Here is an average American couple that does something we all dream about - but most never do - sail away to the South Pacific. In addition, the author takes us through their boating and non-boating lives in an interesting way.

Probably the most compelling theme is choosing to run your own life - i.e. they had to decide to quit working, deal with home ownership, grown kids and so on, to realize their dream.

So in that sense it is resource for anyone thinking about realizing some dream, it doesn't have to be about boating. But for those of us that like boating, well it is that much better.

She's a good writer and I'd sure like to see another book on what they did after they returned from the South Pacific. Highly recommended!

An extremely captivating, well written book! It was a relaxing read that allowed me to see what life would be like living on a boat. There is so much more to cruising than I ever imagined - although it would be amazing to see the world aboard a boat, you learn what hard work it is and how dangerous it can be. Not only is this a book about cruising, but also about real people and their emotions and their relationships. The author and her husband's relationship is strong, but its strength is tested by this trip. I absolutely loved this book and hope you'll get a chance to read it sometime!

What a wonderful book. You tell such a descriptive story. It is just fantastic. I have been reading numberous books on sailing addventures and yours deserves to be on the book shelf of every boating store.

This is a very complete book on the subject for the layman. It gives descriptions of a number of systems including pressure distributed dome which is my type and not described in any other book I have read. Easy reading but a good deal of information. Seem to be very current. This is the best book I have read on the subject thus far.

The basics of septic systems, from underground systems and failures to what the owner can do to promote and maintain a healthy system, is revealed in an excellent guide essential for any who reside on a septic system. Rural residents receive a primer on not only the basics; but how to conduct period inspections and what to do when things go wrong. History also figures into the fine coverage.

This book is an essential tool for owners of homes with septic systems, or for people who are considering buying or building a home with a septic system.

It is written in non-technical language and includes a plethora of illustrations, some of them humorous. It provides enough information so that reader can deal effectively with professionals, should that become necessary. While it mainly focuses on the traditional septic tank, it also describes many alternatives which can be used in situations where the standard tank may not be applicable.

There is also an intriguing history of sanitation. I was fascinated to learn that the re were flush toilets in the Indus Valley (now Pakistan) in 2500 BC!

Also included is an extensive bibiolography, including web sites, and a list of suppliers of various secptic-related products.

I ordered a second copy of this book after the first one was destroyed by rain! We used to read it to my oldest daughter and decided to buy it again after our third child was born... not only does it teach different parts of the body, it is a great way to get your kids moving!

This is a fun book for any Elmo fan. It helps teach body parts, as well as coordination, and it's a cute book besides!

This is one of my daughter's favorite books because it's very involving in a physical and non-threatening way. You read the text, you show her the movement, she sees the movement depicted, and does it. She had lots of fun and was very interested in learning the names of various body parts.

This is a wonderful book, but not before a nap or bedtime. For that, I'd recommend the related Elmo book "Quiet Time."

This prequel to Voices From Cemetary Hill focuses on two Civil War sisters and their search for God in the frontier south of the mid-1800s. Letters from family archives serve as the source material for this presentation, rare in its presentation of the writings of two antebellum period yeoman class sisters. Black and white vintage photos pepper the account.

Sisters Of Providence: The Search For God In The Frontier South 1843-1858 is based on the lives and writings of two sisters, Jennie and Ann Speer, daughters of a yeoman farmer and sisters to Civil War Colonel Asbury Speer. These were two remarkable women who developed an affinity for Yankees and Yankee ideas, the rights of women, northern reform movements, and a dedicated opposition to the institution of slavery. Both sisters wrote with eloquence and grace of their observations, reflections, and opinions. Sisters Of Providence is a remarkable and much appreciated contribution to the annals of 19th Century American history.

With words, women of this era were set loose from their confining environment. In today's world, where the young can openly explore most anything, words have lost their allure. These pre Civil War women sought meaning and truth in their writings, many of which were written only to heard in the privacy of their own minds. This work should be read much like one would read an Emily Dickinson poem, taking each entry and exploring it for its many layers of meaning.

This book is a find--a first hand account of two Rosie the Riveters. The contemporaneous memoir of two school teachers who spent the summer of '43 building B-24s in San Diego fascinates with details--getting hired, what was security like in wartime factories, how were these two educated women treated differently when they donned slacks and became factory workers? The writing is quick and humorous, like Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I which has remained popular since 1945. Constance Bowman Reid's epilogue, written in 1999, is a touching finale. You'll want to know what she's been up to in the intervening 50 years.

This Book evokes a unique time and experience for women in this country. It accurately depicts the rigors and effort that came as a surprise to all of the work force as women pitched in for the war effort. That it is cleverly done with good humor and the ability to poke fun at the situation, makes it even more of a jewel.

A great Read! Cleverly written and laugh out loud funny. An interesting primary source of history--a must read for WW II enthusiasts. My wife was intrigued by the women's history angle. We both loved the illustrations.

When people who love to read have a 'favorite' book, often it's not a matter of discovering what happens, but how the author takes us deftly and pleasantly to another place, another time, even another world. I've read every Sherlock Holmes case a dozen times and I know passages of The Chronicles of Narnia by heart. But, when I get an hour to tuck up in my bed and read, these are places I want to go again and again. That explains why, after I read the last line of page 442 of The Sojourners, I simply turned back and began again on page one. Mr. Pender takes us to the good old USA. This is a story within a story. A young man we could almost call 'everyboy' comes of age during that grisly period of history when America herself comes to her hard-won but noble maturity. The depth and poignancy of this memoir are subtle but irresistible. The style is deceptively simple, seemingly casual. It's not so much like reading about this young fellow's life, as it is like living it. I chuckled, I laughed out loud, and I cried, sometimes all on the same page. The first and last chapters of the book set the entire piece so gently in its frame that I expect some folks will miss it. Looking back, the author shares with his old friend that his own realization of a benevolent God has given him the answer to the meaning of that life he has lived. Read this book and you'll understand what it's like to have the heart of a young scallywag... and the spirit of an American.

" This book has it all. I have read over 3000 or 4000 books and the unique style of writing, with flashbacks, never abandons the reader,but instead awakens the reader's senses to the sounds and smells of the era.The verbal descriptions of the scenes and people are so real you feel that you are there. A Great Book"

Bob Latorre, WOBM, 1160 AM

great book. The author's escapades and the book's bittersweet theme are those to which every former boy and girl can relate. We loved it, and we know our parents and son will, too. We read it on our way from and to work. It made a normally long and annoying commute fly by. We were so sorry when we ran out of chapters. We need a sequel!

I found this book much more interesting than the average classroom textbook. It seems to be the best answer I've seen so far in the battle against illiteracy. I believe this book should be required reading for aspiring literacy specialists!!

I used the strategies in this book with my 8th and 9th grade students, and suddenly I found ways to get students to read who had never read a book before because they hated reading. Now, they are voracious readers. Give it a try and don't worry about age limits. We CAN hook them all if we are patient and try a variety of strategies.

I found this book to be a refreshing and enlightening view of the challenges these middle school kids face and the love they receive from their teacher. Reading this book was like an invitation into the lives of these kids trying to overcome their literacy challenges and it was truely heart warming to see the adoration Kyle has for these children. She truely has made it her life's work to help these kids become better readers and better members of society. It's refreshing to see a teacher who cares so much. Each of her students are special people to her, not just names on a class roster and it's obvious that the kids feel that open love. She cares that she has made an impact on their lives, not just their middle school experience. Everyone has had that special teacher that they'll never forget and it's abundently clear that for these children, that teacher is Kyle Gonzalez.

A Horror readers treat, I loved this tale of quenching horror. A terrific nonstop, diary of a city filled with thirsty vampires, and a woman accepting her own mutation. The writing is tight and satisfying, and definitely worth another read.

The story is as compelling as any 'Anne Rice' novel, and should not be missed. Cause: unexpected violence that encases these pages, and strobes the mind with lightning, it blinds the reader's thoughts. Effect: another page turner. A great success for a first attempt in battling the pro-writing world.

Rutherford & Sanders put a new twist on the conventional view of vampires. With a surprise at every paragraph, Relative Blood is sure to spark the imagination of its readers. With its use of sophisticated language and passionately detailed and defined images, Rutherford & Sanders MUST be put among the ranks of Anne Rice and Bram Stoker. With each storyline flowing into the next, it's hard to consider that it was co-written. The graphic images throughout the novel illustrate the story, while still letting the reader imagine their own idea of what the city and people appear to be like. The book ends, but not the story, which leads me to wonder when the sequel will be coming out.

I bought this calendar through Amazon and, while I can't say I'm disappointed in the calendar or that there is anything wrong with it, it is not what I expected. I expected a picture of one bird, or possibly two, each month. That's the way the listing described it. Instead, each month features six to eight smaller pictures, of one bird or of two closely related birds. The pictures do not show the birds in natural settings, as I had hoped, but are like illustrations from a birding guide (which they are, and maybe I should have expected that).

The calendar was highly informative and detailed. I'm sure that birding enthusiasts loved it. I'm not sure about the rest of us. I did get used to it; it just was not what I had expected.

I bought The Sibley Calendar 2002 ed. for my husband at Christmas, 2001. For the past six months, I have enjoyed reading and looking at the featured birds. The size of the calendar offers a poster type view with exquisite renderings; making markings easy to identify, and lacking shadows as is common with photographs. The best feature is having 29 to 31 days to study the birds of the month! I will be watching for the 2003 edition.
...don't pass this up- This is such an awesome reference guide. ... I highly recommend it.

This is the item that may finally give me the courage to be a real birder rather than a well-meaning but uneducated spectator.
The detail, the beauty, and the sheer volume of information, all in a calendar, defies description.

I recommend this calendar to anyone who enjoys birds, and to those whose children enjoy them as well. What a perfect family gift--an easy way for every member, young and old, to increase their enjoyment of the birds in their garden. My son and I are already digging out the binoculars!

Here is where Ginsberg's brilliance is perhaps best shown. In conversation, he revealed his passion and sharpness for all topics. His "poems" should probably not be called poems, but instead exercises in poetic freedom, which is ultimately a futile task, especially when approached for the mere sake of asserting more freedom. One is baffled at the mere badness of his poems, which are not in the Whitmanian vane at all, but in the vane of bloated mounds of words. Nonetheless, Ginsberg, the "excitable visionary Jewish Budhist," is beautifully and swiftly rendered in these interviews.

i am a ginsberg fan and so i am biased but this book of interviews is really an enjoyable read. sure some of the interviews are dated but they really show the great intuitive thinker and off the cuff debater the allen ginsberg really was.
especially fun is his debate with john lofton who attempts to bury ginsberg in his born-again brand of conservativism. also fun is allen's transcripts from the chicago seven trial. i actually found this a hoot.
also his discussion on poetics is quite enlightening.
we miss you allen; your shining mind, intelligent wit and your shaman boddisattvic spirit

David Carter edits this compilation of selected interviews with Allen Ginsburg from 1958-96, providing a chronological arrangement of material which in some cases has not appeared elsewhere. The extensive interviews from decades of changing experience result in an excellent survey of Ginsberg's changing life, works and times, and provides a fine commentary on his social and literary life.