Stuttering Books

Believe it or not, this book really helped my trombone playing even though I don't stutter! The Valsalva Maneuvre is quite common among brass players and this book is the most profound source I found so far.

This books is really one of a kind. It is so in depth about stuttering and tht tips are amazing

William Parry is my complete stuttering guru! Yet, I've never stuttered in my life, (with my voice, that is). I'm a trombone player who has stuttered for the last 17 years. It started in my 2nd year of college as a music major. I was a great player all through high school, winning numerous awards and playing even with famous musicians.
After I started locking up on my trombone in college, I went to many different trombone teachers from L.A. to Northern California, but none of them could help me (not even a little). Even the very best trombone players (incredible trombone players, mind you) had no clue what I was trying to describe. "Frustration" with the trombone would be putting it mildly and I even quit playing for a few years.
Just a month ago, I decided to see what else I could find. I came across William Parry's web site on stuttering and immediately purchased the book. Although the first few chapters were hard to read, I knew instinctively that I had to keep reading. Well, I'm glad I did, because as soon as I finished reading the book (especially the last chapters), I already was reducing my trombone stuttering dramatically.
3 weeks after finishing the book, I'm not stuttering at all (haven't for many days). Not that I won't stutter again, but if I do, I'll know how to deal with it. My trombone teacher is speechless and even dumbfounded with my improvement. William, if you are reading this review, I thank you from the deepest most bottom part of my heart.
Get this book everybody and read it with all your attention and watch it work miracles on your stuttering! This is the book !!!
--------------- UPDATE November 2008 (many months later). My stuttering has been held hostage by new & improved habits. I'm now performing very hard music professionally in successful bands (and getting paid). The trick is to DO THE EXERCISES NO MATTER WHAT AND EVERYTHING WILL IMPROVE NATURALLY.

It is one of the good book I read eventhough the writer used more technical words that may not be easy for lay man.

Good book. Gives a different perpective. Definately interesting for those who tries to see things deeply.

With this book I feel that I personally have most of the tools of not all to conquer my fears of speaking before people. The author has done a tremendous amount of research and has a lot of experience and this book tells you all about it. It is great!

This book is probably the greatest resource that has ever been given to the stuttering community. People with speech difficulties spend a great deal of time and money working with conselors, speech therapists, hypnotists and the like, but it's nearly impossible for these people to truly address the problem unless they understand the cause & issue inside and out. Unfortunately, I've found that approximately 99.9% of people don't really understand the ins and outs of stuttering, whether or not they struggle with it.

John Harrison has spent many years of his early life struggling with stuttering. He has used his countless experiences to defeat it 100% and develop a thorough understanding of the issue for the rest of us to follow. Through his years of perseverance and research on the subject, he has created this book, which undoubtedly embodies everything that the stuttering community has been waiting for. Anyone can achieve the kind of fluency they've dreamed of and this book will make it easy (that's right! EASY).

I've spoken with John personally and I'd venture to say that if anyone has all the answers to the problem of stuttering, it is this man. As someone who struggled for years with a debilitating speech block, I can say from personal experience that he is one of the few experts who understands the problem down to its core, and his wisdom is clearly shown in his writing. It wasn't until I read this book that I saw significant (and I mean SIGNIFICANT) improvements in my speech patterns.

If you've had and/or continue to have problems with a stutter or speech block, I guarantee you that this is the best money you can put towards fixing the problem. Permanently. Speech difficulties are a terribly frustrating phenomonon that can effect all aspects of one's life. There is absolutely no time to waste. This is your life and it's time to conquer the fears that keep you from living it. Get to work now, John will help you!

I like the book, it has help with explaining a few things that I knew but did not know the answer.

John,

You are right on the mark with this book. The contents of this book, includes wisdom from a man who recovered from stuttering using exactly the tools listed within this book.

Thank you for sharing your life secrets...a true inspiration for me in my own recovery.

I'm the Australian Regional Director of the McGuire Programme a highly successful international programme to help people to recover from stuttering. John Harrison's book is one of our primary resources in enabling people who stutter to become eloquent speakers. We have many segments during our courses that focus on John's philosophies.

John, himself a recovered stutterer, is in my opinion one of the world's foremost experts on stuttering. In addition, John's book is very much about how to become a powerful public speaker.

The Harrison Hexagon adopts a holistic or systems approach to overcoming stuttering looking at the disablity not so much as a problem with speaking but more a problem with the experience of communicating to others.

At last someone who truly understands!!

After solving the mystery of a nearby haunted castle, the Three Investigators have their second case. It's not as exciting, finding a missing parrot, except that the parrot stutters. But the case quickly goes from mundane to interesting, as they find that this case involves 7 birds, all taught to repeat a part of a riddle. And it soon becomes dangerous when they realize that others are interested in the whereabouts of the parrots, and will stop at nothing to get them, including kidnapping. The Three Investigators will need all their smarts and some luck to solve this mystery.

The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot has all the frights of The Secret of Terror Castle, but with a truly puzzling mystery to solve added in. The plot is extremely clever, and draws the reader in expertly with the riddle of the parrots. New investigative methods are introduced, sometimes with good results and sometimes not, but the genius of this series is apparent in this book. I loved it 30 years ago when I read it as a kid, and my son and I loved reading it now. Exciting and interesting enough to keep even reluctant readers coming back for more. And as others have commented, I definitely think there's potential for a movie here. (We managed to find the old Alfred Hitchcock version).

In this second book about the Three Investigators, Robert Arthur has exceeded the achievements of the first. Whereas The Secret of Terror Castle detailed the boys' attempt to prove their investigative powers, The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot relates the story of the boys' first real case. Having been charged with finding a missing parrot, they soon find themselves intimately involved in a search for a valuable work of art. The story is much fuller and more satisfying than that of the first book. Here we see the case evolve from a seemingly simple, far from dangerous search for a missing pet to an expanded search for seven mysterious parrots (the significance of which are not at first apparent) and finally to a race against an international art thief to acquire a lost masterpiece. Along the way, they face mysterious foreigners working against them, make sense of an enigmatic coded message, and ultimately triumph (albeit somewhat by accident). Admirably, they also go out of their way to generously help a young Mexican immigrant and his uncle establish a more comfortable life for themselves.

This is the Three Investigators at their finest. The mental acumen of Jupiter Jones is put to the test, and once again his mental prowess proves up to the task. For an adult such as myself, some of the obvious clues are not picked up on in as timely a fashion as I would expect, but one must remember that even Jupiter Jones, genius that he is, is only a lad. This book is an unqualified success, eminently enjoyable to both young and old alike. I feel just as I felt twenty years ago upon first reading these books--anxious to read about the boys' next case.

Even though this is only book # 2 of the 3I series, this is far and away the best book. I re-read it several years ago and I remember getting this adrenaline rush surging through me as the story progressed. It was one of the best young adult books I've ever read. I would re-read it, but I've since moved from my parents' house, where it's under lock and key.

Even if you're a Hardy Boys fan, give this book a whirl. Help yourself to the first book, too (Terror Castle). The rest of the series isn't nearly as charming as this one.

This book is the second in the series, following our introduction to the Three Investigators in "The Secret of Terror Castle." As we learned in the first book, the Three Investigators are Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews. Jupiter is the intelligent, sometimes inadvertently arrogant member of the group who has a tendency to be condescending. Pete Crenshaw is typically the muscle of the group. Pete is usually quite fearless. Bob Andrews, who begins the series with a broken leg, works at the library and handles records and research for the group.

In this story, the boys are investigating the case of a missing parrot at the request of Alfred Hitchcock. A friend of Mr. Hitchcock had recently purchased a parrot that stutters, and shortly after the purchase the parrot disappeared. The Three Investigators are on the case!

Initially, the boys, and perhaps the reader, might wonder whether this mystery is going to be interesting. Never fear. The boys soon encounter a renowned art thief and a suspicious fat man who threatens the boys. The three boys also discover that there are more parrots missing and that their mystery has compounded. The mystery deepens as the boys learn that a mysterious man trained the parrots and the parrots may be speaking a riddle that could lead to a treasure. This story has enough twists that many adults might find it entertaining.

Quite a few children's mystery book series have become classics. Most people are familiar with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift. Even the Boxcar Children are relatively well-known. However, Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators were well-written books that offered an intelligent, interesting and more contemporary alternative to many of the earlier classic series. Many people recall the earlier series well, but the Three Investigators series, which Robert Arthur wrote and debuted in 1964, has, for now, largely been overshadowed by the other series and generally forgotten. Fortunately, all of these books are available either from Amazon or from other internet sources.

If you are looking for mystery books for children and you are looking for an alternative to the Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, I highly recommend the Three Investigator series.

Enjoy!

The Three Investigators series is MUST reading for all kids. As a teacher I encourage all of my students to delve into the adventures of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews. None of my young readers has ever been disappointed!

This (the second book in the series) mystery is one of the best. It's a fast moving story that gives readers a lot of mystery and action. All the familiar Investigators charms are here: bad guys galore, red herrings, riddles and clues, chases, and the fun of the revelations in the last pages.

I strongly encourage anyone who reads (no matter their age) to pick up this series. It'll put a smile on your face and make you glad that you shut off the TV and dove into a book.

I think this book is wonderful. I am a vocalist/performer and I teach voice. I have already ordered a copy for my student to read because the information is given in such a clear and easy to understand manner. So many voice books get convoluded when it comes to anatomy and technique but this book really trys to stay pretty straight forward. You can take or leave the visual imagery. It works for some people and not for others but don't let that stop you from adding this to your collection. I know that I will be using this book as my main teaching/practicing reference for a long time

It gives me great pleasure to recommend Voice and the Alexander Technique, written by the highly regarded educator and certified Alexander teacher, Jane Ruby Heirich, to teachers and students of speech, singing and Alexander Technique.

The book's nine chapters are preceded by an introduction, which is one of several times in which she cautions that the "guidance of an Alexander teacher's hands" would be the ideal way for one without previous Alexander training to use this book, while she acknowledges that not all communities have a certified teacher. The first four chapters cover the basics of habit, a short history of F.M. Alexander and what his Technique is and what it is not, a vocal technique primer, and some common postural and vocal problems. The next four chapters apply principles of Alexander Technique via "Games and Explorations". The final chapter is a two page summary of the book. Four appendices follow: an explanation of IPA International Phonetic Alphabet), an additional Alexander exercise called hands on the back of a chair, contact information for teachers and books, and a generous glossary of musical and Alexandrian terms.

"To Do" sections in each chapter explore ways to address vocal and use problems. Use (as defined in the aforementioned glossary) is "the term Alexander used to mean how a person organizes him/herself in daily activities. He often spoke and wrote about the use of the Self in activity, meaning how one responds to a stimulus or does everything he does." The vocal (sung) "To Do" exercises, included on the CD which accompanies the book, are discussed and then played on a piano in several keys.

Voice teachers may quibble with some of the information found in the vocal primer section (Chapter 3), but most will appreciate her multi-sided approach to the art of vocal pedagogy, combining complex mechanistic and anatomical description, while also offering solutions to problems via imagery and movement. In a later chapter she states, " I will not pretend to define what is meant by all voice teachers when they uses these three terms - support, breath support or project." And to avoid Alexandrian semantic squabbles, she often gives several names for one "Alexandrian" term, for example: Alexander Lie-Down, Semi-Supine and Constructive Rest Position. I enjoyed her definition of "up". "Up" at its simplest means the direction in which the head is releasing away from the other end of the spine, the tailbone." And her discussion of the whispered ah as taught by Alexander (Pages 85-91) resulted in several rewarding practice sessions for me and therefore my students.

The book is tall and heavy which presents an Alexandrian challenge (I propped it up on two pillows), but it is this bulkiness which allows the excellent, clear illustrations by Jaye Schlesinger and other sidebars to appear on the pertinent page. These gray shaded sidebars, sprinkled throughout the book, detail stories about students of the author which are relevant to the chapter.

According to Ms. Heirich, the first factor in the process of changing a habit is that the individual must desire to change and the second is that "we must begin where we are". Reading this book is a wonderful place for either the novice or the professional to do just that. Katherine Keyes, certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, voice teacher, singer. VoicePrints-Sept.2005

Meticulous cross-indexing alone whets an appetite for this book - invaluable for any teacher of AT or Voice. Attention to detail throughout makes it an interactive workbook that invites use. A CD with musical examples and chart for non music-readers are included.
Heirich, well-known Alexander teacher, taught a voice technique class in Michigan for over 30 years, and learned that not everyone responds to the same approach. She uses whatever it takes to get her message through. I particularly like "Singing to a candle" to clarify the difference between blowing a stream of air and creating a sound wave.
The first half discusses habit, Alexander and his technique, and includes a voice primer describing skills that promote effortless effort, vitality, resonance and intelligibility throughout the vocal range. It also gives examples of postural and vocal problems including the effects of knee-locking, TMJ tension and rib cage corseting.
The interlude connects AT and voice work and includes a beautiful illustration of the "nodding place". It also invites the reader to use the later chapters (which address postural and vocal problems) to have an experience rather than just read about it, and cautions that this takes awareness of existing habits. Naturally, guidance from an Alexander teacher would be helpful here, but the following games and explorations are described with such clarity that a conscientious and motivated reader could discover a lot without a teacher - preferably with a sympathetic friend. Heirich mentions the essential feedback of an observing listener.
By getting out of our own way we can free the voice and learn the resultant sensations so we can choose and enjoy them. Heirich says the voice is one of the most habitual of our daily tools, and inarguably one of our most valuable. With thought and practice, we can change and mold it into something healthy, flexible, beautiful, and alive.

This book and the included CD provides an excellent way to discover the full potential of your voice. Nothing short of awesome!

Voice and the Alexander Technique: Active Explorations for Speaking and Singing (w/CD), by Jane Heirich, Mornum Time Press

Many books have been written about the art and the science of singing. Most of them follow the medical model, that is, they deal with the actual physiology of making vocal sound. And there is no shortage of written material about the Alexander Technique-the remarkable method of aligning the body for maximum physical efficiency in any endeavor, be it singing, playing tennis, washing dishes or whatever-formulated by the Tasmanian Shakespearean actor F. M. Alexander in the late-19th century. But Jane Ruby Heirich's book, Voice and the Alexander Technique, is, as far as I know, the first to delineate the specific benefits of the Alexander Technique for those who are concerned with the quality and healthfulness of vocal sound in either spoken or sung form.
Heirich knows her business; she dispenses her excellent information with the expertise of sequence and timing that only comes from having coached hundreds of subjects in these techniques for many years. She intersperses her factual material with exercises, which she refers to as "to dos," and almost every page has a box in the margin with an anecdote pertaining to the problem at hand or a technique used for its remedy. There are many well-executed and useful illustrations, and the material, even though sophisticated and scientific in nature, is presented in the clear, easy-to-understand English similar to a do-it-yourself self-help manual. Furthermore, there is a glossary of terms, appendices with all manner of other useful information and a CD with recordings of vocal exercises recommended in the book is included.
I have only one complaint about this publication: it is hardbound, over-sized and rather expensive. So, many students who should have access to this information, will pass it up for economic reasons. Let's hope for a quicker-to-read, smaller and cheaper reprinting in paperback. Reviewed by Benton Hess, Webster, New York.

Reprinted from American Music Teacher, Volume 55, No. 1, August/September 2005, with permission of Music Teachers National Association.

I loved this story. Not the kind of thing I usually read, but once I'd begun I couldn't put it down. The story is fast-paced and held enough action to keep even the most impatient reader reading. All day I found myself thinking about the story, the characters and what was going to happen, and I couldn't wait to get back to the tale.

Stopmouth is an endearing character among a book full of memorable ones. Can't wait for the second installment in this series to appear! Write faster, Mr. O'Guilin!

Stopmouth is the younger brother in a family that faces daily struggles to survive. They are living in a tumbledown city on a world where the only thing to eat is their fellow sentient inhabitants - who can in turn, only eat their fellow sentinents (including humans). The life of Stopmouth and his tribe revolve around meat - obtaining it, trading their fellow humans to get it, and not becoming someone else's meal. This struggle means that some humans must volunteer themselves as food in the meat trade - and others must be volunteered.

The stuttering Stopmouth is a young hunter for his tribe, and because of his speech difficulties is generally considered stupid, and as a potential volunteer. He is, of course, anything but dumb!

His whole life - and that of his tribe changes the day that his elder brother betrays him - the same day that a lovely warrior woman falls down from the sky...

This well written book - reportedly the first in a science fiction trilogy - features an action packed plot (and some of the featured aliens are nightmare inducing!) as well as some very well developed characters in Stopmouth, his brother Wallbreaker, and the endearing human hunter Rockface with his love for children.

It also features mystery (who and what is Indrani, the woman from the sky? why are the people in the sky fighting with each other? how did Stopmouth's ancestors come to this brutal world and way of life? how did all of these aliens get there?) and quite a lot of ethical questions about the ways and means of survival.

While this book is being marketed as a YA, it features some pretty intense scenes of humans hunting and combat with aliens (as well as the other way around) - and some human cannibalism scenes. I think if I had read it as a tween or young teen, it would have bothered me quite a bit.

You can read a sample at the author's website at:
www.frozenstories.com

I cannot wait for the second book!!!!

Run, Stopmouth, run! Stopmouth's stammer makes his tribe think he's dim-witted, but he compensates by being a very fast runner. In his kill-or-be-killed world, speed is at least as valuable as intelligence. But Stopmouth's no dummy, as he gradually comes to realize when his familiar world, terrible as it is, begins to crumble.

Stopmouth has always idolized his brother Wallbreaker, a great hunter. Things begin to fall apart when Wallbreaker is captured on a hunting trip. Stopmouth's fleetness serves him well, and he escapes capture, but then, against all reason--by the standards of his tribe--he goes back to save Wallbreaker. In the process he kills three Armourbacks, an impressive feat. But Wallbreaker runs off, leaving Stopmouth to fend for himself, tells the tribe that Stopmouth is dead, and claims the kills for himself. Their relationship deteriorates from there. We watch Wallbreaker becoming increasingly erratic in his behavior, thwarting his brother at every turn, until finally Stopmouth finds it necessary to leave the tribe.

There's plenty of action here, and lots of gory killing, as the various species in this strange place follow the dictates of "eat or be eaten." But over and above the fighting, the killing, the cannibalism, is the mystery. What is this strange place, with its ruined buildings housed under what is obviously some sort of artificial dome? Who built it, and why? How did all these different species, all apparently intelligent although unable to communicate with each other, come to be in a situation where their only food is each other, where there is no edible vegetation, and no domesticated animals? What are the lights in the "sky" and who are the people in the sky ships?

As O Guilin alternately tantalizes and doles out tidbits of information, we come to realize that the title refers not only to Stopmouth's supposed standing compared to his brother, but encompasses all the warring beings of this place in comparison to the sky people. And perhaps the label is mis-applied there as well.

It's a fascinating riddle. I'm anxiously awaiting further revelations.

Survival of the fittest is understood by Stopmouth and his tribe; either kill or be someone else's meal; although his people expect him to be fodder because his stupidity makes them believe Stopmouth is inferior to them. Expediting his demise is his brother who betrays Stopmouth.

In this dangerous environs of the law of eat or be eaten, Indrani falls from the sky landing in the midst of Stopmouth's tribe. They debate what to do with the intruder as some want to trade her to those who relish fresh human meat. Stopmouth is attracted to her and wants to keep the beautiful intelligent woman who fell from the glowing Roof as his even though that violates the one commandment of eat or be eaten. Meanwhile she hides from her protector the truth of what she knows about the origins of her benefactor and his tribe and their prime reason for existence.

Avoiding a spoiler makes the review difficult to write as the key to the story line and the relationship between the lead pair is the knowledge that Indrani possesses although that takes quite a while before the obviously not so stupid Stopmouth figures it out. The action is fast-paced but not enough of it especially for the intended young teen audience as much of the plot is used to describe in too much detail the surface world. Still this homage to Tarzan in the Twilight Zone will engage the reader who will be appalled to learn the truth behind the connection between the Roof top intellects and the INFERIOR surface dwellers.

Harriet Klausner

"And ten heartbeats past, you grabbed a piece of flesh out of my hands. Didn't you like the taste? Because if you can be a savage, maybe I could be civilized? It's possible, isn't it?"


Stopmouth is a young man in a world where humans live solely by hunting and consuming flesh. He is a hunter blessed with incredible speed, which is the only thing that saves him on a daily basis. Stopmouth, considered stupid by his tribe due to a stutter that impedes his speech, must prove himself constantly in order to survive. In his world when people outlive there usefulness they volunteer for flesh trades between the other beasts, because some beasts prefer their flesh still living. Stopmouth will be encouraged to volunteer if he ever fails.

One day Stopmouth's older brother, Wallbreaker, betrays him on a hunt. Thinking him dead Wallbreaker leaves Stopmouth behind to save his own neck. This cowardly act forms a gap between the two brothers that is only widened further when Wallbreaker takes all the credit for himself and uses that to buy himself a bride; a young woman named Mossheart, who Stopmouth has always had feelings for.

There are other things going on in this world. For one thing, there are people who watch over the tribes. Not gods, surely, but real people, as evidenced when a woman named Indrani falls from the sky. This strange and beautiful woman fuels desires in Stopmouth's heart that Mossheart never did. When Stopmouth breaks his legs and knows that he is on the volunteer list Indrani saves his life by splinting his legs and preventing the elders from taking him. Thus begins a friendship that will blossom throughout the course of the book, even though Stopmouth knows nothing of this strange woman who fell from the sky, or what that even means in the grand scheme of things. And even though his brother has designs to make her his in an endeavor to become the greatest warrior the ancestors have ever boasted.




"Are you truly human?" Stopmouth asked. He hoped she'd open her eyes and look at him. Another part of him wanted her to keep them closed so he could watch her without making her angry.

They stayed closed.

"I'm human," she muttered. "As human as you are, anyway."

"What do you mean?" he asked, puzzled.

She lifted her head. "None of your men have hair on their faces. You live on a diet of pure meat, most of it non-human. Your women never die in childbirth. You rarely get sick, any of you. And all of a sudden I'm the one who's not human?"





O'Guilin's first installment in the trilogy is a marvel. A... Marvel... plain and simple. It's one of those rare books that comes along that has such depth to it that the reader gets instantly overwhelmed and transported. It reminds me of many things that I love... "Watership Down", "Lord of the Flies", "Tarzan"... it echoes many things I adore. It also speaks to me of Frank Frazetta paintings and of a world that blends complicated Ethical dilemmas with a sensuous carnality. Do not belittle O'Guilin's own originality though, because trust me this book oozes original thought and raw, unadulterated talent. O'Guilin has such skill at creating a believable and real world that draws you in. Added to this is O'Guilin's wonderful ability to write such dynamic and interesting characters that the reader actually gives a damn about. This is a rare thing as many writer's don't really seem to be able to pull all of these elements together, particularly with such a concept as O'Guilin has established. This world, in all of it's brutality, is complex and surreal. Watching the humans go out again and again to face their doom inspires the reader and leaves them with an intense empty-stomach feeling with every campaign. I would love to say that it's jaw dropping, but in honour of O'Guilin I would prefer to call it eye popping, and you will just have to trust me on that. Fans of action novels will thrill in the details that O'Guilin shares, because there's enough bloodshed to make any gore enthusiast squirm. But there is a lot of heart and soul to be found in the relationships between the characters that any softhearted reader will find themselves tearing up, as I did. Boys will love it, girls (like me) will love it... It is not for the faint of heart. But it's for readers who like having their hearts stopped.

Brilliant. Utterly. I await the next book in the series with heightened enthusiasm.



"Your blood has come back to me," He whispered, "and so will you."



Bring me more blood, O'Guilin. My soul demands it.

I liked this book because it was very interesting and I didn't want to stop reading it. This was a puzzle kind of a mystery it was cool. I like how they needed to search for the painting.

Well three investigators are called to find missing parrots but end up trying to find a picture worth a lot of money. In order to find the painting they would have to get all the seven parrots and when they talked they would say a clue to where the picture is.

You would have to definitely be a mystery type reader to really get into this book. It's not a hard book at all its king of hard on some parts but that's it. A boy would like this book better then a girl would like it. You would have to be in at least 7th grade to understand the book. If you consider a 182 pages long then it's to hard for you but it goes by fast I read this in a week! This was an awesome book and there was so much action and adventure and a lot of mystery and there also was a lot of cliffhangers.

I used to read my older brother's Three Investigator books when he borrowed them from the school library. I so wanted to live in a trailer with a secret escape hatch like Jupiter had.
I have bought as many books as I could find for my son who is eleven and loves reading about Jupiter, Bob and Pete's adventures. We look in every secondhand shop we can find and are slowly getting the entire series.

This was the first series book I had ever read. It got me hooked for life. I was never a series kind of guy. I never read Hardy Boys or the Secret Seven, they just annoyed me. After I read this book I bought every other "3 Investigators" I could find and I followed them all the way through to "The Crimebusters." Robert Arthur had an appiffiny when he created these characters

The Three Investigators series was the best set of mysteries I ever read, in addition to Agatha Christie's. I read all of them I could find. And yet, years later, I decided to look them up and not a single library had them anymore. These books should not be out of print! There is something special in Jupiter, Bob, and Pete's (I think I got the names right) detective agency, and the mysteries are especially unique and intriguing. This book is especially memorable. To-to-to be, or not to-to-to be... And that's not the only parrot that's odd

I, too, read all of the books when I was a child. Now that I'm looking for books to give to friends' children, I discover that these marvelous books are out of print! I beseech the publisher to re-issue them asap. The stuttering parrot has remained with me all these years, so much so that when I hear a reference to Sherlock Holmes, it is the stuttering parrot's "to to be" that immediately pops into my mind. On behalf of a bookwormwho wants to share with the next generation, please bring the boys back! The three investigators may not have been classic literature, but they brought me tremendous pleasure.

"A two-faced weasel is someone who shows one face in public but hides another face for his evil deeds," Mr. Morrison said. He turned around and parted his hair. "Do you see another face back there?"

Mr. Morrison is the flimflam man in this story, and he has conned two vulnerable girls, former foes who gradually become friends, into helping him promote a circus that is supposedly coming to town.

This story, a chapter book written at about the third grade level, appeals to students all the way up to 6th grade in our school. It has a genuine feel for small town Wetumka, Oklahoma, in 1950, which is where this historical fiction story (based on actual events) takes place. Darleen Bailey Beard makes the plot and characters work on at least two levels: first, it serves as a warning that not everyone can be trusted, and secondly, it's a heartwarming tale about a friendship that develops out of adversity.

The lessons taught in this short (85 page) book are those that children need to hear. Recommended.

This book was very good. I read it because the author was coming to my school. When I first heard she was coming, I wasn't that excited. Then, after I read this book, I couldn't wait! I think you would like this book.

Darleen Beard's book, The Flim Flam Man, made me laugh out loud. Kids of all ages will this tale and, at the same time, learn a little about Oklahoma history, too. Can't wait for this author's next book!

What fun!

One of my undergraduate professors introduced me to this book. It is a WONDERFUL resource not only for diagnosing fluency disorders, but also for therapy. Daly gives you a great buy for your money.

I've really enjoyed everything that I've ever read from David Daly. I've read a few articles, a few chapters in various books that were guest-written by him, and now I've read this book. I bought this book mostly because it has a very substantive part on cluttering, and I am a clutterer.

The revolutionary approach that David Daly has to cluttering is his 33-item test of cluttering, where the SLP rates the clutterer on a scale of 0 to 3 for each item, and then comes up with a grand total. If the person scores 55 or above, then the person can be given a diagnosis of cluttering. If it is 35-55, then the diagnosis may be a hybrid of stuttering/cluttering.

He's also got a lot of other good information and resources on cluttering in this book.

This book is also the only place that I've seen where you can get actual speech samples of clutterers. This book comes with a 60-minute audiotape. Only 15 minutes is dedicated to cluttering, but there are 4 different speech samples of cluttering. Getting those samples alone is worth the price of the tape.

And, to be fair, the book is mostly about stuttering, it's like the tape, only 1/4 of it is dedicated to cluttering, but that's much more than most stuttering books dedicate to cluttering.

If you haven't heard David Daly's story, then you should read it on his website at stuttertreatment.com. The really cool thing about his story is that he was a person who stutters, and he always had the goal of being perfectly fluent. It took him years to make much progress, but he kept trying and trying, and now he's very fluent. About 50% of the tape is David Daly talking. That's really inspirational to me, because even though I haven't ever stuttered, I share his goal of being perfectly fluent. And, I figure that if he can, then I can, too.

I received this book a week or two after purchase, and I was very pleased. The book was in perfect condition, no highlighting, tears, worn covers or anything. I was very pleased!

This is a thorough and readable book designed for the emerging clinician. The author speaks from the point of view of a person who stutters as well as one well read in the research surrounding cause, nature and treatment of stuttering.

I would be interested to hear from families of and people who stutter to see if this book is an appropriate, in-depth, resource for them as well.

Book Review
Lou Heite
lheite@eldhorn.is

STUTTERING: A Life Bound Up in Words
Marty Jezer
New York: Basic Books, A Division of Harper-Collins Publishers, 1997

Marty Jezer's much-awaited book is on the brink of publication, if it isn't already on the stands. Marty, of course, is known throughout the stuttering community for his clear, intelligent commentary and searching questions on several discussion lists. Marty is a commited pacifist whose conciliatory tone consistently rises above flame battles which remind this writer of scenes from Star Wars. In his book he has applied his great good humor to the story of his lifelong battle with his severe stutter, and has come out the winner.

From a vantage point of middle-aged mellowness, Marty has taken a clear-eyed look at what it means to be a person who stutters and what impact his speech impediment has had on his life. He is neither vindictive nor maudlin. He makes no attempt to hide his avoidances, his denial, or his embarrassment under a cloak of heroism, and yet the real strength of his honesty shows in his unwillingness to blame any individuals or much of society for the difficulties he has experienced, difficulties which are familiar to us all. Marty is no whiner.

The book begins and ends with a description of Marty's participation in an experiment involving a drug that some hoped would alleviate stuttering. For those who have dreamed of a "fluency pill" -- a regular list topic -- these two chapters alone are worth the price of the book. But there is more, much more, to be learned in retracing Marty's path through the minefield of life with a stutter.

Marty's story underscores the oft-made assertion that the only thing that differentiates those who stutter from the general population is the fact that they stutter. Marty's loving, if somewhat competitive, family, his school, his neighborhood, his college, and his original career goals are a model of American life in the 1950's and 1960's. I would like to have seen a closer look at the effects of Marty's stuttering on the people around him, but the young Marty was a remarkably normal kid and by his own confession didn't think about that any more than he absolutely had to.

There are some wildly funny passages in the book, ones which I think anyone can identify with, whether stutterer or not. The hilarity and pathos of the chapter "An Errant Elbow or an Act of God" is as gripping in its second and third readings as it was when it first appeared in draft on The Stuttering Homepage. And there is a description of a restaurant dinner with his family that made this reader laugh out loud remembering the same kind of conversation around my own parents' table, ten adults and ten monologues only tenuously connected by a most absurd stream-of-consciousness association.

And yet, for all the good humor and, yes, love of life in this book, Marty delineates well the kinds of wrenching doubts and wandering detours that plague the fumbletongued. He holds up a lot of mirrors to others of us who have had to wrestle with the same demon - even though the demon might be smaller and more tractable in its form. It was the little things that grabbed me particularly: Marty's desire to be a funny person, his recitations alone before the mirror and in the shower, a preference in conversation to agree or to summarize rather than to bring up or change topics. The war with the telephone. The desire, indeed, a near compulsion, to write - and the freedom and joy of the written page where words fasten themselves in their ordered rows and meaning is divorced from delivery.

Marty came of age at a time of great turmoil in American society. In the eyes of at least some of us, he took a hero's stand against great injustices and terrible lies. The entire community should be proud that there were stutterers at the vanguard of the Antiwar and Civil Rights movements. Not only Marty, but his friend Paul Johnson, also a person who stutters, were instrumental in the formation of the arguments in the early years of the Protest movement. It was Johnson who introduced Marty to the activist's life and who helped him find his real voice as a journalist and formulator of policy. Their actions at that time have had a lasting effect on the shape of American society.

Marty is sure, and I will second his assertion, that the little and big prejudices which he faced as a stutterer made him especially sensitive to the big and bigger prejudices which spawned the Civil Rights movement. And from there it was only a short step to seeking a fuller liberation of all society, in the Free Speech and the Anti-War movements. That Marty could turn his intensely personal experience of prejudice as a stutterer to society's greater good should stand as a reminder to all of us that no matter how bitterly we perceive our own oppression, there is great freedom to be gained in helping others to achieve their liberation.

I could easily see _Stuttering: A Life Bound Up in Words_ as a topic of organized discussion in self-help and group therapy sessions. Marty touches on almost the whole range of emotion which is likely to both inspire and trouble the person who stutters. He also delineates the process of growth, from denial through depression to something resembling integration. He makes it clear that one can honestly accept the fact of stuttering without having to accept the baggage that attaches to the label "stutterer."

I would especially recommend this book to parents and "significant others" of people who stutter. Marty's candid and unsentimental descriptions of the way his impediment has influenced and been influenced by his feelings, his aspirations, and his dreams should open passages to understanding for those who feel the effect of their loved one's impediment almost as directly as the stutterer him- or herself. This book has the potential to provide talking points for people who are inhibited by shyness and the natural reluctance to bring up a subject that may be painful to someone they are close to.

As a final note, it is interesting to compare _Stuttering: A Life Bound Up in Words_ with Wendell Johnson's little autobiography, _Because I Stutter_, which was made available online within this past week. They make a very interesting back-to-back read, for though about seventy years stands between the two books, the stories are remarkably similar. The basic message is that stuttering, though a dreadful inconvenience and even a torment, is not necessarily a permanent roadblock to a productive, fulfilling, interesting, and ultimately happy life.

MR. JEZER'S GIVES PARENTS INSIGHT ON THEIR CHILDS DISABILITY. AS A PARENT OF A SEVERE STUTTER WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS OR SOLUTIONS TO THE OUR SON'S SPEECH DIFFICULTIES. CHILDREN HAVE DIFFICULTY ARTICULATING THEIR FRUSTRATIONS, EMOTIONS, AND INNER CONFLICTS. MR. JEZER HELPED ME UNDERSTAND MY SONS DAILY STRUGGLES JUST ALTTLE CLEARER. I WISH I WOULD HAVE READ THIS SOONER, I MAY HAVE APPROACHED THINGS DIFFERENTLY. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORY WITH US.