I read the first 96 pages in 4 days as I was trying to find something that would help me discern the meaning and purpose of a dream I had. I didn't want to be deaf to God's promptings because I want to do His will and I needed some answers. I prayed, meditated, thought, studied the word, consulted trusted believers, asked for prayer, and tried to listen for God to tell me what to do. This book supported these methods of trying to discern God's will, but more than that, it pointed out that discernment takes time. I felt 80% sure that I was interpreting the dream correctly and proceeded accordingly. This book also emphasized that discernment is hampered in times of spiritual desolation. Good point. It seems obvious when your brain and heart are not clouded, but I'm glad I read it first, so I'll know that in advance. I wish I had read the rest of the book before making my decision, because a really great section entitled 'Blocks to Discernment', really helped me. I still learned something valuable from the dream and the book. One thing that blew me away was what the author said about prayer and fasting. The purpose of fasting with prayer is not to prove to God that you are more serious in your commitment; the purpose of fasting with prayer is to focus on what God is trying to tell you ! WOW ! I hope to find this book on sale and buy it for as many friends as I can ! It's not like we get to ask questions during sermons at church you know !

I found this, as well as another book by the author, Courage and Calling, practical and insightful help in discerning some heavy choices in my life over the last two years. Particularly helpful was the "Clearness Committee" concept. My husband and I recently implemented this, and received some (hard) but excellent input from discerning friends. A great book on a most critical issue--learning to discern God's best for your life.

Smith is thorough and gives a very balanced view of discerning God's will. I highly recommend this book. It was timely for me.

This book is pretty good reading for someone interested in Will Smith's journey through life. It covers Will's life in West Philly to his rise in Hollywood. Very funny, and enjoyable!

He's great he's music is clean and the movies are very clean and he is the best that I know.

Looking at other actor's he is the best do you think so? I do.
In movies he is very funny in the movies some times. The movies that he dose is good. when is act's he is the best that I know.

He play's great part's in moive don't you think?

i don't think i am in the right place but. i am looking for a doll of will smith and i know they have them before. please help me out thank you

p.s or wild wild west and men in black etc. i did not wont to rate your books because i don't really read.

Clark Ashton Smith wrote prolifically for the old pulp magazines, mostly during the 1920s and 1930s, but his main interest was in poetry. That preoccupation with language is clearly evident in every entry in this volume, which represents a collection of all the stories (including a few incomplete fragments) that pertained to his imaginary land of "Hyperborea," lost in the mists of antiquity. These stories also fit in with the so-called "Cthulhu mythos" of H.P. Lovecraft and numerous other writers, which present an alternative history of humanity as only the latest (and weakest) of earth's sentient denizens, subject to the awful inhuman powers of greater beings that originally came from other planets. What distinguishes Smith's work from that of other Cthulhu writers, or from other writers of fantasy, is his style of writing (borrowed from the 19th century decadent poets he loved and emulated), his morbid and ironic sense of humor, and his penchant for avoiding happy endings.

From a modern perspective this doesn't always work. One gets the distinct impression in many of these stories of a writer more in love with his own wordcraft than in tune with his narrative. Some of the stories are plainly ridiculous; "The Door to Saturn," for example, rates as unbearably poor science fiction in an Ed Wood, 50's B-movie vein. Others contain the germ of a wonderful idea, but squander it on what amount to small-minded jokes, despite the florid prose that attempts to disguise them as something else ("The Seven Geases" in particular). Nevertheless, some of these ideas are worth experiencing, and some of Smith's humor still bites.

A collection of short stories that originally appeared in pulp magazines such as "Weird Tales", C. A. Smith's "Book of Hyperborea" transcends the pulp genre and attains the level of true literary artistry. Smith's measured prose sings where his friend and contemporary Lovecraft stutters or shrieks. (Not to cast aspersions: Lovecraft's vaulting imagination more than makes up for his faults as a stylist.) These tales combine elements of Baudelaire, De Quincy, "A Thousand Nights and a Night", and "Vathek" to produce a vibrant, sensuous, and luxuriant world in which every story has a satisfyingly unhappy ending. Needless to say, this is a quite different approach than that of most current writers of fantastic fiction. So if you have a taste for the plodding prose and hopelessly worthy and boring heroes of Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, et al., then by all means pass Mr. Smith by. He was out of step during his prime, so it's unlikely his shade will be troubled by your continued neglect. In any case, Smith wrote for the ages: like the work of Dunsany and Cabell--certainly the greatest literary artists in fantastic fiction--these stories are intended for a well-read, cultivated audience. Consequently, I recommend this book more to readers of belles lettres than to fans of paperback fantasy trilogies. If you like Poe, you should give Clark Ashton Smith a try. Edward Gorey enthusiasts who are looking for something a little juicier than, though equally gruesome as, Regera Dowdy's stark narratives, will also enjoy C. A. Smith's mordant gloominess of tone.

Smith's work is vibrant, lyrical, mordant, bitter, elegiac, and altogether wonderful. With attention spans growing shorter and shorter all the time it isn't likely that Smith will experience a sudden upsurge in popularity, for his is a style that makes some demands on the reader --- and unfortunately, fewer readers seem anxious to meet a writer even halfwasy, judging from the amazing quantities of dreck clogging the bookshops. Few of Smith's books are in print (more's the pity) but it's worth searching out-of-print venues for them, especially his mammoth COLLECTED POEMS edition from Arkham House. Few writers could move between the extremes of Gothic horror and sardonic comedy with such assurance as Smith managed the trick.

At our house, I eagerly anticipate any new book from Jon Scieszka (We have all of his books). I jumped at the announcement of this book and immediately placed my order. After receipt, my eight year old son and I sat down to read together. From the first page, my son was reading and laughing with each story. The stories are brief yet extremely clever. Each story concludes with a "moral". Parents can utilize these stories and "morals" to explain to our kids how these stories are actually real-life experiences and situations in disguise. This book offers parents a non-threatening tool with which to teach kids how to deal with and hopefully understand social relationships. Aside from all of the above, this book is just a lot of fun to read and view. The art work is on par with or exceeds "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "The Book that Jack Wrote" - simply terrific. This is a wonderful book for both children and adults. Highly recommended.

I got this book for my son who is 9...over the 4-8 age reccommendation for this book. I knew it would be funny and he would enjoy it...and boy did he! The book has "boy appeal"... and general "ha-ha-ho-ho's" abound. We read it the first time for laughs...we will read it again and I will encourage him to see if there is anything "deeper" in the stories.... He really enjoyed the pictures alot. He is at the age when at school he is only allowed to read "chapter" books so this was a wonderful break and fun return back to picture books. Although some of the stories did have meaning to them...Some were just fun and all the pictures were wonderful. I enjoy allowing my son to read some things for the pure pleasure and pure fun of reading...this is a perfect choice for that.

We have had this book for over a year and purchased it afterbeing lucky enough to hear a reading of it by the author before it wasreleased. I have six children ranging in age from 4 to 16 and each one of us loves this book for different reasons. I love it becuase it is one of a very few childrens' books which is really funny in a smart way. My four year old loves it for the stories and the great and intriguing illustrations, and my nine year old boy loves it for the nine year old boy appeal it obviously has. Everyone else loves it for their own reasons but it is read over and over again and our four year old can ALWAYS capture a family member to read it to her which is not always the case with other books.

In 1920's Brooklyn, Margie graduates from highschool and is filled with youthful optimism. Determined to rise above the drudgery and poverty of her upbringing, Margie finds a job at a small business nearby and attempts to escape her overbearing mother and her overworked,disillusioned father. Before long, she meets Frankie Malone, a poor Brooklynite like herself, and the two fall headlong into courtship and marriage. Despite differences between her and Frankie, and some difficulties in her relationship with her parents, Margie still hopes that "tomorrow will be better."

Perhaps more than many of her other books, "Tomorrow Will Be Better" showcases Betty Smith's boundless abilities. Although the synopsis of this book may sound unassuming and dull, with Smith's writing the story becomes rich and eye-opening. Never have I found another author who can take an ordinary life and an ordinary situation (such as Margie's) and fill it with such truth and wisdom so that it becomes powerful. Smith has a rare gift for truly putting herself "in her characters' shoes" and seamlessly weaving their differing stories together to form a believable novel. While "Tomorrow Will Be Better" is ultimately a sad story, its sadness is fitting, realistic, and handled extremely will. This story of optimism, dreams, and disillusionment may not be quite the show-stopping masterpiece that "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" is, yet it deserves to be read for its excellent characterization and deep truth.

This book is often compared to Smith's opus "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" and thus many readers miss what is truly great about this book. Whereas "Brooklyn" chronicles Francie's growth within her family from child to woman while weaving in the perspective of her mother, father, aunts, etc., "Tomorrow" is purely about Margie.

"Tomorrow" begins with 16-year-old Margie getting her first job in Brooklyn. It chronicles her courtship and marriage to Frankie, a neighborhood boy with his own family issues i.e. overbearing mother, loud father, myriad sisters. Margie's own parents are none too attentive to their daughter and what she might need, but feel pangs of loss when she decides to get married.

Margie tries to please her mother, mother-in-law, and husband, make ends meet, gets pregnant, and gradually all of these adult conventions that she is supposed to want threaten to destroy her unless she stands up to all of them. Only then will she truly be an adult.

This is an excellent account of a girl becoming a woman and proving it is an internal, not external, journey. The tale is as true today as it was in the 1940s. Female readers will identify with many of the sentiments expressed in this book and find themselves comparing their own lives to it.

i agree with the people that say A tree Grows in brooklyn was better (there isnt a book i have read yet that beats it)! I loved a tree grows in Brooklyn and it inspired me to read the rest of Betty Smiths books, i have Maggie Now to read, i thought the book lacked the detail that A Tree Grows In Brooklyn had, and the little things that people notice in Francie that werent present in Margy...still, I felt Smiths writing familiar and comforting in the last chapter which made me remeber why i keep reading the books over and over,good book...not her BEST but still very good...I give it a 4 as a Betty Smith book and a 5 as any other...becuase a Tree Grows In Brooklyn sets the bar so high! read it because its great but read a tree grows in brooklyn and u will have read the greatest!

I'm suprised by the largely negative comments about this book. Certainly Mr. Friedwald has his personal biases, and is not afraid to let them be known--but this never stood in the way of my enjoyment of this book. Overall, this book has the tone of a very hip friend letting you in on some of the things that make his favorite singers great. His chapter on Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald is terrific, alerting the reader as to what is special about their (very different) styles. Likewise, the chapter on the vo-cool school (Mel Torme, Anita O'Day, June Christy, etc.) is similarly instructive. I don't find the prose overly "stream-of-conscious," or inordinately "hip" (hey, he is talking about jazz here!). I really can't comment on technical inaccuracies (mispelled Yiddish, etc.), or possible gaps in the narrative (any study like this is bound to emphasise certain tendencies over others), but Mr. Friedwald can bring his record collection to my house anytime!

Friedwald has definitely got to be the currently most prolific writer on all matters related to the "Great American Songbook" and its performers. His name appears constantly on CD liner notes, his voice is regularly heard on NPR, and his face appears on television whenever an assessment of a recently expired pop star or jazz great is called for. It stands to reason that his opinions wield influence, so as a champion of the music that is the subject of his discourse, I can only hope that his pronouncements are for the better.

In most instances, his judgements seem sound, and he usually expresses them with a directness and verve that make for engaging reading. Among the better moments in the book are his dismissal of a Michael Feinstein, a Johnny Mathis, or an Andy Williams as subjects worthy of discussion in a serious book about American popular music.

The musicians he devotes chapters to are all deserving, and he provides no small amount of insight into the historical significance and unique talents of his subjects. Still, he can strain a bit too hard to make a case for a singer such as Bing Crosby, proclaiming him a better all-around musician than Sinatra and insisting that the man, if anything, got better with the passing of time. I get the sense that Friedwald knows quite a bit about music, but perhaps not quite enough. And it's not clear that he's ever had much experience performing music. If he had, he'd be more aware of the differences in vocal production, say, between a stand-up singer and a pianist-singer. Or of the kind of risk that is present not only in Sinatra's persona but in the approach to a lyric and its elocution that are part of his music. Bing may have a good ear and good time, but even on his noisy (thanks to Bregman's orchestration) Sinatra-style 1950's session, his time is leaden. He's thinking two-beat instead of 4/4 swing, and he plops his syllables right on top of each beat in order to be able to "think" the 2nd beat that characterizes his Dixieland approach.

But if there's any genuine disappointment with the book, it's with what's been left out. Whether it's because he's too busy writing or completing his Crosby collection, Friedwald seems totally unaware of singers like Jack Jones, Shirley Horn, Nancy Lamott and, most notably of all, Etta Jones. One can only hope that a book such as this will lead readers to make their discovery.

Friedwald has written a great book--precisely because it's opinionated, un-pretentious, filled with passionate likes and dislikes. Friedwald has apparently listened to every jazz-sung record in history, and his book makes you want to listen to all of it too--in my case, for the first time. For that I'd love to thank him personally. If you believe that understanding the conventions of an art form helps you appreciate it fully, "Jazz Singing" is an eduacation in what to listen for...in how to listen to jazz singing. I don't always agree with Friedwald and neither will you, but so what? A wonderful book about an art that seems unfortunately to be dying out--a book that helps, along with all the CD re-issues that thankfully come out, to keep it alive.

I read about half of the book and couldn't muster up the energy to open it back up again. The book is quite boring - aside from D's tales on the road with Run DMC. I hardly think that Darryl lives up to be the voice of reason he assumes himself to be. Half of the half I read was spent trying to convince the reader of how ignorant we are to today's rap music and how the state of the industry is at an all time low. Give me a break, please.

...And those pictures of him are all out completely friggin' stupid.

This book was released but only a few days before Run Dmc made it's final New Orleans appearance at the House of Blues.As I left the concert that night,outside of the Marriott Hotel, a soft timid voice spoke out "Hey man,I sure like all that Adidas you have on."It was DMC.As I was completely charmed and engaged for those next few moments by this gentle giant,so will you be by this wonderful memoir.Covering his entire life and carreer and alcoholism and consequent pancreaitis, Mr.McDaniels quietly tells raps greatest story.The only flaw for was that theres not enough insight into the actual creative or studio process that quite literally changed pop music.(C'mon,"How'd ya do it Dee?"!!)Other than that,this along with Chuck D's caustic "Fight the Power",are a must read.

Anyone who is a fan of Run DMC or rap will love this book for the behind-the-scenes look at the early days of the group and the music. Anyone looking for a human interest story about maturing and becoming a man despite decadent surroundings will also probably be pleasantly surprised. Although it is a good read for anyone of any age, I would seriously suggest that this book should be required reading for high school kids. It really teaches a lot of great life lessons in a way that kids can relate to. It paints the picture of what most kids would consider to be the ideal existence - that of an international rock superstar living a life of decadence - and then gives the reader a very clear picture of why such a lifestyle is not so ideal. In doing this, it makes the reader question a lot of their own beliefs (e.g. "If only I made $X more a year, then I'd be happy" and "If I could have women falling at my feet, I'd be the luckiest guy in the world."). I would argue that it may help kids change the course of their lives early on and avoid having to learn a lot of hard lessons by experience.

The only (minor) flaw is that the book uses a lot of street slang and poor grammar. In general, I have no problem with writing in a vernacular if it helps put a story in its proper context or helps an author relate to a particular audience, but it is out of place here considering the content of the book. Gangster rap acts defend the violence and disrespect common to their music by claiming that they are only reporting what they see on the streets and are acting the way they act in real life. D adamantly opposes their behavior and discusses the flaws with their arguments, suggesting that they should aspire to be better people and do positive things with their talent and popularity. To be consistent with this line of thinking, the book should be presented in proper english. Surely, in editing the book, Haring must have noticed the many times the author switched tenses mid-sentence and used "ain't"s, etc. This would lead one to believe that there was a conscious effort to leave the poor language and slang in the book. The question then becomes: How is intentionally sounding ignorant any different than ganster rappers intentionally "keepin' it real"?

But if you look past the language and get to the meat and bones, you will find that the book has a whole lot to offer and that Darryl is a great guy. I can hardly wait for his solo album....

This book has a series of good thought provoking ideas, though in some places, it can be a bit repetitive.

While I think the book is trying not to limit its readers' imaginations, a few more example of where expert systems are or could be implemented would be useful. These example would lend more credibility to the ideas, since they would show that the systems that are vaguely described in the book could actually be implemented.

A must read for those that want to change the world using IT.

I am one of the lucky 10,000+ students who have been taught by Larry Smith in economics at the University of Waterloo. True to his intentions, this book inspires computer scientists to develop a new generation of software tools that will truly revolutionize the world we live in today, namely expert systems. The book does an excellent job at instilling ideas in the mind of the reader of new expert systems that ultimately will be created. Larry Smith has a good grasp on IT as well as economics, and is truly one of the industry's visionaries. Although it lacks in examples, like Prof. Smith said in class, the book is designed to get people thinking about these fantastic expert systems.

In this well-researched book, David Smith investigates work and its prospects across the European Union. He notes that the EU is marked by high rates of unemployment and low rates of employment. If it had the same employment rate as the USA, there would be an extra 34 million people in work. In France in 1997, the employment rate for men between 15 and 24 was only 16.5%. For men between 55 and 64, the employment rate in Britain was 59%, yet it was more than 65% in the USA.

Smith argues that entering the euro would cause even more unemployment, because Economic and Monetary Union is designed to create more mergers with their inevitable job losses. Also, to manage the economic differences with other countries, the Government would have to make changes in the real economy by sacking people and cutting wages, because it could no longer manage these differences by altering the exchange rate.

So entering the euro would not achieve full employment. But some now argue that this can never be done under any circumstances, so we might as well join the euro anyway. However, we can achieve full employment, by investing in industry. And we can do it without the extra taxes or loans that Smith asserts would be needed.

We can raise the money in a variety of ways. We could redirect the £35 billion that British companies invest abroad every year. We could demand that Britain adopts a more realistic foreign policy and defence posture: cutting the Foreign Office's bloated costs, ending overseas military aid, and withdrawing troops from Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone would save us billions by. We could use all this money to modernise plant and machinery, set up new industries and firms, and rebuild our transport and energy systems

Every country in the EU could carry out a similar kind of investment programme. And if this programme conflicts with the EU's rules, too bad! If we need to take democratic control over our own economies to achieve full employment, then that is what we will have to do.

The biography on Will Smith is an interesting and action packed book. I like the book because it told how Will grew up and became big and famous. The book began to get interesting when it mentioned the movie Men In Black. The book started to slow down when they started to talk about his child hood. This book provides much information and detail on Will Smith. I would recomend this book to ages 10 and up.