September 26, 2006
The Omnivore's Dilemma
I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. I just started, I haven't even followed corn all the way through yet. One thing that I read last night though really stuck in my head.
One economist estimated that it takes 1 barrel of oil to get a steak onto your grill. Think about the number of cows in this county. Maybe the real culprit in our energy problems is not Detroit, but wherever it is that Cargill is headquartered.
We don't eat all lot of beef anyway, but I'm wondering how difficult it would be to avoid corn fed beef. I can remember commercials pitching corn fed beef as some sort of advantage.
Cows, of course, don't eat corn, unless it's force fed to them by humans. It's not even good for them. They have to be pumped full of antibiotics to counteract the negatives of the corn. It's an ugly cycle that isn't good for the cows, or the people.
Permalink | Comments (1)September 25, 2006
It's Banned Books Week
This is your cue to read something that'll piss somebody else off. Harry Potter, Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men are all in the top 20.
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm
Permalink | Comments (1)September 22, 2006
Buffy lives
Mark will be happy about this. The Buffy story will continue this spring as a graphic novel.
Permalink | Comments (1)September 16, 2006
Recent Books
Eon by Greg Bear: A cold war inspired epic in which humans, exploring a vast asteroid sized ship from the future in orbit around earth, get trapped there when the Russia and the US launch all their nukes at each other and destroy the planet in the process. The book is long, very heavy on techno babble, and often a chore to read. I did finish it, but it felt forced at times.
Eternity by Greg Bear: The sequel to Eon, in which man has a permanent settlement on the asteroid ship, but now has to deal with some ancient enemies of mankind. Like Eon, it is gripping and brilliant at times, but inter sped with just enough technobabble to make finishing feel more like a job than a treat.
Queen of Angels by Greg Bear: Why yes, I am on a Greg Bear kick right now. Used paperbacks are a wonderful thing :) I made it about 100 pages into this and just quit. The story didn't grab me, and stylistically I found it difficult to read.
Slant by Greg Bear: Set in the same universe as Queen of Angels, this is sort of a who-done-it in a future US where just about everybody is happy due to manipulation via nanotech, and everybody is connected to a super high bandwidth Internet full of, well, mostly porn it seems.(Certainly a plausible future!) However, under the surface, problems persist. Fairly fast paced and often tense, this was a pretty good read.
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi: This was a great book. Set in a future when the US Marines are basically clones, fighting wars out in space. It's space opera, but it's space opera with soul. His blog is very good too.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 23, 2006
The Value of Online Fiction
Sci-Fi author John Scalzi has some interesting thoughts about the value of authors publishing their works online.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 20, 2006
The Forge of God
The book has been out for 20 years, however just I'm catching up on Greg Bear's novels. This is one you want to read. It's simply one of the finest alien invasion novels, ever. What would happen if The President of the United States announced to the world that aliens were going to destroy the earth, and there absolutely nothing anybody can do about it? Would people fight it, or would they see the aliens as God, delivering His final justice on a weak and sinful people? The answer of course is both. It's one of those books I carried around with me, sneaking in a few pages every free moment I got.
If you enjoy sci-fi at all this book has to be in your library.
Permalink | Comments (6)July 07, 2006
Read Much?
58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
42% of college graduates never read another book.
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
Update: Based on the comments here, I think these numbers are probably exagerrated. However, the point that Americans don't read much holds.
Permalink | Comments (9)June 20, 2006
The Art of Happiness
If I had to pick one spiritual leader to sit down and have dinner with, it would be His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In this book a US psychiatrist managed to get a bunch of face time to interview him, and write a book on his teachings, from a western perspective.
The western part is not needed. The Dalai Lama's teachings on respect and compassion for all sentient beings, or the fundamental right of all beings to seek happiness, are universally appealing. Translation into western thought is not needed, and in fact detracts from the book. I found myself quickly skimming through anything that the co-author wrote to get back to the direct words of the Dalai Lama. I would not recommend buying the book, only because I think there are probably other books directly authored by the Dalai Lama that will be far more likely to be read multiple times. However, your library probably has the book, and it's worth checking out.
Permalink | Comments (0)June 04, 2006
Life is not a dress rehearsal
This book, a memoir by a neurosurgeon, sounds interesting and funny. However, what really caught my attention was this comment by the author.
How many people sell themselves short on life because they expect great things after death? Life is not a dress rehearsal. You have to enjoy it, make the most of it, while your neurons are still buzzing with live connections. It's amazing how holding a human brain can emphasize these points, at least for me."Permalink | Comments (0)
May 17, 2006
Blogging The Bible
I had this idea a few months ago - it's still on my to-do list. Looks like it'll be staying there.
So, what does happen when an ignorant Jew (his words) decides to blog the Bible?
Permalink | Comments (0)May 09, 2006
Slow Road Home - A review
In Slow Road Home, VA resident Fred First invites us to join him on his journey to discover his home. I'm not talking about a quest of epic proportions here. I'm talking about Fred getting to know his 40 acres, 1 tree at a time. With a naturalist's eye, he writes of symphonies of fireflies in his meadow, and the honor of the wood that shades him from the sun as it lives, and heats his home on its death.
Fred lives the life I aspire to; busy, but not hurried. There are lessons for all of us in his journey. The world, even our suburban backyards, are wonderous places, if only we would slow down to see it.
The book is a selection of essays from his fabulous weblog, Fragments From Floyd, of which I have been a loyal reader for several years.
April 26, 2006
VA Blogger Goes Big Time
No, it's not me. Anyway, I'm already big time ;)
Fred First, of Fragments From Floyd, now has over 1100 copies of his book in his house. You can help by buying one.
Permalink | Comments (0)April 03, 2006
A little light reading
The boy came home from the library with some light reading - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volumes 1 & 2.
January 26, 2006
The Team Challenges Book Tour Stops At O'DonnellWeb
When the author Kris Bordessa asked me to join in the fun, I had all sorts of cool ideas to adapt some of the books activities for the web. However, somewhere between the real life responsibilities of employment and carting my poor, under socialized kids around to all their social events, nothing got organized.
This is a neat book. It's full of group activities to help foster teamwork and cooperation. And since us homeschoolers rarely ever see other live humans we certainly need the help ;) The book is divided into several sections, with the largest and most fun looking being a big selection of ideas for building towers and bridges. What is more fun than being handed a pile of office supplies and the goal of building the largest tower possible from them, on top of a beach ball?
Kris wrote the book for teachers, counselors, and group facilitators, and the book is full of great ideas for homeschool coop meetings, playgroups, or even family game night. And although Kris may have not ever considered this, I see comedy gold in 6-8 adults, a couple bottles of wine, and the challenge of building a bridge with a 24 inch span from paper clips, cotton balls, and other household items.
During the blog tour, visitors to Kris' blog can get a free copy of her e-book, Ten Minute Tasks.
And of course, you can buy it Amazon.
Permalink | Comments (1)January 17, 2006
1776 by David McCullough
Where the not-so-young proprietor of O'DonnellWeb finally gains an understanding of what went on in that first year of the battle for Independence.
If school history books had been written like this I might have actually paid attention.
It was my first delivery from Zooba - the Netflix like thing for books where you build a reading list and they ship you one book per month for $9.95, and that includes shipping. I have no idea how they make money on this, but I hope they keep it up long enough to get through my reading list!
Permalink | Comments (0)January 02, 2006
Gene Keady: The Truth and Nothing But the Truth
Two days into the year, two books read. No, I won't be keeping that pace up!
Gene Keady's book was disappointing. After 35 years coaching collegiate basketball you'd think he could come up with more than 150 pages. The book felt very rushed - like he didn't really want to write it. I remember many of the key games he discussed, but he added little insight into some of the biggest basketball games in Purdue history.
Hopefully, this was some sort of contractual obligation and his opus on coaching basketball is still forthcoming.
Permalink | Comments (0)January 01, 2006
A Short History of Nearly Everything
In A Short History of Nearly Everything, travel writer Bill Bryson attempts to track down the answers to life, the universe, and everything.
He does an admirable job of putting together a 500+ page book that covers the basics of what we know about the the origin of the Universe, the earth, mankind, etc., in an engaging and entertaining manner.
My general impression after reading the book is that we don't really know a hell of a lot yet. The universe is big; really, really mind blowingly big. Earth is old, about 4.5 billion years old. Sometime about a million years ago early man started to expand geographically from our origins in Africa. However, the entire fossil record of man would fit into the back of a Ford F-150, so the details on just how we got from there to today are mostly conjecture at this point.
Also, the geological history of earth would suggest that we are very lucky to be here. 99.99% of all species ever to exist are extinct, and humans have wandered the earth for about .0000001% of it's time in existence. (Might be off on the number of zeros - too lazy to look up the actual number he referenced in the book.) The next big catastrophic comet / earthquake / volcano could hit tomorrow. Historically speaking, we seem to be overdue for the big one.
All of which says to me that maybe we should all relax a bit about {inset cause de jour here}. None of it really matters.
Permalink | Comments (2)December 19, 2005
The Salmon of Doubt
A must read for any Douglas Adams fan. It's a collection of essays, letters, articles, and the beginning of a 3rd Dirk Gently book, all recovered from the hard drives of his computers after his way, way, too early death. Plenty of laugh out loud moments, and a few poignant ones too.
I feel the need to brew a really good cup of tea, and to re-read H2G2 for the umpteenth time.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 13, 2005
The Killer Angels - Maybe the best Gettysburg book
Breck picked up The Killer Angels at the Antietam Gift Shop. It's the story of Gettysburg, told first person through the eyes of Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain, and others. Obviously, we don't know exactly what Lee and Longstreet talked about at 12 AM the night before battle, but author Michael Sharra does a damn interesting job of recreating what those conversations might have been like. The book is historically accurate as far as the facts go, with the author filling in all the details from letters and records of the time, colored with his artistic license.
More so than any other Civil War book I read, this one gives you a sense of just how bad Lee screwed up at Gettysburg. You get a sense of Lee's desperation, that he knows the South can't win a protracted war. You also get the sense that Lee and unreasonable expectations of success from their previous successes. The first person accounts of battle serve as a testament to the glory, and futility, of war.
I find myself with a lot more respect for General Longstreet now too. I'm going to have to do some more research to determine if he really was as adamant in his opposition to the Gettysburg battle plan as this book makes him out to be.
Permalink | Comments (1)August 09, 2005
Dot Con
Probably the definitive history of the dot com days and the stock market hysteria that surrounded it. I lived this, as I was right in the middle of all of it. I worked for a dot com that went public early in 1997. However, we were so inconsequential that we didn't even make it onto the master list of dot com IPO's in the book.
This should be required reading for anybody with an Etrade account.
Permalink | Comments (0)Failure is Not An Option by Gene Kranz
Kranz was in the mission control center for every launch of the Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo programs. His up close and personal recollection of early days of the US Space program is a fascinating read.
One thing that struck me though. If we were just starting on the race to the moon today, I don't think we'd ever get there. These guys took a lot of risks that just would not be allowed today.
Permalink | Comments (1)August 05, 2005
High Quality Children's Literature
A school employee in NJ is taking pictures of some of the more unfortunate examples of literature available in the elementary school library. It's both funny and sad.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 23, 2005
Weekend Media Update
Finished Hackers by Stephen Levitt. Hackers is the history of the hacker ethic, starting with the MIT Model Railroad Club in the early 60s hacking on a DEC PDP-0, through the Homebrew Computer Club and the Altair, and ending in the early 80's with the game hackers turning out games for the Apple II and Atari 800. It's a good book for a geek, the rest of you will probably be bored.
Battlestar Galactica produced one of the most engrossing hours of TV, ever. This week's episode may be second only to the premier episode 33 in emotional intensity.
Took the kids to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I recommend it highly. It's fairly faithful to the original movie.and according to the boy, it's more faithful to the book than the original movie.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 20, 2005
The Half Blood Prince
I'm a little over 1/2 through and enjoying it. It's not my favorite so far, but I've got 300 pages left so maybe that will change. The first half of the book is light on action and a little too heavy on the Hogwarts 90210 plot elements. However, given that Harry and friends are 16 now - it makes sense that the teen problems come to the forefront.
Of course, since we have a new Harry Potter book out, we also have bloggers speaking out that our souls are in mortal danger from reading the book.
Whatever.
7/21 - Done. It does pick up at the end. Comments, speculation, and spoilers below the fold.
Harry's scar is not a horcrux. Snape is a good guy. I think he had an unbreakable oath with Dumbledore that required him to do whatever Dumbledore said when it came to LV. He had to kill Dumbledore himeself to make sure Malfoy didn't do it. I predict HP, Malfoy, and Snape end up on the same side at the end.
The death scene reminded me of Luke and Vadar, except the age roles were reversed.
HP is still missing the point about the power of love versus LD. Pushing away those who love him is the wrong thing to do. Ginny will be right there with him when he needs it.
July 17, 2005
Harry Potter
The book arrived via USPS at 1:30 PM on Saturday. Breck finished it at 6:45 PM. He has been forbidden to speak of the book in my presence, as I'll start it this week and don't need him ruining the suspense for me.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 11, 2005
ODonnellWeb Book Club - #2
I just ordered Teach Your Own by John Holt.
Commentary will commence in a week or so once the book gets here.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 08, 2005
Never Call Retreat - Lee and Grant: The Final Victory
This is the third and final installment of Newt Gingrich's "what if" trilogy on the Civil War. It's August 1863 and the Union is in deep trouble. Lee has just routed The Army of the Potomac and Grant is moving east with everything he has. It all cumulates in a final battle at Frederick, MD.
I'm not saying who wins.
I hope Newt stays out of politics and keeps writing though. He and cowriter William Forstchen do a fabulous job of getting you into the nitty gritty details of battle without overdoing the details. The book moves quickly.
I gave it to Breck last night at about 9 PM. He handed back at about 3 PM today. I quizzed him. He read it and comprehended it all.
The kid scares me sometimes.
Permalink | Comments (1)July 05, 2005
Freakonomics
I just finished reading Freakonomics, sort of a lightweight look at social issues, from a Econ 101 point of view.
I learned that the illegal drug trade is only very profitable to those at the very top and thus most drug dealers still live with mama.
I learned that real estate agents really don't have your best interests at heart. Actually, I think I already knew that.
And I learned that parents don't matter, or more specifically what we do doesn't matter. Economist Steven Levitt argues that almost all academic success can be explained by who your parents are, not by what they do for you. Basically, if you are born into a middle class family with parents who both went to college, you are overwhelming likely to do fine in school. Parents that stay home, take junior to museums and do all that other stuff have no measurable impact on junior's academic success. He did regression analysis on a bunch of government data to get to this conclusion.
My immediate thought was...so why the hell am I homeschooling my kids?
I'm kidding, that was not my first thought. My first thought was that this guy has a pHD from the University of Chicago and it never occurred to him to think about whether or not all those school tests actually measure anything meaningful. So he's proved that parents don't influence the outcome of their kid's school careers.
He didn't bother to check into whether or not "school success" had any relevance beyond meaningless social sciences studies. That seems to be a hell of a lot more interesting question.
Permalink | Comments (1)June 29, 2005
It's like Netflix for books
Zooba. Create your reading list and once a month they ship you the book on top of your list and bill you $9.95, shipping is free.
That sounds like a very good deal.
Permalink | Comments (6)May 08, 2005
The Tragedy of the Waleship Essex
After being rammed by an 85 foot sperm whale in the Pacific, the crew of the Essex must abandoned ship and set out in three rickety whaling boats for the South American coast, which happens to be about 2000 miles away. Along the way most of them die as the survivors are pushed to the absolute limits of the both physical and psychological survival.
This is a brilliant book. Author Nathaniel Philbrick does an amazing job enveloping the reader in the sights, sounds, and smells that were the 19th century whaling industry. This is also a true story, put together from the memoirs of two of the survivors, and this real life maritime disaster was the inspiration for Moby Dick.
Permalink | Comments (0)April 25, 2005
The Well Trained Mind - An ironic review.
The reviewer states upfront that she is vocally pro-public school and has several problems with homeschooling.
There are at least two great exampes of irony in this review.
Can you find them? I found the review to be hilarous, but I don't think that was the reviewer's intent.
April 07, 2005
Stay At Home Moms Rule
I haven't read Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Wonder Drugs, and other Parent Substitutes by Mary Eberstadt of the Hoover Institution, but it strongly supports something I've intuitively believed for a long time.
She has concluded that most of the problems of today's youngsters — from biting toddlers to depressed middle-schoolers to out-of-control teenagers — can be blamed on out-of-the-house moms and absentee dads. "Divorce and dual income, dual income and divorce," she writes. "The refrain hums like a mantra through the literature" of dysfunctional youth.
She also addresses the over medication of our youth today, something else I may have mentioned around here once or twice.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan coined the phrase "defining deviancy down" to describe how social pressures were leading to the redefinition — the normalization — of behavior once seen as pathological. "In the case of the juvenile mental problems," Eberstadt writes, we are doing the opposite: "We are defining deviancy up so that children who would have been considered normal a quarter century ago are now judged to have intrinsic 'brain problems' and are treated accordingly."
via National Review
Permalink | Comments (3)December 21, 2004
New Harry Potter Book
The word on the street is that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will hit the bookstores on July 16.
Permalink | Comments (0)August 01, 2004
Grant Comes East
Lee won Gettysburg. Then he crushed the Army of the Potomac at Union Mills. Now Lee sits on the doorstep of Washington DC, just three short miles from capturing the Union capital and ending the war.
Fiction (obviously), but very well written and entertaining. The authors William Forstchen and Newt Gingrich (yes, THAT Newt) really do a good job of providing just the right amount of detail. They don't go overboard ala Turtledove, but enough detail is present to understand the motivations of the personalities involved. The book moves along swiftly without getting bogged done in the minutia of battle.
This is book 2 of a trilogy. I haven't read book 1, Gettysburg, but I will remedy that soon enough.
Related: my story of meeting Newt at the book signing.
Permalink | Comments (1)July 18, 2004
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
Before Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code (which I still haven't read), he wrote this thriller, set in the National Security Agency. It's very "Tom Clancyish," full of intrigue, crosses and double crosses, heroic and not so heroic government agents, and heroic and not so heroic hackers. The NSA can read any email sent anywhere (ECHELON anybody?), or they could but now they can't, or maybe they still can. You'll have to read the book to figure it out.
Set aside a few hours though - this is one of those can't stop till you finish it books.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 12, 2004
Joy in Mudville - A Little League Memoir
Greg Mitchell, best known for non-fiction political writing, delivers a fun tale of the ups and downs in coaching his son's Little League team.
I could have written this book. In fact I did. Browse through the basketball coaching, and baseball archives - I make many of the same points Greg does. It's all here, pain in the ass parents, kids lack of interest in baseball, kids never play pick up games today, kids that really love the game, and kids on the team that are real characters. It's all in the book, and it's here at O'DonnellWeb too. I've written about all those subjects.
Next time I think to myself...this would make a good book, I'm going to act on it! In the meantime, all parents with kids in youth sports should read Joy in Muddville. It's funny, entertaining, and serious, all at the same time.
Permalink | Comments (1)July 04, 2004
McCarthy's Bar
One page one of this book I learned the 8th Rule of Travel - Never pass a bar with your name on it.
Better advice has never been spoken.
English travel writer (although he is of Irish heritage) Pete McCarthy spends a couple of weeks wandering aimlessly through Ireland, and he took good notes. If PJ O'Rourke spend 10 days pub hopping in Ireland and wrote about it, he would have produced this book. Wonderfully funny, and probably a must read if you are of Irish heritage and thinking about making a pilgrammage back to the homeland.
And really, aren't we all planning that trip someday?
Permalink | Comments (1)June 28, 2004
Green Valley Book Fair
For those of you in the Mid-Atlantic area, the Green Valley Book Fair opens up Saturday morning for a two week run. GVBF is a large warehouse in the middle of nowhere off of I-81 in VA. They buy up overstock books for a few months, and when they get about 500,000 in stock, they have a big sale. We regularly buy well over $1000 (face value) in books for less than $200. The discounts are amazing.
We are going because our 8 year old asked if we could go. We generally make the trip once per year.
My only complaint is that the Sci-Fi selection is generally very weak. Not their thing I guess.
In the off chance anybody else is going, we'll be there Saturday morning.
Permalink | Comments (0)June 15, 2004
Close Encounters of the Newt kind
Yesteday, I took a six block walk at lunch to attend a book signing for Newt Gingrich's new book, Grant Comes East. Half-way there, as I crossed the street, I spotted Newt walking alone. I would have expected him to have a limo drop him off etc, but nope - I bumped into him walking down L Street in DC completely alone.
So, I introduced myself, mentioned I was headed to his book signing and that I had lived in his district when he was Speaker, and had a real nice chat with him as we walked the 3 blocks to the book signing. If you are curious, we discussed the growth back in his GA district, and how we really are just starting to see the impact that information technology will have on the world.
You know, when he was Speaker of the House, 5 minutes of his time alone was probably a very valuable commodity.
Permalink | Comments (0)May 21, 2004
Coming Soon: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
I'm only on Book 3 of The Wheel of Time (which is fantastic). And I'd probably need to go back and re-read the first two Covenant trilogies, as it's been a long time...
I will never catch up on my reading.
Permalink | Comments (2)May 03, 2004
Book Review: Crazy From The Heat - David Lee Roth
This book is exactly what you would expect from DLR, a stream of consciousness trip through the history of Van Halen. It's quite entertaining. DLR did everything right and Eddie and Alex are the cause of all the VH problems. And his career after VH has been a series of brilliant ideas that nobody else "got."
Would you expect anything else from DLR?
March 08, 2004
Vote Early & Vote Often
I made the final 10 in Michele's Book Contest.
My entry is The Dirt, by Motley Crue. Because sometimes all you want to think about is sex, drugs, and rock n roll. (The majority of the entries are serious, important books that we all should read. I thought a little levity was needed.)
Note - there are a bunch of great reading suggestions in the contest. Visit to get inspired to read something new. Don't visit to vote for my idea. That is just silly.
Permalink | Comments (0)February 14, 2004
In The Presence of Mine Enemies
Imagine you are a Jew, living in the heart of Nazi Germany in 2009, 70 years after the Germans won WWII, and 40 years after the Nazis eliminated 1/3 of the US population with nukes in WWIII.
This book is a little different than the typical Turtledove book. Instead of the grand sweeping scale of war, we get the minutia of living as Jew in the heart of Berlin. The story follows the daily lives of several Jewish families trying to stay hidden, look and act like good Aryans, while at the same time trying to not forget who they really are. They are living in heady times, as a new ruler is questioning the old ways and taking baby steps towards a more free and open society. In fact, Berlin in 2009 looks suspiciously like Moscow in 1990...
Permalink | Comments (0)
February 08, 2004
Michael Crichton: Timeline
I've really become a fan of Michael Crichton books. I appreciate that he takes the time to make the science in his books credible. This time, a US corporation, using quantum mechanics, achieves time travel. It has problems, of course. The book raises the expected questions about the hazards of time travel and potentially changing history, although the answer is a little different that what you find in other books tackling time travel. Overall, a fun and entertaining read.
Permalink | Comments (0)
January 29, 2004
Books: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
This long, exhaustively detailed, chronological account of Franklin's life is a wonderful read. I learned that:
- He had even a greater influence on the course of this country than I realized
- He was a lousy husband and father
- He was a dirty old man with a strong attraction to women far younger than him. Not that there is anything wrong with that ;)
It's fair to say that without Franklin, we may never have won independence from England. And even if we had won the war without him, we may not have survived the first Constitutional Convention without his influence. He had a knack for diplomacy and compromise unsurpassed in our history.
Permalink | Comments (1)January 03, 2004
Review: The Dirt
The Dirt, the history of Motley Crue, is being made into a movie set for release in Spring 2005. It will have to be X rated. The book certainly is.
That said, this is one hell of an entertaining read. Think about the most destructive, debaucherous behavior you can image. Do you have that image in your mind?
You're not even close to what went on during the Crue's heyday.
Several things that stuck with me from the book:
- These guys really aren't that talented. Tommy Lee is probably the only one who has a deep reservoir of musical talent. That they got to where they did with marginal talent, while totally doped on just about every substance known to man, is a testament to something. Their drive and desire maybe, I'm not really sure.
- All 4 of them are very lucky to still be alive.
- They all got completely screwed over by girlfriends, wives, and divorce attorneys. The message for all future rich and ugly rock stars is that the model/actress/porn star really doesn't give a shit about you. She is after your money.
- The Tommy Lee - Pamela Anderson soap opera reads very differently from Tommy's perspective. What the press reported was 110% Pamela's side of the story.
I highly recommend the book. If nothing else, it is the ultimate proof that money and fame can not buy happiness. These guys were miserable all the time.
Permalink | Comments (0)December 02, 2003
Harry Potter as a Libertarian Primer
A couple of articles detailing how Harry Potter, especially The Order of the Phoenix, promotes a libertarian worldview.
Can we expect the establishment politicians to join the evengelical christians in decrying the next book as a subversive threat to our children?
Permalink | Comments (6)November 29, 2003
Book Review: Fargo Rock City
This is the book for anyone and everyone who grew up in the 80's listening to bands like Motley Crue, Dokken, Metallica, Tesla, etc. It's part memoir of growing up a metalhead teenager in small midwestern town, part analysis of what (if anything) that music meant, and what legacy it might have. If you are in the target group, you will see yourself at least once in this book.
Chapter 1 is 15 pages on how Shout At The Devil was a defining moment in the author's life.
Also included is:
- The Def Leppard are they metal or not argument. (NOT!)
- Power ballads, good or bad? (It depends..)
- How Nirvana killed hair metal.
- Did all these guys really worship Satan? (mostly no)
- The difference between hard rock and metal. (Your girlfriend would occasionally like a hard rock band, she would never like metal)
- How Poison sold millions of records even though every metalhead in America swore they sucked.
- The relatively short list of non-metal groups / songs that were still cool.
You get the idea. This is a serious timewarp back to your childhood if you are about my age. And yes, I have listened to a boatload of hair metal since I finished this book on Friday.
How could I not?
Permalink | Comments (1)August 31, 2003
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
I read it. I enjoyed it. Can't say I really understood it though. The writing is marvelous. The sense of place he builds in the small midwestern towns is so real you can almost touch it. Having done the small midwestern town thing, I felt right at home reading the book. The ending was a let down, but that might be because I'm missing the point.
if you've read it - feel free to discuss in the comments. Maybe you can clue me in? If not - get the book and enjoy.
Permalink | Comments (1)The Wrong Stuff vs Ball Four
I read these two book consecutively. Ball Four by Jim Bouton is "the" baseball classic. The ultimate insiders look at what really happens in the clubhouse. Maybe it was controversial in 1970, but today, it all seemed pretty tame. Baseball players cheat on their wives and drink too much. Big news there eh? What I did find very interesting in this book was the average players struggle with money. Getting traded was a hardship not because of the move or inconvenience, but because you lost the deposit on your apartment. These guys were really hurting for money a lot of the time.
The Wrong Stuff by Bill Lee is frigging hilarious. There are more than a couple of laugh out loud moments. Bill played right around when free agency became a reality, so the before and after perspective is quite interesting. His stories are much funnier than Bouton's. In fairness, Lee has an entire career to choose from, Bouton wrote about one season. Bouton also stuck to booze, while Bill seemed willing to inhale or ingest just about anything. David Wells may claim to pitch while drunk, but Bill talks about pitching while tripping on psychedelic drugs.
Both books are must reads for any baseball fan.
Permalink | Comments (0)The Little Red (Sox) Book - A Revisionist Red Sox History
What if the Sox hadn't sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees? What if the Kennedys, and not Tom Yawkey had bought the team? What if Ted Williams didn't miss 6 years due to military service? For that matter, what if Bill Lee had been pitching against Bucky Dent, and not Mike Torrez?
Bill "Spaceman" Lee tackles these, and other issues in his very entertaining book. Bill was one of the great characters of baseball - guys like him aren't allowed in the league anymore. You do have to wade through a bit of socialist drivel and quotes from Mao, but Bill is a socialist, and it is his book.
Permalink | Comments (0)August 10, 2003
Book Review: Dancing Barefoot - Wil Wheaton
Simply put, Wil's first effort at publishing is a winner. The book is thin, containing 5 stories that didn't make the cut for his still in the works autobiography, Just a Geek. I read it cover to cover on the commute home one day. That not to imply the book is too short. It's more an issue of my commute being too long. When he wrote of crying at the loss of his Aunt, I felt it. Not because I had been through the same thing, but because of the exact opposite. When my Dad died, I bottled it all up inside. In the process, I lost 20 pounds and went months without a decent nights sleep. The stories from behind the scenes at a Star Trek convention are hilarious, and we learn how his idol, Captain James T Kirk, became William Fucking Shatner.
His seemingly universal appeal to geeks is based on the fact that at his core, he is one of us. Often, it's hard to imagine TV stars and athletes as ever being "normal." I have no doubt that had he gone to high school with me, he would have been there at the school on Saturday's playing D&D with us. (Yes, I voluntary met a bunch of fellow geeks and one geek teacher at the school on Saturdays to play Dungeons & Dragons. ) This book could have completely sucked and I would not have been upset about spending $15. I want Wil to make it. After all, he's just a geek.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 14, 2003
Sex sells, and sells, and sells
Michele over at A Small Victory has penned a screed on the way sex is infiltrating the lives of even the pre-junior high school set. Very scary for us parents. In a pop-culture world dominated by Britney Spears, Christina Agulara, and whoever is next, what can a parent do to shield young kids from concepts they are not ready to deal with?
Avoid pop culture is one obvious answer. We do it pretty well, but we are homeschooling so we have a level of control over the inputs into our kids lives that a school parent will never have. You could have no TV, no radio, hell, no electricity, and your kid will still pick up a lot of inappropriate stuff from his or her peers at school. Where did you learn 90% of the stuff your parents didn't want you to know?
I have hope though. If current trends continue, my daughter will spend most of her teenage years with horses and not with other teenagers. If given a choice today between hanging out with her friends or her horse (not that we've actually bought her a horse) she would choose the horse most of the time.
Actually, a partial answer may be revealed in that paragraph. It seems like kids that have no other interests other than what other kids think about them are the kids most prone to dangerous behaviors. The kids with a passion for something, whether it be sports, music, art, (or in my case D&D) are more likely to get to adulthood without seriously damaging themsleves.
Or at least it seems that way.
Permalink | Comments (0)June 25, 2003
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis exposed Wall Street in Liar's Poker. Now he is doing the same thing to baseball. Moneyball follows the career of Billy Beane, first as a can't miss first round draft pick who missed, and then as the revolutionary GM of the Oakland A's. As GM, he realizes that everything baseball management thinks they know about baseball is wrong. Taking a Jamesian approach to building a team, he ignores conventual wisdom and turns the A's into a powerhouse with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.
An interesting read for the casual fan, as the basic premise of looking at results and finding the undervalued assets can be applied to a wide variety of situations. For the hardcore baseball fan, this is a must have in your library.
Now, I'm going to retool my Red Sox team in Out of the Park Baseball and see if I can win using a Jamesian approach.
Permalink | Comments (0)June 16, 2003
BOOK REVIEW: Where Wizards Stay Up Late
The subtitle is The Origins of the Internet, and that is a perfect description. It's a history book, starting with the first experiments in computer networking in the early 60's, driven by research contracts handed out by APRA, and ending in 1994 at a reunion party thrown by BBN. This is a geek book. If routing protocols get you excited, or your really dying to know how @ became the email address symbol, you will greatly enjoy this book.
And really, who doesn't get excited by routing protocols?
A few of interesting facts from the book:
- The government tried to give the Internet to AT&T. They didn't see the value and refused.
- XEROX could of owned Ethernet. They missed the boat.
- Vint Cerf, while sitting in a hotel lobby waiting for a conference to start, doodled a sketch which became TCP, later modified to TCP/IP.
Like all great, life changing ideas, when you get under the hood and learn the details, you really wonder how they ever pulled it off. Luck played a major part.
Permalink | Comments (1)June 15, 2003
I can only hide for so long...
Mark Horne found this interesting review of a book neither of us has read, Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers, by Alissa Quart. It's an expose on just how hard Madison Ave is working to sell to your teenagers. Unfortunately, they are quite successful at it. The book apparently also ties the marketing effort to the rampant consumerism of American society. I'm not sure I know which came first, the desire, or the advertising. I'm sure the advertising execs would say they are just giving us what we want.
The author of the review makes a comment that for every iconoclast unschooler that opts out, there are tens of thousands that are too worried about their future prospects for wealth and comfort to risk opting out of the race.
The author doesn't get it. Homeschoolers, of which unschoolers are a smallish subset, opt out TO give our kids a leg up on the masses. The public educated masses may not be our enemy per se, but when it comes down to that final slot at Yale, the fact that my daughter did not spend her 7th year on the planet trying to emulate Britney Spears might be the first domino in a chain reaction that ultimately gives her an insurmountable advantage over her peers. Or not. What the hell do I know? It's not like I've ever done this before! However, I like my odds much better raising independent thinkers. I just hope I still feel that way when they are teenagers :)
We didn't start homeschooling to avoid pop culture. It's just another one of the wonderful benefits we have discovered along the way. My kids have the luxury of discovering their own talents and interests on their own terms. If those happen to intersect the fad de jour it's no big deal to me. My son is way into the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh thing. Not because all the other kids do it, but because (I think) it is a natural extension of his interest in warfare and battle. My son does favor clothes and shoes with the Nike swoosh, so we certainly aren't immune from the long arm of Madison Ave.
Permalink | Comments (3)June 11, 2003
Babe: The Legend Comes To Life
Babe Ruth was a drunken, philandering bum. He was also incredibly devoted to children and always had time to sign and autograph or chat with a kid. I have to wonder how many home runs he would have hit if he hadn't been playing many games hung over, or probably still drunk from the night before. He was often overweight and he had a horribly unhealthy diet. Still, he dominated baseball for 10+ years and was hitting 40+ homers when few other TEAMS could hit that many over the course of a season.
Also, the called homerun to center field at Wrigley in the 1932 World Series? It didn't happen. He did purposely let it go to 2 strikes before taking a swing. That itself is pretty gutsy. However, the called shot bit seems to be a fabrication of the press that got put into the movie about his life, and thus history was made.
A good book. The Babe really is a study in contradictions. An overweight drunken slob with a different girl or two in every city, who happened to be the most dominate baseball player of his era, and one of the all-time greats. This is a must read for any baseball fan.
(The book is way out of print. I got mine used via Abebooks.com).
Permalink | Comments (0)Babe: The Legend Comes To Life
Babe Ruth was a drunken, philandering bum. He was also incredibly devoted to children and always had time to sign and autograph or chat with a kid. I have to wonder how many home runs he would have hit if he hadn't been playing many games hung over, or probably still drunk from the night before. He was often overweight and he had a horribly unhealthy diet. Still, he dominated baseball for 10+ years and was hitting 40+ homers when few other TEAMS could hit that many over the course of a season.
Also, the called homerun to center field at Wrigley in the 1932 World Series? It didn't happen. He did purposely let it go to 2 strikes before taking a swing. That itself is pretty gutsy. However, the called shot bit seems to be a fabrication of the press that got put into the movie about his life, and thus history was made.
A good book. The Babe really is a study in contradictions. An overweight drunken slob with a different girl or two in every city, who happened to be the most dominate baseball player of his era, and one of the all-time greats. This is a must read for any baseball fan.
(The book is way out of print. I got mine used via Abebooks.com).
Permalink | Comments (0)May 29, 2003
Book Review: Feeding The Green Monster
ESPN baseball columnist Rob Neyer convinced a publisher that they should give him a book advance so he could get an apartment near Fenway, attend every game at Fenway in the 2000 season, and write a book about it.
This qualifies Rob for God like status in my world.
The resulting book, although good, left me feeling a little empty. It is written diary style, but too much of it is the mundane results of the games. How Pedro pitched, how good the bullpen looked, Ramon Martinez got rocked again, etc. Mixed in were occasional stories of the people of Fenway, and Rob's misadventures procuring tickets. (If you ever have the opportunity to attend a baseball game with Rob, I suggest you volunteer to take care of the tickets.)
If I had been writing the book, I would spent my time getting to know the 100 year old ushers that populate Fenway. Half those guys probably saw Ted Williams play, and a few may even be able to remember it. I would have got to know the scalpers, the street vendors , the season ticket holders that were always there in the same seats. IMHO, that is where the real story was, and Rob missed it completely. However, it was an honest mistake on Rob's part. He is a true baseball geek, and I think the action on the field was way more interesting to him than the other stuff. He may be right, but the other stuff would have made a better book.
However, if you are a Red Sox fan, you probably should own the book. Daydreaming about what you would do with a summer to spend at Fenway is a fine way to waste away the hours.
Another thought...anybody think Ed could write one hell of a book, if given an advance and an apartment within walking distance of Fenway? How about it Ed? Care to put a book proposal together?
Permalink | Comments (0)May 25, 2003
Book Review: Darwin's Children
Darwin's Children is Greg Bear's sequel to Darwin's Radio, a book I picked up on vacation last year and skipped all food, drink and bathroom breaks until I was done with it. It was that good.
First of all, I think you must read the first book to enjoy the sequel. The story is just too connected. Children is set about 10 years after the births of the Sheva children. The American public has reacted predictably to the births of a new sub-species of human - complete fear and loathing. The politicians also react predictably - concentration camps. They call them "schools."
It is a very good book and a worthy sequel. It's lighter on the hard science and heavier on the touchy feely / interpesonal stuff than its predecessor. And I didn't stay up all night reading it, although I did finish it in under a week.
Like Radio, it is completely believable. If we did start giving birth to a new sub-species of human, I think the reaction would be vey much like how it's laid out in this book.
Permalink | Comments (0)March 09, 2003
Michael Crichton: Prey
I went to bed at about 10 PM last night - with the intent of reading a couple of chapters of Prey to wind down. I finished the book at 1:30 AM.
It's that kind of book. Crichton wrote Jurassic Park, and the flavor of the book is similar. Man messes with evolution. Man screws up. All hell breaks loose. Instead of dinosaurs though, this time it is a mix of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and evolution. I won't give any spoilers here. The thing about Prey is that it is all too real. Advances are being made in nanotechnology, biotech is making amazing strides, and we are still evolving. The scenario he lays out in the book seems all too possible in the near future. And that is scary.
Permalink | Comments (1)March 03, 2003
Madonna to write chidren's books
I have about 10 book titles for her, but none of them can be printed on a family blog. Oh well...
From the article
"She has drawn on a lifelong passion for and deep familiarity with literature and children's books.
I didn't realize porn and sadomasochism were considered literature these days. I used the words porn, sadomasochism, and Madonna in one post. This will be a good test for the content filters . If you can read this from work let me know.
Permalink | Comments (1)January 30, 2003
Down & Out in The magic Kingdom
In his new book, Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow has created a world where people never die, they just backup their consciousness to the Net and then download later into a new and improved clone. Nanotechnology has eliminated the concept of economic scarcity, your central nervous system is wirelessly connected to the Net, and the only currency that matters is Whuffie, a running tab of your personal social capital, easily visable to all on the Net in real time.
Oh yeah, and nothing has really changed at Disney World.
It's a fun, entertaining read that gets you thinking. You can read it for free online at Cory's web site, or you can buy it from the usual sources. I bought it. I like to read in bed and I'm not taking my laptop to bed with me.
Permalink | Comments (0)January 21, 2003
Catching up on my Reading
One of my goals for this year is to read more, a lot more. I'm off to a good start, having knocked off 3 books since Christmas.
Leadership - Rudy Giuliana: A nice satisfying tour of Mayor Giuilana's career, organized around his management principles. Nothing earth shattering that you haven't heard before, but when told by him it comes alive.
Take On The Street - Arthur Levitt: I was disappointed in this book. The "what Wall Street doesn't want you to know" stuff was all stuff I already knew. Too many chapters wandered off into a discussion of the wonderful things he wanted to do for us investors as SEC Chairman, if only the nasty men in Congress, or the Lobbyists, hadn't got in his way.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki: - Entertaining read. The author's key point, that rich folks buy assets that create additional income, and the middle class and poor spend all their money on expenses, is a good one. One I'm going to have to give some deep thought too, as to how it applies to my life. Another point, that a house is not really an asset because it does not create a positive monthly cash flow, is interesting too. It might be a very long term asset, but next month, its an expense, and a big one too! The tone of the book is a little too rah rah, too infomercially for me. I Would not be surprised at all if the author is pitching is wealth creation system on late night TV. Sort of like Anthony Robbins, the message is good, but the messenger drives you mad if you listen too long!
Permalink | Comments (0)December 29, 2002
Book Review - Sandy Koufax, A Lefty's Legacy
Koufax is probably one of the least understood hero's of the baseball world. The final 5 years of his career were probably the best 5 consecutive years by any pitcher, ever. He walked away at age 30 with an arm on the verge of permanent disfiguring damage, and for the most part, has not been heard from since. He declined to participate in this book, so its all based on old interviews with Koufax and interviews with friends and family. What emerges is a portrait of Jewish kid from Brooklyn with a live arm, who after 5 years of riding the pine in the majors, suddenly emerges as the most dominating pitcher of his era. The book is interestly structured, with chapters alternating between his life story and an inning by inning account of his perfect game in Sept of 1965. I'm not certain the author really "figures him out," but I certainly enjoyed the book. You will too if you are a baseball fan.
Permalink | Comments (0)December 15, 2002
Book Review: James Lileks - The Gallery of Regrettable Food
You'll laugh, you'll laugh so hard that you will start to cry, then your eyes will tear up and you'll have to put the book down for a moment to get your composure. You know how good Lileks is on a good day. He wrote his book over the course of many good days. Only Lileks could make a book out of making fun of those really bad cookbooks of the past. Jello molds? Been there done that. I was surprised to learn that making toast is a very sensuous activity, virtually guaranteed to attract handsome twins in tuxedos to even the comeliest housewife. That last sentence makes complete sense if you've read the book.
However, I feel as though I'm not really done with the book until I actually try one of the recipes in there. Who wants to come over for a delicious batch of 7-Up pancakes?
Permalink | Comments (0)September 05, 2002
Book Review: Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
An all-nighter. One of those books that you won't want to put down. I started it a 7 PM on Wednesday, I was done at 2 PM on Thursday.
The basic question behind the book. What if human beings decided to upgrade? Homo Sapien 3.0. And it doesn't happen over 10,000 years. It happens almost overnight. Just like a Windows upgrade, it doesn't go well at first. Millions of babies are stillborn. The government thinks its a virus. A few scientists think it's evolution at work. Nature working out the kinks as it brings a major upgrade to the human species. Greg Bear goes fairly deep in evolutionary biology in the story. You'll learn something along the way too. Although the idea of humans suddenly giving birth to new humans so different as to almost be alien is a huge leap of faith, the reactions of the public and the government are exactly what I would expect should such a situation occur.
And if such a situation does occur, let us all pray the human upgrade goes more smoothly than the typical Windows upgrade :)
Buy this book. Get it from the library. Borrow it from a friend. Just read it.
Permalink | Comments (0)Book Review: The Rainy Season By James Blaylock
I've read two other Blaylock novels, The Last Coin and All The Bells on Earth. They are both epic battles of good and evil, with little doubt about who are the good guys and who are the bad. They are both fantastic books and are highly recommended. The Rainy Season is different. It is more atmospheric, fuzzy. The charactors are not black and white, everything is very grey. Quite fitting, given the title of the book. The book revolves around memories, captured and reclaimed from the past. As usual, Blaylock weaves the supernatural into and around the fabric of everyday life. The book starts a little slow as Blaylock sets up three seemingly unrelated storylines. Once they connect though, the story builds to a very satisfying ending. If you like Blaylock, you'll like this. If you have not read Blaylock yet, you might want to start with someting else, like The Last Coin.
Permalink | Comments (0)September 02, 2002
Sci-Fi for Kids
My eight year old son has read every book we have in the house, twice. He has read the Harry Potter series 3 or 4 times, The Hobbit at least that many times. I'm trying to put together a list of Sci-Fi and Fantasy appropriate for an 8 year old with very advanced reading skills for his age. I didn't get into Sci-Fi and Fantasy until high school, so its hard for me to remember what books might be a little too adult for Breck. I'm referring to content, not reading level! So far, I've come up with the following....
Selected Heinlein (Starship Troopers)
Enders Game
David Eddings, The Belgariad, The Mallorian, etc.
Selected Piers Anthony (Xanth novels, The Blue Adept)
Lord of The Rings (obviously!)
The Dragonriders of Pern series
The Danny Dunn Books (out of print, I've found a few used)
Chronicles of Narnia (he has already read all of theseO)
Any ideas would be appreciated!
Permalink | Comments (7)June 14, 2002
Book Review: The Lost Coin by James Blaylock
I picked this up in a used bookstore over Memorial day weekend, we were waiting out some inclimate weather on a camping trip. I wasn't familar with Blaylock, something about the book just caught my attention. It may be the best $2 expenditure of my life.
This is a fantastic book. The plot, if you can call it that, is that the evil Mr. Pennyman has been busy collecting the 30 coins that were paid to Judas to betray Christ. Gaining possesion of all 30 will bring ultimate power and immortality to Pennyman. The 30th coin is owned by bumbling, clueless bording house keeper in Southern California. Pennyman becomes his tenant.
This book really isn't about plot, it's about the charactors, and the interplay between them. Although its a fantasy book, the setting is modern day CA. What ultimately "happens" isn't nearly as important as the journey to get there. This is just a fun book to read, and I'm looking forwarding to reading some of Blaylock's other work.
The Lost Coin is out of print, but Half.com has plenty available.
Permalink | Comments (2)May 31, 2002
The Emperor Wears No Clothes
The entire text of the classic expose of the government persecution of agricultural hemp is on line. I've always wanted to read this book - but could never find it.
Permalink | Comments (2)December 16, 2001
Book Review: Straight From the Gut, Jack Welch
The best business book I've read this year. This is required reading for anybody who has managerial aspirations...which does not explain why I read it. After reading the book, I'm ready to submit my application to Geneal Electric as it sounds like a great place to work. It will be interesting to see if they can keep it up sans Jack Welch.
Permalink | Comments (0)November 19, 2001
Hitchhiker's Guide to continue...
Douglas Adams may be dead - but apparently the 6th installment of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was on his hard drive, so it is going to be published next year. Cool...
Permalink | Comments (0)September 24, 2001
Banned Book Week
It's banned book week. Let us remember that ultimately what makes our country great is freedom, not our ability to carpet bomb a third world country in oblivion. Turn off the TV, stop watching for signs of War in the Middle East, and read a banned book. I happen to have Farenheit 451 on the bookshelf and I have not read it in years. I think I'll rectify that this week.
Thanks to Davezilla for the pointer.
Permalink | Comments (2)September 16, 2001
Book Review: For the Cause of Liberty : A Thousand Years of Irelands Heroes
Over 1000 years of history condensed into about 300 pages. This is a well done survey of Irish history, from Brian Boru, to King Red Hugh O'Donnell, to Gerry Adams. I finished this book with a much better understanding of Irish history and the dynamic between the Irish and British that led to 800 years of hatred and violence. If your of British descent don't bother - you won't like the way your country is presented in this book. However, the book does not come across as "Pro-Irish." In this case, the facts dictate that for most of the last 800 odd years, the British were the bad guys in Ireland.
How much of today's relative peace is indicative of a true resolution, and how much is a side benefit of the best economy in Europe will be an interesting story to watch over the next couple of years as the Irish economy inevitably slows down.
Permalink | Comments (0)August 13, 2001
The Great War by Harry Turtledove
The Great War is an epic 3 volume series (actually 4 counting the prequel) depicting an alternate history of the USA if the South had won The War of Northern Aggression. The Prequel, How Few Remain recounts a second civil war about 20 years later. The trilogy, comprised of the books American Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthroughs depict World War One as it breaks out on several fronts in the USA & the CSA.
Turtledove doesn't just describe the war, the reader gets to experience the war through the eyes of a handful of intriguing charactors, both soldiers and civilians, CSA. USA and Canadian. He rotates through about 6 different storylines yet keeping the stories straight is not a problem for the reader. I found that I was "into" all the charactors, although there were a couple that I hated and kept hoping would die!
All four books suck the reader into the world Turtledove has created and I found myself thinking about World War One trench warefare quite a bit as I read the books. One thing for sure, I would have been a deserter in a hurry. I can't even imagine what would motivate anybody to put up with the conditions Turtledove describes in at times quite graphic fashion.
If I had to come up with a negetive it would be the length of the books. I read these 4 back to back to back to back over about a 4-6 week period. By the middle of Breakthroughs I was ready for the war to end. It was obvious who was going to win the war (I'm not telling...) the only question was how many of the primary charactors would survive it! And now Turtledove has decided to write a trilogy dealing with the aftermath of the war. The first book just came out - I guess I'll be putting into the reading pile real soon.
Permalink | Comments (0)