Full Books

THIS WAS MY MOTHERS BOOK. IT IS VERY INFORMATIVE, AND ALL OF THE STENCILS CAN BE CUT OUT AND USED AS THEY ARE ON A THICK PAPER. THE STENCILS ALL HAVE A PA. DUTCH / COUNTRY STYLE THAT CAN FIT MANY HOUSE DECORS.

CREATE VIDEO CD'S
AUTHOR: Mark-Steffen Goewecke
PUBLISHER: DataBecker
REVIEWED BY: Barbara Rhoades

BOOK REVIEW: Data Becker has produced another jam-packed book of information, this time all about creating video CDs. Besides the normal formatting of notes and tips in yellow throughout the book, the first chapter shows how to set up all the equipment you will need. The first program needed is Virtual Dub - www.virtualdub.org. This program captures video images and has other useful functions

Movie Xone is a program for proper video editing and can be found at www.aist.com. You will now be working in what is known as an animation by dragging different clips onto a storyboard. Add dissolving, text and fonts. Now you need a software program called DeCSS - or De-Content Scrambling System and DVDx is a user-friendly program downloadable at www2.labdv.com/dvdx.

Moving files to your hard drive requires SmartRipper and doing an Internet search should provide you with a site where you can download this program. FlaskMPG - www.flaskmpeg.net - will help you convert the information you just put on your hard drive to video CD format. TMPGEnc - www.tmpgenc.com - will convert a movie file into MPEG format for a video CD. And finally, East CD Creator 5 - will actually put your information onto the CD and was the whole point of the book.

The price ... is certainly worth the money spent for all the information contained in Create Video CD's. Are you building a library of books worth having? Be sure to add this one to it.

CSS ARTISTRY provides a book/dvd package perfect for learning CSS, pairing tested design techniques and numerous visual examples with keys to understanding the latest in web design specifications. From initial design tips to advanced topics such as microformats and CSS modules, this package makes for a unique self-teaching tool and is highly recommended for any CSS student.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I am using this book with my elementary school-aged children to help teach them eye-hand coordination and basic scissor skills. The kids love cutting out the challenging but fun costumes and are motivated to do their best work. This book utilizes heavier stock paper which is easier for the children to manipulate. There are dozens of outfits in a wide variety of themes, so you are sure to find something to please. I had just as much fun as the children cutting out the clothing and dressing up George.

These are very attractive, colorful flying models. They are relatively easy to cut and assemble. You get 8 for a modest cost. This is a great deal. And what's even more amazing is that even after my boy (4 years old now) has played with one of these for 6 months and has really beaten it up -- it still flies!! What you might have to do for a few of them is to place a paper clip or two in spots to help balance the UFO so it flies in a straighter path. My son truly loves these. He even asked me to make one for his favorite cousin because he wanted to share his joy. Buy this!

As much as we booklovers learn from reading, we know that real knowledge comes from doing. So build a colonial house! On a nearby table. In 1/87 scale. These are straightforward drawings on heavy stock paper, bound with information about each house and instructions on how to cut out pieces and assemble them with glue. Edmund Gillon published a dozen or so such books with Dover and Schiffer in the 1980s and 1990s. This is one of the later ones; while some of his Victorian models got rather complex, these buildings are earlier in history (1677 to 1760), less complex in style, and easier to both cut and glue. Admittedly, I have not finished all five yet, but the book is nice to have around to just think about one day having each on a book shelf or mantle. And they are scaled for HO gauge model train layouts.

An older child or adult will take an hour or two on each of these and cannot help but become somewhat aware of architectural styles and lifestyles 300 years ago in the building process. Children below the age of ten should start with something easier since the model-making involves small pieces and patience. But the price is cheap to get Gillon's detail work, a hand-made model that will hold up well (some of my others still look good after 15 years)and attract attention, and lead you into this country's history (East Coast version).

I first stumbled onto this book by accident in the spring of 1980. Ever since I read Dr. McBride's book, my greatest professional ambition has been to teach speed reading to children.

Vearl McBride goes beyond just speed reading. He demonstrates the immense possibilities of speed reading in opening up the minds of our children in many ways and in many subject areas. And after 30 years, the world still doesn't have a clue how important his discoveries are.

I'll admit, the only motive that I had to speed read, at first, was to go through my college textbooks faster and cut my study time in half.

What got my attention was the VISION that McBride showed for the subject of Speed Reading.

For example, McBride experimented with the idea of TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES USING SPEED READING TECHNIQUES. Here how it works:

Many pages of reading material (stories) are translated from English into Spanish. Each line of English text is followed by the identical line of text in Spanish. So each page of the story has alternating lines of English and Spanish. This allows the children to see all the words and their respective translations at a glance.

For the next 6 weeks, the children are taught to speed read, using hundreds of pages of the bi-lingual text as the reading material. At the end of 6 weeks, the children are able to speed read Spanish-only text at up to 2,000 wpm, with comprehension.

Really.

I know it sounds improbable, but take a look at Dr. McBride's other achievements:

1) He discovered and pioneered the idea that young children can and should be taught to speed read. He was virtually ignored for over 30 years. His work is still ignored by most of the experts and many within the speed reading industry itself.

Dr McBride's book was so good, that when I finally wrote a book of my own (SPEED READING 4 KIDS) I dedicated it to Vearl G. McBride.

After having taught speed reading to thousands of people, myself, from ages 7 through 77, I can say with confidence that young children from ages 8-12 learn speed reading the easiest of any age group. I know many parents and teachers who have achieved similar results in teaching children to speed read (even parents who can't speed read themselves can teach it to kids).

2) He improvised a way to teach blind people to speed read in Braille. He even conducted 2 or 3 workshops in Hong Kong for this very purpose and received an award from the government of Hong Kong for his achievement.

His fastest Braille speed reader attained a rate of 4,000 wpm with good comprehension

3) He was the first one, that I am aware of, who taught that many of the Learning Disabled can do quite well with speed reading. I have found in my own work that children with such so-called disabilities as ADD, Dyslexia and some others, actually seem gifted when it comes to learning to speed read. Many of these are the very ones who get photographic memories when they master the art of speed reading.

These are just three areas in which there is independent verification of the results he claimed. I have seen some of these results in my own work (I haven't attempted the Braille experiment myself yet, but I am aware of the award that the government of Hong Kong gave to Dr. McBride). In fact, in every facet of speed reading that I have experimented with myself, I have also received the same results claimed by Dr. McBride.

So, even though I haven't personally verified every experiment that Dr McBride did (yet), I have great faith in the results he claimed.

I am hoping that more people will come forward to start making many of his other innovations a universal reality. Speed reading in foreign languages is one thing that should be experimented with soon.

Another innovation that Dr. McBride worked on is SPEED MATH.

How did Dr McBride do that?

First they would write up many math problems (in this example, addition problems) per page, on hundreds of pages of paper. Using speed reading techniques, the children would go over these problems at the rate of thousands of problems per minute. After 6 weeks or so, the children would be able to view any addition problem and instantly tell the answer. Even large stacks of numbers could be added instantly.

I've had a personal friend for over 15 years who can look at a whole page of numbers added together and instantly know the correct answer. In my friend's case, nobody taught him the skill. He's always been able to do this since he was a child. My friend uses this skill in his business constantly. It has helped him to earn a large income and still have time for his family.

Dr. McBride used the principles of speed reading to train whole classes of children to have this very skill. Who wouldn't want their second-grade child to be this good at math?

Can you see where we're headed with speed reading? To borrow a popular slogan A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE. Our minds have almost unlimited potential if we just open our eyes and see the possibilities.

I only wish Dr McBride would republish this book or come out with a revised, updated edition.

I purchased my first score of Daphnis and Chloe when I was in my early twenties. It was small but it was a treasure to me. I even had it bound. I paid $25 for it which was a lot of money in the fifties. Now, many years later, Dover has printed a much larger version for much less money. For someone who loves Ravel's masterpiece as much as I do it's a must have. Highly recommended!

A story that doesn't age even if the model on the cover has. I should know...it's me ! A coming-of-age story that will enchant boys as much as girls. A romantic saga.

Hi all,
I'm Monique, Steve's girlfriend.

We are in Buenos Aires right now (Greetings from here!).
I love his work so much and this book is amazing, drop-dead gorgeous.

Feel free to take a preview into the inside (see the customers images section below the cover image).
These are just a view of so many great artistic nude artworks that are included in DELUXE.

Get it ;-)