This author is as aware of conflict and drama as he is of the magic of the rhythm in a sentence, and that makes for some beautiful reading.

Egerton's characters and his story are equally strong and thoughtful, and his unique sense of humour makes for a terrific navigator. The emotions of each character ring true, and each situation seems natural to identify with, no matter how bizarre or dreamlike.

This novel is a shiny pebble you want to keep in your pocket, its wisdom executed with style and skill. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys having their wet head wrapped in a big, soft, warm towel.

Marshall Hollenzer is Driving tugs at the mind and the heart enveloping three sets of people travelling towards a common understanding of themselves, the world and what it all means. If you need to lose yourself in a wonderful story, this book will provide you with hours of imaginative wisdom.

Thank you Owen for writing this book.

Both of these issues, among others, are examined in this simple yet complex story about a variety of characters, all of whom we recognize.

What lies beneath the skin of the average person? What do they believe in, and why? What makes their worlds shatter? What would make your world shatter?

The author never wastes a word, entertwining the characters in unlikely but believable ways. It's a quick read that lingers with the reader, to make you think about your beliefs, and what you would do for those beliefs.

To each individual, the book could be about God, or the meaning of life, or simply how you fit into the world. This makes the book touching on a personal level. I think every reader will find a different way, and reason, to love this book.

We have a very active 6 year old, and we feel he is active alert, his biggest issue is social interaction, since he has been around mostly adults his life. This book has common sense ideas to help a sometimes painful problem. Our son has done better in first grade. The summer using this book has helped alot! ... I am so glad I found this book!

I have a now 6 year old son whom is very active. (I started with the book, The Active Alert Child by Linda Budd.) This book has wonderfully simple and overlooked ideas to a uneasy problem. I had much advancement with my son over the summer. It can be done. Ist grade is going great so far! I feel this was a key to his bettering in his social world. My son has been around adults most of his life and has a hard time relating to other children. This book made a difference.

I am a school social worker and after buying several disappointing books on the topic I was delighted to find this. The format is laid out in an easy to read manner and thank goodness for the real photographs they use. (I also cut out pictures from magazines to talk about non-verbal cues and body language...then have the kids make a collage.)

Separating the areas of non-verbal communication into chapters allows me to focus on one area per session. The speech and language pathologist at my school is doing a group with me called "social communications" and we intend to squeeze everything we can out of this book.

Parents-you don't need to rely on the professionals to teach your child social skills! Have fun with it, make a date with your child weekly to practice these skills. Just don't put me out of business with this book!

I am a moderate after effects user.. There are quite a few things that are not so easy to grasp.. This book explains everything, in depth, in terms anyone can understand.. You do not need to be sitting at the computer to follow their tutorials, to learn how to do a new skill (very nice, I am not a huge fan of reading, and being on the computer..).
I'd say this is the best recource available for after effects to date.
If you found The creating motion graphics series to be annoying / time consuming, get this book, it renders it all down to an easier and faster learning experience.

As soon as you open up any chapter of the book, you'll feel like one of the authors pops up out of it, sits down next to you, and starts a sumptuous private session specially for you, seamlessly and enthusiastically tapping around your key board like a flamboyant percussionist. You never have to be worried a bit about the seeming finickiness of the program. This teacher never seems to forget his pains-taking beginner days. Not only does he give you a complete sense of how After Effects works from scratch, but he inspires you to expand your imagination, play with the program freely and cut open your own way. It really takes you out to the scene! You know what's wonderful? He does all these things sipping coffee, chewing gum, joking to break you up, and, now and then, sighing in admiration of the program. Get the book. You'll find a life-time teacher, and a precious, mind-evoking friend. It's guaranteed!

After Effects is a very powerful and complex program, and for a beginner, such as myself, it is quite intimidating at first. The After Effects Bible not only provided clear explanations and tutorials that allowed me to get started, but it also enableld me harness more of the programs potential. Most importantly, it motivated me to "think outside the box" and to use the program in new ways. If you are going to use After Effects then you really must read this book.

I studied for 6 months with this book/CD combo and mastered the trope (Reform version) well enough to have chanted Torah for my synagogue twice in the last couple of months and am preparing for a 3rd parsha. You won't find every possible combination of cantillation marks here, but you will find 95+ % of what you'll ever run into in the Torah (including special sections for High Holidays, Song of the Seas and the Ten Commandments.)

The only thing better would be to combine this with the availability of a trained cantor. Highly recommended for anyone in a Reform schul.

Much as I enjoyed this workbook and its accompanying CD, I find making the time or finding the self-discpline to be the hard part. If you are a person who needs "babysitting," I doubt if this self-help book will be good for you.

The chants are sung in a comfortable mid-range, as opposed to a soprano or a bass.

This book is laid out in a logical, accessible fashion. The book is clearly indexed to the selections on the CD. You can truly learn using this method. Highly Recommended.

Living in a country like Israel, which is beset by fateful ongoing conflicts from within and without, one is torn between impulses of appeasement and revenge, diplomacy and force, empathy and despair. A particularly difficult dilemma arises when dealing with hate-and-violence rhetoric against the Other - rhetoric which, ipso facto, challenges the selfsame democratic system that allows it to exist in the first place. It is this "catch of democracy" that Raphael Cohen-Almagor examines in The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance: the Struggle Against Kahanism in Israel. As a layperson in the disciplines upon which he draws - philosophy, jurisprudence, political science - I approached the book with some trepidation. Much to my relief, though, I found that it to be reader-friendly yet extremely thorough in attempting to delineate the boundaries of liberty and tolerance in a democracy.

From the outset, the decision to allow a racist demagogue like Kahane to run for a seat in the Israeli legislature raised ethical issues of the most troubling kind. The decision to revoke that privilege was no less troubling: as they fought to have Kahanism outlawed, advocates of tolerance and democracy came under bitter attack for defying the very principle which they claimed to support. The book provides a reasoned, thoughtful and comprehensive explanation of the ethical questions underlying this problematic position. And as we know only too well, no country is immune from such questions; i.e. from the emergence of would-be political parties brandishing blatantly racist or xenophobic slogans, or advocating blatantly racist or xenophobic measures. The analysis set forth in the book examines the most sensitive implications of such a development, particularly the need to reconcile the sacrosanct principles of freedom of speech, on the one hand, with the obligation to stem any tangible threat to democracy, on the other. In trying to gain a better understanding of this complex paradox, I found Cohen-Almagor's lucid description of the distinction between freedom of expression, per se, and infringements of the Harm and Offense Principles particularly enlightening.

I too believe, like the author (and indeed, who doesn't?), in the solution outlined in Epilogue - education - as the ultimate means of delegitimizing and eventually eradicating racist politics. And yet, while pursuing the educational route, it also behooves us to continue grappling with the excruciating moral and legal dilemmas which these politics force upon us. I would heartily recommend Cohen-Almagor's book as a quintessential case study, capable of shedding light on one of the most problematic challenges to the democratic system.

Raphael Cohen-Almagor maps the course of the struggle against Meir Kahane in the Israeli courts and legislature. But he places it firmly in the context of the traditional controversy over the limits of toleration, providing us with a rigorous examination of the damage principle as it applies to speech and expression. He forces us to face the question why, if we refuse to tolerate the damage done by thefts, assault, fraud or murder, we should tolerate the potential damage that can be brought about by aggressive or violent speech. His work blends together political philosophy, contemporary history, and constitutional theory. It deserves the close attention of students of all three disciplines. But it should fascinate and provoke also all those who wish to confront what is probably the principal dilemma of the modern democratic practice.

As long as men and women strive to civilize their society the problem of tolerance will remain, because the urge toward intolerance will not go away. The achievement of Dr. Cohen-Almagor's work is that it adds to our knowledge and awareness of this central problem of politics. His arguments are made in the context of classical liberal thought, of practical politics, and of jurisprudence.

This is a wonderfully written book detailing how five exceptional American individuals literally transformed America from a country characterized by isolationism and a narrow, parochial perspective into the major player on the world stage. All five came to age in an America still locked in the self-absorbed issues of the 19th century, yet each grew with the needs of the times to become instruments for monumental change.

The most interesting aspect of this book is the fashion in which the author sets out substantive proof for the "exceptional man" thesis in history. So here we had five such individuals interacting contemporaneously and profoundly changing the world as a result. Of course, this isn't to suggest that they somehow aggressively pounded the world into their chosen image, for nothing is farther from the truth. This was a time when many titans strode the stage, men like Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Mussolini and Hirohito. Yet the fact that these five succeeded in vanquishing Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito demonstrates the extent of their accomplishment.

Yet these five men successfully confronted the most urgent and manifest challenges of their time, from FDR's New Deal and transformation of the national government into an active instrument for change. It is no accident that three of the five, Eisenhower, Marshall, and MacArthur, were military professionals, each of whom played an unique and indispensable role in defeating the Axis powers. That each then continued to contribute after the end of the hostilities is more proof of their sense of personal responsibility and need to serve the nation in whatever manner they could. each had a sense of time and place, as well as an appreciation for the unique historical circumstances he found himself in, whether it be MacArthur in Asia, who over decades became a kind of American Centurion, or Harry Truman, thrust onto the national and then world stage most unexpectedly.

In a time like ours, when we are surrounded by public pygmies like Clinton, Gore, the Bushes, Newt Gingrich, and those nine comedians over in Supreme Court land striving to be giants, it's instructive to remember that we weren't always hampered by such venal, self-interested, and morally corrupt leaders. Indeed, it is refreshing, hopeful, and perhaps even a bit nolstalgic to remember that America is not necessarily the eternal land of manipulative mental midgets, and that it once was a place whose titans strode and literally saved the world. Read this book and remember.

I read Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace in preparation for travelling to the Middle East earlier this summer. This book continues his ability to bring history to life, with details on the diaries, conversations, and interactions of both the known major players in the World Wars, as well as those that were influential but behind the scenes.

I was already fairly conversant in the major events of the time, but even so, Fromkin's retelling is set in a class by itself by his portraits of the leaders of the time: Wilson, FDR, TR, Churchill, MacArthur, Ike. By bringing together painstaking research as well as acectodes, it's amazing to see how much just one man can electrify and fire up a nation -- FDR yanking America out of the Depression, or Churchill stalwartly leading Britain through WWII as notable examples.

This book is sort of an in-between point between Fromkin's almost too-detailed history in A Peace to End All Peace and his recent ultra-summarized history of the world (150 pages, well worth your time) in The Way of The World. I'd recommend them all highly, but in order from most-summarized to least.

In this marvellous book, David Fromkin tells the story of how the United States made the journey from introverted isolationist to global superpower. He begins his account with the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, whose accession to office as a result of the assassination of President McKinley must be regarded as one of the most significant accidents in history. The tension between TR's "big stick" internationalism and Woodrow Wilson's more idealistic version is vividly described, and Fromkin does an excellent job of showing how the ideas (and policies) of FDR, Truman and their generation were both indebted to and yet reactions against the ideas of the great scholar-President. America's reluctant path to the centre of the world stage is presented as a mixture of fait accompli, idealism and enlightened self interest. It is a great story, and Mr. Fromkin does it justice. Warmly recommended.

A wonderful book for new docs, but as one who has practices for 20 years , I felt "been there done that" with most of the advice.

I was quickly overwhelmed after starting a practice straight out of training. This book has helped me manage my practice, my patients and my continuing education without feeling overwhelmed. I continually refer back to it. He quickly gets to the heart of the problem (too much to do/too little time to do it in) and helps you prioritize your goals. He then gives you very specific tools to help you control your practice and not have it control you. This book is for any physician who feels they are approaching burnout and resents the ever increasing demands on our time. Straightforward and to the point. Some of the time-saving tips seem obvious, but organizing the 'tips' into an overall game plan is what makes this book successful.

Fantastic set of helpful ideas to make your practice alot more enjoyable and efficient.

When one picks up this book, as we do with all books, we ask: What is this book REALLY about? Among the choice subjects he includes Goethe's Faust, the vibrance of city streets, Marx and Engels in the examination of The Communist Manifesto (treated as a literary piece), the enigmatic Crystal Palace, Baudelaire, the Czars, Nietzsche and the whole hearted destruction of the inner cities such as the Bronx. It is a sort of eclectic mix that both confuses and informs. There are however a few glitches.... Berman, devotes much space to Czarist Russia as a case of 'modernism with underdevelopment' and somehow reduces the Soviet Regime as 'despotic, inquisitorial' and other such reductions to the point of contradicting his thesis of creative modernity. Maybe there is some comparison that can be drawn within the framework of this analysis to put Robert Moses and Stalin as figures of great destruction as opposed to builders of grand empires. In the end, all that is solid melts into air, and we are left more cultured. For those of us who have been dropped into (much to our confusion) into a deliberately cryptic and confusing postmodern world, this piece a vibrant introduction to modernity and should be used as a prime mover for much discussion of the troubles and wonders of modernity.

Miguel Llora

Berman weaves an intricate tale of Marxism and modernism. His text leaves out what I feel are important views and experiences, specifically gender, but despite this his work is thought provoking and valuable in understanding Marx's project.

Goethe and Marx, these are cardinal figures in the history of modernity. Goethe, the spiritual father of its grand visions and inexhaustible hope. Marx, the outsider, the witness to the sorcery of its soul and that of its organizing principle, Capital. His charge-- it is an artifice of progressively concentrating energy that will not be bound by any responsibility or shared purpose. The practical result is a constant breakdown of community and institutions as they are offered to the flame of re-invention. This is the core of the book's message. Nothing is permanent in the modernist domain. Art, city, ideals, country-- all are subsumed into new solids that immediately fracture and evaporate under pressure of another oncoming order, crashing in with waves of reorganization. The technologies of its own genius are its tools. The post-structural epoch is merely another phase of modernism's relentless push to incinerate the old and recreate society in its own frenzied image. Iconoclasm becomes the coordinating edict. The erasure of all cultural memory is implicit; moral purpose is desanctified; Capital's own ethos is elevated to the realm of faith.

Berman moves from the literary and intellectual movements of France and Russia into the streets. The building of St. Petersburg, with its imposed occidental face on Russia's traditionally oriental sensibilities, the boulevards of Paris's reconstruction of the 1870's, and the highways of the irrepressible Robert Moses-- the urban landscape has chronicled modernism's advance. The breadth of this thesis in choosing such disparate symbols to exemplify the progression is impressive, as is Berman's ability to synthesize them. When the book was written twenty years ago Communism had not yet collapsed, but its moral failure was evident, its material demise imminent. Berman's more romantic notions of a merging of modernism and Marxism, harnessing the creative impulse to popularly reasoned objectives, might have passed from any realistic possibility. His relationship with both is clearly one of fascination and alienation. All that seems to have gone down in flames, in annihilating contradictions, and, in the infinite actualization of modernism's belief in itself. It will tolerate no governance. A persistent anti- modernist insurgency, fragmented and cleaved onto disparate political structures, provides a cowed conscience at best. But with its illimitable dominion seemingly secure, Berman's proposal is thought provoking indeed-- that all of Marx's characterizations of its nature are true, and that no sustainable alternative has yet been conceived.

Blue Moose is an excellent short book for kids to learn on. I first read it at the age of 12, when I was reading quite well, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I haven't met any other Blue Moose fans other than my friends and myself, and that disappoints me.This book should definitely be reprinted. I am not a tame moose!!!

THIS BOOK MUST BE REPRITED! I remember having a teacher read this book to my class and it was really funny. Who would ever dream up about a blue moose who does the things that he does except Pinkwater. We need more books like this one! I would love to have a copy of this book and of THE BLUE MOOSE RETURNS. Everyone should read this book.

Someone before mentioned the line "I AM NOT A TAME MOOSE!" I, too, am prone to saying that--it's got to be my favorite line. My mom read this story to me many, many, many times when I was little. Now I'm 19, and I still make her read it to me. Everybody should read this book!