Japanese in MangaLand Workbook 1, Vol. 1

Product Description

As the popularity of manga in this country continues to soar, so does the desire of its fans to learn Japanese in order to appreciate it in its original language. The three volumes in the Japanese in MangaLand series combine the enjoyment of reading manga with an innovative and entertaining approach to language instruction.
Now comes the Japanese in MangaLand Workbook 1, a perfect way for readers to practice and assimilate what they learned in the first volume. The Workbook offers more than 150 complementary activities, divided into six sections that enable students to practice writing hiragana, katakana and kanji, as well as to optimize the vocabulary and grammar that were taught in the textbook itself. An exciting special feature-24 pages of a Rakujo manga created exclusively for this workbook-further enhances the learning experience.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #73322 in Books
* Published on: 2006-09-15
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Turtleback
* 96 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MARC BERNABE is a Japanese-Spanish/Catalan translator and interpreter, working mainly on manga and anime translations. He also specializes in language and Japanese culture didactics for foreigner, and he combines his professional and academic activities with interest in the Internet web page Nipoweb.com, of which he is founder, co-webmaster and regular contributor.
Customer Reviews

Good for the Interested4
This book made me realize how hard Japanese really is. Its a great book for the interested but don't think that your going know Japanese after just reading this. Combine with the Japanese in Mangaland: Basic Japanese Course Using Manga for effective learning. I only got this to familiarize myself of what I'm getting into when I take Japanese in the coming semester at school.

Working Backwards4
This book is an excellent tool for learning Japanese. I received my copy of the workbook before I received Japanese in Mangaland (some shipping problems, I guess) and I was able to work backwards from this to learn Japanese while waiting for its companion. Now that I have Japanese in Mangaland 1 as well, I realize just how necessary this workbook is to really cement the concepts taught in JiM, especially for those who don't have another outlet to practice Japanese.

Review for wookbook1in Japanese in Mangaland 4
The workbook pairs nicely with the japanese in mangaland book its basically an action (mecha) manga with exercises to help you translate it . Even after first lesson the ability to apply what i learned helped seer in my mind the lession i had completed. i was happy with it

Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercises by Lawrence Katz

Product Description

No more punch lines that just slipped away. No more names on the tip of your tongue. No more senior moments! Drawing on cutting-edge neurological research, how to keep your brain alive: 83 neurobic exercises brings help to everyone whose memory is starting to slip. Devised by Dr. Lawrence Katz, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center, and Manning Rubin, author of 60 Ways to Relieve Stress in 60 Seconds, here is a regimen of mental cross-training that can be done anywhere, by anyone, at any time of day. The premise is simple: When you exercise the brain, you release natural growth factors called neurotrophins, which in turn enhance the brain's level of fitness. And nothing so easily stimulates the brain as breaking routines and using the five senses in new and unexpected ways. So if you're right-handed, wake up tomorrow and brush your teeth with your left hand. Or close your eyes before you get into the car and then get the key into the ignition. Every time you open a new circuit in your brain, it's like doing a round of mental sit-ups, without the pain.

68,000 copies in print.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #4698 in Books
Published on: 1998-11-01
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
160 pages
Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
OVER 40? GETTING FORGETFUL? TROUBLE LEARNING NEW TRICKS?

Introducing Neurobics, a unique brain exercise program based on the latest neuroscience research. These deceptively simple exercises help stimulate the production of nutrients that grow brain cells to keep the brain younger and stronger. Neurobics uses the five senses in unexpected ways and shakes up everyday routines. The exercises are offbeat, fun, and can be done anywhere, anytime. The result: a mind fit to meet any challenge-whether it's remembering a name, mastering a new computer program, or staying creative in your work.


Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D., is the James B. Duke Professor of Neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center. His research focuses on brain development.

Manning Rubin is a Senior Creative Supervisor at K2 Design in New York City, and the author of 60 Ways to Relieve Stress in 60 Seconds.


About the Author
Dr. Lawrence Katz was a professor of neurobiology and researcher at Duke University Medical Center. He lived in Durham, North Carolina. Manning Rubin, a former Creative Director at J. Walter Thompson and Senior Creative Supervisor at K2Digital, Inc. is now at work on several new books. He lives in Pawlet, VT.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface

As the population of over 76 million Baby Boomers approaches middle age and beyond, the issue of preserving mental powers throughout greatly increased life spans has reached an almost fever pitch. There is a growing interest in - and optimism about - preserving and enhancing the brain's capabilities into senior years. With the help of powerful new tools of molecular biology and brain imaging, neuroscientists around the world have literally been looking into the mind as it thinks. Almost daily, they are discovering that many of the negative myths about the aging brain are, indeed, only myths: "Older and wiser" is not just a hopeful cliche but can be the reality. In much the same way that you can maintain your physical well-being, you can take charge of your mental health and fitness.

Although new and therefore not yet proved by large body of tests, Neurobics is based on solid scientific ground; it is an exciting synthesis of substantial findings about the brain that provides a concrete strategy for keeping the brain fit and flexible as you grow older.

From Theory to Practice

Jane reached into her pocketbook and fished inside for the keys to her apartment. Usually they were in the outside flap but not today. "Did I forget them?! No...here they are." She felt their shapes to figure out which one would open the top lock. It took her two tries until she heard the welcome click of the lock opening. Inside the door she reached to the left for the light switch...but why bother? Her husband would do that later. Touching the wall lightly with her fingertips, she moved to the closet on the right, found it, and hung up her coat. She turned slowly and visualized in her mind the location of the table holding her telephone and answering machine. Carefully she headed in that direction, guided by the feel of the leather armchair and the scent of a vase of birthday roses, anxious to avoid the sharp edge of the coffee table and hoping to have some messages from her family waiting.

The table. The answering machine. She reached out and brushed her fingers across what she believed to be the play button. "What if I push the delete button?" she thought, and again checked to make sure she was right. Yesterday it was so easy. She could have done all this simply by looking around. Today was different. She could see nothing.

But Jane had not suddenly gone blind. At age 50, she was introducing a lifestyle strategy called Neurobics into her daily activities. Based on recent discoveries in brain science, Neurobics is a new form of brain exercise designed to help keep the brain agile and healthy. By breaking her usual homecoming routine, Jane had placed her brain's attentional circuits in high gear. With her eyes closed, she had to rely on her senses of touch, smell, hearing, and spatial memory to do something they rarely did - navigate through her apartment. And she was involving her emotional sense by feeling the stresses of not being able to see. All these actions created new and different patterns of neuron activity in her brain - which is how Neurobics works.

This book will explain the principles behind Neurobics and how the exercises enhance the overall health of your brain as you grow older.

BRUSHING ROULETTE

Brush your teeth with your nondominant hand (including opening the tube and applying toothpaste). You can substitute any morning activity - styling your hair, shaving, applying makeup, buttoning clothes, putting in cuff links, eating or using the TV remote.

* This exercise requires you to use the opposite side of your brain instead of the side you normally use. Consequentially, all those circuits, connections, and brain areas involved in using your dominant hand are inactive, while their counterparts on the other side of your brain are suddenly required to direct a set of behavior in which they usually don't participate. Research has shown that this type of exercise can result in a rapid and substantial expansion of circuits in the parts of the cortex that control and process tactile information from the hand.

Variation

Use only one hand to do tasks like buttoning a shirt, tying a shoe, or getting dressed. For a real workout, try using just your nondominant hand.

Another exercise that associates unusual sensory and motor pathways in your cortex with a routine activity is to use your feet to put your socks and underwear in the laundry basket or pick out your shoes for the day.

Excerpted from How to Keep Your Brain Alive. Copyright (c) 1999 by Lawrence C. Katz and Manning Rubin. Reprinted with permission by Workman Publishing.

Customer Reviews

Keep your brain alive
Very interesting and simple book to follow. I am definitely going to do the exercises.

Keep Your Brain Alive
This is a really quick read...
Full of practical information. If you want actual exercises to do to increase your memory, this is it.
You can read it today and start working on your brain capacity tonight!

This is your brain on stupid pills...?
Might well be a recipe for ulcers , heart attacks and strokes:
reminds me of the latest fad diet.The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet: Plus Dr. Tarnower's Lifetime Keep-Slim Program
Taking advantage of an aging generation of baby boomers who worry
about their future is somewhat reprehensible.
In my psychology class we had to study
a case history of monkey's that psychologists gave ulcers by " shaking things up a bit".
Stone age hunter gathers mostly lived to a ripe old age of 25:
so emulating them is probably very bad advise.
Point by point the book's prescriptions can be one for an early death
for people who haven't already taken good care of themselves.
The most important thing in keeping your brain alive
is not believing you are too old to think.
Distrust doctors trying to get rich by publishing
a cheap popular book without much real substance that you can read in 10 minutes.

Stretching: 20th Anniversary (Stretching) by Bob Anderson

Product Description

This is the book that people tell their friends about, that trainers recommend for virtually every sport and activity, and that medical professionals recommend to people just starting to get back in shape. Stretching first appeared in 1980 as a new generation of Americans became committed to running, cycling, aerobic training, and workouts in the gym - which all seem commonplace now. It features: more than 20 new stretching routines, including those for sports enthusiasts; travelers, children, gardeners, and people in wheelchairs; an abbreviated version of each routine for people in a hurry; new information on the stretching vs. warming up controversy; and new and improved drawings.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #1209 in Books
Published on: 2000-06
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
223 pages
Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
When Bob Anderson first published Stretching in 1980, the fitness movement was new to most Americans. The term aerobics had just been coined in 1968, and few people outside bodybuilding circles had heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger yet.

Now, fitness is such old hat that it's even had a backlash or two. Lots of the original ideas have been called into question, including the preeminence of aerobic exercise. But flexibility is bigger than ever; Pilates and yoga are two of the fastest-growing fitness programs in the U.S. in the early 2000s. The type of stretching Anderson recommends--called "static," meaning you sit in one place and hold the stretch for a specified amount of time--isn't exactly trendy, but it remains the most accessible way for entry-level exercisers to improve their flexibility. (Or, perhaps more important, to keep from losing whatever flexibility they have as they get older.)

Those who already have the version of the book that's been put out by Shelter Publications since 1980 won't find a whole lot that's new in this 20th-anniversary version. Some of the simple drawings by Anderson's wife, Jean, have been updated to show athletes in sport-specific outfits doing stretching routines, and there are more routines than before. The new edition includes routines for children, stretches to do in front of the TV, and some exercises to do before and after gardening. Plus, the old staples remain--stretching routines for all muscle groups, and pre- and postplay sequences for common sports (football, baseball, basketball) and a few uncommon ones (equestrian, motocross, rodeo). He's also created routines for sports that barely existed in 1980, such as snowboarding, triathloning, and inline skating.

The constant in Stretching is ease of use. Anderson doesn't need a lot of complex explanations because the drawings are so easy to follow. He makes it clear that stretching should make you feel better, not worse, and that it's not a competition. Any little bit you can do is better than not doing anything. That's a timeless message, which is why his book has been such an valuable reference for the past 20 years. --Lou Schuler
Customer Reviews

An Exercise Classic
You can look at the pictures in this book and in one glance tell which muscles get stretched performing different types of stretches. It is great for someone like me who has some muscle imbalances and needs to stretch some muscles and strengthen others. It is also a good book to have to look up stretches to do for times when you have tight muscles in just certain spots as the stretches are grouped by body part.

I have had this book for years and refer to it all of the time.

Looks archaic, but great reference!
I purchased this based on my chiropractors recommendation. She strongly encouraged me to read the beginning chapters so that I understood how the book was written and how to interpret the illustrations. (I am still getting through this - I hate instructions!!) I have been a dancer for years, but never had a resource to search for the exact muscle group that I was trying to work when my normal routine did not stretch the right area. My favorite feature is the body diagram (pg 24-25) which acts as a quick reference to select the group of muscles (and corresponding page) that you are looking to stretch. The section that details specific stretches for different activities has been exceptionally handy as I don't always realize all of the muscles a certain activity uses. I just picked up golf and have been using these stretches before and after playing - it has made a noticeable difference in how I feel when I play and most importantly, the next day! Simply great for visual people and when you need a reference for a muscle group that you aren't used to stretching. Highly Recommended!

great book
This is a wonderful book it is easy to read and with the help of the drawings it is easy to figure out how to do the stretches.

Combat Conditioning, Functional Exercises for Fitness and Combat Sports by Matt Furey

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #182418 in Books
Published on: 2005
Binding: Paperback
135 pages
Customer Reviews

Good way to stay in shape if you have no access to weights
I have a lot of Matt Furey's martial arts tapes as well as this book.
His tapes have a lot of good moves but the video quality is not all that good and they are pricey for what they show.
This book is somewhat high too but it delivers a lot of good exercises.
Matt has a web site where he pushes his goods such as Farmer Burns wrestling videos and things like inner circle memberships.
He will deliver an email to your mailbox if you sign up for it.
All that being said I fell out a little bit when after I ordered some dvd's during a Christmas sale a few years ago and he sent me vhs tapes. This happened on two different occasions. It was apparent he was just getting rid of the tapes in an effort to only warehouse the way of the future, DVD's.
I also want you to know he got big lifting weights and although bodyweight exercises are a great way to get in shape and even get strong, he is somewhat hypocritical in the way he puts down weight lifting.
The third thing that aggravates me is the way some advocates of lifting heavy objects will also peddle their own version of goods in some of his daily emails. They two have a bodyweight line and put down lifting weights in one set of books and advocate it in others.
Still, this is a good book and I do recommend it. Just know that although it is a good way to get back in shape or build up your endurance, the author is a bit two faced when it comes to his putting down weight lifting.

A must have for anyone who exercises
Most of these exercises are not new, if you've played football or wrestled in high school, or were in the military you've probably done most of these. What makes this book useful is the routines and the motivation. Furey challenges you and verbally pushes you, it always picks me up when I feel like skipping a workout. It has good cross training- road work conditioning programs that give you some place to start. The book is a bit pricey, but its the only volume I would recommend. Furey's other products, in my opinion are overpriced and really don't deliver much. Stick with this book and a jump rope, you should have everything you need for a great workout week in week out. If you want more "pain" in your workouts, I suggest trying kettlebells, those things are just evil.

Combat abs: 50 fat-burning exercises that build lean, powerful and punch-proof abs by Matt Furey

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #405414 in Books
Published on: 2001
Binding: Unknown Binding
144 pages
Customer Reviews

Combat ABs kicks butt
The first seven exercises in this book are worth the price of the whole thing. Matt Furey demonstrates the "old" wisdom of bodyweight calasthenic exercising. No more hours and hours of painful crunches and sit ups. No more expensive, useless ab equipement. Matt teaches the way to tighten, and more importantly strengthen your abs through the method of deep breathing, squeezing and flexing.
I lost 5 sizes in my waistline and over 40 lbs. exercising and using Matt's techniques.

Unconventional exercises to a leaner you
In Combat abs, Auther Matt Furey focuses on 50 exercises that are done with almost no equipment other than your own body. Many of these are isometric but all focus on building firmer, stronger abdominals. The exercises are broken down into beginner, intermediate and advanced and the book starts with The Magnificent Seven, a series of basic exercises which the auther suggests you do to start each day. The strong points of the book are the exercises, most of which can be done in your own home without special equipment. Some of the advanced exercises use special equipment. There is a lot of self propaganda in the book where people rave about how Furey changed their lives, and the author hawks some of his other products. He also gives you a list of things not to eat but he is not a nutritional expert and should not do this.

Men's Health Total Body Workout Poster Book by Editor's of Men's Health

Product Description

Sick of looking at the blank walls of your gym? Frustrated by not having a complete view of your workout? Annoyed by those tiny pictures in workout books? The solution is at hand. The Men's Health Total Body Workout Poster Book gives your workout a boost with 24 full-color posters to take you from flab to firm. Eachpullout poster features a complete strength-training routine from the fitness experts at Men's Health-the source most guys turn to for fitness advice. By following the order of the posters, you can do the hard-core work you need to and have a 20-minute workout whenever you're pressed for time. Just tear out the posters, unfold to their full 20" 3 1412" size, and tack them up on your walls. -Great routines for both beginners and advanced exercisers -Easy-to-read-and-understand full-size format -Fully illustrated and expertly described routines -Expert advice for getting lean, getting ripped, and even getting healthier -24 full-color posters printed on high-quality coated paper for durability
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #292424 in Books
Published on: 2003-10-24
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
26 pages
Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Men's Health Total Body Workout Poster Book

Sculpt an Amazing Physique in as Little as 20 Minutes a Day!

A different kind of pinup

Men's Health magazine's legendary workout posters have appeared on some of the finest walls in America, from the home gyms of the rich and famous to the dorm rooms of the young and ambitious. Wherever muscle is built, wherever a man's thoughts turn to exercise and self-improvement, that's where you'll find these posters.

Now, for the first time, Men's Health has collected 24 posters in one book. Inside, you'll find:

• Super-effective total-body muscle-building routines for both beginner and advanced exercisers

• A total-body fat-loss workout to take inches off your waist in just 4 weeks

• Turn on the Power!, a 6-month program to add hundreds of pounds to your bench press, squat, and deadlift

• Six 20-minute workouts showing you how to pump up, lean out, or even fix a bad back in less time than it takes to watch your favorite sitcom

• An all-ab workout featuring eight unique exercises we bet you've never tried

• Our Total-Body Workout series, with 10 posters full of fresh, innovative exercises to add solid muscle to your chest, back, shoulders, and biceps

Every fully illustrated poster features easy-to-follow, simple-to-understand exercise routines designed by the top trainers and strength coaches in the world.

So what are you waiting for? With 24 classic workouts to choose from, you'll never run out of exciting, effective new routines to help make you leaner, stronger, and healthier--guaranteed!
Customer Reviews

Excellent Collection of Workouts from Men's Health Magazine
This book delivers what it promises: A Collection of total Body Workouts.

The fact that every workout is in Poster format is great and practical, you just select the workout you want to try, take the specific poster out with you, and you are done to begin training. I really love the functionality of having the whole workout in just one page.

Its a fantastic idea for a training book, well executed, and with the total body workouts included I believe its a great deal.

total body workout
I like this book. It gives you two dozen posters for working out that vary from fat burning to building power . Another reviewer thought that they should have workouts for specific body parts ( ie, triceps , biceps , etc .) . I felt the opposite - they should have focused more on total body workouts only . Maybe a compromise, maybe they should make two books - one for power or serious bodybuilders and one for people who want a trim and lean physique - including circuit training , for traveling , the ball , body weight and medicine ball workouts .
But back to the book at hand , if you are looking for a easy to follow , easy to use workout plan that offers a variety of sensible workouts plans look no further .

Great book idea - decent product
The pictures and descriptions of the exercises are great, as are the exercise plans provided. The only negative I could find is that the posters seem to have random exercises on them. I was expecting a poster for triceps, a page for quads, a page for shoulders, etc... The book seems to be aimed more at short, effective, total-body workouts. This is cool, but if you are looking for posters to lead you through intensely precise exercises for particular body parts, there are a limited number of posters to that effect.