I am really getting a lot from the content of this book; the exercises are fun and very effective. But at the same time I'm so disappointed in its quality--I've only had it a few days and almost all the pages have come loose. To use a book like this one must hold it open, turn pages back and forth, etc.; in other words, it should be made to be handled. This is not.

This book is great for working out on your own with the ball. It gives very clear directions, and even lets you know what muscle groups you are targeting so that you can really focus on getting the most out of each exercise. This is the best ball book that I have bought (I also have Pilates on the Ball, which is good but this one is better).

This book is great for all levels. I teach classes on the ball and this gave me many great ideas. She uses a rating system that gives one to three stars to designate if the exercise is for beginners or advanced. I do feel that some of the exercises are inappropriately marked as beginner or intermediate, and that they should actually be advanced. I highly recommend this book!

I couldn't put "Matter of Time" down! How Michael C. was able to get into a female's mind set is truely amazing! Stirring emotions and lots of twists and turns you don't expect! I loved it!

I couldn't put this book down! As a woman, I could relate to this story... the emotions are real and very stirring. It's amazing how Michael Crawford, as a man, could get inside a female's mind so throughly! I hope there is a sequel.

I was interested from start to finish! The main character could apply to every woman, no matter what stage of life they are at. It was as if I become part of the story, experiencing THE GIFT myself. I was kept guessing at to what turn the story would take next. I was surprised, sad, joyous and glad to have come across this original read.

The tragic sense of life is the realization that we will die. This could lead to an existentialist exploration - how can we continue, since in the beginning is the end - but Fra Unamuno prefers to deny that we do in fact die. Railing against the "Jewish" philosopher Spinoza and Protestant theologians for being too rational, he extols the Catholic faith. This is a delightful absurdity, given Catholicism's reliance on Aquinas' scholastic philosophy, which, in its attempts at rational proofs of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul serves only to prove that medieval monasteries lacked fresh air and the smell of women. Unamuno, good friar that he is, confuses the natural desire not to die with a desire to live forever, not for a moment considering what that means. To continue as he is forever - but how is he? Aging, suffering loss of memory, loss of concentration, loss of, well, everything, as the brain winds down. All that increases is guilt and remorse as the pain of things done and undone grows. To continue that course forever? That cannot be eternity in God's presence - it can only be death without God.

One of my favorite books in the field of philosophy. Unamuno seems to effortlessly cut through so much of the time-wasting academic drollery and nonsense that often clutters up this vital area of study. This isn't a philosopher getting lost in his own inane definitions and absurd mind games, this is the work of a man who lives to think, and thinks because he is in awe of life. Highly recommended to those who philosophize because they need to, not because they are trying to make other people think they are intelligent...

Other reviewers have called this book "philosophy for real men." Unamuno begins with this assertion. He rejects the Socratic "Man" as a creature of thought and not of substance. "Soy un hombre de carne y hueso!" he says: "I am a man of flesh and bone."

He works to provide the basis for a belief based on on reason, which he calls anti-vital, but on necessity. It is necessary for us, as men of flesh and bone, to believe that we can exist indefinitely. Reason tells us that we cannot. It is the confluence of these two beliefs that creates the tragic sense of life.

This is one of the best and most important books I've read, and I'd recommend it to anyone capable of sitting down and reading it.

This novel has received less attention in the U.S. than some of Hardy's other works, such an The Mayor Of Casterbridge, w ith its theme of the individual in tragic conflict with fate. The Woodlanders dwells on the needless sufferings and unhappiness brought on by class privelege. This is a subject always sure to raise suspicions of membership in the Khmer Rouge or the North Korean Secret Police here in the holyland of capitalism. But it is a beautiful work of art. Henry James and Jacques Barzun sneered at it because of its attacks on the upper classes. But that is a mark in its favor. Anything opposed by those two must be on the side of progress and human emancipation.

Unlike some of Hardy's other classic works, such as The Mayor of Casterbridge, with its theme of "the individual" against "fate," The Woodlanders has received little attention in this country. Perhaps that is because it deals so strongly with the themes of class privelege and class conflict, usually associated in this holy land of capitalism with the Khmer Rouge and Stalin. But it is a magnificent and rewarding work of art. Jacques Barzun and Henry James sneered at it because of its hostile treatment of the upper classes, but that is a mark in its favor. Anything opposed by those two must stand for progress and human emancipation.

This is one of my favourite Hardy novels. As some others have noted, it's not one of the "big 5" but certainly worth reading. Hardy's descriptions of the woodlands are beautiful, and I found the ending to be one of his most unpredictable. I wouldn't recommend reading it if you are feeling down, as the ending is sooooo wonderfully tragic (hehe), or if you're not a fan of Hardy's prose style, but otherwise it's a wonderful read. Very personal as well. I got the feeling it was written just for me :)

This book has EVERYTHING you need ... and then some. When you think you're not going to need one of the forms in this book, you later realize that YOU DO! As a freelance artist, using these forms made me feel as though clients noticed that they were dealing with a real professional. Absolutely a great investment.

While I probably won't use too many of these forms directly out of the book (or off the included CD), I find every form filled with helpful tools and ideas. Since purchasing this book, I have used a number of the forms just a guides for creating my own.
While I can understand that people might be disappointed that the forms included on the CD use fonts that not everyone has, as a designer, I would strongly recommend that you get those fonts anyway. If you are serious about being a successful graphic designer, you can't rely on the default fonts that come with your computer (besides, Helvetica is a great and well-crafted font).

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the business side of graphic design, or anyone who is interested in covering their behind (protection from those eventualities such as uncooperative clients).

There are many books that contain legal forms for graphic designers but the reason why I enjoy these types of books from "Business and Legal Forms" is the fact that it does come with a CD and that you can fix the forms up to your liking.

It's one thing to use copies from this book or any book but more than likely you want to change something, omit something or add something to the forms and thus this is where this book provides convenience.

This book offers forms for graphic and web designers as well. Definitely a good investment.

When I described my fascination with Balzac to a pal of mine, I said, "yeah, it is all about disillusioned and cynical people" and he replied: "I am already disillusioned and cynical, so why should I read it?"

Why indeed. This is indispuably one of the best of Balzac's novels, with clearly drawn characters and grim lives in an inexorable descent to self-destruction, which are the classic Balzac themes. It explores the life of a libertine as he ruins himself and his family for the sake of pursuing pretty girls. Unbekonst to him, he gets help from Bette, a cousin full of secret hatreds and bent on vengence. It is very sad to read. One minor character even commits suicide by repeatedly smashing his head into a nail, his only means to finish himself off he could find in his jail cell.

So why read it? Well, again, it is for the wider social portraits that you can find, which are offered almost as an aside. Balzac in one section explains the politics behind the statues you see all over Paris, which is fascinating. You also learn of the career of courtisans, as they use their sex to advance themselves. The book is simply full of these thngs, in addition to the psychology of the many interesting main characters.

Also unusual for Balzac is the coherency of the story, which does not degenerate into ramblings like many of his other novels as they weave the tapestry of his Comedie Humaine like so many threads, that is, as vehicles in his vast project to fully portray an entire society with characters re-appearing in different situations and venues throughout his interrelated novels. The characters stand on their own here and are more clearly drawn. Hence, it is a great intro to Balzac and may get you hooked for more, that is, if you are masochistic enough to subject yourself to it!

Warmly recommended.

Making a movie of it doesn't erase the world's crime of ignoring this great book. The equal of Dickens and James, Balzac has more energy and spirit, and a brighter palette. Cousin Bette has more plot than David Copperfield and sexier women than Valley of the Dolls. Madame Marneffe may be the most attractive monster (rhymes with itch) in literature, and Cousin Bette herself is all the Furies wrapped in an ugly old maid. One of the top fifty novels of all time.

"Beauty is the greatest of human powers. All autocratic unbridled power with nothing to counterbalance it, leads to abuse, mad excess. Despotism is power gone mad. In women, despotism takes the form of satisfying their whims". This remark engulfs Balzac's opera: To collate the audience with the obliterating debauchery society of 18th century France. Lisbeth Fischer aka Cousin Bette lurks in every chapter as a concealed beast coveting her prey (The house of Hulot) under the same roof. Perhaps Balzac's major achievement in this master piece, is to portrait a flauntering society feigned by its ostentatious opulence but immerse on a licentious and decadent life. "The savage has feelings... only the civilized man has feelings and ideas." Balzac seems to banter at Parisians with this idea: how civilized, civilized society can be. I strongly recommend this book if you intend to follow De Laclos work in Les Liasions Dangereuses. As an amateur reader I founded the characters difficult to identify at the beginning, however is an strategy smartly set by Balzac and very much appreciated as soon as you start to realize and pace through the richness of the narration.

This book is simply the most unique and in-depth book on what it is like to die and what it is like on the Other Side that I have ever read. And I have read a lot. If you like books by John Edward, George Anderson, James Van Praagh, or Jane Roberts, you are going to love this book.

It contains a large number of detailed personal stories FROM the other side written in first person... via an extraordinary deep trance psychic channel and medium... BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY CROSSED OVER!

It is uplifting, eye opening, and deals with life and afterlife lessons that can be applied by all, while we are still "here", and after we cross over ourselves.

A must read for anyone interested in psychic mediumship, the afterlife, reincarnation, or what it is like to die. If you know someone who has died, or is dying, this book can help you.

---------Reviewed by ADC: an avid student of mediumship and life after death.

This book contains over 100 individual accounts FROM the other side via the extraordinary deep trance psychic mediumship of April Crawford.

This book goes well beyond the "tunnel of light" stories to what is really experienced, what has been experienced, at least by these individuals who chose to communicate and give their messages to the world. This book includes helpful insights into how to understand and maneuver in the Afterlife as well as many practical insights on how to get the most out of each physical life.

Simply one of the most true and complete books on the subject of what it is like to die and what it is like just after that I am aware of having ever been published.

This book will help anyone interested in "What is it like to die?" as well as anyone interested in mediumship and the nature of consciousness. Several things are clear. We all continue, we can meet our loved ones again, and again, and.... there is no need to fear physical death.

I really liked this book. I've read a lot of books on the afterlife but this one has something that goes beyond the sugar coated messages from other mediums. Heaven, like life, is what you make it. Life is for learning and you take those lessons with you. The letters pretty much explain (or not) what the other side is like (at least the lower heavens) and what the soul is seeking (the source of our being).
The fact that some letters were written like people in a hurry, with no time, taking care of their families etc, separates the young souls from the older ones. Most people cling to their earthly existance (even in death) and miss the whole point and thus have to keep coming back. Death is not to be feared but life should be lived to the fullest extent possible. The more we learn here, the closer we get to the source.

I bought the 1996 version of this book in June of 2000 and within one month I was signed up for cosmetology school. Then I got to school and they used the 2000 edition so I was already prepared. For those who think this book doesn't go into detail please realize that this is a textbook and it is part of a series of books for teaching. There are 2 workbooks that go along with this book. One for Theory and one for Practical. I was given a 1990 edition of this book as well by a friend of mine. The most noticable change between the 3 editions is that the 2000 edition has more actual photographs and fewer illustrations. If you are using this book for school study then I do recommend you buy the state board exam review booklet. Then when you have free time you can quiz yourself. Just remember that this book is meant to be used along with an instructor. If you are looking for a haircutting book only then I don't think you want this one. It only has about 12 pictures.

I bought the 1996 version of this book in June of 2000 and within one month I was signed up for cosmetology school. Then I got to school and they used the 2000 edition so I was already prepared. For those who think this book doesn't go into detail please realize that this is a textbook and it is part of a series of books for teaching. There are 2 workbooks that go along with this book. One for Theory and one for Practical. I was given a 1990 edition of this book as well by a friend of mine. The most noticable change between the 3 editions is that the 2000 edition has more actual photographs and fewer illustrations. If you are using this book for school study then I do recommend you buy the state board exam review booklet. Then when you have free time you can quiz yourself. Just remember that this book is meant to be used along with an instructor. If you are looking for a haircutting book only then I don't think you want this one. It only has a few pages on haircutting and about 12 pictures of haircut instructions.

When I was taking Cosmetology back in the 2000-01 school year, they recommended to purchase this version of Milady's Standard Textbook of Cosmetology. They were only available new in Canada and cost [money], and came with the theory book as well. Our teacher also had the old 1996 version of this textbook for sale, used. However, this is a better purchase. There are more pictures and colors, its not as drab as the previous version. I have to disagree with reviewers who said this is not a detailed book, I found it to be quite detailed and informative in its information. The book meant to be used in a classroom setting, where an instructor teachers and elaborates from this book. You cannot read this book and automatically cut hair, that is where the practical aspect of cosmetology comes in, when you are doing it hands on instead of reading. But this is a helpful tool for aspiring apprentices or students in cosmetology, whether you want to learn about Coloring, Perms, whatever the case, this is definately a worthwhile tool to have.

This is a great beginning book. The lessons are well laid out and extremely straightforward. Kelley's starts you off with a core set of words that he continues to use throughout the book adding a few more words every lesson but still using the old words. This gives you the benefit of being able to become extremely familier with some important words, it also has the added benefit of allowing the student to focus in on the grammer instead of having to spend all the grammer lessons on trying to translate the meaning of the words you can concentrate on the conjugation and such. The book starts with nouns and adjectives and only after the student has a firm base does he move on to the infinitly more difficult verbs. Hey what did you expect it is Hebrew. One caution, although the book is full of excercises there are no answers. To get the answers you have to buy another book the handbook which accompanies this book. This is somewhat annoying and is the only reason this manual doesn't deserve 5 stars. The exercises are however extremely helpful in practicing and developing language skills.

This 450 page book is a solid introduction to Biblical Hebrew. The book is organized as a teaching help into graded lessons, but it is well organized into broad topical blocks so it is also useful as a reference. The large section of charts in the appendix has kept this book useful to me years after I began to learn Hebrew. Also, the excercises in the book are completely based on actual verses of the Hebrew Bible even starting from lesson one. There are no contrived, artificial sentences in it. As soon as you start, you are learning the bible. The book truly is the result of years and even generations of Hebrew instruction, and it is used in a very large number of seminaries and universities across the English-speaking world.

There is one word of caution to fundamentalist types and KJV enthusiasts who tend to be concerned that modern biblical scholarship is undermining biblical authority: Kelley is an NRSV devotee and bases a number of his translations on this version for the purpose of expressing politically correct, gender neutral language. I really must say that this has had such a small effect on the book that it has diminished nothing, however.

I am impressed with it. After working through this book a student will have the basics of classical Hebrew and will be able to read most of the prose narratives of the Torah. Kelley is conservative in his scholarship and gives a good treatment of the Hebrew verbal system, something that scholars don't fully understand at this point.

This book by Kelley is extremely detailed without being overwhelming. Learning any language can be overwhelming, but if one takes this book lesson by lesson, they will do well. I find that this makes a great companion text to "Biblical Hebrew" by Kittel et al (see my review on this book for more information).
Kelley provides what Kittel does not, and vice versa. Kittel presents great lessons without getting into a mass of details that aren't yet necessary, and as a workbook, it moves you along confidently and quickly. But with learning anything, many like to know, and will definitely need to know fairly early on, not simply how something is done, but WHY, and what nuances are caused by the details. Kelley does just that by explaining point by point why things work the way they do in Hebrew. For example, this would include how vowel pointing changes and why. Kittel deals with vowel pointing, of course, and how it works grammatically, but leaves one without answers in many cases as to the systematic rules of how vowel pointing works. Also, Kittel's book does a nice job in presenting participles, but doesn't really give enough detail to help the beginner with the related nuances of participial grammar that even the beginner needs to know (e.g., what's the difference in translation between participles as adjective, as verbs, and as nouns?).
Kelley explains in detail what Kittel presents generally. He gives all the answers that Kittel does not. Kittel gives a more workable workbook than does Kelley. With Kittel, you feel like you're moving along faster and so it is more encouraging (I personally went through the first half of Kittel's book thoroughly in only 2 1/2 months, along with working on a number of chapters later in the book at the same time; I could never do that with Kelley's book).

Because of its great detail, it may have a somewhat discouraging effect by not allowing the student to move very quickly.
What I recommend for any truly serious student of Hebrew is to invest in both Kittel's and Kelley's books. Use Kittel's book as the main course, and use Kelley's as a main supplement (you will definitely need something to go with Kittel's book). After you've gotten about half way through Kittel's book, it would then be good to look at Kelley's book systematically and find the reasons for why Hebrew is the way it is. Ultimately, Kelley's book will have to become your main text if you really plan to learn Hebrew effectively. Kelley by far gives many more exercises to hone your skills. Also, I use Kelley's book sort of like an encyclopedia to turn to for more information as I study a chapter in Kittel's workbook.

I can't recommend this combination of books enough, for it truly gives many positive facets to studying Hebrew. For under $100, the serious student can be set for a long time with these two books. And one can still keep it under a hundred dollars by investing in what I believe to be the best student's vocabulary book out there for the price, "A Student's Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic," by Larry Mitchel, which covers all Hebrew words used 10 times or more in the OT, and all Aramaic words if you should choose to delve into that.
Kelley's book, considering its detail, is quite sufficiently systematic and also simple in its explanations. If you really want to learn, this book will give you what you need without being cumbersome.