This book is beautifully illustrated, however it is RUINED by the fact that the wombat at the end calls his Mum "Mom" (it would get 5 stars otherwise, the Wombat is my favourite "native"). If you're going to write a book on an Australian native mammal, at least give it a sense of authenticity and an Australian "accent". I picked it up at a local bookshop and almost flung it out of my hands when I saw that.

This is a sweet and simple story of a young Wombat searching for his mother. I read this book to my 5 and 7 year old girls. They enjoyed learning about the different Australian animals Wombat meets on his journey. The beautiful illustrations of Australian animals and the outback seem illuminated by a dusk glow of the sun - they make this book a treasure. They were intriguing to my girls. They made the world of the Australian outback seem lifelike and exciting. What a fun way for children to learn a little more about another part of the world.

Sometimes you come across an autobiographical novel that's as fresh as spring rain. Other times you get this kind of hackneyed story lacking any kind of insight or wit. In short: a boring and useless novel.

I loved this book for two reasons. 1. It shows what beats in the heart of every real football fan, without resorting to sentimentality or gratuitious violence. And it did while making me laugh - Nick Plumage ( the Man United Poet ) is one of the great walk-on characters of 90's literature, the handicap football match scene made me piss myself, and the protagonist Tommy is such a conceited bastard you have to love him. Fat Paul, Father Kellly, Mrs O and Melissa are all good characters who have nothing to do with football. 2. It's not just about football and lads' stuff, it's about reaching your thirties and wondering what's next? When your past haunts you because it's suddenly out of fashion, and when your hobby ( in this case refereeing ) becomes bigger than your career, where do you stand? Another thing haunting Tommy and Melissa seems to be the kids they haven't committed to having yet. At 350 pages it looks long but the style is always light and there's always a laugh around the corner to keep you going. Also a good book if you think London is overrated and full of softy southerners.

Easily one of the best football novels around. A book that contains some classic moments of humour (mainly the non-PC ones). Realistic knowledge of actual locations, people's behaviour and what they really think. Highly reccomended just for the disabled football match, Nick Plumage and the marking of the infants' books at the end. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title

In 1971 when this book was written, the Foundation For The Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture in New York City put out four formal reviews on Stephen Birmingham's book. The reviews were by people from the academic community WITHIN the very community he wrote about.

One of the reviews was the Rabbi of the very congregation the book is based on "Marc Angel". He wrote: "Birmingham is so eager to show that the "Grandees" are aloof and snobby, that he ignores reality. He interprets things as he wants them to be, not as they are." Rabbi Angel also wrote: "His book is plagued with factual inaccuracies and poor historical perspectives. Unfortunately, many Jews and non-Jews are reading the book and are having their opinions molded by it because they know little or nothing about Sephardim."

The well-respected Sephardic scholar David N. Barocas wrote of the Grandees: "To rely on hearsay information, or to select at random passages from books and then try to weave them into the fabric of one's text or report constitutes in the final analysis a combination of misstatements, incomplete truths and factual omissions tending to present a perverted opinion of an innocent people."

There are many good books out there which are acurate, unfortunatly this is not one of them. It was written by an outsider of the community. It is biased, and does give a good example of the Sephardic community.

Since my father died when I was ten years old, I tried to find out from where his ancestors, my ancestors come from. He never talked about it because in our home country Cuba religion is not allowed at all. My mother always told me my father was a "judio ateo" that in Cuba means a person who does not believe in any religion or a Jew and never let her baptize me when it was still allowed. My father's brother, a man who fought with Castro for the revolution and mysteriously one day for disagreement with the government came home mentally crazy used to tell me that their ancestors come from the Jews of Spain, but I never believed him for his mental condition. When I came to the United State of America I started to read to find out exactly what would be my father's background. A friend of mine called Leonard; a Jewish man from New York City gave me a book title "The Grandees" by Stephen Birmingham as a present to learn more about my heritage. I found this book the best one I have ever read, it explains clearly how the Sephardim Jews lived and suffered the discrimination in Spain, how they helped the Moors to conquer the country hoping a better life and how they had to suffer the barbarian inquisition and the demoralized conversion to Christianity. This book tells how the first Sephardim Jews came to North America escaping from the inquisition created by the Catholic Church and demanded by queen Elizabeth and her husband Ferdinand. Also how they gained a good reputation in the American society in this country contributing to the independence of the United States of America lending money to George Washington to support his soldiers and later on to the country economy. After reading this fascinate book, I could contact my father's brother in Cuba the only one remaining and tell him I am sorry for not believing him and now I know part our background thanks to a book read recently.

Rodolfo Carbonell

In 1971 when Birmingham (who is not Jewish himself) released this book, the Foundation For The Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture in New York City put out four formal reviews on Stephen Birmingham's book. The reviews were by people from the academic community WITHIN the very community he wrote about.

The Foundation For The Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture wrote: "...Mr. Birmingham addressed a gathering on October 10th, 1968 at Shearith Israel [the very congregation he writes about in his book], Mr. Louis N. Levy, the president of the Foundation, asked Mr. Birmingham whether he proposed to write on the Balkan Sephardim. For some reason the audience burst into laughter and the answer was not heard."

One of the reviews was the Rabbi of the very congregation the book is based on "Marc Angel". He wrote: "Birmingham is so eager to show that the "Grandees" are aloof and snobby, that he ignores reality. He interprets things as he wants them to be, not as they are." Rabbi Angel also wrote: "His book is plagued with factual inaccuracies and poor historical perspectives. Unfortunately, many Jews and non-Jews are reading the book and are having their opinions molded by it because they know little or nothing about Sephardim."

The well-respected Sephardic scholar David N. Barocas wrote of the Grandees: "To rely on hearsay information, or to select at random passages from books and then try to weave them into the fabric of one's text or report constitutes in the final analysis a combination of misstatements, incomplete truths and factual omissions tending to present a perverted opinion of an innocent people."

There are many good books out there which are acurate, unfortunatly this is not one of them. It was written by an outsider of the community. It is biased, and does give a good example of the Sephardic community.

This book does what good histories should do, open up doors to inaccessible places. Well written and incisive, it tracks a part of our history not well known. Especially fascinating were the accounts of how the first 44 came to America, and the story of the Civil War admiral. I'll read more of his books.

I picked up "The Golden Dream" mainly for two reasons. It was published in 1978, and I was curious as to how much change had occurred in the suburbs in the last 25 years. The second reason was the author. I had read "Our Crowd" and "Real Lace" that studied respectively the Jewish and Irish upper class, and thought both books were interesting, lively and well researched.

"The Golden Dream" is best described as superficial. It takes a swing through the United States usually touching on one aspect or family of the suburb mentioned (all of them very high dollar). It reads like a loosely collected series of magazine articles long on anecdotes and short on depth. River Oaks (Houston) is a send up on the vulgarity of the natives. Scottsdale (Phoenix) is well-scrubbed Barry Goldwater country and Salt Lake City is Mormon Town. I had the impression Mr. Birmingham had spent, at most, ten minutes west of the Mississippi River. He does marginally better in the central states, but home is the Northeast.

If I were a resident of any of these communities, I would be upset at the narrow focus of attention and probably wonder if he had ever actually set foot in the town he was writing about. However, "Golden Dream" is for the most part good-natured. You don't learn anything new, but he has a few good anecdotes. It is a little light for the beach, maybe a good bus read.
2-1/2 stars.
-sweetmolly-Amazon

This book was not exactly what I thought it would be! I read that it was classified as a "southern" novel and I knew the author was southern so I expected more of the same in the guise of southern humorous light fiction. What a surprise. The book was probably twice as long as it should have been, I often tired of reading the same scenerios over and over. But I did love the end of the story...especially since it was a surprise ending. I also felt that I learned a great deal about the Vietnamese people and the horrific details of their relocation in America. I have a different appreciation for all they have endured.

Do not recommend buying, black and white old, old pictures, unless you feel like taking out a chain saw (or axe) and using antique tools to build one, forget this book.

... I have been building regular frame construction houses and wanted to try something new by building some log homes in the mountains of Colorado where I live. I bought about every book that Amazon had to offer on log home construction. I was excited to get my copy of "Complete Guide to Building Log Homes" as it seemed to be the "bible" I was looking for. I was extremely disappointed. First off the book was printed in 1990 and the material used is 10-15 years out of date with today's construction methods. Even the pictures look like they are from the 1960's. There was even a picture where he tells you how to hand mortice an end joint and he is building a home with bark still on the logs !!!! That just isn't how things are done today. No mention of tongue and groove joints, prefinished and pre cut packages, D-cut logs, etc. He is out of date with todays construction. This book is a waste of money when there are books ... on building log homes that are written less than a year ago. Save your money. I sent mine back !!!!

This how-to guide covers the entire log home building process, from land planning through the time you enjoy the warmth of your new fireplace

After reading a number of the previous Amazon.com book reviews of Mr. Birmingham's "Concise History of Portugal", I suppose I should hold back giving this book a better rating than 4. Frankly, I thought it was a very readable history, unlike the rest of the books in Cambridge's "Concise History" series -- but even though the previous reviewers weren't quite on the mark, I have to give them some credit.

First of all, I don't know much about Portugal, so I'm not in a position to judge the accuracy of Birmingham's book. Yet I didn't notice anything blatantly absurd, which is what everybody else seems to think, and it strikes me as odd that such a well-known scholar on Portuguese and Portuguese Imperial history as David Birmingham should suddenly turn out a piece of complete junk, which is what the reviewers below claim. I wish they had pointed out what his mistakes actually were. And as for the one reviewer's assertion that Birmingham insults the Portuguese, I don't know what he's talking about, nor why Birmingham would have wanted to insult them. The author often criticized the brutality of Portugal's war in Angola, but I don't think that's a reason to lay into him.

The major fault of the book is that it's just too short. Even though it's advertised as a "concise history", I felt like Birmingham just didn't write enough. How can anybody cover 2,000 years of Portuguese history in 192 pages? If Birmingham had added even a hundred pages more, it would have made this book a lot better and still not too long. Maybe we should blame his editors.

Other gripes: Birmingham should have written more about Portuguese culture, such as literature, art, and music. His "Concise History" is not just a political history, and he manages to tie in some interesting sections on social and economic history, but the book leans heavily toward politics.

Anticipating a trip to Portugal, I picked up this book to prepare myself figuring this would give me a bit of background on the country.

First, I was suprised with the things I learned of its governmental and social history. It is not the typical western European country, but nonetheless has held its own. I did not realize that Britain played such a big role.

Although I learned a bit about the government and economy (and through this, a little about the population), I did not see much about the humanities and arts. The author does mention that as the country was getting gold from its colonies, it built some beautiful buildings. Nothing else was covered. I would like to know more about the arts, and this book does not give that.

The book is also not the quickest read. Given that it is a history, I would like things to be in chronological order. Birmingham will follow some actions a few decades forward to show the outcome, but then jump back to where he was without comment. This makes the flow a little distracting. I found myself jumping back a few pages to try to follow the narrative. Not the easiest of tasks.

If you know nothing about Portugal, this book will give you a brief glimpse which will get you on the right path to understanding Portugal, but it by no means gives you the most authoritative or the most readable history.

David Birmingham does a pretty good job of sharing a CONCISE history. Maybe more detail should be given to the history of Portugal before 1700 CE. If you are looking for a reasonably quick overview, then this an excellent starting point. If you are looking for greater detail, you are going to need more than this publication supplies you.

After waiting for several months, I finally received my first book in Instant Speed Writing. I was very shock for such poor content and quality (paper cover and poor quality). There are 10 rules for speed writing, however, some of the rules are only talking about the paper and pen, it is actually useless to me. I was very upset and no more next time.

Amazon should find a better way of reviewing books before offering them to the public. Instant Speed Writng book has a very poor content and quality.

I decided to give a try to Instant Speed Writing. I received 8 1/2" x 11 Xerox material sloppily copied without the front and back covers. Pages 1, 6, 23, 29, 30 were half-filled and pages 4, 11, 16, 27, 28 had only 5 or 6 lines of text, the rest of the pages was blank. More importantly, I have not found a sensible approach to write words in an abbreviated form. The book has some "shortcuts" for abbreviating a few words which are not easy to memorize. If you decrease the letter size the book will probably reduce to 10 pages. Unprofessionally done and deceptive title description. I read a comment "absolutely excellent" by reader from Texas and it's beyond me how anybody could say that about this book. I have returned the "book" for a refund.

The website does not show the details of the book . And it does not tell you that the book is just only for kids! The pictures are old fashion, not interesting. If you are looking for a making cards book, you should try the book that shows the details of book.
I disappointed about this book very very much.