When I found myself taking a break from school, with a C+ average, I pretty much had no direction. I didn't really have much passion for school or anything else. I got this book on a whim, and just the first part which dealt with motivation and goal setting was an eye-opener to say the least. It made me seriously reexamine my life and my direction.
The study skills portion and the skills in school (picking a teacher, staying organized, etc) were both very beneficial as well. I still have to wait until the fall semester to get back into school, but I'm confident that I'll finally have the tools that I'll need to get where I need to go.
I would definetely recommend this book to any one else who finds themselves just floating through life.

Going back to study in my 30's I was concerned if I would be able to achieve results and balance other work and family commitments. ESS helped me to do all three.

This is a logical, easy to apply system for study. It takes commitment and work but - come exam time - to have an entire subject outlined and then condensed onto a handful of cards a week before the exam was great.

I recommend this to anyone looking for skills for higher education.

Wonderful study skills book that can save students a lot of time. If you like this book, you will love "Major in Success", by Patrick Combs. I teach at a University and this book changes lives.

"Emma" is Jane Austen's final gift to the world before she was claimed by her "last illness" at the age of forty. Altough serious matters are raised in the book, it remains comic and light-hearted- which tells us something about the author and her determination to look at life as if it were a big grotesque performance, where every character (especially Emma) has to be intensified to the point of absurd. Some say Jane Austen wrote for "adolescent girls." Not true. Her novels, just like Shakespeare's comedies, can be read at any age. As a literature student I greatly admire Austen's style and her unique characterization. It is certainly her best. Read and enjoy!

Though not her favorite novel, Austen's Emma shines as one of her most beloved. The character of Emma is both believable and lovable. This particular edition is a great keepsake, one you can pass down to your own daughter.

Emma is basically a darling snob. She has a kind, loving heart, and really wants to do good, but makes a tangle of everybody's lives, including her own. I'm sick of flawless, shallow, empty heroines, so Emma's faults and conquering of faults endear her. The unabridged book is slightly complicated (such as old-fashioned language) but if you savor it slowly it is well worth it. The plot is clever, sweet, funny and leaves a satisfied, warm kind of glow in the pit of your stomach. The perfect ending makes you want to cry. Don't spoil THIS novel with any trashy sequels.

TRY WATCHING the Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam "Emma."

This book is easy and fun to read and packed with tons of great ideas. In the past I have purchased other books similar in topic and was always disappointed by the fact that the authors seemed to point out the obvious and went out of their way to constantly tell readers what they must know in order to succeed, over and over, and over...I find this to be subjective at best and at worst mind numbingly boring to read. I was relieved to discover this book was different, the author simply features a ton of ways you can make money working for yourself in a quick read format. I'm working with a few of the ideas in greater detail and have found the information to be spot on the money and well researched. I highly recomend this book to anyone who wants to get out of the job frame of mind and start making more money by using a few simple ideas.

Simply the best book I have ever read about starting a business. No get rich quick scams, no "look inside yourself" motivational hype, just great ideas to get you making money by working for yourself.

Just thought I'd share a very positive experience. I purchased Mr. Stephenson's book before Christmas thinking that I might be able to find a part time business that I could start with a minimal investment, and I did. In February I started a Graffiti Removal Service that was featured in the book and I already have over two dozen repeat customers and growing! Not bad for 4 months and a part time effort. I highly recomend this book to anyone that is thinking about starting their own business. Great book, great idea's and great advice.

I really can't add anything to the reviews that have been written. This is an informative work that reinforces what many of us have learned about the early Christian church by reading the New Testament. However, the biblical account/history is placed against the backdrop of the Roman empire and enhanced by citing secular historians from the era who commented on the earliest Christians. Mr. Snyder intermixes some commentary throughout the book. This seems necessary since many questions about this era remain unanswered. The commentary gives the book an essay quality that in no way detracts from the history provided. Thank you, Mr. Snyder, for an enjoyable, scholarly read.

Researched and written by writer, journalist, and Presbyterian elder James D. Snyder, The Faith And The Power is an informed and informative history of the early Christians who struggled to survive a series of bitter and lethal persecutions in Rome during the first century A.D. Highly recommended reading for both scholars and non-specialist general readers, The Faith And The Power integrates Biblical text with historical accounts by early Jewish, Roman, and Christian writers forming the basis of a scholarly, chronological documentary that accessibly explores the fascinating era of nascent Christianity.

The reader is given a chronological time table of events (somthing I appreciated) that puts the world of the early Christians in perspective as they deal with the turbulent politics of the first century. I came away from this very readable account with a more personal understanding of, and a deeper appreciation of the men and women who survived and kept the faith. It will have a permanent place in my bookshelf.

The book is an excellent tool that allows all to enter and enjoy the wonderful world of Fantasy Baseball!!!!!

This book covers all the beginner aspects of the fantasy sports game. It offers the necessary steps to beginning your own league and if your a seasoned veteran helpful hints to get the winning edge. I can attest to the George Griefs and the Jermane Allensworths from my own experiences.

This a book which enables a group of people to have fun following a sport. It teaches you what to look for and how to prepare yourself. It is a book that will help not only the so-so sport fans but also the very hard core sport fans. The one thing that I would have added to it would have been Chapter 23 How to go from 9th place in your league to 1st in the last five weeks of the season, but then again that's me. If you have a group of friends who like sports and don't know how to set up a league this is a great book to buy.

This shocking book, "Farewell America", will change the way you think about America, and humanity in general. And not in a good way.
This is THE best book ever written on "The Establishment".
"The Establishment" is hard to explain, but this book does a wonderful job of doing so.
It shows how the Status Quo is protected by the Big Bankers, Big Lawyers, Big Military, Big Business, etc. And it's NOT a coincidence that The Warren Commission had men from all of these big "establishments" protecting their respective establishments.
That's why the Warren Commission lied to us. An investigation into the Conspiracy to kill Kennedy, essentially meant an investigation into the inner workings of our Government, and their many, many partners in American society, and indeed, the global society (The Establishment).
Quite simply, President John, F Kennedy, and his brother, Bobby, wanted to do things the way the Constitution says a President and his administration should be able to do things. The Constitution is irrelevant to "The Establishment". They dont care about America, and they dont care about you, or me. We are the "little people" to them. They will use, abuse, essentially manipulate us in any way that they can, to make a buck, and move up on the ladder that is the power and control structure of society. They used a 23 year old man on November 22nd,1963, and changed his life forever, and lynched him two days later. This man, who was innocent, was named Lee Harvey Oswald. "The Establishment" used him and sacrificed him, when they got what they wanted from their manipulation of him.
Anyone who threatens the money making opportunities, the image, or the "values" of these people will be killed. Prime Example, John F Kennedy.
He wanted to give more money and more power to the people. The Federal Reserve and The Military hated him for that.
President Kennedy wanted peace with the Soviets and Cuba. The CIA, The Military, The Mafia, and the Anti Castro Cuban exiles despised him for that. They wanted war, even if it meant a nuclear war.
Kennedy thought about we the people. "The Establishment" didnt like that, because we the people arent corrupt, devious degenerates who just care about making a buck. Thus, we the people, and our very constitution got in the way of "The Establishment" and their political and business opportunities.
All of this, and so much more is detailed in this book, "Farewell America".
This book wasnt actually written by a man named James Hepburn.
That's just a ghost name. This book was actually the result of two things....
1. Bobby Kennedy's private investigation into his Brother's death.
2. French Intelligence's study of the assassination.
So this book, isnt written by some author just putting forth theories, it is written by the INSIDERS, who had knowledge about how things really work, and as such, this book is essential to your understanding of why our President was killed, why we were lied to, and why "The Establishment" is the reason why this country isnt as great as it can be.
They are holding us back. They are manipulating our Constitution, they are, in short, our biggest enemy.
You may ask, "Is this book a factual representation of "The Establishment?". I can answer that question with this next comment.
The US Government tried to prevent this book from being published in America.
I believe this fact shows just how close "Farewell America" is to exposing "The Establishment" for what they are.......A giant pimple on the rear end of the United Staes of America.
Knowledge is power. Once we realize how society truly works, we will expose the hypocrites who walk among us.
Then, those of us, who stand for Truth, Justice, and doing things the True American way, with hard work, with dignity, with honor, and with a love of God and a love of country, can defeat this phantom menace to our freedom.
This book exposes the frauds, and gives we the people the power that President John F Kennedy envisioned giving us, before THEY killed him.
Please read this book. Knowledge is power.

Originally published in Europe in 1968, this is a once-notorious, now-dated look at John Kennedy's assassination and an excoriation of the American scene in its aftermath.

Turner (Rearview Mirror, etc.) explains in his introduction that the book was first published under mysterious circumstances and was "aimed at advancing the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy," but its U.S. distribution was rapidly curtailed after RFK's death. The authors ("James Hepburn" is a pseudonym)

conducted clandestine research among KGB and Interpol agents and French petroleum espionage specialists and relied on a rare, unmodified print of the famed Zapruder film. The book seethes with aggrieved passion in defending the Kennedys and their ideals, and seeks to defrock the "lone gunman" theory of JFK's assassination.

Most of the text is a damning jeremiad, portraying pre-1964 America as a vicious, discriminatory oligarchy controlled by alliances of Big Steel and Big Oil, the military and organized crime, which all had reason to fear JFK's proposed reforms.
According to "Hepburn," these interests combined with ultra-right-wing paramilitary groups like the Minutemen and Cuban exile groups to plan the assassination. Chapters discussing the assassination itself will be grimly convincing to some
readers, with excellent analyses of the Secret Service's failures and the ambiguous roles played by the CIA and FBI during this tumultuous era.

This is a pungent historical document, but its conspiracy theory is familiar by now, and its information has been surpassed by more recent studies such as Murder in Dealey Plaza, edited by James Fetzer. (Dec.)

After reading it, just relax, make up your mind, and figure out who, in the TOP american business planned the crime, and how many former US american presidentes may have been involved DIRECTLY in the cover-up (one,two, three, four...BINGO!!!).

"Eight American Poets," edited by Joel Conarroe, is a fine anthology. The introduction notes that this book was "designed as a companion volume to 'Six American Poets,'" also edited by Conarroe. "Eight" follows the same plan as "Six": rather than anthologize a huge company of poets who are represented by only a few pieces each, each of Conarroe's books focuses on a relatively small group of poets, each of whom is represented by a substantial selection. Conarroe's approach allows the reader to get a fuller feel of each poet in the anthology format.

The poets of "Eight" are Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsburg, and James Merrill. Each poet's work is prefaced by a substantial individual introduction.

There are many masterpieces in this book. Curiously, I found the most compelling poems to be those that focus on nature: Roethke's "The Meadow Mouse," Bishop's "The Fish," Plath's "Mushrooms," and Merrill's "The Octopus." Poems like these combine skillfully used language with keen insight, and reveal these poets to be true heirs of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson (two of the featured artists in "Six American Poets").

Overall, I felt that "Eight" was not as strong as its sister volume, "Six." Although there are many poetic masterpieces in "Eight," there is also much material which, in my opinion, hasn't aged well. The so-called "confessional poetry" of some of these writers strikes me as overwrought. Some of the longer poems failed to resonate with me. I was particularly disappointed by Berryman's "Homage to Mistress Bradstreet," especially since I am an admirer of Anne Bradtreet's own work. Admittedly, this criticism may merely reflect my own personal tastes, but I submit it for the reader's consideration.

The fact that so many of these poets either wrote about each other, or pop up in the editor's introductions to each others' work, sometimes gives the book as a whole a creepy, incestuous feel. And the fact that so many of these poets committed suicide, had long-term mental health problems, and/or suffered from addictions further gives the book as a whole a rather morbid feel. On second thought, maybe this group of eight is a bit problematic!

Still, editor Conarroe has assembled an impressive anthology that I would recommend for students and teachers, as well as to a general readership. Although a mixed bag, "Eight American Poets" contains some truly enduring work by an octet whose legacy is secure.

.........the best known and loved poetry of eight well-known twentieth century American poets. Includes well known poems such as Bishop's "The Fish", Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz", Berryman's "Dream Songs", Merrill's "Lost in Translation", Sexton's "Ringing the Bells", and many others.

Like Conarroe's "Six American Poets", the anthology introduces us to each poet with a short biography that is presented before the poet's work. We learn about their lives and come to understand some of the primary forces that have shaped their poetry. I have found that this greatly enriches the experience of reading poetry because I better see the struggles that lead to each individual creation. After each collection, Conarroe offers a list of books and anthologies where each poet has been published so that we, should we wish, can come to know the work of a given poet much better.

This anthology is a wonderful starting place for someone who, like me, desires an introduction to some of the greatest American poetry ever produced. Personally, I feel, after reading this anthology that I have come to truly appreciate the work of Elizabeth Bishop and Theodore Roethke, in particular. I had never known their work well, but suddenly each jumped off the page at me, Bishop for her wonderfully vivid descriptions and Roethke for his intensely moving subjects. Plath and Sexton also really spoke to me, their work so reflecting their lives. Overall, this anthology is superbly worthwhile reading!

Ah, a fine comparison and contrast in studies on the eight best American confessional poets ever. Kudos to the editor on a fine choice of poems, and candid biographies on each poet. Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Allen Ginsberg, John Berryman, Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop and the other guy, here's to you.

Any fan of both science fiction and action-adventure will find this book offers the best of both worlds. Axler shows his unique talent for drawing characters we can immediately relate to and care about--it's like making new friends. The pace is lightning fast, never letting up until the last page. Axler's plot is mature, with no loose ends, and loaded with suspense (i.e. the myterious barons, the history of the Outlands, etc). Axler has taken us on a wonderful, imaginative ride and the action was not only realistic, but the writing of it was tight and polished; a rare talent in action-adventure writers today. Exile to Hell goes beyond genre and into mainstream in its telling. Make no mistake, this is the first book in a series that belongs on every reader's shelf--hat's off to James Axler!

I've been reading this kind of fiction for many years...Deathlands, Endworld, Blade, Survivalist, Wingman, you name it. After a while, they all got to be the same...over-muscled male heroes who have more in common with guns than women, spouting fuzzy right-wing politics. Outlanders is a breath of fresh air to this kind of fiction. I've read all in the series so far and each one surpasses itself. Though a spin-off of the Deathlands series, it stands alone. It's a great deal more than a "Deathlands the Next Generation" type of thing. The heroes are believable, tough and rough yet they use their heads as well as their "blasters". The women characters are well-realized, too. As for plots--well, you've never seen stories like these in other men's adventure books. They can be thought-provoking, a little fantastic, but fast-moving and full of action all the same. This really isn't a review of "Exile to Hell", but just my comments on the Outlanders series. I urge readers who want something a little different to pick it up. You won't be disappointed.

This series is going to be superb. It is a new spin-off of possibilities occuring in Post nuclear war environment. The characters created are strong, forthcoming and action-packed. The earlier novels of the Deathlands series I have read are a little hard to follow as I am unable to find earlier books written, until I happened upon Amazon.com

Perhaps I expected something more. The essays in this book are often repetitive and non-progressional in subject matter. The softcover version of the book has stills that are more brown and white than black and white... For my money, I am a bigger fan of Hirsch's "The dark side of the screen". It is a well thought, well researched look at noir with a cohesive structure. This all is not to say that a majority of the essays in the Reader are not helpful. Of course it is great to read Schrader's piece and some others which deal with nice specifics (how economics affected growth of B genre, lighting, etc.) but at the end of the day I feel too many of the essays are only about defining the genre (or not genre) rather than delving into other things. Also, I probably will buy more books by these authors simply because their care for noir is so true and strong...

Film Noir Reader 2 is as interesting as its forerunner. Not every article is great, but there is a lot of interest here.

The book opens with film writings from the Forties that show that while Americans did not coin the term film noir, some writers did notice a trend developing.

There are interesting articles on Cornell Woolrich, Sam Fuller and noir and painting. The article on British Film Noir is quite fascinating.

At the end of the book is a piece by a professor who discusses how he teaches a course on film noir. So this book traces film noir from a barely discerned trend to an academic course of study. Neat.

This is a very good anthology of noir criticism. It contains three of the first assessments of noir in English, by Higham, Durgnat and Schrader right next to each other - boom, boom, boom - so one can see the criticism of noir developing before one's eyes.

The rest of the essays/arcticles are mostly very interesting. There is one on John Farrow, who is usually overlooked, so it is good to see his films grouped together and examined. The essay on Anthony Mann's noirs is quite strong, and Ursini's article on noir TV, shows such as "Peter Gunn" and "The Fugitive" is very interesting and makes one wish that there were more written on this part of TV history.

I think this would be an essential part of any noir fan's library.

This book offers the business person another way to approach success. While I think there is a much deeper value in fishing as it relates to life, this book is more on the surface. But like a lot of analogies where you try to bring together dissimilar things into one, there are many mental stretches when it comes to business. And some don't fly so well. This is a book more for bass fishermen than say flyfishermen which I believe is the purest essence of the sport. If you like this book, I'd also recommend "The Fisherman's Guide to Life" by Freeman Criswell.

I truly enjoyed Fishy Business! Authors James and Bill Ignazio have combined the best advice for fisherman with the best advice for managers to create a practical and totally entertaining paperback of wisdom. I especially enjoyed the narrative tone of the book, through which we meet Frank, a businessman who meets the mysterious Old Angler, the living folklore hero of the local fishing community. Through Old Angler, and other colorful characters, Frank reaches another level of business savvy, while easing the tension from his taut bones. Plenty of parallel advice here, too, like: A good fisherman knows when to change rods, and a good manager knows when to change course. There1s even a surprise ending! I highly recommend this book. A relaxing, entertaining and downright interesting read! --Karen Plunkett-Powell, author The Nancy Drew Scrapbook..Home Design From the Inside-Out, etc

Light hearted yet informative, Fishy Business offers a fresh approach to business analogies. I wish more of my colleagues would read this book. It is nice that somebody else realizes that the cut throat approach is not always the best, and there is still room for a laid back, cooperative approach in the business world. Buy this book!!!