I really dug Paul Steward's collection of tales that have already become an underground classic with cavers and spelunkers. If you've ever had a nightmare about being trapped in a dark, dank dungeon -- read this book with the light on!

Paul Steward has written stories about the underground (literally) that will give you that claustrophobic feeling of being surrounded by your own grave dirt. From weird to downright scary, you'll relish these tales from a master of caving.

If Stephen King slipped on some mud-slick coveralls and slithered into a deep crack and stayed down there way too long, he'd emerge with this book. Steward's caving tales are by turns eery, morose, and screamingly funny. I can't wait for the next collection.

This is a world of brilliance--but also with great weird humor.

Shippy puts the anti back in anti-poet. Daring and glorious.

Funny, eccentric, very smart. Tough, too. But I like my poems tough. ...

This is an exceptional book. Biblical, practical, lots of examples and useful tools. This book is excellent, not only for raising children who have anger problems, but great for raising any child.

The subtitle says "Practical" and the advice really is! Not pie-in-the sky psychobabble, but direct, concrete, specific steps toward figuring out what lies behind the anger and knowing how to address it. I especially appreciate how the book doesn't waste time trying to place blame or point fingers. It just helps the parent get to work addressing the attitudes and behaviors that need correction.

I have three little boys and I was concerned about some of their behaviors. Fighting, yelling, getting really mad at each other. This book answered so many questions for me it was great. He backs up everything he says with Bible verse and there are examples to help also. A lot of books hint at what could be the root of the problem but this guy lays it out in a way that is easy to understand and I have seen great improvement in my boys just in the first few days. It isn't just a book for children it is for anyone that needs to deal with an anger problem. I have felt a lot better after reading it. It heled me to see what actions I was taking that were upsetting the kids and giving them a bad example. It isn't a book that makes you feel you are a bad person. It just points out things that everybody does to some degree and just taking time to notice which things apply to you is a great help. I think everybody should get at least two of this book because it is the kind of book you want to give to a friend. If everybody read this book the world would be a better place to live in.

I first learned of this excellent book at a professional development workshop that was offered by my school. I was immediately driven to buy it and learn all that I could about the backwards design process. One year later I find myself planning ALL of my units around enduring understandings and essential questions. It really makes sense that students can demonstrate understanding in various ways, and that it is our duty as teachers to allow them to do that with as many opportunities as possible. This year I finally feel that my students are really connecting with what I want them to learn, and they are seeing the "big picture." I will never design a unit the "traditional" way again!

McTighe and Williams successfully expound on a subject often mired in philosophical debate: how to assess understanding and evaluate true learning. It is an outstanding framework for developing curriculum intent on extending beyond traditional methods of teaching and preaching to students. The authors contend that true understanding can be assessed by measuring performance against six facets of understanding: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. These facets are vital to developing curriculum and the authors do an outstanding job of presenting the material in charts, and exercises, making a difficult topic easier to understand. Comparing and contrasting covering material and uncovering knowledge serves to help teachers think like assessors, rather than activity planners. Helpful design tools are included throughout the book and teachers are instructed to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching with thoughtful and probing questions.

Understanding by Design will serve as my guide for evaluating my own effectiveness as a teacher. I expect to rely on it to gauge my own competency in developing and executing lessons. Examples throughout the book illuminating the practical applications of each of the six facets are well organized and easy to follow. I found the use of keywords and charts especially helpful in furthering my own understanding of how to uncover knowledge. I am confident that if I remain faithful to the tenets of this book, I will be able to put into practice what I believe constitutes effective strategies for learning: student-centered activities which call upon students to question assumptions, draw upon past knowledge, and advance understanding through incremental learning

"The student ...(believes).. that there is neat and clean knowledge out there and it is my job to learn (i.e., memorize) and use it as directed. A key challenge in teaching for understanding is to make the student's view of knowledge ... more sophisticated by revealing the problems, controversies, and assumptions that lie behind much given and seemingly unproblematic knowledge."

I found this book on the way to another book, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Professional educators often feel the dichotomy between meeting national, state, and local goals and standards, and the real teaching that seems to have nothing to do with district benchmarks or standardized tests.

These authors propose a "backwards design process" that begins with the standards or outcomes desired, but then using these as guidelines to developing essential questions & understandings that actually matter beyond the classroom, then structuring the curriculum around these posed questions. They discuss the difference between covering the material, and using questions to 'uncover' the material. They using first hand examples of practice and texts to clearly exemplify what they mean. I found it exciting, inspiring, and extremely helpful.

This book was excellent, a few pages were torn out when I read it in a local liobrary in Australia but I was still able to understand it. I love the Wizard of Oz and this books was absolutely thrilling it was extremely enjoyable. This book explains how the producers cast all the actors and includes information on the films and books. It is a great book.

There have been a few books that have given us all a look into the making of MGM's movie version of "The Wizard Of Oz!"? But The Jay Scarfone,John Fricke manuscript surpasses all of the other books.Because it's filled with wonderful photos and info that takes us beyound the making of the film and gives us a look into the continuing popularity of the Oz characters.Using rare photos,extensive research and interviews from the people.Who were involved with the project.Messers Scarfone And Fricke.Show us the early stages of the making of the film.From the many drafts of the script..to the problems with the changes in cast,storylines,music,mishaps with props and special effects.To the promotions of the film on radio(NBC Radio's "MaxwellHouse Coffeetime")and at stage shows to the many other interpretations of the story that appeared on tv,in the movies,on radio, in the theater and at parades and theme parks.The book even gives some more biographical info about the cast and crew and some more insight into the man.Who created this legendary tale:Mr.Lyman Frank Baum.For the fans of this classic story.Who want to know the full extent of it's geniss? This is the one book to have.Kevin S.Butler.

There are many, many books out there about the making of everyone's favorite film, "The Wizard of Oz". There aren't any I've seen that I wouldn't recommend, but if you are looking for pictures, pictures, and more pictures, this beautiful coffee table size book is a great place to start. Pictures, both in color and black and white, of every aspect of the making of the movie fill this attractive volume from cover to cover, and the text, by Oz authority John Fricke is all-encompassing. Although released for the 50th Anniversary of the film's 1939 release, it is still relevant 13 years later, and a great book for the collector or casual researcher. It has yet to be topped.

This very useful work is a collection of readings meant to be a cross section of the important issues in American society and history. Each reading is followed by a series of questions designed to stimulate classroom discussion. One of the advantages of this book is that, instead of going to the usual canon of authors, the editors chose less obvious works. These explore many of the core issues in American history; race, personal freedom, and questions of citizenship. Overall an excellent selection. Can be used for a number of different US history and society classes.

A brilliantly collected array of superior sources, representing the cultural diversity of America. This collection offers the reader the opportunity to examine not only the ideological sources that influenced the founders of this country, but also the documents that have molded our laws, society, and culture into what it is today. Study questions are designed for the reader to interpret the sources on their own. This collection of essays is particularly useful for college instructors teaching students the processes of independent and analytical thought.

How did we get to the way of life we all come to expect in America? Where are the roots of our civil liberties? Did American democracy suddenly burst upon the scene? Or were there revelations and breakthroughs along the way? What were the problems confronted along this development? These questions are explored in this outstanding collection of readings on American Civil Society. Any one who is a teacher or any one who has wondered about the workings of the American way of life and how it came about will finally find the most superb collection of literature to date on this subject. Commencing with readings from Exodus through Confucius to the European thinkers and some of our founding fathers; leading on to various seminal court cases, a fascinating glimpse into the formation of a great society unfolds. For this reason, I recommend Civil Society in America for any of you who have a desire to explore our way of life in this great hour of challenges and struggles.
Nancy Holland

Alex Massolini, heir to the Massolini Construction Company, enmeshed in family conflict and shaken by the death of his brother in Viet Nam, drops out of college and flees to the fabled island of Capri, trying to find himself. He will be working, in some nebulous sense, for the famous writer Rupert Grant. In actuality he will become an acolyte to a troubled, self-absorbed, aging man and his entourage. He will struggle to make sense of the complex, unconventional, and ever-shifting relationships in that strange household. And he will make some terrible, regrettable mistakes.

While the other reviewers have praised this book, I found it somewhat disappointing, a pretentious "literary" novel about pretentious literary people. The story is told by Alex in stream-of-consciousness fashion, with interminable commentary on the meaning of everything that is said and done. Underlying the literary pretension of the book is an ever-present layer of amateurish freudianalysis, of the kind that was once popular among educated people. Everything, of course, means something else. The language is lush and colorful, with vivid descriptions of the island and people, but alas, too many names dropped, too many literary allusions, too many unexplained Italian phrases.

In refreshing contrast are the letters of the late brother, Nicky, read and re-read by Alex, written in vulgar, down-to-earth, gritty language. These letters, and in a sense, Nicky himself, become an anchor to reality for the troubled Alex.

Will Alex find himself? Will he come to understand what is real and what is pretentious nonsense? Will he ever form a responsible adult relationship with anyone else? I won't spoil it for you. I will only say that a lot of pain and disappointment lie behind the frothy literary discussions. A good book but not for everyone and not always easy reading. I thought it could have been better done.

Do not be misled by the "moony" cover art, the title, or the fact that this is sometimes described as a coming-of-age novel--it is not romantic, whimsical, or lightweight. Instead, it is a meticulously crafted, mature novel which illuminates the major themes and issues which thoughtful men and women confront throughout their lives. Elegantly written and emotionally involving, it is one of the best--and most unsettling--novels I've read in a long time.

Alex Massolini, aged 22, is a budding poet and student of classics in 1970, when he drops out of Columbia because he no longer "cared a feather about the fate of Rome or its [Gallic wars]...My only brother, Nicky, had been killed in Vietnam." Taking a job as a secretary to Rupert Grant, a well-known Scottish writer living on Capri, Alex faces his own, more subtle wars as he tries to discover who he is and what he believes, while living in Grant's turbulent household and observing his decadent lifestyle. Grant is manipulative, vindictive, and ego-driven, often abusive to his wife and two young female assistants. As his resentment of Grant grows, Alex finds himself in a quandary, since he admires Grant's writing, loves meeting his friends--W.H.Auden, Graham Greene, and Gore Vidal, among others--and hopes Grant will become a mentor for him in his own writing.

Themes of love and loss, good and evil, free will and obligation, and war and its aftermath pervade the novel as Alex tries to understand himself, the creative life, and the sacrifices artists make for it. Issues of sexuality, religion, politics, philosophy, and even economics come into play for Alex, and Parini widens the perspective and gives universality to these themes and issues by juxtaposing, throughout, the letters which Alex's estranged brother Nicky has sent him from Vietnam. This is a beautifully realized, patiently designed, and maturely confident novel, by an author who himself illustrates a quotation by Rilke in the book: "Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree that does not force its sap but stands confident in the storms of spring without fear that after them may come no summer." For this author, summer has arrived.

This book is a must read for anyone who ever considered writing the great novel. The characters in this story are multi-dimentional people who will inhabit your thoughts whether the book is in hand or not.

Reminding me slightly of books that tackle the idea of eutopian societies, this takes place on the exotic Isle of Capri. It is, in short, the story of a budding writer who leaves behind his unfinished ivy league education for a Summer working as one of the great Rupert Grant's apprentices. An eccentric and impetuous being, Grant has quite an influence on all who are under his wing. His pompous behavior and eccentric manner make it obvious that his writing is his greatest attribute.

Primarily I interpreted this as a coming of age story. For me, it was the story of Alex Mussolini, a young man utterly at odds with his upbringing, harbouring mixed emotions about the untimely death of his brother during Vietnam, and the insatiable desire to become a writer. Alex faces many challenges while on the Isle of Capri, all of which will captivate the reader as would the greatest mystery. But this book is a mystery of the soul. For who is anyone, aside from how others see them?

For me, at the crux of this novel is the question of identity. But there is so much more. I will undoubtedly read this story again -- I hope, while visiting Capri someday. There is so much to this book, I cannot recommend it highly enough. And I will seek more by Jay Parini as his writing is truly incredible.

These guys could concoct a recipe for woolly mammoth meatballs a la mode, and I'd be willing to try it. Talk about imaginative, tongue-massaging food! But the recipes need to be examined closely, particulary with regards to proportion. The amount of liquid called for in the ancho-bock smashers is excessive, as is the amount of salt in the butternut squash, granny smith apple soup. Despite these glaring errors, this was without a doubt THE BEST COOKBOOK I purchased last year. Twice!

This is one of, if not the best cookbook of the year. You don't have to be the world's best cook to enjoy it and create successful meals. And a great gift idea! Bon Appetit!

This tasty piece of literature invites you to open your soul take a deep breath and dive in! As you become saturated in it's contents you realize this is not just about cooking fearlessly this is about living fearlessly! Come up for air and then go deep to discover the intense splashes of color seasoned with just the right amount of humor make the flamboyant artwork as appetizing as its gastronomical counterparts! This coupled with amazing photography and damn good writing make this a fascinating read that is sure to stimulate your creative and digestive juices simultaneously! Katherine the Great

We picked up this book after our first board actually became a liability! It was only after the failure of original the board (which failed for exactly the reasons the book outlined as primary reasons boards fail!) that this book was recommended to us. The five founders all read it and discussed it.

Since we were in the midst of a reorg, it was exceedingly helpful in reshaping the new board into a more effective and cohesive part of the company. We did a much better job of first creating the criteria to evaluate candidates and a lot of the politics went out of the process.

I don't agree with all of the authors assertions about what a strong board can do for a company. I still think much of that is up to the people doing the actual work. However, since a board is a critical element of any modern company, read this first and do it right the first time.

This is a must read for every board director. Newly-electeds will find a treasure trove of important material; experienced directors will find data to either support or challenge their beliefs on corporate governance.

Bruce R. Ellig
Corporate Vice President HR (retired)
Pfizer, Inc.

In my role advising mid- and senior-level management of Fortune 100 companies, I found this book by Conger, Lawler and Finegold to be of immediate value.

"Corporate Boards: New Strategies for Adding Value at the Top" is positioned towards people who are perhaps on boards or who are executives dealing with boards. The authors are extremely credible, having dealt with and advised senior leadership from nearly every Fortune 100 company.

This book really brings together in one source all you need to know about building a more effective board - it is filled with real and practical guidelines and actionable how-tos. At the same time, it challenges the current governance approaches, arguing that despite all the "best practices" available, we still have a relatively simplistic understanding of how to build a great board. This book gives the reader more sophisticated insights into what it takes to have an effective board.

The authors also raise a number of issues that are critical given today's environment. For example, are boards solely responsible to shareholders or are there other, equally critical groups to which boards need to be accountable? Finally, the authors discuss the implications of the Internet for the boardroom.

In short, I strongly recommend this book, particularly for those who deal with senior leadership, corporate boards and governance issues.

This is a mid-point Gould. As his essay style progressed, his essays lengthened, his topics widened and the books kept selling more and more. This is a collection of beautifully written essays, which even with the passage of time lose none of their freshness - the eight little piggies of the title are even more important now with all the recent research on early tetrapods. A good place to start for anyone who's not read Gould before

Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History by Stephan Jay Gould is pure Gold or is that Gould. This is the sixth in a series of books on Gould's essays found in "Natural History."

We find Gould in a more contemplative mood within these pages, being reflective and personal as he speaks about the importance within our lives of the connections to our past and ancestral generations. But as Gould would put it, " a theme of supreme importance to evolutionists who study a world in which extinction is the ultimate fate of all and prolonged persistence the only meaningful measure of success."

There are essays on extenction, fishtails and frog calls, the coloration of pigeons, the eyes of mole rats, and an in depth personal essay about his maternal grandfather. This last essay brought some fond memories back to me, as I was growing up... yet time waits for no man.

For variety, range, depth and a refinement in writing style, this tome is one of Gould's best, as you read, Gould hits his stride and leads you toward his conclusions, just like my grandfather taught me to be observent and not take things for granted. But to question, the way things are as they seem, just like Gould does to his readers, bringing information to them and through observation and a brilliant mind making things clear.

This is an eductional book, as well, as you read, Gould makes the reader learn painlessly... a good storyteller of thirty-one essays that are truly fascinating.

Read and enjoy this well thought out collection of essays.

I admit im not the most interested in some of Gould's subjects (evolution and biology) but he is a great storyteller. He sometimes attacks, sometimes defends some of histories greatest thinkers. I think i'll probably read most of his books (so far 3) in the next few years simply because I like his style and diverse content.