Book-value

This is the third Mario Balzic mystery I've read, and I just don't see what the fuss is about. Reading the dialog in one of K.C. Constantine's books is like wading through thick mud...constant effort until it becomes tiresome in the extreme. Family Values has a 7-page-long fight between Mario and his wife, Ruth...replete with wannas, wouldas and 'causes...well, let me put it in K.C.'s/Mario's lingo: Geez, I shoulda thrown the book out!

It has been two years since Mario Balzic retired as police chief of the Rocksberg, Pennsylvania police department and has literally driven everyone to drink. His spouse cannot wait for him to leave the home. His friends hope that he will not come by to visit them. Even the local bartender does not really want his business because he is tired of Mario biting his ear off. However, all that changes when the District Attorney asks Mario to come out of retirement to investigate a special case. Seventeen years ago, a drug deal went bad and two pushers were killed. The man convicted of the crime, Lester Walin, insists that he is innocent and has proof to back his claim. It seems he has a photograph of him being in bed with his step-mother during the time the crime allegedly occurred. Walin clearly places his conviction at the hands of his father, a stroke victim former police officer. Other prisoners make the same loud claim. As Balzic investigates he realizes that there may be some truth to what Lester and others are claiming. One of the basic laws of the universe is that any Mario Balzic tale is worth reading. The latest one, FAMILY VALUES, continues in that time honored tradition of being a great novel. In his baker dozenth Balzic tale, K.C. Constantine demonstrates that he is constantly one of the best writers today, showing insights into his characters that make his novels appeal to psychodrama lovers and mystery fans. Harriet Klausner

Ms. Jargstorf's 3rd book on bead research is her most ambitious, and most provocative. She is on the most solid ground when discussing the beads of Germany and Central Europe. Her discussion of ancient beads is problematical, as very few of these are pictured to relate to the text. She offers a great many ideas and theories, but presents very little substantiation. Some of her ideas are just silly, or misinterpretations of history. The photographs are variable in quality and reproduction, are not numbered, and often do not enhance the text. The "Value Guide" is given in British Pounds Sterling, and is therefore not very useful. The most interesting beads are merely said to be "rare"--and no value given. As such, this section is almost pointless. I recommend this book, but only if the reader remembers that it has serious flaws, and is spurred to do some cross-referencing to other sources of information.

I really devoured this book. The photographs show all the important types of older European beads beautifully, and the text was well researched and written.

I was pleasantly surprised by maps explaining the whereabouts of the beadmakers, having lived in Germany.

This book was written from a highly refined and educated passion.

The descriptions and price estimates were helpful. The complete lack of color photos, except for the cover, was an extreme disapointment. The photos ranged from average to poor quality and were of limited value in indentifying artifacts. I feel the book description should have clearly noted the lack of color photos.

One week ago I went to do some house hunting and found something I wasn't looking for. While going through the house I came upon a large collection of Indian Artifacts. I knew almost nothing about them but susspected they were highly valuable. The next day an estate auction was held and I purchased the collection. Upon searching the internet for some information it became obvious what the best source was for identification of my midwest collection, Lar Hothem's book "Indian Artifacts of the Midwest." I purchased the book and was able to quickly identify many of the pieces that I knew nothing about. The book was written so a "layman" like myself could easily understand and identify many of the the basic artifacts. The quality photographs added to the pleasure of my learning. I was very pleased to realize the age, almost 10,000 years, and value of my collection. Thanks to such a thorough and readable source I now find myself hooked on the collecting and identifying of very interesting artfacts left in my area so long ago.

Pictorials book on 100 great cars from the grandiose Ferraris, Roll-Royces etc to the simple and ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetle and Austin Mini. Nothing much of interests, too much on specification were emphasized; leaving behind the history and "juicy" parts of describing a car namely the price. Most cars were of the older classical era bringing back nostalgic brand-names like Talbot, Sunbeam, Hispano Suiza and Bugati. Many of this car manufactures have long closed down, the era of mass production has replaced the classical coach building and precision building. Nevertheless such cars epitomized the grandeur of a past , a long forgotten era where cars were a luxury and not a means of transport. 100 Great Cars dealt mainly on supercars namely expensive luxury and sport cars. The ordinary run-the-mill car was left out, only a few made into the list like Volkswagen Beetle, Austin Mini and Ford Model T. What happen to the best selling cars like Volksvagen Golf and Toyota Corolla. Aren't these super-selling cars great too? Don't they deserved a place in this book too? The emphasized was on American and European cars leaving out a great deal of cars from the east namely Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. It is a pity great names like the popular Toyota Corolla did not make it to this list. In conclusion, this book is perhaps reserved for "real" car enthusiasts and not lay people like me. Nevertheless credits must be given for superb details and excellent pictures.

Beutifuly detailed 3 page pullouts and cutaway drawings, This is not a book of car history or Bestselling "RiceBurners" this book Delivers what is promises. 100 Great Car Cutaway Drawings.

The 11" x14" Coloring and Activity book has sharp attractive pictures that boys and girls both will enjoy coloring. Some activities can be done by my pre-kindergarten granddaughter but some are for an older child. The Jumbo book has many of the same pages but a lot more. The story book has large colorful pictures with words on opposite page. The 8 crayon pack adds to the set and completes this great take along travel pack.

While the coloring books are not 'Disney's Pocahontas' I thought this set of coloring books was a good value, several books for a low price-great to have on hand for when the kids get bored. My kids loved it.

This book is not an extensive encyclopedia. It provides an introduction and overview to the Red Wing art pottery lines from the 20s - 60s. It covers a number of different patterns and types, but is not as complete as it could be.

I would have preferred to see many more photos of backstamps (marks), as Red Wing used many. It would have been good to have those, along with associated dates, in order to help date various pieces. As well, more photos of everything would have been nice. All in all, this is a start, but not the be-all-and-end-all a serious collector needs.

This book is a definite improvement over the last edition Dollen put out on Red Wing, but I still find it somewhat incomplete. For example, I would have liked more examples of the various patterns of mixing bowls, as they differ greatly.

That being said, there are improvements that were made which make this a better book than the last. I like the fact that more backstamps (marks) are shown, and I appreciate the more extensive treatment of dinnerware. All in all, a worthwhile book, if a little high priced.

Nick Snider's book has been credited with bringing hundreds of new collectors to the field of sweetheart jewelry. As an avid homefront jewelry collector, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I was disappointed to find page after page of photographs with hardly any description or even identification! World War I jewelry was mixed together in the same photo with jewelry from World War II. Pins from American war relief organizations were listed under "foreign". Short essays at the beginning of each chapter were informative, but hard to relate to the pieces displayed with them. In my judgement, homefront and sweetheart jewelry collectors will still be looking for that "definitive guide" to our avocation.

I am a WWII British sweetheart collector. This book is known as "The Black Book". He also wrote another, which I reccomend, called "Antique Sweetheart Jewelry" (the red book). Both are good additions to any sweetheart collectors library. Now to the book. It has great photos. They are probably the books most valuable asset. You will be able to find things more by the photos than the descriptions or the sections. The problems with this book are numerous. At least one color plate is mirrored. Several pins were photographed upside down. The prices are not even close to accurate. If they were I would be a millionare. (but this is a commomn problemn with any antique price guide book, if you want to find out the current price of things, go to eBay or a militaria fair) He also has many, many pins in the wrong category. British war relief are misidentified and put in with international sweethearts. Some WWI are in mixed in with WWII. The book, while an excellent tool, is far from perfect and should not be taken as the difinitive voice in sweetheart collecting. I would love to see Mr. Snider do another book and focus *only* on sweetheart jewelry. Leave out the ephemera, compacts, hankies and all the other bits and bobs he tries to jam in this book. This is a complicated type of jewelry to collect. Anyone with the brains and money enough to put a new book on the market, that is accurate will have the collectors standing in line for it. If you are considering it, buy it. You will benefit from the good parts of it and just take the rest with a grain of salt.

Basic information. Some helpful - some copies of the user manual. Good help on scenarios. No help on playing multi-player.

The book came with the Battle chest version of the game. Depending on your purpose for reading this book it might not meet your needs. 1) It provides basic - from the manual information about the different units. Some useful information is telling you which units destroy which other units. 2) It tells you how to win each of the missions in the game. If you want to know before playing the mission how to beat it, why play? They also point this out in the book. Play the mission, then if you get stuck consult the book. Well, that's all there is to the book. I agree with one of the other reviews, which said if they wanted to write a good book, they should have evolved strategies of attack and defense such as "Build 12 marines, 12 Goliaths, 12 vultures, place each of the twelve types onto a number key. Now when you need a certain "type" of defense press the number key and tell it to attack the offending unit." Another good one is to keep building units while your base is under attack (obvious, but there are many kids playing this game with no war strategy experience). Strategy is necessary for these 12 yr olds to win these games.

Finally, this is only a newbie book. Not for seasoned players of war games.

It is very helpful. especialy the cheats :D

This book has very beautiful drawings and the fish scales shimmer creating a nice effect. But that is where the positives end. The message of this book would be nice if it was truly about sharing but it is not. The fish has to give up his scales to have friends- If he does not he will not have friends.

It makes me think of a bully (little fish) saying to a child (rainbow fish)- 'I will not be your friend unless you give me your lunch money'. And this book takes the side of the bully.

Here is a quote:
"Give a glittering scale to each of the other fish. You will no longer be the most beautiful fish in the sea but you will discover how to be happy" (---so one cannot be happy unless they sacrifice what is important to them?!?).

Also the little fish says to rainbow fish that he just 'wants one little scale' implying that that is the only way to win his friendship.

This story would be great if Rainbow fish decided to share his scales WITHOUT the pressure that it is the ONLY way to win friendships. What would have made a good book would be for rainbow fish to be kind & helpful to win over friendships and not get friends simply by 'buying' them over with his scales.

My 2 year old pulled this book off of the shelf so I bought it without reading it first. I knew it was critically aclaimed. Big mistake. This book is the worst children's book I have ever read.
It is not about sharing. It is about giving everything away that is yours, and then people will like you. Seems very communistic to me. My 4 year old also wanted me to read it to him. After I did, we had a big discussion about how you should not have to give all of your things away to have friends, and those are not the type of people you want to be your friend anyway. A sharing book should be about letting others use your toys, or other things. Not giving something very precious to you away. This book is absolutely aweful!

This is such a wonderful book! Of course for a child usually the pictures are the first to impress. THE RAINBOW FISH will far exceed any child's expectations! (Who doesn't love rainbow-colors with foil that sparkles even in dim light!) Also the watercolor illustrations are delightful. The complete package of the pictures PLUS the story is what makes this book exceptional. The story is simple yet holds much wisdom.

THE RAINBOW FISH is the most beautiful fish in the sea. All the other fish are amazed at his outward beauty, however; judging from the way he responded to a simple request to share, THE RAINBOW FISH shows his "true colors" (vanity and selfishness.) Of course the news spreads throughout the sea and soon no one will have anything to do with THE RAINBOW FISH. Sad and lonely, he goes for advice from the Wise Octopus. She basically says "SHARING WITH OTHERS BRINGS TRUE HAPPINESS."

THE RAINBOW FISH reluctantly takes her advice; and discovers she was right. The more he shares the happier he becomes. He realizes that life is not about "getting" (being selfish) but "giving" (being generous.) And giving of yourself is the greatest gift of all! (This is not about money.) Sharing is a valuable lesson for children to learn and the sooner the better.

I highly recommend this book! Five stars doesn't do it justice... it gets that from the illustrations alone. If you don't already own it; get it! You will not be disappointed.

This book would be excellent... if it weren't for one mysterious member of the pair, Edwards or Penney who can't teach for his life and/or is lazy. I would've guessed two authors wrote this text even if they only claimed it had one author and called him edward penney... You see, every couple of sections or so there are a lot of typos and poor overly wordy "proofs" , stupid joke proofs that are almost like winking and smiling between one professor and another while the student sits there dumbfounded. One proof in particular goes: "Theorem 2 says yes!" Oh yeah? Unfortunately I am not as comfortable with math as you with your doctorate degree sir I don't just "see" the truth of a claim as you probably do -or maybe you are just bluffing. You see, I also take the types of proofs this guy does to be as though they were designed to make him look more intelligent to other professors who may be teaching out of the book. Mr. Edwards or Penney you know who this guy is! Ditch him as a fellow author for your next edition! As far as the other mysterious author, his explanations and proofs are patient and lucid and involve a good bit less words (words are nonsense! The whole point of math is to learn how to think with fewer stupid words so you can understand more fundamental and abstract ideas which cannot be expressed in words!) As a piece of advice, I would like this text to be a bit less concrete in its explanations of mathematical generalities. It weighs them down and confuses people who have an intuition for their logical consequences, it almost makes them feel constrained and stupid and it is irritating to learn about a general fact through the use of a stupid example and then have the generality taken for granted thereafter without proof!

I think the strength of this textbook is the amount of material it encompasses: this book is used in two separate courses in my school--introduction to DE and engineering analysis. I didn't appreciate the textbook so much until I completed my differential equations course and then looked back at the sections on mechanical vibrations to review for my physics course. I then realized that the explanations and derivations were extremely satisfying, much more than your average introductory physics text. Also, the emphasis on the qualitative aspects of DEs, such as slope fields and phase portraits, aid in the coneptual understanding of the otherwise rigorous computation aspects of the topic. My only complaint is that the proofs could've been done in a more understandable manner.

I am currently using this text for an intro level differential equations course, and I feel that this book is well suited as such. It should be easily acessible to anyone with a basic intro calculus foundation and it is ideal for self-study. On the other hand, this text does contain a noticible number of typos, both in "back-of-the-book" answers and example problems. A potential reader should note that this book is fairly applied in its nature (as the title would indicate--engineers take delight, theoreticians take dismay), so one shouldn't expect more than an introduction to the theory of differential equations (ie. don't expect much proof or mathematical rigour).