This book is wonderful...my baby girl was 1 month old when we got it and she just loved it, other books and pictures lost her interest very quickly . We were amazed at how long she would gaze at the pictures and that she actually had favorites! She is now 4 months old and it is still her favorite. The Puppy and kitty pages make her smile. I recommend this book for any baby. I like this book so much i just bought 2 more copies to give as baby shower gifts!

My daughter is 10 months old and has been in love with this book since we first showed it to her pretty much since she was born. She loves to turn the pages herself and loves when we make the sounds to go along with each animal. Now she is trying to make the sounds herself. Out of a pile of many books this is always the one she grabs for her night time reading session. Highly recommended!

Our Church, Gethsemane Presbyterian Church, began several small group bible study programs and our Young Adult Bible Study Fellowship Group has decided to use this book as our study guide. The most convincing arguement to select this guide was the fact that our group contained several very knowledgeable people and several individuals that were either new to Christianity or new to our church. We decided that this guide would allow us all to have at least the same foundation to build upon in the future. What is even more exciting is that the more knowledgeable ones are learning a great deal as well. We are all in love with the book and the supplementary instructional guide that goes with the study. This is a must if you plan to lead a bible study group using this book. The "instructor's guide" offers additional information on the topics and suggests further study options. We have been very pleased with this Bible Study Guide.

I began the Baby Boomer Bible study with virtually no knowledge of the Bible. The maps, tables, and diagrams included in the book enabled me to quickly gain a grasp of basic Biblical facts. This has fast-forwarded my understanding of God's word. Complicated material became much clearer and easier to learn through the flow charts and other study aids, such as the "Theologically Speaking" areas that help provide an understanding of the theological aspects of The Bible. The Baby Boomer Bible Study has had a profound influence on my life. I am no longer intimidated by the Bible. Something surprising has happened as I study God`s word. He has come into my heart! Steve M. Lupe

I'm not a ballerina--I am one of those who took a few years of dance and never had the drive or desire to work at it--but I love this book!

White shows that she had to work to achieve her dream, that she sometimes made mistakes, that it helped to have suport of other people but that ultimately it was up to HER.

Wonderful!

This book, although short and recommended for ages 4-8, is inspiring for ages 4-104 (lol). It's great to read when you're discouraged about anything (not just ballet), because it motivates you to get your butt out there and try again! Now on a personal note...Diana is my teacher and has inspired me time after time to work even harder than I thought possible. Get the book and keep it around for when you're down, because it'll help you through almost anything!

Seeing the Dark Knight in black and white is what made me give this book 5 stars. The black and white artwork was awesome! I must admitt that the short stories were just average, however the artwork saved the short medicore stories.

Well worth the discounted price I paid for it from Bud Plant Comic Art. A solid 5 star read.

This hardcover collects the excellent 4-issue miniseries from DC Comics. Contains short stories (some serious, some not) by some of the best writers and artists around, plus covers, sketches, gallery, tipped-in plate by Jim Steranko, and a cover image by Jeff Jones. The covers are on art board stock, giving it a very unique appearance. Also includes work by Corben, Simonson, McKeever, Timm, Kristiansen, Toth, Windsor-Smith, Ross, Stelfreeze... that should be enough to get your attention! The only problem I had with it was the brief appearance of Lobo in the Gaiman/Bisley story - can't stand that character.

A collection of fascinating personal stories of individual and collection action against injustice! This book dispels myths that give central location to the Stonewall rebellion, showing instead a much more complex history of activism for gay and lesbian rights. Although the biographies are uneven (some are too short, and some are written by their subjects' partners, hence too celebratory), most of these approximately forty biographies show the successes and charms, foibles and failures of a remarkable group of people -- gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, transgendered, non-transgendered -- who all made a tremendous difference in the quality of life possible for gays and lesbians in the United States today.

Launched a half-century ago, the American gay and lesbian rights movement has achieved a remarkable success. Its influence has spread throughout the world, contributing enormously to the happiness, productivity, and self-esteem of homosexual citizens elsewhere. For the most part, those who launched this wonderful development in the 1950s did not realize, or did not record, the essence of their achievement. They were too busy doing their work. Now, under the guidance of Vern Bullough, a major scholar in the field, it has been written down. In biographies of some forty individuals, many fascinating in their own right, the story is told. It is as if one received a whole raft of biographies in one volume! This book must be seen and read in order to understand its remarkable contribution, a contribution that is significant for all of us.

I found this book to be incredibly informative and very well written. It gives the reader a simple, yet complete introduction to these beautiful creatures. I first became facinated with the Beluga whales when I saw the ones at Sea World in Orlando a few years ago. This book by Tony Martin allowed me to learn more about them. Mr. Martin has been studying the Beluga whales for over 17 years, and gives the reader a wonderful descriptive summary complete with the whales pattern of life, evolution and unique characteristics. This book is also has a collection of remarkable photographs that allow you to get a complete understanding of these animals. This is a book anyone will enjoy.

It's Great, I had to do a report and it gave me all the information I needed, I did'nt read it because I had to do this Report, It was fun to read.

"Beluga: A Farewell to Whales" is definitely one book I wish the title for was not so apt. In this work Pierre Beland does an amazing job in bringing to life a remarkable animal, the beluga whale, and in particular one population of this species, those that inhabit the immense St. Lawrence estuary in Canada. He also brings to life in a sad and sometimes sickening way the plight facing these animals, cetaceans that even though legally protected in the St. Lawrence since 1979 do not seem to be showing any signs of signifcant population increase.

Beland's book in part reads like the current popular medical and forensic autopsy shows, as the author, a dedicated and highly trained biologist, seeks to determine what is killing the whales of the St. Lawrence. Ready at a moment's notice - even on holidays, the dead of winter, or in the middle of the night - to retrieve whale corpses found ashore or adrift, Beland and his colleagues probe each whale carcass for the secrets of its life and its death. With dedication and skill worthy of a criminal forensic team they uncover the truth of each whale's demise, which are often untimely as young whales or even newborns are almost as common in his lab as much more mature adults.

What Beland finds is chilling. The whales appear to be dying from pollution, a case he boldy and definitely makes in this book. Examintion of the tissues from the deceased whales reveal staggering amounts of industrial and agricultural chemcials, including polychlorobiphenyls or PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, mirex, chloradane, and more. Even though some of these chemicals haven't been used in the region for decades, their use banned, they continue to wash into the St. Lawrence, a vast river system that drains almost the whole of the Great Lakes region. Beland writes that beluga whale milk in the estuary has been found to contain as much as ten parts per million of PCBs and six parts per million of DDT; a lot considering fish containing fives times fewer PCBs are considered unfit for human consumption. Ships carrying waste with more than fifty milligrams of PCBs per kilogram (or fifty parts per million) require a special transit permit; sadly, the average male beluga roaming these waters already has that concentration of PCBs in his blubber by age nine. Without suprise, this massive concentration of pollution within the whale's bodies has lead to a host of ailments. St. Lawrence belugas boast the dubious honor of the highest incidence of cancer in any marine mammal, perhaps even a higher rate than that found in man. Beland discusses not only the cancer but also the other health problems that are affecting this population of whale's very survival.

Beland clearly is in love with the beluga, a beautiful white whale that he writes wears that "peculiar beluga smile," a feature that gives the species "the look of an enigmatic wise man or, rather, of a happy imbelice." Remarkable animals, the author spends a great deal of time discusses the biology and behavior of belugas, particularly in a very concise and fact-filled appendix. Among the most vocal of all whale species, their repertoire is more varied than that of dolphins and extremely complex. Highly social creatures, they may surpass dolphins in their potential for social communication. They also according to Beland clearly surpass dolphins in terms of their echolocation capability; in fact this ability is so sophisticated that the belugas have been held for many years by both the United States and the former Soviet Union for studies to aid in the development of sonar technology. Beland discusses this at some length, including the remarkable story of a beluga that escaped from such a facility in the Ukraine and ended up in of all places the Turkish coast, very far indeed from the species usual haunts.

The book is also valuable for its history of the interaction between the beluga whales and the people of the St. Lawrence. Hunted for centuries - from the days of the earliest European settlers and by native peoples before that - Beland discusses the use of weir fisheries to trap whales and of the odd, bizarre, and cruel war fought against the beluga between 1928 and 1939 which even involved bombing the poor whales from the air! Also discussed is the history of the beluga in captivity, covering everything from the early futile attempts involving the likes of P.T. Barnum to today's more sophisiticated modern oceanairums, which although Beland has some misgivings about them, may play a vital role in trying to save the species.

Finally the book is a good one to get for those interested in the St. Lawrence estuary itself, an impressive body of water and ecosystem in its own right. As much a sea as a river, the St. Lawrence flows downstream only half the time, it main current reversed every six hours by the tide in a never ending war between the light brown river waters flowing from the Great Lakes and the green salt water alive with seaweed and all matter of marine animals. Home to a variety of seabirds, fishes, crustaceans, molluscs, and four species of seals - many of which are more charaterstic of arctic climates and are not found as far south anywhere else in the world - even without belugas the river and its life are remarkable and need protection.

A charming, heartfelt book concerning a species not often written about. The sad toll the animal's own environment takes on it's health, and the dawning inevitability of the whale population's demise is shocking. The novel made me not only want to find out more, but it woke me up and made me want desperately to help.

It is amazing how much valuable information the author has packed into this short 64pp volume. And the pictures, many of which have not appeared elsewhere in the hagiography of Bill Wilson, make this volume one of a kind. Although the publisher indicates that it is directed to the Ala-Teen and Ala-Tot audiences, those 10 to 14, this 71+ multi-diagnosed addict and alcoholic recommends it to those with the diseases of addiction and alcoholism, as well as those surrounding we chosen ones. ["I am grateful that God chose me to be an alcoholic and an addict."]

I was particularly gratified when the author correctly states how the name "Alcoholics Anonymous" came to be identified with Bill W.'s organization; e.g. Cleveland, the "Brewmaster", adopted the name from the book, and the larger organization took the name from Cleveland. White also gives Bill's drinking buddy and sponsor, Ebby Thatcher, proper credit for Bill's last drink. White also points out that Bob Smith did not recover on-the-spot from talking with Bill Wilson, but instead went directly to a bender.

White does shy away from diagnosing Bill's bi-polar disorder, but does not omit the symptoms.

This reader hopes that the author will turn his eye, and add succinct biographies of Mrs. Marty Mann and Lois Wilson to what promises to be a most worthwhile series. [Mann, who like Clarence Snyder eschewed anonymity, was responsible for more persons coming to AA than the Saturday Evening Post article.]

I will use this volume in the future with my more recalcitrant pigeons.

Even if you have never struggled with addiction you most likely owe a debt to the subject of BILL W: A DIFFERENT KIND OF HERO. You most likely have a friend or relative who has attended "Alcoholics Anonymous" or one of its sister groups. These groups have become a part of the very fabric of our culture and contributed to creating a atmosphere more open to talking about addictions and disorders. One would think that due to his huge contribution to the self-awareness and recovery movement, more would be known of Bill Wilson. But his obscurity is testimony to his success, as 11th Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous reads: "we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

I am not an alcoholic and never have been. But my grandfather was, and his disorder had a long lasting effect on my life and family. I have attended sister groups such as Al-Anon and Codependents Anonymous as part of my recovery from the effects of his drinking. I also attended a few AA meetings as part of my educational development. I had always wanted to learn more about the founder of this family of recovery, and how ironic that I would have to turn to a book intended for children and high school students to do that. But I am glad I did. BILL W: A DIFFERENT KIND OF HERO is a very informative and charming book. Many pictures are provided (about one picture every other page), and the text is delivered in a very down-to-earth and enjoyable fashion.

Martha McNeil Hamilton and Warren Brown built a friendship over more than twenty years of working together at The Washington Post. What is remarkable about their story is not that they are friends in spite of race (Hamilton is white, Brown is black), but that they have shared a life and death journey.

In November 2001, Hamilton gave Brown one of her kidneys and her generous act saved his life and made their friendship more than just a collegial bond. Brown's kidney transplant and how he and Hamilton came to their decisions is the central story of BLACK & WHITE & RED ALL OVER. Yet this memoir of their friendship accomplishes much more.

Both journalists are members of the baby boom generation born in the Jim Crow South. As they write, "We came to the Post in the middle of a revolution." In writing about their individual lives they provide a personal view of segregation, integration, women's integration into the workforce and even AIDS. Though the focus is clearly on their growing friendship and the transplant, these personal vignettes bring the book to life. And as the nation reconsiders policies such as affirmative action, Hamilton and Brown make it clear that they got in the door with such considerations and they stand behind the idea. They are also honest about why management can sometimes fail in carrying out the idea and therefore sour others on its promise: "The management [at the Post] had been so good at discriminating against blacks and women that at first it had a hard time discriminating amongst them."

Other tales, like that of Hamilton's post-divorce depression and Brown's concerns about his son, are more touching than historic. These moments ease the reading and provide buffers to the more complex information about kidney disease, renal failure and the dangerous miracle of organ transplants.

This friendship memoir also raises questions about how we view such bonds. When does the person you've worked with for years become a true friend? And as we spend more and more time at work, whether it's real time or time via email, cell phones and PDA devices, how do we successfully integrate work and family? For Hamilton and Brown, work and family have nearly become one, which created a broad network of support as the two readied for the transplant surgery.

It's unfortunate that a story about friends of different races sharing in this way is still extraordinary. Hopefully Hamilton and Brown are evidence of the existence of more cross-racial and cross-cultural friendships. Otherwise, what kind of revolution was it after all?

--- Reviewed by Bernadette Adams Davis

This is a terrific book....full of inspiration, love, hope....it describes a real, true and enduring friendship...between two unlikely people and how far one friend was willing to go to save the other. But, in the end, the book is about much more than friendship, its about how far we have come as a collective society--without some of the social progress of the last forty years or so, one man's life (and perhaps many more) might have been cut short; as a result of his friendship with a woman from a distinctly different background, he received an organ that has aided in extending his life a bit longer.

Both authors are dynamic, interesting people and the writing style is very accessible.

There is something for everyone in this book, whether you like biography, are interested in race relations, organ transplant, friendship, journalists, civil rights/affirmative action....whether you're a writer, a doctor, or just a friend....this is a book that I believe a lot of different people will treasure.

This is THE coffee table book for blues lovers. The quality of the photographs is unsurpassed. Norberg sure caught some wonderful moments.

For 12 years, Marc poured his soul into this effort -- creating B&W portraits of the just-surviving and just-arriving blues greats. His objective was to support Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation, which, at the time, had the objective of supporting blues musicians who had not received their due, even though they had paid their dues. Yes, I'm biased toward my bro', but who can blame me? These photographs are stunning.