This book is a classic on the subject of corporal punishment. It was published somewhere in the 19th century, and there have been several reprints in the 20th century. This edition is a facsimile reprint of the (original ?) 19th century edition. The editorial review gives a good description of the contents, and since it is a classic, there is really no point in making a review on the contents. If you are interested in the subject, this is one of the very few books you can buy. Since it was written in a period that corporal punishment was very normal, the contents did not suffer under Political Correct censorship. Although it is a well produced high quality book, the price of $... is a bit very steep. Unless you can buy it for considerably lower price (like I did) I would advice you to buy another edition of the same book. There is a much cheaper soft cover version from another publisher.

If you are searching for a distinctly British aristocratic view on life, read this book. if you are an American, as this author is, flee from the terrible grip of "Home as Found" as the book slowly entraps one into delving further into the pages, when suddenly one finds the very culture that he/she has come to love has many loopholes of stupidity. If you wish to remain in ignorance of the benefits of aristocratic society, and the down points of American democracy, do not read this book. I give this work a 3 as it contains no real content for a storyline, but holds to the teaching principle of repetition to pass a point across.

I love House Beautiful books. They always have stunning photographs. However, the composition of these photographs will not save this book. I think that a few years ago I might have given this book a higher rating, but unfortunately, the rooms are starting to look dated. Also, for a book titled "Decorating Style," there are not very many different styles represented here. All the rooms are traditional or country. I have to admit I didn't read the text, I figured why bother? I did read some of the captions, but they just describe in words what the picture shows you.

I'm glad that I checked this book out from the library instead of buying it. I think that there is an updated version of this book. That might be a better choice. Or, if you are looking for a book where many different styles are represented, then check amazon.com for
The Ultimate Home Style Guide by Katherine Sorrell. All the major styles are represented (e.g. asian, scandinavian, carribean, arts & crafts, minimalism, retro, etc.) not just traditional and country.

It's a collection of stories about the family of a Connecticut neurosurgeon. It can't quite make up its mind (or Cooper couldn't) whether it's a novel or a collection of stand-alone but interconnected short stories. If you read it straight through some of the stories are repetitious. He has a recurrent theme of people forming relatioships that fail.
I kept making comparisons and they were all just a little unfavorable. "The Corrections" came to mind, of course. Franzen used the multiple points of view of family members but had an unifying plot that kept us turning the pages. "Comfort Zones" by Pamela Donoghue did a better job of linking stories about a family. Cheever does better on depicting Connecticut prosperous suburbanites. Janet Evanovich does better on depicting smalltown ethnic blue-collar hardscrabble, which brings me to the lack of humor. Cooper seldom cracks a smile. His one attempt at Yiddish oysterism fails. Updike in "S" did a hilarious job on the arrogant philadering doctor. (It's notable that these days Arrowsmith has become Babitt. The medical profession has now declined so far in literary esteem that it's become a paradigm for greedy unimaginative careerism. Cooper uses this three times).
He's a talented writer who lacks, in this book, a certain spark of originality. The spark does emerge (if that's not a mixed metaphor) at times in his later collection of short stories. There's been nothing since. We can still have hope.

This book covers a good selection of Interpersonal Communication topics. It is geared towards academic readers. The book would be helpful for a college project, but not everday situations. I do not recommend this book for high school use.

This book is a required textbook for a Medical Assistant training course in which I'm currently enrolled. I don't wish to demean the overall quality or accuracy of the information contained in the book. However, there are a number of fairly obvious errors in the text and instances of what I can only judge to be very poor editing of the final product. This is a relatively expensive textbook intended to train potential health care workers. The book stresses the need for professionalism, accuracy, and quality performance by Medical Assistants. Under the circumstances, I find it unconscionable that so many errors and oversights found their way into the final product.

As someone with little background on Austin Mini's I found the book entertaining and informative. The background information on Mini's was simple and light on detail. A history of the cars from their beginnings to the present with production numbers and different model types produced. Information on the history of the Mini's parent companies and all the different versions and specials produced by those companies over the last almost forty years. Fun book to read, entertaining photos. Overall a good intro. to the Mini-Cooper family.

I read Louise Cooper's Time Master trilogy and the first book of the Time Master prequel series (when Chaos rules), and enjoyed them for their chilling, vivid imagery. They were un-put-downable. I had to read through the night to finish them. Cooper has one of the most original, malign, and imaginative minds in the fantasy business. When I was unable to locate the two other books of the Time Master prequel, I started working my way through one of her earlier series: the Indigo books, of which "Nemesis" is the first.

"Nemesis" is the story of a Celtic Pandora named Anghara who opens the wrong box and lets evil back into the world. There are large sections of imaginative, Cooperesque fantasy and well worth reading. In fact, I've already ordered the second book in the Indigo series. However, overall I'd have to guess that 'Nemesis' is one of Cooper's first ventures into fantasy. The heroine is an arrogant, impulsive, headstrong adolescent who doesn't really change through the course of the book, even though her whole family is slaughtered by the demons she frees, and her lover is condemned to purgatory until she can rescue him.

The lover is the character I really feel sorry for. He is brave, kind, and completely innocent of wrong-doing and yet he is condemned to a particularly awful life-in-death while Anghara-Indigo escapes pretty much unscathed from her own act of wickedness (her hair turns gray and a few months into the plot, she sprains her ankle).

With occasional pick-me-ups from the Earth Mother, Anghara-Indigo sets out to recapture the demons she let loose on the world, hindered by her nemesis (an evil copy of herself with what appear to be vast supernatural powers) and helped by a talking wolf.

'Nemesis' is a good fantasy and worth reading, just not as good as Cooper's later books.

Not a good source for implementation details.

Cooper wrote several romance novels like this one, which makes me think she rather aspired to be the Jane Austen of the 1970's. In addition to a standard boy-meets-girl-girl-hates-boy-girl-falls-in-love story, she offers a pretty wit, and a certain amount of social satire.

The Prudence of the title is a pretty young London party girl, playing at a career but more interested in her astonishing (as described) wardrobe and finding Mr. Right. She may have found him in tall, elegant, extremely repressed Pendle Mulholland, she's interested enough to spend a ridiculously extended weekend in the country with his family, even though he's never tried to bed her. She meets the whole family, the eccentric mother, the wastrel brother and his blowsy wife, and of course the eldest brother; a tough yet glamorous foreign correspondent and heir. Guess who captures her heart?

Prudence herself is pretty likeable for such a ditz, and the rest of the characters are all well drawn enough to interest. It never really rises above the level of fluff, but it's enjoyable, well-written, witty fluff. Good enough.