I am not writing this review because I have read this book. I am
writing it because this book is so hard to find. If this book was so important to John F. Kennedy, why is it not available so those interested in the late President can read it to? Should this book not be reissued for other generations to read? It is just a thought from someone who wants to know more about JFK.

I loved this book. Of the many books on the period which I have read, this is probably my favorite. Melbourne is a fascinating character, and the author gives a masterful account of his life. For a period which can be dry if not properly set forth, I found this book to be a real page turner. Lord Cecil gives a thoroughly interesting account of Melbourne's early life, and in particular his stormy relationship with his wife Lady Caroline. She emerges, as is well documented, as bordering upon lunacy. Her antics are well documented and amusing, although I couldn't help feel a sense of frustration that Melbourne was entirely too tolerant of her behaviour. While Melbourne appears to be somewhat wishy-washy, his amiable nature is precisely the key ingedient for his rise to Prime Minister: everyone liked him. Lord Cecil's insight into the evolution of Melbourne's character is fascinating, and reveals something of a tragic figure. Indeed, the later part of Melbourne's life, is sad. Much of the later part of the work is devoted to Melbourne's close relationship with the young Queen Victoria, and upon her marriage, Melbourne's life become tragically empty. The end of the book gives an account of the loneliness of Melbourne's later years, and it reveals Melbourne as more susceptible to bouts of melancholy. But that is the truth of the matter, and it does not detract from the enjoyment of Lord Cecil's work. Finally, it is interesting to note that this book was cited by President John F. Kennedy as his favorite book. Some have attributed this to the accounts of the behavior of the ruling aristocracy in Britain during the whig era, wherein they ruled during the week and ran to the country for parties and relations. I found these desciptions of the book by some of JFK's contemporaries to be inaccurate. While such events are described generally, as they should be to properly account for the period, the focus of Lord Cecil's work is upon the character and evolution of Melbourne himself. This results i! n a comprehensive and altogether enjoyable account of the period. I highly recommend this book.

The Million-Dollar Bear is the most entertaining story I have read for a while. It starts with two eccentric rich old men who both are absorbed in their collection of bears. But, they both want to own the first Teddy Bear - the million dollar bear. One actually steals the bear from the other and is pompous enough to admit it. I am drawn into the story by the "million-dollar" bear who only wants to be loved for who he is. Yet, he is kept in a temperature-controlled safe in the dark to preserve him. Then too, along the way, the author gives us "side-bars" of humor with episodes engaging the butler. A favorite bit of humor sneaks in when the child spies the eccentric millionaire wearing his false face disguise. This is a delightful story with a powerful impact for readers of all ages. The author weaves the story to bring a satisfying - yet, surprise ending. This book leaves me with a "warm and fuzzy" feeling.

With the help of wonderful illustrations and great storytelling ability, you can truly feel this wonderful teddy bear's loneliness and his ecstatic bliss of finally being loved...really loved. Besides the cute story on the surface, there is an underlying message about how being too materialistic can cause us to miss out on much of life's true rewards. It's a book for children of all ages!!

David Lewis-Williams has developed a unique insight into the early modern humans that painted the caves of Europe. He reasons that being modern anatomically, the function of their minds that were dependent on brain anatomy must also have been comparable to ours. He makes an excellent case that what we call "altered states of consciousness" were used by ancient shamans to access the spirit world and to interpret it to others in their culture. It is not the real world that is illustrated on the cave walls, but visions and halucinations obtained in various levels of trance. All members of the community could relate to those visions because of common experiences like dreams. For the shamans, this was a source of personal and political power and signaled a stratification of society. The author's ideas are communicated persuasively and interestingly. He makes us think without ever becoming ponderous.

The author posits a fascinating explanation for the origin of art and the creation of images by early mankind: the evolution of the human mind. He theorizes that the people of the Upper Paleolithic harnessed altered states of consciousness to fashion their society and used imagery as a means of establishing and defining social relationships. Cro-Magnon man had a more advanced neurological system and order of consciousness than the Neanderthals, and experienced shamanic trances and vivid mental imagery. It was important for them to paint these images on cave walls that served as a membrane between the everyday world and the realm of the spirit. Hallucinations were instrumental in personal advancement and the development of society. He refers to the pioneering psychologist William James who already in 1902 pointed out the different states of consciousness and to Colin Martindale who identified the following different states: Waking, realistic fantasy, autistic fantasy, reverie, hypnagogic and dreaming. The sense of absolute unitary being (transcendence/ecstasy ) is generated by a spillover between neural circuits in the brain caused by factors like meditation, rhythmic stimulus, fasting etc. The essential elements of the religious experience are thus wired into the brain. Two case studies are used in support of this theory: South African San rock art and North American rock art. Chapter 8 is especially fascinating since it offers possible solutions to certain puzzles of cave art, like the mixture of representational and geometric imagery. The author believes that the trail of images from the cave entrance to the dark, almost inaccessible recesses represents a connecting link beween the two elements of an "above/below" binary opposition. Physical entry into the caves reflected the entry into the mental vortex that leads to the hallucinations of the deep trance state. In other words, the trail from the conscious mind to the deep recesses of the subconscious. This book provides much food for thought about our earliest ancestors and about the evolution of consciousness. I would like to recommend William James' "The Varieties of Religious Experience," R M Bucke's "Cosmic Consciousness" and Rupert Sheldrake's "Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness" as companion reading to Lewis-Williams' fascinating text. The book includes many figures and 97 illustrations of which 27 are in colour.

Your book would have been useful in my earlier years while I was working in the service industry. The content is useful to me now as a public servant, because everybody's job depends on "customers" and customer service. The brevity appeals tome because who has time to power through a 200+ page book?

Martin Baxter Health Educator Department of Public Health Tobacco Control Project

Dear Brent Thank you for sending me copies of your books, The 21st Century Survival Guide and The Modern Day Service Professional. I appreciate your kind remarks and the accomplishments you and David Moran have make while working for Marriott. I wish you much success not only in your books, but also as you continue to develop your future. I am forwarding the books to Jim O'Hern, Vice President, Worldwide learning Resources, located here at headquarters. As Jim ovrsees our training program, I'm sure he will be interested in yur insights. Have a wonderful holiday and may you find the year 2001 a happy, healthy, and prosperous one! Best regards, Bill Marriott J.W. Marriott Jr.

This second book is small but interesting like the first.

My two children song the chorus of " Sweet and sour berries"
again and again. My younger rename this storie because he was
so impressed by one of the characters. He said always this is
the black's man story.

I very found of "The man who bought a dream". It's sound interesting and it is.

Another storie with a strange title is "Deer and jaguar share a house". After i told this storie, one children was the deer
and the other the jaguar.

The "Little frog and centipede" is very good for the younger.

The others stories are like these.

Enjoy,
Myriam

I loved the original (Ready-to-Tell Tales) that was published several years ago. Friends who are school librarians or storytellers have also recommended it without reservation. This new book is even better. It has more stories and costs less, always a good equation, and this one has new indexes that list the stories by culture of origin and by audience target age level. Parents, teachers, librarians, and storytellers of all descriptions will love this. Great for high school speech competitions, too!

so... i'm thing that viola. that.. in my mind pleasure~~ you know? my mind? whatever~ don't fail~~`

Playing the Viola is a great book for beginners and experienced violists alike. Primrose gives his opinions about technique, repetoire, and a music career. It is much better than his autobiography which reads as one big pat on the back from himself. There is less pompousness in this book and more good ideas. I'd say this is a must read for all violists!

This amazing dramatization of the Pooh books is performed by a marvelously talented group of British entertainers who truly bring the Pooh characters gently and lovingly to life. As for this tape, I finally got this figured out. This is part of a four-tape program that represents the complete two-book Winnie-the-Pooh story collection, except the stories are out of order (probably so that they would fit equally on the tapes). Book 1, "Winnie-the-Pooh," is represented by "Pooh Goes Visiting" (stories in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10) and "Piglet Meets a Heffalump" (stories: 5, 6, 7, 8). Book 2, "The House at Pooh Corner," is dramatized by "Tigger Comes to the Forest" (stories in order: 1 2, 4, 3, 9, 10) and "Pooh Invents a New Game" (stories 5, 6, 7, 8). When stories that depend on previous information are out of order, it gets confusing. My suggestion: Get the "Winnnie-the-Pooh" / "The House at Pooh Corner" gift pack, which is also four tapes (the same recordings), but in the proper order.

[This is a review of the Hodder/Headline audiocassette version] I learned to read by listening (again and again and again and again) to a pair of well-loved and well-worn LPs of the Pooh stories read by Maurice Evans. I always considered them the finest Pooh audiobooks ever recorded. Up until now! Now there's this wonderful series of fully-dramatized adventures of Pooh featuring a brilliant cast of wonderful British actors: Stephen Fry ("Jeeves and Wooster") as Pooh, Geoffrey Palmer ("The Madness of King George") as Eeyore, Judy Dench ("Shakespeare in Love") as Kanga...and best of all, the *incomparable* Jane Horrocks ("Little Voice" and Bubbles from "AbFab") as a squeaky, alarmed, and altogether adorable Piglet. You don't have to be a kid to appreciate these fine recordings (and there are plenty of adult Pooh fans out there who will *love* these versions). Accept no substitutes: this is simply the finest Pooh audio series yet created, beating by a *far* distance the Alan Bennett and (ugh!) Charles Kuralt versions. There's more than just this one tape in the series, too. The series includes "Tigger Comes to the Forest" (ISBN: 1840322195); "Piglet Meets a Heffalump" (ISBN: 1840320524) and "Pooh Invents a New Game" (ISBN: 1840322268). Type the 10-digit ISBN number into the Amazon search field to go directly to the webpages for these cassettes.

If the current edition of this book is like the second edition I've used for many years, it is a shop manual for English composition. Each part of a sentence is defined and illustrated. Most important, all types of sentences are diagrammed (at least I hope that feature survives in this edition). And there may be no better way to understand how a verbal construction works or doesn't work than to take it apart and put each piece in its place in a diagram. Diagramming is also a great tool to use in arguing various points of construction. The book also includes general rules and approaches to building complete manuscripts. And the table of contents and index get you quickly to what you want to know. All in all, an excellent preparation for writing and an equally good reference.

It has consice explanations and practical exercises. Especially for students who want to produce better written output, this book is the best choice. One thing I prefer is that the running head of each page should have full words (not abbreviations)and chapter number and title. It will make it easier to consult.

As a sports photographer and long time Rally fan, I have been blown away by Reinhard Klein's photography in Autosport for years. I was so excited to see his book that I imported a copy from England before it was available here. Please note that his photos are not just about cars. His pictures capture the diverse environments of international rallying from his favorite Kenya to Monte Carlo. The photos of the mechanics working in awful conditions are splendid, too. As much art photography as sports.

Rally is nor a regular kind of racing. Rally, unlike F1, is full with passion, adrenalin ans views. The book RALLY gives the reader the exact feeling of standing next to a rally car. the book's size is big, gives the reader feeling of holding a black racing steering wheel between his hands. pictures are just wonderful. It's a very colourful book, with lot of information about rally, rally drivers and cars since the begining of the rally. this book, must be found on every rally lover's shelf!

This is an exciting, fast-paced book that you will want to read in one sitting to see what happens and find out if all your guesses are correct. There isn't any extraneous information or dull pages that you have to work to get through. It's fun to have the setting in a familiar environment, yet altered by the rush of unchecked technology. One can picture the imagery easily. Speaking of technology, the author has great ideas regarding the state of our society in the future. And unlike a lot of science fiction that is pure fairy tale, it's a little more realistic. The characters keep you interested by not being stereotypical and it leaves you wondering about a few things. So...David S. Williams, your public would like another, so we can get to know your characters somewhat better and see how these incredible events have affected their lives!

Willams has started with a bang! Silhouette is an excellent book, filled with much action and a great storyline. Once you pick up the book it will be hard to set it down. I stayed up late into the night to finish this book. It was worth it! Williams writes well. Silhouette will carry your imagination away. Williams has that ability to grab your attention and keep it. The action is detailed and thrilling. Silhouette is a fantastic book and if Williams comes out with another I will be one of the first to get it!!