This book should be required reading for every man, woman and child, and especially required for anyone interesting in improving themselves! Dr. Hobbs has an excellent system of time management to be sure, but the genius of his system is that it includes ALL areas of your life, not just in the work place. I stumbled upon this book in 1987 in the library. After reading the first few pages I immediately went out and purchased it and began marking it up. My wife did the same. I shared it at work and in my ministry. His system of understanding personal congruency and documenting Unifying Principles changed my life and has been used by me and loads of my friends for 14 years! It works! If you can get this book, GET IT.

I read this book in 1996 and forgot how good it is. Rereading it now and recommend it to anyone who is looking to be a better manager of their time and life. This is the classic time managment book, forget Covey, he ripped his ideas off Hobbs. For about $.. (it is in paperback) you can save yourself a bundle. ...

I found this book in a used book store in 1985. After reading it I immediately went about implementing the system defined by Dr. Hobbs. The results were amazing. I started to get high marks in university, I accomplished long term goals and increased my own self esteem.

I continue to follow this system today and I learn more and more about effective time management every year.

I recommend this book most highly to anyone interested in CONTINUOUS self improvement.

Jon Hobbs is as good as some of the "big name" writers. The Catch has a little of everything--action, suspense, mystery and romance. Jon's book is also very technically accurate, which many books are not. I hope he follows through with his plans to write a sequel. If The Catch is made into a movie, I'll be one of the first in line to see it.

Jon Hobbs is a down-to-earth, genuinely nice guy with a lot of talent. I wish him well in his writing.

Zack Prescott
Eighty Four, PA

Having spent a number of years flying the old aircraft around the Bahamas I couldn't help but enjoy this book. Hobbs has not only weaved a great tale, but the characters are so believable. These folks that make there money flying junk, in junk are a rare breed, and it takes a talented author to get their unique personalities in print. For a first book he has shown talent that the fiction writing commmunity has not seen in years. I literally can't wait for the sequel and/or anything else this author has published.

Great thtiller, couldn't put the book down. Great for all ages.

I'm building a youth volunteering program at a volunteer center, and I would highly recommend this book to both kids and adults. The format is engaging and easy to read, and the stories will inspire you to want to make a difference. The book is organized into areas of concern including hunger, environmental concerns, and the need for peace. Each chapter includes data on the problem, stories of successful kid-driven solutions, ways more kids can help, and space for reflection.
Studies show that kids who volunteer are more than twice as likely to volunteer as adults, and more likely to contribute generously to charitable causes. This book is a great way inspire a new generation of volunteers!

from Blue Jean Online

by Truc Doan, Teen Editor

Society loves to label teenagers. Each generation is studied, packaged, and shipped out with a name. What will this generation of the new millennium eventually be called? Will it be Generation Destruction, Generation Party, or Generation Privileged? To prove that teenagers in America aren't just a bunch of lazy couch potatoes, Elizabeth Rusch has put together a collection of stories about young people who have done something to change the world for the better. These stories vary--for example, one is about a young girl who gave an intelligent speech, while another is about a boy who managed to collect hundreds of cereal boxes for the hungry.

After every story, there is a "What You Can Do" list and quotes from other young people with ideas. The common thing among all the stories (and the thing that makes each story so endearing) is that these kids did not start out wanting to change the world. They just saw something wrong and decided to fix it. After every story there is "Your Solution," a blank page where you can write how you would or could change the world.

What I found particularly inspiring about this book is that none of the kids even considered the possibility that their ideas would not work. They just knew it could be done. Some of these kids had intelligence on their side, others just plain courage. It doesn't matter, though, because in the end all of their dreams became a reality. We know because their stories are in this book.

This book is very good for young people, and older, because it teaches that even kids can make a difference. The author is VERY good at telling the true stories of kids and it is very uplifting, I encourage anyone to read it!

This is a wonderful, concise book that will help anyone achieve a higher level of guitar mastery. The book covers blues, bending, soloing, modal theory,and many other areas of guitar playing. It is highly recomended.

This is a really great book! It's just so well put together. I can tell it's going to really do wonders for my playing. I can not tell you what a great surprise this was, looking through the shelves and finding this! I think I may finally understand the modes and how chords work. Can't wait to dig in!

Whether you've been playing guitar for 30 years or 30 minutes, you will find a wealth of information here that will be a source of inspiration for years to come. Mr. Schonbrun's comprehensive approach and clear, concise explanations cover everything you'll ever need to excel on the guitar. The accompanying CD is a real bonus, which helps illustrate the numerous examples in the book, and is performed at tempos that we mere mortals can relate to. Forget about purchasing a separate book for scales, chords,modes, theory, etc: this book has it all!

This is an exquisite, sophisticated and very accessible book. Some of the plant pairings are very subtle, yet these are the combinations which are shockingly beautiful. This book successfully illustrates the relationships and/or contrasts between relatively available plants that create a beautiful tension.
Of course, it doesn't hurt to have an artistic eye.
I have had this book for a few years and I pull it out every few weeks, always seeing something new or in a new way. A superb book for new gardeners.

I just absolutely love this book! The photos are stunning, and one of my favorite occupations last winter was to get this book out and page through it to help me cure spring fever. In other words, it makes a terrific coffee-table book, but it is much more than that.

If you are looking for inspiration as to how to come up with some dramatic combinations for your garden, I GUARANTEE you will come up with some good ideas from this book. You will also find some to-die-for plants that you will absolutely have to search out and buy as soon as the season is right to try them out.

. . . You will even seriously consider whether there is some legal way to track down and befriend some of the people whose gardens are featured in this book, just so that you could have a peek at stuff like this in real life!

Here's the book that encourages each of us to "flaunt it" in the garden, to allow our sensuous, perhaps slightly mischievous selves to really let go and have fun with unexpected plant combinations. I've read and re-read it several times, keep it by my bedside and refer to it often for inspiration. Having visited a number of the gardens photographed I can appreciate the effectiveness of this passionate approach to gardening.

Carolina lives in an old school bus with her mother and baby sister. The family's poverty is poignant yet unsentimental. Despite her mother's objection, Carolina calls her Melanie instead of Mom, because "a real mom wouldn't live in a school bus. Real moms lived in real houses. They were married to the fathers of their children. So she kept calling Melanie Melanie." Carolina makes two new friends: one is an injured baby crow and the other is a Stefan, a wealthy boy just her age who has everything -- except the use of his legs. As always, Hobbs tells her story with clarity and courage. She refuses to dodge the hard questions but makes her characters (and her readers) face them and try to find answers. This is a powerful book about loyalty, friendship, and choices.

Bought another copy for another granddaughter.The first one loved the story so much she is rereading it. I highly recommend this book .

Carolina Crow Girl is a fast moving easy to read book! I got it two days ago and spent my Thursday reading and got through a lot more than half! I am not the fastest reader either! If you are looking for an easy to read quick little book this is definately a great pick! It shows how to get along with just enough. You don't need a mansion to go through life.

I WAS TURNED ON TO THIS MATH REF. GUIDE BY A TEACHER. EVERYTHING
THAT I HAVE NEEDED I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIND QUICK AND EASY.
EXPLANATIONS ARE EASY TO FOLLOW.
DARYL

Great source to brush up on math skills. Easy to use with high school students and parents trying to help them. Locating math topics easy.

We wrote this book in response to many requests from college and high school students, parents of middle and high school students, and working adults. Everyone said that they needed a math reference book to look up things they had forgotten, to confirm what they remembered, or to explain what they had never studied before.

The initial reactions that we have received have been very positive. We hope you also find the book helpful and we welcome your input.

Cheryl and Margie

Thank You Susan Hobbs. You put together a wonderful book. My only regret is I didn't buy this book in hardcover.

I worked on Dewing for many years before doing this exhibition and catalogue. I am interested in locating further, lost works by Dewing in pastel and oil for my on-going catalogue raisonne. I hope those who love Dewing enjoyed this book.

this is a really good book! it gives good insight on a teen girl's point of view on things. not only that, but it is fast paced! i got in bed to read at nine and stayed up until two to finish it! belive me, you will like this book!

Bronwyn Lewis is a sixteen-year-old girl who has just been forced to move to Ojala, California with her family. The year is 1960. Bron is a good student, and has always lived life by the rules. It doesn't take long for her to realize if she doesn't change herself, she will not fit in with the carefree, easygoing teens in town. A popular interest of these individuals is drag racing, something that Bron wrongly thought she would never experience herself. Soon she meets J.C., an extremely attractive racer, and Will, a down-to-earth, old-fashioned country guy. She gets caught between them, and some interesting things occur with both men. I guess you could say she has a lot of things on her mind, including her reckless friend Lanie, the legendary horrific fires of Ojala, the profits of her family business, and her life's turn for romance and adventure. Hobbs really brings Bron's story to life through her dense plot and rising action. There is an overwhelming mood this book gives you through Bron's interactions with other characters. I really started to enjoy the book as the number of friendships and relationships Bron aquires increased. The ending really left me thinking because there is a distinct mystery to it. The genre is a combination of coming-of-age, adventure, and romance; no single genre would be fit by itself in my opinion. I really felt like I knew the characters personally as the plot thickened. I would definatly recommend this book to anyone. If an adult were to read it, he or she would have a good idea of the aspects of American teenagers' lives.

I think this was a great book because it captured the life of a teen girl. Some thing she did reminded me of my friend who is exatly like Bron. I would recomend this book to everyone. I think adults should also read this book so they can get and understanding of a teens life. Some parents dont understand Teens. Eveyone but this book its worth reading.

This book is loaded with formulae, tips, and encyclopedic descriptions of optical phenomena. It includes several chapters on building electronic instrumentation for optical systems that serve as useful advice about electronic prototyping in general. The writing style mimicks that of a wise, experienced expert passing on practical knowledge (and opinion) to a favored student. In a few cases, this style goes too far, particularly when formidable equations are quickly presented and dismissed, leaving the reader to be impressed, but wonder "what was the point of that?". The author has tried to pack in as much technical meat as possible while still retaining an informal feel. It's a difficult style to write but Hobbs, for the most part, pulls it off. I would recommend the text to readers with some familiarity of optics.

When I meet someone new-to-me in the field, I have taken to the habit of eyeing up their bookshelf, looking for the books that they use. Whenever I see this incredible tome from Phil Hobbs, I know they have an excellent resource. Frankly, I believe that you should be embarased if this book is not on your shelf. This book is simply too good to miss. I recommend that you stop reading this review and buy it!

Phil has managed to cram information of a 100,000+ academic pages into this 727 page gem. His mastery of separating the chemicral from the root of the information is truly amazing. This guy understands what it takes to make a system work and astutely put it into this work. He gives pointers for lab rats as to the number of "post-it" notes to use to elevate an optical component, as well as detail theoretical discussions of detector sensitivity and the practical impact of the electronics.

The writing is sometimes folksy and hip. I find this an incredible relief from the academic 3rd person passive forced by many publishers. Phil occasionally gets funny and at least a few times, his folksy style is only used to clearly underscore the salient point that he is making.

My negative criticism of Hobbs is primarily why it took him until 2000 to publish this book---I could have used it 25 years ago, and whis I had this book in college! Also, a glossary would have been nice to include.

Phil Hobbs has written an in-depth practical study of the field of optics and electro-optics. The book covers subjects including: sources, detectors, lenses, prisms, mirrors, coatings, gratings and exotic components, fiber optics, electro-optical systems, signal processing, and electronics. It is no surprise that it runs to over 700 pages. It is an excellent reference book for anyone working with optical systems. The material is presented in a straight-forward manner using equations only where they are needed. I wish that I had this book as a graduate student.