We all have those little fast food toys from McDonalds..Now you can turn those little goodies to real cash... I never realized what I had just lying around a little loved, and looking for a new home. Finally a up to date price guide from someone who does collect and well knowledged about my collection. Fast and easy to read. I carry it with me at all times for a quick reference to check a possible treasure... A must have for the serious collector..

The book READY FOR THE REAL WORLD is an excellent preparation tool for college seniors. The book offers information in career planning, personal life, community responsibilities, financial planning, and alum activities.

Written in an easy-to-read style, READY FOR THE REAL WORLD covers most of the elements that college seniors must consider from the more practical aspect of the budgeting of finances to the often neglected consideration of psychological changes that take place as one goes from the rather protected status of a student to that as a job applicant and employee.

This book is an excellent one for college classes which are offered at the end of the senior year to help prepare students for life after college, but would also be helpful to individuals who are seriously thinking about the transition from college to the "real world."

The book includes checklists and activities that allow readers to assess their status financially, psychologically, and personally. I highly recommend this book.

Dr Schwartz's efforts to prove survival of bodily death by testing well known mediums makes for fascinating reading. Whether or not the "deceased" provide information we are interested in or not is totally irrelevant, if they are communicating, they exist. The fact that so many debunking organizations have attacked this book probably means the author has made great progress in his efforts to prove survival of consciousness. I do wish Dr. Schwartz had addressed the possibilty that the information the mediums received during readings could have been from some other paranormal source, that's the only reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5.

The possibility of life after death is a question that has allured the human mind since the beginning of time. Does life exist on a continuum that exceeds the physical world, or to we exist merely to perish one day? Gary Schwartz, an Ivy League scholar and professor of psychology, medicine, psychiatry, and surgery at the University of Arizona, seeks to scientifically verify the existance of consciousness beyond the death of the physical body in his book The Afterlife experiments. He asserts that mediums can communicate with those who have crossed over. So, if all other sources of information sharing, such as nonverbal cues, telepathy, and "cold readings" can be ruled out, and if the probability of accuracy for the mediums exceeds that for chance alone, then the existance of life after death can be confirmed.
The information found in this book was very compelling; however, it was not very conclusive. Schwartz's first set of experiments, termed the HBO experiments, consisted of 5 well-known mediums performing readings on 2 undisclosed sitters. The sitters were instructed to answer only "yes" or "no" to the medium's statements. The correctness of the medium's reports was then to be scored on a scale of -3 (completely false) to +3 (completely true)by the sitters themselves. There are of course several errors in this study, some of which were noted by Schwartz himself. The first of which was identifying unconscious cues of the sitters in leading or directing the reading. The next flaw, was that the sitters were naturally bereaved, and thus, seeking comforting information that would confirm their beliefs in the afterlife. This confirmation bias is prevalent not only in the readings themselves, but also in the ratings of accuracy. The control group in this and subsequent studies was also limiting. The controls were given certain information and then asked to guess the truth of the information provided. A true control would seem to be a non-medium doing a "cold-reading" to account for nonverbal cues, leading, the Forer effect, and lucky guesses. The experimental group was non-randomized in that the sitters were all self-confirmed believers and often times friends of the experimenters.
Schwartz added more controls to his later experiments. In his subsequent experiments, the mediums were not allowed to see the sitters. A silent period, wherein the sitter did not respond to the mediums reading, was also introduced. The subjects in this study scored the readings of all of the sitters, as well as their own, for accuracy. While the results yeilded lower scores for this study than the HBO experiment, the scores were still high; however, many of the same errors existed.
All of the participants in the study, including the sitters, the mediums, and the experimenters themselves, had a vested interest in the results of the studies; therefore the Forer effect and the confirmation bias were prevalent in all of the studies. The availability error further clouded reasoning because the participants based many judgements on vivid evidence rather than on trustworthy facts. The subjects latched on to the accurate statements and the faulty statements were always explained with an ad hoc hypothesis: one of my favorites being that the consciousness of Schwartz's over-bearing mother was blocking the medium from being able to perform a reading for another sitter.
Furthermore, the hypothesis, while testable, is limited in scope, it makes no novel predictions, it makes too many assumptions without explaing accurately the causes, and it attempts to refute in one study what the corpus of our knowledge has been forever - that there is no evidence that mediums can communicate with the dead.
Though the book itself is intriguing and compelling at times, the fundamental argument is flawed. The research did not demonstrate conclusively that life after death exists, or that mediums could communicate with the consciousness of those who have passed over. The book is a good read, not so much intended for those in search of hard science as much for those trying to assuage a soft heart.

In an issue like this (that is, the question of our own survival after death), it is easy to take strong stands, either for or against it.

The research program of Mr. Schwartz may have flaws. Perhaps even many flaws! But I would like to call the readers' attention (readers who have already read the book, and readers who may still read it) to some interesting information that may easily pass unnoticed.

CSICOP in their magazine "Skeptical Inquirer" has recently (January 2003) "totally debunked" this book in a review of it made by Mr. Ray Hyman, who is certainly their most skilled fellow for questions of methodological analysis of parapsychological research.

What readers should know (and also read) is that Mr. Schwartz has answered this review, and that a link to this answer is available on the internet at his site (openmindsciences.com). He put Hyman's text and answered it item by item.

I found Schwartz reply very convincing, informative, and consistent. Also, there is an interesting site called "Debunking the Debunkers" (accessible through a link at the site survivalscience.org) where we can get to know a lot about the skeptics' many many flaws and their often questionable tactics (CSICOP, James Randi, Ray Hyman, Susan Blackmore, and the list goes on...). At this site, there is an interesting and highly informative "exchange of emails" between James Randi and Gary Schwartz. I must say that not only does Schwartz outwit Hyman in methodological issues, he also utterly wipes out Randi's criticism!

I am not saying that we can trust Mr. Schwartz. I am not saying that his conclusions are sound. What I am saying is that he is a man whose work and research we should pay very close attention to, for he surely knows what he is doing, and it seems that he is getting interesting results.

Julio Cesar de Siqueira Barros
Biologist.

I bought this book because the cover and inside photographs were very appealing; unfortunately, there's not much else to the content. The recipes are complicated and misleadingly time-consuming. Save your money.

My mother in law, who likes steak and potatoes, would hate this book. But I love it, because it provides relatively easy recipes for mega-sophisticated meals...think pomegranite-glazed duck, unusual fruit desserts like grilled mango (much,much better than it sounds) and a to-die-for spin on grilled vegetables with orange-blossom honey. Just the thing to inspire a cool dinner party!

My one caveat: the ingredients are a bit high-falutin'---fennel pollen? But for foodies, a book like this is a godsend because it refuses to talk down to readers. One section explains the book's unusual ingredient and gives internet sources for them, which is quite helpful.

From the glitzy cover encased in Mylar, to the gorgeous photographs as composed as still life paintings, to the demanding quality of the ingredients (hand-harvested diver scallops for the seviche), to the splashy flavors of the food -Moroccan Spiced Shrimp with Artichokes and Pomegranate, Arugula with Manchego, Roasted Almonds and Quince Dressing, Parmigiano-Reggiano Pudding, Spiced Fruit Soup with Ginger and Toasted Almond Ice Cream - this book is designed for readers as well as cooks.

New York chef Kenney's (he grew up in Maine) Mediterranean cooking focuses on top-quality ingredients (the first chapter includes online food sources and shopping techniques), fresh, bold flavors and kitchen efficiency. Organized by cooking technique - "Simply Raw to Barely Cooked," "Roasting Fast and Slow," "Simmering Stews and Hot Pots," Kenney plans for a small kitchen, minimizing mess and chaos whatever the space. Though ingredient lists are sometimes long, assembly is usually quick and presentation is spectacular: Seared Tuna with Ginger Dressing, for instance, or Maple-Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops with Pecans and Ginger. This is a book for fun, for inspiration, for wowing guests with food that looks flashier than it is.

Brennan acted with breathtaking intellectual arrogance and contempt for the American people. Most of his "achievements" have already been exposed as failures -- affirmative action (government-sponsored racial discrimination), supression of religous expression (I'm an agnostic, by the way, but I don't enjoy the Court's meddling with expressions of religious views) and the famous Roe vs. Wade decision which, by imposing a "solution" that should have been debated by society, created one of the most destructive and polarizing arguments of recent times and may ultimately lead to more restrictions on abortion than would have otherwise been imposed. As one who favors choice, I would have preferred to have had the opportunity to persuade my fellow Americans, rather than having the outcome dictated by an arrogant, Napoleonic pipsqueak who lingered among us far too long. Sincerely, Denis Arvay ARVAY@IBM.NET