I read this book on the recommendation of a friend and I must say that I absolutely loved the book. My mother grew up in the hills of Appalachia and the book brought back memories and stories my mother used to tell. Ms. Rice's abilities and stories are fascinating. I now recommend the book to others.

Janet's book has two parts. First she remembers growing up in the hills. Several interesting stories and lessons. She has me smelling the air for rain and cucumbers. Her journey to a fortune teller I found very interesting. I am someone who would love to have her talents but I never knew the work she put into it. What determination!!

Second part has some very, very interesting stories about clients she has had over the years. They are stories that make you gasp, cry and laugh out loud.

Janet's book was very well written and easy to read. I was pleasantly surprised and entertained.

Janet lovingly describes her years of growing up in a small town environment. Her family roots gave the basis for her book. I could identify with a lot of the "superstitions" as I also heard them when I was growing up. The book flows very well and Janet did an excellent job in pulling it all together......Good Job!!

This series has always been as much about political commentary as it has Remo and Chuin's extraordinary powers. I am glad this author has decided to bring back the satirical aspect of the series. After 115 books, it's difficult to image these stories remaining so entertaining just by sticking to the superhero storyline. This episode had a particularly funny encounter between Smith (the hero's boss) and the Womanizer In Chief. I recommend this book to anyone who has previously read this series, but has drifted away. It is also good for those of you who say the movie in the 80's and wondered who that guy was supposed to be.

ONCE AGIAN MASTER CHUIN,MASTER REMO YOU HAVE CAPTIVATED AND TRANPORTED ME TO YOUR WORLD OF HUMOR AND HONESTY THAT I FEEL BOTH ENTHRALLED AND DELIGHTED IN TELLING YOU THAT YOUR PERFORMANCE IN THIS WORK JUST "MAKES MY DAY".

I have been reading this selection since early 70's. A change in creators has changed the contents of the books every little, still a excellent adventure in reading.....

I've been waiting for this book for about 10 years or so... that's how long it's been since Penn & Teller deified Mac in their book "How to Play With Your Food". The title changed slightly (originally, they said to look for "Playing With Your Head"), and in that time, I had the opportunity to see Mac perform on a few "World's greatest magicians" type specials. Thus, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. And for the most part, I was right.

The star rating I used above is an average of ratings... if you've never read a book on goofy tricks like these, add a star. The originality will make you snort beverages through your nose when you think about poking your eyeball out with a fork. Gruesome as it sounds, I've done it before, and it's a great gag. Mac even suggests two different outcomes for you to try, depending on how far you want to string the audience along. The novelty of it all will also make you a little more forgiving for certain tricks like sticking a french fry up your nose (to keep more beverages from coming out, of course).

On the downside, if you have read books like this before, deduct a star. There is enough original material here to make up for gags that seem like old chestnuts, and the writing is entertaining and instructive. Regardless, you'll still feel like you've seen a bunch of this already, and odds are you will have.

These are not only simple kiddie tomfoolery tricks. There are easily 20 stunts/tricks worth the price of the book. They can be incorporated into various situations. The reactions youll get are from shreiks of horror( the eye sreamer) till astounded laughter (eg headless wonder). I performed 90% of the material on my poor wife yesterday. All brought the desired reaction (which even amazed me). The material can be incorporated into all routines, for different ages and even into a professional magicians repertoire. The benign looking booking is packed with show stopper after show stopper. In all there are about 50 tricks, stunts etc. They can win you friends or lose you friends. Use them wisely. Penn and Teller are right about Mac King. In fact this book is too good to be revealed to the general public. I have a huge range of magic books, much more expensive than this, and for sheer reaction (shocked, disgusted, astonished, amused), this matches the very best. OK OK . I am not Mac Kings relative, agent or friend, but a grateful amateur magician.

I was completely surprised at how hilarious this is book is to read. I thought it might simply be a 'how-to' book for learning funny magic tricks, but I read the whole thing through at one sitting just because the writing style is so entertaining. I don't mean to dismiss the tricks, they too are really wonderful. And surprisingly easy to do. My favorites are 'The Headless Wonder' (it looks like your head is gone), 'Smack' (you get to hit your friend in the face only to have them laugh about it), and 'The Wonderful Telephone Trick.' Actually 'The Wondeful Telephone Trick' is the reason I bought this book in the first place. I heard Mac King demonstrate it on a local radio show. I have now bought 3 more copies of this book as gifts for my niece and nephews, and they all loved it (they're 17, 12, and 9 years old). But it's not just for kids (I'm 32 years old myself). If you like fooling your family and friends or just playing goofy practical jokes I think you'll find many great things in this book.

It's summertime and the livin' is easy for Juniper and her two best friends since elementary school, Gena and Anne. It's the perfect time for riding their bikes, staring at boys at the pool and listening to Juniper's New Age music. Then Gena has to go and lose her retainer. She asks her friends to help her find it before her strict father finds out it's gone. Simple enough, right? Especially if you have "special" tools and the talents that allow you use them -- Ouija board, magic bowls of water, tarot cards. These three girls, who have formed their own Fortune Tellers Club to solve just such mysteries, have everything they need. The trio, led by Juniper (whose mother has special powers) asks the Ouija board about the retainer, and is mystified by the answer: p-a-r-k. Gena assures her friends that can't be right. Meanwhile, something else butts into their diviners' circle: The anguished, pale face of a young girl who has gone missing. The summer heats up and the girl won't leave Juniper's head. She knows that something is very wrong, but can't divine what it is. This well-written tale is the first in Texas writer Enderle's Fortune Tellers Club series. Look for book two, Playing With Fire, in March 2002.

This book has very real characters and a great story. Though the story encompasses some super-natural abilities, the story line is very strong and it does not rely on the new age or paranormal aspects to carry it along. It's a real page-turner and kids will eat up and beg for the next one in the series. Dotti Enderle is a superb story teller.

Well written adventure that the whole family can enjoy. I am sure all readers will be caught up in the excitement and suspense. We look forward to the next adventure of The Fortune Tellers Club.

Penn & Teller take their stage personas to the print medium, and it works superbly. Penn is just as loud as ever, and Teller (seen in many of the photos) wears his trademark blank smile.

Most books on magic and ``tricks'' tend to be frustratingly dull, but the lively prose, scrumptious humour and fine photos and illustration make this one a pleasure to read.

This magic book also has the virtue of presenting several tricks that are easy to perform--if you want to learn two or three very funny and fun tricks table gags that require almost zero practice, this is the book to get.

everybody loves humor, everybody loves food, and, well, there are creeps who don't like penn & teller, but this if one of the funniest things i've ever read, i learned every trick in the book and life is neeeeeever boring. the two best parts, in my opinion: teller's bit on the great egg drop and penn's story of a milkshake as self-defense. worth every penny.

Got this book a couple of years ago, and spent a weekend trying NOT to die laughing reading it! Some of the tricks in here were absolutely wonderful. I'll never look at jello molds the same way again!

From the very first page and the very first (of many) readings this beautifully illustrated story had my granddaughter and I laughing, pointing, and noticing all sorts of details in both the story and illustrations. We admired the beautiful clothing worn by the women and children. We imagined how wonderful it would be to visit such a place, and we found a fortune telling ball at a local novelty store to play with. This humorously told, universally appealing story shows us how we tend to look outside ourselves for the good fortunes we really have to create from within, with our own imagination and hard work.

We've travelled 40 miles to the city library several times over the last few years to check this book out. The last time, we had to wait for it to get back from the binders for repairs, and I realized I'd better find my own copy, because it could disappear, and it has become one of my personal "classics" for sharing with children. So I am ordering two; one for ourselves, and one for our little library here in town. (My granddaughter is seven years old now, and delights in reading the Fortune Teller herself, and will no doubt be reading it to her baby sister when she is old enough!) We highly recommend it!

I sell many of the used books I buy at library sales but I won't sell this one. A fun story with beautiful, bright illustrations.

This whimsical tale set in Cameroon is beautifully illustrated and told in such a fashion that children, as well as adults, will smile with delight as the events unfold. As an introduction to the different cultures of Africa, I read this one to my seventh graders and they were enthralled by the "predictions" of the old seer. A book that is perfect for the small set, it also has insight for more mature readers as to how we are so taken in by the allure of the psychic and his/her "revelations."

This is a good 'feel good' book. It's not without good humor, storytelling and charm, done in a entertaining and non-campy way. While the plight of Teller's parents is not unique among Americans who's formative years were spent around the time of the Great Depression, Teller's way of telling the story is. He interweaves his father's original cartoons and letters with his own insights to provide a sum maybe equal to something greater than the parts alone-a nice collaboration.
All the Tellers seem very genuine. Reading this book makes me want to know them more. You get a real sense of Teller's parents and their personalities, I almost feel like I've spent a weekend in their home. They sure seem like good people.

I liked this book and I'll tell you why.

Although fans of Penn and Teller may pause before buying since its not a 'trick' book nor does it serve as a peek behind the curtains/drapes of Teller.

What it does provide however is an emotive trip down memory lane and gives a personal perspective of the time in which the Tellers' lived.
The best I can description I can give is it's a book version of when kids used to bring grandparents to school to talk about the war. It's touched with humour and Tellers obvious affection for his parents.

This is the sort of book that would never get professionally published if it wasn't by a famous person, and that even Teller's fans might hesitate to pick up, as it just seems so WEAK--a book about his parents, c'mon. But those familiar with Teller's excellent literary endeavors from his books with Penn Jillette and the Penn & Teller "Sin City" website will find this just as amusing and deep. And yes, it IS nice to read a contemporary book about a relationship between parent and child that does not involve abuse, murder, incest, disease, death, abandonment, divorce, or political conflagration, just some really neat people who love each other a lot.

Marina Warner's _From the Beast to the Blonde_ is a wonderful and engaging work concerning the cultural history of fairy tales. Warner explores the "stock characters" and stories of traditional tales, and in the process creates an excellent work of scholarship and criticism in an area of literature that has been relegated to the nursery, but didn't start there.

If you love fairy tales and their backgrounds, buy this book. It's worth the read. Warner is an excellent author, and she makes a very good point regarding the role of women in the passing along of fairy tales to the next generation. This is a terrific book on fairy tales, and folklore in general.

Why do people pass on fairy tales from generation to generation? The tales are violent and seem sexist to modern eyes. Warner's book sets the truth about fairy tales into an historical perspective.

This contrasts with Bruno Bettelheim's "The Uses of Enchantment" which suggests that there is an opportunity for psychological exploration within each fairy tale if we identify with the various characters. In other words, there is a wicked stepmother, a forlorn orphan and a powerful prince etc within each of us. I found his ideas enjoyable and useful but I think Warner's historical analysis is more realistic.

She tackles such contentious issues as that of the wicked stepmother, pointing out the complex situation that was created for a woman marrying a widow who already had children. The temptation to treat those children badly in favour of her own children was quite real because of her financial dependence on her new husband. Hence the need for tales that warned against women behaving like that. There is a lot of other fascinating material in the book, such as the development of the image of St Anne (reputed to be Jesus' grandmother) into the image of dear Nan, from which we get the name Nana for grandmothers and for nannies as well. I didn't agree with Warner's analysis of the little mermaid and have posted my own one on the Amazon site for Hans Anderson's Fairy Stories.

Those interested in this kind of book might also like to read A.D. Hope's book " A Midsummer Eve's Dream". It is surprising how few fairies and elves there are in regular fairy stories - a case of art imitating life perhaps! But there are some, and Hope's book helps us to understand how the idea of fairies developed in England. It seems that it was the suppression of gods and goddesses by Christianity that gave rise to miniaturised images of them in the form of fairies. Hope regrets this but, from the number of descriptions he gives of midnight cavorts around fairy mounds, followed by sexual excesses of various sorts, I think the fairies were probably doing a lot to promote sexually transmitted diseases!

A book that I've lost but was invaluable was Catherine Brigges? Bigge? "A Dictionary of Fairies". It told you everything you needed to know about the subject. Should you thank a fairy? Not if you ever wanted to see it again. What is glamor? It's one thing with film stars and another with fairies. Planning a visit to fairy land? It's a more dangerous place than most realise. However if you love to wander in the fairyland of our collective imagination, then consider Warner's book or any of the other books that I've mentioned. They are useful guides to help you find your way around.

Angela Hunt is one of the premier storytellers of our day, never failing to deliver a wonderful read. But her talent shines as never before in THE TRUTH TELLER. Thought-provoking and suspenseful, this book grabbed my interest on page one and didn't let go for an instant.

--Robin Lee Hatcher, author of THE FORGIVING HOUR and WHISPERS FROM YESTERDAY

I don't ordinarily like this kind of book, but The Truth Teller captured me from page one and held me spell bound. Ms Hunt once again exhibits the art of true storytelling in a tale so profound only a writer with Angela's exceptional talent could pull it off. Bravo Angela!

TheTruth Teller is the most fascinating book I've read in a long time, raising many questions about ethics and character. The characters are so well developed that they become real to you. The author masterfully makes a sensational story become very realistic. The world could certainly use more truth tellers. Angela Elwell Hunt has outdone herself. Don't miss this fantastic book!

There is no way that everyone would agree as to what events, or even list of events were the most noteworthy of the 20th Century. I do believe that most would agree that the splitting of the atom, the creation of atomic and then thermonuclear weapons would likely have a place on any list. If the controversy surrounding the use of nuclear power to create electricity for public consumption is added, I think the topic has a place assured on any list.

One person among many who was at the center of these topics, events and developments is Dr. Edward Teller. He stands out from the groups he was involved in for many reasons but two are for his longevity in to his 90s' and the participation in the direction of all the associated research his long life has allowed him, and secondly for the controversy he often found himself at the center of. Another book I read not long ago, "Brotherhood of the Bomb", went in to great detail about the very controversial decision to strip Dr. Robert Oppenheimer of his security clearance and the role that Dr. Teller was said to have played in the security clearance not being renewed. In this book of just over 600 pages a large portion is spent on the issue including many pages of transcripts from the actual hearing when Dr. Teller answered questions with Dr. Oppenheimer present.

I don't believe it is fair to judge from a handful of pages culled from over 1,000 whether Dr. Teller alone was the cause of the non-renewal of the security clearance. My impression from what I read was that it was clear there was a strong group that did not want the clearance continued, and to the extent anything negative was said about Dr. Oppenheimer they were going to make the most of it. Unless the pages that are shared intentionally mislead, Dr. Teller repeatedly stated he did not believe Dr. Oppenheimer would intentionally harm the security of The United States. However, if Dr. Teller believed that stating that Dr. Oppenheimer's actions slowed the development of the Hydrogen Bomb development by several years were not going to greatly harm Dr. Oppenheimer, he was either naïve or calculating then, and or now. Only he knows the answer.

There are many large topics this book deals with but one that fascinated me was the perception of Nuclear Power Generation plants for electrical production for civilian use. Unless the reader knows the answer prior to reading the book they may be surprised by what percentage of electricity is still produced by nuclear plants in the USA today. It does not rival France or Japan, but the numbers are still quite large.

In the end perception will carry the day. On average over 50,000 people die every year in The United States in car accidents. An Iranian airliner crashed yesterday killing 307 people, 400,000+ die annually from tobacco use in the USA annually. However, we continue to drive, fly, and about 50,000,000 continue to smoke.

Are nuclear powered plants 100% safe, they are not and the book does not suggest they have been or that they are. The book does discuss the Three Mile Island accident, the incident in England, and the folly that was Chernobyl. Chernobyl must be in a category of its own for the shear scale of stupidity, negligence and intentional harm that was allowed to take place at that plant. To use the former USSR's conduct with nuclear energy as a measure for the rest of the world is absurd.

Despite decades of knowledge that remaining dependent largely on imported oil is shear negligence the reality remains that we as a nation continue to do so. Events are still fluid but we may have a second war in just over 10 years because an individual that controls a nation in the heart of the planet's current oil supply makes us nervous. All the talk of alternative methods of energy have amounted to meaningless practical change, environmental concerns prohibit the pursuit of much domestic oil, so the question remains, what are we going to do?

There are indeed some hybrid cars on the road and there are some that use natural gas, and there is the latest promise of hydrogen fuelled cars that made for a sound byte at the most recent state of the union address. Taken as a whole, their practical impact is nearly meaningless.

Many may not like Dr. Teller's suggestions, and I too would prefer clean production of the energy we need. But the reality is we will change nothing until there is a massive and permanent impact on our economy and or way of life, and then it will be a prolonged painful transition, as opposed to being serious about the issue now and using all talents available to create reliable, sustainable clean energy sources. This man who is in his 90s' has seen decade after decade go by with no change to our consumption of fossil fuels. Those decades are lost, how many more will be?

I am only 12 years old, but believe me when I say that this is one of the best books I've ever read! I had to do a report on a scientist for school and I chose Edward Teller because I had heard of him from my mother and he sounded interesting. Rather than being just another boring book report, I really did enjoy this book. It gave me a lot of information for my report and was not incredibly hard to read. I decided to do a movie for my report and filmed it as if Teller were writing journal entries. I got a 100++ on my project which is what I would give this book...a 100++!

"Memoirs", by Dr. Edward Teller, is a straight forward telling of the life of one of the twentieth century's foremost physicists. Dr. Teller describes his exodus from his native Hungary to Germany, Denmark, England and finally the United States. He has worked in the company of some of the great physicists of all time, Fermi, Bohr, Von Neumann and others. He was also instrumental in developing the atomic and hydrogen bombs as well as Los Alamos and Lawrence-Livermore national laboratories.

This book is not an apology for his work in atomic energy, weapons or his testimony regarding Oppenheimer. Dr. Teller goes into great detail to describe his thinking and motives in these areas. Having escaped the Nazi's and communists his right of center views on nuclear deterrence and missile defense are well founded. He discusses being ostracized from the scientific community, views on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as well as his political and scientific contributions to among others Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan.

The book is extensively footnoted; Dr. Teller uses his teaching skills to describe to the reader the concepts being discussed in the body of the work. A basic knowledge of the terms used in physics is helpful but not necessary. The book is exceptionally well written and doesn't get "bogged down" in scientific jargon.

"Memoirs" is a fascinating documentary of the birth and development of nuclear energy in both its destructive and constructive forms. Dr. Teller is straight forward but modest about his role and generous in praise of his many colleagues.