I am an Educational Sign Language Interpreter.... I purchased this book to use with my children. The signs are clear and accurate, and the illustrations are colorful and fun to look at. This was a nice addition to our home library.

I taught preschool last year to a group of 3 to 5 year old children. In 9 short weeks, they learned the alphabet and 3 to 5 words for each letter of the alphabet. For preschool graduation they performed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in sign; what a spectactular sight it was. The kids were in awe watching their teacher, and learning, not once did I find a child bored. Most of these kids are still learning at home with their moms or dads, and can still do "their" song. This is a wonderful book and learning tool for these kids. As an adult, I found it very un-intimidating, and was able to learn with my "kids."

This is the first sign language book I bought for my hearing children. It still is one I take to the schools when I talk to hearing children about what it is like to be Deaf. This book is simple and basic, and years ago tied in with what was taught on Sesame Street. Since I haven't watch the show in years, I don't know if they teach ASL actively on it anymore. But I highly recommend this book as a beginning source for children, and for libraries to have on hand as an introduction to ASL. With the increasing need for ASL interpreters for the Deaf in court, in medical situations, and in schools...it is absolutely a priority that children and teenagers be encouraged to learn ASL as a foreign language. My terps make 25 -30 dollars an hour, and I've heard it is much more than that in some states such as California and Texas. Besides, the Deaf always appreciate it when someone bothers to learn their language for a change. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh, klsst23@pitt.edu

Cannas are thought of in terms of their beautiful color. Ian Cooke's Gardener's Guide To Growing Cannas presents a canna expert's complete review of the plant, from an A-Z listing of varieties to the history of cannas, their cultivation and species, and cannas in the garden. Gardener's Guide To Growing Cannas is an appealing, colorful, comprehensive guide which gardeners and horticulturalists will appreciate.

This book deserves more than five stars! I had searched for a book on Cannas for a long time. As Ian Cooke points out, this book is the only comprehensive work published on Cannas since 1903. It has become one of my treasured plant bibles, along side with "Heliconia: An Identification Guide" by Fred Berry & W. John Kress and "Exotica" by Alfred Graf.

I live in the tropics and Cannas are indispensable in adding colours to an otherwise overpowering green garden. This book is aimed at gardeners in temperate climate countries, who have a more challenging task in growing Cannas. Ian Cooke is obviously an authority on these plants. The book has valuable information on Canna species, cultivation including common pests and diseases, and propagation by rhizome division and growing from seeds. There is even a list of websites/nurseries dedicated to this genus and is an alternative avenue for sourcing of new species by keen gardeners.

Finally a book on the long-awaited gardening subject:
CANNAS , with the fine writing and photoes we expect from
Ian Cooke. A very useful book for gardeners who love
that exotic garden look.

i saw the world end is one of the most brilliant studies of wagner's ring. unfortunately, deryck cooke died before he finished his survey. still, i saw the world end remains an important work detailing the ring and die walkure in particular.

This really is an extraordinary book - it is the most comprehensive, insightful, and consistent study of Wagner's Ring des Niblungen. It offers some musical analysis of the leitmotivs, and is one of the first books to begin a revision of von Wolzogen's grossly erroneous analysis of the leitmotivs; it provides a plethora of highly organized information about the stages of Wagner's sketches and librettos and the original myths/legends/sagas from which he drew; and a scene by scene analysis of Rheingold and Walkure.

This book actually makes sense of Der Ring des Niblungen - no easy task, as anyone familiar with the opera tetralogy is well aware. If you are interested in the tetralogy and want to know more about it, this is THE book. There are, however, two tragedies associated with this book: the first is that the author's untimely death prevented him from finishing the book (though the material printed is itself finished). The whole book should have been about three times the length of the printed material. The second tragedy is that it is OUT OF PRINT - this is absolutely disgraceful...hopefully this title will come in to print again.

Get a hold of a copy of this book if you can.

This book was to have been the first of a two-volume set, but sadly Deryck Cooke passed away before his monumental exposition could be fully realized. It is a great tragedy that this work was left unfinished, but we should at least be thankful for what we have. Rather than take a theological, political or sociological position and try to make the Ring fit, as many authors did, Cooke chose instead to focus on the actual construction of the libretto and orchestral score. Although there is insightful analysis on all 4 operas, this volume is devoted mostly to the realization of Das Rheingold and Die Walkure. The author presents a very convincing thesis that far from being a disjointed, poorly conceived work, Rheingold, by comparison to the extremely disparate and incoherent nature of the source material, is in fact a very compact and concentrated story. When one looks at the Nibelungenlied, the Eddic poems, and the various pieces of Norse mythology, Cooke unequivocally demonstrates that Wagner had enough material to compose a stage work requiring much longer than 4 evenings to perform. The process of refining, editing, compressing, and modifying (within reason) to adapt the writings for the stage is explained in thorough and exhaustive detail. Somehow Cooke accomplished this without the narrative dragging on or becoming too difficult, a masterly effort in exposition. He then goes on to explain how the leitmotives were conceived and transformed from one character and/or event to another. The depth of analysis is worthy of the subject matter. Anyone who reads this book should have a much greater appreciation of Das Rheingold than before.

This work offers many rewards to the serious Wagner enthusiast and also to the casual music lover, and cannot be too strongly recommended. Let us hope it comes back into circulation.

I, personally having purchased this wondrful set of volumes of piano music and a music student of 17 years, belive this to be one of the finest collections of piano music ever assembled. Not only is it a great collection for the music student and teacher it is also a great addition to any music collector. A must have for anyone who truly apreciated great piano literature and music.

An excellent collection of piano works. This method provides a very efficent use of ones time in piano study. It is a comprehensive collection that gives the student a broad education toward mastery of the piano.

This is a wonderful set of volumes that has just about every piece of music ever written from Haydn and Vivaldi to Ravel and Copland! I like it because it is so wonderful becuase you don't have to search around from the sheet music, you can just look in the index and find the piece that you are looking for and the just play away! A wonderful set that teachers can use for teaching the music of every period like Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century Music! This is also a wonderful set for aspiring music educators!

This author knows her stuff! Reading Stephanie Cowell on London is like being there. A wonderfully evocative tale of life during Shakespeare's time. Not to be missed by those who love period fiction done expertly. A gifted writer.

Stephanie Cowell's "The Physician of London" is the second novel in a trilogy, and continues the story begun in "Nicholas Cooke." One of its themes is the tremendous conflict between religion and science during the dark era of the English Civil War. Nicholas Cooke is both a priest and a scientist. The life of the day is brilliantly, vividly described, and we relive the terrors and the joys of these insightfully, incisively wrought people, so real that we think they actually lived, and some of them are, of course, historical. The book is exciting, and filled with action as well as philosophy, and engrossing from beginning to end. Stephanie Cowell's writing is magnificent. There are lessons here, in the power struggles of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, in the search for scientific truth by Nicholas Cooke, in this tale of bigotry and corruption and love, for our own time. You will love this superb novel.--Robert Blumenfeld

When I began reading the first chapters of Nicholas Cooke, I wasn't sure I liked his character. He was so hot-tempered and didn't seem to appreciate some people as he should have. As I continued to read on into the Physician of London, and as Nicholas continued to mature into the man he became in The Physician of London, I found myself more and more involved with this man and his life. I realized that his character, his desires and dreams and his conflicts, reminded me of my own desires and dreams and conflicts. Like a good cook, Stephanie Crowell flavors the book wonderfully with the Elizabethan/Stuart atmosphere and writes in such a way as to involved the reader not only in the main character, but all the characters. She has made this reader at least impatient for the publishing of the last book in the trilogy of Nicholas.

Cooke does a masterful job. Smart radio is a lot like common sense - not very common! Read this and learn from the guy who was operations manager of DC's award winning all-news station, WTOP, and now makes his living as "the expert from out of town" brought in to fix distressed radio stations all over the US.

I've just finished reading Mr. Cooke's book and I feel very well dressed for my pep-talk tonight with my on-air staff. Most of my other books about radio are big and very detailing about the subject but not as easy as "Secrets of Smart Radio" to get a quickly guidance on a specific subject.

Kent Kordt PD, Radio Viborg, Denmark - Europe

Mr. Cooke culls his years of experience in news/talk radio into this one most informative book. He shows radio stations how to make money and have fun in the process.

As a radio talk host myself I am always looking for new ideas. This book is chuck full of great ways to raise revenue and ratings!

I urge radio professionals to read this book.

As a practitioner, I have never come yet across such a professional book that not only has so much well orgenized information, but is also clear and accurate .
I find this book to be worthy of being a must referance book to Shiatsu students as well as trained practitioners that are interested in the conection between the practical zen shiatsu and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Photographs & illustrations are particularly helpful and so is the index.

As a student of Chinese medicine and a practitioner of eastern bodywork, I have found this title to be a wealth of information on the extended theory of meridians (Masunaga's model) and the perspective of TCM as it fundamentally applies to the practice of shiatsu This book is what the serious student of shiatsu needs to further their development as a practitioner. Excellent illustrations and photographs with thorough meridian maps and point associations.

In "Shiatsu Theory and Practice" Beresford-Cooke explains in depth the information needed for the serious student of Zen Shiatsu. While there is no substitute for an excellent teacher, Beresford-Cooke's book is the authoratative text. I used this book in conjunction with 108 hours of classroom instruction. The illustrations of the meridians coupled with the description of their associated elements was highly understandable to the student and layperson alike.

In my studies of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shiatsu is an elective for my program. For others it is a center of concentration for their studies. For all of us, our worn and flagged copies of this book speaks well of it.

I bought this book for my sister and brother, both of whom have boys on the verge of adolescence, but I read it before I gave it to them. Cooke and Kendrick have done a wonderful job of bringing us back to our own adolescence as a way of helping us cope with our childrens'. As a parent of a 31 year old, I remember the power of this connection as being critical to my working with my daughter's emotional ups and downs and managing to enjoy most of her teenage years. Cooke and Kendrick LIKE teenagers and understand them in a way that is bound to help all parents.

Dr. Lois Rudnick, Director, American Studies Program, UMass Boston

Even as a grandma, it sometimes seems to me that my precious teenage grandkids are from a different planet. Don't get me wrong. I love them and want them to express themselves and be their own persons but occasionally I shake my head in dismay and have to bite my tongue. Like when my grandson got a magenta Mohawk haircut and wanted to have an all night rock 'n' roll jam session with beer in my basement. I won't go into the subject of my granddaughter's hiphugger pants which barely cover her public bone. This book puts a lot of things that I didn't know how to deal with into perspective for me. It helps to have others in similar situations share their thoughts. Thanks for giving me a new take on things and lifting my confusion. I guess there's hope for us all after all.

Don't let the sponsored nose-jewelry links fool you. This supportive book is about living with teens from their parents' perspective. It is not about nasal adornment. Like the many topics the book covers, "nose rings" represent many of the immediately identifiable issues we parents encounter in dealing successfully and unsuccessfully with our teens. Like me, you will find yourself laughing, crying, and nodding along with these life-affirming essays because they're written by people just like us, who are in the trenches every day, struggling, and who really know it's not always easy to make contact with, understand and love those people we sometimes grudgingly call "our kids." This book provides both insight and hope! A big Thank You from the parent of one nose ring wearer and one navel ring wearer.

This reviewer deplores the mandatory requirement for rating "stars".

The important contribution of the Franch Army in the Gulf War has been largely overlooked in the English-speaking countries. Their "left hook" around Saddam's forces was a crucial element in the strategy of his defeat. Perhaps more important for the future, for the first time since World War Two, French and American troops stood side by side against a common enemy, rediscovering their common bonds and heritage in the process. Colonel Cooke, a French-fluent military intelligence and armor officer who teaches Middle Eastern history in civilian life, was uniquely qualified for liason with the "Division Daguet" (French 6th Light Armored Division), bringing to the task not only military expertise but a sensitive and informed understanding of these highly capable but prickly warriors. His book is an admirably clear and complete record of the Daguet operations, and has enough context to serve as a good one-volume history of the overall land conflict as well. Highly recommended.

The important contribution of the Franch Army in the Gulf War has been largely overlooked in the English-speaking countries. Their "left hook" around Saddam's forces was a crucial element in the strategy of his defeat. Perhaps more important for the future, for the first time since World War Two, French and American troops stood side by side against a common enemy, rediscovering their common bonds and heritage in the process. Colonel Cooke, a French-fluent military intelligence and armor officer who teaches Middle Eastern history in civilian life, was uniquely qualified for liason with the "Division Daguet" (French 6th Light Armored Division), bringing to the task not only military expertise but a sensitive and informed understanding of these highly capable but prickly warriors. His book is an admirably clear and complete record of the Daguet operations, and has enough context to serve as a good one-volume history of the overall land conflict as well. Highly recommended.

Like his books on classical mechanics, a book that theoretical physicists should read. Unfortunately, the discussion of local integrability is too abstract and there is no distinction made with global integrability. Also irritating: because of a singularity at the origin the damped harmonic oscillator is not recognized as integrable in spite of the existence of a global conservation law, excepting one point in phase space. Integrability is an extremely difficult subject and maybe Arnol'd could have taught us more about it. I've discussed integrability/nonintegrability from a physicist's perspective in my Classical Mechanics (Cambridge, 1997).

Be aware there are 2 versions of this book
available in English; this one from MIT press
is (contrary to one of the reviews above) is
translated from the *first* Russian edition;
there is another version from Springer-Verlag
translated from the *third* Russian edition.
They're translated by different people so
some wording etc is different but otherwise
they're similar, though not identical. The
later edition has some reworked passages
and modest amount of new material, but it's
not a hugely different book.

Both are excellent, are are all the other
books & papers I've seen by V.I. Arnol'd.

It is hardly needed to add words to the existing positive reviews of the book. In the line of previous comments, I just mention that it is an enjoyable book on a basic subject of great interest also for engineers and physicists. The matter is treated with the evident purpose to make the reader fully aware of the interesting geometrical and dynamic implications of the conclusions reached at each step. It is a nice counterexample for those who believe that, to be rigorous, a mathematical book needs to be very hard to read.