Simply put, this book changed my life... I was going through a long period (over a year in duration) where I had trouble getting rid of "unwanted thoughts"; basically thoughts that I knew would reduce the level of pleasure I was getting out of any given activity. For example, if I dwelt on X while I was undergoing some otherwise-pleasurable activity - where X is an unwanted thought - my level of enjoyment i.e. my appreciation of that activity would decrease. While I was going through these cycles of unwanted thoughts, the quality of my life was drastically reduced. I'm sure "unwanted thoughts" differ for each person, both in their individual characteristics and implications. According to this book, one should not consciously try to suppress unwanted thoughts, as thereby the thoughts will systematically persist in reemerging. Instead, just "let it be" as it were, and inevitably the unwanted thoughts will start to dissipate. Don't be dissuaded by the above editorial review, as though it is true this is not "light reading" per se, it is very well written and in an easy-to-read format with the layman in mind; and it does not contain a lot of jargon. It reads just like a novel and is quite humorous in parts. I'm not a student of psychology but had no problem with my reading and comprehnsion of this book and gleaned a lot of new information out of it, such as how meta-cognition or "thinking about thinking" works. I hate to say anything negative about this book since I found it a self-help book in the truest sense, but its only feature I didn't fully appreciate was the few charts and graphs it contained, even though they were relevant to the information at hand and supplemented the statistics well. If I were the author of the book I'd have put them in the back. That's trivial, though. In summary, next time someone says "just stop thinking about it" in replying to how you should get rid of an unwanted thought, ignore their advice - then enlighten them.

A wonderfully engaging, cleverly written book about a serious subject. A real delight.

Since graduating high school and moving on to college, I've had significant difficulties concentrating due mostly to what could be described as unwanted thoughts - at least unwanted and the time. This book is the first one I've read that offered scientific evidence supporting the authors points. It didn't solve all my problems, but it has been a great place to start finding solutions.

These are WONDERFUL tapes, as is the first (Pooh Goes Visiting), especially for anyone who loves the real Pooh and is disgusted by the Disney version (talk about repellently cutesy!). Now, Tigger's voice here--that does hit the wrong note. But we (post-grad educated) grownups and our four (2 to 8 year old) children think Piglet's and Eeyore's voices are priceless, and Owl's and Rabbit's and Christopher Robin's and others' are just right,too. Over the last few years these tapes have been the most requested of the car-ride playlist, for which we parents are grateful because they're as much fun for us as for the kids. By far the best Pooh tapes I've heard.

These four tapes will find a permanent place in your collection. They represent an amazing dramatization of the two Pooh books (including all the stories in their original order) by this talented group of British performers. My favorite is probably Piglet -- Jane Horrocks's amazing Piglet is really understated. Every endearing "Oo-ooh-oh" makes me laugh and want to listen again. I also adore the quiet, loving rendition of Pooh by Stephen Fry and the wonderful curmudgeonly Eeyore of Geoffrey Palmer. But I love everybody involved here (except Tigger in his entrance, which is a little strong) and am delighted to have discovered them. If for some reason you only want one or two of these tapes, the same recordings are available on four separate tapes, starting with "Pooh Goes Visiting." If you are a fan of Pooh, by all means try these wonderful tapes!

I learned to read by listening (again and again and again and again) to a pair of well-loved and well-worn LPs of the Pooh stories read by Maurice Evans. I always considered them the finest Pooh audiobooks ever recorded. Up until now! Now there's this wonderful series of fully-dramatized adventures of Pooh featuring a brilliant cast of wonderful British actors: Stephen Fry ("Jeeves and Wooster") as Pooh, Geoffrey Palmer ("The Madness of King George") as Eeyore, Judy Dench ("Shakespeare in Love") as Kanga...and best of all, the *incomparable* Jane Horrocks ("Little Voice" and Bubble from "AbFab") as a squeaky, alarmed, and altogether adorable Piglet. You don't have to be a kid to appreciate these fine recordings (and there are plenty of adult Pooh fans out there who will *love* these versions). Accept no substitutes: this is simply the finest Pooh audio series yet created, beating by a *far* distance the Alan Bennett and (ugh!) Charles Kuralt versions.

3-year-old loves this book and so do I. We read it again and again and again.

A delightful story with wonderful illustrations which I would happily recommend to all parents.

Children can follow the story easily and recognise the situations as the baby bear shouts for more each time Grandbear plays with him by crying 'AGAIN! AGAIN!'.

Parents can sympathise with Grandbear who is obviously growing weary of the baby's demands but by the end of this short story it is he that wants more in a pleasant twist that all parents and grandparents will recognise.

A wonderful gift for a grandparent to give to their grandchild but it would also work in reverse as a gift for grandparents from the grandchild.

I hope you but this and enjoy it as much as my son and I have.

If anyone is looking a simple but great book for toddlers this is the book you should have. It is very much like John Prater's other books, meaning the same happy storyline with no scary bits. The illustrations are great and the bears look fanastic. Well Done!

This is a wonderful little book, designed to teach us not to let go of things if they seem to be worthless, or of little worth. Arthur, in this case, wants to have a "tag sale" and get rid of all his old junk. Now there's an interesting idea. Unfortunately his sister, Violet, doesn't believe she has any old junk, so he sets out to put up signs, place tags on his "old junk" and price them accordingly. All except, of course, his honey bear with the one eye. In the adventure which follows, we see him trying to protect his bear and hide him so he won't get bought, only to have his sister "bargain" with him for the old bear. Then, of course, because he doesn't own it anymore, his sister sets out to re-invent the bear to her image. Arthur's idea of trying to control the bear are shattered, and he comes up with a way of continuing to bond with the bear in another fashion. A great story, with wonderful illustrations. Highly recommended!!!

Arthur can part with Baby King Kong and a bent hula hoop, but can he part with his Honey Bear? He wants to be grown up, but isn't so sure he can actually go through with it. We see his reluctance at a near sale, and then his little sister is so insistant that he gives in. But the items she's traded pallor in Honey Bear's absence. What will Arthur do?

Well drawn-- kids will find a lot to look at even if the book is being read to them. It's nicely written too, simply but with enough detail to make it interesting and funny. If you find the version with the read-along audio tape, get it. It's very good!

This book has a lot of depth for a beginning reader. Arthur and his little sister Violet (they are chimps) set aside some old toys to sell at a tag sale during spring cleaning. Arthur decides he can part with Honey Bear, his one-time favorite stuffed animal until his sister Violet makes him an offer he can't refuse and purchases it from him. A reluctant Arthur braves the deal, and soon regrets it. Lillian Hoban has great integrity as a children's author. Arthur does the right thing -- he doesn't cancel the deal with his sister even though he is clearly troubled by loosing Honey Bear. He reminds Violet that since they are brother and sister, he is Honey Bear's uncle and should have some quality time with his nephew by taking everyone out for an ice cream cone with the money he made from selling Honey Bear. A very sweet story that encourages children to find creative solutions to their troubles.

Baby Bear is a lovely, lively story for the very young. It is filled with bright, happy pictures that often escape a little from their borders, and the story is fun and repetitive. If children fall in love with Baby Bear, there's a whole series of books about his adventures.

This book won the Crichton Award for new Australian illustrators in 2000.

My daughter is 18 months and loves this book. She loves animals and the pictures are colorful and simple enough for her. It flows quickly to keep her attention at this age. When she starts to read it will be a perfect starter book. Broekstra's other book, "Baby Bear Goes to the Beach" is also very good.

This book is wonderfully illustrated. The images leap off the page to delight readers young and old. My daughter has memorized Baby Bear's journey through the zoo where he visits zebras, monkeys, and an elephant or two. While looking at the animals, a beautiful butterfly distracts the young bear and he runs after it only to find that he has run too far and can't find his mother. He runs to the calls of "Baby Bear, Baby Bear" each time he hears it only to discover that there are a lot of other baby bears in the world. He finally hears his own mother calling and his journey ends with a hug. The way it should be.

If you have a cat and a toddler you have experienced this book! It is so cute! My daughter is almost 2 and we have 2 cats that she loves but who tolerate her.

"Be Gentle!" is the perfect book for toddlers learning the intricacies of proper social behavior. This book is my two year old's favorite because he knows many of the words. He has heard the phrase "be gentle" many times since the birth of his little sister, and this book helps him to truly understand what that means. He also gets excited because the book uses familiar objects such as a swing, a red wagon, and a drum in the storyline so he can sympathize with the characters. A great book for new, young siblings.

Our son loves this book and it has been an excellent tool in teaching him to be gentle. It is one of our favorites!

Bear About Town is a refreshing book which is well written and beautifully illustrated. The words are simple enough for your toddler to gradually learn by heart. The map of bear's town is the best part, a great starting point for curious questions and conversation. We trace bear's path and figure out how to get to different places in bear's town. The colors are bright and cheerful, and the mood is just right for reading together. My child is almost 3, and this has been a favorite since before age 2.

The primary charm of this book is in the illustrations. The text is basic--this is after all a book that is accessible to pre-literate children--but there is enough in the illustrations that an adult reader doesn't have to slog through the same (increasingly dreary) story every time he or she reads it aloud to a child. One can go through pointing out every appearance of the dog, or of the little birds, or of the bees--or whatever.

Children can gradually pick up on different repeated elements or images. For example, on "Friday" the bear goes to the toystore, and for sale there is a bucket that appears on subsequent pages. The text never states that that bucket has been purchased, but that is the inference that can be drawn. The bucket (purple with black spots) is half-hidden in the first picture where it makes an appearance--sly visual details like this encourage children to hunt for objects rather than having it all simplistically laid out for them so they see it the first time through. Older children can enjoy retracing Bear's daily routes on the map of Bear's town that makes up the last page of the book.

As a parent of small children, I can attest that it is quite difficult to find books with the right balance of pictures, text, and substance--it is annoying to snuggle down with your children with a book that is too short, and bookreading simply doesn't work if you try it with a book that doesn't, for whatever reason, hold a child's attention. With its bright colors and amusing images, this book works for the "very young," yet provides enough content to spare an older reader the worst horrors of gruesome repetition.

I'd recommend this book and others in this series (in board book form) as a gift for new parents. It's the kind of story toddlers can "grow into" as they gain language skills.

It may sound a little strong to say so, but I'd describe this book as a minor children's classic.

Engaging and fun. The kind of book babies pick up because it has bright colors, then become more interested in as they start to recognize the objects. Highly recommended.

See my longer review above--Amazon is being funky here and while my experiences with reading her books to my children have converted me into a zealous advocateto Stella Blackstone's *Bear* series, I don't see a need to pretend that I'm more than one person!

--KR

i thought that the book was really great.
it was a cute story and original.

I loved reading this bok to my son. He and I are always together, most days. He does not behave as if this is very important to him and often runs to strangers and other family members to talk. I've always thought that this was good for him socially; however I feel concern for his safety with strangers and I want him to also demonstrate a closer affinity to me for all that we do and are as a mother-son dyad.

This book really hit the nail on the head and reminds me of The Wizard of Oz's moral. As Dorothy put it, "Whenever I go searching for my heart's desire, I won't look past my own backyard".

I have read a lot about this book, and it has gotten some very positive recognition, including a National Parenting Publications Awards gold medal. The North Carolina Psychiatric Association called it a "splendid book . . . recommended for the waiting room, the play-room, the bedroom . . . a book for all ages and all seasons." Just because a book doesn't give one a candy-coated view of existence is no reason to pan it!

My not-so-insignificant Otherbear and I are both fans of anything the British critic and photographer Edward Lucie-Smith puts his name on, so we both got off on both the Lucie-Smith bearish books of photos by Chris Nelson and Jack Fritscher which are Amazon.com musts for any serious bear collector of not-at-all-insignificant Otherbears, especially with the end of Bear magazine.

Chris Nelson's "Bear Cult" makes a perfect companion with Jack Fritscher's "American Men" which afterSeptember 11 terrorist attacks is an apt title. Both books came out about the same time---in fact, Fritscher is in Nelson's "Bear Cult." Do all bears know each other? Both are very different photographers. Nelson: stills only. Fritscher: stills backed with videos. British bear critic Edward Lucie Smith wrote the intro to both books. I confess I've used them both as art and as bearotica. Plus the bear look really is an American invention. These two prime bear photography books should lead the way to more bear photo books. I recommend both these landmark books for every gentleman's library.

Waaay back in the early days of Bear Magazine, Brahma studios was born... and with it wonderful photography. This book is a collection from those days. Simple, masculine, erotic. To call this 'bear porn' is a mistake. This is classic male erotic, with a wonderfully bear-ish 'slant'. (just wish it was hard back to allow it to stay open!)

Still a classic.

This guide is indispensible, not filled with the "man is always in the wrong" agenda, but rather documented with real stats and factual details. This book will let you know what to do in just about any scenario in which a bear attacks you. Also try Shelton's "Bear Attacks: The Dealy Truth" which goes into WHY bears attack people.

This guide is indispensible, not filled with the "man is always in the wrong" agenda that many authors shove into their bear books. This is filled with documented, acurate details on what to do if you are attacked by a bear, given the circumstances. Try Shelton's "Bear Attacks: The Deadly Truth.," which goes into more detail as to WHY bears attack.

I have read both of Garys's Books AND I have taken both the class roon and rifle range instruction. I have had the classroom Instruction twice , unfortunatly the range instruction is no longer available. Both of his books form the basis of his lectures. It is now compulsory training with the forestry, WCB, BC Gass and Fisheries and Oceans.His books should be concidered TEXT BOOKS. Well written easy to understand and without ANY embelishments of the facts and occurences. As presented it is the true story of the present conditions of bear behavior . For those of us who have worked in bear country and used Gary's books as a study, the knowledge immparted becomes next to instinctive when an encounter happens. Having had hundreds of encounters while counting Spawning salomn in wild rivers, I have been able to avoid any serious agressive confrontations. There have been encounters where it was necesssary to take a defencive posture. Mr. Shelton's two books are, or should be manditory reading for any person tho uses " bear country" for recreation or work. To let you know a 3rd book is due out in May 2001 and a 4th is being contemplated.