars,' 'As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame.'

There are many beauties to enjoy in Hopkins - his unique use of language, his control of sound and rhythm, his amazing images and metaphors - but for me the most beautiful thing of all is the news he brings, news of a universe in which all things are of infinite value and infinitely precious, and in which no creature is of any less value than another because all are indwelt by divinity:

"Each mortal thing does one thing and the same : / Deals out that being indoors each one dwells ; / Selves, goes itself ; _myself_ it speaks and spells, / Crying _What I do is me : for that I came_" (p.90).

Hopkins makes us acutely aware of our loss, and our crime. His poems map out a path back to a saner, more balanced, and more wholesome and intelligent way of dwelling on the earth, dwelling lightly upon it with all other creatures and as its guardian, not its ravager.

"O if we but knew what we do / When we delve or hew - / Hack and rack the growing green! / ... After-comers cannot guess the beauty been...' (pp.78-9).

Hopkins, I think, would have been very much in agreement with Heidegger who tells us that the earth must once again become a _Spielraum_ , a space of great beauty in which to play, and one in which all creatures, instead of being treated as mere objects, are allowed to do what they came here to do, to develop the full potential of their natures and fulfill themselves as manifestations of divinity. His poems are unforgettable, and one envies those who may be coming to them for the first time.

The first poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins I read was "PiedBeauty," which was included in a book of poetry for children thatwas given to me by my great-aunt. In high school, I read "Spring and Fall: to a young child" and loved it, though I did not realize it was by the same author. It was only college that I connected the two, and discovered a wonderful poet, who has become one of my favorites.

For a fan of Hopkins looking for an authoritative volume, this edition is a treasure. In addition to his better known works, it contains early poems, numerous fragments, and unfinished works, in fact "every scrap of English verse which can be ascribed... to Hopkins" (from the Introduction xvii). In addition, it contains a good essay on Hopkins and his work, and extensive textual notes.

Hopkins poetry may appear obscure and difficult at first, and in fact it is, at times, wildly original. Hopkins' language is deliberately archaic and inventive, and he both revives wonderful words not used since Shakespeare, and makes up his own. Hopkins also writes in "sprung rhythm," a metrical style that is almost syncopated, and juxtaposes stressed syllables. I recommend reading his poems out loud. The sheer beauty of his language will inspire you to recite the words over and over again, until you understand his meaning: the essence which he is trying to distill. New readers may be daunted by this volume at first, and find that Hopkins' great poems are "submerged in a mass of less significant fragments" (Intro xiv). I would suggest his sequence of ten sonnets (#31-40) as an ideal place to start reading.

Hopkin's friend and fellow poet Robert Bridges wrote that Hopkins strove "for the unattainable perfection of language," and at times he seems to have actually obtained it: "Men go by me whom either beauty bright / In mould or mind or what not else make rare: / They rain against our much-thick and marsh air / Rich beams, till death or distance buys them quite." (The Lantern out of Doors, #40). END

This book is a wonderful book for new and old parents alike. It helps new parents plan and develop good skills for communicating and disciplining their children, but it also helps established parents see the verbal patterns that create long term negative effects in their children. I highly recommend it!

This book is a wonderful reminder to parents how their words can hurt or help their children. Chapter 6 "Let's Ban the Toxic Verbal Weapons" ends with a great evaluation chart for parents to see if they are using toxic verbal weapons. Chapter 8 "Messages that Discount, Messages that Nurture" is helpful in understanding how words and tone of voice can effect children. I heartily recommend this book to all parents.