Birthdays Books

Geddes' manages to degrade and isolate her subjects. Her prehistoric "cutsie" images, though appealing to a kitsch market, do not allow for a social comment to transcend the visual confines of her exploitive commercial "photography". In some senses, she could be seen as a radical post-modernist artist, as she abstracts the subject from social normality and removes any dignity from the development of the child, if that was her so calling in contemporary art. Yet it is frightening to be in an age where people will grasp such superficially degrading images. Geddes has made a personal fortune off photographing babies, subjects usually positioned in inhumane circumstances (ie: babies in flowerpots or dipped in custard), which removes human dignity and allows us to question Geddes moral intent.

To think that what Anne Geddes does is degrading because the babies are posed in "inhumane" positions is ridiculous, not to mention missing the entire point of the photographs. First, I'm sure that she would not be quite so prolific if there were something truly wrong with the way her young models are treated. Second, what narrow mind would insist that all photography adhere to rules that would 'allow for a social comment to transcend the visual confines of her exploitive commercial "photography"'? Who are any of us to demand that ANY photography make a social comment at all? Or even be pleasing to all in order to be worthy of viewing? If her style goes against your tightly held beliefs about the greater meanings of art, then move on and don't look at them. Perhaps these photographs, while both taken and published with commercial gain in mind (not quite the evil motivation some would have you believe - I'm sure most people go to work) are intended to provide some brief happiness to this world which is so often jaded, as can clearly be witnessed in some of the other reviews. While Anne Geddes may not be a revolutionary artist, she certainly takes beautiful photos that are more than capable of tugging heartstrings and bringing a smile to the face of anyone who will drop the pretentious posturings and let her.

I love this book. It makes it so much easier to remember birthday's and other special days. The best thing is you never have to throw it away.

Revisionists here, Ted O'Keefe, and
my late friend and former teacher
Bob Countess, who found out what a
jerk the jailbird Rudolf is later,
foundde Thesis and Disertations Press,
not Michel Santojewbaiter. Yes, Dr.
Faurisson has been persecuted might-
ily for his beleifs and they are cor-
rect. There was no 'holacau$t', only
a 'holaexaggerartion', promted by the
UN and maintained by Int'l Zionism!!!!

Unlike the Klingon that has falsely reviewed this book (and has never read it) also encouraging illegal p2p downloads of it...

This man has been persecuted for his research and beliefs. Those whom oppose him cant DEBATE his research findings, they just horribly snicker when he was beaten half to death by political street thugs. Nice move there, liberals. You really show how caring you people are.

Truth FEARS NO INVESTIGATION. If you cant handle research that doesnt follow the Status Quo (but you still believe in 100 different conspiracies about 9/11) you have no business commenting on anything in your entire life.

PS., Drop the Klingon name, it adds credibility.

First, do not bother to buy this book; it is available as a free download and you will not be putting money in the pockets of this fringe element falsely claiming to be "scholars." This book is a collection of pseudo-intellectual essays that attempt to build up Faurisson as an iconoclastic icon against "the establishment" (meaning anyone who does not deny the Holocaust). The "honoree" of this festschrift, as well as others of his ilk, cite documents and evidence selectively and out of context, only accepting evidence that conforms to their own preconceptions. If you want to understand how the claims of Faurisson have all be shown to be false, a good place to start is Deborah Lipstadt's _Denying the Holocaust : The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory_. Far from the claim of his supporters, his "holes" theory has been challenged an proven false many times over: Faurisson simply refuses to admit this, denouncing any and all evidence that proves him wrong. Anyone who claims otherwise is either lying or ignorant.

My [...] daughter received this book as a birthday present and it has quickly become a favorite. As a former elementary school teacher, I have a vast collection of picture books. This is a precious story and my daughter enjoyed picking out the classic characters that she recognized. A wonderful selection for any young reader.

I loved the artwork in this book. Makes a nice b-day present.

This book has nothing to do with fairytales except for that you might be able to pick out a character here and there from the pictures in a "Where's Waldo?" sort of way. The story...well isn't even a story. It doesn't rhyme or make sense. I can't believe that this was published. I bought this for my daughter's 1st birthday and it was a major disappointment for me. I would not purchase it again. Infact it almost needs to visit the garbage can. A waste of money.

The updated version for 2008 doesn't supply anything new other than a chapter on how much richer Brin and Page are, and a more useful chapter on future endeavours.
However, if you didn't read the first edition, this is a must read story--especially ten years after the company's debut. As an avid business user of Google, I enjoyed reliving the memories of how simple concepts created millionairs of people like you and me...and how it still does if you just follow the simple plan the boys envisioned. Even this time around, I still found a couple of things I had forgotten that I immediately incorporated into my current webpage to ensure the googlebot liked me even more. And like clockwork, it worked immediately.

If you're new to adwords or adsense, be sure to read the chapters on SEO; it's not as complicated as it seems. If you spend the time and build it properly...they will come!
If nothing else, the updated release (as I'm sure it was intended) reminds the online businessperson that this is mandatory reading.

The book is informative in a factual sense but the author's tone is gushing to the point that it's distracting. This is not an evenhanded chronicle of Google's history - it's a fairly shallow, idealized account of Page, Brin, Schmidt and Google. The book would be much more interesting if it was balanced.

The Google Story: For Google's 10th Birthday made for very easy airplane reading on a cross country trip last week. The authors's styles very much reflect their newspaper training and experience, and to a certain extent, missing a bit of the tough editing one is used to during their day jobs.

Nonetheless, it was fun to read a comprehensive review of what has become one of my favorite links online, and it reminded me of several of my own experiences along the way:

-- Nine years ago folks on "The New York Times" Crossword discussion group had an intense debate over whether "google" could be used as a verb and whether it had to be capitalized -- that's an absolute non-issue today several billion searches later.

-- In 1999 we tried to license the search engine for a Fortune 100 company; I now understand why Google down played that effort for a number of years and couldn't make a deal.

-- The checklist of shortcuts was mostly old news, but a couple of the hints had value.

-- Some of the beta features sound fascinating and once I had access to the Internet I signed myself up.

Overall, for anyone who uses the search engine on a regular basis and reads about Google in the newspaper, there is very little new here. But it was fun to review the bidding and speculate a bit with the authors about the future.

Robert C. Ross 2008

My daughter has a Biscuit Easter book. It was one of her first books...and is really worn out b/c she's flipped the pages so many times. I was very excited to find this book as we approached her first birthday. I was expecting to get a board book, possibly with some "touch and feel" like the Easter book. Instead I received a hard cover book with standard weight pages. I returned it. The book would have been demolished in less than a week.

This is not so much a negative review regarding the book, more of a word of caution.

Biscuit is a perfectly adorable puppy and this is him and his little owner girl celebrating his birthday with a pack of his friends from his other adventures. Unfortunately the story seems a bit short, since they included some "activity" pages in the back instead of making a larger book. Such once-offs as activity pages should be kept to disposable mediums as coloring books and not included in a keepsake item like this. Once the kids take the markers and crayons to it to do the "activities" the rest of the book is only asking to get colored on as well, and it made the book shorter as well.

My daughter likes the title but it seems too short in comparision with others, and the price. There's just not enough to it. A Biscuit birthday should be a bit more exciting than this.

I am so used to the "I Can Read" Biscuit stories that I was surprised by this one which features more words and longer sentences. In fact, it wasn't until I checked and rechecked the cover that I realized it was a read-aloud book (lol).

That said, it could be used for a practice reader for advanced kindergarteners or first graders. Three pages of text follow so you can judge for yourself:

"Now it's time for birthday treats," said the
little girl. "Make a wish, Biscuit."

Woof!

"Funny puppy! You want to open your birthday presents!"

Four Stars. Nice Read-aloud that should appeal to older babies and toddlers. I wouldn't purchase it for kindergarteners or older children unless I was going to use it as a practice reader. In general, the "Booklist" review does a very good job in summarizing the book.

This story about Karen is about her 7th birthday. All she thinks about are gifts which is natural for a 2nd grader. What she really wants however, is a special diner party with both of her families. My parents were devorced since I was three years old, and in 2nd grade, I would want that too. But, setting up her parents whom are alredy again married to re-marry, is inappropriate. If young children whos parents are devorced read this, they may try to do the same!

I enjoyed reading about the birthday parties when I got this and would countdown the days to my next birthday planning what to wear, what I want and so forth. My folks always threw me huge parties for my birthday and I would get a new dress especially for the party and have different themes and all each year and presents and lootbags and the games were so exciting, but after reading this it became even more exciting and I'm sure a lot of people will love that aspect of the book though I'm not so sure about the issues she was having with her family split and dealing with it at such a young age.

I was 8 when I bought this book, and I myself had a fascination with birthday parties and presents, so I was surprised when most of the first half of the book was about her families and how she was trying to get them together. I found it unrealistic how they all took karen so seriously when she sent out the invitations to her big party where she wanted her 2 families to get together. They should have been more understanding of how she felt about her mom and dad, she's just a little kid, not a rebellious teenager! But anyways, her birthday celebrations were nice and I enjoyed reading that part the most. She ended up having a party at her mother's house, a party at her father's house and a little party in school. The descriptions of how her birthday went made me wish I was there too. So buy this book, but don't expected all of it to be birthday related!

Today, tomorrow, yesterday? We found this book a bit confusing for a 3 year old. Kipper is a favourite of ours, but this one was just "ok".

Like the other Kipper books this one is easy to read and the illustrations are great. It's a bit "busier" than some of the authors earlier works and lacks the simplicity of the earliest stories. I've also found a companion sticker style activity book which is nice but the stickers are not movable from page to page.

I got this book for my son in preparation for his second birthday and he loves it! I't teaches children (and parents) about the importance of being organized, but it also teaches the importance of friends. I love the illustrations and most of the language. My one criticism of the book is that one part is particularly confusing for kids (when Kipper himself is confused about his birthday, so I guess that's appropriate).

Ordered on December 7, 2007 and it still hasn't shipped. This was a Christmas gift

and seasonal,which i like in a calendar. Great for girls or any women who enjoys Mary Englebreit.

As I've said before, Mary Englebreit is the best! I love her passion for detail in everything she does. My girlfriend of many years ago, also named Mary who passes away a few years back, is the one who introduced me to Mary Englebreit. And now I see why my Mary loved her so much. Thank you, Mary Englebreit!

Classic kid book. One of the "musts" to have in your kids collection.

Mrs. Funnybunny takes PJ and his friends off to a birthday party. Along the way, all the friends take turns discussing what would be the best party ever.

After each of PJ's friends expresses his opinion, Mrs. Funnybunny agrees with him and tells them that that will, indeed, be at PJ's party, too.

But, as they pass each mentioned activity, Mrs. Funnybunny drives right past.

Where could Mrs. Funnybunny be going?

There are no major surprises in this book - just a sweet children's book about a birthday party. I'd recommend it for a birthday present for a child in the 3-6 age group.

My three year old loves this book and talk about how she wants to have a cool birthday just like PJ. The book has PJ and his friends guessing what the big surprise is for his birthday.

I must admit I began reding this novel with some reservations, as I thought it might be more appealing to a woman than to a sixty-five-year-old man. Very soon my reservations were no more. It is not one but two gripping stories. The way the author includes details such as Ramsey's squeezing his companion's shoulder at the dinner at the Pierre in both parallel universes but with different slants is sheer genius. The entire concept of telling the same but so totally different story twice is another mark of the writer's controlled and superb talent. I love such surprises as the upside down book that Irina writes; it almost becomes a symbol for this novel itself. All in all, I am just about to finish it and really, really don't want to. Buy this book and read it!
Gaylan DuBose

.....here is a wonderful novel about the choices we make in love - and how it affects our lives. I was really blown away by this novel and recommend it to all and sundry. The writing was so smart, and not in an "aren't I clever with pop references?" way which many chick-lit authors do. Not that this is "chick lit" - far from it in depth and scope. Although it was hard to follow the parallel worlds at first, I really got into it and was turning the pages with excitement to see what would come next. I am an avid reader and have read many many books for the past 20 years and am always looking for a new voice. This book really spoke to me about the nature of love, commitment, the pull and mystery of sex.

CHECK IT OUT!! I loved it and recommend it to any woman, esp. in late 20's-40s, when the choices of partner one makes defines our world (yet at an age where we can still think about the 'what if' factor). WONDERFUL NOVEL. I can see why Lionel Shriver has won awards with her writing.

P.S. Another treat, for me, was reading about expatriate life in London. For anyone who's lived abroad or experienced the UK - resonates!

P.P.S By way of response to the previous reviewer's remark that the snooker player's speaking in cockney English was 'distracting'...it is part of his character and adds a lot (kind of like Mark Twain's southern dialect in "Huckleberry Finn"). It's exactly the contrast between the two men - her intellectual "husband" who attends world symposiums on terrorism vs. the less-educated, less-stable yet superstar snooker player husband, which creates tension.

I'm not sure why people are going crazy over this book. I purchased it after reading about it in two different magazines, thinking it would be entertaining to read. But I found myself bored after only a couple of pages. Nevertheless I read on, determined to find out what's so special about this story. Which is basically about a woman in a relationship that has grown dull. And who finds herself tempted by another man. The book plays out the different scenerios of her staying with her longterm boyfriend or pursuing the new lover.

I just really couldn't get into it. I found some of the authors style choices very distracting. For one I didn't like that she gave the new lover a "grammar deficit". It was really annoying for me to imagine the characters getting involved when this guy sounded like an idiot because of the way he speaks.

Overall the book was mildly entertaining but nothing I would recommend to anybody.