Another Great Online Bookstore

Most of you know that I buy a lot of books from the USA. Buying from a local bookstore is usually more expensive. So I  hunt down books from book fairs. I save a lot of money but I will never get the latest titles especially non fiction. Not to mention a lot of time wasted  and constant backache from digging piles and piles of dusty books. So my only option to get cheaper books is through  Bookdepository and sometimes Amazon. There are disadvantages thou. Books take 3 to 4 weeks to arrive and sometimes get lost in the mail.

Recently a friend introduce me to http://www.noqstore.asia and I was delighted. They carry a wide range of books and the best thing is.... it is cheaper than local bookstores! Definitely worth checking out. They guarantee that their prices are the lowest around. I did a check and it is true. :)

For those who use Singapore textbooks or assessment books for primary and secondary.... GOOD NEWS! You can buy them at at NoQ Store online store. It is free delivery in Malaysia.

By pure luck, 2 weeks ago, I received an email telling me that my readers are entitled to an exclusive 15% discount on all purchases at NoQ Store when you use code REESE at checkout.

Discount code is valid from 11 August - 31 December 2014.

Books and More Books for Reese

Books I bought for my boy for this year. So glad that we have the Big Bad Wolf book sale yearly and because of the incredibly low prices, other big bookstores have to have warehouse sale and book fairs  to compete. I have been saving a lot of money!!

December 2013 - Big Bad Wolf Sale

Price of books range from RM5 (USD1.50) -RM15 (USD4.60)

Big Bad Wolf Sale 1st round

2nd round

3rd round

March 2014 - Big Bad Wolf Box Sale
The best sale ever. You have an option to purchase a box for either RM99.90 or RM79.90 and stuff in as many books as you like.

Bought a RM99.90 box and I managed to stuff in 54 books. 

Each book cost less than RM2 (USD0.60)

2nd round bought a RM79.90 box and managed to stuff in 24 books. Got a few hardcover cookbooks (not in the picture). Each book cost less than RM4 (USD1.20)

Others

Books for myself and later will pass it on to Reese. :)

More books from a different book fair. 

Big Bad Wolf Sale 2012

So.... last year at BBW I spent a lot of money. This year I told myself I cannot spent more than half of last year's budget. I think I did it. :)

This year's BBW sale was ok but children's selection was not as good as last year. I went a total of 3 times to look for good books and of course to redeem my next year's preview pass!

1st time - I took Reese with me for the Preview Sale. I was hoping Reese would distract me enough to leave early and thus spend less but my boy was such a good boy! He sat at corners and read for a few hours while I dug for treasures.

1st buy

2nd visit - Crazy me woke Reese up the next day at 6am and we went book shopping again! 

2nd buy

3rd and last visit - Yesterday after breakfast, hubby was kind enough to take me to BBW in hope to get a badge to redeem a preview pass for next year and we did it. Got even more books and even found a book that I was looking for since the 1st visit. 

3rd buy

Yesterday night we went to BookXcess to redeem the letter for next year's preview pass and we bought another 2 Horrible Geography books....

Great Books to Share...

Some random great books Reese and I read recently that is worth sharing...

Fiction

It is about the adventures of a house painter and his brood of high-stepping penguins. One event led to another. It would keep you in suspense one moment and ease you with laughter the next. 

One of Reese's favourite has to be Goony Bird Greene. This is a book that cleverly teaches story telling/writing. Reese found it hilarious with Gooney Bird Greene's "Absolutely true stories". This book is laugh-out-loud funny!

Non-Fiction

This is a fun book that introduces science and the 3 main areas: physics, chemistry, and biology. It comes with funny commentary that guides the reader through the scientific method and some science history. It is entertaining and educational.

This is also a fun book that takes you on a journey throughout the human body with good description on the various functions. The book is informative  and also comes with funny commentary. Great graphics too.   

 This book gives a basic overview of the history of Beijing. Every page is filled with drawings. 

Inside this guide to outer space, you'll find everything from detailed planetary topography to the most current facts and figures about our amazing universe. Great photos too! (Available at BookXcess)

Mathematics - Higher Order Thinking

If you have been following my blog, you would know that Reese dislikes mathematics. He hates repetition. Whenever he starts on a math worksheet, in less than 5 minutes, he will yawn and becomes  sleepy. He always goes for questions involving word problems first and addition/subtraction/multiplication or anything that is repetitive last. 

I was baffled as to why he dislike math so much. He has no problem understanding math concepts and in fact, using manipulative was totally unnecessary. Then I realised that he hates repetition  but then again, you need to practise in order to be good in it right? 

A few weeks ago, I met a former Math teacher turned math/parental coach online and I asked her what I can do to help my son. She said he needs higher order thinking word problems. He needs challenging math rather than the usual stuff! Don't make him do repetitive work. 

So again, I have to change the way we do math and also the kind of worksheets for him to work on. I got Reese a few Challenging Maths books for Primary 2 and 3 last night. These are Singapore Math books and retailing at RM19 per book. I also got Horizons Math Grade 3 from USA for  RM142.00 (Shipping charges is a killer!) Will be using these books soon as Reese is finishing Grade 2 Math.

A quick review of Challenging Maths series by EPH Pte Ltd

The questions in these books are indeed challenging! They expose children to various types of word problems with higher order thinking as well as critical thinking skills. This series is for above average children. You can find them at Popular Bookstore.

Soon Reese will start Horizons Math Grade 3 as his Math Core and will supplement it with Challenging Math Primary 2 and 3 for higher order thinking word problems.

Some word problems with higher order thinking examples:

Challenging Maths Primary 1 (We are currently doing this)

Jars A and B have 12 cookies each. There are 14 fewer cookies in jar C than jars A and B together.

a) How many cookies are there in jar A and jar B altogether?

b) How many cookies are there in jar C?

There are 7 cakes in a bakery. There are 5 cherries on each cake.

a) How many cherries are there on the cakes altogether?

b) If there were only 4 cherries on each cake, how many fewer cherries would have been here altogether?

Betty exchanged a fifty-cent coin for ten-cent and twenty-cent coins. She got more ten-cent coins than twenty-cent coins.

a) How many twenty-cent coins did she get?

b) How many ten-cent coins did she get?

Challenging Maths Primary 2

Bianca had 197 beads. She gave 17 beads to Susan. Bianca now has 10 more beads than Susan.

a) How many bead does Bianca have now?

b) How many beads does Susan have now?

c) How many beads did Susan have at first?

There were 8 watermelons in a fruit shop. 3 of them were sold at $4 each and the rest were sold at $3 each. How much money was collected from the sale of the watermelon?

John finished his English homework at 4 o'clock. He did it in 45 minutes. At what time did John start to do his English homework?

Challenging Maths Primary 3

Mrs Lee left her office and took 10 minutes to walk to the bus stop. She boarded a bus after 5 minutes and the journey lasted 25 minutes. She walked to the food centre in 5 minutes and stayed there for 25 minutes. Then she left for her house at 7.50pm. At aha time did Mrs Lee leave her office?

2 oranges and 3 apples have a total mass of 840g. Each apple is 30g heavier than an orange. Find the total mass of the 2 oranges.

Books we bought in April/May

Books by David Macaulay with beautiful illustration. Gives detail explanation on how castles, cathedral, cities and the underground network are built.

'Roman Diary' tells the story of a slave girl's life in ancient Rome and this book has beautiful illustration, 'It could always be worse' is a sweet picture book about a Yiddish folk tale with beautiful illustration and 'The Case of the Gasping Garbage' is a mystery book. 

LIFE collection of beautiful photographs of sea creatures and wonders of the world.  'Eye Witness History' by National Geographic uses the timeline approach to give us a clear picture of world history whereas 'The History Book' by DK uses a more child friendly approach to present world history

Books we bought this Month

The good news is I only bought 3 books this month and the bad news is two of the books cost me  a little over RM120! Critical thinking books are expensive. I use these books as a cure to boredom whenever Reese is bored. It is quite challenging and certainly gets your brain thinking. I wrote two post on Critical Thinking and they can be found here. 

Building Thinking Skills Level 1 (The Critical Thinking Co)

This is a book that builds critical thinking skills for reading, writing, math and science. It is quite comprehensive. The book covers shapes, analogies, mapping, deductive reasoning and many more.

Building Thinking Skills Level 1 (Grade 2-3)

Figural Similarities and differences

Describing Things 

Mind Benders (The Critical Thinking Co)

This book is to help students develop comprehension, deductive reasoning, visual tracking and fine motor skills. 

Mind Benders Book 2 (Grade 1-2)

It's quite challenging and fun too. For Reese it is to play detective and solve the puzzles!

Tunku Abdul Rhaman Putra Al-Haj (E. Yu)

A fully illustrated biography of our Bapa Malaysia. It's funny and at the same time you get to know the man who helped form Malaysia. Suitable for older children.

Science Through The Magic School Bus

Have you heard of the Magic School Bus?

I remembered playing one of the The Magic School Bus educational software back in the '90s. Fast forward 2011, my dear son is now into The Magic School Bus books. After reading the first book on human body, he was able to tell me about blood cells, white blood cells fighting disease germs, digestion and more! At first it might be a little overwhelming with facts all over the place in a single page. So take some time to digest it first before reading it with your child. 

The Magic School Bus is a series of children's books about science. They feature Ms. Frizzle, an elementary school teacher, and her class, who board a magical school bus which takes them on field trips to very interesting locations such as the solar system, clouds, and the human body. 

The original series titles:

1. At the Waterworks
2. Inside the Earth
3. Inside the Human Body
4. Lost in the Solar System
5. On the Ocean Floor
6. In the Time of the Dinosaurs
7. Inside a Hurricane
8. Inside a Beehive
9. And the Electric Field Trip
10. Explores the Senses
11. And the Science Fair Expedition
12. And the Climate Challenge

Now they have chapter books and many other titles based on The Magic School Bus.

They also have a TV series aired in the '90s. There are 52 episodes in all. You can actually find some of them on Youtube here. Each episode is about 25 minutes. The books and TV series are for children age 6 and up. I

You can visit The Magic School Bus website. Fun activities for kids to play and learn.

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale

Yesterday went for the preview sale at BBW warehouse sale. The venue was huge. There were so many books that I just got tired browsing! It's crazy. They have a really big children section. Their selection of children books were quite ok. Mostly books for toddlers. They did not have books from Usborne or Scholastic except the Horribles series. There are some reference books from DK and a lot of books from Disney and some other publishers. So if you have toddlers, this is the sale you don't want to miss. Books are dirt cheap. We are talking RM5-10 for most books in this section except box sets with toys and stuff(did not look at price but my guess is it shouldn't be more than RM20). 

My loot

Those looking for cookbooks, lots of selection but I only got Jamie Oliver for RM24. Did not browse through the fiction and non fiction. I was too tired after spending nearly 3 hours at the kids section! They also have quite a selection of coffee table books. 

I got some comics, two Horrible series box set and it's annuals, Mr. Men and Little Miss books, a story book, some books for myself and a comic for hubby. My damage was RM500. 

So that is it! I will impose a self ban, no book purchases for 1 year! I bought too many books this year.  I have spent over RM7000 on books this year alone. Almost all on Reese's books. My two new 6 feet bookshelves will be full by next week when Reese's homeschool books arrive from US. It's a shame that I only have 1 child to enjoy all the great books else it will be more worth it. :)

I am most happy with the Horrible series

Reese's First Chapter Book

Reese loves books with illustrations. He is not a fan of chapter books. His reading level has improved tremendously. He is reading at Grade 4 level (for 9 years old). He is a fast reader. Whenever we give him something to read out loud, before he reads to you, he will read in his heart the contents in that page in a blink of an eye. He tends to skip pages usually to pages with interesting illustrations first. If he really likes a book, he will read it over and  over again. 

We have a booklist of readers to read for this year and Reese has come to the last book. It is a chapter book with minimal illustrations. When I showed him the book he was not interested. He asked me to read to him instead. So to get him interested, I read some paragraphs and he did the rest. Only manage 1 chapter a day. As the story develops, he is slowly taking an interest in it. We are reading 'The Sword in the Tree'. 

BUT

there is one chapter book that he likes and is reading it all by himself! It is 'The Story of Dr. Dolittle'. It is one of the read aloud books that I am doing with him. The story is quite interesting with strange creatures and adventures of a human doctor who can speak animal languages, going about saving monkeys and sailing to strange places in Africa... no wonder my son is reading the book even though it has minimal illustration! It's really wonderful seeing him flipping page after page looking for his favorite parts in the book.  

The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting is highly recommended The story contains suspense and adventure but there is little explicit violence. Great book to spur a child's imagination! 

A Microscopic World...

Reese was introduced to the microscopic world when he first read Greg's Microscope by Millicent E.Selsam a few months back. A lovely level 3 reader under the series An I Can Read Book. 

Reese enjoys reading this book

Toy Microscope - MicroPro by Educational Insights

For Reese's birthday, we bought him microscope (MicroPro-Educational Insights). It is pretty impressive. It came with some prepared slides for viewing and other tools for making your own slides. Reese was really happy. We had been looking at salt, sugar, saliva, sand, thread... all in 1 day. It's easy to use and it came with a light source that makes viewing easier. It allows magnification of up to 600x. Quite well built and friendly for kids. The microscope can easily be tilted to a child's viewing level. Adult supervision is necessary for a young child because you need to do adjustment to get a clear view of the slides. Very easy to use and so far, we are all enjoying it. There are so many things to look at. We have yet to go collect pond water, perhaps look at bacteria from yogurt! I am also getting The World of the Microscope (Usborne Science and Experiments). Read wonderful reviews about it. It will compliment our microscope really well. Can't wait to do more experiments!

Highly recommended for learning about microscope and its uses for children

Quite a child friendly microscope. It came with prepared slides and other tools for easy sample collection and slide making

I paid RM119 for it. I bought it from Think Toys at The Curve. It is truly an educational toy and hours of fun guaranteed. There are a few other brands of microscope available among the toyshops here. Some are more expensive and some cheaper. I did a research and MicroPro by Educational Insights seems to have the best reviews. I must say I am not disappointed. 

My dear son enjoying himself. Totally fascinated by the things he sees through the microscope.

Introduction to Malaysian History

Being a homeschooling family, we rely heavily on materials mostly from US and thus, there isn't any support when it comes to learning about our own country. To find suitable material to teach Reese about our country's history which is not bias is definitely not easy. First of all, most history books are crap and it is in Bahasa Malaysia. I needed one that is in English and not too deep for a young child to understand.

Sometime back, I found History of Malaysia - A Children's Encyclopedia book by Tunku Halim. It is written in brief but comprehensive fashion. Just a nice introduction for children to our history. The book has lots of pictures and illustration. The book retailed at about RM65. The author has another book which is somewhat like a novel entitled A Children's History of Malaysia. I have not read that book yet but will do so soon.

I for see the only way to teach Reese Malaysian history is through books written by different independent authors and the internet. I cannot rely on school history text books which do not truly reflect the truth! 

With out recent visit to Melaka, Reese is beginning to learn more about our country. It's about time to teach him our country's history and be proud of it! Honestly, I have forgotten most of what I had learned in school. So it's going to be fun learning together with Reese and I have plans to visit every state in Malaysia as we learn about the past!

I also found Where Monsoons Meet (Not for young children) a very interesting book on Malaysian History in a different perspective. It is out of print but I found a forum that shares the book through scanned pages. Worth a read. :) I am trying to get my hands on this book!

Oh, I also found this little bookshop at Lot G35, The Summit USJ. Yes I know, it is a terrible shopping mall but I found this bookstore by accident and I like it. It is Bookalicious! The interesting thing about this bookstore is that they sell a lot of books on Malaysia. Their books are somewhat between the prices of Bookxcess and regular bookstore chains. Go check it out. 

Some Great Books I Found this Month...

Great books

In the month of August, I bought 26 books and a box set of 50 books (Mr. Men). Crazy? Yeah... I think so. I just cannot resist buying great books and the best part is, these books are heavily discounted.

Let's see what I bought, first I found some books on empathy selling at RM5 per book if you buy 5 I think. Then I bought 3 books (Buy 2 free 1) Osborne Young Reading Series and Reese's first comic from MPH.

A few days back we found a little nice bookshop (Bookalicious!) in Summit. It has quite an interesting selection of books and in general it is cheaper than MPH, Borders and the like. Some of its books can be as cheap as Bookxcess. Oh, if you like books that are banned here in Malaysia, you might find them here. :) So here I found 'You Wouldn't Want to Be' series. Nice illustration (similar to MAD comics style). I like this series very much. It's an informal way of learning History and Geography of the World and they are cheap. Only RM9.90 per book. Retail price is about RM40. I found Scholastic Part-of-Speech and Part of Punctuation series a good way to introduce grammar to Reese. These are in story form so it's not technical at all. It's on promotion. Buy 2 free 1 at RM12.90 per book.

Yesterday, we went to Popular Bookfest and got the Readers' Digest Children Illustrated World Atlas at RM24.90 and oooohhhh.... my all time favorite Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree Series at RM9.90 per book and a craft book for boys at RM19.90. At the book fest, you can find some really good bargains and some books were even cheaper than Bookxcess.

So my damage for this month is about RM400 +.

Coming October there is the Big Bad Wolf sale.... another round of damage coming!! AND

Mid October I will be ordering Reese's homeschool books for the next 2 years and that is going to be even damaging. Crazy crazy crazy......

**I guess as long as it helps in Reese's learning process it is all worth it!

Reese's First Comic...

Two Sundays ago we went to MPH and saw an interesting comic series. It's produced by Gempak, a popular local comic publisher. The comic is originally from Korea. It is a science comic series. Illustration looks good and it's really cheap. Only RM10.90 and supposedly sold more than 8 million copies in Korea!

So I pick one that talks about Survival During An earthquake and show it to Reese who instantly found it interesting. So after reading it for some time, we bought one for him. Thinking it would be nice learning more facts through fun reading with lots of illustration.

Reese was somewhat obsessed with it. Day and night he was reading the book. Then a day later, Reese suddenly exclaimed to me... "Mummy, I wanna PUKE!" I looked at him with disbelief and asked him whether he knows what puke meant and he said vomit. Wow! honestly, I didn't like the word puke...sounded rough. Then another day or so he came to me and said "What THE..." Gosh, that irritates me because I find that very very rude! and where did he learn all these? from the comic book. He also learned to make/write dramatic sound effect like Drrrrrr, Arrggg, Whooh, Doom...when he talks/writes his stories/drawings. Did he learn any new facts about surviving an earthquake? Only heard him talk about 1 survival tip.....

Influenced by the comic. Reese added sound effects to his drawing. Here is a picture of a tsunami. A huge wave approaching a town with people (stick figures) running and people shouting Tsunami.

So is it a good idea to expose him to comics? Maybe I should have waited a little longer before doing so as I felt the phases and expressions in the book are not meant for a nearly 5 year old! Plus I don't think he really understand some of the humor and he constantly bug me with questions about it. Ha..ha..ha..

This series touches on many subjects and they do look educational but it's for children 8 and onwards

Crazy About Mr. Men and Little Miss

When I was young, I saw many of these little books in bookshops and yet I have never read any of them. About 2 weeks ago, Reese and I went to BookXcess. I casually took one of the Little Miss book and read it with Reese. We had a good laugh and since it was dirt cheap (RM2.90), I took whatever that was available on the shelf. We got 8 books in all.

Reese was one happy boy reading each one of them and laughing heartily. He loves his Little Miss books. So yesterday I took Reese to BookXcess again and we bought the box set (50 books) of Mr. Men! It retails at RM299.99 and got a 15% discount (Members' day) and RM20 voucher (buy above RM200). It's a good deal.

I love the books too. We laugh a lot and are having a good time.

Great Readers Makes a Good Reader

I invest heavily in good books. There are so many great books out there and we will never be able to read them all. For young children learning to read, it is important to buy them the right books. Guided readers are really good. They have appropriate levels to guide the child through different stages of their reading. Readers are great to build confident readers. Never buy a book that is too difficult for a child to read. Go with readers that the child can read and let them enjoy the stories. Increase the difficulty level slowly. Not only do you want your child to be able to read but also comprehend what he reads. Always ask questions or have discussion with your child after he finishes his reading. This help to ensure he understands what he reads and also pick up new vacabulary.

Some of my personal favourite guided readers are from Random House. You can find some of these readers in our local bookstore. If I am not wrong, it is retailing at RM14.90. They have both fiction and non-fiction tittles but limitted. I bought almost all the Stage 4 titles and they are all great.

Usborne Young Reading series is also quite good. They have both fiction and non-fiction. It's only RM11.90 per book(hard cover). They have quite a large selection of titles and are easily available in MPH. Bought both Series two and three readers for Reese. I like the illustration and they do have some interesting non-fiction tittles. We even bought some classics like Around the World in 80 Days, Ulysses and etc.

Another one is I Can Read series. Has over 200 tittles. Mostly fiction.

Do you know our national library is a great place to get these books? Do check it out. You can check online whether they have a certain titles before going there to borrow. I think each person can borrow up to 3 books for 3 weeks. I haven't been there but I did visit their online portal. Quite friendly. Most titles I look for they seems to have it :)

Great Books, Great Value!

One of my favourite book store is located in Amcorp Mall in PJ. It is like a factory outlet for books at super cheap prices! I mean you pay about Rm35 for a novel and here you pay about RM17.90 for one. It's cheap and they also have books under RM10. They are all brand new but some do come with some printing errors or minor defects which is negligible. You do need some time to find some great reads as they have quite a variety. Last Sunday and yesterday we went to the bookshop and bought some books for Reese and myself. I paid close to RM200. If I were to go to MPH or Borders, my bill would have been doubled! The only thing is their children section is quite limited. The place is called Book Xcess. They are a floor above Popular Bookstore. I think on the 3rd floor. You can visit their website.

Quite a mouthful...

This is one of Reese's current favourite book. The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco. When I first read the story aloud to Reese, I had some difficulties pronouncing the names of the characters! Even hubby finds it difficult... hehehe...

Here are the names in the story:

Marry Ellen
Mrs. Govlock
Baby Sylvester
Olav Lundheigen (this is a killer)
Petra and Dorma Hermann
Einar Tundevold
"Klondike" Berha Fitchworth (quite a mouthful when reading fast)
Feduciary Longdrop

I actually struggled initially to get used to saying those names as I read aloud the story to Reese and because the story is fast pace, I had to add in more expression and speed as I read along and thus makes it more difficult to read those names fluently! But it was fun... :)

Yesterday during our morning breakfast routine, I read him The Bee Tree while he munched on his cheese sandwich, he surprised me again. As usual, I will read part of the story and he will fill in the bits and pieces here and there. Then he started to say most of the characters'names in the book and with almost perfect pronunciation. I am truly surprised. I mean, we are Asians and these are not common names at least not in our 'world' and yet he can say them like everyday names!

This is a great book in the sense that it is a fast pace adventure involving a grandfather and his granddaughter chasing after some bees to the bee tree and meeting neighbours along the way...

From this book, Reese learned about bees gathering pollen from flowers, what is a bee tree, honey comb and how honey is made and also some other vocabs.

Book Review: God I Need to Talk to You about...

I bought this series for only $0.69USD each when you purchase above 10 books (www.chistianbook.com) and some postage. They are little books written through a child's eyes and words! Delightfully illustrated, these stories deal with concerns youngsters encounter in their daily lives. Each book points out the Good News of God's love and forgiveness, while the supporting Scripture verse emphasizes the point of each story.

Tittles in this series : Bad temper, Bad Words, Bullying, Disrespect, Greed, Hurting Others, Laziness, Lying, My Bad Temper, Sharing, Stealing, Vandalism, Whining, Being a Bad Sport, Cheating and Pay Attention.

.....................................................................................................

An excerpt from God, I Need to Talk to You about Sharing:

Dear God,

Today I had a bag of candy and I ate it all myself. I would not give any to my sister or my little brother or to my parents.

Yesterday, I had a bag of popcorn at the movies and I did not share any with my friends. (Give to everyone who asks you. Luke 6:30)

Today, God, I learned a lesson. My friends were playing ball. I wanted to play too, but they would not share the ball.

I went home. My brother and sister and parents were eating a big bowl of popcorn. They would not share it. (Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways. Proverbs 20:30TEV)

I felt lonely. I felt angry. I sat on my back stairs.

.....................................................................................................

I don't know how well these books are going to teach Reese on daily issues but I like them. They are short and simple enough for a child to see the kind of situations they may be in and the consequences of their actions. When Reese is much older, I hope these books will be good for him. :)

Read Aloud: Mike Mulligan and More

This treasury consist of 4 wonderful stories by Virginia Lee Burton with themes that honor a simple way of life and celebrate heroes who endure through determination and by adapting to change.

I will be introducing this book to Reese this week and he will get to learn a few new things regarding construction and certain vehicles and work machine...