This book has become one of my all time favorites. I find myself reading it time and time again. Jenny Jones is a tough capable girl in a man's world, and she is always clever enough to survive.Each character was so well written that they actually came to life for me. Ms. Osborne has the young antagonist save herself by asking herself "what would Jenny do". I have found myself saying the exact same thing in tough situations. Jenny Jones is so real, I find myself forgetting this is a fictional book. I recommend this book frequently to my friends and I recommend it highly to anyone reading this. I will obtain all the Maggie Osborne books I can, as I can't wait to see where next she will take me.

Jenny Jones is a magnificent heroine and Ty is just the man for her. Put Graciela into the mix and you have a dynamite combination. I enjoyed every minute of this book. It is one of the best I have read for some time. It has everything!

I have read this book at least 3 times and loved it every time. the idea of giving up your life for your child is one of the highest accomplishments for a mother to do. Every mother can relate to that maternal feeling. The book is amusing and serious but most of all Jenny Jones can and does the almost impossible. A must read for all.

I've now read 21 Magic Tree House books to my son, and he truly has enjoyed them all. In this series, the author employs a creative time travel portal - siblings Jack and Annie visit exotic times and places through the books they discover in Morgan le Fay's enchanted tree-top bookmobile. My son particularly enjoyed following Jack and Annie on their adventures in Pompeii (featuring Hercules), outer space, under water, and the Wild West (where he learned the song Red River Valley). He's reveled at accompanying Jack and Annie when they've met pirates, ninjas, knights, mummies, and Eskimoes. Conversely, as a parent that frequently reads children's books aloud, I've often been disappointed with the books' repetition, limited vocabulary, and uninspired plot development. Fortunately, that was not the case with Mary Pope Osborne's most recent tree house installment, Civil War on Sunday. Like her other books, Osborne offers young readers an intriguing view of a complex subject, in this case the Civil War. She also introduces Clara Barton and provides some insight into the birth of the Red Cross. As is often the case, Jack and Annie learn a difficult lesson in compassion. But the Civil War on Sunday goes deeper. Rather than serving as mere interlopers in significant chains of events, here, for the first time, Osborne actually makes Jack and Annie relevant to the thread of history. (Sorry, but I can't explain how without spoiling the story.) This minor adaptation goes a long way, particularly towards keeping a young reader's attention through the closing chapter. (Even four-year-olds quickly discern that the concluding chapters in most of these books - once the Tree House returns to Frog Creek - are not very entertaining.) This is Osborne's most complete effort, and I hope she continues her series in this new direction.

"Civil War On Sunday" is where the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back to the Civil War, and they become nurses helping a famous nurse, named Clara Barton. The "ambulence" is neat, and meeting John, the drummer boy, and later learning he was Jack and Annie's great-great-great-grandfather was a big surprise to me. What also surprised me is that Mrs. Osborne had more that 20 books. But now that doesn't surprise me since her books are so wonderful! So enjoy reading this.

I bet a lot of people have heard of the Magic Tree House series. Well I really like book #21 Civil War on Sunday. It is about Jack and Annie go back to the Civil War. They help some people and meet some people along the way of helping people.

My favorite part was when Annie and Jack were in the tent with the wounded drummer boy John. What they did for him was very nice. They were nice to cheer him up.

I would recommend this book for K-4. You might need to read it out loud to a kindergartner, first graders could get through it with some help, it is just right for second graders, but for third and fourth grade it might not be much of a challenge.

This book has 21 others in its series. The next book will come out in May of 2001. These great series of books can also help teach many different things. This book was written by Mary Pope Osborne.

I had always thought a scientist of the calibre of Dr. E. O. Wilson was perhaps out of my league; I'd partly read his Diversity of Life and perhaps got the most out of it by jumping around and reading what interested me. His other famous books seemed too specialized for me, basically a lover of fiction or action stories. However, I saw recently that Wilson had endorsed the book jacket of "Nabokov's Butterflies", one of my favorite writers, whose biography "Nabokov's Blues" was a great read last year. "Naturalist" is a word often spurned by modern scientists, I'm told; its sometimes another word for generalist-- whom "real" scientists often don't take seriously. Nabokov had been one (and not often taken seriously); it interested me that Wilson would use that term to describe his own journey into professional science. What Wilson explains so well here, in his own story, is that it is growing up with a FASCINATION with nature, first perhaps as only a hobby, that based on this "fascination for life", great scientists are sometimes born. Wilson makes the point, echoed by another commentator above, that all of us with a fascination for nature are not so different and perhaps science has not done itself a service by make its field seem so rarified and only for that highly educated PhD. FIRST perhaps comes the youthful fascination with things that then leads to the productive scientist. I know when I was a kid I enjoyed reading the biographies of John Audobon and other naturalists. E. O. Wilson was not well known at the time. But, any youth, parent or teacher who wants to get a proper perspective on what seems to make great scientists, that is, the ongoing fascination with life itself and what makes it tick, will find great support in this biography of, yes, a famous Harvard professor, but also a person not so different from you and me. An autobiography worth reading.

How far have city-bred enterprises removed us from our natural heritage? E.O. Wilson, author of so many wonderful ideas and books, has here revealed himself as a human being of immense strength and courtly self-awareness. Sharing with us so many aspects of his personal life and scientific endeavors, Wilson shows how a bit of dedication can overcome obstacles most of us find daunting. Raised in the rural South, losing the sight of one eye, his struggles to gain a place as a scientist are inspiring. More importantly, he makes clear how much remains to be done by the upcoming generations in determining our true place in the natural order. This work is a clarion call for aspiring young scientists to enter research, following paths similar to his own.

The editorial reviews here focus overmuch on the sociobiology 'controversy'. Sociobiology is a major thesis in examining humanity's place in nature. Rejecting this idea out of hand continues to impair understanding of how important an idea sociobiology is, although he spends little time on it in this book. Much of his work has focussed on animal behaviour from ants through mammals. People remain resistant to the idea that we are somehow associated with 'the beasts', but Wilson demonstrates the continuity of behaviour patterns throughout the animal kingdom. Until we address that issue honestly, which is a major aspect of Wilson's work, we will never understand who we truly are. His studies stress that until we achieve that understanding, we will continue to unwittingly intrude on our own environment. The loss of species threatens our own existence.

The major advantage of this book is its honesty. Wilson pulls few punches and reviews his own prejudices and how he overcame them. He demonstrates how important this self assessment is to scientists and the public alike. The growth of understanding of genetics has impacted all biology. Wilson relates candidly his own grudging acceptance of the new ideas genetic research have given us. He's to be commended for both his candor and flexibility.

To me, it looks as if Wilson turned to be a great scientist against all odds. He did not come from the academic royalty, but from a broken family in Alabama. With strong intuition, lot of hard work and endless enthusiasm, he became one of the great scientists of the 20th century. A well written book, that would probably change the course of my life have I read it at the right age...

Mary Pope Osborne has created a magical tale around her Master Librarians. Jack and Annie must travel back in time to save at least one bamboo book from the emperor's bonfire. The emperor is afraid that books are a threat to his power. During their adventure, Jack and Annie interact with characters from an ancient Chinese legend and observe history as it is happening. Jack describes many authentic Chinese artifacts and habits. These tidbits of Chinese hisory stimulate a desire to learn more about the Chinese culture. This easy-to-read tale will captivate children from ages six through twelve who wish to enjoy a good story and get a small dose of Chinese history.

I like the part when the soldiers shoot arrows at Jack and Annie. I liked it when they wished to go to China. I like each book being different.

It's not often that I find a book that I actually enjoy reading aloud to my children. Most books, even kids books, have long, descriptive passages or paragraph upon paragraph of exposition which are boring to listen to and tough to read aloud without me getting dried out.

However, the Magic Treehouse Books are quick reads that are easy to dramatize. Main characters Jack and Annie have distinct personalities that are fun to give voice to. Jack is the serious scientific type. With his signature "Oh, man!", he is the perfect counterpoint to younger, impetuous sister Annie. ("Hi!")

While it's not necessary to start with the first book of the series (Ms Osborne does a commendable job of filling in the back story in each book w/o slowing down the narration), I recommend starting with book one since there are elements that build in each consecutive book. (Who is the mysterious M?)

The Treehouse books also offer contemporary vocabulary (but not to the point of being ridiculous), cool settings and fun drawings.

But the best thing about these books? Even my oh, so cool ten year old will sit down and listen.

. . . to really achieve its full potential, this play needs to be acted out on stage. Still, highly excellent, involving twins, cross-dressing, love tangles, sword-fighting, secret marriages, music, disguises, mistaken identities, high speech, and lowbrow humour.

The entire play takes place in Illyria. In the main plot, Orsino is in love with Olivia, who unfortunately does not return his feelings. Viola is shipwrecked on the Illyrian coast, and dressed as a boy, comes to serve in Orsino's court, where she of course falls in love with Orsino. Meanwhile, in Olivia's court, some of her courtiers plan a cruel--but funny--practical joke against her pompous steward Malvolio. There is also a third plot later on involving Viola's twin brother Sebastian, who has been shipwrecked likewise. Naturally things get quite confusing, but, true to Shakespeare's comedic style, everything gets worked out in the end.

This is an enjoyable book to read, and the notes are very helpful. However, it is still better as a performance.

"Twelfth Night" is one of the famous romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare. Many critics said, "Twelfth Night" is the masterpiece among his comedy because his fully developed style and insight are in the "Twelfth Night", so it has special value and attractiveness.
There are four main characters in "Twelfth Night" ; Duke Orsino, Olivia, Viola, and
Sebastian. Duke Orsino who lives in Illyria loves Olivia, so every day he send one of
his servant to Olivia's house for proposal of marriage. However, every time Olivia
refuses his proposal for the reason that she lost her brother before long, so she is now
in big sorrow and can not love anyone. One day, Viola comes into Illyria. She and her
twin brother Sebastian are separated in a shipwreck and they are rescued by two
different people in two different place, so they think the other one is dead each other.
Viola disguise as a man and become a servant of Duke Orsino, and then she fall in
love with Duke Orsino. But, Duke Orsino loves Olivia and he send Viola whose new
name as a man is "Cesario" to Olivia for proposal. Unexpectedly, Olivia fall in love with
Cesario!! Therefore, love triangle is formed. In the latter scene, Sebastian also come into
Illyria, so the confusion getting worse. However, in the end, all misunderstandings are
solved and Cesario become Viola, so the four main characters find their love.
There are also four supporting characters in "Twelfth Night" ; Clown, Sir Toby Belch,
Malvolio, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. They make the readers laugh through their funny
behaviors and comments in subplot.
"Twelfth Night" is very funny story and enjoyable book, so I recommend you.

I didn't read this particular version of Twelfth Night, so I'm rating the plot, not the editing. This book was the first play by Shakespeare that I read, and I loved it! It starts when Viola and her brother, Sebastian, are seperated in a shipwreck. Viola decides to disguise herself as a boy and work for Orsino, the duke. Orsino sends Viola to tell Olivia that he loves her. Viola does what he says, but she wishes she didn't have to, because she has fallen in love with Orsino! Then Olivia falls in love with Viola, thinking that she is a boy. While all this is going on, Andrew Aguecheek is wooing Olivia, who scorns him. Also, Maria, the maid, Sir Toby Belch, Olivia's uncle, and another servant write a letter and put it where Malvolio, a servant, will see it. The letter says that Olivia is in love with Malvolio. Malvolio immediately starts trying to woo Olivia. Maria and Sir Toby pretend to think that he's mad, and lock him up. Meanwhile, Sebastian comes to town with Antonio, the man who saved him from the shipwreck. Antonio gives him his purse and says that he must stay away from the city because he fought against the duke in a war. A few minutes later, Antonio realizes that he needs money for lodgings and goes to find Sebastian. In the city, Viola is being forced to fight Andrew Aguecheek for the right to marry Olivia. Antonio sees the fight and hurries to intervene. Orsino recognizes him and has him arrested. Antonio asks Viola for his purse so that he can pay bail, thinking that she is Sebastian. Viola denies having had a purse. Then Sebastian comes up. Olivia had found him and married him on the spot, and he, deliriously happy, had gone away to give Antonio his purse. On the way, he met Sir Toby and Andrew Aguecheek. When they try to force him to fight, he punches them and goes on. They come up too, bitterly accusing Viola. (No one has seen Sebastian yet.) Then Olivia comes up and speaks to Viola, who denies being her wife. Orsino becomes angry with her, thinking that she has married Olivia, and accuses her of treachery. Just as things are looking bad for Viola, Sebastian reveals himself. Then everyone is happy (since Orsino falls in love with Viola on the spot) except Andrew Aguecheek and Malvolio, who is later set free. The plot of this book is a little hard to understand, but it is halariously funny and makes for happy reading.

I am not an avid reader. I read this book at a pace of 1-2 chapters per evening. I could not put it down. Very interesting perspective on coaching and college football. In spite of not having the most attractive location (Nebraska), not having the highest ranked freshman class recruits, and following the rules (as opposed to some other college football programs), Tom Osborne and Nebraska have been a major success story. They have managed a consistently winning record with a number of national championships in the highly competitive arena of division I college football.

Dr. Osborne has captured many practical insights that extend to areas far beyond coaching and football. The book is interspersed with interesting anecdotes and many references to his faith in Jesus Christ.

If the book has a weakness, it is in the style of writing. At times I felt I was reading the same material over again. Overall a four star rating.

I plan to buy a number of copies to give as Christmas gifts!

Dr. Osborne managed to combine his memoirs as a coach for the Cornhuskers and a sociology of college football (mainly the Cornhuskers) in a concise book. It will interest any enthusiast of college football and will be particularly engrossing for fans of Nebraska and Tom Osborne.

There were two strengths of the book: A style which enabled Dr. Osborne to meld his memories of coaching and an analysis of applying sound moral and Christian principles to coaching a team to elite levels of competition; a willingness to keep the book short, sweet, and to-the-point, without bogging down in minutiae which would detract from the message. The book touches on subjects ranging from goal-setting with the players to how the coaching staff kept the players' best interests at the fore even in the most trying circumstances. My only criticism of the book would be that the style was more fullback-up-the-middle than wingback-reverse, but I guess you dance with the one who brung ya.

This is a neat book. It is fascinating, it has scores of information about how the Huskers built their program, and it is written in exactly the right amount of detail, including the technical details.

If you are a coach in any sport, if you are a Husker fan, or if you are a Tom Osborne fan, this book is a good read. It is also an excellent gift. It is one of the five best sports books I have read in the last few years. You can't miss with Faith in the Game.

This book was an okay book! This book is about these kids named Annie and jack. Jack and Annie go to Egypt and in a pyramid. When they go inside the pyramid, Jack and Annie have to find the book of the dead. Now you will have to read the book to find out about the rest of the book.

In this book there's one girl named Annie and a boy named Jack that are in a tree house.They imagine that they are in Egypt and they end up in Egypt. Then they see a parade of people going to a pyramid .They meet a queen and the queen asks Jack and Annie if they can help her. In the pyramid Jack and Annie have to find a book that the queen lost. I like this book because they go in a pyramid. They see a ghost queen and they get lost. You wonder if they will get out. The author is trying to teach about pyramids in Egypt. You should read it.

I like this book because all I check out in the library is about mummies and I would like to go to Egypt someday. I like this book because two little kids, Jack and Annie, go to a pyramid and find a Queen Mummy. At first they are scared and then they are not. The mummy needs their help to go to the next level of the underworld and they try to solve a puzzle. If you like mummies it's a great book to read!

My mentor Bill Drury once said that "real scientific controversies never get resolved, the participants simply get old and die, and the rest of us wonder what the fuss was all about". This may be the case in the "sociobiology wars" certainly the tone of many reviewers here is that Segerstrale has written an epitaph for the debate, but one can't help wondering -especially given the increasingly shrill claims of the "evolutionary psychologists" if what we have in DEFENDERS OF TRUTH isn't more of a cautionary tale of the effects of hubris. In any case Segerstrale has done us all an enormous service with this highly readable look behind the scenes at one of the most violent arguments in biology in the 20th Century. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the book is the personal glimpses that we get of the primary players, but Segerstrale doesn't scrimp on the science within the battle or the contexts within which it is played out. I have found a great deal of useful lecture material for a number of courses here and I also find the book a valuable debunker of many of the legends that have grown up over the years. I also find Segerstrale's discussion of the essential unity of Wilson's work quite compelling -the outer shell changes, the fundamental core hasn't. My only quibble would be in terms of the conclusion "It ain't over till it's over..."

At the outset of her book, Segerstrale comes up with a marvelous (and hugely entertaining) overview of the sociobiology controversy as an opera. Everyone sings their part, the emotions and language is overwrought, alliances shift, and we (the audience) are eventually left drained from the experience. While her tongue is firmly in cheek, opera isn't a bad comparison. Because so much of the controversy over sociobiology today feels like a performance. One side setting up straw men to knock over in order to increase their own moral capital. The end result is the most human view of science I've ever encountered (human in the sense of "human frailty").

Because in the end, we see that the whole "sociobiology debate" wasn't really a scientific debate at all. The moral and political arguements were what created and drove the controversy all along. And Segerstrale reminds us all too strongly of something that's easily forgotten ... that science is (and will always be) a human pursuit. Driven by the same human emotions that drive all other pursuits. As Segerstrale herself says in the book's final words, two features often thought alien to science -- emotion and belief -- turn out to be omnipresent. They may not drive science, but they do drive scientists. And this book is a truly remarkable look at the controversy, the characters and the way science really works. It deserves to be read as widely as possible.

This is a dense but well-written history of the sociobiology debates between E. O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, John Maynard Smith and others on one side, and Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Lewontin, and Science for the People on the other. Most of the authors material was gather for her 1983 Ph.D. dissertation, but there is plenty of material from the mid to late 1990's as well.

Despite the length and degree of detail of the book, I found it difficult to skip even a page, so well is it written and so engaging is the author. It is hard to believe that she could still inject new insights in to the analysis 300 pages in to the book, but this she does, and repeatedly so.

The author has deep respect for the anti-sociobiologists, but she is clearly on the side of their critics. In this I believe she is correct. While my personal history is closer to that of the opponents (I was a Marxist and an anti-racist activist at the same time Gould, Lewontin, et al. were) I never had the slightest sympathy for their critique of E. O. Wilson (I read Sociobiology when it first came out and didn't even mind the infamous last chapter, though I though it was wrong---and it is), and their treatment of Maynard Smith, Dawkins, and more recently evolutionary psychology, is to mind simply silly and ignorant---the opponents may be great biologists, but they are third rate amateurs at understanding social theory and human sociality, in my opinion.

I'm sure there are lessons to be learned from this intellectual saga, but I must report that the greatest pleasure for me was to see great minds battle it out in public. Of course, behind the scenes scientists were slowly and patiently working out the real issues, and we are measurable better informed now that when this battle began in the mid-1970's. The sociobiologists and behavioral ecologists won the scientific war, though the enemy is still sniping away around the perimeter.

Robert Miles's most recent book grants overwhelming insights into the Buffett style of management.

Though having also been interested in the usually finance driven literature on Warren Buffett, I always missed to learn more about the soft facts in the incredible success story of Berkshire Hathaway.

This book perfectly filled this gap!

According to me, the chapter "Buffett CEO Compensation" is particularly interesting if one considers the current management desasters caused by the "motivation" tool called stock-options. Miles has prepared a good overview on Buffett's convincing anti-stock-option arguments and describes how Berkshire Hathaway compensates its CEOs with cash only. Very clear and very simple, as most of Buffett's fundamental rules.

Robert Miles's most recent book grants overwhelming insights into the Buffett style of management.

Though having also been interested in the usually finance driven literature on Warren Buffett, I always missed to learn more about the soft facts in the incredible success story of Berkshire Hathaway.

This book perfectly filled this gap!

According to me, the chapter "Buffett CEO Compensation" is particularly interesting if one considers the current management desasters caused by the "motivation" tool called stock-options. Miles has prepared a good overview on Buffett's convincing anti-stock-option arguments and describes how Berkshire Hathaway compensates its CEOs with cash only. Very clear and very simple, as most of Buffett's fundamental rules.

Robert Miles's most recent book grants overwhelming insights into the Buffett style of management.
Though having also been interested in the usually finance driven literature on Warren Buffett, I always missed to learn more about the soft facts in the incredible success story of Berkshire Hathaway.

This book perfectly filled this gap!

According to me, the chapter "Buffett CEO Compensation" is particularly interesting if one considers the current management desasters caused by the "motivation" tool called stock-options. Miles has prepared a good overview on Buffett's convincing anti-stock-option arguments and describes how Berkshire Hathaway compensates its CEOs with cash only. Very clear and very simple, as most of Buffett's fundamental rules.

mr jourdain is another of that rare breed who see beyond what the rest of us are capable of seeing. awake! he sees beyond the poor shadows and ego games we take as real life and a real world. he knows how to be still and know I AM. this is an interesting book of conversations with a very rare bird indeed. in my humble judgement i rate jourdain with the likes of david hawkins and jed mckenna, but probably still short of ramana maharshi and nisargadatta maharaj and a few, very few, others. i notice these great ones generally tell us seeking is futile, there's no "place" we should go and there's nothing we need "do." they hold rank on me and i can't argue but i always notice that they themselves were extremely driven "seekers" before the great awakening came. things that make you say, "hmmm"...a very interesting read this book is, about a very interesting fellow. for myself, though, i think i'll just keep right on knocking to open, asking to be given, seeking to find.....

This is a very useful book. I found the dialog with Stephen Jourdain authentic. I had an experience about a year ago that left me on one hand profoundly and ultimately changed, but on the other hand utterly the same. Hearing Stephen speak about what it is like to see the world from his awakened perspective gives clarity to many of the things I have been perceiving since then. I know that his descriptions are true not from an intellectual standpoint but from an experiential one. The most important thing Stephen said in the whole book (see pages 95 & 96) and the thing that helped me most to return to the world was this- "But--watch out--he pretends to believe because if he doesn't, reading becomes impossible." I had begun to forget how to read, Steve's warning helped me to return to the stage, but with a bucket of ice water poised carefully above my head just in case I get drowsy.
Thanks Steve.

I loved this book. I wish SJ would write another one. Call it...Radical Awakening II.

Mr. Jourdain was born with his entire body/mind already wired to awaken. It was only a matter of time and it just so happened at the age of 16 for him. The book doesn't teach you how to awaken but you can surely get glimpes of "how to" for yourself just from just from reading it.

I don't totally understand why Mr Jourdain smokes 3 packs of cigs a day, because it is sort of stupid to do so. They say that he is in excellent health, but from his picture on the back of the book, it sure doesn't look like he's in excellent health, i.e, his skin and all.

A little difficult to read a first, but ever so interesting and enlightening!

Highly recommended!