I WOULD LIKE TO THANK CALLY HALL PERSONALY FOR SUCH A EXCELLENT WORK ON GEMSTONES. THE WORK CANNOT BE DESCRIBED IN WORDS. I AM A JEWELLER AS WELL AS GEMOLOGIST, GOT QUIET IMPRESSED WITH SUCH PIECE OF ART.

Where to begin? Photos, interesting facts, chemical compositions, broad range of stones!!!! The perfect reference for jewelers, libraries, hobbyists, homeschoolers- and to all you crystal/light workers, here is an awesome way to get a view of the crystals mentioned in the text-only guidebooks. See the Rocks & Minerals guide also.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS AND THIS BOOK HAS TERRIFIC PICTURES AND VERY CLEAR AND CONCISE DESCRIPTIONS. EVERYTHING THAT I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SUBJECT IS ANSWERED IN THIS BOOK. THERE'S A VISUAL GUIDE TO OVER 130 GEMSTONE VARIETIES AND A COLOR KEY FOR EVERY GEMSTONE. THERE ARE SO MANY INTERESTING BITS OF INFORMATION HERE THAT THE READER GETS A COURSE IN HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, SCIENCE AND FOLKLORE. FOR INSTANCE, THE CUSTOM OF WEARING BIRTHSTONE JEWELRY STARTED IN 18TH CENTURY POLAND; THE MASK OF TUTANKHAMEN WAS MADE OF LAPIS FROM AFGHANISTAN AND THE BEAUTIFUL PINK MORGANITE WAS NAMED AFTER J.P. MORGAN. THIS IS A SUPER REFERENCE BOOK!

Alles, das ich über das Buch sagen kann, ist, daß ich es liebte, und ich glaube, daß es sehr wert Leseversuch es ist.

Chances are if your thinking on buying this book in German, you've probably already read the Englsih version, so I won't bog you down with any lengthy opinion on the story itself except to say it is a modern classic, full of mystery and suspense that can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

Foreign language versions of English novels are notoriously difficult to translate, largely due to the high number of English words which have no exact translation in say, German or French. But on the whole, this was an exceptionally translated peice, with no major blunders sticking out (the Spanish version is full of them) The most obvious chnage is of "Hermione" to "Hermine" Perhaps Hermione would feel strange to pronounce to a native German speaker, not sure on that one.

A lot of people will tell you Spanish and French are far easier to learn than German. I found German more fun to learn, most people who say it is a difficult, technical language do not know that English and German belong in the same group of languages (Germanic) French, Spanish and Italian are in a completely different group (Romantic) So to brush up on language skills, or just to have fun reading a novel in another language, HP is probably the most fun and easy to understand novel on the market.

This translation of Harry Potter pulled even this native speaker of English along almost as well as the original book, and I would recommend it for anyone who's had a couple of years of German as a skill and vocabulary builder. If you're struggling with Goethe or Thomas Mann, you need something that will show you that German can be fun to read, and this book will do the trick nicely. I suppose once could carp at a few things here and there, but this translation is so superior to the French translation that I wouldn't waste my time doing that, except to mention that Hermione's name has for some reason been changed to Hermine. If you get stuck, at least the trot's readily available!

I received this book as a Secret Santa gift, and although I'm slightly out of its targeted age range, I still adore it. The artwork has thick lines so one can color well, and the many pages of pictures insure most characters are depicted. I recommend this book not only to those purchasing a gift for a small child but for any Harry Potter-lover.

This coloring book is very well illustrated. I love the pictures and scenes. Very fun for kids to color, and decorate their room.

This book is cool it comes with markers to color it in with.It also show different cool [pictures of Harry Potter and all his friends and enemys.(Snape)

This is a book I first checked out from the library in college. I must tell you, for anyone who wants to become a writer, this is the most fascinating book. After I read this baby at least five times, and the University of Iowa library was screaming to get it back, I must have checked it out at least 4 more times. Now that I can, I have my own copy. This book will explain to you--from the inside--how Charles Dickens planned and constructed his novels. Remember the famous Hemingway quote: "Fiction is architecture, not interior decorating." This book contains the blueprints for dozens of now-famous novels. curmudgeon99@earthlink.net

My first reaction to J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter a l'ecole des sorciers was speechlessness. I had no idea that any book could be so wonderful. I'll admit that I found the first few chapters a bit dull. They were necessary, though, because they explained Harry's background and brought you up to the current state of affairs. The rest of the book made up for any lack of excitement in the preceding chapters. After I finished the book for the fourth time, I went out and bought the second installment in the series, then the third etc. I give this book five stars, and my personal recommendation to anyone looking for a good read.

It gives kids something constructive to do in their spare time, instead of playing video games all day long. It also helps kids to develope better creativity skills by having them pick how the finished product will look.

This music is beautifully written for piano. It sounds exactly like the soundtrack. You could even play along with the soundtrack if you wanted to. It includes Diagon Alley, Family Portrait, Harry's Wonderous World, Hedwig's Theme, Quidditch, Voldemort, Fluffy's Harp, and Hogwart's Forever. Harry's Wonderous World is really fun to play and challenging. This book also comes with some pictures in the front, which I thought was kind of neat. But well, I love the soundtrack to death and playing it on the piano makes it seem even more magical to me. You will not regret buying this!!

I love The Chamber of Secrets. I read it in three days and I think it's got a very good plot. It was my favorite of the three and it was also the longest (I'm counting the pages of each one so I know which is the longest.) I think it explains everything unusual that happens in the first book which is what I like about how J.K. Rowling writes. I ordered Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban from Amazon UK and finished that and compared it with the other books. A lot of other people like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets also. My dad read it and he was surprised about what happened at the end. When my aunt gave me Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone, my mom started reading it to me but I couldn't wait to find out what happened at the end so I finished it myself. Then I liked it so much I got the second book and really liked it. Now everyone in my family is reading the books. I lent it to my aunt and she read it too. I hear J.K. Rowling is writing seven books, one for each year Harry is at Hogwarts and I can't wait until the other books come out so I can find out what happens. I think this is a great book and I think everyone can read it, even adults. I wish I could meet J.K. Rowling because she's my very favorite author and someday I hope she can read this review. I think anyone who reads this review before they read the books should start reading them now and then review what they think about it. I really like the Harry Potter books

When I first heard about Harry Potter, from a friend, I thought, "Yeah, thats something I want to do, waste my time reading fantasy books." However, I soon learned that these books, were the best I had ever read. When I first started to read the books, there became a sudden rush to find every book about Harry Potter this, and Harry Potter that. There were also only 3 of these books. I thought, ok, I guess Ill read one of them, but I am almost positive I wont like it at all. I was wrong. I now own all 4 Harry Potter Books, and I have read Harry Potter, And the Sorcerer's Stone 5 times, Harry Potter, And the Chamber Of Secrets 5 times, Harry Potter And The Prinsoner Of Azkaban 5 times, and my all time favorite, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, 7 times. I now encourage any one I meet to read these wonderfully charming, funny, and fantasy-filled books. I hope that the author will write many more than 7 books, as that is as long Harry will stay at Hogwarts. Thanks J.K. Rowling- without you, I wouldnt have ever wished to be a witch! :)

I am a 22 year old student studying to become a Primary school teacher.

My Great Aunt told me to go out and buy these books she thought that they were fabulous. She had originally bought them for my 9 year old cousin and had started reading them to see if they were appropriate. Needless to say my cousin doesn't have them.

I got the first and just loved it, as soon as I finished I raced to the book store and bought the next 2. I just could not put them down (and still can't). I am reading them for the third time. My boyfriend started reading the first one and couldn't wait for me to finish reading the next so he could (he had picked them up because he had read everything else in the house and was desperate). We both are anxiously awaiting the rest of the series.

I will definately be reading these to my classes when I get to teach. They are full of life, imagination, suspense and generally good fun. I just love Harry, Ron and Hermoine. Go team!

Harry Potter thought he had a fairly normal life (aside from living with his aunt and uncle who hated him), but he was very wrong. On his 11th birthday he learned that he was a wizard and had been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Suddenly, Harry is plunged into an entirely new world of magic. At Hogwarts Harry has friends for the first time in his life. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are his best friends at the school and they are the ones who help Harry through all of his troubles. From the very beginning though, Harry is slightly aware of something strange going on at Hogwarts. Harry pieces together the mystery slowly throughout the school year in while he isn't busy working on schoolwork or Quidditch (a magical game played on broomsticks).
My favorite part about this book was the world that J.K. Rowling created. While it would have been easy for her to just set the story in a school where the kids learn magic, she didn't. Things like Diagon Alley, which is where all of the students go to get school supplies, allow her to add so much more to the magic world just through descriptions of things Harry sees. Quidditch also makes the world seem much more real.
I originally read this book because I needed a young adult book for class, but I ended up enjoying it far more than I thought I would. I can't remember the last time I actually read much outside of school, but after reading this book I read the other three and am now anxiously awaiting the fifth book. I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone. It's obvious that it was aimed at younger readers, but I found I enjoyed it as much at 17 as my sister did at 11.

When I read a book, I get absorbed into a different life for an hour, maybe two. When I read a good book, I get drawn into a different reality for a few days, and always hate to return to my own. When I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I disappeared, willingly I might add, into a time when my heroes were Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton, and I longed for the day when I would find myself a wardrobe and disappear into the Narnia of C.S. Lewis. But with age comes peer pressure, with that comes disillusionment, accompanied by an attitude of being too mature for fairy tales and imaginary worlds. But, from the moment I opened that book, I was caught in the carefully woven trap of fantasy that J.K. Rowling had expertly crafted. I was engrossed in the story of a boy whose home life had shades of Dahl's Matilda meets Dickens' Pip, and whose true identity is like an Ugly Duckling for all ages. Through Harry, I saw lives that I thought authors had stopped writing about seventy years ago, a parallel universe that didn't have guns or war planes or invading aliens, but an everyday world, on the outskirts of an extraordinary one. The extraordinary secret of these books is how Rowling makes us believe that magic can truly exist in this Muggle world of Mundania. It doesn't matter whether you are six or sixty, whether you have lived through Disneyworld or the Depression; the irresistibility of the Harry Potter books is based in the human desire to believe in the unbelievable, no matter how fantastical or magical it may be. That is what makes a children's book so special for adults everywhere. But, for me personally, this magical fantasy is only a part of the reason why I love Harry Potter. It wiped away all the cynicism I had carefully cultivated over the years, and grabbed at a piece of me I thought I had lost when I was ten. Not only did it provide a magical world for me to base my reality in, but it also provided an entirely new perspective on that reality. For example, when I went to Duke, I was expecting at least a minimal amount of racism in the "Deep South". Instead, one girl who asked me about the book was a blond, blue-eyed child with a Southern drawl that would have put Scarlet to shame. I could start whole conversations, with adolescents no less, based on the parallel universe of Harry Potter. Those incidents gave me faith that there are a few things that can, at the very least, minimise the social chasms that exist in the world. If we have to start with fantasy and magic, then so be it. Maybe it's healthier for adults to believe in unreality just as strongly as children can. It will provide for us, as it did for me, something to smile about when I think the world leaves no room for joy, to recognise that, amidst all of the mundane realities that we face, all the pollution, all the crime, everything that critics claim is collapsing our society, there is one place where magic will always exist for me - in the wonderful world of Harry Potter.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone The book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling was fantastic. It captures the imagination right from the beginning, as Harry goes through one adventure after another. It is very fun and easy to read. I found it very difficult to put this book down. Rowling pulls you right into the fascinating magical world of Harry Potter. This book is a must read for all ages. Any chance of leading a normal childhood goes up in flames when Harry's parents are murdered by the evil wizard Lord Volemort. Harry is forced into living with his cruel relatives, the Dursleys. He is always being picked on by his cousin Dudley. Also he is constantly being scolded by his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Hopes of happiness for Harry arise when he receives a letter accepting him to the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry meets Hagrid, a huge man at least 10 ft tall, and is taken away from the miserable life with the Dursleys. At Hogwarts, Harry befriends a boy named Ron and a know-it-all girl named Hermione. This starts the amazing adventures of Harry Potter. This book as you might have guessed is a fantasy. You should also read "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" all of which are superb sequels to the 1st Harry Potter.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone has to be one of my favorite book ever!I couldn't take my eyes off of it. J.K. Rowlings uses so descriptive words that you feel like your in the book and you are living the adventure right along with Harry Potter! I recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure and mystery. Also if you like witchcraft and wizardry this is definitly the right book for you. I read this book in about three days it was so good.

Do you wish you were in a magical world? Well if you do Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is an enjoyable book to read.Harry lives with a family that hates him until one day a wizard named Hagrid comes and tells him that Harry's a wizard. Harry being flabbergasted and not knowing the truth goes with Hagrid. Harry's life is then filled with magic, adnenture, danger, fun and friends. This is the first of 4 Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. This book kept my attention through the entire book, and I had trouble putting it down.

In the beginning, as a boy, Harry is sent to his last living family, because his parents were killed. On his eleventh birthday a giant man called Hagrid comes and explains that Harry is a wizard. He soon gets used to living in Hogwarts, and he makes a lot of new friends. Harry and his friends discover that someone is after a magic stone. Harry finds out that one of his teachers is after the stone. Harry makes it through the traps guarding the stone. In the end he stops the person and finally gets to see Voldemort, the dark lord.
I chose to read this book because I love things that concern fairy tales. Also because it sold very good when it came out. When the book first came out I saw on the news that there were already people in line to buy the book the day before. After that I couldn't buy the book for another few weeks. Then one day when I came home my mom came to me and gave the book to me. A few months afterwards one of my relatives from London sent me the British version because she owns a bookstore.
My favorite part was when Harry went to his first Quidditch match. I liked this part because it was my first time I read about a Quidditch match. I liked the excitement of the match. I also liked the part when Harry first learns how to play the game. I liked how they explained the game balls, and how they talked about how the game was played.