the first thing i need to say is that polly pratt is a paper doll set not a book. it is a large collection of young girls and a few boys, with lots of outfits and toys. if you like paper dolls this is a good set. if you like this set, the artist also drew "lettie lane" and "more lettie lane" but the charactors are drawn smaller so you can't use these 3 sets together. i prefer polly pratt to lettie lane.

Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources 2000 is a comprehensive, precise listing of venture capital sources divided into several sections so that the reader may quickly and easily locate funding sources that meet both the requirements of the reader and the venture capital firms themselves. Any company that has a reputable business that has a need for significant post-initial funding will likely find this book very helpful.

Thirteen years ago in 1876 Alabama, Emma Lawrence's father was sent to prison for burning down the barn of Pratt's Landing, owned by the town's leading family, the Watsons. Now that her father died, Emma needs to get the deed to her family's farm transferred to her mother. However, the only lawyer in town is Sam Watson, son of the man whose property was destroyed by her father.

Sam has only recently returned to his birth town, having been raised by his grandparents. Unlike his dad, he does not blame the daughter for the sins of her father, and wants to help her. However, as they work close together to save the Lawrence farm, Sam also finds himself very attracted to Emma, a feeling that she reciprocates with all her heart. Still, a long term relationship does not appear to be in the cards for this pair because of the family feud and the interference of the townsfolk.

PRATT'S LANDING is a fun to read historical romance that brilliantly highlights American small town life. The lead characters are a melodious couple who embellish an enjoyable tale. However, it is the nineteenth century small town American version of the Romeo and Juliet story line, refreshingly rewritten by the obviously talented Martha Kirkland, that makes this a pleasurable reading experience.

Harriet Klausner

the first book for making presure garments by your selfe.

Here's a quiz for trivia fans. Identify the following:

Ray Slater. Dan Sloane. John Talbot.

Give up? Ardent Lansdale fans may recognize the Slater moniker, but I'd bet most of you are hard pressed to come up with anything on the other two. Here's the answer: each is a fictional private detective, created by Joe R. Lansdale, Lewis Shiner, or both. All starred in early attempts by the authors to write hard boiled mysteries, and all first appeared in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine in the late seventies and early eighties.

Private Eye Action As You Like It (the title is based on an in-joke between Lansdale and Shiner) presents eight stories featuring these characters-three Slater tales by Lansdale, three Sloane adventures from Shiner, and two collaborative efforts starring Talbot. Typical of the men's action-adventure genre, they bear titles like "Long Gone, Forever," "One Blonde, Well Dead," "Deep Without Pity," "The Killing Season," and "Black as the Night". None of the stories are particularly stellar, but all are well written and entertaining, notable for the insight they provide into each writer's professional development and evolution of their particular voices. All the stories contain flashes of the author they become-Lansdale, in naming a character Eclipse, "on account of he's so big he blocks out the sun," and Shiner in his already polished prose.

From the tenor of their editorial remarks, I sensed both authors look back on these stories with a measure of disdain and affection. This is to be expected, but the disdain is probably not justified. Sometimes clumsy, sometimes amateurish, the stories represent the best work they could do at that stage in their careers, and as such are nothing to be ashamed about. So, in the final analysis, I'd have to say the collection is interesting primarily for its historical perspective, secondarily for the entertaining author's notes filled with insight and good natured ribbing between the two friends (Shiner's piece, "Can You Run With It?" is particularly funny). As such, the book is primarily for Lansdale and Shiner completists, not for casual readers. Even so, those unfamiliar with either author will find things to like.

Simple and vibrantly colourful drawings with simple words of an endearing duo consisting of an elephant named Olaf and a mouse called Venus. We get to read about the sights that these buddies see - among them a pond, a statue, and a boy named Sam - on their outing in the park one sunny day. With a word and picture on one page and a scene containing the pictured word on the opposite, the simplicity of this book makes it easy for a toddler to practice some of the basics of reading - picture matching and picture-word matching - with your help. My daughter loves to have me read the book to her over and over again.

Once again Daniel P. Mannix shows his prowess as a historical documentor. The author of "Those Who Are About To Die" and "The Hell Fire Club" takes us back to France in the middle ages and an ancient Paris under siege from a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. More than just a historical account, Mannix, in his typically engrossing style takes us into the life of the wolf pack, revealing to the reader the lifestyle of a wolf in medieval europe, and the unforseen outcome when nature's boundries are crossed. A bit more heavily fictionalized than Mannix's other works, and somewhat anthropomorphic, but if you're a nature lover with an interest in mideval history this ones for you. Warning: graphically violent...otherwise it wouldn't be Mannix.

Book is an excellent look at the lives of a variety of women who have their reservation in common. Not all the women still live on the small Minnesota reservation - but the connection to it is evident. Included are average women and others who have become alittle more well known - such as Winnoa LaDuke. Their stories are all valid and worth the telling. The photographs are blk & wht, but very expressive. A good example of the challenges the modern Native American female must face today - both on and off the reservation. I had the extreme pleasure of visiting the White Earth Reservation this past summer and actually meeting two of these wonderful women. These women are real and their stories are real. Only Complaint - it came to an end too soon... soon...

I wasn't sure what to think of _Freezer Burn_ when I started it. The characters were just a bit too wild to really register.

Then, about the time the protagonist, Bill, realizes that he's starting to have unusual feelings (love, friendship) for Conrad the Wonder Dog, and Frost, the leader of a small freakshow he's hooked up with following a botched robbery, I realized that I was starting to feel all warm inside, too.

It takes a great writer to create a character like Bill--someone you'd normally cross the street to avoid--and make you care about what happens to him. I know that other reviewers didn't feel the same way, but I was right there, rooting for the poor guy the whole way.

If anything, the downbeat, noirish finale, which I should have seen coming, came as a bit of a surprise, even though we've all seen this a thousand times before (think _Double Indemnity_ or _Body Heat_).

Heck, I would have been happy just following Bill's adventures with the freakshow for a few more hundred pages. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly, though it's obviously not for all tastes.

FREEZER BURN shows us Bill Roberts and his 2 friends organizing a little robbery of a fireworks display. Problem is it's across the street from where Bill lives with his deceased mother in the back bedroom. The other problem is the display owner recognizes him and is killed. The next problem is the getaway car crashes, killing one of Bill's friends and the chase through a swamp kills the other friend. Not to mention a cop accidentally kills himself trying to take down Bill. All this and Bill ends up in a freak show carnival. Huh? Trust me, this novel is action packed and filled with allusions to Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot and a host of colorful characters that make this one of Lansdale's best novels in years. Most highest recommendation

Bill Roberts is a laconic and none to smart loser that decides to rob a firecracker stand just across the street because his mother is now dead and stinking up the place and he cannot get the nerve up to forge her social security checks to get the money, which he is just about out of. With two cohorts helping him out, the robbery goes well for about two seconds. Then things go south in a hurry. Four corpses later, poor Bill stumbles out of the swamp and into a traveling carnival Freakshow run by a kind hearted man with a hand growing out of his chest and his femme fatale wife. Hoping to hide out until things cool down in the real world, Bill takes a job there and waits for the proper angles to present themselves. Gidget, the blonde bombshell wife of the show's owner, has some plans of her own as well as some very nice angles to get them done.

Freezer Burn is largely a retelling of the film 'Freaks' as a comedic roman noir. Chock full of unsavory characters that view humane behavior as stupid and weak, this is certainly not a novel for all tastes. Longtime Lansdale fans will be delighted to see him brush up on his darker roots, the ones responsible for The Nightrunners and the black as tar noir nightmare The Night They Skipped the Horror Show. Others used to the trace of nobility found in his most recent work will wonder why he wasted his time telling the tale of such an unlikable sociopath anti-hero. Being a nearly twenty year Lansdale addict I heartily recommend to his longtime fans as well as to those who just like dark hearted noir with a goofball twist.

This book, guide, reference, ... or what ever you name it. is essential for all business, financial and investment guides.

I take issue with the reviewer who suggested that Tom Copeland/McKinsey's book "Valuation" is better than this one or is more directed at valuaing big businesses. ... On the other hand, it should be said that valuation techniques do not differ between big companies and small companies (especially if big/small companies are publically traded). Valuation techniques vary depending on (a) what sort of asset is being valued (public equity, vs. private equity, vs. business assets as a whole, etc) and (b) why valuation is being done (for M&A, litigation between business partners, divorce, ESOPs, for equity investment/divestment). If an investor is valuing a $50 Billion public company and a $50 million public company, the technique used for both is (probably) the same.

If anything, this book does an excellent job in reminding us of the diversity of valuation techniques in use, and the diversity of reasons for doing valuations. Given the frequency with which privately held companies are bought, one would think that knowing how to value companies whose stock is not publically traded is useful for general businesspeople, not just accountants and attorneys. But if you absolutely insist that you just want to know how to value publically traded companies and don't give a hoot for calculating "private equity discounts" or "minority shareholder discounts", then I would recommend Aswath Damodaran's books "Damodaran on Valuation", "The Dark Side of Valuation" or "Investment Valuation". Damodaran, professor of Finance at NYU, actually uses the same techniques taught here, but applied to public equity investing and with different names (for example, what is called the "Market approach" here is just what Damodaran calls "relative valuation" in a different context).

I have found Mr. Pratt's book to be an outstanding and practical general reference guide to valuing privately-held businesses. Due to the book's breadth of material and balanced focus on both the science and art of valuation, I have found "Valuing A Business" to be an excellent professional reference for anyone entering the field of business valuation. I highly recommend it.

In addition to the common "science side" valuation techniques, issues, and approaches that are found in many valuation textbooks, Pratt provides unique, valuable insight into the "art side" of valuation. The book also includes real life project execution considerations for litigation support, expert witness testimony, and taxation. "Valuing A Business" offers solid information to assist a practitioner in building a quality framework for conducting a comprehensive private company valuation.