Website Review
Applied Scholastics




Book Review
Scholastic Dictionary

What I love most about this dictionary is that it has a lot of words, and adequate definitions for them -- but the definitions are not complicated themselves. Most of the words the kids need to look up are in there, and they don't get confused on the definitions, either.

My kids use this one all the time -- we've bought 5 copies to date, and since I have 6 children, we will undoubtedly get more as time goes on.

My friend, who is the head teacher of a K-12 school, has several copies of this dictionary in each classroom, and prefers it to any other simple dictionary.

This is really an excellent choice for children.

The Egoscue Method


Pain Free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain by Pete Egoscue

After having 5 children in under 7 years, my body was in terrible physical condition. My hips were particularly bad, and bending over was nearly impossible for me without terrible pain. Imagine that -- with 5 young children to pick up after!

During one pregnancy I was in a wheelchair due to this pain, and even after the births, the pain was never completely gone.

I spent thousands of dollars at the chiropractor, and found no relief until I tried prolotherapy and these exercises. I had only one prolotherapy treatment when I became pregnant again, and so couldn't continue the treatments. I felt better, but still had a disabling pain in my hips.

I actually only did the Pain Free exercises 4 times -- over a period of 3 weeks -- but that was all that was necessary to completely eliminate all the hip pain I had been having for YEARS.

What is even more remarkable, is that 3 of the times I did the exercises I was 8+ months pregnant, and once was soon after the birth, so I couldn't do all of them.

Even still, just the little bit that I COULD do was wonderful!

I recommend this book to everyone I know who has back problems. Egoscue is wonderful and has really made it possible for me to improve my life! I feel I owe him a great deal for this.

Website
Battlefield Earth


Book Review
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard

This is one of the better science fiction books I have read. The technological concepts are sound, but this is not a book about machines.

It's about the triumph of good over evil. The hero, a mere man named Jonnie, takes control of his own destiny, and, through sheer will and smarts and charisma, convince an entire dying race of people that they can indeed overcome their oppressors and regain control of their lives and their planet.

There is a wonderful humorous thread throughout this book, that is easy to miss if you take it all too seriously. The humor actually got past me completely until the 3rd time I read this book -- then I realized it is REALLY funny!

This is a very long book -- but there are many themes interwoven throughout, and each time I read this book, I see more and more in it to think about.

It's a positive tale, similar to the old classics in which the hero is truly heroic. Some of the tongue-in-cheek might indeed be missed by the reader, but even still it is a good story. For those who understand the humor in it, it's a great story.

I highly recommend this one!

If you like this book, here is a link I think you'll like: