Olivia Wu has done a masterful job of pulling together the stories of baby boomers who found creative ways of celebrating their milestone fiftieth birthdays. Her book is also a celebration of the spirit of a remarkable generation.

Tom Brokaw's book, The Greatest Generation, is about people who selflessly did what they had to do to survive a depression, win a world war, and raise a family. By contrast, Turning 50 is about the children of that generation who went their own way and did what they wanted to do. The way each individual or couple in Ms. Wu's book chose to celebrate half a century of being alive was unique and fascinating.

I found the book thoroughly enjoyable and uplifting. It also made me feel proud to be a member of that generation. No matter how old or young you are, reading these stories will be a joyful experience.

If you're 50 or about to turn 50 or once were 50, you'll enjoy this book. It's inspirational. Wu collected a remarkable bunch of people to interview. Did these 50 people have great birthdays, or are they just the sort of people who live interesting lives, period? It's interesting to reflect that baby boomers, who have broken all kinds of records, continue to redefine the word "lifestyle." The values of the 60's generation come through clearly in the group Wu has found to interview. The book focuses on the depth of meaning and life philosophy that can come with the word "celebration". These people are celebrating not only a half century of living, but life itself. The intro, by Depak Chopra, is worth the price of the book alone.

At a point in my life when I don't know if I'm young or old, it's great to read these short stories of people who are not only quite alive, but are succeeding at their lives and striking out in new areas. This book is a kick in the hind quarters to not take aging sitting down. Those who are interviewed (I was one of the earlier ones) tell some amazing tales of survival; a few of course are simply trying some new things... but they all add up to the fact that turning 50 doesn't mean things have to stop. Just the opposite, actually, it's an age to begin doing those things you always wanted to do but "life" may have gotten in the way.

If you're about to turn 50, read this book! Then get off your duff and live.

These are not only simple kiddie tomfoolery tricks. There are easily 20 stunts/tricks worth the price of the book. They can be incorporated into various situations. The reactions youll get are from shreiks of horror( the eye sreamer) till astounded laughter (eg headless wonder). I performed 90% of the material on my poor wife yesterday. All brought the desired reaction (which even amazed me). The material can be incorporated into all routines, for different ages and even into a professional magicians repertoire. The benign looking booking is packed with show stopper after show stopper. In all there are about 50 tricks, stunts etc. They can win you friends or lose you friends. Use them wisely. Penn and Teller are right about Mac King. In fact this book is too good to be revealed to the general public. I have a huge range of magic books, much more expensive than this, and for sheer reaction (shocked, disgusted, astonished, amused), this matches the very best. OK OK . I am not Mac Kings relative, agent or friend, but a grateful amateur magician.

This book is great fun. Want to have fun with friends? Buy this book. Want to have fun with kids? Buy this book. You will be doing cool stuff at the next office party, cocktail party - whatever. This is loads of fun. Mac King is one of the funniest guys in the world and he has decided to share some of his funniest stuff with all of us. THANKS MAC! And Thanks to Mark Levy, too!

I highly recommend this book! I was lucky enough to see Mac King perform his show in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. He was terrific. Some of the best slight of hand I've ever seen; delivered with down home charm and wit. After the show Mac made himself available in the lobby to talk with the audience. I mentioned to him my nephew was interested in learning magic and wondered if his book would be helpful. I bought a copy and was happy I did. It is filled to the brim with cleaver, off the wall tricks that anyone can do if they take the time to learn the routines. It is a great way to take your first steps into the world of magic without spending a ton of money.

This updated (1999) version of The Annapolis Book of Seamanship is a wonderful volume for both the new and more experienced sailor. With clear, lucid text and wonderful illustrations, Mr. Rousmaniere and Mr. Smith have created a truly useful guide. In particular, I found the section dealing with the "physics" of the boat to be very enlightening. I also was pleased with the strong emphasis on safety throughout the book. All around, one of the best books available on the topic, and highly recommended.

For me, a recreational sailor of over twenty years, this book has been like the bible. I've used it for voyage preparation, to teach new sailors and, when I wrote my sailing mystery novel, Inner Passages, this book was my first and primary resource!

Sometimes, late at night, nostalgic for the sensation of a sailboat deck underfoot once more, I pull it off the shelf and just dip inside. It evokes memories, reminds me of trips gone by, and I cam almost smell the sea air. This latest edition, replete with fine illustrations, should be a primary addition to any sailor's library.

I reviewed "Annapolis" for Good Old Boat magazine. The review, and an excerpt from the book is in the July/August issue. The book stands as the yardstick by which other sailing references must be judged. For this new edition, Rousmaniere did an excellent job of gender neutralizing the language without any awkwardness. He talks about "forehandedness", a state of being prepared for whatever the sea throws at one. This book is the best written resource to help one obtain that state. The book will be instantly accessible to the beginner. It will remain a good reference for the most experienced sea dog. Rousmaniere uses a lot of little tricks to help the reader retain the information in the book. While the book is chock full of facts, his love for sailing and the romance of the sea shows through as well. If you want to improve your sailing skills and knowledge, buy this book!

Web usability has become a big [and important] topic in web design these days. Thankfully, its lesser-known sibling, web accessibility for disabled users, is now coming into its own right as a necessary design skill.

Constructing Accessible Web Sites will be extremely useful to the nuts-and-bolts people who actually design and code sites, but, as importantly (if not moreso), it gives an excellent overview of current laws and standards for the higher-ups who authorize and budget for site design. The chapter on organizational strategies for accessibility is a must-read for anyone who has any responsibilities regarding web design, implementation, or retrofitting sites to meet legal (and moral) obligations for accessibility.

The book is loaded with code samples, screen shots, and useful commentary on why things don't work for those with disabilites, and how to fix them so they work better for everyone. Particularly useful is a scorecard comparing authoring and design tools' accessibility authoring functionality and compliance with standards (Section 508, WCAG).

If you are involved in the design, creation, or maintenance of web sites, and you have clients -- and that would be just about every site, whether your site is an intranet, extranet, or public Internet site -- you really need this book. You owe it to yourself to own this book and make your life -- and the lives of web users with disabilities -- much, much easier. Highly recommended.

Don't make the same mistakes the last two official Olympic sites made with regard to accessibility.

With many sites overlooking the simple ALT in images, it's no question that many need educating on this important topic. Statistics shows that 15 to 30 percent of the population has a need for accessibility features on Web sites. Happily, people live longer and aging brings seeing and hearing challenges. Furthermore, seniors are responsible for over 25 percent of online purchases, neglecting this group can be costly to the company that abandons them. The number shoots up to 40 percent when including people over the age of 40.

CEOs, CIOs, C-level whatevers, managers, designers, programmers, and anyone else who has a hand in a Web site will benefit from the book. Not only does it cover the how, but also the whats and whys by saying, "This is why we should do this and this is how to do it." Upper level management benefit from information on the Web accessibility laws, guidelines, reasons for creating accessible sites, and the accessibility organization strategy. If an executive wants to reach far and wide, then she can get that by reading and applying the knowledge found in the book. One unique chapter explains how to structure an organization to handle and support accessibility issues, a rarely addressed topic in the world of Web accessibility. The Internet has opened the gates for businesses to go global and there's information about the laws from countries other than the US.

Designers and programmers get the tools and resources for creating, evaluating, and validating pages for accessibility compliance. Useful is a comparison and report card on Web design software explaining how each program meets or fails to meet in producing accessible code and features. The book echoes the latest cry in the world of Web design in encouraging designers to separate content from presentation.

Having an accessible Web site doesn't mean boring looking pages with nothing but text. Quite the contrary, the authors encourage creating well-design sites while keeping accessibility in mind.

As one who has written articles on Web design, the book offers insight into techniques that I hadn't encountered. With multiple authors, readers are assured they're hearing from the experts on each chapter topic. One notable expert is Bob Regan of Macromedia who discusses the tools and techniques of using Flash MX to make a site accessible. Any site that wants to be successful and reach the greatest number of people will invest in creating an accessible site. This well-rounded book covers it all from laws to code to help ensure the site does it right.

Of the books and resources that I've read on accessible web sites, this is by far the best - especially from a UK perspective.

The main UK legislation that specifically mentions web sites and accessibility comes into force in October 2004 which, at the time of writing this, is still over two years away. This means that there isn't a great deal of information and certainly no legal cases that we can draw on from our country, so we have to look elsewhere to see what is happening.

This book benefits in that, although it does cover Section 508 and other already in place legislation, it also gives a great all round understanding of the topic, and is very easy to read. Having chapters written by different authors means that you get a far greater depth of experience and information, which can only benefit the reader.

If you're going to buy one book on accessible web sites, this should be at the top of your shopping list.

My main objections to this field guide were the illustrations. Artistic renderings are often beautiful, but fail to portray the animal in question with accuracy. Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius)is a case in point. Although I have not observed this animal at sea myself, I spoke with a number of fellow fishery biologists who have spent time at sea as marine mammal observers and no one has ever observed a bright yellow Ziphius in the field. All observed a base color of grey with this genus, at least in the northeastern Pacific. The Tasmacetus rendering is most likely based on the J. Mammalogy (1976) paper by Watkins wherein an unidentified ziphiid whale (probable Tasmacetus) was observed from a bluff overlooking the sea in New Zealand. Useful plates were those showing all similar cetaceans together; eg. all oceanic dolphins without prominent beaks, all oceanic dolphins WITH prominent beaks etc. The ziphidae plates show male Mesoplodon characteristics, but that is to be expected since solitary female ziphiid whales, especially Mesoplodon sp., could be virtually impossible to identify. My own field guide preferences use photographs rather than artistic renderings. Other problems: The distribution maps to not reflect the full distribution (extralimital observations/strandings) of many species. An example: Psuedorca is shown as a species with a distribution much further south than observations/stranding records indicate. The text does suggest that 'numerous records' exist outside of the more tropical distribution shown in the map. Note also that many of the dolphin renderings are positioned so that the dorsal fin is right where the pages meet. We did get a chuckle over the photograph showing what you should wear when watching whales, but that can be explained by our 'silly scientist' bias. One note for potential whale-watchers: do not allow your binocular strap to lie right on the skin of your neck while at sea as you can wear painful wounds into your neck through a day of whale-watching. Make sure your shirt collar or other clothing lies under that silly strap! Voice of experience!

This is a great book if you want just a field guide with information on the different species of cetaceans. This would be a great book to take "whale watching".

This Eyewitness Handbook on whales, dolphins, and porpoises was extremely valuable during my recent trip to Baja Mexico to whale watch in the Sea of Cortez. The book provides a wealth of information on each species with specific descriptions and illustrations that are right on. We had two naturalists on board and they love the book too, so it's worthwhile no matter what your level of cetacean knowledge.

The first time that I flipped through this book, it affirmed what
I already like about this comic strip, which is one of my favouritie comic strips out there. Heart Lamarr's daily antics always have a way of making me laugh. In fact, "Heart of the City" is usually the first comic strip that I read when I get "The Toronto Star" every day during the work week. In closing, keep up the good work Mr. Mark Tatulli; and I hope to see another "Heart of the City" comic strip book sometime in the near future.

Mark Tatulli enticed me from the beginning a year ago with this insightful character and I've been hooked ever since. The comic stays fresh, warm, witty and a delight in my day. Mr. Tatulli is gifted with an incredible imagination that brings the characters to life for me in a way no other writer has since the early work of Lynn Johnston. This first book is a treasure trove of fun family reading.

Kudos to Mark Tatulli for a wonderful book - I look forward with anticipation to many more.

You know how you stumble on a comic strip and then, it just worms its way into your life? That's Heart of the City. Tatulli comes at everyday life with a velvet hammer. And at a time when many strips are drawn in styles that hurt rather than help the content, Heart has a cartooning style that meshes perfectly with its temperment. And as for Tatulli's content: He gets it. He really gets it. This guy just has to have kids because the honesty and cleverness of life pours from his strip. Forget just buying one for yourself, this is a neat gift for someone you want to make smile.

Mark Kennedy gives educators a perspective of what to expect in the field of education. There are many practical ideas for classroom management, as well as suggestions that teachers can implement in their classrooms to help with situations that may arise on a daily basis.

Kennedy uses the four learning perspectives to help teachers idenify their own specific learning style, as well as many useful ways for teachers to incorporate every one of thier student's learning styles into daily lessons. There are very user-friendly outlines of plans that can help plan a unit of study that hit all four of the learning perspectives.

Kennedy has given his personal experiences as a way to help educators in their classrooms today. He tells it like it is and educators need to know it like it is, from the trenches!

I highly recommed this book. I am a new teacher this year and am looking for ways to imporve my classroom management and relationship building with my students. This book has so many functional great ideas. It gives the history of many traditional things done in the classroom and instead of trashing them, it takes from them and adds to them. Kennedy shows us how to understand the different perspectives of learning that each of our students brings to the table. He then gives us effective ways of teaching to each perspective in order to maximize learning for our students. Kennedy looks at schools as a life lesson, not a break from life, he has great ideas. What I like most is that he uses them in his own classroom and has had great success with even the hardest to reach students. We need more books like this in order to make real changes in our school system and allow learning to happen.

Lessons from the Hawk is an insightful and practical look at the challenges which face teachers. The author, Mark Kennedy, begins the book by looking at the unique perspective of a hawk. From its vantage point above, a hawk sees the panorama below, yet it is capable of distinguishing every detail. Further, the hawk can change its position and consequently its perspective. Kennedy extends the idea of the hawks changing perspective by applying it to teaching in todays classroom.

With a deft blend of theory and practical application, Kennedy examines the complexity and diversity of the students in our classrooms. He identifies four perspectives for learning and illustrates how both teachers and students have a natural affinity for one of these perspectives. Then, Kennedy suggests that teachers adopt the multiple perspectives of the hawk so that they might better engage the multiple perspectives of their students.

Kennedy not only presents atheory of learning and teaching but also provides tools to implement his ideas. The book includes an assessment survey along with outlines for curriculum plans, unit plans, and individual lesson plans as well as many other useful forms and charts. In addition, Kennedy outlines methods for creating more participative classrooms where students can learn more cooperatively.

Lessons from the Hawk is an optimal blend of theory and practical application for helping students become sucessful.

Need help on the job, at home, and with your finances? Then this book is for you. The book is a comprehensive guide for saving money and becoming a better person in the process. The book offers six secrets like determining what you want in a career, investing in intangibles like family and friends; paying off debts and getting into a 401(k); keep learning new skills; managing your own money and owning a business of your own. The book goes on to tell you how to negotiate to get the best price on just about anything, including motel rooms and used cars, and gives the lowdown on turning your kids into savers and investors, controlling college bills, cutting home buying costs and planning for retirement. This book will show you the way to make a difference in the way you approach money, work and life in general. In relation to life and financing I found this entire reading very inspiring. The book provides the only road map you'll ever need. Enjoy it.

FinancialNeeds.com

"Our goal for Invest in Yourself is to motivate you to take charge of your life and make the most out of your time, energy, and money." That's a novel and valuable perspective that's worth five stars for this book.

Too many self-help books focus on helping you get more money or more out of your money, but ignore the costs in terms of the time, attention, effort and stress involved. Invest in Yourself looks beyond that overly-narrow focus. That's the good news about this book.

The bad news about this book is that it has taken on more than one book can hope to fully deliver on. I hope the authors come out with sequels that expand and magnify what is here.

The six secrets are:

(1) Make your own lifestyle decisions.

(2) Put your family first.

(3) Wherever you work, be in business for yourself.

(4) Make the most of the money you bring home.

(5) Turn your debts into golden investment opportunities.

(6) Map out your financial future.

The three authors have an unusual perspective. They have dropped out of the "get ahead at the office" rat race and "shop until you drop" lifestyles much more than most. As a result, they have lots of money-saving ideas based on their own life experiences. Much of what is in the book, Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge would approve of. If you are like me, you will find money-saving ideas that would never have occurred to you, otherwise. My parents have always shopped are yard sales, but it had never occurred to me to use these routinely for the kind of around-the-house items that I will seldom use like unusual garden tools.

One of the strengths of the book is that it is not a "one size fits all" approach. They realize that each person will have a different set of life goals, and the advice is couched to accommodate that.

I also liked the way that the book challenged the automatic assumptions that many make: Career comes first; job comes first; exciting consumer experiences are a main reward for success; and only the best will do.

By having three authors, the perspectives and ideas were much more varied than I have seen in other, somewhat-similar self-help books. That also was a strength.

The weakest section was the last one on mapping out your financial future. Almost everyone will need more guidance than is here. That's the bad news. The good news is that there are lots of books about creating financial plans that you can use to supplement this one.

On the other hand, those who buy into the traditional American Dream and will happily pay the price for economic success will find less in this book than will those independent souls who listen to their own intuition for guidance. Despite ideas for making penny-pinching fun, it's not going to be fun for everyone. I do applaud pointing out how saving money for essentials is far more valuable than expanding income due to the income tax effects on progressive income. The advice about paying off your expensive debt is pretty standard, but I liked the way it was couched in terms of thinking of it as a high return investment.

I hope you will not only read this book, but apply its lessons. As you do, I encourage you to expand your perspective even more broadly than the book does. What other areas do you have important values in, besides time, money, and energy? How can those values be honored in your tradeoffs? The more you do this, the better life you will have . . . the richer your life will be in terms of its effect on those around you.

Enjoy, live long, and prosper!

It's hard to gain control of your life these days--if things are going well at the office,then you've got some personal crisis to deal with. That's what so appealing about INVEST IN YOURSELF. It offers a fresh approach to figuring out what's important and then includes financial strategies that will help you keep your life in balance. I urge everyone who wants a handle on their finances to read it!

This cookbook is a gem. We have not encountered one dud in the entire book. Recipes are straightforward, easy to follow and most require 'everyday' ingredients. We have gone from cooking fish maybe twice a year to twice a week. I have never before encountered a cookbook that was full of one excellent recipe after another. I particularly enjoy Mark's brief Recipe notes, explaining why a recipe is in the book. " My best friend..." "My absolute favorite recipe for shrimp...." If you like fish, buy it.

The recipes are the best: simple, original, and endlessly variable. Bittman really knows his fish--I've made at least 40 recipes from this book and not a single clunker!

Being a semi-vegetarian I spend a lot of time researching vegetable and fish recipes. I received this book as a gift and have been enthralled with it for several months. The recipes are gourmet AND simple. It sure has spiced up our fish/veggie diet. I agree photos would be nice but it would also raise the price of the book considerably. Great buy!

This book contains a great deal of material; it is in general an easy read, a credit to Swami Durgananda's journalistic ability. The questions I have are: Does it really meet its goal? What is the goal? What is the path? What are the stages on the path? What are the obstacles?

These are questions anyone embarking on a path of meditation needs to know. These questions are left largely unanswered by Swami Durgananda.

The goal of meditation is in the words of Patanjali "Yogas citti vrtti nirodhah" Yoga is controlling the turnings of the mind". In the words of the Dalai Lama, it is controlling one's mind. The reason to control our minds is that is the road to happiness and enlightenment. Meditation itself is single pointed thought. In reading Swami Durgananda's book it is hard to discern not only what meditation is, but also what the goal is and why we meditate and how her exercises lead us to that goal. I would have like her to be more explicit about these relationships.I think this is largely a problem of organization of her material, prioritization, and order of presentation.

Siddha Yoga is a guru based tradition and this book reflects that philosophy. It is also an experience based tradition and this book reflects that. While in the middle of the book Swami Durganada tells us that meditative experiences should only be used as road signs on the path, a great deal of this book is the relating of hers and others' experiences. The reader will have to make his or her own assessment, however, they should be aware that most masters tell their disciples to ignore visions and meditative experiences. The late Lama Yeshe was particularly vehement about that.

Swami Durgananda contends that the shakti will automatically come up with antidotes to negative emotions. Others believe that antidotes must be consciously cultivated that we may learn to control and in the end rid ourselves of negativity. The reader would be benefited by reading Stephan Bodian's MEDITATION FOR DUMMIES (Title forgiven) to see meditations on emotions.

Success on the path is not measured by seeing Blue Pearls or white light, or having great visions, but by attainment of concentrative focus, contentment, compassion, lovingkindness and wisdom.

The Dalai Lama's STAGES OF MEDITATION is helpful for understanding stages of meditation. As Swami Durgananda notes that there is a similarity of paths though there are cultural differences. Another book readers of this book would find helpful is Jack Kornfield's A PATH WITH HEART. Though Kornfield is a Buddhist, the book is written for all traditions.

Many of Swami Durgananda's exercises are very worthwhile. Her chapter on Mantra repetition is lacking. Mantra repetition is an exercise in concentration and later in practice important for diety yoga. Most teachers recommend counting mantras and noting points of distraction. Malas are for counting.

Her opinion that the guru gives the mantra chaitanya (enliving) is not shared by Sir John Woodroofe in A GARLAND OF LETTERS . Woodroofe states that it is in understanding the meaning of the mantra that it comes alive. It appears from Swami Durgananda's discussion of her own experience that this is the case. The Sanskrit language carries it's own power.

Her three week breakthrough program is quite intense for those without a previous meditation practice. Beginners would be advised to forgo the three hours of meditation a day and begin with half an hour. Should they decide to begin with three hours a day, reading Bonnie Greenwell's ENERGIES OF TRANSFORMATION: A GUIDE TO THE KUNDALINI PROCESS would be well advised before hand.

I found the "troubleshooting your meditation" chapter particularly inadequate. Hopefully, it will be improved in the next addition. One is referred to Bodian's, Kornfield's, or Greenwell's books which cover the problems more thoroughly.

The strong points of this book are the "coming out of meditation: contemplation, recollection and journal writing" and "daily life of the meditator" chapters.

I think this book is a valuable adjunct to one's meditation library. It should not be the mainstay of one's practice.

During the last 14 years of practicing meditation I have always looked for ways to deepen my experience. This book was really helpful in that respect. It set off a revolution in my thinking and understanding of the process of meditation and really shook the dust out of my daily practice.

I like the practical advice the author gives. She has a knack for making one of life's most mystical experiences completely accessible.

This book takes meditation several steps farther than the usual 'how to', and offers one of the clearest guides I've seen to the subtle practices of kundalini energy-based meditation. As a longtime meditator, I've read many books that tell you how to get into meditation, but this is one of the first I've seen that tells you how to proceed once you're there. People who are used to the vipassana style of meditation or some of the yogic approaches will be surprised by the emphasis on feeling and inner energetic sensations that the author takes here. The chapter on mantra, for instance, goes beyond the usual approach to mantra as a device for thought control, to discuss the energetic aspects of mantra. The chapter on working with thoughts gives a process for accessing the energy behind negative emotions that I found particularly helpful. This is a great book for people who want to expand their meditation experience.