SirReadaLot.org

February 2005, Issue #70 

Guide to this issue's Contents

Contents this Issue: British Fashion, Outsider Artists, Wonderland, Audit-Proof Tax, Leadership, Entrepreneur Basics, A True Story from Iraq, Community Church History, Wine Pleasure, Education, Second Language Teaching, Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties, Movie Special Effects, Joy of Music, James Brown Memoir, Irving Berlin At War, American Jazz in Context, Adventures of Queen Yasamin of Gwendomere, The Political Economy of AIDS in Africa, Self-Help for Regret, Neuro-Linguistic Programming Understood, Homeopathic Alternative Medicine, Metaphors in Therapy, Effective Communication, Balanced Eating Habits, How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain, Communication and Relationship Success, Increase Security,  How to Cope with Sex Offenders, How Vitamins Work, Caribbean State Formation, Charles de Julie, a Rogue in Eighteenth-Century Paris, Hitler's Rise & Fall, Boss Tweed Revisited, The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Women in the Struggle for America's Independence, Solviva Solar-Dynamic, Bio-Benign Design, Home Remodeling Projects, Civil War Stuff, Gardener's Approach to Annuals and Perennials, Transforming the Yard, Front & Back, The Islamic Garden, Karl Shapiro, Poet, Murakami' American Europe in Japan, When Messy Life upsets  a Woman's Perfectly Ordered Existence, Début Novel Set in the Roaring 20's, Literary Sephardim, Occult Thriller, Legal Mystery, Baby Behavior for New Parents, Clinton's Living History, The Democratic End of White Privilege, African American Biblical Scholarship, Daily Meditations With Thomas Merton, God is not What Religion is Really About, Speaking Truth to Power: Bonhoeffer and King,  Exploring the Logic of Divine Love, Does Design Theory Really have a Scientific Future or is it Merely Crypto-Theology? How important is Evolution Anyway? Understanding Lubavitch Hasidism, Genetically Modified Foods Viewed Dispassionately, The True Story  of Rocket Scientist and occultist, John Whiteside Parsons, Golf & Bobby Jones, Old Motorcycles,  Aviation Lingo, Charles Taylor's Liberia, Spectacular Hotels

 

Arts & Photography / Fashion

The London Look: Fashion from Street to Catwalk by Christopher Breward, Edwina Ehrman & Caroline Evans (Yale University Press / Museum of London) examines London’s contributions to fashion over the past two centuries.

From Savile Row to Carnaby Street, from the bohemian dress of the Oscar Wilde circle in the nineteenth century to the punk street styles of recent years, London has been a significant source of fashion style. The London Look, a history of two hundred years of London fashion, explores the circumstances and characteristics that have made the “London look” distinctive.
Focusing on the design, production, marketing, and consumption of clothing during this period, Christopher Breward, Edwina Ehrman and Caroline Evans each taking on a section of the book, place these activities in the context of social, cultural, and economic change in the capital. The authors – Breward, deputy head of research at the Victoria and Albert Museum and visiting professorial fellow at the London College of Fashion; Ehrman, curator of Dress & Decorative Art at the Museum of London; and Evans, reader in fashion studies at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London – move chronologically. The London Look discusses the rise of the West End as a center of fashionable life; the era of imperial fashion when London dominated the world politically and economically; the increasing democratization of fashionable dress; the challenges and conflicts of modernity; the school of couturiers that emerged mid-century; and the rise of the independent fashion designer and small boutiques. Finally the authors describe the London punks who, toward the end of the twentieth century, theatricalized the street in a mood of social and sartorial dissent and paved the way for postmodern styles.

London’s marked ethnic and class diversity both find expression in the clothes; take, for instance, a lavishly beaded and embroidered silk evening dress made by Louise Winter in 1893 or a hand-woven cotton creation with a clear Thai influence, fashioned by Wendy Dagworthy in 1982. Style-setters over the centuries have seized upon London’s lively culture as a dramatic backdrop for avant-garde costumes, as it were – exaggerated, idiosyncratic and even satirical threads that amplify the city’s current cultural mood. This volume’s sumptuous photographs and sketches showcase the pageantry and playfulness of various styles, as well as the assertions of elegance and the streaks of subversion woven through the texture, color, fabric and silhouette of each garment. – Publishers Weekly

Lavishly illustrated, sumptuous, stunning, stimulating, The London Look draws on photographs of the Museum of London’s remarkable collection of objects and images, and material from the London Institute. Impressively researched, The London Look accompanies an exhibition at the Museum of London from November 2004 to April 2005.

Arts & Photography

One is Adam, One is Superman: The Outsider Artists of Creative Growth with photographs by Leon Borensztein, introduction by Tom di Maria, essay by John M MacGregor (Chronicle Books) offers viewers a window into the lives and creative souls of exceptional individuals.

• A woman who uses her teeth to hold a brush to paint delicate and beautiful watercolors.
• A blind sculptor who makes stunningly lifelike renderings of fruits and vegetables.
• Artists with Down syndrome who create preternaturally sophisticated work, echoing art history they've never learned.

In One is Adam, One is Superman, internationally renowned photographer Leon Borensztein presents full-page photographic portraits of more than 50 Creative Growth artists. The portraits of the individuals in the Creative Growth program are paired with reproductions of the artists' work and statements by or about themselves. Creative Growth is the oldest and largest nonprofit visual art center in the country providing art programs to adults with developmental, physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. The more than 120 adults enrolled in the program create imaginative, beautiful, and finely crafted works, and receive proceeds from their sale. For many of the artists, these proceeds are their primary means of financial independence.

Working against tremendous obstacles, these people are driven to create. Some cannot read, write, or speak. Others cannot walk or see. But they all produce extraordinary art, in the form of sculpture, painting, drawing, woodworking, and more. They are just a few of the Outsider artists working at the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California – and they have incredible stories to tell.

Published to coincide with a major traveling exhibition of Leon Borensztein's photography, this book features renowned Outsider artists like Judith Scott, known for her elaborate fiber sculptures, and Donald Mitchell, who creates drawings populated with the same figures replicated over and over again. It also depicts lesser-known but equally dynamic artists.

One is Adam, One is Superman is a testament to the artists, known or unknown, who triumph daily against immense odds to create art. Through their work, each has found a way to transcend disability and to speak to us with the soul of an artist. The photographs portray the artists honestly and positively, while statements from the artists themselves capture their personal connection to their work. These statements, often heartbreakingly beautiful in their simplicity, capture the artists' personal connection to their work, as well as their unique perception of the world around them.

Arts & Photography / Graphic Design

Wonderland edited by Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann, & Birga Meyer (Die Gestalten Verlag)

“No! no! Adventures first," said the Gryphon in an impatient tone: "explanations take such a dreadful time. – The  Lobster-Quadrille, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

From the cradle bars comes a beckoning voice, it sends you spinning you have no choice – Spellbound by Siouxsie and the Banshees

In the Wonderland of Lewis Carroll, Alice is lost. Fairytales help children make the transition from the state of wakefulness into the uncertain territory of dreams – both good and bad.

As a visual essay focusing on dreams, the imagination, the surreal and the divine, Wonderland builds on the success of last year's Romantik from the same publisher.

While romance, the Romantik, is a projection – a longing for a wider, more spectacular existence –Wonderland is intense experience, a reverie, a quick or maybe a long stay in a rapidly changing surrounding. A lot of the illustrations and photography featured in this book try to reflect this intensity; there is little quietness in the works. Wonderland's ornaments are not static; they are liquid. Everything seems to be caught in a fragile moment and even the stills are fantastic – woods are wicked and skies ablaze. The fascination finally sets in with the return of the ‘traveller’. The shiver of having encountered the unknown and returning without a scratch makes a person feel alive. And isn't this what most people hunger for?

Wonderland features the work of the following artists:

Gints Apsits, Thomas Barwick, Nina Jan Beier, Cecilia Carlstedt, Marco Cibola, Container, Chris Duncan, Eike's grafischer Hort, Maren Esdar, James Gallager, Croa, Richard Gray, Greyscale, Takeshi Hamada, Koen Hauser, Ngo Phuc Hien, Sei Hishikawa, Yoko Ikeno, Kareem Iliya, Inocuo Design, Simen Johan, Kiyoshi Kuroda, Inga Liksaite, Won Ju Lim, Lobo, Matte, Craig Metzger, mijuly, Maria Mochnacz, Nawel, Erwin Olaf, Linn Olofsdotter Costa, Pandarosa, Mikko Rantanen, Sophy Rickett, Speto, Toshifumi Tanabu, Taobot / Danny Franzreb, Sophie Toulouse, Vault 49, Sunday Vision, Txema Yeste, Liselotte Watkins, Autumn Whitehurst

Wonderland is a stunning collection of the latest inspiring and surprising fashion photography, graphic design, illustration and fine art from around the world.

Business & Investing / Finance

Self-employed Tax Solutions: Quick, Simple, Money-Saving, Audit-Proof Tax and Recordkeeping Basics for the Independent Professional by June Walker (The Globe Pequot Press)

Whether readers are sole proprietors, freelancers, subcontractors, or free agents, if they are self-employed or planning to start a business, they need to read this book.

The big corporations know that business success hinges on tax savvy. Now Walker, an expert on self-employed taxes, makes the same savvy available to the talented and creative people in the fast-growing 'Indie' segment of the economy. In Self-employed Tax Solutions, Walker shows independent professionals how they too can take advantage of business deductions that will enable them to pay the lowest taxes legitimately possible, and how to keep records quickly and with a minimum of effort.

Self-employed Tax Solutions is written for intelligent people who don't understand the tax implications of their solo ventures. With concrete examples and easy-to-use worksheets, author and accountant June Walker tackles the most vexing problems facing the self-employed: inadequate record keeping and tax ignorance.

Her Most Simple System has been designed for the ‘Indie.’ It is simple, quick, and audit proof – a record-keeping method that works, and a guide through the tax maze. Readers learn:

• How to prove to the IRS that the endeavor is a business, not a hobby.
• How start-up costs differ from other deductions.
• How to deduct travel expenses.
• When a gift to Mom can be a legitimate business deduction.
• How to make estimated tax payments.
• How to vacation with friends and still deduct travel expenses.
• Under-the-table income: why the indies get cheated.
• The advantages of sole proprietorship.
• Why not to incorporate.

Walker takes issue with the ‘old husbands' tale’ that Indies shouldn't take office-in-the-home as a business deduction on their tax returns because it supposedly triggers an audit. She points out that IRS rules on office-in-the-home have been liberalized, but many accountants and lawyers have not yet caught up with the changes in the self-employment sector.

This is a straight-forward, how-to book of practical information for the some 25 million Americans who are self-employed – everything an independent professional needs to know about the tax consequences of his or her business. Self-employed Tax Solutions is an indispensable book that helps readers survive and succeed in a business environment where the tax laws and regulations are structured not for indies but for corporations and employees. Armed with the author's copyrighted worksheets, readers can capture every single business deduction, keep concise records so that accounting and tax preparer fees are reduced, and – do it quickly and easily.

Business & Investing / Management & Leadership

You're in Charge – Now What?: The 8 Point Plan by Thomas J. Neff & James M. Citrin (Crown Business)

Anyone coming into a new [leadership] situation is faced with the fact thay they have to do the most at the point they know the least. – Jonathan Miller, AOL Chairman and CEO

A decade ago the average number of job changes in a career was two or three. Today it is closer to six or seven. So what can readers do – whether they are CEOs, top executives, middle managers or simply new hires – to make sure they don't fail in their next new job? Is there a way to help ensure the success of new employees who come to work for the company?

Before writing You're in Charge – Now What? Thomas J. Neff and James Citrin completed a comprehensive study of over 100 leadership transitions – including 50 first-person interviews – to find out exactly what business leaders such as Jeffrey Immelt of GE, Ed Zander of Motorola, Anne Mulcahy of Xerox, & other top executives did and didn't do as they completed the process of taking on a new leadership role.

By coupling these real-world examples with analysis, they have distilled a wide-ranging plan that they say holds true regardless of whether readers are taking their first managerial steps or have climbed to the top rung of the leadership ladder. Highlights of the 8-point plan include:

• Prepare yourself: Examples include how Jim Kilts scoured public records, went on the road to meet sales people, visit plants, and more, during the all important countdown period to get ready for his new role at Gillette.
• Align expectations: Examples include specific actions taken by Bob Eckert of Mattel and Jeffrey Immelt of GE.
• How in shaping his management team, Gary Kusin of Kinkos forged a relationship with both the founder of Kinkos and the interim CEO that benefited his entire tenure at the company.
• How A.G. Lafley at Proctor & Gamble was able to craft a strategic agenda that refocused the company on its top ten brands.
• Transforming corporate culture: How Jon Miller used humor to help diffuse the thorny problem of rebuilding the badly burned bridges between AOL and other Time Warner divisions.
• How Paul Pressler used a combination of e-mail, voicemail, company intranet sites, face to face encounters, and video presentations to communicate with Gap's 165,000 employees when he became CEO.
• The top ten common pitfalls of a leadership transition.

When you really need to hit the ground running . . . Neff and Citrin offer the ultimate blueprint for success. A must-read for anyone entering into a leadership role at any level. – Peter Chernin, president and COO, News Corporation
Take it from someone who’s been there. You're in Charge – Now What? asks all the right questions and tracks down all the right answers from people who ought to know. – Dick Parsons, chairman and CEO, Time Warner
You're in Charge – Now What? may be the best ‘how-to’ leadership book I’ve ever read. It ranks right up there with Good to Great. – George H. Conrades, chairman and CEO, Akamai Technologies
If you are heading into a new leadership role, read this book before you begin if you want to finish in triumph. – Jack Valenti, retired president and CEO, Motion Picture Association of America
The secret road maps of many prominent leaders are revealed for the first time. – Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, associate dean, Yale School of Management
An unparalleled guide based on some of the best minds in modern industry. – Christopher P. Lofgren, Ph.D., president and CEO, Schneider National
Gritty advice . . . for making good and fast decisions in the first days of fresh responsibilities. – Michael Useem, director, Wharton Center for Leadership and Change

… Near book's end, Neff and Citrin (Lessons from the Top, etc.) distill their plan into two principles: "Listen and Learn. Under-promise and over-deliver." Their expert elaboration of those principles throughout will make their work a guiding light to many an incoming manager. – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

With the 8-Point Plan, Neff and Citrin provide a clear roadmap for all professionals as they navigate this all-important phase in their career – a time when their future success or failure can depend on the decisions. The book is written by the world’s experts on leadership and career success and filled with in-depth interviews and engaging examples from corporate leaders. An informative read, You're in Charge – Now What? is the must-have guide for anyone who has just taken on a new job or been promoted to a new leadership position of any rank.

Business & Investing / Management & Leadership

E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company by Michael E. Gerber (Harper Business)

Over the past 27 years, having consulted more than 30,000 E-Myth Mastery clients, both large and small, throughout the world, the people at my company and I have come to recognize that all successful businesses operate in accordance with the principles and practices you will find in this book. The E-Myth Mastery program was designed to cultivate ... inherent... entrepreneurial gifts through a rigorous process of entrepreneurial skill development. – Michael Gerber

Small business guru and best-selling author Gerber presents the ‘next big step’ in entrepreneurial management and leadership with E-Myth Mastery. Building on the principles of The E-Myth Revisited, this book presents a program that can be implemented in any business. Developed over decades with thousands of successful clients, Gerber's program takes the popular E-Myth point of view to its completion. Beginning with the vitality of the entrepreneurial spirit and vision, the book explores the critical roles of passion, purpose, and practice in the success of the enterprise.

Gerber says that most businesses fail because of a crisis of vision that creates an inevitable cloud of misdirected activity. The E-Myth credo – Don't work IN your business, work ON it – is spelled out.

In the first part of E-Myth Mastery, Gerber outlines the life skills necessary for an entrepreneur's creative expression in the marketplace. Readers discover how to overcome the emotional obstacles within themselves that may sabotage the path to building the company and prevent them from seeing their entrepreneurial commitment through to the end. In the second part, Gerber focuses on the seven essential business disciplines that make or break entrepreneurial enterprises, setting forth a blueprint for their successful implementation and practice: leadership, marketing, money, management, fulfillment, lead conversion, and lead generation. Each of the seven disciplines is illuminated with examples, practical exercises, and specific guidance.

E-Myth training is a powerful tool and a core component of Allstate's agency growth strategy. E-Myth teaches Allstate consultants and agency owners how to grow as entrepreneurs while improving their quality of life in the process. – Gary Briggs, field vice president, Allstate Insurance Company

Never before have I seen a philosophy resonate so deeply with our independent store owners. Michael Gerber's E-Myth principles have helped hundreds of Ace retailers get more out of life while reaching new levels of business success. We hear regularly about and from Ace retailers reporting better results from their lives and, not so coincidentally, in their bottom-line results. – David F. Hodnik, president and CEO, Ace Hardware Corporation

E-Myth Mastery is a comprehensive and practical guide to business development that will help entrepreneurs recover their passion. No matter what the industry, the size of the company, or the personal preferences of the owner, the principles and practices set forth by Gerber can help businesses excell.

Children’s, ages 8 and up (adult content) / History

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt, Inc)

In the Koran, the first thing God said to Muhammad was 'Read.' – Alia Muhammad Baker

Alia Muhammad Baker, a librarian of 14 years, knew the war was coming to Basra. For fourteen years, her library has been a meeting place for those who love books. She appealed to the government to allow her to move her library's priceless collection. They said no. So Baker decided to save the collection or as much of it as she could carry – book by book. Night after night she took books home from the library. Then the war came. One day only Baker was left at the library to protect the books. She asked her friend Anis Muhammad, who owned a restaurant next door, to help her. All through the night, Baker, Anis Muhammad, and their families and neighbors took the books from the shelves and hid them in the restaurant. Soon afterward, the library building burned to the ground. When things quieted down, Baker hired a truck to move all thirty thousand of the books from the restaurant to her house and the houses of friends. In all, they were able to save about 70 percent of the collection.

Award-winning children's book author-illustrator Jeanette Winter just couldn't get Alia Muhammad Baker off her mind. Winter read an article about Baker in the New York Times on July 27, 2003. The article told of Baker, chief librarian of Basra's Central Library, and her heroic efforts to save the library's book collection from the approaching war. Winter's book The Librarian of Basra brings Baker's story to children half a world away.

The publisher has pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of The Librarian of Basra through a special fund administered by the American Library Association to help rebuild the collection of Basra's Central Library.

As appropriate for her audience, Winter's bright, folk-art style does much to mute the horrific realities of war. The corresponding abstraction in the text, however, may give many readers pause. While an endnote explains that the ‘invasion of Iraq reached Basra on April 6, 2003,’ the nature of the crisis rocking Baker's homeland is left vague, and the U.S.'s role in the depicted events is never mentioned. At the same time, certain images – among them, silhouetted figures in robes fleeing from ominous tanks and jets – carry a pointed commentary that will require sensitivity when presenting this to children of deployed parents. Still, the librarian's quiet bravery serves as a point of entry into a freighted topic, and young readers will be glad to learn that a portion of the book's sales will go toward helping rebuild Basra's library. – Booklist

In a war-stricken country where civilians – especially women – have little power, The Librarian of Basra tells the true story of a librarian's struggle to save her community's priceless collection of books and reminds us all how, throughout the world, the love of literature and the respect for knowledge know no boundaries.

Community / Church History / Biographies & Memoirs

Echoes in the Hills by Anne Davison Lewis (University of Scranton Press) is made up of the stories of the people who came from New England to the Abington Woods of Northeastern Pennsylvania in the 1800s, founded Abington Center – now Waverly – and for two hundred years nurtured the First Baptist Church of Abington.

Through that Congregation they helped bring into being six other churches, including the Baptist Church in Factoryville, the Waverly Station on the Underground Railroad, the Abington Baptist Association, the Hickory Grove Cemetery, and Keystone Academy – now Keystone College. Beginnings of the Waverly Community House and a socio-reli­gious history of the Abingtons and Scranton are also included in Echoes in the Hills.

Author Anne Lewis, who went on to hold positions of Social Worker and Elementary and Secondary School Counselor for twenty-four years, first heard of Waverly, Pennsylvania, in a seventh grade American History class in Selma, Alabama when reading about the Underground Railroad.

The story of the First Baptist Church of Abington in Waverly, Pennsylvania, Echoes in the Hills, is the story, first, of an ordinary man rather like the patriarch Abraham, who with his family departed from his place of birth and arrived at a new home where he thought his God directed him to be. There he was blessed, and there he became a blessing. This is the story of land newly tilled, of men cutting out forests and building homes in the wilderness, and of women caring for those homes and for their growing families. This is the story of people of like faith coming together to create a small church within a small community – a church through which they could serve their God and, through Him, serve each other.

This is the story of meals given to hungry strangers, of clothes provided for naked strangers, and of medicines sent to make sick strangers well. Echoes in the Hills is the story of couples married, of children dedicated to God, the story of graves around which loved ones gathered filled with grief, but also with hope in the life everlasting. This is the story of people who lost one of their own members at Gettysburg, and one of their own villagers in France during World War I, but were blessed in having all their youth return from the Battle of the Bulge and from Guadalcanal. This is the story of people whose ideas grew even to the limits of their vision, as a small Keystone Academy evolved into a four-year college. This is the story of children nurtured and loved by others in addition to their own parents – the story of thousands upon thousands of dollars given for good and noble causes around the world. This is the story of disappointments endured and troubles shared – of good times celebrated and cherished as blessings from our God.

Echoes in the Hills is the inspirational and old-fashioned story of Waverly and the First Baptist Church of Abington.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Appreciating Wine by Phillip Hills (Collins – (HarperCollins UK Publishers))

There is an undoubted social cachet in being able to ‘appreciate’ a good wine, but wine isn’t a code that only the elite can crack – it is a pleasure open to all.

The different flavors we detect in wine are the real cause of the pleasure we have in drinking it. Few wine-drinkers know much about flavor, or about why wines taste the way they do. In Appreciating Wine, the sources of the taste of wine are examined – readers learn how a good wine ought to taste.

Appreciation, however, is more than mere enjoyment; it requires knowledge and evaluation. Appreciating Wine will help readers understand exactly why they taste what they do and so be able to make educated judgments about the wine they are drinking. It will also show them how to identify a corked one and will enable them to make sense of those mysterious descriptions of wine through ‘flavor signature’, a graphic device which helps readers identify the presence and strength of individual flavors.

Appreciating Wine offers everything one needs to know about appreciating wine, technically and culturally, making it the perfect companion for aspiring wine buffs. Phillip Hills, shortlisted for the 2001 Glenfiddich Drinks Book of the Year Award for his book Appreciating Whisky, gives detailed, structured tutelage to anyone interested in developing his or her palate. In this witty, handsomely illustrated volume, expert Hills presents an accessible, jargon-free guide to tasting, understanding, and appreciating wine.

Education

Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education: Achievements, Challenges, and Opportunities edited by William L. Heward, Timothy E. Heron, Nancy A. Neef, Stephanie M. Peterson, Diane M. Sainato, Gwendolyn Cartledge, Ralph Gardner III, Lloyd D. Peterson, Susan B. Hersh, Jill C. Dardig (Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall)

This book is a collection of papers developed from presentations delivered at The Ohio State University's Third Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education Conference, which took place in Sep­tember 2002. The three-day program included 80 invited addresses, research papers, and posters – many by the most prominent behav­ioral educators in the world. Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education was edited by William L. Heward, Timothy E. Heron, Nancy A. Neef, Stephanie M. Peterson, Diane M. Sainato, Gwendolyn Cartledge, Ralph Gardner III, Lloyd D. Peterson, Susan B. Hersh, all from Ohio State University, plus Jill Dardig from Ohio Dominican University.

Like its predecessors from the first two OSU Focus Conferences, Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education covers a wide range of topics and issues. Collectively, the contributing authors present literature reviews, conceptual analyses, and data from several original studies; they describe advancements in curricula, classroom and school­wide interventions, and teacher training programs; and they offer personal perspectives on the current status and future directions of behavior analysis in education.

The book's 19 chapters are organized into four parts. Part I, "Achieving Improvements in the Lives of Children with Autism," includes two chapters on the role of applied behavior analy­sis in the lives of children with autism and their families. The late Don Bier, one of the founding fathers of applied behavior analysis, describes the required features of applied behavior analysis as an educational treatment and its critical value to all children who depend on systematic instruction to learn useful skills. Catherine Maurice and Bridget Taylor discuss challenges and opportunities for educators, therapists, and par­ents who want to help children diagnosed with autism. Maurice and Taylor offer reflections and recommendations gleaned from a decade of direct action, research, and publishing; interactions with parents, teachers, therapists, and children; and observations of the political forces at play in the world of autism intervention.

Part II, "Recent Developments, Continuing Challenges, and Emerging Opportunities," begins with two chapters outlining recent contributions by behavior analysis to curriculum design and assessment for beginning reading instruction. Janet Twyman, Joe Layng, Greg Stikeleather, and Kelly Hobbins describe Headsprout Reading, a commercially available online reading program that combines behavior analysis, instructional design, usability testing, and an organizational systems approach. Ed Kame’enui, Roland Good, and Beth Harn examine a school­wide model for preventing beginning reading failure that is based on early and frequent measures of specific reading behaviors as a reliable predictor of reading risk.

George Sugai and Rob Horner provide a rationale, examples, and guidelines for building a preventive continuum of positive behavior support that extends behavioral interventions and practices to the school and district levels. Charlie Greenwood, Judy Carta, and Dale Walker provide clear examples of how indicators for early communication, movement, social interaction, and adaptive behavior can be used as im­portant measures for early childhood growth and development.

Stephanie Peterson, Nancy Neef, Renée Van Norman, and Summer Ferreri critically examine the research literature on assessment of choices and the factors that influence choice making in educational settings. They propose a model for conceptualizing and assessing choice making and describe its implications for teaching children to make beneficial choices.

The five chapters in Part III, "Training, Sup­porting, and Learning with Measurably Effective Teachers," examine various issues and approaches to preservice teacher preparation and the professional development of practicing teachers. Larry Maheady, Gregory Harper, and Barbara Mallette describe the development, implementation, and ongoing evaluation and refinement of a teacher preparation program grounded in the beliefs that highly effective teachers engage in a systematic and recursive process –   planning-instructing-reflecting-responding – while teaching and that they adjust their instructional practice in response to ongoing measures of pupil performance. Jo Webber describes how cooperative learning techniques and field experiences can help preservice teachers learn to manage difficult student behavior by applying ABA principles. Sheila Alber and Janet Nelson describe how student teachers and their mentor teachers can work collaboratively to conduct classroom research.

Chris McDonough, Tina Covington, Sayaka Endo, Deborah Meinberg, Trina Spencer, and Dave Bicard address the question, What does it mean to be a behavioral school? These authors outline the philosophy, instructional methods, and outcome measures that they believe define behavioral schooling, and they describe how these measures are applied to five distinct groups of learners at the Hawthorne Country Day School: students, teachers, teaching assistants, supervisors, and parents. In the final chapter in Part III, Dick Malott describes a behavioral-systems approach for teaching behavior analysis that he and his students have developed and refined at Western Michi­gan University. Malott's approach integrates goal-directed systems design, behavioral, systems engineering, performance management, and a skills-training model of education.

Part IV of Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education, "Perspectives on the Current and Future Functions of Behavior Analysis in Education," consists of seven chapters examining the current and future role of applied behavior analysis in education. Ilene Schwartz presents a framework for describing meaningful educa­tional outcomes for all children in inclusive settings and makes recommendations for the role of applied behavior analysis in helping educators achieve those outcomes. Lloyd Peterson and Laura Lacy-Rismiller suggest that a critical element of a school's effectiveness is having all members of a school's community focus on building positive, prosocial student behaviors rather than suppressing inappropriate behaviors. They address the challenges of changing the views of teachers, administrators, parents, and students who might otherwise support a punishment-based climate in the school to one that supports reinforcement. Tim Heron, Matt Tincani, Stephanie Peterson, and April Miller use Plato's allegory of the cave as a metaphor for examining the present educational system and the standard of best practice by which it should operate.

Anus Rolider and Saul Axelrod describe the results of a study showing that the public's acceptance of behavioral interventions increases significantly when those interventions are described in conversational language followed by an explanation of the intended outcome of the prescribed interventions. John Cooper compares the research traditions of applied behavior analysis and precision teaching and concludes that both approaches produce applied research important for advancing the science of behavior and educational practice.

In Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education's final chapter, Bill Heward contends that achieving significant improvements in education will require reducing the disparity between what behavioral research has discovered about effective teaching practices and the curriculum and instruction experienced by most students. He suggests some reasons why applied behavior analysis is well suited to contribute to educational reform, identifies a competing list of reasons that impede the acceptance and adoption of behavioral interventions in education, and offers some suggestions to those who wish to see applied behavior analysis play a more meaningful role in education.

[Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education] begins with two articles concerning the education and treatment of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, currently a very hot topic in the field of behavior analysis. The lead article by the late Donald Baer, "Letters to a Lawyer" is a synopsis of Baer's responses to criticisms and misconceptions about applied behavior analysis (ABA). The article could easily serve as a "how-to guide" for why ABA is the best-practice recommendation for autism treatment. … Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education is a must read for any professional who wishes to employ the most effective educational methods. In this time of No Child Left Behind and the need for evidenced-based practice, the time is right for the field of education to finally embrace what a science of behavior has to offer. – Kenneth F. Reeve, Caldwell College, New Jersey

Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education is a useful resource for three groups: (1) educators seeking information and resources on measurably effective instructional tools; (2) students of behavior analysis wishing to learn about its applications, accomplishments, and future research needs in education; and (3) anyone – pre­service education major, in-service teacher, school administrator, parent, or consumer – who has heard about the '’behavioral approach’ – and wonders what it is all about. Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education provides readers from all these groups with an accessible, accurate, and representative account of the relevance and the potential of applied behavior analysis in education.

Education / Teaching & Learning / Reference

Handbook Of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning edited by Eli Hinkel (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers) provides a broad-based overview of current knowledge and research into second language (L2) teaching and learning.

Editor Eli Hinkel, Seattle University, in Handbook Of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, says that language teaching can be compared to cooking. Due to the advances of science, much has been learned about nutrition, and nutritious meals certainly take into account the beneficial qualities of their ingredients. However, delicious meals are not necessarily nutritious and vice versa. A scientifically sound approach to second-language teaching and learning does not necessarily make for the most enjoyable language course, and in many cases, the teaching that is to be both beneficial and enjoyable has to supply both elements to make learning nutritious and delicious at the same time. In many cases, delineating the boundary between research and practice may not be possible, nor does it seem always necessary. However, one does have to be mindful of the delicious empty calories, as well as highly nutritious but barely edible items.

Handbook Of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning organizes 57 chapters into eight thematic parts, and an introduction is included in each:

• Social contexts of second language learning.
• Research methodologies in second language learning, acquisition, and teaching.
• Contributions of applied linguistics to the teaching and learning of second language skills.
• Second language processes and development.
• Teaching methods and curricula.
• Issues in second or foreign language testing and assessment.
• Identity, culture, and critical pedagogy in second language teaching and learning.
• Important considerations in language planning and policies.

According to Hinkel, the people, L2 learners and users, who populate the L2 universe are at the heart of the research on L2 teaching and learning. Much L2 research is geared toward finding out as much as possible about the societal matrices in which second and foreign languages are taught and learned. Hence, Part I, Important Social Contexts in Research on Second Language Teaching and Learning, begins with the research about many different types of L2 learners that have different language learning needs and goals within the social contexts of their lives. The nine chapters in this section focus on the people who set out to learn a second and foreign language in various locations, institutions, and political and educational systems with an immediate goal of attaining different types of L2 / FL proficiencies in order to achieve their educational, vocational, academic, professional, career, and communicative objectives.

The methods for research in how second languages are taught and learned represent the second theme. These are discussed in Part II, Methods in Second Language Research. In L2 research, each research method has its strengths and weaknesses, and each of the five methods presented in the chapters discuss markedly different approaches to gathering and analyzing data. What specifically can be learned through research crucially depends on the method of collecting data and making conclusions from the analysis.

The many contributions of applied linguistics to research on L2 teaching and learn­ing represent the focus of Part III, Applied Linguistics and Second Language Re­search. The eight chapters included in this part cover such divergent domains of study as Second Language Acquisition (SLA), sociolinguistics, language socialization, prag­matics, sociocultural research and theory, conversation analysis, contrastive rhetoric, and corpus studies. In this regard, the findings of applied linguistics research can shed a great deal of light on various L2 phenomena, such as the processes of language learning and use.

The 12 chapters in Part IV, Research in Second Language Processes and Devel­opment, represent an extension of the theme of applied linguistics research in Part III. The findings of the research into the connections between age, cognition, fossiliza­tion, and output and L2 learning are directly tied into key areas of applied linguistics research. Similarly, the development of essential L2 skills, such as speaking, listen­ing, literacy, grammar, reading, vocabulary, and writing is bound up with mental and physiological processes of learning and maturation. To a large extent, the division of the 20 chapters in Parts III and IV has the goal of easing the reader's path along Handbook Of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning's contents.

In the practice of L2 teaching, there are as many methods as one would like to name and count. For this reason, the eight chapters in Part V, Methods and Curricula in Second Language Teaching attempt to deal only with a few prominent exemplars widely adopted in various geographic locations and social contexts around the world. For example, the preeminence of the communicative method in many countries can be compared only to the undaunted popularity of traditional grammar-based methods. The chapter on L2 learning strategies highlights the applications of strategies for language learning across all methods and approaches. It is important to note, however, that in all likelihood, Part V excludes at least as many methods as it includes, and the importance of the ‘beyond methods’ movement is not to be underestimated.

The six chapters in Part VI, Second Language Testing and Assessment, are probably insufficient to discuss in any depth the many important human and institutional issues entailed in measuring L2 proficiency. However, the goal of the chapters in Part VI is to underscore the vexing complexity of language testing and assessment, as it is closely tied to L2 learning, learning processes, and inferential measurements of L2 competence, proficiency, and skill. Thus, the chapters in Part VI present brief overviews of the sociopolitical contexts of language assessment, considerations of validity and the history of testing, research methods, testing of language for specific purposes, and classroom-centered language assessment.

The theme of Identity, Culture, and Critical Pedagogy in Second Language Teach­ing and Learning is taken up in Part VII. Research into the direct connections between language learning and the social identity, culture, and the ways in which second or foreign languages are taught demonstrates that these constructs combine to impact the social group and the individual within the fabric of the society and its political and educational systems. The study of how learners' identities can be bound up with culture and language pedagogy relies in a wide range of macro- and microanalytic approaches, discussed in Part VII.

The six chapters in Part VIII, Language Planning and Policy and Language Rights, present an overview of the important directions in the research of language policy and planning, and the impact of these on minority language rights. The introductory chapter outlines a number of key issues and terms and a general framework for the types of activities that define the field. The next five chapters discuss the classic activity types and focus on the important recent research specifically geared toward language teaching and learning.

In Handbook Of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, as in any other large books that consists of dozens of chapters written by dozens of authors, the contributions are not likely to be very similar in character. To a large extent, the chapters reflect the diversity of the research into second and foreign language teaching and learning, the contexts in which it is taught and learned, and the individuals who teach and learn. Despite the great diversity of the field, the research, and the disciplinary perspectives, Hinkle has make the chapters consistent in style, tone, and the depth of material coverage. The book emphasizes important developments, trends, and traditions in the discipline, as well as cur­rent controversies and the reasons that they have arisen; a detailed examination of the current research findings presented in the chapter; a section on conclusions and/or future research directions; and a substantial list of references that can assist interested readers in backtracking seminal and relevant works.

Each chapter in Handbook Of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning represents a stand-alone examination of research in a specific sub­domain of second language learning; yet, this state-of-the-art book as a whole reflects the major trends in the current investigations into the people and the contexts where and how second and foreign languages are taught and learned.

Handbook Of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning is intended for a wide audience: researchers, practitioners, graduate students and faculty in teacher education and applied linguistics programs, teachers, teacher trainers, teacher trainees, and curriculum and material developers, and it will be a boon to professionals in the field of second language teaching and learning. – Anna Washington, M.A.T, M.Ed.

Education / Special Education / Reference

Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties: Research and Resource Guide for Working with All Struggling Readers (2nd Edition) by Carol S Spafford & George S Grosser (Allyn & Bacon) contains the message that individuals with dyslexia can lead successful and fulfilling lives.

Dyslexia, the most prevalent reading disability, is a mystifying problem that affects 2 to 20 percent of the population. Although dyslexia cannot be cured, it can be helped. Dyslexia has been addressed by a number of authors in various ways because a definitive ‘cure’ or ‘remedy’ for this disorder has not been found. Therefore, one encounters many approaches to the problem in popular and professional journals.

The second edition of Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties is meant to present a comprehensive overview of one of the most puzzling problems educators confront – why do dyslexics have reading problems and what do we do to help them?
Carol A. Spafford and George S. Grosser provide some insights into this problem with the hope that with further research and study, the nature and causes of dyslexia can further be refined. They carefully document all material with research in the field.

Spafford and Grosser, who collectively have 65 years of teaching experience as college professors and teachers in Massachusetts, demonstrate how teachers can create a social network of support while nurturing the development of individual resiliency.

The book features:

• A new chapter on Fluency includes The Essential 500 Reading Word List.
• More than fifty reproducibles, including those in the areas of diagnosis, teaching, family literacy outreach, and a Meeting and Conference Planner for Families (in both Spanish and English).
• Practical information and tools for diagnosing dyslexia and reading disabilities and for documenting this information for school records.
• A dyslexia screening checklist and summary with terminology easily referenced and explained for teachers and parents.
• Several assessment tools to give teachers ongoing information about a student's literacy development and progress in reading and writing.

Spafford and Grosser note that professionals have many strategic social and academic interventions to rely on, with families involved as ‘literacy partners’, and they caution readers to be wary of approaches and treatments that claim to have the cures and the definite answers

Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties includes techniques for engaging dyslexic students within a balanced literacy program. Drawing on hundreds of scientifically based research studies and informed teaching practices, the book is a popular text providing teachers and parents with a repertoire of strategies and interventions to build rich literacy environments. Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties is intended to reach families and professionals, including diagnosticians, researchers, teachers, school administrators, college students, and anyone interested in learning more about dyslexia and how to support dyslexia from early childhood to adulthood. Dyslexia and Reading Difficulties holds the promise of bettering the life situation of any person with a learning disability by providing one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date sources on the subject.

Entertainment / Movies

Special Effects: An Oral History – Interviews with 37 Masters Spanning 100 Years by Pascal Pinteau, translated from the French by Laurel Hirsch (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers)

The monster spewing flames in Godzilla, the flying bicycle in E.T., the rampaging dinosaurs in Jurassic Park – these are just a few of the cinematic moments that have held audiences spellbound over the years. In Special Effects, the inventors of such screen legerdemain reveal the huge variety of techniques they employ, from animation, animatronics, makeup, and model-making to the most astounding computer trickery possible today. The book encompasses not only film and television but also theme parks and attractions. As a bonus, the author, Pascal Pinteau, a journalist, screenwriter, and designer who has created special effects for commercials, TV shows and theme parks, includes his selection of DVDs with not-to-be-missed special effects.
Spanning a century of screen wizardry – from the early innovations of the pioneering French fantasist Georges Méliès to the first synthetic TRON images to the cutting-edge technology used in the most recent Star Wars and The Matrix – Special Effects pays homage to dazzling visual pyrotechnics and the artists of illusion who created them. This history of these great illusions is presented through interviews with 37 international masters of the art and science of special effects and more than 1,000 illustrations, nearly all in color.
To get interviews for the book, Pinteau, over the last 20 years, visited with special effects masters throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia. The book includes interviews with:

Martin Bower Alien • Sylvain Chomet Les Triplettes de Belleville • Walt Conti Free Willy • Mark Coulier Harry Potter • Terry Curtis Captain Scarlet • Matt Denton Lost in Space • Sylvain Despretz Alien Resurrection • Roy E. Disney The Walt Disney Company • John Dykstra Star Wars • Volker Engel Independence Day • Ed French Terminator 2: 3-D • Andy Gaskill and Neil Eskuri Dinosaur • Ray Harryhausen Jason and the Argonauts • Jim Henson The Dark Crystal • Steve Kirk Tokyo DisneySea • John Lasseter Finding Nemo • Leona Beatrice Martin-­Starewicz Ladislaw Starewicz • Mike McGee Dinotopia • Nick Park and Peter Lord Chicken Run • Brian Penikas Jeepers Creepers • Nikki Penny Gladiator • Pitof Vidocq • Sam Raimi Spider-Man • Nicolas Rey Le Boulet • Gene Rizzardi Titanic • Robert Short E.T. • Dick Smith The Exorcist • Patrick Tatopoulos Godzilla • Richard Taylor The Lord of the Rings • Miles Teves RoboCop • Phil Tippett Jurassic Park • Douglas Trumbull Blade Runner • Joe Viskocil Star Wars • Jean-Marie  Vives Alien Resurrection • Stan Winston Terminator • Mark A. Woodbury Universal Studios Florida

Special Effects gives readers an intimate and detailed look at the exciting process of creating these works of magic. This amazing book, with its spectacular illustrations, not only incorporates film and television, but also theme parks and attractions; and the author selection on DVD with not-to-be missed special effects.

Entertainment / Music

The Joy of Music by Leonard Bernstein, with a foreword by Tim Page (Amadeus Press)

The Joy of Music, a classic work, his first collection of essays and conversations, provides a look into Leornard Bernstein’s understanding of the meaning and wonder of music.

Leonard Bernstein was one of the twentieth century's preeminent American composers. Bernstein's collective creative output spans the range of musical genres to include works for orchestra, theater, ballet, film, solo voice, chamber music, and piano. He studied at the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia – paino with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and orchestration with Randall Thompson. Bernstein remains the youngest person ever to have served as music director of the New York Philharmonic. From 1958 to 1969 he led more concerts with the orchestra than any previous conductor. He subsequently held the lifetime title of laureate conductor. Among his best-known works are the musicals West Side Story, On the Town, and the operetta Candide.

Bernstein was once called ‘the ideal explainer of music, past and present’ by award-winning composer and music critic Virgil Thomson. ‘In addition to his many distinctions as composer, pianist, and conductor, Leonard Bernstein found time to be the most influential music teacher in history.... thanks to his television appearances and books such as The Joy of Music, I can say that I studied with [him], and so did many of my contemporaries,’ Page notes in his introduction.

Written in what The Atlantic Monthly calls ‘. . . a successful fusion of the colloquial speaking voice and a highly readable prose style,’ Bernstein employs the creative device of ‘Imaginary Conversations’ in the first section of The Joy of Music, humorously illuminating the importance of the symphony in America, the greatness of Beethoven, and the art of composing. The book also includes a photo section and a third section with transcripts from his televised Omnibus music series, including Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, The World of Jazz, Introduction to Modern Music, and What Makes Opera Grand? Dozens of musical examples are also included.

... The Joy of Music is – talking about music, with passion and authority, but always on a level that will reach everybody who cares to listen .... Leonard Bernstein still has much to teach us – and his company is a gift. – Tim Page

Widely hailed by the critics and the public alike, and a national bestseller on its publication, The Joy of Music, is considered the maestro's finest collection. Whether illustrating the blues or fathoming the peculiar greatness of Beethoven, Bernstein's exuberant genius illumines and enriches. Nearly fifteen years after Bernstein's death, The Joy of Music continues to be a must-have for all music fans – both inside and outside the classroom – who wish to experience music more fully and deeply through one of the most inspired, and inspiring, music intellects of our time.

Entertainment / Biographies & Memoirs

I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul by James Brown, with an introduction by Marc Eliot (New American Library)

Here, then, is the real story of James Brown, told by the Godfather of Soul himself, what he calls his ‘personal business’ rather than his ‘show business,’ the 411 of his life, an interior monologue whose essential roots are not just about music but about race, whose obsession is not inclusion but exclusion, whose ultimate resolution occurs not onstage but within the heart... and from the soul. – Marc Eliot, from the Introduction

"Please Please Please" was the raw cry that first established James Brown as the embodiment of a social and musical revolution. But that seminal recording in 1956 came more than two decades after Brown began his life – and his fight for respect.

Soul Brother Number One, the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Mr. Dynamite – Brown is arguably the most influential African-American in popular music in the past half-century and one of the most dynamic performers of our time. Brown is the recipient of the American Music Awards Award of Merit, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. When the music industry decided to create a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Brown was one of the first 10 musicians inducted.
Brown is a controversial figure – from his humble childhood in Georgia, he went on to change the face of American music with hit after hit. While he was a courageous public figure in a time of national strife and adversity, his personal life took destructive turns, leaving a difficult path ahead of him. For the first time in a decade, he speaks candidly and at length in I Feel Good about his tumultuous journey with the assistance of Marc Eliot, New York Times best-selling biographer. The story he tells is the story of a man who grew up black in the segregated South – whose strength of conviction and force of will were matched only by the powerful demons he battled inside himself.

The ‘rock-a-soul’ that Brown created (along with rockers Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and others) ‘was not just about rebellion – it was the rebellion itself,’ he says. Chronicling such peace-seeking yet controversial events as his 1968 U.S.O. tour of Vietnam and his landmark Boston Garden performance the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Brown cites his own example as a ‘self-made and therefore self-owned Black man’… This is a fascinating memoir of a trailblazer in music and civil rights.  – Publishers Weekly
It's likely that R & B singer Brown is better known to today's audiences for his lurid run-ins with the law – he served two and a half years after a 1988 arrest on drug and assault charges – than for his music. … He now credits prison for saving his life, claiming, ‘I wasn't arrested – I was rescued.’ – Booklist

In I Feel Good James Brown moves beyond his music and his much-publicized legal troubles to delve deeply into the highs and lows of his life. From his childhood memories, to his musical triumphs as he journeyed from gospel to R & B to soul – and then virtually invented funk – to his struggles with inner demons and his most recent troubles with the law, this is the story of James Brown the man, told in his own words.

Entertainment / Music

The Songwriter Goes to War: The Story of Irving Berlin's World War II All-Army Production of This Is the Army by Alan Anderson, with a foreword by Mary-Ellin Barrett (Amadeus Press / Limelight Editions)

Irving Berlin marked the end of WWI with a show that opened on Broadway just before Armistice Day, 1918, and ran for all of 32 performances. Yip! Yip! Yaphank! and its imperishable song, "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," was notable for its company, made up entirely of servicemen.

The idea of an all-service show resurfaced in the wake of the U.S. entry into WWII, and the cast of This Is the Army was rehearsing and preparing to open at New York's Broadway Theatre. Their story is recalled in The Songwriter Goes to War by Alan Anderson, whose first assignment after induction was to be production stage manager and first sergeant of the This Is the Army detachment. From this vantage point Anderson enjoyed a unique perspective on the show, on all the elements that went into it, and on all the personalities that in one way or another brought the elements to life.

That relatively brief engagement on the Broadway Theatre was just a warm-up for an around-the-world tour of Army bases – from the United States, to Great Britain, Italy, Persia, the Philippines, and many ports of call in between – that would last until the war was over and would raise the spirits of the soldiers on the battlefield and millions of dollars for the Army Emergency Relief Fund.

Where did this khaki stage marvel come from and where did it go? That is the wonderful story Alan Anderson has to tell in The Songwriter Goes to War, a long lost tale of frontline show business that only he at the center could have attempted... How the show was put together sets the tone: a determined songwriter asking the impossible and getting it; a motley crew of recruits, some with experience, many more just full of pluck, molded into a musical comedy team; blacks and whites together in the first and only integrated division in the US Army...

It's a new way of looking at World War II ... a ‘backstage’ story that ulti­mately involves transporting a full-scale Broadway musical revue to Great Britain in the blitz, the Italian front lines, the Persian desert and the jungles of New Guinea.... But nothing could compare to the mind-boggling logistics of This Is the Army: the scenery, the costumes, the lights, the setting up, taking down, moving on, with a cast of 150 to be billeted and fed, under the dual command of Army brass and the civilian Mr. Berlin, not always in perfect accord. – From the Foreword by Irving Berlin’s daughter, Mary Ellin Barrett

This is one of the great show-biz stories, untold until now, and Alan Anderson, who was a key participant, has told it beautifully. – Calvin Tomkins, The New Yorker

Finally, a published account about Irving Berlin's unique, This Is the Army. Sergeant and stage manager Anderson was there from inception through finale, documenting every moment. Writing gracefully and informatively, he takes us back to the 1940s, weaving a spell-binding, wartime tale. Sheer theatrical enchantment. John Maxtone-Graham, author, The Only Way to Cross

The Songwriter Goes to War is a warm­hearted memoir of American patriotism, songwriting and musical theater.

Entertainment / Music

Jazz: An American Journey by Brian Harker (Pearson Prentice Hall) places jazz music within its rich historical and cultural context.

Jazz explains how and why jazz evolved as it did, as it emphasizes chronology, historical cause and effect, and the interactions between music and American history and culture. Presented from the point of view of the original participants (musicians, critics, and audiences), Jazz focuses on the music with fifty-five recorded examples that are accompanied by a listening chart, commentary, and analysis, all to provide a more vivid setting for jazz grounded in the time, place, and worldview of its creators.

Historical, political, cultural, and economic context for each stylistic period presented helps students understand how jazz relates to larger currents in American history, politics, and culture.

Author Brian Harker, Brigham Young University, relates that Jazz grew out of an assignment he received to teach a jazz history course for non-music majors. Studying jazz in context uncovers relationships with economics, politics, and other social dimensions, particularly at the site of watershed historical events – the Great Migration of southern blacks to northern cities, World War I and World War II, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the civil rights movement, among others. Students' understanding of jazz should illuminate many aspects of twentieth-century culture they encounter in other courses.

Moreover, the emphasis on context makes it possible to see how social conditions gave birth to musical style. It helps to know, for instance, that the defining paradigms of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois established basic attitudes toward race throughout the century. These attitudes decisively affected the evolution of jazz style, particularly its transformation from entertainment to art. Such connections can be made all along the line: vaudeville inspired the antic quality of much early jazz, the ability to hire more musicians for less money supported the rise of big bands during the Depression, the drive by American blacks for political freedom in the early sixties found its counterpart in free jazz, and so forth.

Harker organizes Jazz into fifteen-year segments that correspond roughly to fundamental changes in both American society and jazz. The chronology is divided into six parts: Origins, Early Jazz, Swing, Bop, Free Jazz to Fusion, and Postmodern Jazz. Each part begins with a chapter on historical context to introduce the period. Additionally, most chapters open with a brief section on historical and cultural setting. The first part, Origins (c. 1900-1914), discusses the social conditions among African Ameri­cans that led to the rise of jazz, the influence of ragtime and the blues, and the formative role of New Orleans. The second part, Early Jazz (c. 1914-1929), treats the development of early jazz in Chicago and New York, the emergence of Louis Armstrong, and so forth.

Each chapter has pedagogical aids to further illuminate the subject. These include Contemporary Voices boxes containing quotations from people who lived during the period in question, boxes titled Great Debates summarizing important controversies among jazz critics and scholars, and Chronology boxes listing influential events – both musical and otherwise – for individual parts. Other boxes treat record labels, venues, and offstage personalities. One unique feature of Jazz is a series of historical maps indicating regions, cities, communities, and venues that proved especially hospitable to jazz. Period photographs, album covers, and cartoons give a visual sense of the attitudes and customs that surrounded the music. Birth and death dates in parentheses mark the first substantive mention of significant figures, and important names and terms are highlighted in the text.

Context, of course, has no purpose without a text. The "text" for this book is a series of fifty-five outstanding jazz recordings collected in an available three-CD set. Most of the recordings are classics in that they represent leading musicians' best or most influential work according to longstanding critical consensus. Indeed, a third of the selections are taken from the now-defunct Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, a widely used anthology before its discontinuance several years ago. Some of the more recent recordings have not yet had the chance to stand the test of time and thus reflect a more subjective selection process. Some recordings were chosen to represent a particular style; others to illustrate a historical pattern. (For instance, Charlie Barnet's "Cherokee," from the Swing Era, should help prepare students to understand Charlie Parker's "Koko," a modern jazz treatment of the "Cherokee" chord progression.) Many recordings are discussed in detail, and thirty-five are represented visually in a Listening Chart. The twenty recordings without listening charts provide students the opportunity to create their own diagrams of the music.

Together, the two anthologies contain sixty-seven outstanding jazz recordings. Because Jazz is designed for nonmusicians, Harker omitted musical notation and overly technical musical analysis. However, the Introduction includes a discussion of musical elements – melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture, dynamics, and form – and establishes a basic vocabulary of musical terms which appear frequently in later chapters.

Jazz presents the history of jazz in narrative form, emphasizing chronology, cause and effect, and the human dramas that contributed to the shaping of musical style. As an introduction to jazz history, Jazz is not intended to be a definitive or comprehensive treatment. Accordingly, Harker attempts to do more with less – to discuss fewer musicians in greater detail or within a richer historical context. The book devotes a full chapter to each of five seminal figures: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. Less influential musicians are treated in chapters on various styles or movements (bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, etc.). In keeping with their leading role, black players receive the most attention, but white musicians are not overlooked. The part on Swing, for instance, contains a chapter on white bands led by Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Charlie Barnet. The contributions of women to jazz have been limited but powerful within their area of concentration. In the first chapter on singing – the one arena dominated by women – Harker assesses the role of women in jazz generally. Jazz addresses styles and genres occasionally slighted in other histories, including contemporary big bands, Latin jazz, soul jazz, neo-bop, smooth jazz, acid jazz, and world fusion. Three chapters are devoted to jazz after 1975.

This scholarly, useful and enlightening survey tells the story of jazz holistically, situating the music within its natural home in American history and culture. The book should prove helpful to others who teach jazz in the university setting and will be of interest to the general, musically sophisticated audience with an interest in jazz.

Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Road of Silk by Matt Afsahi & Barbara Dysonwilliams (Synergy Books) is a fantasy novel chronicling the adventures of Queen Yasamin of Gwendomere.

Remember the road of silk.

The old woman’s words rang in Yasamin’s ears as she set sail for Dragonval to marry its king – not something she wanted, but something she had to do to save her people and her kingdom. But the words haunted her. What was the road of silk, what did it mean? She was alone on a vessel belonging to King Amir, guarded by a giant soldier named Goliagoth, her only companions, her old nurse, a child given to her as a wedding present and Arash, a young man taken prisoner at her very doorstep. Little did Yasamin realize what waited for her. She had yet to learn this trip was more than a simple journey to become Queen. She had yet to meet Mosesra who would change the way she looked at the world forever. She had yet to meet the demons that would try and stop them from reaching Dragonval. And, she had yet to meet the dangerous evil waiting for her, hidden deep in the darkness, a darkness more dangerous than the king she was fated to marry.

This voyage was more than simply sailing from her homeland to Dragonval. It was a journey of lessons: of growth, loss, relationships. It was a journey of hate and love, of belief and disbelief. Most importantly, it was a journey where Yasamin learned about the great battle between the followers of the Light and followers of the Darkness: where she learned that while the kingdoms fought each other, the battle of the Light and Dark battled within her – for she was The One for whom both waited; she was the one who carried the seed of each. And only she could create the road of silk – or destroy it.
The Road of Silk, written by Matt Afsahi, a storyteller and specialist in psychic phenomenon, and Barbara Dysonwilliams, a journalist and archaeologist, is a story of people, their relationships, their choices and the effects of these choices on their lives, the lives of those around them, and of those to come. According to the authors, The Road of Silk has allowed them to promote the mystery and intrigue of the unknown by creating a new world of fantasy and folklore. Lovers of fantasy will enjoy the trip.

Health, Mind & Body / AIDS / Politics

The Political Economy of AIDS in Africa edited by Nana K. Poku & Alan Whiteside (Global Health Series: Ashgate)

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region devastated by HIV/AIDS. The extent of the epidemic is only now becoming clear, as increasing numbers of people with HIV are becoming ill. In the absence of massively expanded prevention, treatment and care efforts, the AIDS death toll on the continent is set to escalate rapidly. Despite progress being achieved in localized settings, the alarming statistics reflect the continuing failure of advanced countries to mount a response that matches the scale and severity of the African HIV/AIDS crisis.

Over and above the colossal personal suffering, the dire social and economic consequences for fragile nation-states are already being felt, not only in health but in education, industry, agriculture, transport, human resources and economies in general. Countries already crippled by drought, poverty, debt, forced migration and civil war must now contend with massive deterioration in child survival rates and life expectancy, the erosion of the economic family base, massive and insupportable demands on health and public services, chronic labor shortages and volatile national security.

Through a critical and detailed exploration of specific case studies, The Political Economy of AIDS in Africa brings together an unparalleled array of international contributors to redefine the political and economic contours of this calamitous epidemic. Written by Nana K. Poku, University of Southampton, UK, and Alan Whiteside, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, it examines the impact of the shortfalls in the ‘Global Fund’ allocation, the slow pace of administrative processing of aid and the weaknesses of institutional responses to the crisis from African countries and their partners in the global health community.

Features of the volume include:

• Unique assessments of HIV/AIDS and its impact on democracy and governance in African states.
• Wide-ranging regional and country studies by the foremost thinkers in their fields
• Multi-disciplinary contributions from areas including: politics, sociology, public health and development studies.
• Compelling and convincing evidence, thematic in approach.
• Innovative and culturally specific insights for long-term planning, care and support.

The Political Economy of AIDS in Africa is an invaluable volume and essential reading for all concerned with public health, epidemiology, HIV/AIDS research, globalization, development, Africa and, indeed, our shared future.

Health, Mind & Body / Self-Help

If Only: How to Turn Regret into Opportunity by Neal Roese (Broadway Books)

For anyone who's played the what if game, comes a timely and welcome counterargument to the self help industry's mantra to banish negative thoughts.

In If Only, Neal Roese, Ph.D., one of the world’s top scientists studying regret, shows us that thoughts about what might have been are practically unavoidable. In fact, they are produced spontaneously by the brain with a very practical goal – to guide us toward improvement. But the same thoughts can bring the pain of regret. Is it worth the pain to get the improvement? Or should readers live life with no regrets?
Luckily, it’s not a package deal. The surprising message of If Only is that we can manage our regret style to maximize the gain and minimize the pain. In a book that weds science writing to practical self-help, Roese mines the research and shares simple strategies for managing life to make the most of regret. Readers learn:

• Don’t Over-react. Don’t stop taking chances – that only ensures that readers will miss out on new opportunities.
• Think Downward. How could a bad situation have gone even worse? This makes readers appreciative of what they have.
• Do It. People regret the things left undone.
• Regrets are Opportunities Knocking. Our brains produce the most if only thoughts about things in our lives that we can still change. So consider regret as a signal flashing: It’s not too late!

If Only also shows that if only thinking plays a huge role across our lives, from how best to buy, to why we enjoy movies, how juries decide, and the way we choose someone to love. In If Only, researcher Neal Roese shows us that if only thoughts are closely connected to emotion, memory, dreams, mental disorders, judgments of blame and responsibility, and ultimately, the universal drive for rebirth and regeneration.

Our pasts are full of regrets about what might have been and dreams about what could have been. In his entertaining and informative book, Neal Roese helps us to understand how and why we shape and attempt to alter the past. One thing is for sure: I have no regrets about reading If Only. – Daniel L. Schacter, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor and Chair of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Seven Sins of Memory
If only more scientists could write this well! For more than a decade, Neal Roese has been the leader in the scientific study of counterfactual thought, and in this wise, delightful book he demonstrates just how profoundly our mental lives are influenced by all those roads not taken. Solid insight and elegant prose make If Only a rare treat. – Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University

If Only is a fascinating glimpse inside the brain as it works to optimize performance and happiness, and more broadly, to make sense of the world around us. It is also a handbook to managing regret in ways that will make readers happier. A hopeful and optimistic book, If Only imparts a sense of wonder at the fact that our brains are silently guiding us toward happiness and the fulfillment of our goals and desires.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Understanding NLP: Principles & Practice, 2nd edition by Peter Young (Crown House Publishing Limited)

This book unfolds to reveal many layers. However, all is explained by the end . . . Whenever I talk to people about these ideas, I warn them: “Make sure you are OK with knowing that you will never be the same again. These ideas will change how you think about NLP and about your life in general. Once you know this stuff there is no going back.” – from the book

When it first appeared, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) offered a radical shake-up of traditional therapy and change techniques. Although some rejected its ground-breaking approach, there were many who welcomed NLP's innovative way of working, and over the last three decades it has expanded greatly. New techniques and therapeutic procedures are constantly being developed and the number of training courses and books grows all the time.

Many NLP practitioners believe that only techniques matter. Their books and trainings present students with a mass of useful facts, but with little integration of the material.

Understanding NLP by innovative, freelance writer Peter Young overcomes this problem. By integrating into its structure tools from other change systems, and from drama, storytelling and mythology, it utilizes the pattern of human learning to produce a completely systematic way of investigating life. In creating a paradigm for understanding change, it examines aspects such as rapport, the Meta Mirror, the Four Realities model, Bateson’s levels of learning, the Satir categories, outcome setting, the NLP language model, modal operators, beliefs, and modeling.

Peter Young has written the most definitive book on NLP so far. – Martin Weaver UKCP Reg, NLP Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Health Consultant

The most important new contribution to NLP work in years. This book will inspire the next generation in NLP. – Will McWhinney, The Fielding Institute, author of Paths of Change.

Understanding NLP provides a coherent model of NLP. Exploring four archetypal worldviews and three basic theoretical models, the book is an essential resource for both NLP beginners and practitioners, presenting a wealth of practical exercises and applications while revealing their underlying significance.

Health, Mind & Body / Alternative Medicine

Household Homeopathy: A Safe and Effective Approach to Wellness for the Whole Family by Vinton McCabe (Basic Health Publications, Inc.)

Homeopathy is an alternative medical practice that treats health conditions by administering minute doses of a remedy that would produce symptoms of that condition in a healthy person. As a form of medical treatment, homeopathy dates back to just over 200 years ago, but the underlying principles of homeopathy go back to the time of Hippocrates.

Household Homeopathy provides an introduction to this holistic approach to medicine for people who want to learn some basics that they can practice in their own homes.

In homeopathic medicine ‘acute treatments’ are those that restore the patient to the level of health they had before the onset of illness – these treatments are the subject of Household Homeopathy. Readers will learn how to match a specific symptom of a common ailment with a homeopathic remedy – the closer the match, the better the remedy will perform. The focus is on everyday household emergencies, such as sciatica, insect and animal bites, bruises, lacerations and wounds, injuries from falling, fainting, burns and scalds, nosebleeds, colds, flu, fever, and sore throats, among others.

The guide begins by introducing the history of homeopathy and the concepts that comprise its practice. Author Vinton McCabe, president of the Connecticut Homeopathic Association for more than fifteen years, who teaches homeopathic medicine to medical practitioners and lay people, points out that the methods by which practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine make diagnoses and determine treatment parallel some of the ways that homeopathic medicine works. He then describes homeopathic case-taking – how to gather and consider patient information so that the best treatment can be determined.

Part Two provides details on the fifty-two remedies that the author considers most important for home homeopathic treatments. He lists the remedies and tells readers, remedy by remedy, what they are likely to see and sense when considering the patient who needs the remedy. He includes the doses and potencies for each remedy.

Part Three of Household Homeopathy presents various household emergencies, along with the homeopathic remedies most commonly used to treat each of them.

Appendices provide lists of homeopathic organizations, websites, and pharmacies; more information on historical homeopaths and their conditions; and a list of other reference books that the author recommends for the homeopathic home.

With Household Homeopathy Vinton McCabe brings his classroom into the home and offers general readers and students a practical, handy reference book on the principles and applications of this alternative, holistic method of treating health conditions. The book makes the subject of homeopathy down to earth and practical and provides readers with plenty of food for thought.

Health, Mind & Body / Children

101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens: Using Metaphors in Therapy by George W. Burns (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) is a comprehensive guide to understanding and using storytelling in therapy with kids and teens.

Stories can play an important and potent role in therapy with children and adolescents – helping them develop the skills to cope with and survive a myriad of life situations. In many cases, stories provide the most effective means of communicating what kids and teens might not want to discuss directly.

Offering guidance for new clinicians and seasoned professionals, George Burns’s 101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens delivers a unique combination – information on incorporating storytelling in therapy, dozens of ready-made stories, and tips for creating original therapeutic stories.

Innovative chapters include:

• Guidance for effective storytelling
• Using metaphors effectively
• Where to get ideas for healing stories
• Planning and presenting healing stories
• Teaching parents to use healing stories

In addition, 101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens includes dozens of story ideas designed to address a variety of issues, such as teaching self-care, changing patterns of behavior, managing relationships, emotions, and life challenges, and developing life skills and problem-solving techniques

[101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens] is a rare text:  at once delightful to read, lively, informative, practical and reassuring.  Burns’ confidence in the curative power of metaphor bursts forth from the pages, demystifying the art of telling a good story in the process.  Here are wonderful tales we can tell kids, they can tell us, and we can coauthor with them. Burns takes us through all the steps involved in building a good therapeutic narrative so even the most tongue-tied clinician can spin a useful tale. – Martha B. Straus, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Antioch New England Graduate School

101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens is a must read for anyone working with this age group. George Burns takes the reader on a wonderful journey, balancing metaphor, good therapeutic technique, and empirical foundations during the trip. Given that Burns utilizes all three aspects of the Confucian story referred to in the book – teaching, showing, and involving – any reader using this resource should increase their understanding of how stories can be used therapeutically. – Richard G. Whiteside, author of The Art of Using and Losing Control and Working with Difficult Clients

101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens provides straightforward advice on using storytelling and metaphors in a variety of therapeutic settings. Ideal for all who work with young people, this unique resource can be combined with other inventive and evidence-based techniques such as play, art, music, and drama therapies as well as solution focused, hypnotic, and cognitive-behavioral approaches.

Health, Mind & Body / Self-Help

The Messages Workbook: Powerful Strategies for Effective Communication at Work and Home by Martha Davis, Kim Paleg & Patrick Fanning (New Harbinger Publications, Inc.)

Everyone needs strong communication skills to survive. The better able people are to communicate with other, the happier and more successful they will be. Rewarding and lucrative careers, strong and lasting friendships, meaningful and satisfying romance all hang on this one uniquely human ability. Communication is a skill that can always be improved with good information and practice.
The original Messages: The Communication Skills Book taught readers to listen well, disclose honestly, and express truthfully while communicating with others. The Messages Workbook helps readers apply these skills specifically to different aspects of life. The book is co-authored by Martha Davis, a psychologist in the department of psychiatry of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara, CA, where she practices individual, couple, and group psychotherapy; Kim Paleg, a practicing clinical psychologist specializing in couples and family therapy and codirector of the Redwood Center Psychology Associates, Inc., in Berkeley, CA; and Patrick Fanning, a mental health professional writer.
The Messages Workbook is a personalized program to help readers:

• Bridge the gender gap.
• Negotiate power dynamics.
• Talk to teens, children, and elders.
• Build intimate communication.
• Manage emotions in difficult conversations.
• Be assertive.
• Learn to say no.
• Master the art of persuasion.

Step-by-step worksheets, fill-in exercises, and case stories help readers avoid communication pitfalls and make life-enhancing changes. The Messages Workbook extends the techniques of Messages to a wide range of situations: Exercises teach readers to communicate with teens and children. They help facilitate partner understanding by exploring gender communication differences. The workbook guides readers through challenging communication situations like talking through a power dynamic with a boss or a subordinate, with elders, or with people of different cultures. An important chapter applies emotion-regulation techniques from dialectical behavior therapy to communication, teaching readers to express themselves effectively even when feeling emotionally unstable.

The first three chapters of The Messages Workbook lay the groundwork for effective communication. Chapter 1 teaches listening skills, like paraphrasing, clarifying, and giving feedback, that make everyone more empathic toward and knowledgeable about the people who matter most to them. Chapter 2 teaches readers how to open up and safely disclose important, appropriate information about themselves so that they can be known authentically by others. Chapter 3 teaches readers how to express their thoughts, feelings, and desires at the right time and place to get their needs met.

The next part of this workbook teaches communication skills that will help readers cope with various types of conflict. Chapter 4 teaches readers to control strong emotions, particularly anger, so that they can communicate effectively in stressful situations. Chapter 5 teaches assertiveness, the art of getting one’s needs met without alienating others by being either too aggressive or too passive. Chapter 6 teaches fair fighting with one’s spouse or lover so that conflicts are resolved fairly and quickly, improving rather than harming the relationship. Chapter 7 teaches readers to negotiate good deals and fair compromises with landlords, salespeople, bosses, and bureaucrats. Chapter 8 teaches readers how to stand up for themselves with people who have more power. Chapter 9 teaches them how to talk with people who are in the throes of some painful emotion, such as fear, grief, humiliation, disappointment, or anger.

The last part of The Messages Workbook focuses on social situations. Chapter 10 teaches readers how to be sensitive and temper messages when talking to a member of the opposite gender, so they can have better relationships. Chapter l1 shows how to make contact and form relationships with new people, so they can gain a new friend or romantic partner. Chapter 12 teaches simple but effective ways to talk about sex, so readers can end embarrassment and avoidance, and improve their sex lives dramatically. Chapter 13 teaches readers how to talk to their children to gain their confidence, teach them, and keep them safe. Chapter 14 demonstrates how to level with teenagers so that they hear and understand, so readers can in turn preserve their relationship with them, keep them safe, and honor their growing independence. Chapter 15 teaches the skills of communicating with elders who may have hearing, expression, or comprehension problems that make it hard to enjoy and care for them. Chapter 16 teaches readers how to hold their own in a small group, to express their views, debate the issues, and have a positive influence in group decisions. Chapter 17 teaches the simple but essential rules of effective public speaking so that they can address an audience with maximum eloquence and minimum stage fright.

The Messages Workbook is a major workbook significantly enhancing the effectiveness of the best-selling Messages: The Communication Skills Book by allowing readers to personalize its master program to enrich specific areas of their lives – at work, at home, and in relationships. Whatever readers’ communication needs, this book offers them real tools they can use to express themselves well and relate to others effectively.

Health, Mind & Body / Nutrition

Healthy Eating Every Day by Ruth Ann Carpenter & Carrie E. Finley (Human Kinetics Publishers) invites readers to improve their health and the quality of their life through balanced eating, teaching readers how to improve their eating habits in ways that fit their lifestyles.

In Healthy Eating Every Day, readers discover how to choose the right balance of the right foods for optimal health, set realistic goals and rewards, and cope with triggers for unhealthy eating. Written by Ruth Ann Carpenter and Carrie Finley, Healthy Eating Every Day contains checklists, charts, and other features that personalize the program and keep it fun all the way through. According to Carpenter, the director of the Center for Research Dissemination, and Finley, manager of the nutritional epidemiology project, both at The Cooper Institute in Dallas, fad diets offer short-term results that often do more harm than good. Based on research, this is a proven program to change the way readers eat. The book contains information that can help readers achieve their healthy eating goals, from state-of-the-art information on nutrition and behavior change to practical tips for eating in today’s hectic world. In Healthy Eating Every Day readers learn key strategies to:

• Keep healthy eating in mind while shopping for food.
• Eat well when dining out or away from home.
• Make sense of nutrition information and diet product claims.

For example, five strategies that research has shown are more likely to improve health and reduce disease risk:

•  Increase fruits and vegetables.

• Decrease fats.

• Increase dairy and dairy alternatives.

• Increase whole grains.

• Balance calories.

Providing practical advice, accurate scientific information, and useful behavioral skills, Healthy Eating Every Day can assist everyone who wants to achieve better nutritional habits. – Rebecca Reeves, DrPH, RD President-elect, American Dietetic Association

This practical book addresses the root causes of unhealthy eating, and gives readers the tools to succeed in eating better. Healthy Eating Every Day is a sensible, step-by-step lifetime plan with research to back up its claims. The book can be used in conjunction with the Healthy Eating Every Day course, which was developed in partnership with The Cooper Institute.

Health, Mind & Body / Families & Parenting

Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain by Sue Gerhardt (Brunner-Routledge) explains why love is essential to brain development in the early years of life, and how early interactions between babies and their parents have lasting and serious consequences.

In Why Love Matters Sue Gerhardt explores how the earliest relationship shapes the baby's nervous system. She shows how the development of the brain can affect future emotional well being and looks at specific 'pathways' that affect the way we respond to stress and contribute to conditions such as anorexia, addiction, and anti-social behavior.

Gerhardt’s approach to understanding emotional life is a systemic one. Gerhardt, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice, and co-founder of the Oxford Parent Infant Project, argues that human beings are open systems, permeated by other people as well as by plants and air and water. Both our physiological systems and our mental systems are developed in relationship – and this happens most intensely and leaves it biggest mark in infancy. We live in a social world, in which we depend on complex chains of social interaction to bring food to our table, put clothes on our bodies and a roof over our heads, as well as the cultural interactions we are stimulated by. We cannot survive alone.

But more than that, the human baby is the most socially influenced creature on earth, open to learning what his own emotions are and how to manage them. This means that our earliest experiences as babies have much more relevance to our adult selves than many of us realize. It is as babies that we first feel and learn what to do with our feelings, when we start to organize our experience in a way that will affect our later behaviour and thinking capacities.

Part 1 of Why Love Matters describes the development of the social brain, the part of the brain which learns how to manage feelings in line with other people, as well as the development of a person’s stress response, immune response and neurotransmitter systems which all affect future emotional life. The new human being is being set up with various socially and culturally influenced programs, from physiological set points to emotional expectations and coping mechanisms. When these influences are less than benign, the groundwork is laid for a variety of later social and emotional difficulties. Part 2 of the book looks at the specific early pathways that may lead to conditions such as anorexia, psychosomatic illness, addiction, antisocial behavior, personality disorder, or depression.

A really useful briefing on the new neuroscience and its underpinning of the central tenet of contemporary psychoanalysis: how actual relationships form us and are central to therapeutic endeavors and, even more importantly, how important loving relationships are crucial to our capacity to be human. – Susie Orbach

A wonderful book full of research that connects the nature v. nurture argument, explaining how sensitivity to a baby's needs – and a caring response – can actually affect how a baby's nervous system develops scientifically. I would recommend it to all new parents. – Virginia Ironside

This humane, wise book which makes complexities simple to understand should be read by everyone concerned with the care of children. – Dorothy Rowe, psychologist and writer.

This is essential reading for not only parents, but for those involved in mental health, education, public policy, and indeed anyone interested in the well-being of future generations. – Allan N. Schore, University of California at Los Angeles

Why Love Matters is hugely important. It shoud be mandatory reading for all parents, teachers and politicians. – Rebecca Abrams, The Guardian

Gerhardt co