This book has absolutely terrific ideas for how to modify and accommodate an NLD child at school. I have gotten papers from school, that my son did poorly on and then found the answers of how to modify the papers to make them do-able for my son (same work just presented in a way he can understand). Then I would show the teacher the idea(s). I have been doing this all year and have learned the majority of the accomodations and modifications I show the teacher are from this book. The teacher now incorporates these into all of my sons school work. This has decreased his frustration and improved his quality of scool work and learning. Would be a great book for a teacher that has an NLD child in her class.

This book has been a great help for the teachers working with my AS son. It provides a subject by subject blueprint for modifying curriculum that makes it fast and easy for a classroom teacher to accomodate different learners. I've purchased a number of copies of this book because everyone in the teaching profession who sees it wants to borrow it.

A must for parents working through the IEP process for their children--bring it to your meetings and make the team read it.

I found this book extremely helpful and full of great ideas. I purchased a second book and gave it to the school.
The teachers' now have a great resource when helping my daughter.
Thanks Pam!

I got this book just as I was about to coach a new teeball team and found its insight very helpful. Not a book about what drills to use but about motivation, handling people and protecting peoples love of the sport. More cerebral than I would expect in a coaching book. I used much of the material in my business career. Now I am starting his next book, "Shooting in the Dark".

I coach volleyball in grade school and junior high school, and I usually get the "B teams" (the leftovers who are not as talented as the girls on the "A" team.) Therefore, if there ever was a crying need for a book on how to coach these types of athletes, this book more than served its purpose for me. Actually, this book had a positive effect on me since it saved my coaching career.

Don't get me wrong, though, this book will turn around any coach's career whether he has an A or a B team. I coached a group of 13 and 14 year old softball players the year that I purchased this book. At the beginning of the season, the only team these girls could beat was themselves; in fact, that was primarily the reason they were losing was the fact that they were beating themselves! Well, after one mediocre game, I sat the girls down on the bench and instead of reading them the riot act, I took to heart a suggestion by the author. I emphasized all the positive aspects of the game they played just to show these girls that they were capable of doing some positive things. I did this after each game from then on, win or lose. Wouldn't you know it, these same rag tag girls lost the last the last game of the season: the city championship game by one run (to a team that annihilated them by 12 runs in the first game of that season.) This was an example of positive coaching, and I've used everything in this book to my advantage to become a successful POSITIVE coach. Thanks Mr. Thompson for turning my career around!

I don't doubt for a minute that you completely missed the theme and messages of this book - you expose your true colors and attitudes towards kids with your "cross-eyed, overweight child" and "fat, blind kid" pejoratives. "Players must understand their skill level limits them" - I can hear you now getting that message (loudly, clearly and strongly, no doubt to toughen them up for the "real world" - yeah, right) across to young adults on a daily basis. What magic you must weave in the lives of these young people. If the generalizations fit, go ahead and wear them - clearly you have no use for any child that isn't contributing to that bottom line (for you) - WIN. Rest easy that your opinion is the dominant one in the youth coaching ranks, however - and thus the need for this book.

Favorite scene with Trudy-
Telling Linc's parents off.

Favorite scene with Linc-
Visiting Trudy's family.

Together-
Breaking up.

The trick to any Harlequin line is balancing the "theme" of the series (in this case, sensuality) with real relationship growth and well-developed characters. Vicki Lewis Thompson manages to do this quite well in "Acting On Impulse."

The main characters are both well-developed, and the relationship between them is given time to evolve. While Trudy's desire to "experience" may be a little artificial, it's the all-important plot point that pulls in Linc, which makes it a bit more forgivable.

In addition, this book is steamy and hot and very very imaginative. The fantasies that Linc and Trudy act out are wonderful and sensual. In addition, Trudy's travails -- the problems she encounters trying to act out those fantasies -- make them a bit more believable and far more human.

Thompson once again proves why she is at the top of heap of believable, character-driven erotic romance writers. Enjoy!

The only way single folks see any action in Virtue, Kansas is from their backseats in little country lanes. With no hotels, no motels, and no privacy, the small town is simply unconducive to a satisfying love life. So best friends Meg and Trudy made their plans for escape, destination: New York. But her mother had another baby to add to her brood, making the total seven, and delaying Trudy's departure by three and a half years. When she finally makes it to the big city, best friend Meg is already married and pregnant, leaving Trudy to troll for sexy men to expand her sexual repertoire on her own. Of course, that means a bit of matchmaking is in store.

When she purchases a huge four-poster bed, Trudy's friends pitch in to help put it together. Meg and her husband bring along his best friend, sexy Wall Street man Linc Faulkner. Linc has agreed to escort Trudy around the city for a couple of weeks to point out hotspots and places to avoid. He expects a hayseed without attraction. Instead, Trudy's impetuousness, enthusiasm, and spontaneity take him by storm. The bed proves to be too big to set up in her tiny bedroom; she asks that they set it up in the living room instead. That, combined with an accidental discovery of a box full of sex books, proves to be Linc's undoing. No matter how hard to tries, him imagination can't let go of that satin covered haven.

Both Trudy and Linc have sworn off marriage. They are young, single, and wildly attracted to one another. So Trudy decides to use Linc to begin her adventurous discoveries of New York's finest men. A bit of role playing, a lot of seduction, and they are both ecstatic. To preserve the mystery, she never allows Linc to stick around long enough for a cuddle: no sleeping over, no emotional entanglements. It seems like the perfect relationship. That is, until Linc suddenly starts dreaming of white lace and wedding bells, while Trudy is still thinking back streets and forbidden fantasies.

ACTING ON IMPULSE by Vicki Lewis Thompson absolutely blazes! With a heated story line, daring fantasies, and marvelous characterizations, ACTING ON IMPULSE will fulfill the most demanding reader's appetite for adventuresome liaisons. The characters are not only wonderfully developed, but reveal well-thought out motivation. Linc's shift from playboy to dreams of marriage is charming and convincing, while Trudy's reticence is understandable. The very sexy secondary plot likewise sparkles with a very pregnant, happily matchmaking best friend. A sensual delight, ACTING ON IMPULSE comes very highly recommended.

Through mere coincidense I had the opportunty to first meet Giles Thompson and a few weeks later get to know Ann Holaday. During my meeting with Giles he mentioned very little of his accident and his mother never talked about it, they both live a normal life. It was only through luck and a little bit of detective work that I discovered Ms. Holaday's book. I am thrilled that I did find it. Initially I was hoping for a book similiar to "Into Thin Air" in it's depth of the experience on the mountain. I quickly found that it was not the tale of the horrors on the mountain, however it is a story of survival after the disaster. The story really starts with Giles coming off of the mountain and finding the extent of the damage to his body and the difficulty in overcoming those challenges related to his recovery and learning to live again.

I think it is a great book for anyone who faces challenges in the life and an inspirational story for all. Ms. Holaday is a talented writer and a refreshing pen in the world of literature.

I know the expression "couldn't put is down" is not original, but that's how it was with this book. So often I had to blink back tears and swallow the lump in my throat as I read. The story of the devasting impact the Tragedy has on a family and the way courage, hope and prayer help them carry on is awe-inspiring.

This moving and poignant story begans on Monday afernoon, May 12, 1986, when a routine climb on Mt. Hood, Oregon, turned into a nightmare. Ten students from Oregon Episcopal School and three adults were caught in a freak snowstorm. With no visibility and at least one student suffering from hypothermia, the party dug into a samll snowcave. The next morning, the guide and a student managed to decend the mountain, thus begining a frantic search that would end up lasting well over two days.

Ann Holoday, the author, was one of the parents who saw hope fade as the storm left any sign of the cave and its climbers buried under an emmense white blanket, while another approaching storm left rescuers with a dwindling timeline. Her son, Giles Thompson, was one of the sophomores on the annual climb. As she recalls those dark hours of gazing at Mt. Hood from Timberline Lodge (Built as one of F. Roosevelt's WPA projects), Ann recalls the circumstances that led her family to the Pacific Northwest, from England, Puerto Rico, and Texas. The author recalls times of joy, but also uncertainty about leaving England, guilt about a career that left too little time for her three children, and a bitterweet recollection of a marriage that almost ended, but came together before her husband's death from cancer. Remarriage led her family to Longview, WA, and her children to OES in Portland, OR.

As rescuers were about to end their search on Thursday afternoon, May 15, a probe struck a backpack near the cave's entrance. Of the 11 who had been in the cave 72 hours, only two would survived; Giles, and a girl, Brittany.

For Giles, recovery would be especially grueling. For a week he was unconsious with his survival in doubt, before doctors were forced to ammutate Gile's legs. The proceedure worked, freeing his system from the toxins brought by dead tissue, but the following weeks brought more compications, infections, and multiple surgeries. One feels the pain of Giles as his mother recalls in detail the long ordeal.

Finally, in August, Giles was able to return home, and, the following month, to OES. Memories of the climb, trying to study with nerve damaged hands, and learning to walk with prosthetics provided more challenges.

Giles adjusted, though, and Ann recalls with pride her son's success at learning to ski again, even participating in the Handicap Olympics and becoming active in Ted Kennedy Jr's (who lost a leg to cancer) organization, Facing the Challenge.

Giles gruaduated from OES and Colorado College and now lives in Seattle with his wife and two young children. His brother and sister are doing well, too, as are Ann and her husband. Yes, there are happy endings.

Ann's ending for her book includes this statement: "If this book leaves the reader with any one thought, I would like it to be the celebration of this human spirit which brings us closer together in times of trouble. I don't think we will ever completely recover from the accident, but it is possible to move on and get on with life."

Surley, that is a thought all of us need to ponder. In any life there are storms and sorrows, struggles and sacrafices, but with faith, hope, and the love of family and fiends, we can endure. Ann Holoday does a marvelous job of sharing her son's great struggle, and how their family endured. I would highly recommend that everyone read, "The Mountain Never Cries."

"The Criminal" is an unusual Jim Thompson novel. He charts the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Midwest girl. The prime suspect is Bob, a 15-year-old neighbor, who has a history with the girl. Bob's a bit of a juvenile delinquent, but comes across as a decent person. His parents are convinced that Bob didn't have anything to do with the murder, or are they?

A number of different people become involved in and influence the case, each with her/his own agenda, including the DA, Bob's parents, and the local media. Chapters are told from the viewpoint of these different characters, and this technique is used quite successfully here. The joy of this book comes not from the suspense of figuring out who committed the crime, but in seeing how the case is effected by each character. Overall, a highly enjoyable and fascinating Thompson novel.

This is almost an experimental novel by Thompson. It consists of short first person chapters giving you different windows, (views from different characters), on and around the same event. This event is the murder of a young girl. Finishing the book you are left unsure as to who the real criminal is and even wondering if there was any innocent person in the book. The attorney Kossmeyer, a character we see a few years later in Thompson's book "Kill-off", is probably the most moral of any of them, but there are no perfect people here. Thompson is really writing outside the box with this one and when an author does this it usually doesn't succeed. Thompson pulls this off for the most part however. You can't look for the story to be all summed up in the end. What he gives the reader is splendid windows into the minds and motivations of different characters. The priorities of the characters are laid bare, their motivations exposed and we along with some of them learn a little about what is important in life. Placed before the first chapter is a quote from "Romeo and Juliet"--- "There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, Doing more murders in this loathsome world, Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell. I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none." After reading this novel you will see just how well this quote fits it.

What a refreshing book, particularly the use of different narrators & the (successful) heavy reliance on dialog to propel the story. I was very concerned Thompson's books would all be alike after I read & loved "The Killer Inside Me" ... & they're not at all ... this is a completely different style from that or from, say, "South of Heaven" or "Now And On Earth." I've read one other book that used this approach, John Burnham Schwartz's much more recent & also excellent "Reservation Road" & it works very well for both writers. Thompson is wonderfully controlled with it, keeping things short & tight. I love how many people assume young Bob Talbert is innocent & railroaded ... in fact, Thompson leaves the question of his innocence or guilt entirely with the reader & it's beautifully ambiguous, especially if the reader is familiar with the sociopathic personality which, without ever saying it, Thompson gives Talbert plenty of room to be. Thompson was ahead of his time understanding criminals & perhaps much of it was intuitive, from what he knew about himself. Whatever his personal weaknesses he was very brave in showing people's inherent capacity for evil, without apologizing for it. It's in Thompson's ability to see the universal capacity for evil that his humanity lies.

I was glad to read a book, that is straight to the point, without all of that extra stuff. This book is full of truth that we need in America, right now. My book club recently discussed it, and we love it.

This book provoked alot of thinking, he made me look outside and see, why do we have all of these religions and only one God? This book will be a million seller one day. Very Interesting.

We finally have someone who has the guts to talk about all the confusion out there about God. This book will provoke you to understand what God wants from us. I read a book every week, and this is one of the best books I have ever read, that is no lie. Everyone that believes there is a God, should read this book, this guy has hit the nail on the head!!

This is a great book for students...because it's not heavy! Seriously, the chapters are short and concise,heavenly stuff when you're cramming the night before exams.The writing is clear and focused...it doesn't meander off into extreme details. The illustrations are self explanatory...and the pictures are graphic and gross...like they should be in a infectious disease textbook. Too bad there aren't more of them!

This book covers every medical microbiology topic that is needed for class exams or the USLME. The book is intensely filled with very elaborated information that any medical student needs to pass his or her exams. My study group and I also used the following for class exams and the USLME and found it extremely helpful. I also purchased this book on amazon which is the following:
Microbiology Study Guide: Key Review Questions and Answers by Patrick Leonardi (ISBN: 0971999635)
The questions in this study guide were on target with my class exams and was an excellent reference for the USLME. Buy both books. Most definitely!!

The first thing to understand about this book is that it is a textbook and a difficult one. The difficulty for the beginning student or general reader is not a fault of the authors. Rather it is because medical microbiology itself is a daunting subject full of organisms that can only be seen fuzzily with an electron microscope, if at all, organisms involved in processes and behaviors that are foreign to our everyday experience. Add the fact that most of the material covered here is not part of a non-specialist curriculum either in high school or college, and effectively speaking the untrained reader is starting from scratch.

Well, why do that? First of all, because the material itself--how viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other infectious organisms enter the body, replicate, and cause disease--is fascinating and of immediate relevance to our lives. Second because (to my knowledge) there is little or nothing else available to the general reader that goes beyond a sketchy introduction to the subject. One is forced to read a text book. Fortunately this is a good one and it is thorough.

The text covers the range of infectious disease from viruses to tapeworms. The amount of technical information presented is daunting, and the sheer expanse of terminology a challenge (why is there no glossary?). The text is lavishly illustrated with photos and electron micrographs of the pathogens, as well as numerous schematic drawings showing how microorganisms cause disease, how they replicate, their chemical structure, their morphology, etc.

The instructional schematic drawings I found less valuable than the electron micrographs, but I suspect for the student of microbiology it might be the other way around.

What you'll get out of this handsome book depends on how much time and energy you are able to devote to it. I started reading this in the hope that I would, perhaps by osmosis, pick up some feel for life at the micron level, and I did. Obviously if I had been able to study the text with the help of an instructor, I would have learned a lot more.

With an adventurous teen paired up with a doddering elderly uncle, "Wide Blue Yonder" takes normal life onto a roller-coaster ride full of daring and danger. Very much alike in their stubborn & feisty personalities, Josie and her Uncle Harvey are both exceedingly uncomfortable around the other members of the family. Following a few disastrous events, they land together in a situation that is hilariously played out by Josie's ability to rise to the occasion.

Jean Thompson does a great job in creating these two; I especially enjoy that a character as young as Josie possesses such a bold personality and that old Harvey is not quite as out to lunch as others assume. Elaine, Josie's mother, is a rather bland character serving to connect these two but it is Rolando, the wild card from California, who ultimately binds them together and catapults the story to its frenzied conclusion.

Like some of the other readers, I must admit not caring much for Rolando -- the harsh nature of his character is a disturbing and discordant note in "Wide Blue Yonder." Thankfully, Thompson has also created a wonderful stout and non-English speaking maid who eclipses Rolando's ugliness of spirit with her own trust in life. Through her pained love affair, Josie may well represent the heart of the novel, but it is in this wonderful character of steel and grace, unencumbered by words, that Thompson embodies the soul of her novel.

So while the summer sun is still shining, I think you'll find "Wide Blue Yonder" a satisfying read.

I love this book. exciting, different, wacko (some of them) characters. liked josie the best. this is my favourite book of all time. i recommend it. what more can i say? i am hooked.

While I love Jean Thompson's short stories ... being able to sink my teeth into this delicious hunk of a novel was even more satisfying. And frankly ... sad or dark endings have become trite at this point in literary evolution. What a relief to finish a novel without wanting to weep.

Strom Thurmond is widely viewed as a simple racist with just one cause- to fight against civil rights. However, OL STROM helps to explain that while Strom was historically on the wrong side during the civil rights battles, he was and still is a man of character and integrity.

Like him or not,OL STROM makes a strong case to support Strom as "the century's most enduring American political figure". Strom Thurmond was on the cutting edge of the white souths move from the Democratic party to the Republican party with his 1948 presidental bid. He still holds the filibuster record and well being in the Senate for longer than any one in history.

Unlike some of of the hardcore racists, Strom reached out to African-Americans in his later years. At the same time, Strom never "admitted" his earlier positions on civil rights were wrong. Strom still clung to his "States Rights" view which seem to open the only hole in his intergrity. Only Strom knows what's in his heart.

OL STROM also gets into more details, regarding his personal affairs, such as his biracial daughter, that others bio have glossed over.

Strom is not so much "a" southern politian, as he IS the south!

I once had the pleasure of sharing a flight with the author Jack Bass. The man is a walking encyclopedia of anecdotes of South Carolina history and political lore and he was quite entertaining. Reading his take on Thurmond, who he knew well, is similar to an actual conversation with Bass. Put it to you this way, reading this book is like listening to some old-timers reminisce around the cracker barrel in front of the general store. Not a scholarly work,but an enjoyable one. BTW, I wish he would have gone into detail about Thurmond''s meeting with Coretta Scott King. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to hear what the former supreme segregationist had to say to the widow of Dr. King.

Insightful, provacative...You may not like Strom, but this book
will make you view him in a different light. This book doesn't take sides. It does give you a view of someone many have thought of as a not very bright, but who has outlived or outsmarted most of his critics. A very good view of politics in South Carolina. Mr. Thurmond won my grudging respect in this book by taking care of his constituents...without regards to race or religion. Well documented facts by the writers!

I married a russian woman and this book has helped us communicate a great deal. We don't go anywhere without one!

For the price, this is an excellent dictionary. In response to the person who writes below that this dictionary lacks Russian phonetic pronunciation, saying "I was disappointed that there is no guide to the pronounciation of the Russian words. My desktop English dictionary gives the phonetic spelling of English words. So why not a Russian-English dictionary that gives the phonetic spelling of the Russian words?," I think it should be pointed out that Russian spelling is, with very few (and generally well known) exceptions, phonetic. I.e., with very few exceptions, a word is pronounced exactly as it is spelled. The only difficulty you might have with Russian pronunciation is determining where the accent falls in a word you're not familiar with. This dictionary, like almost all Russian dictionaries, indicates where the accent (udareniye) falls for each word and variant positions (where necessary) based on changing the case, number, tense, etc. Since Russian spelling is already almost 100% phonetic, providing an additional phonetic spelling of each word in the dictionary would be redundant and a waste of space -- except, perhaps, only for those who have not learned the Cyrillic alphabet -- something which the authors of this dictionary probably assume its readers have already done. The best Russian dictionaries I think are the Oxford hardcover editions, and, for American English speakers, such as myself, the dictionary by Kenneth Katzner. This dictionary though is very handy though when you need something more compact. Even better is the old (1980's) version of the Oxford Russian/English English/Russian Pocket Dictionary which is smaller and more comprehensive, but apparently out of print. There is a new version of Oxford Russian/English English/Russian Pocket Dictionary (available on Amazon) -- but it lacks the old version's genuine "pocket" size and the content is somewhat different (it was edited by different people).

I never thought that I would give up using Smirnitsky's Russian-English or Mueller's English-Russian dictionaries; I relied on them for so long. But any more I find myself automatically reaching for my new Oxford when I need to look up a word! My wife does too, when she's looking for the right word in English. I recommend it highly if you regularly need a good Russian dictionary.