this book was not as captivating and engrossing as other nicu books by the parents. the stories seemed to gloss over, there are a lot of pages, but there are pictures, etc that dont use as much space for words. the stories of the children were not as detailed, and it didnt tug at my heart the way other books have. instead, i recommend-"living miracles-stories of hope from premature babies" by kimberly powell and kim wilson, editors. this one is more detailed, gripping, and heartfelt.

"Alone" is how parents feel when they first walk into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Spouses even feel alone from each other. Husband and wife have planned and dreamed of this birth together, but a baby born either too soon or sick leaves everyone alone and terrified. The tragedy of this unexpected (but much too frequent) childbirth makes the book, "You Are Not Alone" of tremendous importance to new parents of a baby in the NICU. The many true stories (and their realistic pictures) can help parents to realize that they are in a place where pioneer parents can help them. At the beginning the NICU experience is like being lost in a maze with no end. But "You Are Not Alone" helps new, very lost parents to realize that there are experienced guides that wish to help them. The writers of "You Are Not Alone" are a few of those guides. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever had a baby in the NICU, even it it is decades ago. I also recommend that every tertiary hospital include it in their library of books for parents of high-risk babies and their gift store. And all libraries that believe that books on child rearing are essential should put this on the required list.

Michael T. Hynan, PhD, Clinical Psychology from University of Iowa. He has taught in the Psychology Department at U of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 1974. He is the father of a premature baby, Chris, born in 1980 at 30 weeks gestation weighing 1200 g. Dr. Hynan also does research on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in high-risk parents. Dr. Hynan is the author of "The Pain of Premature Parents: A Psychological Guide for Coping."

For many new parents, there are two major sources of difficulty around coping with having a newborn in the NICU: (1) Fear that their intense feelings are abnormal, and (2) feeling singled out by tragic fate. This book can help. Filled with a wide variety of personal stories written by parents who've "been there," it offers comfort and reassurance to new parents who need to know that others have struggled with situations similar to theirs; that others have felt the same emotions.

The mothers and fathers who contributed to this book are not professional writers--some are more eloquent than others. Some parents merely skate on the surface. But to the editor's credit, these are not sugar-coated stories of medical miracles or stoicism. The ups and downs, joys and sorrows, triumphs and fumblings are all here. Some babies survive and thrive, others continue to have medical complications or developmental lags; some babies die. Parents share their fears, challenges and failings, as well as insights, lessons learned and blessings found. They admit that while dealing with a sick baby is a labor of love, it also takes a lot of patience, time, and energy. It's not easy. But therein lies the richness of their lives.

As new parents read these stories, they will be struck by the fact that their own deep feelings of anger, guilt, helplessness, fear, and despair are normal, not crazy or overreacting. They can see that other parents have emerged from the dark days in the NICU. They'll come away empowered, knowing that they can face their baby's fate and their emotions. Most importantly, they'll acquire hope--that whatever happens, they too can survive.

By Deborah L. Davis, Ph.D. Psychologist and author of "Empty Cradle, Broken Heart," Fulcrum, 1991; 1996; co-author of "The Emotional Journey of Parenting Your Premature Baby," NICU Ink, in progress.

I came by this book by accident, and enjoyed it immensely. I have not even known before that my favorite movies had Burton in common.

It covers everything you could possibly wish to know about the films, and even provides a summary of one I'd never even heard of - Luau. This isn't even listed on the IMDB, and no other books on Burton mention it, but they've got an interview with Rick Heinrichs (the guy who designed Sleepy Hollow and worked on Luau) about it, so it must be for real!

It's really well written too, and pretty amusing in places - the level of research is amazing - they even give notes showing where they got all their info from, so you can check it out for yourself. The stuff they got from Martin Landau and the two guys who wrote Ed Wood is incredibly interesting - a load of stuff I'd never heard about that film - some that isn't even included on the DVD's commentary.

Basically, this book's great. I'd read Burton on Burton (which is very good), that Pocket Essentials one (which is pretty good), that biography (which is really poor), and the "CHild's Garden of Nightmares" one (which is interesting, but doesn't cover nearly as much detail as this). NOne of these other books on Burton come close to this one.

I'd recommend this book to anyone.
It is a great analysis of each of Tim Burton's movies. It is written clearly and has information which I haven't read in any other Burton book.
I'm not just becoming a Burton fan, I have every other book on Tim Burton and I believe this one to be the best and most informative.

The book may not have the authors comments, but it is written in so much detail about each Burton movie that it doesn't matter.
If you want to find out more about Burton then this is the book you should get.
The book also includes quotes from people who have worked with Burton and from the man himself.
The length of this book proves that much time and effort went in to write this, and I think it was worth it.
I have found out some new things about some of his movies from reading this book.

So in my opinion I think this book is really worth buying!

Not a big fan of these pulp-fiction war books, but thought I'd give this one a try, and all and all wasn't that disappointed. The story revolves around a rag-tag unit of the German army retreating through Czechoslovakia. As it happens, while stationed in the vicinity of the main protagonist's--Kolodzi--home village--the unit is detailed to search for a general that was captured by Czech partisans. Kolodzi therefore is torn between his duty and the temptation to desert and return home and shack up with his girl who he hasn't seen for ages, and who incidently has connections with the partisans, etc. Anyway, it is a gripping, face-paced book, and not all that bad, even if the title is a little, well, odd.

I have read this in both English and German, as in the case of his "Cross of Iron". This English version seems better to me.
Having been an infantry EM and officer, having had experience in
modern Eastern European history, and having been in the USSR and
Slovakia, the terrain (south of the Dukla Pass) seems realistic.
The decline of the German Army, with sergeants in company command
and lack of officer combat experience (Schmitt and Giesinger), also seems appropriate for late 1944. General Stiller is striking in his hardness, and in his role as a "fireman" at a
desperate juncture, as is the hardness of the Russian Nikolash,
who will use Margita and the Slovak anti-German partisans without
mercy but with ambition. This book shows the Slovaks and Volksdeutsche well, as does Heinrich's "Jahre Wie Tau" (never
printed in English), particularly Kolodzi in his desperate attempts to save Maria; Kolodzi eventually puts life over the
war, after 5 years; an effective ending from an author who never
deserted in his Eastern Front career. This novel is not as good
as the other two cited, but is certainly worth reading

I've just finished Crack of Doom by Willi Heinrich. My inititial impression was that it's an unpleasant book about a gruesome time and ultimately just that, unappealing, but within twelve hours of that first reaction I've settled into another response, more just, I think, because the characters have sat down, as it were, within me, and I think this might happen to you too. The strength of each of the major characters is their one dimension, some for survival, a couple for honor; some for their professional skills, others for their inexperience.

The blurb on the cover says the author came by his experience the hard way, and it shows. I came to the book in spots of reading stretched out over some months, so I had to go back and recall which character was which and consequently found it a slow start, but it has a hell of a second half!

The three classes of characters also bear watching, with their inside codes of behavior and their codes between each class: civilian, enlisted, and officer.

If, as they say, life is a story we intend to write one way that ends up writing us another way, there must obviously be no worse setting for it than wartime. These terrifying backdrops give the novel a chance to squeeze every inch of definition out of each character so that by novel's end there's a handful of painful character sketches that all deserve to be remembered: (in order of the vivid traces they've left within me, from the strongest first) Schmitt, Giesinger, Stiller, Margita, Kolodzi, Herbig. There's at least half a score of minor characters who, because they are so much in type, do more than most such in the few pages they appear: Matuska, Teltschik, Baumgartner, Nikolash, and the fat Gestapoman.

This book must certainly have done all its author could reasonably expect it to do. I give it one less star for the type it intends to put itself in: gritty with a kind of hunkered down marching forward through the inferno with little hope of a succeeding purgatorio, much less paradisio, but then, that's pretty much what I guess the real thing must have been like (though there is Schmitt's open sky and his admiration for wolves), and for that, on second thought, I should say, this book is as good as it can get.

I was NOT what I expected it to be at all. I thought the fact that it was discussing Indian art and symbols, there would acctually be a goodly amount of Indian art in this book. I realized I was mistaken upon leafing through this book and finding pages and pages of text with only a few examples of the art it related to. I'm not trying to disparrage the book in this review, I did not read it, but I'm sure it was good for what it was. I'm just trying to keep someone else from making the same mistake I made.

Zimmer is without a doubt a brilliant and sophisticated scholar of Indian Art and Mythology and this text reflects that fact very well. The sheer density of the text lends to the quality of it as a resource, but it not the number one choice of texts for someone who is just interested in mythology and folklore. Zimmer does more than merely tell you the myth or legend, he offers incredible symbolic and literary analysis of the myth in terms of broader and universal symbols. He brings together history, art, myth, religion, and philosophy in a incredible combination. However, the text is extraordinarily difficult to follow as a casual read.

In many places the text simply jumps around without any transition and in a seemingly nonsensical manner, making it difficult to read in a linear fashion. There does not seem to be any real organization to the text, with bits and pieces of the text's various elements thrown into the book at what feels like haphazard points. The photographs of the art which Zimmer discusses is useful, but are hidden at the back of the book in small, hard to see, grainy, black and white photos. I found to be a real pain constantly to flip to the back of the book to see what he was talking about and having to squint to make out the intricate art in the poor quality pictures. It would more useful if the photos were on the page where they were discussed, were in color, and were bigger. One final quibble is that the sheer volume of information makes taking notes as you go along crucial to obtain a real understanding of the text.

While I think these points are valid, do not let them scare you away. The text possess an immense wealth of information about Indian mythology and incredible analysis of its stories. An strong reference and research for students and scholars or for anyone who has a real interest in mythology, myth-art/religious art, or the psychological universality of myths. To any of these people I would highly recommend this book. If you are just starting on these or any other field that might be pertaining to the book, you might wish to start with some primary sources or books that are strictly myths and legends (i.e. the Mahabhrata or the Bhagavad Gita)or books on mythic/religious art before trying this book.

Edited by the late Joseph Campbell, Zimmer's book is a detailed analysis and explanation of the significance and history of many of the symbols found in Indian art and religon. It has a good index and several photographs at the end which provide essential examples.

This book is a good start on how to simplify your life. I found it to be good reading and entertaining. I can't say it really has had a profound effect on me though. As with all self-improvement books, reading is not enough. If you're looking for some new ideas and light, entertaining reading, this may be the book for you. But if you're looking to come away with a new perspective on life, this may not suffice.

In this tome of simplicity from a Yankee-fied perspective, Mr. Heinrichs expounds on the practicalities of the simple life with plenty of good common sense. He shares the Yankee view on a variety of subjects including work habits, family ties and early rising. In addition, he peppers the text with applicable quotes from Yankee fore-fathers and mothers. (We appreciated how Mr. Heinrichs lauds Harriet Beecher Stowe as part this esteemed crowd, as non-white visionaries are not often given credit in history.)

If you are interested in learning how to live a simple life with practical, wise wisdom and a dash of good humour, then pick up this book at your local library.

-LiteratePlanet.com

this book immensely, most likely because of the references to our forefathers. Seemed fitting that a book on simple living would actually relate back to a time when simplicity was revered and a natural way of life.

Not a biography of the Reichsfuhrer, but a carefully researched and annotated analysis of his role in the final solution. Himmler's own office logs and appointment books, where extant, are convincingly used. The most thorough account to date of the so called Madagscar proposal which preoccupied the nazis in the late 1930s as a way of exiling Jews. Himmler's often mutually suspicious dealings with underlings such as Heydrich and Eichmann are particularly well portrayed, although his relationship with Hitler is sometimes sketchy. The years 1944 and 1945 are treated rather briefly, presumably because Himmler's initiatives were mainly restricted to trying to arrange coverup of the atrocities. But Breitman has done a first rate job in showing us how Himmler's bureaucratic mind ticked. The book illustrates that you don't need to be a personal sadist to organize murder on a massive scale.

Heinrich Himmler, one of the most reviled personalities in modern history comes fully to light in this insightful study. What is it that makes a person evil? That is at the heart of Breitman's absorbing book. Unlike a devilish Faustian caricature, the narrative shows the SS Reichsfuehrer, a mundane, pedantic organizer who came terrifyingly close to translating Hitler's vision of of a "racially-pure" Europe into reality.

Heinrich Himmler may be the personification of Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil." A man who fawned over children, stopped to pick flowers and was every thoughtful with those under him, quietly and efficiently produced the machinery to send millions to their death.

(...) Breitman's book is not a "popular biography" in the modern sense, but rather a scholarly and academic treatment. However, this is a weighty subject and the author accomplishes much more with this approach through a fascinating narrative that assures the reader that this is an exquisititely researched picture of one of the most dispised personalities of modern time. Highly recommended.

Jerzy Andrzejewski's Ashes and Diamonds is a complete rip-off if you are in it for the diamonds. My copy only included the ashes part. After getting over the fact that I had been duped into buying all ashes and no diamonds, I began to enjoy the beauty of the ashes.
Andrzejewski does a spectacular job in presenting ashes. The ashes in this book are the remains of Poland after the Second World War. The Poles seek to pick up the pieces of their war- torn country and move on towards a "new Poland", one that embodies freedom and happiness. However the road to this promised land is very elusive, and people often blindly pick sides in a new battle to define Poland. The result is only more ashes.
The part of the book that really made it worth reading for me was its fresh look at the heart of mankind. In my opinion, Andrzejewski does not present a people who held on to morality and goodness through even the toughest of times. He presents a people who, when pressured, revealed the predominately black makeup of a human heart that allows a person to do evil in order to survive or merely to get ahead. Some characters deal with this blackness in themselves and in others, often feeling let down and confused. One example of this is in a conversation between Podgorski and Kossecki after the war is over. Kossecki is burdened after the war with the knowledge that, when in the camp, he did not behave as the honorable man he thought himself to be before the war. He took part in beating people to save his own hide. In their conversation, Kossecki looks for answers to make himself feel okay. Then Podgorski, speaking about the time before the war, says "People had confidence in themselves, in their courage and their morality. Certain things seemed impossible. Life then simply did not present such desperate alternatives. A man had a right to think of himself as decent and incapable of exceeding certain limits. Only criminals did so. But nowadays I've met so many people who broke down and failed this or that test that I don't attach much importance to what a man thinks of himself. Until a man faces the test he can deceive himself endlessly." Kossecki is disappointed in the blackness of his own heart and Podgorski is disappointed in others who let him down. Through some character's painful realization that people are often not as good as they would like to believe, I was forced to ask myself how I would react in such horrible circumstances. Would a terrible situation reveal diamonds or ashes in my own heart? I believe Andrzejewski's greatest success in Ashes and Diamonds is his ability to make me question myself, even though the novel is set in a foreign land and in a time period I will never live in.
However, in my opinion Andrzejewski does a poor job of developing the characters. There are just way too many of them to really know much at all about any of them (I counted 47). It is a pretty good sign that there are too many characters when you have to keep notes just to remember who the main characters are. It is possibly lacking in plot as well. Perhaps through predominately using dialogue and not action, Andrzejewski was attempting to offer a glimpse into the minds of the characters. If this is the case, he could have done a better job by limiting the number of characters and spending more time with each of them. It would seem that if a lot of dialogue was included at the expense of plot, we would at least know more about the characters. Unfortunately this is not the case.
Overall, I enjoyed Andrzejewski's beautiful presentation of ashes. However, if he intended to complement the ashes with diamonds, I missed it. From the young gang of boys, about whom it would be hard to conjure up anything good to say, to the older party leaders who seemed lost and were often driven by personal success rather than by a desire for a free and happy people, they all seemed ashier than a lotionless Arab on a cold day. If you open Ashes and Diamonds to find diamonds inside, perhaps you will have better chances looking in a box of crackerjacks.

There are many ways to get to grips with the complicated realities of the post-WW2 Eastern Europe but reading Ashes and Diamonds is arguably the best of them. Rather then reading some dry history book which would necessary have less feeling for the stories of individual people, Ashes and Diamonds tells history exactly by concentrating on the peculiar life stories of the main characters. It shows how the unsettled and chaotic situation of postwar Poland gave rise to some weird coalitions in politics, strange passions or totally unreasonable expectations of the people who had to live then. Since we can afford the luxury of informed hindsight and already know that by 1949 Poland became communist, it is interesting to watch Poland in the period when things were not at all clear yet.

Guggenheimer gives a good introduction to the topic, although a good background in mathematics (analysis) is very helpful. While not one of the easiest books to read, it serves as a good supplemental text to anyone browsing through other texts on differential geometry.

I find the book very interesting: it's a very good presentation of "classical problems with modern methods" in Differential Geometry. It's appreciable for the selection of topics and their logical order, the clarity of their exposition (based on the use of modern terminology), the set of proposed problems and the relative results and the list of references at the end of each chapter.

This particular addition from Antonova is compelling and well-written, but somewhat lacking in substance. The plot is well formed, however not follwed through with the passion or vivacity that it could have been. The author does a fair job of setting the scene, but misses the mark at the last turn.

Nevertheless, it is an entertaining piece, and worth the effort it takes to read it, if you don't mind being let down a little at the end

I think an earlier review was somewhat mistaken... this is essentially an exhibit catalog of one of the most famous treasure hoards around. The treasure created an international sensation when it was found at the ruins of Troy. But the hoard vanished from Berlin at the end of WWII. It has been rediscovered in Russia, and is open to inspection at long last. The photography is first rate, and while some of the treasures aren't as spectacular as the finds from Tutankhamen's tomb, they have a romance all their own. Fascinating for all those who have been drawn to the story of the Trojan War.

An extensive overview of the state of automotive aerodynamics. Provides a good introduction to all topics of automotive engineering which relate to aerodynamics. Also includes an extensive list of references. At times lacking some detail but overall an excellent introduction to the study of vehicle aerodynamics, a must-have reference for anyone in the field.