This book definitely contains a lot of helpful information about romantic resorts. However, I was disappointed that there wasn't more colored pictures of each resort. Some resorts have no pictures at all. If you want to see pictures of the resort, which most people do, I would recommend looking up the resorts in the book online. That's what I'm doing.

Define "romantic", my girl friend said to me, as I looked at her with my best 'I know what it means, don't press me' look. Being slightly romantically challanged, my understanding of the world comes from Clark Gable in 'Gone with the Wind' "Frankly Scarlet, I ...".

Katherine Dyson defines romantic with 100 different definitions via 100 different resorts. These selections span the world, so wherever you're are inclined to stoke the fire of 'amore', Dyson has a suggestion. With each resort section you get a detailed profile, as well as web-site and e-mail addresses (impressive!).. Especially useful is the specialized indexes she provides: romance by the sea, romance with tennis, romance with golf, romance with a horse(!), romance on a safari, romance with a private pool, romance with a private fireplace and romance in a city for convenient shopping (Oops, there goes the romance).

Though I could only get to a half dozen of the recommended romantic resorts before I wanted to get back to fish'n in Southern Georgia, I got the general idea. I applaud the great research that Katherine Dyson has done, though I take exception to listing huge commercial resorts as romantic (Half-Moon Club, Sandals Resorts, Disney's Resort etc.). Also helpful would be a list of the most expensive to the cheapest romantic spots; it is amazing how $$$ affects romance with most men. But, pushing these observations aside, "100 Best Romantic Resorts of the World" is an excellent guide for those that have a moon in their eye "like a big pizza pie". Recommended.

The biggest thing I had to do to for our wedding (besides show up) was to plan our honeymoon. This book was the only resource I could find that didn't just list the "if-money-were-no-object" type of resorts. It also listed amazing hard-to-find places that actually fit our budget. The result -- our honeymoon was perfect. I highly recommend this book.

Helen Keller had a bad illness when she was only nineteen mouths old. She lived,but the illness left her blind, deaf, and mute. At the age of five her mom and dad wrote a school that has blind and deak kids there. A teacher came and didn't get along with Helen at first, but later thay become the best of friends. This is a good book for anyone who would like to know what it is like to be blind, or deaf or even both at the same time. This is a relly good book and I think that anyone who will read it will like it.

I read one of the books about Helen Keller when I was nine years old, and I was hooked, at that age I could not put the book down, I actually memorized, taught myself the hand sign chart in the back of the book. I highly recommend this book. I am purchasing this book for my niece for Christmas, she loves to read. When you think you been short-cutted in life, read this. Then ask your self do you have it that bad?

...It's about a girl that is blind, deaf, and dumb. (As in can't talk) But later when she got a teacher named Anne Sullivan, she learned to do lots of things. When Helen was ten years old, she learned to talk. But still could not hear. I learned that if you are blind, deaf, or dumb, you could still do lots of things. I think you would like this book too.

I think all different kinds of people would like this book because people whoever likes biographies would like this book too.

This book is exceptionally sensitive and non-judgmental anthropologic-style review of sexual fetishes that are far from the usual mainstream discussions of sexual proclivities. If you have had literally no exposure to these fetishes or if you are a devotee of something explored here, you will appreciate the friendly and compassionate tone that Ms. Gates brings to her catalog of sexual fringe behavior.

S&M is too mainstream for this book, it is not another tired recounting of leather clubs or bondage practices. Explored here are people who are imaginative enough to use a big #10 can of Pork & Beans as a sex toy, or balloons, or those who are creative enough to construct elaborate fantasies involving normally chaste fictional characters (Spock does Kirk), or those who enjoy role play as domestic animals.

A very sensitive and compassionately written chapter on Fat Admirers and those they desire was of particular interest to me as a lifelong overweight man. It is indeed rare to find these issues discussed with respect and kindness in any published media, much less in a book on sex.

Ms. Gates makes a contribution to our knowledge about ourselves that is fun to read and interesting to explore. The illustrations she has collected here alone make the book worth having in any library. This book would make a great gift for anyone with an abiding curiosity about what goes on behind the neighbor's closed doors. Indeed, I look at popular advertising with an entirely new awareness these days. These fetishes are everywhere.

Think you're odd? Do you like to do "strange" things in bed? Have you ever found yourself fantasizing about something that you know is bizarre? Welcome to the real world, honey, where "deviant" sex is the norm. You may think that your penchant for panties or wish to squish is something no sane person would contemplate but you'd be wrong.

In Deviant Desires, author Katharine Gates goes for the jugular. Leaving the relatively "normal" realms of BDSM (Bondage & Discipline/SadoMasochism), transgenderism, and shrimping behind, the topics explored in Deviant Desires are completely "off the map" in comparison. Ranging from in-depth chapters on Pony Play to Balloon Fetishes with stops along the way about Giantesses, Crushing, and Fat fans, Gates raises the bar with each chapter. Even our old pal Romain Slocombe (see above) makes an appearance with his Broken Dolls photography near the end of the book.
My favorite chapter has to be the "catch all" finale to the book that addresses (among other things) attraction to androids ("My Living Doll" anyone?) and erotic fan fiction. The drawings of popular science fiction characters in compromising positions aren't easy to forget.

Gates is highly respectful of her subjects, neither exploiting them nor psychoanalyzing them. The fun the people have with their fetishes is apparent and rather "normalizing"! While the idea of people enjoying themselves while not indulging in "vanilla sex" may be offensive to some, this book is for the silent, (a)moral majority! (ISBN: 1890451037)

Opening this book is like discovering buried treasure: Every paragraph and photograph is a gem. With the creation of Deviant Desires, author Katharine Gates has not only produced a work of art -- which one would imagine to find in a museum gift shop at triple the price -- but she has also done the world a mitzvah, by shining the light of day into the hidden corners of our darkest sexual desires, and revealing that much of what actually dwells there is childlike innocence, wonder and playfulness. A completely engrossing and refreshing book, written with unflinching candor, lighthearted humor, and a sense of deep respect for these everyday people who indulge in fantastic sex practices.

"The Broken Mirror" is clearly and concisely written, gives numerous case studies and takes the reader through the diagnostic reasoning in each case. But, far too much information is rehashed, and the early chapters aren't substantively different than the latter chapters. For example, the definition of the disease is repeated practially hundreds of times, often with a slightly different meaning, and many of the case studies are too similar to offer new insights.

This is not a self-help book, but it's a far cry from a textbook.

I read "The Broken Mirror" by Katharine A. Phillips and considered the book to be most informative. I have seen this problem in several of my clients and have started recommending the book as a resource for help. The author did a great job uncovering the root causes behind this problem and offered keen insight into medical and theraputic treatments.

---
John D. Moore
Author of Confusing Love with Obsession

I thought this book (one of the only ones I know of on this subject), gave a comprehensive look at BDD. I thought that I was just weird or crazy and never realized that this disease could be controlled. Thank you to Dr. Phillips. I strongly recommend this book to people who think they might have BDD or OCD.

Fans of Deverry might want to give me a beating here, but in my opinion- Kerr is definitely capable of better stuff. Until I got to this book, everything she put out amazed me. I even gave Bristling Wood 5 stars. Through out Dragon Revenant there were some traces of the Katherine Kerr I know and love- especially in the beginning and the end, but the middle (the entire portion that involved Rhodry as a slave) bored me and dragged out for way too long. I kept waiting for Kerr to erupt into one of her trademark flashback sequences- but was left hanging. I respect the possibility that maybe she was bored of doing this, but I still want to know how the Silver Dagger group's origin story turns out- a tale left unfinished from the middle of the last book.

I have a confession to make... Halfway through, I quite frankly gave up on this book and went on to read twelve other books. But for the first time in my life I resumed reading a book I had given up on- This was solely because of how much I enjoyed her first three books, and my hope that the next few would be up to her usual par.

A few things did impress me here though. Salamander- a very interesting character is fleshed out for the first time. Kerr's dialogue and Deverry's culture give her works a wonderful feel. I would have enjoyed a grander resolution between Rhodry and his brother/enemy Rhys, but the ending made the book worth while with several surprises and a very neat closure to the whole series. Or was this just a bridge? On to Omens and Exile for the answers I go. And I can't wait to get to Dragon Mage since I previewed the first chapter- looks exciting!

Kerr has a good series going here. While I always seem to compare stories to my two personal favorite authors, Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan, this series has definitely landed a close third on my list behind Goodkind. I enjoy Celtic storylines and her characters do come to life well. It can slow down at times, but I am half way through and enjoy it. A book that I look forward to reading when I get home is a rare thing for me to find now days, and this series has supplied me with several.

I read this book over the summer and enjoyed it very much. The three main characters; Jill, Rhodry, and the wizard, are very well developed. I was moved to the point of being disgusted with Rhodry's self centeredness and self absorbed behavior typical of a spoiled monarch's son. He is the only survivor of his older siblings and becomes only heir to the throne, but there is a plot afoot to get rid of him and start a war that will devistate the people of Deverry. Then there is the wizard who is responsible for the deaths of Rhodry and Jill in their previous lives and wants to correct it. Reincarnation and other beliefs are expressed in this book and make it more interesting. Half of the book describes Rhodry's exile and captivity arranged by his captors until Jill and the wizard come to rescue him and the book then goes into describing their escape. It is slow moving at times, but has a very good ending. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy.

OK, I'm biased. One of the four stories that make up this book was previously published independently as "Resurrection" -- and I already owned that title when I bought "Freeze Frames".

I really feel this book would work better if it were openly billed as a group of short stories, rather than trying (ineffectively) to integrate them into a whole. I think part of the reason I disliked it so much is because it tried -- and failed -- to connect stories that should have been allowed to stand independently.

I owned "Resurection", which makes up one of the four stories here, when this book came out. The back page synposis was really misleading. I would have enjoyed it more had I never read it.

This works best simply as four independend short stories. Any "connection" implied in the synopsis is truly misleading, and you'll be disappointed if yo look for it.

I don't believe this- I picked up this book from my local library, tucked away at the back of the fantasy/sci fi section... it's one of the best books I've ever read. It doesn't even exist on the English Amazon, and it's out of print on here- please, people, recognise a good book when you see it. It holds your attention to the last page... the only criticism I have is the ending- it somehow isn't quite finished off. However, the originality of the rest of the book makes up for this by far. I'd reccomend this especially to any fantasy lover who wants a break from dragons and the Middle Ages.

This novel opened up a world that I knew nothing about. The world that only Katharine & Spencer lived in, together... I've been a huge fan of the acting duo for years. Now I feel like I almost know them. Reading this book is like taking a quick peek behind the scenes. It gives details into their lives prior to their initial meeting. Then continues describing how they had to sneak around in order to keep their affair out of the papers. This novel is heartwarming & also tragic. I loved it. If you're a romantic, you'll love it, too.

I found An Affair to Remember a truly remarkable portrait of Hepburn and Spencer's lives (before and after they met). The book was interesting and well written. A great pick for anyone interested in either actor.

One of the best books I have ever read. A great love story for the romantic in all of us. Chronicals the ups and downs of a relationship on the sly with a love that would last a lifetime. Very sad, yet a love we all wish we could find. I couldn't put it down.

L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz is a necessary books for fans of Oz. Katharine M. Rogers provides a clear, balanced examination of the details of his life and includes analysis, and relates it to his life, of his writings, both Oz and other. The most important aspect of this book are the sections describing his other (often) successful series for children, such as Aunt Jane's Niece, which are little known today. The weakness of the book is the fact that outside of his writing, Baum's life is not particularly exciting. It seems very pleasant and homey and I could not be happier for him, but it does not always make for thrilling reading. Still, Baum fans will be delighted to have his entire story told so compentently with the added bonus of the author's informative analysis.

Katherine Rogers, like myself and thousands of others, is a fan of L. Frank Baum and his books about Oz. She is also a scholar and has written a truly detailed and well-documented biography of this interesting and influential man. It is a valuable addition to the body of literature, both fiction and nonfiction, about Oz.

For those who have never read an Oz book, this is still an important book. L. Frank Baum was an intriguingly different man for his times and reading about his life gives wonderful insight into America of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His feminism and respect for children and animals become some of the endearing features of his fiction and what make his Oz series classics of American literature.

He married Maud Gage, the daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the leading women suffragists. So the information that Katherine Rogers provides on his relationship to his mother-in-law and his home life with Maud is invaluable to students of the women's movement. Gage's own 1893 book, WOMAN, CHURCH AND STATE, has just been brought back into print by Humanity Books in their Classics In Women's Studies series. Her belief that christianity and the Western state are the very basis of the oppression of women, which is detailed in this work, was radical at the time. Her own spirituality found a home in Theosophy which became the religious practice of Baum and was influential in his writings.

Baum took his family to the Dakota territory where three of Maud's siblings had settled. The book's account of their life on the northern prairie will be of interest to those who study the history of 19th century Dakota. As first a merchant and then a newspaperman, Baum's views on life in the Dakotas are well represented. It is in this section where we first encounter Baum's racism. He wrote an editorial where he called the native Americans "a pack of whining curs" who should be totally exterminated [p.259]. Rogers doesn't develop this aspect of his personality very deeply saying that for Baum these were "thoughtless lapses, in which Baum unthinkingly went along with contemporary attitudes [p.272]." Her treatment of his racism is confined to the Notes at the end of the book.

For those who are avid readers of Baum's fiction, the book is a wealth of information. Each of his novels are analyzed and related to the events in his life. When possible drafts are compared with completed works to gain insight into Baum's creative process. His relationships with his illustrators W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill are described. The close relationship he had with Denslow is contrasted by the distance he maintained with John R. Neill. His dispute with Denslow, who illustrated The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, over the ownership of the characters may have contributed to his reluctance to know Neill better. Baum and Neill only met once. He relating to Neill mostly through the publisher, which accounts for some of the mistakes that exist between Baum's descriptions and Neill's pictures.

The book contains 35 pages of Notes, many of them long and detailed additions to the text. A six page listing of Baum's published works will be a joy to collectors. The 13-page index makes it easy to find any details quickly in the text. This is a wonderful work with a positive perspective on Baum, his writings, and the time in which he lived.

When I was little, Oz lust made a thief of me. My grandfather ordered a dozen books in the series at a time, doling them out to me on birthdays or when I had tonsillitis. I found out in which cabinet he hid them and temptation took control of me. Although I was caught practically in the act, I went unpunished. Who can spank a child for wanting to read?

There were a total of 40 Oz books on my shelf (only the first third --- THE WIZARD OF OZ (1900) and 13 others --- by L. Frank Baum) and an Emerald City built of green glass and construction paper in our basement. Oz was a world intensely real to me; the boundary between its wonders and ordinary existence was noticeably porous. If Dorothy could be blown by a tornado into fairyland, why (to paraphrase the song) couldn't I?

Katharine M. Rogers understands my passion. In L. FRANK BAUM: CREATOR OF OZ, Rogers, an early Oz aficionado herself, combines a scholar's detachment with a child's delight. She is also a revisionist critic, bemoaning the Oz books' exclusion from the haughty scholarly canon of "good" kids' literature. In this book, the first full-length adult treatment of Baum's life (although there is a lengthy biographical essay in the centennial edition of Michael Patrick Hearn's THE ANNOTATED WIZARD OF OZ), Rogers undertakes to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the origins of Baum's imaginative universe and establish his works as genuine classics.

Baum didn't immediately become a full-time writer. For years he was the very model of a self-reliant, entrepreneurial American. He was involved in a number of different businesses, including poultry breeding, china selling and newspaper editing. While none of his enterprises ever really took off, his spirit of adventure, his independence and egalitarianism, his healthy skepticism and persistent optimism are all reflected in the characters he created and the land they inhabit. The novelist and critic Alison Lurie once called Oz "an idealized version of America in 1900, happily isolated from the rest of the world, underpopulated and largely rural, with an expanding magic technology and what appears to be unlimited natural resources." Rogers develops this idea further, offering some splendid insights into Baum's pastoral vision, individualistic values and ambivalent relationship to science and technology (which, in his books, are closely identified with magic) --- marvelous in their power, but dangerous if misused.

Baum was also very American in his industry and ambition. However, in marked contrast to our sequel-crazed age, he did not originally think of THE WIZARD as the first in a series. For some time he continued to invent new fairylands; when none of them really caught on, he finally resigned himself to a yearly Oz book (a pattern that would continue until his death in 1919). He also wrote adult novels, plays and non-fantasy series for children under pseudonyms like Edith Van Dyne and Laura Bancroft.

The female pen names are not as incongruous as they might seem. Rogers, whose field is women's studies, is particularly enlightening about Baum's feminism: his wife, Maud, was the daughter of a major figure in the fight for women's right to vote. She, not Frank, was the disciplinarian and financial manager in the family, an arrangement that seems to have suited them both. Oz itself verges on the matriarchal --- girls are the heroes of ten of the fourteen books and they are brave, strong, honest, practical and unpretentious. There are no frogs being transformed into princes here. In the LAND OF OZ, second in the series, Baum turns the gender tables on traditional fairytale magic when the boy protagonist, Tip, turns out to be the lost princess, Ozma.

Because Rogers' biography is a pioneering effort, it can't afford to skimp on any detail of Baum's life --- so there are, inevitably, tedious moments. There is also a great deal of dutiful synopsizing of each volume this very prolific author published, not all of them of equal value or importance. Still, on the whole, Rogers does a fine job of combining biography with an intelligent and balanced literary/social assessment of Baum's work. She doesn't pretend that his writing style is "poetic or beautiful or especially distinctive" (and she rightly criticizes his annoying penchant for dialect), but she is persuasive in her advocacy of his talents: "Baum's greatest gifts were the two most important ones for a writer of fantasy: he could create a wonderful world and he could make it believable." Underpinning this credibility was a vast respect for his audience. "Father never 'wrote down' to children," Baum's son Harry said. "They were his friends and companions and he always treated them as such."

L. FRANK BAUM: CREATOR OF OZ is likely to be sought out principally by those who already love Baum's work. People who know Oz only through the 1939 Judy Garland film will be less enchanted, for Rogers doesn't like the movie very much. Above all, she disparages the idea (entirely absent in the Baum original) that Dorothy's trip to Oz was nothing but a dream. For true believers like Rogers and me, this is nothing short of sacrilege.

--- Reviewed by Kathy Weissman

This book was a good book for me as a person who needed the basic ideas to get started. I started looking at starting my business many years ago, but could not at that time. It seems to me things have changed some, and you must go with changes from the research I have done. This book gave me the basic knowledge I need, to go in the direction I want my business to go. It gave me what to do and what not to do. Although I notice that there are a few more books around then when I started, this is the one I wanted and it has definitely put me on the right track.

Be wary of all those 5 star books that pop up, ask around like I did. This book gave me what I needed to get started, business basics and concierge basics. This industry has changed from when I started, so I need basic ideas and then I can be creative with my business plan. I gave this book 4 stars because it is a good book with good ideas and directions, plus I am always wary of any 5 star book!!!! This is an honest account of my thoughts, good book means 4 stars. These days everyone has a 5 start book!!

I order my book and got it quickly. I started to jump into it immediately. Although it started with business basics, I got a few ideas I did not think about. But what I really wanted was a book to get me started with my concierge business venture and this gave me a start. Now I know that I would not get everything I need, but it definitely pointed me in the right direction. I did not think I was buying a franchise for the price of the book. What it did for me was save me time in doing additional research, which is all I ever want from a book of this type.
I am looking to build a large company, which will take time, this basic primer was what I needed. I have been in business before on my own, but I need the basic start for concierge business and the Concierge Manual gave me just what I needed to move me in the right direction. If you are looking for a franchise type of book, then this may not be it. But if you want a book that gives direction and help with your start up, this book is one that you may want to purchase. It is working for me!!!!

If you need a book to get you started, with simple directions, that does not talk at you, but guides you down a path to starting your own business as a concierge. This book will do just that! The information will provided you with a starting point and then direct you in the many way you can run your business and not have to make mistakes. This book will take you through all that you need to get started and then some.

If you are just out of College, get this book otherwise forget it! Executive level positions need much more sophisticated book to be successful.

Everything in here is good for the college grad. If you've done any networking before then you are past this book.

At age 24, with a degree in Finance and International Business and one year working for a major accounting firm in London, I came to Los Angeles with dreams of landing a financial position in the entertainment industry. Smart enough to know that THE FRONT DOOR was being used by everyone, I invested a couple grand with a career coaching firm that taught me how to get in THE BACK DOOR. Within a couple months, I met with 7 CFOs of the top studios and landed a job with MGM/UA. TOO BAD I didn't have Katharine Hansen's "A Foot In The Door" then!

Now, as a 15-year recruiting veteran, career coach, and careers author, I teach this backdoor method myself. For both beginners in the job market, or beginners to the idea of informational interviewing and backdoor job search (which many of my 40-50 year-old clients are), this is a great career manual. Katharine walks the uninitiated through the entire philosophy, psychology, and practical steps of non-lemming job finding--doing it differently. Since 80% of all jobs are filled BEFORE being advertised, the technique of tapping the "hidden job market" as Katharine describes is crucial to long-term career management. Plus, experts say we are moving away from the traditional "permanent job," so knowledge of formalized networking will be a REQUIRED SKILL in tomorrow's economy.

I did well in college because 4 months earlier I found a little book called "How to Make Straight A's in College by Beating the System". "A Foot In The Door" is the same type of book to read after college and before any career change...because this is about beating the job search system.

Thanks for spelling it all out Katharine!