With these SmartFrench Audio CDs Beginner you will work on natural conversations with our unique Active Sensory Comprehension TM method. You will learn your new language both effectively and efficiently. You will develop your listening skills.

For reference, we give you a booklet with the transcripts and the translations, with our color-coding system to help you pronounce the words and sentences the way you will hear them pronounced in real life conversations. This step by step approach to the language will help you understand French, like no other method, early in your studies. If you enter a conversation in French without any training to listen to it, you will not be able to get what is coming back to you. On the other hand, even if you feel hesitant to speak French, you can have a conversation saying yes or no, as long as you understand the other person. That is why to develop listening skills is so important. With these CDs you will start to understand and speak the language as spoken in the real world. You will be soon on the right tracks to be able to understand when someone speaks at normal speed.

Learning French requests that you learn to speak French and that you learn to understand it. Vol.1 and Vol.2 will teach you to speak and these SmartFrench Audio CDs Beginner will teach you to understand and be understood as you will develop strong listening skills. The best is to practice both exercises simultaneously as early as possible in your studying of French.

In addition, if what you want to know is just a few sentences to get by for your next trip to France, you need our SmartFrench for Travelers book/download.
We hope you will enjoy learning French with SmartFrench.

Giving new meaning to the term "fast food"

Rest-stop grade F meat patty? Nah. Nuggets of reconstituted poultry bits? Pass. Deep-fried fish discus? No, really, thanks all the same.

It's time to bid farewell to the roadside meal as you know it. Nearly twenty years ago, Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller opened the world's eyes to the beautym of car-engine gastronomy in the original Manifold Destiny. And now that another generation of both drivers and eaters has emerged, the cult classic is due for an overhaul. In this shiny, spanking-new edition, learn how to make s'mores in your Scion, poach fish in your Pontiac, even bust out a gourmet snack from under the hood of your Escalade.

With step-by-step diagrams, crowd-pleasing recipes, and thorough instructions, now you can turn your car into a kitchen without ever crossing any golden arches. Hilarious, bizarre, and ultimately (seriously!) useful, Manifold Destiny is and always will be an unparalleled original. So, slap a ham steak under the hood of your car, hit the gas, and drive until you reach delicious -- which is in approximately fifty miles, depending on traffic.

How many of these questions can you answer without calling the New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service?

Who really designed the American flag?
How hot is the sun's surface?
How does quicksand work?
When was the Ark of the Covenant last seen?
Who sat at the Algonquin Round Table?
Where does the name "The Grateful Dead" come from?
Why is Christmas abbreviated as Xmas?
Can any creatures besides humans get a sunburn?
How many muscles does it take to smile? To frown?
Why are rabbits' feet considered good luck?

You could, of course, do all the painstaking research yourself. Or you could pick up the phone and call the resourceful, erudite, quick-witted librarians of the New York Public Library's Telephone Reference Service, Tel Ref, for whom questions like these are all in a day's work. For the past twenty years, Tel Ref has met the information needs of a public as diverse as the subjects in the Library's catalog, and now they've compiled their most interesting, unusual, and most-often-asked queries into The Book of Answers -- a delight for browsers, a treasure trove of fascinating information, and the perfect companion to The New York Public Library Desk Reference.