I have purchased several hundred dollars worth of books over the years for required reading in classes I have taken. I would have to say that this book is the "most for the money". It will be an excellent resource for me in the future. I plan to keep it as a reference in school-related matters. I only wish that I had had access to this material when I was first starting out as a teacher. The chapters are very well organized, and the visual aids (graphs, charts, pictures) were well selected and beneficial - the benchmark timelines helped to summarize several important events. The "Voices" sections in each chapter, featuring different viewpoints from real people on topics related to the chapter gave the somewhat lenthy, arduous chapters life and vitality. The inside cover of the book included educational issues included in the book. I found myself several times scanning through the list, thinking of my position on the matter. If there would be any fault of the book, I would have to say that the chapters could have been a little shorter. It seemed like a great deal of information to absorb. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in all aspects of education.

This textbook is a clear, straightforward, and practical look at the principals of teaching today. I would highly recommend this text for any undergraduate working toward a degree in education or any professor looking for a new text for their Introduction to Education course. This is an excellent starting point for those who wish to learn more about the history of teaching as well as more current issues such as parental involvement or diversity in education. The authors have presented this information in a reader-friendly style with many helpful Web site addresses and personal narratives from experienced teachers in the field. Attractive charts and graphs presented throughout each chapter are also quite helpful in relating difficult concepts. Overall, this is a high quality undergraduate textbook for anyone wishing to enter the field of teaching.

Foundations of Education - The Challenge of Professional Practice by Robert F. McNergney and Joanne M. Herbert is, in my opinion, a very well written text book to be used in an "Introduction to Education" class. The book is very easy to read, with each chapter following the same user friendly outline. The book makes excellent use of data presented in various chart and graph form. The "Voices" section in each chapter gives the reader personal glimpses of people in the teaching profession - presenting both present day and historical view points. The "Benchmark" pages at the end of each of the chapters help summarize the information from the chapter in chronological order, and even the chapter summaries help guide your study while reading the text. The "Online Activity" following each chapter serves as an excellent additional resource for the reader. The topics covered in the book are relevant to today's teaching profession, and give the reader an up-to-date view of what being a teacher involves. The book is definitely written for a person who does not have a prior educational background, who may be considering entering the field of teaching.

What can I say! This is a book about one of the times biggest geniuses. I knew about Rockwell, but little about Leyendecker. This book gives you a small insight about leyendecker`s life and art. You have a few amazing scetches, and selected illustrations. And a small bibliografy of the artist, family and friends. Although there is much information you don`t get, and you may find it dissappointing It`s lacking in indepth research. Or maybe an possible edit from the publisher of the book!

You might not know his name but if you've ever seen the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, then you've probably seen at least on of his unforgettable images. Back in the hey day of commercial illustration Leyendecker was a celebrity. He practically created the look so associated with such publications. His dapper, muscular men and angelic women graced magazine covers and countless advertisements. His Arrow shirt man, based on the likeness of his live-in lover, was a star all his own. Whether it was his annual New years babies, homoerotic portryals of masculinity, or Norman Rockwellian vignettes Leyendecker made his art look easy. Unfortunately, there is little available on his interesting life and artistry. This book is a wonderful showcase of his work, featuring oversized prints all ready for framing. He is an artist that should be known, remembered and honored. And if you're really a fan, keep your eye out for a very rare book on Leyendecker that I have only seen in auction.

This book establishes J. C. Leyendecker as one of the great & important, but now often overlooked, illustrators of the early 20th century. He was one of the most popular magazine & advertising artists of his time.

Leyendecker's subjects are people, all with strong character & expression, painted in exquisite detail. There are ancient warriors, magnificent football players & businessmen in fine suits portrayed as modern heroes of the 1920's.

The authors do an excellent job of profiling this very private man, explaining the development of his style and career. His working technique using many preliminary studies leading to a perfect finished painting is shown.

There are 16 full-page single sided plates showcasing a wide variety of Leyendeckers's finest work. They are printed in beautiful color on heavy stock and would look great framed. I really enjoyed learning about this great artist.

A girl name Shannon Thomas would go out of her way to see Sister Euphrasia to be cured from Hodgekins disease. On her run away journey she meets several friends. It was a very discriptive book. There was some fuzzy parts, but most of it is great. You can feel what she's going through inside. When you're not reading the book you feel like you know the caracters.

Overall, not a bad book, the author tells a story of a 14 year old girl named shannon thomas who has hodgkins disease and has had chemo for the past two years when her doctor tells her she is in remission, but when the doctor moves away the new doctor tells her new studies show more chemo could help her. She meets a girl named Kim in the waiting room of the office who tells her of a Sister Euphrasia in the French Quarter of New Orleans who can heal these certain diseases. Knowing her parents would forbid this she takes off on a journey from a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin to the heart of New Orleans to find this Sister Euphraisa. She makes many friends on her journey, some come close, others she knows only for a short time. I would reccomend this book to anybody that wants to read it, it will keep you up all night wondering what is next, then the cravings make you pick it up and read some more.

The Only Way Out by Deborah Kent was a great book. It was about a young girl named Shannon Thomas who was fed up with chemotherapy and was told that there was a person in New Orleans that could cure her disease. Nowing that her parents would not allow her to go to New Orleans she has to set off on this long trip alone. During her trip she incounters many people who help her and befriend her, their mental, and physical help allow her to reach her destination. This is a great book and anyone of any age would be interested in reading it.

There's a lot of good content in here, but there's a big problem, as I see it. Specifically, the chapter on the line "Where there is doubt, let me sow faith" is just completely off base. There is no way Francis would have espoused the postmodern universalist nonsense that Mr. Nerburn puts in here. He would never have thought that all religions, whether buddhist, muslim or whatever, lead to the same God. There's no way you can read Francis' writings and come away with that without some seriously revisionist thinking.

In general, the author strays way too far from the Christian Gospel that Francis espoused and epitomized. What Francis was about was pointing to Christ, not just some new age rhetoric about how to live our lives, or some fuzzy feeling about the unknowable God. He pointed to Jesus who is the living hope, and the worship of whom is the chief end and aim of man. So if this is your first encounter with St. Francis, skip this book and read Englebert's or Green's biography instead.

I reread this book after reading Uberflavn's review. I think I know what he/she is missing. Francis met people where they are. This book meets people where they are. That is its genius. This book brings the prayer into an ordinary life. Maybe it's not doctrinally pure. Leave that to the curia. I want a book that shows me how the prayer can help my struggles in everyday life. This book does so better than any other. If you live in the world and not in a school of doctrinal theology, read this book. Francis would understand.

Kent Nerburn's books are always filled with intelligence and compassion, and "Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace" is an excellent example of just how much head and heart can be beautifully installed into 129 pages. Nerburn's reflections on the Prayer of Saint Francis teach us more about ourselves than about the famous saint, and that is probably just fine with Francis.

Nerburn always emphasizes the practical. "I would rather try to manifest my belief in God than to profess it," he writes. In this way, Saint Francis and the self-admitted not-so-saintly Nerburn make a wonderful team. They teach us that we cannot successfully hide from the dark side of our world or of ourselves; that instead we must face even the "most frightening human emotion" --- hatred --- head on. The goal is not to become a saint, thank goodness, but to accept responsibility to do what we can to manifest, and not just profess, our own beliefs.

Congruent with its contents, the physical book itself makes an excellent gift. I keep several copies in my office to give away whenever I may be so moved --- by the spirit of Saint Francis perhaps. (Although I doubt that Francis is involved in book promotion)

Fop Flop In the most elegant apparel Nothing but worm silks In the finest golden thread And superior king red velvet sashes

You'd think I would have known better? I couldn't blame them who wouldn't? cut air with scissors while sewing their needles into invisible cloth for the very low price of..... silk a loom golden thread a full bag of coins Oh those Villain Scoundrels! Now, I know not to buy such vestments with rather large investments Oh what a bratty gnatty I was For I thought I was cool but truly a fool Why emperor you look rather bare, that's quite rare! I was in such a pursuit For only a birthday suit I must admit now Me, My very own self yes indeed, your emperor himself have become a stupid and incompetent dandy All for the Imaginary Image! and now I live happily ever after, no more garb well, that is until the next apparel discovery (Now if you'll excuse me there's a clothier waiting at my door who says he's created the latest design in Pajama attire)

Generally, I do not care for audio books; many of the readers speak in a dull voice that rapidly drives me either away from the story or to sleep. However, there are a few exceptions; this is one.

Understand, that this is not the normal audio book; this edtion has a large cast of actors who collaborated to produce this item as a fund raiser for Starbright.

The result is an ensemble piece that is witty and charming. Part of the fun for me, was guessing who was reading before looking at the cast list included in the box.

Other folks feel that this isn't for children; I don't know as I don't have children, but I found that my "inner child" was highly entertained for 40 minutes with this tape.

If you are a fan of one or more of the actors in this edition or like puns (there are many here!), then you will probably like the Starbright edtion of the Emporer's New Clothes.

I had been given 2 of these books from a friend and I decided to see if there were anymore. My son loves this book. He's now working on reading the adult side. It's a great idea to have a page each, 1 for the adult and 1 for the child. We have several of these books now and I see my son sitting down and reading them on his own.

Ever humble in his sterling achievements, a popular hero cheered by his men, Richard Bolitho has been made rear-admiral. Bolitho has moved away from his more happy-go-lucky (but never sky-larking!) enthusiam of youth and turned towards introspection and the burdens of ever broader commands of, necessarily, ever more anonymous people (now grown to 3000). Kent seems increasingly interested in writing of the psychology and pressures of supreme command. We see the thinking of The Admiralty vying with the jealousies of admirals, or the uncertainties of information and of diplomatic choices. In the climactic battle for Copenhagen we see Bolitho make his first cold-blooded command decision to throw away a ship in favor of the survival of his fleet as a whole.

This is an often grim story that jumps between English ports and the entry to the Baltic Sea, plots and battles, health and death, and points of view. As with the novels of Hornblower and Drinkwater, Bolitho's Baltic mission is intimately tied to Tsar Paul's potential (mes-)alliance with Napoleon in 1801, and the British attempts to prevent it. Britain was fighting the greatest threat to its existence in 800 years, struggling to keep any allies at all on the continent to face the totalitarian French juggernaut (Hitler's model). The secondary story is about Adam Pascoe, Bolitho's orphaned nephew, and his growth as an officer in the squadron through trying personal relationships and, finally, knowledge of his birth. Extraordinary coincidences threaten to repeat some of the dark episodes of earlier stories: a wound that again drives Bolitho out of his mind, Pascoe's involvement in another duel like his traitorous father's, a carriage wreck like that which killed his beloved wife, and someone providentially like her....

As a writer Kent doesn't include informative period asides so much as go for the jugular of battle or command tensions. In idle moments Bolitho indulges in reminiscence of people from earlier stories, of most meaning if you've already read them. As always, pay really close atttention to any sailing instructions (e.g., difference between wind veering and backing) if you want to visualize what's going on; at one critical point I thought two squadrons were approaching battle bow-on, when they weren't! I really missed a map of the intricate waterways at the mouth of the Baltic.

In Number 13, Bolitho becomes a rear admiral; Herrick is his flag captain, Pascoe is on board. Bolitho was an average midshipman, a good lieutenant and and excellent captain, although most of his more daring feats were ashore. Kent can't let go of this, and Bolitho improbably hangs his flag on a small frigate, to get that frigate action that Aubrey could never let go of. The best thing about this book in the series is the almost soap-opera relationship with Allday, Pascoe and Herrick.
Bolitho finds a new woman, a carbon copy of Cheney, in a most unbelievable way. We still do not get enough of either the wardroom or the lower decks, except from Dick's ever more removed view. I do not like Admiral Bolitho much, not as much as I liked him before he became an admiral; but he is still more likable than the irascible Nathaniel Drinkwater (Woodman). We lack the incompetent, malevolent superior, as Bolitho becomes the superior. A good enough read, however, to lead me into #14.

Alexander Kent has chosen an interesting theme for the Inshore Squadron, the British expedition against Denmark. It is a fine choice of topics and allows for a great deal of character developement.

Richard Bolitho, now a flag officer himself, is thrust into the frontlines of nautical diplomacy. He is discovering that it takes more skill running the gauntlet of politics than it ever took in a broadside to broadside action. Now he is given the overall mission and learns that if he succeeds, no one will know and if he fails, he will be relieved of duty without a moments hesitation by the Admiralty.

In the midst of this hazardous assignment, he meets a woman that he is drawn to. Belinda is the cousin of one of Bolitho's former officers, who was also his brother-in-law and whos sister, Bolitho married only to loose her later in a coach accident. They meet coincidently when her coach is in an accident and Bolitho's coach is first on the scene. Deja vu?

The relationship builds but not smoothly. Belinda knows of Bolitho's first wife in fact vaguely resembles her. She knows this and doesn't want to be seen as a replacement for his first wife. It is this undercurrent that follows their relationship and you wonder, if in fact, she is right.

Adam Bolitho is now a lieutenant and we start to see that he is more his father's son then his uncle's nephew. Dueling rears it's ugly head again for Bolitho. His brother fled to America after killing an officer in a duel and it seems like Adam is riding down the same road.

Thomas Herrick is back again as flag captain. He has matured as a captain and also has a grounding influence on Bolitho. He grows in his role of falg captain and is no longer looking over his shoulder for Bolitho's approval or sanction.

All these charecters are thrust into the campaign to neutralize Denmark and the threat it would be to communications between the UK and Russia. The combat between the Royal Navy and Royal Danish Navy is brutal and no-holds barred. One would think it would be no contest but the Danes don't fold after a token resistance, they are in the fight to the bitter end. The Danish Navy is shattered but it is not without cost to the Royal Navy. Thanks to Bolitho the operation is a success, but if he had failed, it might have gone the other way, with incaluable damage to Britain's ability to combat Napoleon.

All together, this is a well written book with interesting and absorbing plot twists and charecter developement. One of the scenes that stays with me now, is Bolitho riding through Copenhagen, during his diplomatic mission, and wondering what it would be like to explore this very interesting city in peacetime. Maybe Bolitho is getting tired of the non-stop sea war has faced since he was a teenager, 30 years before. Hmm.

I highly recommend this book as a valued addition to any Kent library and it is a fine reference to details of the little known and regarded 1st Battle of Copenhagen.

Small Graces made me relax and look at the world around me. The book helped me to remember the beauty in simplicity and appreciate the silence. It cleared my mind and focused my thinking. Nerburn's writing has a soft soothing tone. While reading, I found myself breathing a little deeper and a little slower.

I found this book when I was on vacation and looking for a book on grace before meals for myself and to give as a gift. As soon as I got it home and began to read it, I realized that it was the perfect little book to share with my five daughters and my daughterinlaw. It could be a gentle way to encourage the spirituality of daily living and of looking for the sacred in the mundane, especially for those who don't think they have the time to attend to the spiritual dimension of their lives or who are looking for a way to enhance that dimension for their families, but are not involved in a religious community or practice. I hope that with the help of this book they will be inspired to create such an atmosphere for their children.

I love this book. It is so unassuming and poetic. This is the kind of writing and thinking that we need to help us find the core values of everyday life. Mr. Nerburn helps us see the importance of the people and moments we often ignore. I think everyone should read this book and use it to measure the greatness of their own heart.

I have little UNIX or Solaris experience, so for me this book provided a spotty overview of the Solaris 8 O/S. It didn't provide an overall perspective of Solaris, tying all the pieces together to form a complete picture. It would have been great if the authors listed out the applications that come with Solaris (there are a truck load); it would have been even better if they detailed some of them. For those of us that don't have time to read through an author's opinions, this text leaves much to be desired.

Great Book for beginner's and a Excellent reference for Pro's.
The chapter to chapter sequence is just right for the topic(Solaris).

Hi

If you have basic Unix knowledge and If you want learn to how to manage a Solaris box, you have to buy it.

Good introduction for Solaris Administration.

Regards

Dia De Los Muertos has all the ingredients for a truly excellent noir thriller--a seedy locale, amoral characters, femmes fatales, suspenseful plot turns--but unfortunately Harrington isn't quite writer enough to put it all together with the necessary skill and effectiveness. While Harrington does score points for creating a sordid, menacing atmosphere for his story, the writing is never better than serviceable; at times it is bad, and at times it is straight-up awful. The dialogue amounts to little more than cheap film-noir cliches and offers almost no insight into the characters. I didn't make it through the entire book--near the end I came to a ludicrous sequence involving two women and their, um, plaything that made me fling the book across the room in contempt--but for as far as I'd made it I was still left with no sense of who the people were who populated this story. It's a shame that all of these great story elements couldn't have been picked up by more capable hands.

this is easily the best novel I've read in awhile, and quite possibly one of the best noir novels of all time. No dark city scapes here though. We're talking TJ in all its decadence. Calhoun is a genuine monster, a bad man in a bad situation. The main point of this book: There will be no redemption, my friend.

Oh, soon to be a benecio Del Torro flick. Then all you slow folks can pick up the sure to be released mass market movie tie in version.

This is the best noir novel I have ever read, bar none, and that includes Cain and Goodis. It has been said that noir is "people you don't like doing things you don't care about," but not this one. You come to care intensely about Calhoun and his doomed one-day run against Bordertown Fate. But mainly, you find yourself very quickly in the hands of someone who can write, and nothing else really matters in the end. Cheers to Kent for writing it and Dennis McMillan for publishing it and shame on St. Martins for giving it a pass.

Book 2 0f The Kent Family Chronicles is The Rebels.Philip Kent is now a serving soldier in George Washingtons rebel army,enduring cold,starvation and all the privations of war. He recieves a letter from his wife,Anne whom he has left in Boston with their infant son,Abraham,who tells him of her worries about the unwanted attention of a sea captain who is connected to the shipping firm with whom they have invested their savings.A new character is introduced,Judson Fletcher, a dissolute drunkard and family black sheep who is a warped soul because of his love for another mans wife and the dislike of his father. The War of Independence is in its main stages in this book with the names of many well known soldiers and characters of historical importance being included--it's a wonderfully easy way to learn history within the context of a family saga.

John Jakes has become my favorite guilty pleasure. His books read fast and have plenty of action and melodrama (kind of like he wrote them with a miniseries in mind...hmm...). They're just trashy enough that you feel like you're having fun, and just historical enough that you feel like you're learning something. I loved the North and South miniseries, and I loved the Crown family books. I wasn't sure I would be as intrigued by the revolutionary period, but I'm falling in love with the characters - I had to run out to the bookstore and get "The Seekers" right after I finished "The Rebels!"

I love this entire series, and The Rebels is where the twists and turns of family fortune shift into high gear (drama?).