This is the first of four books, all built around Benjamin Malaussene, a man whose job is to be blamed for everything that goes wrong at work. Every time a client complaints, the staff somehow blames it on him: he is known to his coworkers as a professional scapegoat.

However, when the store he works at is the host of a bomb, then another, people start to point fingers, and this novel develops around this plot made of bombs and scapegoating.

This novel is worth everyone's full attention: the characters are very believable, and the way they relate to each other is nothing short of sublime. Also, Pennac's frequent use of sarcasm and bitter wit adds to the punch of the novel, where it comes to a point where, even though you want to know how it ends (just like every good police intrigue novel), you can't get enough of the dialogues and discussions.

Open this book and sit back, because this book is like no other whodunnit novel. (In fact, it's almost insulting to call it that.)

I used this book in my Audit I class. It is an excellent boo

Automobile Aerobics has been read by thousands of people across the country who are searching for the best values in buying, leasing or selling new or used cars. Reviews have come back from many of these people saying this is the best automible how-to book I've read as it gives me the ins and outs of the business. In fact, the author Daniel Levy, who personally consults with people searching for the best deals, sometimes lends the book to them himself and they always learn from it and always thank him for writing it

This book is just as strong as the first four Benjamin Malaussène books. We've got the protagonist, the eldest of MANY brothers and sisters, Benjamin, playing a father-figure of some kind, but always letting the reader see the many childish, bitter, sarcastic ways he has of seeing things. (The use of parentheses in this book to show the characters' thoughts is sublime, as it has always been in Daniel Pennac's writing.)

This time, we are dealing with the fact that one of Benjamin's sisters is getting married. Everyone in the family is happy but him. This may sound like a slightly tedious premise as first, but Pennac does nothing that makes it typical, annoying or conventionnal.

To add to it all, the man that the Malaussène sister plans on marrying is the head of an "artistic prison", where convicts are free to paint, draw, or write in order to express themselves. This revolutionnary type of prison attracts much attention, and the story builds around a murder that takes place there. But this - again - is not a typical whodunnit book, believe me.

The characters are well-developped and, as I mentionned earlier, this book should be read AFTER the first four Malaussène books (which are also very witty and I guarantee will not disappoint you), so you can already know the way the characters think and relate to each other.

This book deserves five stars, and a much wider audience.

The book explains a condition called anosognosia which brain injured individuals may experience. As the title explains, anosognosia basically describes an unawareness of deficits. Although much has been written about brain injuries, this extremely important facet of the recovery process is rarely addressed. I am brain injured myself and learned more about my own condition from this book than I have learned in all the other seventeen post-morbid years put together. It is written in highly technical language, more for professionals, I'd guess, than the lay person. All the same, I (a lay person) found it great reading and had no trouble understanding its content.

I could never do justice to this book in a short review. All I can say is that if you have read "Now Hear This" or "Clear the Decks"; you will not be disappointed in this volume, which continues the saga of Fatso Gioninni. If you haven't, then you're missing more than you know. Find it, and treasure it always.

This books are wonderful. They make learning history fun and cool. It combines jokes, historical facts and funny information in a great easy-to-read package. My 4th grader loves the whole series. Both reluctant readers and history lovers will enjoy the breezy way history is told in these books. Ideal for 3rd-5th graders and even middle school students. Great as gifts or for a classroom. Too bad all history books aren't this fun!

Daniel Dombrowski discusses the core issues of a popular argument of animal liberationists. This book covers the most prominent philosopher's arguments for and against the argument from marginal cases. He discusses the main issues without getting into non-animal philosophical discussions--you don't have to be a utilitarian, contractualist, or any other brand to listen to his arguments. Also, while presenting his case for liberation, he avoids the dogmatism that is prevalent amongst proponents and opponents of animal liberation. This is an excellent book and I recommend it to everyone--for everybody is affected if we agree with his thesis. That is, we should stop eating, experimenting, or wearing animals.

Although "Baby-sitter's Nightmare Part II" is a sequel, the previous characters don't reappear in this story, nor is the setting the same. Instead, it takes place in Silverdale, New Mexico, where a killer has decided to target eight female baby-sitters as his/her victims. After several attempts on the 16-year-old protagonist's life (and the murder of her best friend, Amy Holland), Karin Conner begins to suspect the killer is someone she knows very well, possibly one of her close friends.

The killer's motive (which is given away completely in the synopsis on the back cover) is a tad bit silly, I thought, and the tagline ("All baby-sitters must die.") got a slight snicker out of me. But, thankfully, this book doesn't repeat the same storyline as the first, since a lot of other juvenile suspense series do this, with the main character and killer doing the same things over and over, when you would think both would have learned something by about the second or third book.

It's not necessary to read both books to understand either one, since "Baby-sitter's Nightmare" and this book have separate plots, but if you like young adult thrillers, then I'd recommend reading both, though I prefer the first book over this one.

A five volume set, much expanded over previous editions, to cover the latest processing technology as well as the latest developments in oilseeds. This is the definitive text that covers fats and oils, composition, processing and equipment, edible products, industrial products and derivatives (e.g. soap.) The only drawbacks are that there is no common index to all volumes and that there is a great deal of valuable information which is not findable through the index (i.e. one must actually READ the sections to unearth valuable facts and bits of information.)