Anyone involved in teaching vocabulary, especially to a group with a wide range of reading levels, will benefit from the techniques and exercises in this book.

About 55 years ago, The Carrot Seed was the first book that I checked out from the local library. I loved it then and I still respect it for its clarity and simplicity. Every child should read it or have it read to him or her--many times. Then the child should proceed onto others by the same author and on to a life of loving books and the library.

"The Carrot Seed" is a highly recommended book and if your kids don't read it in school, then ask the teacher why? With the same magic as "Harold and the Purple Crayon", this book is a great way to start kids thinking and using their imagination. You can also use it to start a science experiment and let them watch their own carrot seed grow. If you have an older child at home as well as a younger child, the kids can do this together and they will have something to share.

This is one of my 2 year old son's favorite books. He "reads" it over and over (he has every word memorized.) It's so simple, and yet the message is so profound. It's a message that many children don't get from other sources- one of faith and perserverance. At first, I was not impressed with the brown and yellow illustrations, but my son seems to prefer them over other more colorfully illustrated books. The simple pictures mirror the simple message of the book.

This is very simply an extraordinary book. Some of Nietzsche's best writings are included in this book, all translated by Walter Kaufmann - Kaufmann being, of course, one of the greatest scholars of German literature (and Nietzsche in particular) of the twentieth century.

The translation seemed very good to me, and I've enjoyed Kaufmann's translations before - particularly his book "Goethe's Faust" is one of the best poetic translations I've ever read.

This book is the best collection of Nietzsche's writings. Kaufmann's translation is incomparable; it has energy, wit; its language is a delight. In other translations Nietzsche comes off as much more ponderous.

The Birth of Tragedy is a good place to start for knowledge of the early Nietzsche and is an indispensible book for understanding what came later. The Genelogy of Morals is the least aphoristic of Nietzsche's writings and provides an extended treatment of Nietzsche's famous and infamous views on morality, especially Christian morality. Beyond Good and Evil is aphoristic brilliance containing many of Nietzsche's most famous ideas.

The one thing that would make this book perfect is the addition of Kaufmann's translation of the Gay Science.

For those interested in Nietzsche there is no better place to start than this book.

Nietzsche like Plato and unlike most philosophers really knew how to write. His writing is brilliant, original, and his style has no peer. Kaufmann produces English that is without peer in his translation of Nietzsche's works.

Whether you love him or hate him, exposure to Nietzsche can be a life-changing experience.

Let me make one thing clear--I disagree with Nietzsche. Like all atheists, he doesn't understand Christianity--especially Catholicism. However, as a reviewer it is not my duty to express that, I am obligated to tell you whether or not to read this book. You should. It is a nice background in existentialism, and you must understand that school of philosophy. If you would like to hear my side of the story read Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Confessions of Augustine, and finally, a little known tome called the Bible. If you are a Nietzsche fan, I recommend Voltaire's Candide. Existentialism is not without its merits. Nietzsche wasn't all about dissing God. However, the theological assertions of Nietzsche aren't convincing to any ardent Catholic. Still, read the book.

What caught my eye was the picture of the red-headed kid on the cover... I study stereotypes and I rolled my eyes, just great, another kids book with nerds. Then I read the title and my hopes lifted. And with the first verse, those hopes went splat. While it might appear to be nice, to show kindness to the nerd and not have people laugh at him, the fact that they use the word geek and enforce the stereotype with the accompanying picture negates any effect. They should have take out the sci-fi poster, calculator watch, etc. and just showed a kid reading refering to him as "the smart kid" or "the shy kid", after all the book doesn't call the "slow kid" the "dumb kid". Poor little nerd.
The book wraps up with some religious stuff and how they'll all have wings "in the end" which will probably turn of secular parents and anyone detecting some morbidness in there.

All in all, corny, strange and anti-nerd.

Well, I'll give them credit for trying...

I used the accompanying CD to read-aloud the book and my first grade students were immediately drawn in and enthralled with both the book and the music. The least sensitive child in my class who is the first to call other students names was listening with a peaceful and loving expression of compassion and serenity on his face. Listening to the song launched some wonderful discussions when I asked students to recall and share about their feelings when someone called them names, and then to recall and share about their feelings when they called someone else names. I was overwhelmed when one of my students realized and shared that the reason that she called people names was because she was angry with them. We were able to use this as a springboard for conflict resolution and ways to share our feelings without hurting someone else's.

I first heard the song "Don't laugh at me" through Challenge Day, and the impact of the song on the young people present was huge. I was delighted to find that there was a book version of this uplifting message. The fact that the lyric-writer uses words that stereotype in his message is not an indictment of those who may [or may not] fit that category - it's an indictment of those who name-call and stereotype. My 5 year old understands the deeper meaning of the song/book in a way that, sadly, many adults fail to. If we listen to our children, they will tell us what we need to know, that teasing and name calling is wrong and they are counting on us to intervene. That's the true intention of this darling book. As a "secular" parent, I am not at all turned off by the suggestion that "in God's eyes we're all the same/someday we'll all have perfect wings." It can simply be an analogy that each of us perfect in the eyes of any loving parent or friend.

This fresh and compelling new novel by Peter Hoeg the author of the dark yet captivating "Smilla's Sense of Snow" is like a journey into Einstein's brain - a cruise into the inner reaches of time. In fact, so much of the book is about time, that if I'm ever bed ridden or find myself with nothing better to do,I'm going to go through this book and highlight the word TIME each time it shows up, and I'm quite certain it will be there at least one thousand times. So I've established that there is some tedium and redundancy in this novel. However, time is the critical element in the 'experiment' that pushes the borderline students (two orphans and one psychotic boy who recently murdered his parents after years of abuse) over the edge while they are supposed to be assimilating themselves into an elite private school. As resourceful and unwilling to submit to government/institutional dictates as 'Smilla' was, this story (which seems to be autobiographical down to the protagonist first name - Peter) kept me on pins and needles until the very end and left me clambering for more. Dark, disturbing yet hopeful too, this book will leave you looking at everything differently . . . in TIME.

(First off, if you haven't already, please don't read the Amazon.com main review/synopsis above -- the synopsis really upsets me by giving away a few absolutely crucial surprises and plot points. Aghgh!)

"Borderliners" is a gorgeous book -- at times a difficult read, but it's one of my all-time favorites. It's a hugely rewarding book in spite of its occasional dryness, although I should warn you that it's not nearly as accessible or humorous as Hoeg's wonderful "Smilla's Sense of Snow" (which partnered a tough-talking, misanthropic and brilliant Greenlandic woman against a mystery she was compelled to solve against overwhelming odds).

However, what "Borderliners" does, and does well, is bring back the here-and-now feelings of adolescence, the longings and fears, the ways in which everything feels more important than it ever will again. "Smilla" may have been laugh-out-loud funny on occasion, but there's nothing funny about a rocky adolescence, a fact Hoeg's characters know all too well. They're intense, intelligent, and pragmatic even in the face of feeling that now is all that matters. (At one lovely and memorable moment, for instance, a character remembers, "That kiss was everything - it was everything.") Ironically, Hoeg's characters in the novel aren't imagining things and do actually uncover some diabolical secrets in the midst of a harsh boarding school and all the adolescent angst, and the school's secrets are too dark and too clever to bring up here.

"Borderliners" is about survivors, adolescence, the urge for survival, and the concept of time. The novel makes a case for the fact that our minds make time travel possible through a simple act of will -- that because the past won't let us go, we can't let go of it, either -- and he means that literally. There are surprises, both moving and sad, that arrive in the book's final chapters, and which still stun me when I look back.

I highly recommend "Borderliners" for anyone seeking a literate and intelligent book off the beaten path, and which mixes ideas from Einstein and Darwin as freely as it mixes metaphors. It's an unforgettable and strange story, beautifully told, and hard to forget.

It's difficult for me to think of this book separately from Hoeg's first, _A History of Danish Dreams_, which reads like a fever-dream-version of _Borderliners_. Both are obsessed with the passage (or seeming failure to pass) of time, and with certain elements of pagan and Lutheran symbolism. Both are populated by characters surviving in the midst of nearly Kafkaesque madness by distancing themselves from the world and the people in it. The two books feed one another: I think that, if it's feasible, you should read the older book first.

_Borderliners_ is more polished than either _Smilla..._ or _...History..._, but it grows rough toward the end, as Hoeg draws closer to the real subject of the story. Even as the prose grows awkward, though, and even as the narrative becomes more detached as it approaches the present, those facts somehow make it even more effective.

This is not an easy book to read, emotionally, nor is it a simple book to understand. It can be construed as an indictment of "special education" or progressivism, but it should not be: It's simply the story that it is, and shouldn't be approached with any preconceptions.

Bram Stoker's tale of the vampire Count Dracula, and related stories of vampires and other demons, have so saturated our culture that reading the originals of the genre is essential to any dedicated student of either literature or popular mythology. Fortunately, "Dracula" is not the dusty, overwrought tale one might expect from its length and age. Instead, it is intense, exciting, and usually difficult to put down. Stoker had a talent for writing engaging prose that is at once meditative and action-filled.

But "Dracula" is neither flawless nor innocuous. It's a scary read, and sometimes a dense one - as the book progresses, the excitement is increasingly broken up by literally pages of speechmaking and other nineteenth-century affectations. While these may be interesting to a student of literature or history, they're static to the modern thrillseeker, and I found myself confused as to whether the author meant the characters' extreme statements of love, hate, allegience, etc. to be taken seriously.

This is the dilemma of "Dracula". It's a good scare and an interesting read, but the length and breadth of the book convinced me that there must be more to it. The characters seem too obviously stereotyped - the men in their valiant, unselfish approach to villainy and the women in their purity - to be serious, and the plot proceeds along a course so obvious that it seems the author must be mocking himself. But that's the problem with reading a classic after you've seen the rip-offs: the classic seems old and overdone, a cheap parody of itself.

Still, classics have a lot to offer. Beyond the fantasy element, "Dracula" offers a mixture of the traditional epic tale of man against the evil beast without, and the modern introspection of man against the evil beast within. Despite its flaws, it is a worthwhile read.

Bram Stoker's tale of terror, 'Dracula,' is just as chilling today as it must have been to readers a hundred years ago. Stoker's original story, which has been told many times since in film and book, is the tale of Johnathen Harker, his love, and his friends, and their horrific experiences at the hands of Count Dracula. The book begins with Harker traveling to Transylvania to meet with the mysterious Dracula. Aquainting him with English customs and traditions when the Count buys land all over London from his firm, Harker soons learns of Dracula's true nature- that of an unnatural fiend who causes destruction wherever he goes. When Dracula travels to England Harker's friends enlist the aide of Dr. Van Helsing, the only man who understands just what evil the Count is capable of. The story that follows is one of love, hate, maddness, and adventure as Dracula seeks to destroy Harker and his friends. As well as being a great work of literature, 'Dracula' is a wonderful tale of horror that modern readers are sure to enjoy!

The book that I read on Dracula was the unabridged version and it's not this one. However, I strongly recommend reading Dracula because it really scares you. It is told by a series of notes, journals, diaries, and letters. At first, i thought it was very boring because there's a lot of dialogue and everything is descibed in great detail. Fortunately, that's exactly what kept me hooked on the book. I would not put it down and I would stay up until 1:00 am reading it.So,here's a quick summary. Jonathan Harker travels to Romania to help a strange count buy an estate in Britain. He stays in the count's house only to slowly realize that he was a prisoner. After many horrifing and intimidating experiences as the count's "guest", he decides to enbark in a daring and frightning escape from the castle, to return to his loving fiancee, Mina. However,when Count Dracula is in the city, Jonathan sets out with a band of brave souls to destroy the evil count. There's a lot more in the story because it's 414 pages long. I really reccomend the book because it's 20 times better than the movie. I really think anyone can give it a try, and even though at first it's boring, you should make an effort to read it to get to the really good parts.

I don't think that these methods really work for people who are already competent readers. Rather, they are intended to assist people who have problems concentrating on a printed page because they watch too much television.

This book makes reading much more difficult. I read very quickly before the exercises and didn't see much improvement in my speed. The effort to use my finger as a pacer was not worth the slight improvement in speed.

If you read slowly, I can see how this book can help you. It will train you to concentrate on a printed page and give you a method of retention that will become second nature. However, if you are fairly intelligent and have no problems reading or retaining, the book is more or less a waste of time.

Only practice makes a man perfect.Peter's book is capable to increase everything-Speed Reading,Comprehension,Retention and Recall.You just need to practice drills and comprehension tips for long time.Also read-Power Reading.

I didn't find the comprehension tips very helpful, but my speed simply skyrocketed. I'd never been a fast reader before, averaging only around 300 words per minute. But more and more I found out as I move on to college, reading would become an invaluable skill. I started to read many books that claimed to "triple" your speed, but to no avail. However, when I read this book, my speed jumped from 300 to 500 within ONE WEEK. And after 5 weeks I could read as fast as 1500 words per minute. It was a miracle! All the drills really push you to sweep through material FAST - and with lots of practice you get used to it and speed reading becomes a part of you. I'm so thankful because not only does that take a huge burden off my shoulders for future reading, it also impresses my friends when I can go through an English book within 2 days while they work on it for 3 weeks!

In somewhat the same manner that the former NBC television sitcom, The Jerry Seinfeld Show, was a "show about nothing", A Year In Provence is a "book about nothing".

In the late 1980s, Peter Mayle and his wife move from a gray January in London to a sunny new life in rural Provence in the south of France. The book tracks the first year of their residence, month-by-month. In a typical month there's a wind storm, a delivery truck collapses into the septic tank, they purchase rugs from itinerants who arrive in a Mercedes, the neighboring farmer converts a melon patch to a vineyard and they spend lots of time shopping for food and eat a fantastic meal prepared by an 80 year old chef in a local restaurant. The only recurring story line concerns the masons, plumbers, electricians and other tradesmen who come and go throughout the year on a seemingly interminable remodeling of Mayle's 200 year old stone farm house. It may be a book about nothing, but it works.

The reason it works is that any reader can identify with the author. Mayles demonstrates no particular skill in cooking, French, sports, home repair or any other activity. He never says anything very specific about the politics, art or human and natural history of Provence. Rather, he and his wife just enjoy their lives by reveling in the changing seasonal weather and light patterns, getting to know their neighbors and how they make a living, walking the dogs and looking forward to the day all the workmen's tools and building materials will disappear. In short, they're doing what any of us could do if we lived in an interesting place and took time to enjoy just being there instead of feeling we had to justify our existence by "keeping busy". By the end of the book, reflecting on how long it might take to get some help in completing a new project at his house, Mayle decides it's not important to finish it in any particular length of time: "We were beginning to think in seasons instead of days or weeks."

Read this book, and then go live the life you have imagined.

(My only complaint about this thoroughly delightful book is the frequent inclusion, without translation, of snatches of conversation in French.)

Judging from the reviews, you will either love or hate this book. Peter Mayle is not a snob. He simply knows how to take his experience and turn it into an immensely readable slice of life story. To those who disliked it I ask, haven't you ever daydreamed about life as you wished it were? That's what this book is, a thoroughly enjoyable retreat from our daily troubles. I too cannot afford to live as Mr. Mayle does, but that didn't stop me from going to Provence via his often hysterical prose. This book made me laugh out loud. I have given it as a gift many times to people in need of an entertaining diversion. It hasn't failed yet. His encores and fiction are fun too, but none made me taste France the way this gem did.

What is there left to say about this fine,uproriously funny novel. I happened upon it when it first came out at my local library, thought it looked mildly amusing and took it home,expecting to be fairly entertained...but little more!

Since that fateful day I now have my own copy (hardbound, of course), have read this book, at last count, on five seperate occassions and have given away numerous copies to friends as gifts. Obviously, I am simply a HUGE fan of Mr. Mayle's novel. But it's difficult not to be!

Whether the book is accurate or not,and there's been some discussion of that, I 've found his "innocent's abroad" story funny and touching in many ways. It's a common dream that many of us have which is to run away to your own private paradise and simply live your life as you would wish. Only of course things are never that simple...especially with the Mayle's challenge of working with French beauracracy,builder's and the odd assortment of neighbor's and on-lookers. To say nothing of the occassional uninvited house guests!

There's simply something here for everyone! And of course, an odd moral to their touching story, which I won't explain here...I'll let you discover on your own. So pick up a favorite bottle of wine, some Edith Piaf and sit down with this wonderful novel. Once you're hooked you'll be able to enjoy the sequel as well..."Toujour's Provence"! Bonjoir!!

Black Boy was a very interesting book about the life of the author Richard Wright. This book is about the mental and physical hunger he went through. Richard at young age had to learn how to make living and surrport himself after his father left him, and him mother became very ill. He wanted to rise above the average black and move north to become a writer. He was not only looked down upon by the whites but also his fellow blacks. This is an very excellent book, I would recomend everyone to read Black Boy.

I picked up this book without giving it much thought--I'd never really heard of Richard Wright and couldn't see why he would wirte an autobiography. How foolish I was! How could he not write a story of his life? (As I read the first half of the book, which covers his childhood and teens years when he lived in the deep south, it was hard to imagine how this young and tortured boy would develop into the eloquent, thoughtful and engaging person who was narrating the story. A total literary trip.)

An excellent story about one man's intellectual and philosophical development, or in other words, a story about a person, plain and simple.

Richard Wright's book Black Boy is a eraw narrative of growing up in Mississippi during the pre Civil Rights movement era. One can only wonder how Wright did not (by all appearances) suffer permanent mental damamge in the face of the internal and external cruelty he faced. Great story of the power of hope and the triumph of the human spirit. By the way, don't buy this without the complete second half of this tale "American Hunger," which was edited form the original 1945 version. This latter tale of his misadventures in the Chicago Ghetto and the Communist Party serves as a warning for those who look for hope in the wrong places.