The Life and Times of the Peanut

Book Description

What are peanuts - are they peas or are they nuts? Do they grow above or below ground? Who invented peanut butter? In the same spirit as his award-winning Life and Times of the Honeybee, Charles Micucci explores one of America's most favorite and enigmatic snack foods. This fascinating picture book, with its concise, detailed text and abundant illustrations, ranging from the humorous to the scientific, offers a spirited introduction to the life cycle, many uses, and historical influences of the peanut. Micucci's rare gift for making any subject engaging and accessible is again revealed in this truly witty, rich salute to the peanut.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent resource.......2004-11-04

Plant growth and peanut farming are explained, together with historical and scientific information, in a well-written, interesting, beautifully illustrated book. Now I have to find more books by Charles Micucci!

"Life is too short to read a badly-written book." ~T.M.

excellent explanation of peanuts.......1999-01-01

i am in the peanut business and this is an excellent explanation of the business. my kids got a kick out of the book. it explains some things that most people do not understand.

Book Description

With more than 40 million copies sold worldwide, Berlitz Pocket Guides are the worldand#146;s best-selling pocket travel guide series and the perfect choice for todayand#146;s travelers. New features for this first edition include a Top Ten Attractions spread, infusion of more and even better photographs, all-new cartography, and box and side panels which highlight travel trivia and tips and items of special interest. All Berlitz Pocket Guides feature expanded, updated hotel and restaurant listings, destination-specific language tips and phrases, and unique cultural notes. Convenient fold-out front and back cover flap maps provide instant views of the destination and surrounding areas. These practical, portable guides include recommendations for shopping, recreational activities, and nightlife plus information on amenities, transportation, and emergency services.

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Dominican Republic Berlitz Pocket Guide
*
Manufacturer: BERLITZ
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K7F62A

Book Description

In this powerful and moving biography of one of the greatest labor leaders in the history of America, students come face-to-face with an inspirational man whose trials and tribulations echoed the struggles of modern America and whose courage, simplicity and faith changed agriculture in America forever.

Paperback, brief, and inexpensive, each of the titles in the Library of American Biography series focuses on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of American history and national life. In addition, each biography relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times. This text focuses on Chavez, but also provides the much needed background of the farm workers movement, the formation of the UFW and the history of migrant workers in the U.S. This text incorporates the latest scholarship on Chavez’s life and times, but makes the story accessible to students in both survey and upper division courses in American history.

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This is the most authentic book on Cesar Chavez ever!

Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of LA Causa
Jacques E. Levy , and Cesar Chavez
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Labor & Industrial Relations | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Mexico | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0393074943

Customer Reviews:

This is the most authentic book on Cesar Chavez ever!.......1999-03-03

I have read this book over twenty times. One major reason is that each time I get new insights into the life and genius of one of this centuries greatest and most brilliant American leaders.

The other reason is because I was priviledged to have worked beside Mr. Chavez during the time of this books writing. Every time I read it I can still hear the author, Jaques Levy, reading it in draft form to Cesar by flashlight as we traveled California and Arizona's highways and biways.

This is truly the closest Mr.Chavez ever came to writing his own book. Jaques Levy had a rare inside look at Cesar, his movement and his family. The combination of trust and journalistic integrity between Mr. Chavez and Jacques Levy made for a great book that covers and captures his actions, thoughts, ideas, trials, ambitions, hopes and dreams. Mr. Levy, together with Cesar Chavez, captures the essence of his formative years, those leading up to his becoming the first Mexican and American hero of this century.

Unlike any other author on Chavez, Mr. Levy captures several examples of Chavez's self taught brilliance and tenacity. He also clearly shows Chavez' ability to grasp any subject and his views on American and poor people's economics. I have read many of the others and having been on the spot while they were written can add that while most err somewhat to a great deal in covering basic facts, Jacques Levy's book is on the money.

If it is possible to get this book reprinted, it should be and I bet a Spanish version would sell a million copies.

Customer Reviews:

Teaching Justice to Young Minds.......2001-05-29

I used this book to as a background for a two week unit on Latin American Culture in the United States to a fourth grade class. My students were intrigued and began to think about new issues of justice. The book is artfully written so that even an adult can gain valuable insight. Ceasar Chavez' story is inspiring and challenges all to question the status quo. One chapter may be a little graphic for some young children, I skipped it in class. But overall, tremendous, and one of my Hispanic-American students said it is one of the best books ever read to them.

Cesar Chavez and La Causa (Longman American Biography Series) (Longman American Biography)

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Cesar Chavez and La Causa (Longman American Biography Series) (Longman American Biography)
Dan LaBotz
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUERCS

Average customer rating:
Philip Taaffe: Composite Nature. A Conversation with Stan Brakhage.
Philip & BRAKHAGE,Stan TAAFFE
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MXHNI2

Average customer rating:
Philip Taaffe: Composite Nature: A Conversation With Stan Brakhage
Philip; Brakhage, Stan Taaffe
Manufacturer: Peter Blum Edition
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LRJZA8

Book Description

From lists of fundamental start-up equipment to advice on charting income and expenses, this book guides small farmers through feeding, sheltering, and breeding cows, pigs, goats, rabbits, ducks, and chickens. Breeders and farmers learn the full scope of husbandry and care, including which records should be maintained-health records, breeding journals, milk sheets, and family trees-to which ointments, sprays, and syringes should be kept in the animal first aid box. Included are farrowing charts and pregnancy diaries that detail each step of gestation. Extensive details and instructions are provided on castration, giving iron, docking tails, and caring for newborns. Farmers' accounts, photos, a glossary of terminology, and a list of resources offer support to experienced and novice farmers alike.

Customer Reviews:

Well written.......2007-06-06

Please note that when I first came across this book, I found it in the library in the youth section. But considering I was a youth in regards to raising livestock, I found the book both well-written and very helpful--so much so that I have decided to raise small livestock and have moved on to more advanced readings. In a nutshell: This book is written for beginners and I derived much joy in reading it. Thank You.

There are MUCH better books of this type.......2006-02-08

I've been avidly reading all the small-farming books I can get my hands on over the past few months. I was pleased when I ran across this one at my local library, since it was not one I had seen before. I soon found out why I hadn't seen it mentioned elsewhere, however....

The writing is definitely subpar, not least because of the grammatical and spelling errors sprinkled liberally throughout. I couldn't help but wonder if the book had been edited at all - if it has, the editor should perhaps consider another line of work. It is very poorly organized and incomplete. The personal stories were uninspiring and, truth be told, did nothing to enhance the author's credibility.

I would venture to say that it would be nearly impossible for a novice to successfully keep livestock of any kind using this book as a guide. One would be far better off reading _Barnyard in Your Backyard_ and/or _Backyard Livestock_, followed up by the various Storey's guides for specific types of livestock (e.g., _Storey's Guide to Raising [Dairy Goats, Pigs, Chickens, etc.]_) for far better organized and complete information.

Probably not worth your time.......2004-12-31

Although the author's love of animals, her family, and farm life infuse the text of "Farm Animals", in my honest opinion, it's not enough to make it worth reading. This is underscored by the existence of such good alternatives.

My first complaint is the poor editing and proof-reading. The book is poorly organized and it's a rare page that doesn't have a grammatical error or typo that really does get in the way of the reader's understanding. The author's conversational tone often stretches what would be a short concise statement into a long and hard to understand exchange between author and reader. A serious investment in editing followed by thorough proof-reading would go a long way to improving this book.

But I can forgive poor writing and editing if there is some useful information or entertaining stories in the text. After all, I believe the modern small-scale farm is a worthy subject. The problem with "Farm Animals" is that there just isn't much that is useful or entertaining here. The book is mostly stories drawn from the author's farm, but rather than being entertaining or enlightening, many of the stories are downright horrifying.

An example is an account (the bulk of the text is made up of these stories) about Rosie, the author's sow. The author watches while Rosie gets more and more agitated as her male piglets are castrated nearby and (at the same time) a visitor antagonizes her. Eventually the sow turns on the author's daughter, trapping her in the shelter, and then attacks the antagonistic visitor. This story wouldn't surprise anyone familiar with pigs... Well, it is surprising that anyone working with pigs would make such obvious mistakes and then write about them in a book about how to raise farm animals, but the fact that the saw acted as she did is far from shocking.

These stories do illustrate mistakes that the reader should try to avoid, and to the author's credit she does eventually make her point after each story's conclusion. However, it is surprising how many mistakes the author made in caring for her animals.

The book is definitely not competitive as a reference. Any of the Storey's Guides would be much more useful to the beginning livestock farmer or hobbyist. Infact, much of the books factual content will seem eerily familiar to anyone who has read the relevant Storey's Guides. There is some useful information here, it's just that the information is in no way complete.

In my opinion, this book would have been better if the author completely forgoed any intent to write an informative book. As a collection of funny stories about what *not* to do on the farm, it could have value. Even as a collection of stories about her farm raising experiences, it would be better, but by using stories to illustrate points about raising animals, it just doesn't work.

The book does paint a picture of a family trying to succeed at something they love. The author obviously holds a special affection for, and a desire to write about, both her children and her animals. A particularly important lesson that it does contain is to investing time early in an animal's life to help develope a (two-way) bond between itself and its caretaker. This is a point made in "Farm Animals" that I haven't seen given due attention elsewhere.

For the dedicated reader of literature about modern small-farms, this book has some value. But, in my opinion, most others should give it a pass.

this is really awful.......2004-01-03

This has got to be the worst book on "farming" I have ever read. Amazingly, the cover reads "Compared to All Creatures Great and Small" well yeah it compares...it compares POORLY.

If this were merely a memoir, I'd let the poor grammar and randomly-generated thoughts pass...after all, I'm not one to stifle creativity.

However, when someone passes off copious "borrowing" from Storey publications, inter-dispersed with reminiscing from their barnyard, and chock-full of misleading or mistaken "facts"...that's too much.

For instance:

Pg 37: "Make sure every animal has clean, fresh water daily. You wouldn't want to drink dirty defecated water..."
(Is she referring to drinking water fouled with feces? You'd think an author would phrase themselves better)

Pg 69: "If you stagger breeding dates, you could have milk all year long" misleading... does (except for the Pygmy breed) only come into heat in the fall - winter. I have never heard of any Dairy Goat breeding in the summer.

Pg 220: 1 gallon of milk does NOT weigh 8 lbs...A gallon of milk with 2% butterfat weighs about 10.2 lbs (by the way- NO mention of pasteurizing milk apparently this author is fine with Tuberculosis, Brucellosis, and Toxoplasmosis...all transmittable to people in milk, if your animals are infected)

Pg 246 "I keep a cheap pair of scissors on hand in case I need to cut away the excess skin around a wound. The scissors I use have a flat and a sharp edge" ?!?! Have you ever used a scalpel blade??? Try it sometime!

Overall, it is a difficult read given the poor grammar, fragmentary sentences, and general randomness of the (albeit few) nuggets of real information.

As an aside....I do like "chatty" books, and an informal read can be fun. This is neither.

A much better buy is Backyard Livestock by Steven Thomas. Don't waste your money with this one...

Want To Raise Chickens?.......2002-06-17

A quick fun book to read for anyone who's fantasized about raising livestock in their back yard, but never quite got up the nerve to do so. Full of interesting little tips, presented in a readable format. This is not the "dry" book you would expect.

Customer Reviews:

DEFINITELY BOLD & SPLASHY..................2004-07-08

These quilt designs are exactly what I was hoping for! Linda Giesler Carlson has 12 antique designs of 4-block quilts ranging from the popular rose and wreath designs to the famous "centenial 4-block eagle design", which has always been one of my favorites, and I intend to make this quilt!

The colored glossies are wonderfully done to enhance the antique AND replica quilts. Patterns are included. The author is careful to list needed supplies for each quilt, including yardage.

Her "coxcomb crossing" quilt pattern (seen on cover) is featured,(based off of an Audrain County Historical Society Museum quilt in Mexico, MO) though challenging, is one of the lovliest coxcomb patterns I have yet to see.

Although the author gives directions on how to machine applique binding, the book does not, and was not intended to be a "how to" applique or quilt. If you enjoy duplicating, or putting your own "spin" on antique quilt designs, (PARTICULARLY ANTIQUE AMERICAN 4-BLOCK QUILTS), then this is the book for you.

A lot to choose from...much more for the money!!!!

Book Description

"This is a great reference book for planting design, which is an arena where so many of us are hugely challenged. Information in it is well written, engaging, useful, accessible, and original."
-- Holly H. Shimizu, Executive Director, United States Botanic Garden

"A unique blend of classic planting-design principles and ecological plant-selection criteria."
-- Scot Medbury, President, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

"After reading the book, you will be able to experiment with nature and use its myriad of facets to make your own original statement. You will be ready to take risks and design exciting and original gardens."
-- From the Foreword by James A. van Sweden, Oehme, van Sweden & Associates

A comprehensive guide to the "high art" of designing mixed bed plantings

When done successfully, mixed beds represent the pinnacle of planting design -- a living work of art in which small trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses, bulbs, tropicals, and groundcovers combine to create a true feeling of place. Professional Planting Design initiates you into the principles of planting design and helps you develop the ability to think about the planting design process, so that you can develop your own effective compositions that sustain multi-seasonal interest.

Richly illustrated with photographs and drawings, Professional Planting Design covers the basics as well as the advanced concepts of planting design including: selecting plant characteristics, types of mixed bed plantings, structuring and composing mixed beds, creating mixed palettes for seasonal variation, designing in elevation and plan view, and choosing plants. You'll find coverage of design, landscape architecture, and horticulture interwoven throughout the guide, along with detailed steps for developing mixed bed planting compositions at a variety of scales for projects on both residential and commercial sites.

Clear and concise yet thorough, this book will supplement your talent with the knowledge you need to create harmonious mixed plantings in the landscape that will provide continual interest throughout the seasons.

Customer Reviews:

A practical book........2007-06-10

In almost every landscape architect's office, you can find two kinds of people: the designers who layout the design and do the color renderings and presentation drawings, and the horticulturists who select the plants. This book will give you a good understanding of both the design and horticultural aspects of planting design, especially the latter.

It is also a very practical book. It'll leave you something useful that you can actually apply in you daily landscape practice after you read it.

Gang Chen, author of Planting Design Illustrated

Planting the Landscape: A Professional Approach to Garden Design

Average customer rating:

Planting the Landscape: A Professional Approach to Garden Design
Nancy A. Leszczynski
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Landscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Landscape | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Architecture | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

Landscape | Architecture | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Home & Garden | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 047129215X

Book Description

The artistic combinations of plants are endless-and so are the effects they have on the human eye and spirit. As a planting designer, you must acquire vision, patience, and skill as you learn to read the landscape in all its myriad forms to create meaningful and lasting environments. From idea through implementation, Planting the Landscape shows you how.

Planting design poses exciting but complex challenges for the landscape architect, demanding creativity, practical know-how, and the ability to integrate the natural with the planned-all through the living medium of plants that grow and change over time.

Planting the Landscape is a unique, comprehensive guide to both the art and the science of planting design-with step-by-step coverage of every stage of the design process, from initial idea through implementation. Combining history, design principles, and horticultural practice in a single volume, it provides the reader with a solid grasp of:
* The history and evolution of specific design forms
* Environmental considerations and plant affinities
* Design concepts, principles, and analysis
* How to create a design vocabulary and develop a plant palette
* How to compose a planting design
* The essentials of planting and maintenance

Over 200 stunning color photographs and dozens of vivid illustrations offer an inspiring visual library of design possibilities that complement the text, and international examples place design ideas and development within a global context.

Accessible, clear, and precisely written, Planting the Landscape is an excellent design companion for landscape architecture professionals and students.

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Planting the Landscape: A Professional Approach to Garden Design.
Nancy A. Leszczynski
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000M4N0QK

Book Description

The end of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad during the Mongol wars of the 13th century was one of the decisive events of Islamic history. Das Aleppiner Kalifat (A.D. 1261) deals with the fate of the institution from the Mongol sack of Baghdad through the short-lived Aleppine caliphate to its restoration, in Mamluk Cairo. The often parallel developments and motivations of the historical figures are analyzed step-by-step. The author explores the relations between the events, revealing the contingent character of the restoration. The key for the new interpretation is the Aleppine caliphate. Emphasis is given to the changing patterns of legitimization and of representation of political power. An extensive political chronography and a detailed numismatic corpus for all major towns in the regions (Egypt, Syria, Northern Mesopotamia, Iraq) and period concerned (1257-1262) serve as reference.

Book Description

Performance Success teaches a set of skills so that a musician can be ready to go out and sing or play at his or her highest level, working with energies that might otherwise be wasted in unproductive ways. This is a book of skills and exercises, prepared by a master teacher.

Customer Reviews:

Learning how to believe in your talent.......2006-05-18

I believe strongly that the key to winning an audition lies in identifying the stresses that affect all musicians and performing artists, and learning how to become more comfortable with your abilities by accepting both your strenths and weaknesses. Winning an audition is a game, and whatever you can do to prepare yourself psychologically is a help. This book categorises the psychological activity that accompanies the lead up to an audition or performance, and allows you to set up a regime of positive thinking and relaxation that will inspire you to achieve more from each of your successive performances. I think it is an absolutely essential addition to any serious musician who really is determined to pursue their dreams. Too many of us engage in "doomsday thinking", and don't allow ourselves to find out what we could really achieve if we just gave ourselves a fighting chance. Obviously you don't have to use everything in the book, but as a professional violinist, i highly recommend it to any of my colleagues who have problems focusing on achieving a good performance in the meager ten munites that we often have to prove ourselves.

very good resource for performance artists.......2006-03-15

This is a very good book for performance artists, not only for musicians. The strategies and exercises for performing at your optimal under situations of high pressure are effective. Nonetheless, sometimes I thought they were oversimplified. The exercises explained in the book DO work, however, I thought that the lenght of time proposed in the book to practice and master them are unrealistic. I don't think that after practicing and performing without an intense focus for many years I could just make it happen in one week by just practicing it a couple of minutes a day. I know it takes (at least to myself) many months even a couple of years to train my mind to be in the "here and now" every single minute I play. What this book did for me was to create a new awareness of how should I approach my practice time, what kind of exercises to do to be better prepared for a big event and what kind of mental state I should be pursuing in the moments leading to and during performance.

Full of useful ideas.......2005-10-19

After spending my teens and twenties playing rock and roll, I began playing the cello at 29 and a decade later now play at a professional level. Along the way I have experienced plenty of psychological bruises in performance situations--which, thanks to this book, I learned were self-inflicted. "Performance Success" has provided me with plenty of "right-mind" ideas for dealing with performance anxiety, which I have tried out successfully on stage. If you've ever dealt with nerves before performances or auditions, this book is a must-read!

Fight Your Fear and Win: Seven Skills for Performing Your Best Under Pressure--At Work, In Sports, On Stage

Average customer rating:

Empower yourself now!
Life-Changing
Outstanding!
The technique of mastery: an Actor's perspective
A must-have book you'll keep re-reading

Fight Your Fear and Win: Seven Skills for Performing Your Best Under Pressure--At Work, In Sports, On Stage
Don Greene Ph.D.
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Stress Management | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Success | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 076790625X
Release Date: 2001-03-06

Amazon.com

Renowned performance coach Don Greene, Ph.D., leads readers on a strategic, goal-reaching mission in this compact, powerful, and often fascinating handbook. A former Airborne Ranger and Green Beret (among a long list of other impressive credentials), Greene believes fear is only conquered by action--not by lying on a therapist's couch. To that end, he urges readers to assess their current skills (by taking a relatively simple survey provided in the book), pinpoint their weaker performance tendencies, then "embark on a training regimen" to flex seven specific fear-conquering muscles: determination, energy, perspective, courage, focus, poise, and resilience.

Greene uses each chapter to tell a story or two about a client--ranging from Olympic athletes to professional musicians to SWAT teams--whose fear scenarios provide a steppingstone for analyzing the seven skills mentioned above (determination, etc). He then quite eloquently describes how fear attempts to thwart each particular skill, and offers clear methods for retaliating ("centering down" to counteract ineffective nervous energy, or using anger constructively to develop resilience). The eight appendices outline his three-week prescription for mastering each skill, plus the key for scoring the skills survey. While his occasional military references and sports analogies offer glimpses into his commando training and sports psychology background, Greene never comes off as a stony General nor as a hyped cheerleader. Rather, his graceful writing style is rich with humor, candor, and valuable information. Forgivably cocky at times ("Nobody in the world has done as much as I have to bring out people's best"), Greene simply knows his stuff and--to the reader's benefit--presents it beautifully. --Liane Thomas

Book Description

We’ve all been there: that make-it-or-break-it moment of our careers—on the brink of a deal, poised at the starting gate, under the spotlight waiting to speak or perform in front of our peers. At this point, where everything seems to be on the line, most of us experience one overriding reaction-fear-and this fear can have negative physical, mental, and emotional consequences on how well we do our job.

Don Greene, Ph.D., a renowned sports psychologist, teacher at the Juilliard School, and "stress" coach to top executives and entertainers, has spent decades studying fear and its effect on performance. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Greene shares the proven techniques he has used with Olympic athletes, Grand Prix drivers, the Vail Ski School, Golf Digest Schools, the New World Symphony, and Merrill Lynch traders to help them perform their best under pressure.

In his years of working with Olympic and professional athletes, network news anchors, classical musicians, actors, dancers, trial attorneys, brokers, and CEOs, Dr. Greene discovered that there were certain commonalities in people's responses to high-pressure situations. Untrained, these individuals' reactions were allowing fear to take over and affect decision-making, poise, and display of skill. But Dr. Greene found that by applying methods such as the centering technique, these same people could work through their fear and perform better than ever before.

Fight Your Fear and Win begins with a self-assessment performance survey that will allow you to pinpoint your own reactions to stress: how you handle distractions, how you are affected by nervousness, your mental outlook, your response to fear, and your ability to bounce back from failure. After completing this self-assessment, the book takes you through the seven essential skills required for optimal performance:
1.Determination
2.Energy
3.Perspective
4.Courage
5.Focus
6.Poise
7.Resilience

Interspersed with true stories from Greene's wide variety of experiences training everyone from the San Diego S.W.A.T. team to singers at the Metropolitan Opera, each chapter includes a series of mental and physical exercises that will help you track your progress. This simple twenty-one-day plan will make a profound difference in the way you approach challenging situations, and allow you to think more clearly and creatively under pressure. Whether you are giving a closing argument in a courtroom, making a presentation at work, auditioning for a role, or stepping up to the first tee, Fight Your Fear and Win is the ultimate tool to conquering your fear and achieving success when you need it most.

Customer Reviews:

Empower yourself now!.......2007-08-04

As a human being, at some point in your life you will need a book like this to help you fight your deepest fears whether it may be speaking up for yourself at work, performance anxiety or maybe you are just stuck and want to change your situation. This is one of the most effective and empowering books I have ever read. A great book on overcoming life's obstacles and accomplishing your goals and dreams. Very well written and very easy to read with just enough real life stories to motivate you into action.

I was really inspired by the sections under chapter 7 on Resilience: "Training th Fighter Within", "How to Hang Tough" and "Mental Toughness". This book is great for people who feel they have lost contol of their lives and want to regain a feeling of empowerment. Remember it isn't how many times you have been knocked down but how many times you get back up that counts! Buy the Book!

Life-Changing.......2005-07-26

This may be the most straightforward, practical, effective self-empowerment book I have ever read. Well-written, logically presented and downright revelatory! If you have any interest at all in significantly increasing your ability to perform at an optimal level in every conceivable situation, I give this book the strongest possible recommendation.

Outstanding!.......2003-06-27

Based on his notion that performance outcome is influenced by seven sets of factors (determination, energy, perspective, courage, focus, poise, resilience), the author elaborates on how we can arm ourselves with mastery in the above seven areas to undertake challenge in any field. That's quite the normal setting in any self help book. However, I do like the author's clear, logical and straight to the point writing, without the excessive and tedious examples anonymous commonly found in most self help books. The five page Chapter Eight, so named a synthesis: putting it altogether, (the seven set of factors were grouped into seven individual chapters), simply tells how "to the point" the author had been. In a word, a very good read.

p.s. I like the saying in front of each chapter much. They do tell much of what the chapter is talking about, especially chapter eight Resilience:

"Inside the ring or out, aint nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong."

- Muhammad Ali

The technique of mastery: an Actor's perspective.......2001-04-25

As a professional actor I have searched the dusky shelves of libraries across the states studying the writen record of the craft of acting... and there are thousands of books offering endless advice about how to cultivate one's performance skills. The books are often esoteric and require some strange practices bordering on the mystical. From lying on the floor doing primal screams to over-analyzing the script as if it were a lab animal as opposed to a wild thing... these books always begin with promise and then lead me further and further into a labyrinth of confusion. Finally, I have found the book which contains a precise yet playful process which addresses the fundamental concerns of acting. Don Greene's book presents a technique for Mastery. As human beings we are constantly learning new skills and we rarely ask ourselves about how we learn. Don Greene gives a clear and practical account of how to cultivate not just 'skill,' but rather, the skill of developing skill, the mother of all skills. Prior to working with this material, I would come off stage after a good performance and have no idea how I entered into a creative state. Vice/versa, sometimes I would give a bad performance and despair that I couldn't act. I felt like I was at the whim of some unseen forces, the 'theatre gods' perhaps. Now I am discovering that my creativity is entirely within my control. I create my own states of creativity or blockage based on how I process the information coming to me all the time. How I interpret this information is largely responsible for the quality of my experience of life and how I perform in my own life. Whether I am performing Hamlet, dealing with an agent, auditioning, or enjoying liesure time at home, I find the new skills I am cultivating from Don Greene's book to be of immense value. Although the book is always scientific, precise, and practical, it suggests a profound transformation in the way we view what is possible for human beings. It challenges us to push the limits of the known and discover the vast resources within ourselves. Furthermore, Don's free online performance test helped me see clearly what my strengths and weaknesses were and thereby, focus my efforts on those particular skills which would improve my performance as effectively, efficiently, and economically as possible.

A must-have book you'll keep re-reading.......2001-03-23

A lot of self-help books have just the opposite effect than is intended: You feel so overwhelmed, so daunted by the work in front of you, you want to just hide or lie down. Not this one! Here's advice you'll enjoy reading and can't wait to put into practice--and you'll see results immediately.Greene is inspirational without sounding mushy; he's insightful without sounding like a shrink; and despite his military background, his tone is anything but drill sargeant--he's actually funny. I usually hate spending $20 on a hardcover, but this is the least expensive and most effective "therapy" I've ever gotten.

Customer Reviews:

excellent introductory text to Australian female poets.......1999-04-06

Elegant writing on both sides of the tape-recorder. A dialogue of great verve and flair.

excellent introductory text to female australian poets.......1999-04-06

Elegant language on both sides of the tape-recorder. A dialogue of great verve and flair.

Distinctive and perceptive.......1997-12-05

This is a marvellous book. Digby has written a very accessible book of interview with Australian female poets. The best thing about this book, for me, is the way it captures the ebb and flow of the creative process and the determination of female creators in the face of ridicule and discrimination.

A Woman's Voice: Conversations with Australian Poets. (book reviews): An article from: Australian Literary Studies

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A Woman's Voice: Conversations with Australian Poets. (book reviews): An article from: Australian Literary Studies
Martin Duwell
Manufacturer: University of Queensland Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Australian Literary Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on October 1, 1997. The length of the article is 1971 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A Woman's Voice: Conversations with Australian Poets. (book reviews)
Author: Martin Duwell
Publication: Australian Literary Studies (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 1997
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: v18 Issue: n2 Page: p200(4)

Article Type: Book Review

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A Woman's Voice: Conversations with Australian Poets. (book reviews): An article from: Journal of Australian Studies

Average customer rating:

A Woman's Voice: Conversations with Australian Poets. (book reviews): An article from: Journal of Australian Studies
Brenda Walker
Manufacturer: University of Queensland Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00097TNMA
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Australian Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on September 1, 1997. The length of the article is 1159 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A Woman's Voice: Conversations with Australian Poets. (book reviews)
Author: Brenda Walker
Publication: Journal of Australian Studies (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1997
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Issue: n54-55 Page: p226(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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