Readers Preference Reviews

This field guide both excels in many ways and is pretty typical in others.  The bird photographs are excellent and the book well organized.  For each bird the author includes average length, weight, and wingspan as well as various notes on habitat, habits and other help for identifying the bird.  Of course there is an extensive index as well as introductory information for each section to help in classifying.  

When I picked up this book I thought it was going to be yet another one on memory and techniques for recall.  I could not have been more wrong.  This is an excellent book on understanding the brain and how it works in all its wondrous details.  The author delves into the physical structure, the synapses, effect of hormones on the brain and the effect that diet has on those hormones, how it interacts with your appetite and other aspects of the physical brain.  Not contented to stop there he then goes into other aspects of the brain including the effect of sleep or lack th

Have you ever wondered how different brands got their names? Now you can get the answer and the often fascinating story behind each brand name. Kellog, Post, Jell-O, Alka-Seltzer, and dozens of other brands are detailed as to how they started, how they got their name, competitors, mistakes, and successes. A fascinating read, it only takes a minute or two to read about each of the brands. But you will find yourself reading several at a time if you can put it down at all before you are done. Strange & Fascinating Facts About Famous Brands is highly recommended, educational, and fun.

If you want a tour guide style book on sacred places around the world you can't go wrong with "Sacred Places Around the World". Brad Olsen covers sacred places in Africa, the Middle East, Far East, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands, South America, Central America, North America, and Europe. For each place he discusses history, local traditions, and how to get there. From cave paintings to medicine wheels to cathedrals the destinations run the full gamut of sacred places around the world.

One of the most useful of Bible study tools, "Figures of Speech Used in the Bible" should be in personal library of anyone who is serious about Bible study. The writers of the Bible often used figures of speech that were common during their time. In fact we often use figures of speech in our everyday conversations without paying much attention to it but we do expect others to understand that we were speaking figuratively and not literally.

A good home repair guide is an absolute requirement for those of us who know very little about home repair but feel the urge on occasion to tackle some of those odd jobs around the house. While there are many guides on the market today the best ones have an abundance of photographs or detailed illustrations to help the reader see what they are supposed to be doing. With over 2,300 photos Black and Decker’s The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair is the epitome of this class of books. Processes and techniques are described step by step in detail with no prior knowledge assumed.

"Charts of Reformation and Enlightenment Church History" contains simple graphical representations of the major thought and church movements between approximately 1500 and 1800 A.D.

Personally I always enjoy a historical book that actually discusses history and not some surgically altered history that only reports the things that went right. That is what you get with "A Brief History of Disease, Science & Medicine". Not only do you read about the great advances in medicine but also about the mistakes that were made along the way. Although the book was written with the first year medical student in mind it is easy enough to read and understand by those with only a passing knowledge of basic first aid.

"How to Be a Perfect Stranger" is the ultimate reference on how to act and what to expect when attending a religious service at any of the most common religions in America. Would you know what to do if a Hindu invited you to their infant's naming ceremony? What if a Christian Scientist family had a death in the family and you were invited to the funeral? Or what if you were invited to a Latter Day Saint, African American Methodist Episcopal, Lutheran, or Mennonite service, would you know the appropriate dress and order of service? All these questions and more are answered in this book.

If you've read "Greek for the Rest of Us" by William Mounce and decided that you really wanted to learn the basics of Biblical Greek including vocabulary then this is the book that you will want. William Mounce has a gift for taking the Greek language and making it approachable even to those who have tried before but not succeeded in learning Biblical Greek. While there are many, many grammar details to learn such as whether something is dative, nominative, accusative, genitive, active, passive, dependent, independent, etc. Mr.