Elephants Books

I can see the other reviewer's point, no doubt. The parental role models exemplified in the Cats' Pajamas are staid and stereotypical. However, my little daughter and I delight in the language and illustrations - the mother cat in question is apparently a single mom (as all cat mothers are, right?) and very concerned with keeping vogue in the above-referenced pajamas. Keep in mind this is NOT a politically correct book demonstrating modern methods of upbringing, but we love it for what it is - a visual feast and a cautionary tail (sic).

I wrote a review for this book a month ago, but it never was posted. I don't have the energy to recreate the previous brilliancy, but the general flavor was that I couldn't believe how bad this book is. Some older books hold up nicely over time, this is not one of them...

If you want superficial parental role models, this is your book, otherwise keep looking.

What I can't understand is not the revered tedium of Raymond Carver, but how Robert Altman managed to use this sterile material to create one of the great, rich tragicomic masterpieces of the last twenty years. The closing story here, about the death of Chekhov, is an attempt to extend his range, but the flat biographical style, the phoney insertions of 'meaningful' details and 'significant' events, the clumsy gropings for understated emotion, are quite intolerable.

If you haven't read Raymond Carver before, this is probably the wrong book with which you should start. His stories "Cathedral", "Nobody Said Anything", and "Where I'm Calling From" (to name just a few of my favorites) represent his best work; the stories contained in "Elephant" do not. Although "Intimacy" and "Blackbird Pie" are two very strong stories in "Elephant", I would reach back further if you truly want to enjoy Carver at his best. This book is really only worth the money if you are a Carver completist looking to own everything he put into print.

This book made some good points and the premise was good in theory, but the metaphor was forced. A multitude of self-leadership, and management principles can be illustrated through how a circus works, but "Juggling Elephants" does not accomplish this. The principles are crystal clear, so much so that its easily possible to identify theories and tenets by name. However, in their zeal to make the ideas clear and memorable, the authors seem to oversimplify and insult the intelligence of readers. Also, the circus inaccuracies drove me crazy. Basically, they didn't use circus to demonstrate management, they changed or even made up things that conveniently fit with their simplistic narrative. I would not recommend this book to anyone over the age of 10. The principles are valid, but if you're looking for straight forward, no-nonsense guidance or an interesting and engaging story, you'd be better off reading another management book, or a non-fiction circus narrative. Avoid "Juggling Elephants" because it is a poor source for either of these.

I received this book as a gift and hoped it would be a fun read. I have a background in leadership and management theory and a fair amount of hands on and scholarly knowledge related to circus arts and history. So... as a gift this book was a logical choice, but my high expectations were not met. I am not someone who usually feels compelled to share, but my disappointment is significant enough for me take the effort to write this review.

It is true that the style and metaphors of this book may be basic for a lot of people, especially if you have been in a leadership position for a while. I have found it useful to help educate new leaders on the importance of establishing a work/life balance early on in their new endeavours before they burn themselves out. I've seen many of them devote far too many hours to the first few weeks on the job, only to fail because they aren't given enough tools to be successful. Given the lack of management talent in many industries, there's a never ending search for anything to assist those who have never led before. This book gives a clear cut and simple way to determine what should and should not be on your radar and plate to increase one's productivity--both personally and professionally.

The HR world does a very good job of talking about the importance of having a work/life balance, however there's not much to start people off in the right direction. New leaders need all the guidance and assistance they can get, and this book helps them sharpen their focus, decide their priorities, and engage their teams. There's not a leader out there that cannot benefit from the sage advice offered in the book to "constantly offer positive reinforcement for good behavior" as it's one of the top reasons people leave their jobs. Getting knowledge and skills on how to improve that recognition is almost worth reading the book alone.

What a mess. The illustrations by this Hank Hinton guy looks like something done by a first year art student.

It's a shame too because Tolkien's work always seems more enjoyable with a good rawing or too.

It appears the book is out of print. One look at the illustrations and I can see why.

My philosophy in children's books has always been to challenge the listeners, no matter how tiny. No board book that contains delightful poetry is too sophisticated for tikes, and this one is no exception.

Nothing difficult in these lines:

"Grey as a mouse

Big as a house

Nose like a snake

I make the earth shake,"

As much comes across in the tone of the reader as in the words.
You can convey a lot by assuming a grandiose rumbling voice to read

"Biggest of all,

Huge, old and tall.

If you'd ever met me,

You wouldn't forget me."

Frank Hinton's cute watercolor illustrations show a lot that kids might not get just from the words. It's a shame this keeper is out of print. Alyssa A. Lappen

It's a rather hum drum story based around trying to teach shapes and colors to kids. Neither original in story or in illustration. Plus some of the shapes or colors are either ambiguous or mislabeled.

This is an ok book. It is more for learning about elephants then Cynthia but you would enjoy it. I would recemined it to student in 4-7 grade.

...and I don't mean that as flattery. How about a little sophisticated bias, Scarecrow?? Taylor works hard to APPEAR objective, but even a lazy reading of this book will reveal his true stripes. He tosses around half-baked conjecture and omits major aspects of recent party dynamics to boldy "prove" that the Republicans maybe, just might, possibly, could potentially be on the rise! It takes 300 pages to state the obvious?? What's most disturbing, however, is that nowhere in his treatment can be found any possibility that the Republican rise might have anything at all do with being right, on major issues. It's all happening simply because of either demographic dynamics, or Democratic ineffectiveness, or Americans just being "spun" so well. Well, this Independent will suggest to Mr. Taylor that it might also have something to do with Republicans being extraordinarily more in tune with average Americans' wishes and beliefs than the Democratic Party is. He would never in a million years state it so boldly....and that's one reason why this is an "only if you have nothing else to read" selection.

Bought this for my four year old son. We love the silly books. While the title suggests it will be funny, it's not the best for a four year old. Maybe if he were able to read it on his own it would have been better.It includes some new but many old riddles like, "What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence?"
A five or six year old might enjoy it more but I wouldn't bother.

Mark Schreiber is very creative in his presentation of some very complex scientific ideas. I lament he misstated that humans have 48 chromosomes (24 pairs) rather than 46 (23 pairs), and further wrote than human sex chromosomes (X and Y) do not contain DNA. Indeed, sex chromosomes do have chromosomal DNA. There are other errors such as one gene for eye color when eye color is the result of more than one gene. (Page 43)

This book really needs to be re-edited very quickly. It deserves to be a success because of its novel and creative way of introducing many wonderfully complex ideas in a way that invites further discovery and wonder.

The Elephant Man by the Oxford Bookworms Library is an easy to read version of the story of Joseph Merrick.
Unfortunately, I have found several discrepancies in the story. I was disappointed that the author did not do proper research before writing the book. For instance, he leaves the reader to believe that Joseph's mother abandoned him. When, in fact, his mother loved him very much but died when Joseph was 11. Joseph lived with his father and step-mother for a time; they did not want him. Also, the author told us that Joseph worked as a "side show freak" and had a manager named Simon Silcock. There was no such man. Joseph's manager was named Tom Norman. And finally, the author says that Queen Alexandra went to visit him and wrote him letters. There are two errors here. It was Princess Alexandra who visited him at the hospital but did not write letters to him. The queen at the time was Victoria who neither visited him nor wrote him letters.
It's a shame that these errors occurred to an otherwise well-written story. I believe the author obtained his information from watching the movie instead of doing the research himself.