This is an excellence straight forward listing of vocabulary words in English and Spanish to be used in everyday life. It is well rounded. With subjects such as boardgames and yardwork to the parts of a Newspaper. Not a travel vocabulary book or a focus on one subject such as business or medical terms, although it includes these subjects. It goes beyond the basic general vocabulary. An example is - there are 9 types of pens listed: ballpoint, felt-tip, fountain pen, fine point, etc. The 325 pages are mostly all word for word English to Spanish. A few are phases rather than just single words. Such as "I know it's a bit annoying for you when I try to speak Spanish, but I won't get any better unless I try". This is a very practical tool for working toward fluency. The terms are listed in English and then in Spanish but could easily be used by Spanish Speakers to learn English vocabulary as well. If you buy this book, get ready to memorize.

I purchased this book to occupy my time on a flight to Denver. I was pleasantly suprised having never heard of Mick Harrison. He is light hearted yet delivers an important message, that which makes one a true "Banana Thinker". It's message is succinct and points out the need to view things from a different angle that can help us succeed in different aspects of our lives. (Why do we open the banana from the stem side always?? The monkeys open it the opposite way, and hey, who knows more about bananas then the monkeys!!) I think you will be pleasantly suprised with this book.

This book is full of esential exercises that are easy to remember and practice, and they are helpful on claryfing the language of bop. It's been useful to me, and I recommend it for bass instruments players of all levels.

You would think that Benjamin Harrison would be a little more in vogue right now than he is at the present time, given the current occupant of the White House. Like George W. Bush and John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Harrison was the descendant of a President (albeit grandson instead of son) and like the other two was elected to the Presidency despite losing the popular vote. Both Adams and Harrison lost rematches with their opponents, Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland respectively, and it will certainly be interesting to see what happens with a Bush-Gore rematch, if such a thing actually comes to pass. In this excellent juvenile biography by Sandra Francis, young readers will clearly get a sense for how the Harrison family also had a distinguished record of public service, just like the more famous Adams and Bush families. After all, not only was Benjamin Harrison's grandfather William Henry Harrison President (the first to die in office), he was named after his grandfather, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His father, John, was only a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Francis divides this Our Presidents volume into four chapters. The first details the political histor of the Harrison family, the second Benjamin Harrison's service with the Union army during the Civil War, and the third how his career in the U.S. Senate made him a prime candidate for the Presidency. Surprisingly, Francis reduces the turmoil of the 1888 campaign to the briefest of descriptions, and deals with his term in office as "The Centennial President." The few things of significance that happened during those years, most notably passage of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, are dealt with along with Harrison's final years after leaving office. The book is illustrated with dozens of historic black & white photographs, including one of outgoing President Grover Cleveland holding an umbrella over Harrison while he took the oath of office. One of the treats of these books are the interesting facts that are scattered throughout the margins, informing us about how Harrison was the second shortest president at five-feet-six and how Mrs. Harrison led the efforts to refurbish the White House. In fact, electricity was installed in the White House during the Harrison administration, but the President refuesed to touch the switch, afraid that he might be shocked. You have to appreciate these sort of details, which is why the Our Presidents series is the first place young readers (or teachers) should go to for information about anyone of our nation's Presidents.

Randall Harrison is well known in psychological field. He used to work in the Communication Department at Michigan State University, USA. Generally, 'Beyond Words...' seemed to appear informative, accessibly written and enjoyable on both occasions. In order to provide a sufficient evaluation of the above mentioned work, a concise summary of the book as well as the author's approach to issues and theories discussed and critical evaluation of the strengths and limitations of the book are the essential aspects which must be taken under consideration. In the book, the author explores the multifaceted field of nonverbal communication. The book is designed to provide useful materials about nonverbal communication which then would enable the reader to benefit from this knowledge and apply it in his every day life in order to achieve and maintain successful communication with others. The aims of the book are clearly outlined in 'To the Reader' section which mainly informs about what issues are going to be explained in further reading. The above mentioned section can be found at the very beginning of the book. The author divided his work into four main parts: I- Introduction, II- Systems, III- Codes and IV- Conclusion. At the end, Harrison also included appendices in which he enclosed subject-related materials such as tests, exercises, tables and glossaries. The author begins the 'journey to the pinnacle of the nonverbal domain', as he calls it in conclusion, with an interesting, eye-catching interactive exercise. The goal of this exercise is predominantly to gain the attention of the reader as well as to 'increase the reader's sensitivity to nonverbal cues'. The second part of the book provides useful information on the communication systems and code systems. The author believes that humans interact in specific communication systems and that these systems play an essential role in communication processes. Among these systems, there exist both simple and complicated code systems. The messages which are sent in order to communicate, tend to be encoded. The receiver of the message must, however, exist in the same environment or community in which the code operates. The third part of the book presents more practical aspects of nonverbal communication. Here, the author focuses on the various types of nonverbal codes used in everyday communication process, such as human sounds, facial expressions and eye behaviour, hand and body movements. There is also information on the artifactual codes and messages of space and time as well as on the messages of media. Interesting and outstanding ideas and viewpoints presented by the author are the essence of this book. Harrison's theoretical assumption on communication systems appears to be the most interesting and, apparently, clearly noticeable and true. The author claims that most of the times, if not always, the nonverbal cues exchanged by communicators strongly depend on the kind of relationship existing between these people. Harrison also mentions that the classic models of communication neither do place communication within a system context, nor they point to two important dimensions of communication, that is how people relate and how they encode messages about events in their environment. This theoretical assumption is undeniable and must not be missed in a thorough communication processes analysis. In addition, the author states that during the normal communication process, the people involved simultaneously or in quick succession tend to use a certain code, known only to themselves and possibly also to other people who exist in the same community or environment. Obviously, this theory applies only to the communicators bonded in a deep relationships, therefore the message encoded as well as the code itself depend strictly on how people relate to one another. One of the greatest strengths of the book is its design. At the beginning of each section of the four mentioned parts, the author applied so-called 'thought starters'. This method presents a good way of introducing a new chapter and provides an effective 'kick off' for a new thought or theory. 'Thought starters' may also encourage the reader simply to 'start thinking' and by doing so, to prepare the reader's mind for acquiring the ideas presented further on. Nonverbal communication is not one of those easy to manage and to understand subjects. However, it seems that Randall Harrison took this fact under consideration and found a fairly effective solution to the problem. In this book, he provides his audience with some good introduction to the subject by using aids such as pictures, cartoons, diagrams and examples of real life situations. For instance, in order to introduce the reader to the relationship theory discussed above, the author presents an example of a communication attempt made by two roommates, Al and Bill. Both of them know each other very well and have obviously interacted many times before. As roommates, they have an ongoing communication system and they are reactivating it in a few examples. By using Al and Bill example, the author makes the difficulties in understanding the issues of nonverbal communication more approachable. The diagrams used in the book are a great help. They appear to be quite simple yet they reflect extremely complicated issues. The diagrams work as an addition to the main text, which explores issues in more 'formal' approach. When the text is supported by the above discussed diagrams, the whole design provides a greater understanding of the introduced ideas. The book presents an understandable yet professional approach and style of writing. The language applied becomes technical in some terms or phrases, however, the author seems to make even strictly technical material interesting and fairly comprehensible, especially to the first year communication students. In conclusion, in order to be able to understand the author's theories, the reader does not have to be well-orientated in nonverbal communication field or present any professional approach to the issues discussed in the book. Also, the use of this particular type of language encourages and invites the reader to the full exploration of presented theories about the nonverbal communication. Having said that, the book seems fairly relevant to the study of communication. Nonverbal communication is one of the issues studied in Approaches to Communication subject. Therefore, 'Beyond Words...' would be a truly useful and efficient piece of work for every communication student to read and analyse. However, this book is not aimed only at students. Nonverbal communication concerns everyone on this planet since all human beings participate in it. It is important to be aware of nonverbal cues and communication systems that exist around every one of us and to be sensitive to them. It is crucial to know what gestures are acceptable in certain parts of the world and which of them do not quite stand for what we, the people of Western culture would expect them to. (...)

Just so people don't get confused, I thought it might be a good idea to mention here that this is exactly the same book as Bill the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars, or if it isn't it's virtually the same. On the whole the book is good, although I must say it isn't as good as some of the others in the series. It has its amusing moments, but it is a bit on the bizarre side, no denying. If you enjoyed the previous outings of Bill then you ought to read this one for continuity sake if nothing else. I know this isn't a stellar review, but it's still a good book and worth the time it takes to read.

I'm glad I found this book !!! Unlike many other books of similar titles, this is one that I can really understand. Not too heavy dosage of biological terms. Provides good linkage between the biological science and engineering applications. Good for students who had chemical engineering backgrounds and wanted to venture into bioseparaions. The addional chapter on plant design and economics is also very beneficial.

Did you know that women were the first popular blues singers? Black Pearls explores the pioneering women who in the 20's changed the record instustry and music as we know it. Having read a few blues books by now, I found that portions in the introductory sections lacked the sort of awe-inspiring insight that makes for an excellent blues book. And my attention span had me skipping half-way through the chapter on lyrical analysis. Howvever, once I got to the sections that focus on the individual performers, this book excelled. There are many who seem hellbent on denying these particular women a hallowed place in the history of popular music (read Alan Lomax's brief dismissal of the classic blues era in his "The Land Where the Blues Began"), but Harrison's prodigious biographical and musical insights really open the door to a greater appreciation of the women she features. As a companion, I might suggest the cd "Classic Blues Women" by Rhino Records.

Craig Harrison's first novel is an excellent example of his work. The novel reads the future as New Zealand struggles to come to terms with the Treaty of Waitangi. But Craig adds in the impact of a fascist and racist government, an interferring superpower and a scandel to create a flashpoint in the "peaceful" country. Following the introduction of Apartheid Maori terrorists steal the Treaty and attempt to fight to reclaim Aotereroa (New Zealand). Craig builds the suspense well. Close in tone and content to Sleeping Dogs (CK Stead)

Harrison's prose style is minimalist: the force of a few words.

Faust sold his soul for eternal Knowledge: Harrison's characters sell their souls for a wink from an assistant producer. In "Pretty Girl and Fat Friend," when pickup "auteur" Jerry is beaten to a pulp by two women, he's ashamed enough to tell the cops it was two guys but not ashamed enough to not tap out the same tired messages to a flight attendant as soon as he can walk again.

In the title story, a hunky security guard is so mesmerized by the hazy veil of fame that he'll continue working for the boss who shot him in a desperate publicity stunt. In "The Rocky Hills of Trancas," an ambitious son gradually usurps his wayward father's talent.

Harrison's old standards are here too: "Roller Ball Murder," "The Arsons of Desire," & the great interior monologue, "The Warrior," in which a restless soldier of fortune takes revenge on an outdoor film festival.

Of course, it helps that the reader is familiar with the media-driven world his characters inhabit, but when Harrison starts teasing you with the horrors of our pop culture, then the girders of our emotional structure, like those of the weather tower, become brittle & snap.