This book was a required "textbook" in a high school "Science and Sustainability" pilot class my school did in junior year. I remember we generally used the books in class but could check them out to take home if we wanted. I checked one out and din't want to give it back. I think I skipped two classes that day just sitting in the student lounge poring over it, and I think the people reading over my shoulder probably had other things to do as well, but I couldn't put it down, it was so fascinating. So of course I bought my own and I can still pick it up and pore over it for another three hours with the same fascination. It's real life, and the families are real people that you feel somehow close to after reading this. I love this book and show it to everyone. This book will change the way you look at things. Also, for those who think that this book is primarily about material goods around the world, you couldn't be more wrong. Each chapter shows an incredibly detailed portrait of life in another country, and is as wonderful for introducing kids to other cultures as it is for opening their eyes to economic realities. Enjoy.

What does the average Ethiopian home look like? What is the average Cuban family's hope for the future? How much does a carrot cost on the black Market in Bosnia? Which country has the highest fish consumption per capita? What does the average Japanese father have for breakfast?

It may seem trivial, but these are the questions that Peter Menzel and the creators of "Material World" have tried to answer. And the answers they found are more profound than you might think. 30 very different countries, and 16 excellent photographers, trying to show through images, statistics and interviews how the world's average families live. The differences are astonishing: the financially average Abdullah family in Kuwait is both literally and figuratively a world removed from the Cakonis in Albania.

In this book, created to celebrate the United Nations International Year Of The Family, sumptuous photographs, show each family with their material possessions spread around them outside their homes: while one family's material wealth seems to consist almost entirely of carpets, another's is made up of animals and cooking pots. One family has four cars, another a single and ragged looking donkey. More photographs show each family in the course of the average day, and coupled with data based on interviews, they answer questions such as: do the children go to school? Where does their food come from? What does their house look like? And most tellingly, what is their most treasured possession? More light hearted sections, which explore average televisions, toilets and meals across the world, show at once how alike and different we are.

The creators of "Material World" have sought, and achieved a fine balance. They contrast not only those countries which we know to be rich or poor, but also look at how other factors, such as war and technology, affect families. The information is implicit rather than explicit, conveyed only through the images and words of each family; while the photographers' impressions are expressed in small "photographer's notes" sections, their main function is simply to show us the real lives of their subjects. No judgements are passed, nor opinions given. The reader is left to examine the evidence for themselves.

"Material World" works on many levels. The quality of photography and the compilation of each section make it beautiful to look at - a smart and very PC coffee table book. The statistical information and photographs together provide a wealth of material for use in schools. Flipping backwards and forwards to explore the differences yourself is as much fun as "Where's Waldo", and the writing is so good that "Material World" is a great book to snuggle up with and read. I can only pick one fault with this book: the more trivial statistical data is not always consistent. For example, data on percentages of income spent on food is only available for some families, making comparison impossible. However, this is a small fault. "Material World" is a fantastic book, original, interesting and well put together. Highly recommended to anyone with even a slight interest in the subject.

"Material World" is one of those books that EVERYONE should read. It really is beyond description...deceptively simply yet incredibly moving in its stark simplicity. In these pages about families across the globe, we see scenes from their everyday life. When we glance at the pictures of each family on their lawn surrounded by all of their material goods, the difference between the average American family and the average Ethiopian family couldn't be plainer. We look at the faces on these pages, hear their thoughts on the future, and compare their lives to our own...and suddenly the people in other countries seem real to us, and the faceless people of the news suddenly have faces and thoughts and homes and families. Peter Menzel and all of the others who have worked on this book have done a brilliant and wonderful thing when they created "Material World". They have done what no "You should be grateful..." or "Think of those people in other countries..." could have done...they have made the world real to us.

This was the only way to wrap up the Sandman series - a wake. Morpheus is dead, driven by a complex set of events ending with the Furies decending apon the Dreaming.

Characters from the series collect in the Dreaming to share memories of Morpheus. The first few books of this collection are exactly what the title implies - a wake. The stories of the Sandman collection receive their final detailing and a new Dream (yet, oddly the same Dream) assumes the throne.

The final two books are my favorites, though. Hob, Dream's human friend of the past few hundred years, tries to deal with the loss of his friend while attending a Renissance Fair with his girlfriend. Combined with the sorrow of the loss, Hob is also starting to feel his age and is wracked with guilt about his past. At the height of this, he gets drunk and has a conversation with Dream's older sister.

The last story stands on its own: a wise man's journey through a Shifting Zone, done in a style unique to the story.

This collection gives a sense of closure, and is probably the best installment since "Doll's House" or even "24 Hours". A must-own.

A fitting title to one of the best comic series ever printed. The reader who has followed the Sandman series finally wakes up from the incredible 5 year 'dream' saga. It is not as heavy to read as some of the other earlier collections since it is made up of short stories. This collection wraps up the loose bits and pieces to the Sandman series. The first part sees the wake for Morpheus and Daniel taking up the mantle as the new Dream. The rest are individual stories. We see Hob's reaction to the departure of his friend, a story of a traveller trapped in The Dreaming and finally concludes, appropriately, with Neil Gaiman's take on Shakespere's "The Tempest". To really understand and appreciate this book, the reader would be have to have read at least "The Kindly Ones". As for me, I really liked this book and would have given it a 10 if I didn't have to wake up from this fantastic dream Gaiman has taken me, and countless others to.

First off, I'll just say that I think the wake has the finest art of all the SANDMAN collections, save for maybe Season of Mists.

The Wake is a story about death and endings and farewells, and it is an end to the series, but only in the sense of the Death tarot card: representing transformation, rebirth, the closing of a door and the opening of a window. As Dream told Orpheus: "You attend the funeral. You bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you go on with your life." That's what the characters are doing in this book. It also contains the story of another wanderer in the shifting zones, (a parallel to "Soft Places"), and the writing of Shakespeare's last play (a parallel to "Midsummer Night's Dream.") All told, The Wake is a graceful coda to the bittersweet symphony (so shoot me for the reference) that is SANDMAN.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

There is no Spoon River, IL. Check your map. Several towns argue that they stake their claim in being what Masters asserted to be this mythical town. Petersburg and Lewistown, two towns of otherwise minor repute seem closest... but it is so much better we haven't an actual town... Spoon River's residents are our next door neighbors, whether we live in Central Illinois or Central Florida, or southern Alaska.

Masters has written not fables, but the essence of American life. He hasn't captured the life and times of 1915, but has instead recorded in 1915 the life and times of our present day America.

The same reason the paintings of Norman Rockwell makes sense is why Edgar Lee Masters poetry makes sense. To read the quick messages on the gravestone of one man, learning a little bit him, and something about a neighbor or two, we can learn a little about how we live in communities today.

Our lives, like Jimmy Stewart's character in "It's a Wonderful Life" found out, interact and impact everyone we meet. Who we love, who we should love and who we reject. And when we die, others feel the loss. Masters has aptly put this in a humorous, yet insightful way into short verses.

The poems don't rhyme. The meter is not solid, and the poetics aren't intricate. They aren't poems like Poe's or Dickinson, not in the way they wrote American poems. Don't expect iambic pentameter-based sonnets or villanelles. Expect a conversation, and listen in.

The poetry here is in the subtle use of social nuance. In the nuances are his insight and wit. Two readings will bring to light what you miss in the first.

Buy this book, read it slow. It reads faster than most poetry book, but don't get caught in the temptation to zoom through each poem just because you can.

After you read it, see the play if it happens to be performed in your town.

I fully recommend it.

Anthony Trendl

Edgar Lee Masters was a Chicago attorney who, long before Lake Woebegone, wrote of the mythical village of Spoon River, IL. Specifically, of the real stories of the people in it's graveyard. Now that they're dead the truth can finally be told. And almost all of them lived lives of terrible lies. I was introduced to it in Jr. High, was blown away at the realization that people all around me probably had these same kinds of secrets, living with them hidden, or hoped they were hidden. Paraphrasing, "I was of the party of Prohibition (anti-alcohol), villagers thought I died from eating watermelon. It was my liver. Every day at noon I slipped behind the partition at the drug store and had a generous drink from the bottle labeled Spiritum Fermenti!" The several poems that introduce Hamilton Greene are as powerful as anything I've ever read. Do yourself a huge favor, read this book! And then imagine yourself in the Spoon River graveyard, finally able to tell the truth about your life.

I was turned on to this book after hearing the latest Richard Buckner release "The Hill", in which the musician uses the Spoon River Anthology as the basis for his conceptual music. After listening to this wonderful disc, I was compelled to read the actual work by Edgar Lee Masters. What I found was a book that was written in 1915, but that brings to life the voices of humanity louder than anything I've read in recent years. This book is more poetry than literature, but the stories of the residents of Spoon River that are collected within the pages are stories that are not soon forgotten.

This book has moved me more than anything else I've read in recent years, and I highly recommend that othes read this outstanding work of art.

I am a senior engineer for network security operations. My dad is an amateur radio operator, and my grandfather was as well. I read the 4th edition of "Now You're Talking!" to learn the basics of ham radio and prepare for the Technician license.

Over several weeks I carefully studied chapters 1-10, stopping to answer the questions in chapter 12 when directed. I used the book as a source to make a few notecards on operating frequencies and general electrical engineering principles. The day of the exam, I reviewed the questions in chapter 12 as a whole, and ensured I could answer each correctly.

Without a doubt, this book will prepare you for the Technician exam. If you analyze the questions asked on the exam, they are all fully covered in the text of chapters 1-10. Furthermore, the authors are master educators who present clear explanations for every concept. I found myself with a better understanding of many aspects of radio theory after reading this book, which is more important than simply passing a test!

The only aspect of the book which confused me was the discussion of Technician privileges on page 1-11. The text states "As a Technician, you can use a wide range of frequency bands -- all amateur bands above 30 MHz, in fact." On the same page, Table 1-1 shows Technician licenses provide "All amateur privileges above 50.0 MHz." Table 1-2 on the next page states "Operators with Technician class licenses and above may operate on all bands above 50 MHz." Which is correct, 30 MHz or 50 MHz?

Regardless, I give the 4th edition of "Now You're Talking!" my highest recommendation. At $19 it's a bargain, and it was my sole reference. I earned a perfect score this morning after studying this book, and I look forward to joining the amateur radio community on the air.

I approached getting a Ham Technician license with trepidation. Surely they would be asking me all kinds of overly technical, jargon filled questions. Reading this book put my mind at ease and guided me through everything I needed to know. Within a few weeks, I was scoring high on practice tests and a week later I got my license. No sweat, no worries.

Unlike some of the other books to help you pass a test, this book actually teaches you the subject. It is well layed out and easy to understand. I'll be ordering the rest of this series for General and Extra soon!

(no, I'm not actually 1 year old - I just refuse to generate a login to leave a review)

This book is exactly right for someone who wants to become a ham radio operator. This book does two things. It is a self study course that will allow you to pass the Technician level FCC test. It is also a general introduction to all of ham radio, covering the highlights of all that can be done in amateur radio. It has just the right level of sophistication to give a good understanding of all facets of amateur radio but does not get into such extreme detail that it is overwhelming. The technical level is just right as well.

I used an earlier version of this text to study for my amateur radio license (KD4TTC). Even though I studied for the Technician license I was able to pass the written portion of the test for the General license class. However, to get to know Morse code, needed for working the frequencies that will get around the whole globe, you will need to find a way to practice receiving Morse code. While this book won't teach you Morse, you will learn from the book how to go about learning it if you want to. (As an aside, I was not interested in international communications back then, so I skipped that aspect of the hobby. I will be learning Morse this year and will upgrade. There is plenty to do with amateur radio without Morse code, so don't let any disinterest or fear of Morse stop you from becomming a Ham. The book explains all this).

I have not yet come across any aspect of ham radio that was not described at least in overview in this book. I may not know details of lots of aspects of all that is ham radio, but I have not come across anything in Ham radio that I was not introduced to in this book.

You can expect that after reading this book you will be able to pass the Technician license exam, you might even be able to pass the General license written portion, you will have learned how to learn Morse, you will be able to decide what equipment you will need and where to find it, you will be able to set up your station and safely operate it, you will know correct and responsible operating procedures, and you will learn about all the different types of communications you can do so you will pick the most enjoyable aspects of the hobby for yourself.

I have given this book to friends so they can become hams. It works well for that purpose. I came here to buy a copy for yet another potential ham and found myself writing this long review. I am not really that avid of an amateur operator, but I am really enthusiastic about this book because it was such a fun and painless way to learn what I needed to know to get into ham radio.

Buy the book.

This book is gauranteed to change you forever.Become the person you've always wanted to be, enjoy the ride while your Dreams come true, your Goals are achieved and your Personal Effectiveness is doubled!! Charles J. Givens,world famous for his unique, practical and powerful strategies that have led millions along the path to financial freedom, shows in this book how you can achieve your fullest personal and business potential. He provides a set of proven strategies that are an actual "operations manual" for one's life. Super Self strategies will enable you to accomplish twice as much in the same time...and it is possible for anyone to learn and implement the personal habits, attitude of mind and time saving strategies that create success! The pith of the book lies in the "Giveniser"- the planner for your future. Your Giveniser will consists of five separate sections : Dreams List-what you would do with your life if you had unlimited time,talent,money and family support. Goals List-specific results you want to achieve in the next year in one sentence statements. Values List-the beliefs and things you value most as they relate to your dreams and goals. Action Plan-specific objectives that must be completed for the accomplishment of your goal. Daily Activities List-one calendar month of daily activities. Maintaining focus is of prime importance and you should be disciplined "by choice".Givens rightly points out that you will thus increase your level of effectiveness and will earn the respect of others by keeping to your commitments. Out of the 168 hours in a week, you are left with only 42 hours (including weekends) after accounting for routine activities like sleep, meals and work. So, take control of your time, lest time should take control of you! Avoid the "no slack principle"-Murphy's well known law that what can go wrong will go wrong and at just the wrong time! Don't let phone calls and door-bells distract you from doing what you are doing, afterall, what you chose to do with your time has to be of more importance than what somebody else wants you to. Powered with these effectiveness strategies, you are surely going to feel more satisfied as you attain happiness and satisfaction in all that you do. This book is a "must read" for all those who while wanting to achieve success find at the end of the day that they haven't utilised their time well. The strategies are put forth in a simple language aided powerfully by real life examples,the most striking of which is ...now hold your breath...the author himself! A disturbed childhood with alcoholic quarrelling parents who eventually separated did not give Givens the kind of start a billionaire would have liked to have. But Givens did not carry the "emotional baggage" of the past - he "Givenised" his schedule to become rich, famous and happy! I've made my "lists" and believe me , doing that itself gave me immense satisfaction and a profound sense of direction. This book has made me my "Super Self"!

I have read all of Mr. Givens books (with the exception of Wealth without Risk for Canadians--I'm not a Canadian) and many other personal development books. I really like this book. Givens shows how to generate goals, move past stalls, eliminate dumpers and make the most of your time while living a life of joy, happiness and abundance.As with his financial books, Givens offers actual strategies to maximize effectiveness and reach your goals.I highly recommend Super Self to anyone interested in Maximum Effectiveness.

I became aware of the late Mr. Givens with his great book More Wealth without Risk. I successfully applied one strategy after another. More Wealth without Risk became my financial path through life.

About a year ago, I added SuperSelf to my success library and started to implement the strategies. I thought that the fincnail success principles I had learned from Givens were unparalleled, I was wrong. SuperSelf is even better. I literally felt 10 feet tall and bullet proof! After following the advice and enjoying a SuperSelf experience, I raised the limits of what I am really capable of achieving in life.

A week after finishing the book, I got news that my company was a victim of a hostile takeover and I among hundreds of others in higher managerment positions would be let go. WOW! Talk about challenges to my new attitude.

I decided to follow Mr. Givens advice that this was just an event and I could get past it easily. Prior to SuperSelf, I would have been flattened by this challenge. Instead, I went out and started my own business which has been doing extraordinarily well.

What impresses me is that I didn't get upset at all. Instead I used this as an opportunity to create my own business and invest in residential properties which pays me more than my former employer and is a lot more fun.

I used to and actually still do keep More Wealth without risk at my fingertips as a reminder to always use "Givens" strategies when making financial decisions. It is now underneath my copy of SuperSelf.

After reading More Wealth Without Risk, I used to tell people that I ran with it because every strategy worked. Compared to what I learned in SuperSelf, I was just walking or trotting. Now I'm not running, but sprinting.

I was able to read this book in one day, and wanted more. Being a former resident of this area of Wisconsin made it even more interesting for me, but all that aside, it was one of the most intriguing books I've read in a long time. The photographs are a wonderful testament to life in that era & locale, if you're a collector of old photographs & post-mortem shots this is a great book for your library. Reading about all of the madness surrounding these people, their bizarre and sad behaviors really makes you think. The author's conclusion really draws it all together for you.

There is relatively little I can say about this book.

The book is essentially photographs and news clippings from a newspaper in Wisconsin from about 1890 to 1910. Interspersed are snippets from novels dealing with life during the period.

Turning the pages, reading the articles, and looking not at the pictures but into the eyes of the people in the photographs, one gets a sense not of some sterilized, backward glance at these people as some great societal force, not as a band of pioneers, but as very human people, who die in childbirth, die as children, die of diseases that sweep through whole towns and infect the entire state with fear, go insane, murder, and still maintain enough inner dignity to be able to look into the lens of a camera and mask most of their emotions long enough for the half-second exposure but not long enough to pierce the heart of people living a century later. It is pain. It is a death trip.

The book speaks for itself. Actually, it doesn't. The people in word and image speak for themselves.

The author discovered a huge cache of old glass photographic plates belonging to the town's photographer and writer, who, along with his son, published a local Wisconsin paper. One is struck by how such a simple collection of photographs and articles, offered without editorial comment, can be so powerfully affecting. Perhaps it is the haunted, mad eyes of some of the subjects, or the babies in coffins, their images preserved for posterity, or the intermittent reports from the state mental hospital, or the subtle way in which some of the photographs have been altered to emphasize some quality of the image. There is something powerfully haunting about this book - all the moreso since one gets the impression that small-town America of this time must have lived the same way.

Last month, I traveled 9 time zones west to Asia for a week trip. Then after being back in Colorado for 2 weeks, I flew 8 time zones east for a 5 day trip. Normally, I would be wasted most of the month, but after using the plan laid out in this book, I was alert during the day and sleep most of the nights. It didn't totally negate jet-lag but my recovery was shorter. I would give it a 5 star rating but the diet lists some rather random foods and like possum and racoon. What are they thinking someone is flying on Ozark Airlines? If I ate that stuff I would have more problems than just jet lag!

Over the past year, business trips have taken me around the world, with jet lag as my constant travel companion. Not anymore! I tried the program on a recent trip to Europe and experienced virtually no jet lag. After an all night flight and 7 hour time zone change, I was able to work immediately upon landing at my destination and felt great. The book will go with me now whenever I travel abroad.

I began using this system in 1986, based on an earlier version of this book. I've used it repeatedly on trips to Europe and Asia, and I've been able to make the best use of my first day at my destination every time. On the few occasions when I couldn't use this system (due to sudden unexpected trips), I found out how debilitating jet lag can be... like having a case of the flu, I was just "out of it" for a couple of days!

I've given copies of this book to many friends and business associates over the years, and all have praised the results!

This is one of the best books I have read. I have so much respect for the author's ability to explore and map out so eloquently the haunting journey of his schizophrenic father. As another reviewer here pointed out - there needs to be more books like this and there needs to be more attention brought to this book so that more people learn the truth about severe mental illness.

Reading "The Outsider" allows you to enter a world few people understand. This book hits the reader on many different levels of thought and emotion. You are provided an in-depth look at the world of a clearly sophisticated and intelligent man whose illness takes him to the outer realms of society. The book also brings to light how the severely mentally ill are overlooked in our society.

Mostly though, this book represented to me one man's strength and courage to take a close look at his father's illness and openly express his feelings along the way.

A son's attempt to come to understand the schizophrenic illness that struck his father when the son was a small boy. He had had little contact with him after that, but he came to know in later times his father's story, the downward spiral caused by his illness. What comes through, too, is the dignity with which his father attempted to cling to his humanity, even though he was tortured by a convoluted paranoid delusional system. Eventually the people in a Vermont town were able help him, ironically, by getting him convicted for panhandling, a move that got him off the streets, where his weight, at a height of 6'4", was 140 pounds, and where he was suffering frostbite during a bitter winter, and into a mental hospital where he was given medication that improved his condition and undoubtedly saved his life. The author writes about the pros and cons, then, of our society having criminalized mental illness; in this case the father's life was saved after he'd been arrested for a petty crime, determined to be not guilty by reason of insanity, and sent to a mental hospital where he got the care he needed. A riveting book.

Nathanial Lachenmeyer's book was an amazing read. Having a rather new but strong interest in schizophrenia as well as hearing the interview on FreshAir compelled me to buy this book. It opened many new doors for me as far as understanding the disease more. My step-father's brother has the disease. I've always wanted to have at least a small understanding of his behaviour. Thank God I was able to get a hold of this book. Not only does it tell the sad story of a man spinning downward (yet still holding his head high no matter how adverse his environment becomes) but it gives the reader a great understanding of the disease and statistics surrounding it as well. I still cannot get over how he was near death by starvation yet they held his SSI money. And it has to be mentioned when Charles Lachenmeyer was asked if he thought he were mentally ill, he stated that his mental illness was "love of life and humanity". Truly amazing!

You will laugh, cry and be confused when you read this book. This book can teach you that what you think is good is not always good.

There is a boy named Peter Pan. He sprinkles fairy dust in Wendy and her two brothers. Then he shows them how to fly. He takes them to Neverland and shows them to the Lost Boys who live there. Wendy becomes their mother. She makes up rules, like any other mother would do. The boys have to follow these rules. Everything was fine until Captain Hook came with his crew to where the boys and Wendy were. While Wendy and the boys were at the lagoon, where they go every day after dinner, they see a girl named Tiger Lily, princess of her tribe. She was captured by Smee, one of Captain Hook's men. Then Peter saved her. A few days later Wendy and the boys were on their way to Wendy's house when they too were all captured by Captain Hook. Then Peter saves them. Then the lost boys, Wendy and her brothers go home. All except for Peter.

It is mostly about what the people in the book think is right with childhood. The kids in the book think that if you grow up it is bad, but in our case it is actually good.

Peter Pan is a violent book not really made for children under the age of 10 but people 10 and up can read it. It is violent because of the language that is spoken and the idea that killing could be fun. Also, the vocabulary is very difficult for children under 10 to understand. Even if you're older it is difficult to understand.

Overall, it is a good book but watch out for the violent ideas if you are reading it to little children.

This is an utterly charming work. It has been retold myriad times, but nobody else has done it as well as the original teller, J. M. Barrie.

It's difficult to know what to say about a book like this... everybody knows the story. But I guess that unless you've read this book (not just seen a movie or read a retelling), you don't really know the character Peter Pan, and without knowing the character, you don't really know the story. So read it.

By the way, if you enjoy this, you probably would also like "Sentimental Tommy" and its sequel "Tommy and Grizel", both by Barrie. There are differences (for one thing they're not fantasy), but there are also compelling similarities. Anybody who found Peter Pan a deep and slightly bittersweet book would be sure to enjoy them.

-Stephen

When talking of literature, people tend to look solely at books they read today but forget what they used to read, namely the ones we read as children. It is a common misunderstanding that children's literature is to be read by children and children only, but when we come to think of it, which one of us are not children, at least in our hearts?

One of the best books any child, young or old, can read is Barrie's Peter Pan. Although written in the past century, it has something for any generation at any time. Its humorous views at the world from a child's mind left me rolling over the floor, laughing; the exciting storyline kept me busy with reading until the end; and the serious undertone made me think of whether the world wouldn't be a better place if we realised that deep down, however deep, we are in fact all children. So if YOU are a child, which you most certainly are, get yourself a copy and enjoy your ongoing childhood.