When I read the title of the book, I was immediately interested in reading the rest of the book. The beginning of the book is sort of boring and has lots of details, but after you get into the story line you begin to feel for the characters, and you realize that they have gone through alot to get here. This book is based on the authors journey to america, and includes many of the hardships that he went through as well. I would recommend this book to any one who wants a feel good book to read on a rainy day, and if you like the first one there are two more books in the trilogy: "Peder Victorious" and "Our Fathers God." Have fun reading these exellent novels!!

I couldn't stop reading this amazing book once I had started. There is a intricate mixture of folklore, fantasy, and the cutting reality of life in the days of the pioneers. There was something almost haunting about the power that the untamed land held over the characters in the novel. Rolvaag writes his characters with a lucidity and truthfulness that is almost on a mythical level.

Very,very boring in the beggining but then turns out to be pretty good, actually great. I thought it was going to be a horrible book at first because we had to read it for literature class. But read it, it is good!

I am a dog lover, and purchased this book for my sister in law. When it arrived, I practically read it from cover to cover. I had no idea there were so many breeds of cats, almost all my experience with them has been with the good old "domestic short hair" variety. So, even a dog lover at heart LOVED this book, now I want my own copy!

Excellent in-depth study of cat breeds, with just the information I needed to choose the right breed for me.

I bought this book for my wife, but finished reading it before she did. This is an excellent guide to cat breeds as well as cat genetics. Don't be intimidated, everything in the book in very understandable.

Makes a great gift for cat lovers.

This is an amazingly thorough reference that should be on the bookshelf of every banker and MBA student. Barrons does a very thorough job.

I found it wanting in only one area. Some of the newer products like total return swaps and credit derivatives whiched surged in volume last year aren't covered.

I highly recommend: "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli if you need more on these important banking products.

Working in an IT company catering to bankers I bought this book to help understand their lingo. I have to say it hasn't disappointed yet. It is also very up to date the latest IT/banking terms. If you were to read all the definitions in this book you would probably know more than you banker. A great reference. Buy it!

This can almost be considered an inexpensive textbook. It not only defines, but explains the terms in a simple, easy to understand format. Although in dictionary form, it consistently relates the terms to one another so the reader will understand how the concepts interwind. Includes financial and banking terms.

Has really helped me learn how to help my three year old. I learned how to help her relax better AND she's already useing the grown-up toilet!

What a fantastic book - super, practical, do-able suggestions with both structure and flexibility. I have a 2-1/2 year old son and haven't really started yet (beyond having potties in the house and reading about going potty). He sort of wants no part of the potty thing yet - but the book gives great tips on starting a non-threatening routine. I'm sure I'll have success once I get consistent - thanks to this book.

I really like this book, we've only just started the toilet training process - I have an, at present, very keen 2 yr old boy - and this book provides a gradual, non threatening, (to either child or parent, I'm more apprehensive than my son who will happily spend hours on the toilet trying to force himself to pee!) caring approach based on the work of T. Berry Brazelton whose book Touchpoints was one of my favourites. I didn't like the idea of putting him directly into underpants, even part time, as proposed by Jan Faull in "Mommy I have to go Potty" and this book gave me an alternative which I feel is more appropriate to my son's age and stage of development.

Even though this book is not the newest guide to caring for chameleons in captivity, it's still the best. Filled with beautiful illistrations and lots of important, easy to read information, it's the chameleon owner's bible. Really, most of the pet care handbooks that Barron's publishes are great resources.

What you need to know about chameleons is in this book! I enjoyed reading it and learning everything about this little creature. From it's history and evolution, to it's anatomy and manerisms. What I really wanted was a book which explained how to care for the chameleon and I picked the right one.Francois LeBerre makes me feel comfortable caring for the chameleon. The size of the book is good for handling and storing. The print is large and clear, easy to read and the pictures are messmerizing. When I browsed through other books on the topic, they seemed like a joke compared to this informative publication! I recommend this to beginners (which I am) because you'll feel like an expert (LeBerre) when you're done. Enjoy!!!

The book gave me a lot of information and it had a lot of grate pictures. The book is easy to understand and they tell alot of info.

Cliffnotes added greater depth to my understanding of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS; it did so by providing background information not available in the book itself. I enjoyed reading quotes by Maya Angelou regarding her life, the genesis of the idea to write an autobiography, and the process of the writing. The Cliffnotes points out that autobiography has become an important aspect of African American cutlure.

We had to read this novel by Maya Angelou and I thought it was a very good example of the way you should write. She used imagery and descriptives to show you,the reader, how it really was in her life. I LOVED IT !!!

Maya Angelou's written language is alive, and that's refreshing. There is a specific life-view from the standpoint of a black girl growing up, and it is uplifting how she meets her difficulties with confidence. Her humor in many situations made me laugh out loud. Yes, she is a gripping author, and the tidbits of wisdom shine through like rays of sunlight...

I used this book for my own preparation as well as a base text to teach a 6-week course to 8 homeschool students. Though the book is not organized as a course, it was followed as an outline. We used the first of five sample tests as a baseline pre-test in the first class session. The highest scoring student on this 'pre-test' would have had a composite scaled score of 400. After the course the third test was used as a final exam. The highest scoring student's scaled composite score on the final was 500 and my own went up to 700. You do learn so much more when you have to teach it.

The text is generous in that 5 full practice exams are provided and the grammar overview has many examples of good and bad grammar illustrations.

I also like the fact that several sample student essays are provided so that you can get an accurate 'feel' for the writing quality expected at the various score ranges.

There are flaws to the text that did prove frustrating. It does not have an index. This made locating information difficult at times. I particularly found it frustrating locating the chart to convert the raw score to the scaled score as it isn't even referenced in the table of contents but is imbedded in a FAQ section in the middle of the book. If you have purchased this book and taken one of the tests that scaled score is important to you. It should have been prominetly placed within the text precisely at the location where you would 'have the raw score in hand'.

As I stated earlier this was used as an outline for the course. I had to do considerable expanding of the topics with internet research to get a good feel for the grammar that was covered. Topics are handled with a more conversational tone though plenty of examples of good and bad grammar are provided. If you are expecting a programmed course with formatted lessons you will be disappointed. However, if you have a pretty good grasp of grammar already and primarily need only an orientation to the test design itself this text is quite useful.

The text did do a good job of helping me to realize the test-maker tricks which are designed to trip up the mediocre students. This knowledge accounted for a significant part of the score improvement. A general grammar handbook would never have developed this understanding.

Improvements to the text would have included:
index
grammar review with a little more depth and 'course-styled' structure

im an international student as well, and although i didnt get 780 with one weeks practice, i did manage a good score (720). this book taught me everything i needed to know for the test, and i really recommend it. it even has 5 practice tests.

I am extremely pleased with this book. Not only does it go from topic-to-topic explaining all the details, it also gives extensive practice in those particular areas. The organization is excellent, allowing you to go to any specific section that you need help on. The tests themselves are good, although not as scientific as the ones on the real SAT II Writing. Altogether, I am a very satisfied customer.

Like Rand, Bernstein is a philosopher and novelist. His extensive study of Rand's thought is evident in this masterful recapitulation of Rand's great novel. He understands Rand's ideas and characters, leading to a sympathetic treatment. However, he avoids being an overbearing propagandist. For those of us who were riveted by the action the first time we read Atlas, this will serve as a discussion with a 'friend' as we recall the events and characters. Enjoy.

I've pushed my way through many years of school without buying a single Cliffsnotes. I found it funny that my first purchase would be for a book I choose to read on my own accord. Rand's novel can't be praised enough, but I also have to give the Cliffnotes for the novel their fair due. This little book was a great help in gaining a better understanding of this massive novel. I really enjoyed the in depth character analysis, the tight summary of the book, and the critical essays offered at the end. If I were to write a paper on the book, I would definitely gain from having these notes. More importantly, by reading the book chapter by chapter, then going to the Cliffnotes and reading along to cover what I had just read, I was able to get through a work that covers a TREMENDOUS amount of ground, with a huge scope, and not get lost. After gaining as much as I did from using the Cliffnotes as a study tool while reading this novel, I made sure to pick up the Cliffnotes for "Fountainhead" so I could do the same for that book. I will definitely give consideration to purchasing Cliffnotes for my longer, more challenging future reads.

If the value of CliffsNotes was only to help readers discover with clarity what a particular author meant to convey in their novels, this book on _Atlas Shrugged_ would be trash. The reason is that Ayn Rand, more than any other author, wrote perfectly lucid novels about which no clarification is needed.

However, these books (of which I've only read a few) do offer another value that makes this one especially, not trash, but a book to be treasured. What they offer is this: the CliffsNotes books condense often-lengthy, important works of art so that they can be grasped--and remembered--with ease. And, as _Atlas Shrugged_ comprises some thousand plus pages with enough action and subplots to rival any novel by Hugo or Dumas, this value can perhaps never be more evident than with this new addition to the CliffsNotes series by Andrew Bernstein.

Cognizant of the task at hand, Dr. Bernstein condenses the entire book in a solid nine pages. From there, he lays down who the characters in the book are--as well as their relation to one another. And, after that, the reader is given a host of "critical commentaries" on each of the books thirty chapters which summarize what happened, pose questions to the reader that will be answered later, and reveal a number of instances where Miss Rand's overall theme can be seen.

Any person who is reading _Atlas_ for the first or second time ought to find these commentaries very helpful in understanding and appreciating the book. Unfortunately, as someone who has read the novel many times, I had to read many of the author's observations with a bitter-sweet sense of joy. ("Bitter" because I wish such a book was around when I first started reading Rand's novels and "sweet" because one finally is.)

Complete, undiluted happiness did not have to wait long however. Immediately after the "critical commentaries" is a section on the most important characters giving a detailed analysis of each. Then, at the end of the book, are two magnificent essays--one on the overall theme of _Atlas Shrugged_ and another on Miss Rand's portrayal of the common man which tells why the book's main "common man" (Eddie Willers) has an unresolved fate at the end. These two essays were a nice finishing touch for the book, making even a self-titled "veteran" reader like myself glad to have read it.

Taken all together, from the brief biography of Miss Rand at the beginning to the quizzes and projects to stimulate learning at the end, this book proves that Dr. Bernstein was the right man to pick for the job. And so, my gratitude goes out to the author and this last word of advice goes out to you, the person reading the words I've written here: "get this book whether you are reading _Atlas_ for the first time or not--as a supplement to Miss Rand's magnum opus there's nothing better on the market."

I read this book twice while the Soviet Union still stood. The book is brilliently written. You get a view of life inside the former Soviet Union, inside their millitary and civillian life, and you see through the eyes of a refugee when he first experiences America. The story helps you to appreciate what you have here. Lt. Belenko is a very courageous man.

This book paints an insightful picture of Soviet life and politics during the Cold War, and Belenko's story within that Soviet context is very interesting. The book is great.

I was so blown away by this book I had to meet Viktor in person and now count him as a personal friend. The book is factual in every respect and is difficult to put down once started. John Barron is an excellent author and did a first class job of writing Viktor's story. In addition to an exciting escape story it reveals why the Soviet Union had to collapse of its own ineptitude, deceit, and corruption. It details humorous incidents such as army pilots' mess-hall riots due to bad food. Mig Pilot is also a biography of an exceptional man whose intelligence saw through a lifetime of brainwashing. The story is humorous in places and engrossing from beginning to end. It starts right out with Viktor's desperate and harrowing escape flight to freedom in his top-secret Mig-25 Foxbat, then in subsequent chapters details the life events that led to his courageous decision to "go for broke" and make his live-or-die dash to freedom. It illustrates how America probably could have given the Soviets all of its top secrets and they would have found a way to screw up making use of them.Viktor is not only a first class pilot, he is also a true hero. Don't lend this book to anyone and expect to get it back.

Great book - comprehensive guide for whippet owners. Useful information for those primarily interested as a pet owner rather than those looking for specialised advice on breeding, showing etc. Highly recommended. Should be mandatory reading for all prospective/new whippet owners. The information is detailed yet highly readable. The writing is of an excellent standard making it a pleasure to read.

This is a nice basic book, good for a beginner with the breed. The information is presented clearly without talking down to the reader.

I bought this book after adopting our whippet pup. It is a good overview of the basics for this breed. It is focused on health and happiness of your pet and basic care, entertainment, raising, training, and health/first aid of your pup. It's a good book to have for reference for those of us who "just like the breed" (probably not specific enough for breeders/showers).