I believe that Douglas Dawson is a sincere teacher, but I found this book to be a litany of rules, tricks, and gew-gaws for obtaining effects -- without a governing vision. (Contrast the similarly-named "Capturing Radiant Color in Oils" by Susan Sarback, which is above all a book about seeing and reporting what you see, and in spite of its title the most helpful book I have found for my approach to pastels.) Some of Dawson's rules are in the category of "duh!" and others make no sense. His points are usually illustrated by his own work, including landscapes (quite interesting), cityscapes (often dramatically lit but oddly unmoving), and portraits (sappy, sentimentalized, and including a few real bodice-rippers). The old saw says, "give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." Dawson gives us a bass, and not a very fresh one.

The book starts with Dawson explaining the difference between the handling of lines--drawing--and the handling of shapes--painting. He then explains and illustrates two pastel painting techniques: working from big to small shapes and working from shape to shape. Then he combines drawing and painting to launch into ways of being creative with color and light. The book ends dealing with backgrounds, depth, and finding new ideas.

Appropriate to an art instruction book, there is an abundance of illustrated examples, step-by-step pictorial demonstrations, and very stunning completed paintings. The book was easy to read, and Dawson's thoughts, examples, and techniques are very easy to follow.

I like this book very much. The most valuable thing I learned from reading Dawson's book was how to turn my drawings and paintings into works of art.

If you are not an EU National, you might want to avoid this book. When writing about dealing with red tape or getting a work permit, author Nick Daws often glosses over the rest of the non-European world by saying: It may be different for Non-EU nationals. Well, of course it's different for Australians or Brazilians or Ugandans or Americans than it is for EU nationals. However, Daws gives absolutely no guidance about how to obtain this information.

Briton Daws made sure that he had to do a minimal amount of research by only writing about EU nationals. The publisher knew this book was being sold around the world, so the author should have been told to take that into consideration when researching for the book.

That being said, the other parts of the book, like how to get your gas turned on and the state of mezzi pubblici (public transportation), are quite helpful. I just wish I didn't feel I needed another book to supplement this one.

If you are not an EU national, but are absolutely sure that you have all the information you need to immigrate (permanently or temporarily) to Italy then this book can be of some help. Otherwise, find a different book.

The review which begins by complaining that the book's target audience is too narrow is perhaps failing to grasp the complexity of the matter. This book deals thoroughly with the practical and cultural matters that concern a large and varied target audience.

To extend the coverage of the book to appeal to a wider readership runs a heavy risk of creating a large and unattractive volume which could end up serving no-one. I would imagine that the author and his publisher have considered a separate volume for those considering a move from other regions of the world, in which the text could cover details specific to the members of a particular audience in a manageable and economically efficient volume.

If you're looking to learn the ins and outs of mosaic making, if you're looking to glue shards of tesserae to boards and lamps and things, this isn't the book for you.

If, on the other hand, you simply love the "look" of mosaics, this book will teach you how to recreate it using beads, bottle caps, dice, and everything else listed in the subtitle. Though many of the projects are attractive (like the "Luxurious Journal," made of velvet squares), many are also a little tacky (like a clock made of beans).

A few of the projects involve creating mosaics with actual glass and tile tesserae, but these are generally quickies-for beginners. And although the gallery in the back of the book contains a few terrific pieces, almost all of them are in dozens of other books on mosaic.

It's a nice book for your mosaics library, but it's less than essential.

This book show you that you can use many materials to do a mosaic. If you want differents ideas, this is the right book.

Vivian Vande Velde's short stories are often quite good, and the three in Once Upon a Test are no exception. The only problem is that there are only three of them, and all of them are short-- totaling about thirty pages and requiring no more than fifteen minutes to read. They're all bound up in what looks like a hardback picturebook with mediocre black and white full panel drawings by Diane Dawson Hearn.

The three short stories, "For Love of Sunny," "Not for Love nor Money," and "Love is Blind" are written in a style that may be familiar to anyone who has read Vande Velde's other short stories, as seen in Curses, Inc., Tales From the Brothers Grimm and Sisters Weird, and most particularly, The Rumpelstiltskin Problem. The stories all feature the popular fairy tale theme of accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks in order to win the princess-- or the prince, in the case of the first story, which is a fun twist on the genders traditionally assigned to rescuer and rescued. The second story proposes the question of whether the hardships imposed by these tasks are even worth the rewards, and the third is a sweeter, less cynical story in which kindness and honesty, not bravado, win the day.

These stories are clever, amusing, and exactly as they are described-- light tales of love-- but they are not as singularly brilliant as some of Vivian Vande Velde's other short stories are, like "Lost Soul" and "Straw Into Gold." A good book to check out from the library (and especially recommended to fans of Gail Carson Levine's Princess Tales series), but Vivian Vande Velde's novels and longer short story collections are better examples of her witty prose and unique characterizations.

One of my favorite authors of all times is Vivian Vande Velde. I love all of her books, and I really like this novel too. I wished the stories were a little bit longer, but all in all, I thought the book was awesome. I'll recommend this book to any romance fan, or just a booklover.

This book is fun, but more than a bit pretentious. To be passionate about a sport is one thing, but delusions of expertise suggest a rather pervasive sense of inferiority. Fishing is fishing. If you enjoy, so be it. Worry not what others think. Those who fish with worms are no worse or better than those who fish with caddis flies. The idea is to enjoy the outdoors. I love to flyfish. That is all that matters!

I certainly have not read all the books in print on fly fishing but I have read many dozens. "Trout Fly Fishing: an Expert Approach" is the finest, most authoritive, concise text on the subject I have read. It cuts through much of the unnecessary detail and mystique. Wonderfully organized and well illustrated

The statements from an earlier review, "To be passionate about a sport is one thing, but delusions of expertise suggest a rather pervasive sense of inferiority" and "Fishing is fishing" and "Enjoying the outdoors is all that matters" seem to be more reverse snobbery than review of the book and it's intent.

The authors are true bonified, recognized authorities on fly fishing. For those who wish to improve general understanding and tactics of fly fishing, this book is my first recommendation.

The text and info in this book is pretty darn good. However, the inclusion of stickers (apparently to hook kids?) is contrived and not all that useful. Good book despite (not because of) the stickers.

The students that I shared this book with were quite familiar with most parts of this book already. They definitely enjoyed the book though! I didn't use the stickers though (I ripped them out before I gave the book to the kids). I don't want kids to think that it's okay to be putting stickers in books:)

I was disconcerted to find a very substandard book instead of what I had expected. I had ideas of receiving a really helpful book to make me a better technical recruiter, but I received a book of personal opinions and theoretical protocols that even I know better than to try, and I am pretty new at this. Luckily I had bought 3 books, and one of the others is outstanding. Don't bother with this one.

I sent this book back from whence it came. It was of no value to me. So full of typographical errors, poor writing, contradictions, and fantasies that I could not accept it as any help at all. Buy some other book, not this one.

I bought this book after comming out of the military and entering into the recuriting field. I found it to be a very helpful, and I use it on a daily basis, particularily the check lists enclosed. I believe that the methods to prepare candidates for face to face interviews are outstanding, however it would be benificial if there was a telephone interview preparation sheet. Additionally, a section on overcomming objections would be useful, however this is not a sales book, it is a book to help you create and manage the process of recruiting. As far as the typos go, who cares? Pay attention to the content delivered, and not the author's ability to type. He is teaching recruiting, not English. Like any other guide on how to do anything, this is based on the author's opinions and his experience. It should be used in conjuncture with other materials to form your own style and methods.

I watched this book grow from drill and kill in earlier editions to its present, bloated 6th edition. I have taught out of the 5th and 6th editions of this book for 4 years. The students absolutely hate it. It is cluttered and confusing. The order in which grammar and vocabulary are presented defy logic and all current research in second language acquisition. This book has been torn down and put back together so many times, that it is a hellish mess. Language methodology has changed and evolved over the nearly 25 years this book has been in use, and now this book doesn't know what it is or wants to be. The exercises in the book are worthless. All the instructions are in Spanish from chapter 1 on, and the students cannot interpret them, which renders the activities useless. Dicho has had a good, long run. It's time to shelve it and move on. The only reason I still use it is because I have no choice in textbook selection where I teach.

As a beginnng Spanish student, I find the book cluttered and overwhelming. Also, a more organized approach to the subject would help. My foreign language background is French, so I am familiar with how to study a different language.

This is by far the best beginning text that I have found in twenty-four years of teaching. The high-interest level of the text with the easy-to-understand explanations and interactive activities make this book very accessible to even the student with no prior background in Spanish. At the same time, the wealth of activities including proverbs, cartoons, business Spanish, dialogues, open-ended conversations, problem solving, cultural information along with the CD's, videos, and internet activities, also challenge and interest the student who may already have some knowledge of Spanish. The text uses a communicative and personalized approach that allows the student to develop skills in speaking, reading, writing, and listening comprehension. The writing assignments and classroom drills are not dry and boring as in some texts but very creative and often humorous which helps make teaching with this text a joy. Each edition of the text has incorporated new material to meet the needs of our students. I especially like the segments in this edition on computer technology, letter writing, medical Spanish, and environmental and social discussions. After completing this text, most of my students are inspired and encouraged to continue their study of Spanish. Many of my Spanish majors enjoy this text so much that they keep it for reference instead of selling it back to the bookstore. I have built several successful Spanish programs using this text and have many fluent students who adored the text. The bottom line is that this text has personality as well as being highly useful. I love it!

First, what this book is NOT: it is neither exhaustive nor in-depth. (The fact that the book is only 277 trade-size pages should suggest this.) It is also not particularly helpful to the complete new-comer to the call center environment, especially not Customer Service Representatives. But then it doesn't really claim to do all that. It is written more for, say, people in the finance or human resources department who want to learn a little about what the techno-geeks in systems delivery are talking about. Or for new MIS analysts who may have come from some other performance measurement background, but who haven't grasped all the call center jargon yet. And also for the call center managers who know THEIR job, but who are baffled when they try to talk to anyone in marketing about how the center operates.

So, on to what it IS: this is a dictionary, so you are presumed to have some knowledge of the language to begin with. And the authors try to offer some breadth of the available technology without being too proprietary. The entries concerning CTI (computer-telephone integration) and web-enabled technology are a little sparse, but the core concepts (regarding Automated Call Distribution) are relatively reliable. The typos can be off-putting, but maybe they'll get that improved in the 3rd edition.

I wouldn't rely on this book alone as my "Complete Guide" to call center operations (I hope the title was the product of an over-active marketer rather than the authors' choice), but is is a HELPFUL guide. If you are looking for detailed material, pull out your user manuals and read the README.TXT files that come with your applications. If you are looking for a general overview of the terrain, this book is a good tool to have at your disposal. If you leave it at your desk, you may be surprised at the number of people who ask to borrow it.

Aside from the spelling and grammatical errors, I found this book extremely helpful in getting me past the clutter of acronyms that are so prevalent in the telecom field. Unfortunately, this is also one of the very few books that is willing to define most of the terms for you. In that regard, I think that this is a great book that serves its purpose. Although I would really like to see a more updated version.

At the moment, I do not know a long-term course training call center resources specialist, and people doing this job usually come from other field. The book is full of useful hints to help people with a good, but general, background in connecting it to the reality of call centers and every day activities in CRM. As usual for this kind of books, it is not a detailed reference, but I found in it satisfying answers to many doubts arised about the correct use of words and acronyms.

i WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ARRIVING IN THE POST, BUT DISAPPOINTMENT DOES NOT EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE MY FEELINGS WHEN IT CAME. THE BOOK ITSELF IS FLIMSY, PRINTED ON CHEAP, NASTY PAPER AND BARELY WORTH 50P. ALTMEN WRITES WITH A DISTURBINGLY GIDDY, CHILDISH APPROACH, CONSIDERING SHE GIVES YOU THE IMPRESSION SHE IS A GROWN, MARRIED WOMAN. PLUS SHE HAS NO IDEA WHAT SHE IS TALKING ABOUT. STATEMENTS SUCH AS 'YOU NEVER SEE TOMBOY JOEY IN A SKIRT OR DRESS' ARE BOUND TO IRRITATE FANS WHO WATCH EVERY WEEK,AND HAVE SEEN JOEY PROGRESS FROM A TOMBOY TO HAVING A WARDROBE WHICH A MODEL WOULD BE ENVIOUS OF. UNFORTUNEATELY, STATEMENTS SUCH AS THIS ARE FREQUENT AND ANNOYING, THIS WOMAN DOES NOT HAVE A CLUE. DON'T BE TEMPTED BY THE DECEPTIVELY CHEAP PRICE OF THIS, BUY A PROPER GUIDE. THIS IS A WASTE OF TIME, EFFORT AND MONEY.

I am pretty new to DC, but I still know a lot about it. I thought this book might have good info, but I was terribly mistaken and it was a waste of my $4.50. Sheryl Altman writes like a giddy teenybopper and obviously has no clue what the hell shes talking about. This book could've might as well been a 6th grade writing assignment. If you want to read a guide to a television show, you want someone who knows what they're talking about. I mean, the author spends a whole chapter discussing Dawson's interest for Steven Spielberg! Ms. Altman, i have five words for you: DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB.

This is an excellent book to read if you love the tv show Dawson`s Creek. You will know all of the info about the characters and all of the actresses and actors who play them. This is the best chance to know more than your friends about your favorite tv show!! Put this book on your list of books to read this summer. Trust me, this is coming from a Dawson`s Creek fanatic,you have to get this book and read it now!! Hope you enjoy it!!