This biography of classical singer Estes charts the rise of a grandson of a slave to a father who became a talented performing artist, singing for queens and kings and world leaders. A music cd displays the extent of his vocal talents while chapters reveal his childhood, upbringing, and involvements in the music world.

I'm currently teaching Intro Hebrew and have looked at a number of books on this topic. This Primer is the best text for this purpose that I've found by a long shot. Lessons are well arranged and, though simple, are not simplistic. Students have the opportunity to progress at a very high rate. The selection of vocabulary is wonderful with every word being a high-frequency word in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The downfalls of this text are: 1) use of non-standard terms for grammatical features of the language - this is both a positive and a negative: positive in that it keeps the intimidation factor down for new students; negative in that for those students who go on from this book (and I suggest many will want to do so) need to learn the standard terms used by nearly every other grammar and text. 2) that's it; no other real downfalls.

For what this text purports to be (A First Hebrew Primer) it succeeds magnificently! This book will not leave the student proficient, but that's not its purpose. My wife learned Hebrew by using Seow's Grammar for Biblical Hebrew - a great intro grammar, but horrible as an intro text. She can tell you about the minutiae of Hebrew, but has no love for it. I learned using the Primer and have seen many others who have learned by using it. The common factor is that a high-percentage of us now LOVE Hebrew, and couldn't wait to learn more about the finer points found in Seow.

This book was such a blessing to me. I am not in a place where I can get formal Hebrew instruction, and this book is so easy to learn from. I have not seen another Hebrew book like it, that teaches the grammar and vocabulary in such an easy to follow manner. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to study Hebrew.

Studying Hebrew can be a terrifying prospect for seminary students, and because many of the textbooks (such as Kelley, Weingreen, Mansour) are so inaccessible, lots of young pastors immediately forget most of what they learned. "The First Hebrew Primer" offers Hehrew without tears. Students who use this book (and it is used in many seminaries, but not enough) will learn easily and without pain. The book assumes students don't know the alphabet, then goes from there. Each day's work builds easily on the day before. If for each chapter one spends an hour with flashcards and two hours doing some of the exercises, one should have no trouble at all earning an A. The book has a whole year of Hebrew in a one semester textbook. The trick is leaving out a lot of the explanations for the many exceptions in Hebrew (often rare). The result is very fast progress. With every lesson the Hebrew Bible opens wider. In ten class periods my class was reading through Genesis, haltingly, but recognizing 50% to 75% of the words. By semester's end . . . reading just about anything with the help of a dictionary here and there. One could go through this by oneself, but it really is easier in a class. It's nice to have a teacher to answer questions and force one to prepare for a quiz. It's worth the tuition fee to have that help. But the nicest thing is that it's such an easy book to use that students don't feel their brains have frozen, leaving them unable to comprehend anything else. The person below who complained of gutterals not being called gutterals will be happy to hear that has changed, though if one isn't careful, one can learn about constructs, waw-consecutives, and various tenses without learning what they're called. A minor problem. It's true that one might like more examples from the Bible to translate, but when it comes down to it, we all have the Bibles anyway, so why not sinply turn to the source? Someone earning a Ph.D. in Hebrew would want something more detailed, perhaps, but when it comes down to it relatively few scholarly papers dealing with Hebrew actually require that level of expertise. Even the experts tend to turn to Hebrew grammars when they're working on that level.

The book I read is called Simon and the Witch. There are six chapters. They are called, Chapter one, The Backwards Spell. Chapter two, The lost magic wand. Chapter three, The Witch at the seaside. Chapter four, Witch has measles, Chapter five, Halloween, Chapter six, The Witch's visitor. I like chapter Three the best. The book is about a boy called Simon, and the Witch. I read it in one day. I like that book because it was great. I liked it because it was exciting.

The story is about a boy called Simon whose friend is a witch. I enjoy this story very much.The best part is when the witch makes the whole beach full of sand pies. It was cool when the witch had a trolley race in the hospital. Anyway the witch is silly. Simon enjoys being with the witch. In one chapter the witch loses her wand and finds it again. The witch teaches Simon a spell to turn the gardener into a frog. Simon felt horrible when he knew there is no back wards spell but the witch tricked him.

Before the movie, before the television series, before all the spin offs, there was just the play. The story is a classic spin on the buddy plot. Oscar Madison is a successful sports writer who happens to be best friends with Felix Unger, a newswriter for CBS. Each week Oscar has five of his buddies over for a Friday night game of poker. However, on one fateful night Felix fails to appear in time for the game. It turns out Felix has just been thrown out by his wife and has no place to go. Feeling sorry for his old friend, Oscar invites Felix to stay with him and be his roommate. What ensues is a classic Neil Simon look at friendship that will endure for ages.

When you pair David Paymer and Nathan Lane as Felix and Oscar in the Odd Couple, you are in for a comic tour de force that over stretches its material. With a supporting cast which includes Dan Castellaneta and Yeardley Smith (both from The Simpsons) and Linda Purl, the cast is almost perfect. This production is a little too visual in a few of its jokes. However, on the whole, it unscrupulously grabs the audio listener by his ears and shakes him with laughter.

Nathan Lane is delightful as Oscar Madison. I also enjoyed hearing Dan Castellanata ("Homer Simpson") as Murray, and Yeardley Smith ("Lisa Simpson") as Cecily Pigeon.

morning pages and the like, this book is worth serious consideration. The authors take a clear, compassionate and even-handed approach to the practice of writing. If those other techniques have left you wanting, I strongly recommend you buy this book, read it and practice the technique for 30 days, as the authors recommend. I did and my writing improved immediately.

While PW doesn't go as far as to guide the reader on how to create structure, it can take your writing to a deeper level. For my money, it beats reeling out random thought after random thought into a notebook or computer screen by a country mile.

The authors also make a case for PW offering other benefits such a acquiring deeper personal understanding plus other psychological and spiritual benefits. If you become adept at PW, those extra enrichments appear to be possible as well.

Overall, the book is highly readable and the Proprioceptive Writing technique is explained in detail. The examples are terrific and inspiring. And, to my delight, the authors tactfully address other popular writing methods. Their approach: free the writer vs. unleashing the limitless amount of thoughts we all have simply works.

P.S. The other reviewers here who dismissed the book and validity of the PW technique as a serious writing tool, should take another look. The old saying applies here: It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

I recommend supplementing this wonderful book with a weekend workshop (as I did).

Linda Metcalf and Toby Simon have developed a simple, kind practice that is absolutely transformative. I feel newly armed with a practice that will help me develop my connection to the meaning inherent in my creative work, my professional life, and my personal life. I cannot recommend Proprioceptive Writing enough!

I just finished a writing class where the teacher spoke about our character's early childhood wounds and how those wounds lead our characters to see the world through a flawed perspective. Epiphanies in stories occur when the character recognizes that this flaw prevents him or her from attaining the goal. The character still lives with the wound but is able to recognize the flawed thinking as a detriment to personal growth, and, in the dramatic situation, a hinderance to attaining the external goal. This, I think, is all our stories, and I think this book, by way of the proprioceptive method, allows one to get in touch with the wounds that hold one back. Does it work? Who knows. We are talking art and science here and proof is not easy to come by. For under twenty dollars it is enormously more simple than numerous visits to the therapist.

Very nicely done biography, Simon seems to be a meticulous, sympathetic critic of her subjects. While I enjoyed reading about this legendary figure in American philosophy and psychology, I ended up being less impressed by him than before. Such disenchantment is probably the hallmark of reading a good biography, as it necessarily brings the mighty down to fallible human dimensions. I had always wondered what it was about the James household that produced such a noteworthy novelist and such a thoughtful philosopher--it turns out that inept dysfunction is the source of this family genius. Their father, at least through Simons's interpretation, seems a very unlikable figure--a passive-aggressive tyrant who would constantly move his family from place to place rather than have them come to develop roots and mentors beyond his control. Sadly, this tactic generated in his family a doubt of self that could lead to such insights as those his two most prominent boys seemed to understand in all its nuances. While we may appreciate their hard-won insights, it doesn't seem any fun to have suffered through them as each of his children did for all their lives. The book provides a complex look at a figure who for all his knowledge remained an embattled, unsatisfied self-critic--like all the best thinkers, I suppose.

Of all the James biographies, I enjoyed this one the best. As a female English teacher, Simon has a triple advantage in understanding and conveying Jame's life as it might have been. For starters, her writing skills are simply amazing. The book was very clear and enjoyable to read. Secondly, Simon provides us with a portrait of James we rarely see: that is, James as husband and father. In the past, the role Jame's wife and sister played in the formation of his character and thought passed by completely unnoticed, or was ignored. As important as those two figures were in James life, they cannot be ignored. Lastly, Simon's own experiences as a university teacher may have contributed to her portrait of James as university professor - another aspect of James often overlooked. The result of this triple-advantage is one powerful biography, unlike anything ever written about this Philosopher. More than any book, this one provides the reader with a sense of who James really was as a person, and for that I gave it 5 stars.

The truly great men in early American history, in my humble opinion, are as follows:

Thomas Jefferson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
William James

Because of their intense individualism, idealistic views, and unique personalities, their writings, thoughts and ideas continue to affect western civilzation into the 21st century. Let me just say at the start - I'm not proposing a forum for argument, debating the worth and influence of one historical figure against another - these are men who have shaped my life in lasting ways - particularly the psychologist, philosopher and teacher, William James.

If you are interested in the works and life of this noble individual, ~Genuine Reality~ is a good place to begin. Linda Simon is an adept biographer and this book reflects her skill, understanding and love for the subject. It was refreshing to read a biography without the once fashionable 'psychoanalytical method' of interpreting history: inserting the Oedipus complex or hints of homoeroticism into the work. This method gets tedious and more reveals the biographer's mind than the subject. It is obvious that Simon wanted to approach James from a pragmatic perspective and she succeeded in showing James' life, warts and all, more specifically, however, his inspiring personality, compulsive curiosity and genuine love of life.

Similar to most people of genius, James' life was indeed a contradiction, at times almost enigmatic. He realized early on, that to rivet one's thought or perspective to a single dogma, to close one's mind to the infinite possibilities of existence, was to commit intellectual and spiritual suicide. Thus his thoughts are mercurial, bouncing from one possible view to another, always searching, investigating with an incessant vigour of a child. Following the works of Heraclitus, Henri Bergson, and aspects of Fredric Nietzche, James' 'Pluralism' is a philosophy of affirmation, transformation and becoming. Rallying against the Platonic and Aristotelian belief that fixity has more worth than change, he proposed that life or existence is not fixed at all but involved in an on-going state of flux: the operating word is change. And his life certainly reflects this perspective, as Simon writes:

"He was a scientist with a disposition of a philosopher and a philosopher with the perspective of an artist. He was convinced of his own essential complexity: certain that his public personality contradicted a hidden, more authentic self. He championed the new, he hungered for astonishment."

At the core of James' view of life is to maintain a continual openness to our existence: attempt to create a kind of vital joy to life's infinite possibilities. In other terms, do not sit back and merely observe, but get your hands dirty, engage, and life will give back to you many fold.

~Genuine Reality~ is an important contribution to American history. Linda Simon is a genuine biographer with transparent humility, more concerned with presenting her subject as it is, rather than trying to show off her knowledge, wit and writing skills. All too often, biographer's egos get in the way: they become so involved in revealing their intellectual capacity, the subject of the biography falls by the wayside. Not so with this text.

This book is an intimate portrayal of a great man's life: his interesting and unusual family, his work and relationships, and his sometimes-underrated contribution to philosophy. Out of all of James' writings, there is a line that showed me, in essence, the true character of the man:

"Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and Not be found out. I will do two things I Don't want to do."

This biography is recommended without reservation.

"And don't forget our murderers!" These words from a Jewish woman about to be killed by Nazi soldiers were a battle cry to Simon Wiesenthal. After his miraculous survival of the death camps, he dedicated his life to tracking down war criminals. At times his ego and love of publicity undermined him; other times it was these traits plus his singleminded determination that resulted in successful findings and prosecutions. Altman does not use a dry textbook style but writes almost in novel form with chapters subdivided by catchy headings. There are boxed features on some of the more notorious, along with victims and others, black and white photographs, notes, bibliography, and index.

Well, I'm in the midst of a career search, fresh out of college...so I decided to check out this book and what it could tell me.
I took all of the six tests (about 30 minutes each) which score your business, clerical, logic, mechanical, numbers, and social aptitude. You are required to stay within the time limit (if you want an accurate result). You are supposed to keep in mind your highest 2 or 3 scores and then look at the categories that they correspond with.

For example, I scored very superior in three areas: Clerical, Logic, and Numbers. I then looked at the CLN category to see what jobs I have the aptitude for. I was happy to see that some of the jobs they listed were ones that I was at least marginally interested in. I then looked at similar categories, like LN, CL, and CN...and some of those careers also looked appealing. My lowest score was also the category that was less appealing to me (although it was a category I'd have considered as a younger person.)

While this book does not profess to give definitive answers on what you should do, it would be a nice guide for someone who has NO idea what they'd be good at (note: this does not measure interest, just aptitude) or for someone like myself who'd like affirmation or redirection.

This book is excellent not only for those who are changing careers but also for those beginning college and unsure of what area to study. For example, I took these tests as a senior in high school. The results reaffirmed my choice of major and provided a wide range of choices for career paths that I would be good at. My lowest score occurred in an area I did not like and did not feel I was good at. At the back of the book an excellent career directory provides detailed descriptions of all the career choices. The directory is very comprehensive and informative. This book is an excellent resource for guidance and career counselors. The only areas it cannot test are special skill areas such as music and art, but for everything else it is great. An emphasis on skills, and not changing interests, provides the books main strength.

Once in awhile a book comes along that impacts one's thinking and decisions long-term. Finishing my second year at a liberals arts university I was desperate for focus. I took a series of tests and read other books designed to help me gain clarity into the career I should choose. Of all the tests I completed this was the least time consuming and I believe most accurate. Some of the other evaluations concentrated on interests (I knew them already) others on aptitude, this book blended both remarkably. The career this book pointed me toward was so unique I had to research it. After eleven years of excelling in my field and enjoying my job everyday I'm often grateful to Linda Gale. I can highly recommend this book to individuals looking to identify and use their talents more efficiently. I give this book to potential employees before hiring and I bought copies for my entire church youth group.