5 comments about The World Without Us.

1. Alan Weisman's book is an extension of a previous essay article, and unfortunately, that is how it often reads. The chapters (and sections within chapters) jump from subject to subject and through different time lines without real feeling for order or reason. The statements he makes are backed up by well researched evidence and via discussion with some very interesting characters but sometimes, one gets lost in trying to figure out what the point is of each section, rather than go with the flow.
   
   However, he does make some very interesting and important points in regards to human impact and the fact that there are large numbers of species and populations that will not even notice that we are gone. He does also point out the fact that some of our inventions are likely to still be hanging around for mellenia and beyond.
   
   Overall it is an interesting read, though I feel that if it was written by someone with more of a science background rather than journalistic, than it would have made for excellent reading.



2. When I first picked up this book, I was concerned that it would simply be a lesson on how plants and animals would overtake our cities and houses once humans had disappeared from our planet. That is a major part of the book, but I never found it to be overdone. The parts of the book that I loved were the history and places that are explored in this book. From the DMZ zone in Korea to the nuclear fallout of Chernobyl to the beginnings of human history in Africa. There is a lot more to this book than should be judged from the cover.
   
   I also loved the look into the everyday things that we use and how they affect the world around us. It really made me think about how small changes in what I use could make a difference.
   
   This book is great for anyone interested in the effect that humans have had and are having on this world.



3. Haven't read the book yet, but the way Amazon sent it was awful!
   I submitted an order for this book and an order for canned goods. They arrived together in one box. The book had just been tossed in with the cans and you can imagine what shape the book was in. I had assumed the book would have been boxed or wrapped separately, even if they put it into the larger box of canned items. Makes you wonder what kind of idiots work in their shipping department and what kind of supervision is in place at Amazon. In the future I will never order a book WITH any other item.



4. After reading this I would love it if someone banned the plastics used in shampoos. The author ended up taking us to some interesting places to seek out where humans have had to let go of portions of the earth and seeing what happened. I'm very happy I read this and I think you will like it too.



5. One other person wrote that this book is fascinating but depressing and that is why he/she chose to give it less than 5 stars.
   
   I beg to differ, one of the reasons why I gave it 5 stars is because it was depressing. It caused me a lot of anguish reading how much we have damaged this planet and how part of this damage will take 1000s of years to go away. I guess that would have been part of the message of this book, which it delivered on superbly.
   
   Another user also chose to give it less than 5 stars because it had too much focus on NYC and not other places. Again I beg to differ; the book did devote a whole chapter to Houston. Also I do not think this a huge shortcoming for the book, after all, it was written by an "American" for a largely American audience. Additionally, I think the author was limited by space. He could have gone on and on about other places, but he would have ended at something like 500+ pages. I think the book did deliver on it's message within the limitation of 350+ pages.

5 comments about First Aid for the USMLE Step 1: 2008 (First Aid for the Usmle Step 1).

1. This is a good review but it was full of errors. At least there is an online resource listing the errors and corrections. It took about 2 hours to make all the changes, but it was worth it. Good resource, I just wish there were not so many errors.



2. I used this book in my step 1 studying and found it an extremely detailed and valuable resource.I recommend reading it over and over after you have gone over the reference books ie.Kaplan once.I initially did not want to get the book because of initial negative reviews, but once I started using it to study, It was something else...It pulls together high yield information in a concise and organized manner and I cant tell you how much I appreciated it after my exam especially as I had a great score three weeks later:) To get the best out of it you have to pay attention to little details....its not a summary book for nothing so if you gloss over it you probably will not get the best out of it.



3. I recently entered a USMLE forum and found out that the book has some errors.... and I got from the forum the official correction link.... I'll have to take the test first to rate the book. As for the delivery time....amazon rocks!



4. I am actually going to medical school soon and I decided to begin outlining what I need to do the ace the Step 1. This is not a book to simply skim or page through. Every piece of information in this book (sans the intro) seems to be a requirement for the Step 1. I think it would be an excellent foundation to build on.
   
   Even though I am not in school yet, I found the text quite accessible and relatively easy to understand.



5. This is the best intro review book for your first board exams. Le has a great, succinct review of the material that has great mnemonics. I highly recommend getting this early during your training, and using it in conjuction with your course notes. It is very helpful for review for exams, as professors are in touch with current board questions to set you up for success. Also, in the back is a great rating/ranking of other study resources based on system. It gives a fair (and very accurate!) description of other helpful titles to help you do well on the USMLE.
   
   If you are a med student, allopathic or osteopathic, GET THIS BOOK! You won't be sorry.

5 comments about The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy.

1. My wife was given this book early in her pregnancy. I know many reviewers say that you need to have a sense of humor to appreciate this book, but this book was not that funny and did nothing to "guide" us through our pregnancy. All it did was scare my wife by talking about all the bad things about being pregnant. This is a good book to read if you don't want to get pregnant or are jealous of those that are.



2. This was given to me as a gift during my pregnancy, and is now the number one thing I recommend to pregnant women! It was informative AND made me laugh out-loud. I also bought "What to Expect..." but I don't like the question-answer format as well as the chapter segments in "Girlfriend's Guide." Great, great book.



3. I found the tone of this book to be a bit too "freak out" for my tastes. She uses exaggeration for comic effect, but in this case, when you're going into pregnancy for the first time, not knowing what to expect, it is hard to separate exaggeration from reality. For example, the weight gain. I was seeing myself becoming the stay-puffed marshmallow woman after reading this book-- not just during pregnancy but afterwards too. Maybe the idea is that if you can make peace with that, you will be okay for whatever happens... But she's the same way about sagging this and gaping that... Anyway, if you want a real in-your-face "you'll never be the same again" perspective to prepare you for anything, this book will give it to you.
   
   I am giving this book 3 stars because she did help me through the first trimester cramping-- I was worried that they meant the pregnancy was going to end until I read her book (she makes a point of saying not to worry about those, as she had worried about them a lot). She also gives a good discussion of her genetic testing experiences/choices.



4. This is a comical and informative girlfriend type of guide to pregnancy. Whereas other books might put you to sleep, this one actually entertains. I certaintly would still encourage purchasing one of the sleepy medical based books too though. Sometimes I would even read this book while I was not feeling well and for a moment here and there it would actually distract me from my misery. As long you have a good sense of humor and aren't easily offended, then you'll be happy you purchased this book. Most of all, it is fun.



5. My sister-in-law gave me this book to read when I was pregnant. It is very funny! Its the "everything you need to know about pregnancy that no one will tell you" book. Just what someone with fatigue, gas, swollen ankles and a squished bladder needs! Relax, put your feet up and enjoy this great, light-hearted book.

5 comments about CliffsAP Biology (Cliffs Ap Biology).

1. I didn't learn a lot in my AP Biology class; we rarely took our lessons seriously and our teacher gave us very few assignments. We learned material slowly--by the time May came around, we still had nine chapters left (out of 56) to read in the textbook!
   
   Everyone in our class was pretty much flipping out over the AP test and how soon we had to take it. Nobody felt prepared. My friend actually reread the entire textbook in the week we had to review before the test. I procrastinated, and didn't want to go through that (our textbook was MASSIVE) so I read this cover-to-cover twice the weekend before the exam. Didn't need to take notes, just highlighted bits of information in spots where there were some excessively detailed descriptions.
   
   This book has excellent diagrams, and except for occasional typos here and there, it wasn't at all difficult to read. I'd suggest it for anyone with a mediocre teacher, or people who know they're going to slack off until a week before the exam :) Reading the book once, slowly and thoroughly, and then rereading it again quickly (skimming through areas that I already knew pretty well) was the strategy that earned me a five on the exam this year! I love this book.
   
   Several students in my class used the Princeton review book, which does spend more time explaining how the AP test works than this does, but in every other respect CliffsAP is far better than the other review book options.
   
   It helped on class tests as well, because it explored concepts in a much clearer, easily understood way than the textbook did.
   
   Absolutely would recommend anyone to buy it.



2. This book reviews all the material you need to know for the test, in a clear, simple, efficient way. I bought it too late to use it in my AP Biology class, but I'm sure it would be good for that too. I read the whole book the week before the AP test and got a 5.



3. The book came exactly as it was described and arrived on time so I had it for school.



4. I've reviewed and used all the other review guides during the last 10 years that I've taught AP Biology and this one is absolutely the best. It's the one I order every year for my AP Biology students. I recommend it highly.



5. During my college biology class in High School, I would always do well in the labs but would do poorly in quizzes and tests. I received the book in the mail a day before my test. I read the chapter we were studying on the way to school and I easily passed the test.

5 comments about Icarus at the Edge of Time.

1. This is an excellent rework of the ancient story of Icarus and Daedalus. There is very little science in this; but after introducing them to the old tale, mixing in some Einstein and special relativity, then reading about the new Icarus, my 7th grade science class was amazed.
   
   Greene does a great job and the illustrations are beautiful. Suitable for small children too.
   
   Highly recommended.



2. My sons (8yo and 11yo) both enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed reading it to them. The story had a lot of neat "jumping off points" into discussions about the original story of Icarus, space travel, Einsteinian physics, etc. The pictures were great as well.
   
   If I didn't have kids to read it to, I probably would not have picked it up, though I understand Greene's other book, "The Elegant Universe," is more suited for adults looking for a good non-fiction physics read.



3. Having read B. Greene's other books I was looking forward to this one but what a letdown. Nice photos but that is it.



4. This book is quality publishing. The pictures are fantastic but I am bothered by the black hole in the middle disturbing the wonderful pictures, though I understand the role of the black hole in the story. Somehow I thought it could have been better done. The story is interesting but suffers from a lackluster ending. In total, the book will be okay for my niece but I also wanted it to be okay for me. echevy



5. How wonderful! A board book for adults and kids. What a treat! Impressive photos and a story whose ending is thrilling and unexpected. Leave it to Brian Greene to have the talent and ability to make difficult scientific concepts available to an even wider audience.

5 comments about Atlas of Human Anatomy: With Netteranatomy.com (Netter Basic Science).

1. If you're taking anatomy, you need this book...period. Very good illustrations of all the structures. I would recommend getting the hard cover since mine is falling apart slightly.



2. We use Netter's atlas for anatomy lab and in our own personal studying. The atlas has excellent cut-aways and has proven to be incredibly helpful when pulling all of the information together for exams.



3. Nice illustrations, but the organization just is not logical. It is difficult to find what you want and if you're looking for a specific muscle, don't you dare rely on the index, because it probably won't be there. The muscle attachment illustrations are not in the same sections as the muscles themselves. I would recommend Theime's Atlas of Anatomy instead of Netters if you are looking for a better organized and clearer anatomy text.



4. This is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone taking an anatomy course.



5. Such a GREAT supplement to the Anatomy Coloring book. It's better to color the coloring book using the same color scheme as this book. Everything is big, colorful, plenty of labels, and very helpful for learning anatomy. It's now my "bible" for school.

5 comments about This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.

1. One can't expect a thorough look into the interplay of phychology, mind-body mechanics, and music in a shory popular book. That being said, this was an entertaining romp through the field.
   
   The first seventy or so pages was essentially an introduction to music theory and how the mind can proces music as, well, music. For those with a music background it will be tedious and won't tell you much that you don't already know, but for someone who has only touched on it it will be like drinking from a firehose with all the information in the pages.
   
   The rest of the book deals more directly with why certain music is liked, how it most likely evolfved, and the practical utility of music in society and individual survival. If you're ever wondering why there are still oldies stations around, it's because of all the boomers who have an emotional attachment to music of their youth, the time when music tastes are most aggressively defined.
   
   One annoyance was the infantile critique of mind-body interplay, where he ascribes to the opinion of Dennitt that the brain creates the mind. There's not enough room in the review to state why that is incorrect, but it shouldn't have even delved on this weighty topic. Overall though, there wasn't much blanket overgeneralization that plagues many popular science books, though the meanderings of the authors was at times tiring.
   
   Overall, pretty good, and a quick read for someone interested in the topic.



2. The story about Petr Janata and the barn owls is worth the price of the book alone.
   
   Thanks for a great resource Mr. Levitin.



3. This book was found, as many of my great finds, on the shelves of a used-book store. The book has traveled around in my car with me as I go from school to my job as a voice teacher. It has been loaned out to music professors, and is now very well worn.
   
   I strongly recommend this book for musicians and music lovers alike. It is beautifully written in a way that nearly anyone can understand, with common examples of music from classical to popular music styles.
   
   An excellent introduction into the technical side of how the brain processes music.



4. In the first chapter, he made some statements about music that I know to be wrong, so I was tempted to quit, but I thought that perhaps he may still have something interesting to say--I think of the difference between a "satellite view" map and a "street view" map. He has had many interesting things to say, and I am even suspicious that his "errors" at the beginning were an intentional simplification. Even though written for the "layman," it's still pretty heavy reading--and much more focused on the brain's processes than on how music works.
   A bit heavy on name-dropping (he started out as a producer), and more "don't know what's happening here" than I hoped for (but I appreciate the honesty). Interesting--but perhaps specialized: it could easily be a different book than you're expecting.



5. This was a fascinating book more so because I am a deafened adult. I had my memories when I lost all hearing in 1977. Experiences I've had since seem weird to me because I remember. Now I understand why. This is a very informative book from both the music lover and indifferent listener points of view.

5 comments about The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl.

1. Let me preface this by saying that I love reading about history. Maybe my expectations for this book were too high, but I HATED it. 50 pages, 100 pages, 150 pages in I kept fighting the urge to put the book down and forget about it, but I kept hoping that it would get better. It didn't.
   
   This book sucks. It was awful; horribly disappointing. It dragged and dragged and dragged, and when I finally finished it I returned it to the bookstore. I will never read it again and would not recommend it to anyone. There were a couple parts that were interesting, but most of it was mind-numbingly dull. Egan went into great (and in my opinion, needless) detail of the history and mundane details of many of the families, but not the kind of detail that contributes to the message of the book or gives you much insight characters.
   
   There were too many narratives incorporated into the book, and it was difficult to keep the different families, individuals and cities straight, especially since many of their stories were so similar. I get it--everyone's animals died, nobody's plants would grow, dunes were high, and people had dust pneumonia. I wish Egan had further developed fewer stories; it would have made the book more engaging. He hopscotched between families, communities, politicians, and individuals constantly, making the book more difficult to read and appreciate.
   
   It says it is "can't-put-it-down history" on the cover, but that is a complete lie. I honestly can't believe I finished it, it was so boring and I literally was able to read only 10 pages at a time because it was so utterly BORING. I expected more from this book. It read like a too-long chapter from a junior high history book. I have no doubt that the story of the dust bowl is fascinating, so I was extremely disappointed with this book.



2. 1. In 1930, 256 banks had failed and the cry was "where did our money go?" Oil prices for a barrel dropped from $1.43 to 10 cents. The economy was a pile of glue.
   
   2. By Sep 1929, 1.5 million people were out of work. In 1930, 1,350 banks failed, going under with $853 million in deposits. The next year, 2,294 banks failed. In 1931, the Bank of the United States in New York with two million dollars defaulted. When the bank defaulted, twelve million jobs were lost or 25 percent of the work force.
   
   3. In 1931, 28,000 business closed doors, both private and corporate. Money was not circulating. When the banks closed people scourged for food. People were starving. At the same time wheat was being piled up and wasted. On the Texas Panhandle, two million acres had been turned to sod. The wheat came in at 250 million bushels. Farmers were desperate to pay debt, but slowly bleeding out, for every five dollars earn they lost one. Milk, pork, and cattle prices dropped correspondingly as people were unable to pay price and commodity bust transpired, too much supply and not enough paying customers.
   
   4. In 1931, there were thirty-three million acres stripped bare in the southern plains. The market price was 50 percent the cost for the farmer to break even. Normally, this inefficiency would have resulted in default and supply drops, but debt and speculation allowed prolonged oversupply, further exasperating the condition.
   
   5. A two year hit Montana and the soil turned to fine particles and started to roll, stir, and take flight. Wheat dropped to 19 cents a bushel - an all time low. Tens of thousands had their savings swept away. The US food Administration set a price guarantee for wheat that set off a stampede transforming the grasslands and the price controls created long-term shortages. However, American capitalism was in a deep freeze.
   
   6. By 1932, nearly two-thirds of the farmers face foreclosure, for back taxes and debt. One in twenty were losing their land.
   
   7. In a cashless society people lived off home industry: eggs laid in coups, vegetables grown in garden, pigs slaughtered for bacon, and cows milked to feed young and old. Water from windmills provide irrigation means.
   
   8. The Argiculture College of Oklahoma reported in their state during the wheat bonanza, sixteen million acres was planted in wheat and thirteen million acres left to seriously erode and this was before the drought and calcification of the ground. Neglect of the land was a significant contributor to the dust bowls. Abandonment caused from sudden price drops, commodity distribution problems, and easy money entrapment forcing debt repayment behavior that exploit natural resources.
   
   9. High temperatures during winter did not kill off many of the pests. Epidemic insect pollutions flourish: grasshoppers, spiders, and centipedes invaded every living space.
   
   10. Sitting Bull had predicted the land would get it revenge on whites who forced the Indians off the grasslands. He saw doom from the sky.
   
   11. President Roosevelt ended agricultural free market economics for good. Roosevelt said: America had produced more food than any country in history, and farmers were being run off the land, penniless, while the cities couldn't feed themselves. The average farmer earned three hundred dollars a year, an 80 percent drop in income from a decade earlier. Government would try to shape the price and flow of food, to force prices up. Roosevelt had the government buy surplus corn, beans, and flour, and distribute it to the needy. Over six million pigs were slaughtered, and meat given to relief organizations. The Welfare state was born. Under Roosevelt, government was the market. The Civilian Conservation Corps built dams, bridges, retains, roads, and lakes and ponds. Roosevelt signed a bill giving farmers two hundred million dollars to help farmers facing foreclosure. The Volstead act permited the sale of 3.2 percent beer.
   
   12. By some estimates their were 80 million acres in the southern plains stripped of their topsoil.



3. Subtitled "The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl", this 2006 non-fiction account of this American tragedy is historical writing at its best. The author is a Pulitizer Prize winning reporter for the New York Times. I loved his simple but powerful writing style which had a touch of literary description that kept me fascinated throughout its 312 pages.
   
   Once upon a time the Great Plains was grassland. For thousands of years it was a place where buffalo and bison grazed. The land is flat, the winds strong, there is little rain, and the variation in temperature extreme. There was no rich soil under the grass. In the early part of the 20th century the buffalo was gone but there were ranches where cattle grazed. But through a combination of factors, including the rapid expansion of the railroads, the government gave away small parcels of this land for farming. This was a bargain for thousands of families who were willing to settle this land. Some were immigrants with hopes and dreams and little money. All looked forward to a good life. And, for a time it was.
   
   Problem was that the grass was ploughed under in order to plant crops. This destroyed the small amount of topsoil that was holding the grass in place. When America entered the World War I, there was a need for wheat. The price for wheat was high. Farmers began to prosper. They took bank loans and bought more and more land which they planted with wheat. When the war ended there was too much wheat, the price went down and the wheat rotted. But that was just the beginning. Huge storms of dust started to blow. People tried to keep it from their houses with by covering the windows with wet sheets. But the dust particles were so small, they got through the barriers. People sickened with lung problems, children died of "dust pneumonia", crops couldn't grow, and people were almost starving.
   
   Some stayed on the land. The Depression was hitting the whole country. There was no place for them to go.
   
   This is their story, told though the eyes of people who lived through it, some of whom are still there. Woven through this story are historical facts and horrific descriptions of the terror of the storms. And, later, even when President Roosevelt tried to help by having trees planted, bringing in a variety of different seeds, and teaching the people contour farming, grasshoppers ruined the crops once again.
   
   There were times I felt like crying as I read the book. And there were times I felt nothing but respect for the grit and gumption and hard work of the farmers. Today, some people still live in this "dust bowl' and modern technology has brought water to the region. But it is still sparsely populated and the people still there will "never forget".
   
   Read this book. It will open your eyes about a part of Americana with a unique and horrific history.



4. Fabulous story -- makes you feel like you're living the life... Also, makes you appreciate what we have today!



5. Hurricanes come and go along America's Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Property and lives are destroyed, but often rebuilt. There's some comfort in knowing that indefatigable Mother Nature caused the damage.
   
   But in the plains and panhandles of Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, an unprecented and unyielding natural disaster, rooted in the uprooting of native grasses in the name of progress, blew dirt into peoples' lives for almost the full decade of the '30s, killing thousands, ruining countless businesses, and emptying towns. It came to be known as the Dust Bowl, and Timothy Egan's book "The Worst Hard Times" tells the story via the recollections of a few octa- and nonagenarians who were there and lived through it.
   
   Egan's narratives built around these recollections are heartbreaking. I could only read two chapters at a time without getting choked up emotionally as the denizens of the area, living in sod houses coughed up dirt, buried young children who'd died of dust pneumonia, and lived lives of grueling poverty. The Irish potato famine is the only agricultural disaster that I've read about that could top it. When the grasshoppers come calling, another outcome of the destruction of an ecosystem, the effect becomes biblical.
   
   Part two of the story which recounts the federal government's effort to alleviate the disaster, is necessarily less compelling. Egan brings the story back to a more personal level in the last few chapters by sharing the diary of a Nebraska farmer who struggles to maintain a life with his wife.
   
   A broader aspect of the tale is the lesson about understanding the fragility of ecosystems and showing respect for natural habitats developed over thousands of years.
   
   "The Worst Hard Time" ranks with "Isaak's Storm" about the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveson, TX, as the best history books I've read about American natural disasters. The involvement of people who lived to tell the tale makes Egan's book even more compelling.
   
   Highly recommended to all readers, although a little depressing for teenagers who aren't history buffs.

5 comments about Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

1. Really great information. Convinced the biggest exercise procrastinator on earth to buy a heart monitor and hit the track!



2. Dr. Ratey always has the ability to bring science and practical wisdom together into big ah-ha moments. (I loved his book "Shadow Syndromes.") Funny, and sad, how we have gotten so far from what our bodies were designed to do - move, exercise, dance, swim, skate, walk, run, skip, play, learn and practice a skill or sport.
   
   Exercise is that crucial missing piece that we all think is something we have no time for in our schedule, today, as if it were a luxury. But Ratey explains exactly why we have to discover that time. Exercise, or the lack of it, affects success in school, at work and in life, and contributes to an overall sense of satisfaction and pleasure. It's not just about the body. It's about the brain.
   
   We need exercise to activate those dopamine neurons in the reward center of the brain. (P.142) The fact that we have a reward area in the brain, is absolutely fascinating to me. Working with ADHD adults, I have had the opportunity to observe the proof of exactly what this book explores. Those adults who exercise, who find new ways to MOVE and do so in a ways that appeal to them - find more contentment, satisfaction and success.
   
   "Spark" certainly creates a mandate for what is lacking in our educational system and in our country's future. If we don't truly get the role that exercise plays, if we can't see the simple science of it all, where are we headed? You know, there is a lot of hope in this book, if only we could share it with all those who design programs for children.
   
   So, get up and move!
   
   Linda Anderson, MA, Master Coach
   Specializing in ADHD Adults



3. John Ratey is well known for his groundbreaking work on Attention Deficit Disorder. He coauthored the book, "Driven to Distraction" with Ed Hallowell. His newest book is "Spark- The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain." I found Spark a fascinating read. Ratey cites dozens of studies that span decades and continents. All point to the same conclusion: exercise, and aerobic exercise in particular, boosts the release of important neurotransmitters and enhances cognitive function. For people with ADD or ADHD, this boost can be life changing. Ratey is not prescribing exercise as the "cure" for attention issues, but he does offer specific examples of people who have used exercise to combat the negative effects of stress and attention problems. Many were able to reduce or eliminate ADD medications, though he clearly states that for some people, a combination treatment of both medication and structured exercise may be best.
   
   Ratey talks at length about the success of a special gym program instituted in Naperville, Illinois. The emphasis is on personal fitness. Students in this area have very strong tests scores and a very low rate of childhood obesity. In other places around the country that have implemented a similar program, standardized scores have risen dramatically. These case studies are fascinating.
   
   "Spark" has inspired me to increase my own exercise routine, and also to institute morning recess at home each day. My homeschooled kids are absolutely loving it and we're finding the morning transitions go much more smoothly when we all look forward to getting outside and moving our bodies! We've been running laps on the driveway (five times back and forth to the mailbox is about a mile), doing calisthenics, playing four square, jump rope, and kickball. My three year old has her own method of jumping jacks that is just hilarious to watch. My daughter who has the hyperactive sort of attention deficit enjoys sprinting before school, and appears to have less trouble focusing after she has been active. I think my next investment will be a basketball hoop!
   
   Everyone knows that exercise is good for the body, but it is high time that we recognize how good it is for the mind. For a child who has attention issues, a solid workout each morning may make a real difference. I'd be skeptical of a drug that claimed to, "supercharge your mental circuits to beat stress, sharpen your thinking, lift your mood, boost your memory, and much more" , but these are very real affects that regular exercise can produce. Not all exercise is equally effective in fighting symptoms of ADD. Read this book to find out how to implement a regimen that will work for you or your children.



4. Great Book - Tells the average Joe six pack how to improve his life, mind and Body through exercise . Use your bodies Natural drugs to feel better- and there are Legal



5. The content is interest and important, but he simply repeats himself too much. This is a 250 page book with 75 pages of substance.

5 comments about Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results.

1. I loved this book. Simple and direct, it makes you reflect about all that can be done in our day to day to make it superb. It does not rely on magic formulas or rocket science, the author just leaves it in our hands... He does not deny the fact that businesses are overwhelmed with emotions and percetions, which in the end are much more powerfull than we realize.
   
   It is written in the format of a story which makes this book a pleasure to read. Once I started I wouldn't stop !



2. We used Fish! as a team-building exercise at work. We read about 20 pages a week and then discussed. Even people who don't like to read, enjoyed it because it's such a quick, easy, story. I did get CD's for a few people. This was a group that needed to become cohesive, and after the second week, everyone was animated about Fish! People shared their own experiences as it related to the story. Very easy discussion starter. Now they want to take a field trip from Kansas City to Seattle to visit Pike Place Fish Market!



3. I really liked this simple, small book. I really did. However, as a director of human resources, I was hoping for more depth. While the book is a fun tale, the lessons contained therein are too whimsical to really help corporations with their real problems. Sure, everyone wants to strive for fun, teamwork, etc., however, the daily arena does not allow such graceful answers.
   
   Once again, I liked the book just don't expect to be pointed in a corrective position.
   
   Michael L. Gooch, SPHR Author of Wingtips with Spurs



4. This book should be a mandatory read for all new leaders! It is an easy read that keeps you interested from beginning to end. The philosophy is basic and simple; however extremely practicle and most of all...effective!!!



5. Fish! is a great book that teaches you how to have fun at work and make your job into something you enjoy coming to each day. It tells the story of a woman who goes through a transformation to learn this very thing from an unlikely source: the fish mongers at a Seattle fish market. A cute story and helpful book that has been used effectively in my company.
   
   Another business fable I just came across that I'm really excited about is Squawk!: How to Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results