House

Despite the fact that it's marketed as a children's book, Olivia Kidney is equally accessible by adults looking for a stimulating and interesting adventure. The characters are strong, well developed, stand alone, and I wonder if maybe some of them might spring forth into their own books...? Olivia is irresistible, and the bold way she explores the strange hi-rise she lives in, you can't help but tag along. A fantastic, beautifully written, and one-of-a-kind read. Go, Ms. Potter! Highly recomended for every child age 6 to 600!

This is a truly surprising story, full of unexpected turns in the plot and holding several layers of understanding. It seems that as the story unfolds the writer strips yet another layer and plunges deeper.... Unexpected things happen all the time and every chapter brings us new information about Olivia, our heroine.
For me the story was painful and sad to read and I thought it had a very grown up message about death and life beyond. The story is about loneliness and overcoming great pain -how you have to cling to your loved ones...This is how I personally experienced this book and it is this feeling, the wonderful imagination, the captivating stories and the unexpected way the plot proceeds that make me declare this book as "surprising". However, this is first of all a great book full of imagination where the story line shifts between pieces of reality and imagination and the reader has to guess what is really happening in real life. Olivia is only a child but has already the need to deal with lots of hard questions. On one level this is an exciting adventure children story with a brave and clever heroine, pirates, sailors, ghosts and magic. On the other hand this is an adult story full of great truth about life. The adventure story can be seen as a long painful search in Olivia's soul until she finds an answer...
At first the story is read as a regular adventure story -Olivia's father is the superintendent in a rather regular and gray apartment building. As the father is the worst superintendent ever, he usually gets fired after a short while and Olivia thinks that maybe this time this is not so bad. She hates the neighbors. One afternoon when Olivia looses the keys and has to wait outside her door a series of coincidences happens and Olivia moves from one apartment to the other, meeting her weird, special neighbours, each with his own story that somehow falls, by the end of the story to the right place.... The most extraordinary things happen to Olivia but she does not question their reality for one minute; how can she? These things are happening to her! And the reader moves along with Olivia.
Ellen Potter succeeded in creating a delightful imaginative world. As the story unfolds the reader understands that some of the things might have happened and could be accepted on certain conditions; in any case there is an inner logic in the world Ellen Potter creates.
A very unique story which can appeal to many ages.
I am sure this book will get the attention it deserves.

I bought this book and read it one sitting, then read it again twice within the first week. It's a magical, completely enchanting story with just the right amount of scariness. Olivia is a quirky preteen who has moved for the umpteenth time with her father, who's inept at his job as a building superintendent but lovable and loving as a parent. He and Olivia are both kind of lonely (they've lost some dear people in their lives and can't bring themselves to share their grief with one another).

They've moved into a rather unusual Manhattan apartment building. Well, the building isn't that unusual, but its tenants sure are. Olivia, who has been ridiculed by some of her classmates and is feeling pretty vulnerable and alone, gets locked out of their apartment one day and ends up making friends with some of her fellow tenants, people she would never in her wildest dreams have expected to met, let alone grow fond of.

The writer is deft and creative, with a vivid imagination and literary style that really draws you in. I am a big "Harry Potter" fan and think "Olivia Kidney" is just as compelling and just as good a read. I can't wait for the next installment. (I sure hope Ellen Potter is already at work on the second one.)

The age guidelines say 9 to 12, but I know an 8-year-old and more than a few teens and 20-, 30-, 40-, and 70-year-olds who love it, too. I've bought copies for seven friends and family members and can't rave about it enough. Enjoy!

This is a great book for anyone who is struggling to read the entire Bible. It is arranged in such a way that makes it interesting and easy to read the Bible in one year and I highly recommend it.

Three years ago, my daughter and I decided to read the Bible in one year. It was the first time all the way through for both of us. My daughter had the One Year Bible (NLT) in hardcover which we had given her for Christmas. And I had found this plan printed up in Brio magazine, so I just read the same passages in my study bible.

This year our church's pastor challenged us to consider using The One Year Bible to get through it in one year. I decided to do it again and this time I am using the One Year Bible/NLT and my husband is using One Year Bible/NIV.

I feel that the format keeps things interesting. A passage from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, something from Psalms and a snippet of Proverbs each day. I am finding even more stuff that I missed the first time around! Amazing how the Bible is really "alive" and when you read it at different stages of your life, different passages impact you that you might not have noticed the time before.

Rather than flipping around in the Bible, this book has the 365 daily readings nicely laid out for you. However, the only downside to this is sometimes you might not really be keeping track of what book of the Bible you're reading! That's very easy to do, especially with the short books both in the Old and New Testament.

Another nice feature of this Bible is that for each day's selections, a passage is in bold type -something to pay special attention to.

This method is great for someone who wants to read the Bible through, but doesn't want to go from Genesis to Revelation. Reading Mark's gospel really makes it easier to get through Leviticus!

I'd highly recommend buying "The One Year Bible Companion". The subtitle is "Questions and answers to help you make the most of your daily Bible reading". There are 4 questions and answers per daily reading. Also, the Companion lists the passages to be read for the day at the top, so you could read in this order but with your own Bible. The questions help illuminate some of the somtimes confusing OT passages. The Companion also has brief introductions for all the books of the Bible.

A bonus about "The One Year Bible Companion" - the cover is a very durable plastic-like cover. It's very durable and flexible. Just another added feature. And of course, it's available from Amazon! That's where I got mine! :-)

Happy Bible Study, everyone!

This One Year Bible is a great way to read the Bible through in one year. It is arranged so that you can read some of the Old Testament and New Testament every day. In addition you will read something from Psalms and Proverbs every day. This arrangement will allow you to read through the Psalms twice. The beauty of this plan is that you can pick it up and start any day of the year. I have personally read the Bible through this way every year for the last eight years and I never get tired of it.

I'm an emotional intelligence coach with an international clientele, not a realtor, but this book helped me tremendously. I would recommend it to anyone with a multicultural clientele or consumer-base. Concisely, and with great empathy, Mr. Lee describes cultures in a way that saves you reading tons of others books to get the same information. It saved me a lot of grief as I coached my first Pakistani client to know the difference between Pakistani and Indian, and explained to me why clients from certain cultures never seem to quit negotiating. Since emotional intelligence involves social skills, relating and empathy, it's crucial that I have a working-knowledge of how other cultures differ. One culture's "love of negotiating" is another culture's "pushy." One culture's "affiliative" is another culture's "not-sticking-to-business." And now I know not to cross my legs with a Middle-Eastern client. It's broadly applicable. If you have an international clientele, or do business on the Internet, you can't afford not to read this book. Really outstanding.

This is an incredible book to read, well worth your time and money.

The author goes into detail of what makes the various ethnic groups unique and how you can apply this knowledge to being able to deal with your clients and customers most effectively.

I would highly recommend this to anyone that would like to be more knowledgable about other cultures and their ways of life.

This is a well-researched and insightful book for anyone in real estate, related fields or home sellers who find themselves doing business with buyers from outside the American culture. This book helps you understand people from other cultures and their beliefs as they relate to real estate. The author not only explains what multicultural people do differently but also the reasons behind their unique practices and superstitions.

I found the sections on beliefs and negotiation to be particularly valuable. I always wondered why some groups continued to negotiate after a purchase contract had been signed or which were lucky addresses -- now I know.

Also, the background information on people from Asia, Mexico, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe was extremely enlightening. Get this book if you have any contact with people from other cultures - it will save you not only time but frustration as well. It could also be useful reading for people in industries outside real estate which do business with other cultures.

I received my book in good condition and in a timely manner. I appreciate the packaging and promptness.

My boss has this book to get ideas for designing custom homes for high-profile clients. I have read the book from cover to cover but every time I open it, it seems like I discover anew more pictures & details of these beautiful homes. These Palm Beach houses were built as if they were competing with one another for the title of 'most splendid work of art'. Most are not sprawling mansions or overly complicated expressions of the wealth of their owners. They are, however, fine examples of the architecture of Palm Beach summer homes of the 1920's priveleged upper class.

I love this book. Of course It would be nice if there were floorplans. And as usual one closes the book wishing he could see more photos of each of the houses. But there are many stunning photos. Kudos to the photographer. It is well worth the money and I will get it someday if I can no longer borrow it from my boss.

This fine coffee table book is filed with wonderful photographs of a small selection of some of the finest mansions in the country. The ranges of houses from Adam and Regency, to simple clapboard, to Spanish/Moorish is excellent. The text is informative, accurate and well written. If interested in South Florida fine architecture, this book is a must.

I haven't had a chance to by this book yet, but I did get to skim through it at my local big box of a book store (and it cost a lot more!). The projects were very contemporary, easy, and surprisingly you would be able to find the materials with no problem. A very go read, especially if you are trying to decorate on a shoestring budget.

This is an awesome book that shows you how to create sophisticated items for your every room in your home with easy-to-find materials. A wide variety of techniques in paper arts and crafts present endless decorating possibilities. The instructions are easy-to-follow and step-by-step including photos demonstrating each technique. Though some projects are time-consuming and require some patience, they are not necessarily hard to create.

The book starts out by showing you how to create your own paper, including making a mold and deckle. It then guides you through the essentials of paper mache including layering paper, pulp casting and relief formation. Several paper decoration techniques follow, including waxing, dyeing, using a latex resist, bleaching, stamping, stenciling, decoupage, collage and gilding.

Over 20 full projects follow, and they provide ideas for many more. My favorites include the flower screen, music floorcloth and modern looking coffee table made of cardboard. Other cool projects include collage wallpaper, an exquisite checkered table top, a leaf blind, herb pot, an embossed drawer unit, paneled lampshades and a mosaic window border.

There are also some very helpful hints and tips as well as a nice resource guide in the back. Even if you don't particularly like the style or theme of something this book will give you the basics of the projects and you can let your creativity flow. With so many different ideas, this book is nothing if not inspirational.

I really liked the projects/photos in this book. I'm a collage artist and I found a lot of interesting and inspiring projects nicely photographed. If you like to make your house into a work of art, this is the perfect book. If you are a mixed-media artist who likes books like Making Journals by Hand and Sophisticated Surfaces, you'll like this book. Sometimes I use books more for pictorial inspiration than for the actual projects in the book and that is the case here. However, in this case, I might actually try some of the projects, especially the collage wallpaper. She gives basic info on papermaking and paper mache, and the projects include a floorcloth, a stitched patchwork wall hanging, an embossed drawer unit, and a screen that would be beautiful if made with your own handmade paper. I have an area in my personal library for decorating books and a separate area for collage/decoupage books and this one is kept in the collage section. You won't be disappointed in this book. :)

Great book! Shows you how to build bright, airy earthshelters that are comfortable all year round. Use your home to collect free solar heat all summer. Then cool your home passively without machinery or commercial energy. Get off the GRID! I found it by typing "earth sheltered home" on google. The website is "earth shelters dot com". If you go subterranean, you need this book! Still in print.

This book shows you how to obtain, and store free heat all year round. I think you can still buy new copies of this book from the Rocky Mountain Research Center, look them up on the internet.

...Great book with easy to understand concepts. Would like to see more in depth design and construction details, but it is a great place to start and gives alternative thinking a real boost. Get this book!!!

Mary-Alice Waters outlines why Pathfinder Press is truly unique in the publishing world, because its "starting point has always been what is needed by those fighting to change the world, not what will sell in the market place."
I recommend this work because it describes the importance of a publishing house dedicated to fighting workers and explains how this idea was born with the 1917 October Revolution in Russia.
"The best materials Pathfinder publishes are those produced in the heat of battle," Waters says and outlines Pathfinders' scope, from Malcolm X and Fidel Castro to Pathfinders' number one seller, The Communisty Manifesto.

Pathfinder Press is much more than a "small","radical" publisher. Pathfinder was the first to publish Fidel Castro's speeches in English in the US in the early years of the revolution for use by the Fair Play For Cuba Committee. It published Malcolm X's speeches, unexpurgated, along with The Militant newspaper, when no one else would. These works are in print to this day. This pamphlet explores Pathfinder's history as a fighting, working class publisher back to its beginnings with the activities of the first U.S. supporters of the Bolshevik Revoluttion.,through to the publishing of the record of the fight by the Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky for Marxist policy and action against the Stalin murder machine and against fascism, to today's distribution of Pathfinder books and pamphlets by socialist industrial workers and youth at mine portals, factory gates, and college campuses.

Thousands of workers, youth, intellectuals and students have struggled to build Pathfinder press, to expand its sales, editing, printing. We do this because in Pathfinder the struggles of Lenin, Trotsky, Che, Malcolm X, Maurice Bishop, Rosa Luxembourg, Thomas Sankara, Mother Jones, and many other working class, women, and national liberation fighters Pathfinder publishes have not died, but continue and deepen. This pamphlet is a speech given in Havana by Pathfinder Press's publisher, Mary Alice Waters, that explains this history and this struggle. Through it we see that the October revolution has not died in the cesspool of Soviet Stalinism, but lives in the revolution in Cuba, in the fights workers are waging around the world against the US-UK war against the people against Afghanistan, in the struggle to build and expand Pathfinder. Read this speech, read these books, join us!

Kathryn Wall is destined to become one of the great mystery writers of our time. I've gotten so I can hardly wait for the next Bay Tanner adventure to hit the stands. Unlike some popular female sleuths, Bay is no ditz, no wilting violet looking up beneath her lashes to glean her clues from some macho male. She's sexy, funny, gutsy, and savvy--the kind of woman you'd love to have as a best friend. Bay Tanner makes me laugh out loud, a rare and delightful treat. And Wall's skilled plotting and scintillating prose keeps me turning pages. I think her latest episode with her arrant "distant cousin," Mercer Prescott,is her best work yet.

You'll feel like an old friend has come for a visit in this third Bay TAnner mystery. As Bay winds her way through the Lowcountry, you'll almost be able to smell the marsh. When a young woman she's never seen or heard of before shows up in the local jail claiming to be a distant cousin, Bay has no idea the path that the two of them are about to embark on--one that could claim both their lives. A great read just as we've come to expect from Kathy Wall.

Former financial consultant Bay Turner convalesces at her Hilton Head home still recovering from the murder of her spouse. However, when she is asked to help her twenty something fifth half-cousin Mercer Mary Prescott who was arrested as a vagrant and locked up in Beaufort County jail, reluctantly Bay gets involved. Though a relative, Mercer is actually a stranger. Bay gets her dad's friend Judge Talbot Simpson to set bail. Mercer is freed.

Still Mercer remains in trouble due to a federal trespass charge for illegally entering the Savannah River nuclear plant. When Mercer flees thugs, goons and cops pursue. With other family woes descending on her, Bay joins the chase only to become involved in the deadliest family secret of all, PERDITION HOUSE.

PERDITION HOUSE is a strong thriller that seems almost out of control, but is deftly kept in line by author Kathryn R. Wall. The story line centers on Bay, who just wants a little peace of mind, but her relatives think otherwise. Instead of domestic tranquillity, Bay concludes that blood may be thicker than water and she somehow seems to get sucked into storms caused by her extended family starting with Mercer. This terrific tense thriller takes readers on quite a ride.

Harriet Klausner

The author does a terrific job at filtering out the complexity of the issues surrounding wind, hydro, and solar energy yet there is enough detail to give a solid foundation. There is great 'real world' advice that people will find useful. I borrowed this book from the public library and then ordered a copy for my personal collection.

Wow, I can only say I wish Rex Ewing had written Power By Nature five years ago when my wife and I were first planning our great escape to the mountains of Colorado. Our house site was a long way from the nearest power line, and we hated the idea of seeing power poles go up on our peaceful mountaintop. But when we started looking into solar and/or wind power, the literature available at the time was so technical, we felt like we'd need an engineering degree just to read the book. I'm pretty handy, but we finally gave up and, as Ewing so drolly puts it, turned ourselves over to Planet Power. If we'd had his book, I think we might have made a different choice, because he explains everything clearly and simply, gives you lots of practical advice on what to do and how to do it, and best of all, because he and his wife have done it already, he makes you confident you can lead a normal life with all those normal necessities we all have to have - from computers to VCR's and freezers. With no more bills to pay from the power company. Even more amazing, somehow Ewing manages to make even the most technical parts fun to read. There are plenty of anecdotes and stories, and the book starts off with a modern-day fable that will put a smile on your face. We're recommending this book to all our friends plotting escapes of their own - it's must reading!

I just finished this book and I am glad to have bought it!
The author takes things down to the basics so that an 7th grader could even understand it. He brought the material in a very easy to read manner and knew what he was talking about.
The best thing that I find about this book is that he tells you what he and his wife actually have on his log cabin home. He doesn't just know the knowledge and made a book from it. He built the book from experience and that is why this book is a perfect choice for somebody who is interested in PV/Wind systems.

This new (18th) edition of Practical Electrical Wiring is an excellent guide to basic (and also not-so-basic)residential, farm and commercial electrical wiring. It has been completely updated from the 17th edition, and reflects the latest changes in the 2002 National Electrical Code.

The text covers an astonishing range of subjects, from the basics of volts and amperes to some very solid material on grounding, wiring methods, residential service, and conductor sizing.

This book is quite different from the typical Sunset do-it-yourself guides that one picks up at Home Depot. It will not tell you how to rewire Aunt Sophie's favorite lamp. It will tell you about residential branch circuits, overcurrent devices (fuses and circuit breakers), outlet and switch boxes, residential and nonresidential lighting, special appliance circuits, safety, wiring methods, electric motors, and a great deal more.

It has an excellent section on how to modernize old work, including how to run wiring through ceilings, walls, and from floor-to-floor. And in case you've forgotten how, it also has a clear illustration of how to tie an Underwriter's Knot (see page 355)!

This really is an excellent book, obviously written by a person who has many years of practical experience and knows what he is talking about. It would serve well as a vocational school text and as a fine general reference book for the homeowner and for journeyman electrician.

To round it out, it is well illustrated, has useful NEC ampacity and load tables in the appendices, and has a very comprehensive index.

Recommended.

COMMERCIAL, INDUSTRIA

We bought this hoping to get ideas for wiring our new house. With only this book we were able to wire our entire new house - from setting the power at the street - to wiring our well . Not only were we able to wire our entire house - it passed inspection on the first try with no corrections . A very valuable book for home owners and builders.