As one of the Make Up artists for this book it was a pleasure to have worked with Michael and his crew. Michael took an idea and created a visual for all to see. The people are real, the ads are real and the "Looks", well they are just as real! I hope that everyone who buys it or looks at it has as much fun as I did in being a part of his creation.

The concept behind this book is unique in my experience. Mr. Smith read many personals ads offered by people looking for companionship. He then contacted those who had placed the ads, and offered to do a fantasy portrait of them based on the description in the ad. This book contains the actual photographs of the people behind the ads along with the ads themselves. The perspective is a humorous one, touched by more than a little pathos.

Before going further, let me caution you that the images in this book include people of almost every major sexual persuasion and practice. I have written my review so it will be acceptable to general audiences. This book should not be shared with children, in my opinion. The images exceed an "R" rating if this were a motion picture.

The author explains his purpose (and his ambivalence) rather well in the introduction. "Although I've always been drawn to personal ads . . ., I had never . . . answered one until I began to research this book." "Maybe the project was really just an excuse . . . ."

The results will surprise you, as they did the author (and me). "I had no idea what I was in for." "I was touched, shocked, titillated, saddened, amused, horrified -- but always fascinated -- by the people who placed the ads."

Let me give you a few examples (selected from among the less controversial photographs). The quote is the ad's headline in each case:

"Start a Fire in My Heart" In this one, a young woman describes her desire to meet a handsome fireman. The portrait has her wrapped in a fire hose that is attached to a hydrant while smoking a cigarette.

"Tennis Playing Cross Dresser" Here, a man dressed like a woman in tennis whites leaps over the net in a way so that you can see that this is a man dressed like a woman.

"Do You Have a Hairpiece?" A nude young man is standing in front of a barber shop window holding a small wig strategically over a central part of his anatomy. The title refers obliquely to a contagious skin affliction mentioned by name in the body of the ad.

"I-Dream-of-Jeannie-Looks" In this one a blond woman in a harem outfit lies next to an open lamp with smoke coming out. She does indeed remind one of Barbara Eden in the television series.

"Urban Mermaid" This one has an Ariel look-alike lying in a crummy bathtub on a seedy urban street.

"Tickle Party Guy" Here, a nude young man strategically covered has disembodied hands all over him.

"Bowl You Over" A nude man wearing socks and bowling shoes is standing on the lane with a bowling pin strategically placed.

Here are some other titles where I will leave the photographic image to your imagination:

"Vampire Huntress"

"Don't Stop When I Tell U"

"Rock Tigress"

"Killer Mouth"

"Cinderella"

"Spanker Sought"

"L.A. Girl Seeks D.C. Guy"

"78-Year-Old Virgin"

The bulk of the people in the book are either quite attractive or at least reasonably attractive. One wonders about what lack of social skills led them to try personal ads. Presumably, the headlines suggest a strange view (in many cases) of what people are looking for in a social relationship. I was particularly surprised to see the number of women who used celebrities for whom they bear a resemblance in their ads.

After having seen this book, it occurred to me that this book could make a great party theme for Halloween. Have each person write a personal ad, and dress and act like the headline in the ad. Someone could take photographs as souvenirs for each guest. I am assuming that you could handle the invitations so that people did not aim their humor too low for the other guests to enjoy.

After this, you can also read personal ads and imagine the photographs that Mr. Smith would make. I also hope he does a sequel.

Seriously, this book points out that written expressions can give very mixed messages. Think about the visual images you are creating when you write. You may be heading people in a direction that you don't want them to go in.

Visualize your language carefully for clearer expression!

This is a fascinating case study of real people (I think), and their ads. Michael Smith did a fabulous job of matching these characters with equally fitting clever settings. It is reassuring to see that there are persons from all aspects and walks of life just searching for the most basic of needs, connecting with another. I would recommend this book as a interesting insight into the world of people and their personal ads. I will eagerly await the movie version!

Beautiful pictures, touching and moving story. About the restoration of the wolves.

Beautiful pictures illustrates the many different wolves that were restored to yellowstone (#10, #9etc...). Illustrates the effort the yellowstone had to put in to restore the wolf to its natural habitat. Very interesting to the average wolf lover and those who are interested in what happened in the 1995 restoration of the wolves to yellowstoen.

This book brings you right into the experience of bringing the wolves back to Yellowstone where they belong! Find out the behind the scenes activity that brought the sight and sound of the wolf back after an absence of over 60 years. You'll never be the same after reading this. Excellent!!

The greatest problem facing economists today (I should say "facing the world today") is how to create wealth in the poorest countries of the world. This introduction to the subject is accessible to any reader, even those with very limited previous knowledge of economics. The book begins with a critical summary of current development theories and then takes on a number of policy questions, with case studies. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and the publisher maintains a web site with useful quantitative and graphing exercises (with answers).

Michael Todaro writes from a left-of-center perspective and is more ideological than most textbook writers. However, he presents other points of view and presents them pretty fairly in my opinion. And I have to say that he scores some pretty big points against the neoclassical theorists by showing that their assumptions are frequently at odds with reality.

While some of Todaro's more stridently ideological statements can be annoying, I know of no other book that provides such a comprehensive, well organized, and engagingly written introduction to economic development.

Todaro in this book presents what is quite possibly the easiest to understand introduction to developmental economics that the world has to offer. He does not provide quick answers but a logical and well thought out conception of the complexities of the problems in a format that although not wholly excluding mathmatics, uses it only in appendixes, etc. to explain problems-- which leaves the book open to a wider audience (and also does not allow its readers into the overly simplistic answers that too much mathmatics sometimes hints at....) In my studies of development, this book more often than any other served as a quick reference and fairly handy bibliography. I recommend this book to any undergraduate student or student of public policy the world over. It should be a classic.

Todaros's text on the complexities a developing country must face and consider to lead itself out of poverty and backwardness gets better with every edition, now on its sixth. It is the only book I have found that, with unsurpasssed dexterity, combines economics, sociology and political science into a unifying frame that should be required reading for policymakers and government throughout the developing world. His writing style, clarity of exposition and long-term vision are absolutely second to none.

If you only ever buy one book on cob building make sure it is this book! This book contains everything you can learn about cob without getting your hands dirty. Then it inspires you to go out and get your hands dirty. Everyone who is interested in natural building and ecological design should own a copy of this book. So many new techniques have come along since the first books on cob were published. It is great to have a book with all the new tips and ideas. If you've never heard of cob or if you think you know it all this book has something for everyone.

I paid full price for this book at a retail Book store (I wish I had bought it here!). I have 2 other books on cob building also (Becky Bee's "The Cob Builders Handbook" - Which I highly recommend also & Michael Smith's "Cobbers Companion", I also recommend but Becky's, I feel is the better of the two.) However, THIS book stands out considerably. It is the MOST awesome book on cob building. It has wonderful photographs & drawings including additional privacy courtyard/outside ideas etc. There is nothing out there that can compare to this book to spark ideas and show the beauty, versatility & many options & benefits one has in cob building. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has even a slight interest in earth homes/cob building. If you are very interested in this or a related subject(straw bale etc.) you will LOVE this book!

Building with Cob is the way to make your house fit you rather than you fitting yourself to the house(usually designed and built by someone else).

While the most comprehensive instruction manual on building a Cob home with your own hands (and feet!) this is also your ticket for an escape from mortgage(lit. "death-pledge") serfdom. One of the most important chapters of the book discusses the economics of house-building in a very enlightening way.

The book has superb illustrations well integrated into the text and colour photographs of cob houses.

I work with the author at a major US Bank; he's in Dover, DE and I'm in San Francisco. He mentioned one day that he was an author and had sold over 1000 books; I was impressed but suspicious. So I bought his Xmas book and man it was fantastic reading! Fresh, unique and powerful stories about different characters and animals around the Xmas holiday. I found myself tearing up at times; it was like watching a sappy holiday TV special or Touched by an Angel on TV. But they were cute, touching stories, well worth the reader's investment of time and energy. David has a gift, and I applaud this book.
Now I'm going to check out his other book. I bet it's just as good.

Wonderful book, filled with short stories centered around the Christmas season. What words would describe this book? 'Magical' comes to mind, so does 'stirring'. Smith writes stories that should be read aloud by Garrison Keillor himself because they are magical, heartwarming and stirring. Fresh and original writing. Watch for this book to one day become the next Christmas Box or Christmas Carol. It will get you in the spirit, even if you're feeling Grinchy!
Highly recommended.

I was mesmorized with David Michael Smith's book, Stories From The Manger. It captures the reader from the opening tale about an old homeless man on Christmas Eve (which left me dabbing my eyes with tissues by the way), to the last story about a struggling alcoholic on Christmas Eve (which also had me returning to the tissue box). Very sentimental, and moving, I was totally engrossed throughout. This book makes for mandatory Christmas reading (no way you will be a Grinch after reading these 'feel good' tales), and it is also a fantastic gift.
I found Smith's personal web page and emailed him; he is willing to autograph copies too. Get this book, not just at Christmas, but for year round reading too. These stories should be on TV; they'd make excellent specials.
Stories From the Manger is part "Christmas Box", Jimmy Stewart and 'Wonderful Life', Scrooge, and Charlie Brown. Very good book indeed!

I wasn't sure what to expect with this anthology, but I found myself enthralled from beginning to end. Nnedi Okorafor's "Crossroads", Seth Lindberg's "Atropos", and James Dorr's "Madness" were special delights.

A great mix of chilling, horrifying, and otherwise entertaining stories.

This is a great compilation of magic, madness, culture and creativity. All of the stories were pretty satisfying, some of them terrifying! There are some writers here that are going to go places. Watch for the authors of the two longest pieces, Nnedi Okorafor (her story is called Crossroads) and James S. Dorr (he wrote a story called Madness).

When I read this book last year, several months into working with an 8th grade remedial reading class consisting of all boys but two, I felt great relief to see that I was not the only teacher having such difficulties. Wilhelm used his difficult years of teaching remedial reading to kids who insisted on hating school and hating reading, and turned this experience into a practical approach to getting reluctant readers involved in a good story. His premise is generally that many struggling readers have difficulties because they are unable or unwilling to visualize what they read. He oulines practical ideas for helping readers visualize, generally by using process drama and tableaus in class. The book concentrates on a few different strategies, but he goes into some details on them, and just reading about these few strategies is enough to get you thinking about other ways to help your students. I'll never forget my macho boy students interpretating Charlotte from Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, sashaying around the front of the room. Once they got over their embarrassment, they enjoyed the drama and said such activities helped them remember and understand what they've read, as well as helping them connect with the characters.

At a time when countries like USA, Australia and Great Britain have registered their concern over literacy standards in schools by subjecting students to an ever increasing battery of standardised tests, it is refreshing to read a book by an experienced educator which emphasises a human and humane approach to putting the joy back into teaching reading. Jeffrey D Wilhelm's response to teaching students with reading difficulties is to make books "live" by using drama and art activities to enable readers to see and feel the text as well as to read it. He maintains that reluctant readers feel submissive to texts, seeing them as codes to be cracked rather than as containing meaningful stories and experiences. These students become so preoccupied with word identification and pronunciation that they never experience sentences and meanings. It is not until the teacher intervenes to reinforce reading with visualisation and actualisation activities that some students begin to "see" stories in their imaginations for the first time. Wilhelm's resistant students move from rejecting reading altogether as being irrelevant and boring to actively interrogating texts to check the validity of their artistic and dramatic performances - they learn to enjoy reading. It's worth wondering whether any basic skills test or comprehension activity could claim to have had that effect on even the most enthusiastic of readers. As an educator of beginning high school English teachers in Australia, I found this book to be both inspiring and topical, given the debate about literacy standards, particularly in relation to boys. One of the most frequently asked questions from student teachers returning from their practice teaching experiences is, "How do you get kids to read anything these days?" This book provides some helpful suggestions - firstly, get to know the students, without labelling them as failures, secondly don't be afraid to use texts they enjoy outside school, especially comics, and then present literature in conjunction with other forms of art so that students can see their experiences represented. Wilhelm is insistent that once students can "see" the worlds written about in literature, then they can enter the story world and from there encounter texts at gradually deepening levels of insight and enjoyment. It sounds like it might be worth a try.

This book is fantastic! It's fun and very enlightening to read about Mr. Wilhelm's experiences as a junior high literature teacher. He has a firm grasp of contemporary reader-response theories and provides dozens of great project ideas for teaching literature to adolescents. I do a lot of empirical research into young adult reading patterns, and this book is full of inspiration and ideas. It is a valuable resource for both university students and English/ ESL teachers, as well as a well-written sory about one teacher's life in the literature classroom. Excellent!

Collective bargaining is something that has to be experienced to be understood, and a simulation is a great way to help students develop that perspective. This student workbook is excellent, and provides a sound basis for the simulation. I did not have access to the software for the instructor, so I cannot comment on that.

The simulation is broken down into 5 phases: Preparation; Pre-Bargaining Strategy Development; Opening Negotiation; Additional Negotiations; and Simulation Review.

The simulation is designed so that it can be done individually or with a team. I would strongly encourage you to use the team approach, because that will come closest to what the actual experience is like.

The case materials are quite complete. You have an actual collective bargaining agreement (slightly disguised) to work from. You also have lots of information about pay rates, profitability, costs of various things being bargained for. In the evaluation section, you have some good ways for team members to help you understand how you did and did not contribute to the process successfully.

There are a variety of roles to play. Ideally, you should do the simulation at least twice, and have a chance to work on both sides of the negotiation.

Some of the key issues you'll be asked to think about include wages, overtime levels, fully-paid health insurance, and a declining management-labor relationship.

This simulation has been used at many universities, and I hope that many more will adopt it, as well. Enjoy your role playing!

This is only computer-based simulation for use in collective bargaining, negotiations, and human resource management courses, or management training in this important subject. The book that is listed is the STUDENT MANUAL for the course. The instructor will have the software for the simulation. This is not a stand-alone product but must be administered by the insturctor in the course. This book would be the same book as purchased in the college bookstore.

A good book for nearly anyone. There is plenty of excitement and it is full of sea knowledge. My only complaint is that there are dreary sections filled with the author's life philosophy that I found quite boring, and ended up skipping over.

Books should have a central theme, and the philosophy blurred whatever the theme was supposed to be. A good editor would have removed most of it.

I absolutely loved this book, and am looking forward to reading it again. Carlos' narrations combined with his twist on words paints a picture even the most land locked reader can imagine. As a marine enthusiast and student, it is wonderful to read works from hunters who also appreciate the undersea world and respect its power and importance.

The Blue Edge is Carlos Eyles latest book. It is a pseudo-diary of the authors sixty-five day journey aboard the Nirvana with his friends Jack and Pam. He journeys through the Sea of Cortez to the San Benedicto islands. The journey is on one level a journey from the once bountiful Sea of Cortez to near pristine San Benedicto islands. On another level it is a journey through man's impact on the ocean in the infinitesimal slice of geographic time that man has populated the planet. On an introspective level it is a journey through one man's search for balance and his link to the ocean, and to himself.

The word "mystical" has been used to describe the writing of the book. "Mystical" implies something apart from the human experience. The Blue Edge is experiential. It is about experiences that we all face. It is apropos that the boat is named Nirvana, which is the Buddhist term for "enlightenment." Some of the things that the Buddha realized on the road to enlightenment were, that the world is suffering, all things are impermanent, and that there is no Self. The Blue Edge takes us through part of that journey. It shows us the pain, and the joy, as one man struggles with finding his place in the world. As he tries to balance his love for the ocean, his love for his family, and his love for himself.

Carlos leads the reader through the fragile, and thus transitory, illusion of the permanence of job, family, possessions, and our natural resources. He describes how man's greed, and ego, has affected the balance of the once pristine waters of the Sea of Cortez, and how it also is taking its toll on the San Benedicto islands.

For the spearfishmen this is the journey that some of us go through in our diving careers. Our pictures of full stringers of fish on our desks and walls. Our attempts to give permanence to a moment in time. Our attempts to catch the "most" fish. As our diving careers progress we find we take fewer and fewer shots looking for the "right" fish. The contrast Carlos paints with Jack, who is struggling to find his place in his relationship with Pam and with the ocean, and the spearfishermen aboard the Ambar III that are dumping the carcasses of the filleted fish into the water, to Brian Yoshikawa not taking any shots waiting for the 200 pound tuna.

The Blue Edge may be difficult reading for people who have no ties to the ocean, since the sixty-five day journey is aboard a boat. It, however, is must reading for anyone who spends any time with the ocean. The book encapsulates our life journey in those sixty-five days. It gives us glimpses of Nirvana (enlightenment) through Carlos's eyes. It is this poignant glimpse which is what wraps us up page after page, because we feel from the very beginning of the book that Nirvana is not to be attained for Carlos at this time. The struggles through the grinding teeth of sharks, and lawnmowers, is something the ocean takes us through. The longing to play in the ocean, the longing for wealth, the longing for pleasure, the longing for the kill. The experiences Carlos goes through in The Blue Edge shows us that "Nirvana", on one level, or more simply the struggle to find balance with the ocean, on a lower level, is unattainable as long as we long to possess it.

This is a great book about Disney Company. It goes chronologically from 1901 to 1999 and beyond. Every event in the company's history is put in the book, but without much detail.
Since he maintains Disney Archives, Dave Smith could have done a litle better, like he did with Disney's Encyclopedia.

This book was excellent! It had terrific pictures and it told from 1901 when Walt was born until 2001. It is a great keepsake. I purchased mine at Walt Disney World during the 100 Years of Magic celebration.

I really enjoyed this book. It is packed with lots of great photographs and artwork from Walt Disney and the Disney Company. It also has a really nice overview of the life of Walt Disney and the work of the Disney Company in text.

I appreciated the organization of the book. The book is arranged chronologically, which helped me to understand the flow of events better. This book has a very upbeat, positive tone and paints a very bright and exciting future for the Disney Company.

This book does not contain nearly as much information about Walt Disney as some of the biographies that I have read, but I don't think that was the goal of this book. This book does a very nice job of chronicling the art and the work of this great American icon and then continues the chronology with the work of the Disney Company in the post Walt era.

This book starts with very early Disney and takes the reader all the way through to Fantasia 2000. This is an excellent coffee table book. I highly recommended it to anyone that loves Walt, his work and the continuing work of the Disney Company.