A truly bilingual guide which is clearly intended for the traveler, with its vinyl covers and a size small enough to fit into almost any pocket. It even has a small grammatical guide, cultural notes, and a mini phrase book. The main negatives are that (at nearly 650 thick pages), it's kind of fat - it'll fit in your pocket, but it's obvious that it's there - and yet even so, only had the words I was looking for about half the time. Here is one case where I think thinner paper was called for. And as for the word selection, it really needs to have more culinary terms (for menu reading).

This dictionary is good for the French studying student. It is small, and will hold up in a locker or a bookbag. It is also good for the traveler, it'll fit in a fanny pack, and with 40,000 translations, it is pretty good. It is small, with smaller type as compared with its older brothers like LAROUSSE'S pocket dictionary (won't fit in a pocket) or LAROUSSE'S ADVANCED DICTIONARY or LAROUSSE'S CONCISE DICTIONARY(big and cheap). It doesn't have all the words, yet it will help people in high school French class while in class. Yet, for doing homework, consider LAROUSSE'S COMPACT DICTIONARY. It is cheap and big with 90,000 more translations, and a conjugation guide. Yet this book contains a conversation guide, so it can get you through the first week in French I. So buy them both with the money you save by buying here at Amazon.com. If you really want to impress or depress you French teacher, buy Merde! or the Street French series. Have fun!

Mickey Mouse is one of the best recognized and well regarded symbols in the world. Children are even more willing to get inoculations if Mickey's face is on hand. Due to an aggressive merchandising bent, this Disney character has been transformed into almost every possible physical expression. The only things that I haven't seen done with Mickey are to turn him into buildings. Perhaps that will be next.

This book provides a primarily pictorial presentation of that history, from the original drawing by Ub Iwerks back in the 1920s through to the latest fashion in Mickey Mouse watches today. In between, you will see Mickey during his cartoon career (including a list of his appearances) beginning with his speaking role in Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928, through the three different versions of the Mickey Mouse Club (I was disappointed that there were no large photographs of Annette!), his role as a greeter as the Disney theme parks (you'll be fascinated by how the costume evolved), to his evolution as a drawn figure (pupils within pupils made him more appealing).

The book is loosely themed around Mickey's initial appeal as a brainy, underdog hero . . . a sort of mouse David versus Goliath. There are brief references to the other Disney characters, including Minnie, Donald Duck, and Pluto.

Clearly, the picture's the thing in this book. You will see ads, balloons, comic strips, lots of watches, wordworking projects, flower and topiary representations at the theme parks, movie posters, movie stills, story boards, every conceivable kind of merchandise, photographs, conceptual art (including Andy Warhol), Mickey Mouse ears, magazine covers, and sketches.

Although the book has some exposition, it is on the light side. Serious fans of Mickey would want to know a lot more. So the ideal recipient for this book would be a young person who likes Mickey, but doesn't know very much about him.

Fans of Minnie will be very disappointed. She is almost totally ignored in the book. Since my daughter likes Minnie much better than Mickey, this would be a poor choice as a gift for her.

Those looking for the ultimate visual experience with Mickey will also find this book to be disappointing. Although it has a lot of attractive material, it could have had much, much more.

Like most compromises, the book fails to fully satisfy. I graded the book down accordingly although it is perfectly executed for its concept of providing a little background with a lot of images of Mickey.

After you finish enjoying this book, think about who you favorite cartoon character is. Why do you like that character? What traits of that character do you wish that you embodied? What other traits would make that character even more desirable?

Look for role models wherever you can find them!

I love the book it really tells how Mickey Mouse becomes a figure of American Icon and All around the world. Great Pictures, Great Story of a Great Mouse

In the tradition of DH Lawrence, Thomas Mann and Halldor Laxness, Patrick White has written a story that teases out the secrets of a family's existence and, in so doing, explores, without ever mentioning them expressly, the issues and mysteries universal to humanity.

The plot could barely be simpler. In the early days of Australia's nationhood a young man and his wife set off into the bush to begin their lives together. They find some land, build a house, have a family, grow old and finally die. Around them the dramas of life unfold: friendships, disasters, disappointments and infidelities. The book is less about them, though, than about the unremarkable moments in between. These times of quietness are White's triumphs. His unhurried prose admits us to the intimacies of the characters, their griefs, their dreams and their successes. We share in the man's unarticulated affinity with the land, the woman's chronic loneliness. We notice how many words are never spoken, how many uncertainties never resolved.

By the end, one sees that the characters' struggles are his struggles. Briefly, perhaps, one's view of life becomes wider than his self, and a larger landscape, if not a plan, crystallises in the world. You finish the last page, close the book and sit still and speechless for a second, as if someone real has died.

This is definitely a great book for a first time dog owner. It gives great specifics.

Then again, even if you are a librarian, don't bother.

I shouldn't say these types of things about this book as I studied under one of its authors in graduate school, but let's be perfectly honest for a minute... it's boring!

Actually, "For Information Specialists" is not that bad. Bates, White, and Wilson make some interesting hypotheses about the way people gather information, so the work has merit, it's just that the writing style is lacking and the content, dry as a bone.

This is a faithful recapitulation of the Disney animated movie of the same name, featuring colorful scenes from the film. As a rehash of the movie, it is okay, but the picture book format highlights the dated qualities of the film. Characters are often shown in Victorian dramatic poses, mouth agape, which diminishes, rather than enlivens the text. Also, I miss the comical scene of Snow White, who, due to her relative height, must stretch out across several of the dwarfs` beds lined up next to each other, in order to take a nap. There are other, better versions of this fairy tale for small children, so don`t go out of your way for this one.

In what could have been one of the most fascinating stories in US history, the reader instead is mired in a convoluted and confusing rendition of the Bennett family's rise to power and position on the backs of trusting investors. As one integrally involved in the unfolding story, Mr. Weisman would appear to have been in a position to illuminate not only the methods and means by which the largest Ponzi scheme in US history took place, but also the very character of the principals involved - a seemingly ordinary family living in a small city in Central New York. Instead the reader is treated to a frequently disjointed and, at times, self-serving story line which has one asking "how did I get here" and "how does this relate to anything?" As a product of the sixties, it has been a long time since I have seen the word "kharma" used with such frequency in print. I wish mine had told me to wait for the paperback edition.

FASCINATING STEP-BY-STEP INSIGHT INTO A FAMILY OF HIGH SOCIETY WANNA BE'S & THE DEPTHS OF OUTRIGHT BUSINESS FRAUD TO WHICH THEY WENT TO REACH THE TOP.SOME ACCOUNTS OF ACTUAL SKULLDUGGERY WHICH WAS A LITTLE BIT MUCH FOR ME BUT STILL HIGHLY READABLE.THE INSIDERS VIEWPOINT IS LIGHTENED CONSIDERABLY BY SOMETIMES AMUSING AND SOMETIMES SARDONIC CHAPTER HEADINGS.TOUCHING POIGNANT FINISH.

What an awful life! As an Australian this dreadful, wizened old cockroach of a man makes me ashamed. Nothing but boring twisted hatred and ingratitude. Why publish such a book at all?

patrick white is one of the 20th century's finest novelists - his thick tome of letters compiled by david marr was given to me by someone who knew of patrick white only as a writer from my country- I was living in TX at the time feeling acute homesickness of which, upon reading the book, was immediately cured by page 2 when the reasons why I left australia in the first place came vividly galloping towards me with a loud yawn. The scratchy nib of discontentment mark 400 pages of this old sod's rather boring snippy life with his companion manoly. His mandarin mouthed mug scowling at u courtesy of the brush strokes of Brett on the cover really tell u the whole sad story .. dinner parties, gossip, gardening, writing, gossip, travelling, bitching, writing etc go on and on -- most telling aspect is that patrick wanted all his correspondence destroyed after being read - obviously not enough of his friends took him seriously - so why should we ...

Quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. The characters are annoying and bland and the writing itself is superfluous and confusing. I felt that I had to force myself to finish it and then was angry that I didnt put it down halfway through. This book has nothing to say and is annoyingly terrible.