Cunningham Reviews

Much ado about nothing!-- just a lot of fluff and filler and general rambling about family life. From my standpoint (and I am an aunt seven times), there wasn't anything in this book to recommend having bought it. I feel that I wasted my money.

My aunt loved this gift. It was the perfect way to tell her, "you are special!"

My aunt Joan is one of the angels in my life. I became an aunt a few years ago and it is so fun to spoil your nieces. While I have yet to see any nephews (hint to my brother), I love buying little fun items for my nieces, taking them skating, or renting a fun kid video. My niece Ashley even helps me review G rated movies sometimes. Alexia helps me review books by giving me free reign of her collection of children's books. They both choose books for me to review and think it is so fun to help me find great books to recommend to parents. I also know if they love them, other children will too.

This book is filled with modern insights, which will make you laugh. If you have a special aunt in your life, here is a book you could give her on Mother's Day. My cousin and I try to remember my aunt on Mothers Day, as she is the mother we would want if we didn't have our own mothers.

You can tell aunts secrets, or be an aunt who keeps secrets. Aunts have a very special place in all families. If you have an aunt, treat her to this clever and humorous book to honor her irreplaceable role in your family.

She will enjoy this collection of anecdotes and humorous observations that celebrate the special relationship between aunt and nieces/nephews and explain everything from how to dress the part to selecting the proper gifts. Finally, an affectionate tribute to the women in your life who deserve a fun book to inspire laughter and fond memories.

"Baseball's Best Shots" professes to be "The Greatest Baseball Photography of All Time." But if you flip through this book expecting to see page after page of memorable photographs you have seen before, then you need to know that is not going to happen. I did recognize almost a dozen of these photographs, almost all of which were old black & white photographs of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and other baseball immortals. Of course, those old photos are almost all posed shots, and most of this book is filled with color photograph of game shots of more contemporary players. There are some nice photographs (like the one of Mark McGwire's bat bending from the sheer power of his swing as he is about to make contact with the ball), but the vast majority of them are really nothing special. I agree with the earlier review that said this book was not a keeper. Baseball fans will look through this book one or twice, but I have to doubt they will go through the batting order a third time. Even if they changed the sub-title to something less hyperbolic, it is not really going to make you like this book any better.

This ione is worth the bucks for that coffee table! Stunning work!

Beautiful pictures Perfect book for anyone who loves the game of baseball.

The idea is good. But the writing is bad. If Perry is indeed a writer of children's books he should work a little on his style and choice of words. I do not speak of the dialogs, but I think the colloquialisms and wrong grammar of the descriptive parts are no good, not even in a low quality paperback written to entertain and nothing else. Surprising events and twists in the story make the novel a good read, though. Some of the events do not have a motivation (why would the battleships destroy the earth?) and it is not really explained psychologically why Jay actually joins the MiB. But, nevertheless, a good book for a not too long journey on a plane.

If you like humans vs. alien creature stories, then you will enjoy reading this book. The book Men in Black is a novel based on the popular major motion picture of the same name, from Columbia Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. Written by Steve Perry, the book Men in Black is a science fiction adventure based on the screen story and screenplay by Ed Solomon. The author, Steve Perry, is known for writing children's fiction, fantasy fiction, and science fiction stories about aliens and their quest to conquer other life forms. Having seen the movie version several times, I found this book to be exactly the same as the movie. Steve Perry did not seem to change, enhance, or add to the screenplay at all. The story is about two men, named James Edwards and Agent Kay, who work for a top secret organization known as ...Men In Black. While most of the world watches the skies for signs of aliens, these two men know the truth that alien beings are here on earth disguised as humans. James Edwards, a streetwise NYPD cop, is recruited by Agent Kay of the MIB. Agent Kay is a calm middle aged man who is the brains of the outfit. Edwards is a younger man who has a smart mouth and never shuts up. Together, they fight aliens. They have dedicated their lives to tracking and policing the movements of these aliens. Their job is to protect the earth from the alien scum of the universe who threaten to make Earth the battleground for two warring alien races. One of the most appealing things about this story is the unpredictable series of events that leads to a surprising ending. Jay and Kay have good luck one moment and then bad luck the next. Like a good suspense novel, most of the unpredictable events happen in the ending. If you haven't seen the movie, you wouldn't have had any idea what was going to happen next. This book will appeal to young readers and adults.

If you saw and enjoyed this movie, you should certainly read the book. There are a lot of fun background items. The writing isn't good though. In the movie, there are a few lines that were awkward. I noticed that all of those lines were in this book. Most of the other lines were altered, and were significantly better in the movie. Much of the dialog here is just, well, banal is all I can think of. But, that doesn't stop the story from being hilarious. Especially since you can picture the awesome Smith/Jones team in all the scenes. I'm certainly glad they improved or ad-libbed for the movie. Some of the scenes would have been downright embarassing with more dialog from this book.

When I first got a look at the contents and sampled a few pages, I was eager to read this book. Ultimately, I too came to the conclusion that it is too biased towards the British Pop scene.

Not to fault Mark Cunningham, after all he's British, but a lot of the artists he spends time on, have had little impact on the history of record production, at least on this side of the pond.

Ron and Russell Mael? Chris Rea? Slik? Interesting to read about, perhaps, but hardly of the same caliber as Trevor Horn, The Police, Peter Gabriel and U2.

Mainstream American artists such as Fleetwood Mac (yes, American!), Prince, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Springsteen, Toto and The Cars are largely ignored if mentioned at all. Equally absent are prominent American producers, such as Phil Ramone, Russ Titelman, Richard Perry, Jam & Lewis, Reid & Babyface, Nile Rogers and the like.

Still, what it does discuss is interesting. There are whole chapters on The Beatles, Brian Eno and the making of "Bohemian Rhapsody." There are substantial sections devoted to The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," Jeff Lynne, Leiber and Stoller, Motown and Carol Kaye, Joe Meek, "Heroes," and Flood.

There are interesting discussions of the specific technologies used in producing the records. But unfortunately, beyond a certain time period in the book, just at the point where the use of technology gets really interesting in music production, the book fails to explain its influence. For example, one might assume that an Anglophilic book might wax poetic about how automated mixing changed the way records were made and how it was introduced by British mixing desk manufacturers Solid State Logic (SSL) and Neve. Not a word.

I think it would be most useful as a companion to a book that focused mostly on what was happening in the States. But as a general history of Record Production, it is somewhat weak.

I used it as a textbook for a course I teach in Record Production Techniques here at Mercy, but after one semester, I am looking for a replacement text. Perhaps the Wadhams....

Stephen B. Ward
Mecry College, White Plains, NY

This books is a well-written history of record production. I was impressed at the amount of content for the price.

This book is truely an amazing work. It covers so so very much in history of Production and it covers not only whom, what, where but with all the microphones used, names of studios, artists and time, and what happened behind closed doors and why, and so very much more. I highly suggest this to anyone going into recording and into anyone with a love for music. It tells you all the things you want to know!!

The book 'Mission Impossible' was very interesting. I have seen the film and I would say the book is better. It really makes you feel like you are there in the middle of all the action. I think this is one of the best books I have ever read. It is one of the only books I have read but nevermind. I am glad I read this book so overall I would say this is a good book. In the future I will read more.

I didn't know they had this Prima Strategy Guide! It's a lifesaver! 6 stars if it could be!

MI was a very good book. If you're stuck in the game, buy it! Ideal Purchase!

Lilly lived close to my house in his final days and I read this book with particular interest. I was very disappointed. He seems to evince very little knowledge of modern parapsychology eg out of body experiences (a la Monroe) and his own "travels" and "contacts" seem to me implausible and more likely the outpourings of a deranged or drugged imagination than science. In all such areas the question of standards of evidence is key. I am not sure Lilly gave the matter any thought.

After reading John Lilly's "The Scientist: A Metaphysical Autobiography," I have come to realize that drugs can indeed expand the mind. My own mind has expanded just by reading about John's far-out trips, and I didn't even need to take drugs myself! The danger in pursuing this course, however, is that the mind may expand so far past the current human consensus reality that those stuck in it will either find these ideals laughable or frightening. What is truly frightening though, is that no one can disprove the realities that John Lilly experienced while conducting his drug and sensory deprivation experiments.

I discovered John's work through an extraordinary coincidence... [When I decided to research him again twenty years later] I found that he had left our reality for good only a couple of weeks before.... Although I did not know the man personally, I will miss him dearly, and the world will feel the void left in his wake. Goodbye John, and good luck.

One of my four most influential authors, I first read of John in an Omni magazine and I do not remember what the story was about. Soon I was drawn to his books on dolphin research and I read every thing that he has written on them. He was the foremost pioneer and one of the best in dolphin research. One of his goals was to communicate with dolphins and he came pretty close but gave it up when he decided man was not ready for that knowledge. The movie "Day of the Dolphin" originates out of his dolphin research and showed how man has taken his research and knowledge, suppressed it to the public, and used it for power and political gain. One of the largest influences on me of the dolphin studies was my understanding that there were intelligent beings on earth either on par with or superior with humanity. Knowing and accepting this has been very influential in my life and how I have grown. I followed along on the rest of John's writings and learned from and was influenced by them as well. His books on spirituality and the world beyond our consciousness have lead me beyond many of the walls placed in front of my mind by our society. The movie "Altered States" originated from Lilly's book "The Center of the Cyclone" which was about his experiences with altered states of the mind. The presence of CCG's, or the Coincidence Control Group, that John met when out of his body has stayed with me since reading of them. For John was told by them that we have control of small scale coincidences but the CCG works with the large scale coincidences. His autobiography is a great overview of all that he has done and leaves me with awe and a desire to see and understand the world beyond what I have been taught.

This book is a slap in the face to anyone with FMS. The author is either completely uneducated about FMS, or has decided that his personal views, misguided, uninformed and biased, are correct and the leading experts are idiots.
PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. It will leave you depressed and confused, wondering why you don't feel better after a hot shower (his idea of "pain relief"). This book perpetuates the old stereotypes that FMS is "psychosocial", caused by "stress".
He suggests hypnotherapy and "laugh therapy". His extremely small section on pain control recommends Tylenol or aspirin, and claims narcotics are only for "extreme" cases, and then only for short periods. "The patient who uses narcotics for pain must then expand her activity in exercise and motion to justify the pain remedy". Justify to who?
Please read instead books by actual Physicians, experts, or someone who actually has FMS. This guy has no credentials, has not done any research, has not even interviewed experts in the field. He read a few books, and then proceeded to write his own version of what FMS is and to treat it. This is a 1950's view of the world. He suggests you bring laundry to the living room so "now you can fold the clothes at leisure while you watch a soap".
I could write an entire book on how this book is inaccurate, insulting, and just plain wrong. You be better asking a stranger off the street for advice than reading this book.

I have suffered the painful symptoms of fibromyalgia for 7 years. But thanks to The Fibromyalgia Relief Handbook I am free of symptoms. No more muscle pain, no more "hurting all over" no more sleepless nights. I feel like a new person. How did this miracle happen? I simply followed a few simple relief tips covered in the book. Simple tips like adding certain nutrients to my diet and eliminating specific foods. What's more the book is written in plain, simple English.

This book is one of the most helpful for those with fibromyalgia. Chet Cunningham is not out to sell you one specific treatment. He gives you information on many many different ideas and suggestions for you to review and try. This is very helpful because no one treatment is going to help every single person. Another great thing about this book is that he writes it in a simple fashion. So, if you suffer from fibro fog you can still understand what he is telling you! I highly recommend this book to people with fibromyalgia, I doubt you will regret reading it.

The book gives a concise description of places to eat in any size city in the USA. Does not give a lot of detail but can be useful if your not always interested in five star restaurants.

This book makes cross country back road traveling even more fun. Sure there are a few problems, but most fair-sized towns have entires, and many small towns do. We have had wonderful fun and some interesting, to say the least, meals because of it. Well worth its price.

We've used this book four times, and have been pleasantly surprised each time (Carson City NV, Winnemucca NV, someplace or other in UT, and San Francisco).

I haven't read this book in almost 30 years,
so you shouldn't take my rating too seriously,
but I remember it affected
me powerfully. Mostly I want to point out
that the title is Dorp Dead, not Drop Dead.
Damn spellchecker.

I remember this title from the sixth grade, living in Riverside California. Our sixth grad teacher, Mrs. Robb read it to us. I remember be thrilled with the story then. I will re-read it in my adult life, to recall those days and that story. Thanks, Mrs. Robb.

At age 11, this was the very last book I read from the "children's" library. Scary and compelling story. Fantastic illistrations, and not too childish for a someone soon to move on to adult fiction (or I guess now-a-days its called Young Adult Fiction). Dorp Dead is about a boy who is not perfect. For one thing, he can't even spell "drop" and so scribbles "dorp dead" as an insult. A hero who can't spell? That's what facinated me about this book when if first read it in its first printing (about 1966). At the time I read it, I was a very poor reader and speller: Dyslexia hadn't been "invented" yet and I had been simply labeled as "slow". But secretly I loved to read (which I could only do privately by running my finger along the lines of the page... something my teachers forbid). So I related to the lonely boy who was considered stupid and not worth the trouble. I recommend this for what appear to be "slow" children. Perhaps they are not so slow after all and may someday make their livings by writing professionally, as I have been fortunate to do. (So you see, this is not only a review, but also a sincere thank you note to the author.)

This book is fairly close to the movie with the exception of the ending. in the movie, Laura herself is the Light of Zartha, not the bracelet. The daughter of Princess Lauranna, she is sent off to the planet of Zartha to fulfill her destiny and rule her people.
In this book, which, don't get me wrong, is good and hilariously funny, the bracelet is sent off to the planet of Zartha, and Laura is deneuralized and sent to her NYC home.
that's about the only discrepency that i can see. Actually, the additional info in the other parts of the books helps fill you in on other areas, (such as, when Kay and Jay depressurized MIB HQs and fly in, it explains that the security guard was fastened into his seat with a chain so he didn't budge)
Overall, I liked it, and i'd buy it again, even though it doesn't have quite the same ending.

This book is fairly close to the movie with the exception of the ending. in the movie, Laura herself is the Light of Zartha, not the bracelet. The daughter of Princess Lauranna, she is sent off to the planet of Zartha to fulfill her destiny and rule her people.
In this book, which, don't get me wrong, is good and hilariously funny, the bracelet is sent off to the planet of Zartha, and Laura is deneuralized and sent to her NYC home.
that's about the only discrepency that i can see. Actually, the additional info in the other parts of the books helps fill you in on other areas, (such as, when Kay and Jay depressurized MIB HQs and fly in, it explains that the security guard was fastened into his seat with a chain so he didn't budge)
Overall, I liked it, and i'd buy it again, even though it doesn't have quite the same ending.

What an awesome read. I am an avid reader, usually drawn to biographies and non fiction. I picked this up to pass the time. Weather you have seen Men in Black one or not, even if you saw the second installment, grab this book. Even with 249 pages, it is a quick read because you cant put it down. I really enjoyed Men in Black one, the movie, and reading this book, you totally have the images for Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, as agents Jay and Kay, respectfully. This book was written with them totally in mind. It reads just like it is coming out of Will Smiths own mouth. The action, the description, the humor, what a cool read!!