This is a GREAT cookbook. I own quite a few, and most are only useful for a few recipes, or only for one type of food, etc. But the most negative thing I can say about any of the recipes I've tried from this book has been that it was okay (and that was only one recipe!). Among my favorites are the black bean and peppers with chicken and rice, the pesto, pasta and grapes chicken salad (sounds a little strange, but is EXCELLENT), chili chicken and rice, and the black bean and chicken soup. This cookbook has inspired me to try some more ethnic cooking without being worried I'll completely mess it up! The recipes are mostly low to moderate fat, and often encourage the use of various beans, whole grains, etc. I've frequently substituted brown rice for other rices, whole wheat pasta for regular pasta, etc. with really delicious results.

The only thing I will say is that the 15 minute part for a lot of the recipes I like most is pretty optimistic... but there are some that are genuinely 15 minute recipes (the chicken and corn skillet is a fast and tasty meal).

Definitely try this cookbook - the recipes are fun, encourage you to experiment a bit, and are really good. It would make a great gift for someone who has mastered the true basics of cooking (how to pick out produce, boil water, grill plain chicken, etc.) and is looking for a versatile but fast set of recipes to enjoy.
Highly recommended!

I have very much enjoyed using this cookbook! every single recipe I have tried is very good, and some are far superior to meals I have tasted in fine restaurants. the format is easy to use, the recipes are easy to follow. there are many tips that are extremely helpful. the book also lists calories and fat per meal, which is useful.
I will report that there are a few meals that take more than fifteen minutes to prepare, however the recipes are very fun to make. I wish there were more pictures, although those in there are very accurate to the actual results.

highly recommended.

I love this book. Its great for all those people who only like chicken. It has all sorts of variety on how to prepare chicken. Best loved recipe since I have bought the book..the Tomato Basil Chicken with Linguini..its DELISH. I look forward to trying more recipes in the future.

The 5-minute pediatric consult is written in an easy to read outline format. The writers have eliminated unnecesary obscure data and offer a concise outline of all major pediatric diseases. The topics are designed to be read in 5 minutes or less and all the up to date information to diagnose and treat a specific illness is included. The topics are alphabetized, so they are easy to look up. The writers are accomplised experts in their fields and the book has been edited by the distinguished Dr. Schwartz, at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. As a professor of Pediatrics, I highly recommend this book to practicing pediatricians, family practitioners, nurses and students.

when will the CD be available? I travel to several schools providing healthcare to uninsured children and would like to use this valuable reference. (a PNP)

love the format. listed alphabetically, the items are presented in a easy to read format. Just about all I want to know about the problem when working in a busy office. I can read more later but this gets the job done. an excellent 90's type of book. where is the CD?

I would recommend any of Juliet Bawdens books. While in a friend art store a few years ago I saw some bowls like the ones Ms Bawden makes and was intrigued and I admit I said to myself that I could make similar bowls. Had I had this book to begin with I also admit that the journey would have been much easier. I also like the fact that you can use things around the home or inexpensive items as molds. Be it deflate type balls, big cones, or even balloons blown up. And if you take the time and are willing to follow her wisdom you will discover you can make high end pieces that would fit in well within any quality home.

Great book!
I love the pictures, especially pages 128 &129 of the life size paper mache people. They are awesome!
The recipe for pulp is the best I have ever used.

After picking up this book I became enthralled with papier mache. (BTW, Angel wrote a very accurate review!) This book touches on a variety of techniques for both small and large papier mache objects. The supplies needed are listed clearly, the photographs of the project representing each technique are inspiring, and the instructions are easy to follow while still allowing for experimentation and personal expression. This is just an awesome book!

Jan Brett's illustrations are so colorful and richly drawn that you could tell the story without the words if you wanted to. Her illustrations are magical.
This book is a wonderful telling of the fairy tale. The true meaning of the tale comes shining through. The illustrations bring life to the printed words.
You will love this book.

Jan Brett's books are always richly and beautifully illustrated. There is always a little extra "story" in the illustrations. In this one, you will be watching the animal servants throughout the book. Pay close attention to the tapestries in the background to see who these animals really are. My favorite are the monkeys. This version is very much like the original French fairy fale, and is well told.

I got this book years ago when I worked for the publisher. I've given this book as a gift many times. The illustrations are just breathtaking and whimsical. You will find yourself stopping and searching the pictures in the middle of the story. The story is very nicely done and my kids enjoy it much more than the Dineyized version storybook they have.

Karen's poems has opened the door to more understanding of each I Ching hexagram for me. Each poem stands on its own and I often read them to my students. She gives powerful images and emotions to the meaning of each hexagram. I have consulted the I Ching since I was 16 years old (over 30 years now) and her book sings to me. One of her poems will be in my upcoming book: I Ching For Teens (Fall 2001, Inner Traditons & Bear and Co.,). Her book could accompany any I Ching consultation.
This book of poems shows that there are many ways to convey, read and translate the I Ching while still holding on to its message of hope, compassion, personal integrity and cosmic truth.
Thank you Karen for adding to the meaning of the I Ching with your poetry...

My first contact with Karen Holden was through seeing her visual art. Upon first seeing those paintings, I was struck by the intensity of feeling that she could express with brush and canvas. Wanting to live with some of her artwork, I arranged to meet with her. My first few meetings with her were as artist and client. Over time we became friends, and through that friendship, I came to realize how much Karen put her soul into her art.

In her BOOK OF CHANGES, I can see that same deep personal interaction between Karen and her poetry as I saw between Karen and her art. Poetry, in all its forms, is, arguably, the most personal way of expression possible. When a poet shares his or her poetry with us, he or she is sharing something of the self. This is certainly true here.

In Karen's introduction she quotes Lao Tzu as follows: "A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever he wants." She goes on to state: This is my goal -- to be led into this work and be enriched by it." I think that she has not only enriched herself, she has enriched all of us.

Each verse of Karen's poetry is paired with one of the sixty-four hexagrams of the "I Ching." The "I Ching" can be read as a philosophical text, or one can consult it much as the ancient Greeks consulted the Oracle. Karen's poems have sprung from her years of interaction with the "I Ching" and, in their own way, have added another dimension. I think that we can see this from the following short poem from the book:

I CHING #55: FENG: "Abundance" -- "If Clarity is within, and Movement without, one has greatness and abundance."

Karen's poetic pairing with #55"

"IS ENOUGH"

"birds sit on the tree -----outside my window

like the last persimmons ----- of winter ----- beautiful fruit"

Quoting one poem (and one of the shortest at that) out of sixty-four is, of course, unfair to the book. After all, things taken out of context lose something that can be achieved only by putting them back into context. To do this one must read the entire book, including the Introduction. Read, contemplate, and meditate if you want the full impact.

Karen Holden's poetry is a treasure of insight and courage. Her imagery lingers in the mind, and every page makes life seem richer.

Come to the Garden was given to me by a friend at a time in my life when I was physically and emotionally worn out. It's words both gave me hope and helped me to heal. For weeks I read it daily. I have since given it away as a gift countless times.

Come to the Garden annd its sister book The Path Less Taken are very special and wonderful books. I have given them as gifts to many, many friends and family members and the responses I have received are heartwarming. "How did you know I needed this inspiring book?" "I read it often and keep it by my bedside." "Where can I buy this wonderful book to give to my friends and family?" I still read Come to the Garden and The Path Less Taken often and always find comfort in their words of wisdom. The combination of exquisite poetry and beautiful art make these books great favorites of mine.

JoAnna O'Keefe's deep compassion will carry you away from the cares of the day to a place where your spirit can mend and your mind is set free. A "must read" for those who seem to have no private time or a place to go. This is a healing book that you will read again and again.

I had tried to use my usual stock of cook books (i.e. NY Times, JOC, etc) but found them wanting in this department. Since purchasing this book I have received many compliments on the variety of my dressings. Although I was often complimented before obtaining this resource--this really expanded my repertoire.

This is a wonderful book! It is well organized and contains lots of ideas for variations. Each recipe lists the nutritional values, and there are many recipes that fit easily into a low fat/calorie diet. The author explains what purpose each ingredient serves, and also discusses substitutions and their consequences. Each recipe is on a separate page and are formatted so they are easy to read. Nice use of artwork and variation of fonts, if you like that. I do. This book is a bargain, too!

This book provides more information than just dressing recipes. The author gives useful suggestions for creating interesting salads, how to buy and store ingredients, and nutritional information for each recipe. I'm planning on making good use of this book.

William Mitchell zeros in on the "eight warning signs" to look for. Comprehensive and informative, this book spotlights the sleazy secrets of cheaters.

Adultery: Facing Its Reality is written by experienced private investigator William F. Mitchell Jr. for the purpose of helping men and women of all ages and backgrounds who find themselves victimized by the adultery of their spouses, and can often find no tangible and thematically appropriate help in their personal and marital crisis. Mitchell offers a unique and "real world" based compendium of advice about the "warning signs of adultery", how to satisfy a "need to know"; how to resolve issues of adultery even before they start; how to "adultery proof" a marriage; and when adultery has occurred, how to save a marriage. Adultery: Facing Its Reality is one of those self-help books that we never want to have need of -- but will find invaluable when we do.

There are, of course, a lot of books "out there" regarding the topic of adultery, but I think Mr. Mitchell's experience as a private investigator resulted in an exceptionally informative and easy-to-read book offering sound practical advice. A personal example.... I didn't read this book until AFTER confronting my husband...without "proof." Then I saw my very own situation reflected in Mr. Mitchell's book. Get the book, follow his advice. He really knows what he's talking about.
-M

Although it was field-tested with elementary, middle school, and high school students, this book is not just for younger students. I'm an adult just beginning to study tactics and I found this workbook format engaging. There are two problems per page, and each problem has a couple of kinds of hints -- a direction line and fill-in-the blank move listings that indicate checks and variants. You can cover up these hints if you want more of a challenge.

The sequencing of this book is well thought out. Each chapter focuses on a different kind of tactic (such as discovered check, double attacks, zugzwang, removing the defender, and so on), and the problems often are paired so that once you've solved one problem in 2 moves, the next one is a related problem in 3 moves that might have seemed insoluble before. A final chapter combines all the tactics and asks students to figure out what approach is the best for a given position.

It only took me about a week to pass through this book, but I enjoyed filling it in. The enclosed Answer Key was easy to use, as it reproduces the move sequences in their entirety, rather than just providing the answers to the blanks. Worth the money for beginners of any age.

After finishing this book, I immediately played a game where I was able to move a knight into a royal fork that was simultaneously a discovered check. I don't think I would have "seen" this possibility before reading this book.

Just about any chess teacher will tell you that beginners (rating lower than 1600) need to learn three things: tactics, tactics, tactics. Positional knowledge, opening books, and endgame theory won't help you much if you blunder into letting your opponent fork you or if you miss opportunities to do the same.

Having said that, this book is a great way to start to practice seeing tactical motiffs (mostly forms of a double attack: pins, forks, skewers, and so on). It is divided into chapters with each chapter focused on a different kind of tactic. After a very brief explanation about what the tactic is, there are a number of exercises in which you have to find the tactic for yourself. There are also hints if you are stuck. I found it helpful to make a little cut-out from some paper to cover the hints and only show the board instead. It is too easy to inadvertently see the hints and ruin the challenge.

The book has some very useful advice about how to study: do the first few exercises of each chapter to get an overview of all the tactical motiffs. This will help you start to use and see them in your games. Later, go back and do each chapter thoroughly. Also, chapters are arranged in order of importance; motiffs that occur most frequently are handled first.

This book has a couple of limitations. Although it helps you see a tactic, the very nature of an exercise book is that you know one is there. How do you find them in a real game? You have to know when to look for them. There are certain board factors where you are likely to find tactics (an exposed enemy king often means there are great tactical opportunities). This book does nothing to help you realize this. Look at Silman's "Reassess Your Chess" for a very short, but extremely useful discussion of this issue.

Also, most of the exercises fall under one of the categories, so you know what kind of tactic to look for, making it easier than a real game situation. The last chapter helps because it is a mix of all tactical motiffs, but there are relatively few of these. Reinfeld's book of 1001 problems is probably a nice supplement in this regard.

These are limitations of the book, but not really criticisms. The book does a very good job doing what it is meant to do. The reader should simply realize that there is a bigger picture to look at and supplement accordingly.

I feel like a different player after reading this book. A much better player at that. Dont let the title fool you, this book will benifit players of ALL ages including 30-yr old farts like myself.

This is surely the definitive work on contracts and assertions. The title says it all, as the book makes effective use of examples to illustrate this important topic. Before I read "Design by Contract by Example" I had not a clue as to how to write assertions. Mitchell and McKim's Six Principles simplified this subject such that I was able to write a fairly reasonable contract for a small system on my first try. This work demystifies the subject.

Despite its' power, design by contract is an underutilized software development technique. That is most likely explained by the speed of software development and the time that would be required to learn it well enough to use it. Most developers either do not, or feel that they do not have the time to stop and learn how to use design by contract effectively. Well, the former group simply cannot be helped, as not even design by contract will extend the time in a day. However, for the latter group, this book is for you.
Design by contract is not difficult to learn, as is demonstrated in this book. The examples are very easy to understand and are chosen for their combination of ease of use as well as having applicability to the kinds of programs that developers create. While Eiffel and Java are used to create the examples, it is not critical that you know them to understand the code. The only requirement is that you understand the basic principles of object-oriented programming. While some background in logic would be helpful, all that is needed is what is required for writing correct Boolean expressions in programs.
I am a big proponent of the design by contract model of software development. The writing of the contract principles forces a level of intellectual rigor that can dramatically improve the quality of your software. In this book, you can not only learn how to do it, but you will also learn how to do it well and the ways in which you can do it wrong. I have placed it in my list of the top ten books of the year.

I read this book cover-to-cover, something I had rarely done in the past with technically oriented books; and I truly enjoyed the experience. Mitchell and McKim have done an exceptional job of not only portraying the essence of contracts but also the importance of these artifacts in software design. Design by Contract by Example is written carefully, accurately and with the reader in mind. My compliments go to the authors.