It is a PHENOMENAL book!!!! It is scary and gross but a WONDERFUL book! It is a great read aloud!

This is an exciting, instructive, and very well written adventure book about life in the Costa Rican rain forest and a 12 year-old boy from Minnesota who does a lot of growing up before the story ends. I would highly recommend it to any young person with an interest in Costa Rica, rain forest ecology and preservation, and especially neotropical monkeys.

Originally written in Basque language, the book was translated into spanish by the writer himself. The novel is built as a compilation of entirely fictional short stories and has nothing to do with the real life in a "exotic Basque village", as the synopsis says. It is not the aim of the author to represent the reality of life in the Basque country. In fact, the action could be located anywhere in the world

A lot of good short stories written by one of the best basque authors. A great book in order to get know that country.

This Portuguese phrasebook is a little gem! It is filled with over 1100 phrases translated into Portuguese with their pronunciations included. Anything you could possibly ever need to say during your stay in Brazil can be found here, and you'll know exactly how to say it. Phrases are easy to find with their clear classifications, and the book is so compact you can take it anywhere. Recommended for people of all language abilities since it is so easy to use.

A must have for any visit to Brazil. I travelled to southern Brazil in April. It was my first trip to a portuguese speaking nation. I thought my many years of spanish would get me through(Big mistake!!). This phrase book was with me all the time. It became as essential as my toothbrush. It really saved the day for me. It's also very compact in size and easy to carry on your person..

Chef, author, restaurateur, and Mediterranean cooking specialist Joyce Goldstein follows her acclaimed Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen with a study of Mediterranean Jewish cooking. While researching Cucina Ebraica, she immersed herself in Sephardic History. She wondered how the Jews evolved their cuisine, what influences they took from the Moors, the Portuguese, Andalusians, Valencians, Balearic Islanders, Greeks, Ottomans, and Balkans. What were the harmonizations to other communities and the contrasts to the Italian Jewish cuisine she was researching? She answers these questions and more in the book's opening collection of essays (about 22 pages). This is followed by several pages of sample full menus for Shabbat and Jewish holidays and commemorations. For example, there are Leek Fritters for Hanukkah, Mijavyani (a vegetable soup with plums) for Tu B'Shevat, Lentil Soup for Tisha B'Av, or Moussaka di Pesce and Macaroni and Cheese-Thrace Style (using feta and non-elbow Ziti) for Shavuot. If you are wondering how her book compares to DRIZZLE OF HONEY by David Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson, it is her feeling that while DRIZZLE is filled with fascintaing stories and history, her cookbook adds more culinary skills to the execution of recipes. The chapters include ones for Salads and Appetizers; Savory Pastries; Soups; Vegetables and Grains; Fish; Poultry and Meat; and Desserts. In the chapter for Salads and Appetizers, Goldstein writes, that Sephardic cuisine inverts the oil to vinegar ratio (3:1) with which most North Americans are familiar. Sephardic cooking is more tart, so the vinegar ratio is much higher (1:3). My favorite recipes were the Tarator (a cousin to Tzatziki) and Huevos HAMINados, or onion skin eggs, or Jewish eggs (Yahudi Yamurta). The chapter on savory pastries, which are also known as borekas, inchusa, tapada, rondanches, boyos, and filas (to name just a few), includes recipes for Izmir-style Handrajos, or Eggplant and Squash filled borekas. In her chapter on soups, Goldstein tells the reader that it is not a coincidence that the Spanish word for Jewess is the same for bean (judia). She provides recipes for several soups and adafina, or what some Jews may call cholent. My favorites included meatball soup, and a white bean soup. There are 24 recipes in the Vegetables and Grains chapter. Standouts are Turlu, a Turkish Ratatouille; a squash omelet fritada; and pumpkin and prunes, which resembles a Moroccan Jewish style Hilou. The tomato bread pudding was also very unique. A fish dish that is very interesting for the period between Simhat Torah and Hanukkah is Peshkado Avramila, or fish with sour plums or prunes. Goldstein writes that it recalls Abraham's self-circumcision, since Sephardic folklore says that Avraham sat under a plum tree after the procedure. The 22 meat and poultry recipes includes one for Gayna al Orno, a roast chicken with apples and pomegranates; and one for Keftas de Gayna, chicken meatballs with egg and lemons (two of them). The standout is the Rollo me HAMINados is a meatloaf with sweet and sour tomato sauce (uses honey and wine) baked with eggs in the center. The book closes, as do meals, with desserts that include Hanukkah Fritters in a honey lemon glaze; Baklava, Tispishti, Sutlatch, and Zerda ( a rice pudding).

Joyce Goldstein author and chef also understands the relationship between culture and food. Her book on Jewish Italian cooking should be read by anyone who likes to read cook books.

In this book, Goldstein explores Sephardic food, the culinary heritage of Jews of the Middle East. She does not disapoint. The recipes are easy to follow and very tasty. The presentation is excellent and will make your mouth water. What is wonderful about all of Goldstein's work is you can see how Jews have, for centuries, absorbed the recipes of the culture in which they live, adapting them for their own tastes and dietery requirements. My wife and I have had a wonderful time cooking out of this book. The only problem is deciding what to make first.

A great work.

The CDs are the only reason to buy this book. HEARING the broadcasts of celebrated sports events can't be compared to reading about them. The written word didn't draw out nearly as much emotion as the CDs.

I got chills listening to some of the greatest calls in Sports History. However, I was disappointed that icons like Vin Scully, Harry Caray and Ernie Harwell couldn't have made their way on to the list. Also, as big as the King-Riggs match was, Cosell should have been calling "Down Goes Frazier". However, the book and CDs are magical with what is included and are a must have for real sports fans.

This book is fantastic. I loved reading and listening to so many phenomenal moments in sports. It was like being there all over again. I love it! I can't wait to buy copies for my friends and family for the holidays.

We just spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica, carried 4 of the major travel books and Mr. Baker's was the one we used constantly. The others mostly took up space in our luggage. The long introductory section was very complete and interesting - history, ecology, geography, lots. We found that this book had much useful information about the many parks, about small towns and large. We liked the small local maps. We enjoyed the hotel reviews and found them to be reliable. Funny! Mr. Baker uses more adjectives per sentence than anyone we have ever read! The book only lacks a good map for drivers. Why not add one?

If you are planning to travel extensively in Costa Rica or concentrate on a particular region, this is your guide book.

I recently got back from an off road trip of Guanacaste and Mr. Baker left no stone unturned. Couple this book with his National Geographic Costa Rica book, which highlights well the major Costa Rica attractions (and more higher end lodging and dining), and you will not be disappointed.

If you are used to upper end accomodations, be aware that you will not generally find that for less than $75 per night, as listed in Mr. Baker's book.

Concerning the organization, Costa Rica's sights are vast. So if you are hitting the highlights: get the National Geographic guide book. You can't help a little disoraganization, as there is no straight line path through the country.

If you do travel off the path, be prepared to call Mr. Baker, "swash buckler", as we did...

I bought 4 guidebooks before our trip to Costa Rica, and left "Explore Costa Rica" at home because the middle section of the book had already fallen out after a few looks. "Lonely Planet" was also left at home because the reviewer didn't seem to go inside most of the restaurants and lodgings he reviewed. I took "New Key Guide" and "Moon Handbook" and rarely opened the "New Key Guide". The writers of "New Key Guide" don't seem to like Costa Rica very much, making unnecessary and inaccurate comments like "Costa Ricans don't trust each other, and neither should you". This left me relying on the Moon Handbook, which more than made up for the inadequacies of the others. It has everything you need: first you need to find a place to stay. They're grouped by price and described accurately as to amenities and type of clientele. Then you want to eat. Same orderly presentation. Some of the other guides group the hotels and eateries all together, without sorting into price and type. What a hassle to do the sorting yourself when you're tired and it's late. Moon Handbooks also give lots of descriptions of things to do. But the best and most indispensible part was the town maps. I don't know how we would have figured out where we were going without them. This is the only one you need. And it is still intact after a month of daily use and abuse.

Bob Costas has carved out a niche in the American sports society as the ultimate baseball fan, so when I saw his book "Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball," I immediately knew it would be worth reading. It didn't let me down.

Despite being a member of the media, Costas definitely has the credentials and the subjective mindset to write this book. During his time working with NBC and HBO, Costas has proven himself intelligent, unbiased and knowledgeable about the game of baseball. This book is an extension of that.

Costas wrote the book as a response to a pervasive feeling found amongst baseball fans that the game is about to crumble, due to the amazing amounts of money being spent and the inability of small-market teams to compete financially with their large-market peers.

Costas points out the basic problems with the structure of the collective-bargaining agreement between the players and the team owners, as well as the problems that have developed with the lack of revenue sharing.

Costas takes fair look at those problems and proposes several solutions on how to even the disparity that is found in the game. The ideas that Costas offers are logical and if followed would be the start to leveling the playing field. They're not perfect ideas, but they're a start.

This book is only for the hardcore baseball fans at heart, not the avid Yankees or Braves fan, but the avid baseball fan. It's for the guy who will stay up all night to watch the Padres play the Expos, simply because it's baseball. You have to already have an understanding of what the game has been through in the past decade in order to understand this book.

This book is easy reading, despite its sometime complex subject matter, and will give you a deeper, better grasp of what's going on in the great American pastime.

Bob Costas has taken the time (and laying his reputation on the line) to put forth a case to put the Game/Business of Major League Baseball on the right track to insure its place of prominence in the sporting world. The result of his efforts is a well thought out, capable and possibly, doable plan to fix the problems that have been growing since the strike of 94/95.

Granted, not all of the ideas are original to Mr. Costas, but he places all the ideas together, something I haven't come across before. As stated earlier, Mr. Costas premise is that the future stability of baseball has been further weaken by the owner's decisions since the last strike. Among Mr. Costas' solutions are: a revenue sharing arrangement, including local the team's media revenues and gate receipts; a salary cap complete with a floor; no radical realignment of the divisions; and the elimination of the Wild Card.

Along the way Mr. Costas chides both the owners and the players for their selfish, self-motivated attitudes, which left unchecked, just hurt the game.

One drawback to the book is the last chapter in which Mr. Costas discusses nine minor points that are best left out of the book, as the subjects do not fit the book's theme, with the exception of the debate on the DH.

In the Introduction, Mr. Costas states that his effort is to draw distinctions between progress and mere change. Mr. Costas' book does just that and is a good starting point for all baseball fans to discuss the future needs of the game.

I read Mr. Costas' book becuase the labor landscape in baseball hasn't changed much since the beginning ot the 2002 season, so I figured it was still valid. This book educated me on the state of the baseball economy. I am looking at the current labor negotiations with a different perspective now. I feel it is a more informed prosepective. I think that some of the proposals in this book are a bit altruistic for the money grabbing players and owners to try. For example, the players have already said that they will not accept any form of salary cap or floor. They are acting as if they are in a free economy. Considering the United States doesn't have a completely unregulated economy, I find this very arrogant. While I can see the merits of Bob Costas' plan, I just don't think I will live to see the day the players will accept it. After all, it is 2002 and 25 Million doesn't go quite as far as it did in the 90's.
I love his "3-0" plan to eliminate the wild card. I believe that it would restore the feel to the pennant races that fans remember. I liked his idea of moving the Houstan franchise to the American League (although eliminating the two Florida based teams would be acceptable) to create balance leagues makes sense. I also enjoy the concept of an unbalanced schedule.
While this plan is very altruistic, it does serve as a starting point. I am not so naive as to believe that the owners and players haven't seen it, nor understand it. I just think that the almighty dollar is king of baseball and will continue to be until some sort of comprehensive plan is developed, whether it be Mr. Costas' or someone elses.
This book is straight forward, educational and easy to read. I recommend it highly to any baseball fan that wishes to make some sense of the chaos in baseball today.

I picked up Veronica Decides to Die on the airport and read about 30 pages before I fell asleep. Always wanting to give books a second try I picked it up a couple of days later but found it not worth my time. This is my first book by Coelho and I admit I became curious about him and his message to the world. To me he sounds like a priest or some kind of guru for a sect but this may be wrong :) Veronica Decides to Die is not a bad book, but for an experienced reader it certainly has a number of serious flaws, among them an over-explicitness that shouldn't be necessary, but that fits into my impression of Coelho as a man with an urge to express common (though important) ideas with a common man's pen. Coelho's ideas about madness and the value of life and love have been expressed more originally and more beautifully by numerous other writers.

Witty.. charming.. funny..another journey to self-discovery and enlightment. Coelho takes you to depths you yourself take in times of hardships and happiness trying to find any kind of explanation to questions we ask ourselves everyday!

Veronika draws a picture of her future life based on her own path that she has taken .. useless .. fruitless .. nothing special .. she decides to die because she didn't like what she saw. Life in a mental hospital opened up her eyes and mind, and eventually her heart to view life from a different angle. ..through the help of other patients, and not to forget her doctor.

I've found the ending really surprising to such a serious subject .. but I think it understates how we sometimes blow things to larger proportions and forget about what really matters.

I really enjoyed it! Veronika was just a means to an end that Coelho intended to prove. Everyday is a miracle, so enjoy it and make the best of it. Love and friends make a big part of our lives. Many simple things .. a walk by a lake, a friend's smile, a blooming flower, we take for granted are actually a reminder of our own miracle on this planet!

My first reading of Coelho was 'The Alchamist' and it changed my life.When i first saw 'Veronika Decides to Die' on the shelves i grabbed it immediately. Again it changed my life,beliefs and perception of life.
Veronika resembles millions of those who are lost between being what they are and what others want them to be.After she thought that her life became redundant, she thinks that the only thing she hasn't discovered yet is death. After her failed attempt to commit suicide,she is addmitted to Villete, a hospital for mental patients.There she meets people who are simply incapable of living a 'normal' life because they are not acceptable anymore.
Her presence in the hospial triggered others to percieve life in a different view.Eduard, a schizophrenic,discoverd love, Zedka decided to carry on her life,Mari knew what she really wanted after hiding from it all her life.
A book that would make you read it till the end without stopping.You will discover what is love,dignity,dreams,and craziness. It answers the questions of 'what is right and what is correct', 'why should we live','who should we be'.
A book that you must have in your library.
Finally, thank you Paulo Coelho for changing my life.Thank you for making me "CRAZY".

I put down "Men At Work" with a profound sense of disappointment. I passionately love the sport of baseball. There is no feeling quite like sitting in the stands on a hot summer night and watching two teams play nine innings. I passionately love books about baseball- David Halberstam's "October 1964" being the favorite of the genre. I liked Will's 1998 follow up to this book, which was published in 1990. But I did not like "Men At Work". Here's why-

"Men At Work" reads like a tech manual. Hit, run, pitch, field. Okay fine, but when one distills baseball into such an exact science the passion leaves the game. "Men At Work" makes baseball into a game of economics- put in pitcher W against hitter X because he has a Y-to-Z ratio between his groundball outs and flyball outs . . . This is not why I love baseball.

Also, after a while Will's observations become redundant. George we spent fifty pages learning about the strategy employed by Tony Gwynn in hitting, why do we have to read twenty pages recapitulating the same things from Wade Boggs?

If you want to read a good baseball book, read "October 1964" or "Bunts". Don't read "Men At Work".

George Will's "Men at Work" was written out of his love for the game, and "the game inside the game." The book features extended interviews with baseball luminaries Tony LaRussa, Orel Hersheiser, Tony Gywnn and Cal Ripken jr. It is divided into sections on managers, pitchers, hitters, and defensive play. Will states that baseball is about paying attention, about the myriad details that make up each pitch, each play, each out.

At times the book bogs down into a tech manual, giving even the most enthusiastic readers a little too much detail; at other times Will's rightwing political bias does emerge in the guise of a discussion of a strong work ethic, individual initiative for personal gain, and nostalgic idealization of the past.

But taken as a whole, "Men at Work" is a paean to what used to be called "America's favorite pastime". Will demonstrates why baseball appeals on many levels to a wide range of people. As a lifelong fan, someone who has never tired of the game because however lopsided the score, there is always something to pick up on (see Tony LaRussa's quote above), I recommend the book to readers of all ages.

George Will does a great job of detailing great figures in the history of baseball and the changes over the last 100+ years. The section on Tony LaRussa shows the excruciating detail that goes into what appears to be a simple game. His writing style makes the reading a little slow at times, and requires a dictionary always within reach. Still a good book for baseball fans.

Tessa's book is a valuable guide for anyone considering living in Costa Rica. It is very easy to read and contains valuable information and facts about the country as well as interesting stories of the Borner's experiences and those of their friends. Tessa will save you time and trouble if you follow her advise. She has done the work for you!

Bumbling down a winding road, under the dark cover of sub-tropical
> rainforest, it's quite easy to land in a Costa Rican crater. A perfect
> analogy to international travel and living as a whole, Tessa Borner has
> written a friendly and familiar roadmap to approaching the pitfalls found
> in everything from setting up a business to approaching a social life in
> Costa Rica. This is not a guide for the backseat traveler; this guide is
> intended for those at the wheel, steering them carefully away from the
> dangers and annoyances known only to those with real practical experience
> and wisdom.
>
> Descriptions of how to approach banking, contracting, and legal
> issues are easy to follow and read more like suggestions from a close and
> trustworthy friend than from a lawyer. Despite one particular suggestion
> being to hire a lawyer immediately upon making the decision to set up a
> business, the advice of a lawyer - just like the advice of any paid
> professional - would fall far short of the creative approaches to living
> and enjoying life in paradise suggested in Borner's book.
>
> This book is the backseat driver you would wish to travel with
> while embarking on the path of opening a business in Costa Rica

Tessa's book is upbeat and fun, beginning with the perfect title.
Reading is quick, easy, and entertaining. Her book brings a refreshing and much needed "tell it like it is" approach to living in Costa Rica, compared to other Costa Rica "retirement guides". Her advise is invaluable.