When I was asked to review this book, I didn't give it a second thought. I myself have a personal connection with this subject. When my daughter was almost 3 years old, after being pregnant for the first time since she was born, I had a miscarriage.

There are so many questions surrounding the reasons for miscarriages - what causes them; can they be prevented; is there a way to lower the risks of having another...? Answers to these and other compelling questions are best discussed in the book, "Miscarriage: Why It Happens and How Best to Reduce Your Risks," by Henry M. Lerner, M.D. I thought I had known all there was to know about miscarriages, but this book truly opened my eyes and gave me much more information.

Miscarriages are a common occurrence, happening in 1 out of 5 pregnancies, and for a number of reasons. Some of what this book discusses: what exactly is a miscarriage; reasons miscarriages occur; the role of infections and the environment in causing miscarriages. It discusses past and current research studies and its results, and even answered a few myths I had believed to be true (see pg 53 for timing sex for a boy or girl; and pg 120 for microwave oven exposure).

MyParenTime highly recommends this book -- besides personally answering some questions I had about my own miscarriage, this informative book touched upon so many areas and explained the topic of miscarriage in terms we can all understand. To anyone who has experienced the devastation of a miscarriage, and to those just looking for information...this book has it all.

Even if there is no need for emergency surgery afterward, a miscarriage leaves behind quite a bundle of mostly negative feelings on the part of the mother and even that of the father. Most people when hearing of a miscarriage react with sympathy towards the parents. However, the parents, especially the mother, guiltily wonders if something she did caused this traumatic event. The mother and to a lesser degree the father is the target that author Dr. henry G. Lerner wants to help. He responds to the self-incriminating questions often asked such as what did I do wrong? Dr. Lerner with contributions by Dr. Domar provide practical advice on how to reduce the odds of preventing a miscarriage from happening again and how to cope with the depression that is sure to come if a miscarriage occurred.

This book is lucid and well written for a wannabe parent to understand yet treats mothers and fathers as intelligent people just lacking information on a "taboo" subject that no one wants to talk about. Dr. Lerner provides insightful information on avoidance and as important how to deal with the deep guilt that will follow if a miscarriage happens. The key to this enlightening nonfiction work is the advice provided to both parents for the forgotten father will feel doubt, depression, and lack of confidence as to what to do for his ailing spouse and his own psyche. MISCARRIAGE: WHY IT HAPPENS AND HOW BEST TO REDUCE YOUR RISKS--A DOCTOR'S GUIDE TO THE FACTS is a strong insightful guidebook.

Harriet Klausner

This is an excellent guide to preventing, coping with, and surviving miscarriage. Dr. Lerner covers all of the important information, and even includes a chapter on the emotional repercussions of miscarriage. I would recommend it for anyone who has had a miscarriage.

A wonderful insight to the lives of the Du Ponts revealed in an easy to read format

Kudo to Maggie Lidz

I just got my copy and am already seduced by the rich collection of photographs of my favorite Dupont family. Maggie Lidz obviously knows her Dupont family history and is amazing me with details that I had never read before anywhere else. I can't wait to read the rest. This book has definately made me want to go back to visit the Winterthur chateau with a whole new perspective. The whole family and place really comes to life with this book.

Life at Winterthur is a compound of anecdote, symphony and nightmare. Its mechanics resemble those of a dream that has freed the author from the necessities of common logic and has enabled her to compress all periods of history, all phases of individual and economic development, into a circular design, of which every part is beginning, middle and end.

If you are a fan of Antarctic exploration then this wonderful book should be in your library. Many know the incredible story of the Endurance and the trials those 28 men endured when the ship was locked in the ice and eventually crushed. The beauty of this book is that it documents the story with the remarkable photos of the expedition photographer, Australian Frank Hurley. When you consider the time period of this story (1914-1916) you can only marvel that Hurley produced such amazing images with the equipment that was available at that time. Additionally, the initial introduction to this photo collection is excellent. It presents a good recap of the Endurance expedition with many quotes from crewmembers that have not appeared in previous books.If you are a professional photographer, or even an amateur, the information on Hurley's equipment and the story of his early training will be of special interest. The over 500 photos will hold your interest for hours! I've read almost every book on Endurance and this will rank as one of my favorites.

I was fortunate that I could follow Shakelton on T.V. while reading and viewing these excellent pictures. This book is outstanding and I would urge anyone interested in either Shakelton or photography to get it. I could not help but think that every member of this expedition had story to tell. We have heard only a few. Amazing the limits of human endurance and to think that they had a photographer with them who realized what he was filming, and did so for all of us to see.To Hurley was far ahead of his time, and I am inclined to think that Ansel Adams had probably learned from Mr. Hurley.

This is the most defenitive retelling of Shackleton's adventure in pictures. Frank Hurley was an exceptional photographer who just happened to take pictures of a journey that without them would be simply unbelievable. Any Hurley's picture of the Endurance expedition is a treasure, and in this book are all of them!

I recently completed a production of this fine play where I played Geoffrey, Duke of Aquataine. I have done a lot of play and this without a doubt is the most well written. Goldman does not waste a single word in the play.

This play about the famously disfunctional family of England's Henry II is perhaps the most devestating family drama this side of "Long Day's Journey into Night".

For those who want a real epic, it can - but doesn't have to - be read as a sequel to Jean Anoilh's "Becket". Personally I found that this adds to the tragedy.

It opens during a fictional family Christmas get together that is combined with a historical meeting between Henry and France's young King Phillip. Henry's persistent humiliation of his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, through his string of mistresses has prompted her to hurt him in the only way available to her - by systematically destroying his relationships with their sons. Now Henry - although not old yet - is no longer a young man. The fact that a potentially dangerous Phillip - who has a legitimate axe to grind with Henry - is no longer a child forces them to realize that their familial intrigues have set their boys up for both internal and external disaster upon Henry's death. They make a real effort to save both their shattered marriage and their shattered children, but it may already be too late ...

The main tragedy, of course, is what Henry and Eleanor have done to their children. Richard is admirably brave but has had much of his compassion beaten out of him and replaced with brutality. Geoffrey's great sense of humor has been blasted in the bud, and his fustrated capability of love makes a weapon of an intelligence that would have been an asset to anyone who would have shown him the slightest affection in return (it's worth noting for those who don't know the family's subsequent history that given the condensed time of the play, Geoffrey would presumably have died in a fatal tournament accident soon after the action of the play - making him even more poignant). John, the youngest son of Robin Hood fame, is somewhat mishandled - his failure had much to do with Richard's prior mismanagement and lousy historical timing rather than his own faults, and the ruthless streak that doomed Geoffrey's son Arthur (who isn't in the play) as well as his general competence in many instances (he would later rescue Eleanor from a siege in a manner that would have done Richard proud) doesn't really come across - but in an otherwise excellent play Goldman can be forgiven for bowing to popular opinion in one case.

An accurate depiction of the dynamics of the Plantagenet family, "The Lion in Winter" is also a timeless study of what constitutes a healthy family.

I have to say Iam in love with this book. I know every line by heart. I saw the movie frist. Also a A+++++ movie. I don't know, something about it.It somehow just gets under your skin. Anyone who loves history. Or just just great works of writing should have this little book.

Mother of EIGHT, avid reader and God fearing woman.... THIS IS A BIBLICALLY BASED book. NOT the BIBLE but a tool of accuracy NOT CONTROL. BUY this book and SKIP 'What The Bible Says About Child Training' Because That book is NOT about what the BIBLE says at all!!!! Oh and for all the 'child abuse' criers---- give it a rest. The bibles' 'spare the rod and spoil the child IS BIBLICAL. CONTROLLING children is NOT. Even the BIBLE tells us that God (the father) DISCIPLINES His children out of love. No, it does NOT advocate spanking FOR teenagers....Hello,,, 'chidren'.
Folks , quit looking for somebody else to provide you with '7easy steps mentality' for raising your children. Yes a book with some insights every now and again is alright BUT otherwise ...quit looking for the answer via shortcuts. TURN TO YOUR BIBLE.

This book is the single best parenting resource I've seen.
I've read it several times; actually, I read it continously.
As others have noted, the English is old and proper, but that's a big part of the charm of the book for me.
It's like sitting and listening to a wise old gentleman/grandfather.....hanging on and soaking up his every word.
I highly recommend it for all parents, regardless of religious background (or no religious background).

Wow! what a refreshing book. This subject has been penned into print by many authors; but Trumbull's technique is one of using Biblical virtues and focusing on the very best child training information. This technique results in simple, easy to understand chapters and a very clear understanding of what our little ones face in everyday life. I read the book once, then twice, there is no finality in finding helpful hints in this book. Who better to write on the subject, as Trumbull himself raised eight children, during a time when virtue and character were elevated to high status. Subjects such as: courtesy, dealing with children's fears, scolding, adding value to a child's Christmas, were all written with compassion. All parents should read the chapter "Never punish a child when angry."

Even in the late 1800's, Trumbull did not resort to spanking until all other efforts had failed. Instead, he urged parents to allow the child to choose between punishment or making the right choice. This, according to Trumbull, is accomplished by becoming a police officer not a judge. Does it work? A resounding, YES! I have changed my training technique and my children are now easier to control.

I highly recommend this reading to all parents and soon to be parents. It will greatly improve your ability to deal with your little "angels", when they test you.

Janowitz provides a good resource with this book, which provides an overview of possible conditions that affect the lower intestinal tract. This book is not just for someone with a chronic condition, although irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and diverticulitis are covered. Janowitz also has excellent chapters on coping with the occasional food poisoning episode or traveler's diarrhea. His overview of the functioning of the intestinal tract is one the best I've come across in all my resources. As with most intestinal subjects, Janowitz doesn't have a lot of answers - more coping information - but he does seek to present diet and medical therapies for each condition. He does not spend enough time on alternative therapies or the various nutritional concerns that accompany lower GI problems. A good read and possibly a purchase if you suffer from one or more of the problems outlined.

I have been researching for answers to my personal intestinal problems for 4 years. This is one of my best resources. Easily understood. Everytime I go back to it, I learn something new. Helps fill in the blanks that the doctors don't explain aswell as give reasons for questions to ask your Doctor.

I use this book often, since like many Crohn's sufferers, I also deal with a broad spectrum of intestinal problems. In very clear and understandable language, Dr. Janowitz, a GI at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and the author of Indigestion and Good Foods for Bad Stomachs provides information on the symptoms and causes of an array of intestinal problems, including IBS, Crohn's & UC, diarrhea, constipation, rectal bleeding, colon cancer, food allergies, intestinal gas and more. He describes the latest tests and procedures (ie. colonoscopies, barium x-rays), medications, and surgical treatments and the risks each carry. This is one of my most used reference books on IBD and other problems, probably because he provides a lot of medical wisdom mixed with good common sense. On Thrive@Health's list of recommended reading for IBD

Individuals interested in purchasing an American History book for the sole purpose of quickly researching a specific historical happening need to look no further. Scarcely illustrated, this is a fully encompassing text which provides a brief description of each event. Most descriptions range in length from one-quarter to one-half of a page. For example, it required less than two-hundred words to recount the assasssination of President Kennedy. Lengthy historical events such as the Vietnam War are also discussed in a concise manner. The Vietnam War required seven pages, including the full page map, to educate the reader. Those interested in an American History book that can be enjoyably read cover to cover must look elsewhere. Brief, fragmented event depictions cause the reader's attention to quickly wane. This book is being awarded four stars for its use as an encyclopedia.

The Encylopedia of American History is a wonderfully detailed and comprehensive reference book on almost everything to do with American history. Practically every conceivable aspect of America's history is within these pages; if you have a query concerning anything about the USA, then look no further than here. Neatly laid out in mainly chronological form, the book varies through subjects from politics, military, literature, science and many more. The biographies section contains brief biographies of over 400 influential Americans, from presidents and scientists to Stephen Spielberg. Whether you want to become a walking reference on American history, or are already familiar with the subject and require a reliable reference source, then this book is for you.

The Encyclopedia of American History by Richard B. Morris is an outstanding source of information for the student of history or the professional educator. It contains factual information for the consensus historian. It is not revisionist. I highly recommend this book.

William Henry Hudson's novel Green Mansions is an exotic romance that takes place in the South American rainforest. The novel is written from the perspective of Abel, a young man who had to leave the city he was living in for political reasons. During his time in the rainforest he meets Rima, who he describes as a bird-like girl, and her grandfather Nuflo. Despite these two, Abel mainly interacts with the Indians with whom he was living before he met Rima and Nuflo. The Indians are mostly referred to as savages.
Green Mansions mainly focuses on the intimation of love and death, and the romanticism of nature versus the disturbing influences of civilization. However, Abel does not see any living creature during his stay in the rainforest as equal to him. He thinks of himself as superior to the Indians, Nuflo, and to Rima as well. He bases his sense of superiority on a better education, a greater intelligence, as well as a better physical condition. This sense of superiority is kept throughout the novel. However, his arrogance is one way to deal with his insecurity about many situations. Abel only seems to feel secure if he sees himself as superior to everybody else. This is the reason why he defines superiority based on the situation. Sometimes superiority is referred to as greater intelligence and in other cases as physical superiority. The way he uses superiority depends on the way it is easier for him to define himself as superior.

I first read this when I was 13 or 14 and never forgot the story. I just reread it 40 years later while vacationing in Central America, the perfect place for a tale of the rain forest. The language is exquisite - not a quick read, for I wanted to absorb the beauty of the descriptions and details. I recommend this to anyone with an interest in nature, for it is not only a wonderful love story, but also a vivid description of the Venezuelan rain forest and its indigenous people.

Those of you who have read Rand Johnson's "Arcadia Falls - A Fable" will find interesting parallels here, albeit in a Victorian idiom, as Hudson presents a moving and mysterious romance against a backdrop of great natural beauty, in this case the South American jungle.

I bought this book a few years ago based on the reviews. When I got it I tore into it and was sorely disappointed. That's the reason for 4 instead of 5 stars.

Why even 4 stars you ask? Well, about a month ago, for whatever reason, I picked it up again and now I LOVE IT!

Henry Mitchell is dry - like the soil under an oak. But he's terribly warm and fuzzy once you get to know him. I write a newsletter for my local garden club and have found quote after quote that I want to use for future issues. They're not la-dee-dah quotes that speak vaguely about the lovely joys of gardening. BLAH! Rather, they're jewels that point fingers at snobby gardeners and kill-joys who scold children for picking crocuses.

This is not a "pretty picture" book. It's sort of a how-to in an essay form. But more than that, it's great writing by a wonderful author on a topic I am crazy for.

The two books I have read cover to cover as gardening advice and as literature are this book and Christopher Lloyd's Adventurous Gardener. I have shelves of gardening and horticultural books.
It gives you more each time you read it.

I first read Henry Mitchell in the Washington Post when my husband was receiving cancer treatment at NIH in 1982, and when I realized that his columns were collected in The Essential Earthman I immediately bought a copy. I have subsequently owned (and loaned out and thus lost) two or three more copies. As each planting season arrives I remember how much I've missed reading Henry's wisdom, and I berate myself for having loaned out (and lost) those books. So for the sake of upcoming generations of gardeners (and the old hands among us), would someone please reprint this valuable book? It's a book to read in the depth of winter and the heat of summer, in a spacious country garden or a tiny city yard, for beginning gardeners and old timers with permanently-stained hands. There never has been anyone quite like Henry Mitchell on gardening, or on life, for that matter. Grouchy, opinionated, funny, informative, brutally honest--his words will never go out of style.

Sam Fuller is a filmmaker unknown to most Americans, but for years a favorite in France, thanks to such fervid acoyltes as Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. Such 50s classics as "The Steel Helmet" and "Pickup on South Street" made Fuller, along with Nicholas ("Rebel Without a Cause") Ray a favorite of the Cahiers du Cinema crowd.

But Fuller was more than just a director. He had been a newspaperman in New York's tabloid era of the 20s and 30s. He was an infantryman on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He had met just about everyone worth meeting -- from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone. And he is, as his autobiography "A Third Face" most eloquently demonstrates, a magnificent storyteller.

The section of the book dealing with Fuller's experiences in World War II make for amazingly gripping reading -- and I would like for people like Donald Rumsfeld to take a gander at Fuller's account of what warfare is really like before they send young Americans into combat any time soon. Fuller writes about war in all its hallucinatory insanity (as he waded through the blood and body parts to get onto Omaha Beach he saw a man's mouth -- just his mouth -- floating in the water), and it's not a story you're likely to forget.

His exploits in Hollywood, while not as gripping, are equally fascinating. Fuller clearly pines for the old days when moguls like Darryl Zanuck would protect a writer's vision and a deal could be counted on even if it was only a handshake. And while Fuller made his share of career mistakes (he turned down both "The Longest Day" and "Patton," for example), his filmography is an eloquent tribute to a man who wanted to make his films his way -- no matter what the cost.

The book is not perfect, though. It is marred by many factual errors (to give just one example, he discusses meeting French film critic Andre Bazin at a time when Bazin had been dead for years), and at times he seems suspiciously eager to belie his reputation as a right-wing filmmaker. His use of language can get a little repetitious (if I had a dollar for every time he uses the word "yarn" in this book I could buy everything on my Wish List), and I found myself wondering just how much of the text had actually been written by Fuller's wife, Christa (one of two credited co-writers), and not by its putative author.

All those reservations aside, this is a book that will keep you up late (that is, if I'm any indication -- I finished it at dawn), and that truly earns the description of "impossible to put down." You should put it on your bookshelf alongside Frank Capra's great (and equally inaccurate) "The Name Above the Title." Assuming that you don't take the author's word for gospel, and you're willing to accept the fact that he will never let the facts get in the way of a good story, it's an engrossing and unforgettable read.

An amazing man, an amazing life, an amazing body of work. Sam Fuller was the real deal, he lived the life of 10 men. As a boy selling newspapers, to being a teenage crime reporter to a writer of pulp fiction. At age 29 Sam joined the army, he turned down the cushy army journalist job to be in first infantry "The Big Red One". The book covers his fighting in N. Africa, Italy, and his role in the third row of boats landing on Normandy. Later, he went to Hollywood and directed films, his way, one of the first independent filmmakers. He made "Merril's Mauraders, I shot Jesse James, Run of the Arrow, Pickup on South Street and the Steel Helmet. In the 60's he made the classic pulp films "Shock Corridor" and "The Naked Kiss" ...

He was offered "Patton" but wouldn't do it because he though Patton was an jerk. He was offered John Wayne movies, but wouldn't do it because he thought Wayne was a phony. He had full control of his films, when that was a rarity.

In 1980, after 20+years of wrangling, he finally made the film based on his battle history, "The Big Red One" with James Coburn. Probably the most realistic WWII film out there.

Fuller died a few years back, unknown to many, but loved by those in the know.

Sam Fuller lived the life of 10 men and his book is the best read I've had in years, go get it.

Samuel Fuller did have a full life and you read about it here. His details of his life while in the Army during WWII is one of the best as is his teen years learning the newspaper reporting business. He had too many valleys in his life (don't most of us?}and the peaks were short lived. There is no gossip in this book, but an interesting story for all...not just movie buffs.