Product Description
Illus. in color. "Comic pictures show how the fish rapidly outgrows its bowl, a vase, a cook pot, a bathtub."--The New York Times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (37)

Classic Tale of Boy Who Does Not Listen
How I love this book and the memories that it evokes from my childhood. This story has swum after me from my youth and now I read it to my kids weekly.The timeless drawings and ridiculous story are a great combination for success in kids learning to read and being pulled into the story.Mr. Carp's wise assertion always make me smile.

"Oh, dear! said Mr. Carp."
"So you fed him too much!
I knew you would.
I always say 'don't
but you boys always do.

And in the end the lesson is learned to follow directions or something bad may happen . . . Which all kids need to learn some way some how.If only I could replicate the fish actually growing like in the story for demonstrative purposes to my children and see the effect it would have on my kids.I would be a happy woman.

Great timeless story!
A must have for beginner readers libraries.

Daughter loves it
My 2.5 y.o. daughter LOVES this book and I can tel it will be a good one for learning how to read too.It does read a little strangely, though.Like a poem that doesn't rhyme.

My favorite book ever!
I read this book in second grade, it was my favorite book. For years and years I looked for this book and couldnt find it, now here its again. I totally can not wait to read it to my Grandchildren.

It doesn't flow
I don't understand what it is that so many people like about this book. My three boys did not enjoy it at all. This book does not flow. Sometimes it seems to try to copy the style of Dr. Seuss without success and at other times it seems to be trying to go in its own direction. Rhyming words help children learn to recognise similarities in words. Often the words almost rhyme in this book (spot and what). The author is jumping through different styles of poetry throughout this book.

fish out of water
I love this book!I read it to my children and looked all over ( including library) to be able o read it to my grandchildren.A true classic arrived in top condition and we have since enjoyed it many times over. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (82)

Politics Aside, A Film of Consummate Beauty
Even before the opening credits, I could see by the gorgeous cinematography that WATER was going to be an outstanding film--and it is. The movie takes on the Hindu caste system & focuses on the plight of lower caste widows during the early rise of Gandi in the 1930's. The widows in the film are consigned (as in parceled out like an ordinary commodity)to a sort of rundown hostel in the poorest section of New Dehli. It's run by a toadlike elderly female tyrrant--but she's not totally bad, she deeply mourns the death of a pet parrot--AND she likes to blow ganga while praising Shiva...she might be cranky & look like Yoda, but, hey, she's my kind of gal!

The film revolves around 2 major plots: The life of a little girl widowed at the age of 7, and the love between a beautiful widow & prostitute (?) with an upper caste attorney who supports Gandi & social modernization. The actress Sarala who plays the young gi(making her Bollywood premiere) is outstandingly natural & a pure joy to watch. The adult young woman & the upper caste man are appropriately sexy & star-crossed.

In one scene a very old woman is talking to the girl, telling her that she was also widowed as a child. The happiest moment she can recall was her wedding feast (when she too was 7) where she ate all kinds of candies & sweets. Now she doesn't have the money to buy sweets & often dwells on her only happy memory during her entire lifetime and she constantly reflects on it--often--as us old folks are prone to do. The little girl surprises the old lady while she's sleeping, leaving a large confection near her head, for the old woman to see when she wakes up. The woman dies that same night. I don't recall if she at least had the time to wake-up & see her new friend's act of generosity.

When discussing life in general, another widow remarks that if a woman were really, really goodin this life, when she dies she might be blest enough to return (reincarnate) as a man. This widow is also spiritually attached to a Hindu priest & his modest Ashram (spiritual teaching/healing center). This sub-plot illustrates how people in general often seek compensation in religion for the hardships of life, a life that--more often than not--seems wholly indiferent to the human condition

Another point of interest in the movie is a character who is a male transvestite & always wears women's clothes--sort of like the "Gaudy Goddess Line". I'm not exactly sure what h/she was meant to convey in the movie, but I do know that there is is a Hindu deity named Kartikeya who is androgynous. The actor does seem to "parrot" (or parody) the emotions of the old tyrrant, and together they seem to burlesque their murually exaggerated view of life.

Now on to nagative reactions to
the socio-religious-political implications of WATER.
(Whew!)

The people who gave this film a single star (and probably would have witheld even that if Amazon review rules allowed it.) In no uncertain terms they denounce the film on political & religious grounds. A lot of the dissention centers around the ancient Texts of Manu (specific date uncertain, but generally between 200 BCE-200 CE). The texts deal with the subject of Hindu spiritual law. As much I am drawn to Hindu practices & incorporate them into my personal religious mythology, I don't have the educational background with which to weigh in on the specifics of the reviwer's arguments. They are quite vituperative in their objections to WATER.

Perhaps there is a certain degree of truth on both opposing sides?

The events as portrayed in WATER occurred 70 + years ago. Certainly the United States, for example, has experienced a near revolutionary reform of race relations from the 1950's onward. I am aware that there remain today extremely backward "spiritual" practices in India such as astrology & the Guru racket (not all gurus are confidence tricksters, but many are). Women aren't jumping into the husband's funeral pyre (i.e. suttee) anymore (I hope.) Then there's the artistic aspect: I find abhorent the politics & twisted mythology of the 1930's Nuremburg Nazi documentary, TRIUMPH OF THE WILL by Nazi enthusiast Leni Riefensthal, but nonetheless I recognize it as a masterpiece &--yes--work of genuis. The film's artistic merit transcends its' own propaganda--and I don't mean to equate WATER with racist fascism, but it's always difficult when idealing with diametrically opposed symbolism & beliefs.

Obviously I don't have ready answers to the political & religious objections raised by other reviewers, but I do want them to know that I don't dismiss their concerns, and will look closer into the issues.

In conclusion--and on a much more positive note--the wonderful fusion composer, Mychael Danna, is credited for the softly woven soundtrack of WATER.

Celtic Tale: Legend of Deirdre

Mesmerizing, Moving, and Beautifully Tragic
Truly mesmerizing, I was captivated the entire time.A quote from the film sums up the message I received, "What do you do when your faith and your conscience are conflicted?"Always follow your conscience I say.If your faith and your conscience are conflicted, it is time to reassess.Faith should comfort you, not make you turn a blind eye to what you know is wrong.But out of the tragedy that results from their ancient religious laws comes the resiliency of the human spirit, the innocence of youth, and the blindness of love.

The music is amazing and the most beautiful scenes for me were the non-verbal ones set to music.

This is probably my favorite international film and definitely the most moving film I've seen in a long time.

Extraordinary

The moment this film ended, I e-mailed all my friends and family to urge them to watch it.Everything about this movie is five stars -- the story, the acting, cinematography, music.It was a privilege to behold.The child actor is astonishing.I was hardly aware I was reading subtitles, this film is so visually captivating.

If there were 10 stars to give this film, I would.

A pleasure for your senses.
This is the first movie of Deepa Methta's trilogy that I watch. I have never seen any of her work before, and I'm really pleased and impressed with her talent. The photography and music are a delight for the senses, and both directing and acting are superb. The movie awoke in me such paradoxical emotions... I was delighted with the images, landscapes, actors, dialogues, but at the same time I became more and more indignant as the film went by.

I can't digest this kind of treatment towards women. It really amazes me how so many and different cultures around the world think of women as second class citizens, or worse. As impure, as sinners, as disposable objects. And regardless of the time period this is the current treatment for many women around the world. They get ostracized, shunned or killed based on religious beliefs. And in a less obvious way, but it also happens in modern industrialized countries. Still, the movie is a beautiful piece of art worth watching. And as a woman, I do feel empathy for all those women who have to go through this kind of experiences in their lives, and I admire them for enduring them with their heads held high.

Water
Interesting title for a moving story...that must be why; it moves you to think about how grateful to be born a Westerner.Life as a widow can be painful as an adult imagine being a widow at eight and not even realise that you are.Well worth watching. ... Read more

Product Description

This neat Blue's Clues book comes with a brush that you dip in water and when put on the page it reveals the colors!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Very happy with purchase.
Great for small kids. Especially small ones that have not yet gained the dexterity to use crayons for regular coloring books. It doesn't matter where they put the brush, it still makes wonderful colors on the page. No mess, easy to use. Good quality painting pages. Purchased for a 3 year old that loves them.

Took a long time to arrive
Paint with water books are great for young kids who aren't quite ready to pull out the paint and keep it off the walls.It took an enormous amount a time for me to recieve it though.

Disappointed
When the children "painted" the pages with water, the color was pale and very unsatisfying!

ok
The pictures are great but the paper is too shiney and the water just sits on top of it!!!

Gave me the "Blues:
I was excited to find 'paint with water' books for my granddaughter, Lily.This book, however, was of very poor quality.The colors ran together into a muddy greenish brown... I don't think this is worth the cost. ... Read more

Product Description
Kids will love to color their favorite scenes from the classic holiday television special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." This festive activity book comes with two full pages of stickers to help complete the story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

My 3 Year Old Loved It!
My 3 year old son loved this color with water book.He wanted to paint every page in the book the first time we did this.I had to ration the book over a few day period.The paint brush is a little too big (holds a little too much water.)So, you might want to use a smaller paint brush if you have one.

One Special Christmas Eve (Paint with Water)
I love this. I remember having these as a kid myself. They are not easy to find. They are great for youngsters. My two year old loves these types of paint books, not to hard. Fun, lots of colors. Clean up is easy. I put this one away until closer to Christmas, but can't wait to bring it out for my daughter.

What has happened to water color books?
Water color books were a great thing but this one was over priced and poor quality. I guess it was too old.The paint didn't work great and was not vibrant.My daughter lost interest. ... Read more

Product Description
Alice Waters has been a champion of the sustainable, local cooking movement for decades.  To Alice, good food is a right, not a privilege.  In the Green Kitchen presents her essential cooking techniques to be learned by heart plus more than 50 recipes—for delicious fresh, local, and seasonal meals—from Alice and her friends.  She demystifies the basics including steaming a vegetable, dressing a salad, simmering stock, filleting a fish, roasting a chicken, and making bread. An indispensable cookbook, she gives you everything you need to bring out the truest flavor that the best ingredients of the season have to offer.
 
Contributors: Darina Allen * Dan Barber * Lidia Bastianich * Rick Bayless * Paul Bertolli * David Chang * Traci Des Jardins * Angelo Garro * Joyce Goldstein * Thomas Keller * Niloufer Ichaporia King * Peggy Knickerbocker * Anna Lappé & Bryant Terry * Deborah Madison * Clodagh McKenna * Jean-Pierre Moullé * Joan Nathan * Scott Peacock * Cal Peternell * Gilbert Pilgram * Clair Ptak * Oliver Rowe * Amaryll Schwertner * Fanny Singer * David Tanis * Poppy Tooker * Charlie Trotter * Jerôme Waag * Beth WellsAmazon.com Review
Sample Recipes from In the Green Kitchen by Lidia Bastianich, David Chang, and Thomas Keller

Spaghettini with Garlic, Parsley & Olive Oil from Lidia Bastianich
2 servings

This dish of Lidia’s is what I make for supper when I return home tired andhungry after traveling. I like it very plain, with lots of parsley, but you couldspice it up by adding a pinch of dried chile flakes or chopped anchovy, and servingit with grated cheese.

Salt
1/3 pound spaghettini
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
8 to 10 branches Italian parsley, stems removed, leaves chopped

Bring a generous pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, and stir in the spaghettini. Stir frequently and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender but still firm.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil and garlic in a saucepan and heat gently untilthe garlic begins to sizzle and release its fragrance; take care that it does notbrown or burn. Add the parsley to the pan along with 1/2 cup of the pasta water.When the pasta is cooked, use a skimmer to lift it out of the water and directlyinto the pan, or drain it, reserving some of the water, and then add to the pan.Toss the pasta and let it simmer briefly in the sauce to finish cooking and absorbthe flavors; add more pasta water if needed to keep the pasta loose and saucy. Tastethe pasta for salt, and add more if needed. Serve immediately in warm bowls.

---

Salt & Sugar Pickles from David Chang
4 servings

David makes these pickles to be enjoyed right after seasoning, while they arestill vibrant and crunchy.

3 very large radishes
2 thin daikon radishes
2 thin-skinned cucumbers with few seeds
2 pounds seedless watermelon
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Prepare the vegetables and fruit and arrange in separate bowls; there should beabout 1 1/2 cups of each kind. Halve the radishes and slice into thin wedges. Cutthe daikon radishes crosswise into slices about 1/8 inch thick. Cut the cucumberscrosswise into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Remove the rind of the watermelonand cut the flesh into slices 1/2 inch thick and then into 2-inch wedges.In a small bowl, combine the salt and sugar, and sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of themixture over each vegetable and the watermelon and toss. Let the pickles standfor 5 to 10 minutes, arrange separately on a platter, and serve immediately.

---

One-Pot Roast Chicken from Thomas Keller
4 servings

One 3-pound chicken
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
3 potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 celery stalks, thickly sliced
4 large shallots, peeled
Fennel, squash, turnips, parsnips, or other vegetables (optional)
2 bay leaves
2 or 3 thyme sprigs
2 to 3 tablespoons butter

First prepare the chicken. To remove the wishbone at the top of the breast, usea small knife to scrape along the bone to expose it, then insert the knife andrun it along the bone, separating it from the flesh. Use your fingers to loosen itfurther, grasp the tip of the wishbone, and pull it out. Tuck the wing tips backand under the neck.

Tying the chicken plumps the breast up and brings the legs into position foreven roasting. Cut a length of cotton string. With the chicken on its back, slipthe string under the tail and bring the ends up over the legs to form a figure eight.Loop over the end of each leg and draw the string tight to bring the legs together.Draw the string back under the legs and wings on either side of the neck. Pulltight, wrap one end around the neck, and tie off the two ends. Salt the chickenevenly all around. Coarse salt has a good texture of large grains that makes iteasy to calibrate how much salt you’re putting on the chicken; sprinkle it fromup high, so that it falls like snow. Season liberally with fresh-ground pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375°F, put all the vegetables and herbs together in thebottom of a large, heavy ovenproof pot, and season with salt and pepper. Set thechicken on top, dot with the butter, and roast uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes(or longer), depending on the size of the chicken. It is done when the leg jointis pierced with a knife and the juices run clear, not pink.

Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before carving andserve family-style with all the caramelized vegetables and juices from the pot ona platter and the chicken pieces on top.

---

... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Review of In The Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart
It's good to know that there is an American book out there about cooking techniques, and by such a reputable, experienced cookbook author.

I was French trained as a cook, so I quickly learned that if you get all the basic techniques down pat, you can not only master, but invent just about any dish you want afterward. I think the American emphasis on following recipes step by step is good for those who are not passionate about cooking, but for those who are, techniques are essential.

This should be a welcome addition to any cookbook collection, and in particular to those who are new to the locavore movement and cooking in general. It is not, however, for those already indoctrinated in the more complex techniques of French cuisine.

I think it would make a great gift for a college student or a young newly married couple.

Basic Techniques With Love and Inspiration
"At home in their own kitchens, even the most renowned chefs do not consider themselves to be chefs; there, they are simply cooks, preparing the simple, uncomplicated food they like best. Preparing food like that does not have to be hard work," writes acclaimed chef and local-food pioneer Alice Waters in the introduction to In the Green Kitchen. That philosophy--preparing great food does not have to be hard work--is a major theme of this book, which is as much instruction in the art--and heart--of cooking as it is a compilation of recipes and technique, though it is the latter as well.

The inspiration and material for this course in cooking simple, delicious, local and seasonally appropriate food came from Slow Food Nation, a gathering in San Francisco in 2009 of "thousands of cooks and eaters, farmers and ranchers, cheese makers and winemakers, bakers and beekeepers, fisherman and foragers" with a passion for food and for a sustainable future. Waters and the other organizers included a demonstration kitchen as part of the gathering to offer "a set of basic techniques that are universal to all cuisines."

Those techniques, introduced by the chefs who demonstrated them, and elaborated with Waters' own commentary and recipes, comprise this book. "Once learned by heart," Waters writes, "these are the techniques that free cooks from an overdependence on recipes and a fear of improvisation."

This is a simple book in the sense that it can be used by any cook, from the rawest of beginners to those with years of experience and culinary training, and it is written in a straightforward, accessible way. Browsing it is like listening to an articulate and passionate cook teach her craft. It begins with a look at what spices, herbs, oils and other basics Waters considers essential to the "green" pantry--and she's not a snob here, just a friendly and knowledgeable guide. The first technique presented, which might seem obvious until you read the explanation, is washing lettuce. I've been cooking improvisationally and locally for decades, inspired by my mother's California childhood of eating fresh and local food, and by Waters' work at her Berkeley, California, restaurant, Chez Panisse. So I wasn't expecting to learn much. I've washed a lot of lettuce, from markets and my own gardens, and didn't think I had a lot to learn on the topic. Until I read Fanny Singer's take on this most basic of cooking techniques: wrapping lettuce in cloth dish towels, preventing each leaf from getting crushed and preserving its crisp flavor. That hooked me as soon as I tried it!

From there, this approachable course in cooking by heart, with love, progresses logically to how to dress a salad, flavor a sauce, make bread, poach an egg, boil pasta, cook rice, steam vegetables, shuck corn, fillet a fish, and so on, ending with baking fruit, plus a section on seasonings and essential kitchen tools (a very sensible assortment, by the way, which will not break your budget).

Waters is a pioneer: Chez Panisse was probably the first restaurant in America to grow its own kitchen garden (back in the 1970s!) and to work with local farmers to develop sources of local, seasonal food. I've followed her work with schoolyard gardens as well, where she was one of the first to show teachers and parents how gardens can improve kids' learning and their health. (Profits from In the Green Kitchen go to the Chez Panisse Foundation in support of Waters' schoolyard garden initiative, and the book is dedicated to the students at Martin Luther Middle School in Berkeley, where she pioneered the Edible Schoolyard curriculum.) So I'm biased.

But who isn't, after reading passages like this: "Cooking creates a sense of well-being for yourself and the people you love and brings beauty and meaning to everyday life. And all it requires is common sense--the common sense to eat seasonally, to know where your food comes from, to support and buy from local farmers and producers who are good stewards of our natural resources, and to apply the same principles of conservation to your own home kitchen."

The book is lovely to look at, with clean, readable design, great photography, and a wonderfully diverse assemblage of chefs demonstrating the techniques, many well-known, some not yet. The prose invites you in, takes your hand and welcomes you to the kitchen. My only quibble: the binding doesn't open flat. For a book intended to lie open on the kitchen counter while you use it, that's a flaw. But not enough of one to keep me from recommending it to every cook I know, and more.

Thanks, Alice! I'm inspired all over again, and in fact, I'm heading to the garden to pick some fresh lettuce for this evening's salad...

by Susan J. Tweit
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Recipes basic.Concepts refreshing.
The recipes in the book are pretty basic but would be excellent for a new cook.I really like that sophisticated tools and techniques are not required.The concepts of the book are refreshing.Use the best ingredients available and enjoy the authentic flavors.The pictures are great and the writing is soulful.I cook a lot and really enjoyed reading this one.

The Definitive Basics
Alice Waters' new book is a collaborative effort to document basic essential green kitchen techniques. The chefs contributing to the book include, of course Alice Waters, Traci Des Jardins, Fanny Singer (her daughter,) Joan Nathan, Gilbert Pilgram, Rick Bayless, Jerome Waag, Darina Allen, Scott Peacock, Clodagh McKenna, Angelo Garro, Beth Wells, Charlie Trotter, Lidia Bastianich, Poppy Tooker, David Tanis, Niloufer Ichaporia King, Oliver Rowe, Dan Barber, David Chang, Cal Peternell, Bryant Terry, Anna Lappe, Deborah Madison, Jean-Pierre Moulle, Thomas Keller, Joyce Goldstein, Paul Bertolli, Peggy Knickerbocker, Claire Ptak and Amarylll Schwertner.

Clearly aimed for either the beginning cook or one wishing to perfect the basics, the contents of the book are centered around the following techniques - washing lettuce, dressing a salad, flavoring a sauce, pounding a sauce, whisking mayonnaise, making bread, toasting bread,poaching an egg, simmering a stock, peeling tomatoes, boiling pasta, cooking rice, simmering beans, wilting greens, blanching greens, steaming vegetables, pickling vegetables, skinning peppers, shucking corn, roasting vegetables, filleting a fish, roasting a chicken, braising, roasting meat, grilling a steak, baking fruit and seasoning for flavor. Also included is a section for cooking equipment and one for stocking an organic pantry.

The proper technique is presented and a few recipes incorporating it follow. For example, the recipes in the simmering a stock section include Chicken Noodle Soup with Dill, Lentil Soup, and Leek o' Potato Soup. In the baking fruit section the recipes are Baked Peaches, Apple Galette and Nectarine o' Berry Cobbler. Simmering Beans includes Fresh Shell Beans, White Beans with Garlic o' Herbs, Shell Bean o' Vegetable Soup, and Fava Bean puree. I prepared the Grand Aioli and the Scalloped Potatoes - both were excellent.

A hardback book but it refuses, when open, to remain open on the counter, so a cookbook holder will be helpful. Other than in the titles of the recipes, the ink color is black, which makes reading a recipe while standing, looking down at the book on a counter, much easier. There are numerous photographs - all lovely - but there isn't a photo of every dish. The quality of the paper is good and although not high gloss, spills wiped up from the pages easily.

This is a book filled with essentials for every cook and although valuable to all, it will be most useful for a novice with a desire to learn proper techniques. It will make a great gift for the right cook.

A fantastic cookbook
I absolutely love this book! It truly shows you a better way of cooking and eating. The first recipe (viniagrette dressing) is so delicious it has me looking at fresh homemade food in a different way. This book has given me a goal of slowly removing processed food from my diet. ... Read more

Product Description
Only once did David Foster Wallace give a public talk on his views on life, during a commencement address given in 2005 at Kenyon College. The speech is reprinted for the first time in book form in THIS IS WATER. How does one keep from going through their comfortable, prosperous adult life unconsciously? How do we get ourselves out of the foreground of our thoughts and achieve compassion? The speech captures Wallace's electric intellect as well as his grace in attention to others. After his death, it became a treasured piece of writing reprinted in The Wall Street Journal and the London Times, commented on endlessly in blogs, and emailed from friend to friend.

Writing with his one-of-a-kind blend of causal humor, exacting intellect, and practical philosophy, David Foster Wallace probes the challenges of daily living and offers advice that renews us with every reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Underwhelming
Wow, I was really surprised at how underwhelming this little book was. I had heard an interview with the author and it sounded interesting, but the thoughts expressed by Wallace are nothing new, groundbreaking, or even that interesting. He basically expounds on living a life where one chooses the way in which one thinks, and thinking about other people instead of only oneself. Not being so "self" centered.

I was hoping for some kind of profound insight into living based on what I had heard, but this just sounds like a lot of eastern-religion-based philosophy with a large dose of common sense. Maybe I am too old and jaded by now to be enlightened by these words, I don't know. Also, knowing that the writer killed himself basically renders these words moot. I guess I shouldn't expect too much from a commencement speech.

This was my first book by this author, and I'm sorry I picked this one. I am still willing to try some other works by him, though, and hopefully I'll like one of those better.

Shameful recasting of a beautiful thing. Do not buy.
This is a horrible rendition of a wonderful speech. The layout misrepresents his words as aphorism-sized bites, and nothing could be further from the real piece. How can these sentences stand alone on a page?:

p 61

That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense.

p 122

That is being taught how to think.

There are piles of these stand-alone sentences that should have never stood alone. But even reading it in order, first page to last, leaves the sense of the thing messed with terribly. The cadence is as college students reading poetry in their coffee-house meetings. Why format the book in the way it's formatted? For sense? To pre-chew the speech and let me know what to think about it by breaking it up into parts that make an editor's points, not the speechmaker's? It's formatted this way so that it is stretched out to almost 140 pages that can bring in >$10.

This isn't even getting into the censorship of his original speech.

This is a shameful recasting of a fantastic speech. Shameful. For shame!

The most terrible thing is that we see a hint that, in death perhaps as in life, the people who were close to DWF clearly don't get it.

Do not buy this.

Worth Keeping in Your Back Pocket
My sister gave me this book about a month ago for my birthday. I had read it a long time ago on the internet, but I'd just scanned over it with mild interest and quickly had forgotten it.

I was a fool, of course, that time I read it. I'd done exactly what Wallace so eloquently warns against in "This is Water." I'd read it while entrapped within the prison of my self-concern. I had read it without full mindfulness, in a rush to move on to other things. And look what I had missed.

It's a beautiful book that reminds us of truths that float around us in many forms (he points out cliches) but that we somehow never seem fully to grasp. Wallace reminds us that if we live unconsciously, according to the default settings that focus on ourselves, we can end up living cynical and bitter lives. He instead urges awareness, so that we may experience even the most banal of experiences as "not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars -- compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things..."

Like I said, it's a beautiful book that I find worth reading over and over, just to remind myself, again, to pay attention.

One more note. I do very much appreciate the book form This is Water takes. The small volume is attractive. The speech is published with one sentence per page which serves to help the reader enact the skills that Wallace so urges in the book: awareness and thoughtfulness. It's a perfect example of form matching content, and even if This is Water is still available for free online, the book is well worth the cost.

Save your Money and buy the BANRR 2005!!!
This speech (as well as a lot of other awesome stories, articles, essays, quotes, first-lines, jokes) is included in the 2005 Best American Non-Required reading, which was edited by Dave Eggers.

[...]

Spend less money, and get a lot more out of it!

By the way, the speech is a great speech. You really should check it out.

Audio Version
First of all, this commencement address, in whatever form, is worth the price. I have the book form, or at least, did. Evidently my 18 year old took it with him to college.

Now, the audio form. From Audible. It is read by Wallace's sister, Amy, which I find distracting because:

(1) Wallace was not a woman and this is a first person address which should be read by a man. And don't give me any sexist equality nonsense on this. This speech is delivered from a man's POV, not a woman's. It's not something that is gender specific, but in my view, it is not something expressed in a way that a woman would express it.

Actually, since there is, as I understand it, an actually video of DFW reading it himself, there's no reason that the audio, however poor, should not have been stripped, enhanced, and sold instead of Amy's reading;

and (2) Amy "reads" it rather than "delivers" it. You can tell the difference. This reading requires an actor, or at least an actress, not a reader.

But still. This is the commencement speech your child should hear or read BEFORE going off to college. And after. And every year thereafter.

You, too.
... Read more

Product Description
This is the participant’s guide to the Silver Medallion award-winning six session curriculum based on the critically acclaimed author's book.John Ortberg teaches participants the skills essential to "water-walking" in faith with God: discerning God’s call, transcending fear, risking faith, managing failure, and trusting God. The separate complete curriculum kit includes a leader's guide, a participant's guide, a Closed Captioned DVD video and VHS video, and a hardcover edition of the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

I goofed , be careful
This is a work book not the book don't make the mistake I did and order the wrong item :)

If You Want to Walk on Water, You'Ve Got to Get Out of the Boat
This book was recommend for one of our Bible Study Groups.We have really enjoyed this book and would recommend that others read it.It really gives you an understanding of what it means to step out in Faith.Very readable. Good thought provoking questions at the end of each chapter, which makes it easier to use as a teaching and discussion tool.

Challenging to me at this time in my life
This book has been out for a while, but the title always made me laugh, so I had to read it. Ortberg does a great job challenging the Christian to trust God more in the way we live. It's not what we do, it's how we do it, and the way that Ortberg presents as the most godly fashion is to be willing to let God be God and to trust Him where He guides us. I, for one, don't want to live a life of regret, so I was personally challenged right now and am very glad I read it. It has given me confidence to take a step of faith where I'm not sure if I am going to sink or swim. OK, Jesus, I'm coming out--please help me to walk.

Somewhat cliche and cheesy.
Although this lesson had a lot of good points, our Bible study group found ourselves skipping a lot of questions because they were very repetitive. They are also a bit too guiding... many of the questions seem like there is always a "duh" answer, rather than encouraging real thought. That said... the video is good, and John Ortberg is engaging.

Desire and accomplishments!
This book is both challenging and entertaining!If you liked The Purpose Driven Life I think you'll find this takes your faith to yet another level! Lends itself to both individual and group study. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (22)

Light and Darkness
If you haven't read Karin Fossum, this is a good place to get acquainted with her dark secretive Inspector Sejer whose aloneness is never confused with loneliness.The impetus and consequences of unplanned evil are examined as Sejer unravels an unspeakable crime against an innocent in the primeval forests of Norway. The reader recognizes the people in Sejer's world, some of whom are recurring characters in Fossum's other books. Against an exquisitely drawn background Fossum brings the reader to Eden even as she exposes the sinister side of beauty and love in this moving book.

Scandinavian mystert
boughtafterhookedonWallander. Fossumisfastpaced and a goodread.

compelling
This is a very dark,character driven book.You get the feeling of living in the cold climate.Disturbing mental images and character development.

Over Rated
I read The Water's Edge because of all the hype about Scandinavian mystery writers. This book was okay. I agree with one reviewer who wrote that this story could have taken place in Minnesota . It could have taken place also in any ruralarea of eastern and midwest United States. The two detectives were not very appealing. Some of the characters(the mothers) in the story were well drawn ,. The plot was okay and I did learn a little about the law in Sweden. I'm going to read another novel bY Fossum inorder to see if she lives up to all the raves.

Bleak and lacking in a sense of place
I read this because with two Swedish grandparents I am interested in Sweden and I also enjoy crime and thriller novels. On the crime side, this book was a competent procedural, but just relentlessly bleak. It was impossible to warm up to ANY of the characters, even the protagonist. On the other hand, the book seemed to have no sense of place. There was nothing to distinguish the locale from Minnesota or Washington. A huge disappointment. ... Read more

Product Description

Former small-town sheriff Cork O'Connor leads a desperate search-and-rescue mission into the unforgiving Minnesota wilderness in this "gritty, bloody adventure" (Publishers Weekly) from critically acclaimed author William Kent Krueger's award-winning thriller series

The Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh -- a country-western singer at the height of her fame -- has disappeared.

Her father arrives in Aurora, Minnesota, to hire former sheriff Cork O'Connor to find his daughter, and Cork joins a search party that includes an ex-con, two FBI agents, and a ten-year-old boy. Others are on Shiloh's trail as well -- men hired not just to find her, but to kill her.

As the expedition ventures deeper into the wilderness, strangers descend on Aurora, threatening to spill blood on the town's snowy streets. Meanwhile, out on the Boundary Waters, winter falls hard. Cork's team of searchers loses contact with civilization, and like the brutal winds of a Minnesota blizzard, death -- violent and sudden -- stalks them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Poorly researched book centered in the BWCA
The author clearly did not thoroughly research the ecology of the Boundary Waters before writing this book.He references a number of plants that simply do not exist in the BWCA.Furthermore, the book starts off in a 'cabin' in the BWCA even though the last cabin (Dorothy Molter's) was removed in 1987.A half-hearted attempt to educate himself on the flora and fauna of the region, along with the rules and regulations that have come to form the boundary waters, would have made this book slightly more realistic.

Cork O'Connor rides again
Good story...great descriptions of the scenery...enough twists and tangles to make me keep on reading util the end.

$11.99?I don't think so.
$11.99 for an e-book from 1999?I like the author and enjoy his books, but he needs to have a word with his publisher. I'll wait until the price comes below $10 and if it doesn't there are plenty of other books to read.

Great book, Cruddy publisher
I just discovered William Kent Krueger and Boundary Waters is the second Cork O'Corcoran book I've purchased and read.It is a great thriller and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

The Kindle version was overpriced. The book is available in paperback, publisher's list, at $7.99, I would have paid that for it on the Kindle without thinking twice. But the Kindle version is $12.00.Additionally, the conversion to Kindle format was full of typos ("clock" for "glock", "if" for "in", they occurred every couple paragraphs). Also odd characters (question marks in boxes the result of sloppy conversion/reformatting) appear in the text.And most insulting to a reader who paid 11.99, the copyright page includes the information that the cost of the book is $7.99.

I would like to read the rest of this series, but I don't appreciate being treated like dirt.

This author and this series will rivot you to your seat
I was looking for a new author and a new series.I got more than I could ever wish for with William Kent Krueger.He takes you to places of the heart you don't expect, and dishes it up in heaping amounts.

I love authors that use good words at the right time and this author does.He gives your mind wonderful pictures and phrases that make you go back and read parts again.

Not to mention suspense and conflict enough to rivot you to your seat and you dare not leave.

I love this author and the characters he has created. ... Read more

Product Description
A do-it-yourself guide to designing, building, and maintaining water tanks, cisterns and ponds, and sustainably managing groundwater storage. It will help you with your independent water system, fire protection, and disaster preparedness, at low cost and using principles of ecological design. Includes building instructions for several styles of ferro cement water tanks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Not helpful
I've bought this book because I wanted to know how we could manage the overflow from our tank and store this overflow water in various ponds and the like. This book didn't help at all because it only refers to big projects and states that the contractor will know how to build the dam wall. I didn't find anything helpful for our situation.
Furthermore it is written like a school book, kind of boring.

water storage
great book on water storage.sometimes a little technical but the average person can understand what is going on.great book on storage of water

Nice compendium of info and illustrations
Water is our quiet crisis, much greater than fuel.Ironic that GM is spending billions to develop hydro-fueled cars, when by the time they get them to market, we will have clean water more costly than carbon fuels are now.This book is a good how-to manual explaining the construction of water storage components and pros and cons of each design. I especially appreciated the pictures.The book was so good in fact that a friend swiped mine and I'll need to get another copy.Perhaps that should rate the book 5 stars?

Storage we need
I enjoyed this book, and it had some great ideas. The big expense for all of these is not so much collecting the rain, even in the desert where I live, but storing the rain. The secret to saving water is storage, storage, storage. We are not talking rain barrels here, but as the author points out we need large storage capacity. He has great advice on purchasing tanks, building tanks etc. but even building your own is way out of my price range for now. Still, I really enjoyed the book and can't wait until the day I can build one his ideas.

Too much
I am not familiar with rain storage and was looking for an intruduction and guide.This book was too detailed for me! ... Read more

Product Description
Michael Dorris has crafted a fierce saga of three generations of Indian women, beset by hardships and torn by angry secrets, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of kinship. Starting in the present day and moving backward, the novel is told in the voices of the three women: fifteen-year-old part-black Rayona; her American Indian mother, Christine, consumed by tenderness and resentment toward those she loves; and the fierce and mysterious Ida, mother and grandmother whose haunting secrets, betrayals, and dreams echo through the years, braiding together the strands of the shared past. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (149)

Rafting
Required reading for my son who is in high school and passed it on to me.The characters are very real and the secrets make it interesting.The writing was overly descriptive for my taste but the plot twists kept it rolling and I gave it four stars.

Book for class a good one
This book was required for my english honors class and turned out to be a great book. Thanks for making it easy to get since some of my classmates waited weeks for the book to arrive at the local bookstore.

Shows a lot of promise, but it turns out to be a bit of a disappointment
"A Yellow Raft in Blue Water" was written in 1987 by the late Michael Dorris, and it's separated into three viewpoints (future, present, and past). The main story revolves around three Native-American women (Rayona, her mother Christine, & Christine's mother Aunt Ida) and it shows us how the past has affected the present, and how the future is currently being affected by the present. This is a fairly unique structure that I have never seen in other books. However, as we go from the future to the past, it goes from great to worse. Rayona's story (the first one-third of the book) is revealed as a promising start to the rest of the story, but when Christine's story (the next one-third) is told, the writing, as well as the flow and atmosphere of the plot, starts to feel dry and mechanical. It's not until we get to Aunt Ida's story (the last one-third) that the book fails almost entirely as the writing falls flat and the climax feels forced.

"A Yellow Raft in Blue Water" is basically a bit of a letdown. It's not too bad, but it's still not enough for me to recommend it. I credit Michael Dorris, however, for giving us at least a compelling first half, where the characters are interesting and the writing is fairly crisp. Too bad the novel isn't able to redeem itself with the second half.

Grade: C-

Boring
Boring. The idea to write from the three characters point of view could have been a good one, if something exciting had happened to any of them.I kept waiting for something but all it did was drag on and on.

Immoral and inappropriate for minors
I am not reviewing the story.I am reviewing and warning parents about the content of this book.There are explicit sexual references, offensive slang describing the male genitalia of the girls lover, immoral adult themes, numerous uses of the "F" word and the "S" word, a priest sexually assaults the girl in the story.This book should be banned from schools. Kids get punished in school for using profanity yet the teachers are making them study this filth.What happened to studying venerated classics like Macbeth, Don Quixote, or the Iliad and Odyssey? ... Read more

Product Description
The author of the bestselling celebration of discipline explores the great traditions of christian spirituality and their role in spiritual renewal today

In this landmark work, Foster examines the "streams of living water" -- the six dimensions of faith and practice that define Christian tradition. He lifts up the enduring character of each tradition and shows how a variety of practices, from individual study and retreat to disciplines of service and community, are all essential elements of growth and maturity. Foster examines the unique contributions of each of these traditions and offers as examples the inspiring stories of faithful people whose lives defined each of these "streams."

Customer Reviews (23)

Learning from the wealth and diversity of Christian traditions
Richard Foster, Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith (London: HarperCollins, 1999)
Many of us develop, at one time or another, an interest to know something of our historical roots. This volume looks at out spiritual roots in the life of Jesus, through church history and the different streams or traditions that we can draw from:
* The prayer-filled life of the Contemplative tradition addresses the human longing for the practice of the presence of God - that shows us the way to intimacy with God.
* The Holiness tradition focuses on the purity of our inner lives and character.
* The Spirit-empowered way of living of the Charismatic tradition addresses our deep yearning for God to be present and working among us.
* The Evangelical tradition addresses our crying need to see the good news lived & hear the good news proclaimed.
* The compassionate way of living of the Social Justice tradition addresses the gospel call to live out justice and peace in all our relationships & structures.
* The incarnational life addresses our crying need to experience God as truly manifest and notoriously active in daily life.
This is a comprehensive overview of different ways of knowing and growing in God.

Originally reviewed in Darren Cronshaw `The Emerging Church: Spirituality and Worship Reading Guide.' Zadok Papers S159 (Autumn 2008).

Celebrating "Streams"
After hearing Richard Foster speak a number of years ago on the varieties of Christian orthodoxy, I wrote him to thank him for his vision of Christian unity, and asked if he would ever consider writing a book on Church History. His written reply was "such a book is underway". "Streams of Living Water" is the beautiful result. Foster's vision of these six great "streams" of Christian faith has greatly helped me understand the grandeur, and complexity of the Christian faith. For those of you reading this who are Christian, perhaps there has been a time when you felt misunderstood by another fellow Christian simply because of the language and theological emphasis you both used to express the heart of the Christian faith. Foster helps us see this unique language and various "streams" within the larger river of orthodox Christianity. The SIX STREAMS OF LIVING WATER: 1)HOLINESS; 2)EVANGELICAL; 3)SOCIAL JUSTICE; 4)CONTEMPLATIVE; 5)CHARISMATIC; 6)SACRAMENTAL/INCARNATIONAL. Thanks to Foster's great work, I refer to these theological titles now to describe various forms of the Christian faith, and avoid denominational labels and also overly-simplistic labels such as "conservative/liberal" to understand someone's Christian faith. Each of the six streams have their central focus, their unique gift to offer the world and the church. Each is a highly valued part of greater Christianity. Each is found within the heart and life of Jesus, the founder and center of all Christianity. I give thanks to Foster for his excellent work of building up the Church through RENOVARE' and through this excellent work. As a reader, you will discover 'case studies' from church history, telling the stories of exemplary people who swam in that stream. There are also chronological lists of historical figures/movements from each stream. Finally, you'll find ways these streams can grow the Church today, helping the Church to reveal the richness of the love of God in human lives. For another book drawing upon the rich heritage of Christian spirituality, this one focusing upon family spirituality, see The Busy Family's Guide to Spirituality: Practical Lessons for Modern Living From the Monastic Tradition

A Little Too Much of the Good Stuff
Some people like to hear themselves talk, some people like to read what they write...and read and read and read....Richard J. Foster is one of those people.

He takes what could have been a great, great book and diminishes its power and impact by words, words and more words. He leaves "no stone" unturned, and therein lies the problem.He book is good, very good, but its too long and too wordy.

It's as if he intended it to be the be-all and end-all of religious thought. His organization is excellent, his insight keen, effective and meaningful, but by the time you get to the end of the chapter, you are worn out with the words, words, words and words.Mr. Foster either needed an editor or needs to learn to write more concisely.

Still, however, this book is well worth reading for the serious Christian and for interested in understanding and/or coming to terms with the many and varied manifestations of the Christian Faith.

What should have been a delightful and meaningful read of an outstanding piece of work, turns out to feel like work, work and more work. Should have been a five-star or higher book, but excessive writing brings it down to a four-star work.Still very, very valuable to the faith and understanding of the faith.

i am happy
i am satisfied about your service. when i ordered first time books through amazon, i was suspicious to getting good service. but as i use amazon, now i do not worry about anything.

thanks

from south korea daniel yang

Streams of Living Water
This book provides a great review of the diversity of the Christian Spirit that prevails in todays world.The details of the people that lived their spirit in their every day life is enlightening.The historical view of the origin of each stream is very interesting and written in a way that makes Richard Foster's prose very exciting. ... Read more

Product Description
Filled with stop-action and close-up photography, an early scientific book features such images as a single snowflake and a falling drop of water, accompanied by introductions to such concepts as evaporation and condensation.Amazon.com Review
The curious, protean nature of water has fascinated people for ages, and Walter Wick--the photographer of Scholastic's highly acclaimed I Spy series--is no exception. Wick is a great admirer and collector of 100-year-old science books where, according to his afterword, "Even the simplest experiments appeared as if improbable or impossible things were happening. Intrigued, I recreated some of the experiments and photographed them with my camera. The results seemed magical, but not because of any photographic trick; it was only the forces of nature at work. It was from these explorations that the idea for this book emerged."

As you're admiring the "crown" created by a water drop splashing into a pool, or how many water droplets can fit on the head of a pin (the smallest droplet on the pin contains more than three trillion water molecules), you'll learn about evaporation, condensation, snowflakes, how clouds form, and more amazing water tricks. Wick's other artfully composed photographs include a "wild wave" caused by a brown egg dropped in a water glass, soap bubbles with a "shimmering liquid skin," a snowflake at 60 times its actual size, and dew on a spider web. Like many old-fashioned science books, A Drop of Water ends with a list of simple experiments may lure the young reader into the world of scientific investigation. Unlike many old science books, this one also stands on its own as a beautiful, notable collection of photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Appeals to all ages
A Drop of Water is a book that appeals to all ages. Children too young to sit throughthe text will be fascinated by the stunning photographs. Older children will be amazed by the experiments as well as the gorgeous photography. Adults, too, will wonder at the incredible facts shared as well as the spectacular photographs. I can tell my children that water has xyz properties, but to actually see these amazing properties inspires wonder and amazement.

Science is Beautiful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R10PZD4EDPGZ5F This is a perfect book to awaken and nurture an appreciation of the natural world and science in young readers. The photography is brilliant, the writing is clear, and the experiments are fun.

A Drop of Water
The book came to me in mint condition. The book itself is a perfect demonstration of the life-giving qualities of water. I am using it to teach about water to my biology class.

Just so wonderful!
If you have a budding young scientist in your circle, I strongly urge you to purchase A Drop Of Water as an inspiration to further learning in the arts and sciences. Walter Wick is an amazing talent, and all his books are worth your time and money.

The beauty of the photography is a wonder to behold.

Very highly recommended. You'll keep this book forever.

A perfect science picture book
Beautiful pictures and a wide variety of science related to water is illustrated.A thoughtful teacher grades 3-8 could easily construct a full science unit from this well constructed picture book. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the most astonishing and intimate accounts of spiritual transformation ever written, this is the true story of an African's shaman's initiation--a remarkable sharing of living African traditions, offered with compassion for those struggling with our contemporary crisis of spirit. Author media. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

Everyone show acknowledge the possibilities
I loved this book.It is very powerful and engaging.I recommend it to anyone with an open mind or a sense of adventure.A wonderful story of overcoming personal challenges and returning to ones' roots.

I have not even red the book but I agree with the spiritual foundation.
I myself is African, albeit from a time when the grip of forced christianism was receding quite a bit and we were able to engage in discussion upon the merits and sins of christianism or any other messianic religion. Like the author, I have attended a christian school from early age and was rather a faithful christian even if I could still feel a certain emptiness in me in regard to the merits of that spiritual path. I have come to realize, through diverse inquiries that most of the christian religious foundations are mere borrowing of African spirituality. From such a perspective, it was therefore important for me to return to the core teachings of African religious practices and garner as much wisdom as possible! I was not ready to be faced with so much knowledge ranging for sciences, to arts, to philosophy, aesthetic...etc. I grew extremely angry for I realized that all these "sciences" have been painted to me as foreign were well alive in our cultures, yet like many other young Africans, I have ignored them. My embracing of my African spirituality has made me a complete person, confident, proud and ambitious. Indeed, knowledge is a weapon and we African must re-arm ourselves with our million years legacy and diverse civilization and try to incorporate them into today's technological age.

One of a kind, as in uniquely unbelievable!
What an amazing writer Malidoma is! He writes with so much first hand and eloquently expressed insight into the disparities between the Western mindset and the consciousness of African village life with its inconceivable mysteries and traditions. This book makes books of questionable authenticity such as Mutant Down Under and the Don Juan books seem silly and mundane; the magical unfoldings witnessed by Malidoma are beyond even the wildest events in Harry Potter, and yet you can feel the authenticity of Malidoma's experience in his rich and heartfelt language.

I wish I could get to one of his workshops!

Life Changing
This book is filled with metaphors and wisdom which would benefit anyone
on a spiritual journey whether it be shamanic or otherwise. Instead of
allowing the traumas of life stop him, Malidoma used them as the fuel and
inspiration to move forward. Not only is this a true story but it is a
well written account of Malidoma's life.

Without repeating others
This book is a transformative agent that releases the Western mind of all false concepts of spirituality and the spiritual world. I highly recommend this book. Recognize that you will not be the same after completing this journey in the form of literature. Bless! ... Read more

Product Description
Living Water is a compelling saga of Brother Yun's sacrifice to bring Jesus and the Bible to non-believers. Through his dynamic teachings, Brother Yun shares a message of radical trust and authentic Christian discipleship to churches around the world. Using the message of the Bible and interweaving it with stories of life-changing faith, Living Water distills the wisdom of this courageous Christian man who suffered intense persecution for his beliefs. Brother Yun challenges Christians to go deeper in their faith, and become bold in their witness for Christ. He shows how God can make you as bold as a lion, and bring your days as a timid Christian to an end. The book of Acts continues today in the lives of courageous believers like Brother Yun. An inspirational challenge to deeper discipleship, Living Water offers moving stories of struggles and victories, miracles of grace and mountains moved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Trials and perseverance!
I started reading this book about three weeks ago for our women's bible study. We are to read fifty pages a week which is hard to do because this book is so hard to put down. Brother Yun's testimony is very inspirational and very clear in relaying the message that we must all be obedient to what God is telling us when we take the time to listen and follow his direction.

Living Water
These are the teachings that we are missing in the church in america! These are the teachings we need to turn the stagnant pond of american churches back into a raging river of living water! This book is will bring a great awakening to all who read it!!! Jay...

Spiritual Wisdom Taught By A Chinese Martyr
An excellent book filled with wisdom learned in a prison cell in China, for serving Christ. Not only does Brother Yun share what the Lord taught him as he suffered in prison, but also as he traveled around the world sharing the gospel of Christ.
He has much to share about the condition of many churches in the Western world. His observations are presented with the concerned spirit of one "blowing the trumpet" to awaken "dead" or "dying" Christians.
Throughout the book, scripture is liberally used and its application to modern Christian experience is both delightful and instructive.
For anyone interested in their own personal spiritual growth and/or for learning how to do God's work God's way rather than their own, this book should help meet those needs.

good
service was quick and mailing was effecient. product came in excellent condition. was a gift for a family member and they seem to enjoy it.

First Century Christianity
Many excuses have been given as to why today's church lacks the power of the First Century Church.This book, together with Yun's book The Heavenly Man, makes clear that the Church can and does operate with power today in China.Yun clearly sets forth the differences between the Chinese Church and the Western Church.The answers are here from Scripture. The only thing lacking is for the Western Church to take action. ... Read more

Product Description
An upper-class woman, recovering from a suicide attempt, visits the women's ward of Millbank prison as part of her rehabilitation. There she meets Selina, an enigmatic spiritualist-and becomes drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, until she is at last driven to concoct a desperate plot to secure Selina's freedom, and her own.

"Unfolds sinuously and ominously...a powerful plot-twister. The book is multidimensional: a naturalistic look at Victorian society; a truly suspenseful tale of terror; and a piece of elegant, thinly veiled erotica." (USA Today)

"Gothic tale, psychological study, puzzle narrative-Sarah Waters' second novel is all of these wrapped into one, served up to superbly suspenseful and hypnotic effect." (The Seattle Times)Amazon.com Review
Affinity is a tale of power and possession that Henry James himself might admire. In her first novel, Tipping theVelvet, Sarah Waters explored secrets and longing--capping off thislesbian romp with a utopian-socialist vision. Her intricate follow-up isjust as sensual but infinitely darker, its moral more difficult to descry.Its stylistic and psychological rewards, however, are visible at everyturn, the author's persuasive imagination matched by her gift forstorytelling.

In late September 1874, Margaret Prior makes her way through the pentagonsof London's Millbank Prison, a place of fearful symmetry and endlesscorridors. This plain woman on the verge of 30 has come to comfort thosebehind bars, several of whom Waters brings to instant, sad life. And ourLady Visitor plans to take herrole dead seriously, having recovered from two years of nervous indolencein her family's Chelsea house. One person, however, makes her job apassion. Opening an inspection slit (or "eye" as these devices are known),Margaret hears "a perfect sigh, like a sigh in a story." Peeringinward, she's confronted by the most erotic of visions--a woman turnedtoward the sun, caressing her cheek with a forbidden violet: "As I watched, she put the flower to her lips, and breathed upon it, and the purpleof the petals gave a quiver and seemed to glow..."

Selina Dawes may indeed have the face of a Crivelli angel, but this mediumis in for fraud and assault, her last session having gone very badlyindeed. Suffice it to say that the first full encounter between these twovery different women is enthralling. "You think spiritualism a kind offancy," Selina riddles. "Doesn't it seem to you, now you are here, thatanything might be real, since Millbank is?" And soon enough Margaretreceives several viable signs of the supernatural: a locket disappears fromher room, flowers mysteriously appear, and her dazzling friend knowseverything about her. Strangest of all, Selina seems to love her.

As Margaret records her weekly prison forays, her own past comes intofocus, notably her plans to travel to Italy with her first love (who is nowher sister-in-law). But her current journal, she convinces herself, is tobe very different from her last one, which "took as long to burn as humanhearts, they say, do take." Meanwhile, Waters offers a narrativetwo-for-one, placing Margaret's diary cheek by jowl with Selina's chronicleof her pre-Millbank existence. This dispassionate, staccato recordinitially suggests that we can separate truth from desire. Or can we? WhatWaters's haunting creation leaves us with is a more painful reality--thatknowledge and belief are entirely different things. --Kerry Fried ... Read more

Customer Reviews (88)

Atmospheric and haunting
Atmospheric and at times quite creepy, this novel explores the charlatans of Victorian England who pretended to be able to contact the spirit realm. Waters has a talent for creating characters who are likeable even when they do pretty distasteful things.

Haunting.
I don't think I will say too much, except that this book has touched me in a place where nothing else has. I was enthralled right from the beginning. Sarah Waters writing is so, so beautiful. Every single word was written with care.

When I got the the end, I was struck with pain. It's very, very powerful and has stayed with me ever since.

Is something wrong with the Kindle Edition I have?
I want to know whether my Kindle edition is like the published book. In my Kindle edition, one of the final chapters, 18 July 1873, begins with Selina writing about meeting Madeliene. Suddenly, after a number of pages, after the sentence: "She is to come to us tomorrow, at half past 2." the narrative breaks back to Margaret writing in 1874 with "I cannot say what time it is." and continues with her until the end of the chapter, when 1 August 1873 begins. Maybe just a chapter title is missing but I am worried that it is more. Can anyone say what the paper book is like? (Sadly, I can't a hold of a paper copy without getting on a plane.) Thanks

Affinity as written, is an awesome thing. Not as perfect as Fingersmith. More original than Tipping the Velvet, which is saying something. I agree with other reviews in that I haven't decided whether I like the book. I could write a lot but it wouldn't be much different what other's have written. It is not an easy book to categorize.

Mediums and madness

I first met Sarah Waters work in Fingersmith, her very Dickensian novel, and one that I adored. Affinity is even better.

Margaret Prior is a young upper-class Victorian woman. Following her recovery from a suicide attempt, she engages in the "good work" of a prison visitor to the women's prison at Millbank. There, she is drawn to Selina Dawes, a medium who has been convicted of assault following a séance that ended with her mentor dead and a young woman traumatized.

The book is told in two alternating stories: that of Selina, telling of the events leading to the fateful night, and that of Margaret, beginning as she starts her prison visits. Gradually, we learn a great deal about Margaret. Her father was a scholar of Renaissance art, she his amanuensis. Her intellectual leanings made her feel a bit out of place from the rest of her family, and her father's death hit her hard. The loss of the long longed-for trip to Italy is compounded by the fact that her about-to-be-married sister is to honeymoon there, and her socially conforming mother cannot provide the sympathy or empathy she needs.All the more so because yet another loss cannot be spoken of.How can she reveal that she and her brother's wife were once, it seems, more than friends?Her inner thoughts, her psychology, unfold.

Selina is not opened to us so much. Her story is more of action. "This is what happened, this is what I learned, this is what I did." Not so much of "this is what I thought", "this is how I feel". Miss Selina Dawes, medium, becomes aware of her spiritualist powers, is taken up by the community and learns how to use those powers, becomes the protegée of the wealthy Mrs. Brink and ends up in prison.Selina comes to us more through Margaret's reaction to her than through herself.

Waters' descriptive abilities are extraordinary. Her limning of the physical and psychological constraints of Millbank prison are dead on. And this book contains what may be one of the creepiest passages of writing I have ever read. Margaret has gone to a spiritualist society, where she has seen moulds of human parts, including one which is supposed to be the hand of Dawes' spirit guide, Peter Quick. She imagines that hand coming to visit Selina in prison."It would be silent, dark and very still; the shelves of moulds, however, might not lie still. The wax might ripple. The lips upon the spirit-face might twitch, and the eyelids roll; the dimple upon the baby's arm would grow deeper as the arm unfolded -- so I saw it now, in Selina's cell, as I stepped form her and shuddered. The swollen fingers of Peter Quick's fist -- I saw, them, I saw them! -- were uncurling, and flexing. Now the hand was inching its way cross the shelf, the fingers drawing the palm over the wood. Now they were parting the cabinet doors -- they left smears upon the glass."

Note the name: Peter Quick. That's no accident. Affinity's ambivalence over the question of "ghosts or madness", its exploration of psychological control, of possession, of power relationships, owes a good deal to Henry James The Turn of the Screw.

This is a stunning novel.And the end will rip you up.

Tonight I will sleep fitfully - an Affinity review
Tonight I will sleep fitfully, haunted more by a young spiritualist than by her spirits.Artfully crafted, using imagery that springs to mind so vividly one would think it a memory, Sarah Waters has fashioned yet another masterpiece.

The year is 1874.Selina Dawes, a mysterious and powerful young spirit-medium is imprisoned in a monstrous and daunting women's gaol, Millbank.Jailed after a botched spirit-communication lead to the death of her patron, Selina is visited by no one but her spirit friends until a local mistress comes to visit the prisoners.

The visitor, Margaret Prior, is a young lady of London, highly educated and brought up as assistant to her late father, an arts professor. Despairing his absence from her life, Margaret travels about in something of haze--looking for something she knows not what.When she encounters Dawes, Margaret is simultaneously scared witless by the girl and entranced by her power.The women's relationship builds with Margaret learning more about Dawes from newspapers and first hand accounts, than from her fleeting and bewildering encounters with Selina.

Interspersed with short journal entries from Selina's days as a burgeoning spirit-medium conducting séances, the story follows Margaret's research as she seeks to uncover the mystery of Selina's past, her powers, and why she is so affected by her.Although the reader is not privy to Selina's current thoughts, her journal entries, coupled with her unexplainable powers and knowledge of the spirit realm make her enticing and irresistible.In stark and painful contrast to her exciting prison visits, Margaret's everyday life unfortunately is constantly rearing its ugly head.Her sister is getting married and the preparations fill her days with a dreary stupor.

Although Affinity could hardly be called frightening, it is nevertheless haunting.Descriptions of landscapes, buildings, rooms, etc. feel so intensely ominous that they end up being far scarier than accounts of the spirit encounters.Affinity's characters can be trusted to illicit your empathy, pity, sorrow, hatred, wonder, love and lust (and in my cast jealousy).Being at once a tale of impropriety and youthful indiscretion between girls, and a bildungsroman of Margaret's spiritual and sexual development, one cannot but feel compassion toward its struggling young lovers.
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Product Description
Like the highest mountain peaks, deserts are environmentsthat can be inhospitable even to the most seasoned explorers. As CraigChilds makes clear in this highly praised book, there are two easyways to die in the desert: thirst or drowning. His extraordinary treksthrough arid lands in search of water - mysterious solitary waterholes, a network of streams that flow only at night, a gushingfountain that conceals a hidden lake, serene and otherworldy - are anastonshing revelation of the natural world at its most extreme.Amazon.com Review
The "essence of the American desert," as the subtitle of Craig Childs'sbook has it, is water. A desert, by definition, lacks it, but when waterdoes come, it comes in torrential, sometimes devastating abundance. Childs,a thirtysomething desert rat with a vast knowledge of the Southwest'sremote corners, knows this fact well. "Most rain falling anywhere but thedesert comes slow enough that it is swallowed by the soil without comment,"he observes. "Desert rains, powerful and sporadic, tend to hit the ground,gather into floods, and are gone before the water can sink five inches intothe ground."

The travels that Childs recounts in this vivid narrative take him fromplaces sometimes parched, sometimes swimming, from the depths of the GrandCanyon to the dry limestone tanks of the lava-strewn Sonoran Desert. As hetravels, Childs gives a close reading of the desert landscape ("the moral,"he writes at one point, "is that if you know the land and its maps, youmight live"), observing the rocks, plants, animals, and people that call ithome. Some of his adventures will remind readers of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire--savethat Childs writes without Abbey's bluster, and with a measured lyricismthat well suits the achingly lovely back canyons and cactus forests of theSouthwest. By turns travelogue, ecological treatise, and meditative essay,Childs's book will speak to anyone who has spent time under desert skies,wondering when the next drop of rain might fall. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

Southwest Reading List
If you're planning a trip to the American Southwest, I'd put this atop the reading list to broaden your appreciation of the desert terrain.Each chapter lends a new angle, a new detail.Some make great "Can you believe this?" type facts to share with your friends.You'll talk about this book, not read it in silence.You'll find the desert exists and is formed by the presence of water, as are the people, flora and fauna who reside within.The power of the flash flood will be something you'll understand more deeply, and seeing the Grand Canyon, you'll have a new appreciation for the events that comprise its formation.Most of all, you'll travel with Craig and get to know a hardened desert traveler who explores the deeper regions of his heart in full view.It's a quick read, but not quickly forgotten.

Interesting for Naturalist
As an amateur naturalist, I enjoyed reading this book.I was amazed at the many personalities that water can take on in the desert.I have been to some of the areas that Childs writes about in this book, which made it a little more personal to myself.While the book may not be quite as interesting to someone who is not as inspired by nature as I am, I thought it was a terrific read!

Breathtaking in its scope and understanding
Kurt Harding's review is lovely.I can only add that this book is best read late at night when you are still and all alone because it will transport you to places far removed from where you are -- and you will want to go and not be interrupted.The book is deeply meditative in tone, yet can be startling, too -- more than once my hushed gasps for air broke the silence of my surroundings.The book will also teach you about innumerable dangers that exist in the desert; hence the words at the top of the front cover: "There are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst and drowning."The thirst we understand, but drowning?I was drawn to these words remembering years ago a geomorphology professor warning his class to "never, ever dillydally while crossing an arroyo."Sometimes these water-carved channels can be so wide that you fail to recognize what you're walking through.The sky over your head can be clear and bright and the dirt beneath your feet hot, dry, and dusty yet suddenly you look up to find a wall of water bearing down on you.Such floodwaters from heavy or torrential rains hundreds of miles away can suddenly reach you via the typically flat-bottomed gully you're in -- and travel countless miles more, carrying you with it in its violent journey.Be sure to re-read the first paragraph of the Amazon.com editorial review.And get this book: It's a masterpiece.

The enormity of the desert southwest...
After being northern Rockies types for many years, we have fallen in love with the desert southwest recently and spend a good chunk of May there each year.In addition to all of the great desert stuff in this book (as other reviewers have noted), one aspect I love is how he captures one of my favorite aspects of it all:the idea of rarely visited canyons that lead to other rarely visited canyons, etc.The idea that there is always more interesting stuff (the water holes, the waterfall out of the cliff, etc.) out there to be found is comforting.Really enjoyed this...

One quick *warning* to potential readers:without having read the rest of the book (of course), I found the flowery Introduction horribly overwritten and almost put this book down.And some might not find the first chapter as enjoyable as the rest of the book.Keep with it and you will be rewarded.After completing the book and having a understanding the depth at which the author feels all this, I re-read the Introduction and found it consistent rather than horribly overwritten.

I really, REALLY enjoy Craig Childs' writing. Here's why...
The title intrigued me from the start, and the cover illustration of not-quite-a-reflection hooked me. His writing evokes some powerful images, and I frequently reread passages I can't get out of my head. The emergence stories stayed with me: those that stayed behind and those allowed to be born, are written in some of the most arresting language I've read. He described the silence in a back cave of an underground river. It is the total silence of a hidden place in the earth, not that of a windless field, but that which inhabits an almost unimaginable dimension. Reading his language and imagery provides me with a deep and indelible pleasure. I recommend this book highly and I intend to read much, much more by him, and I can't wait until my books come! I heard an interview on NPR when he was discussing his book, Animal Dialogues. He has a rare and lasting reverence for nature and its inhabitants, and boy, do I like Craig Childs' writing! ... Read more

Product Description
When Tom, an ill-treated little chimney-sweep, jumps into a clear, cool stream to clean himself something magical happens; he is turned into a tiny water baby by the fairies. He enters a strange, magical underwater world, and travels beyond the world's end to the other end-of-nowhere, getting into all sorts of scrapes and encountering creatures beautiful and frightening along the way. He also learns many important lessons - it is a voyage of discovery that Tom will never forget. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Classic Children's Story from bygone years
Water Babies is a story that nearly all children with access to books before 1960 would have encountered. Beautifully written - usuallyexcellently illustrated - with a whimsical story line provoking young imaginations in the same way as Wind in the Willows.
Even older children and today's parents might review the book to consider giving their young ones of today a taste of a bygone literay gem.

Classic Fairytale
I loved the movie when I was little, now I have the book to read to my own child.

Annotated edition of "Water Babies"
Handsome new edition annotated with the latest scholarship reflecting Charles Kingsley's acceptance of Darwinian thought.Highly recommended.

Beautiful story, beautiful book.
Reading this really makes you want to get away, just like Tom does in the story. Although this is sort of a longish fairy tale, it is delightful and intriguing. For me, though, this book's biggest selling point is the illustrations by Warwick Goble. As a fairy tale fan, I first came across Goble in The Moon Maiden and Other Japanese Fairy Tales, where all the color illustrations are in the middle of the book. Here, they are sprinkled throughout the book, more closely accompanying the story, and adding that much more to the reader's enjoyment. While the text is crisply printed on stone-white paper, the color illustrations have a glossy finish that really makes them pop. Old and young should derive plenty of satisfaction from this book.

Just a beautiful tale
I read this book nearly half a century ago in my native England, then I read it to my American step daughter, and saw the same sense of wonder and delight in her face that I probably had on mine.It taught me Karma, it taught me the value of home, that kindness can be a gift; and it still provides the subtitles to emotions I feel today - "to the sea, to the sea".Perhaps it struck a chord with me, the father of another man's child, rereading Tom's struggles to find his way without a parent.It was a sweet return. ... Read more

Product Description
Enthusiastically embraced by critics, readers, and booksellers across the country, this powerful novel of obsession and betrayal is now available in paperback. When a photographer researches a legendary crime that took place a century earlier, she immerses herself in the details of the case--and finds herself caught in the grip of an uncontrollable emotion.Amazon.com Review
A newspaper photographer, Jean, researches the lurid andsensational ax murder of two women in 1873 as an editorial tie-in witha brutal modern double murder. (Can you guess which one?) Shediscovers a cache of papers that appear to give an account of themurders by an eyewitness. The plot weaves between the narrative of theeyewitness and Jean's private struggle with jealousies and suspicionsas her marriage teeters. A rich, textured novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (216)

Gorgeous Writing
Absolutely compelling and gorgeously written!I love Anita Shreve's voice although I can understand it may not be for everybody.The ending (to both stories) although hinted at throughout, was still devastating.I found myself wanting to read it all over again after I was done, which for me is a rare occurrence.

Too expensive
I really want to read this book, but I will not pay $9.99 for an electronic copy.

I wouldn't recommend this book
I really appreciate Anita Shreve's writing ability.This book, however, was very depressing.The historical facts of the 100-year-old murder was interesting but the fictional tragedy that took place at the end of the book was too disturbing for me.I would never "lay" this book on another person.

Bounced hard off this one.
This was seriously disappointing. Many of you folks out there have told me I should really read Anita Shreve. When a coworker lent the book to me, I was expecting Great Things.

I didn't find Great Things. I found several nice ideas for a novel. I found a few atmospheric moments. I found quite a vivid and evocative depiction of marital jealousy. I guess that I need to characterize all these points as Okay Things, or even Good Things.

But then there were the Bad Things.

First, the prose style. Although I went in with high hopes, Shreve's diction made me uneasy nearly immediately. It was awfully poetic. I don't mean that in the good sense of the word. Overripe? Something like that. I didn't start liking it better by the end of the book.

Second, the combination of stories. As I said above, *both* stories (jealous modern wife/ interesting historical murders) had a lot of promise. To my mind they did not fulfill that promise-- individually or together. Specifically, I really found the treatment of the murders distracting and weak. The way that Shreve tried to weave them together felt choppy and forced. If she'd stuck to the crumbling marriage, she might have had a minor novel about intense jealousy and a femme fatale a la Duras. It wouldn't have been awful. But mixing the two just didn't work for me.

Third, the ending felt hurried and nonsensical in several respects. I can't say much more without spoilers. Kind of as though the beat of the novel was "I thought THIS. I thought THIS. I thought THIS. I thought THIS." and it built with intensity. But then at the last minute Shreve wraps that obsession up with "but I was wrong. THE END." Very odd. Not effective, at least not for me.

Fourth, I really really really hate letters and diaries that purport to be historical, but that never read like anything except a novelist's invention. People just don't write like that. It annoys me like fury. I'll admit that this point is such an irritation for me that it might have prejudiced me against the rest of the book.

Anyhow. I don't think that I'm going to go looking for any other Shreve books anytime soon. I'll gladly hear it, however, if you think this book is atypical for her work and can recommend something better.

Ho Hum
This novel SOUNDED so interesting and I really looked forward to reading it. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed. Obviously a lot of people enjoyed the book, so maybe I missed something, but I wound-up skimming the last third of it just to finish the darn thing. I still can't decide which story--the one in the past or the one in the present--was more boring. Perhaps if more people had been axed . . . ... Read more

Product Description
A great introduction to the world of single-celled organisms, this inexpensive volume showcases an array of curious creatures: a blob-like amoeba; a slipper-shaped paramecium and its mortal enemy, the suctorian; the hydra and its crown of grasping tentacles; and many others. The authors recount the feeding, reproductive, and defensive strategies employed by these animals in easy-to-understand language that opens the door to a wonderful world of discovery. 1969 edition. 37 illus.
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Customer Reviews (6)

Not in color
Only the cover is printed in 4-color. All text pages are B&W. Was disappointed,although the small book is informative for younger children who are just getting started using their own microscopes.

It does what it says
I got this for my grand-daughter, who is 9 years old.She had no interest in it, but I won't let her disinterest diminish my rating.I thought and still think it is great for someone between 9 and 14, and beneficial to a lesser degree to someone in high school; a more advanced edition can be written for such people.Of course individuals vary, so some like my grand-daughter need to wait until maybe 14 to find herself more interested, as she matures.But some even 7 years old may be interested.Perhaps boys are more naturally interested at a younger age, on average.My advice is to talk to a young one first, to determine the degree of his/her interest, before buying any book on the subject.

Great for a first book.
I bought this book for my 10 year old granddaughter. She asked for a microscope and I bought her one. since we have been to the pond together to get water for my microscope, I wanted to get her a book about pond water. This is not a how-to book as the first reviewer states, so I also bought a how-to book to go along with this book.

Science Project
A WORLD IN A DROP OF WATER was an excellent book with great information to help my daughter with her science project. The book arrived in less than 4 days from the day it was ordered.

Fascinating, but NOT a how-to manual.
This is an excellent book describing the various life forms in a drop of pond water.It may well serve to make your child interested in using microscopes.In addition, there are a couple of pages about Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, who first made and described a microscope and what he could see with it.

But if your child is the owner of a new microscope, I recommend the Usborne book "The World of the Microscope" which will give you ideas for making your own slides and give tips for using the microscope.

For early-mid elementary aged kids, I also recommend "Greg's Microscope", which is a level 3 early reader that follows a young boy who yearns for a microscope, finally gets one, and learns to use it.THAT was the book that got my daughter to decide she wanted a microscope for Christmas! ... Read more