tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57257635244278100052024-03-18T12:15:35.471-07:00Bookviews by Alan CarubaA monthly report on the best in new fiction and non-fiction books. Alan Caruba is a charter member of the National Book Critics Circle and has been reviewing for more than five decades. Bookviews does not review e-books, nor accept galleys, only finished, published books should be sent. To request a review, first email acaruba@aol.comAlan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-49443925797546030082015-05-29T05:53:00.000-07:002015-05-29T10:07:12.041-07:00Bookviews - June 2015<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsK3kPG_9mjTp0tdHMAE1kQa4MzJrZNdsRsyPfsvNxQvjPDfhsbmfEH9PzNG7DjDPpl0gpFx8j63wc2gCwNbr9tN8uE0cHGnXzLDjvqNLq9Zb5TCGxvdOBeotR52nSd4akrRFQpd56-o/s1600/Cover+-+Crimes+of+the+Educators.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsK3kPG_9mjTp0tdHMAE1kQa4MzJrZNdsRsyPfsvNxQvjPDfhsbmfEH9PzNG7DjDPpl0gpFx8j63wc2gCwNbr9tN8uE0cHGnXzLDjvqNLq9Zb5TCGxvdOBeotR52nSd4akrRFQpd56-o/s200/Cover+-+Crimes+of+the+Educators.png" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A book I
would recommend as “must reading” is Samuel Blumenfeld’s and Alex Newman’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are
Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children </b>($26.95m WND Books).
It has been known for decades that America’s school children have been falling
behind others worldwide in their ability to read and do math. In 1983 the
National Commission on Excellence in Education said “If an unfriendly foreign
power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance
that exists today, we might well have viewed I as an act of war. As it stands,
we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.” This book traces the deliberate
effort to destroy the ability of students to learn to read back many years and
reveals why, as a result, half of America’s adult population is functionally
illiterate. Americans, through their government school system have been
systematically dumbed down and today a national standard to maintain this is
being imposed via Common Core. The result has been a rise in the number of
parents who are home-schooling their children and the rise in tutoring. When
you have read this book you will know why too many Americans think the others around
them are dumb. They’re right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">January 1973: Watergate, Roe V. Wade,
Vietnam, and the Month that Changed America Forever </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by James Robenalt ($27.95, Chicago
Review Press) is a densely documented review of the title date’s month and the
way so many events came together to alter the future. Just prior to January
Harry Truman passed away and later in the month so did Lyndon Johnson. It was
the month the Watergate investigation revealed the White House payoffs to its
burglars and forced an end to Nixon’s second term. The Vietnam War was winding
down due to Nixon’s decision to bomb the North over the Christmas period.
Negotiations began again that would end it. The Supreme Court decision
legalizing abortion would change our culture thereafter. This is strictly for
the reader who enjoys reading the details but it demonstrates how, in a very
short moment, history can take some dramatic turns. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age </b>by
Taylor Owen ($27.95, Oxford University Press) is another challenging read. We
have encountered new phenomena like WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden that reveal
information about how the government is actually functioning in ways unrivaled
before. Owen provides readers with a look at the way digital technologies are shaking
up<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the working of the institutions that
have traditionally controlled international affairs, including humanitarianism,
diplomacy, activism and journalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdz9k1iTyhTgubr0waIYDtFWQAU97F1L8RCo1JhHiIjKfqoLbr30mBfrB_HH3BIbsGWzKBLohvYYQ6__oED_BgSccDhc_pbfu192XDww-6COHqwIIEVvcOdXvsaHgJRY-xhT_IttZZBTk/s1600/Cover+-+John+Hughes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdz9k1iTyhTgubr0waIYDtFWQAU97F1L8RCo1JhHiIjKfqoLbr30mBfrB_HH3BIbsGWzKBLohvYYQ6__oED_BgSccDhc_pbfu192XDww-6COHqwIIEVvcOdXvsaHgJRY-xhT_IttZZBTk/s200/Cover+-+John+Hughes.png" width="166" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
whose passion is cinema, they will want to add <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Hughes: A Life in Film </b>($40.00, Race Point Publishing) to
their libraries. Kirk Honeycutt, its author, explores Hughes’s life and career,
with behind the scenes stories and insights regarding the creation of each of
his films. They include <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Breakfast
Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Home Alone, Uncle Buck, </i>and many
others. Honeycutt is a former film critic for The Hollywood Reporter and as
this large format, extensively illustrated book demonstrates, other than Steven
Spielberg, there was no other filmmakers of the late 1980s and early 1990s who
was as influential and produced such a legacy of films that remain iconic and
popular to the present day. Honeycutt notes that “Among his closest associates
some felt his prolific output worked against his artistry…john never paid any
attention. Perhaps he couldn’t.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is
the price and reward of genius. This book guarantees not only his life story
and career, but hours of reading pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKG2EPyz5UyAkDmK7te1fQk5zZ1OzyDfTvHDgZwg2ShKcHZ6BzZnc4QbD-WJoSzm2ZDDCBnbbH8g9b70G8tO5IBWO4WOOb2B6IWdOsOJTUXOj2TXN3F_Dh5MVwAtKWDQVGPDGT3ahOdA/s1600/Cover+-+Passion+for+Paris.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKG2EPyz5UyAkDmK7te1fQk5zZ1OzyDfTvHDgZwg2ShKcHZ6BzZnc4QbD-WJoSzm2ZDDCBnbbH8g9b70G8tO5IBWO4WOOb2B6IWdOsOJTUXOj2TXN3F_Dh5MVwAtKWDQVGPDGT3ahOdA/s200/Cover+-+Passion+for+Paris.png" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’ve never
been there, but it never surprises me to hear people speak of Paris in glowing
terms. You’ll learn why when you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A
Passion for Paris: Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light</b> by David
Downie ($26.95, St. Martin’s Press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Downie sets out to get to the heart of the city’s magic and mystique. In
a unique combination of memoir, history and travelogue, Downie weaves together
the lives and loves of Victory Hugo, Georges Sand, Charles Baudelaire, Balzac,
and other great Romantics, along with his own, delighting in the city’s secular
romantic pilgrimage sites to find the answer. Abounding in secluded,
atmospheric parks, artist’s studios, cafes, restaurants, and streets that have
changed little since the 1800s, Downie finds romance around every corner,
noting the art and architecture, the cityscape, riverbanks, and quality of
daily life there. Downie, a native San Franciscan, lived in New York,
Providence, Rome and Milan before moving to Paris in the mid-1980s. He divides
his time between France and Italy these days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Future and Why We Should Avoid it:
Killer Robots, the Apocalypse and Other Topics of Mild Interest </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($22.95, Douglas & McIntyre,
softcover) has been described as “a survival guide, part how-to manual, part
product guide, part apocalypse and part sardonic observation to help us
navigate through these troubled times.” But when weren’t the times troubled?
Scott Feschuk, its author, muses on aging, death, technology, inventions,
health and leisure. He is a satirist for lack of a better definition, but to
his credit, he is never boring. Fans of MAD magazine have over the years
enjoyed the writing of Frank Jacobs, credited over five decades with over 575
contributions, over 300 issues, to the human readers came to love. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-Rc0fgODQr7RqryJRt9Z9Ss9xAg3hCRMNQxmjKAEeXdDBCn__V5xeNBpI5MjqMLQznkaDVnHI4boBOE5qJfUP6onF1yMA7oeszmMdaMn8JPAbHWAPHtw-nLsp_IT3ZUBBtI4kIDh0S0/s1600/cover+-+MAD+Farnk+Jacobs.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-Rc0fgODQr7RqryJRt9Z9Ss9xAg3hCRMNQxmjKAEeXdDBCn__V5xeNBpI5MjqMLQznkaDVnHI4boBOE5qJfUP6onF1yMA7oeszmMdaMn8JPAbHWAPHtw-nLsp_IT3ZUBBtI4kIDh0S0/s200/cover+-+MAD+Farnk+Jacobs.png" width="145" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The first
installment of “MAD’s Greatest Writers” is devoted to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Frank Jacobs: Five Decades of His Greatest Works </b>($30.00, Running
Press) with a foreword by “Weird Al” Yankovic. As a special treat, the book
features an exclusive interview conducted by former MAD editor Nick Meglin.
This is a large format book with page after page of the artwork which is
timeless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Biographies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vmhwMUWciM_jcWBXPBZNKgu7zN2SoPGFGkNCzmpCy5V0igUPmJkepMWmL3chqM9ERXhKiReAQid8u9F_caBWKzJ1es2kW8kf1IsX7sE-msHSsmqlEEgx8zuwZo25qhwOuge11sbqVng/s1600/Cover+-+You+Facinate+Me+So.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4vmhwMUWciM_jcWBXPBZNKgu7zN2SoPGFGkNCzmpCy5V0igUPmJkepMWmL3chqM9ERXhKiReAQid8u9F_caBWKzJ1es2kW8kf1IsX7sE-msHSsmqlEEgx8zuwZo25qhwOuge11sbqVng/s200/Cover+-+You+Facinate+Me+So.png" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It is
curious how one of America’s greatest composers and writers of classic musicals
is generally unknown. You would instantly recognize “Witchcraft”, “Big Spender”
and “The Best is Yet to Come”. You may have enjoyed performances of “Sweet
Charity”, “City of Angels”, and “Barnum” and still not be able to name Cy
Coleman. That is about to change with Andy Propst new biography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You Fascinate Me So: The Life and Times of
Cy Coleman </b>($32.99, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books). Propst, a music
and theatre journalist takes the reader into the world and work of this amazing
Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning talent. He was a child prodigy in the
1930s and was a jazz pianist and early television celebrity of the 1950s. This
preeminent Broadway composer passed away in November 2004. In addition to the
full cooperation of the Coleman estate, the book is further enhanced by
interviews with performers like Michele Lee, Phyllis Newman, Chita Rivera, as
well as others such as Hal Prince and Tommy Tune. Every major singer has
performed his songs, from Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Steisand to Dame
Shirley Bassey. If you love music, you will love this biography.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the
1960s when the feminist movement was gaining momentum and spreading, we all
became aware of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem who became icons of the
movement, but at the same time there was an anti-feminist counterpart who,
happily, is recalled and the subject of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Helen
Andelin and the Fascinating Womanhood Movement</b> by Julie Debra Neuffer
($19.95, The University of Utah Press, softcover). She authored “Fascinating
Womanhood” which sold more than two million copies, becoming a celebrity and
spokeswoman for the point of view that the greatest role for a woman was as a
wife and a mother. She preached family values and that the best career was
homemaker. From an unknown housewife-turned-media-sensation, Andelin found
herself appearing in magazines, on radio and with TV personalities, Larry King,
Phil Donahue, and Connie Chung. Neuffer teaches 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century
American history and courses in American religion at Eastern Washington
University in Cheney, Washington. Ironically, Neuffer grew up in a small town
where Andelin’s views would be right at home, but still pursued her career. She
would come to know Andelin, discovering she knew little about the feminist
movement, but both she and Friedan were responding to the unhappiness and
turmoil that many American women were experiencing during the 1960’s and
70’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Going
further back in time, Dorothy U. Seyler tells us about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Obelisk and the Englishman: The Pioneering Discoveries of
Egyptologist William Bankes </b>($26.00, Prometheus Books)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who was a pioneer in the nascent study of the
language, history, and civilization of ancient Egypt. Born in 1786, Bankes
discovered the King List at the Abydos Temple, a wall of cartouches listing
Egyptian Kings in chronological order which was vital to the decoding of
Egyptian hieroglyphs. A homosexual, he lived in an era where he as persecuted
for being gay and threatened with imprisonment. Despite that, his pioneering
work on ancient temples and artifacts now enriches the knowledge of modern
Egyptologists. His home, now a National Trust estate, can be visited to enjoy
his art collection and it has an obelisk from Philae on its south lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A professor emerita of English who has
authored ten college textbooks, but this departure is a special treat for its
treatment of Bankes’ life and his work.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Various Sciences<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgevIT-2wfl-Xh3CqCsCI6Mlyepq9njpGygeqaEl8LJn_rUFmll3YtqhdUr-v8luNWlZH88IX5X5T83bReJDnzDddf875okU9IbkrQim-kMzUBNl7eXDXTv6uzc6Y2qUXqsMgNfpV1XkNw/s1600/Cover+-+Earth+from+Myths+to+Knowledge.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgevIT-2wfl-Xh3CqCsCI6Mlyepq9njpGygeqaEl8LJn_rUFmll3YtqhdUr-v8luNWlZH88IX5X5T83bReJDnzDddf875okU9IbkrQim-kMzUBNl7eXDXTv6uzc6Y2qUXqsMgNfpV1XkNw/s200/Cover+-+Earth+from+Myths+to+Knowledge.png" width="132" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Earth from Myths to Knowledge</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Hubert Krivine ($29.95, Verso
Books) takes the reader on a trip to the past as it tells the story of the
thinkers and scientists speculated and discover how the Earth came to be and,
while the planet’s elliptical orbit around the Sun and its billions of years of
existence is taken for granted these days, it took a millennia for these truths
to be achieved and known. Krivine introduces the reader to Copernicus, Galileo
and Kepler, as well as Halley, Kelvin, Darwin and Rutherford among many others,
demonstrating how they often had to get passed religious dogmatism to make
their discoveries known, celebrating their courage while acknowledging that as
often as not blind luck played a part! It was an epic struggle to overcome
ideology and superstition from which the philosophy of science emerged. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Krivine
demonstrates that scientific progress is not a sufficient condition for social
progress, but it is a necessary one. The Earth is not merely a history of
scientific learning, but a stirring defense of Enlightenment values in the
quest for human advancement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Earth
is at the heart of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rare: The High-Stakes
Race to Satisfy Our Need for the Scarcest Metals on Earth </b>by Keith Veronese
($25.00, Prometheus Books). What would happen if the supply of tanalum dries
up? While most have no heard of this unusual metal, but without it smartphones
would be instantly less omniscient, video games would false, and laptops fail.
This is the story of Rhodium, Osmium, Nioblum and other such rare metals and
how they are the key components of many consumer products like cell phones and
flat screen televisions. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rare </b>delves
into the economic and geopolitical issues surrounding these “conflict minerals”
blending tales of financial and political struggles with glimpses into the
human lives that are shattered by the race to secure them. This book has
warnings of the future as China is the world’s largest supplier of these
metals, and the U.S., Great Britain, and Japan race to find alternative
sources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You will
gain a whole new insight as to human behavior when you read Richard H. Thaler’s
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Misbehaving: The Making of Behavior
Economics </b>($27.95, W.W. Norton). Thaler is already acknowledged as one of
the world’s most unconventional economist so his new book is no surprise in
that regard. He distills a career’s worth of thinking about “dumb stuff people
do” into a witty demolition of the more doctrinaire elements of economics.
Thaler looks at the way people actually make their decisions to purchase
things, to save nor not for the future, and countless other choices. Along the
way he looks at economic misbehaving in financial markets, the NFL draft, to TV
games, determining along the way which businesses thrive and which do not. This
book will make you think far more seriously about the way you go about your
economic life from buying tickets for a rock concert to picking out a new
office and planning for retirement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What
drives the habit patterns that can be destructive to ourselves, to society, and
the environment? That’s the question asked and answered in Dr. Peter C.
Whybrow, MD’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Well-Tuned Brain:
Neuroscience and the Life Well Lived </b>($27.95, W.W. Norton).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An eminent neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Whybrow
weaves cutting-edge science, philosophy, history and personal experience to
explore how the human brain is at odds with the enticements of the consumer
society. He calls it the mismatch between who we are and the vibrant culture in
which we live. Self-interest and the drive to overconsumption are relics of our
evolution, from a time when competition for scare resources was essential to
our survival. We are, in addition, creatures of habit, what Dr. Whybrow calls
our auto-pilots that permit the brain to work efficiently and with
speed—intuitively and without conscious attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He offers a variety of changes he believes
will produce a better society. For anyone interested in how we think what we
think and how we act on it within the context of our society, this book has
much to offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Future and Why We Should Avoid it:
Killer Robots, the Apocalypse and Other Topics of Mild Interest </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($22.95, Douglas & McIntyre,
softcover) has been described as “a survival guide, part how-to manual, part
product guide, part apocalypse and part sardonic observation to help us
navigate through these troubled times.” But when weren’t the times troubled? Scott
Feschuk, its author, muses on aging, death, technology, inventions, health and
leisure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Advice! Advice! Advice!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I don’t
know why, but I have been overwhelmed by a dozen books that have arrived
offering advice on how to live one’s life, get on with one’s partner, be a good
parent, et cetera! I have no doubt that one or more of them will prove quite
helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Now,
briefly, here they are. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Are you Fully
Charged? The 3 Keys to Energizing Your Work and Life </b>by Tom Rath ($22.95,
Silicon Guild, an imprint of Missionday) With many endorsements, Arianna
Huffington says it is “about renewing ourselves in the full est sense. Drawing
on extensive research, Tom Rath, provides us with the three key pillars that
can help create a life of more meaning and perspective; being part of something
larger than ourselves, valuing people and experiences over mere stuff, and
understanding that looking after our own well-being is the first step to doing
more for others.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">360 Degrees of
Success: Money, Relationships, Energy, time—the 4 essential ingredients to
create personal and professional Success </b>by Ana Weber ($17.95, Morgan
James, softcover) is written for corporate professionals who want to
dramatically improve their level of efficiency, effectiveness and enjoyment at
work and in all other aspects of their life. The author of 17 books as a
renowned corporate success coach, Weber has put a lot of knowledge and guidance
into book that pulls together the kind of insight and advice that can make a
big difference for the reader. Another book for the workplace that is well
worth reading is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beyond Measure: The Big
Impact of Small Changes </b>by Margaret Heffernan ($15.99, a TED original with
Simon & Schuster, softcover). The author demonstrates that by implementing
sweeping changes, businesses often think it’s possible to do better, to earn
more, and have happier employees. That is often not the case and she draws on
decades spent overseeing different organizations to conclude that small changes
are often far better. They encourage listening, asking questions, sharing
information. This is a short book with a big message.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For
marriage and parenthood, you could start with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Navigating Your Relationship: A Voyage for Couples </b>by H. Laurence
Schwab, M.F.T. ($16.95, Two Harbors, softcover) who brings nearly thirty years
of experience as a marriage and family therapist in private practice, as well
as clinic and hospital settings to this text that addresses the fact that
everyone’s relationship sails through choppy waters as some point. If couples
learn to see each other as co-captains, both needed to be in control of their
emotional destinies, even the toughest storms can be weathered. This book has a
perfect metaphor. This is about dialogue and destiny. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwunZFdkmP5ziFZcO2o6xkSNvE1c3Pb2ZsJoW4jI4UWYyvNbzs-I-swiB7_Q79WAotGKRY6htO9vnnLL9LOXOK9ojNmrm2mn52ugZcH2tV5oxtW4KubVsJPmnmbQBJl87HgqgOI3yk6Io/s1600/Cover+-+Supersurvivors.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwunZFdkmP5ziFZcO2o6xkSNvE1c3Pb2ZsJoW4jI4UWYyvNbzs-I-swiB7_Q79WAotGKRY6htO9vnnLL9LOXOK9ojNmrm2mn52ugZcH2tV5oxtW4KubVsJPmnmbQBJl87HgqgOI3yk6Io/s200/Cover+-+Supersurvivors.png" width="135" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Live More, Work Better: A Practical
Guide to a Balanced Life </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Gayle Hiltendort ($12.95, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, softcover) After
spending more than 20 years as an overworked professional pouring her heart and
soul into her job, the author decided after sacrificing her health, marriage,
and personal relationships for her job to reevaluate and take her life back. If
this sounds like you, this is the book for you! <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering and Success </b>($19.99,
Harper Wave, in imprint of HarperCollins, softcover) by David B. Feldman and
Lee Daniel Kravetz asks why do some people succumb to tragedy while others are
able to use it as a springboard for extraordinary accomplishments? The book
offers a blueprint for human resilience and a window into the science of
achievement. It’s a book that Bloomberg Businessweek said was “one of the most
valuable and interesting business books released this year.” The authors have
given voice to individuals from all over the world who have managed to overcome
significant hardship. If you or someone you know is encountering some setbacks,
this is the book to read. “Unexpected inspiration from inside the nursing home”
is the subtitle of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Simple Lessons for a
Better Life </b>by Charles E. Dodgen ($18.00, Prometheus Books,
softcover.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are valuable life
lessons from the unique experiences of nursing home residents. Dr. Dodgen, a
clinical psychologist who has worked with this population for 18 years has
discovered that when the surplus trappings of lifestyle are cleared away and
lives are stripped to their most essential components, people discover new
paths to happiness, peace and fulfillment. It is an inspiring book that is well
worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
with a spiritual approach to life there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Life
Unstuck: Finding Peace with your Past, Purpose in your Present, Passion for
your Future </b>by Pat Layton ($14.99, Revel, softcover). As she notes,
womanhood is not an easy journey and everyone has felt stuck at some point in
life. Layton reassures the reader that God has some much more than this planned
for His daughters. The founder and president of the Life Impact Network, Layton
has 25 years in full-time women’s ministry and has learned a lot about how
women think, feel, respond and don’t respond. She shares her insight and
encouragement as she delves deep into areas women seem to get stuck in the
most—relationships, finances, ministry, career, and more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr69Nq3uSAlV9gi_CS9X3AirVh5P5Hl0jltijFn-gduV5zwTCH2hcWrG05H_ljqj8-saHEotoCfyiSupTWRnbwe8VuQp6DvIleLyEc_Fx23eyMBPKKqJMf3zeJkgA6QqJPbv4kPNmPeRM/s1600/cover+-+Sand+in+my+Sandwich.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr69Nq3uSAlV9gi_CS9X3AirVh5P5Hl0jltijFn-gduV5zwTCH2hcWrG05H_ljqj8-saHEotoCfyiSupTWRnbwe8VuQp6DvIleLyEc_Fx23eyMBPKKqJMf3zeJkgA6QqJPbv4kPNmPeRM/s200/cover+-+Sand+in+my+Sandwich.png" width="130" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sand in My Sandwich and Other
Motherhood Messes I’m Learning to Love </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Sarah Parshall Perry ($14.99, Revell, softcover) is
about a perfectionist, uptight lawyer, marry her to a small-town hero with no
college degree and a very laidback outlook on life, and you have the recipe for
some interesting challenges. Now add three children, two of whom are on the
autism spectrum, and you know life is going to be filled with challenges to
face and overcome. That’s Perry’s life and she pulls some universal truths of
motherhood from it, addressing them with humajn, poignancy, and a naked honesty
that will look and feel familiar to mothers everywhere. For today’s new mom’s
this will prove to be very useful reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bruce and Caitlin Howlett have teamed to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Creating Capable Kids: Twelve Skills That Will Help Kids Succeed in
School and Life </b>($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover). Educators, they
show parents how to guide, teach and incubate child development at home and in
school. They offer fresh, effective ways to rescue children who are struggling
in school and at home. Given the way today’s schools literally dumb down their
students from the way they teach reading and math, this book could be the
answer to many a frustrated parent’s questions on how to correct that problem.
This is good advice on helping children become motivated, perceptive and
resilient. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Stress-free Discipline: Simple
Strategies for Handling Common Behavior Problems </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Sara Au and Peter L. Stavinoha ($14.95,
AMACOM, softcover) will solve a lot of problems that parents commonly face.
From tantrum-throwing toddlers to eye-rolling teens, parents with children of
all ages struggle with challenging behaviors at some point and while advice
seems plentiful, it never seems to apply to your child at the moment. Sara is a
mom and a journalist and Peter is a dad and pediatric neuropsychologist.
Together they help the reader to understand why kids behave badly and how
discipline can be applied, consistently and calmly, to not only alleviate
stressful behavior issues, but also cultivate a positive parent-child
relationship. As they say “behavior is communication” and “discipline is
education.” Using flexible methods, both scientifically tested and
parent-approved, the authors render the routine challenges less stressful,
while strengthening a parent’s sense of purpose and peace of mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff for Younger
Readers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DF8bFD-GEcY6x_dka1t4w2ckks0anu6Xi1mmAi0genmhPMeYQXenyeLWjUdJtokidWXUHQtjqN2Zr-Y1ek0Kfsyaog0whnRk1XLEhKjAxpXaYOzwk4QgGO7rjVPgnAPptQ-RCFHL4gk/s1600/Cover+-+Fred+Pinsocket+Loves+Bananas.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DF8bFD-GEcY6x_dka1t4w2ckks0anu6Xi1mmAi0genmhPMeYQXenyeLWjUdJtokidWXUHQtjqN2Zr-Y1ek0Kfsyaog0whnRk1XLEhKjAxpXaYOzwk4QgGO7rjVPgnAPptQ-RCFHL4gk/s200/Cover+-+Fred+Pinsocket+Loves+Bananas.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To get the
very young interested in reading, start them off by reading to them and Peter
Apel’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fred Pinsocket Loves
Bananas</b> ($7.99, Fred Pinsocket Productions) is a good example. First of
all, it is small and very sturdy paperboard so it could take the handling of a
two to three year old. Its colorful illustrations are easy to understand and
its text is largely a repetition of the title, devoted to his love of bananas.
Apel is a San Hose music artist, singer-songwriter, author, illustrator,
magician and, yes, a dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can learn
more about the book at </span><a href="http://www.peterapel.com/bananabook"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.PeterApel.com/bananabook</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> and download a song to accompany it.
By reading a delightful story like this, you will awaken an interest in
pre-school children and create a memorable bond at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two books
from New Horizon Press have a message for specific groups of children. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Home for Ruby: Helping Children Adjust to
New Families </b>by P.J. Neer, PhD, ($9.95) was written for the 400,000
children who live in foster care, some of whom have a difficult time adjusting
to their new home. Ruby is a beautiful horse but does not behave well and each
of her owners send her off to new farms when she acts up. She is frustrated and
scared, but when she arrives at Meadow Green, but her new owner sticks with her
and Rudy finally realizes this would be a great forever home and behaves well. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maddy Patti and the Great Curiousity;
Helping Children Understand Diabetes </b>is by Mary Bilderback Abel and Stan
Borg, illustrated by Lorraine Day ($9.95) and as the title makes clear, it is
filled with information about diabetes that a younger reader needs to know.
This is particularly true because if one parent has diabetes the child’s risk
is 15% higher and, if both parents have it, the risk rises to 75% of falling
victim of type 1 diabetes. It is a delightful story because Maddy’s grandfather
is a retired doctor and Maddy has the gift of being able to communicate with
the animals on his farm who instruct her on proper care and diet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyHK1KSH1Cjw6bsYoL5uoslRkFLqIREwmlHCpop3NgHp2GX1N_gU9xiLxU8mque-TuI3dS9XhK8JXREEogh0yXo_cchVw4rma0tRJwo2imT2Yc3WWY9NnSI8MVjFKmr-nI_EbWA1Xazw/s1600/Cover+-+Night+Buddies.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyHK1KSH1Cjw6bsYoL5uoslRkFLqIREwmlHCpop3NgHp2GX1N_gU9xiLxU8mque-TuI3dS9XhK8JXREEogh0yXo_cchVw4rma0tRJwo2imT2Yc3WWY9NnSI8MVjFKmr-nI_EbWA1Xazw/s200/Cover+-+Night+Buddies.png" width="130" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For sheer
fun for those age seven and up, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Night
Buddies Go Sky High </b>by Sands Hetherington, illustrated by Jessica Love
($7.99, </span><a href="http://www.dunebuggypress.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.DuneBuggyPress.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">) And the good news is that there’s also <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Night Buddies: Imposters and One Far-Out
Flying Machine </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Night Buddies and
the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>Night
Buddies is devoted to the nighttime adventures of a young boy named John, who
is not ready to go to sleep, and a bright red crocodile named Crosley who turns
up under John’s bed each night. With an imaginary language of their own and a
unique set of technological gizmos, this unlikely pair sneaks out using
Crosley’s I-ain’t-here doodad, which makes them invisible to John’s parents.
The stories are imaginative and great fun to read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
young adult reader there’s a novel by Deirdre Riordan Hall, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sugar</b>, ($9.99, Skyscape, softcover)
about a Puerto Rican-Polish teenager who lives in a dead-end town somewhere in
New Hampshire. And Sugar is very, very fat at the age of 17. She is the brunt
of cruel jokes and ridicule everywhere she goes. To survive, she keeps her head
down, does what she’s told, and tries to fill up the empty space in her heart
with food. When she meets a young man who seems to like her for who she is,
they grow close and a new future opens up for her as she sets herself free with
her own determination, bravery, and strength of character. This one is well
worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I never
fail to wonder at the number of new novels being published every month. It is a
torrent of fiction. Here are a few that arrived at Bookviews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0iiyShI1pBGe7M7hoFHKQq5fGes2YjmFJXmDNO-w5Jr3-z4tnIRPhoDENK9kK08bZWtQKt0hsH0r6Arfe029XpNXOJEwaa-BxMUv8kioRDqayN6Ia0o7sqY65doDKK7Y0sl3EkLCR4g/s1600/Cover+-+The+Organ+Broker.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0iiyShI1pBGe7M7hoFHKQq5fGes2YjmFJXmDNO-w5Jr3-z4tnIRPhoDENK9kK08bZWtQKt0hsH0r6Arfe029XpNXOJEwaa-BxMUv8kioRDqayN6Ia0o7sqY65doDKK7Y0sl3EkLCR4g/s200/Cover+-+The+Organ+Broker.png" width="135" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Organ Broker</b> by Stu Strumwasser
($24.99, Arcade Publishing), a story about an underground black market organ
dealing known as “New York Jack.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
eighteen years Jack has been a ‘transplant tourism director’, sending wealth
Americans and Europeans in need of kidneys and other organs to third world
nations where they would buy them from transplant centers on the take. The
death of a client and a newfound relationship lead to a crisis of conscience as
he is forced to choose between a two million dollar commission—and
participating in a murder. Jack races to South America, Brazil and beyond, just
one step ahead of his adversary and the FBI, in search of one small act of
redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will want to follow that
race when you read this intriguing novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8HSKcTad1z5qIPWv1BvfMlO-ZMa3wP8ucO65CsV_0v4Xi0xj7MC02HD1dcyOpl8uxF6nPBwABZm4Nb7-zaRndD4g-I1djwHZ-Zhrtd6Qh0j8ZW1U2vPEgqAyWuv95o9DaDdOwIbfbH4/s1600/Cover+-+Dry+Bones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8HSKcTad1z5qIPWv1BvfMlO-ZMa3wP8ucO65CsV_0v4Xi0xj7MC02HD1dcyOpl8uxF6nPBwABZm4Nb7-zaRndD4g-I1djwHZ-Zhrtd6Qh0j8ZW1U2vPEgqAyWuv95o9DaDdOwIbfbH4/s200/Cover+-+Dry+Bones.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Good news
for fans of Graig Johnsons’s Longmire series as Wyoming’s beloved lawman takes
on his coldest case yet in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dry Bones </b>($27.95,
Viking). When the largest complete T Rex skeleton ever found turns up—along
with a dead rancher—in Absaroka County, Sheriff Longmire must solve a 66
million year old cold case. When Danny Lone Elk, a Cheyenne rancher is found
dead and floating in a turtle pond, he also learns that a T Rex skeleton has
been unearthed on his land. Everyone lays claim to it while Longmire seeks to
find the rancher’s killer. Longmire is a successful television series on
A&E.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you love a good mystery, you
will love this latest addition to the series. Far from Wyoming there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Manhattan Mayhem</b> ($24.95, Quirk Books),
new short stories from members of the Mystery Writers of America, edited by
Mary Higgins Clark and featuring an original one of her own. From Wall Street
to Harlem, these stories reflect that crimes and misdemeanors in a tour of
neighborhoods with well over a dozen stories that will prove thoroughly
entertaining from cover to cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Hillary
Clinton is in the news these days having announced her candidacy for 2016. Dr.
Alma H. Bond, Ph.D, a psychoanalyst for 35 years have read everything possible
about Hillary and, as she did with her previous novels about Marilyn Monroe,
Jackie O, and Michelle Obama, all “On the Couch”, her latest book is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Couch </b>($22.50,
Bancroft Press).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some of
the questions Dr. Bond seeks to answer is what her parents were really like and
what lasting affects they had on her? How does she deal with a womanizing
husband? Is she a genuine person or just acting a role? How effective was she
as a U.S. Senator and as Secretary of State? If Hillary is on your mind, this
book, billed as a novel, is fact-filled and ready to answer your questions. Rex
Burwell takes the reading on a romp through a week in the 1920s in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Capone, the Cobbs, and Me </b>($30.00,
Livingston Press) as a baseball big-leader Mort Hart is suspected of knowing
too much by a mob murderer who tries to kill him. Hot-headed Ty Cobb has a
reason to kill him as well because he suspects Mort is having an affair with
his wife. You are along for the ride as Mort uses his wits to save his skin and
that of the woman he loves. You will get a feeling for the high-flying 1920s
and some of its most flamboyant figures. It’s fiction, yes, but the suspense of
what happens next is a lot of fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgon9FOL6FjXDHKk7Q2s9GeefzX-9s7RCIDmXyctzW6dynWpgFDqEgzqmSBF5z5z2c0vwZV4JdHfnvmM_e2UPV5ljB5cjqiasQW6f0dOgiKij8ClEpe7F1y80Jddutgzf0E4TBun4TBVpk/s1600/Cover+-+Stone+Cold+Dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgon9FOL6FjXDHKk7Q2s9GeefzX-9s7RCIDmXyctzW6dynWpgFDqEgzqmSBF5z5z2c0vwZV4JdHfnvmM_e2UPV5ljB5cjqiasQW6f0dOgiKij8ClEpe7F1y80Jddutgzf0E4TBun4TBVpk/s200/Cover+-+Stone+Cold+Dead.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Seventh
Street Books have published a number of novels. I’ll start with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stone Cold Dead</b> by author James W. Ziskin
($15.95, softcover) who continues his “Ellie Stone Mystery” series. The date is
December 21, 1960, the shortest day of the year as 15-year-old Darleen Hicks
slips away from her school bus. It departs without her and she is never seen
again. On New Year’s Day 1960 Ellie Stone receives a late-night caller—Irene
Metzger, the grieving mother of Darleen Hicks who tells her the local police
won’t help her because they believe she has run off with some older boy and
will return when she’s ready. Ellie takes on the case and you join her as she
begins a chilling journey to a place of uncertainty, loss, teenage passion, and
vulnerability, a place where Ellie’s questions are unwanted and put her life in
danger. Mark Pryor is back with a Hugo Marston novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Reluctant Matador</b>, ($15.95, softcover). When a 19-year-ld
aspiring model disappears in Paris, her father, Bart Denum, turns to Marston
for help. Marston, the security chief at the US embassy, makes some inquiries
and learns that the daughter was in fact an exotic dancer and she has left for
Barcelona with a shady character she met at a seedy strip club. When Marston
and a friend, a former CIA agent finally track the man in Barcelona, they find
Bart Denum standing over his dead body. Spanish authorities arrest him and the
question is whether Marston and his friend can find the real killer and locate
the missing daughter. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">See Also Murder: A
Majorie Trumaine Mystery</b> by Larry D. Sweazy ($15.95, softcover) begins with
a grisly killing in 1964 in Dickinson, North Dakota where Erick and Lida
Knudsen are found murdered in their bed with their throats slit. Their two
sons, ages 19 and 20, live in the same house but claim to have heard nothing
while they were asleep. When Sheriff Hilo Jenkins finds a strange copper amulet
clasped in Erik’s hand, he turns to Marjorie Trumaine, a skilled researcher, to
help unravel this mystery. It just gets uglier, but in a way that will surprise
the reader. One thing’s for sure, it’s never boring. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YjjCkVZd10HsuwFlt5vFuEptWzgM9NeSyXauBhPZJafbuChI8Op6LHaa8FRXmMdZvu-UBV3LtG5RitTlIDsiFNf7Uv3eOx4f02qHuVZvuOYfw1zPsiQH-lAxPhRGrHhiHoDaQr9417E/s1600/Cover+-+Traitor%2527s+Gate.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YjjCkVZd10HsuwFlt5vFuEptWzgM9NeSyXauBhPZJafbuChI8Op6LHaa8FRXmMdZvu-UBV3LtG5RitTlIDsiFNf7Uv3eOx4f02qHuVZvuOYfw1zPsiQH-lAxPhRGrHhiHoDaQr9417E/s200/Cover+-+Traitor%2527s+Gate.png" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Traitor’s Gate</b>, Charlie
Newton ($15.95, Thomas & Mercer, softcover) has already established himself
among the top novelists around these days. His debut novel, “Calumet City”, was
named a Best Debut in 2008 by the American Library Association and nominated
for the Edgar, Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, And Thriller awards. The next, “Start
Shooting”, generated similar praise. His newest novel is a gripping thriller
that takes the reader to the tense days leading to the first shots of World War
II. A survivor of a brutal massacre that left her family dead, Saba Hassouneh
becomes “the Raven”, a freedom fighter hunted throughout the Middle East by the
British colonial powers and the religious mullahs. As she plots a major attack
on one of the British oil refineries, the plot of the story will keep you glued
to the page and turning them to find out what happens next. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That’s it for June! Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com where a wide variety of unique non-fiction and fiction can be found every month, sure to provide you with news of a book you want to read. And come back in July! </span></b></span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com406tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-77316716297885006472015-04-29T12:28:00.002-07:002015-04-30T12:14:39.589-07:00Bookviews - May 2015<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTQA1s4-7fS6Eb7y61a-UY5CMA_mGwNXln94zGMHcKxmbGuuFq05t8lD4BSPNML619rQgjXep2SjfkKzSUNMRB2kTd_j-dXdAFWjQMDaQ-lu1qIvounT6x2s2EcR3c5qIqWC05IufbZU/s1600/Cover+-+Our+Lost+Constitution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTQA1s4-7fS6Eb7y61a-UY5CMA_mGwNXln94zGMHcKxmbGuuFq05t8lD4BSPNML619rQgjXep2SjfkKzSUNMRB2kTd_j-dXdAFWjQMDaQ-lu1qIvounT6x2s2EcR3c5qIqWC05IufbZU/s1600/Cover+-+Our+Lost+Constitution.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s still
early in the year, but by far one of the best books to have been published in
2015 is Senator Mike Lee’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Our Lost
Constitution: The Willful Subversion of America’s Founding Document</b>
($27.95, Sentinel, an imprint of the Penguin Group). Lee (R-Utah) is the
chairman of the Senate Steering Committee and an appointed advisor to Senate
Majority Leaders Mitch McConnell. A former Supreme Court clerk, he serves on
the Senate Judiciary Committee. When you read his book, you will give a silent
prayer of thanks that someone so knowledgeable about the Constitution and so
dedicated to it has been elected to defend it. Indeed, Senators and other U.S.
officials take an oath to defend the Constitution, but it has long been honored
more in word than deed. This book is especially important because we are living
through a period widely understood to be one of lawlessness in the highest
office of the land; a fearful situation in which the President has simply
chosen to ignore the vital and stipulated role of the legislative branch in the
creation of policy. If you have never read the Constitution or were only
briefly taught that its first ten Amendments are our Bill of Rights, this book
will provide you with an understand that opens your eyes to the great issue of
our time that the way the Constitution has continued to serve all Americans
even though it has been under duress since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt
who created a huge federal government with asserted powers not found in the
Constitution. Want to really understand what is happening at the highest levels
of government in America today? Read Sen. Lee’s extraordinary and very
interesting book on the subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-_4ozbwVmdRCDxzddsfsmYI9RxEK7rSt3Uq3oBdOvS_eIizoNcaANKYwXWoXbohXXOgRQw7Drks4o5-BhIxk65x7eA-h7UwkbRtowJV6nOsePCqH-WRW9FccgRN1UAvE1sdP-FlKph8/s1600/Cover+-+Scared+Witless.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-_4ozbwVmdRCDxzddsfsmYI9RxEK7rSt3Uq3oBdOvS_eIizoNcaANKYwXWoXbohXXOgRQw7Drks4o5-BhIxk65x7eA-h7UwkbRtowJV6nOsePCqH-WRW9FccgRN1UAvE1sdP-FlKph8/s1600/Cover+-+Scared+Witless.png" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
been reading Larry Bell’s commentaries on the Forbes magazine site for a long
time. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">He is a
Professor of Architecture at the University of Houston, but he is known to his
readers as one of the most perceptive writers about the global warming/climate
change hoax with which we have been living since the late 1980s. He brings a
host of facts along with his opinion, making him invaluable to those trying to
sort out the lies. His latest book is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scared
Witless: Prophets and Profits of Climate Doom </b>($22.95, Stairway Press,
softcover) and if you have been promising yourself you want to know the truth
about the alleged threats to planet Earth, then this most certainly is the book
to read. You will learn how and why billions have been squandered by our
government and others on the apocalyptic myths that have been repeated
endlessly in the mainstream media. There is no scientific basis to much of what
is still being taught in our schools and presented as climate policy by the
government and the many environmental groups that profit from keep everyone
frightened. Bell’s book is easy to read which is a blessing when you consider
the science it addresses and presents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3SrFAzdmOqjKzvhuWkBaNbKkE8jCI37PaSiLWpSbYBlGt2Yg7cxKrrLiaf8ylBa30nI1f1jGXtRMtMjheKaHk0WeMLuY-IIGGtuPS9CkQJsdCz-lPekM8Z51tVWqDQSD-7vcV1XalxA/s1600/Cover+-+Everyone+is+African.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3SrFAzdmOqjKzvhuWkBaNbKkE8jCI37PaSiLWpSbYBlGt2Yg7cxKrrLiaf8ylBa30nI1f1jGXtRMtMjheKaHk0WeMLuY-IIGGtuPS9CkQJsdCz-lPekM8Z51tVWqDQSD-7vcV1XalxA/s1600/Cover+-+Everyone+is+African.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Everyone is African: How Science
Explodes the Myth of Race </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Daniel J. Fairbanks ($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) examines the research
about DNA and the origins of the human race, all of which concludes that we are
a single human race, sharing most of our DNA and differing only in terms of
mutations that occurred after our ancestors migrated from Africa sixty to
seventy thousand years ago. Fairbanks is the dean of the College of Science and
Health at Utah Valley University, a research geneticist, and author. What he
has to say will upset those who cling to race as an important “difference”, but
what they are really addressing are cultural and social differences, not racial
ones. The science presented is comprehensible even to someone without a
background and the conclusions the book arrives at should be more widely known.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82NA3UwpOmBbUMblZc3j17BWYHV_G995bW0huLHIRj_iEX8usgFihUE0XA7KiGusQ5E1ydcxzisJOFwWjzb-lPTGT6o-D_V5-PFBV9347JRxpH_FqU3spuDm_-9PwCGty-1SLdm-n8S8/s1600/Cover+-+School+Shooters.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82NA3UwpOmBbUMblZc3j17BWYHV_G995bW0huLHIRj_iEX8usgFihUE0XA7KiGusQ5E1ydcxzisJOFwWjzb-lPTGT6o-D_V5-PFBV9347JRxpH_FqU3spuDm_-9PwCGty-1SLdm-n8S8/s1600/Cover+-+School+Shooters.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Few
criminal acts and events evoke more fear and outrage than shootings at schools
that take the lives of students and teachers. Two comes swiftly to mind,
Columbine High School in 1999 and Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. Peter Langman
is a psychologist who has made an intensive study of the shooters in these and
some 48 our incidents. His book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">School
Shooters</b> ($31.00, Rowman and Littlefield) provides a wealth of information
and insight regarding the gunmen, mostly younger and white, mostly psychotic
and psychopathic. In general they lacked the normal constraints on such
behavior being either narcissistic, lacking empathy, or seeking to empower
themselves to offset feelings of inadequacy. The one thing I concluded from
reading this book was that all were what we would call “losers” in some
respect, failing in school, unable to hold jobs, in trouble of one sort of
another. Langman to his credit says there is probably no way to identify the
next school shooter or protect against the next shooting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Science is
one of those topics we hear about all the time, but unless you studied it in
school or college, it is also one of those topics about which many of us have a
very limited knowledge. You can improve yours by reading <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Story of Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang
Theory </b>by Susan Wise Bauer ($26.95, W.W. Norton). A best-selling writer and
historian, Bauer introduces the reader to the development of great science
writing as she walks you through thirty-six seminal scientific texts spanning
2,500 years, making them more approachable in a narrative of the human
understanding of our world and beyond. This book connects the dots, positioning
important scientific texts in both their historical and scientific contexts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRpupbJstTQzrMJj6Xae4TOama057wAUsFPHG70nQ7Mxh7aoGrk_NnszgtE-CVXlX_6tEZo52I49osypOQo4b3nYroLHD_qOrX_B9gDkexCXZ9WTi1WCBt6LW-fNuszVbCLL0g8cMpTKE/s1600/Cover+-+NO+Classic+Celebrations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRpupbJstTQzrMJj6Xae4TOama057wAUsFPHG70nQ7Mxh7aoGrk_NnszgtE-CVXlX_6tEZo52I49osypOQo4b3nYroLHD_qOrX_B9gDkexCXZ9WTi1WCBt6LW-fNuszVbCLL0g8cMpTKE/s1600/Cover+-+NO+Classic+Celebrations.jpg" height="199" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Over the
years I have received many cookbooks and one of the best publishes of them is
Pelican Publishing Company of New Orleans. Among their latest is Kit Wohl’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New Orleans Classic Celebrations </b>($16.95).
Anyone who has ever visited New Orleans comes away with memories of the
fabulous cuisine that its many restaurants offer. Wohl is an author,
photographer, and artist. She works with chefs, restaurants, and hotels around
the nation and this book is her tenth. It features a hundred color photos to
illustrate its many fabulous recipes such as Le Petite Grocery’s blue crab
beignets, onion soup from Arnaud’s, and Mosca’s Chicken Grande. They have
easy-to-follow instructions for the home cook and the photos alone would make
one want to head to the kitchen to prepare and share any one of the wonderful
dishes. Pelican has a series devoted to classic recipes for desserts, brunches,
seafood and appetizers, among others. A great gift for oneself or the “foodie”
you know will love it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtI1W9ZC9fgwf46AZoTcaygryqSOLViJafWm_MV6wbjjXeC1LQSZ6_cIMZMLftDRIQAHsBP4wUbWdbuXPwQKZeprzJ0ZX85pCi9j5CBU4BUKyGNSkwFRHIRv50VH-OA_M-StVaQeIkzkY/s1600/Cover+=+Find+Momo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtI1W9ZC9fgwf46AZoTcaygryqSOLViJafWm_MV6wbjjXeC1LQSZ6_cIMZMLftDRIQAHsBP4wUbWdbuXPwQKZeprzJ0ZX85pCi9j5CBU4BUKyGNSkwFRHIRv50VH-OA_M-StVaQeIkzkY/s1600/Cover+=+Find+Momo.png" height="200" width="189" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I love a
book that exists just to be fun. That is a perfect description of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Find Momo Coast to Coast </b>($14.95, Quirk
Books, softcover)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>by photographer
Andrew Knapp and his border collie Momo who came to fame in 2012 when Knapp
began sharing photos of him on Instragram. Together they made their literary
debut in 2013 with “Find Momo” as that enjoyed playing hide-and-seek around the
world. This new book chronicles a 15,000 miles tail-waggingly fun adventure
across the U.S. and Canada. The photos are a splendid way for anyone old or
young to get acquainted with both nations as both famed sites and those little
known are visited and Momo peeks out at you after you finally find him in the
setting. It never ceases to be entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Memoirs and Biographies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmglzpfBRrMRKcCvaNn5LEq140jOCaf21ZbHjyQe4Ey_8gscMfT-8rqJFJDUOBMnI06VX7vvKjl_I2-GL1E1AKfW7byCqmlv6dKFriLbFgrMmXmlcc3Z3gimnZ_REJSYEUe6a7N3ismTc/s1600/Cover+-+And+the+Good+News+Is.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmglzpfBRrMRKcCvaNn5LEq140jOCaf21ZbHjyQe4Ey_8gscMfT-8rqJFJDUOBMnI06VX7vvKjl_I2-GL1E1AKfW7byCqmlv6dKFriLbFgrMmXmlcc3Z3gimnZ_REJSYEUe6a7N3ismTc/s1600/Cover+-+And+the+Good+News+Is.png" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
been a fan of Dana Perino from her days as the press secretary to George W.
Bush and now as one of the Fox News show, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Five</i>. It doesn’t hurt that she is simply quite beautiful, but I have always
been impressed by, first, her ability to deal with the White House press during
the Bush years and, now, for the unfailingly wise interpretation of events and
personalities about which she is asked to comment. Her new book is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And the Good News Is… </b>($26.00, Twelve)
is a memoir as well as a sharing of lessons she has learned in her life. It
would make especially good reading for any young woman who likewise admires
her, but the book will surely please any reader because it is filled with good
humor plus behind-the-scenes stories from her days in the White House and now
at Fox News. We learn for example that her father expected her to pick out two
news stories from the Denver Post or Rocky Mountain News and be prepared to
discuss them a dinner. She credits that will learning how to articulate her
thoughts and present her views persuasively. There is no doubt that she was
hired for some very challenging jobs in her government career because others
saw she had significant skills. She has had a full life to this point and one
about which you will enjoy reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We all
look at actors and actresses, especially during award shows, and think what
fabulous lives they have. Lisa Jakub tells a very different story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You Look Like That Girl: A Child Actor
Stops Pretending and Finally Grows Up </b>($24.95, Beaufort Books). From the
age of four, she had a very successful career, appearing in forty movies and
television shows over the course of 18-years in which she had appeared in
blockbusters like “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Independence Day.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her was indeed a life of red carpets, luxury,
celebrity filled dinner parties, and all the things people think are fabulous.
“However, like many actors I knew, I failed miserably at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feeling </i>successful. When we signed autographs we worried we would
be failures if we never signed another one. When we were auditioning, we worried
we would never work again. When we were working, we worried that the film might
be terrible and could ruin our careers.” Sounds like fun? Hardly. In a chapter
titled “Professional Pretender”, Jakub says “I think that there should be
Oscars given for coal mining. There should be a red carpet night for 011
operators and orphanage employees.” These were real jobs that real people were
living. Here is a completely candid, honest look at the life of a child actor
and ultimately how and why Jakub walked away from it to have a life based in
the pursuit of reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Nazi
Holocaust is fading into history except for those who survived it, their loved
ones, and for the nation of Israel that rose from its ashes. It also produced
many memoirs and each reminds us of the horrors of the 1930s and 40s. It also
reminds us of the personal courage of people to survive a hatred we are seeing
mirrored in today’s headlines of a comparable Islamic campaign to kill the
Middle East’s Christians. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">An Improbable
Journey: A True Story of Courage and Survival During World War II</b> by Susan
Schenkel, Ph.D. ($12.95, Brightfield Books, softcover) is based the lives of
her parents, Leon and Siddi Schenkel. Siddi was only 16 when she was left on
her own in Nazi Germany and, like Leon, she had found her way to Samarkand,
Uzbekistan to escape the fate that before six million European Jews. That is
where they met and fell in love. Together they faced starvation, homelessness,
epidemics, and harassment from the Soviet police. Despite this, they had a
baby. After the war they returned to Germany and a displaced persons camp from
which they eventually made their way to America. This memoir is a small piece
of history, but reading it will provide a unique window in those times and
insights toward our present times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2H9gNjJGH6pA5G5Edmwls-mg9Jv4wWqjWeeVcckfNW-YMKzxMHiK6OOw1TxX_3W-Bk5_r2jzET-I6-RTVP7lQbH4sfVt2KdqCtE5AS-SV2FA0m_LDbSUfGHr-o6nMLQfh3Wlq9uYqfU/s1600/Cover+-+Mrs.+Lee's%2BRose%2BGarden.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2H9gNjJGH6pA5G5Edmwls-mg9Jv4wWqjWeeVcckfNW-YMKzxMHiK6OOw1TxX_3W-Bk5_r2jzET-I6-RTVP7lQbH4sfVt2KdqCtE5AS-SV2FA0m_LDbSUfGHr-o6nMLQfh3Wlq9uYqfU/s1600/Cover+-+Mrs.+Lee's%2BRose%2BGarden.png" height="200" width="145" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We think
of it as the mansion that overlooks Arlington National Cemetery, but for a very
long time before it was known as the George Washington Parke Custis Mansion and
it was one of the most recognized buildings in the region, visible from almost
anywhere in Washington, D.C. It was built by the step-grandson of Washington.
It would become the home of his daughter, Mary Anna Custis Lee and her husband,
General Robert E. Lee who had lived there for thirty years. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mrs. Lee’s Rose Garden: The True Story of
the Founding of Arlington</b> by Carlo Devito ($17.95, Cider Mill Press) tells
of its transition from a treasured Lee family home, to hallowed ground. Lee was
already an acclaimed general at the time the Civil War broke out. Choosing the
lead the South, it would also cause him the loss of the mansion. Its vast
grounds were chosen as a national cemetery not just for their location, but as
a rebuke to Lee. This is a short book, but it is filled with the drama of the
lives most intimately involved with the mansion and provides a wonderful look
at the pre-and-post Civil War era. They come alive as real people faced with
their personal and the national dramas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wars are
the punctuation marks of history and they generate much telling of it. Whole
libraries could be filled with those about World War II and you can add <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of
the USS Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze Attack</b> by John Wukovits
($25.99, Da Capo Press). In our times we have the Muslim suicide bombers, but
during WWII the Japanese had their own suicide killers who flew aircraft loaded
with explosives into war ships. The Laffey gain fame as “The ship that refused
to die”, but not until thirty-two of its crew had died, over seventy were
wounded, and the ship was gravely damaged. On April 16, 1945 he was attacked by
twenty-two kamikaze aircraft, marking the largest single-ship attack of the
war. Nine of the aircraft were shot down in the 80-minute battle and, despite
the damage, the ship managed to return home. This year marks the 70<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
anniversary of the attack. The hero of the story is the Laffey’s commander, F.
Julian Becton, who took an inexperienced crew—many just barely out of high
school—and prepared them for battle with rigorous training drills. The whole
crew were, of course, heroes and testimony to “the greatest generation” that
faced a fanatical, determined enemy and defeated it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Although
they were on the wrong side of the law, we still have a strange sweet spot for
the bad boys, the criminals who made history in their own way. That is why the
Mafia became part of U.S. history after some of its members migrated from
Italy. The era of Prohibition became a unique opportunity to make a lot of
money providing the booze that a Constitutional Amendment had banned. Bill
Friedman has written a massive tome, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">30
Illegal Years to the Strip</b> ($19.99, available from Internet book outlets,
ebook $9.99. It looks at the careers of the most powerful gangsters in American
history; men whose names like Al Capone, Charlie Luciano, and Meyer Lansky are
well known thanks to the popular culture of films and television. The criminals
of that era would go on to build 80% of the early Las Vegas Strip gambling
resorts from the Flamingo in 1946 to Caesars Palace in 1966. This is an
intensely researched book about three decades of organized crime starting with
Prohibition and how these hoodlums changed course to set in motion the most
famed gaming capital in America. Under different circumstances they might have
been regarded as business leaders, but they also occasionally ordered the
murder of those that threatened their lives and livelihood. During WWII, Luciano
and Lansky would have been regarded as heroes for ordering dock workers to
cooperation with U.S. Naval intelligence to thwart the German U-boat attacks on
allied ships. Chapter by chapter this is fascinating history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
(Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If and
when the nation encounters a financial meltdown, it won’t be because lots of
well- informed people did not issue warnings. The latest is Michael D. Tanner’s
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Going for Broke: Deficits, Debt, and the
Entitlement Crisis </b>($18.95, Cato Institute). Tanner is a senior fellow with
the libertarian Cato Institute, an expert on health care reform, social welfare
policy, and Social Security. His latest book points to a federal government
that continues to grow and the overspending for which it has become famous. At
this writing, we have an $18 trillion debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In sum, Tanner warms could end up a financial basket case like Greece.
The entitlement programs represent 47% of federal spending today. The addition
of the Affordable Care Act only adds to deficit to the tune of a trillion a
year. This book will be read by those who take such matters seriously, but its
predictions will affect everyone. If Tanner’s book doesn’t keep you up at
night, Philip Kotler’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Confronting
Capitalism</b> will ($26.00, Amacom). Kotler is a professor of International
marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, but
trained initially as an economist, being taught by the University of Chicago’s
famed free-market evangelist, Milton Friedman, and later under Paul Samuelson
at MIT. Suffice to say, he has terrific credentials, but he also has a host of
reservations about the capitalist system that has made the USA the wealthiest
nation on planet Earth and which has survived depressions and recessions once
the government got out of the way and let it work. Kotler serves up a book
filled with reasons, trends and predictions that suggests trouble ahead, but I
have to say I have been reviewing books for over fifty years at this point and
have seen this kind of thing before. Is he right? Maybe. Your move!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">People
love to read books by people who have achieved great success and that is a good
description of John Sculley, the former CEO of Pepsi and Apple. If you would
like to join that multi-millionaire club, you might want to read his book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moonshot! Game-Changing Strategies to Build
Billion-Dollar Businesses </b>($27.95, Rosette Books). The book’s target
audience are entrepreneurs, investors and young business leaders. Sculley,
unlike the academics noted above, has been there first hand and his book says
that all those high tech industries are going to disrupt virtually every
industry in some fashion. Moreover, the traditional business plan has been
irrelevant and is being replaced by the customer plant. Indeed, the best way in
the future to success is to provide superb customer service and, best of all,
this is the best time in history to build a billion-dollar business. Now this
is the kind of book I like reading! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGfU4V_eYt6f9O2LrjgRsYBt_AHFEXPcQUfKqi5DocaJFMGRjhC-bSm0qbJrIxuxtZ7xQvM9SDm64qEHEa7M-znODOhh8DaFytvudHXj1jy2bzy04s0Jnxok1zgZwCp_kt20JnIzOMtc/s1600/cover+-+A+Higher+Standard.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGfU4V_eYt6f9O2LrjgRsYBt_AHFEXPcQUfKqi5DocaJFMGRjhC-bSm0qbJrIxuxtZ7xQvM9SDm64qEHEa7M-znODOhh8DaFytvudHXj1jy2bzy04s0Jnxok1zgZwCp_kt20JnIzOMtc/s1600/cover+-+A+Higher+Standard.png" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There is
no end to books offering advice on leadership skills and for anyone in the
world of business or any other activity they can often be very helpful. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Higher Standard </b>was written by
General Ann Dunwoody (U.S. Army, Ret.) and is subtitled “Leadership skills from
America’s first female four-star general” ($25.99, Da Capo Press) and it is
just that. She relates her 37 years with the military and what she learned
along the way, sharing her view they men and women must pursue excellence,
demonstrate integrity, and cultivate endurance. Best of all it is filled with
practical business advice such as never ignoring a mistake and holding those
who make them accountable. She says leaders aren’t invincible and should try to
be, while at the same time learning to recognize your advocates, patronizers,
and detractors. She advises on the best ways to form a winning team. And much
more. She was the first woman to become a four-star general so she knows
whereof she speaks. For those in the management ranks, you might consider
reading Laurie Sudbrink’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leading With
GRIT: Inspiring Action and Accountability with Generosity, Respect, Integrity,
and Truth </b>($35.00 Wiley).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you
know this is worth reading? Consider the publisher, Wiley, one of the top
business book publishers. Then consider the author who brings twenty years of
corporate experience in human relations, management, sales, marketing and
training to this book. This is a practical leadership guide and, at the same
time, will show you how to approach your job and life with a positive feeling
about who you are and where you’re going. Those who master leadership skills
and attitudes go onto to become leaders and this book is a good place to start.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrdsZmJScn43Eiz12cKyVno278QhB-MiQERQn_P1lMny_9S2LuErVXro9RGbYZGGLIckhKqDTrZzrTXW4jpHkT7BE8-_cS_C4sBH8VxS0T501NhDJnVHv0kGzFYrQrx5K3S27rWnKNhA/s1600/cover+-+Thin+Green+Line.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrdsZmJScn43Eiz12cKyVno278QhB-MiQERQn_P1lMny_9S2LuErVXro9RGbYZGGLIckhKqDTrZzrTXW4jpHkT7BE8-_cS_C4sBH8VxS0T501NhDJnVHv0kGzFYrQrx5K3S27rWnKNhA/s1600/cover+-+Thin+Green+Line.png" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When those
big bucks begin to come in, you might want to read Paul Sullivan’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of
the Super Wealthy</b> ($27.00, Simon & Schuster). I will hold onto this one
in case I hit the Lotto Power Ball. Sullivan is the “Wealth Matters” columnist
at The New York Times and draws on his experience writing about today’s One
Percent to show others how to make better financial decisions. Indeed, he makes
a distinction between being wealthy and being rich, the former being having
more money than you need to do all the things you want. Being rich, on the
other hand, says Sullivan means being financial secure even in hard times. His
book looks at how we think about money and wealth, and being honest with our
fears and insecurities, as a way to arrive at rational decisions. He discusses
both spending and saving money which is something to which we often do not give
much thought. If you intend to get rich or already closing in on that level of
security, this is a book worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Increasingly,
people and industries here in the West are looking at doing business in Asia.
Mark L. Clifford has lived in Asia for twenty-five years as a journalist,
author, and policy advisor, witnessing and chronicling the ups and downs of
Asia’s spectacular economic rise. His new book is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia’s
Environmental Emergency </b>($29.95, Columbia University Press) and it looks at
the way, for example, China’s environment, its air and water, has suffered in the
quest to embrace a free market economy and join the rest of the world in the
pursuit of a growing, successful economy. Clifford is an advocate for “green”
solutions to issues such as energy use and pollution, so his book, while
celebrating the success Asian business is enjoying, also is filled with
warnings about the price it will pay for it. The problem with that is that wind
and solar energy cannot even begin to meet the needs of Asia or anywhere else
for that matter. Europe is already divesting itself of these power sources and
returning to coal and considering nuclear power to meet its growing needs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbmVGrCGAceGkLR5IngHAphqohvlIA8jYzVZGMZpkEPzZ1jsXc00PNKzmza6IjnmDol1te6q6w1vUO7VewB7bXEk3aBeF1wNg9uEkNPq60GmRm9ecQe523cHdnp92kJ347gJ6vKVcISA/s1600/Cover+-+Beat+the+Crowd.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbmVGrCGAceGkLR5IngHAphqohvlIA8jYzVZGMZpkEPzZ1jsXc00PNKzmza6IjnmDol1te6q6w1vUO7VewB7bXEk3aBeF1wNg9uEkNPq60GmRm9ecQe523cHdnp92kJ347gJ6vKVcISA/s1600/Cover+-+Beat+the+Crowd.png" height="200" width="134" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There will
never be an end to books on investing and that is because changes in the
business community, new technologies that generate new investment options, and
other factors all need to be addressed. Ken Fisher, a billionaire, best-selling
author, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forbes </i>“Portfolio
Strategy” columnist is well worth reading for his insights and advice. His new
book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beat the Crowd: How You Can
Out-Invest the Herd by Thinking Differently </b>($29.95, Wiley) is the book
anyone contemplating investing or already doing so should read because he
explores our contrarianism as an investment strategy rather than following the
herd is worth understanding. Wall Street’s definition of contrarian investing
is simplistic and wrong, says Fisher, one of the most successful money managers
in history. His firm controls nearly $65 billion in assets. He defines it as
being smarter than the crowd by finding and leveraging valuable information
that isn’t already priced into a stock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His book reveals how to train your brain to battle the media, the crowd,
your friends, and your neighbors. Independent thought is the key to successful
investing says Fisher. There’s nothing magical about this and he says that you
just have to be right more often than wrong. “A 60% success rate keeps you well
ahead of most.” It is filled with the most basic knowledge of the market to
know whether you are a novice or serious investor. “Stocks are your long-term way
to own” the benefits of the changes occurring thanks in large part to new and
developing technologies shaping the economy. This is definitely the book to
read on this subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David
Ignatius is a prize-winning columnist for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Washington Post</i> who has more than twenty-five year’s experience
covering the Middle East and the CIA. He is also the author of several novels
that have put him in the ranks of our best. He cements that reputation with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Director </b>($16.95, W.W. Norton,
softcover) that begins when a disheveled youth walks into the American
consulate in Hamburg and demands a private interview with the new CIA director.
The consulate is dismissive until he tells them the agency has been hacked and
that he has a list of undercover agents’ names as proof. At this point you will
be reading a fast-paced thriller that feels like it was ripped from the
headlines as we read about such hacks. The new Director has only been in office
for a week when he receives word that the agency has been hacked and that no
one is safe. What the young hacker wants is an exchange of the information he
has for protection from the people trying to kill him. A young, tech-savvy
agent is assigned to the case, but the Director begins to have suspicions of
him. This is a cyber-espionage novel that guarantees a story you will not want
to put down until the last page. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcpgh8IIpuv0swIzifF4QOmfKpF2EiAG_I28jM4qc9_LYHwDj9vhli-k48Mx6J8j9zVw2TFwsKo_4H1M5ZJtHyF8-u0gr1lWIxaz7OQ0Y5owXJYM09sUuUsu7503oueYzc_K-98qX5RI/s1600/cover+-+Sniper+and+the+Wolf.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcpgh8IIpuv0swIzifF4QOmfKpF2EiAG_I28jM4qc9_LYHwDj9vhli-k48Mx6J8j9zVw2TFwsKo_4H1M5ZJtHyF8-u0gr1lWIxaz7OQ0Y5owXJYM09sUuUsu7503oueYzc_K-98qX5RI/s1600/cover+-+Sniper+and+the+Wolf.png" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
action-packed novel is Scott McEwen’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Sniper and the Wolf </b>($24.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster).
McEwen is the coauthor with Chris Kyle of the huge bestseller of “American
Sniper” which went on to become an Oscar-winning blockbuster film. This novel
was co-written with Thomas Kolonair. Together they have created a
heart-pounding military thriller, the third inspired by Special Ops missions.
In this story, hero Gil Shannon joins up with an unlikely Russian ally in order
to stop a terrorist plot bent on destruction across Europe. Shannon is hot on the
trail of a Chechen terrorist when his mission is exposed by a traitor high up
in the U.S. government and he must turn to a Russian counterpart. Together they
discover his goal is to upend the U.S. economy and the stability of the Western
world. The hunt takes Shannon from Sicily to the Ukraine to Russia and you get
to go along as he must get to the one sniper who might be his equal and who
wants to kill him. The fact that the story is based on events from real life
makes it a page-turner. Thrillers abound and Charlie Newton’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Traitor’s Gate </b>($14.95, Thomas &
Mercer, softcover) takes the reader to the days just before the first shots of
World War II. A survivor of a brutal massacre that left her family dead, Saba
Hassouneh becomes The Raven, a freedom fighter hunted throughout the Middle
East by the British colonial powers and religious mullahs alike. When she meets
Eddie Owen, a petroleum engineer, their attraction is immediate, but their
goals are diametrically opposed because she is eyeing British refineries as a
point of attack. The must resolve their personal issues and, in doing so,
determine who will own the skies of World War II. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibuhybaM7ttKtp3yWBxVgxb6kM6kyZAOeJmPeq-L1L41zuil7bHf808eA5cgY-Yy0oK4jOe6ugUrygeP5XRTAY-Fw2aD92MHka5h5dIOD2G2bIlrhPJG_neH_7yR0wDY7_tCQnFSZ0Hx4/s1600/Cover+-+Backlands.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibuhybaM7ttKtp3yWBxVgxb6kM6kyZAOeJmPeq-L1L41zuil7bHf808eA5cgY-Yy0oK4jOe6ugUrygeP5XRTAY-Fw2aD92MHka5h5dIOD2G2bIlrhPJG_neH_7yR0wDY7_tCQnFSZ0Hx4/s1600/Cover+-+Backlands.png" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Victoria
Shorr intended to write a non-fiction account of the life of a beloved
Brazillian legend, the one-eyed bandit Lampiao and his lover, Maria Bonita, but
instead she opted to tell their story In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Backlands</b>
($25.95, W.W. Norton), bring to life the story of this Robin Hood hero whose
gang avoided capture for a long time by living in the Sertao, the name which
translated into the title of this story. They did indeed steal from the rich
and give to the poor in the early decades of the 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century,
outwitting the authorities for twenty years. They were regarded as heroes by
poor farmers and struggling merchants. The author devoted ten years to
researching the story, concluding that the lives of Lampiao and Bonita lent
themselves better to a fictional format. The facts remain true, but her lyrical
telling of them makes this a story well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mystery
and murder combine in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fatal Sin of
Love </b>($11.50, Back Bay Press, softcover). Somebody’s killing chocolate
lovers in Boston and China. When a wealthy Back Bay widow dies in her sleep,
nobody suspects that it’s just the beginning of a carefully laid out plot to
hijack the multimillion dollar inheritance that the Chinese American dowager
left to members of her far-flung family. Well, nobody but amateur detectives Ann
Lee and Fang Chen. Written by G.X. Chen, who was born in Shanghai and raised in Hong
Kong. A trip back to the mainland China in 1965 trapped her there for decades
under Communist rule. After the Cultural Revolution, she became a best-selling
author. These days she has a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico,
having left China in 1989. She is now an American citizen, this is her fourth
American novel. The good news is that there are more to come. This is a
great way to learn about another culture while enjoying a great mystery as
well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for May! Come back next month for more news of books you may not hear or
read about elsewhere. Tell your book-loving family members, friends and
co-workers about Bookviews.com so they too can benefit from its eclectic news
about the latest in non-fiction and fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com186tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-52401001218187796312015-03-31T08:30:00.002-07:002015-05-28T14:04:52.658-07:00Bookviews - April 2015<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZcgZ3qAL6FmpVY_VueQx6M3rTJ3B0SvuW8TJzBK0-GMmNCMVYQQXtHyJu9is633XNS2Y9X6rukBR7wyhQSzbMJp-V091y9qeE5pt7_B0cGExPkc5woPolsSggoHeIzl4O0t3BtG4Rzuw/s1600/Cover+-+Body+of+Truth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZcgZ3qAL6FmpVY_VueQx6M3rTJ3B0SvuW8TJzBK0-GMmNCMVYQQXtHyJu9is633XNS2Y9X6rukBR7wyhQSzbMJp-V091y9qeE5pt7_B0cGExPkc5woPolsSggoHeIzl4O0t3BtG4Rzuw/s1600/Cover+-+Body+of+Truth.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Does it
seem like all we hear about these days is how fat Americans are? Most surely
that accounts for the dozens of diet books I receive. Imagine then how pleased
I was to read Harriet Brown’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Body of
Truth: How Science, History, and Culture Drive Our Obsession with Weight and
What We Can Do About it </b>($25.99, Da Capo Press). In its introduction she
says, “We’re in the midst of an epidemic, one that’s destroying both the
quality and the longevity of our lives. I’m not talking about overweight or
obesity. I’m talking about our obsession with weight, our never-ending quest
for thinness, our relentless angst about our bodies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her book tackles the myths and realities of
the “obesity epidemic” and exposes the biggest lies driving the rhetoric of
obesity. How nice it would be to have a day in which we are not constantly
warned about eating sugar or wheat when candy and freshly baked items are among
life’s greatest pleasures. Her book offers ways to think about weight and
health with more common sense, accuracy, and respect. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are not likely to read or hear about this
excellent book in the mainstream press because of the billions that the diet
craze represents in advertising and revenue for physicians, pharmaceutical
companies, and diet programs. All the more reason to read it and learn the
truth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPsA2DEZ__0rhAjMwH_tY5YMBFfuzQAo4zsl-dj7JXW44RKrHpoJ8KqPGnAtUOEZbXorpPk9298idCU2TbK4kPgZ42D8dkOiTsqa9NJ8ypHFmg_mhn2nOVIkUPyYSLo5IHq3481SxgnI/s1600/Cover+-+Don't%2BMake%2BBlack%2BKids%2BMad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPsA2DEZ__0rhAjMwH_tY5YMBFfuzQAo4zsl-dj7JXW44RKrHpoJ8KqPGnAtUOEZbXorpPk9298idCU2TbK4kPgZ42D8dkOiTsqa9NJ8ypHFmg_mhn2nOVIkUPyYSLo5IHq3481SxgnI/s1600/Cover+-+Don't%2BMake%2BBlack%2BKids%2BMad.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A CNN poll
whose results were released in March showed that nearly half of Americans
believe race relations have worsened over the course of the presidency of
Barack Obama, the first half-black man elected to the White House. The poll
found that 39% believe relations between blacks and whites have gotten worse,
not better, since Mr. Obama took office in January 2009. Just 15% say relations
have improved. It found that 45% of whites think relations have worsened while just
26% of blacks think so. If race relations in America is a subject of interest
and concern to you, then you will want to read Colin Flaherty’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry’</b>
(available from Amazon.Com and other Internet book outlets, $19.72, softcover,
$6.99 Kindle.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I reviewed Flaherty’s
first book, “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The return of racial violence in America” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which caused a sensation became a bestseller
as it documented and revealed how the nation’s press consistently failed to report
a trend in attacks on whites by blacks that were based entirely on racial bias.
His new book looks how Americans are being led to believe that it is “white
racism” that is causing comparable attacks, but not being told about the
attacks such as a thousand Asian immigrants were brutalized for five years
before the local newspaper took notice or the 40,000 blacks that rampaged
through a Virginia beach town with little media coverage. A thousand such
events are reported in his new book by this award winning reporter. At a time
when all we read and hear about are black youths being shot by local police,
barely being told they attacked the officers who acted in self-defense, this
book has much to say and explain the state of race relations in America today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMiu_BRP-Dd1tto2E-eavN9eowH5DSGQ6nQ-c9Sacyw-VtROX-UNAdjT1Fk7A7I5LKQ4uQSGcQUTGva0b59m1vJ-57Z6DLkH5z63TnBU0Om3dbRLXvlbYEsqYP6mqQXULHsDGfeB5tfT0/s1600/Cover+-+A+Really+Inconvenient+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMiu_BRP-Dd1tto2E-eavN9eowH5DSGQ6nQ-c9Sacyw-VtROX-UNAdjT1Fk7A7I5LKQ4uQSGcQUTGva0b59m1vJ-57Z6DLkH5z63TnBU0Om3dbRLXvlbYEsqYP6mqQXULHsDGfeB5tfT0/s1600/Cover+-+A+Really+Inconvenient+Truth.png" width="153" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The global
warming hoax is finally beginning to give up the ghost thanks to 19 years in
which the Earth has been in a cooling cycle based on the Sun’s reduced
radiation, also a natural cycle. Al Gore got the hoax going bigtime with his
book, “An Inconvenient Truth”, that was filled with absurd claims that the
north and south poles would be melted by now, that polar bears would be extinct
and all manner of weather-related events would produce chaos. Philip M. Fishman
has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Really Inconvenient Truth:
The Case Against the Theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming </b>($19.95, MPS
Publishing, softcover) that is intended to be read by those who may not have
the scientific background or knowledge to make sense of all the claims. Fishman
explains all the basics you need to know from the way the scientific method
works to the aspects of climatology, the study of long-term trends that
confirms that, yes, there were warm cycles, just as there were cold ones. These
are the facts the “Warmists” who are still making claims about global warming
don’t want you to know. The surprising thing about this highly readable book is
the breadth of knowledge it covers without requiring you to read hundreds of
pages. At 114 pages it is a breeze to read. Fishman makes no predictions, the
common trait of the “Warmists.” Instead, he lays out the science-based
information you need to know to refute “the convoluted logic that Theorists
have used to spread their ‘Gospel.’” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTG9Jqxba6xV75i3hhC7tpQrOEu8Oit9fSCoJnt8CmYczfEj8q3qs7CVZTZ6FFQOFk1uZa1f3Z9IveEwGQoiHB2mHe2SPXmJiimsNo-GY8B4hgh8vFrJ0ifY0sVkM4QhiogCFDk4TOJQ/s1600/Cover+-+America+in+Crisis.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTG9Jqxba6xV75i3hhC7tpQrOEu8Oit9fSCoJnt8CmYczfEj8q3qs7CVZTZ6FFQOFk1uZa1f3Z9IveEwGQoiHB2mHe2SPXmJiimsNo-GY8B4hgh8vFrJ0ifY0sVkM4QhiogCFDk4TOJQ/s1600/Cover+-+America+in+Crisis.png" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If all the
headlines these days have you concerned about the future of America, you are
not alone. Fortunately, James Langston has taken a careful look at what is
occurring in his new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America In
Crisis</b> ($11.46 at Amazon.com, softcover). “Lumbering through a moral
wilderness of incivility and unreason we are losing the best of ourselves to
fear and uncertainty,” says Langston as he asks if we have lost our sense of
right and wrong, but notes that, as a nation, “we have gone from fear to faith
countless times.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Langston offers some
inspirational analysis of the issues and challenges of our times. Younger
readers in particular would benefit from reading Langston’s book that cites our
nation’s history throughout, providing a sense of clarity and insight regarding
our present problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our
headlines are filled with news of barbaric acts perpetrated by the Islamic
State (ISIS) in its quest to create a new caliphate from which to conquer and
dominate the world. Beheadings, crucifixions, kidnappings and slavery are its
stock-in-track. A genocidal attack on Christians throughout the Middle East
makes one ask why are they doing this and Hector A. Garcia, PhD provides an
answer in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alpha God: The Psychology of
Religious Violence and Oppression </b>($19.00, Prometheus Books,
softcover).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author, a clinical
psychologist, examines religious scriptures, rituals, and canon law,
highlighting the many ways in which our evolutionary legacy has shaped the
development of religion and continues to profoundly influence its expression.
The author focuses on the image of God as the dominant male in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. This is not light reading, nor does it provide much
comfort, but it does provide an interesting look at the way religions reflect
early human societies and affect our present ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bookviews
is generally a boost-don’t-knock report on new books. I am going to make an
exception to that regarding <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Coal Wars:
The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet</b> by Richard Martin ($28.00,
Palgrave Macmillan) because, while it acknowledges that coal provides 45% of
the world’s electrical power, it also embraces the totally debunked
environmental claims that it is causing or will cause “global warming” by
putting too much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. The fact is that CO2
levels have been increasing but the Earth has, at the same time, been in a
cooling cycle of some 19 years. It is not warming and, more importantly, the
amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was far higher centuries ago and its vegetation
and animal life thrived. At present it represents a miniscule 0.04% of the
atmosphere. We could use more, not less CO2 for healthier forests and increased
crops. The fact that Martin is the editorial director of Navigant Research,
“the premier clean energy (solar and wind) and analysis firm” reveals his bias
and the flawed theme of this book. My suggestion is that you ignore it and all
the other claims of so-called climate change. The Earth’s climate has been
changing for 4.5 billion years and coal has nothing to do with it. What does?
The Sun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGNx5Zhv3ioazUd4qnRd-VRM_RqAgJeWJl4w5mcPOTAkQ-O879UDw5N2PfWwm_ozirVFIxXRWH2eXxnaHK4MSU-7IC9Ys27abeWtsbt99EXegyYIvQUdrdDjP9jDsHf5b2kp_ErrJzJ0/s1600/Cover+-+Wild+Ideas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGNx5Zhv3ioazUd4qnRd-VRM_RqAgJeWJl4w5mcPOTAkQ-O879UDw5N2PfWwm_ozirVFIxXRWH2eXxnaHK4MSU-7IC9Ys27abeWtsbt99EXegyYIvQUdrdDjP9jDsHf5b2kp_ErrJzJ0/s1600/Cover+-+Wild+Ideas.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Only
received one children’s book this past month, but it is well worth
recommending. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wild Ideas: Let Nature
Inspire Your Thinking </b>($18.95, Owlkids Books) by Elin Kelsey is, says the
publisher, aimed at youngsters age 4 and up, but the earlier ages will need a
parent to read it aloud to them because its vocabulary is for older readers at
least 7 and up. A picture book, it is illustrated in ways to stimulate the
imagination while its text features examples of how various animals from birds
to whales solve problems. It generates respect for other species at the same
time it teaches the young reader how to solve their problems. Its artwork makes
it fun and its text is imaginative and inspiring. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1nFg5g9kMlIPBo0tuwHEfvHnpa7zCili9smTLMVwbvFxyxPiHxlWGKj9A1V-Y1sRHt_cqgiDtt-btUXk4zOs4PVV0amWe-gHXQmRvj1-cEeEiMLBplG3BbytFWOSfEa2OoRfFNniro6U/s1600/Cover+-+Let+Us+Teach.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1nFg5g9kMlIPBo0tuwHEfvHnpa7zCili9smTLMVwbvFxyxPiHxlWGKj9A1V-Y1sRHt_cqgiDtt-btUXk4zOs4PVV0amWe-gHXQmRvj1-cEeEiMLBplG3BbytFWOSfEa2OoRfFNniro6U/s1600/Cover+-+Let+Us+Teach.png" width="140" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On the
subject of teaching, if you are a teacher or know one, Caroline Alexander Lewis
has penned a short, pithy book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Just
Back Off and Let Us Teach </b>($16.99, Dog Ear Publishing, softcover) asserting
that if America wants to reform public education and regain its status in the
world if must begin to value the good teachers and find ways to remove the poor
ones from the classroom. Or as she puts it, unions should not provide job
security for bad teachers. Both descriptive and motivational, her book defines
five skills effective teachers must either have or acquire. For 22 years she
was a teacher and a school principal before moving on to develop new programs
in other fields. I would call this book “must reading” for any teacher.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A
collection of quotations by Russ Kick is aptly named <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flash Wisdom </b>($14.95, Disinformation Books, softcover) as his selection
from poets, philosophers, scientists, and others provides pages of instant
insight regarding all aspects of life. This is one of those books you keep
handy to energize your mind with quotes that open doors on the best way to live
one’s life. Keep it bedside or on your desk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Memoirs and Memories<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We live in
a culture that thrives on celebrity news of their lives. This has been true
throughout history when the royalty were fair game for discussion. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In the Company of Legends</b> by Joan
Kramer and David Heely, with a foreword by Richard Dreyfus ($24.95, Beaufort
Books) who together have won five Emmy Awards in addition to the twenty Emmy
nominations they received, as the producers of many television programs. Their
book focuses on the famous folk about whom they produced TV profiles. They
included Katherine Hepburn, Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Ronald and Nancy
Reagan, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Bette
Davis, among others. Noted film history, Robert Osborne, said of their book
that it is “a king’s ransom of fascinating stories about colorful, bigger than
life people we know, but didn’t know…told by people who actually knew the
celebrities they write about…” If you love Hollywood and its legendary actors
and actresses, you will love this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdsiQoePtAKR3fx4ant0hDi-Bd5j2iIWRUEW9rvrnUYgiAdESfKXer3kXlqmt7qldhK__kw0Q0ZWyhJ-eLrGYiC2Hh1F9idndJ7mokjvoL8Ah3tBYbz6dM-M5_tqva6jBZvfUJHyvSuE/s1600/Cover+-+Shirley+I+Jest.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdsiQoePtAKR3fx4ant0hDi-Bd5j2iIWRUEW9rvrnUYgiAdESfKXer3kXlqmt7qldhK__kw0Q0ZWyhJ-eLrGYiC2Hh1F9idndJ7mokjvoL8Ah3tBYbz6dM-M5_tqva6jBZvfUJHyvSuE/s1600/Cover+-+Shirley+I+Jest.png" width="135" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you’re
a fan of Cindy Williams, one half of the comedic duo, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laverne & Shirley</i>, you will have to wait one month to pick up a
copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shirley, I Jest!</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Storied Life</b> ($22.95, Taylor Trade
Publishing, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield) by Cindy with Dave
Smitherman, relating her life from her blue collar roots to unexpected stardom.
She went from waiting tables at Whisky a Go Go to starring in one of the most
iconic shows on television. This is an almost quintessential American story of
success and she earned it. Like many bitten by the acting bug, she loves it and
still loves her theatre roots, performing in many shows across the nation in
addition to starring on Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperon. What makes her book so
delightful is that she never took herself or her fame that seriously,
demonstrating throughout her wonderful sense of humor while sharing amusing
anecdotes about some of the most famous actors in Hollywood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Not
everyone is famous, but that doesn’t mean they have interesting stories to
tell. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Binoculars: Masquerading as a
Sighted Person </b>by Philip F. DiMeo ($24.95, New Horizon Press) is an
example. For more than 17 years he pretended to be a fully-sighted person and,
despite his growing loss of sight, he drove a car, went to college, became a
social worker, a cartoonist, and a coach for two sports teams. As he vision
grew worse, a physician diagnosed him as having retinitis pigmentosa, an eye
disease with no known cure. This is his first person account of what it was
like to finally come to deal with that harsh reality, but he had the help of a
loving wife and, with his guide dog, Ladonna, a yellow Labrador, became what he
calls “a perfect match.” His blindness closed some doors in his life, but
opened others. This is a truly inspirational book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Missing Persons: A Life of Unexpected
Influences </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Bruce
Piasecki is self-described as “a memoir of past, present, and future” ($17.95,
Square One Publishers, softcover). Piasecki says “This book is a product of
memory and creativity, not of chronology and fact.” He regards memory as an
“art form that is accessible to us all. It is through memory that we triumph
over loss, and it is memory that renders the impossible probable—and the dead
merely missing.” Piasecki takes us from his impoverished childhood to his
success as an internationally renowned businessman, as well as a husband,
father, friend, and writer. It’s been an interesting life for him and you can
read along for an interesting journey through it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If there
is one thing I love to read it is history. I never come away without having
gained a new or renewed insight to the state of humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Understanding the present is impossible
without know the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjYTwoDx7JtHZp-J4UGuaDFGeOSMfrHZ3LZlDNr9wfl6Uh5Pjs3mKxXD7eG9EVP0kq5MvH4vVV-uzkPgogSE5xE17Eb6vbdPwKLcrCM76S-LPN4Q47O9qTTXqt-19-nm4C3yitzUJph0/s1600/Cover+-+The+Great+Divide.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjYTwoDx7JtHZp-J4UGuaDFGeOSMfrHZ3LZlDNr9wfl6Uh5Pjs3mKxXD7eG9EVP0kq5MvH4vVV-uzkPgogSE5xE17Eb6vbdPwKLcrCM76S-LPN4Q47O9qTTXqt-19-nm4C3yitzUJph0/s1600/Cover+-+The+Great+Divide.png" width="131" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thomas
Fleming is already regarded as one of our nation’s preeminent historians and
with good reason. In his latest book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson that Defined a
Nation</b> ($27.99, Da Capo Press) he grabs your attention by pointing out that
that Washington and Jefferson had dramatically different backgrounds and
differing opinions that left their imprint on the presidency. As Fleming notes,
Jefferson was an avid bibliophile who attended the College of William and Mary,
and went onto study law in his twenties as America inched toward rebellion
against British rule. Washington, by contrast, was Jefferson’s senior by eleven
years and had spent his youth as a land surveyor and began his military career
in the French and Indian War. While Jefferson avoided military service in the
Revolution, Washington relentlessly led America to victory. Suffice to say
there was much disagreement between the two. Washington came to see him as an
enemy and with good reason. Jefferson was all about his love for the French
revolution—a bloodbath—and his own ambitions. Suffice to say this is a totally
fascinating insight into the two men and their colleagues who brought about a
new nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4gdOK9NRwFlXiScKRf7wICP_0fc2mE_-Whaxj7oXONEmEsoJlS_2p_fdg5z5MKS4FZPMSnk3Q8nicYEveeTRjZjWNyt8KOnH-ImL35XyYb6FN2RxhG3121FbRCKrkVQpaS1J7AXogxY8/s1600/Cover+-+Sardar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4gdOK9NRwFlXiScKRf7wICP_0fc2mE_-Whaxj7oXONEmEsoJlS_2p_fdg5z5MKS4FZPMSnk3Q8nicYEveeTRjZjWNyt8KOnH-ImL35XyYb6FN2RxhG3121FbRCKrkVQpaS1J7AXogxY8/s1600/Cover+-+Sardar.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Knowing
the past of Afghanistan as well as its present is the subject of Abdullah
Sharif’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sardar: From
Afghanistan’s Golden Age to Carnage </b>($12.95 @ Amazon.com and other Internet
book outlets, softcover), a personal account of his return to his former home
after joining the U.S. State Department in 2009. He had been back in 2007 and
was horrified by what he saw. In his absence of thirty years, his birth nation
was in ruins, the result of invasion by the Soviet Union and the struggles with
the Taliban after it withdrew. This is his memoir of his memories of the nation
he left in 1976, the golden age to which he makes reference, to its present
times. As he notes, his book is not that of an “expert”, but rather of a U.S.
diplomat speaking for himself, unofficially of the devastation and corruption
he found and an effort to explain the nation’s culture so that the U.S. can
take steps to help Afghanistan became an independent nation. For his efforts,
he was awarded an Expeditionary Service Award and Meritorious Civilian Service
Award. The Governor of Kandahar Province, Tooryalai Wesa, Ph.D, described his
book as filled with priceless observations and you will come away with a far
better understanding of the nation than from reading official or academic
writings on this subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">America
may be a young nation by comparison with others, but it has a long, rich
history and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Lost World of the Old
Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest</b> by David Roberts ($27.95, W.W.
Norton) begins with his discovery in 2005 with two of his mountaineering
friends of what turned out to be a settlement beneath an overhanging cliff a
thousand feet above a Utah ranch. It was an enormous granary and, given its
location, raised the question of how the ancient natives could have lugged a
ton and a half of corn up a sheer cliff. The region around the Four Corners is
filled with such mysteries, including why the natives abandoned their homeland
in the 14<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century. In 1996, Roberts authored “In Search of the Old
Ones”, which became an instant classic and this one is likely to be regarding
in the same way. Here’s a way to enjoy the mountain climbing and exploration
without having to do more than turn the pages of this interesting and
entertaining book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy56YXW9dABY5_tLQB7-E_R2YzwqUuTrX1ppY2SCsn2qMPJ0sq0SgrFu3URNUThKSNwpLc9uitkW2kNuWBVUygEDjtHbY9gN5X6ngr0fUI-qbDhaziOdc_oMHVaQEz183tr3OrSuOG0q0/s1600/Cover+-+Toronto.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy56YXW9dABY5_tLQB7-E_R2YzwqUuTrX1ppY2SCsn2qMPJ0sq0SgrFu3URNUThKSNwpLc9uitkW2kNuWBVUygEDjtHbY9gN5X6ngr0fUI-qbDhaziOdc_oMHVaQEz183tr3OrSuOG0q0/s1600/Cover+-+Toronto.png" width="140" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Douglas
& McIntyre is a Canadian publisher that quite naturally publishes books
about Canada. I suspect most Americans know very little about Canada other than
it forms our northern border and that its hockey team is one of the most
valuable franchises in the NHL. You can repair that gap in your knowledge, for
example, with Allan Levine’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Toronto:
Biography of a City </b>($36.95). It starts on the packed streets of today,
whose 2.79 million residents makes it North America’s fourth largest city and a
far cry from its earliest days as ”Little York”, comprised of the lieutenant
governor’s muddy tent which he shared with his wife and six children. For
anyone who is interested in the development of a dynamic city this book will
prove very entertaining. I’ll bet most Americans are unaware that there have
been three Canadian astronauts. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Canadian
Spacewalkers </b>($29.95) Bob McDonald tells us the story of Chris Hadfield,
Steve MacLean and Dave Williams, all of whom stepped outside to confront the
universe in zero gravity. A science journalist and commentator on CBC News
Network, he has received many honors for his work and when you read his book
you will understand why as he takes you along on a trip that explains what it
takes to be a spacewalker. The book is greatly enhanced by a hundred color
photos. If space and science is your interest, this book is ideal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">University of Oklahoma Press<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">University
presses are often overlooked as sources of interesting books that you might not
find in a bookstore or on the site of one of the Internet book outlets. The
University of Oklahoma Press is a good example.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We usually
think about the “wild West” in terms of the many movies and television shows
filled with cowboys and villains, bank robbers and sheriffs, but that period in
our history, from between 1800 and 1920 also represents one of extraordinary
invention, innovation, entrepreneurship and business. The names of many of the
men who shaped our history are well known, from Buffalo Bill Cody to Levi
Straus, famed for the slacks we loved to wear. There’s the banker J.P. Morgan,
the brewmaster Adolf Coors, religious leader Brigham Young, and inventor Cyrus
McCormick whose reaper transformed the task of harvesting crops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out
Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions & Strategies of Early Western
Business Leaders </b>by Philip F. Anschutz ($34.95) brings together a montage
of men who believed they could enrich themselves at the same time they
contributed to a still young nation. Many, once they made their fortunes,
helped build libraries, parks, and other cultural institutions. You will read
of fifty men whose lives opened up the nation to growth and wealth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJR-K0N-fGso2Ta0sb2KdtX2xWmqYsNpMCg_MVWfHiDJP_Omi-pxsnCa98V18Tqubg8VfqxFuM5RWt7E6p4YbWjuaGAXeQLPmOQWedbcPZD-3yUA7pjsvJXYlj48zCjb0whgH6Lhe8qxQ/s1600/Cover+-+Religious+Freedom+in+America.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJR-K0N-fGso2Ta0sb2KdtX2xWmqYsNpMCg_MVWfHiDJP_Omi-pxsnCa98V18Tqubg8VfqxFuM5RWt7E6p4YbWjuaGAXeQLPmOQWedbcPZD-3yUA7pjsvJXYlj48zCjb0whgH6Lhe8qxQ/s1600/Cover+-+Religious+Freedom+in+America.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There
could hardly be a more timely book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Religious
Freedom in America: Constitutional Roots and Contemporary Challenges </b>($45.00,
hardcover, $24.95 softcover) as edited by Allen D. Hertzke, a professor of
political science and a faculty fellow in religious freedom with the Institute
for the American Constitutional Heritage at the University. Nine writers
contributed to this examination of an issue that is being argued in the courts
over issues of same-sex marriage and contraception mandates in ObamaCare, as
well as other aspects of the practice of religion. The many perspectives of the
issues are well served in this book written from the point of view of
historians, social scientists, and jurists who examine the laws, often
described as “messy” and you will understand why and learn about the tug of war
between the free exercise of religion and the government’s need to apply the
Constitution and laws equally and fairly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I thought that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Do Facts Matter?
Information and Misinformation in America Politics</b> by Jennifer L.
Hochschild and Katherine Levine Einstein ($29.95) would provide some answers to
the nation’s current state of politics, but what I found, unfortunately, was an
academically dense examination of what occurs and why when voters are
uninformed or misinformed. Both are professors specializing in government and
politics, Hochschild at Harvard University, and Einstein at Boston University. This
could have been a far more lively examination of the issues to which it is
devoted, but it is so concentrated on its own facts that it never provides a
larger, more comprehensive presentation or maybe the topic just defies that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqoUWQuKEsXKVDAaXLzjGJPQ_jahNTW6OPbuXNQeR7JxMLDbPiOaqx_UfI539JKtcmba8qI11Xj_lp84EdCI9N7IVyqZe-P3GTztuHy3j-dsW5MNwDNekzRR_R9CRL_21iLtx6AlOyz48/s1600/Cover+-+The+Washington+Lawyer.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqoUWQuKEsXKVDAaXLzjGJPQ_jahNTW6OPbuXNQeR7JxMLDbPiOaqx_UfI539JKtcmba8qI11Xj_lp84EdCI9N7IVyqZe-P3GTztuHy3j-dsW5MNwDNekzRR_R9CRL_21iLtx6AlOyz48/s1600/Cover+-+The+Washington+Lawyer.png" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Allan
Topol has penned yet another bestselling novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Washington Lawyer</b>, ($16.95, Select Books, softcover). A lawyer
by profession, it is a wonder he still found the time to pen eleven novels of
international intrigue, plus a two-volume legal treatise on the Superfund law.
This novel, unlike many written by lawyers, is not about some courtroom drama.
It’s about a lawyer, Andrew Martin, who is a long-time friend with Senator
William Jasper who needs help. A sex tryst at Martin’s beach house in Anguilla has
gone awry and a congressional staffer and former model, Vanessa Boyd, is dead.
Martin must decide how best to protect his reputation and the Senator’s. What
unfolds are hairpin plot turns as human vice and political power collide and
race toward catastrophe for both men. Here’s is an intriguing and entertaining
look inside the circles of power with which the author is familiar and includes
the element of Chinese spying because that is as critical today as Soviet
spying was during the Cold War. If you’re looking for a great read, you will
find it in this novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDYM7FmQlPT3P8j_Np86dK7zTgTV70CE5MsMFpJbxIkPi95MsM7ewZE8WY-NokkRakqGx2-BaIheJcbcOLI2k8Nd022-eh-aMB9uJX2R-IkKgFQbLB7PMnXysfe7GweW5fpoeOa92Dd6s/s1600/Cover+-+Chasing+Sunsets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDYM7FmQlPT3P8j_Np86dK7zTgTV70CE5MsMFpJbxIkPi95MsM7ewZE8WY-NokkRakqGx2-BaIheJcbcOLI2k8Nd022-eh-aMB9uJX2R-IkKgFQbLB7PMnXysfe7GweW5fpoeOa92Dd6s/s1600/Cover+-+Chasing+Sunsets.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I think
the ladies will like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chasing Sunsets</b>
($22.99, Howard Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) more than the guys.
Karen Kingsbury has more than 25 million copies of her books in print. This one
features Mary Catherine, the only child of married parents but generally
neglected by them. She brings meaning to her life through charity work in Los
Angeles and finds herself attracted to one of her co-workers and begins to
think of their life together until she gets devastating news about her health.
I won’t give much away except to say that she is faced with serious decisions
and she ops for an inspirational one. William Hazelgrove is the author of ten
best-selling novels, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jack Pine</b> is
his latest. It has strong environmental themes. When the sixteen year old
daughter of a prominent attorney is raped in a woodshed and a logger found shot
the next morning, Deputy Sheriff Reuger London becomes embroiled in a war
between environmentalists, the Ojibwa Indians fighting for their timber rights,
and the ruthless son of a powerful logger. Needless to say the logger is the
villain in this story, but it has plenty of plot twists and turns to hold your
attention. It is officially due out next month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
two new novels from Thomas & Mercer. David Corbett’s talents as a crime
writer have earned him award nominations and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Mercy of the Night </b>($15.95, softcover) is likely to do the same
with its story of Jacquelina “Jacqi” Garza who was one of two nearly identical
girls abducted at age eight by a child predator in the northern California town
of Rio Mirada. After escaping and enduring a very public trial, he life
spiraled out of control until, a decade later, she vanishes once again,
determined to cross the border and start over. Phalan Tierney, a former lawyer
and part-time investigator is recovering from trauma in his life and is
determined to find Jacqi and help her get back on track. Just as he has located
her, he is drawn into a case that threatens to tear the town apart. Suffice to
say there are circles within circles in this densely plotted story that is sure
to please those who love crime fiction. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Threshold
</b>by G.M. Ford ($14.95, softcover) is a police thriller that will add to a
reputation based on his previous novels. Still smarting from the very public
breakup of his marriage and facing conduct complaints, Detective Mickey Dolan
catches a case that might turn things around for him. It involved the
disappearance of the wife and daughters of a powerful city councilman. Assisted
by a young woman who may know the terrible truth about the missing family,
Dolan soon finds that he must choose between helping his career and protecting
innocent lives. It’s a page-turner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lawyers
and cops seem to dominate the novels arriving of late. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel</b> by Adrian McKinty
($15.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover) and it will take you to Belfast,
Ireland in 1985 where Detective Duffy is a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal
Ulster Constabulary is struggling with burn-out as he investigates a brutal
double murder and suicide. Did Michael Kelly really shoot his parents at point
blank range and then jump off a nearby cliff? A suicide note seems to confirm
this, but Duffy has his doubts and he soon discovers that Kelly was present at
a decadent Oxford party where a cabinet minister’s daughter died of a heroin
overdose. The story explodes with gun runners, arms dealers, the British
government and a rogue American agent with a fake identity. Sound interesting?
It is!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>McKinty has authored sixteen
novels and has been called the best of the new generation of Irish crime
novelists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adam Mitzner is an attorney
and a novelist and his latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Losing
Faith </b>($26.00, Gallery Books) in which Aaron Littman, the chairman of one
of the country’s most prestigious law firms has just been contacted by a
high-profile defense attorney whose client is Nikolai Garkov, a Russian
businessman widely believed to have pulled the financial strings behind a recent
terrorist bombing. Gorkov is a thorough evil villain and he has evidence of a
torrid affair Littman had with the presiding judge, Faith Nichols, in the case
against him. He threatens to ruin Littman’s career if he doesn’t influence
Faith. Legal thriller fans will love this one.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF62tim7OoZZ9hnLYkjbjMYUEVTt3AsDM5i6zABBe9GUTKapKuLCTfJ4fzAF6Nt3sK3-M-_Om5WWfZaZoOayyZrSZ8OY007Epn70yuS4FoOnVOrq9XIRwLZtN3nG6ioGRoSHYf70MAYmk/s1600/Cover+-+Phantom+of+Menace.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF62tim7OoZZ9hnLYkjbjMYUEVTt3AsDM5i6zABBe9GUTKapKuLCTfJ4fzAF6Nt3sK3-M-_Om5WWfZaZoOayyZrSZ8OY007Epn70yuS4FoOnVOrq9XIRwLZtN3nG6ioGRoSHYf70MAYmk/s1600/Cover+-+Phantom+of+Menace.png" width="131" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Finally,
what if William Shakespeare had written the Star Wars stories? Well, now you
can find out what it would have been to read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars ® Part the First</b> as rendered by
Ian Doescher ($14.95, Quirk Books). It is an ideal Shakespearean drama filled
with sword fights, soliloquies and doomed romance. The School Library Journal
said “Doescher’s pseudo-Shakespearean language is dead-on; this is one of the
best-written Shakespeare parodies create for this audience and it is absolutely
laugh-out-loud funny for those familiar with both the Bard and Star Wars.” I
can’t add anything to that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for April! Come back in May and don’t forget to let your book-loving
friends, family, and co-workers know about Bookviews.com and its wide selection
of the latest non-fiction and fiction books. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com235tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-90787361555251819942015-02-27T05:54:00.000-08:002015-02-27T11:39:36.479-08:00Bookviews - March 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rf6KbtZSTwCk4wJHP6ks5DiPCqqetJmrMOrrywl5UkRlJTdADZTFD32d3ABejJ4Pvy12Eq9iGEOtW4w__k5ipVmNscstfrmb7WybRUVC4FKF5dU022mwstTB8hZx0VI4nVZli66hZsM/s1600/Cover+-+Nazi+Oaks.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rf6KbtZSTwCk4wJHP6ks5DiPCqqetJmrMOrrywl5UkRlJTdADZTFD32d3ABejJ4Pvy12Eq9iGEOtW4w__k5ipVmNscstfrmb7WybRUVC4FKF5dU022mwstTB8hZx0VI4nVZli66hZsM/s1600/Cover+-+Nazi+Oaks.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A
remarkable book about the roots of environmentalism, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nazi Oaks: The Green Sacrifice of the Judeo-Christian Worldview in the
Holocaust, </b>($26.35, Advantage Inspirational, softcover, available on
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Oaks-Sacrifice-Christian-Worldview/dp/0692381465/ref=dp_ob_image_bk.">Amazon.com</a>, by R. Mark Musser was first published in 2010 and is now just been
updated and reissued in its fourth edition. It deserves a far wider readership
than it has gained until now because in part it is not an easy read, but also
because it is one of the few books to explain how the Nazi ideology evolved
over the decades to reach a point where it initiated the deliberate
extermination of Europe’s Jews. The most astonishing aspect of this is how
interwoven its belief system was with the environmental “truths” we are still
hearing and reading today. For example, Ernst Haeckel, the father of German
Social Darwinism, was the man who coined the word “ecology” in 1896. The Nazi
“science” that justified racism drew on German romanticism, existentialism, and
nature worship. The Nazis incorporated environmentalism into their lives and
beliefs, abandoning the Judeo-Christian God for “gaia”, the Earth god. Mark
Musser came to his discovery of the inherently evil roots of environmentalism
by way of a Master of Divinity in 1994 and missionary service in Belarus and
Ukraine for seven years. He is a pastor by trade. I cannot recommend reading
this book in strong enough terms because it is a warning that explains why so
much of what passes for environmentalism today carries within it the seeds of
evil that triggered the Nazi era. Having failed to carry off the “global
warming” hoax thanks to the past 19 years of the planet’s cooling cycle, its
advocates are now embarked on a “climate change” hoax, claiming it is “man-made.”
It is not, but the evil that men do is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In March
2014, in a commentary on my blog, Warning Signs, I wrote “Do you have the
feeling that we no longer have government from the federal to the local level
that is able to function because of vast volumes of laws and regulations that
have made it impossible to do anything from build a bridge to run a nursing
home? If so, you’re right. The nation is falling behind others who do a better
job by permitting elected and appointed officials to actually make decisions.
We are living in a nation where lawsuits follow every decision to accomplish
anything. This is the message of Philip K. Howard in a book that everyone
concerned for the future of America should read; “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government</b>.”
Happily, a softcover edition has been published ($15.95, W.W. Norton) and, if
you missed the opportunity to read it last year, I strongly recommend you do so
this year. Howard explains why just changing leaders does not change a Washington
which is drowning the nations in laws that often run to more than 2,000 pages
in length. The result is a monstrosity of regulations that tell officials and
citizens what to do and how to do it. A mammoth government renders
decision-making virtually impossible and the result is that our schools, our
health care system, and virtually every other element of life is paralyzed or
unaffordable. There is, in a word, no accountability, no one who need take
responsibility. Putting people back in charge of our government is the heart of
this excellent, entertaining, and frightening book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Have you
always wished you had an opportunity to read the classics of literature when
you were in school? These days entire generations pass through our schools
without more than a brief introduction to Shakespeare or Chaucer. In contrast
to that, for 28 years in Naples, New York, you didn’t go to college without
passing Alan Griesinger’s Advanced Placement English class. And they loved it.
You’ll understand why when you read his book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Comic Vision of Great Constancy: Stories about Unlocking the Wisdom
of Everyman </b>($29.95, Mascot Books). He provides insights drawn from a
reading of “The Knight’s Tale” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” They serve as a
literary framework for Griesinger’s side trips into politics, religion,
psychology, and the general art of being human. His classes were a training
ground for character development, good citizenship, and rigorous thinking. His
book has the same effect and is very likely to make you the smartest person in
the room after you’ve read it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Improving Your Life<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There has
been one genre of books that has been around since books were first being
published. They are books that impart advice on various aspects of one’s life
to help the reader improve in some respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpUXgdYeftBSspEFq0K2neBxwWi1vulORKZNpfakImeKpoR8J6I6newVbKowDOoZR4R3Nyv3eWpVMKmSWct17ME3C3WFXXSvGXnvS7-yj185qUx0OQarZ87mRw_9aaY4nTtwygG4C6c0/s1600/Cover+-+It's%2BNot%2BWho%2BYou%2BKnow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpUXgdYeftBSspEFq0K2neBxwWi1vulORKZNpfakImeKpoR8J6I6newVbKowDOoZR4R3Nyv3eWpVMKmSWct17ME3C3WFXXSvGXnvS7-yj185qUx0OQarZ87mRw_9aaY4nTtwygG4C6c0/s1600/Cover+-+It's%2BNot%2BWho%2BYou%2BKnow.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who You
Are: Life Lessons from Winners </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Pat Williams with Jim Denney ($16.99, Revell). With more than fifty years of
professional sports experience and already an author of dozens of books on
leadership, Williams shares how he found success in his family and career. He
realized early in life that learning how to become successful meant learning
from those who had. He never missed an opportunity to ask those at the top of
their field what they felt was the key to their success. He has met more famous
people than most of ever will. They include Martin Luther King, Jr., Billy
Graham, John Wooden, Michael Jordan, Colin Powell, and George W. Bush, to name
a few. And he kept notes on what they told him. This is a book about developing
your own character and values because those are ultimately the keys to success.
Williams is senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Back Out There: Secrets to
Successful Dating and Finding Real Love after the Big Breakup </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Susan J. Elliott ($14.99, Da Capo
Press, softcover) may be just the book for women that you or someone you know
needs to read. As she acknowledges, overcoming a breakup can be a real
challenge and, often, to be successful in the next relationship, we must
understand the parts of us that broke up, too. This involves learning to
recognize, evaluate, and change the negative patterns that interfere with our
relationships, but she says it can be done and her book teaches here readers to
set appropriate standards in the dating world. She does not shy from the fact
that exes, children, and boyfriends with kids are components of the modern
dating scene. Getting back out there may be tough, but says Ms. Elliot,
infinitely rewarding, if done right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2ATsXkH987I81oDklnZvI3zeXU6l6fVfMKbzeSMaChfZXj_8J_BRi90hAY7R_JOLnm7kQUbfLyx7wNLC7hXB-PUGTHS5aEJKMkGE4VEqcr4rd_RYrQ-kRpUTqSq94Rfh8q69W8P5NcE/s1600/Cover+-+Romancing+Your+Better+Half.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2ATsXkH987I81oDklnZvI3zeXU6l6fVfMKbzeSMaChfZXj_8J_BRi90hAY7R_JOLnm7kQUbfLyx7wNLC7hXB-PUGTHS5aEJKMkGE4VEqcr4rd_RYrQ-kRpUTqSq94Rfh8q69W8P5NcE/s1600/Cover+-+Romancing+Your+Better+Half.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Romancing Your Better Half: Keeping
Intimacy Alive in Your Marriage </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Rick Johnson ($12.99, Revell, softcover) explains why romance and intimacy are
so vital to marriage, how men and women differ in their intimacy needs, and
what steps they can take to enrich their marriage and even bring back the
excitement of when you first fell in love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He encourages couples to rethink the way they communicate and interact to
keep that excitement alive as a couple in a long-term relationship grows
through shared experiences, sharing difficulties, and maintaining closeness to
one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many
people, including church-goers, still yearn for a deeper experience of God in
their everyday lives. A leading Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, offers Greg
Paul’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Simply Open</b>
($16.99, softcover) that offers a path to using your five senses, your mind and
heart, to engage in the practice of prayer that can turn an ordinary workday
into a deepening spiritual journey. Paul is a pastor and member of Sanctuary in
Toronto, a ministry for the most hurting and excluded people in the city. He
has authored three earlier books, one of which was a 2012 Non-fiction Christian
Book Award winner. Though Christian in context it has a holistic approach that
other contemplating religions employ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">All About Women<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The role
of women in modern societies has been changing for a long time. For example,
the National American Woman Suffrage Association was founded in 1890 and a
number of states had granted it in the first two decades of the last century,
In 1919 Congress passed the 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Amendment and a year later 36
states had ratified it. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remembering
Inez: The Last Campaign of Inez Milholland, Suffrage Martyr</b> ($14.95,
Graphic Press. Softcover) tells the story of one of the lesser known
suffragettes. Using her own words, edited by Robert P.J. Cooney, Jr., it takes
you back to an era that was as dramatic as any that followed. Ms. Milholland
was a dynamic New York attorney, a young activist who while on a tour of
western states collapsed on stage in Los Angeles on October 23, 1916 and died a
month later of pernicious anemia. She had just turned 30. History is filled
with such remarkable personalities and, though it took nearly a century, it is
good to know that Ms. Milholland is now recognized as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Women After All: Sex, Evolution, and
the End of Male Supremacy</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
by Dr. Melvin Konner ($26.95, W.W. Norton & Company) will surely cause male
readers to feel uncomfortable. The author is a professor in the Emory
University Department of Anthropology and the Program in Neuroscience and
Behavioral Biology. The author of several books, this one looks at the
widespread debate about the future role of women (and men) in human society,
taking a look at the animal kingdom in general and our current patriarchal ways
in particular, predicting that women will increasingly take leadership roles.
He asserts that women are biologically more adept at dealing with the
challenges of the modern world. They are fundamentally more pragmatic as well
as caring, cooperate as well as competitive, and generally more deft in
managing people without putting them on the defensive. They are, he says,
builders rather than destroyers. This is, to say the least, a fact-filled look at
a highly charged topic and one that I am sure many readers will want to
explore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YybBMQO_q8_KcWZh4mTLXuZVmvP3LNnh2GAFvZxnLbLAcM9TZ_pcfo34CEAE1xAmgtpkF__r7a0ngifFwxclZBSxuPbC-gMkB2dHXP5UrGjdadQQ-hv3wyhxsk3Zcx9Xd23Ima6HXik/s1600/Cover+-+Behind+Every+Great+Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YybBMQO_q8_KcWZh4mTLXuZVmvP3LNnh2GAFvZxnLbLAcM9TZ_pcfo34CEAE1xAmgtpkF__r7a0ngifFwxclZBSxuPbC-gMkB2dHXP5UrGjdadQQ-hv3wyhxsk3Zcx9Xd23Ima6HXik/s1600/Cover+-+Behind+Every+Great+Man.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Behind Every Great Man: The Forgotten
Women Behind the World’s Famous and Infamous </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($16.99, Sourcebooks, softcover) takes its title from the
cliché that behind every great man is a woman who contributed to his success.
Marlene Wagman-Geller has taken a look at this and her book features forty
women who were overshadowed by the males in their lives, yet merit their own
place in history. She ranges from the wives of literally figures such as Oscar
Wilde, Ian Fleming, and C.S. Lewis. There are Hollywood wives such Alma
Reville, Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock and Jane Nebel, Mrs. Jim Henson. She notes the
role played by Kasturba Kapadia, the wife of Mohandas Gandhi and Emilie Pelzl,
Mrs. Osckar Schindler. There were some infamous ones as well such as Mrs.
Julius Rosenberg, convicted along with her husband as a Soviet spy. Imagine,
too, being Althea Leasure, Mrs. Larry Flynt. The short biographies salute the
women who stood behind their men, for better or worse, and helped steer the
course of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">How to Succeed with Continuous
Improvement: A Primer for Becoming the Best in the World </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($23.00, McGraw-Hill) by Joakim
Ahlstrom, regarded as Sweden’s leading authority in creating a continuous
improvement culture. His book is a step-by-step process for any organization
that applies principles such as “keep it simple, stay focused, visualize the
good examples and the program made, create ownership by asking instead of
telling, and be systematic.” He has advised dozens of organizations around the
world to include Coca Cola, Volvo, Ericsson, and IKEA. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From Worry to Wealthy: A Woman’s Guide
to Financial Success Without the Stress</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Chellie Campbell ($16.99, Sourcebooks, softcover)
begins by noting that more than nine million U.S. businesses, generating $1.4
trillion in sales, are owned by women. A personal finance guru, Campbell, has offered
“Financial Stress Reduction” ® workshops to help women win at work and in life.
Her advice will prove very helpful to any woman as she teaches how to harness
the four C’s of career success, confidence, charisma, clients, and cash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She writes about earning support from spouses
and loved ones while gaining business knowledge from everything you do. This
includes poker as she is an avid tournament player. This is a book from which
any woman business owner can benefit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What to Do to Retire Successfully:
Navigating Psychological, Financial and Lifestyle Hurdles </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover)
by Martin B. Goldstein addresses some of the scary questions that occur such as
whether you will have enough funds to maintain your lifestyle, will you be able
to adjust to a slower pace, and how best to transition into retirement
successfully. A neuropsychiatrist by profession, his book will prove quite
useful to anyone approaching their retirement years and that includes the 77
million baby boomers that are slated to retire over the next twenty years.
Retirement fears are common and this book addresses them and offers some good
advice; the kind you need now, not ten or twenty years from now when it could
be too late.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love
reading history and one of my great favorites from American history is Thomas
Jefferson. Addressing a group of scholars, John F. Kennedy said “<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human
knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible
exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the enduring discussions about
Jefferson involves his religious beliefs. Some say he was a deist unaffiliated
with any particular religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Doubting Thomas? The Religious Life and
Legacy of Thomas Jefferson </b>by Mark A. Beliles and Jerry Newcombe ($29.99,
Morgan James Publishing) will put to rest all the doubts raised in the past.
For example, during his presidency, Jefferson attended church at the U.S.
Capitol Building’s Supreme Court chambers where a public service was held. This
is contradiction of the assertion that he believed in a strict separation of
church and state. This book is based on extensive documentation, often
providing little known facts based on his letters, as well as his relationships
and activities with religious communities. It is an absorbing read and it is
supported by </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Selected
Religious Letters and Papers of Thomas Jefferson</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ($29.95, America
Publications) edited by Mark A. Beliles. It offers more than fifty Jefferson
letters and other documents never before seen in print. The enemies of
religious belief and expression in America will not want you to read either of
these books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, the history of America has its darker moments
and the treatment of the Native Americans is surely one of them. Terry Mort’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thieves’ Road: The Black Hills Betrayal and
Custer’s Path to Little Bighorn </b>($25.00, Prometheus Books) tells the story
of General George Armstrong Custer’s expedition of some one thousand troops and
more than a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hundred wagons into the
Black Hills of South Dakota in the summer of 1874. A severe economic depression
had spurred hordes of white prospectors to the Sioux Indians sacred grounds and
the trampling of an 1868 treaty that granted the Black Hills to the Sioux. The
discovery of gold was the beginning of the end of their independence and their
resistance set the stage for the climactic Battle of Little Bighorn. The book’s
title gets its name from the Sioux leader, Fast Bear, who called the trail cut
by Custer the “thieves’ road.” It was a time when the settling of Indians on
reservations was betrayed, a corrupt federal Indian Bureau existed, and the
building of the western railroads was transforming the nation. The book makes
for lively reading and considerable insight to this period of our national
history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_756mKJAQiwnoveXa-j8Zw10MyDt9glyIRW_MVVQ3VbNR9WSClwF-k-u_kZJRFXENJm0YoIFMN9d3jlBGnMdUCdPchPoGYZqmyZFySLnr1gmEQbVYsPJz-Pu2wbNPo2sG0oRLh8Vucc/s1600/Cover+-+Handy+Military+History+Answer+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_756mKJAQiwnoveXa-j8Zw10MyDt9glyIRW_MVVQ3VbNR9WSClwF-k-u_kZJRFXENJm0YoIFMN9d3jlBGnMdUCdPchPoGYZqmyZFySLnr1gmEQbVYsPJz-Pu2wbNPo2sG0oRLh8Vucc/s1600/Cover+-+Handy+Military+History+Answer+Book.jpg" height="200" width="153" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the best series around is Visible Ink Press’s
“Handy Answer” books. The latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Handy Military History Answer Book</b> ($21.95, Visible Ink, softcover), by
Samuel Willard Crompton, a captivating, concise, and extensive look at the way
war has been a continual element of history and has often dramatically changed
it. Indeed, one might call peace the brief intervals of time between wars. This
book shows how war creates heroes, along with cowards, spies and patriots were
made, how conflicts shaped borders, policies and politics, society and culture,
always influencing the future. Answering more than 1,400 questions, you will
learn how conquering armies to civil wars resulted in guerrilla warfare,
terrorism, modern weapons, and so much more that fill the headlines of our
times. To understand history, one must know about warfare from the days of the
Roman Empire to the present. This book will do just that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Reading
About Science<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science is in the news all the time, but much of the time
is devoted to those groups and organizations that lie about it in order to
frighten people from taking advantage of the benefits it offer. The latest
debate about vaccinating children to protect them from measles is one example.
The battles fought to advance science go back to the earliest days of
civilization.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kggrFeeMVGpY6XvXoLnkxppzlotgbRmkGLbSDccvUdTEZODEYulKuSwvyaC0r8OH7VIxDMVes2P5T9tw-pOr5OEmKZvgG9dmuDWW-R9Di-_5hZKZ3tix-5ljkxtZgf7B71oTB0IYSN0/s1600/Cover+-+Brilliant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kggrFeeMVGpY6XvXoLnkxppzlotgbRmkGLbSDccvUdTEZODEYulKuSwvyaC0r8OH7VIxDMVes2P5T9tw-pOr5OEmKZvgG9dmuDWW-R9Di-_5hZKZ3tix-5ljkxtZgf7B71oTB0IYSN0/s1600/Cover+-+Brilliant.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In the Light of
Science: Our Ancient Quest for Knowledge and the Measure of Modern Physics </span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">by
Demetris Nicolaides ($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) examines the epochal
shift in thinking that led pre-Socratic philosophers of the sixth and fifth
centuries BCE to abandon the prevailing mythologies of the age and, for the
first time, analyze the natural world in terms of impersonal,
rationally-understood principles. This is a look at the vast sweep of history
that led to the birth of science and its advancement by those unafraid to
question tradition. Combining history and science, it makes for some very
interesting reading. From the same publishing house comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brilliant!</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shuji Nakamura
and the Revolution in Lighting Technology</b> ($18.00, Prometheus Books,
softcover), now updated. To celebrate the awarding of the 2014 Nobel Prize in
Physics to Nakamura, author Bob Johnstone profiles the gifted Japanese engineer
who is largely responsible for the coming revolution in lighting technology.
The lighting revolution is likely to replace halogen lamps and have a profound
impact on the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Astronaut Ron Garan has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Orbital Perspective: Lessons in Seeing the Big Picture from a
Journey of 71 Million Miles </b>($27.95, Berrett-Koehler Publishers) that is
enhanced by several pages of color photos. Garan tells of the transformative
experience of living on the international Space Station and the lessons he
gained that he believes holds the key to solving our problems here on Earth. He
provides an excellent and interesting account of what it was like work with 15
different nationalities. At the same time, he addresses many of the problems
that afflict people and what must be done to solve them. In his foreword to the
book, Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Laureate, recommends we “Use Ron’s idea of
the orbital perspective as a way to erase obstacles, boundaries, and resistance
to any problem.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Kid
Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may not know who Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946)
was, but among his many accomplishments was being a co-founder of the Boy
Scouts of America in addition to writing many children’s books that influenced
an entire generation or more regarding life in the outdoors. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Storyteller </b>($24.95, Langdon Street
Press) by Leila Moss Knox and Linda L. Knox is not only a wonderful tribute to
Seton, but a wonderful way to get to know about him through excerpts of his
writings that are richly illustrated. It has a foreword by the late songwriter
and singer, Pete Seeger, who like many felt his life enriched by Seton’s books.
This is a great way to introduce him to a whole new generation and I guarantee
they will love this book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejiNg4PUjcbn78a0xU-SwyfsJ69kLDsOYHiA2Yjedod8iAi-zjyv_HnBln-WTDdXsWPWdj0nZnXz2MN3WVFLYanJb5BqSB60n-9p0Eumst2aQ4jK_07DmgxKuLe7KLiEkNpMe-CTCJA8/s1600/Cover+-+American+Amazons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejiNg4PUjcbn78a0xU-SwyfsJ69kLDsOYHiA2Yjedod8iAi-zjyv_HnBln-WTDdXsWPWdj0nZnXz2MN3WVFLYanJb5BqSB60n-9p0Eumst2aQ4jK_07DmgxKuLe7KLiEkNpMe-CTCJA8/s1600/Cover+-+American+Amazons.jpg" height="200" width="136" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Children’s books are a great way for them to learn U.S.
history and I am happy to report that Alex Bugaeff’s new book, part of his
“Grandfather” series, is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">American
Amazons: Colonial Women Who Changed History </b>($14.95, available from Amazon)
in which “Gomps” shares his historical tales with his grandchildren, Hannah and
Carter. It’s good to see them get the attention they deserve. One of them,
Deborah Sampson, fought on the front lines with the Continental Army for three
years and there were others. These days women are part of the Israel Defense
Force and trained for combat like the men. We had such women when it counted in
our Revolution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6SlzJLEM81785FFKpSCf2DlWwXEjTvjExr5isw6dHJmrXDrWnACGOzFEd8-zhVVtD9rZB9xv5toZOcDjisDye957JiUhdElQKUIrjrVgLLE03f8VPUfDYXFsITrr0nYkTNfsIdxrzk9Q/s1600/Cover+-+When+I+Grow+Up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6SlzJLEM81785FFKpSCf2DlWwXEjTvjExr5isw6dHJmrXDrWnACGOzFEd8-zhVVtD9rZB9xv5toZOcDjisDye957JiUhdElQKUIrjrVgLLE03f8VPUfDYXFsITrr0nYkTNfsIdxrzk9Q/s1600/Cover+-+When+I+Grow+Up.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Wigu Publishing of Sun Valley, Idaho, has a series you
can learn about at </span><a href="http://www.whenigrowupbooks.com/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #0000aa; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.whenigrowupbooks.com</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> such as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When I Grow Up I Want to Be…in the U.S.
Army </b>or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a Nurse! </b>The series also
includes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Teacher, U.S. Navy,
Veterinarian and Firefighter</b>. They are available at Amazon.com, Barnes and
Noble, and other major online retailers, and come in Kindle editions as well. Parents
often hear their children express an interest in a particular profession and
this series is well written as stories that a young reader, age 5 to 7 or so
can read and identify with. They are both well researched and entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The odd thing about “Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children”
when it was published in 2011 is that, although aimed at a younger audience of
readers, ages 13 and up, it attracted so many older ones that it stayed on The
New York Times Best Seller list for more than 80 weeks. In February its sequel,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hollow City</b> by Ransom Riggs ($10.99,
Quirk Books, softcover) was published and it picks up where the first left off
as the reader follows the story of Jacob and his friends as they encounter a
menagerie of odd animals, a band of gypsies, and more peculiar children. Jacob
and friends are on the run from “wights” who have turned Miss Peregrine into a
bird. They are hoping to find a cure in London. The book is illustrated with
photos from earlier times, but it is the characters like Emma Bloom who can
make fire with her hands, Millard, an invisible boy, and Olive who is lighter
than air that are not only peculiar who inhabit a story that includes Alma
LeFay Peregrine who is a shape-shifter and manipulator of time, as well as the
headmistress of Cairnholm’s loop. It’s delightful. This one is headed for the
best seller lists too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkZFrigMgIaouyGdpOQTiy-yO4yL6lUI1J3Foupg4P60E8WVNQ_He2TqVAEJm7yPZsAa2PsVVP16bKdsR4esu6dM9Tcnqh4WLpFgB2KFqTfHICxBcOSzkCuiCNrdK7xTO3CkRscpcDqM/s1600/Cover+-+Vanishing+Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkZFrigMgIaouyGdpOQTiy-yO4yL6lUI1J3Foupg4P60E8WVNQ_He2TqVAEJm7yPZsAa2PsVVP16bKdsR4esu6dM9Tcnqh4WLpFgB2KFqTfHICxBcOSzkCuiCNrdK7xTO3CkRscpcDqM/s1600/Cover+-+Vanishing+Girls.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lauren Oliver has gained an international reputation for
her five young adult novels as well as her other books. She is published in
thirty languages and no doubt <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vanishing
Girls </b>($18.99, HarperCollins) will keep her on the bestseller
list for those ages 14 and up with her story of Dara and Nick. The two sisters
used to be inseparable, but that changed when Dara’s beautiful face was scarred
by a car accident, leaving them estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday,
Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. Another girl, nine-year-old Madeline
Snow, has vanished as well and Nick becomes convinced that the two
disappearances are linked and feels compelled to find her sister before
it’s too late. The readers, too, will feel compelled to see how this novel
proceeds and how it ends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Novels,
Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvHYY69sx0ToxGPowJeHPSDku06jmY7acEN3X6QEmtjhF4mdJvFu2Hy1TM5isTJjAGhwkARCffzi2j4lglC9R3OMAShWKWaNIUmQYG1hIUmP1vIPg6KMFypigzEid0z4KIeyg5Rlkuog/s1600/Cover+-+Flight+Track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvHYY69sx0ToxGPowJeHPSDku06jmY7acEN3X6QEmtjhF4mdJvFu2Hy1TM5isTJjAGhwkARCffzi2j4lglC9R3OMAShWKWaNIUmQYG1hIUmP1vIPg6KMFypigzEid0z4KIeyg5Rlkuog/s1600/Cover+-+Flight+Track.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 8 makes the first anniversary of the disappearance
of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that went down without a clue. I am a fan of
Lior Samson, the pen name of the author of two dozen books that include seven
novels like“Bashert”, “The Dome”, and “Web Games.” He is now back with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flight Track </b>($16.95/$2.99 Kindle, Gesher
Press, an imprint of Ampersand Press, Rowley, MA), a novel that provides a
scenario of what might have happened and why to flight MH370. In the novel it
is the inaugural flight of Pacificano Transocean’s over-the-pole non-stop
service from Singapore to Chicago’s O’Hare. It’s all celebrating and champagne
until flight PT20 veers off the radar. This is the kind of thriller that fans
of Samson have come to anticipate and enjoy. In this story, an elite team of
brilliant young nerds is called upon to help find the missing plane and their high-tech
pursuit of what happened turns into a life-or-death race to discover who is
behind the disappearance, to understand what’s at stake, and to find a solution
against seemingly invincible forces behind it. Like all his novels, it’s not
one you will put down until you get to the last page.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gZL78-GbFUJgtCKi-ZclKXQT_wuKB4MY00EowH8kMFRR9TNSZ8sc226mRmVA8e728zmZM5A1nnkkuxwrzmy7hfbA6tXG5xJ0RgSMz6fbI5bHr2xdLkATsSWLSC9zE8cBEgE_AiCgypE/s1600/Cover+-+State+of+Treason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gZL78-GbFUJgtCKi-ZclKXQT_wuKB4MY00EowH8kMFRR9TNSZ8sc226mRmVA8e728zmZM5A1nnkkuxwrzmy7hfbA6tXG5xJ0RgSMz6fbI5bHr2xdLkATsSWLSC9zE8cBEgE_AiCgypE/s1600/Cover+-+State+of+Treason.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Another novel straight out of the headlines is David
Thomas Roberts’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A State of Treason</b>($31.50,
</span><a href="http://www.defiancepress.com/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #0000aa; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.defiancepress.com</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) in
which a President who hates the Tea Party sets in motion a confrontation with
the Governor of Texas when he seizes a member of the Party in an
unconstitutional way. The Governor authorizes a Texas Ranger to free him and
his family. The confrontation escalates when the Governor puts the question of
independence from the federal government on the ballot and the President
declares martial law, sending in armed forces to deny Texans the right to
decide whether they want to continue as part of a corrupt government, a
do-nothing Congress, and an administration plagued by scandals. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsEigY62tJf5vNyGPeUPYJCkYDoAE_tP8oGhnmOxqLY2W7X0XoQFpkoZTq9SYIfu4fXAF7XbLLm3S1UqZMZD6oFt8PFwZ13C67X8gmNMuDR1zXC-g2x3RZacROBPfiA_zYnGNGTKRwGY/s1600/Cover+-+A+Sister+to+Honor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsEigY62tJf5vNyGPeUPYJCkYDoAE_tP8oGhnmOxqLY2W7X0XoQFpkoZTq9SYIfu4fXAF7XbLLm3S1UqZMZD6oFt8PFwZ13C67X8gmNMuDR1zXC-g2x3RZacROBPfiA_zYnGNGTKRwGY/s1600/Cover+-+A+Sister+to+Honor.png" height="200" width="133" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A number of other softcover novels will provide hours of
entertainment to rival anything on the TV and you don’t have to be bothered by
commercials. Plucked from the headlines being generated by the Islamic turmoil
of the Middle East, Lucy Ferriss, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Sister to Honor</b> ($16.00, Penguin) journeyed to northern Pakistan
in 2012 to learn about their culture of honor. It is a novel about Pakistani
people in America. Afia Satar is studious, modest and a devout Muslim. The
daughter of a landholding family, she has enrolled in an American college with
the dream of returning to her country to serve as a doctor, but when a photo of
her holding hands with an American boy surfaces online, she is suddenly no
longer safe, even from the family that cherishes her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is rising sports star Shahid Satar who has
been entrusted by her family to watch over Afia and now he has been ordered to
cleanse the stain of her shame. This is the classic clash of cultures and quite
relevant to the issues and times in which we live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Eliot Girls </span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">by Krista
Bridge ($22.95, Douglas & McIntyre, softcover) is set in the George Eliot
Academy, a private school for girls that prides itself on being on the vanguard
of learning. For years Audrey Brindle and her mother, Ruth, have wanted Audrey
to get into the school where Ruth has taught for a decade, but when she is
finally admitted, she discovers that the daily world of Eliot is a place of sly
bullying, ferocious intolerance, and bewildering social standards. Her mother,
Ruth, finds her own stability dismantled by the arrival of a new teacher. As
both navigate the treacheries of their upended worlds, each finds her sense of
morality slipping as unexpected possibilities ignite. Clearly a book that women
will enjoy and identify with more than men, it is also clearly worth a read for
being by turns comic and psychologically intense. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Thomas & Mercer comes a mystery, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Dead Key</b> by D.M. Pulley ($15.96,
softcover), an atmospheric and richly detailed story that weaves together the
stories of Beatrice Baker who begins work at the First Bank of Cleveland
shortly before its mysterious collapse in 1978 and Iris Latch, a civil engineer
hired to survey the abandoned but perfectly preserved bank building two decades
later. As she toils amid the bank’s ransacked offices and forgotten safe
deposit boxes, Iris is drawn into uncovering the dark secrets of the building’s
sordid past; one that includes Beatrice’s mysterious disappearance shortly
before the sudden collapse. This is a thoroughly engrossing mystery and a fine
debut for its author.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s it for March. Come back in April for more news of
the best new fiction and non-fiction. Tell your book loving friends, family and
coworkers about Bookviews.com so they too any can learn about books that often
do not get noted by the mainstream print media which in recent times is
devoting less and less space to reviews. See you next month!</span> </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com306tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-16632643326887710372015-01-25T12:43:00.000-08:002015-02-01T13:49:18.077-08:00Bookviews - February 2015<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan Caruba</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2TpZ9HZhLdCRYhp-jRXJfdP0OTDDyq9dgrMMD9WvulHCEaIOPU66kf0QrswQaJLkX5fJRxwWbTQn-8k4SJFQFjbC0vvgKEbCR79VakRo_AcbFbD__rzoL-ILwwQ7ZdabMqrFe_5b0G0/s1600/Cover-+Thieves+of+State.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2TpZ9HZhLdCRYhp-jRXJfdP0OTDDyq9dgrMMD9WvulHCEaIOPU66kf0QrswQaJLkX5fJRxwWbTQn-8k4SJFQFjbC0vvgKEbCR79VakRo_AcbFbD__rzoL-ILwwQ7ZdabMqrFe_5b0G0/s1600/Cover-+Thieves+of+State.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While we
read and hear about the latest barbaric assault on humanity perpetrated by
Islamic fanatics, the search for answers as to why they are doing this
continues. In present times, the upsurge of those pursuing a holy war or jihad
is traced to Iran’s Islamic revolution that began in 1979. After that it took
off in the form of al Qaeda, but why so many Muslims have turned to violence to
impose Islam is widely debated. One answer will surprise you and comes from
Sarah Chayes the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thieves of
State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security </b>($26.95, W.W. Norton). A
foreign policy expert with ten years’ experience in Afghanistan, Chayes
examines the ancient and widespread role of corruption that, with regard to
many nations in the Middle East and African Maghreb has led to the “Arab
Spring” in which the populations of Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt drove their
dictators from power. Chayes makes a case that the looting of the public
treasure and often the ostentatious lifestyle of the dictators or members of
their families finally convinced those in their nations to rise up against
them. Americans do not live in a nation where virtually every interface with a
government employee or with the police requires a bribe, but that has been the
life of millions in oil-rich or developing nations. It also explains why
American “nation building” in Iraq and Afghanistan has failed because
corruption is still so deeply rooted in their governments. It is a widespread
evil and much of what we are seeing worldwide—the latest example is Ukraine—is
tied to the growing rejection of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgnEp2usOGoFlct0R8Isl36aZur48YgbRLeH4v8Em3DRY7jQWZJ7W-NfyRydjN_ypMlkWE-t5keZETwJE-b4_Z7nN2nd3N4KVl3sVUSKxcEE9vtSZdgwTRURMQOwmv3ZsoxfBMcf82Sg/s1600/Cover+-+impending-monetary-revolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgnEp2usOGoFlct0R8Isl36aZur48YgbRLeH4v8Em3DRY7jQWZJ7W-NfyRydjN_ypMlkWE-t5keZETwJE-b4_Z7nN2nd3N4KVl3sVUSKxcEE9vtSZdgwTRURMQOwmv3ZsoxfBMcf82Sg/s1600/Cover+-+impending-monetary-revolution.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In 2012 I
reviewed Edmund Contoski’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Impending
Monetary Revolution, the Dollar and Gold </b>($28.95, American Liberty
Publishers, softcover) and thought it was one of the best books explaining how
the U.S. got into the 2008 financial crisis, why it could occur again, and why
current financial practices are endangering the nation with a huge $18 trillion
debt. I am happy to report that its second edition is available and is even
more relevant in terms of the past three years. Contoski has not only the
knowledge, but the talent to write about the dangerous global and national
conditions that exist in a way that anyone can understand. You will, for
example, wonder why the U.S. retains Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage
corporations that are not government agencies, but that contributed to the 2008
financial crisis and which Congress bailed out with billions, just as they did
with General Motors. At the heart of our problems is the government’s unrestrained
spending. “No nation every spent itself into prosperity”, says Contoski, and
“Greater borrowing is no solution for either Europe or America. Governments can
borrow and create debt, but they cannot create wealth. If they could, inflation
would be unnecessary. So would taxation.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you are concerned about the current economy and want to know how to
protect yourself against the future, this is a book you must read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
who loves to read about travel, you’re in for a treat when you read Jamie Maslin’s
new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Long Hitch Home </b>($24.95,
Skyhorse Publishing). I became aware of Maslin when I read his first book,
“Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn”, and it provided a very different look at
Iranians than we get in the newspapers. They like to have fun too. Maslin likes
to travel and if that includes getting into some potentially dangerous
situations, that’s okay with him. So, when he decided to travel to London by
way of hitchhiking from his home in Australia’s Tasmania, he had to know he was
in for an unusual trip. In fact, it required 800 hitchhiking rides, 18,000
miles, four seasons, three continents, and 19 countries. This book takes you
along and is a very entertaining trip filled with insights and information you
could not acquire in any other fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://zestbooks.net/">ZestBooks’</a> editors have a talent for publishing offbeat and always interesting
books that break through the usual formats and themes. A recent example is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Members Only: Secret Societies, Sects, and
Cults—Exposed! </b>by Julie Tibbott ($14.99, softcover). In a lively,
entertaining text she explains the appeal of exclusive memberships and examines
the histories and practices of fifty groups such as the Knights Templar of old,
Yale’s Skull and Bones Society, and the Illuminati which got its start in 1776
and is believed to be devoted to taking over the world. It is, however, unknown
whether or not it still exists! It was a secret society of European
intellectuals in the Enlightenment era. The odds are strong that, as its
members died, so did the secret society. The various groups she writes about
will keep you turning the pages as you learn about those who joined them and
why, inevitably, they fizzled out or came to a bad end like Jim Jones cult that
committed suicide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGZFvsO2i6GOHhMG6CjxR5UrKdVm8yZGd-O6esQ4QzPvMp8zAaUZpTGoNowK2cHjOwBkgV6kovuE2izC-v6dx-2SaVuJZiQQu8DXiIhZGiRGbPIM9sBmiMYqD6M3ClLOY3Q2j4wRCkQ8/s1600/Cover+-+Sold+Out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGZFvsO2i6GOHhMG6CjxR5UrKdVm8yZGd-O6esQ4QzPvMp8zAaUZpTGoNowK2cHjOwBkgV6kovuE2izC-v6dx-2SaVuJZiQQu8DXiIhZGiRGbPIM9sBmiMYqD6M3ClLOY3Q2j4wRCkQ8/s1600/Cover+-+Sold+Out.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My career
as a writer began with weekly newspapers, then dailies, and then as a
freelancer for many magazines, so I or anyone who has ever worked with a
magazine can be forgiven for having an interest in Stuart Englert’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sold Out: How an American Magazine Lost Its
Soul </b>($13.94, available from Amazon.com, softcover and Kindle). He tells
the story of “American Profile” a newspaper insert similar to “Parade”, but
aimed at an audience in “flyover America”, people living in rural communities
between the coasts; people whose values differ in that they favor small town
life, church-going, and fundamental American traditions, focusing on being of
service to their neighbors and communities. That was the original editorial
focus of “American Profile” as conceived by L. Daniel Hammond. It was offered
to small town dailies and gained up to ten million readers rather quickly, but
to get it started he had to turn to Wall Street investors more interested in
its quick success as a reason to sell it. To sustain it financially its advertising
staff soon took over its editorial content in order to sell ads to big brands
such as cigarette manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. From an editorial
success story to something far less than its origins is told by Englert who was
with the publication as an editor for 14 years. His book is a case history of
what happens when good editorial standards are sacrificed for fast dollars.
“American Profile”, however, is still being published.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2OiiV8fcJ68FIGAY6jL-kcXnL6L6KqEH65lb9vjRxow07VtuQqU1zyF1OjTkEYk9oD-glLUNCQa5EAvQKEMSkKImTkCh5LIjuLU7D3PjwQe1bGzltCfIXZRQ8FDA4krMiomUi9oDD8s/s1600/Cover+-+Golf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2OiiV8fcJ68FIGAY6jL-kcXnL6L6KqEH65lb9vjRxow07VtuQqU1zyF1OjTkEYk9oD-glLUNCQa5EAvQKEMSkKImTkCh5LIjuLU7D3PjwQe1bGzltCfIXZRQ8FDA4krMiomUi9oDD8s/s1600/Cover+-+Golf.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
never played golf, but I know a good book about the game when I see it. That
was my reaction to Kalliope Barlis’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Play
Golf Better Faster: The Classic Guide to Optimizing Your Performance and
Building Your Best Fast </b>($19.95, softcover, purchase at </span><a href="http://www.playgolfbetterfaster.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.PlayGolfBetterFaster.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> as well as Amazon.com, Kindle, and
other outlets.) The author took up golf in her twenties and in a remarkably
short time, she became a professional golfer. These days she tours the country
as a golf improvement specialist addressing groups of people who share her love
of the game. There is a huge mass of information about golf and what impressed
me about this book is the way it focused on the fundamentals while providing
excellent advice why the game is about much more than the equipment it
requires. She reveals both the mental and the physical elements that will lift
the golfer to a higher level, from the novice to the experienced player.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGBoYcU-cxBxhJYaxk1oGP6YbfDwaQPcgvQKqIvYz2lHPautQDggRPtJouhGZCLl9sd5Ls20b7MdpslSPYGQ0wTWITp-0-jCGLGILMCsjWLRda48pYpJt9s62sv1zsg6ugFGXsNyOsLs/s1600/Cover+-+Crucible+of+Command.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGBoYcU-cxBxhJYaxk1oGP6YbfDwaQPcgvQKqIvYz2lHPautQDggRPtJouhGZCLl9sd5Ls20b7MdpslSPYGQ0wTWITp-0-jCGLGILMCsjWLRda48pYpJt9s62sv1zsg6ugFGXsNyOsLs/s1600/Cover+-+Crucible+of+Command.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
fascination with the American Civil War has generated many books and there’s
always room for one more, especially if it is as good as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee – The War They
Fought, the Peace They Forged</b> by William C. Davis ($32.50, Da Capo Press). It
is a hefty volume of 629 pages that looks at both men simultaneously, removing
the myths surrounding them to present them as complex men with very different,
but strikingly similar, personal and professional lives. Davis is one of the
nation’s top Civil War historians, having authored or edited more than fifty
books. He is a three-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Award. The reader gets
to follow Grant and Lee through their four meetings over their lives from the
Mexican-American war when they were on the same side to Lee’s surrender on
behalf of the Confederacy. Both men died at the age of 63. Davis concludes that
as leaders, decision makers, and soldiers they were virtually
indistinguishable. The book’s focus is less on the incidents of their lives
than on their moral and ethical worlds, what they felt and believed and why. In
this respect the book fills an important role for those who find the Civil War
of interest. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The era that preceded the Civil War is addressed by Eric Foner in
his new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gateway to Freedom: The
Hidden History of the Underground Railroad </b>($26.95, W.W. Norton). James
Oakes, an author and winner of the Lincoln Prize, says of this book that it
“liberates the history of the underground railroad from the twin plagues of
mythology and cynicism. The big picture is here, along with telling details
from previously untapped sources.” Between 1830 and 1860, operatives of the
underground railroad in New York helped more than 3,000 fugitive slaves reach
freedom. Their defiance of the disastrous Fugitive Slave law inflamed the slave
states and contributed to their decision to secede. It is hard for us to
conceive of what it meant to live in those times, but this book brings them to
life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Most
certainly Theodore Roosevelt became an almost mythic figure, but Harry Lembeck
tells us of an aspect of his presidency of which most may not have heard. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Taking on Theodore Roosevelt: How One
Senator Defied the President on Brownsville and Shook American Politics </b>($27.00,
Prometheus Books). In August 1906, black soldiers stationed in Brownsville,
Texas, were accused of going on a lawless rampage in which shots were fired,
one man was killed, and another wounded. Because the perpetrators could never
be positively identified, President Roosevelt took the highly unusual step of
discharging without honor all 167 members of the black battalion on duty the
night of the shooting. Lembeck tells the story which begins at the end when
Sen. Joseph Foraker was honored by the black community in Washington, D.C., for
his efforts to reverse Roosevelt’s decision. At that time racism was widespread
in America, making Sen. Foraker’s effort to reverse Roosevelt’s decision even
more courageous. Sixty-seven years after the event, President Richard Nixon finally
undid Roosevelt’s action by honorably discharging the men of the Brownsville
Battalion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN02c8IUOyiCsaGuihlC9GdfLsdFrII7096I8MjooXx13uXFnKhE1XH7jmt23EFMnMKtVdZG3XHTPHtNoyhoYyD5fXzPRqKW2JWBvsVPPMGJkgJvs5RLso1_-YnL1ObHaGctIHeQwCcI/s1600/Cover+-+Crystal+City.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN02c8IUOyiCsaGuihlC9GdfLsdFrII7096I8MjooXx13uXFnKhE1XH7jmt23EFMnMKtVdZG3XHTPHtNoyhoYyD5fXzPRqKW2JWBvsVPPMGJkgJvs5RLso1_-YnL1ObHaGctIHeQwCcI/s1600/Cover+-+Crystal+City.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
internment of Americans born of Japanese, German and Italian ancestry during
World War II was a dark chapter in our history. Just how ugly it was is captured
by Jan Jarboe Russell in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Train to
Crystal City </b>($30.00, Scribners) which tells the story of an internment
camp in Crystal City, Texas where immigrants and their American-born children
were sent without ever being charged with a crime. It was the only family
internment camp during the war and it was the center of a government prisoner
exchange program during which hundreds of prisoners, including their children,
were sent back to the nations from which they had emigrated for Americans
deemed more important in exchange for imprisoned diplomats, businessmen,
soldiers, physicians, and missionaries. This is a tragic story but Russell
notes that the Texas Rangers ran the camp with compassion and the inmates
created churches, schools, and other amenities. The story of Crystal City is
the story of the hysteria that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor and
Germany’s subsequent declaration of war on America. Those were bad times made
worse by bad decisions that ignored the very reason immigrants had come here,
freedom. You’ll read this book and wonder how it happened, but it did happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Further
back in history, we visit England in 1649 when members of its parliament and
others became so frustrated with King Charles I that they did the unthinkable;
they beheaded him. He had been king since 1625, ruling over England, Scotland
and Ireland. He was completely devoted to the concept of the divine right of
kings; the belief that he was king by appointment from God. He was also
arrogant and corrupt, living the high life at the expense of his noble class
and the peasants. After seven bloody years of a war against Spain and Europe’s
Catholic powers that had caused much suffering, a tribunal of 135 men was
hastily gathered in London. Charles refused to acknowledge it and they decided
to behead him. His son, Charles II was restored to the throne and, instead of
learning anything from the execution, he set on retribution. This set in motion
the concept of a constitutional monarchy with limited powers that exists to
this day. You can read all about this incendiary moment in history in Charles
Spencer’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killers of the King: The Men
Who Dared to Execute Charles I </b>($34.95, Bloomsbury Press). It is testimony
to why fact is always superior to fiction because it so often defies the
imagination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bios and Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZcZow6CRiS6Mt0CKEvpr1QsWqmQadq6OfnuUS5AMmsjp3gjeGYxLORec61Tien1Ub1kmdisAR-_aokeqT4lODdYyoXbW_bozp42JrqoFnCoLzgtqEl3GJqNE1Yp-nv01TNY3_J4_FC9E/s1600/Cover+-+Hugh+O'Brian.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZcZow6CRiS6Mt0CKEvpr1QsWqmQadq6OfnuUS5AMmsjp3gjeGYxLORec61Tien1Ub1kmdisAR-_aokeqT4lODdYyoXbW_bozp42JrqoFnCoLzgtqEl3GJqNE1Yp-nv01TNY3_J4_FC9E/s1600/Cover+-+Hugh+O'Brian.png" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Hugh
O’Brian was one of those actors I grew up seeing in movie and on television.
For many he is best known for starring in the TV series, “Wyatt Earp.” When I
read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hugh O’Brian, or What’s Left of Him</b>,
his memoir written with his wife, Virginia, ($14.00, Book Publishers Network,
softcover, available from Amazon.com) I discovered a remarkable man. Published
on the eve of his 89<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> birthday, it has forewords by Hugh Hefner and
Debbie Reynolds. She tells a delightful story of how he taught her to kiss. She
was raised in a very strict family and had never even held hands with a boy.
They went on to become good friends. O’Brian tells stories of his life in the
Marines, of changing his name from Krampe to O’Brian because nobody seemed to
know how to pronounce or spell it. He led what appears to have been a life
filled with being in the right place at the right time. It didn’t hurt that he
was incredibly good looking. Along the way he met people from Marilyn Monroe to
Albert Schweitzer; the latter inspired him to create the Hugh O’Brian Youth
Leadership to encourage community service. His work on this project would put
him in contact with Presidents Nixon, Clinton and Bush over the years. If you
think of him solely as an actor, his memoir reveals how much more he was and
did in his life. It is well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many years
ago I did public relations for Actors Equity and had the pleasure of meeting
many of the leading actors and actresses of the time. Among them was Theodore
Bikel who was president of the union at the time. He has had such a remarkable
life that it is good news that a new edition of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Theo: An Autobiography </b>($21.48, softcover, available at Amazon.com)
has been published. It’s a celebration of Bikel's ninth decade, in which he
looks back at his life as an activist for civil rights and progressive causes
worldwide, and a singer whose voice has won him great applause. A compelling
life story, it practically requires a passport to read, Bikel was born in
Austria, raised in Palestine, educated in England, and has had a stellar career
in the United States and around the world. His personal history ran parallel to
momentous events of the twentieth century. In an eloquent, fiercely committed
voice, he writes of the Third Reich, the birth of the state of Israel, the
McCarthy witch-hunts of the 1950s, the tumultuous 1960s in America, and events
in the Middle East. He is perhaps best known for playing the role pf Tevye in
“Fiddler on the Roof” on Broadway, but he also created the role of Captain von
Trapp in “The Sound of Music”. He has had more than 150 screen roles and many
others on television and has recorded 37 albums over the years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvN-cARO81A3hxsg9slHOpTOqJ5LBVRt0xlsHzXeOvz-Ed28inzLmkuIcSNBZkvAcVwKFm-sugMw8VjPyXotyH9iEI8t-m8Gds0j_ijCdGWQ2GmyXL5A-Ce1zUhYL6j6Jwq3jguH3mTY0/s1600/Cover+-+Handy+Nutrition+Answer+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvN-cARO81A3hxsg9slHOpTOqJ5LBVRt0xlsHzXeOvz-Ed28inzLmkuIcSNBZkvAcVwKFm-sugMw8VjPyXotyH9iEI8t-m8Gds0j_ijCdGWQ2GmyXL5A-Ce1zUhYL6j6Jwq3jguH3mTY0/s1600/Cover+-+Handy+Nutrition+Answer+Book.jpg" height="200" width="153" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Due out
officially in March, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Nutrition
Answer Book</b> by Patricia Barnes-Svarney and Thomas E. Svarney ($21.95,
Visible Ink Press, softcover) will answer your questions about what foods are
good sources of vitamins, minerals, and proteins, as well as fats—some are good
and some are not. This book is filled with information that brings the
complexity of food and healthy nutrition together as it answers nearly 900
common questions such as how are calories measured and why is high fructose
corn syrup so controversial? What’s the best way to cook vegetables to keep
their nutrients from being destroyed? And what does the word “natural” really mean
on the label? The authors—Patricia is a science writer and Thomas is a
scientist—are very skilled and have previously written “The Handy Biology
Answer Book” and others. Indeed, I would recommend you visit </span><a href="http://www.handyanswers.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.handyanswers.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> to check out the many excellent books
filled with answers about history, science, and most recently, about Islam. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
books being written about gluten, a substance that causes gastrointestinal
problems because some people have an intolerance for it. It is the basis for
celiac disease. Found in wheat, it varies in flours such as rye and barley. By
far the largest book I have seen to date is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Gluten Free Revolution </b>by Jax Peters Lowell ($28.00, Henry Holt
and Company, softcover) that is 632 pages in length. The book’s subtitle says
it is about “Absolutely everything you need to know about losing the wheat,
reclaiming your health, and eating happily ever after.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The author
was diagnosed as suffering from celiac for more than twenty years before it was
traced to eating wheat-based foods. Thereafter she devoted herself to bringing
national attention to why a gluten-free diet would spare others allergic to
gluten. For anyone diagnosed as gluten-intolerant, this encyclopedic book has
every answer to every question you might have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLU2Uc3sm7a1GEhfDtPsSkqLbmgUO8DG6Bs0qbXSQTIbrq3JUJzi4ZiHukk3NogDN-ZRbvdenxNWNQ0kMY4YjNBlDC-SaOzfjOMfM_SVAkFTDf_wri-3XUUNf-PG0V0gjseKDCPFHDTNA/s1600/Cover+-+Wine+Maker's%2BHand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLU2Uc3sm7a1GEhfDtPsSkqLbmgUO8DG6Bs0qbXSQTIbrq3JUJzi4ZiHukk3NogDN-ZRbvdenxNWNQ0kMY4YjNBlDC-SaOzfjOMfM_SVAkFTDf_wri-3XUUNf-PG0V0gjseKDCPFHDTNA/s1600/Cover+-+Wine+Maker's%2BHand.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Mother
was an internationally honored authority on wine and I grew up enjoying it with
the gourmet dinners she prepared. Wine has many health benefits. I came to know
people who produced wine and they are a special group devoted to one of the
oldest skills, dating back to biblical times and earlier. Natalie Berkowitz is
a wine, food and lifestyle writer who has been published in leading
publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, and of course the Wine
Enthusiast and Wine Spectator. She has even taught a wine appreciation course
to seniors at Barnard and Columbia University for more than a decade. She has
written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Winemaker’s Hand:
Conversations on Talent, Technique, and Terroir </b>($27.95, Columbia
University Press) and I guarantee you, if you love wine, you will love this
book. Indeed, even a beginner just learning about the joys and benefits of wine
will enjoy it. She has interviewed more than forty of the top viticulture
maestros from all over the world with the result that the readers get to learn
about the wine-making process which is both an art and a science, from harvest
to bottling. To fully enjoy wine there is much more than just drinking it. It has
a history, it has a location, it has various distinctions in terms of the
grapes from which it is made to the special qualities it will possess.
“Terroir” by the way is a French word for “land” and how geography and climate
interact with plant genetics. It refers to the way wines are influenced by
where they are grown, the soil in which they are planted. After you read this
engrossing and entertaining book, your next stop will be to purchase a bottle
or two of wine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
younger crowd, age 4 and up, there’s an inspiring story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sadie’s Big Steal</b> by Marla McKenna, ($10.99, Tate Publishing,
softcover) a sequel to “Mom’s Big Catch” as told by Sadie, the family dog who
loves to catch balls and tells of her plan to steal a major league baseball
that Mom had caught at a game. She wants to share playing with it with her
other dog friends. Along the way, though, she realizes that it would be wrong
to do that and she realizes, too, that she wants to help a new dog in the
neighborhood find a home with the help of the local shelter. It’s the kind of
story that teaches some valuable lessons about respecting and helping others. I
would recommend it to any parent that wants to share those lessons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There's a lot of fun to be had reading <strong>The Teacher Who Would Not Retire Loses Her Ballet Slippers </strong>by Sheila and Letty Sustrin, wonderfuly illustrated by Thomas H. Bone III ($17.95, Blue Marlin Publications). Written by identical twins and retired teachers, this is a fifth in the series about "The Teacher Who Would Not Retire" aimed at readers aged 5 and up. When she cleaned a number of slippers and put them out to dry, they disappeared. The rest is a hilarious account of the effort to find them and all the people who joined in to help. The culprit is a cat, but when they disappear again you will be delighted by the way it ends.</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcdq81tD8ozLnGkLL6T-RrFPNPpRlG0SveMOwcuNC8rAWWkUhV-0QsoZk6fvUDVBHUxQdmA2KLTHik1fqwyKl7B_Kyz-338iSgw9e87WbYhboVM2CLZI2fKO1DLydsRMpHMrscFKjVl2E/s1600/Cover+-+Psi+Another+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcdq81tD8ozLnGkLL6T-RrFPNPpRlG0SveMOwcuNC8rAWWkUhV-0QsoZk6fvUDVBHUxQdmA2KLTHik1fqwyKl7B_Kyz-338iSgw9e87WbYhboVM2CLZI2fKO1DLydsRMpHMrscFKjVl2E/s1600/Cover+-+Psi+Another+Day.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
pre-teen and teenager there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Psi
Another Day </b>by D. R. Rosensteel ($9.99, Entangled Publishing, softcover)
that features Rinnie Noelie, a girl with a keen fashion sense, a secret
identify, and fierce fighting skills. By night she is a Psi Fighter battling
the Walpurgis Knights, lethal villains who brutalize her city. By day she’s a
high school student and that can be just as frightening because the school is
one in which bullying is a part of everyday activities. She wants to use her
fighting skills to protect her outcast friends from the school bullies known as
the Red Team, but that might reveal the secret of her true identity and place
her in mortal danger from the Knights. I am pleased to report that the book
lacks the foul language one finds in too many young adult books these days.
It’s anti-drug and anti-bullying message would resonate with any young reader.
This is an exceptionally well-written book and the good news is that it is the
first in a three-book series.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbpCCfFBJCAV6DxFO-kIdiPtlRFwHfXX1wsxJ-RTJtOSsujInYqX0S9hkp0jNQINaF15aLAAlYrx85_47A8v0g9z0iHujfsoOLd85B7GFEwEWv8tqnkxxbPNFLX5_mS05KQVtdOGaYres/s1600/Cover+-+The+Heroes+Trail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbpCCfFBJCAV6DxFO-kIdiPtlRFwHfXX1wsxJ-RTJtOSsujInYqX0S9hkp0jNQINaF15aLAAlYrx85_47A8v0g9z0iHujfsoOLd85B7GFEwEWv8tqnkxxbPNFLX5_mS05KQVtdOGaYres/s1600/Cover+-+The+Heroes+Trail.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A book written to inspire younger readers is <strong>The Hero's Trail</strong> by T.A. Barron ($8.99, Puffin Books, softcover). Aimed at those age 8 and up, it is filled with profiles of young heroes who displayed courage, hope, generosity, compassion and perseverance. The book is a reflection of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, an award that honors them and the author's mother. Over the years, close to $550,000 has been awarded to nearly 350 children and the book features 71 of them. If Barron's name strike a chord, it is because he is the author of the "Merlin Series" which has sold millions of copies worldwide. This would make a great gift for any young person.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJoQRL1pzf0KxixlqARyAezdPmEs67HTwRE-qcVSj1k40oFWgpAAX_rrlQyWsmMGc5XC26Y6QPlWOCvmWM75TtJC6gCvnTbRLEoYt8anjzbLOcG5_7fXb_7H_MpYjlDG4byXQBQ3KnUFY/s1600/Cover+-+Never+Open+Desert+Diner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJoQRL1pzf0KxixlqARyAezdPmEs67HTwRE-qcVSj1k40oFWgpAAX_rrlQyWsmMGc5XC26Y6QPlWOCvmWM75TtJC6gCvnTbRLEoYt8anjzbLOcG5_7fXb_7H_MpYjlDG4byXQBQ3KnUFY/s1600/Cover+-+Never+Open+Desert+Diner.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A number
of novels offer a variety of reading experiences with their themes and one that
is sure to grab your attention is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Never-Open Desert Diner </b>by James Anderson ($25.00, Caravel Books) set in
the merciless and magnificent high desert of Southwestern Utah. This is
Anderson’s debut novel, but he has had short fiction published that earned
praise. In this novel, Ben Jones is on the verge of losing his small trucking
company. A single, 38 year old truck driver, his route takes him back and forth
across one of the most desolate regions, providing daily deliveries that bring
him into contact with an eccentric cast of character that include an itinerant
preacher who drags a life-sized cross along the blazing roadside, the Lacey
brothers who live in boxcars mounted on cinderblocks, and Ginny, a pregnant and
homeless punk teenager whose survival skills make her an unlikely heroine. Ben
is drawn into a love affair with Claire, who plays a cello in the model home of
an abandoned housing development and her appearance reignites a decades-old
tragedy at a roadside café referred to by the locals as the “never-open desert
diner.” The owner is an embittered and solitary old man who refuses to yield to
change after his wife’s death. The diner was the scene of a horrific crime that
was committed forty years earlier and now threatens to destroy the lives of
those left in its wake. Sound interesting? It is!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Shady Cross</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by James Hankins ($14.95 and $9.95
ebook, Thomas & Mercer, softcover) introduces us to a small-time thief
named Stokes who is not a good guy which is why he is not particularly upset
when he accidently runs a car off the road, killing the driver. About to flee
the scene, he spots a backpack near the car that has a pile of cash in it,
enough to pay off his debts and let him leave town and start a new life. The
bag, though, also contains a ringing cell phone and when he answers it turns
out to be a little girl in distress. “Daddy? Are you coming to get me?” asks
the girl. Stokes must decide whether to keep the money or use it to save the
child’s life. Hankins has three bestselling thrillers to his credit and this
one will keep you turning the pages to see what Stokes will do. In Andy
Siegel’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cookie’s Case: A Tug Wyler
Mystery </b>($14.99, Mysterious Press, softcover) the author who in real life
is a personal injury and medical malpractice attorney in New York, transmutes
his experience into the second novel based on the character of Tug Wyler who is
also an attorney. His first novel, “Suzy’s Case” was selected as a Poisoned Pen
Bookstore Best Debut Novel and a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2012. In this
latest novel you will understand why Tug decides that Cookie is the victim of a
spine surgeon and wants to secure a medical remedy and a fair shake for her.
Cookie is the most popular performer at Jingles Dance Bonanza and she has a
devoted audience even though she must wear a neck brace. Will justice triumph?
You will have to read this novel to find out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXlGC7lIcgbPrLRkR5Sj30KWSOX8gmegLZd759awjy0H_50CqEQBrOIMQ8MhfizOUyfAulxqylXSVx1S4vXYLt-yqMtAa1LEMjrAS7Ch8Cgoyg6pXo1Nilh5BhgogxCgXx9CMdQ_V_m_0/s1600/Cover+-+Secrets+of+the+porch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXlGC7lIcgbPrLRkR5Sj30KWSOX8gmegLZd759awjy0H_50CqEQBrOIMQ8MhfizOUyfAulxqylXSVx1S4vXYLt-yqMtAa1LEMjrAS7Ch8Cgoyg6pXo1Nilh5BhgogxCgXx9CMdQ_V_m_0/s1600/Cover+-+Secrets+of+the+porch.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s a
good thing to have been born and raised in Nebraska if you are going to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Secrets of the Porch </b>($17.99, Tate
Publishing, softcover) which is set there. Sue Ann Sellon has written an
inspirational, coming of age romance featuring 16 year old Sophie Mae Randolph
who has been adrift since her mother died of cancer. To get away from abusive
foster parents she hits the streets and together with a boy named Gabe gets
arrested for robbing a gas station. The judge lets her avoid juvenile detention
when she agrees to spend a year in Nebraska on her grandmother’s farm. She has
never met grandma Lila but their relationship develops and she realizes that
they both have their secrets. She finds a boyfriend named Blake and everything
is fine until Gabe shows up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kirkus
reviews called this one “a sweet, smart story about growing up and learning to
trust.” I couldn’t have said it better. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Perhaps
the most unusual novel I have seen in a long time is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Five Days: Which Days Would You Choose? </b>by Matt Micros ($9.18,
Micropulous Press, available at Amazon.com.) When 40-year-old Mike Postman
rescues a drowning boy he allows himself to drown. Since he died a hero the
angel Gabriel gives him a gift of choosing five days that he can relive. The
book raises questions about life and death, suicide and the afterlife while
raising questions about which five days you might relive if given the
opportunity. Definitely offbeat, but it will appeal to some.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for February. Tell your family, friends and coworkers who love to read about
Bookviews.com and come back in March for more news about interesting non-fiction
and fiction books you may not read about anywhere else.</span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-77365770515054423912014-12-31T08:19:00.001-08:002015-04-28T07:39:29.428-07:00Bookviews - January 2015<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 24pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Rand Corporation is a think tank created after World War II that describes itself as
a “research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to
make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, health and more
prosperous.” It was formed to connect military planning with research and
development decisions. A recent study, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blinders,
Blunders, and Wars: What America and China Can Learn </b>($49.95, softcover, </span><a href="http://www.rand.org/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.rand.org</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">) was authored by David C. Gompert,
Hans Binnendijk, and Bonny Lin. Anyone interested in wars, past, present, and
future will find this examination of “eight strategic blunders” and the lessons
to be drawn from them will find this book of interest. It looks at Napoleon’s
disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, repeated by German military leaders in
1941, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, and other such decisions including the
U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It also looks at four cases of warfare that were
not blunders. A combination of history and strategic analysis makes this a very
interesting book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When Globalization Fails: The Rise and
Fall of Pax Americana </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
James MacDonald ($27.00. Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a historian and former
investment banker, takes a look at the way the U.S. has gone most recently from
the number one economy to number two for the first time since well before World
War ii. MacDonald concludes that the U.S. is withdrawing from its long role as
a protector of the sea lanes and as the global policeman that intervenes to
avoid problems from rogue nations. Suffice to say he sees a nation in decline,
but he does so as the U.S. has become a major energy power thanks to technology
that has unlocked vast quantities of natural gas and oil. For six years the
Obama administration has withdrawn from wars in hotspots like Iraq, but is now
reversing that policy because the decision led to a worsening situation. As the
U.S. comes out of the 2008 financial crisis, its dollar will strengthen and the
likelihood is that it will regain its global role, but you will not read that
in this otherwise interesting book’s cloudy crystal ball.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you’re
thinking of taking a vacation or business trip this year, pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Savvy Traveler: 175 Ways to Save </b>by
Robert B. Diener ($8.99, softcover, $2.99 Kindle, available from Amazon.com.)
The author is the founder of Getaroom.com, a hotel booking site, and a frequent
guest on CNN, Fox News, and CNBC, as well as a source for publications such as
The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times. His book is very
reader-friendly as he tells you how to find the very best hotel room rates,
domestically, and make good travel choices. Its international travel section
provides tips on how to handle currency issues, be safe, and find the best
deals overseas. All manner of ways to save money from renting cars to selecting
a cruise, as well of course finding the best flights for any destination while
avoiding fees and other costs. This is the kind of information any traveler
would want to know and should acquire before leaving home.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPO9memYRW382lQ6qFt-LPjRrbMqJkZqYadjA94fbtR2fGNEBU5f7JPlrHqYwrJqoOy-nYpUN_Z4rhXsV4yn9blmKZu8oBPIK4LN1-RS9YczBRhdz-jGdEYiV151j5SZM4Wo2vo5qJ3U/s1600/Cover+-+Disaster+Handbook.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPO9memYRW382lQ6qFt-LPjRrbMqJkZqYadjA94fbtR2fGNEBU5f7JPlrHqYwrJqoOy-nYpUN_Z4rhXsV4yn9blmKZu8oBPIK4LN1-RS9YczBRhdz-jGdEYiV151j5SZM4Wo2vo5qJ3U/s1600/Cover+-+Disaster+Handbook.png" height="200" width="162" /></a>Another book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Disaster Handbook</b> is by Robert
Brown Butler ($15.95, softcover, available from Amazon.com) an architect who
has penned five other books that were published by McGraw-Hill. This book
addresses what to do to prepare your home or workplace for a disaster and do so
in advance when it counts. It provides advice on how to be safe when a disaster
like a hurricane occurs and how to best repair afterwards. It goes way beyond
that, however, describing how to store and use all the foods, tools, and other
“calamity commodities” you will need should misfortune come knocking on your
door and how to survive with no electricity and pure water. It is packed with
practical information and it does so while avoiding scaring the heck out of the
reader by providing a lighthearted text that is “user friendly” from beginning
to end. This is a “safe, not sorry” book worth reading before a disaster
occurs.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ebOBcfCHNBj_xKyQFjtKlGFfpWxv5HrWuPfqZBRMr6kF4lyO_YZOMstuBuy4P9x21cnufoWZ9aazHja15IxhwqO_f5U5ESGPlkZv-dSxwnFM2aDntnuKpBfE1deAg6eFEboEDmPqxX8/s1600/Cover+-Rewards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ebOBcfCHNBj_xKyQFjtKlGFfpWxv5HrWuPfqZBRMr6kF4lyO_YZOMstuBuy4P9x21cnufoWZ9aazHja15IxhwqO_f5U5ESGPlkZv-dSxwnFM2aDntnuKpBfE1deAg6eFEboEDmPqxX8/s1600/Cover+-Rewards.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There was
a time when every parent knew that providing incentives and rewards was an
excellent way to guide a child. Teachers, too, used them in the form of gold
stars and in some schools they have even eliminated grades. Herbert J. Walberg
and Joseph L. Bast have joined together to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rewards: How to Use Rewards to Help Children Learn—and Why Teachers
Don’t Use Them Well </b>($14.95, The <a href="http://www.heartland.org/">Heartland Institute</a>, softcover). Their
book offers research that proves rewards help children learn and the failure to
provide them can actually hurt their development. If you don’t know whether you’re
doing well or not, why would you try to do better? The elimination of rewards
is the result of the progressive ideology that puts the emphasis on self-esteem
at the same it eliminates any reason for students to feel confident in a
personal achievement that is ignored. Indeed, as the book reveals, students in
teachers colleges are no longer being taught to use the rewards that served the
many generations of students that preceded the present ones. It’s no secret
there is a crisis in our public education systems these days and this book
addresses one important reason for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s
fun to be had in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">PsyQ</b> by Ben
Ambridge ($16.00, Penguin Books, softcover) that provides a way to “test
yourself with more than 80 quizzes, puzzles, and experiments” designed to
reflect everyday life. As you work your way through them, you will better
understand yourself as the author, a psychologist, explains how psychology
identifies and determines the forces that guide one’s personality, choices, et
cetera. Beginning with the famed Rorschach test and moving through scores of
other methods psychologists employ, you will become your own psychologist and
learn a great deal about this branch of science. For pure fun, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Uncle John’s Canoramic Bathroom Reader® </b>($19.95,
Bathroom Reader’s Press, Ashland, OR, softcover) whose 27<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> edition
tips in at a whopping 544 pages that is a collection of the world’s weirdest
and most fascinating facts and stories. It has sold more than 15 million copies
since its debut in 1988. Whatever your interests, you will find plenty between
its covers to interest you and plenty more as you flip through its pages. This
is the ultimate trivia book and one that is also wonderfully education and
entertaining at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
never had any contact with police that was much more than asking for
directions, but what happens when it involves something more serious? What
should someone say if a police officer stops to ask a few questions? Why does
it take so long for most cases to go to trial? How can one help a relative who
has been accused of a crime? If these questions interest you, then pick up a
copy of Dan Conaway’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Arrested: Battling
America’s Criminal Justice System </b>($19.95, Bascom Hill Publishing Group,
softcover.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the author makes clear,
too many Americans have no idea how dangerous, confusing and frustrating the
criminal justice system really is. An attorney for 19 years, he was named one
of the Top Ten Attorneys in 2013 by the National Academy of Criminal Defense
Attorneys. This one of those books that anyone who might have to deal with the
system should read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">December
was a month filled with news of Islamist attacks from Australia to Pakistan,
all quite senseless. For those who want to learn more about Islam, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Islam Answer Book </b>by John
Renard. Ph.D., ($21.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover) a professor of theology
and scholar of Islam with more than forty years of research and teaching
experience. His book takes a scholar’s approach, not offering moral judgments,
but it does offer a vast cross-culture understand of Islam in terms of its
history, beliefs, symbols, rituals, art and literature, customs, traditions,
and ethnic diversity. It is the world second largest religion and this
user-friendly guide will answer most questions that anyone might have. Visible
Ink Press has a number of these guides and I have been happy to recommend those
devoted to history and to science in the past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Show Biz</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtpDMF7I0hXytHCig5yry-rNQOfYk2wd1iiDLgmVKVCYa1hvOyLOThLLq1JqPwLwbPAZuDEoh-u42XJ1wx-YOmLWkRon_l8YNrbJMNAy7ej7dxEkh8YW0qbmo-DpHCy84RhZ0_m5EXGU/s1600/Cover+-+Hollywood+War+Stories.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtpDMF7I0hXytHCig5yry-rNQOfYk2wd1iiDLgmVKVCYa1hvOyLOThLLq1JqPwLwbPAZuDEoh-u42XJ1wx-YOmLWkRon_l8YNrbJMNAy7ej7dxEkh8YW0qbmo-DpHCy84RhZ0_m5EXGU/s1600/Cover+-+Hollywood+War+Stories.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
dreaming of going to Hollywood and making a career in films or television, it
would be a good idea to read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hollywood
War Stories: How to Survive in the Trenches—A Rule Book </b>by Rick Friedberg
with contributions by Dick Chudlow ($14.95, softcover, available at
Amazon.com). This is truly an insider’s look at the industry for anyone
thinking about working in it creating and producing music, writing comedy,
acting, and other elements of “show biz” Hollywood-style. Friedberg is an award-winning
writer/director of movies such as “Spy Hard”, television, “CSI-Miami, the Real
Housewives of Orange County”, documentaries, music videos, and television
commercials you have likely seen during the Super Bowl or World Series. It is
filled with “war stories” and lots of very excellent advice on how to navigate
the industry, particularly how it functions behind-the-scenes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will learn the do’s and don’ts of dealing
with the frustrations and politics that must be addressed in order to have a lasting
career. It is a very entertaining as well as educational book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coming in
February, Black History Month is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Black
Broadway: African Americans on the Great White Way </b>by six-time Tony Award
winning producer and author, Steward F. Lane. He offers an insider’s look at
Broadway in a book filled with more than 300 photos ($39.95, Square One
Publishers). For anyone who loves Broadway, this book belongs in their library
as Lane puts the spotlight on landmark shows such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Raisin in the Sun</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Porgy
and Bess, Dreamgirls, The Wiz</i> and many more who gave us an opportunity to
enjoy the talents of Ethel Waters, Pearl Bailey, Harry Belafonte, Sidney
Pointier, Sammy Davis Jr, who lighted the stage in plays and musicals by August
Wilson, Larraine Hansberry, and other greats of the theatre. All your favorite
black performers are to be found in this book about the struggles and triumphs
on stage of names of those whose talent has made them legends. The book
celebrates the playwrights, songwriters, directors, choreographers and
designers who changed the American theatre and around the world. This is great
history from minstrel shows to vaudeville, from the jazz age to the golden age
of the American musical. This is not just black history, but American history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5eByxgfB3fw-jXQ3M3kUS6B9GLGWoZallFyQ4IL5RFNcD5qIGioLpUKI6iJDG2sBKzDXSznzuOeRTPps_VX6N_Luy-2zfz3qnVOK6JBAW23oIw1DGzYVxXrowivPOvERNZatyvkEoqy4/s1600/Cover+-+Tough+Man,+Tender+Chicken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5eByxgfB3fw-jXQ3M3kUS6B9GLGWoZallFyQ4IL5RFNcD5qIGioLpUKI6iJDG2sBKzDXSznzuOeRTPps_VX6N_Luy-2zfz3qnVOK6JBAW23oIw1DGzYVxXrowivPOvERNZatyvkEoqy4/s1600/Cover+-+Tough+Man,+Tender+Chicken.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
most entertaining business books is Mitzi Perdue’s book about her husband, Frank
Perdue, the man behind the chicken empire. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tough
Man, Tender Chicken: Business & Life Lessons from Frank Perdue </b>($20.00,
Significance Press.com) tells how a father and son business, thanks to Frank
Perdue’s ethics and ambition, grew into a business employing 19,000 men and
women, selling its products in a hundred different countries. For the business
school student or future entrepreneur, this book will prove invaluable because
it spells out what took young Frank in the 1950s selling chickens in the way
the industry had done to the development of a whole new way of reaching out to
the consumer. The book offers lessons from the way Perdue conducted his life
and his business that are invaluable for success. They start with being honest
always, treating everyone with respect and courtesy, and remembering to laugh,
have fun, but knowing that hard work can be satisfying and fulfilling. I
recommend this book for its timeless lessons and its story of a remarkable man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">More than
three million small businesses have decided to go without employer-provided
insurance because of the cost. The co-author, Rick Lindquest, of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance:
Why It’s Good for You, Your Family, and Your company</b>, ($24.00, Wiley)
written with Paul Zane Pilzer, says “It no longer makes financial, legal, or
social sense for any U.S. employer to continue providing health insurance to
its employees.” Since 2000, the percentage of Americans covered by
employer-provided health insurance has declined annually. The authors argue
that the Affordable Care Act has made it easier and cheaper for most
individuals to buy their own insurance and therein lies the flaw to this book.
What many have discovered is that the ACA premiums are higher than expected as
are its deductibles. It even penalizes companies who fail to sign up if they
have a higher than specified number, causing many already to have put employees
on a part-time basis and to not employ more. The authors note that some
businesses will replace their group policy with a defined contribution plan
that offers a stipend to employees to buy health insurance. This book will help
the reader understand the problems that the ACA has created, but you would be
advised to read “around” it and to understand ObamaCare is at risk of being
revised by Congress or even repealed at some point. Nobody seems to like it
much.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisS0ip4V57VBOfBCcwPUnc3QXTV6FB9BBfadJ7KGLXabOYTxIOKyuQ8jcyqKJ5opr8tJYGr-wuMFFHVRVjDFm6J2rBvcjBOr1LnO6MW5tCO7BPCBzSdqsViQwVZGGs9CTScLg3sWqc3wQ/s1600/cover+-+Medical+Meltdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisS0ip4V57VBOfBCcwPUnc3QXTV6FB9BBfadJ7KGLXabOYTxIOKyuQ8jcyqKJ5opr8tJYGr-wuMFFHVRVjDFm6J2rBvcjBOr1LnO6MW5tCO7BPCBzSdqsViQwVZGGs9CTScLg3sWqc3wQ/s1600/cover+-+Medical+Meltdown.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
In a similar fashion <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Surviving the
Medical Meltdown: Your Guide to Living Through the Disaster of Obamacare </b>by
Dr. Lee Hieb, MD ($17.95, WMD Books, softcover) is testimony to the fact that
government health care anywhere in the world has never been as good as they
provided by the free market. This book is a guide to prepare you and your
family to prevent and deal with a multitude of medical issues, from finding
doctors during a shortage to tips for dealing with everything from rashes to
fevers to fractures and chest pain at home. Dr. Heib is a past president of the
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. His book explores what
ObamaCare will and won’t cover, which medications you should stockpile, and
tips to maintain your health so you won’t need a doctor. If you or your family
members are at risk for hereditary illnesses, this is must reading, but it is
also must reading in order to prepare for the problems the Affordable Patient
Care Act has created.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Due out in
February, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Job Pirate </b>by Brandon
Christopher ($16.95, Bleeding Heart Publications, softcover) is a funny,
irreverent, first-person account of the author’s journey through the American
job market that some are calling a workplace “survival guide” for Gen-X and
Millennials. Christopher writes of some two dozen “crappy” jobs out of the
eighty-two he has worked over the last twenty years. Some are hilarious and
some are absurd. He writes with wit and intelligence as he offers a look at the
lighter and darker sides of humanity in the workplace. It is a compassionate
look at the lives of the many people we encounter anonymously every day. As
Christopher says, “Knowing the score is half the battle. Once you realize that
this is no longer your Day’s America, it becomes easier to survive it. Much
about the employment scene has changed and this book is an excellent
introduction to the new realities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leading Women: 20 Influential Women Share
Their Secrets to Leadership, Business, and Life</b> ($16.99, Adams Media,
softcover) Nancy D. O’Reilly, a clinical psychologist brings her knowledge and
experience interviewing successful women for the past seven years to the pages
of a book that encourages women to “claim power and respect, conquer your
internal barriers, and change the world by helping other women do the same.” This
book is a new addition to a genre of similar books intended to help women who
enter the male-dominated world of business and to break free of limits that can
impose. Studies have shown that companies in which women have risen to be CEOs
and on the boards actually do better than those who do not. This book
synthesizes the experiences and the advice of women who have achieve success
and will no doubt help any woman, especially the younger ones entering the
workplace, to find their own success. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Once you
have found success and worked hard, the next hurdle to master is retirement. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What To Do to Retire Successfully:
Navigating Psychological, Financial and Lifestyle Hurdles </b></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($15.95,
New Horizon Press, softcover) by Martin B. Goldstein is due out in February.
Seventy-seven million baby boomers are slated to retire over the next twenty
years, about 10,000 daily, and the author, a physician whose clinical practices
specialized in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders, is
happily retired and wants you to be as well. Many planning on retiring have
been hard hit by the recent economic recession and a very slowly improving
economy. The plans they made have been disrupted. Everyone worries that they
may not have enough funds to maintain their lifestyle. If that description fits
you or someone in your family, this book will likely prove very helpful for
them, at any point in their life, to make the right decisions about the rest of
it. The budget bill that Congress passed in mid-December has changed the status
of pensions, allowing the payout to be altered. If you have such a pension you
should look into this because many pensioners are likely to find they will
receive less in the years ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Your Mental Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZzzS45moirrZkCkeTmvJsvcvtEQ59iDvIRVIMdBlkRVLTUE4yDi3DhMQwcs3XV_6j3eFMgBQxEJiUGotkzCPgV-Z-w7nHgJQYUitpmR_u9cHII6ykqgEhuj1KqCbzIcsUPZkB1ncxuQ/s1600/Cover+-+How+to+Survive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZzzS45moirrZkCkeTmvJsvcvtEQ59iDvIRVIMdBlkRVLTUE4yDi3DhMQwcs3XV_6j3eFMgBQxEJiUGotkzCPgV-Z-w7nHgJQYUitpmR_u9cHII6ykqgEhuj1KqCbzIcsUPZkB1ncxuQ/s1600/Cover+-+How+to+Survive.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Life is
filled with problems and how we deal with them determines how we can achieve
peace of mind. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Survive: The
Extraordinary Resilience of Ordinary People </b>($14.95, Think Piece
Publishing, softcover) by Andy Steiner offers a number of inspiring recovery
stories as well as resources to help people get through difficult times.
There’s a lot of practical wisdom in this book by a writer with some impressive
credits to her name, included <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Self,
Glamour</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fitness</i>, to name just
a few publications in which her work has appear. You will learn how the people
in the book overcame a massive heart attack, bankruptcy, the death of a spouse,
the suicide of a family member, and other challenges. For anyone passing
through a comparable situation, this will be a welcome book to read. In a
similar way, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Overcoming Shock: Healing
the Traumatized Mind and Heart </b>by Diane Zimberoff and David Hartman
($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) tells us that a serious trauma is
experienced by 7.7 million adults nationwide and millions more worldwide
annually. It can be a threatening illness, the sudden death of a loved one, or
a terrorist act like the Boston Marathon bombing. It causes people to mentally
and physically shut down. This book provides proven strategies, techniques and
tools for successful treatment and provides real-life stories of people who
successfully overcame the debilitating effects and post-traumatic ramifications
of shock and trauma. Ms. Zimeroff is a licensed marriage and family therapist
and Hartman is a clinical social worker who specializes in trauma resolution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">All of us
encounter anxiety in some fashion in our lives and Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg has
written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Ten Best Anxiety Busters:
Simple Strategies to Take Control of Your Worry</b> ($13.95, W.W. Norton,
softcover) that will help the reader address and overcome any one of a wide
range of often common fears. From fear of flying to not like being in a
confined space like an elevator, whether the anxiety is minor or a more serious
panic disorder, the good news is that one can address and overcome it. The
author, a doctor of psychology, has provided ten simple techniques that include
breathing exercises and relaxation practices, as well as how to effectively
talk to yourself, among other ways to rid yourself of anxieties, large and
small, that interfere with enjoying your life. And then there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Guilt, Shame and Anxiety: Understanding and
Overcoming Negative Emotions </b>by Dr. Peter R. Breggin ($19.00, Prometheus
Books, softcover) who has devoted decades to leading successful efforts to
reform the mental health field and promote empathic therapies. His work has
provided the foundation for modern criticism of psychiatric drugs and
diagnoses. His latest book offers the first unified theory of guilt, shame, and
anxiety, showing how these emotions eventually become self-defeating and
demoralizing. He guides the reader through the “Three Steps to Emotional
Freedom” and for anyone whose life is being diminished by negative emotions,
this book will surely open doors to a far better one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I would
particularly recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Change Your Mind,
Change Your Health: 7 Ways to Harness the Power of Your Brain to Achieve True
Well-Being </b>by Anne Marie Ludovici, ($15.99, Career Press, softcover) a
noted behavioral health consultant. Americans are overwhelmed daily by all
kinds of advice on how to avoid heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and
certain types of cancer, all leading causes of preventable death, but as often
as not, they don’t make the changes necessary to ensure good health. The author
notes that nearly 80 million Americans are deemed obese or overweight and
smokers often take up to seven or more tries to actually stop. Her new book
offers proven, evidence-based behavioral tools for “achieving a self-assured
and sustainable sense of health and well-being in the face of all obstacles or
challenges.” If you are experiencing a struggle to take up good habits and
break bad ones, this book will prove very helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you or
someone you know is the parent of a child with autism, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Living Autism Day By Day: Daily reflections and Strategies to Give You
Hope and Courage </b>($23.00. Freedom Abound, softcover) by Pamela
Bryson-Weaver will provide some valuable insight on how to cope and what to do.
The author has three children with special needs. John, her youngest, has
autism and Joshua, the oldest, has Tourette’s and ADHD. That set her on a
journey from being “just a mom” to becoming an expert on these conditions.
Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a multiplex of
development disabilities. According to the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention, an estimated one in fifty children in the U.S. has autism. Her book
tells what information and help is available for the services and professionals
who provide it, what to believe and dismiss regarding what one will hear about
autism, and what types of feelings, emotions, and issue you will deal with on a
personal level as a parent or caregiver. The book has received a great deal of
praise from professionals and parenting experts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
beautiful women in the world, there’s a book especially for them. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Beautiful Woman Syndrome and the
Invisible Man </b>by Jake Kelly ($13.35/$14.95, softcover and Kindle, available
from Amazon.com) explores his hypothesis that they have more frequent
encounters with me because, while they wanted comfort, nurturing and caring,
the men wanted sex. “They universally complained of frequent, successive
encounters ending with sex and then rejection. They felt it was their fault;
that they weren’t loveable; that they always fell for the wrong guy when what
they wanted was a good guy. For those women experiencing this syndrome, Kelly
has written a book on how to spot a “hit man”, the type who’s only interested
in adding one more sexual conquest, how develop the ability to spot this type
and avoid the unhappiness that comes with them. The “invisible man” is basically
a good guy and there are plenty of them. I have known a few beautiful women in
my life and can confirm that this book offers some excellent advice to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EYjsZeIAD0CRV6pIzun6HYRKqCcHlgcw7ZdE1j-qZ_vnw32SXseYeZMLcw7_Ka2BbfgImI-tc0zX1d-cilXc4n1nl3Gstecgkt6fl9XvGS4iDRDDXFVucK_0Ap6Otl39suAxWJRfuCc/s1600/Cover+-+Birdology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EYjsZeIAD0CRV6pIzun6HYRKqCcHlgcw7ZdE1j-qZ_vnw32SXseYeZMLcw7_Ka2BbfgImI-tc0zX1d-cilXc4n1nl3Gstecgkt6fl9XvGS4iDRDDXFVucK_0Ap6Otl39suAxWJRfuCc/s1600/Cover+-+Birdology.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Only
received one book for the kids, but it is well worth recommending. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Birdology: 30 Activities and Observations
for Exploring the World of Birds</b> by Monica Russo with photos by Kevin Byron
($15.95, Chicago Review Press, softcover). Aimed at ages 7 and up this older
reader found it fascinating. I have no doubt that a grade-schooler would as
well thanks to its interesting text, brief and fact-filled on each page, and
for its many wonderful full color photos of all manner of species. The
activities it suggests are easy enough for any young reader to undertake, but
the focus here is on observing the great diversity and beauty that exists among
many bird species. It treats the reader with respect and in addition to
information about migration, nesting, food, territories, conservation, and
other bird facts, it provides “Bird Words”, a useful glossary as well as common
and scientific names, plus resources on the Internet that will provide more
information for the curious. I would not be surprised that this book produces
some ornithologists in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzu9POO0CCIXYAmLdny3Msnyz9SOH17-LXtZRUWbVfemrVIJgFzNbQEnbmjDQYVAgoARcCcHzo61B1u3eGCnOxNBeFl7R9qzbSe-ILUWZUJvoFuum5YudL8e4LhPl5KuUBji7hLNmEieI/s1600/Cover+-+After+the+Fall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzu9POO0CCIXYAmLdny3Msnyz9SOH17-LXtZRUWbVfemrVIJgFzNbQEnbmjDQYVAgoARcCcHzo61B1u3eGCnOxNBeFl7R9qzbSe-ILUWZUJvoFuum5YudL8e4LhPl5KuUBji7hLNmEieI/s1600/Cover+-+After+the+Fall.jpg" height="200" width="146" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A taunt,
fast-moving thriller with a historical context is found in Patricia Gussin’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">After the Fall </b>($26.95, Oceanview
Publishing). Laura Nelson’s career as a surgeon has ended due to a tragic
accident, but has led to her accepting a position as vice president of research
for a large pharmaceutical company. As she works to finalize approval of the
company’s groundbreaking new drug, Jake Harter, a malicious Food and Drug
Administration employee is working to stop the approval because he is obsessed
with Adawia Abdul, the beautiful Iraqi scientist who discovered the drug. He
does not want her to have any reason to return home to replace her dying father
in Saddam Hussein’s bioweapons program. A number of forces are a work as
Hussein’s henchmen apply pressure to assure her return and, if Laura Nelson
gets in his way, he will eliminate her as he has her predecessor, and his own
wife. The novel has an added sense of reality due to the fact that the author
has practiced medical research and been an executive with a leading healthcare
company. Her first novel, “Shadow of Death”, was nominated as the best first
novel by International Thriller Writers. This sixth novel is bound to attract
awards and is the fourth and final novel in her Laura Nelson series. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Widow Tree </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Nicole Lundrigan ($22.95, Douglas
& McIntrye, softcover) is set in the 1950’s post-war Yugoslavia and marks a
departure from her previous four novels. When three childhood friends find a
long-lost stash of Roman coins it precipitates the unraveling of their
relationships as they argue over what to do with their new found wealth. Nevena
insists it should be turned over to authorities as the coins belong to the
country. Janos wants to keep them and Dorjan walks the line between the two.
The decision to conceal their discovery turns disastrous when Janos disappears.
This is a compelling, richly layered story of silent betrayals in a tightly
knit village where the post-war air is simultaneously flush with hope and
weighted with suspicion. Amidst an intricate web of cultural tensions,
government control, family bonds and past mistakes, the truth behind many
closely held secrets is revealed with life-altering consequences. The author is
a masterful storyteller and this one is more than a notch above most novels.
World War Two serves as the backdrop for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sprouting
Wings </b>by Henry Faulkner ($17.99, Two Harbors, softcover) in which Alan
Ericsson begins his journey to become a Navy pilot prior to the U.S. getting
into the war. The novel expertly weaves together adventure, love, and
historical fact to take the reader back to those days in the early 1940s as it
showcases the difficulties of daily life for American military men and women.
This is the first of a series of five novels that will follow the protagonist from
rookie pilot to a respected member of a squadron. Another perspective will be
seen in Alan’s wife, Jennifer, who works for the Office of Naval Intelligence
and transfers to Pearl Harbor in August 1941. It would be attacked in December.
For anyone wondering what life was like in those days and who also enjoys
reading about aviation, this novel will prove a treat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWAGSuY_bQakaLU6airPeuCfLnz8XO5toinyl51dKebUuZuwLLZGTP7hOGJMVjj4EuZOYWAejGisPWKGkPfxJutOhx00mMULu6_p0n803qwdQbVPpGc_gxyte7RLbTrg04QNaozEic8c/s1600/Cover+-+If+You+Needed+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWAGSuY_bQakaLU6airPeuCfLnz8XO5toinyl51dKebUuZuwLLZGTP7hOGJMVjj4EuZOYWAejGisPWKGkPfxJutOhx00mMULu6_p0n803qwdQbVPpGc_gxyte7RLbTrg04QNaozEic8c/s1600/Cover+-+If+You+Needed+Me.jpg" height="200" width="136" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If You Needed Me </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Lee Lowrey ($22.94, iUniverse,
hardcover, $14.98 softcover and $3.99 Kindle) is a compelling narrative of
loss, loyalty and love drawn from the real life of Ms. Lowry. When Jenny
Longworth offers aid and comfort to her former college sweetheart David Perry
who had recently lost his French wife to cancer, their youthful passion is
reignited, creating a gauntlet of social and moral conflicts arising from the
disapproval of friends and family when she uproots her life in Boston and moves
to Europe to console David while he attempts to put his life back together.
Most of his friends welcome her but some view her with hostility. And David’s
children, Mark and Delphine, react to Jenny’s presence with confusion and
ambivalence. It should not surprise the reader to learn that Lee Lowrey gave up
a successful career in Boston and moved to Europe to help an ex-lover cope with
his grief becoming in time an expatriate, second wife, and step-parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
who enjoy a psychological thriller, they will find one in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Blue Journal </b>by L.T. Graham ($15.95, Seventh Street Books,
softcover). When one of Randi Conway’s psychotherapy patients is found dead of
a gunshot wound, the investigation is turned over to Lieutenant Anthony Walker,
a former New York City cop now serving on the police force of an affluent
community in Fairfield County, Connecticut. He lives among the privileged
gentry, but knows from experience that appearance often hide reality. This is
certainly true of Elizabeth Knoebel. When Walker finds her private journal
entitled “Sexual Rites” it is clear she has been recording the explicit details
of her sexual adventures with various men, many of whom are married to the
women in her therapy group. She was a sexual predator and Walker believes that
the killer is another of Randi Conway’s patients. You will find it hard to put
this novel down. L.T. Graham is the pen name of a New England-based suspense
writer who is the author of several novels and readers will look forward to the
next one featuring Detective Anthony Walker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Michael
McCarthy is widely read in conservative circles and has authored<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Rainbow Option</b> ($13.50, 30 Cubits Press, softcover) a sequel to “The Noah
Option” both of which look to a very different, future America when people
struggle to survive under a flood of government oppression. It is a nation in
which gangs stalk the streets and are ruled by petty tyrants. If that seems to
come out of recent headlines of gangs of people shouting “Kill the Police” then
you have a sense of the future in McCarthy’s second novel when economic
collapse and tyranny is everywhere. The novel features software genius Isaiah
Mercury and a brilliant botanist Grace Washington who lead the underground
resistance people by those who have fled to refuges called “Arks” after Noah’s
Ark. When the government unleashes a deadly virus against its own citizens,
Grace and Isaiah race to develop a cure before millions die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a fast-paced tale that will hold your
attention and make you think about the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That’s it for
January!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell your book-loving family,
friends and coworkers about Bookviews.com, a report that tells you about books
you may not read about anywhere else, but are sure to enjoy depending on your
interests. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com85tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-76723012825832947062014-12-01T05:46:00.000-08:002014-12-01T05:46:04.019-08:00Bookviews - December 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba</span><br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: red;">Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglRQW3M1WIYejZf37rj2poUP7YLfLu2iz2GfDBPirmt70jK5EVsIavcQf5V71P8PbKiBLVRTSdntB-0G6-HF8-z7MCsqWbtS4IT0ynxK4R0uUg7BS7BK5tFaCgIU8sERrL8odzzZEXyFA/s1600/Cover+-+Accidental+Superpower.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglRQW3M1WIYejZf37rj2poUP7YLfLu2iz2GfDBPirmt70jK5EVsIavcQf5V71P8PbKiBLVRTSdntB-0G6-HF8-z7MCsqWbtS4IT0ynxK4R0uUg7BS7BK5tFaCgIU8sERrL8odzzZEXyFA/s1600/Cover+-+Accidental+Superpower.png" height="200" width="178" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Not long
ago I read a book that predicted the decline of America as a world power. The
author, a historian, made his case, but I was not convinced and, after reading
Peter Zeihan’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Accidental
Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global
Disorder </b>($28.00, Twelve) I am encouraged to believe his hypothesis that
America, by virtue of its geographic location and its tradition of welcoming
and assimilating people who want freedom and liberty, will emerge safely from a
period of disorder he sees ahead for the world. The entire book depends on his
prediction of global disorder that will occur between 2015 and 2030. It seems
to me that the world is always in some stage of disorder, but I agree that
America’s unique location with two great oceans on its coasts and two allies,
Canada and Mexico, north and south of us, plus our maritime and military superiority,
bodes well for its future. Thanks to “fracking” we are going to be energy
independent and we are the nation others send their money to keep it safe. Our
agricultural sector is powerful as well. Zeihan writes of a future in which the
world order in which the U.S. has provided since the end of WWII will be
withdrawn. I find it hard to believe it will cease to ensure protection of the
sea lanes vital to trade thanks to energy independence and the cost of ensuring
world order—the absence of wars. The best that can be said is that reading his
book provides a valuable insight to the way geography, location, determines in
great part the history and the future of nations with whom we share this
planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpbrFh1700UkotxuO9Z4BMQONIq_wJMTUhOImNDCnGay-u3sEpQbVQZED9STYm2CAEnot91Vg0j26fju5he2xulrbQ_lxG9t54sTcREOCppyyh86NBmk9UW_PszyxnOJMY5L3tP7rI2js/s1600/Cover+-+The+Colder+War.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpbrFh1700UkotxuO9Z4BMQONIq_wJMTUhOImNDCnGay-u3sEpQbVQZED9STYm2CAEnot91Vg0j26fju5he2xulrbQ_lxG9t54sTcREOCppyyh86NBmk9UW_PszyxnOJMY5L3tP7rI2js/s1600/Cover+-+The+Colder+War.png" height="200" width="157" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
book takes a look at America in terms of its superpower status with a
particular emphasis between it and Russia, the former Soviet Union with whom
the U.S. had a long Cold War. By Marin Katusa, it is titled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade
Slipped from America’s Grasp </b>($29.95, Wiley and Casey Research).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would strongly recommend this book to
anyone interested in and concerned about the future as we watch our influence
and power drain away under the leadership of a President who has steadily
worked to isolate the nation and withdraw from playing a role in international
affairs. Katusa spells out why Russia’s Vladimir Putin has demonstrated a far
greater grasp of geopolitical affairs than our President and what they means
for ours and the world’s future. Russia has a wealth of energy reserves, coal,
oil, and natural gas, much as the U.S. has, but the U.S. government has, for
decades, suppressed its growth while the new Russian Federation under Putin’s
leadership is expanding it. This book is so full of facts and insights
regarding what is going on in the world’s energy sector that it is virtually
essential to read it in order to understand what is happening and what may
happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNC541KxckF3j5oVm4CjuyDnDGesKtXi6quU8dCnUeRbQh_by37xPCAMgxZg-j_JkTsi6a_fC-3sv_oyATvUJ9MKk2UqvFn18mf8CqbLsk0aSsKXLLahconpS8ov20NjPDRVaXPafczeQ/s1600/Cover+-+Moral+Case+for+Fossil+Fuels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNC541KxckF3j5oVm4CjuyDnDGesKtXi6quU8dCnUeRbQh_by37xPCAMgxZg-j_JkTsi6a_fC-3sv_oyATvUJ9MKk2UqvFn18mf8CqbLsk0aSsKXLLahconpS8ov20NjPDRVaXPafczeQ/s1600/Cover+-+Moral+Case+for+Fossil+Fuels.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Alex
Epstein makes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Moral Case for Fossil
Fuels</b> as the author of his book of the same name ($27.95, Penguin Random
House), providing a world of facts about coal, oil and natural gas that
destroys all the blather about “renewable” energy, wind and solar. The latter
are unreliable and expensive. Nations that have spent a lot of money on them
have also discovered that their electric bills soared while, at the same time,
they had to maintain plants fueled by fossil fuels to back up the “Green”
energy “farms.” Despite all the criticism fossil fuels have received, their
emissions represent no threat to the environment because carbon dioxide plays
virtually no role to influence the weather or climate. While it has increased
in the atmosphere, the Earth has been in a cooling cycle for the past 19 years!
Moreover, fossil fuels exist in abundance around the world despite claims we
will run out of them. The current fracking boom in natural gas and oil will
make the U.S. energy independent with no need to depend on expensive imported
fossil fuels. The point Epstein makes is that fossil fuels have transformed our
human life, freeing humanity from its dependence on muscle power while
transforming agriculture and bringing about an industrial revolution that has
extended human life while enhancing it with the power to live in comfort and
travel with ease. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRv1R7pl_PwxMZKQJVq9YveI3kjxLaOn1SdSQ4uFcZguklsd_CAdVKUxotekiMCn0O3J1Vvuk7KaYSNA8pJR-kOGX270_Syj6nQeIupt-_pVIIzi8p7AJ7L0zeQ5LdfjUFdJFS3jjCcc/s1600/Cover+-+Climate+for+the+Layman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRv1R7pl_PwxMZKQJVq9YveI3kjxLaOn1SdSQ4uFcZguklsd_CAdVKUxotekiMCn0O3J1Vvuk7KaYSNA8pJR-kOGX270_Syj6nQeIupt-_pVIIzi8p7AJ7L0zeQ5LdfjUFdJFS3jjCcc/s1600/Cover+-+Climate+for+the+Layman.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I would also
recommend reading Anthony Bright-Paul’s excellent <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Climate for the Layman </b>($19.50, available via Amazon.com,
softcover) which provides understanding and insights regarding the Earth’s
climate in a way that a reader, with or without any knowledge of the science,
can easily comprehend and enjoy. At a time when the UN has created a “Climate
Fund” to redistribute billions from industrialized nations to those who have
failed to take the steps to develop (often due to corrupt leaders) everyone
needs to know what really constitutes the Earth’s climate and to grasp that it
is the result of vast, powerful forces beyond anything humanity does. Our use
of fossil fuels, for example, does not cause “global warming” and, indeed, the
Earth is in a 19-year cooling cycle that reflects the Sun’s reduction in the
amount of radiation it is producing, itself a natural cycle. The science is
virtually self-evident. As the author says, “Once we accept that the Sun warms
the Earth—that is to say the surfaces of this Planet—and that the surfaces warm
the atmosphere by 'thermal contact' (1st law of thermodynamics) then we can see
that all the arguments about carbon dioxide 'causing' warming of the
atmosphere—trumpeted in so many of the Warmist websites—are irrelevant.” This
book is distinguished by the author’s clarity and easy comprehension. I
guarantee it will make you the smartest person in the room with the topic of
climate comes up!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4DJ12N21Fh7gY1ZWg9fh2WT7E_lSg9Fz9XEdLoKDYWFR18RU7611x3JDszhr__oDiQY8B11_yiKvFvTJi4pwunp7OChZT7tXE5yUpAJTa1DYxzMvtGpcNlo-bf01bwO8Dsg-g_o-Wtg/s1600/Cover+-+Dear+Milton+Friedman.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4DJ12N21Fh7gY1ZWg9fh2WT7E_lSg9Fz9XEdLoKDYWFR18RU7611x3JDszhr__oDiQY8B11_yiKvFvTJi4pwunp7OChZT7tXE5yUpAJTa1DYxzMvtGpcNlo-bf01bwO8Dsg-g_o-Wtg/s1600/Cover+-+Dear+Milton+Friedman.png" height="200" width="151" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
greatest economists of our time was Dr. Milton Friedman, a 1976 Nobel Prize
winner who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades. He
was an advocate of the free market and known for his research on consumption
analysis and monetary history and theory. Friedman died in 2006. My friend, Ben
A. Cerruti, has worked in several aspects of our economy and has been active
for two decades addressing various ballot issues in San Francisco. His website,
</span><a href="http://www.arationaladvocate.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.arationaladvocate.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is always worth visiting. “It did not
enter my mind at the time that writing my first letter to Milton Friedman in
March 1992 would lead to continuing correspondence for over a decade.” Though
Cerruti had been a registered representative for a major New York Stock
Exchange firm and had received a BSEE degree from the University of California
at Berkeley, he “had never attended a single class on the key subject of
economics either in college or high school.” He had questions about the Federal
Reserve and other related issues so he wrote to Dr. Friedman and he generously
responded to Cerruti’s questions and thoughts. The happy result is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dear Milton Friedman: A Decade of Lessons
from an Economics Master </b>($14.94, softcover, available from Amazon.com,
Barnes and Noble and LULU), a collection of their exchange of letters. If
economics is a mystery to you, I recommend reading this book. Friedman’s
responses are an education in themselves. If you have wondered what makes
capitalism different from socialism and why it has proven itself better at
creating wealth anywhere it has been adopted, pick up <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Adam Smith Knew: Moral Lessons on Capitalism from its Greatest Champions
and Fiercest Opponents </b>($16.95, Encounter Books, softcover), edited and
introduced by James R. Otteson.) We live in times in which even Communist China
retains its political system, but has adopted capitalism and has, in three
decades, risen to become a global economic power, For former Soviet Union
failed because of its Communist economic system, but now competes as a major
power in the energy marketplace. This book contains essays and excerpts by some
of the top thinker on this important subject. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRv0SZTKB_DxB-uHte9Jc_ZJrtLo3JOsNWh82IqPlNFXaplQt5JGAr69lMI0RByJOG9XVmvnmCl5H7yX7R8N_0Ie3o6szMFn3bF-_CBSjwtjcyoGwzUKg1cbF3twaDHVkoAeJHigmXyEY/s1600/Cover+-+Spam+Nation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRv0SZTKB_DxB-uHte9Jc_ZJrtLo3JOsNWh82IqPlNFXaplQt5JGAr69lMI0RByJOG9XVmvnmCl5H7yX7R8N_0Ie3o6szMFn3bF-_CBSjwtjcyoGwzUKg1cbF3twaDHVkoAeJHigmXyEY/s1600/Cover+-+Spam+Nation.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
eho is concerned about identity theft<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>resulting from the vast hacking operations that acquire all manner of
information about people, then I strong recommend you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime—From Global
Epidemic to Your Front Door </b>by cybersecurity expert, Brian Krebs ($24.99,
Sourcebooks). You will learn about the criminal masterminds behnd some of the
largest spam and hacker operations who are targeting you and your bank account.
I am frankly surprised this book has not generated more coverage in the
mainstream press and on TV news channels and other programs. Spam costs the
U.S. an estimated $40 billion a year and 85% of products purchased through span
are bought by your fellow Americans. These are operations that can take control
of your computer to blast out spam and viruses to your contacts, can infiltrate
your inbox through malware embedded in emails and can harvest usernames,
passwords, online banking credentials, and other personal information. It can
lock you out of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. It can sell your
account information on the digital black market. This may be the most important
book you read this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAPrBAjbBpvbwba-JPP33EE_3I1wktcg-NYeNMzd_oXpVj4pRoMjdyifMRpvKnuP8yW-b0IIyHWG9QQyOF1dGpynS38A4Aq-Y9rzW6zsLa9geTHeoyHggIU1JvwIeSsPIFobc3ACuSZM/s1600/Cover+-+Treasure+Island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAPrBAjbBpvbwba-JPP33EE_3I1wktcg-NYeNMzd_oXpVj4pRoMjdyifMRpvKnuP8yW-b0IIyHWG9QQyOF1dGpynS38A4Aq-Y9rzW6zsLa9geTHeoyHggIU1JvwIeSsPIFobc3ACuSZM/s1600/Cover+-+Treasure+Island.jpg" height="200" width="126" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As you
might imagine, I think books make great gifts and some are ideally suited to
become personal heirlooms that remains a part of the lives of those receiving
them. I could not help but think this when I saw two of the latest books from
the <a href="http://www.foliosociety.com/">Folio Society</a>, London. This publisher offers fiction and non-fiction
classics with special attention to producing a handsome looking, beautifully
illustrated book. For boys this year, a new edition of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Treasure Island </b>by Robert Lewis Stevenson ($84.95) is available and
for girls there’s Louisa May Alcott’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Little
Women </b>($74.99). A visit to Folio Society’s website will excite anyone who
has a deep love of books and wants to pass it on to a child or friend, or add
to one’s personal library. For nearly seventy years the Folio Society has been
devoted to publishing books that are individual works of art; the kind that are
passed on from generation to generation. There’s even a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Folio 2015 Diary</b> at $24.95 to keep track of important dates and
events in the year ahead. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfNu1TipwFA9yiiOUEojiX_KcooB2MEz54PBAdziT8HonCsqwu039Bl1xOcxpTHnHU6Y16WJjLRLuXXT63Ou8c0gw9JTywE4afuytbA1EaTbyjCuc_bIbdwBhhJaX6CZPuufX0qQIW_lI/s1600/Cover+-+World+Almanac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfNu1TipwFA9yiiOUEojiX_KcooB2MEz54PBAdziT8HonCsqwu039Bl1xOcxpTHnHU6Y16WJjLRLuXXT63Ou8c0gw9JTywE4afuytbA1EaTbyjCuc_bIbdwBhhJaX6CZPuufX0qQIW_lI/s1600/Cover+-+World+Almanac.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Every year
for as long as I can recall, this is the month I recommend the latest annual
edition of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World Almanac® and Book
of Facts </b>and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> 2015</b> is no
exception ($13.99, softcover). Now available, it features the top ten news
topics of 2014 as well as offbeat news stories that are entertaining. The
editors chose the most controversial franchise sports team owners for the new
edition and have included some useful health care statistics among its
encyclopedic collection of data. The results of the 2014 midterm elections are
also included. You are sure to enjoy sections such as “The World at a Glance”
and “Time Capsule” which make their return. I know we’re all inclined to Google
answers these days, but the World Almanac® and Book of Facts is a treasure of
information at your fingertips that is always a good idea to keep handy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Islam Examined</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpI1RYRavau0o6615jHi8qwCYuR7KNRgsnH9_NPOB6zOijRphSbMEoI_aIUY5p6_CTkU7MrD2NBq1C9i59vPdnmvh1ienERSh69PGmEOp32BvugeBje0DhykWEH9zGfOHe4PYvbsVwFgI/s1600/Cover+-+Tyranny+of+Silence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpI1RYRavau0o6615jHi8qwCYuR7KNRgsnH9_NPOB6zOijRphSbMEoI_aIUY5p6_CTkU7MrD2NBq1C9i59vPdnmvh1ienERSh69PGmEOp32BvugeBje0DhykWEH9zGfOHe4PYvbsVwFgI/s1600/Cover+-+Tyranny+of+Silence.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In
September 2005, Fleming Rose, the editor of the Danish newspaper, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jyl-lands-Posten</i>, commissioned and
published a number of cartoons about Islam, prompted by his perceptions of
self-censorship by the European media. One of the cartoons, by the artist Kurt
Westergaard, depicted Mohammad wearing a bomb in his turban. Muslims are
forbidden to depict their prophet in any fashion and the cartoon set off a
violent international uproar in which Danish embassies were attack and 200
deaths were attributed to the protests. The story of that event is told by Rose
in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Tyranny of Silence: How One
Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free Speech </b>($24.95, Cato
Institute). “My personal view is that Americans are right,” he says in the
first chapter. “Freedom and tolerance are, to me, two sides of the same coin,
and both are under pressure.” Rose, who had worked in the former Soviet Union,
understood how numbing the suppression of criticism and the squelching of free
speech can be. “Taking offense has never been easier” says Rose and he believes
it has become excessive. As a working journalist, he sees threats to free
speech and the intimidation of reporters on the rise in Europe. Cato Institute
is a libertarian think tank and its books are always stimulating on often on
the cutting edge of events and issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold
Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Karima Bennoune ($16.95, W.W.
Norton, softcover) demonstrates that, within Islam, there are many who find the
Islamists as great an enemy as non-Muslims who feel threatened. The author is
an international human rights lawyer, professor and activist who recalls the
night that, during the Algerian “dark decade” of fundamentalist violence in the
1990s, banged on the door of her family’s home when she was a young girl. Her
father was a professor who was an outspoken critic of both the Algerian
government and the fundamentalists who opposed it. She grabbed a knife to
protect him, but those banging on the door went away. For their safety they
would leave their Algeria. Her book chronicles the lives of those who resisted
the extremism despite direct threats at home and Western indifference from
abroad. She interviewed 286 people of Muslim heritage from 26 nations. Their
tales from the battle for tolerance, equality, and freedom are stunning and
inspiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are people whose homes
and workplaces were hit by bombs, who lost friends, family and coworkers to the
extremists. It is well worth reading.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRkUCYGaZfPOKcbRf44O-y1rChSM7BVE3IZxElh7gruc5m8yElLMOe6XY6UOp_q-_i9WYR7xPJny7LXFSIQaMV0kOmfrxL_2Q2rlOAFvCRx9EZfsa1JS2ymOh_iNc3MQFFf42DegRWnc/s1600/Cover+-+Moslem+Men+Fear+Women.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRkUCYGaZfPOKcbRf44O-y1rChSM7BVE3IZxElh7gruc5m8yElLMOe6XY6UOp_q-_i9WYR7xPJny7LXFSIQaMV0kOmfrxL_2Q2rlOAFvCRx9EZfsa1JS2ymOh_iNc3MQFFf42DegRWnc/s1600/Cover+-+Moslem+Men+Fear+Women.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
1.3 billion Muslims worldwide and many are decent, good people, but their
silence encourages a faction of fanatical Islamism that is killing people with
the intention of imposing Islam by terror on the world. James E. Horn is a
retired U.S. diplomat who spent a decade in the Middle East and saw Islam up
close. He has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moslem Men Fear
Women: Islam is Toxic for Females </b>($15.19, softcover, available from
Amazon.com) that spells out how Islam confirms a virtual slave status on women,
citing the Koran and other sources. You will learn about “honor killings” and
other practices that will likely cause you to ask why this aspect of Islam is
not better known. He wrote it as a warning to non-Muslim women who are
considering marrying into the faith. It is quite stark and quite accurate.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If I had
to recommend a single book on the history of the United States I would
unhesitatingly recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Patriot’s
History of the United States</b> by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. Its 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
anniversary edition has been published by Sentinel, an imprint of the Penguin
Group of books ($25.00) and is 981 pages long. A softcover, it is a thick
volume, but that just means it is filled with the kind of information you may
not find in other histories that bring biases to bear on their interpretation
of the nation’s great figures and the principles that created and sustained it.
There is no question that America is truly exceptional, starting with the fact
that we have the longest operative constitution of any other nation. The book
does not shy from aspects of our history such as slavery, but puts it in the
context of its times and reveals that many of the Founding Fathers wanted to
abolish it, but could not because they needed the southern colonies to sign on
to the creation of the nation. All the high spots of our history are there to
be enjoyed. One can only express wonder, astonishment, and pride in the men who
put their lives on the line for the idea of freedom, liberty, and a nation of
laws.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ78ixcVKQAQFqsaO44GotZjtpjjPv3-w7AMUVBOXlwECyZDNqce8hhf7L7e2QZrIr3ym2IrHhAdh38dy8i-WiFIn9lkb3Lr-ypG70OpScNMjZu0jpLfK_i8jI_FySNMbiPV2pO755i-o/s1600/Cover+-+A+Christmas+Far+From+Home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ78ixcVKQAQFqsaO44GotZjtpjjPv3-w7AMUVBOXlwECyZDNqce8hhf7L7e2QZrIr3ym2IrHhAdh38dy8i-WiFIn9lkb3Lr-ypG70OpScNMjZu0jpLfK_i8jI_FySNMbiPV2pO755i-o/s1600/Cover+-+A+Christmas+Far+From+Home.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A Christmas Far from Home: An Epic
Tale of Courage and Survival During the Korean War</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is told by Stanley Weintraub ($26.95,
Da Capo Press), a noted historian who has authored more than fifty books of
history and biography, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pearl
Harbor Christmas</i>. Anyone who enjoys reading history will find this a timely
Christmas gift. He takes the reader back to just before Thanksgiving in 1950,
five months into the Korean War, often called the forgotten war. Weintraub was
an Army officer in the Korean War so he brings a personal knowledge of the
daily challenges the U.S. servicemen faced. Indeed, what they faced in addition
to the frigid winter was a numerically overwhelming and determined enemy.
General MacArthur believed he could bring the war to a quick end but his
strategy nearly resulted in disaster. The U.S. troops had pushed swiftly to the
Yalu River with what seemed little resistance. On the other side of the river,
however, were the forces of Red China and when they began to pour into North
Korea that forced a long march to the coast in an escape led by Marines. It did
not end until the last American servicemen were able to board a ship and weigh
anchor on Christmas Eve. Ultimately the war would be a stalemate for an America
that had won World War Two not long before. A ceasefire exists to this day.
That 1950 December was filled with drama and great courage that makes for great
reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
lesser known figures in the history of World War II was Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury as well as a longtime
personal friend of his. Peter Moreira has written a book about Morgenthau’s
extraordinary contribution to the war effort by raising the billions needed to
arm our military to fight the Nazis as well as the Japanese Empire. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Jew Who Defeated Hitler: Henry
Morgenthau Jr., FDR, and How We Won the War </b>($25.00, Prometheus Books)
Moreira has written a biography that tells the story of his achievement during
that challenge to freedom and the Nazi’s accompanying campaign of genocide. At
a time when there was considerable anti-Semitism in America, Morgenthau, a Jew,
was in a position to do what he could to respond to the Nazi challenge and that
posed by the Japanese. What he did was mastermind a savings bond program that raised
the millions needed to arm the American military, building the aircraft, tanks,
and all other elements of battle. The author admits the title of the book is an
over-statement, but it does point to the fact that Morgenthau was the right man
in the right place at the right time. Ironically, he was a college dropout who
gave little indication initially of his skills and his accomplishments, but he
was widely recognized as a man of integrity who ensured the Department of
Treasury was run with the highest standards of ethics and integrity. Anyone who
is interested in this dramatic era of our history will find this book fills in
a largely overlooked aspect of it, the way Americans bankrolled our military
and aided our allies to resist the Nazis. In the wake of the Holocaust, the
anti-Semitism did not entirely cease, but it did fade considerably from
American life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Parenthood<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy72tyKLM_OSLJs5igGiarL1-5mAbA1tSdXjygZgjLB1IMOHtB3tf-LuxQgZ7hS_ALc20g579-Ky86HSBhIjRJ4Q-usfDRIsedte5rMPIfzkTSlccfqx8-E2G50HPhz7jCG_lziA5s2JI/s1600/Cover+-+Forever+Mom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy72tyKLM_OSLJs5igGiarL1-5mAbA1tSdXjygZgjLB1IMOHtB3tf-LuxQgZ7hS_ALc20g579-Ky86HSBhIjRJ4Q-usfDRIsedte5rMPIfzkTSlccfqx8-E2G50HPhz7jCG_lziA5s2JI/s1600/Cover+-+Forever+Mom.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Adopting a
child is a good option, but Mary Ostyn thinks the better prepared a woman is
can make the process easier. That’s why she wrote <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Forever Mom: What to Expect When You’re Adopting </b>($16.99, Thomas
Nelson, softcover). She married her high school sweetheart at age 19 and
together they had four children by their eighth anniversary. Three years later
they became aware of the needs of orphans all over the world and, in time, they
adopted two boys from Korea and four girls from Ethiopia. In addition to her accounts
of the experience she offers a range of advice that make adoption easier for
everyone involved, citing the best reason to adopt—because you want to parent a
child—to all the adjustments you should anticipate. The book has a religious
orientation; Thomas Nelson is a Christian publisher, but the experiences she
shares are well worth learning about. Coming in January is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Adopting Older Children: A Practical Guide to Adopting and Parenting
Children Over Age Four </b>($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) by Stephanie
Bosco-Ruggiero, MA, a communications and research assistant for the National
Center for Social Work, Gloria Russo-Wassell LMHC, a certified counselor and
doctoral candidate in educational and development psychology, and Victor Gorza,
Ph.D., LISW-S, a professor of Social Work at the Mandel School of Applied
Social Sciences. With all those degrees between them they have collaborated to
help anyone thinking about adopting one of the 200,000 children in the U.S. and
more worldwide hoping to become part of a family. The book highlights the most
significant challenges facing an older child including mental health,
behavioral, and educational issues. The older adopted child may be coping with
grief and a range of problems. The guide begins with advice on initiating the
adoption process, explains the difference between infant and older child
adoption, some of the obstacles one might encounter, and a full range of other
advice to facilitate and respond to the entire process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Just Be A Dad: Things My Father Never
Told Me </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by George
Cave, Ph.D. ($28.00, Tignor Publishing) is one of those books any man who is on
the brink of being a first time father should read as well as one to help any
man who is already experiencing fatherhood. It is filled with a richness of
wisdom and reality. Dr. Cave begins with the view that it is impossible to be a
good father if he is not a good husband. Thus, the model the father sets and
his relationship with the mother is what their children learn is appropriate. A
longtime psychologist, the author has great faith in the profession to help
those who turn to psychotherapy to solve problems. It helped him mend his
relationship with a former wife and to have a good relationship with their
children and those she had in her new marriage. “Being a good father can be the
most challenging thing a man will ever do,” says Dr. Cave and he believes it is
critical to the kind of person his children will become. His book is filled
with advice a new father might not get from others and all in one place between
a front and back cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our Furry Friends<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4aP4LXs_RUzEUC7b2_pojQ8XrwgJdYmfLvRih8Y2YHvT47V0vydngJPXct2vkz6nCKvn7iAIGclvb6nVbL0Inq7vfIVwzYlQjRH5H5lkjGk_8JD0tkYtCa1qSS-e0vSBcw0X09YwQ0A/s1600/Cover+-+The+Fur+Person.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4aP4LXs_RUzEUC7b2_pojQ8XrwgJdYmfLvRih8Y2YHvT47V0vydngJPXct2vkz6nCKvn7iAIGclvb6nVbL0Inq7vfIVwzYlQjRH5H5lkjGk_8JD0tkYtCa1qSS-e0vSBcw0X09YwQ0A/s1600/Cover+-+The+Fur+Person.jpg" height="200" width="137" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
cat lover in your life, there’s the classic <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fur Person</b> by May Sarton ($13.95, W.W. Norton, softcover), an
acclaimed poet, novelist, and memoirist who passed away in 1995. She tells the
enchanting story of Tom Jones, a fearless independent Cat Around Town who,
growing tired of his vagabond lifestyle decided that he should move in with
Sarton and her companion in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There’s a reason this
book continues to be published. It’s just so much fun to read!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For dog
lovers, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Judy: The Unforgettable
Story of a Dog Who Went to War and Became a True Hero </b>by Danien Lewis
($24.99, Quercus). Judy gained fame as the only animal POW of World War II. An
English Pointer, she was fearless and loyal, dragging men from the wreakage of
a torpedoed ship, scavenging food to help feed the starving inmates of a
hellish Japanese POW camp, or just by bringing hope to men living through the
war’s darkest days. She was adored by the British, Australian, American and
other Allied servicemen who fought alongside her. Boring in Shanghai, China,
she soon became the mascot for a gunboat called the HMS Gnat. When the war
brought out the ship was transferred to Singapore. She was invaluable for her
ability to warn of Japanese air attacks long before the warplanes became
visible or audible to the British crew. Based on interviews with the few living
veterans who knew her and extensive archival research, her story will inspire
any reader who loves our canine friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><strong>People
Books<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXRkpf4Fd4vMXlsyVl0XAn6PbEXl8PXdA_i2aQ3ImDjCLkBu8yiN_7g_UuoFlGmLRGUXj1qfggHxIEnN1ddcICf8PnyhMyTHuJcl4CyH7JJzZZ1yd6Z_PUudAYu7HUiuG1RhOMtBiBhA/s1600/Cover+-+First+SEALS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXRkpf4Fd4vMXlsyVl0XAn6PbEXl8PXdA_i2aQ3ImDjCLkBu8yiN_7g_UuoFlGmLRGUXj1qfggHxIEnN1ddcICf8PnyhMyTHuJcl4CyH7JJzZZ1yd6Z_PUudAYu7HUiuG1RhOMtBiBhA/s1600/Cover+-+First+SEALS.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Navy
SEALS have been in the news of late, but little has been known of its beginning
until Patrick K. O’Donnell wrote <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First
SEALS: The Untold Story of the Forging of America’s Most Elite Unit </b>($25.99,
Da Capo Press). Credited with some of the most perilous missions in the history
of the Armed Forces, SEALS are the stuff of Hollywood films and now you can
read about the real-life heroes who composed the group’s origins/ They include
Jack Taylor, now a California dentist, Sterling Hayden who became a Hollywood
star, and others. The SEAL acronym stands for Sea, Air, and Land , known as a
maritime unit, the first swimmer commandos and warrior spies who were decades
ahead of their time when they created the tactics, technology and philosophy
that inspires today’s generation of SEALs. You will be inspired as well when
you read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A very
different story is told<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Into the Black: The Inside Story of
Metallica (1991-2014) </b>by Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood ($26.99, Da Capo
Press). For the band, 1991 was a big milestone, its ten-year anniversary. In
the years that followed, the group would battle criticism from the media, hits
on its image as the leading “pop metal” band, and shaky rapport with the public
that had brought it to fame. Last year Da Capo Press published volume one of
the author’s two-part Metallica biography, “Birth School Metallica Death”, that
chronicled the first decade. This volume delves deeper into the groups dealings
with fans, fame, and competing banks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Halfway Home</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, the story of her trip to Japan by
Christine Mari Inzer, a 17 year old senior at Connecticut’s Darien High School,
is described as “a graphic novel” for younger readers, ages 12 and up. It
features not only her drawings but photos of her taken during the trip, so it
is more a memoir or a story by someone who has lived every minute of it
($11.95, Naruhodo Press, softcover). Indeed, the introduction says it is the
story of her summer in 2013 when she spent eight weeks in Japan visiting her
grandparents and getting reacquainted with her birthplace. Her Japanese mother
is married to an American. Suffice to say it will prove very entertaining to a
young reader and particularly to Asian-American youth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrjJ7LzLcpYJnhV7HAz3EoiienTnYuAsxkWBriYC5fxlUxL5FkpifFPEk1btZOBi_1HQOlx4vBQUhhuKz4HrQSwLrKANLwUHV2iPrWJ8-rBFuQyUwlCy6ytwrGLlPci3pZW2UFUlpEEs/s1600/Cover+-+The+Drum+Tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrjJ7LzLcpYJnhV7HAz3EoiienTnYuAsxkWBriYC5fxlUxL5FkpifFPEk1btZOBi_1HQOlx4vBQUhhuKz4HrQSwLrKANLwUHV2iPrWJ8-rBFuQyUwlCy6ytwrGLlPci3pZW2UFUlpEEs/s1600/Cover+-+The+Drum+Tower.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Drum Tower</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Farnoosh Moshiri ($25.95, Black
Heron Press) is his fourth work of fiction and it has already won an award as
well as being nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award. It is a story narrated by a
16-year-old girl, depicting the fall of Drum Tower, the house of a family
descended from generations of War Ministers to the rules of Iran. Peopled by
interesting characters, it chronicles the early days of the Islamic Revolution
that occurred in 1979 and overthrew the shah. We become witnesses to the
competition of the competing factions and the rise of the Revolutionary Guard,
along with chaos and murder in the streets of Tehran, as well as the arrests
and executions of members of her family. In many ways, this provides a far more
graphic look at what occurred than just a straight history as you join the
narrator trapped in a labyrinth of family history and the turmoil of the
revolution that affects current events. Superbly written, I am happy to
recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Livingston
Press is part of the University of West Alabama and over the years I have
received some interesting fiction from them. The latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Light Like Ida Lupino </b>by W.C. Bamberger ($30.00 hardcover, $17.95
softcover). The main character, Lincoln Heath, has done something unforgiveable
and as the novel begins he has returned to the northern Michigan peninsula
where the event occurred in order to live near his grandmother and help her
struggle to keep her financially-troubled cherry orchard survive being gobbled
up by upscale vintners or condo builders. It is not a pleasant place made
moreso by the fact that many still living there recall what happened and
despise Lincoln. He’s not looking for forgiveness, but to find a way to restore
the emotional spectrum he has lost. Suffice to say this is not your usual story
that has any predictability to it. As such readers will find themselves wanting
to see how it unwinds. The same publisher has another novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dark Road, Dead End </b>($31.00 hardcover,
$17.95 softcover) by Philip Ciofarri that looks at the trade in exotic and
endangered species, a multi-billion dollar industry. Reportedly it is the
world’s third largest organized crime after narcotics and arms running. The
story is told through the eyes of Walter Morrison who works undercover for the
U.S. Customs Service. It’s not long after he arrives in town that he sees
evidence of wildlife smuggling. The wildlife is supplied to pet stores, private
hunt clubs, wildlife safari parks and even “respectable” zoos. As he delves
into it, someone at his own agency has put out the word about him, putting his
life at risk. Here again, a novel provides considerable insight within the
fictional context.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGimogrDZ8Rx1TX5F7lP6vTJv7ulc0cBAZ14cVCPs2PADwaImCazpX-9nBggJbVOsfyGQqjH2DWTREgjdiZ97T2QeoyQx7tYl2M4ZDdXtFbDEqZaBbDtEAQNtd3x05Ms5h0aPkRl61lcI/s1600/Cover+-+Oblate's%2BConfession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGimogrDZ8Rx1TX5F7lP6vTJv7ulc0cBAZ14cVCPs2PADwaImCazpX-9nBggJbVOsfyGQqjH2DWTREgjdiZ97T2QeoyQx7tYl2M4ZDdXtFbDEqZaBbDtEAQNtd3x05Ms5h0aPkRl61lcI/s1600/Cover+-+Oblate's%2BConfession.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Those who
enjoy historical novels will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Oblate’s Confession</b> by William Peak ($25.99, Secant Publishing) that takes
them back to the dark ages in England. A warrior gives his son to a monastery
that rides the border between two rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and, growing up in
a land wracked by war and plague, the boy learns of the oath that binds him to
the church and which forces a cruel choice on him. To love one father, the one
of his birth or the bishop for whom he prays daily, he must betray another, he
is forced to make a decision that shatters his world and haunts him. History
provides us with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Little Miss Sure Shot:
Annie Oakley’s World </b>by Jeffrey Marshall ($8.95, available from Amazon.com,
softcover and ebook edition). Famed as a star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show,
she was catapulted to international fame in the late 1880s by virtue of her
firearms skills. While Hollywood has portrayed her as a young woman in “Annie
Get Your Gun”, she actually was a rather prim and religious woman with a 50-year
marriage to Frank Butler. Her legend lives on to today and the reality
portrayed in this novel will have you admiring her in this breezy, easy read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
who enjoy a traditional mystery, there’s E. Michael Helm’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Deadly Ruse: A Mac McClellan Mystery </b>($15.95, Seventh Street Books,
softcover) that begins when Mac’s girlfriend, Kate Bell, thinks she has seen a
ghost. Wes Harrison, Kate’s former boyfriend, supposedly perished twelve years
earlier in a boating accident, but she is sure that the man she spotted in a
crowded theatre lobby is Wes. Being a private investigator, Mac begins to look
into what happened and what emerges is a story of drug deals and, when Mac and
Kate barely escape a murder attempt, he knows he’s on the right track. It is a
very entertaining, tightly written story.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s
it for December. As we bid 2014 goodbye, we can look forward to a new year
filled with great fiction and non-fiction. Bookviews.com is the place to visit
each month to learn about them. Tell your book loving friends, family and
coworkers. And come back in January!</span> </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-31131520955109966192014-10-31T06:02:00.000-07:002014-11-10T06:47:18.525-08:00Bookviews - November 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you
have been having problems figuring out what is going on in Syria, then I
recommend you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Inside Syria: The
Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect </b>by Reese Erlich
($25.00, Prometheus Books).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What began
as a civil war to remove Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator and son of the
previous one, turned into conflict that pitted a number of different groups
against one another and against ISIS, an offshoot of al Qaeda that has since
seized a swath of northern Syria and Iraq, declaring itself the Islamic State.
Erlich has reported from the Middle East for many years and knows all those
involved. He provides a useful history of events that began with the collapse of
the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the subsequent creation of Syria, Iraq
and Lebanon as England and France divided up the area as colonial possession
only nominally ruled by local sheiks. The Syrian people, largely secular, have
been caught in between the Assad forces that those seeking to oust him. The
result has been a bloodbath in which some 900,000 have died and two million or
more have fled Syria to neighboring nations. Naturally, powers like Russia and
Iran have wanted to play a role, supporting Assad, while the U.S. lined up with
the free Syrian forces. While Erlich brings politically liberal point of view
to the text, he does so while also providing a useful explanation of what is
occurring and why.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXMJ6A2eZiqgVc0xAKdWBQMLkcDvjVVTjnlbzNv-cOsEpkbPIbKXGM97NV2qXBBBS-VdLP8YNafUNl-WNmbEEvtgZOMCTPdawjzptaJdf0lRu5IDBJpZe_gF_VTQK_fuI2qJ7hTIZ0lM/s1600/Cover+-+Right+for+a+Reason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXMJ6A2eZiqgVc0xAKdWBQMLkcDvjVVTjnlbzNv-cOsEpkbPIbKXGM97NV2qXBBBS-VdLP8YNafUNl-WNmbEEvtgZOMCTPdawjzptaJdf0lRu5IDBJpZe_gF_VTQK_fuI2qJ7hTIZ0lM/s1600/Cover+-+Right+for+a+Reason.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">November
is a political month thanks to the midterm elections, so I am happy to report
that there’s a book for conservatives—women in particular—by Miriam Weaver and
Amy Jo Clark, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Right for a Reason: Life,
Liberty, and a Crapload of Common Sense </b>($26.95, Sentinel, an imprint of
the Penguin Group) that puts aside the usual ultra-serious examination of the
differences between conservatives and liberals and defends conservatism with a
heaping of humor and straight talk. In that regard it is very refreshing. The
authors started a website, ChicksontheRight.com in 2009 and it became a very
popular site for all the issues that conservatives grapple with. The authors
are unapologetic about believing that America is an exceptional nation, unhappy
with the way schools and universities preach a liberal doctrine replete with
political correctness. They don’t look at people in terms of their race or
gender and have a problem with those who do. It’s a relatively short book, but
a breath of fresh air and a reminder of the values that conservatives hold
despite the lies told about them as bigots, waging “a war on women”, and other
inanities that are repeated endlessly in the media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We tend to
take for granted the fiction that has transformed America by their impact on
the generations that have read them. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books </b>Azar Nafisi examines her
favorites, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Sinclair Lewis’s
“Babbitt”, Carson McCuller’s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”, plus—despite the
book’s title—James Baldwin’s “Another Country.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nafisi became famous a decade ago when her book, “Reading Lolita in
Tehran” was published. She told how, despite Iranian morality squads and even
executions, she taught American literature to her sometimes skeptical students
in iran. The book became a bestseller with a million copies in print. She
became an American citizen in 2008 and is now a fellow at Johns Hopkins
University of Advanced International Studies. This is a woman who has deeply
pondered what it means to be an America? Why are the values of American art,
music, and literature so evidently at odds with the nation’s politics? Is
America founded as much on heartbreak as on hope? Blending memoir and polemic
with close readings of the books she has selected, she seeks answers to those
any a host of other questions. In doing so she has written a book that invites
the reader into the “Republic of the Imagination”, a country that has no
borders, one in which the real villain is conformity, and the only passport to
entry is a free mind and a willingness to dream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_BM8EnIqO-fxZLhzmuA8BAIgUdgnAZSpET90c5kshiM7su4E6hBvET379a67bSuDhUVM0HdcLcQArXmmPSTpZZQnPqXMnGe0Lw6ZZouJERbbY26bcD_IilEiCiLiLNjW5rlZEApTcXw/s1600/Cover+-+Tastosterone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_BM8EnIqO-fxZLhzmuA8BAIgUdgnAZSpET90c5kshiM7su4E6hBvET379a67bSuDhUVM0HdcLcQArXmmPSTpZZQnPqXMnGe0Lw6ZZouJERbbY26bcD_IilEiCiLiLNjW5rlZEApTcXw/s1600/Cover+-+Tastosterone.jpg" height="200" width="158" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
seen many cookbooks over the years and have wondered why few. If any, were
written exclusively for men who like to cook or want to learn how. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tastosterone: The Best Cookbook for Men </b>by
Debra Levy Picard ($39.95/$14.99, hardcover and Kindle, DLP Enterprises) is not
only filled with lots of delicious recipes, but also the kind of instructions
that cookbook authors tend to assume the reader already knows. I can’t say this
is “the best”, but I can say, given its specific audience of readers—men—it
surely fulfills its mission. It does not assume that the recipes are super
simple to prepare or that men would not be interested in a wide variety of dishes
to tempt the palate. Each one comes with a shopping list of elements needed to
prepare dishes ranging from lasagna to veal Milanese. Each recipe comes with
estimated time of preparation and how many servings it provides; good, useful
information. This would make a great Christmas gift for the man who wants to
enjoy cooking and baking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Throughout
the year Bookviews receives books that don’t fit into any category and most
surely <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jane Austen Cover to Cover: 200
Years of Classic Covers </b>($24.95, Quirk Books) fits that description.
Margaret C. Sullivan loves everything Austen and is the founder of
AustenBlog.com and has authored “The Jane Austen Handbook.” This book is filled
with the cover art of her books from the years, 1811 to 1818 when she was published.
When she died suddenly in 1817 her work almost slipped into obscurity, but
publisher Richard Brankley recognized that there was still an audience for it.
Since then publishers have worked overtime to produce editions of her novels
and film adaptations have introduced it to new generations. If you are one of
those fans or know someone who is, this book would make an idea Christmas gift.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Memoirs and Autobiographies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrm5HhOw41_IIcWYfldCJpBIzMMXr6UjNGDaNUL1tHGcdwA24O6-36SKXdPnUj5hNjrLEvYVYsJ9IKgk9WdNdOO-o7CivggRbUt-QkE5DC0oQp140GE7CTgoCA934hkcfwLRdMkKX0KM/s1600/Cover+-+Singing+to+a+Bulldog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrm5HhOw41_IIcWYfldCJpBIzMMXr6UjNGDaNUL1tHGcdwA24O6-36SKXdPnUj5hNjrLEvYVYsJ9IKgk9WdNdOO-o7CivggRbUt-QkE5DC0oQp140GE7CTgoCA934hkcfwLRdMkKX0KM/s1600/Cover+-+Singing+to+a+Bulldog.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Those of
us who grew up enjoying “Happy Days” on television, will especially enjoy Anson
Williams delightful autobiography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Singing
to a Bulldog</b> ($14.99, Reader’s Digest). I have read many autobiographies,
but rarely with the enjoyment of Williams’. Throughout the book he tells us of
the advice he received as a young boy from an older African-American worker,
Willie, in a department store where they both swept the floors. His parents
were an unhappy argumentative couple who he left behind at an early age,
harboring a dream of becoming an actor and singer. Along the way to the fame he
would achieve, it was Willie’s advice that was a constant guide to his
behavior, advising him to pursue his dreams, remain humble, and to give back to
others as his success would permit over the years. In addition to his years on
“Happy Days” he would become a successful director, writer, producer and
entrepreneur. He would also meet some of the most famous people in show
business and others like Ronald Reagan. Every page is filled with the events and personalities that helped
him and his appreciation for them, as well as the friendships he enjoyed with
his fellow “Happy Days” performers. Married with five daughters, this is a life
well lived and an inspiration to the readers of his autobiography.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As this is
written, a Missouri police officer who killed a young, black man in
self-defense has endured a firestorm of attacks that have also generated riots
in Ferguson. In time the facts will exonerate him and Michael Cover’s memoir <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behind the Badge: A Policeman’s Legacy </b>($18.99,
self-published, softcover) of his 24 years as a police officer in Southern
California provides an excellent insight to the reality of being a police
officer, one who must constantly operate in the midst of uncertainty, deal with
gangs, the mentally deranged, and the drug crazed. They face knives, chemicals,
and betrayal on the job as they daily fight criminals, bureaucracy, and, as we
have seen, negative stereotypes. I have known a number of police officers and
to a man (or woman) they go into the profession with a desire to help people.
His book is well worth reading, particularly in a time when police officers now
find themselves under attack by Islamic fanatics in addition to the others that
would harm them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
criminal world is one which we all live, fearful of becoming its victims, and
Katarina Rosenblatt, Ph.D., tells of her horrendous youth and survival of
having been lured into child prostitution as part of a sex trade that exists in
the shadows of society. Recruited while staying with her family at a hotel in
Miami Beach, she was already a lonely and abused young girl who simply yearned
to be loved. For years afterward, she endured a cycle of false friendships,
threats, drugs, and violence. As she points out, this could happen to any
child. She tells her story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stolen </b>($14.95,
Revell, softcover) and was saved after she heard Billy Graham preach that God
would never forsake her. She escaped her fate and went on to earn a Ph.D. in
conflict analysis and resolutions, and a law degree in intercultural human
rights. Today she works with law enforcement agencies that include the FBI and
Homeland Security as she focuses on the prevention and rescuing of the victims
of the sexual slave trade. This memoir is well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8R_eaapliUKs5Ra6lIzxicsA_YcANA8yz236NVstlOtWJQ6kdIz5L7rm03lQboFEAg6d2wEqzffp0o2JFbmwPmbsHRJucGfL2W3HeRFhzO8EH97pkTPd0LUuZXZvmLlFGnlXwcF-gbVE/s1600/Cover+-+John+Marshall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8R_eaapliUKs5Ra6lIzxicsA_YcANA8yz236NVstlOtWJQ6kdIz5L7rm03lQboFEAg6d2wEqzffp0o2JFbmwPmbsHRJucGfL2W3HeRFhzO8EH97pkTPd0LUuZXZvmLlFGnlXwcF-gbVE/s1600/Cover+-+John+Marshall.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I love
reading history and, in particular, American history. While we are all familiar
with the names of the Founding Fathers, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Monroe
and Madison, one man who played an extraordinary role in defending the
Constitution is finally given his rightful honors in Harlow Giles Unger’s book,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who
Save the Nation </b>($27.99, Da Capo Press). Rarely mentioned in the history
books that are used in our schools, Marshall’s life is a reflection of the
turmoil that accompanied the Revolution in which he fought with distinction,
followed by the his biggest battle, to protect and assert the role of the
federal government and the Constitution that defined its powers and limits. He begins
with the death of George Washington in 1800, the man who had led the fledgling
nation through the long Revolution and then with two terms as its first
President. As Unger says of the young Union, “they lost their way.” Indeed,
“Chaos engulfed the land as surviving Founding Fathers…turned on each other as
they clawed at Washington’s fallen mantle.” That’s the dramatic beginning of a
book that will give you a very different view of the men we hold in such great
honor because with the exception of those who clung closely to the
Constitution, others like Jefferson were so power-hungry, they would have
tossed it overboard if Marshall had not been appointed Chief Justice by John
Adams who followed Washington as President. The Supreme Court rendered decisions
in the nation’s earliest years that defined the powers of the federal
government and those of the states. It protected contracts. And, what Marshall
feared came true; the southern states declared secession and a brutal Civil War
threatened the republic. Thanks in great part to Marshall and his Court, the
Constitution sustains the oldest system of self-government in the history of
man. This is a great book that I heartily recommend to everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thomas
Jefferson is one of the nation’s iconic founders and while there have been many
books about his life, M. Andrew Holowchak has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thomas Jefferson: Uncovering His Unique Philosophy and Vision </b>($26.00/$12.99,
Prometheus Books, hardcover and Ebook), delving deeply into Jefferson’s
writings to reveal an intensely curious Enlightenment thinker with a
well-constructed, people-sympathetic, and consistent philosophy. Holowchak has
written a number of other books about Jefferson and his knowledge of the man is
amply on display as he examines Jefferson who was himself greatly influenced by
Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and John Locke. This book looks at Jefferson’s
views on human nature, morality, education, and the liberalism he brought to
bear in his service to the nation. Jefferson was most surely a man of letters
and his gifted writings helped shape the new nation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXgkaM-xoQdlTBtTJd-j3jaLJljMGsc8kxPSddJ8ZAJ78oyE422Ijop2tG-kIYjoWczjLQ0YZriJcnHT1nv0RISr_8MxOxQC7U_JZUFSgC19trU8PmU9L1a42sqP519WMslQhnnvR86M/s1600/Cover+-+Golda+Meir.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXgkaM-xoQdlTBtTJd-j3jaLJljMGsc8kxPSddJ8ZAJ78oyE422Ijop2tG-kIYjoWczjLQ0YZriJcnHT1nv0RISr_8MxOxQC7U_JZUFSgC19trU8PmU9L1a42sqP519WMslQhnnvR86M/s1600/Cover+-+Golda+Meir.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I particularly enjoy reading about people who changed history because of a dream they had and most certainly that describes Golda Meir, one of the pioneers of the state of Israel and one of its prime ministers. Ann Atkins has written a very readable biography, <strong>Golda Meir--True Grit</strong>, ($14.95, Flash History Press, softcover) of this remarkable woman who, from very early in her life, concluded that the Zionist dream of a nation where Jews could be free of the prejudice and oppression they faced in the world, could be made a reality. She was a woman of remarkable capabilities who earned the respect of all who heard her speak or dealt with her. Not only did she help bring about the creation of Israel in 1947, she was instrumental in securing the funds needed to defend it and for years after she held a number of key roles. She is an inspiration and I would surely recommend this autobiography to anyone who wants to learn about her and Israel.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
of the era in which Playboy magazine, which debuted in 1953, became an empire
of Playboy clubs around the U.S. and the world, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Playboy on Stage: A History of the World’s Sexiest Nightclubs </b>by
Patty Farmer with contributions by Will Friedwald ($24.95, Beaufort Books) is a
special treat, especially like myself, who can recall visiting the clubs and
being entertained by some of the greatest musical and comedic talent of those
days. At the height of their popularity in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the
clubs were collectively the largest employers of talent in the nation. To his
credit, Hugh Hefner and his staff were colorblind welcoming African American
starts and furthering both civil rights and gender equality. The original club
was in Chicago, but it was soon joined by venues in Miami, New Orleans and New
York, and other global cities. Who could ever forget the lovely “bunnies” that served
food and drinks? Not me. The book tells the story of clubs in the words of many
of the artists, musicians, singers, and comedians, as well as those behind the
scene. This is history that is, dare I say, very entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Food for the Mind and Body<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6g3goPUCXXlR2DuLbMZSJcckfGRfLt9AGSPQQwtC2MeNpE9KfYCSE60uujA3Y5TWc2GsA5n9dMIAorKzS3omQslazfm1lcL1Fux2O7_b7znS0DpUZvPGwWMlcUAl-HiIsfS8HFjibsuU/s1600/Cover+-+Best+Food+Writing+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6g3goPUCXXlR2DuLbMZSJcckfGRfLt9AGSPQQwtC2MeNpE9KfYCSE60uujA3Y5TWc2GsA5n9dMIAorKzS3omQslazfm1lcL1Fux2O7_b7znS0DpUZvPGwWMlcUAl-HiIsfS8HFjibsuU/s1600/Cover+-+Best+Food+Writing+2014.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Mother
taught gourmet cooking for three decades and wrote a number of cookbooks, so
food was always a topic in our home where dinner was always an adventure. For
others who enjoy the topic, I can recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Best Food Writing 2014</b>, edited by Holly Hughes who has edited this
series ($15.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) since 2000. Some of its articles
discuss the latest food trends, minus the hype, such as the trend toward spicy
foods and the heightened popularity of bacon. Fifty writers have their say in this
edition and there’s plenty to enjoy in it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Like a lot
of Americans, I had no idea what gluten was or that it caused thousands of
children and adults the distress of health-related problems. Dr. Alessio Fasano
is one of the world‘s leading authorities on gluten and celiac disease and in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gluten Freedom</b> ($24.95,
Wiley) he presents the facts about what gluten does, whom it affects, and what can be done
for the millions of Americans, most of them undiagnosed, with celiac disease.
Dr. Fasano is the founder and director of the Center for Celiac Research at
Massachusetts General Hospital and a visiting professor of pediatrics at
Harvard Medical School. He notes that gluten intolerance hadn't even been identified as
recently as twenty years ago, nor recognized by either the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services or the National Institute of Health. “We’ve made a
lot of progress in the last ten years,” writes Dr. Fasano. His book provides a
clear, concise roadmap for understanding why gluten does what it does and what
can be done about it. Celiac disease is a genetic disorder affecting children
and adults; even the slightest bit of gluten can set off an autoimmune
reaction, one that can eventually lead to the complete destruction of part of
the small intestine. If you suspect you or someone you know might have Celiac
disease, this is definitely the book to read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sex, Love and DNA: What Molecular
Biology Teaches Us About Being Human</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
($17.77, softcover/$9.99 Kindle, Olingo Press, Foster City, CA) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is one of those titles that is hard to resist
even it may sound a bit intimidating. Written by Peter Schattner, a member of
the Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of California, Santa
Cruz, it is written for non-scientists. Its chapters focus on age-old questions
such as “What is Love?”, “What is Sex?”, and “What Makes Some People So
Smart?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what is often called
popular science and we are fortunate that this particular science, as provided
by Schattner, will astound and entertain you far more than any science fiction
might. It is a fascinating journey into the biology of our cells as the author
explains how proteins and DNA affect our lives. He should know. He is a
scientist, educator and writer with thirty years’ experience in molecular
biology, biomedical instrumentation, and physics. This book explores the
mysteries of being human and I heartily recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Science Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Richard
Grossinger first published <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Night
Sky: Soul and Cosmos</b> in 1981, updating it in 1988 and again this year
($29.95, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA, softcover) and if you have an
interest in astronomy, this massive 800-plus page volume will pretty much tell
you everything you ever wanted to know. Where he found the time is a mystery
given the fact that he has written more than twenty other books and edited
eight others. Grossinger believes that “science is telling us half or less of
what it is doing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has devoted his
life to investigating four main topics, medicine, cosmology, embryology, and
consciousness. I would have been exhausted just investigating one of them! “The
universe that science can’t get out is the university of our being, e.g., our
basis as cosmic witnesses…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, if you
have ever looked up at the night sky with its countless stars and wondered what
was out there and how you relate to it this book will surely provide some
profound answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ_GdC0qM4isMJXPZEqwzq_pT-_DuNi4QyTAa2PZaoOpBEiwd1PHercZQ6CK5ex1-sWNDzx7_v4CgGnJV9a5NU5M2jAk8PdAFj1-mPgXFsC-KCU4xRGVQyViqeGX8UYUY1ULyQtJRPwI0/s1600/Cover+-+Winners+Dream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ_GdC0qM4isMJXPZEqwzq_pT-_DuNi4QyTAa2PZaoOpBEiwd1PHercZQ6CK5ex1-sWNDzx7_v4CgGnJV9a5NU5M2jAk8PdAFj1-mPgXFsC-KCU4xRGVQyViqeGX8UYUY1ULyQtJRPwI0/s1600/Cover+-+Winners+Dream.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What is
often forgotten about America and what makes it truly exceptional is the world
of opportunity it offers to those willing to work hard to make their dreams
come true. That is the message of Bill McDermott’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office</b>,
written with Joanne Gordon ($28.00. Simon and Schuster). These days McDermott
is the CEO of SAP, the largest business software company in the world. It’s a
long way from working-class Long Island where he had traded three hourly-wage
jobs to work at a corner deli. When its owner decided to sell the story,
McDermott was still in high school, but he bought it with a $7,000 loan,
learning how to serve customers, outshine competitors, and growing his small
business. Using the deli’s profits to pay for college, he moved on to selling
copiers door-to-door in New York City for Xerox in the 1980s. Not surprisingly
he became a top salesman and Xerox’s youngest ever corporate officer. SAP was a
languishing unit and he was named its president. He would lead it to nearly
triple software revenues, outpace the company’s overall growth, and achieve
market leadership. Inspiring? You bet! Worth reading? You bet! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The world
of business is filled with fascinating personalities and their stories. One of
them was Albert Champion, the founder of AC Delco and Champion Spark Plug. He
would become a tycoon investing in what was there the new and revolutionary
auto industry when Chevrolet and General Motors, among others, were just
beginning. Peter Joffre Nye has captured his life in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fast Times of Albert Champion: From Record-Setting Racer to Dashing
Tycoon, an Untold Story of Speed, Success, and Betrayal </b>($26.00 Prometheus
Books).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Champion rose from poverty in
Paris to great wealth and fame in both his native France and the United States.
As a bicycle racer, he set more than a hundred world records. He used his prize
money to invest in an industry that would make the U.S. a world leader in
automobile manufacturing. He also famous for many dalliances and his final love
triangle resulted in his death under mysterious circumstances. This one is fun
to read from start to finish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">No More Business as Usual</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Chutisa and Steven Bowman ($24.99,
Access Consciousness Publishing, softcover), a husband and wife team who
currently advise more than 440 organizations a year, along with a thousand CEOs
and board chairs at international companies, is definitely unusual because it
departs from the usual books on the subject of business success. They describe
it as a “paradigm-changing book that presents a system and tools for
consciously generating different possibilities” to grow a business. They
believe they have found the underlying reasons why leaders succeed and fail. In
short, they believe that being able to see different possibilities instead of
concentrating on what the competition is doing opens doors to success. I have
seen comparable books on this topic, but this one has merit too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Books About Christmas<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This is
the time of year when new editions and versions of Christmas-related books
arrive. For a younger generation they provide their first introduction and for
older generations they can be gifts to the younger that will be long
remembered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Penguin
Books offers “classics” and this year they have five, all priced $16.00, that
are a little library of Christmas classics. They are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Merry Christmas & Other Christmas Stories</b> by Louisa May
Alcott, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Night Before Christmas </b>by
Nikolai Gogol, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Nutcracker</b> by
E.T.A. Hoffman, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Christmas at Thompson
Hall & Other Christmas Stories</b> by Anthony Trollope, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Christmas Carol </b>by Charles Dickens.
At 5 inches wide and seven-and-a-half long, they would be easy for a youngster
to hold while reading and easy to stuff into a Christmas stocking. For anyone
who loves this holiday, they are a small treasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYqwvW9UR5yRuXE1UX70ycAcw0Y8LW39kXms6CYSn1W7egcWaP1FFZKxK9pXMJEHWNBmsKKngfAcn0HbvmSJgj83HE8fQUakFmnlUX3hQdwGHqRhHeBsTt-rx2OuSOcWZz9h0zDc0tcgY/s1600/Cover+-+Inventing+Scrooge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYqwvW9UR5yRuXE1UX70ycAcw0Y8LW39kXms6CYSn1W7egcWaP1FFZKxK9pXMJEHWNBmsKKngfAcn0HbvmSJgj83HE8fQUakFmnlUX3hQdwGHqRhHeBsTt-rx2OuSOcWZz9h0zDc0tcgY/s1600/Cover+-+Inventing+Scrooge.jpg" height="200" width="143" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A Christmas Carol</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> has also been published by Running
Press, a member of the Perseus Group under its “Steampunk” imprint ($18.95). It
also includes “A Christmas Tree” and “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a
Sexton.” This edition is beautifully illustrated by Zdenko Basic. It would make
an excellent gift for anyone of any age, but the younger reader in particular
will enjoy it. From Carlo Devito comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Inventing
Scrooge: The Incredible True Story Behind Dicken’s Legendary A Christmas Carol </b>($22.99,
Cider Mill Press). Devito has delved into the story of the classic from when it
was conceived by Dickens on a train ride to Manchester in October 1843. He
would write to his wife, “I can never write with effect…until I have become so excited
with my subject that I cannot leave off.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a good description of the way this now classic Christmas tale
grips a new reader of it. The literary story behind it is explored and Devito
says he has uncovered the true identity of Ebenezer Scrooge. Indeed, the Carol
is highly autobiographical, utilizing his youth and his family’s earliest
travails. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A parent’s
crazed efforts to prove to his 4-year-old that Santa is real is the crux of a
curious story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Real Santa</b> by William
Hazelgrove ($29.95, hardcover; $16.95 softcover, $7.99 Ebook,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Koehlerbooks) George Kronenfelt is an
unemployed engineer who is intent on keeping his daughter’s belief in Santa
intact. When she tells him that the only way she will believe in Santa is if
she can videotape him and post it to YouTube. George realizes he must become
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real Santa</i> and from then on we
are entertained by his efforts to find reindeer, hire a broken down movie
director, and fulfill his promise becomes a funny, heartwarming story of
parenthood gone awry as keeping a child happy dominates everything else for a
while.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our Furry Friends<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7uGhcxscRizCWEbG01QOrofwUagJMEJdHKnq0YYhOVObHBF8Temf4i1A8ZLrrmQexwDRlLQPv0DEUKrdsEpw7pf-xQzWEC6MUro6DQZ-xiQw8UA7qKvIVsHFXBPIZv5AMDv8YOxC13y8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Good+Luck+Cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7uGhcxscRizCWEbG01QOrofwUagJMEJdHKnq0YYhOVObHBF8Temf4i1A8ZLrrmQexwDRlLQPv0DEUKrdsEpw7pf-xQzWEC6MUro6DQZ-xiQw8UA7qKvIVsHFXBPIZv5AMDv8YOxC13y8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Good+Luck+Cat.jpg" height="200" width="146" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Over the
years Lissa Warren has sent me many books as the director of publicity at Da
Capo Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. We’ve never met, but I most
surely recognized her name as the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Good Luck Cat: How a Cat Saved a Family and a Family Saved a Cat </b>($21.95,
Globe Pequot Press). She writes of Ting, a seven-pound Korat who was brought
into the family as a companion for her father while his wife and daughter were
at work. Ting quickly endeared herself. In late 2008 Lissa’s father died of a
heart attack and less than a year later Ting was diagnosed with a potentially
fatal heart condition. They made the decision to have a human pacemaker
implanted, a rare procedure to be sure but they were determined not to lose
their beloved gray cat. If the memoir ended with that, relating the grief and
hope that they had all shared, it would be a testament to the close
relationships we share with our pets, but Lissa received her own diagnosis,
multiple sclerosis, There is no cure, but Lissa thinks Ting has taught her how
to cope and has a remarkable, positive attitude. MS has taught her how others
love her, including Ting. Anyone who shares their life with a family cat will
absolutely love this book and be inspired by it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ask Anna: Advice for the Furry and
Forlorn</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Dean
Koontz and his dog Anna ($20.00, Center Street) is a pure delight. Koontz is
one of the most successful novelists of our time with more than 450 million
copies in print, in 36 languages, 14 of which have been number one on the New
York Times hardcover bestseller list. Anna is identified as an advice columnist
for dogs. This is her first book. It is a marvelously funny, entertaining book
that is further enhanced by the wonderful photos by Vincent Remini. Koontz
introduces the book saying he had noticed that other dogs in the neighborhood
seemed to consult with Anna, a Golden Retriever. Then he noticed she appeared
to be having conversations as well with all sorts of people they encountered in
their daily life. Then, if you can believe this, he discovered she had
“secretly acquired her own computer and was engaged in the dispensing if advice
online to all manner of species.” Suffice to say that the advice is worth a
good nod of its worth on every page and more than a few laughs. A great gift
for sure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgR-kwU7oxscPYWrcEA8Bvae8mSeSFYOYYEuIcJdoHpQUvJcEnX3KS2xno4whEBqkAGktMksA3S2upOlxSjKVc8ovsexj0YvSJbx7-odsAeVF8RLvG38EGw1HiwWZba8nwWQLw7RuRBo/s1600/Cover+-+what-the-lady-wants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgR-kwU7oxscPYWrcEA8Bvae8mSeSFYOYYEuIcJdoHpQUvJcEnX3KS2xno4whEBqkAGktMksA3S2upOlxSjKVc8ovsexj0YvSJbx7-odsAeVF8RLvG38EGw1HiwWZba8nwWQLw7RuRBo/s1600/Cover+-+what-the-lady-wants.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I like when
a novelist can turn history into romance or drama and Renee Rosen does both in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What the Lady Wants</b> ($15.00, New
American Library, softcover) with a story that begins with the Great Chicago
Fire of 1871 which left the city in a state of destruction and depression. With
typical American vigor, men of wealth saw a greater future for the city and
began building department stores and other enterprises that led to the city
hosting the World’s Fair in 1893. On the night of the fire, 17-year-old Delia
Spencer watched as the flames consumed her beloved hometown and on that same
night she met a man named Marshall Field. He built one of the department stores
with the motto “Give the lady what she wants” and Delia fell in love with him. Behind
the success and the opulent life style of his fellow entrepreneurs, Potter
Palmer and George Pullman, their private lives were riddled with scandal and
heartbreak. Delia and Marshall first turn to each other out of loneliness in
their separately ruined marriages, but their love deepens and they stand
together despite ostracism in an age of devastation and opportunity. Moving
forward to modern times, the city is Dubai and it is the setting for Kay
Tejani’s debut novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Power and Passion</b>,
($9.90, Global Impact Publishers, softcover). The novel encompasses three women
living in a world of extreme wealth, filled with seven star hotels, man-made
islands, and even glass-enclosed ski slopes. Sara Shariff had come to Dubai
with her Muslim parents from Canada three years earlier and is working as the
events coordinator for the Middle East section of the Special Olympics. Her
fiancé, a non-Muslim real estate executive from the United Kingdom suggests she
run a gala on a grand scale to raise money. She is joined by Joan Harrison who
has been running successful charity events for years and by her best friend,
Maryam. All is going well under a devastating lie changes the course of Sara’s
life, putting everything she is doing in jeopardy. The author knows the city
well, having lived there for many years. She brings an authenticity to the
story that women readers in particular will enjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mysteries
and suspense novels just keep coming. Here are some of the latest softcovers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek—A Samuel
Craddock Mystery </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Terry Shames ($15.95, Seventh Street Books) After Jarrett Creek went bankrupt
and Gary Dellmore, heir apparent to the main bank is dead, The retired Craddock
is asked to return as police chief. Dellmore was known to have a roving eye
despite his marriage and Craddock wonders whether a husband or father of those
women thought he should be eliminated? What he discovers is that Dellmore had a
record of bad business investments including the loan he took that brought
about the bankruptcy. The more he digs, the uglier the story becomes. Also from
Seventh Street Books, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Black Karma: A
White Ginger Novel </b>by Thatcher Robinson ($15.95) in which Bai Jiang, San
Francisco’s best known s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ouxun</i>—people
finder—is hired to track down the mysterious Daniel Chen. Police inspector
Kelly suspects Chen of being involved in a botched drug heist that resulted in
the death of an officer. Bai has her own suspicions. She thinks the police just
want to see Chen dead. In the course of the investigation, she finds herself
caught between international intelligence agencies and merchants of war, who
deal in death, drugs, and high-jacked information. There’s intrigue aplenty
here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Sister’s Grave </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Robert Dugoni ($15.95, Thomas &
Mercer) will add to his fame as the author of bestselling legal thrillers. In
this novel Dugoni returns with a powerful and poignant story of a homicide
detective determined to avenge the murder of his beloved younger sister.
Seattle cop Tracy Crosswhite was a high school chemistry teacher when her
teenaged sister Sarah disappeared one night on her way home to their small town
of Cedar Grove. A young ex-con, Edmund House, was quickly tried and convicted.
Twenty years later and a career change later, Tracy has dedicated her life to
questioning whether the right man went to jail. When Sarah’s remains are
uncovered from a newly-exposed lake bed, new evidence seems to support Tracy’s
theory. Somewhere in Cedar Grove is a killer. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blame: A Casey Portman Novel </b>by Linda Rocker ($14.95, Wheatmark) is
enhanced by the fact that Ms. Rocker worked more than 35 years as a trial
lawyer and judge in Ohio’s highest trial court. Lawers turned novelists is
becoming a trend, but it helps if they’re good at it and Ms. Rocker is as she
tells the story of a young man who dies of a drug overdose and his mother is
looking for someone to blame. She embarks on an obsessive crusade to destroy
the pain doctor who gave her only son the pills the killed him. The Palm Beach
Courthouse and an ambitious prosecutor become the tools of her revenge. Casey
Portman, the judge’s bailiff, is dealing with her love for a handsome sheriff,
but the ripple effects of the young man’s death and a trial of a respected
neurosurgeon fills this story with plenty of twists and turns, that will keep
you reading it. Lastly, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unrelenting
Nightmare </b>by Stan Yocum ($20.95, iUniverse) follows a virtual reality
software developer on the cusp of industry domination as he navigates a deadly
cat-and-mouse game with an international assassin hired by his fierce
competitor. The author brings both his theatre background and extensive
background in the business world in the writing of this novel as he tackles the
prevalence of violence and the impact of virtual reality on youth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for November! Come back next month as we look at some ideal books for
Christmas gifts and just good reading. Tell your book-loving friends, family,
and co-workers about Bookviews.com. Happy Thanksgiving!</span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-35809182972011641242014-10-01T06:13:00.000-07:002014-10-01T10:02:11.885-07:00Bookviews - October 2014<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgOUXKOqNsCVjtVzjqL1JL10WSKO2X-0DrZhrQGrbEFNW1AZ8FhyxSQhCiJjQHdyGqH9TX8d_uZEJ6BNzCnk4G-k6mRxDuetWtfbP2PdVyGE-Xf8T9q-HaaPIXy2KQmNTAso2r9tOBly8/s1600/Cover+-+Russia-China+Axis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgOUXKOqNsCVjtVzjqL1JL10WSKO2X-0DrZhrQGrbEFNW1AZ8FhyxSQhCiJjQHdyGqH9TX8d_uZEJ6BNzCnk4G-k6mRxDuetWtfbP2PdVyGE-Xf8T9q-HaaPIXy2KQmNTAso2r9tOBly8/s1600/Cover+-+Russia-China+Axis.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Obama
administration’s foreign relations policies have significantly weakened America
and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Russia-China Axis: The New Cold
War and America’s Crisis of Leadership </b>($27.99, Encounter books) by Douglas
E. Schoen and Melik Kaylan reveals how these two nations, in league with Iran,
North Korea and other nations, have drawn closer together as they have
initiated massive military buildups of conventional and nuclear forces. The Obama
“reset” with Russia has proven to be just one of many failures to realize how
its policies are endangering America’s role as a superpower to which other
nations have looked for protection. Russia’s and China’s trade and economic
policies, along with their support for Iran’s ability to create its own nuclear
weapons and their aggressive actions to expand territorial claims are in
violation of UN norms. The annexation of Crimea by Russia is just the tip of
the iceberg, as are China’s actions in international waters reveal their true
intentions, but the U.S. response has not just been weak, but its reduction of
the U.S. military to levels that existed before WWII are a danger to national
security. Both nations have been facilitating rogue regimes like North Korea,
Iran, and Syria, as well as militant Islamic groups. Both are engaged in
massive cyber theft and espionage directed against the U.S. It is significant
that Schoen, one of the most influential Democratic campaign consultants for
more than thirty years, is so critical of the Obama regime. Kaylan is a leading
authority on international politics. Together they have written a book that
anyone and everyone concerned about current events and their future potential
that should be “must” reading. They have documented a very scary future for
America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-U9immyp2yRj3qCFo4ONCaN1SLXcLFKQwzIEgTeecLa9jrs8r2ZGN1dg7jAM_qAy0m9jdeVNFnLEPw5U9Tx8UHYSG9kgbjlsdi-g8VYIV-NXgONbruo56QyHZogFEy-vcw55JSIMRWQk/s1600/Cover+-+Fault+Lines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-U9immyp2yRj3qCFo4ONCaN1SLXcLFKQwzIEgTeecLa9jrs8r2ZGN1dg7jAM_qAy0m9jdeVNFnLEPw5U9Tx8UHYSG9kgbjlsdi-g8VYIV-NXgONbruo56QyHZogFEy-vcw55JSIMRWQk/s1600/Cover+-+Fault+Lines.jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
Americans continue to try to understand what is occurring in the Middle East,
Donald Liebich has provided some answers in his excellent look at the region
and America’s involvement there. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fault
Lines: The Layman’s Guide to Understanding America’s Role in the Ever-Changing
Middle East </b>($16.99, Elevate, Boise Idaho, softcover) is both filled with
history and other facts about the region and its importance to our lives. The
author is not a career diplomat or a think tank expert, but instead has been in
the U.S. Navy, followed by a career with a corporation and as a consultant to
business enterprises. It included many trips to the Middle East over the past
ten years that included meeting many of the key players as well as the common
people. His extensive knowledge is shared with the reader in ways you may not
read in newspapers or other U.S. media. Liebich explores why the U.S. got
involved—ensuring the oil we needed as a rising power in the wake of both world
wars—and why President’s 41 and 43 felt the need to force Saddam Hussein out of
Kuwait, then to invade Afghanistan in response to 9/11 and later to rid Iraq of
Saddam Hussein. He explains why the “Arab Spring” failed and why the U.S. has
lost much of the influence it once had. This book is “must” reading for anyone
trying to make sense of the headlines and reports.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnEBYU-GaBGdAO3EkXOhrOTCB9Yml72yG7taExN4LzvYXxUD187zaVh90GJxs8_nsnTFniCqkRpZtDh4CFyMd8dxg3X0mONIz0ZsPmuWVUuvwd2XLMKS1M0PaULDtvIS8F-PWPdbkl-8/s1600/Cover+-+Worth+of+War.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnEBYU-GaBGdAO3EkXOhrOTCB9Yml72yG7taExN4LzvYXxUD187zaVh90GJxs8_nsnTFniCqkRpZtDh4CFyMd8dxg3X0mONIz0ZsPmuWVUuvwd2XLMKS1M0PaULDtvIS8F-PWPdbkl-8/s1600/Cover+-+Worth+of+War.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
Americans face the likelihood of having to return to the Middle East to attack
and destroy the Islamic State, many questions about the waging of war will
arise and the perfect book to respond to them is Prof. Benjamin Ginsberg’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Worth of War </b>($24.00, Prometheus
Books) in which the historian and scholar lays out how and why war over the
centuries has produced the modern world thanks to the development of the
bureaucracies to wage them, the financial developments to fund them, and the
emergence of the concept of the citizen soldier to fight them. While war is
terrible and brutal, it has also advanced the world in many ways as nations
realized they needed strong economies to wage and win wars, developed the
propaganda techniques to justify them, and have seen the spread of knowledge to
both the winners and losers from the days of the Greek and Roman Empires to the
present era. This is an interesting, thought-provoking book for anyone
interested in history and the role that war has played throughout. Throughout
our history, policies have been introduced in Congress that their supporters
thought would benefit Americans only to discover that they created problems
that had to be corrected or modified at some point. That’s the subject of
Thomas E. Hall’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Aftermath:
The Unintended Consequences of Public Policies</b> ($15.95, Cato Institute). I
would recommend it to anyone studying political science at the university level
or who is interested in U.S. history in general. A professor of economics at Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio, he has written a number of books that demonstrate
his capacity to do a lot of research and explain the complexity of events like
the Great Depression or the causes of economic fluctuations. This book is
particularly timely insofar as the debacle of Obamacare has demonstrated once
again that government interference with the marketplace often results in a
disaster. The book demonstrates that when the government imposes new taxes,
rules, or regulations, the outcome can produce consequences so severe they
render the intent a failure. Prohibition is one example he examines, alone with
cigarette taxes, both of which created crime empires. The concept of a minimum
wages can leave a younger generation jobless. And the income tax has led to a
giant federal government, the exact opposite of what the Founders laid out in
the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Not
everything is or should be taken as seriously as war and thank goodness for
that! Some books are written just to entertain and can be read for that reason.
A perfect example of that is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1,399 Quite
Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop </b>by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson,
James Harkin, and the QI Elves ($15.95, W.W. Norton). The authors are the
brains behind the award-winning BBC quiz show, QI. The book lives up to its
name. For example, the human nose can distinguish between over 10,000 smells
and humpback whales can sing non-stop for 20 hours. Your brains makes a million
new connections every second and Chopin only performed 30 concerts in his entire
life. Suffice to say, every page has four facts that will manage to inform and
entertain you at the same time. I loved it. For sheer fun if you are the parent
of a new baby or know someone who is, pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Make Your Baby an Internet Celebrity: Guiding Your Child to
Success and Fulfillment</b> by Rick Chillot with photography by Dustin
Fenstermacher ($12.95, Quirk Books, softcover). Suffice to say this is satire,
a pure tongue in cheek “guide” for all those parents who love posting the
latest photo or video of their child on their blog or some site like YouTube
where fame is instant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
who loves animals, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Daisy to the Rescue:
True Stories of Daring Dogs, Paramedic Parrots, and other Animal Heroes </b>by
Jeff Campbell ($17.99, Zest Books, softcover) is sure to please. As his book
demonstrates, animals are not only our companions, but become in many cases,
true lifesavers as well. The book is enhanced by original illustrations by
Ramsey Beyer that illuminate more than 50 amazing stories of how animals can
not only make our lives better, but even save them on occasion. You will enjoy
stories of bottlenose dolphins rescuing surfers from a great white shark, lions
protecting a kidnapped girl, and a pig stopping traffic to get help for a heart
attack victim. Great fun to read. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Judy:
The Unforgettable Story of a Dog Who Went to War and Became a True Hero </b>by
Damien Lewis ($24.99, Quercus, softcover) will cheer and inspire any lover of
dogs with its story of an English pointer, born in Shanghai, China in 1936 who
became the mascot for the English gunboat, HMS Gnat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When war broke out , the crew was redeployed
to Singapore and Judy had a keen sense of when an attack would occur. She and
her shipmates were taken prisoner by the Japanese where they endured horrible
conditions. The camp commandant gave her recognition as a POW, protecting her
from harm. She helped maintain her fellow POW’s morale. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I love
reading history. It never fails to provide an understanding of what is
occurring in the present times or provide a glimpse into the lives of those who
helped shape it in some fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpJzm_S-GSEChRD_b2yTV3tdOwFbmirj5oxeuijQdUMmNMzLL_c4i-6JRxlUDhZz-MsdZUxAiF9rPEP0BhgUDBdT8ZEdmI__liUDORjenQ9z2lV64T_C9Gmj2Xmy71hObbCjkeHPLrkA/s1600/Cover+-+Rebel+Souls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpJzm_S-GSEChRD_b2yTV3tdOwFbmirj5oxeuijQdUMmNMzLL_c4i-6JRxlUDhZz-MsdZUxAiF9rPEP0BhgUDBdT8ZEdmI__liUDORjenQ9z2lV64T_C9Gmj2Xmy71hObbCjkeHPLrkA/s1600/Cover+-+Rebel+Souls.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It would
surprise most people to learn that Walt Whitman, one of America’s great poets,
was living in the basement of his mother’s home at age 40 or so, having
published two editions of “Leaves of Grass” to virtually no sales and few
reviews, most of which were unfavorable. This and the story of one of America’s
first gathering place for writers, poets, artists, actors, and other free
spirits on the eve of the Civil War is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rebel Souls: Walt Whitman and America’s First Bohemians</b> ($27.99, Da
Capo Press) by Justin Martin. The book focuses on a New York saloon, Pfaff’s,
in a Broadway area that was filled with restaurants, art galleries, bookstores,
and other places that made it a favorite place for the city dwellers. Pfaff’s,
was overseen by Henry Clapp, Jr. who had returned from several years living in
Paris with the aim of recreating the atmosphere he enjoyed in nightspots that
catered to creative folk. It would attract a group of people, most of whom did
not achieve Whitman’s later fame, but were widely published and known in their
own time. Though we may think of the 1850s, lacking electric lights and other
modern conveniences, as a bit ancient, intellectually and artistically, it
represented much of what we regard as modern culture. Indeed, politically it
reflects our present times. “Congress was simply nonfunctional. The Presidents
of the era were generally bunglers until Lincoln was elected. By the late
1850s, there didn’t exist a single official U.S. institution that wasn’t in
crisis,” notes Martin, who writes that “A common stance among Clapp’s set was a
kind of sly cynicism. Every aspect of American society seemed so eroded, so
diminished; drinking, carousing, and trading witty barbs in a subterranean
bar—what else even made sense?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
anyone who loves history and wishes to understand Whitman’s times, his life and
work, this book is a real treat! Whitman lived long after the Civil War was
over, but many of his contemporaries at Pfaff’s did not, burning out before
they reached much beyond age 30. In all this is a book that is a fascinating
look at the era in which the most famed of American poets found his unique
voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
who enjoy a hefty volume, you will not be disappointed by Donald L. Miller’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave
Birth to Modern America </b>($37.50, Simon and Schuster) which, at just over
750 pages, cover the topic extensively and entertainingly. The central figure
of the Roaring Twenties era was Jimmy Walker, New York’s dashing Mayor. It was
during this time that midtown Manhattan was the center of a construction boom
that changed the character of the city as the area around Grand Central
Terminal became home to the tallest skyscrapers on earth as well as the fabled
residences of the wealthy along Park Avenue. Times Square was America’s movie
mecca and home to bustling theatres. New York became the headquarters for
national radio and the site of influential magazines like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Yorker</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The city was
becoming the center for a whole new universe of culture and enterprise that
included now legendary names like Florenz Ziegfeld, David Sarnoff, William
Paley, Duke Ellington, and others like the speakeasy owner, Texas Guinan. Jack
Dempsey and Babe Ruth were sporting giants of the decade. Everything about the
city and the times was about size and excess. The Crash of 1929 brought an end
to the era captured lovingly in Miller’s book, one well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In our
fast-paced world, one can be forgiven for having forgotten the uproar in 2005
when a Danish newspaper, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jyllands-Posten</i>,
published a number of cartoons about Islam, including one drawn by artist Kurt
Westergaard that depicted Muhammad with a bomb wrapped in his turban. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Tyranny of Silence</b> ($24.95, Cato
Institute, softcover) Fleming tells the story of the “cartoon crisis” that
followed as Muslims in Europe and around the world erupted in protest. Danish
embassies were attacked and more than 200 deaths were attributed to the
protests. Rose came to symbolize one of the defining issues of our era; the
tension between respect for cultural diversity and the protection of
freedom—particularly freedom of the press and of free expression. Fleming tells
of what he had to confront in the aftermath of the outcry. This is his personal
account of an event that has shaped the debate about what it means to be a
citizen in a democracy at the same time that more than a billion Muslims take
offense at any criticism of their religion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another Cato Institute book worth
reading is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bootleggers & Baptists:
How Economic Forces and Moral Persuasion Interact to Shape Regulatory Politics </b>($24.95) b</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">y Adam
Smith and Bruce Yandle. It reflects our era of “crony capitalism” in which
businesses engage the government to enhance their bottom lines. Throughout our
history, the government has been a good place to sell one’s goods and to
manipulate the marketplace to one’s benefit. Yandle’s theory asserts that
regulatory “bootleggers” are parties taking political action in pursuit of
economic gain. His book examines major regulatory activities such as Obamacare,
the recent financial bailouts, climate change regulation, and rules governing
“sinful” substances. The burden of regulations, some of which are deemed
“significant” because their effect on the economy is estimated at $100 million
or more each year they are in force, is being felt in all areas of the nation’s
economy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEY3UFaiGO-EtxHeZAM7zAZy7JcTf3-9mXlCOUsKdfvWG98UlYrylWCXb-viJCSRwDAabPciE4W_48bf0IzWLHMqbbYpIWfN0asRy6p5iVQ7KWavS0fXF3acX7_XCdr2GYhHrmyVn_0TU/s1600/Cover+-+Muhammad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEY3UFaiGO-EtxHeZAM7zAZy7JcTf3-9mXlCOUsKdfvWG98UlYrylWCXb-viJCSRwDAabPciE4W_48bf0IzWLHMqbbYpIWfN0asRy6p5iVQ7KWavS0fXF3acX7_XCdr2GYhHrmyVn_0TU/s1600/Cover+-+Muhammad.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">With Islam
in the news as a threat to everything including secular Muslims, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It’s All About Muhammad: A Biography of the
World’s Most Notorious Prophet </b>by F.W. ($16.95, Zenga Books, softcover) is
very timely and very scary. What emerges from F.W. Burleigh’s intensively
researched book is the portrait of a deeply disturbed, extremely violent
individual and one whose life is venerated by over a billion Muslims as a guide
to how they should live theirs. It is a religion Muhammad put together,
thinking his epileptic seizures were a communication with God whom he called
Allah. He cobbled together the faith he created, borrowing from Judaism and
Christianity, but ultimately rejecting them and all others as he dictated the
Koran. Muhammad literally declared war on all other faiths. Fleeing those who
saw him as a danger, he built Islam through a history of assassinations,
banditry, kidnappings, and beheadings that made Islam feared in his own time.
Fourteen centuries later, Islam is still feared and it should be. This book
will answer all your questions, but will not be available for sale until October 15 when you can purchase it via Amazon.com.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Those who
enjoy reading about the Civil War will surely enjoy S.C. Gwynne’s excellent
biography of Stonewall Jackson, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rebel
Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson </b>($35.00,
Scribner) that brings to life the story of one of the Confederacy’s greatest
generals. Like Gen. Robert E. Lee, Jackson, while he had won plaudits and
promotion during an earlier war with Mexico, had led a generally
undistinguished life, not much filled with success or the portents of their
close cooperation during the Civil War that held off a far larger Union army
and defeated it in several major battles. Jackson virtually invented the
concept of swiftly moving large numbers of troops while keeping the Union
unaware of their movement. He was a taciturn man and paid little heed to his
attire. Far more than just an account of battles, Gwynne delves into his
personal life that included the loss of his beloved first wife. During the
course of the war he emerged as a man of legend, dying of a wartime wound in
May 1863, uttering as his last words, “Let us cross the river and rest under
the shade of the trees.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bill
O’Reilly of Fox News has made a separate reputation as the author of books
about the killing of noted figures, the latest being “Killing Jesus” which has
been on the bestseller list for weeks. Robert M. Price, a New Testament scholar
has authored several books on Christian matters and his latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killing History: Jesus in the No-Spin Zone </b>($18.00,
Prometheus Books, softcover). O’Reilly claims that his book is a purely
historical account of the events in the life of Jesus leading up to his
crucifixion, but Price regards it as the number one source of misinformation on
Jesus today that ignores the past century’s New Testament scholarship, interpretations,
and findings. He makes his case that O’Reilly’s books is little more than
historic fiction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I miss
seeing more cookbooks that offer a range of tempting and tasty items to eat. So
many are “health” oriented and that’s okay, but my Mother was a cookbook author
and taught gourmet cooking for several decades. Dinner at our house was always
a treat and, frankly, we ate everything…with gusto!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Tasting the Seasons: Inspired,
In-Season Cuisine That’s Easy, Healthy, Fresh and Fun </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Kerry Dunnington ($19.95, Artichoke
Publishers, softcover) is happily filled with some 250 recipes that reflect the
season’s bounty with a section on meat and chicken dishes, but if you prefer
vegetables than you will find many more dishes that featured plums, mangos,
tomatoes, and others such items. The author is a culinary consultant and
caterer who specializes in “healthy” eating and entertaining. You will learn a
lot from this book which offers some surprising ways to turn ordinary dishes
likes pancakes and waffles into a health-related event using salba, teff,
millet and flax seeds! I come from the old school of ordinary pancakes with
butter melting on top of a stack and plenty of maple syrup. Even so, there is
no doubt that anyone with health in mind will greatly enjoy this book and its
wide range of recipes. In a similar fashion, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Forks Over Knives Plan: A 4-week Meal-by-Meal Makeover </b>($24.99,
Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) by Alona Puide, MD, and Methew
Lederman, MD, with Marah Stets and Brian Wendel, and recipes by Darshana
Thacker and Del Srouga offers itself as a guide on “how to transition to the
life-saving, whole-food, plant-based diet.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It asserts that various diseases can be reversed by leaving meat, dairy,
and highly refined foods off the plate. This is a serious effort to help people
who may be experiencing health problems due to their current diet of foods that
most of us enjoy without having to give any thought to them. The back cover is
filled with endorsements by physicians and others, but the bottom line is
whether you want or need to switch to a diet that may not challenge your taste
buds as you dine on navy bean hummus and mixed vegetable pita pockets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLCNhGZpjS_1oMy3egnyqY7IG_nVFsVhS1m36qwKB6PqWUrX5WIuxQ_MbR8Ld_8bVsimU73Rovhjyt3_vHmk_cqgVfdWSuGIYXsY5XCfGxxVLxMWx7PyT6FLRo8_vQXaSIl7OLI8LhWY/s1600/Cover+-+Sugar+Savvy+Solution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLCNhGZpjS_1oMy3egnyqY7IG_nVFsVhS1m36qwKB6PqWUrX5WIuxQ_MbR8Ld_8bVsimU73Rovhjyt3_vHmk_cqgVfdWSuGIYXsY5XCfGxxVLxMWx7PyT6FLRo8_vQXaSIl7OLI8LhWY/s1600/Cover+-+Sugar+Savvy+Solution.jpg" height="200" width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Apparently
I have a sugar addiction because a day without chocolate or ice cream is
unthinkable to me. That said, the issue for many people is one of moderation.
And a lot of them are fat because of eating too many sweets. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sugar Savvy Solution </b>($24.99. Reader’s
Digest) will teach you how to “kick your sugar addition for life and get
healthy.” Written by "High Voltage" with a foreword by Katie Couric it offers a
eating plan that, over a six-week period promises to “rewire” your brain
chemistry and retain your taste buds to break your addition to sugar, as well
as “excess salt, bad fats, and enriched white flour.” It is more than just a
diet, but it has helped readers to lose weight over the weeks you engage it,
using its recipes and advice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
three million Americans with celiac disease, avoiding gluten can be the difference
between life and death. If you add in those with nonceliac gluten sensitivity,
the number of people experiencing gluten issues triples in number. They are the
people who should pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Complete Guide to Living Well Gluten Free </b>by Beth Hillson ($17.99, Da Capo
Press, softcover.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author is the
food editor of the magazine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gluten Free
& More</i>, and she knows this topic from A-t0-Z. As she points out, gluten
hides in everything from food to commonplace household items. For those sensitive
to it, it can cause gastrointestinal distress, rashes, anemia, depression, and
in the long term, cancer, infertility, and organ failure. That’s reason enough
to read her book if you or someone you know are incurring these symptoms. The
book is filled with practical, comprehensive advice on all the aspects of
living from a child who is allergic to Play-Doh to gluten-free dining. The
author is the president of the American Celiac Disease Alliance and her book
could be life-saving for anyone with the disease or troubled by gluten-related
health problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Among the
recommendations in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Prescription for
Life: Three Simple Strategies to Live Younger Longer</b> ($19.99, Revell) by
Dr. Richard Furman are “six foods you should never eat again” and “why lack of
exercise is killing you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author is
a vascular surgeon who says that while aging is inevitable, a variety of
diseases associated with it are not. The preface to his book says you should
consider it as a letter from a friend who is a doctor “explaining in
straightforward terms what is happening to you as you count the days to another
birthday.” Among the foods he recommends you avoid are a juicy steak, cheese,
and a variety of other things we all commonly eat. The fact is, however, we all
need meat in our diet for its protein and other benefits, so the author may be
overstating his case in this area. My feeling is that this is a book for people
overly concerned about aging. The medically-oriented advice the author offers
is worth considering, but the rest is just widely known common sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Un-Agoraphobic: Overcome Anxiety,
Panic Attacks, and Agoraphobia for Good </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Hal Mathew ($18.95, Conari Press, softcover) is one of
those titles that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the
book. The author, a journalist, was plagued by panic disorder and agoraphobia,
the fear of open, public places, but overcame his disorders twenty years ago
and has since become an expert on the topic. If you or someone you know
experiences these problems, I would surely recommend you read his book. He
recommends putting a structure in your daily life so you know what you intend
to do and do it each day. He gives tips on choosing a therapist to help. His
style is easy to read and I have no doubt that this book will help anyone
seeking to overcome these disorders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A Caregiver’s Guide to Dementia </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Laura N. Gitlin, Ph.D. and
Catherine Verrier Piersol, Ph.D., ($22.00, Camino Books, softcover) addresses
the common challenges encountered by individuals and families caring for
someone with dementia. This is an easy-to-read guide designed to help at-home
caregivers navigate the daily challenges with clear and proven strategies that
can enhance the quality of life for those with dementia—a condition for which
there is no medical cure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Advice about Your Life<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At various
points in our lives we all need and can benefit from good advice. We seek it
from family and friends, but there are books that provide it as well and have
the advantage of being non-judgmental. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2y2aoOfCqrQWS6URzya1Z_8TxZsUZK4PJL3aYCIrVmgH8Io0NVwbYTrf9RK_KAwSUCR1eFKe-GsS8CIBD73q6huGcyQjtUeCJIbBmLZYxsi10dbT7aP60pmYrIBVpqVBKv4B39gLTSTk/s1600/Coer+-+Have+a+Happy+Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2y2aoOfCqrQWS6URzya1Z_8TxZsUZK4PJL3aYCIrVmgH8Io0NVwbYTrf9RK_KAwSUCR1eFKe-GsS8CIBD73q6huGcyQjtUeCJIbBmLZYxsi10dbT7aP60pmYrIBVpqVBKv4B39gLTSTk/s1600/Coer+-+Have+a+Happy+Family.jpg" height="200" width="136" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Have a Happy Family by Friday </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Dr. Kevin Leman ($17.99, Revell) is
the latest of some forty books this internationally known psychologist and
media personality has written. It is part of a series of series using “Have…by
Friday”, advising how to have a new you, a new teenagers, a new husband, etc.
Suffice to say he is extremely prolific, but he has a world of knowledge about
marriage and family issues that have benefited many readers. He stresses good
communications with family members and then provides tips on navigating the
problems that occur with toddlers, teenagers, and all ages. What he wants is
for Mom to be Mom and Dad to be Dad. They are different each in their own way.
And it applies to single parents as well. I must confess I was intrigued by the
title of Seth Adam Smith’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Your
Life Isn’t For You: A Selfish Person’s Guide to Being Selfless </b>($12.95,
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, softcover). Turns out that Smith is writing from
experience as someone who was seriously self-obsessed and the harm it inflicted
on his life and his marriage, one that included addiction and depression. The
book is distinguished by his candor and by the lessons he drew from the
hard-earned lessons he learned. He tells you that your life is about being of
service to others in countless ways and thus the title becomes clear. If you
feel you’re encountering problems because of your own selfish attitudes or
behavior, I strongly recommend you read his book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In our
present times, many people are inclined to dismiss any religion in their lives,
but I have noticed that those who do embrace faith seem to have an easier,
happier life. Sarah Jakes is the daughter of Bishop T. D. Jakes and she
oversees the woman’s ministry at The Potter’s House of Dallas, a church led by
her parents. She is the author of “Lost and Found” and now a new book for women
that shares the hope-filled legacy of Ruth, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Colliding with Destiny</b>, ($24.99, Bethany House). The life of Ruth,
as told in the Old Testament, is one in which she went from being a widow to a
wife with a secure, protected future, one that paved the way from the birth of
King David. Ruth never let her past define here and the message for any woman
that reads this inspiring book is full of good things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
who like to delve deep into the philosophical questions about life, Edward O.
Wilson, biologist and naturalist, author of more than twenty books, winner of
two Pulitzer Prizes, and a professor emeritus at Harvard University, is back in
his 85<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> year with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Meaning of Human Existence </b>($26.95, Liveright Publishing, a division of
W.W. Norton). The book consists of fifteen tightly interlinked essays broken
into five parts—the meaning of meaning, science and the humanities, other life
forms, the developed mind, and our collective future. Essentially, he believes
that the human species is at its best when it functions as a team and, of
course, we see many expressions of this in sports and industry, among other
ways we come together, For those who ascribe to beliefs regarding the
environment and what we are allegedly doing to it, this book will confirm them
and is thus not for everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
(Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thinking
of investing? Wall Street seems to be saying we’re out of the Great Recession
and the troubles occurring around the world will not affect profits here at
home. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Investing Answer Book </b>by
Paul A. Tucci ($21.95, Visible Ink, softcover) is ideal for the investing
novice or whether you think you have spotted a trend. Tucci covers the whole
investment marketplace from stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, tax
strategies, to retirement planning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
plain English he explains the basics while giving tips on how to avoid poor
returns and unnecessary risk. In 2011 he authored <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Handy Personal Finance Answer Book </i>and been an investor for
more than three decades, a former global information and publishing manager, a
business owner and partner in an innovative IT services and software development
firm. His book pretty much answers all the questions you would ask a financial
advisor and much more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaocnB_IGkyCcpUybpvjHFZ4edSpyeGxY7cKWyxBKvt-QCBF7K1lQ_QJhQZBWMF7CCaC4JY2ECMMXcEy4a3pUm6fbC7Ky9iz65DdXHI0pig30S0DLf6mkBWtaAzqOtOgQ_aoxAw5TTw9g/s1600/Cover+-+Street+Smart+Selling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaocnB_IGkyCcpUybpvjHFZ4edSpyeGxY7cKWyxBKvt-QCBF7K1lQ_QJhQZBWMF7CCaC4JY2ECMMXcEy4a3pUm6fbC7Ky9iz65DdXHI0pig30S0DLf6mkBWtaAzqOtOgQ_aoxAw5TTw9g/s1600/Cover+-+Street+Smart+Selling.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Street Smart Selling: How to Be a
Sales Superstar </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">is
the kind of title you would expect from Daniel Milstein ($17.05, Gold Star
Publishing, softcover) and, for anyone starting out in sales it is a treasure
of various guidelines to use for the ambitious beginner as well as established
professionals who want to improve to a higher level of success. Much of the
book has a message of self-improvement for motivated individuals. Milstein
comes from a background in which his family in the Ukraine narrowly escaped the
Soviet Union and made their journey to America. His is the classic American
story of success, from sweeping restrooms in a fast food restaurant to becoming
the CEO of one of the nation’s most successful mortgage brokerage firms.
Happily for the reader, Milstein shares what he has learned about making sales
and this could just be the only book you will need to read for your own
successful sales career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuHt-nW8octnI2g8iezL_sLbboEz-S-NX7rBLrP9waiWFNfZDcXxHY3xlnCHTju41H8pWrS8MZn47dTPQ6t2z1gWcWCv_o5UufOpjZxeSJ8RL-uj4sTq4K2uqm82VpfXHmPDkOKLvSVY/s1600/Cover+-+Best+Part+of+the+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuHt-nW8octnI2g8iezL_sLbboEz-S-NX7rBLrP9waiWFNfZDcXxHY3xlnCHTju41H8pWrS8MZn47dTPQ6t2z1gWcWCv_o5UufOpjZxeSJ8RL-uj4sTq4K2uqm82VpfXHmPDkOKLvSVY/s1600/Cover+-+Best+Part+of+the+Day.jpg" height="200" width="154" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Best Part of the Day </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Sarah Ban Breathnach and
beautifully illustrated by Wendy Edelson ($16.99, Regnery Kids) is a wonderful
way to create a daily tradition of focusing on the small pleasures of daily
life that often get lost in our busy, disconnected lives. It teaches young
children aged 4 to 10, how to enjoy the little things that make life sweet. As
the author says, “Gratitude is often thought of as an intellectual concept,
when gratitude is really a small seed planted in the heart that is nourished
through acknowledging all the good that surrounds us. Good that can be
discovered through the reassuring comfort of family customs, rituals, and
traditions, and restoring a sense of rhythm in our daily round and through the
changing seasons.” It celebrates the changing seasons and the joy of simple
pleasures such as feeding birds or tending a garden. Parents and their children
will rediscover and learn why common experiences are to be valued and enjoyed
to the fullest. I loved it and you and your young children will too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Teaching
children ages 4 to 8 how to value money is the theme of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alex’s Ten-Dollar Adventure </b>($15.95, Three Bean Press) by Wendy
Bailey and wonderfully illustrated by Ernie D’Elia. It begins with a birthday
gift for Alex from his grandparents, five dollars. Alex is very excited but his
mom leads him to understand that many things he wants cost more and Alex checks
out his bank to discover he has enough for ten dollars. He wants to spend it
all and finds ways to do it, learning along the way how swiftly the ten becomes
less with every purchase. In the end, mom encourages him to put back five dollars
to save for what he wants, a new toy. As the son of a CPA, I can celebrate this
delightful way to teach fundamental lessons about spending and saving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr6KPANX1tlvlpTHsQvrt56KdkFzGFMiIoK0dVggcBNIYJNuPEI6H7NQffCqixkjrpKmcnOqnM9aw7XtDBVqzO_N03eG_2T1mbqseV7d1K1LUIrS6A6BBCbt1f3da3Dluwn_2C5kHe1m4/s1600/Cover+-+Thunder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr6KPANX1tlvlpTHsQvrt56KdkFzGFMiIoK0dVggcBNIYJNuPEI6H7NQffCqixkjrpKmcnOqnM9aw7XtDBVqzO_N03eG_2T1mbqseV7d1K1LUIrS6A6BBCbt1f3da3Dluwn_2C5kHe1m4/s1600/Cover+-+Thunder.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A young
adult novel that is sure to please is Bonnie S. Calhoun’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thunder </b>($16.99, Revell) that begins in a post-apocalyptic world
and society where the landscape is littered with the hopes and ruins of past
generations. Every is struggling to survive and one of them is Salah Chavez
whose family of bounty hunters, live off the reward they earn with each capture
of the Landers, a mysterious people from a land across the big water. As she
turns 18 with nothing to look forward to then being traded as a bride to a
neighboring clan, she discovers secrets that will tear her world apart. What
follows will keep the pages turning. They will do the same with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unmarked</b> by Kami Garcia ($18.00, Little
Brown Books for Young Readers), her eagerly anticipated sequel to
“Unbreakable”, a novel leading off her “Beautiful Creatures” serials that was
published in fifty countries and translated into 36 languages! In the sequal,
Kennedy Waters lives in a world where vengeance spirits kill, ghosts keep
secrets, and a demon walks among us—one she accidently set free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now she and the other Legion members have to
hunt him down. They are on the run, outcasts who each possess a unique skill.
This one is a powerful fantasy like the first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jay
Brandon has written a novel that taps into the belief that the U.S. is actually
run by a secretive group and the result is a lot of fun to read. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shadow Knight’s Mate </b>($16.95, Wings
Press, softcover). After all, he’s written fifteen previous novels! In this
one, Jack Driscoll is a member of a shadowy group known as The Circle. Its
members have stealthily shaped America’s foreign and domestic policies for more
than two centuries even though they do not hope office, nor are famed corporate
leaders. They operate through suggestion and subtle influence, but now the
Circle has been broken as the nation comes under a bizarre nanotech attack and
the question is from whom? And what will be the outcome?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9aCF1Uo1lOUJxaNtm40bAMVghgDCY6zTE0IPUibEEtKy90jlBv32blfU-mXqWdkdr6d1BEmbZsuab0T-twgACaO7zAdC8y3YiwiBcmWhE6D-LV_9784xQ7yj6F-YlDaW27RT-81ZRqQ/s1600/Cover+-+By+the+Breath+of+the+People.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9aCF1Uo1lOUJxaNtm40bAMVghgDCY6zTE0IPUibEEtKy90jlBv32blfU-mXqWdkdr6d1BEmbZsuab0T-twgACaO7zAdC8y3YiwiBcmWhE6D-LV_9784xQ7yj6F-YlDaW27RT-81ZRqQ/s1600/Cover+-+By+the+Breath+of+the+People.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By the Breath of the People</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, Gil Bean makes his debut with part
one of “The Last River series” ($19.99, Langdon Street Press, softcover). It is
a meticulously research work of fiction that intertwines the stories of two men
living on the same land three centuries apart. One is a young Lenape Indian
coming of age as his people are being driven from their native lands by
European settles. The other is a father and grandfather building a retreat for
his family on a bluff high above the river. Though they come from very
different backgrounds and times, the two men are connected by the land of the
Delaware River Valley. This is deeply felt history as lived by the people who
call the land home. I have lived in the area where the Leni Lenape Indians
lived and some of the major roads of my home were formerly trails they blazed,
so I felt a special attachment to the novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lawyers
seem to have a particular knack for writing fiction. In the case of Larry S.
Kaplan, a practicing trial attorney since 1975 and author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When the Past Came Calling </b>($10.56,
available from Amazon.com and as an ebook) his novel begins in 1989 and a key
government scientists has gone missing. He has made a genetic discovery that
turns Darwinism on its ear and could pose a threat to world security should it
land in the wrong hands. Personal injury lawer, David Miller, is the FBI’s
unlikely recruit to help solve the disappearance. When he was just 16, he had
falling in love with a girl whose father is the FBI’s prime suspect, a cult
leader named Philip Montgomery, but his trail has gone cold. The FBI wants to
know what David can recall of the girl and his bizarre father. As he delves
into old memories, revising people and places left behind long ago, a new
riddle confronts him and it involves the assassination of JFK and his
girlfriend’s conviction that Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t acting alone. Ah, circles
within circles and sure to please.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lee
Kronert is a chiropractor and a math teacher as well as an advocate for
divorced men’s rights. When he isn’t tend to those other things, he writes and
his two latest—yes, two—novels published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas
Nelson, are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t Blame the Messenger </b>($13.95,
softcover) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mental Cruelty </b>($19.95,
softover). In his fictional narratives, he merges fact and fiction to paint a
realistic picture of the controversial educational and judicial systems with
which we all must cope. In the former novel, he taps his experiences as a
teacher to take on school policies, state Department of Education leadership,
bullying, and his view that a teacher’s tenure should be maintained. If these
issues ring a bell with you, this might be a novel to read. In the latter,
Kronert uses his characters to relay the turmoil he experienced as his marriage
dissolved into a painful divorce. Through the life of his main character, he
speaks out on behalf of all fathers in opposition to the legal system. I tend
to take a pass on novels that have an agenda, but I admire the author’s hard
work in the writing of these two novels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjFOXo5-8eBZ7a-TMsbBzshYYKToRt3D5KcjLp4WztHALeyTr0UOt54_OQZOq9cldbUODc3bHz6IGvkwJOjlmoQ5z8OqlneOSZIh6ytr380jwnPZIHGRYRDQLJSrmEVlvWoj8Tcq854M/s1600/Cover+-++The+life-we-bury-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjFOXo5-8eBZ7a-TMsbBzshYYKToRt3D5KcjLp4WztHALeyTr0UOt54_OQZOq9cldbUODc3bHz6IGvkwJOjlmoQ5z8OqlneOSZIh6ytr380jwnPZIHGRYRDQLJSrmEVlvWoj8Tcq854M/s1600/Cover+-++The+life-we-bury-.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Life We Bury </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Allen Eskens ($15.95, Seventh Street
Books, softcover) is a very creative idea involving Joe Talbert who has been
given a writing assignment for an English class. He is to interview and write a
brief biography of a stranger and, with deadlines looming, he visits a nearby
nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, a dying
Vietnam veteran—and a convicted murderer! With only a few months to live, he
has been medically paroled to the nursing home after spending thirty years in
prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writers about Carl’s life,
especially his valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism with the
despicable acts that followed. And Joe has his own problems at home as he
unravels the story of Carl’s conviction, but by the time he discovers the
truth, it is too late to escape the fallout. This is a very compelling novel
and I recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: text2;">That’s
it for October! You’ve got November and December to pick out some great books
to give as gifts. Tell your family, friends and coworkers about Bookviews.com
so they can find the perfect book for someone special or for themselves! And
come back in November.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-10115218131968845092014-09-03T08:53:00.001-07:002014-09-03T15:50:52.179-07:00Bookviews - September 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZ7G7-C76qmsnME0HjtILbPXqripnJwifGXOjtuJHLrs4RhEVBPlaY9XD7OH1gu_ybzEQ6UvyZXVmSHUuMrUVqrepxX3s3OdmZM7NeZ0fIMIpmfcmHbH9CCA_KTfz2NsgZ51CeSh2RXU/s1600/Cover+-+Big+Fact+Surprise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZ7G7-C76qmsnME0HjtILbPXqripnJwifGXOjtuJHLrs4RhEVBPlaY9XD7OH1gu_ybzEQ6UvyZXVmSHUuMrUVqrepxX3s3OdmZM7NeZ0fIMIpmfcmHbH9CCA_KTfz2NsgZ51CeSh2RXU/s1600/Cover+-+Big+Fact+Surprise.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We are
besieged with advice on what to eat and the government has long been involved
in steering everyone toward certain choices. Much of the advice it has given
out over the years has been erroneous and for anyone who has a serious interest
in this, there’s Nina Teicholz’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Health Diet </b>($28.00,
Simon & Schuster) that debunks the dogma about the evils of disease-causing
fats that are part of the official dietary guidelines and the advice of diet
books gurus and other experts. They also are put forth by the multibillion
dollar industry of low-fat foods. Teicholz researched this book for six years
and her thick volume which includes more than a hundred pages of detailed notes
details how a single flawed study by a scientist who devoted his life to
convincing influential organizations like the American Heart Association to
point to the eating of fat as the cause of strokes and heart attacks. Tons of
literature has been written about cholesterol, but it is a vital component of
everyone’s body. All this and more is established with the evidence in this
book that exposes a hoax that still influences the choices we make. Dr. David
Perlmutter, MD, hailed this book saying the author “reveals the disturbing
underpinnings of the profoundly misguided dietary recommendations that have
permeated modern society, culminating in our overall health decline.” Frankly,
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2o8nlrhB07wUxC9jU8chGTiYwQZon6y5QfubeH7kxuhCgHFuNtz2OhfJ39bBHDHvPDJJ0EF1DilvR4Xw1BEcwEgHWIa3pHoAcNXKCXT3S6w96U2U6blo9cHvTrYtjH7H9udhEpiiPgqM/s1600/Cover+-+Doctored.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2o8nlrhB07wUxC9jU8chGTiYwQZon6y5QfubeH7kxuhCgHFuNtz2OhfJ39bBHDHvPDJJ0EF1DilvR4Xw1BEcwEgHWIa3pHoAcNXKCXT3S6w96U2U6blo9cHvTrYtjH7H9udhEpiiPgqM/s1600/Cover+-+Doctored.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you
want to understand how Obamacare has destroyed the best health system in the
world, you should read Sandeep Jauhar’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Doctored:
The Disillusionment of an American Physician </b>($26.00, Farrar, Straus and
Giroux). In the wake of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Jauhar
reports on the deep loss of morale among physicians today who cannot practice
medicine in the way they would prefer because they are forced to see many more
patients for far less time than they want because they are paid far less than
in the past. They have to practice a defensive, self-protective kind of
medicine because of malpractice suits. A single patient might see fifteen
specialists in a single hospital stay. The sharp downturn in payments to
physicians and hospitals has forced them to devote less time to patients.
“There is no more wasteful entity in medicine than a rushed doctor,” says the
author of this profoundly revealing and disturbing book. It should be read by
every member of Congress, but it is a message to all Americans that Obamacare
should be repealed. Another book provides an insight to the problems
encountered by those seeking treatment. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Misdiagnosed:
One Woman’s Tour of—and Escape from—Healthcareland </b>by Jody Berger ($14.00,
Sourcebooks, softcover) is her story of having doubted the advice offered by
the physicians she consulted after being told she had multiple sclerosis when
in fact she had a sensitivity to gluten. One question, “What are you eating?”
unlocked the truth of minor tingling sensations she had in her hands and feet.
Berger, a journalist and marathoner, was skeptical of her treatment options and
the diagnosis and, after a year dealing with physicians, she found one who
examined her entire medical history and provided a completely different
conclusion. This book is well worth reading in an era in which physicians,
thanks to Obamacare, are forced to see many more patients in order to make a
living.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
who is concerned about the role of money in politics, there is no doubt cause
when a candidate for President must raise a billion dollars and a Senate
candidate must raise at least ten million. Much of that money comes from
corporations and the impact of it is addressed in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Capitalism v. Democracy: Money in Politics and the Free Market
Constitution</b> by Timothy K. Kuhner ($90.00/$27.00, Stanford University
Press). Yes, the book comes with a hefty price tag, but so does our government
these days. Kuhner is an associate professor of law at Georgia State University
College of Law who lectures here and abroad. “European audiences can’t believe
that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued official state justifications for an
unregulated open political market, the sovereignty of donors and spenders, and
the demise of political equality.” The relationship of money and politics,
along with the rights of corporations in our constitutional democracy is
vigorously examined in this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Advice<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you
have a problem in any aspect of your life, I guarantee you that there’s a book
out there to help you solve it. Here are a few that have recently arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Power of Positive Confrontation</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Barbara Pachter with Susan Magee
($16.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) is subtitled “The skills you need to handle
conflicts at work, at home, online, and in life.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the author points out, there’s always
someone out there who is annoying you in some fashion, failing to show respect
or courtesy. It’s tempting to respond by expressing your anger or just bottling
up your frustration and ignoring the person, but as the author notes, that
doesn’t solve anything. This book is being issued for its 15<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
anniversary which means it has been around a long time, successfully providing
a practical guide to interpersonal problem-solving. It is filled with good
advice, starting with how you handle yourself and what kind of confrontational
style you employ or avoid. Being polite and powerful is the essence of this
books message, but mostly how to avoid the common problem of dealing with
others who think they don’t have to show you the respect you should receive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Do you
ever feel stuck in a monotonous life built around a routine? Many do and Jamie
George was one of them. He was a reluctant pastor in a downward spiraling
marriage and he was finding it difficult to look past his circumstances and
really embrace life. If this describes you in some respect then the good news
is that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Love Well: Living Life
Unrehearsed and Unstuck</b> may just be the book for you ($14.99, David Cook,
softcover). It will help if you are Christian and have a sense of the spiritual
in your life, but the book shares many deeply personal stories on the author’s
journey from being stuck to his new life based on forming meaningful, deep
relationships, and living a life of purpose. Today George is the pastor of The
Journey Church in Franklin, Tennessee which he founded in 2006 as a safe haven
for artists and the “religiously wounded.” Stuck? Read this book!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wd3Kh6P1keBBAO9jlObxN7hC9c_H5fvG2GUY0QykX5yQuNZfIOoLntgm02VU6uw2Mg0IE1DcBBh5yEa8E0WgTOy6RamuxU4e5QMQGzNJ7GwThPybDYaA9ick6aLX9BwmYQgqtmMJGIA/s1600/Cover+-+Messy+Beautiful+Love.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wd3Kh6P1keBBAO9jlObxN7hC9c_H5fvG2GUY0QykX5yQuNZfIOoLntgm02VU6uw2Mg0IE1DcBBh5yEa8E0WgTOy6RamuxU4e5QMQGzNJ7GwThPybDYaA9ick6aLX9BwmYQgqtmMJGIA/s1600/Cover+-+Messy+Beautiful+Love.png" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Messy Beautiful Love </b>by Darlene Schacht
($15.99, Thomas Nelson, softcover) addresses the problems that marriages face
such as financial problems, sickness, aging parents, and a chronically unhappy
spouse. In a world where divorce is a family word and marriage is simply tossed
aside, many women are asking, “Is there hope for my marriage?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author, married for more than 25 years,
understands the temptations and struggles many women face and, coming from a
place of brokenness, grace, and redemption, she candidly shares her personal
testimony of infidelity and a message of hope with a guide through Scripture.
It helps to have a spiritual orientation to benefit from this book.<o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Were you a
fan of Gilligan’s Island, the TV show that debuted in 1964 and is still being
seen in reruns by whole new generations? One of its characters was Mary Ann
Summers, a sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice Midwest girl played by Dawn
Wells. She was the good girl stranded with the other characters on an island.
In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to
Life </b>Wells makes it clear that good girls can and do finish first ($16.95,
Taylor Publishing, softcover) in a book written with Steve Stinson that is part
memoir, part humor, and a dose of classic TV nostalgia. Its twelve chapters
exploring everything from how Mary Ann would respond to changes in today’s
culture to addressing issues confronting single women and mothers. Dawn found
success in the 1960s, appearing in shows such as 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick,
Bonanza, and Hawaiian Eye before being cast in Gilligan Island. Since then she
has continued acting on the stage and screen, produced films, and been active
in a number of charities. Women will find this book worth reading.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNn70eUqeKnWtW2uaZF-DkrKk2M2prYLkJROOZhwoJm78j9On9EyB36VYXn3onkzPNeqqzTL_opS25t8SGTCjAhKq3VDMhAFH5RivlTJ0m_E-gQ8DJ9mTTK7fN9zlfxoMaqYRQuw0ny4/s1600/Cover+-+Drug-FreeKids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNn70eUqeKnWtW2uaZF-DkrKk2M2prYLkJROOZhwoJm78j9On9EyB36VYXn3onkzPNeqqzTL_opS25t8SGTCjAhKq3VDMhAFH5RivlTJ0m_E-gQ8DJ9mTTK7fN9zlfxoMaqYRQuw0ny4/s1600/Cover+-+Drug-FreeKids.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A major
concern of parents is to ensure that their children do not fall into the trap
of taking drugs. Joseph A. Califano, Jr., who served Presidents Johnson and
Carter, the latter as the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, as
written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How To Raise A Drug-Free Kid:
The Straight Dope for Parents </b>($15.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon
& Schuster, softcover). It is a guide to keeping children substance-free
through the formative pre-teen, teen, and college years. As the founder of The
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, this has been a long interest
of Califano’s. The book addresses when and how to talk to a child about drugs
and alcohol, what circumstances put a child most at risk, how binge drinking
and marijuana use threaten the development of a teen’s brain, how to address
the glamorization of drinking and drug use on social media, the Internet and in
films and on television, including how to find the right program if one’s child
needs treatment. Raising a child comes with many challenges and this book will
make this one easier to deal with. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">Memoirs and Bios</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There is no
end to memoirs and biographies, many of which provide information and insight
regarding those we admire and others which tell us the stories of people we
have never heard of before. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG5esXy66sLDZIC_JxQxW3rfRAbcSxqkpHPY77rC4ZiS9quHEZHuTdXeIjclU-r-nVCIjpx3Tq0ZcfXqtD2qZPuwvxMj8Sp3fvnHxJ3fKmSznAClll1kIxPX46-M9mX9rt3bQ_ajPaYa8/s1600/Cover+-+Tennessee+Williams.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG5esXy66sLDZIC_JxQxW3rfRAbcSxqkpHPY77rC4ZiS9quHEZHuTdXeIjclU-r-nVCIjpx3Tq0ZcfXqtD2qZPuwvxMj8Sp3fvnHxJ3fKmSznAClll1kIxPX46-M9mX9rt3bQ_ajPaYa8/s1600/Cover+-+Tennessee+Williams.png" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the
Flesh </b>($37.95, W.W. Norton) one may be inclined to feel that John Lahr has
told us more about the legendary playwright than we really want to know. There
have been some forty biographies of Williams, but this one plumbs deeply into
his sex life, his alcoholism, and the way his warring dysfunctional family and
youth informed his greatest plays, “The Glass Menagerie”, “A Streetcar Named
Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” that transformed the theatre of his day,
all of which were made into films that made him famed to a vast audience. Lahr,
a prolific author and a regular contributor to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Yorker </i>where, for two decades, he was the magazine’s senior
drama critic, has penned over 750 pages with footnotes. It is enhanced with
nearly one hundred photos. In person, Williams was a difficult person to be
around in ways that only someone of his talent and personal traumas can be. I
once met him and commented on how much I had enjoyed his book of poetry, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In The Winter of Cities</i>, and he was
delighted someone had read it. The biography is a disturbing account of a
disturbed and disturbing man. Only someone seeking to know the man behind the
dramas will want to read this biography. Men of such talent are often seem more
frail, more self-absorbed, and more troubled when their lives are examined in
the depth this biography offers. This book is likely to be regarded as
William’s most definitive biography and it well deserves to be.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I doubt
there is anyone who has not heard of the Beatles and, for the U.S. their
astounding fame began in the summer of 1964. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Beatles and Me on Tour</b> by Ivor Davis ($15.99, Cockney Kid
Publishing, softcover) who was the only British newspaper writer invited on the
entire tour. Over the course of 34 days and 24 cities, Davis watched them make
rock history while enjoying unrestricted access to the four lads from
Liverpool, from hotel suites to backstage to their private jet. He waited fifty
years to write the book because the years in between were filled with other
events that he also witnessed, from the assassination of Robert Kennedy to the
Los Angeles Watts riots. In the 1970s he was just as busy covering Angela Davis
and Daniel Ellsberg, and other figures of the era. In this book he recounts in
frank and amusing fashion the adventures of the now legendary band. Fans of the
Beatles will surely enjoy it. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ain’t It
Time We Said Goodbye: The Rolling Stones on the Road to Exile </b>by Robert
Greenfield ($25.99, Da Capo Press) Written by a former associate editor for
Rolling Stone magazine’s London Bureau, who was a mere 25 years old when he
followed the most iconic band of the British invasion during their farewell
tour of their home country. Watching from the wings from Newcastle to Los
Angeles, Greenfield chronicles the group during the ten days before their leave
England in tax exile. The story is punctuated by Greenfield’s analysis of the
seething tensions between Mick and Keith on the cusp of their heyday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">He wasn’t
President for long before his assassination, but John F. Kennedy did have a
many-layered relationship with a fellow mid-20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century leader,
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan of Great Britain. Based on previously unquoted
papers and private letters between them and their families, Christopher
Sandford tells the story of that relationship in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Harold and Jack: The Remarkable Friendship of Prime Minister Macmillan
and President Kennedy </b>($25.95, Prometheus Books) which had to deal with
Kennedy’s disastrous Bay of Pigs episode in Cuba, the Soviet act of building
the Berlin Wall, and serious disagreements over the Skybolt nuclear deterrent,
that cause a major rift in US-British relations. Anyone with an interest in
history will enjoy this slice of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I frankly
had never heard of or read the works of Earle Birney and Al Purdy, two Canadian
poets, but their correspondence over forty years from 1947 to 1987 will surely
appeal to anyone who enjoys a look at the creative process at work. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">We Go Far Back in Time</b> ($39.95, Harbour
Publishing, Madeira Park, British Columbia) are their letters, edited by
Nicholas Bradley, an associate professor in the Department of English at the
University of Victoria. Purdy is often considered Canada’s “unofficial poet
laureate” and Birney was a celebrated poet and novelist who received the
Governor General’s Award twice for his poetry. Canadians understandably will
find this of greater interest, but these two literary figures also reflect
their times in which they lives and the inherent issues of the creative
process. Both, however, were incredibly prolific, producing many books. By
contrast, no one would know of Susan Blumberg-Kason if she had not written a
biographical account of her cross-cultural experience in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong </b>($14.99,
Sourcebooks, softcover). The author is an American who had a fascination with
China and, while attending graduate school in Hong Kong fell for what she
thought was the Chinese man of her dreams. They married and she believed her
intercultural marriage would play out like an exotic fairy tale. It quickly
turned into a nightmare as she examines the values of marriage and family in
contemporary China and America. As her husband Cai Kason becomes increasingly
controlling and abusive, the author is forced to forgo her own Midwestern
values to save the relationship and protect her newborn son. When Cai threatens
to take Jake back to China for good, she has to stand up for herself, her son
and their future. I think women in particular will find this book of interest,
but anyone interested in current Chinese culture will as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Math and Science<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Prometheus
Books is a highly prolific publisher. One of its specialties are books about
math and science topics. For those who are interested in these topics, it has
four recent books. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It Started with
Copernicus: Vital Questions about Science </b>by Keith Parsons ($19.95) tackles
questions such as can science meet the challenges of skeptics? Should science
address questions traditionally reserved for philosophy and religion? The
corruption of science is on the minds of many these days as, for example, we
learn of how climatology has been used to advance the global warming/climate
change agenda when, in fact, the Earth has been in a cooling cycle for
seventeen years. This and other examples have troubled scientists. Parsons has
written a jargon-free examination of areas such as evolutionary theory,
paleontology, and astronomy, and others that have generated controversies.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5qi4OC1txDphqTLRZnOhYkkVjC7cwGTNo5TeoaIvgyhGFUTanp_hSlEK9DIJWwVFhSGIMFmKJ6Ir87Nt_8jR5KzIAS4a77iXxp3mmKVFkdZuWCAc4DYCGrcUeqLBjOh9ro2Gm3lVL5oE/s1600/Cover+-+Chemistry+of+Alchemy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5qi4OC1txDphqTLRZnOhYkkVjC7cwGTNo5TeoaIvgyhGFUTanp_hSlEK9DIJWwVFhSGIMFmKJ6Ir87Nt_8jR5KzIAS4a77iXxp3mmKVFkdZuWCAc4DYCGrcUeqLBjOh9ro2Gm3lVL5oE/s1600/Cover+-+Chemistry+of+Alchemy.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div>
Those interested in the history of science will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Chemistry of Alchemy: From Dragon’s Blood to Donkey Dung, How
Chemistry was Forged </b>($24.95) by Cathy Cobb, Monty Fetterolf, and Harold
Goldwhite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These three veteran chemists
show that the alchemist’s quest—often to turn ordinary metals into
gold—involved real science and recounts the stories of the sages who performed
strange experiments by separating and purifying materials by fire to
reconstitute them. Despite their objectives, by trial, by design, and by persistence,
the alchemists discovered acids, alkalis, alcohols, salts and other elements.
It is a fascinating story. <o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lovers of
math will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mathematical
Curiousities: A Treasure Trove of Unexpected Entertainments </b>by Alfred S.
Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann ($19.95, softcover) who demonstrate that math
can be enjoyable as well as an important skill on which much depends. Exploring
our galaxy has been a quest that goes back to early scientists. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Curiousity: An Inside Look at the Mars
Rover Mission and the People Who Made It Happen </b>by Rod Pyle (19.95,
softcover) is a behind-the-scenes look at the recent mission of Curiousity, the
unmanned rover whose journey of discovery is providing researchers with
unprecedented information about Mars. The author provides stunning insights
into how the enthusiastic team of diverse individuals uses a revolutionary
onboard laboratory of chemistry, geology, and physics instruments to unravel
the secrets of the red planet. The story of the most advanced machine ever sent
to another planet makes for fascinating reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiso_ZfNtpEQ1hDSA9uh-Dkf6cny76eirSx0_-vdgNK9TOafjeZhHWxmRZiMCftySx0VUvcY1xZJrFt1GWUl7mg01zugrOOzkKCjXv7A2quabt80oeqKUKa9zR1jhXKQcXry3c9jdMMs-0/s1600/Cover+-+Grandma,+Aren't%2BYou%2BGlad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiso_ZfNtpEQ1hDSA9uh-Dkf6cny76eirSx0_-vdgNK9TOafjeZhHWxmRZiMCftySx0VUvcY1xZJrFt1GWUl7mg01zugrOOzkKCjXv7A2quabt80oeqKUKa9zR1jhXKQcXry3c9jdMMs-0/s1600/Cover+-+Grandma,+Aren't%2BYou%2BGlad.jpg" height="154" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By far one
of the most unique and entertaining books for young readers age four and up is
Lori Scott Stewart’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grandma, Aren’t You
Glad the World’s Finally in Color Today! </b>($19.95, Palmar Press), but it is
really for all the generations from grandparents, parents, and grandchildren.
Told in rhyming verse, it is a tribute to those generations who came well
before the technology today’s kids take for granted and tells the story,
replete with black-and-white photos on pages facing those filled with color
photos, of how those earlier generations lived through events that preceded and
included the Great Depression and World War Two, before television, air
conditioning, computers and all of the conveniences of our times. I had the
pleasure of recommending Ms. Stewart’s debut book, “If I Had as Many
Grandchildren as You” that went on to receive a 2013 Gelett Burgess Children’s
Book Award and Family Choice Awards. This book is sure to win a lot of award as
well. It is a delight to the eye, the ear, and the soul as it takes one from
those early photos to those that capture the world in full color today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As the
school year begins many parents encounter a child who is afraid to go and
Ylleya Fields has written a clever book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Princess
Cupcake Won’t Go to School </b>delightfully illustrated by Michael LaDuca
($15.95, Belle Publshing, Cleveland, OH). Young readers, age 5 to 7, will enjoy
the many excuses Cupcake makes to avoid that first day of school and recognize
them if they have tried them out. In the end, Cupcake does go and discovers
that school is a place to make new friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s
football season and a great way to combine encouraging one’s children to be
active in some sport and to enjoy, in this case, football, is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sports Illustrated for Kids “Football—Then
to Wow! </b>($19.95, Time Home Entertainment) which has the added benefit of
encouraging them to read. Telling the history of the game that was born in
1869, it takes the younger readers, ages 10 and up, on a journey through time,
explaining how the game developed—such as the way the shape of the ball came to
be the one we recognize today, how protective shoulder pads were introduced as
well as the history of helmets, the building of stadiums for the game, and tons
of information about its legendary players in various positions. There’s much
more and by the time the reader gets to the end of this book, they will be a
football whiz, enjoying it on a level well above others. Also from Sports
Illustrated for Kids is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Are the
Chances? The Wildest Plays in Sports </b>($14.95, Time Home Entertainment). It
will be a big hit with any younger reader who is into sports and, typical of
the SI books, it is extensively illustrated and has a lively text devoted to
the rare achievements by stars as they scored points to save a game, threw or
caught a ball that decided the outcome, The sports highlighted are baseball,
football, and basketball. Christmas is not that far off, so if you have a
youngster that loves these sports, you might want to put this one on the gift
list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’m of a
mixed mind about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tomboy: A Graphic
Memoir</b> by Liz Prince ($15.99, Zest Books, softcover). Growing up, Liz
Prince was a tomboy and she tells the story of her transition to recognizing
what it meant to be female, doing so with humor, honesty, poignancy and a
straight forward account of the physical and emotional changes that occurred as
she matured. She goes from a girl who hated dresses, preferred boys clothes and
being with them. Her teen years would change that and, being a graphic novel, each
page is like a comic strip rather than just text. For young girls who share her
early preferences, this will be a useful book as they too must make adjustments
in adolescence. This is a “graphic” book as well in the language it employs and
sensitive topics it addresses. Hence my concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels</span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcBSw7DU176R8iFrBBRKysLD-47pQzQ9nDQ1gnUXKb4K38Ugx98w7b52ycTJTgppRzalm6hRqXWijjbEx7rTGjUW1_r7vGWw6iFGycHy0Yk3zcHHeaRlktLhJ2Jf9zRAtnG1Khy7dbyqk/s1600/Cover+-+Edge+of+Eternity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcBSw7DU176R8iFrBBRKysLD-47pQzQ9nDQ1gnUXKb4K38Ugx98w7b52ycTJTgppRzalm6hRqXWijjbEx7rTGjUW1_r7vGWw6iFGycHy0Yk3zcHHeaRlktLhJ2Jf9zRAtnG1Khy7dbyqk/s1600/Cover+-+Edge+of+Eternity.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fans of
the internationally bestselling novelist Ken Follett who have been waiting for
the third book in his “century trilogy” will be pleased to know that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Edge of Eternity </b>($36.00, Dutton) is
now available. In 2010 he embarked on an ambitious project, a historical epic
that spans the twentieth century. It began with “Fall of Giants” which was
followed by “Winter of the World in 2012.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The trilogy follows the fortunes of five intertwined families—American,
German, Russian, English and Welsh—as they make their way through the upheavals
of the twentieth century. Each book follows the next generation. The new novel
covers the tumultuous era of the 1960s through to today, taking in civil
rights, the Vietnam War, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK’s
assassination, presidential impeachment, revolution, and rock and roll. The
copy I received was 1,098 pages! So prepare yourself for a lengthy, but
fascinating reading experience. Follett’s trilogy is a real achievement,
capturing the last century in a way that people can relate to through the lives
of the characters.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1I3jyiB24YJGZKmcE58hqq80QttnhhUFIoYYV0RDTcg8LD4wd0pfn-hIOlDiP99wXdTYU1zARrifW4zi2XoZyDVyquTXISolQ2mf-P4mrpaoci3B0ySxJcuYhwav9TcMf3o7BJZnad-M/s1600/Cover+-+Hour+of+Lead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1I3jyiB24YJGZKmcE58hqq80QttnhhUFIoYYV0RDTcg8LD4wd0pfn-hIOlDiP99wXdTYU1zARrifW4zi2XoZyDVyquTXISolQ2mf-P4mrpaoci3B0ySxJcuYhwav9TcMf3o7BJZnad-M/s1600/Cover+-+Hour+of+Lead.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An
interesting novel by Bruce Holbert, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Hour of Lead</b>, ($25.00, Counterpoint Press) follows his 2012 novel,
“Lonesome Animals”, which was named the Best Book of the Year by both the
Seattle Times and Slate. This one is set in the scabland farms and desert brush
of Eastern Washington. The story follows Matt Lawson, a 14-year-old boy who is
forced to take over his family’s ranch after losing both his twin brother and
father in the great snowstorm of 1918. His mother disappears into grief and
drinking the local moonshine and Matt realizes that he is on his own. The work
gives him some relief from his feelings of loneliness, but when his
relationship with Wendy, the daughter of a local grocer, goes sour, Matt sets
out on a journey across the nation by way of finding himself. His mother opens
her ranch home to Wendy, a local widowed teacher, and her bastard son, Lucky.
It takes decades for Matt to return and his long journey will forever change
the life of those around him. Stan Yocum always wanted to be a writer, but he
took off 30 years to be a businessman. Now, though, he is establishing himself
as a writer of indie-suspense novels and his latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unrelenting Nightmare </b>($20.95, iUniverse) that follows Stuart
Garrison, a virtual reality software developer on the cusp of industry
domination, as he navigates a deadly cat-and-mouse game with an international
assassin hired by his fierce competitor. Garrison must outwit the killer at the
same time he is releasing the new technology to the world. You will be hard
pressed to put this novel down as it explores the prevalence of violence and
the impact of virtual reality on youth. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In no
particular order there are three novels that offer entertainment. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Legend of Sheba: Rise of a Queen</b> by
Tosca Lee ($23.00, Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster) retells a
torrid love affair and the after-effects between two of the most famous
monarchs in history. Based on extensive research into the life and times of
Makeda, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, the novel reflects one of biblical
history’s most unknown tales and brings the world of ancient Israel to life. In
the 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century BC, the Queen has inherited her father’s throne and
all its riches at great personal cost. Her realm stretches west across the Red
Sea, but it is new alliances to the north that threaten the trade routes which
are the lifeblood of her nation. Solomon is the brash new king of Israel,
already famed for his wealth and wisdom. The Queen must test and win his
support, but neither rule has anticipated the clash of agendas and passion that
threatens to ignore and ruin them both.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9DER-xYmEyOkKLHt_D2KZngcotl_I0btbWWSDwmBcJyQwixGV43h0VqfIUB4AOKUpUbkyHeBw2h0tF3wfP1pqNGe2Mz_X4ap9cdmu0Aww3EeaKH6Wgw-_7_rC1nwBB29TNpoVZhQZMA/s1600/Cover+-+The+Wishing+Tide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9DER-xYmEyOkKLHt_D2KZngcotl_I0btbWWSDwmBcJyQwixGV43h0VqfIUB4AOKUpUbkyHeBw2h0tF3wfP1pqNGe2Mz_X4ap9cdmu0Aww3EeaKH6Wgw-_7_rC1nwBB29TNpoVZhQZMA/s1600/Cover+-+The+Wishing+Tide.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
Fast forward to present times and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Wishing Tide </b>by Barbara Davis
($15.00, NAL Accent, the Penguin Group, softcover). This is her second novel
and the author lives in North Carolina, the setting for the story of Lane
Kramer who moved to Starry Point, North Carolina, with the hopes that the
quaint island village might be a perfect place to start fresh. She is now the
owner of a charming seaside inn, having put aside her hopes of being a novelist
and finding love again. When an English professor, Michael Forester appears on
her doorstep in the middle of a storm, his familiarity with the island has her
wondering if he is quite what he appears. Meanwhile, she has developed a
friendship with an older woman who possesses a special brand of wisdom, but a
fragile mind with a tenuous grip on reality. Put the three together and a
decades-old secret, stir vigorously, and you have an interesting story. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span><br /></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Seventh
Street Books has four softcover novels to offer, all available as ebooks as
well. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sun is God</b> by Adrian
McKinty ($15.99) involves a small group of mostly German nudists living an
extreme back-to-nature existence, worshipping the sun on the remote island of
Kabakon. When one of their members, Max Lutzow, dies it is assumed to be from
malaria, but an autopsy in the nearby capital of Herbertshohe raises suspicions
of foul play. Retired British military police officer Will Prior is recruited
to investigate the circumstance of the death and, while the group seems
friendly and willing to cooperate, Prior is convinced they are hiding
something. The tension grows steadily and the climax is worth waiting for. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cat on a Cold Tin Roof—An Eli Paxton
Mystery </b>by Mike Resnick ($15.95) begins as hard luck private investigator,
Eli Paxton, is hired to find a missing cat. It is a very important one because
its collar is studded with diamonds worth a small fortune. What starts as a
routine search of animal shelters soon becomes a perilous journey through a
murky underworld. Turns out that the woman who hired Paxton is the wealthy
widow of a recently murdered financial adviser with an alias and mobster ties.
Eli finds the cat by not the collar. Suffice to say an intricate plot unfolds
into a treacherous maze that Eli hopes to survive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuHnI2GwGczzY3LQV6GIv1-152OByh2grkedA1_wcgkrrNg3XdhXr98wrK8P4ywXDqgjJuKPCzHRHIhKw1gXbkLoNQPo30pz2vCCiZ2kj6MX-gAXfvcHlbtoe3R8V5F0Mt0yNhEs3AnE/s1600/Cover+-+Blind+Moon+Alley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBuHnI2GwGczzY3LQV6GIv1-152OByh2grkedA1_wcgkrrNg3XdhXr98wrK8P4ywXDqgjJuKPCzHRHIhKw1gXbkLoNQPo30pz2vCCiZ2kj6MX-gAXfvcHlbtoe3R8V5F0Mt0yNhEs3AnE/s1600/Cover+-+Blind+Moon+Alley.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blind Moon Alley—A Jersey Leo Novel</b> by John Florio ($15.95) takes
the reader back to the days of Prohibition. It’s Philadelphia and Jersey Leo
doesn’t fit in. He tends bar at a speakeasy the locals call the Ink Well. When
his old grade school buddy calls from death row and asks one last favor, all
hell breaks loose for Jersey who finds himself running from a band of crooked
cops, hiding an escaped convict in the Ink Well, and reuniting with his grammar
school crush, the sultry Myra Banks. Intrigued? You will be when you read this
delightful novel filled with some great characters. And lastly there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Button Man—A Hugo Marston Novel</b> by
Mark Pryor ($15.95) in which a former FBI profiler, Hugo Marston, has just
become head of security at the U.S. embassy in London. He’s asked to protect a
famous movie-star couple, Dayton Harper and Ginny Ferro who, while filming a
movie in rural England, have killed a local man in a hit and run. It is a
disaster from the beginning because, before he even meets them, he discovers
that Ferro has disappeared and her body has been found hanging from an oak tree
in a London cemetery. Hours later, a distraught Harper gives Hugo the slip.
Putting the connections together with the help of a cast of characters, he must
elude a serial killer after more bodies show up. Yes, it is another suspenseful,
well told gripping tale. <o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That’s It for September<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">Lots of
good books, fiction and non-fiction, this month as you can see. With the advent
of autumn, the publishing world kicks into a high gear, producing many more.
Come back in October and don’t forget to tell your book loving friends, family
and coworkers about Bookviews.com where you will find the work of authors who
deserve attention.</span></span></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-58743637401306110232014-08-01T05:32:00.000-07:002014-08-04T11:53:46.152-07:00Bookviews - August 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TWloksao5nzmQhFjTkcfP0Lvro4RfvAQAFAAwWyZ1Qi0uiQLJ_kSg0JjMgCePHPq0Rr2KwN-_g1tnol2LZ-ah_mEvSYXfJpv8NNJmQR1sSe-JE6-J6UZdzUOym5zBKCaBXZpCHBarnM/s1600/Cover+-+Greatest+Comeback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TWloksao5nzmQhFjTkcfP0Lvro4RfvAQAFAAwWyZ1Qi0uiQLJ_kSg0JjMgCePHPq0Rr2KwN-_g1tnol2LZ-ah_mEvSYXfJpv8NNJmQR1sSe-JE6-J6UZdzUOym5zBKCaBXZpCHBarnM/s1600/Cover+-+Greatest+Comeback.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
most interesting new books is Patrick J. Buchanan’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the
New Majority </b>($28.00, Crown Forum). A large part of the population today
was born after Nixon’s era and, if he is remembered or known for anything by
them it is the Watergate scandal that forced his resignation in his second
term. Even though I lived through the Nixon years, I knew relatively little
about the man and Buchanan who was one of his political team, now a respected
commentator and author, provides a fascinating history of a President who was a
canny politician, a pragmatic conservative, and a very popular leader in his
time. He served from 1969 to 1972, finally bringing the unpopular Vietnam War
to an end and opening diplomacy with China. After suffering stinging defeats in
the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy and in the 1962
California gubernatorial election, the Washington press and politicians
declared his political career over. Yet on January 20, 1969 he took the oath as
the 37<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> President. Buchanan’s book tells how he resurrected his
reputation and reunited a shattered and fractured Republican Party. The book
begins in January 1966 as a firsthand account of Nixon’s remarkable return
during a decade marked by civil rights protests, the assassinations of JFK, his
brother Robert, and Martin Luther King. I recall the riots, campus anarchy, and
the rise of the New Left. Anyone interested in U.S. history will want to read
this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlA0kM9M6ya-iF4tLII0dIBit-AdJxdt3Lj4_AEtLmvnfq18iQX4AzTHWQBV7FdPGMw-4uefTb0fIMEK6FV7mQx8OXYLYxKG2uYXTeeLIwqwUK1fce3W80hegORsiBhxvqCSHRTqdLtTw/s1600/Cover+-+Behind+the+Curtain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlA0kM9M6ya-iF4tLII0dIBit-AdJxdt3Lj4_AEtLmvnfq18iQX4AzTHWQBV7FdPGMw-4uefTb0fIMEK6FV7mQx8OXYLYxKG2uYXTeeLIwqwUK1fce3W80hegORsiBhxvqCSHRTqdLtTw/s1600/Cover+-+Behind+the+Curtain.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fans of
Jay Leno will enjoy Dave Berg’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behind
the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tonight Show </i></b>($24.95, Pelican Publishing). Berg was one of the
show’s producers, active in booking many of its guests from the world of show
business, sports, and politics. For Berg, what was not seen by the viewing
audience, the reality of dealing with guests from former presidents, candidates
for the job, and even Barack Obama whom he spotted years before he as a
national figure, was just as exciting and interesting as how well they
performed on air. He makes it clear that he and other producers looked at the
“numbers” of how many viewed the night before and how well the guest segments
did, play an important role in producing the show. It was in competition with
the David Letterman Show and they all wanted to be number one. Leno would in
time achieve that goal and hold onto it. Berg provides an entertaining, but
generally serious look at a wide range of guests from Jerry Seinfeld to John F.
Kennedy, Jr. If you are into celebrities, the book is filled with them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Readers will also discover a different Jay
Leno than appeared on camera all those years. The show, other than his marriage
and passion for classic cars, was his life from when he woke until he went to
bed. He was totally absorbed and devoted to it. His monologues were always
entertaining. His comedic talent and his devotion to the show made it a hit.
That was quite an achievement considering he was following in the footsteps of
Johnny Carson. Despite rubbing elbows by the biggest names of the day, he
remained the guy who could have lived next door. In many ways, he was. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Pelican Publishing is
based in Gretna, Louisiana and publishes many books that celebrate the state,
its cuisine and comparable topics. People who have visited New Orleans are
often so taken with its unique architecture, restaurants and other pleasures
they return again and again. For them, I recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Let’s Walk the French Quarter: A Visual Tour by Kerri McCaffety </b>($19.95,
Pelican, softcover) a photographer and writer who has authored several books
about the city. If you have been there, it is a reminder of favorite places and
an invitation to visit those you missed. If you have always just wondered what
this famed section of the city looks like, you will find it celebrated from
Rampart Street to Jackson Square. Little wonder she has received a Gold Lowell
Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers. It’s a wonderful
book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvB228qrlvM_grh19qE4u20jucEnxHAZKyxpA6m5sNKOfVr1YcsvtFsNGORNwAd-ONjdKk7Rv0mvh60Rt4UAzM8BQggLcZCjy6N0_xdnwZ6jtFwFd5E1YiTd-2ImpLsxkaGkrQKeIVYA/s1600/Cover+-+Ripley%2527s+Believe+it+or+Not.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvB228qrlvM_grh19qE4u20jucEnxHAZKyxpA6m5sNKOfVr1YcsvtFsNGORNwAd-ONjdKk7Rv0mvh60Rt4UAzM8BQggLcZCjy6N0_xdnwZ6jtFwFd5E1YiTd-2ImpLsxkaGkrQKeIVYA/s1600/Cover+-+Ripley%2527s+Believe+it+or+Not.png" height="200" width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you are
a fan of weirdness, you will love <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ripley’s
Believe it or Not! Reality Shock! </b>($28.95, Ripley Publishing), a large
format collection of items that are a mix of can’t bear to look and can’t look
away, jammed packed with images and stories of people such as the wolf-man,
Werner Freund, who lives with a pack of wolves or the grandma that has 18-inch
long fingernails; they haven’t been cut in 20 years. There are women with
scarily tiny waists and a guy who owns 2,000 Barbie and Ken dolls. Every page
has something to make you wonder, gasp, or just feast your eyes on the antics
and creations of people. This kind of books makes a great gift for the person
who “has everything.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
always enjoyed good health; as my doctor succinctly put it, “Good genes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That and eating moderately, but well, plus a
daily batch of vitamins and minerals to start the day, and getting a good
night’s sleep, have served me well over the years. One thing is for sure, there
is no end of books on health topics.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2ieGTbjJLryEzILmYCWn4_QLr-1KlUzCfhEGkauwAafLGaDH-2y9Xo_jfiKzzpq4rVIlEAXyvNZsk6uv_kzteJnKh9HwfgbV7JgqXALzGpMH95f0xdzH7ighzEvTW6J9xuoHxAYZe_A/s1600/Cover+-+losing-patience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2ieGTbjJLryEzILmYCWn4_QLr-1KlUzCfhEGkauwAafLGaDH-2y9Xo_jfiKzzpq4rVIlEAXyvNZsk6uv_kzteJnKh9HwfgbV7JgqXALzGpMH95f0xdzH7ighzEvTW6J9xuoHxAYZe_A/s1600/Cover+-+losing-patience.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One
unusual book that arrived is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Losing
Patience: The Problems, Alarms and Psychological Issues of Shaken Baby Syndrome
</b>by James Peinkofer ($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover), a child abuse
consultant with more than 18 years of experience in medical and mental health
clinical social work. It only takes two or three violent shakes in as little as
five seconds, by an angry parent or caregiver to punish or quiet a crying child
to inflict a lot of harm. The author says that it is the leading cause of
abuse-related deaths among infants with as high as 80% of survivors suffering
permanent brain damage. If there are expectant parents in your family in which
one or both have anger management problems—a bad temper—this would be a good
book to give them. It also offers good advice as to what to look for in a
perspective caregiver and what a family should do if they suspect shaken baby
syndrome. Consider the harm that can be done to an infant this is a book that
should receive wider media coverage. It’s due off the press in October.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A strong,
healthy heart should surely be a priority and Joe Petreycik, RN, an ASCM
certified clinical exercise specialist, has spent the last six years writing a
book that helps those who have had a heart attack and those trying to avoid it.
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pump It Up! Exercising Your Heart to
Health </b>($19.95, Take Exercise to Heart, LCC, Stratford, CT, softcover) According
to the World Health Organization, 17.3 million people die from heart attacks
and strokes every year. Illustrated with dozens of photographs to illustrate
the exercises that Petreycik recommends, anyone with concerns in this area will
surely benefit from reading this book. If you come from a family with a history
of heart attacks and strokes, order it today!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Useful Advice <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Got a
problem? There are many books filled with advice on how to solve it. Here are
four new ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDy66y1KE5L-olm6jGiXBD4B_o0ozFS3DKCa02qcwRboZHqD5gE3AFSoRlrTVXlAkCCwBy01Xhiv6peAP6vDGwRvbtzJaibagFi9IF45IBsJlNTOAtbOdZTEQ9-s207g3Ta-RlJJ-WO8/s1600/Cover+-+Parenting+on+the+Go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDy66y1KE5L-olm6jGiXBD4B_o0ozFS3DKCa02qcwRboZHqD5gE3AFSoRlrTVXlAkCCwBy01Xhiv6peAP6vDGwRvbtzJaibagFi9IF45IBsJlNTOAtbOdZTEQ9-s207g3Ta-RlJJ-WO8/s1600/Cover+-+Parenting+on+the+Go.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Parenting on the Go: Birth to Six, A
to Z </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Dr. David
Elkind, PhD ($14.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) covers a wide range of subjects
and offers solutions to run-of-the-mill concerns as well as the more
multifaceted issues, like the right amount of computer times, that are
pertinent to today’s information-age parents. Drawing on his extensive experience
in child psychology and development, as well as the most up-to-date research on
parenting, Dr. Elkind gives 500-word answers to more than a hundred of the most
common questions parents ask. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting a Life with Asperger’s:
Lessons Learned on the Bumpy Road to Adulthood </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Jesse A. Saperstein ($15.00,
Perigee, softcover) is a useful book even if you or someone you know has been
diagnosed with Asperger’s, a disorder that interferes with being able to pick
up the clues that other people’s behavior that most of us easily read. It is an
aspect of autism. “Growing up and becoming a reasonably functioning adult is
difficult in the best of circumstances,” says Saperstein, but those with
Asperger’s encounter greater problems. Studies show that between 80% and 90%
are chronically unemployed because they miss the social clues and sometimes
exhibit inappropriate behavior. The book is a self-help guide filled with good
advice on dealing with family, romance, college, job interviews, and the
crippling baggage of being bullied. Filled with wit and self-deprecating humor,
it will help anyone live a “normal” life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Put More Time on Your Side: How to
Manage Your Life in a Digital World </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Jan Yager, Ph.D, ($20.95, Hannacroix Creek Press, softcover) is her fifth book
about productivity, among her 39 to date. This one is for anyone who wants to
get more done in less time. It is full of good advice on topics such as coping
with time wasters like over-scheduling, procrastination or perfectionism.
There’s advice on how to master office relationships and politics to save time,
and lots more. Time is our most valuable resource and knowing how to get the
most out of it in business and at home is why this book is worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Master Your Money in 7 Days </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Dale Gibbons ($11.69, softcover)
will be a big help to anyone encountering money problems these days and that’s
just about everyone. It is an easy to read book that reveals the secrets of
simply money management that you can learn more about at </span><a href="http://www.masteryourmoneybook.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.masteryourmoneybook.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">. Do you run out of money before the
end of the month? Worry how to afford the important things for your family?
Have an overdrawn account? This is about getting the control you need to put
your financial life on a smooth path. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Books for Kids and Teens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
best things you can do for your kids this summer is to provide them with
interesting and entertaining books to read. Good reading skills and habits are
essential to their success later in life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
very young, early readers, there are books from the We Do Listen Foundation
featuring Howard B. Wigglesworth, a rabbit character, and the 14<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
in its series is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Howard B. Wigglebottom
Learns We Can All Get Along </b>($15.00) aimed at those aged 4 to 8 with a
message on how to live in harmony with everyone around them. Howard begins to
learn why always wanting his own way is a sure fire way to not make friends.
The text is an easy read and the illustrations are delightful. The series has
many such books to help learning good attitudes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAan-FGtkQciCSDMFYfDrqoxZC0mRE69v3ncAkSW3p4jvCtClTSHLWW9lsxcP_MvqaSDZgnMtjKOH9Mebtk_CcI4CWuKg8Ecs9Q6TefNjwLrlPJR-9pohxRTr5UejzzcAGLs5X4YOO2Pw/s1600/Cover+-+Stewie+Boonstein+Starts+School.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAan-FGtkQciCSDMFYfDrqoxZC0mRE69v3ncAkSW3p4jvCtClTSHLWW9lsxcP_MvqaSDZgnMtjKOH9Mebtk_CcI4CWuKg8Ecs9Q6TefNjwLrlPJR-9pohxRTr5UejzzcAGLs5X4YOO2Pw/s1600/Cover+-+Stewie+Boonstein+Starts+School.jpg" height="199" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another book that addresses
this is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stewie Boomstein Starts School </b>by
Christine Bronstein and illustrated by Karen Young ($28.99/$9.99, hard and
softcover, @ </span><a href="http://www.nothingbutthetruth.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.NothingButTheTruth.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">) for kids aged 3 to 6. Stewie has a very
bad first day at school because he doesn’t like following rules and wants to do
what he wants, not what the teachers does. Another problem kids encounter in
school is bullying and Laura S. Fox’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stan
the Timid Turtle: Helping Children Cope with Fears About School Violence </b>($9.95,
New Horizon Press, softcover) for those in the early school grades. Many
children have many fears about a world the TV demonstrates is filled with
violence. This book will help them deal with those fears and Stan the turtle
becomes fearful when a violent event happens at a nearby school and several
young turtles are hurt. With help, he learns it is okay to be afraid, but not
to let fear rule his life. Another new book from this publisher is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Siggy’s Parade: Helping Kids with Disabilities
Find Their Strength </b>by Blanche R. Duddly, EdD ($9.95, softcover) about
Siggy, a mockingbird who only has one wing and who rallies his friend to
celebrate and appreciate their unique disabilities. Written for those in the
early school grades, it is upbeat and delightful. Using the alphabet, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Keeping Fit from A to Z </b>by Stephanie
Maze ($15.95, Moonstone Press) is due out next month and is unique in that it
provides its text for the very young reader, age 3 and up, in both English and
Spanish. Extensively illustrated with many color photos, it will teach them the
importance of getting out and engaging in sports and other activities. This is
an early encouragement to not sit in from of the television or just play video
games. It’s a very good investment in one’s child’s health.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
best publishers in Time for Kids which has two wonderful new books out. For
ages 7 and up, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Snakeopedia</b>
($19.95) that is filled with 180 full color pages with 400 photos, images and
facts from Discovery experts and a herpetologist that combines fun for young
readers, many of whom find snakes fascinating. They can read about the twelve
families of snakes as well as other members of the reptile family such as
lizards, turtles, and crocodiles. In his youth my older brother was permitted
to have a black snake as a pet and it was a great learning experience for both
of us. Also just published is Time for Kids’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Robots </b>($14.95) that is filled with photos and a great text that
teaches how robots are having an increasing role in the way we all live, from
helpers to robo cops. From their early history to the robots we have sent to
explore Mars, this one will keep any young reader turning the pages and
returning to enjoy it again and again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Mother
was not just a great cook, but she taught gourmet cooking for three decades in
the adult schools of our hometown and others. Learning how to cook is a great
skills to have and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Green Teen
Cookbook: Recipes for all Seasons – Written by Teens, for Teens </b>($14.95,
Zest Books, softcover) by Laurane Marchive and Pam McElroy is filled with
advice on how to navigate the kitchen and other skills involved with cooking
such as shopping on a budget and eating healthier. It has more than 70 recipes
and cooking is something every young person should learn. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting
pre-teens and teens to turn off the television and discover the pleasure of a
good story is well served by several need books written for this age group. A
young-adult fantasy novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Adventures of Horace, George and Ingle—The Rise of the Black knight </b>by Hugh
Cumming (FriesenPress.com) is available as a hardcover, softcover, and ebook.
Three brothers aged 15-17 are growing up in relative calm in a land once
dominated by great battles in a kingdom that stretches as far as the eye can
see. When a raging storm causes fires in their village, King Reynold makes the
unusual choice to appoint his son, Ingle, to assit in the investigate the scene
of the fires. It addresses the bond of siblings, the challenges of coming of
age and dealing with unforeseen complexities of the adult world, and the
age-old battle between good and evil. Another novel also uses fantasy and
science fiction. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flight of the Akero:
The Book of Milo</b> (Bablefish Press, softcover) is by Douglas Lieblein, a
writer and producer for Universal, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, The
Disney Channel, and Nickelodean. It is book one in a series, a fiction tale
that is comic, action-packet, and quirky. Milo Wolfe is the tallest third
grader at his school but his problem is that he has been put in sixth grade
where he is the shortest, weakest, wimpiest and by far the least popular
student. Looking forward to no school, Milo wants to do as little as possible,
but he is forced to embark on an unexpected journal to find a father he’s never
met. It is filled with surprises.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
new fantasy-adventure story for young adults is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Age of Amy: The Thumper Amendment</b> by Bruce Edwards ($9.95,
Lambert Hill, softcover) as 16-year-old Amy wants to avenge the sixth grade boy
who mistreated her in third grade. She gets her change when she encounters him
seven years later during a U.S. presidential campaign for a candidate she
supports. But there’s a problem. He has grown into a kindhearted (and cute)
young adult and her feelings turn to those of affection. Is she falling in love
with her grade school nemesis? This is an intriguing story that is well worth
reading. Lastly, for those 12 and up there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Billy Christmas </b>by Mark A. Pritchard ($16.95, Alan Squire
Publishing, softcover) that begins when Billy’s father mysteriously disappears.
Then, just twelve days before Christmas, Billy acquires a magical Christmas
tree with a dozen ornaments, each of which supposedly holds a clue to finding
his father. In order to do so, however, Billy must solve one puzzle a day. This
is a young adult fantasy with rich, compelling characters and delightful twists
and turns that will keep readers guessing until the end, as he and his best
friend—and secret crush—Katherine are thrust into a dark, magical world, that
has placed them both in grave danger. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As Israel
defends itself against the terrorist organization, Hamas, attention has been
fixed on its invasion of Gaza, an area that Israel gave the Palestinians in
2005 after evicting 8,000 of its own citizens that lived there. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Torn Blood </b>by David J. Bain ($17,99, Bo
Iti Press, Wyoming) is the result of seven years research and depicts the
mortal battle to destroy Jerusalem’s Jewish residents and the right of Jews to
their ancient homeland. It does so in a fashion that fans of Tom Clancy’s
novels will enjoy because it is an action-packed adventure filled with
suspense. This is an ideal summer reading experience as he draws the reader
into a story that captures the reader’s minds and hearts as the ultimate fate
of Jerusalem and her people reveals itself in an apocalyptic conflagration.
This is Bain’s debut novel and I heartily recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Political
corruption is the theme of William Lashner’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bagman </b>($14.95, Thomas & Mercer, softcover). Lashner is
primarily known for his series of legal thrillers featuring Philadelphia
attorney Victor Carl and in this compelling story Carl finds himself working as
a bagman for an ambitious congressman. It seems like he might finally be on a
trajectory to the top as he traverses the streets of Philadelphia and finds
himself associating with the city’s elite, filing his coffers with new-client
retainers, and involved with the congressman’s sexy and highly unstable sister.
Things become complicated when he becomes the fall guy for murder. With the
police, reporters, and a couple of thugs on his trail, Carl turns to a shadowy
group of old-time bagmen to find answers and, with their help, he follows the
truth—and the money—to a final confrontation with the ultimate symbol of
wealth, power, and entitlement known as the Big Butter. It’s a fast-paced,
darkly humorous thriller, ideal for a day at the beach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUsc0vMAkcb-zM9zehz0dtotVy-BQLYheR2Wm7819kUtoirDOuhSQKN3RgnEK8FXkrb6XtDNkY7NiIJJsjS0NSldHz0Im8BO-UoKHnkP62EWCNb3eck4VUMaf-4kZdO-VT8E_cB-HyRc/s1600/Cover+-+Gideon%2527s+Confession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUsc0vMAkcb-zM9zehz0dtotVy-BQLYheR2Wm7819kUtoirDOuhSQKN3RgnEK8FXkrb6XtDNkY7NiIJJsjS0NSldHz0Im8BO-UoKHnkP62EWCNb3eck4VUMaf-4kZdO-VT8E_cB-HyRc/s1600/Cover+-+Gideon%2527s+Confession.jpg" height="200" width="124" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gideon’s Confession </b>Joseph G. Peterson
($15.95, Switchgrass Books, softcover) enhances his reputation as a novelist as
he addresses the themes of money, work, success, and the way a young man drifts
through life, alienated from his father and two brothers who have gone into the
family business. It is his good fortunate that he receives checks from his rich
uncle every month and, in exchange, the uncle asks him to come up with a plan
for his life, but Gideon Anderson puts that off, spending the money on alcohol,
horserace gambling, and useless purchases. His luck continues when he meets a
lovely, ambitious woman, Claire, who encourages him to do more with his life
and asks him to come to New York with her where her father can set him up in
his firm and bankroll a business venture. Gideon’s failure to commit to
anything and anyone is at the heart of the novel, one that twenty-somethings in
particular should read. At the other end of life, D.D. Lanz addresses what
occurs when one dies in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Going, Going,
Gone </b>($15.95, Two Harbors, softcover) when John Janne is diagnosed with
terminal lung cancer. He makes plans to end his life before the cancer does.
The novel taps into humanity’s universal fear of death and the unknown that
follows. Not wanting to have his family watch him die slowly and painfully, he
plans a canoe trip in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters where a death by drowning
will look like an accident. Before the trip, however, he spends countless hours
reading about how different religions and cultures envision the afterlife, but
it leaves him confused and uncertain as to whether God or an afterlife even
exists. The trip opens his eyes and anyone interested in world religions will
find this novel very interesting.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Heaven Sent Rain </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Lauraine Snelling ($15.00, Faith
Words, softcover) will appeal to women with its story of scientists Dinah
Taylor, the CEO of a successful pharmaceutical company. She likes her orderly
existence, enjoying her work and her luxury apartment, but one day she
encounters Jonah Morgan, a seven-year-old, for whom she buys breakfast. Along
with his dog, “Mutt”, they become part of her routine as she becomes the
mysterious boy’s main source of refuge. When she gets a call from Jonah asking
her to rush his badly injured pet to a clinic run by a handsome veterinarian,
Garett Miller, their lives begin to collide and their relationship changes.
Snelling is a bestselling author of more than sixty-five books and this latest
one is an intriguing look at how people affect one another in ways they don’t
anticipate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrdNrp13H7JDhAMrAuZDp-lvVX-EX_-TnEyWgTrWKSk6P7WJzfSXlM43VeSY_MMVAhfs0iDJ-xVboxQR1xauGl0ggKYp450D7CXOOsNwhJAyHdcVSVexLu7SbUiEMKvJgAHJCcWzyygJc/s1600/Cover+-+Finding+Flipper+Frank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrdNrp13H7JDhAMrAuZDp-lvVX-EX_-TnEyWgTrWKSk6P7WJzfSXlM43VeSY_MMVAhfs0iDJ-xVboxQR1xauGl0ggKYp450D7CXOOsNwhJAyHdcVSVexLu7SbUiEMKvJgAHJCcWzyygJc/s1600/Cover+-+Finding+Flipper+Frank.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Finding Flipper Frank </b>by
Patrick M. Gary ($9.95, Kendric Books, softcover) tells of Walt Honerman who
has just about given up on life in Billings, Montana at age 38, but who embarks
on a trip to fulfill a promise made to a dying uncle. Along for the trip is
76-year-old Izzy Dunleavy, a loquacious nursing home resident and Moira Kelly,
a young woman who befriended Izzy during his hospitalization. Izzy entertains
them with stories about a grand resort he once owned in Crawfish Bay, but when
they arrive there, he is arrested on a decades-old embezzlement charge, I don’t
want to give away too much about the unraveling of truth and fiction Walter and
Moira encounter because it is the heart of this entertaining novel that has a
lot to say about the human condition with its flaws and hopes. It is a very
good read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibZirqfLJqtMWVzO1AgV3jB-2F7SOisgqfAL31RwGodTNCEK1jqPW_mtQ-ScVkh-Omv-EG-vaDB2cXHC3o9CnYojotF8gqEX3m93yunRrMnJPmcD8XP3ttKRqXOEhU3s6fMRKPCPrkHKY/s1600/Cover+-+Sweet+Spot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibZirqfLJqtMWVzO1AgV3jB-2F7SOisgqfAL31RwGodTNCEK1jqPW_mtQ-ScVkh-Omv-EG-vaDB2cXHC3o9CnYojotF8gqEX3m93yunRrMnJPmcD8XP3ttKRqXOEhU3s6fMRKPCPrkHKY/s1600/Cover+-+Sweet+Spot.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Last
summer readers were treated to Stephanie Evanovich’s bestselling debut novel,
“Big Girl Panties”, and she is back with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Sweet Spot </b>($26.99, William Morrow) featuring two of the characters from
that novel, Chase Walker, the hunky professional baseball player and his
beautiful and exceptionally sassy wife, Amanda. She is a successful levelheaded
woman who built her restaurant from scratch. She was not looking for prince
charming and when Chase begins to pursue her she pays little attention. She’s
used to celebrities and politicians doing at her place, but she just can’t stop
staring at Chase and the feeling is mutual. For Amanda their romance is too
good to be true, but he has a little kink to his personality. He likes to
indulge in a little passionate spanking from time to time. When a tabloid reveals
their relationship she must decide whether to give up her single-girl freedom
or will Chase’s stardom spell doom for this sexy couple? You will have to read
this novel to find out!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
of a classical turn of mind, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Medea</b>
by Richard Matturo ($32.00, Livingston Press, University of West Alabama) which
is set in Bronze Age Greece. The myth is told in the form of a modern novel,
eliminating none of the passion or violence as Medeo, an awkward, introverted
daughter of a royal family, growing up in a remote backwater of the Greek world
encounters the dashing and feckless Jason, offering an escape from her stifling
life. She bears him twin sons and then watches as he falls out of love with
her. His announcement that she will be exiled, minus her two boys, so that he
can marry the king’s daughter brings on the final catastrophe. Matturo holds a
doctorate in English with a specialization in Shakespeare and Greek Mythology.
This is his sixth novel. Strong emotional ties is the theme of Jerry Pinto’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Em and the Big Hoom</b> ($16.00, Penguin
Original, softcover), originally published by a small press in India, Pinto’s
debut novel is suffused with compassion, humor, and hard-won wisdom as he
introduces us to Imelda and Augustine whose young narrator calls “Em” and the
“Big Hoom.” Most of the time Em smokes “breedis” and sings her way through
life, inspiring the love of her husband and children, the narrator and his
older sister. However, Em suffers bipolar disorder and when it seizes her she
becomes monstrous. The novel charts the ten-year courtship of his parents in
the 1960s in Bombay to their efforts to come to terms with the desolation she
leaves in her wake. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for August. Come back next month to enjoy Bookviews’ blend of news about
many new fiction and non-fiction books. Tell your book-loving friends, family
and co-workers about this unique monthly report. </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-6990974793225708922014-07-01T05:24:00.000-07:002014-07-08T13:08:29.894-07:00Bookviews - July 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month</span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaaaNOY9qVHWMXhZ6As2PE9WLr5Zd8iwlDr11myDrlEKVecfStuQIqlPHN7qqbZyU4EJo7XiJUOV_L0PV3UUfc4EwqqPzg_m-KXVCggrLdQHzBm6EN0VRTn0NhtIPj5JOYE12TlsjWTk/s1600/Cover+-+Fracking+Truth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaaaNOY9qVHWMXhZ6As2PE9WLr5Zd8iwlDr11myDrlEKVecfStuQIqlPHN7qqbZyU4EJo7XiJUOV_L0PV3UUfc4EwqqPzg_m-KXVCggrLdQHzBm6EN0VRTn0NhtIPj5JOYE12TlsjWTk/s1600/Cover+-+Fracking+Truth.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
written about energy issues for decades and yet <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fracking Truth </b>by Chris Faulkner ($21.95, Platform Press) was
so filled with hard data and informed opinion that I found myself being
educated all over again on what is likely the most important factor of life in
America and around the world, the provision of affordable energy. What I have
known prior to reading this book is that “fracking”, the short term for
hydraulic fracturing, has widespread opposition by some environmental groups
and others who have bought into the lies being told about a technology that is
over a half century in use and which has unlocked America’s vast reserves of
natural gas and oil to transform our prospects for being energy independent as
well as a major exporter, generating needed revenue for a nation $17 trillion
in debt. The author is the founder, president and CEO of Breitling Energy
Corporation and become over the years a trusted source of information for
Washington lawmakers, journalists, and policy analysts from respected think
tanks. America is home to people who simply do not like “fossil fuels”, but
have no idea how dependent we are upon them, nor that they represent a better
life, a stronger economy, and benefits we take for granted, not the least of
which is the electricity on which we all depend. This is one of the best books
on energy I have read in a while and I recommend you read it too. Learn more by
visiting </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.thefrackingtruthbook.com/">http://www.thefrackingtruthbook.com</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMaw3aBlB0wof2ZBkCjRJ7gBDBfmOfCVfzyPf_xErii436sJ1wDjET_60aH9VZ5INhC9oMxjF2pyvo1J9ApvQk6vUPdxq4Df1uAYCTeup_Txgek1hlbPYRarjkuq1RQcRtFfjP0eXHZYw/s1600/Cover+-+Please+Stop+Helping+Us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMaw3aBlB0wof2ZBkCjRJ7gBDBfmOfCVfzyPf_xErii436sJ1wDjET_60aH9VZ5INhC9oMxjF2pyvo1J9ApvQk6vUPdxq4Df1uAYCTeup_Txgek1hlbPYRarjkuq1RQcRtFfjP0eXHZYw/s1600/Cover+-+Please+Stop+Helping+Us.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">June
marked the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act and, a
year later, the Voting Rights Act. Many Americans, both black and white, felt
that the nation had moved on passed the ills of the past and that a bright
future of opportunity for Afro-Americans existed. For a relatively small part
of the black population that was true, but for too many, it was not. Jason L.
Riley, a black member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, has written
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals
Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed</b> ($23.99, Encounter Books) and I cannot
recommend it highly enough because the statistical data on which it is based
clearly demonstrates that, rather than external restrictions as existed prior
to 1964, it is black culture combined with government programs that undermine
the family structure and diminish the desire to work hard that have proven to
be the cause of why so many blacks remain not just unemployed, but unemployable
due to a widespread indifference to education and other factors that such as
violence that leads to crimes, mostly against other blacks, and extraordinary
high rates of incarceration. As is too frequently the case, when one turns to
government to solve problems, it fails because only individuals and private
groups can effectively address what is happening in the streets and
neighborhoods of America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If often
seems that politicians invent issues around which to create laws. Thomas E.
Hall, a professor of economics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, takes a
look at “the unintended consequences of public policies” in his book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Aftermath </b>($24.95/12.99, Cato
Institute, hardcover and digital). What emerges is a look at the way ideas that
seemed necessary at the time turned out to impact life in America, as often as
not for the worse. The result has been the creation of a vast welfare state, organized
crime, and a scarcity of jobs for teenagers and the working poor. The creation
of the income tax provided a source of money to grow government because
politicians cannot wait to spend it. Hall takes a look at the creation of
federal income taxes, taxes on cigarettes that generate criminal activity, the
minimum wage that increases unemployment for teens, and what occurred as the
result of Prohibition which took a constitutional amendment to repeal. The
history of the economic impact of these programs is a graphic example of
unintended consequences.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWp0oBEsbJLQY26PukSDqqSx4COVnIZa89j1GWSSneU-dv3d1vcr7Uj6HzUmnjr6wYu731daq14oMjq9eC9_lnkwRbjvHw-ybLirkNHaW2uJiZrYtg7R3UrNuLtiONen8ulQEgzIAEi0/s1600/Cover+-+Valor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWp0oBEsbJLQY26PukSDqqSx4COVnIZa89j1GWSSneU-dv3d1vcr7Uj6HzUmnjr6wYu731daq14oMjq9eC9_lnkwRbjvHw-ybLirkNHaW2uJiZrYtg7R3UrNuLtiONen8ulQEgzIAEi0/s1600/Cover+-+Valor.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
scandal at the Veterans Administration puts the lie to all the talk we hear
from politicians about the value they put on the lives of those who put their
lives on the line to defend our nation. The VA management problems have been
known for years and the current administration is only one among others who
have not addressed them. When a government agency gets too big, it is the
individual veteran that too often pays the price. That’s why, in part, Mark Lee
Greenblatt’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Valor: Unsung Heroes from
Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front </b>($22.95/$11.99, Rowman &
Littlefield, hardcover and ebook) is so timely and so needed at a time the
Middle East is in turmoil to remind us of those who volunteered to serve their
nation. This book takes you to the battlefield as seen through the eyes of
individual soldiers, sailors, and Marines as they faced fearful decisions and
overcame enormous odds. They all heroes and we duly honored, but unknown to the
public. America has always been blessed with men of this stature and courage.
It’s good to read about them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Those who
love to read often enjoy exploring the historical aspects of literature and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Truth’s Ragged Edge; The Rise of the
American Novel</b> by Philip D. Gura ($16.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
softcover) looks at a portion of literary history in America largely overlooked
and unknown, but interesting in its own right. A cultural historian, Gura
reveals that the American novel has its roots in “the fundamental religiosity
of American Life”, an aspect of our history that many try to ignore in the
secular present. From the time of the nation’s first novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Power of Sympathy</i> in 1789 to the
start of the Civil War in 1860, writers were more interested in serving up
tales about morality while nurturing broad cultural shifts from broader social
concerns to individualism and from faith in a distant God to faith in oneself.
In doing so we are taken back to the worlds of Hawthorne and Melville, along
with others who have faded into history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Money, Money, Money</span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWAqV0QFc5FT1oTx340hpn0IX1ZySJ0aa-4kocwYp1tnxYydJ54eCKE17VVA3amo4DM-Udkaulbh0iRMyrY3wLrCbgXdX-QOeSiGcuT-UaP7cDoQCSWYG4tkXBPBTXxhnNgSpVPZNYSkY/s1600/Cover+-+Money+Sucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWAqV0QFc5FT1oTx340hpn0IX1ZySJ0aa-4kocwYp1tnxYydJ54eCKE17VVA3amo4DM-Udkaulbh0iRMyrY3wLrCbgXdX-QOeSiGcuT-UaP7cDoQCSWYG4tkXBPBTXxhnNgSpVPZNYSkY/s1600/Cover+-+Money+Sucks.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Income
inequality has become a political theme among Democrats; yet another way to
divide Americans, but the fact is that there has always been income inequality
and the best way to address it is by encouraging entrepreneurism, creating more
jobs, and keeping the economy growing. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Money
Sucks: A Memoir on Why Too Much or Too Little Can Ruin You</b> by Michael
Baughman ($16.95, Skyhorse Publishing) The author has enjoyed and experienced
both wealth and poverty. His book offers words of advice for his college bound
grandson as he tries to instill an informed attitude about money and,
specifically, the value of money and the way Americans pursue it with vigor. He
asks the question, how much is enough?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happily,
it is not filled with boring graphs. Instead it is, as its title says, a memoir
in which the author draws on his life and time spent with his grandson to share
what he has learned about the pursuit and, ultimately, the value of money as we
make our way through our lives. As such, it is a good read for anyone at any
stage of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Did the Government Write Your Will? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Eric Gullotta ($14.99, Gullotta Law
Group, softcover) addresses a surprising situation. Half of all Americans with
children do not have wills indicating where their money and possessions should
go after they die. This allows the government to come in and control it by
tying it up in years of legal red tape, and determine what it goes to the point
where the deceased’s family might never get what is rightfully theirs. As the
author, and attorney and CPA, notes, “When you die without a will or trust,
that’s called dying intestate” and that puts the state in which you die in
charge of your assets—not you. A California attorney, he focuses on that
state’s laws, but the advice put forth in his book applies elsewhere as well.
He has written a short book whose advice will ensure that your loved ones and
others will receive what you have worked hard to accumulate, not the state in
which you die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Coping, Coping, Coping<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We spend
most of our lives coping with changes, some good, some not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqLOZpoClJsVMS4taSMXgIV2LNo3yY3oPX5QUBdJfTh179j_O5KybWkb5MMG_Nb2NH6qbhXDn-oP1lHtFuvrHs28wI423EKoTBp0yEbXfo1kyn3DwJymtuY85PqE9ehV0oAL5_PU7Q4U/s1600/CoverFront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqLOZpoClJsVMS4taSMXgIV2LNo3yY3oPX5QUBdJfTh179j_O5KybWkb5MMG_Nb2NH6qbhXDn-oP1lHtFuvrHs28wI423EKoTBp0yEbXfo1kyn3DwJymtuY85PqE9ehV0oAL5_PU7Q4U/s1600/CoverFront.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jennifer
K. Crittenden, the author of “The Discreet Guide for Executive Women”, which I
reviewed and liked, has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You, Not
I: Exceptional Presence—Through the Eyes of Others</b>, ($12.95, Whistling
Rabbit Press, San Diego, CA, softcover). This book is written for women as well
and it asks if you’re feeling stuck at work, if you suspect you don’t come
across well, but don’t know why, and need to modify your behavior to manage
others’ perceptions. Once you gain insight to who you are, how others perceive
you, how to successfully fit into various situations, and how to stand out to
further your career, you will discover how true the advice the author provides.
Best of all, she does not just hand out broad generalizations, getting down to
specifics in topics like “Some Really Good Ways to Irritate People”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and “The Magic of Common Courtesy.” What Ms.
Crittenden knows is that many grow up and go out in the work world without
having acquired the most basic skills for successful interaction with others.
Her book provides what you may have missed along the way. I rate this one as
excellent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">According
to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cancer Journal</i>, the divorce
rate for cancer-stricken wives is approximately 21% as compared to 3% when
husbands get ill. When Fiona Finn was five months into her long battle with
stage III colon cancer, her husband left her on Father’s Day; leaving her and
her three children penniless. What ever happened to the “in sickness and in
health” part of the marital vows, eh? She tells her story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Raw: One Woman’s Journey Through Love,
Loss, and Cancer</b> ($15.00, Mind Trip Productions, softcover). She is
blessed, not only with a strong character, but also a strong sense of humor,
and her aim is to save others from the sense of hopelessness that she endured
and conquered. She does not hide the fact that she made some bad decisions
along the way, including two failed marriages, but hers is the story of a
survivor and one that will help others who encounter cancer. A very helpful
book and a challenging one as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Potpourri<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some books
don’t fit into neat categories, so here are a few that deserve attention for
just that reason.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDSbIoLZnErZx27E6N5DGUCm1vNbyLkc8-0gk_zd5NcFzceAqCG1QA8ct1FWkxM7OMyEnz1LGSXt1Q1tVWRelslsIai9-pGW2Pc51HFlVcmV3JuDzshxNNmO9sntYCoxNxw8je935XVw/s1600/Cover+-+Law+and+Disorder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDSbIoLZnErZx27E6N5DGUCm1vNbyLkc8-0gk_zd5NcFzceAqCG1QA8ct1FWkxM7OMyEnz1LGSXt1Q1tVWRelslsIai9-pGW2Pc51HFlVcmV3JuDzshxNNmO9sntYCoxNxw8je935XVw/s1600/Cover+-+Law+and+Disorder.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you are
a lawyer or just enjoy reading about the legal system, you will surely enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Law and Disorder: Absurdly Funny Moments
from the Courts </b>by Charles M. Sevilla ($14.95, W.W. Norton, softcover).
While courtrooms are generally places where all manner of unhappy events or
disagreements get sorted out in a serious fashion, they are, as this delightful
book relates, places where there are humorous moments. Sevilla is, as you might
have guessed, a lawyer and one who is perennially named to the “Best Lawyers in
America” list. His friends helped with the book by sending transcripts of those
unexpected moments. This book would make a great gift for any lawyer in your
life or just to keep handy for a quick laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wild Connection: What Animal Courtship
and Mating Tell Us about Human Relationships</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Jennifer L. Verdolin ($18.95/$11.99, Prometheus
Books, softcover and ebook) is a reminder that we too are animals like a lot of
other species. The author takes a look at a variety of species and provides
some interesting connections between the way ours selects mates and the fact
that others often demonstrate similar characteristics. Or is it the other way
around? Verdolin is an expert in animal behavior and currently a research
scientist affiliated with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center at Duke
University. In ten chapters she covers topics such as first impressions and the
role they play for us and other species. She writes about the role that size
and strength has for the selection of mates in other species as well as our
own. Indeed from beginning to end, you will find yourself being both
entertained and surprised by the many ways we display behavior that resembles
many of the other species with whom we share this planet. From the same
publisher comes William E. Burrows’ book about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Asteroid Threat: Defending Our Planet from Deadly Near-Earth
Objects </b>($19.95, Prometheus Books). This kind of thing is often the theme
of science fiction, but the threat is very real and the explosion of a large
meteor over Chelybinsk, Siberia, in February 2013 is just the latest reminder
of the Earth’s vulnerability in a galaxy that is filled with asteroids and
other objects flying around with us. Burrows, a veteran aerospace writer,
explains what we can do in the future to avoid serious impact from “near-Earth
objects” as they are called in the planetary defense community. The good news
is that a powerful space surveillance system is capable of spotting a threat at
least 25 years in advance and, if they existed, a space craft “nudge” could
throw an asteroid off course. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If history
is an interest of yours, you will likely enjoy Andrew Young’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Lost Book of Alexander The Great </b>($26.00,
Westholme Publishing). “</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Alexander the Great is well known as one of the first great empire
builders of the ancient world. Among those fellow Macedonian officers who
accompanied Alexander in his epic conquests from Greece to India was Ptolemy
Lagides. Ptolemy served alongside Alexander from the Persian defeat at the
Battle of Issus in modern-day Turkey and the journey to find the oracle that
proclaimed Alexander to be Zeus incarnate, to the Battle of the Hydaspes River
in 326 BC that opened India to the West. Following Alexander's death, Ptolemy
gained control of Egypt where he founded the dynasty in his name, created the
great library of Alexandria, and was patron of the mathematician Euclid.
Sometime during his rule in Egypt, Ptolemy wrote a history of Alexander's
conquests. Although it is probable that Ptolemy enhanced his own importance,
sources indicate that it was regarded as an accurate and even-handed account of
the campaigns of Alexander. However, Ptolemy's book was lost—perhaps with the
destruction of the library he founded—and not even an original fragment has
survived. His book, however, was acknowledged as a primary source of
information for later Roman historians.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Roman Search for Wisdom </b>by Michael K. Kellogg ($28.95, Prometheus Books)
provides a look at the Roman Empire that is not the usual accounts of its wars,
conquests, and decline. Kellogg disputes the notion that it the Romans were
just a weak comparison with the Greeks. There were in fact many Roman poets,
historians, and philosophers that included Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Tacitus,
Plutarch and others. I read and enjoyed Kellogg’s previous “The Greek Search
for Wisdom” and this book is a worthy sequel.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Did your
mom tell you to eat your vegetables? Sure she did and now you can enjoy them by
reading <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Salad Samurai</b> by Terry Hope
Romero ($19.99, Da Capo Press, softcover), a collection of 100 “cutting edge,
ultra-hearty, easy-to-make salads.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From
the classic Caesar salad to exotic ones like avocado amaranth bhel puri chaat,
this book will have you eager to sample a world of salads you never knew
existed, but which look very delicious. People have all manner of hobbies and
crafts provide a lot of fun for them. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sticky
Fingers: DIY Duct Tape Projects</b> by Sophie Maletsky ($16.99, Zest Books,
softcover) is devoted to making items from duct tape. It offers detailed
instructions and, happily, lots of photos so anyone can develop their skills
with more than 70 projects from cell phone holders to room dividers, backpacks,
jewelry, bags, wallets and lots more. How popular is this? It’s the rare prom
that does not feature a couple wearing clothes made entirely from duct tape.
What has made this possible are the many new colors and designs in which duct
tape is available these days. This book will appeal to the young, age 12 and up,
but once into it, it’s a craft that is likely to be pursued for a long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Summer is
traditionally a time for enjoying a good book while at the beach or anywhere
else we choose to relax and escape into the worlds of fiction. This summer is
no exception, given a large number of novels whose various themes will provide
hours of diversion for everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxc00aBLl_gHD_JQF_0fHZcif7Z6dBK_WQ_aMJeuOL8drBVW0TB1-ZFJf3G8UjsUUufoLW0fRs9vCw9s4K5kl-t4YhSk9JKPkw3Ao8gk4Sigv-LyPQLlbU3S80sm403psnoldJEyi9UY/s1600/Cover+-+Act+of+War.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxc00aBLl_gHD_JQF_0fHZcif7Z6dBK_WQ_aMJeuOL8drBVW0TB1-ZFJf3G8UjsUUufoLW0fRs9vCw9s4K5kl-t4YhSk9JKPkw3Ao8gk4Sigv-LyPQLlbU3S80sm403psnoldJEyi9UY/s1600/Cover+-+Act+of+War.jpg" height="200" width="109" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Brad
Thor’s name dominates the cover of his newest novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Act of War</b>, ($27.99, Atria Books) because it is his thirteenth
thriller featuring Navy SEAL turned covert counterterrorism operati8ve, Scot
Harvath. The first dozen were bestsellers and this one will be too. Thor is
known for his trademark “faction” in which he blends both fact and fiction in
action-packed thrillers and this new novel will keep readers turning the pages
as it looks at an enemy of America who knows it cannot be defeated on the
battlefield, but, using unconventional devious attacks, could be. I guarantee
you will be hooked within the first five pages. When a CIA agent mysteriously
dies overseas, his top asset surfaces with a startling claim, but no one knows
if she can be trusted. Then a succession of events occur that suggest something
more than chance is at work. Six exchange students go missing, two airplane passengers
trade places, and a political-asylum seeker is arrested. Facing an imminent and
devastating attack, the nation’s new president turns to Harvath to undertake
two top secret operations, either of which, if discovered would be an act of
war, but are vital to thwarting the covert war being waged against America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From
Seventh Street Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books, comes two novels for
those who love a good mystery. In Lori Rader-Day’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Black Hour </b>($15.95, softcover) a Chicago sociology professor,
Amelia Emmet, is a researcher whose topic is violence. It gets very real when a
student she’d never met shows up and shoots her and then shoots himself. After
surgery, she returns to campus with a growing problem with painkillers and the
question, why? She wants to return to a normal life, but now hobbles with a
cane. Enter Nathaniel Barber, a graduate student obsessed with Chicago’s
violent history. Assigned as Amelia’s teaching assistant, he takes on the
investigative legwork Amelia cannot. Together and occasionally at
cross-purposes, they stumble toward a truth about the attack and which takes
them both through the darkest hours of their lives.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYGJiyKZkSDSuruBzB_GoFHy7wkqlM2jxODI0tvwYB1GuHwCaDJrHrj1fxcTt1H_E9ulcMJt0zxg7MN3eLZuptr6scpp5VArsgbZ8whT5rHkPqSa5me8oLtV1CsS76kAIQwm6G8phwUk/s1600/Cover+-+No+Stone+Unturned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYGJiyKZkSDSuruBzB_GoFHy7wkqlM2jxODI0tvwYB1GuHwCaDJrHrj1fxcTt1H_E9ulcMJt0zxg7MN3eLZuptr6scpp5VArsgbZ8whT5rHkPqSa5me8oLtV1CsS76kAIQwm6G8phwUk/s1600/Cover+-+No+Stone+Unturned.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">No Stone Unturned</b> ($15.95, softcover), James W. Ziskin introduces
Ellie Stone, a 24-year-old journalist for a small local daily in upstate New
York. On Thanksgiving 1990, a girl is found dead in the woods. There are three
oil spots on the dirt road and a Dr. Pepper bottle cap in the shallow grave
found by a local hunter. Ellie is the first reporter on the scene and the story
may rescue her drowning career. All leads though lead nowhere until she takes a
daring change that unleashes unintended chaos as she strives to unravel a
dangle of small town secrets.</span> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETve-paLF2ftk7OrnvOsM4wSwuJKyd8nT7CukRspHuQFL9YNmoXW5gr6jfjT58ksKaXwGHlHtUy4KQJQxc-52V0xXYpgQOf4u5Na2NtSgfdT1KUxPMRZ4EiWaPIIFX0QncPi7l1E9iWE/s1600/Cover+-+World+of+Trouble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETve-paLF2ftk7OrnvOsM4wSwuJKyd8nT7CukRspHuQFL9YNmoXW5gr6jfjT58ksKaXwGHlHtUy4KQJQxc-52V0xXYpgQOf4u5Na2NtSgfdT1KUxPMRZ4EiWaPIIFX0QncPi7l1E9iWE/s1600/Cover+-+World+of+Trouble.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a>Two books
from Quirk Books offer a serving, one of suspense and second a bit of fun. I
enjoyed Ben H. Winters’ 2012 novel, “The Last Policeman”, a pre-apocalyptic
story set six months before a massive asteroid is expected to collide with
Earth. It is the first of a trilogy and part two was “Countdown City.” The
third is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World of Trouble: The Last
Policeman Book III </b>out this monthly ($14.95, softcover). Suffice to say
that the first received an Edgar Award and was translated into six languages
and the second has been nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award and named an NPR
Best Book of 2013, so you can be sure this one will prove as enjoyable. It is
just 14 days before the asteroid is expected to make contact and America is in
chaos. Detective Hank Palace has found a peaceful farm to live out his last
days, but there is one last case for him to solve and this time it is personal.
He goes in search of his sister, Nico, and finds himself at a deserted police
station in Ohio where he uncovers evidence of a brutal crime. He is determined
to solve the puzzle before times runs out for everyone.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg93IEyTM6ukQGYrjrRcVDg7ql6GrwwlkU-zAdFIWWTZzjcgA-C13OhTe8SAUIEVnEbAL9dk_vv5G-4m3TUxvDuki36dEVAcDFuu57yUYgxAj-A6cXkBLrx8G0Cf2OEijfmCuS5yH9Po_k/s1600/Cover+-+Jedi+Doth+Return.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg93IEyTM6ukQGYrjrRcVDg7ql6GrwwlkU-zAdFIWWTZzjcgA-C13OhTe8SAUIEVnEbAL9dk_vv5G-4m3TUxvDuki36dEVAcDFuu57yUYgxAj-A6cXkBLrx8G0Cf2OEijfmCuS5yH9Po_k/s1600/Cover+-+Jedi+Doth+Return.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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A very different change
of pace is offered in Ian Doescher’s parody of Star Wars in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return </b>($14.95,
softcover) the third in a trilogy in which Luke Skywalker and his rebel band
must seek fresh allies in their quest to thwart construction of a new Imperial
Death Star. This is a hilarious way to enjoy the original story as told by a
very funny parodist. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGPcx3VaGIOE_9x41AJrL7I-B0vfL2JhE6We-N41-bO11DX8NcvPscHKjSWc0m8iezXsN1a_ixr0ES2iU6ivhToEccCAXakwqQkxbBr4J8TT0WoB5HKJPdfRQ_iyCWzA0abwkoyeKyTvw/s1600/Confessions_updated_lowRes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGPcx3VaGIOE_9x41AJrL7I-B0vfL2JhE6We-N41-bO11DX8NcvPscHKjSWc0m8iezXsN1a_ixr0ES2iU6ivhToEccCAXakwqQkxbBr4J8TT0WoB5HKJPdfRQ_iyCWzA0abwkoyeKyTvw/s1600/Confessions_updated_lowRes.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Confessions of a Self-Help Writer: A
Journal of Michael Enzo </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Benjamin W. Dehaven ($22.95, Lagniappe Publishing), is strictly for grownups,
as much a comedy as a tragedy, as it tells the story of Enzo, a ghostwriter for
the rich and famous, and the author of successful self-help books in his own
right who faces having to write another to pay his debts. He may be able to
tell others how to cope, but his own life has been filled with all manner of
misdeeds that include depravity, substance abuse, and emotional complexity.
This is a difficult book to describe because it seems so real, but it is never
boring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very different story is told
by Rich Marcello in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Big Wide Calm </b>($15.99,
Langdon Street Press, softcover). Paige Plant has dreams of being becoming a
rock star, saving the world and inspire revolutions with her songs. She sets
out to do this with a perfect album. She has talent, ambition, and mega-musical
skills. All she needs is a big break. Enter John Bustin, a mysterious former
singer/songwriter who offers Paige one year of free room and board at his recording
studio. With her help, he confronts the dark secrets of his past that rock the
foundation of their relationship. It is a story of trust and the complexities
of love seen through the eyes of the young and old. For anyone who is looking
for a good romantic story, this is one to read.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoW7htY8GQBkHUYR7d3R7rETTU2eJ5lHFkqMQn6xvq5sPkxX0FjaaYCvaSz5qn8uFtGmQF1C0CHDWMdiggfsQ9JnAGechLlNzvbzJGojGY4q_DIgM5YPaZmsfHdCXpfLggK6pyzOMPGKw/s1600/Cover+-+Flight+of+the+Sparrow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoW7htY8GQBkHUYR7d3R7rETTU2eJ5lHFkqMQn6xvq5sPkxX0FjaaYCvaSz5qn8uFtGmQF1C0CHDWMdiggfsQ9JnAGechLlNzvbzJGojGY4q_DIgM5YPaZmsfHdCXpfLggK6pyzOMPGKw/s1600/Cover+-+Flight+of+the+Sparrow.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Historical
fiction is well served in Amy Belding Brown’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flight of the Sparrow </b>($15.00, New American Library, softcover). It
is, in fact, based on the amazing true story of Mary Rowlandson’s capture in
1675 and depicts a monumental moment in our nation’s history. After a
long-feared Native American attack, Mary is sold to a female tribal leader who
puts her to work but allows her a generous and surprising amount of freedom.
She becomes conflicted as she develops an uncomfortable attraction toward an
English-speaking Native American, James Printer who seemingly straddles both
worlds, becoming her friend and protector. When she is eventually ransomed and
returns to her surviving family, she finds re-entry into the restrictive
Puritan culture a challenge. The author’s knowledge of this lesser known time
in our history makes for interesting reading. In Cynthia Lang’s novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Preservation </b>($14.95, Mill City Press,
softcover) the year is 1987 and, after the sudden disappearance of her husband,
Lee Baldwin resolves to escape Manhattan by moving to Limmington Mills, a town
described as one where no one goes and nothing ever happens. She wants solitude
but soon discovers that life has other plans for her. Narrated by Lee, the novel
tells the story of the lost past she cherishes and the changes that happen for
her and the town as she finds herself caught up in the dramas of others around
her. For those who recall simpler times before the instant communications of
our times, this story will prove especially interesting.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLRHbi9lFcYXm6uYgjItqA-e-LYNBIQ0U7nw2kehuiMIZUaia-788QtooLqQhGURInBNRCZNmYO3XASxc-wgh1RysQjGH7mVpbU_wU3PNOJny9-M6UHzF8NbGCUKp4Whjh3hvx80zaLVU/s1600/Cover+-+Explanation+of+Everything.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLRHbi9lFcYXm6uYgjItqA-e-LYNBIQ0U7nw2kehuiMIZUaia-788QtooLqQhGURInBNRCZNmYO3XASxc-wgh1RysQjGH7mVpbU_wU3PNOJny9-M6UHzF8NbGCUKp4Whjh3hvx80zaLVU/s1600/Cover+-+Explanation+of+Everything.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lauren
Grodstein, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Explanation
of Everything </b>($14.95, Algonquin Books, softcover), bases her novel on the
premise that most of us want an explanation for life on earth and a clear
account of our role in the grand scheme of things. It is a story, said <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Family Circle</i> of “wayward souls search
for forgiveness, healing, and personal truth.” It is a deeply felt story of
love, loss, hope, and the healing powers of forgiveness that takes on the
contentious debate over the origins of life as biologist Andy Waite struggles
to make sense of his life. He’s about to make tenure, beginning to understand
his daughters, and finally overcome the loss of his wife. When a young,
tenacious student shows up at his office, he gradually loses sight of his
personal and professional boundaries, as well as his moral grounding, but there
is also the possibility of faith. This is a complex, demanding story that will
draw the reader in as it explores the salvation that love can offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lastly,
there’s a novella by Jerome O. Brown, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Calves
in the Mud Room</b> ($6.74, available from Amazon.com, softcover). Colorado
teenager Wade Summers wants nothing more than to go on his date tonight with
high school hottie Glory Schoonover, but a fierce February blizzard has blown
in and a couple of first-time heifers and calving early. He’s never delivered a
calf on his own but has been shown how to do it by his grandfather. He is a
very conflicted teenager who must confront the abuse of his shady stepfather
and a betrayal by his somewhat disengaged mother. The novella captures the
pains and pleasures of teen romance and escaping his dysfunctional parents
while growing up in an agricultural community. Well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for July! Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about
Bookviews.com where new fiction and non-fiction that may not get the attention
they deserve can be found every month</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">.
</span></div>
</div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-84539536712592539732014-05-30T05:53:00.000-07:002014-05-30T10:25:05.463-07:00Bookviews - June 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuozvZF26I3dhnRp01kPHLNUM-7ZxTXMsTB9RTUO7qiAYk3GHa4TFYP57TKHj0FzzxnbzwiaHCzVMb0O5g2md2_pgxSZRzOnT_yMWFof2Q9XZ1L_rGsn9lezxJOvCvljJXot9zDd9bxk/s1600/Cover+-+Smaller+Faster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuozvZF26I3dhnRp01kPHLNUM-7ZxTXMsTB9RTUO7qiAYk3GHa4TFYP57TKHj0FzzxnbzwiaHCzVMb0O5g2md2_pgxSZRzOnT_yMWFof2Q9XZ1L_rGsn9lezxJOvCvljJXot9zDd9bxk/s1600/Cover+-+Smaller+Faster.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The world
is a very complex place and that is true of the issues that directly and
indirectly affect our lives. There is, in addition, a legion of people and
groups eager to lie to us about those issues in order to achieve their goals.
That is why books like Robert Bryce’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Smaller
Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper </b>($27.99, Public Affairs) are “must” reading
if we are to gain any understanding. I first encountered Bryce through his
writings about energy. He knows the subject from A-to-Z. His book, “Power
Hungary”, is well worth reading and his latest expands to define the true
agenda of all those people telling us that we are destroying the Earth. “Their
outlook rejects innovation and modern forms of energy, It rejects business and
capitalism. Whether the message is explicit or implicit, the message coming
from many of the “greens” is an anti-corporate, anti-capitalist stance that is
rooted in the nation that any large business is one to be feared.” Bryce’s book
takes the reader through the transitions from mankind’s earliest history
through to the present showing how the development of the various forms of
power, from the use of oxen to plow, to water power, to steam, to coal and oil,
have all contributed to the remarkable world we share and why the use of
fertilizers and genetically modified crops are feeding an extraordinary seven
billion people on the planet. The enemies of mankind include those who preach a
return to “a simpler life” when life expectancy in the past was often little
more than age 35. These are the people who are forever crying out against the
use of coal, oil and natural gas, as well as nuclear power. These are the
people who insist organic food is better than that produced on modern farms. It
is not better and, indeed, may be less safe to eat. If you want to shake loose
of all the lies we’re being told about the climate and about modern life, you
must read this remarkable book.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiVi1CTmdBL723fHvxVInN42ybJQhttlxLZ5VABVIzmfcLrRqpCg1Hgds7jja6EfMmven4Zsg6UKjrd5MAA8irhFLCg8YvJXJpMMBOhNRZ9RhxX1VEoGoMWgzUOIKLqHASGZ4zOBwlbRY/s1600/Cover-+Takeover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiVi1CTmdBL723fHvxVInN42ybJQhttlxLZ5VABVIzmfcLrRqpCg1Hgds7jja6EfMmven4Zsg6UKjrd5MAA8irhFLCg8YvJXJpMMBOhNRZ9RhxX1VEoGoMWgzUOIKLqHASGZ4zOBwlbRY/s1600/Cover-+Takeover.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A lot of
people complain that there is no difference between the Democratic and
Republican Parties and they are right when it comes to the growth of Big
Government. Both bear responsibility for it no matter who was President. As
regards the Republican Party, Richard A. Viguerie, often called one of the
fathers of the conservative movement, has written a fascinating book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Takeover</b>, ($27.95, WND Books),
subtitled “The 100-year war for the soul of the GOP and how conservatives can
finally win it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a very lively,
entertaining, and never boring history of how, more than a century ago, Teddy
Roosevelt abandoned the Republican Party to advance his progressive political
viewpoint that became the philosophy of the party’s establishment, thereby
condemning the Party to being largely out of power for a half century until
over fifty years ago, conservatives began to battle for control of the Party.
When the establishment is in control, you get candidates like Dole, McCain, and
Romney, all of whom lost elections. And, while Goldwater, the first to really
challenge the GOP establishment did not win, he set in motion the election of
Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Viguerie notes, too, that while Nixon, Bush 41 and
43 won with conservative messages, their agendas were compatible with those of
the Democratic Party. Anyone with an interest in politics will find this a
lively, fascinating look at the past and a prediction of what is to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In
February 2013, Dr. Ben Carson gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast
that warned about the dangers facing the nation and called for a return to the
principles that made America great. It caused quite a stir, perhaps because
President Obama was at the head table. Since then Dr. Carson has even been
spoken of as a possible candidate for President, but he is more interested in
sharing his concerns. He does that in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">One
Nation; What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future </b>($25.95, Sentinal, a
Penguin Book imprint). “We are the pinnacle nation in the world right now, but
if the examples of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Great Britain teach us anything, it
is that pinnacle nations are not guaranteed their place forever. If we fail to
rediscover the basic principles of common sense, manners, and morality, we will
go the same way they did.” He shares his life as he shares his views and, by
any measure, a black boy living in poverty with an illiterate mother should not
have risen to attend Harvard and become a leading neurosurgeon. Except, of
course, in America where merit counts the most. If you share fears of the
future, you will find this book of interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Parenting
must be one of the greatest challenges anyone encounters. I had two wonderful
parents who provided me with a happy youth and all the years thereafter. I was
always encouraged to pursue my interests and always supported in doing so.
That’s why Alfie Kohn’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Myth of the
Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting</b>
($25.99, Da Capo Press) caught my eye. One hears so much about today’s kids
being spoiled that it was enlightening and pleasurable to read a book that says
it’s just not true. Kohn challenges the assertion that education and quality
child-rearing are in decline, saying that claim has been made about every prior
generation. Well, it is definitely true that education in America is not
turning out students with the same body of knowledge their predecessors had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kohn also doesn’t believe there is too much
over-or-under parenting going on and says that being an involved parent is far
better than being a detached or dictatorial one. Kohn has written a book he
hopes will serve the interests of both liberal and conservative minded parents.
My Mother took the view that children are guests in the adult’s world and that
there are rules for both to respect. They’re not new and include showing
respect, being honest, the value of work, etc. For the parent who needs a bit
of advice, this book will prove helpful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you are
one of those people who lives, breaths and dreams about baseball, you will find
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991
Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time </b>by
Tim Wendel ($25.99, Da Capo Press) as he recalls the series game-by-game,
rehashing the defining moments and reach back into baseball history to show the
reader just what made those moments great. Wendel feels that the 1991 series
was on the cusp of a new era for baseball. A founding editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">USA Today Baseball Weekly, </i>Wendel is the
author of ten books about the game and is currently a writer-in-residence at
John Hopkins University. The 1991 series was the first time a last place team
climbed its way to the top—both teams were cellar-dwellers in 1990. Five of the
seven games were decided by a single run with four by the last at bat. Here’s
the story of two teams that took risks, followed their guts, and play from
beginning to end with integrity and heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Business, Finance, Etc<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
students graduate from college and grapple with choosing a career, find a great
job, or start a business, there’s a new book by Ben Carpenter that will prove
very helpful. It’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bigs</b> ($25.00,
John Wiley and Sons) and is about “the secrets nobody tells students and young
professionals” about to begin an important stage in their lives. Carpenter’s
career has been in the world of finance, much of it spent in Greenwich Capital
which became a respected, profitable firm on Wall Street. He went from being a
salesman to being its co-CEO. These days he is the vice chairman of CRT Capital
Group. I cited this because he has written a common sense, up to date book that
is filled with the kind of advice you would want your son or daughter to know
as they enter the workforce. The book benefits as well from being very
readable. For the generation trying to plan for their later years, Ric Edelman
has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Truth About Retirement
Plans and IRAs</b> ($15.00, Simon and Schuster, softcover), a step-by-step
guide to making the most of one’s retirement plans and assuring long-term
financial security. In these times, this is a critical matter in an economy
that has been stagnating now since the 2008 financial crisis and two terms of
the current administration. Edelman is a familiar voice to those of us in the
tri-state area because his commercials air daily along with his radio and
television shows. Edelman Financial Services provides planning and investment
management to more than 23,000 clients and has more than $12 billion in assets
under its management. As Edelman says, “Unlike members of past generations who
were able to rely on their employers or the government to provide financial
security in retirement, your success will be determined almost entirely by
you.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
in management positions, Robert Bruce Shaw has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leadership Blindspots </b>subtitled “How successful leaders identify
and overcome weaknesses that matter” ($35.00, Jossey-Bass). The book is filled
with detailed case studies that examine how blindspots operate and cites
examples from firms like Apple, Amazon, Hewlet-Packard and others. If not
corrected they can lead to devastating mistakes. These are often common
problems that result from factors such as over-confidence in one’s own
judgment, the complexity of large organizations, and being surrounded by
yes-men. Changes in the marketplace seem to be happening at an accelerated pace
these days, so this book can help anyone at the top or on his way there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">People, People, People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What we
most enjoying reading about is other people. Their real lives often tell us
things about ourselves or provide insights into the values we share (or not)
with them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
who cannot get enough of the late singer, Michael Jackson, they are in for a
treat. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remember the Time: Protecting
Michael Jackson in His Final Days</b> ($26.00, Weinstein Books) is by the two
men who spent 24/7 with him throughout his final years, protecting him and
ensuring he had the privacy he desperately wanted. Bill Whitfield and Javon
Beard have written their story with Tanner Colby. Jackson’s final years were
spent moving from city to city, living with his three children in virtual
seclusion. Whitfield, a former cop and veteran of the security profession was
joined by a brash rookie, Beard, both of whom were single fathers as well. This
is likely the only first-person account of those final years you are likely to
need or read if you are a fan. Jackson was struggling to live a normal life
under extraordinary circumstances after having been driven from his Neverland
sanctuary by the tabloid media. Imagine having crowds screaming your name every
time word got out wherever he was. Hardly a normal life and, at the end, not a
particularly happy one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I was
looking forward to reading <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Good Spy:
The Life and Death of Robert Ames</b> by Pulitzer Prize winner, Kai Bird
($26.00, Crown Publishers) who had written some very well regarded biographies
of men like J. Robert Oppenheimer. Ames was a CIA officer who was killed in
April 1983 when our embassy there was bombed by Islamic terrorists. Bird had
known Ames as an older neighbor while he a teenager living in Saudi Arabia with
his family. As a secret agent Ames job was to befriend those who could provide
useful information for the agency and, while the CIA never responded to his
requests, more than forty retired CIA and Mossad officers shared their memories
of Ames. He was universally liked by all who worked with him. As for his Arab
contacts, it helped that he spoke their language fluently and Ali Hassan
Salameh, Yasir Arafat’s intelligence chief, enjoyed a clandestine relationship
with him that became the seed of the Oslo peace process. For those following
events in the Middle East the biography has value, but the portrait of Ames is
so dominated by the author’s admiration that it fairly rapidly become rather
cloying to read. That is a personal reaction and others might well disagree. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Americans
understandably became weary of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that
followed in the wake of 9/11. On that day, however, two Naval Academy roommates
vowed to defend America and four weeks after Navy SEALs had killed Osama bin
Laden, President Obama, on the Memorial Day that followed the event, was in
Arlington National Cemetery to honor the nation’s fallen where Travis Manion, a
fallen U.S. Marine, and Brendan Looney, a fallen U.S. Navy SEAL, killed three
years apart, lay buried. Their story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brothers Forever </b>by Tom Sileo and Col. Tom Manion, Travis’s father
($16.95, Da Capo Press) It is the story of their bond and ultimate sacrifice
for the nation. It is the story of real people engaged in real combat and
seeing their comrades die. Sileo is a nationally syndicated columnist and
editor of The Unknown Soldiers blog and, as noted, Col. Manion was Travis’s
father and retired Marine. Together, the two men defined a small segment of
their generation’s sacrifice who put their nation’s defense first and foremost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jerry
Sandusky, arrested and found guilty of child molestation, has ruined the name
Sandusky for others who share it. One of them is Gerry Sandusky, the sports
director at WBAL in Baltimore and the radio play-by-play voice of the NFL’s
Baltimore Ravens. His book is a tribute to his father, Jon Sandusky, a former
player for the Browns and Green Bay Packers who went onto become head coach of
the Baltimore Colts, as well as assistant coach under legendary Don Shula at
the Miami Dolphins. Jon’s life was about family and football, so it is not
surprising that his son chose a career path with the game. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Forgotten Sundays: A Son’s Story of Life, Loss, and Love from the
Sidelines of the NFL </b>($25.00, Running Press) will please anyone who loves
football and, in particular, was a fan of the teams with which Sandusky was
associated. Gerry grow up spending his summers observing his father in NFL
training camps and his Sundays with superstars, Hall of Fame players, and
coaches from Johnny United to Dan Marino, Don McCafferty to Tom Landry. He saw
the glory days and he watched his father face a losing battle with Alzheimer’s
Disease. This is a heartfelt story told with intelligence and humor that
explores a father-son relationship and the legacy of values and enthusiasms his
dad left him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We all
wonder what it would be like to be caught in in avalanches, shipwrecks, or the
wake of tornadoes where life and death hangs in the balance. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alive </b>is a compilation of such stories
($15.99) by Readers Digest editors. We all hope our will to survive will kick
in when we need it and the stories provide fascinating examples from a mountain
climber who has to crawl out of a crevasse on Mt. McKinley and must drag
himself to safety, knowing his partner did not survive. There’s hiker Larry Bishop’s
harrowing 48 hours clinging to the side of a mountain waiting to be rescued.
There are two women who were being mauled by a grizzly and had to defy death. It
is a reminder that Mother Nature doesn’t much care if you live or die, even if
you do! Interesting reading for sure. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Center
of Gravity</b> by Geva Salerno ($12.95, Levity Press, softcover) is the true
account of how a woman changed her entire life in one year and found her
personal power. She conducted an experiment in which she gave up dating for a year
so she could focus on her transformation and, in the process, make some
discoveries that can impact other women who are overworked, divorced, and
obsessed with society’s vision of the perfect life. It’s a leap of faith on her
part. She tells of dismantling her false life and building a new authentic one.
She has since become an advocate for women’s empowerment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We have a
way of turning outlaws like Billy the Kid and the Sundance Kid into American
icons and this is particularly true of the Mafia that became the subjects of
movies and television series. C. Alexander Hortis has written “the hidden
history of how the Mafia captured New York” in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Mob and the City </b>($24.95, Prometheus Books) and it is a
fascinating look at the Sicilian gangs in the 1930s evolved into the Mafia
families that gained power as Prohibition became the law and as drugs became
widely used, dominating crime through to the 1950s. This is a thorough and
authentic history unlike “The Godfather” and countless other books. As such it
is filled with surprises, based on primary sources and even secret files
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act; as always, the truth is often
more interesting than the fiction. The author is an attorney and an authority
on the Mafia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Americans
may be the most health conscious people on Earth, despite the obvious fact that
many are overweight and enjoy smoking and other things that we are constantly
reminded will kill us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
been told that meditation is good for one’s mental health and I received Janet
Nima Taylor’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Meditation for Non
Meditators: Learn to Meditate in Five Minutes </b>($15.00, available from
Amazon.com, softcover). Having spent 20 years as a corporate executive, her
passion has been to help people change their behavior to create positive
habits. Following her corporate career she became an American Buddhist monk and
is now the director of the Temple Buddhist Center in Kansas City and executive
director of the Dzogchen Foundation, a national non-profit Buddhist and
meditation organization. The thing I liked about this book is that it does not
require you to sit on the floor, close your eyes, or do it as a religious
exercise. Instead, it is a pragmatic manual on how focusing on your breathing
can help lower stress and create a sense of peace and well-being no matter what
your religious beliefs may be or whether you even have any. A short way of
describing this is that you will learn how to hit the pause button and rest in
the present moment. That strikes me as a very good idea and this book is a way
to learn to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Since my
Mother taught gourmet cooking for three decades I concluded that you are what
you eat. That’s why <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Power of Food:
Enhancing Stem Cell Growth and Decreasing Inflammation </b>by Bonnie Raffel, R.D.,
($29.95, Langdon Street Press) caught my eye. After being diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis in 2001, the author discovered she was allergic to the drug
prescribed to slow the disease’s neurologic deterioration. As a registered
dietitian, Raffel search for a way to combat the disease through nutrition and
the result is her book that combines original recipes and nutritional advice to
help MS patients and anyone seeking a natural, healthier lifestyle. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The New Greenmarket Cookbook</b> by
Gabrielle Langholtz ($24.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) combines healthy eating
with good health as it offers recipes by New York’s top chefs to take advantage
of the produce available from farmers markets. It’s one thing to have access to
freshly picked vegetables and fruits, and another to know how to take advantage
of them with delicious salads and other delightful dishes that include fish,
lamb, and other delectables. It helps if you live in New York, but these
markets exist in most big cities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Athlete, Not Food Addict: Wellspring’s
Seven Steps to Weight Loss </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($15.95,
New Horizon Press, softcover<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>by
Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, shatters widespread
beliefs about the addictive nature of food and offers an empowering method for
effective weight loss. It is his view that overweight problems are caused by
resistant biological forces within us, our culture, and a lack of knowledge
about how to manage and overcome these challenges. He wants the reader to be a
“weight-controller athlete” and learn how to use their brains to mold their
bodies in a healthy direction, just as athlete’s do. One might say it is mind
over platter, instead of mind over matter. For women athletes there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Pregnant Athlete </b>by Brandi and
Steven Dion with Joel Heller, MD, and Perry McIntosh ($17.99, Da Capo Press,
softcover). The book says there is no reason that someone used to a high level
of physical activity should continue her training through a normal, healthy
pregnancy. It charts the changes a woman can expect in her strength, agility,
and stamina each month and includes lots of good advice. Brandi is the mother
of two, so this book is author-tested. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For Younger Readers <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting
children accustomed to reading books early on is the key to their success later
in life. We’re fortunate to have so many books written for the pre-school,
early readers, and teens.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Time for
Kids is a publisher of some really excellent books for younger readers. They
are particularly educational, but distinguished as well by extraordinary use of
photos that make every page exciting. Among the latest are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Big Book of When</b> ($19.95) that makes history come alive answering
questions such as “When did a human first travel in space?” and “When did the
Egyptians build the pyramids of Giza?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are 801 such questions covering many topics that will interest any
younger reader. Time for Kids also has a series, “Book of Why”, smaller,
shorter softcover that also pose and answer many questions ($4.99 each) that
include “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Really Cool People and Places”,
“Awesome Animal Kingdom”, “Amazing Sports and Science”,</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Stellar Space.”</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children tend to lose some of the knowledge
they learn during the school year so these books, particularly during the
summer, increase their knowledge and deepen their need to keep learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Aimed at
those kids age 3 to 6, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Early Birdy Gets
the Worm</b> created by Bruce Lansky and illustrated by Bill Bolton ($15.99,
Meadowbrook Press) is a book without text so that the story is told entirely by
its illustrations. It is the 2014 Gold Winner in Children’s Picture Books from
the Mom’s Choice Awards. In effect, the children “read” the pictures of Early
Birdy learning how to catch a worm after watching Mother Bird. It is a very
funny adventure and a great way to introduce a child to the joy a book can
offer. Others in this series include <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Polar
Brrr’s Big Adventure </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monkey See,
Monkey Do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>Next step are books with
a text.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From
Ideals Children’s Books, Nashville, TN, comes a new series, “Shine Bright
Kids”, (</span><a href="http://shinebrightkids.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">http://shinebrightkids.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">) the creation of Christy Ziglar, the
daughter of famed motivator, Zig Ziglar. A mother of twins and a certified
financial planner, she wanted to publish books that will help younger readers
develop good money management skills. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Must-Have
Marvin! </b>($14.99) will ring a bell for any parent whose child wants to have
the latest new things he or she learns about and is, in fact, the second in the
series which began in 2013 with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Can’t-Wait
Willow </b>($14.99)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>about a little
girl who spends all her time and money on things she doesn’t really want or
need. Both are written by Christy Ziglar and are illustrated by Luanne Marten.
Both impart valuable lessons from Willow’s need to learn how to delay instant
gratification and Marvin’s need to learn that people matter more than things.
For early readers, 5 and up, the texts are easy and entertaining, benefitting
from the artwork. For parents, they teach good lessons in life in ways that
just explaining them might not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’m a fan
of a series, “When I Grow Up I Want to Be” from Wigu Publishing (</span><a href="http://www.whenigrowupbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.WhenIGrowUpBooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">) of Laguna Beach, California. I
recommend you visit their websites because you are likely to find a title that
fits your child’s interest. The latest is devoted to being <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In the U.S. Navy </b>($12.95) that features young Noah who dreams of
being in the Navy just like his grandfather who is taking him to tour a real
aircraft carrier. Noah’s little sister is coming along as well and as they
discover how interesting the carrier is with its crew and different decks, the
readers will too. For the early readers of this series, doors open up thanks to
the useful, accurate information they provide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03q0upbnHczgxmqdIsXrVQmzpSqIinQ0MZ7k05J_F6U_nqI8EGIpNWVbQbZmPyNs0l_qJGpiNku_n-O76RTWS9oZ8oO63Ycg8nECNGTJyqEJ4qaBMF60Q-XgmyyGQSg6RCXch0Zf6R48/s1600/Cover+-+Pandemic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03q0upbnHczgxmqdIsXrVQmzpSqIinQ0MZ7k05J_F6U_nqI8EGIpNWVbQbZmPyNs0l_qJGpiNku_n-O76RTWS9oZ8oO63Ycg8nECNGTJyqEJ4qaBMF60Q-XgmyyGQSg6RCXch0Zf6R48/s1600/Cover+-+Pandemic.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Young
adults will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pandemic</b> by Yvonne
Ventresca ($`6.95, Sky Pony Press/Skyhorse Publishing), the story of Lilianna
Snyder’s sudden change from a model student to a withdrawn pessimist who
worries about all kinds of disasters. One arrives in the form of
quick-spreading illness that doctors are unable to treat. With her parents away
on business, she finds herself on her own when the bird flu pandemic arrives
and friends and neighbors begin dying around her. She must find a way to
survive the deadly outbreak and, at the same time, deal with her personal demons,
the result of a teacher’s sexual assault. If this sounds very grownup, it is. Also
for young adults and for those who like a bit of magic in their fiction,
there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dangerous Creatures </b>by Kami
Garcia and Margaret Stohl whose previous book, “Beautiful Creatures” is now a
motion picture. This novel is part of a series by them and is a tale of love
and magic in which a woman with magical capabilities, Ridley Duchannes, and her
wannabe rocker boyfriend, Wesley “Link” Lincoln leave Stonewall Jackson High School
and their adolescence behind as they head to New York City, each for their own
reasons. Ridley is accustomed to using her powers to control Mortals, but her
overconfidence has cost her and now she has debts to settle in the city. Link
has dreams to become a rock star and joins a band comprised of “Dark
Supernaturals.” It’s hard to describe this novel, but that is not to say it
will prove entertaining to younger adult readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The flow
of new novels into my office reflects the even greater number of novels being
published these days by large and small publishers as well as self-published.
The best I can do is to select from the many I receive and take notice of them
for your consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hMBRpFcZHZazOobQMmCDGEoJObThWrwF2MKDRWwsdxHqzISBVU23SikitzxxcMfjjcUVXH12Q8wvgC9GlKZpKkQ3UrLogWRp1OopHAHy9qHk1c2p8UBRXw5nkBaDJRDHA58_cfXK508/s1600/Cover+-+Dodenal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hMBRpFcZHZazOobQMmCDGEoJObThWrwF2MKDRWwsdxHqzISBVU23SikitzxxcMfjjcUVXH12Q8wvgC9GlKZpKkQ3UrLogWRp1OopHAHy9qHk1c2p8UBRXw5nkBaDJRDHA58_cfXK508/s1600/Cover+-+Dodenal.jpg" height="200" width="123" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dodendal: Valley of Dreams </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Jim Holmgren ($14.95, softcover) is
a good example of a self-published book. The author has created a fictional future
of the United States, one very different from the present where we continue to
have faith in our Constitution. By tweaking some current trends, his novel
suggests the importance of protecting the freedoms we often take for granted.
It is fifty years hence and the action takes place over the course of one
fateful weekend during the celebrating the tricentennial of the “former” U.S,
one bankrupted after Mideast oil wars in the 2030s and missing four states
including California after the Second Mexican-American War. The nation is now
run by a corporation that has imposed a totalitarian society. Dissenters tend
to disappear. You can learn more at </span><a href="http://www.holmgrenbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.holmgrenBooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">. A debut novel by Jeff Critser, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cold Shadows</b>, ($16.95, Dark Matters
Press, softcover) has a similar feel to it. It is a techno-thriller that
reflects the public’s distrust in government and activities taken outside of
any oversight, something in the news as we read of concerns about the National
Security Agency. Playing off those concerns, the novel explores themes of
smuggling and murder, all committed in the name of an undefined and ill-conceived
“greater good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Philip Kurchow, the
IT manager for a transportation company in Munich, aware of a smuggling
operation in Eastern Europe is murdered, his friend Kip Michelson tries to find
out why and how it happened only to find himself ensnared in a dark world of
betrayal. A lethal virus, stolen from Russian vaults, is up for sale and Kip is
recruited by the FBI to uncover the smuggling. Secretly, the CIA is trying to
intercept the technology for clandestine research. Kip finds himself being stalked
and must race to expose what is occurring. You won’t put this one down until
you’ve read it cover to cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lovers of
thriller novels will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Argentine
Triangle </b>($16.95, Select Books, softcover)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>by Allan Topol, the author of “The Russian Endgame” that hit the
bestseller lists. Topol has authored nine novels of international intrigue and,
in this novel former CIA director Craig Page is enjoying a new, exhilarating
life racing cars across Europe. When an old friend goes missing during a covert
mission in Argentina, he gets involved. It takes him undercover into the
glamorous world of Buenos Aires’ wealthy elite and the plans of two colonels
that requires him to implement his experience and skills to expose their plot
for a cataclysmic future for South America. This is a classic espionage novel
and international thriller with villains and exotic locales. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Two Soldiers </b>by Anders Roslund and
Borge Hellstrom ($26.99, Quercus) takes you to Stockholm, Sweden where it was
originally published and into the life of Jose Pereira, a police officer who
heads up the department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, who must find two
ruthless young criminals. It is a look at the dark and dangerous world where
gang life is the only place that boys from broken, impoverished families can
find acceptance and from which there is no escape. The novel has been called an
“unsettling portrait of the gangland cycle of violence, desperation, and hope.”
It is all that and a very compelling read as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga_2PsQB-2O_iwRjJLWVQt5QyWjlbu8wgz6X_cQasitSbHy0hrTI_hX9ZRuJxhL6F6HN89LvS6s64csr95qu_C7UYrn_TSkQ3vvDrz8zzPu8M43LU2_haBRBBHmjN_02kd4DmHShCD_XQ/s1600/Cover-a-high-price-to-pay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga_2PsQB-2O_iwRjJLWVQt5QyWjlbu8wgz6X_cQasitSbHy0hrTI_hX9ZRuJxhL6F6HN89LvS6s64csr95qu_C7UYrn_TSkQ3vvDrz8zzPu8M43LU2_haBRBBHmjN_02kd4DmHShCD_XQ/s1600/Cover-a-high-price-to-pay.jpg" height="200" width="163" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A High Price to Pay</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is a Madeline Dawkins novel by
Cynthia Hamilton (</span><a href="http://www.cynthiahamiltonbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.cynthiahamiltonbooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">). I enjoyed her last book, “Spouse
Trap”, and in this one <span style="color: #333333;">Madeline’s dual professions
as event coordinator and private investigator cross paths during the most
lavish affair of her career—a weekend-long fortieth birthday extravaganza for
the wife of a famous film director. A simple background check after the
disappearance of some family jewels quickly turns into a murder investigation,
and before Madeline and Mike can put the pieces together, another body turns
up. As the Santa Barbara police and sheriff’s departments search for clues, the
Mad Dog P.I.’s use their own methods to untangle the crimes, discovering some
unsavory truths behind the glittering façade of their clients. To add to
Madeline’s already overflowing plate, the D.A. informs her that Rick Yeoman,
one of the men who had abducted her three years earlier, has been prematurely
released from prison after cutting a deal with the Feds. Besides fearing
reprisals from the man she helped to convict, his parole also triggers the
reappearance of soulless Lionel Usherwood, lured out his hideaway by the call
of revenge. When Yeoman’s body surfaces in Lake Cachuma, Usherwood moves on to
the next target: Madeline.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Never Never Sisters </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by L. Alison Heller ($15.00, New
American Library, softcover) is a story of a woman who just needs to get away
and relax. Paige Reinhardt, a hardworking marriage counselor, is looking
forward to reconnecting with his busy husband for a summer in the Hamptons, but
a mysterious emergency at work ruins their travel plans and everything begins
to unravel. As Paige tries to figure out what is really going on in her own
marriage, her sister suddenly returns after twenty years and Paige discovers
that she may not know her family as well as she thought as she digs into her
husband’s work crisis. She must figure out if it is worth it to find herself at
the risk of losing her most precious relationships. This is about the
complicated bond between sisters and the secrets kept to protect the ones we
love. The author is a divorce lawyer and this brings a special level of insight
to the story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for June! Be sure to come back in July and, in the meantime, tell your
friends, family and coworkers who enjoy reading about Bookviews.com. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-50515352505545366382014-04-30T14:59:00.002-07:002014-04-30T15:10:12.106-07:00Bookviews - May 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDaC11pZqfuNvuyOpdmRDRB1dTGwcJeqjtFbaHWI8JY7BSNjEMvHEfcu1rd5-ZrszUhDd-qH8SV8aAd80FUC_Q5vEfv0JDz55OrgAw0QOT3rY0iEHIx-Q7VKQk7S7V6VbwAq-F3fu9dP8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Lost+Spring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDaC11pZqfuNvuyOpdmRDRB1dTGwcJeqjtFbaHWI8JY7BSNjEMvHEfcu1rd5-ZrszUhDd-qH8SV8aAd80FUC_Q5vEfv0JDz55OrgAw0QOT3rY0iEHIx-Q7VKQk7S7V6VbwAq-F3fu9dP8/s1600/Cover+-+The+Lost+Spring.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you
have been trying to understand what is going on in the Middle East and the
Maghreb (northern African) nations of Tunisia and Libya, among others in the
wake of the “Arab Spring” that occurred in 2011, then you must read Walid
Phares’ excellent analysis, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Lost
Spring: U.S. Policy in the Middle East and Catastrophes to Avoid</b> ($27.00,
Palgrave Macmillan). Phares is an expert on the Middle East, terrorism, and
Islam. He is a frequent guest on news programs and an advisor to members of
Congress and the European Parliament. Like the mythical Casandra who could
predict the future, but who no one believed, Phares predicted that a younger,
technologically connected generation, along with secular Muslims, were reaching
a point where they would no longer accept the oppression of the region’s
despots. The “Arab Spring” was ignited in Tunisia, but spread rapidly to Egypt,
Libya, and Syria. He documents how, in each case, the Muslim Brotherhood waited
for the demands, often of millions of citizens as occurred in Egypt, brought
about the removal of men who had ruled for decades. Then, as a well-organized
force, took over the revolutions and sought to exert their Islamism, Sharia
law, and the same controls against which the people had revolted. What also
emerges is the fact that the U.S. sided with the Muslim Brotherhood against the
will of the people. Other U.S. policies failures followed, as in the case of
Syria. This is the best book you will read about what occurred, why, and what
the future may hold. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSBiUAc2PrPLjWw80Q7UatUCzBX2peCb4EKbQ3WdjD9P4SKFdCEVCYEodoAOvFXLaXMTjWY6QwPeFQ7225NqKHl6o8Ff5kWVbhTqHsnYyA8gnLj9p0Q7HfPfwGxzPBvdwvZ3ba-V8_7cU/s1600/Cover+-+Benghazi+Report.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSBiUAc2PrPLjWw80Q7UatUCzBX2peCb4EKbQ3WdjD9P4SKFdCEVCYEodoAOvFXLaXMTjWY6QwPeFQ7225NqKHl6o8Ff5kWVbhTqHsnYyA8gnLj9p0Q7HfPfwGxzPBvdwvZ3ba-V8_7cU/s1600/Cover+-+Benghazi+Report.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a>If you are
of a political frame of mind, you may want to pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Benghazi Report </b>($12.95, Skyhorse
Publishing) that was produced by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence. With an introduction by Roger Stone, a consultant who played a
role in the election of Republican presidents from Nixon to George H.W. Bush.
“The revelation that the U.S. government has made an affirmative choice not to
bring the killers of four Americans to justice is disturbing and
unconscionable,” says Stone and many agree. As the event recedes in time and
memory, the short report contains the relevant facts. One caveat; Hillary Clinton’s
role in the events is never mentioned, nor is she named at any point in the
report. In late April we learned that the White House told a complete falsehood, discounting the fact that it was a terrorist attack, calling it spontaneous, and blaming it on a video. <br />
<br />
Those who favor conservative politics will thoroughly enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Guardian of the Republic</b> by former
Congressman, Allen West ($26.00, Crown Forum), a memoir that is also a
presentation of the personal views and values that shaped a life devoted to
faith, family, and freedom. West earned two master’s degrees, one from Kansas
State University in political science and the second from the U.S. Army Command
and General Staff College in military arts and sciences. </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv2hi9fB7ugrxjoYsYlYqO36UCdbddcaPveITFN1ZN2MFfqS_BoJ_94coyTOh-mJZeYde7lVMVUtEFSdoOf-wQ0GzXOHf8vZCTQS8M6janxxatkk6I_z5g1PVSkYYGJqlynOwVM42b-kk/s1600/Cover+-+Guarden+of+the+Republic.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv2hi9fB7ugrxjoYsYlYqO36UCdbddcaPveITFN1ZN2MFfqS_BoJ_94coyTOh-mJZeYde7lVMVUtEFSdoOf-wQ0GzXOHf8vZCTQS8M6janxxatkk6I_z5g1PVSkYYGJqlynOwVM42b-kk/s1600/Cover+-+Guarden+of+the+Republic.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
He is a natural born
teacher and his book is valuable for its chapters about conservative political
thought; its origins and application. An African-American, he rose through the
ranks of the U.S. Army to Lt. Colonel, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
While much of the African-American community shares a liberal political
philosophy, West found purpose and value in conservatism and it took him to a
term in Congress as a Representative from Florida. Along the way his
experiences and beliefs deepened his views. He is likely to have a real impact
on American politics in the years ahead. </div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">James
Madison was our fourth President, but other than being mentioned among our
nation’s Founders, he tends to take a back seat to Washington and Jefferson in
the minds of most people, if indeed they even know he exist. Dr. Lynn Cheney,
PhD, a noted scholar, a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial and a
senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has gifted us with an
extraordinary biography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James Madison:
A Life Reconsidered </b>($36.00, Viking).</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Madison, though younger than most of
the Founders, was recognized by all of them and others with whom he dealt as an
extremely gifted intellect. He is generally credited with much of content of
the Constitution, most certainly its Bill of Rights. In his day, the idea of a
large republic composed of the people’s representatives initially was greeted
with skepticism, but he pushed for a strong, but limited federal government to
replace the failed Articles of Confederation and respond to the ways the
colonies were printing their own money and engaging in practices that harmed other
colonies. Dr. Cheney brings him to life, not only with the facts, but with an
engaging, entertaining text that provides valuable insights to the times in
which he lived. Put this book on your list for summer reading. You will be glad
you did.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have always
enjoyed books based on a clever idea and that describes Mario Giordano’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1,000 Feelings for Which There are No Names
</b>($16.00, Penguin Books, softcover). He has captured those moments that we
react to emotionally without necessarily being aware of it. They are moments
from our lives such as the hesitation before sending an important email and the
happiness of fulfilling one of your mother’s lifelong dreams. It’s the kind of
book you can open at random although it does have sections of sorts. This is the
kind of book you keep around to remind you of life’s many pleasures and fears.
We all share them. For the sheer pleasure of reading good writing that spans a
wide variety of his experiences, I recommend Christopher Buckley’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">But Enough About You</b>, ($27.50, Simon
and Schuster), a series of essays, by an esteemed humorist, traveler, and an
irreverent historian. He is extremely gifted and as one goes from essay to
essay, one is treated to reading his insights, friends such as authors Joseph
Heller and Christopher Hitchens, dinner at the Reagan White House, flying a
Cessna through Alaskan mountains, working aboard a freighter, gardening, and
other topics galore. One is both entertained and enlightened in so many ways
that reading Buckley, for aspiring writers, is a lesson in how to observe life
and write about it in a superb fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Readers
are often aspiring writers and, if you have to write as part of your job, you
will benefit from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Write Anything:
A Complete Guide </b>by Laura Brown ($35.00, W.W. Norton). It lives up to its
title as it teaches how to organize, draft and revise what you write and gets
into the differences between academic writing, how to write instructions, and
expository writing. Everything from a business letter to a memo, an apology to
a speech is discussed. There are rules and there are options. You can learn
about all of them in this definitive book on the subject. More and more these
days, people are choosing to write memoirs and, for them, there’s Roberta
Temes’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Write a Memoir in 30 Days </b>($14.99,
Readers Digest, softcover). It offers step-by-step instructions for creating
and publishing your personal story. Janell Burley Hofman has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">iRules: What Every Tech-Healthy Family
Needs to Know About Selfies, Sexting, Gaming, and Growing Up</b> ($17.99,
Rodale, softcover), a particularly useful book for parents who want to teach
their sons and daughters about the boundaries and expectations of how to use
the many communications technologies that are available to the younger set. It
is well worth reading to keep one’s children how to deal with cyber-bullying,
and aspects of their lives that should not be instantly shared online and in
cyber-space. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In a
month, a lot of young Americans will be graduating from high school. They are
doing so in some very bad economic times that add to the uncertainties that
come with the transition. For high school students, figuring out what to do
after graduation can be a major question because there are many options. That’s
why <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Undecided: Navigating Life and
Learning After School </b>by Genevieve Morgan ($14.99, Zest Books, distributed
by Houghton Mifflin, softcover) is just the right book to give a young man or
woman at this point in their lives. It helps by putting the decision-making
power back where it belongs, with the teens themselves, while exploring the
options that are available whether it be a training program, a community
college, the military or a four-year university. It provides an in-depth look
at what they can expect to earn, what kind of lifestyle to expect, and possible
downsides of different scenarios. Being undecided is what being human is all
about. Providing a helping hand is a great gift. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Memoirs, Biographies</span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjGmMlTn-IM-GZ8zGkrryQWC9P_JI8jiJefBZiYDjYfMvl6vHRjz8lS-fTL1Ix_a33JeiOcxbA61RscAXdRW6TI64qze5uKFMNmfuA4ZhoimragqxWTgXt9HhWkdO4sF8Eos2B0PoBZM0/s1600/Cover+-+Roy+Rogers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjGmMlTn-IM-GZ8zGkrryQWC9P_JI8jiJefBZiYDjYfMvl6vHRjz8lS-fTL1Ix_a33JeiOcxbA61RscAXdRW6TI64qze5uKFMNmfuA4ZhoimragqxWTgXt9HhWkdO4sF8Eos2B0PoBZM0/s1600/Cover+-+Roy+Rogers.jpg" height="200" width="181" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My youth
happily included the movies that starred Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. When the
first volume of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Touch of Roy and
Dale</b> I was very pleased to read it and revisit those days. A second volume
is out and includes many new photos, some 600, along with an excellent text by
Tricia Spencer ($21.95, West Quest). In volume II the author draws on 40,000
pieces of fan mail from the Rogers estate, plus new perspective from Roy and
Dale’s grandchildren, along with the thoughts of those close to them during
their long career. A portion of the sales will go to their Happy Trails Children’s
Foundation. They touched the lives of thousands and had a huge fan base. How
nice to read about two celebrities whose lives were not touched by the often
tawdry things we read about the generation that followed them. </span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Almost
fifty years after its release, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” is
thirty-fourth on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Best Songs of All Time and
remains Broadcast Music Inc’s most played song of the twentieth century. It was
sung by the Rightous Brothers, Bill Medley and the late Bobby Hatfield.
Together they left an indelible impression on the music theirs and succeeding
generation loved. Medley has penned <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Time of My Life: A Rightous Brother’s Memoir </b>($26.99, Da Capo Press) and fans
of their music will thoroughly enjoy his account of growing up as the son of
musicians in Orange County, California, where he recorded his first solo songs
on two tape recorders in his living room. His first paying gig was with a
four-piece group, The Paramours, where he met his future partner, Bobby. Together
they enjoy enormous success, making more money that two men who were “young,
dumb, and full of rum” to know what to do with. They were performing with
groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones, as well as Elvis Presley. After
they split up, Medley went onto a successful solo career, but his life was not
without tragedy as he tells in the heartbreaking account of his first wife’s
brutal and unsolved murder, and his struggle to raise their son Darrin as a
single parent. His second marriage is in its 27<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> year. The memoir
is enhanced by a foreword by Billy Joel. Medley was inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 and continues to tour and perform. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">War always
generates memoirs and a particularly moving one is by the late Max Gendelman, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Tale of Two Soldiers</b>, ($14.95, Two
Harbors Press, softcover) and begins on December 18, 1944 when the then
12-year-old soldier was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge.
A Jew, he had more reason to fear for his life than other prisoners. While
imprisoned, though, he met Karl Kirschner, a lieutenant in the German
Luftwaffe. It turned out that both had a passion for chess and, in time, they
decided that both, captor and prisoner, would escape the prison camp! Their
friendship would last sixty years and transcended the bigotry of the times they
shared. It is a story of courage, faith, and honor. Gendelman returned home,
married and started a family and a successful business. In 1952 he helped his
friend come to the United States. He died in June 2012 and was buried with
military honors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
most dramatic incidents of World War II was the torpedoing of the USS
Indianapolis on July 30, 1945 as it made its way to a small island in the South
Pacific, sailing unescorted after delivering uranium to be used in the first
atomic bombs. Told that the waters were safe, Edgar Harrell and several other
Marines were sacked out on deck when six torpedoes sank the ship, leaving him
and other survivors in the ocean for five horrifying days, until those not
killed by sharks, were picked up. The story of his courage, ingenuity and faith
is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out of the Depths </b>($16.99,
Bethany House Publishers). Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and TV
personality, said, “There aren’t too many times when the word ‘hero’ is
appropriately used. Heroes are people who do extraordinary things and in the
service of others, Edgar Harrell is a true American hero.” One of the tragedies
of World War II was the refusal of the U.S. government that on May 13, 1939
that denied entry to the MS St. Louis, sailing from Hamburg, Germany, and
filled with Jews seeking to escape the Nazi government. Among those on board
were the grandfather and uncle of Martin Goldsmith and they and the other
passengers were returned to Europe where many were sent to concentration camps
where they died. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alex’s Wake</b>,
($25.99, Da Capo Press), he details his six-week quest to retrace their journey
to assuage the guilt he carried for living happily in America despite his
family’s tormented history. The book is more than just his and his family’s,
but one that many experienced, including Germans who regretted the horror the
Nazis inflicted on Jews and others. It is 75 years since that event and a
reminder that America only entered World War II after being attacked by Japan.
The Nazis were defeated, but not before they killed millions, among whom were
the victims on the MS St. Louis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A memoir
by the mother of Tim Burroway, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Losing
Tim</b>, ($14.95, Think Piece Publishing, softcover) is dedicated to him,
“Captain, Ranger, Paratrooper, husband, father, hunter contractor for
humanitarian mine removal in Iraq, Republican, romantic, idealist,
perfectionist, gun nut, my first born, my baby.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After serving in the U.S. Army, Tim became a
private contractor, essentially undertaking the same jobs as those in service,
but without many of the benefits. How big a role do they play? A large number
of those serving the nation in Afghanistan are private contractors, but
according to a recent RAND survey, many return home with mental health issues
at a higher rate than the soldiers and there are 22 suicides a day in the
veteran population. Janet Burroway has authored fifteen books for adults and
three for children. The journey that Tim took was one from a defender of
America to one deeply disappointed by both the origin and outcome of the war in
Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein. As she notes, one in three returns from our war
zones with a mental disorder and the life Tim imagined and then lived was
filled with disappointment despite his commitment to it. Some lives are just
filled with too much tragedy, but Tim was fortunate to have a mother who could
relate the facts of his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Minding the Mind<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The power
of our minds and the way it exerts that power over our lives always makes for
interesting reading and, in many cases, useful insight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
problems that have increasingly come to public attention has been autism, an
affliction that parents notice early on. The diagnosis often is devastating,
but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Autism Breakthrough: The
Groundbreaking Method that Has Helped Families All Over the World </b>by Raun
K. Kaufman ($25.99, St. Martin’s Press) will come as very good news for those
families dealing with it. Kaufman is the director of global education for the
Autism Treatment Center of America. He is living proof autism can be treated
and overcome. He shares the groundbreaking principles and strategies that
helped him and offers new hope through a scientifically proven roadmap that
helps autistic children overcome it. His parents literally turned all the
recommended cures on their head and chose to work with him instead of against
the symptoms he displayed, building a bridge to his world. The book is an
accessible, step-by-step guide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
who like to explore the scientific side of things, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mental Biology: The New Science of How the Brain and Mind Relate </b>by
W.R. Klemm ($19.95, Prometheus Books, softcover.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author focuses on how the mind emerges
from nerve-impulse patterns in the densely-packed neural circuits that make up
most of the brain, suggesting that the conscious mind can be seen as a sort of
neural-activity-based avatar. As an identity in its own right, the mind on a
conscious level can have significant independent action, shaping the brain that
sustains it through its plans, goals, interests, and interactions with the
world. He also delves into the role of dream sleep in both animals and humans,
and explains the brain-based differences between non-conscious, unconscious,
and conscious minds. Dr. Klemm has written extensively on this subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Can love
and anger co-exist? Yes say the authors of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Riding
the Passionate Edge: Converting Tension into Emotional Intimacy, </b>($15.95,
Langdon Street Press, softcover). In an intimate relationship it is a common
error to believe that emotional closeness and tension can’t co-exist. Mary and
Tom Cushman provide concrete skills for transforming relationships, even those
that may feel beyond repair, into those that recapture the original feelings
that drew two people together. They make a powerful case for engaging tension
directly and skillfully through empathetic listening, straight talk, compassion
and forgiveness to heal the damage caused by unresolved emotional wounds. The
authors are a married pair of long-time counselors, having been clergy and
teachers, who for the past 16 years have been private practice counselors.
Another book that can prove helpful is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Be
Real: Because Fake is Exhausting</b> by Rick Bezet (19.99, Baker Books), the
pastor of New Life Church in Arkansas. “God makes it simple for us,” says
Bezert. “Being fake is exhausting, and it drains us and eventually kills our
body and our soul. But being real requires us to put God first in our lives and
to allow his love to overflow into every area of our lives. Our hope in him is
real.” Well, I did say he was a pastor, but he is also an engaging author who
knows that the world is full of fakers and even some who attend church every
Sunday can be included among them. His book is a call to readers to live a life
based on authenticity. For those with a healthy spiritual life, this book will
prove supportive and instructive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Books for Tots & Teens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
greatest gift for any child is the enjoyment of reading, so get them started
early.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A new
addition to her series is Cynthia Bardes’ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pansy
in Paris: A Mystery at the Museum </b>($18.95, Octobre Press), illustrated by
Virginia Best. Her previous book was “Pansy at the Palace: A Beverly Hills
Mystery.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this one Pansy, a poodle
and Avery, a little girl who adopted her, solve who is stealing paintings with
a story that will surely entertain those to whom it is read or old enough to
read it for themselves. It is told from Pansy’s point of view and this large
format book with full page artwork is just delightful. The same age group, from
2 and up, will enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Bee Named Bea </b>by
Candace A. Dietz with illustrations by Virginia J. Rost ($14.95, Mixed Media
Memoirs), a collection of poems about various animals such as a cow that can’t
stop mooing or a lonely bee that everyone is afraid of. Each poem ends with a
cheerful resolution. The book has twenty poem-stories to keep young minds
engaged. Some books for the very young with the intention to teach important
life lessons and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Simple Idea to
Empower Kids </b>by Kathleen Boucher ($13.95, Balboa Press) offers three
principles to young readers age 3 to 12, about the power of love, choice and
belief to help them develop self-confidence and deal with whatever comes their
way in life. Parents will find this book very helpful to get a child off to a
good start.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Miss You Like Crazy </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Pamela Hall and illustrated by
Jennifer A. Bell ($15.99, Tanglewood) is written for those ages 6 to 8 and is a
story that reminds children that, even when parents are away at work, they are
always thinking about them. It is a lighthearted way to reassure children of
their importance in their parent’s busy lives. Also from Tanglewood is Audrey
Penn’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Kissing Hand for Chester
Raccoon</b> ($7.99) for the even young set, ages 2 to 4. It is now a board
book, made study enough to withstand all manner of handling. This book is
becoming a children’s classic, having already touched the lives of many readers
who benefit from Mrs. Raccoon’s secret for making a child feel safe and secure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhc9l1La8Yc37C93Xs5VwXm5n_wljtsAqBhr2zX7NaHFpEgJ8qifh_gF3wvuRzTigYbpwCrYuiz_v6TOkSRnIgze4dpwW46qi3xIbIACzcvS3M78ftKZJn9dze11eqWRK-d2NE5JjNX3o/s1600/Cover+-+US+Pilgrims+to+Patriots.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhc9l1La8Yc37C93Xs5VwXm5n_wljtsAqBhr2zX7NaHFpEgJ8qifh_gF3wvuRzTigYbpwCrYuiz_v6TOkSRnIgze4dpwW46qi3xIbIACzcvS3M78ftKZJn9dze11eqWRK-d2NE5JjNX3o/s1600/Cover+-+US+Pilgrims+to+Patriots.png" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the younger set, pre-teens, there is an excellent book based on American history, <strong>Pilgrims to Patriots: A Grandfather Tells the Story</strong> by Alex Bugaeff ($24.95, print, $8.99 Ebook, Create Space) that, in fact, the older reader will enjoy as well. A grandfather shares his knowledge of the years that led up to the American Revolution and brings to life the nation's founders as real, living men, along with a host of other characters from our early years such as Molly Pitcher, a cannoneer, and events like the War of Jenkins' Ear, to Elizabeth Key, the slave who sued the Virginia Colony for her freedom. It is both educational and very entertaining. The book's value is enhanced by the need to impart such knowledge to a younger generation that is not receiving it sufficiently in our schools.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Pre-teens
and teens benefit from reading novels that overcome today’s “tweet” reduction
of everything to 140 characters. Cara Bertrand begins her “Sentantia” series
with a fantasy story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lost in Thought</b>
($19.95/$11.95, Luminis Books, hard and softcover) about Lainey who everyone
thinks has severe migraines from stress and exhaustion. In truth, Lainey, age
16, has visions of how people died or are going to die, a secret she keeps to
herself. Doctors advise she be enrolled in a private New England boarding
school to help cure her, but while there is no cure, she discovers that
everyone at Northbrook Academy has a secret too where half the students and
nearly all the staff are members of Sententia, a hidden society of the
psychically gifted. This paranormal theme, along with a bit of romance, and
lots of action-packed twists to the plot will keep any young reader turning the
pages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju4ju_aGwek8lb6VZ4ndvwKIhJNQ_7yJt9GVy79YfgVmPM1VRJNfDNfQCADyxpEm6YSvE5SoBAe_dH21uSVjIPxt56vOq8UeNesTst-L6J2bTo3JgWlR-0hlFWdIkTFVbmWv9en6-TxpQ/s1600/Cover+-+Don't+Call+Me+Baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju4ju_aGwek8lb6VZ4ndvwKIhJNQ_7yJt9GVy79YfgVmPM1VRJNfDNfQCADyxpEm6YSvE5SoBAe_dH21uSVjIPxt56vOq8UeNesTst-L6J2bTo3JgWlR-0hlFWdIkTFVbmWv9en6-TxpQ/s1600/Cover+-+Don't+Call+Me+Baby.jpg" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Don’t Call Me Baby </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Gwendolyn Heasley ($9.99,
HarperTeen, softcover) will gain the author even more readers, especially if
they have read her two previous young adult readers. It’s about the daughter, a
teenager, whose Mommy Blogger has no concept of boundaries, having been writing
about her since before she was born, telling everything about her on the
popular blog. At age 15, Imogene has been protesting to no avail. When a
mandatory school project requires her to start her own blog, she is reluctant to
expose any more of her life online until she realizes that the project is an
opportunity to define herself for the first time on her own terms and to give
her mother a taste of her own medicine! This is a story that is heartfelt and
often laugh-out-loud, sure to please the girls for whom it is written. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Spring for
the publishing world is—as is the autumn—the time they roll out many new books
and, when it comes to novels, it would appear that fiction still has a large
audience to satisfy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3l3adws9ek7FhER4T2ser0iAdTiOFV_SGGtA7YxAPBC0t_Be5d2f2Xqfa9638H1Aidd8ISw8b25CEhdLfo88OaUxfDF3ZFRtcLHqCLvYpM_T6CDgGx8ogocH-RBS5XYZGAHni7xmoU0/s1600/Cover+-+The+Blonde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3l3adws9ek7FhER4T2ser0iAdTiOFV_SGGtA7YxAPBC0t_Be5d2f2Xqfa9638H1Aidd8ISw8b25CEhdLfo88OaUxfDF3ZFRtcLHqCLvYpM_T6CDgGx8ogocH-RBS5XYZGAHni7xmoU0/s1600/Cover+-+The+Blonde.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You can’t
write novels unless you have an active imagination and Anna Godbersen surely
does. She already has two bestsellers, “The Luxe” and “Bright Young Things”.
Having come of age when Marilyn Monroe was the quintessential superstar, I must
confess the theme of her new novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Blonde</b>, ($26.00, Weinstein Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group) was
a bit off-putting, but that will surely not be the case for most others younger
than myself. In this book, Godbersen conjures up a Marilyn Monroe who, through
the help of a mysterious stranger, rises from being the young, unknown Norma
Jeane Baker with aspirations of being an actress to the famed movie star twelve
years later. Her benefactor, however, is a member of the then-Soviet KGB and
she is told to find something about John F. Kennedy that they can use in some
fashion. Instead of aiding the KGB she falls in love with him and, when she
learns of plans to assassinate him, she must escape her Soviet handlers to save
him and herself. The novel incorporates the Hollywood of her era, the murderous
intrigue, and the elements of a well-known actual history. Together they become
a novel that makes for a great read and is likely to end up a film at some
point. Intrigue and murder from an earlier era, that found in Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle’s novels, is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Conan
Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper</b> by Diane Gilbert Madsen ($28.95,
MX Publishing, London, available via Amazon.com). The publisher is the world’s
largest specialist in books featuring the most famous fictional detective,
Sherlock Holmes. Steve Emecz, the MX managing director, says “There has never
been a better time to be a Sherlock Holmes fan” he is thrilled to have her
novel. “It’s perfect for a fan base with an appetite for modern thrillers with
a link back to Conan Doyle.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her novel
involves a wealthy Chicago lumber baron’s diary which reveals that Doyle left
some valuable handwritten notes during his 1894 visit to Chicago. They contain
vital information about the Ripper murders. When the diary is stolen, D.D.
McGil, an academic turned insurance investigator, comes upon information she
believes confirms the identity of Jack the Ripper and finds herself a target in
a deadly game to locate a literary find that could rewrite history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monday, Monday </b>Elizabeth Cook tells the
story of a tragedy in Texas that changes the course of three lives ($26.00,
Sarah Crichton Books). Based on an actual incident when, in August 1966,
Charles Whitman hauled a footlocker of guns to the top of the University of
Texas tower and began firing on pedestrians below. He killed sixteen people and
wounded thirty-two. It was the first mass shooting of civilians on a campus in
American history. The novels follows three students caught up in the massacre,
Shelly who walks into the path of the bullets and two cousins, Wyatt and Jack,
who heroically rush from their classrooms to help the victims. On that day a
relationship begins that entangles them in a forbidden love affair, an illicit
pregnancy, and a vow of secrecy that will span forty years. Reunited decades
after the tragedy, they will be forced to confront the event that changed their
lives and that has silently and persistently ruled the lives of their children.
At its core, it is the story of a woman determined to make peace with herself,
with the people she loves, and with a history that will not let her go.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFFttC_Z5x5oDP0GPYA4OwdznyyvcMgV4zSF-YyPyivztnbudsRpeLx5-EyuLxwwGfTheqPhwjxEJx3OAJjmo7kLFENYSb3EZfNJgrU2HykDOYGcUl4sAH-ht5sqIBe8NlFEGAjAHfRc/s1600/Cover+-+Sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFFttC_Z5x5oDP0GPYA4OwdznyyvcMgV4zSF-YyPyivztnbudsRpeLx5-EyuLxwwGfTheqPhwjxEJx3OAJjmo7kLFENYSb3EZfNJgrU2HykDOYGcUl4sAH-ht5sqIBe8NlFEGAjAHfRc/s1600/Cover+-+Sunrise.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A very
different story is told by Mike Mullen in Book 3 of the “Ashfall Trilogy”, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sunrise</b>, ($17.99, Tanglewood). It takes
place after the Yellowstone super-volcano has nearly wiped out the human race.
It is now almost a year after the eruption and the survivors seem determined to
finish the job as communities wage war on each other, gangs of cannibals roam
the countryside, and what little government survived has completely collapsed.
Sickness, cold, and starvation are the survivor’s constant companions. The
debut novel “Ashfall” in 2011 was a big hit as was Book 2, “Ashen Winter” in
2012. No doubt Book 3 will enjoy a similar acclaim as it is a triumph of
imagination as Mullen takes on the task of writing about a world of survivors
must overcome the horrendous outcome of the eruption. It addresses questions of
responsibility, and bravery, civilization, and society. Though written as a young adult novel, I think older readers will enjoy it as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A number
of softcover novels provide some entertaining as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have entered an era in which anyone who
wants to write a novel can get it published. Jeff Turner has had a long,
successful career as a college professor with more than twenty college-level
textbooks to his credit and he draws on his experience in academia and life to
have written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Way Back </b>($14.95,
Page Publishing). It is about a college professor who is at the top of his
game, living a posh live in a Connecticut shoreline town, whose world is turned
upside down when he faces trumped up charges of academic harassment. In the
midst of that crisis he discovers his wife has been unfaithful and that his son
is being bullied by high school thugs. If that isn’t enough, a seductive and
mysterious woman enters his life, along with troubling memories of an incident
from a family swimming pool party that went horribly wrong. He and his family
must cope with uncertainty and upheaval. It is the story of the emotional
frailty that can strike anyone without warning and how his family must deal
with the family’s inner demons. This is a novel that demands to be read from
cover to cover because it is going to be hard to put down. A very different
story is told by Lynne Raimondo in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dante’s
Poison</b>, a novel, featuring a blind psychiatrist, Mark Angelotti, who is
helping Hallie Sanchez defend her oldest friend against murder charges. A
muckraking journalist, Rory Gallagher, has died from a fatal dose of Lucitrol,
a powerful antipsychotic drug and suspicion immediately falls on his longtime
lover, Jane Barrett, who has just defended the drug’s manufacturer against product-liability
claims. Mark and Hallie succeed in obtaining Barrett’s release, only to
discover that Gallagher’s killer may still be on the loose and targeting them
as his next victims. Angelotti was in Raimondo’s novel, “Dante’s Wood.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author formerly was a general counsel for
Arthur Anderson and later the Illinois Department of Revenue. Her background,
combined with her talent, combine for a new novel that anyone who enjoys such
intrigue and danger will enjoy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In J.T.
Prescott’s thriller, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Arts and Crafts</b>,
($16.95, Two Harbors Press) a former covert operative. Ken Frazier, is looking
forward to retirement after leaving the clandestine world behind is sought out
by a former colleague, George Larson, and confronted with outrageous claims
about a government conspiracy that includes major U.S. cities falling prey to
snipers. Hesitant to believe the claims, he is suddenly thrust back into action
when Larson shows up dead and the rumors turn out to be true. This is a
fast-paced adventure, filled with conspiracy and murder, as Frazier’s
experience and instincts kick in and he recruits the help of two members of his
former team. Together they band together for one last desperate mission. In a
somewhat similar theme, Johnny Shaw tells a story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Plaster City </b>($14.95, Thomas and Mercer) of Jimmy Veeder who is
enjoying life as a farmer and family man with occasional breaks to act as
wingman to his best friend’s booze-fueled misadventures. When Bobby Maves
teenage daughter does missing, Jimmy will be along for the rescue mission and
what begins as a bad situation turns into something else entirely involving a
violent turf war between a fierce motorcycle gang and a powerful crime lord,
fighting it out on a desolate strip of desert known as Plaster City in the
landscape of the California-Mexico borderland. Shaw’s previous novels received
awards and his long career as a screenwriter and novelist demonstrate his
skills. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for May! Tell your friends, family and coworkers who enjoy reading about
Bookviews.com so they too any get the latest word about new fiction and
non-fiction. And come back next month for more!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br /></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-17508246315795381842014-03-31T07:25:00.000-07:002014-03-31T07:25:36.811-07:00Bookviews -- April 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By
Alan Caruba<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of
the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fctpBA4IsFpvxkXdUIvmjJi2IM0QUP5GtV45GVMJPKmPh-x6uQOf5oWif8ow4SuGeToLFaoPhbqo8Mn-P2DxN3cymrRdf-QHd_0aIreMgmME4BMnkTksl9ix7rW0v63vcb_Iyl30K-w/s1600/Cover+-+Rule+of+Nobody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fctpBA4IsFpvxkXdUIvmjJi2IM0QUP5GtV45GVMJPKmPh-x6uQOf5oWif8ow4SuGeToLFaoPhbqo8Mn-P2DxN3cymrRdf-QHd_0aIreMgmME4BMnkTksl9ix7rW0v63vcb_Iyl30K-w/s1600/Cover+-+Rule+of+Nobody.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If
there is no other book you read this year, read Philip K. Howard’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from
Dead Laws and Broken Government </b>($23.95, W.W. Norton). If you have been
wondering why those elected and appointed to public office do not seem able to
do anything more than either pass more laws, add more regulations, or not be
able to approve a public project such as a needed new bridge or run a business
such as a nursing home without being subject to regulation that is so detailed
they cannot provide simple, principled service, this book will explain why. As
Howard says, “Government’s ineptitude is not news. But something else has happened
in the last few decades. Government is making America inept. Other countries
have modern infrastructure, and schools that generally succeed, and better
health care at little more than half the cost.” This true is demonstrated in
the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—that was 2,700 pages when passed and has now
generated regulations that when stacked stand seven foot high. “The U.S. is now
ranked below a dozen or more countries in terms of ease of doing businesses and
effective governance. These are our competitors in global markets.” Howard
calls for a return to our founding values of individual responsibility and
accountability. “This requires abandoning the utopian dream of automatic
government and giving responsible officials—real people—the authority to make
practical choices.” In 1994 Howard authored “The Death of Common Sense: How Law
is suffocating America” and he’s back with a look at our present state of
stagnation and retreat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJqtySG7b7zzZDjGuoZ_uBpPIHpk82SqX9Cp_vMAId4NwmkD3TP6j5UrftUxKzHzOHpsIiIuZOt7X-KDd1lRyROdmCpTlsXfQ2dcj1Ff7v3k4ZEAFfTDDxeG6QKBbXA_4NOzphbdLGnY/s1600/Cover+-+Deliberate+Corruption.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJqtySG7b7zzZDjGuoZ_uBpPIHpk82SqX9Cp_vMAId4NwmkD3TP6j5UrftUxKzHzOHpsIiIuZOt7X-KDd1lRyROdmCpTlsXfQ2dcj1Ff7v3k4ZEAFfTDDxeG6QKBbXA_4NOzphbdLGnY/s1600/Cover+-+Deliberate+Corruption.png" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here,
too, is another book you should read if you have concluded that there is no
global warming (the Earth has been in a natural cooling cycle since 1997) and
that the dangers of climate change are the same ones that have existed for
centuries, floods, blizzards, droughts, et cetera. Dr. Tim Ball has been among
a number of climatologists and other scientists who have outspokenly resisted
and exposed the lies behind the global warming hoax that asserts that carbon
dioxide (CO2) is trapping so much heat that all manmade emissions of it must be
curtailed. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Deliberate Corruption
of Climate Science </b>($22.95, Stairway Press) Dr. Ball relates how initially
he “watched my chosen discipline—climatology—get hijacked and exploited in
service of a political agenda, watched people who knew little or nothing enter
the fray and watched scientists become involved for political or funding
reasons—willing to corrupt the science, or, at least, ignore what was really
going on.” The global warming hoax was generated out of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and dates back to the mid to late
1980s. Dr. Ball calls it “the greatest deception in history and the extent of
the damage has yet to be exposed and measured.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have read dozens of books about the hoax and this one sums up everything
you need to know even as the claims and deceptions continue at the highest
levels of our government, the United Nations, and the media. This book is
detailed, documented, footnoted, and very interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If
you want to know what really happened leading up to and in the wake of the 2008
financial crisis, you should read Bob Ivry’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Seven Sins of Wall Street: Big Banks, Their Washington lackeys, and
the Next Financial Crisis </b>($25.99, Public Affairs). Ivry is an editor and
investigative reporter for Bloomberg News. The tendency is the think of any
book about the business community, particularly banking, is likely to be rather
dull, but this one is lively from page one and remains a surprisingly
entertaining read even as its revelations scare the daylights out of you. For
one thing, it is Joe Taxpayer who now guarantees the success of the top banks
in America, all of whom were bailed out, paid back the hasty government loans
they received, and then went on to make huge profits as the same banks
foreclosed on countless homeowners penalized for the failure of the banks to
put the brakes on thousands of “liar’s loans”, bundling and peddling them. As
Ivry makes clear, the legacy of the financial crisis in 2008 isn’t stronger
banks, but a weaker nation. We normally accord respect for the men at the top
of the banking industry. They are often called “titans”, but the reality that
Ivry reveals will have you calling them something else and the shenanigans
since the crisis. Moreover, Ivry shows how the too-big-to-fail banks and their
supporters in Washington, D.C., are getting closer to an even greater economic
calamity. Neither they, nor their Washington facilitators in major agencies
come off looking good and for good reason. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Living
through what many feel is the second Great Depression, anyone who loves history
will enjoy Bill Friedman’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All Against
the Law</b> ($17.99, $9.99, Old School Histories, hardcover and ebook,
available from Amazon.com). Based on 47 years of research, it is filled with
new information about more than a hundred major critics committed during the
Great Depression era by bank robbers, the Mafia, FBI, politicians, along with
the misdeeds of police detectives, prosecutors, and judges. Hard times tend to
bring out the worst in people, particularly if they are inclined toward crime
in the first place. Many from that era became legendary and include John
Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Alvin Karpis whose partner, Doc Barker, killed
lawmen in multiple police escapes. It is also the story of the lawmen that
pursued them. The FBI under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover gained fame
during this period. Politics during the era is also described where it involved
corruption, particularly that of the Kansas Penderast machine. It makes our
current times pale by comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUb1kVB8v-vEJzjiYXzpxn3wrxDzhDT9ys9sl0qbW2VIAMyZtr0VSF0oQdcX80KSLlvm5HmqtNan-vTdjfPrNuCJLaeBptmEiAWUBXh0BIKpU8BIJuKxtf7FaoDPRuip1faSnBIh-y-E8/s1600/Cover+-+Age+of+Radiance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUb1kVB8v-vEJzjiYXzpxn3wrxDzhDT9ys9sl0qbW2VIAMyZtr0VSF0oQdcX80KSLlvm5HmqtNan-vTdjfPrNuCJLaeBptmEiAWUBXh0BIKpU8BIJuKxtf7FaoDPRuip1faSnBIh-y-E8/s1600/Cover+-+Age+of+Radiance.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 138.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Having
lived through the beginnings of the atomic age, I think a lot of readers who
enjoy history will enjoy Craig Nelson’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Age </b>($29.99,
Scribner). The Atomic age began with a past-his-prime German physicist working
in his lab and continues to the present day with fears that reflect the
failures in Chernobyl and Fukushima, as well as those of terrorists with dirty
bombs. It began with discoveries of the nucleus by Marie Curie, Enrico Fermi,
and Edward Teller. Craig brings nuclear energy into a modern context. While
atomic energy provides electricity (all of France is powered by it) and
includes its use for medical purposes, its invisible rays can trigger cancer.
This is, however, the story of the people who discovered it and the issues it
evoked. As a bomb it was used to end America’s war in the Pacific, but not used
since. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
one thing that I do not review, with the exception of anthologies, is poetry. I
grew up reading traditional poetry, the kind that rhymed and had a distinct
cadence, but over the years many poets abandoned that form, treading close to
prose. One who did it to great success was Maxine Kumin whom I met in the 1970s
at an annual Bread Loaf Writers Conference where she was already a star. She
had since won a Pulitzer Prize and was a U.S. poet laureate. She passed away in
February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And Short the Season</b> ($24.95, W.W. Norton) is the final collection
of her work. Though I still prefer traditional poetry, hers demonstrates how a
poet can turn the ordinary into something extraordinary. While she will be
missed by family, friends, and fans, her great body of work will live on. In
contrast, death took Marina Keegan too early, shortly after she graduated magna
cum laude from Yale in May 2012, but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories </b>($23.00, Scribner) gives us the
opportunity to enjoy a body of her writings; enough to make us wish that an
auto accident had not taken her life. She was just twenty-two. Anyone who loves
good writing will enjoy this collection. They reveal a great talent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some
books are so thoroughly amusing that they stand alone. That describes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity:
A Guide to Financial Freedom </b>by Patricia Carlin with photography by Dustin
Fenstermacher ($12.95, Quirk Books, softcover) and it is a satire that offers
tongue-in-cheek advice on how to turn your cat from just a pet that lays around
a lot into your door to a fortune. Carlin purports to tell the reader how to
identify their cat’s special talents, choose a stage name, film and edit a
viral video, and more. Anyone who loves cats will find themselves laughing on
every page while enjoying the many color photos. Also from Quirk Books comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh
Back Part the Fifth </b>by Ian Doescher ($14.95) which is a merry reimaging of
George Lucas’s classic film. If the film has been an Elizabethan play, this is
how it would sound and for anyone who loves the former this is an entertaining
way to enjoy it again. Quirk Books has definitely earned its name!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
sometimes ask myself why a particular book was written and why a publisher
thought it was worth publishing. This is what came to mind with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Mammoth Book of Shark Attacks </b>by
Alex MaCormick and Rod Green ($14.95, Running Press). Going back to 1900 and
moving forward to 2013, this is a collection of stories about shark attacks. They
have made headlines that reflect our natural horror regarding such events.
There surely are readers who will find this of interest and it will be
thoroughly sated by this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">People,
People, People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We
read about people of every description, selecting those who interest us.
Memoirs, biographies and autobiographies are in a class of themselves. Here are
some books that have arrived that illustrate a more general approach.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowdM83Pc8HgADsMqnIldt2rj4genPmgR3xvjfHxrzMHxtb-gIFsT-KQb_kwTLAaejJVvFpSnrE50q4EiNDQt0SOH2Eh7iHmCyLbmGen0_EyRLRn0HQFYmCtNRXxovZqZSXBAZZeWDrVM/s1600/Cover+-+Shooting+Stars.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowdM83Pc8HgADsMqnIldt2rj4genPmgR3xvjfHxrzMHxtb-gIFsT-KQb_kwTLAaejJVvFpSnrE50q4EiNDQt0SOH2Eh7iHmCyLbmGen0_EyRLRn0HQFYmCtNRXxovZqZSXBAZZeWDrVM/s1600/Cover+-+Shooting+Stars.png" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Let’s
start with a fun, lighthearted book about what it’s like to be a Hollywood
paparazzi and, more specifically, how Jennifer Buhl became one. She writes
about that in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shooting Stars: My
Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood’s Most Famous </b>($14.99, Sourcebooks,
softcover). She has a lively style and begins by telling of her realization
that she could make a lot more as a photographer with one good celebrity photo
than she could waiting tables as she was doing the day she witnessed Paris
Hilton being protected by her entourage amidst a gang of paparazzi. After that
it was a question of learning the business. Along the way she made the acquaintance
with many of today’s celebrities. Despite the money and fame, she makes it
clear that the downside of celebrity is being hunted by the paparazzi. It’s a
lifestyle most of us would not want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Villains, Scoundrels,
and Rogues: Incredible True Tales of Mischief and Mayhem</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is one of those titles that tells you
everything you need to know about its subject. Paul Martin ($18.95, Prometheus
Books) has brought together stories about folks you may not have heard of, but
who played a role in history or literature. Take, for example, the drunken cop
who abandoned his post at Ford’s theatre, given assassin John Wilkes Booth
access to Lincoln. How about a notorious Kansas quack who made million
implanting goat testicles in gullible male patients? Or America’s worst female
serial killer ever? Or Ed Gein, Alfred Hitchcock’s inspiration for “Psycho”? Thirty
brief biographies offer an entertaining look at some unforgettable characters,
especially for anyone who enjoys history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If
you like true crime stories, you will like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A
Rookie Cop Vs The West Coast Mafia </b>by William G. Palmini, Jr. and Tanya
Chalpupa ($24.95. New Horizon Press, softcover) which is just out this month.
Palmini was a rookie detective who began a crusade to take down the West Coast
Mafia by gaining the confidence of a notorious mob operative, William Floyd
Ettleman. When he and his gang, skilled safe crackers, set out to rob a popular
Sausalito restaurant, the Trident, a one-time mecca for Hollywood, the music industry,
and New York gang members, Palmini determined to bring them to justice. He was
joined by the FBI and, with the aid of an informant, they were able to bring
put an end to their crime. From the same publisher comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Deadly Vows: The True Story of a Zealous Preacher, a Polygamous Union
and a Savage Murder </b>($24.95) by Leif M. Wright. It is the story of Joy
Risker’s gruesome death at the hand of Pentecostal preacher, Sean Goff. He had
been the author’s best friend for 16 years, during which time he weaved a
tangled web of deceptions, religion and polygamy in his life and marriage to
multiple women, one of which was Risker. Rather than losing his youngest wife
when she wanted to continue her education and have a career, Goff set about to
commit the perfect crime. After killing her, he took the body miles into the
Arizonan desert and used knowledge of forensics from television to ensure it
could not be identified. That changed when a couple came upon a stack of lava
rocks and notices a foul odor. Reported missing in October 2003, Goff would
turn himself in and confess. As is often the case, truth is stranger than
fiction.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtz5pxok3z-t7qj6feVlYLr5ulYmnwOMMfUgpC_BZE2lLDoN6R5XZcLJ3OK9ULDVSLPl7EZ3uu75DhvTHTmod_dWwVaAFE2e9rYMsBkuI8CeCdTW0aDuP-uxPvENGq59PPMAX6XsIk2vQ/s1600/Cover+-+Zero+Six+Bravo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtz5pxok3z-t7qj6feVlYLr5ulYmnwOMMfUgpC_BZE2lLDoN6R5XZcLJ3OK9ULDVSLPl7EZ3uu75DhvTHTmod_dWwVaAFE2e9rYMsBkuI8CeCdTW0aDuP-uxPvENGq59PPMAX6XsIk2vQ/s1600/Cover+-+Zero+Six+Bravo.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Due
out next month, Damien Lewis’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Zero Six
Bravo </b>($26.99, Quercus, an imprint of Random House) tells the story of a
British Special Forces Squadron that were accused of running away from the
enemy, but the true story of sixty men who, in March 2003, 600 miles behind
enemy lines, accomplished the extraordinary, the surrender of the
100,000-strong Iraqi Army 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Corps. Their mission was so dangerous
that it was known as “Operation No Return” and they encountered an ambush by
thousands of Saddam Hussein’s Fedayeen, backed by the Corps’ heavy armor. M
Squadron should not have survived, but their courage got them through and this
story will rivet anyone interested in military history. Our military is in our
thoughts these days as the Obama administration seeks to reduce its budget to
pre-World War Two levels. We honor them for their service and for their
sacrifice, but a new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Trust
Betrayed</b> by Mike Magner ($27.50, Da Capo Press) tells the story of the
Marines who were stationed at Camp Lejeune a few decades ago, thousands of whom
suffered serious illnesses including lymphoma while their children suffered
birth defects as the result of the failure of the Corps to take action when it
became clear that the water they were drinking was contaminated. There were
miscarriages and babies died. This is an ugly chapter in our history and the
book argues for compensation for the victims. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
biography of a gifted baseball pitcher, Bill Denehy, is told in cooperation
with Peter Golenbock in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rage </b>($16.95,
Central Recovery Press). He was at the top of his game with the New York Mets
until he threw a pitch that changed the course of his life. It was a life
shaped by his bad temper that would cost him many opportunities. He had had an
injury-plagued career, but would ultimately loose his vision due to injections
used to keep him in the game. After that he would descend into addiction, but
find recovery. His experience will resonate with athletes, baseball fans and
others who struggle with addiction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A
very different story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Faraday,
Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics </b>($25.95,
Prometheus Books) by Nancy Forbes and Basil Mahon. It is the story of two of
the boldest and most creative scientists, separated in age by forty years,
discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and devised a radical new
theory that overturned the strictly mechanical view of the world that had
prevailed since Newton’s time, centuries earlier. It is a lively narrative.
Faraday who had no mathematical training rose from being a bookbinder’s
apprentice to become director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain.
Maxwell was regarded as one of the most brilliant mathematical physicists of
the age. Their theory would join Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and
gave rise to many of the technological innovations we take for granted
today—from electric power generation to television, satellites, and cell
phones, among many others. Anyone with an interest in science will enjoy this
excellent book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down
to Business Books<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Power </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Sarah Morgans and Bill Thorness
($19.95, Fenwick Publishing Group, softcover) is the story of how J.D. Power
III became the auto industry’s advisor, confessor, and eyewitness to history.
His award for consumer satisfaction is highly valued by auto manufacturers. It
began when Dave Power founded his company in 1968 to aid auto makers understand
the value of listening to consumers’ preferences and complaints. It changed the
industry. The book tells the story of Power and those who worked most closely
with him. The book is hailed by many industry leaders such as Akio Toyoda and
the former chairman and CEO of General Motors, Rick Wagoner. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnuMrVRe5N39H7NHJpZCKo6Kv80HOyhwwEgJC-3sHxzvD3sHdPukvHgIEve9NcSkWRRPLDM9fnGLXBi5KthpvhmZI6pdwb8dT6SXKX0q6uHvuw5Zhd7C7oWC4PZKNxjC6beIyzq4PeCLE/s1600/Cover+-+Coach+Wooden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnuMrVRe5N39H7NHJpZCKo6Kv80HOyhwwEgJC-3sHxzvD3sHdPukvHgIEve9NcSkWRRPLDM9fnGLXBi5KthpvhmZI6pdwb8dT6SXKX0q6uHvuw5Zhd7C7oWC4PZKNxjC6beIyzq4PeCLE/s1600/Cover+-+Coach+Wooden.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Success is measured and achieved in different ways and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Coach Wooden’s Greatest Secret: The Power
of a Lot of Little Things Done Well </b>by Pat Williams with Jim Denney
($16.99, Revell, softcover) looks at why Coach Wooden became one of college
basketball’s most revered coaches. His years at UCLA are testimony to that with
ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, including seven in a row,
a fear unmatched by any other coach. Pat Williams has more than fifty years of
professional sports experience and is the author of dozens of books. He tells
how Wooden taught his players every aspect of the game including how to put on
their socks and shoes to avoid blisters. When asked, he said that little things
matter. Williams takes Coach Wooden’s lesson, along with stories of people
whose lives have exemplified the importance of little things one does or
doesn’t do that affect one’s integrity, reputation, health, career, faith and
success. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 2.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Carol Liefer was a successful comedian at a time when
television comedy was an exclusive all-boy’s club. Part memoir, part guide to
life, and very funny, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Succeed in
Business Without Really Crying: Lessons from a Life in Comedy </b>($19.95,
Quirk, softcover) is a collection of essays that charts here three-decade
journal through show business that provides valuable lessons for women and men
in any profession. How good was she? She was an opening act for Frank Sinatra.
Leifer is a four-time Emmy nominee for her writing on such shows as Seinfeld,
Modern Family, Saturday Night Live, and the Larry Sanders Show. She has starred
in five of her own comedy specials. Happily she is still active these days and
her book will is both entertaining and instructive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Joy of
Eating<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One
of life’s great joys is eating. People love cookbooks and reading about various
aspects of dining.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Let’s
start with a favorite of everyone, maple syrup. It is the subject of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sugar Season: A Year in the Life of
Maple Syrup—And One Family’s Quest for the Sweetest Harvest </b>by Douglas
Whynott ($24.99, Da Capo Press). Like many I do not give much thought to where
the syrup comes from, just that I have a bottle on hand to pour some over
pancakes. This book introduces the reader to entrepreneur Bruce Bascom whose
family business, Bascom Farms, produces 80,000 gallons of sap a day. Whynott
takes us through one tumultuous season as we learn the art of the boil, the
myriad subtle flavors of syrup, and the process by which syrup is assigned a
grade. You will discover that maple syrup is a multimillion dollar industry,
one that contains a black market, was subject to a heist monitored by Homeland
Security, and an OPEC-like organization called The Federation—which is fitting
since a barrel of maple syrup is worth more than a barrel of oil! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C1xM0HOa_moy9NRiuFcs3s9GGyhr1aaEBwZqx2_0Az73RUO_0nwG7MB4u5NC2lL5-8SkC7-KG9GNh-dPrIsIBzeXozkxcOsGtQ9cG2BVNBOzdsVLiVn6vXk8P0JI2xPn0kn-xebzLPI/s1600/Cover+-+Almonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C1xM0HOa_moy9NRiuFcs3s9GGyhr1aaEBwZqx2_0Az73RUO_0nwG7MB4u5NC2lL5-8SkC7-KG9GNh-dPrIsIBzeXozkxcOsGtQ9cG2BVNBOzdsVLiVn6vXk8P0JI2xPn0kn-xebzLPI/s1600/Cover+-+Almonds.jpg" height="200" width="159" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two
other Da Capo books are devoted to food. If you like almonds, you will love <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Almonds Every Which Way</b> by Brooke
McClay ($18.99, softcover). Almonds have become a key ingredient in vegan,
Paleo, glutan-free, low-carp, and alternative diets as a substitute for grain
flours and dairy. Almonds, we learn, can reduce heart attack risk, lower bad
cholesterol, help build strong bones and teeth, and aid in regulating blood
sugar and insulin after meals. And I like them because they taste good! McClay
takes one on a tour of every meal of the day with more than 150 almond flour,
almond milk, and almond butter-based recipes. You don’t have to be a vegan to
enjoy this book, but if you are one, check out <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mayim’s Vegan Table </b>by Mayim Bialik with Dr. Jay Gordon, a
pediatrician ($21.99, softcover). As she notes, getting kids to eat their
vegetables can be tough enough, but getting them to eat an exclusively
plant-based diet can seem impossible, especially when you want them to take a
pass on cheese pizza, hot dogs, and other popular food items. She provides more
than a hundred recipes along with chapters that address the principles of vegan
nutrition for growing bodies. If her name sounds familiar it is because Mayim
Bialik is an Emmy-nominated actress who stars on The Big Bang Theory. She is
also a Ph.D. and trained neuroscientist, and the mother of two sons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Advice </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There
is no end to books with advice on every imaginable topic. Here are a few that
run the gamut.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsL0TfUWH_KVn3hWlE8lrZnpTRNqNfE0BxJDXaQzhHbqUzKBda0cDirF-i1KWPrDHuUNh0upFCPNZ5RTIan9xUZN8XpFoHlU97iYw0ayJEUjouAaq0UCelBLI1nNMFFm764uQ_PDfd5Dg/s1600/Cover+-+Mindful+Anger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsL0TfUWH_KVn3hWlE8lrZnpTRNqNfE0BxJDXaQzhHbqUzKBda0cDirF-i1KWPrDHuUNh0upFCPNZ5RTIan9xUZN8XpFoHlU97iYw0ayJEUjouAaq0UCelBLI1nNMFFm764uQ_PDfd5Dg/s1600/Cover+-+Mindful+Anger.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mindful Anger: A Pathway
to Emotional Freedom</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
is by Andrea Brandt, a Ph.D. with more than thirty years of working with
individuals, couples, groups, and children, all of whom seeking help with
emotional issues that include anger and aggression ($22.95, W.W. Norton). As we
know, anger can be especially destructive to one’s relationships and interfere
with achieving one’s goals. When expressed as rage or aggression, it can land
you in jail. “There isn’t an area of our lives—relationships, careers,
health—that wouldn’t improve with the proper handling of our anger,” says the
author. A pioneer in the field of anger management, her book is a guide to
making the kind of self-assessments and identifying the causes that generate
anger and thereby finding ways to reduce and control it. If you know a
constantly angry person, this would make a good gift for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
psychological problem that men in particular encounter is borderline
personality disorder. It causes them to have extreme difficulty regulating
their emotions. Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hard to Love: Understanding and overcoming
Male Borderline Personality Disorder </b>($15.95, Central Recovery Press,
softcover.) It is due out in May. Interestingly, it is frequently misdiagnosed
in men, leading to no treatment or the wrong treatment. This book will </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
help any
man examine if BPD is the problem he is experiencing. Such men are difficult,
but not impossible to love says Dr. Robert Doyle, an assistant medical director
at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Child and Adolescent Impatient Union.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For
the gals, there’s a delightful, very funny book by Jenny McCarthy, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about
Pregnancy and Childbirth </b>($13.99, Da Capo Press, softcover). The co-host of
“The View”, is also an actress, mother, and a former Playboy playmate. She dishes
about prenatal cravings, leg cramps, fainting spells, and all the other
experiences that go with becoming a mother with the frankness and humor for
which she has become known. And despite the various challenges a woman must
engage to give birth, she says “Welcome to the best job you will ever have,
mommyhood.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 77.4pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt 77.4pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Every so often a really outstanding book comes along for
younger readers. U.S. history is something every American should read, but it
is no secret that our schools are not doing a good job of teaching it. When a
book like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World War I for Kids </b>comes
along, it offers an opportunity that a parent should embrace. Written by R.
Kent Rasmussen ($17.95, Chicago Review Press, softcover) it is a comprehensive
look at a chapter in American history of which many adults are unaware, but WWI
was a major turning point in the last century for Americans and, as we know, it
set the stage for WWII that started within twenty years. Americans were
reluctant to participate in either and did so when provoked by attacks such as
the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 that took the lives of many American
passengers. Extensive illustrations enhance an excellent text that tells of how
the war stimulated technological development as well as changing the way wars
had been fought. It became far more lethal. Younger readers from age 10 and up
will find this book an exciting look at the event, the people involved, and the
activities it invites them to do. In truth, an adult can read this book with as
much enjoyment. The For Kids series also offers <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">World War II for Kids </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Civil War for Kids. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Last
month I noted a number of new books from <a href="http://www.charlesbridge.com/">Charlesbridge</a> Publishing and I will
continue this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kids
get a head start on school if they get to read books that introduce them to the
alphabet and numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Teddy Bear Addition </b>by Barbara Bardieri
McGrath ($16.95) uses images by Tim Nihoff of teddy bears to entertain and
educate at the same time. It’s lively verse takes the reader through the basics
while they learn important vocabulary such as sums and digits. Once the basics
are acquired, it’s time to move onto learning about fractions and that is made
easy and fun in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fractions in Disguise </b>by
Edward Einhorn with illustrations by David Clark ($16.95) that features George
Cornelius Factor who loves fractions so much he collects them. I take my hat
off to authors that understand how young minds can absorb these things through
stories and artwork. If read by an adult to a child or those age 4 to 8, these
books open doors early in their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
confess I never expected to be reading a children’s book about dung beetles,
but then I forgot how almost any creature can capture the imagination of young
readers. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behold the Beautiful Dung
Beetle </b>by Cheryl Bardoe and illustrated by Alan Marks ($16.95) is for the
early reader and one who finds nature of interest. It’s not disgusting, despite
what they collect and dine upon, but rather an interesting introduction to the
ecology of how everything serves some purpose and how this beetle is a perfect
adaptation to take advantage of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityujpiou7SmO2eZJLLg4bL8EY78-bql5Uwre6F4NwG3c7DEJ3qai7YXcoV0FIuG281f7yh7tSf3MbXfAkvwA-zJcq10qU_8vzEe6qm_B_bVwcem_EflkFGu_h2OnJ92bsB4DqlvtuSys/s1600/Cover+-+Stone+Giant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityujpiou7SmO2eZJLLg4bL8EY78-bql5Uwre6F4NwG3c7DEJ3qai7YXcoV0FIuG281f7yh7tSf3MbXfAkvwA-zJcq10qU_8vzEe6qm_B_bVwcem_EflkFGu_h2OnJ92bsB4DqlvtuSys/s1600/Cover+-+Stone+Giant.jpg" height="200" width="155" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Three
Charlesbridge books provide interesting reading for early readers ages 9 to 12.
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">At Home in Her Tomb: Lady Dai and the
Ancient Chinese Treasures of Mawangdui </b>($19.95) by Christine Liu Perkins
and Sarah S. Brannen tells of how, in December 1971, the tomb of Xin Zhui, the
Marchioness of Dai, was discovered. It revealed the almost perfectly preserved
body of Lady Dai. The book will transport back to an earlier age in China and
the amazing archeology and forensic science that revealed much about her. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stone Giant: Michelangelo’s David and How
He Came to Be </b>by Jane Sutcliffe and illustrated by John Shelley ($16.95)
tells the story of how the genius of Michaelangelo turned a giant block of
marble into one of the greatest works of art from a statue others had tried to
create, but failed. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Under the
Freedom Tree </b>by Susan VanHecke and illustrated by London Ladd ($16.95)
tells the story of how, on the night of May 23, 1861, three slaves made history
when they decided to escape across the Confederate line to the Union-held Fort
Monroe. Declared “contraband of war” by the Union General, they were allow to
stay and as word of their successful escape spread, thousands of runaway slaves
followed suit, pouring into the fort and building the first African-American
community in the country. It was under the branches of a sheltering tree that
they heard one of the first readings of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From
Wigu Publishing comes another in their series “When I Grow Up I Want to Be…” It
is devoted to being a firefighter ($12.95) and begins with a boy whose field
trip to a local fire station introduces him to the exciting world of
firefighting, as well as home fire safety, in a fun and educational book.
Upcoming books will include being in the U.S. Navy, a veterinarian, and even a
race car driver. Check out the series at </span><a href="http://www.whenigrowupbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.WhenIGrowUpBooks.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels,
Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
have no idea how many novels are being published these days, but there are
thousands of them. I stick to the established publishing houses with regard to
those I recommend though I will occasionally recommend one that is
self-published, a trend that is growing. All those noted are softcover
editions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyzEC_0CnkKusksaRmuuhlV1G3Qiuf8FotrFm5H7qkiPyLqrDTc66kkoxEy8BB9-v7wHe9GAYVscZOOdPdjI_QDrzZcMdJZjAYUgs5g_QeTLJQx4YlWOR3QmOK-29IStiI_Z2VNuUeK8/s1600/Cover+-+Lexicon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyzEC_0CnkKusksaRmuuhlV1G3Qiuf8FotrFm5H7qkiPyLqrDTc66kkoxEy8BB9-v7wHe9GAYVscZOOdPdjI_QDrzZcMdJZjAYUgs5g_QeTLJQx4YlWOR3QmOK-29IStiI_Z2VNuUeK8/s1600/Cover+-+Lexicon.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 37.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Max
Barry has written one of the most curious novels I’ve seen in a long time. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lexicon</b> ($16.00, Penguin Books) It
ranges between thrilling, horrifying, and hilarious as a fast, funny, cerebral
thriller. Imagine an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, VA where
students aren’t taught the usual subjects, but rather the skills of persuasion.
Their teachers are a secretive organization of “poets”, elite manipulators of
language who can wield words as weapons and bend others to their will. Emily
Ruff is running a three-card Monte game on the streets of San Francisco when
this orphan is spotted by the organization’s recruiters. When admitted to the
school she becomes its most talented prodigy until she makes a big mistake; she
falls in love. There is a subplot that is just as unique, involving rival
factions of the “poets.” As the two narratives converge, the shocking work of
the poets is revealed. I shall say no more! Another novel offers a comparable
narrative about a future in which the world’s social order is near collapses
and children are abducted for genetic enhancement to become super fighters. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Devereaux Disaster </b>($16.95, Two
Harbors Press) the son of retired secret-agent Jeremiah Jones has been
abducted. Five years have passed and he is determined to rescue him. Soon after
his arrival on the Moon, his mission turns sour. He discovered that while Joshua’s
body is near perfect, his mind has been poisoned to hate and destroy. With his
fellow cadets, they have a mission to attack specific targets on Earth to unite
its warring nations<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">. </b>Suffice to say
this is a most unusual science fiction novel and one that means Jeremiah can
only save the world if his son and fellow cadets are destroyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Catholic church has been in the news for its failure to respond to the problem
of priests who abuse children and a novel by Gregory Alexander, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Holy Mark: The Tragedy of a Fallen
Priest </b>($14.99, Mill City Press) takes on this issue as it delves deep into
the psyche of a man whose reprehensible acts are perhaps only surpassed by
those intent on destroying him. It is a psychologically compelling novel of
family, power, and revenge. The author brings insight to the subject having
taught English at several Catholic schools in New Orleans. For those who love
an old-fashioned mystery, they will welcome news that Johnny Shaw is back. His
2011 novel, “Dove Season” won the Spotted Owel Award for a debut mystery and
now he’s returned with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Plaster City </b>($14.95,
Thomas & Mercer). Set in California’s Imperial Valley, it’s another raucous
caper starring Jimmy Veeder and his best friend Bobby Maves from his earlier
novel. Jimmy has settled into a steady life as a farmer and family man, but
when Bobby’s teenage daughter goes missing, the two launch their own
investigation only to end up in the middle of a violent turf war between a
fierce motorcycle gang and a powerful crime lord fighting it out on a desolate
strip of desert known as Plaster City. It’s a big-hearted escape that
establishes Shaw as a novelist to watch and read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
love a good title and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Six Months of
September</b> ($10.00, available from Amazon.com and other outlets) surely
qualifies as eye-catching. Mark Allen gives us Duncan Walsh, a former reporter
who has struck up a friendship with tour guide Agnes, a beautiful college
student working at the Chicago Museum of Natural History. When she disappears
he makes national news and Duncan decides to launch his own investigation. With
the help of his best friend, Luis, and Agnes’s boyfriend, James, the search is
on. James’ father is a Chicago Police Commander, This is already working on the
second installment in the Duncan Walsh detective series and you will enjoy
going along as he and his friends uncover secrets and discover who is working
hard to conceal them in this debut. Allen is a graduate of the University of
Illinois in Urban and the John Marshall School of Law in Chicago, so he knows
the territory of which he writes. The pace never slackens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That’s it
for April. Come back in May as I can guarantee you that many new books are on
the way. And tell your book loving friends, family and co-workers about
Bookviews.com so they too can learn about many fine books that do not
necessarily get the attention they should.</span></b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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</div>
</b><br /></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-72873897251010275422014-02-28T09:41:00.000-08:002014-03-03T10:15:09.516-08:00Bookviews - March 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRU1v0Darw52gRwZfaKsMPdXJ9UVMbDsbCrhJPa4lC9C71Gm5CId3bdQCNyE3-c9vrKNcDkW51JPPhh3NFfd_el2uiXfYbonyJQ4DJD0AEPFbRr1xA7bdEIN65N5MrQ9J-wiDrF0dkNh8/s1600/Cover+-+Marriage+and+Civilization.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRU1v0Darw52gRwZfaKsMPdXJ9UVMbDsbCrhJPa4lC9C71Gm5CId3bdQCNyE3-c9vrKNcDkW51JPPhh3NFfd_el2uiXfYbonyJQ4DJD0AEPFbRr1xA7bdEIN65N5MrQ9J-wiDrF0dkNh8/s1600/Cover+-+Marriage+and+Civilization.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When the
U.S. Justice Department announces it will not enforce the Defense of Marriage
Act you know that same-sex marriage has the full support of the White House. An
interesting new book by William Tucker, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Marriage
and Civilization: How Monogamy Made Us Human</b>, ($27.95, Regnery) takes a
look at monogamy and how its adoption by societies in the West made all the
difference in their development as opposed to those that retained polygamy.
Monogamy contributed to less aggressive societies, ones with less crime, less
internal friction, and humanity benefitted from men who took a greater role in
raising children. Spousal relationship benefitted because they were more
devoted to one another. The story of humanity has been one of growing trust and
cooperation between the sexes and this has led to more stable communities and
nation. Every human society has created some form of marriage. Not only do a
couple pledge fidelity to each other, it draws the line between the bonded
couple and the group. Tucker says that everywhere polygamy is practiced, it
creates conflict. There is much to be said for traditional marriage and its
history and practice is presented in this book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmtLq2gGkjir9sXScpLnnMo1dYjkpXWIArYlRw-Vf8RW7zBxF5bxu0bOKwEut2jJc6KGR4j-8TtCBdD7gVmnIQIzaxN4mv6fsHIJicRKqWad9yGftb9QmzHO1dS-7_9LSwH24PtqlyKI/s1600/Cover+-+The+Great+Withdrawal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmtLq2gGkjir9sXScpLnnMo1dYjkpXWIArYlRw-Vf8RW7zBxF5bxu0bOKwEut2jJc6KGR4j-8TtCBdD7gVmnIQIzaxN4mv6fsHIJicRKqWad9yGftb9QmzHO1dS-7_9LSwH24PtqlyKI/s1600/Cover+-+The+Great+Withdrawal.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Craig R.
Smith has written seven books individually and, with Lowell Ponte, another
five. These books look at economic and governmental issues with a particular
emphasis on the way progressivism has undermined the dollar and the ability of
the nation to achieve and maintain our remarkable leadership in manufacturing
and in finance. That is beginning to falter and you will want to read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Great Withdrawal: How the Progressives’
100-Year Debasement of American and the Dollar Ends</b> ($19.95, Idea Factory
Press, Phoenix, AZ). Far from being a dry analysis, it is a dramatic
examination of what is happening in America today and why. The book opens with
a look at Detroit, the largest American city to declare bankruptcy and why
decades of bad management and corruption have led to its debasement. This is
happening in many cities across the nation led by progressives. These cities
build huge ranks of government workers with ample pension and other benefits
that thrive off of the middle class until it begins to move to the suburbs to
escape the ever rising taxes and other costs. In addition to the $17 trillion
in debt on the books, the U.S. has off-the-balance-sheet federal liabilities
estimated to be at least $87 trillion. The trillions pumped into the economy in
recent years have largely been wasted via crony capitalism or simply failed to
“stimulate” growth. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Your life and
that of your children and grandchildren are being affected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVuQ1jhfI7o09kh19hmzqtFhsYjlK3sczq0ohmAQDxwqzIHosGB8ln2W3src2apElOqPpJepzo-ptSfeLac7Pm7YHfZdRSU-XOmSTkgr13DwjbzKj-7zkEOPif5eU0X3aVvLGBI4cPSPo/s1600/Cover+-+United+America.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVuQ1jhfI7o09kh19hmzqtFhsYjlK3sczq0ohmAQDxwqzIHosGB8ln2W3src2apElOqPpJepzo-ptSfeLac7Pm7YHfZdRSU-XOmSTkgr13DwjbzKj-7zkEOPif5eU0X3aVvLGBI4cPSPo/s1600/Cover+-+United+America.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In a
nation that appears to be seriously divided, we owe Dr. Wayne Baker, the author
of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">United America </b>($15.25, Spirit
Books, @ Amazon.com, softcover) a debt of appreciation for a book about “The
surprising truth about American values, American identity, and the 10 beliefs
that a large majority of Americans hold dear.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dr. Baker is the chair of the Management & Organizations area at the
University of Michigan Ross School of Business and his book is based on his
research over several years. The values American share include respect for
others, freedom, security, self-reliance and individualism, justice and
fairness, among others. They are shared by a vast cross-section of Americans of
differing political outlooks, gender, and other elements. These values are
strongly held. The book is not some boring academic study, but a lively
examination of the values and one that will be of use to individual readers as
well as educators and groups devoted to preserving the nation that is suffering
the deliberate effort to divide Americans by class, sex, and other attributes.
I recommend this book for anyone concerned about the current divisions we hear
and read about daily. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnaKve0L_YOkQpKIHD4UmJIAn_NVARzhuRZSqqHnwCYSfehzOiz6hZCHbhlubGQGBgmNnhrX9cz4RlXOMUC_PTSVEjn7duvUTqDXH3Z3PHI0dFNcYEDl26XWBpBQR0DfIhSs-QlaSsbjM/s1600/Cover+-+HRC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnaKve0L_YOkQpKIHD4UmJIAn_NVARzhuRZSqqHnwCYSfehzOiz6hZCHbhlubGQGBgmNnhrX9cz4RlXOMUC_PTSVEjn7duvUTqDXH3Z3PHI0dFNcYEDl26XWBpBQR0DfIhSs-QlaSsbjM/s1600/Cover+-+HRC.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fans
of Hillary Clinton with an eye on the 2016 elections will find <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of
Hillary Clinton </b>by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes ($26.00, Crown
Publishing) of interest as these two journalists, the former who covers the
White House for Bloomberg News and the latter for The Hill, look back over the
past years since 2008 when her political ambitions took a hit from an unknown
Illinois Senator when he was became the Democratic Party nominee for President
and won. In the six years since then, she has reemerged on the world stage as
one of its most influential figures. She is now regarded as the front-runner
for the Democratic ticket in 2016 and this book provides a look at what they
regard as a master strategist at work. She would become Obama’s Secretary of
State and one of his greatest allies and advocates. While the authors report
both her successes and stumbles, based on numerous interviews, take the reader
behind the scenes. Both hold her in high regard and this book provides readers
with their coverage and views of the decisions she made and their likely effect
on the next national elections. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A book
that is likely to generate a lot of discussion is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business</b> by
Christopher Leonard ($28.00, Simon & Schuster). I must confess I was
astonished to learn that when you’re buying beef, pork or chicken, it turns out
that four beef companies control 85% of the national market while four
companies control 65% of the park. As Leonard points out, forty years ago there
were 36 companies that produced chicken, but now there are two that provide
half of the chicken we eat, controlling every aspect of the process from the
egg to the chicken to the chicken nugget. The result is that meat prices
relentlessly increase while the share of every dollar that goes to farmers is
falling. The profit margins of the nation’s biggest meat packers continue to rise
even as the national economy is lagging in other sectors. The Big Four, Tyson,
Cargill, JSB, and Smithfield saw their average profit margin double between
2008 and 2009, and then double again between 2009 and 2010. Why the federal
government felt it necessary to send millions to these and other farmers in
“farm aid” begins to raise serious questions for consumers and 80% of the farm
bill was devoted to funding food stamps. Anyone interested in how this sector
of the economy functions will find this book very interesting and just a tad
scary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of my
enduring childhood memories was riding the train to the New Jersey shore where
my grandparents lived and, since it was the war years, I recall visiting with
the many young soldiers who were on the train, all destined for combat. At my
grandparent’s home, the trains came by every day and it was a treat to wave at
the engineers and have them wave back. Trains in those days belched huge clouds
of black smoke. These memories were evoked by Tom Zoellner’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Train</b>, ($32.95, Viking) in which he
tells of his rail travels around the world, starting in the birthplace of the
locomotive in England. He shares the history of trains in the various nations
he visits from Russia, China, India, in South America and, of course, the U.S.
where the train transformed and expanded the nation to the West. Along the way
he talked with many others on those trains and gains a glimpse into their
lives. He does so with a gift for prose that borders on poetry. He is a very
good writer and that greatly enhances the trips he invites the reader to take
with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Readers
are just as frequently writers and many wish to polish their skills. A book
that will help them is Natalie Goldberg’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life with Language </b>($16.00, Atria Books,
softcover) in which she draws on her four decades as a teacher and writer to
share her practical experience. She has written twelve books and this one will
prove helpful to anyone who wants to learn how to tap into their own life. For
anyone headed for college this fall or attending one, Halley Bondy has written
an entertaining book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">77 Things You
Absolutely Have to Do Before You Finish College </b>($14.99, Zest Books,
softcover). A great gift for high school grads and college students, it is
filled with ideas that will surely enhance the experience beyond the classroom.
Among her tips are starting an on-campus club, learn how to prepare a perfect
meal, and learn self-defense. There’s bound to be a recommendation in the book
that a student will find worth trying out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
(Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
coming out of college and looking toward a career in the world of business,
Robert L. Dilenschneider provides a lot of good advice in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Critical First Years of Your Professional Life </b>($15.00, Citadel
Kensington, softcover). The author made his name in the field of public
relations, but has found time to author a dozen advice books. This one includes
a foreword by TV business news host, Maria Bartiromo, who notes that “Mobility,
personal and professional, has dramatically increased” and that “Technology has
created new opportunities for advancement in the world of work.” Dilenschneider
recalls an era when mentors helped the newcomer learn the ropes. His book
“substitutes for all those generous men and women who would have helped you in
an earlier era.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you or someone you
know is just starting out, make sure they read his book. It will give them an
advantage of those who do not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">These are
nervous times for investors, but there are some fundamentals and Timothy F.
McCarthy, a former president of Charles Schwab & Company before leading
overseas asset management companies. His book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Safe Investor: How to Make Your Money Grow in a Volatile Global
Economy</b> ($30.00, Palgrave Macmillan) should be your first investment
whether you are just starting out or whether you are questioning your present
investment program. Despite the plethora of investment information available,
most people feel uncomfortable to some degree these days. This book shows the
reader how to mesh three dimensions of investing, asset classes, countries, and
time to create a strategy that will ensure they have enough to get them through
their retirement years. Since many have others manage their investments,
McCarthy tells readers what they need to know to make a good choice and what to
expect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so many choices an
investor can make that it is surely helpful to understand one’s own psyche
before putting money on the line and that is what Brian Portnoy’s new book is
all about. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Investor’s Paradox: The
Power of Simplicity in a World of Overwhelming Choice </b>($27,00, Palgrave
Macmillan) is the work of a man who has been advising hedge funds and mutual
funds for the past 14 years. Portnoy is currently the Head of Alternative
Investments and Strategic Initiatives for Chicago Equity Partners, a $10
billion asset manager and he came to them with an impressive resume so the
reader can be confident he really knows what he is writing about. He addresses
how to select the right money managers and investment vehicles and how to avoid
the losers. With literally tens of thousands of investment choices, his advice
and insights regarding what he calls behavioral finance, he demystifies the
opaque world of financial entities, providing practical tools for investment
success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">All of us
have sat through too many meetings that had no structure and did not lead
others in the room toward successful cooperation. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic Conversations that
Accelerate Change</b> ($32.00, Simon and Schuster) authors Chris Ertel and Lisa
Kay Solomon are on a mission to eradicate time-sucking, energy-depleting
meetings and workshops, and replace them with high-engagement strategic
conversations that foster better cooperation. Their book offers a few core
principles on the best ways to get an organization facing a high-stakes
challenge to address it despite conditions of uncertainty using inter-active
problem-solving sessions that engage participants, not just analytically, but
creatively and emotionally as well. This book will help leaders at all levels
achieve this whether it is a business challenge, educators and healthcare
practitioners mired in slow-to-change sectors, or enterprising business school
students with ambitions to tackle the big challenges. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlJUTOV2fTTlkdoXpbs1g3W1Gm0AJJ-rjJpJ0PGoGCC2h3KYaAWHcklOTWRkUE94qgfYjtbTkimGx__U8TbVyn_YIctfKsAiaZsnc2Q7fMgD5QsTXDIY826Duj-PBOrXypfoNtwAKmlY/s1600/Cover+-+Show+and+Tell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlJUTOV2fTTlkdoXpbs1g3W1Gm0AJJ-rjJpJ0PGoGCC2h3KYaAWHcklOTWRkUE94qgfYjtbTkimGx__U8TbVyn_YIctfKsAiaZsnc2Q7fMgD5QsTXDIY826Duj-PBOrXypfoNtwAKmlY/s1600/Cover+-+Show+and+Tell.jpg" height="200" width="196" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those who have to
make a presentation, the first problem to overcome is the “jitters”, the fear
of not being able sell ideas by using visual thinking. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Show and Tell: How Everybody Can Make Extraordinary Presentations </b>Dan
Roam ($27.95, Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin) presents a powerful guide to
give everyone the confidence they need to share their story with any audience.
Roam has previously authored two international bestsellers and this book is
relatively short, but goes right to the core of how to help others see what we
see. Filled with page after page of illustrations, he demonstrates how to
entertain, educate and motivate an audience. He has worked with major
corporations and his book will show you how to achieve the success that he has
had. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There
isn’t an industry, business or enterprise of any kind that doesn’t have
associations. There are an estimated 100,000 professional and trade societies
that can help anyone open the doors to their personal success. Robert Skrob,
CPA, CAE, is an expert and he has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Your
Association Shortcut: The Definitive Guide for Generating Customers Through
Associations </b>($7.86, Association Marketing, softcover). This book,
officially published in April, but available now via Amazon.com, will teach you
how find associations in your field and to select the best ones for your brand.
Then he teaches how to get the most value from your association. He has coached
a diverse range of associations including some of the largest in the world in
fields that include medical, manufacturing, chambers of commerce, from the
local to the state and national levels. And he has helped thousands of
companies tap into the power of associations to generate customers for their
own business. “Associations are the affiliate partner you never knew you had,
promoting your company as a member benefit” says Skkrob, “Plus association
marketing gives you more credibility as everything you do carries the implied
endorsement of the association.” As someone who has provided public relations
services to associations over the years, this is a book you definitely should
read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To Your Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We now
live in times when you’re not old until you have gotten passed 70 or so.
Maintaining one’s health to ensure that the senior years are not beleaguered by
ill health has become a significant concern. That’s why books like Robert
Moroney’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Total Body
Detoxification: The Way to Healthy Aging </b>($16.95, Swing-Hi Press,
softcover) is well worth reading even if you are still in your early years. The
author details his own battles with lung cancer and hepatitis that causes
stress and addictions to alcohol and drugs. Then he shows, step by step, the
research, modalities, and healing regimens he employed to help himself and
others recover from physically and mentally debilitating conditions. He’s been
in private practice for 16 years as a nutritionist and peak-performance coach.
As someone who has taken vitamins and minerals to enhance my own health, there
is much in this book that will benefit any readers. You can avoid the toxins
and you were learn which ones and why.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_pZeWerhyphenhyphenQ0uUxFatXxFRVGAViIikFSbJCpevvi0JU-G_QLEYtOV9E5VA3HF0mdTzulMy3YICSSEYR8OesSBci2EUJjsKZFRZMXayqIqd4Q8Tu8XSpJd0lY0ZDa_SLZOvWobys3JaVs/s1600/Cover+-+Healthy+Joints+for+Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_pZeWerhyphenhyphenQ0uUxFatXxFRVGAViIikFSbJCpevvi0JU-G_QLEYtOV9E5VA3HF0mdTzulMy3YICSSEYR8OesSBci2EUJjsKZFRZMXayqIqd4Q8Tu8XSpJd0lY0ZDa_SLZOvWobys3JaVs/s1600/Cover+-+Healthy+Joints+for+Life.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Healthy
Joints for Life </b>by Dr. Richard Diana, MD, ($17.95, Harlequin, softcover) an
orthopedic surgeon and a clinical instructor at the Yale School of Medicine was
a former National Football League player and he uses that experience and his
later profession to learn how to deal with problems involving inflammation, a
common joint ailment. He has put his plan to reduce pain and inflammation, how
to avoid surgery, and to get moving again into his book. Having been named a
Top 100 Doctor, he has been an orthopedic consultant to several collegiate
athletic programs, as well as the Boston Red Sox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His book provides a proven 8-week program
that can help any reader with joint-related physical ailments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Biographies and Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading
about the lives of real people, past and present, is an excellent way to not
only learn the lessons of history, but to learn how others coped with the
challenges of their times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A new look
at James and Dolly Madison is provided by Bruce Chadwick in a biography of the
same name, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America’s First Power Couple:
James & Dolly Madison </b>($24.95, Prometheus Books) regarding the fourth
President’s service and the role that his wife played. Historians have tended
to regard Madison, credited with much of the creation of the Constitution, as a
boring, average President, while others have regarded him as a vibrant, tough
leaders and a very successful commander in chief during the War of 1812. A new
portrait emerges as the result of recently uncovered troves of letters at the
University of Virginia, among other sources. He credits a lot of Madison’s
success to the political savvy of his much younger wife whose social skills
created a dynamic role for the position of First Lady with parties and backdoor
politicking. This makes for lively reading about a couple whose life together
contributed much to the future course of the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We
remember F. Scott Fitzgerald for his book, “The Great Gatsby.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Careless
People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby</b>, ($29.95,
Penguin Press) Sarah Churchill takes us back to the autumn of 1922 when he was
at the height of his fame for “Tales of the Jazz Age.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His return to New York that year coincided
with another event, the discovery of a brutal double murder in New Jersey, an
unsolved case that is all but forgotten today. The news coverage of the event,
however, would influence Fitzgerald who began writing “Gatsby” in the autumn of
that year. He would write of his fictional characters, “They were careless
people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and retreated back
into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them
together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An
interesting memoir by Tony Cointreau, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ethel
Merman, Mother Teresa…And Me: My Improbable Journey from Chateaux in France to
the Slums of Calcutta </b>($24.95, Prospecta Press) is the story of a life of a
man who was an heir to the French liqueur family who enjoyed a successful
international singing career and, after several years on the Cointreau board of
directors, found himself seeking something more meaningful for his life. Despite
the wealth and success, his youth was impacted by an emotionally remote mother,
an angry bullying brother, a cold and unprotective Swiss nurse, and a sexually
predatory school teacher, all of which led him on a lifelong quest for
unconditional love and for a mother figure. Initially he found her in the
internationally acclaimed beauty, Lee Lehman, and then the famed Broadway diva,
Ethel Merman, who became his mentor and “other mother.” His memoir addresses
his close family relationships with both women and, then in quest of more
meaning to life, his years of work and friendship with Mother Teresa as his
“last mother.” He speaks of the value of sharing even a small part of oneself
with others.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ethel Merman was a
legendary Broadway musical star and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nothing
Like A Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theatre</b> by Eddie
Shapiro ($39.95, Oxford University Press) will delight anyone who loves the
musical theatre with its interviews of twenty of the greatest leading women of
Broadway. Among them are Carol Channing, Chita Rivera, Angela Lansbury, and
Patti LuPone, along with some of the younger stars such as Audra McDonald and
Kristin Chenoweth. Shapiro’s encyclopedia knowledge enhances the conversations.
He is a longtime critic who has covered the arts for several publications</span>. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The man
who conceived of the method of saving the life of someone choking on something
is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Heimlich Maneuvers: My
Seventy Years of Lifesaving Innovation</b> by Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, MD
($19.95, Prometheus Books, softcover). His memoir tells of his best known
procedure as wll as his other life-saving inventions. He is the inventor of the
Heimlich Chest Drain Valve that saved thousands of lives during the Vietnam War
and the MicroTrach which provides a remarkably efficient way to for people to
take oxygen. Anyone interested in medicine will find this memoir of interest as
he describes his research, as well as the controversy and resistance he
encountered. A very different memoir is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bosnia List: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Return </b>($16.00,
Penguin Books, softcover) by Kenan Trebincevic and Susan Shapiro who brought
her journalist skills to bear on the story that begins when Tebincevic was age
eleven, living a happy life in the quiet Bosnian town of Breko. In the spring
of 1992, war broke out and his friends, neighbors, and teammates all turn on
him because he was Muslim. He relates his family’s final terrifying year in
Bosnia and their miraculous escape from the brutal ethnic cleansing that
ravaged the former Yugoslavia. Though he swore he would never return, after two
decades in America he honored his father’s wish to visit their former homeland.
The visit in which he wanted to revenge the treatment his family received tells
a story of redemption for the horrors to which they and others were
subjected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Books for Young Readers
& Teens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of my
favorite publishers of books for young readers is Charlesbridge of Watertown,
MA. In February they published for the very young, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Feathers—Not Just for Flying </b>by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by
Sarah S. Brannen, ($17.95) that provides a glimpse into the real lives of birds
in the wild and the role their feathers play for flight and camouflage or to
line a nest. It’s educational and entertaining. This month <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wild About Bears</b> by Jeannie Brett ($17.95) will also appeal to
those aged 6 through 9. They author introduces them to all eight species of
bear and via some great watercolors, takes them around the world where they
live including a map of where they can be found, as well as interesting
information about bear traits and behavior, how they raise their young, and how
they find food. This book, too, is both educational and entertaining. For those
aged 4 to 7, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Music Everywhere! </b>By
Maya Anjera, Elise Hofer Derstine and Cynthia Pon, ($17.95) published in
February as a celebration of music and the joy it brings. It is filled with
photos of children around the world singing, dancing, and playing instruments.
It will inspire some youngsters to explore their own musical passions. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle </b>by
Cheryl Bardoe and illustrated by Alan Marks ($16.95) is aimed at those age 5 to
9 and they might find fascinating to learn about a beetle that loves to feed on
dung. Sounds disgusting, but it isn’t. It is filled with amazing facts and
compelling images that will appeal to the very young. Older readers, age 10 and
up will find <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ocean of Fire: The Burning
of Columbia, 1865 </b>by T. Neill Anderson ($16.95) an insight into the Civil
War as the author tells of Sherman’s march on Atlanta that included the
destruction of southern cities like Columbia in South Carolina. The story is
told through several characters, both real and imagined. This is historical
fiction that makes such events come alive for younger readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Tony Tuso
Faber has teamed up with Benton Rudd, an illustrator, for a series of books in “The
Poodle Tales” series and book one is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Poodlemania
</b>($15.99, Mindster Media) that readers from age 4 to 9 will enjoy for both
the artwork and the delightful story of a boy and girl poodle who get together
and share various growing up skills, life lessons that readers will learn as
well. The stories are light, comical, heartfelt, and educational. You can check
out this book and the series at </span><a href="http://www.thepoodletales.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.thepoodletales.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">. The author is a very talented lady
who began her modeling career at age 13, published a California magazine, and
pursued many other interests. She and her husband, Bruce, live in Orange County
with their three poodles. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Find Momo </b>($14.95,
Quirk Books) is filled with photos by photographer Andrew Knapp of his border
collie. He began posting photos of Momo in Instagram hiding out in all kinds of
settings from Central Park in New York as well as fields, snow banks, and toy
stores. They became an Internet sensation and young readers age 4 to 7 will
surely enjoy them in this delightful book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKGiyqlEMnIN9Hxx9GUMIyyDFON3HJM9RKgrAjIhWX9ybAfalqIUz1xiQT4zRaB1MMkpOiK4fwBHoZt2Rx5khB_NufVq9uFXI1rykieNuvMZO21kYUPmNPLnvcgZhX9jS0QkJxdwvcDQA/s1600/Cover+-+Sophie's+Stoop+Story.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKGiyqlEMnIN9Hxx9GUMIyyDFON3HJM9RKgrAjIhWX9ybAfalqIUz1xiQT4zRaB1MMkpOiK4fwBHoZt2Rx5khB_NufVq9uFXI1rykieNuvMZO21kYUPmNPLnvcgZhX9jS0QkJxdwvcDQA/s1600/Cover+-+Sophie's+Stoop+Story.png" height="200" width="178" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From Blue Martin Publications, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sofia’s Stoop Story: 18<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
Street, Brooklyn </b>by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson ($17.95) that is set in
the 1960s as Uncle Frankie begins telling Sofia and her counsins a story about
the day he met the baseball geat, Carl Furillo. Sofia is called away by her
Nana to do some errands and when she returns the story is over, but Uncle
Frankie shares the whole story with her and he gives her a keepsake that he has
saved since 1947. It is evocative of the era and locale, and beautifully
illustrated. A series of books from Wigu Publishing is devoted to the theme of
“When I Grow Up I Want to Be…” and the latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Teacher </b>($12.99) that begins with a girl named Carlee who wants
to become one. Her own mother is a new teacher at her school and readers
journey with Carlee on first day there as she learns about her own independence
and identity. This series is quite inspiring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For
readers age 9 to 13, two books from Capstone will provide some reading
pleasure. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sherlock, Lupin & Me: The
Dark Lady </b>by Irene Adler which draws on the original Sherlock stories and
offers a romp through 1870s France in pursuit of both a murderer and a thief.
The twist is that the characters are introduced as children, making the story
more accessible to a young audience as they find themselves caught up in a web
of crime they must investigate. It is the first in a new series. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Secrets & Spies: Treason </b>by Jo
Macauley delves into the world of England’s Reformation era as a young spy
unravels dangerous plots against the kind. A second book in this series is
title <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Plague </b>and features a
14-year-old Beth Johnson, a talented and beautiful young actress. The year is 1664
and she becomes embroiled in a perilous adventure to unravel a plant to kill
Charles II. Both books are priced at 12.95 and are a good investment in
encouraging a young reader to discover the pleasures of fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyKdQZfg1hRh5lkrXnzBf9mN4hoZPSAvstv_URIWSDBpT390__TCxwozM6pyrtkzHuBT1ZJF4MslKkYpbpUYJQKS6RbBdx1abefQwBwTV38Mm1De_KRfaPCyM4nz81qbXhmg2IsoyrT7Q/s1600/Cover+-+Moving+Target.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyKdQZfg1hRh5lkrXnzBf9mN4hoZPSAvstv_URIWSDBpT390__TCxwozM6pyrtkzHuBT1ZJF4MslKkYpbpUYJQKS6RbBdx1abefQwBwTV38Mm1De_KRfaPCyM4nz81qbXhmg2IsoyrT7Q/s1600/Cover+-+Moving+Target.png" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fans of J.A. Nance is back with her 50<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> book. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moving Target<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>($25.99,
Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster) is yet another detective novel
in which a police academy-trained former reporter, Ali Reynolds, embarks on a
trip to England with her longtime household assistant and right-hand man,
Leland Brooks. Her greatest concern is helping her friend face his
long-estranged family, but Ali soon finders herself investigating violent
crimes spanning two continents and eras as vicious attacks unfold in Texas and
an unsolved murder from the 1950s Bournemouth, Leland’s hometown resurfaces.
Though they seem unconnected, they are and readers will not put this book down
until they get to the last page.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some
years ago I reviewed Cynthia Hamilton’s novel, “Lucky at Love” and since then
she has published three more, the latest of which is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spouse Trap </b>($14.00, Woodstock Press, softcover) in which Madeline
Ridley, a Santa Barbara fundraising socialite sees her perfect life collapse in
a swirl of blackmail, sabotage, and deceit after she awakens in a hotel
room—alone, naked, and with a splitting headache and no idea how she got there.
A group of lurid photos has been sent to her husband. She is in for the battle
of a lifetime, but she discovers who her real enemy is. This is the first installment
in a new series and provides lots of provocative, interesting reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Just
out this month is Bobby Cole’s novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Rented Mule </b>($<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>14.95, Thomas
& Mercer, softcover). It is a tough, clever caper about a businessman who
has been set up by a mysterious criminal to take the fall for his wife’s
kidnapping. Behind what seems a good life, Cooper Dixon has been caught up in a
never-ending cycle of arguments with his wife and his cocaine-addicted business
partner is scheming to sell his business out from under him. When his wife is
kidnapped his face is all over the television news and Dixon must depend on an
unlikely ally to rescue his wife and clear his name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Robyn
Carr has won a number of awards for her previous novels and you will find out
why when you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Four Friends </b>($24.95,
Harlequin MIRA) that debuts in April. It is a gripping story of four
forty-something women whose lives hit the marital skids, but they find the
strength and courage to face the difficult challenges they face. Set in the San
Francisco neighborhood of Mill Valley, friends and neighbors think Gerry has
the perfect marriage with her husband Phil. It is a relationship that is more
comfortable than passionate after 25 years, three children and demanding
careers. She discovers an affair her husband had years before and he is
committed to do to make up to her, but she finds it difficult to forgive him.
With her friends she must come to terms as they too must cope with marital
problems. The shifting relationships make for interesting reading, one they
many will see in their own lives and around them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 142.2pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That’s it
for March! Tell your friends, family, and coworkers about Bookviews.com, a
monthly report on books that include nonfiction and fiction that may not
receive the attention in the mainstream media they deserve. </span></b></div>
</div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-23234228066058644652014-01-31T07:20:00.000-08:002014-01-31T07:20:56.243-08:00Bookviews - February 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcFd9b2ASYS8MkzigL8KBozhdBls7R-LPum-jKVoXa5jFb5WLEV2Pl0j8xV1qasgMYPWdRQDiFkxLtZvhIk7wigtkTkQXkvC12kts7mMxySFf1jUTO043JNfWiWm-lUn4AmrnBMCD0Tg/s1600/Cover+-+Duty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcFd9b2ASYS8MkzigL8KBozhdBls7R-LPum-jKVoXa5jFb5WLEV2Pl0j8xV1qasgMYPWdRQDiFkxLtZvhIk7wigtkTkQXkvC12kts7mMxySFf1jUTO043JNfWiWm-lUn4AmrnBMCD0Tg/s1600/Cover+-+Duty.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The new “hot”
book of 2014, debuting last month, and likely to remain newsworthy through the
November 2014 midterm elections is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Duty:
Memoirs of a Secretary at War</b> by Robert M. Gates ($35.00, Alfred A. Knopf).
As one reads this book, what becomes evident is that he writes, not just about
Iraq and Afghanistan, but about the various “wars” he fought as he became the
only Secretary to serve two Presidents, Bush and Obama, both with very
different personalities and policies. One of the wars was a political war with
Congress every day he was in office. He describes “the dramatic contrast
between my public respond, bipartisanship, and calm, and my private
frustration, disgust, and anger.” Gates arrived at the job having served for
more than two decades in the Central Intelligence Agency where, under President
George H. W. Bush, he was its director. Under George W. Bush, he had to direct
the latter years of a conflict in Afghanistan that continues to this day as
efforts were made to introduce democracy, Western values regarding women,
education, and the training of an Afghan military almost from scratch. If this
wasn’t enough, Bush43 undertook a war with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein that led to
his removal, but also led to fierce fighting ably led by General Petraeus.
While the media has emphasized what appeared to be conflicts with Obama, he
points out that he fulfilled Obama’s objectives that included a surge in
Afghanistan and the coming withdrawal by the end of this year. The withdrawal
from Iraq when it refused to agree to ways in which the U.S. forces were to be
treated has led to a renewed conflict as al Qaeda has returned to seize
portions of the nation. What impressed me was the candor with which Gates wrote
of his experience, providing insight into the incredible challenges of the job.
What is most inspiring, though, is the reason he shouldered these
responsibilities and endured so much political conflict. Simply put, it was his
love for the troops and his sense of a personal responsibility for them. On his
last day in office in 2011, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal
of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. He earned it! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicL1WdcOXFr4D3ZWUsXu4Fc6oDXCCAOcyjWJ2HE1oyqyGPdEOP_c4f1nKPYLbsXtdmUIgnjGyaPtnxV8EpuRbCXPGSTn4Mtt-q-OFR8lWN4V56cjxD69uPtWRjP0qxOB8p1_COkdRaNqk/s1600/Cover+-+Kicking+the+Kremlin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicL1WdcOXFr4D3ZWUsXu4Fc6oDXCCAOcyjWJ2HE1oyqyGPdEOP_c4f1nKPYLbsXtdmUIgnjGyaPtnxV8EpuRbCXPGSTn4Mtt-q-OFR8lWN4V56cjxD69uPtWRjP0qxOB8p1_COkdRaNqk/s1600/Cover+-+Kicking+the+Kremlin.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A new book
takes a look at Vladimir Putin, the Russian republic’s version of Stalin. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kicking the Kremlin </b>by Marc Bennetts
($16.99, Oneworld Publications, softcover) takes a look at Russia’s new protest
movement composed of those who want to see Putin removed from power, but it is
also an excellent look at the way he came to power, his biography before that occurred,
and how he has exercised it. As 2011 came to a close, 100,000 took to Moscow’s
freezing streets to protest his election victory. A few months later, Pussy
Riot, a girl band, was arrested from their anti-Putin demonstration in a
Russian orthodox cathedral. As the book makes clear, opposing Putin can get you
arrested and even killed. A series of assassinations of Russian journalists and
protest leaders is far more than just a coincidence. Despite his protestations
that the Russian constitution which protests free speech and public protests,
doing so has become hazardous at best and Russia has no history of such
activity, having been run by dictators from the czars to the communist
dictators who replaced them. It is a good book to read as we get ready for the
Winter Olympic Games, but it is worth reading to understand more about Putin
and Russia whose economy is heavily dependent on its exports of oil and natural
gas. Bennetts is a British journalist who has reported from Russia, Iran and
North Korea for many years and, from late 2011 through early 2013, he worked
for RIA Novosti, the now dissolved Russian state-run news agency. Suffice to
say Putin controls the media. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMhYWDpVLpR0-yFHnk6mzUXcrDBXf3XKAH4sqLTsPmGQNsRnfrspOSDwBKnG3k-n-BDT4pX5eMPDx2J_U9H5mDj4tw-nSY85l6Jz_tJbbFgJXcdL4dOVY-ooNYN694RE1HM2ICe-KuKik/s1600/Cover+-+The+Revolt+Against+the+Masses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMhYWDpVLpR0-yFHnk6mzUXcrDBXf3XKAH4sqLTsPmGQNsRnfrspOSDwBKnG3k-n-BDT4pX5eMPDx2J_U9H5mDj4tw-nSY85l6Jz_tJbbFgJXcdL4dOVY-ooNYN694RE1HM2ICe-KuKik/s1600/Cover+-+The+Revolt+Against+the+Masses.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Revolt Against the Masses: How
Liberalism Has Undermined the Middle Class </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Fred Siegel ($25.99, Encounter Books, imprint of the
Perseus Books Group) may sound like some boring political or historical
treatise, but, if you want to understand how we have reached this point in our
society where Socialism has given us the disaster called Obamacare, then this
will prove to be an interesting, easy-to-read re-write of history of much of
what you may have come to believe about Socialism. For example, it did not
begin with Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressivism or Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Siegel tells how it began after World War I in the 1920s when a group of
writers and thinkers—intellectuals—disillusioned with American society began to
call themselves liberals as they adopted the hostility to the bourgeois—the
masses—that was already in vogue among European intellectuals. Liberalism was
born among a new class of politically self-conscious intellectuals who were
critical of mass democracy and middle-class capitalism; you know, the values
that made the U.S. the greatest economic power the world has ever seen! Well
worth reading!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An
interesting book about an aspect of history that is generally unknown is
Nicholas Johnson’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Negroes and the Gun:
The Black Tradition of Arms </b>($19.95, Prometheus Books). A professor of law
at Fordham Law School where he has taught since 1993, Johnson chronicles the
underappreciated black tradition of bearing arms for self-defense that reaches
back to the pre-Civil War era. From Frederick Douglass’s advice to keep “a good
revolver” handy as a defense against slave catchers to the armed
self-protection against the KKK, it is clear that owning firearms was
commonplace in the black community. He also addresses the issue of young black
men with guns and the toll that gun violence takes on many in the inner city. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Home Book: The Complete Guide to Homeowner and
Homebuilder Responsibilities</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
($49.95, Building Standards Institute, Sacramento, softcover) is intended to
show homeowners what to expect with any new or remodeled home. It covers every
possible condition referencing homeowner and homebuilder maintenance, providing
380 residential workmanship guidelines that are presented in are easy-to-read.
Most homeowners don’t know where to find answers when they discover a defect in
their new or remodeled home and this is particularly true if they aren’t
detected right away. What, for example, are homeowners to do when the roof of
their new home springs a leak? Or kitchen cabinets sag? Or they smell mold in
the bathroom? The book was vetted by more than 70 industry professionals as
well as government building officials, trade organizations, and consumer
interests groups. It is the real deal and will no doubt save homeowners a lot
of grief if they read it and keep it handy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I enjoy
what even I admit are “silly” books, but that is because many are written to
entertain as well as inform. A good example is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Scared Stiff: Everything You Need to Know About 50 Famous Phobias </b>by
Sara Latta ($12.99, Zest Books, softcover). We are generally aware of common
phobias such as fear of heights, acrophobia, or confined spaces,
claustrophobia, but there are others that include fears of insects, dogs, cats,
mice or rats, to name a few. And let’s not leave out fear of germs. The book
helps readers understand that they are not alone in have extreme fears. Ms.
Latta comes from a science background so the fears noted in the book are
treated seriously and she includes helpful information on how to cope with
phobias, although some must surely require professional counseling when they
interfere with living a normal life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
baseball season is around the corner and for fans of the Boston Red Sox, Lew
Freedman has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The 50 Greatest
Players in Boston Red Sox History </b>($17.95, Camino Books, softcover) that
takes a look at its 110-year history that had it share of great players like Cy
Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carlton Fisk and David Ortiz, to name some of
those that come to mind. Freedman has authored more than sixty popular sports
books and this one will be a must-read for fans of this ball club. In addition
to examining the personal stories of the best-known players, Freedman studies
the careers of some of the excellent athletes who represented the club so long
ago as to be nearly forgotten. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In
addition to having been a business and science writer for decades, I have
largely earned my living as a public relations counselor, so I know something
about PR. It is an essential element of success for entrepreneurs,
corporations, the government, associations and individuals seeking to call
attention to their causes and achievements. That’s why I am happy to recommend
Christina Daves new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">PR for Anyone</b>,
($14.95, Morgan James, softcover). Proof of the good advice she offers to small
business owners is the fact that she has appeared on more than fifty media
outlets in less than one year! It is filled with easy, actionable tips that
would make that possible for anyone who reads her book. Public relations is an
essential element of marketing one’s products and services, but many are
unaware how to put it to work for themselves. Her book will open doors and
create the “buzz” that lifts one’s business into public view, the kind of thing
that can increase sales and achievement. It’s also a good reason to consider
hiring a PR professional if you lack the time to do it yourself. Knowing the
process helps you judge their success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
excellent book for entrepreneurs is Tom Panaggio’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Risk Advantage </b>($14.95, River Grove Books, softcover). We all
approach risk from our personal point of view and clearly some people are
greater risk-takers than others. For those less inclined to take a risk, this
book will prove very helpful as it explores our inclination to do so or not. As
the author says, “The unexpected edge for entrepreneurial success starts with
identifying a worthy risk and then having the courage to take it. It is the
story in part of how Pannagio and his partners created a thriving American
business and he uses his amateur racing exploits as a metaphor. “By viewing
risk as just another challenge when opportunity presents itself, you’ll grab
that edge—and win!” That’s true, but he also addresses how to deal with the
failure than might occur from taking a risk and that’s an important part of
being ready to risk again. This is fundamentally a book about the choices and
judgments that anyone engaged in business must make and, after reading it, you
will be better prepared to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Advice on How Live More
Wisely<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There is
virtually no aspect of life that someone has not written about to provide
advice on how to cope, how to succeed, and how to make it better in some
respect. As 2014 begins, here are some of the latest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwXeKHUWMo_ng8rH7tk1_G91w_3qp8XOl5_WoVbnAq3WsEQ0vzgPJ2jCy2T0apo3LHnMeLWOQS-dImKmiG2SipBfkcdWfa0xmQzPlSmU8lQv06N2SjBNpdz963zal-lrsGFWbe5BDwVM/s1600/Cover+-+the+Up+Side+of+Down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwXeKHUWMo_ng8rH7tk1_G91w_3qp8XOl5_WoVbnAq3WsEQ0vzgPJ2jCy2T0apo3LHnMeLWOQS-dImKmiG2SipBfkcdWfa0xmQzPlSmU8lQv06N2SjBNpdz963zal-lrsGFWbe5BDwVM/s1600/Cover+-+the+Up+Side+of+Down.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mastering the Art of Quitting: Why It
Matters in Life, Love, and Work </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Peg Streep and Alan Bernstein ($24.95, Da Capo Press) runs counter to what we
are told about never giving up and thinking positively. Sometimes those
negative thoughts about our habits, our relationships, or our jobs are the
right ones and should be acted upon. As the authors say, “Quitting is a
healthy, adaptive response when a goal can’t be reached or when a life path
turns out to be a blind alley. Simply putting quitting on the table—seeing it
as a possible plan of action—is a necessary first step to changing your
perspective.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They argue that the most
satisfied people have mastered the art of disengaging from unproductive goals
and creating better ones to move them in a new direction. Grounded in the
latest research, the book examines why people persist when they shouldn’t and
how to fully disconnect from unproductive goals, cope with emotions caused by
quitting, and form, prioritize, and implement better objectives to move people
forward. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Upside of Down: Why Failing
Well is the Key to Success </b>by Megan McArdle ($27.95, Viking), a Bloomsberg
columnist, examines how to find success by how quickly and nimbly we learn from
our mistakes. A Libertarian, she makes a case for the way America is unique in
its willingness to let people and companies fail, but also in the determination
to help them pick themselves up afterword. She argues effectively that we have
become too risk averse and that it is bad for ourselves and our children, as
well as for enterprises that fail to compete effectively. The nation is in an
era of “bailouts” that tap taxpayer dollars and may not serve as well as a trip
to the bankruptcy court. Drawing on new research in science, psychology, and
behavioral economics and insights from many who have experienced failures, she
offers good advice on how to learn to make better decisions and break bad
habits in business and life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
book about transforming our lives is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I
Like Giving: The Transforming Power of a Generous Life </b>by Brad Formsma
($14.99, WaterBrook Press, softcover). If you feel that you’re not as generous
as you should be, you’re not alone. We have been told that it is better to give
than receive and Formsma is on a mission to change the way we see generosity as
he challenges us to give wherever they are and in whatever manner they can. He
wasn’t always that way, but a number of experiences convinced him of the truth
of this. He is a successful entrepreneur and a philanthropist who, in 2007,
sold his business to helping others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two
problems that some encounter are addressed in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cheating Parents: Recovering From Parental Infidelity </b>($14.95, New
Horizon Press, softcover) and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Facing the
Finish: A Road Map for Aging Parents and Adult Children </b>(15.95, Bascom Hill
Publishing Group, softcover).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
former, written by Dennis Ortman, PhD, a clinical psychologist, reflects his
more than 35 years of counseling experience working with individuals suffering
from the trauma of parental infidelity and examines how that affects their
lives, especially when they too become adults. It affects their ability to have
intimate relations, often cheat on their partners or marry those who cheat on
them or are emotionally disengaged in their relationships. In a society where
nearly forty percent of men and twenty percent of women in all economic stratus
admit to having affairs during marriage, this is a very big problem. Their
children often end up as walking wounded. Like so many others these days when
parents are living longer lives and encounter the problems of old age, I could
have used Sheri L. Samotin’s book on how adult children and their parents can
address those problems. No one wants to think of their parent’s death and this
includes the parents as well. Her book tackles the issues involved, offering
advice on choosing the right caregiver, choosing to live at home, with family,
or in the perfect senior housing community, as well as the fear of outliving
one’s money or living on a fixed income when the cost of everything is rising.
If this book reflects your present situation, I would strong recommend reading
it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We all
have concerns about our health and fitness, and Ken Blanchard, the co-author of
the bestseller, “The One Minute Manager”, and Tim Kearin, a fitness coach, have
teamed up to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fit at Last: Looking
and Feel Better Once and For All </b>($24.95, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San
Francisco). It has been lauded by both fitness experts and those in the
business world, but Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen summed it up saying, “In the Army,
teamwork and discipline are key to building successful teams and leaders.” In
their book, “Ken Blanchard and Tim Kearin team up to deliver a disciplined
holistic formula laced with personal challenges and successes that many of us
have experienced in our quest to maintain physical fitness. This book will
inspire you to not only begin but persevere toward the sheet job of being
fit—at last.” The book is filled with excellent advice and I agree that it will
change your life for the better after you have read it. And, for those with a
big tummy, pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">21-Day Tummy:
The Revolutionary Diet that Soothes and Shrinks Any Belly Fast </b>by Liz
Vaccariello ($25.99, Readers Digest). Based on the latest research on the
importance of eating anti-inflammatory and carb-light foods, the book is
enhanced by more than 50 recipes that are delicious recipes to make weight loss
easier, as well as inspirational stories and advice from those who found
success with its recommendations. It’s about healthy eating and we all can
benefit from that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><strong>Memoirs<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For many,
the desire to set down the details of their lives and what they have learned
from them results in writing a memoir. We can often gain some insights from
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Hero Among Us: Memoirs of an FBI
Witness Hunter </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Jim
Ingram with James L. Dickerson ($19.95, Sartoris Literary Group, Brandon, MS,
softcover) is filled with Ingram’s personal experiences with some of the events
of his career. Ingram passed away in 2009 after having served as well as
Mississippi’s Public Safety Commissioner. It sheds light on some of the
notorious cases of the modern era such as the assassination of President
Kennedy, the “Mississippi Burning” civil rights murders and bombings, the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the murder of Federal Judge John
H. Woods, the FALN bombings by Puerto Rico separatists, and the FBI
counterintelligence operation known as COINTELPRO. It is about the remarkable
career of a remarkable man. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0FAgcqColK5kfqJoxJjHnTaoAQV9ezDAC4rTPFPJM9m26Z7PHL5JjCtOvZ4fsq0m9K5lxFAXcnFq0Bj9LIt9gT0XPX_1SU0em3BIIGvTzEdiZniCQCI_HQk5A9XBfgXVooWWDZgl38U/s1600/Cover+-+Dancing+Fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0FAgcqColK5kfqJoxJjHnTaoAQV9ezDAC4rTPFPJM9m26Z7PHL5JjCtOvZ4fsq0m9K5lxFAXcnFq0Bj9LIt9gT0XPX_1SU0em3BIIGvTzEdiZniCQCI_HQk5A9XBfgXVooWWDZgl38U/s1600/Cover+-+Dancing+Fish.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dancing Fish and Ammonites: A Memoir </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Penelope Lively ($26.95, Viking)
has an intriguing title as one might expect from a successful author of many
books for both adults and children, including the Man Booker Prize-winning
novel “Moon Tiger” and others. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of
the British Empire in 2012. It is a reflection on old age and, if that describes
you, then you may find it of interest. It spans many years of her life from a
childhood spent in Cairo and later at an English boarding school when her
family was forced to leave due to the turmoil that occurred in Egypt and led to
the seizure of the Suez Canal. I must confess I was unaware of the author’s
career and books, but it must be said that she tends to ramble at length
throughout so I suspect it will be of greater interest to those who are fans of
her books and interested in the subject of old age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Most Beautiful Girl: A True Story
of a Dad, a Daughter, and the Healing Power of Music </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Tamara Saviano ($16.95, American
Roots Press, softcover) has a foreword by Kris Kristofferson, the singer and
actor. Saviano has achieved remarkable success and happiness in the music
industry as an award-winning producer of albums. In 2012, she won the Americana
Music Association’s Album of the Year award for tribute albums, but growing up
she lived in fear as the frequent victim of her father’s abuse when he was
under the influence of alcohol. When he wasn’t drunk, he was an adoring father
who was her staunchest ally. The title of the book comes from the famous song
of the same name. Now a 52-year-old woman, she shares her story and anyone who
loves country music and may have experienced a similar childhood will find it
of interest and value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Antoinette
Tuff put her life and her faith on the line when she confronted a young school
shooter and talked him back from the brink of killing students at the school in
Atlanta. She tells her story in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Prepared
for a Purpose </b>($24.99, Baker Publishing Group). This memoir will inspire
those who share her faith in God. She averted a tragedy while demonstrating
courage. This is a story as well of how she faced up to and overcame tragedies
in her own life. The account of her confrontation with the shooter is worth
reading as is her life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The deluge
continues. For every novel mentioned there are many others, but since reading
fiction is a great way to relax or gain insights that may not be addressed in a
non-fiction book, I am happy to recommend a few of those that have arrived.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdexSJ_NqcoHPiEOJs_qe3Tb9-jF28EXuiF_cPFZ2jgm-ByS_EhMT0p5iX5RLUb6NUElvtZOK-yx-GdlLfUWfZa5Y-WeV4F2wV1mmLf2Zl7w41MxZpAC1w0qs2RJhR3omu53gPhWLqV4/s1600/Cover+-+Gasline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdexSJ_NqcoHPiEOJs_qe3Tb9-jF28EXuiF_cPFZ2jgm-ByS_EhMT0p5iX5RLUb6NUElvtZOK-yx-GdlLfUWfZa5Y-WeV4F2wV1mmLf2Zl7w41MxZpAC1w0qs2RJhR3omu53gPhWLqV4/s1600/Cover+-+Gasline.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
been reading and reviewing Lior Samson’s novels now for several years and
enjoying each one. He has a special talent for taking issues and events from
real life and turning them into fictional suspense and action. This is true of
his latest novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gasline</b> ($14.95.
Gesher Press, an imprint of Ampersand Press, Rowley, MA, softcover). Samson is
comfortable addressing science and technology, but they are the background to
the plot which, in this case, involves a safety engineer for a company that
owns natural gas pipelines. Kat Gaudet in the field and Len Bergen, a
technician in the company’s control center are drawn into events that involve a
cyber-attack that could set off a huge explosion. It is so real because the
events in the book reflect those that have occurred and, as he says in the
author’s afterword, “The threat is real. Many parts of our natural gas
transmission pipeline system are controlled by networks that are wide open to
intrusion and to sabotage by relatively simple methods. Having written “Web
Games” Samson knows his way around the technical aspects involved, but this new
novel takes it to a new level of riveting storytelling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels
reflect real life or potential risks and Todd M. Johnson addresses what would
happen if a nuclear facility that turned out plutonium during the Cold War
suddenly has a huge explosion. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Critical
Reaction </b>($14.99, Bethany House) focuses on the fictional Hanford Nuclear
Facility’s poisoned buildings that must be guarded by men from sabotage as they
monitor the building which they have been told the dangers are under control.
The main character, Kieran Mullany, survives the blast, but is met with threats
and silence when his attempts to discover what really happened are raised. He
reconnects with an old friend, an inexperience lawyer, Emily Hart, and both are
convinced that those in charge are hiding something, concluding they will not
get far in the courts. Emily’s estranged father, Ryan, has the courtroom
experience they need and, together, he digs for answers and, as he does, the
court case gets stranger and more dangerous for them. This is an excellent
debut novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I liked
“Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs when it was
published in 2011 as a unique fantasy story paired with haunting vintage
photography. Though a “young adult” novel, it could be equally enjoyed by older
readers and it spent more than 60 consecutive weeks on The New York Times
bestseller list. Film rights were sold to Twentieth Century Fox with a release
date of July 2015. A sequel arrived in January, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregine’s Peculiar Children </b>($17.99,
Quirk Books) and begins where the first book ended, opening as Jack and the
other peculiars are on the run from “wights” posing as soldiers. Desperate to
reach London before it’s too late, the children hope to find a cure for their
beloved Miss Peregine who is trapped in a bird form! Along the way they
encounter a menagerie of peculiar animals. The story doesn’t let up until the
end and the sequel is likely to be another bestseller. One has to wonder what
Riggs has in store for book three.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuN1QnJevhQSfLAOMbzlMpyAdabMJbxqSlfpPBg1L4MUxFBAhjbyFcu3snUsY2XjTwLWBnqEYefULEJ6zUvZsqFxHqaDk0GKvxHekSJMouhLgziRBPtAQZWjYJrwwRaaDKmRvaZ-7neE/s1600/Cover+-+Whales+Head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuN1QnJevhQSfLAOMbzlMpyAdabMJbxqSlfpPBg1L4MUxFBAhjbyFcu3snUsY2XjTwLWBnqEYefULEJ6zUvZsqFxHqaDk0GKvxHekSJMouhLgziRBPtAQZWjYJrwwRaaDKmRvaZ-7neE/s1600/Cover+-+Whales+Head.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We can
welcome the debut novelist, K.C. Woodworth who has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cutting Off A Whale’s Head </b>($14.95,
Page Publishing, softcover) whose intriguing title is just the start of a
fast-paced story that introduces us to Cree Quinn, a victim of the recession
that has wreaked havoc on his adult-novelty business and other investments. He
finds himself facing a vast financial loss that threatens to take away the
family home and the fund for his young son’s college years. Suffice to say he
is desperate until he learns of a decomposing carcass of a killer whale near
the Golden Gate Bridge and, even though it is against the law, decides to cut
off its head and sell it. Sounds bizarre? Yes, but that’s just where the fun
begins. This novel will make you laugh and make you root for Quinn right up to
when he is arrested and becomes a public hero of sorts. I won’t tell you how it
ends. Along the way you will encounter a variety of wonderful characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am a bit
late in taking note of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">To
Sleep…Perchance to Dream</b>, an October debut novel by Donald A. Grippo
($24.00, Turn the Page Publishing) as a sexy, psychological thriller starring
an Eurasian beauty, Mai Faca, who plots to marry Jake Warden, a successful oral
surgeon forbidden to her because of family honor. In a bizarre scheme a fellow
surgeon falls victim to Mai’s seduction as she and Jake play a cruel game in
order to be together. Jake acts with surgical precision to clear the path to
Mai’s happiness that threatens lives, including his own. The novel has a dense
plot that will keep you turning the pages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">William F.
Nolan, the author of “Logan’s Run”, notes that there have been more than 450
books written about the Kennedy assassination, but that John A. Gaetano’s
novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America’s Deceit</b> ($23.40, WD
Murray, softcover) “is the only one to explore the full truth regarding the
death of our thirty-fifth president” noting that it is backed by thirty years
of research that dismantles the “lone gunman” theory. Gaetano is convinced that
Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill JFK! At close to 700 pages, it is a novel “that
conspiracy buffs have been waiting for”, calling it “a mind-blower.” It fully
fits the description of being an epic novel and it is one whose author is
convinced that the government has engaged in a cover-up. That catch is, of
course, this is a work of fiction about a Pulitzer Prize-winning
photojournalist whose life is changed by his investigation into the
assassination. Gaetano was an active member of the Screen Actors Guild from
1977 through 1988 and is a skilled story-teller. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two
softcover novels from Langdon Street Press debuted in December. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last Ferryman</b> by Gregory D. Randle
($14.95) is set in Millerville, Minnesota, a ferry town and Buck Shyrock is
certain it will stay that way. A local ferryman, his livelihood, like his
father’s and grandfather’s before him, depends on it, but there are rumors that
a bridge is coming to cross the Wabash River, though he dismisses them as
gossip. It isn’t and as the construction begins, his family tried to help the
old man accept the unstoppable progress. This isn’t just a story about
progress, but also its impact on people’s lives and that of the community in
which he lives. Randle grew up on the Wabash River in southeastern Illinois.
This is his debut novel and a very good one. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Here By Mistake: The Secret of the Niche </b>by David Ciferri ($14.99)
is about Brandon and his friends, Stephen and Sarah, who sneak into his Aunt
Faye’s basement that is filled with antiquated treasures. They find more than
they were looking for. It is a trove of gold coins, a knight’s armor, a stuffed
grizzly bear on a pedestal and a mysteriously decorated niche. As they read the
Latin inscription they leave New York 2005 and are transported back to another
time and place, New Orleans 1965. They find the niche again, but gain a new
perspective, not only about their history, but about the lives of people they
think they know best. It is an intriguing story.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for February! Tell your book-loving family, friends, and co-workers about
Bookviews.com so they too can enjoy its eclectic report on books, some of which
are bestsellers, but which focuses on books that may not receive the attention
they deserve. </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-7690713843587187442013-12-31T07:10:00.000-08:002014-01-02T07:08:23.965-08:00Bookviews - January 2014<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The one
book you must read as the new year begins is Murray Holland’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Nation in the Red: The Government Debt
Crisis and What We Can Do About it </b>($28.00, McGraw Hill) for its chilling
message about the economic collapse of America and the steps that must be taken
to avoid it. In recent years I have received a number of books on this subject,
but Murray’s stands out, not only for the facts it cites, but for the way it
can be easily comprehended by someone who has little to no grasp of our
economic system. “The national debt can never be paid off. It is like a cancer
we will have to live with for the rest of the life of the nation,” says Holland
and the facts about the size of our debt, the matrix of socialist programs that
contribute to it, and the explosion in spending and borrowing that is driving
the nation to collapse. The debt stands at $19 trillion and may be over $33
trillion in just ten years. The nation’s Gross Domestic Product—how much we
take in for the sale of goods and services—is less than what it is paying out
for its many socialist programs (Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare,
unemployment, student loans, and housing). The financial problems that European
nations that embraced socialism are a clear warning sign that it can and will
happen here without a significant reduction in the federal government’s
spending and borrowing. Murray calls it a Debt Trap and the implications for
Americans, now and generations to come, are frightening. For eighty years since
the Great Depression, Americans have been adopting socialist programs precisely
as its enemies have wanted. The bill is coming due. Another recent book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Financial Crisis and the Free Market
Cure</b>,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>by John A. Allison
($28.00, McGraw Hill) is also worth reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s hard
to believe that the U.S. has been engaged in a military conflict in Afghanistan
since 2001. For most Americans it has been a war to which little attention was
paid unless one had a son, daughter or loved one stationed there. Now the noted
photographer Robert Cunningham, along with Steven Hartov, has captured the
lives, the dedication, the sacrifices, and service of our military that served
there in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Afghanistan on the Bounce:
Boots on the Ground with the U.S. Military and the International Security
Assistance Force </b>($40.00, Insight Editions), a large format book that will
fill your heart with pride. Cunningham was embedded with our troops over the
course of 132 missions, photographing all aspects of the military operation
there, including photos of Afghans old and young. The book is a real treasure
and beautifully produced as page after page testifies to their courage, humor
and humanity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A book you
are not likely to hear about in the vast leftist media of the nation is by a
former CIA espionage officer, Kent Clizbe. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Willing Accomplices: How KGB Covert Influence Agents Created Political
Correctness, Obama’s Hate-America-First Political Platform, and Destroyed America
</b>($18.99, softcover, $5.99 Kindle, and $21.95 audio, Andemca Publishing,
available from Amazon.com.) Clizbe tells how, shortly after Lenin was able to
seize control of Russia and establish communism there, he instituted a program
to undermine America under the direction of the KBG, its security service.
While historians have written about Russia and its massive espionage program,
they lack Clizbe’s background and thus have not made the connection between its
program of political correctness, the infiltration of the media, academia,
education and entertainment. The result is an educational system that falsely
depicts our Founders, our history, and our values of individualism and, of
course, capitalism. In these major factors of our society, America is constantly
depicted as racist, sexist, and imperialistic. The result is generations of
Americans who have been encouraged to loath the greatest nation in the world.
Clizbe documents who the major players in this effort have been and are. His
book explains much of Obama’s agenda. We are dangerously close to being
destroyed as a nation by at least half the population that has been corrupted
by political correctness, a hatred of America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Conscience of the Constitution:
The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Timothy Sandefur ($$24.95/$12.99
ebook, CATO Institute) combines law, history and political philosophy for a
powerful defense of the Constitution. Like many Americans, I came late to
reading the Declaration, response to the arrogant actions of the British crown
and parliament to colonies that had ruled themselves for a century and had
grown weary of taxation without representation. Sandefur notes that the word
“democracy” does not appear in the Declaration, but “liberty” does and that it
should set the framework for interpreting the Constitution, a governing
instrument notable for putting limits on a central government while ensuring
that the states and citizens retain their rights, not granted but acknowledged
by it. “Liberty comes first, and order arises from it. We have gone astray in
our constitutional understanding because we have upended that relationship.” As
the current administration demonstrably limits our liberties—Obamacare is a
prime example, requiring Americans to purchase something they may not want or
need—current polls indicate that they have begun to awaken to the danger and
are swinging back to a more conservative interpretation and practice. This book
will interest anyone who takes a serious interest in the subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In an era
in which we are all constantly being manipulated by government, special
interest groups, and others, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Push Back! How to Take a Stand Against
Groupthink, Bullies, Agitators, and Professional Manipulators</span> </b>by
B.K. Eakman ($14.95, Skyhorse Publishing, softcover) examines scenarios of mass
indoctrination and demonstrates how to recognize and counter them effectively.
An educator and international and national human rights advocate, Eakman<s><span style="color: red;">,</span></s> provides a guide to spotting how professional
manipulators exert power over a room and steer discussions back to their
agendas without ever answering audience questions or addressing their concerns.
They often employ techniques to ostracize those who challenge their assertions,
questioning or criticizing them. This is an extremely useful book when hoaxes
and deceptions are advanced by such people. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZoe6SjxHPmqvbeAqrR_F2S1X4_eZGI7yramQoNs1-I2BAQkLzcLDF5J9VAZ_Imn3jjCb6KbkAiZVc72iAYkodRhnfJgnkeAkmnt-ru7RFgNc0QC1epQucvPeTmyhXVmfVilOAiGt1ijk/s1600/Cover+-+The+Big+Screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZoe6SjxHPmqvbeAqrR_F2S1X4_eZGI7yramQoNs1-I2BAQkLzcLDF5J9VAZ_Imn3jjCb6KbkAiZVc72iAYkodRhnfJgnkeAkmnt-ru7RFgNc0QC1epQucvPeTmyhXVmfVilOAiGt1ijk/s200/Cover+-+The+Big+Screen.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
who loves films, both old and new, there is a special treat to be had in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies </b>by
David Thomson ($18.00, Farrar Straus Giroux, softcover) because this
British-American film critic and historian has written a fat volume based on
his encyclopedic knowledge of movies. It is a sweeping history of cinema that
an enthusiast will enjoy in every respect. One cannot talk of film history without
noting the legendary director <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Ford </b>($22.95,
Lake Street Press, softcover) by Joseph Malham who takes us into the life of
the six-time Oscar winner for classics such as “The Grapes of Wrath”, “How
Green Was My Valley”, and “The Quiet Man.” He is perhaps best known for his
Westerns, “Stagecoach”, “The Searchers”, and “The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance”, all made with his longtime friend, John Wayne. The book is subtitled
the “Poet in the Desert” and Malham provides interesting insight into Ford’s faith
and Irish roots, that both contributed to his portrayals of families,
communities, and history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am born
and bred in New Jersey, so when I received Lynda L. Hinkle’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breaking Up: Finding and Working with a New
Jersey Divorce Attorney </b>($12.44, Amazon.com, softcover), which, though it
is focused on New Jersey law, is filled with excellent advice even if you live
elsewhere. As she makes clear, divorce is one of the most stressful situations
one can encounter. What I found notable was the tone of the book. It is
clear-headed, the kind of advice one needs to receive. Hinkle is a divorce
attorney and has been through her own divorce. If I were getting a divorce, I
would want her in my corner. Her book will put her there for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
(Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
a number of books devoted to achieving success in business and we can count on
many more to come in the year ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigZUruj6oaJPnjz2UnAvgWmNMRSeK-klEKea19JfrVglcApiwhWTvWIXdCOEa5l30pvNJumy5UoQZJizB921tAdrizZRRP4Iy2uYCwgN39HXckrBdno_FwHXfyf69Oz3Cmt52gf3Vew-g/s1600/Cocwe+-+Best+Thing+that+Could+Happen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigZUruj6oaJPnjz2UnAvgWmNMRSeK-klEKea19JfrVglcApiwhWTvWIXdCOEa5l30pvNJumy5UoQZJizB921tAdrizZRRP4Iy2uYCwgN39HXckrBdno_FwHXfyf69Oz3Cmt52gf3Vew-g/s200/Cocwe+-+Best+Thing+that+Could+Happen.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A lot of
people are stuck in jobs they don’t like or battling hopelessness as the seek
employment these days. For them, Sander A. Flaum’s book, written with Michele
Flaum, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Best Thing That Could Ever
Happen to You: How a Career Reversal Can Reinvigorate Your Life </b>($16.95,
Big Shoes Publishing, softcover) should be at the top of their reading list.
With a foreword written by former astronaut, Senator John Glenn, it is an
easy-to-read, how-to guide that moves readers out of their no-win employment
rut and gets them back in charge of their job search. Flaum, who is chairman of
the Leadership Forum at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business
Administration, shows how to work harder and smarter to come out on top in the
interviewing process. The bottom line is that the book teaches readers how to
deal with their fears and shortcomings, get passed their inhibitions, and find
the job that is right for them. The author really knows what he is talking
about and, if you’re seeking a new job, this is the book for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An
interesting book about a classic case of what happens when a corporate leader
plunders his corporation is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Taking
Down the Lion</b> by Catherine S. Neal ($28.00, Palgrave Macmillan) as she
examines the rise and fall of Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski. He had grown a little
known New Hampshire conglomerate into a global giant, but in a stunning
succession of events, he suddenly lost his job and was indicted during the
post-Enron era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was convicted of
wrongfully taking $100 million from Tyco to engage in a lifestyle that put him
in jail. He is due for release soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The 25<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
anniversary edition of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People </b>by Stephen R. Covey ($30.00/$17.00, Simon &
Schuster, hard and softcover) is widely regarded as one of the most inspiring
books ever written and been read by leaders of business and industry, as well
as students preparing to enter the employment marketplace. More than twenty
million copies have been sold. Covey presents a holistic, integrated,
principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems.
This is a book devoted to fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity. In
sum, no matter your age or status, this book can give your life a boost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Totally
beyond anything I understand or know about is data science, so I will trust
those who recommend John W. Foreman’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Data
Smart: Using Data Science to Transform Information Into Insight </b>($45.00,
Wiley, softcover). The book shows you the significant data science techniques,
how they work, how to use them, and how this will benefit your business, no
matter if it is large or small. And the best part says the author is that
anyone can learn how to do this. The author is the Chief Data Scientist for
MailChimp.com where he leads a data science product development project. As an
analytics consultant, he has created data science solutions for the Coca-Cola
Company, Royal Caribbean International, the Department of Defense, the IRS and
the FBI, among others. Sergiusz Prokurat, an economist and historian, takes a
look at the way work is changing and, in some cases, disappearing as robots
replace people, in his book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Work 2.0:
Nowhere to Hide </b>($9.99, Kindle $4.99, softcover). It is an intellectual
examination of how the introduction of new technologies, particularly the
computer and the Internet, has begun to transform the way work has been defined
in the past and, in addition to the skills required to be connected to the
world, how work is increasingly about knowledge and the provision of services
needed to convey it in the digital age. Gone are the days one gets hired by a
corporation and stays there for his career. Mobility, flexibility and other
traits will play an important role in the new age. This is a book that anyone
involved in organizations large and small as well as a young man or woman
coming out of college will benefit from reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mental States<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some
publishers specialize in various topics because it interests them and
presumably might interest a lot of other people. The world of the mind is a
topic about which <em>Prometheus Books</em> has a number of titles that, if you find yourself
thinking about what you’re thinking, you might want to read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Let’s
start with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Think: Why You Should
Question Everything </b>by Guy P. Harrison ($16.95. softcover) which challenges
everyone to think like a scientist and embrace the skeptical life. This book
will help you improve your critical thinking skills, see through most scams at
first glance, and learn how your own brain can trip you up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It shows you how to navigate through the maze
of biases and traps that are standard features of every brain. As a result, we
often trick ourselves into thinking, remembering, and believing things that are
not real or true. It is an upbeat book that’s fun. Are you moody? Who isn’t?
Maybe you should pick up a copy of Patrick M. Burke’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mood: The Key to Understanding Ourselves and Others </b>($18.95,
softcover). The author is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University
of Arizona and his book is a comprehensive developmental approach to
understanding mood and the role that it plays in determining our outlook on life
and our ability to cope with its challenges. We all know people who are
generally happy and others who always seem to be in a bad mood. Most of us fit
in somewhere between the two poles. Mood, says the author, is the way we are
tuned into the world and begins early in our lives as relationships play a
central role in shaping our moods. Security or insecurity, loss or the fear of
loss of key relationships, especially in childhood can have lasting effects on
the way we view the world. If you’re in a mood to learn more, this book will
prove of interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Believing: The Neuroscience of
Fantasies, Fears, and Convictions </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Michael McGuire ($19.95/$ll.99, softcover or ebook) asks and answers the
question what are beliefs and how have evolution and culture led to a brain
that is seemingly committed to near endless belief creation? Once established,
why are most beliefs difficult to change? The author is professor emeritus of
psychiatry and behavior sciences at the University of California, LA. He takes
the novel approach of focusing on the central and critical role of brain
systems and the ways in which they interact with the environment to create and
maintain beliefs. This is fairly heavy duty reading, but for the inquiring
mind, it will prove quite satisfying. It seems like “fairness” is the being
spoken of all the time these days, particularly in a political context.
Fairness has intrigued philosophers and social thinkers in both Eastern and
Western societies for millennia. L. Sun, a professor of biology at Central
Washington University, trained initially at East China Normal University in
Shanghai before pursuing further studies in the United States. The result of
that is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fairness Instinct: The Robin
Hood Mentality and Our Biological Nature </b>($24.95/$12.99, hardcover and
ebook). Sun examines the innate sense of fairness displayed by human beings in
all kinds of societies throughout history and argues that it is an emotion and
behavior rooted in our DNA rather than a product of ideology or convention. He
cites studies that show that even monkeys react negatively to patently unfair
treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we generally regard
fairness as a good thing, Sun shows that there’s a down side when it plays too
great a role in leveling inequalities, producing rigid social structures where
only mediocrity is condoned. Well worth the time to read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many books
on the subject of leadership have crossed my desk in the many years I have been
a reviewer. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Way of the SEAL: Think
Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed</b> by Mark Divine, Commander, U.S.
Navy SEALs (retired) with Allyson Edelhertz Machate ($21.99, Reader’s Digest)
examines those attributes of military life that can be translated to the
civilian world with exercises, meditations, and other techniques to train your
mind for mental toughness, emotional resilience, and uncanny intuition. Divine
served in the SEALs for twenty years and has led a number of
multimillion-dollar business ventures since his retirement. His book distills
the fundamentals of success into eight powerful principles that impart his
experience to teach you to think like a SEAL in order to take charge of your
life at work, at home, and in life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Moving on
from Prometheus Books, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Happily
Ever After: The Life-Changing Power of a Grateful Heart </b>by Trista Sutter
($24.99, Da Capo Books). Twenty-six million viewers watched ABC’s first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bachlorete</i> get swept away in a fairytale
romance and many wished they could be as lucky as the author. Courted by a
handsome, poetry-writing firefighter in some of the world’s most luxurious
destinations, the match was for read, Trista and Ryan celebrated their ten-year
anniversary in December of last year. They now have two children, a dog, and a
fulfilling family life. In her book, she shares her thoughts on the importance
of living a thankful life while chronicling her personal journey and including
stories from friends as well as experts. I have no doubt this book could help
someone hoping their dream of lasting love come true and wondering, perhaps,
why it hasn’t yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Alan C.
Fox’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">People Tools: 54 Strategies for
Building Relationships, Creating Joy, and Embracing Prosperity </b>($16.95,
SelectBooks, softcover) is filled with good advice on how to deal with many of
life’s many problems such as having the same argument with a sibling, parent or
child, deciding whether to end a relationship, determining if it’s time to make
a career change or whether a business partner is trustworthy, to name just a
few of the topics addressed in this book. At age 72 Fox has university degrees
in accounting, law, education and professional writing. Along the way he has
had his own law firm and founded a commercial real estate company in 1968 that
manage more than seventy major income-producing properties in eleven states. With
more than seventy years of experience, he shares it in a way that can help the
reader avoid life’s pitfalls and develop successful relationships.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To Your Health (Books)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Americans
more be more obsessed about their health than any other people. The books
devoted to it keep coming and here are some of the latest that have arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The media
is filled with images of beautiful bodies, but in real life, a lot of the
people we encounter are overweight or just not the “hard bodies” we’re told
should be a goal. If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to lose weight and
get gorgeous, then you should consider <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Burn
the Fat, Feed the Muscle </b>by Tom Venuto ($27.00, Harmony) who has worked in
the fitness industry since 1989, including 14 years as a personal trainer. He
promotes all-natural, healthy strategies. The book is not about becoming a
fitness model or a body-builder, but rather how to use the same techniques they
employ to improve your own health and fitness. It’s a big book and it has
plenty of advice that answers pretty much the answer to every question one
might have and lots of information you may have encountered. He makes sense on
every page. I</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjISDxuTfRA28TpOLzZpmqlQJu-DMCY8NN9PhJ-RhgzTIWww3mJjQ4AGItB8KqoFGEwH0JsotwJ2Wj8J9C9QFIIqHjkNIvTwiDku0ZLaMLA3e_wMRgcIJ8pfsPSTNLAFmfXUpm9nENPTMg/s1600/Cover+-+Toxic+Staple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjISDxuTfRA28TpOLzZpmqlQJu-DMCY8NN9PhJ-RhgzTIWww3mJjQ4AGItB8KqoFGEwH0JsotwJ2Wj8J9C9QFIIqHjkNIvTwiDku0ZLaMLA3e_wMRgcIJ8pfsPSTNLAFmfXUpm9nENPTMg/s200/Cover+-+Toxic+Staple.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you’ve been wondering about the reason you are seeing more
gluten-free foods for sale and wondering if it is just the latest trend, you
should read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Toxic Staple: How Gluten May
Be Wrecking Your Health—and What You Can Do About It </b>by Anne Sarkisian
($17.95, Max Health Press, LCC, New London, NH, softcover). The author notes
that true celiac disease, the body’s inability to process the wheat protein
known as gluten, is only found in a small percentage of the world’s population,
but she regards them as just the tip of the gluten iceberg, estimating that at
least 10%, but perhaps as many as 40%, of Americans may be sensitive to gluten.
That sensitivity results in chronic health conditions from arthritis to zits,
asthma, cancer, fatigue, migraines, memory loss, and osteoporosis. The test for
such sensitivity, however, is rarely used in the U.S. Since I lack the
knowledge to verify or dispute the author’s assertions, the best I can suggest
is that, if the subject interests you, this book will surely prove helpful. As
she says, “Eliminating it from the diet is the easy part. The hard part is
getting doctors to take gluten sensitivity seriously and test for it
adequately.” Judging from the praise the book has received from health
professionals, she is clearly onto something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What to Do When You Can’t Get Pregnant
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Dr. Daniel Potter
with Jennifer Hanin ($18.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) is now in its completely
revised and updated second edition as “The complete guide to all the options
for couples face fertility issues.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
those couples struggling with fertility issues, navigating the clinical medical
jargon while trying to communicate with partners, doctors, friends and family
can be a challenge. Dr. Potter was named one of 2012’s top reproductive endocrinologists
by the U.S. News and World Report. Team with Ms. Hanin, a freelance journalist
and the mother of twin girls conceived through in vitro fertilization, their
book walks the reader through the various aspects of fertility procedures. For
those couples dealing with the issue, they will take comfort in known they are
not isolated and without direction in facing their problem. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At the other end of
the spectrum, postpartum depression, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This
Isn’t What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression </b>by Karen R.
Kleiman, the founder of The Postpartum Stress Center, and Dr. Valarie Davis
Raskin, a psychiatrist ($17.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) us also in its second
edition, revised and updated. It is a condition that affects in in five women
and the authors who both spent two decades working with women who experienced
it have written a book that anyone encountering it or who knows someone
encountering it should definitely read. The healing process involves combatting
negative thoughts and taking the time to take care of oneself, including if
needed medications and therapy. The good news is that one can recover if they
take the right steps. Another aspect of motherhood is discussed in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the
Reality of the Biological Clock </b>($19.95, Prometheus Books, softcover) by
Tanya Selvaratnam as she confronted the biological clock that determines
childbirth and, as she points out, biology does not bend to feminist ideals and
science does not work miracles. A self-described feminist, the author learned
this the hard way. Part personal account, part manifesto, Salvaratnam dispels
myths about women’s biological clocks, the difference between being child-free
versus childless, and the many other aspects of fertility and infertility
involved. She wants a wider discussion about delayed motherhood and she has
filled her book with valuable information to advance that goal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Greg S.
Pergament is a clinical associate at the Las Vegas Recovery Center and an
ordained Zen Buddhist and Taoist priest who has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chi Kung in Recovery: Finding Your Way to a Balanced and Centered
Recovery </b>($14.95, Central Recovery Press, softcover). Chi Kung is the art
of cultivating life force energy and the book describes a selection of
exercises that are designed to boost health, enhance vitality, and increase
mind-body-spirit consciousness. An ancient Chinese health care system, it
integrates physical postures, breathing techniques, and focused attention.
Westerners are more inclined to want to pop a pill or embark on some strategy
to quickly get to recovery. If that’s not working for you or someone you know,
this book unlocks the ancient secrets that may ensure that recovery becomes a
long term solution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Every day
novels arrived here at Bookviews and, while they provide a bit of
entertainment, one wonders what compels their authors to write them. This is
particularly true of the self-published ones which have been a growing trend in
recent years. My job is just to let you know about some of those that have been
received.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
husband and wife team of Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini have authored the
second installment in a lighthearted historical mystery series set in the early
days of San Francisco’s nineteenth century. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Spook Lights Affair </b>($24.99, Forge) and it stars a former
Pinkerton operative, Sabrina Carpenter and her partner, ex-Secret Service
agent, John Quincannon. It is a sequel to “The Bughouse Affair.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each is pursuing a case, one of which
involves a socialite’s mysterious suicide while another is the pursuit of a
bank robber. The reader is treated to a tour of the city’s gaming houses and
brothels, taking them back to that era. It is a lively, entertaining read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jason
Porter makes his debut with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Why Are You
So Sad? </b>($15.00, Plume, softcover) whose main character is Raymond Champs,
an illustrator of manuals for a home furnishings corporation. Raymond is
unhappy. He can’t sleep. He can’t communicate with his wife. And his job
provides no inspiration beyond a paycheck. No one seems to understand him,
including himself, which surely explains why he is sad. Raymond concludes that
everyone he knows and maybe everyone on the planet is suffering from severe
clinical depression and is equally convinced that something major has gone
wrong. This may not sound like an amusing story, but Porter brings a lot of
talent to examining Raymond’s problem and, in the process, will make you laugh
as you join in a search for why life in America today provides “things” but not
purpose. J. Alec Keaton makes his debut as a novelist with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When Love Never Ends </b>($16.00, Two Harbors Press, softcover). Sam
has never gotten over his one true love, Sara, but he walked away amidst racist
threats from her bigoted father. They went their separate ways. Sara got
married and Sam threw himself into work, becoming a successful lawyer for a
prestigious firm. A decade later they meet again when Sara seeks legal help and
they spend three whirlwind days today, but her jealous husband ends the reunion
with a single shot. Wild with grief Sam seeks consolation with a grief-ridden
college professor who lost his wife four years earlier and who has been
obsessed with time travel, trying to help him give up his fantasies while he
seeks to cope with his own loss. It is a mix of romance and science fiction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For a
story filled with different characters involved in triangular love, art and its
future of the Jazz Age. It is 1924 in New York and Lillian Moore, a painter,
and Leon Shaffer, an accountant, narrate <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Bohemians </b>($14.95, Black Heron Press) and take you back to an era of early
cars and telephones, silent movies, sham medical cures, speakeasies, gangsters,
and jazz. Lillian’s desires and needs, as well as Leon’s attraction to her form
the plot. Published in July of last year, it got lost in the stacks, but is
well worth reading if you enjoy a historical novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Seventh
Street Books is an imprint of Prometheus Books and has sent along three
softcover novels that offer some interesting reading experiences. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Styx & Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery </b>($15.95)
by James W. Ziskin is built around a comment by Sgt. McKeever, “If you were a
man, you’d make a good detective.” Ellie is sure he meant it as a compliment,
but she bridles at the thought that she is a woman trying to do a man’s job as
a reporter. She is adrift in her career, living in New York City when she
receives news that her estranged father, a renowned Dante scholar, is near
death after a savage bludgeoning in his home. The police suspect a routine
burglary, but Ellie has her doubts. When a second attempt on his life is made
when he is in the hospital, she embarks on her own investigation that holds the
prospect of redemption in her father’s eyes and the risk of loving him forever.
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">White Ginger </b>by Thatcher Robinson
($15.95) introduces the reader to Bai Jiang who combines Buddhist philosophy
with wicked knife skills. When a girl goes missing in San Francisco’s
Chinatown, she is called upon to track her down. The trail leads to wannabe
gangsters, flesh peddlers, and eventually to those who have marked Bai for
death. It is a cocktail of wit, charm, sex, and violence. In E. Michael Helms
novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Deadly Catch: A Mac McClellan
Mystery </b>($15.95), the recently retired U.S. Marine hooks a badly decomposed
body while enjoying a leisurely fishing vacation in the Florida panhandle and
then discovered a bag of rare marijuana is found stashed aboard his rental
boat. He realizes someone is setting him up to take the fall for murder and
drug smuggling. Along with Kate Bell with whom he has struck up a promising
relationship, the two must butt heads and match wits with local law enforcement
officials, shady politicians, and strong-armed thugs. It’s a story you won’t
want to put down until the last page.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Three
novels are written for young adults and will evoke a keen enjoyment of reading.
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Phoenix Island</b> is by John Dixon
($19.95, Gallery Books) and is the inspiration for the CBS-TV show
“Intelligence” that premieres this month and introduces the reader to a world
where orphans are sent to boot camp and forced to fight for their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When 16-year-old boxing champ Carl freeman
jumps in to defend a helpless stranger, he is sentenced to a two-year sentence
at an isolated boot camp for troubled orphans. He is determined to tough it out,
earn a clean record, and get on with his life. But then kids start to die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Realizing that Phoenix Island is really a
Sparten-style mercenary organization turning “throwaway kids” into
super-soldiers, Carl risks everything to save his friends and stop a madman
bent on global destruction. The book is based on real-life stories in his home
state of Pennsylvania. In Jennifer Walkup’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Second Verse</b> ($15.95/$11.95, Luminis Books, hard and softcover
editions) Lange Crawford’s move to Shady Springs, Pennsylvania, lands her in a
group of awesome friends, a major crush on songwriter Vaughn, and life in a
haunted 200-year-old farmhouse. It also brings The Hunt, an infamous murder
mystery festival where students solve a fake, gruesome murder scheme during the
week of Halloween. Well, supposedly fake. It is a mix of suspense and romance
with a supernatural element that is sure to entertain readers from age 12 and
up. Lastly, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Lose
Everything </b>by Philipp Mattheis that is “a mostly true story” ($14.99, Zest
Books) about a summer in 1994 in which a group of four teenagers find a small
fortune hidden inside a mysterious abandoned house and what starts out as a
blessing soon turns into a curse as stress, drugs, criminal behavior, dwindling
funds and even death raise serious questions about their choices and their
futures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for January and the year ahead promises to be filled with many new
non-fiction and fictional books that are sure to inform and entertain you. Tell
your book-loving friends, family and coworkers about Bookviews.com, a unique,
eclectic report. And come back in February!</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></b> </div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-82524093519180613902013-12-01T06:34:00.000-08:002013-12-02T06:41:12.154-08:00Bookviews - December 2013<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFyaY13_g6ZIR6MD8D2uJKpSI5ernzVVp_d7V6xcZtcW8q7n2GO-58OGFpl3KIkH2TrzE0rQxuVKRiGV5uCTeW37S3wKv5jyAdiINP3iP3qZGppUvI3vhy2Y01NTttXUtMao65VBPChQ/s1600/Cover+-+Myth+of+America%2527s+Decline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFyaY13_g6ZIR6MD8D2uJKpSI5ernzVVp_d7V6xcZtcW8q7n2GO-58OGFpl3KIkH2TrzE0rQxuVKRiGV5uCTeW37S3wKv5jyAdiINP3iP3qZGppUvI3vhy2Y01NTttXUtMao65VBPChQ/s200/Cover+-+Myth+of+America%2527s+Decline.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One book
you must read if you are feeling unhappy with the nation’s present and future
is Josef Joffe’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Myth of America’s
Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies </b>($26.95,
Liveright Publishing). A Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and
the publisher of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Die Zeit</i>, as well as
a frequent contributor to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Affairs
</i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Policy, </i>Joffe was
educated at Swarthmore College and Harvard University. He is not only
comfortable with real facts, but also has the talent to present them in an
entertaining fashion that makes for easy and compelling reading. He points out
the many times predictions have been made that America is in decline over the
past half century and explores why they have been proven wrong by both our free
market capitalist system and our national culture that continues to attract
people seeking real freedom. In my lifetime and his, pundits have claimed that
the U.S. would lose ground to Russia, Japan, and, of late, China. He dubs this
“declinism” and describes how and why such claims were and are wrong. The good
news just keeps coming on every page, along with insights to the rise and fall
of empires and nations in the past. One can read these predictions all the
time, but to give you optimism for America’s future, I recommend you read this
excellent book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Americans
look at Israel and wonder why it has not been able to achieve peace with the
Palestinians or why the Palestinians have not been able to form a state of
their own. The answer can be found in Jonathan Schanzer’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">State of Failure</b>, ($27.00, Palgrave
Macmillan) an excellent review of the history of the two entities since
Israel’s declaration of statehood in 1947. From the present day in which the
Palestinian people must contend with two separate organizations, the older
Palestinian Authority and the newer Hamas, claiming to represent them while
being in a virtual state of war with one another, united only in their desire
to destroy Israel. It is Schanzer’s view that the older group, formerly the
Palestinian Liberation Organization led by Yassir Arafat, never demonstrated
the ability or even an interest in creating a formal government structure. In
addition, Arafat controlled the millions that flowed to the PLO from donor
nations, stealing much of it for his own use. Hamas, designated a terrorist
organization by the U.S., has at least made an effort to create social services
in the Gaza area it occupies. What becomes obvious is that the so-called
leaders of the Palestinians have never been interested in statehood, preferring
cronyism and corruption to that responsibility. The current PA president has
not called for an election since 2005 when his term in elected office ended.
Why does the world tolerate such behavior? You need to read the book to learn
that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Remember
how the nation was fixated on the trial of George Zimmerman who shot and killed
Trayvon Martin in February 2012? When police arrived at the scene, it was
obvious that it had been act of self- defense and, moreover, Florida’s Stand
Your Ground law to protect people under attack rendered any further action
unnecessary. Zimmerman was not initially charged, but then the politicians and
race-hustlers got involved. The full story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">If I Had a Son</b> by Jack Cashill ($25.95, WND Books). Cashill is one
of the best investigative writers I know, His book sweeps away all the
media-generated stereotypes, particular those of Martin who was portrayed as
the victim of a racially-motivated crime. Indeed, in addition to the
prosecution who brought charges against Zimmerman despite the judgment of the
local police, the media saw the trial as a way to advocate opposition to the
Second Amendment and aggravate race relations in the nation. Even the President
weighed in saying, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” A lawyer
himself, Obama surely should have known better than to insert himself in that
fashion. It took a jury to put an end to the travesty that unfolded, finding
Zimmerman innocent. Cashill’s account of the events and the trial is well worth
reading, particularly for the information he provides about Martin who
approached, threatened, and then assaulted Zimmerman while he waited for the
police to arrive. He had already amassed a record for involvement with drugs
and petty crime, as well as having been suspended from school three times in
the 2011-2012 year. In the wake of the trial, though, it would appear that Zimmerman has become unhinged.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One book I
always recommend at this time of year is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
World Almanac® and Book of Facts </b>($13.99) for the year ahead and the 2014
edition is a great compendium of facts that one can reach for at any time for
information about the world, the nation, and data about the events that marked
2013, the U.S. economy, the States, science and technology, world history and
culture, the U.S. government and so much more. The 2014 edition has new
features that include “Marriage in America: A Changing Picture”, “Memorable
Winter Olympics Moments”, and a “Voter Guide” you can consult for the
forthcoming midterm elections. For a professional writer like myself, it is
invaluable and for anyone else it will prove a useful tool to consult. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dave Berg
was a popular contributor to MAD Magazine and anyone who grew up enjoying the
magazine will welcome news that his large body of hilarious cartoons from the
1950s to the 2000s has been gathered together in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dave Berg: Five Decades of “The Lighter Side of…” </b>($34.50, Running
Press), a large format book that, it goes without saying, would make a great
Christmas gift. It is part of a series “MAD’s Greatest Artists” and includes a
rare 1970 interview and an essay by his daughter Nancy Berg. Organized by
decade, the book starts with early cartoons that will be memorable to those who
remained fans of the magazine. It’s like sitting down with an old, very funny,
friend. Making people laugh for that long is truly an achievement.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Christmas
is a time for gift-giving and receiving. For those who love books, there is a
special attraction in classics that are beautifully leather-bound, illustrated, slipcased and
produced with an eye to they’re becoming treasures that can be passed on from
generation to generation. With this in mind, I will direct you to <a href="http://www.foliosociety.com/">The Folio Society</a> whose leather-bound, often slip-cased, selections will please the
connoisseur and the beginner alike. Among its latest titles are The Great
Gatsby with illustrations by Sam Wolfe Connelly that make it a special treat.
Indeed, Folio Society books feature the work of great, contemporary
illustrators. There’s Pride and Prejudice, and for the young and young at
heart, The Princess and The Goblin. A gorgeous children’s book is Oscar Wilde’s
The Selfish Giant and Other Stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">George
Washington has become a mythic figure in American history. We know he led the
Revolution to victory and then served two terms as our first President. Beyond
that, however, Washington is largely unknown as a living, breathing person or
as the astonishing leader, a man of often astonishing integrity, and most
certainly qualities of leadership that took him through eight years of war with
the greatest power of his time, Great Britain, and then as the man who shaped
the presidency into the one we have to this day. We owe Harlow Giles Unger, a
prodigious historian, a debt of gratitude for the latest of his more than
twenty books, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mr. President: George
Washington and the Making of the Nation’s Highest Office </b>($25.99, Da Capo
Press). When he assumed the office, it has virtually no defined powers and an
almost complete lack of power to influence events. By the time he left the
office, he had established the seven pillars of presidential power that we take
for granted today and that often remain subject to controversy when misused or
abused. It was Washington that established the presidency’s powers to control
foreign policy, military affairs, government finances, and federal law
enforcement as well as “executive privilege.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Along the way as he recounts those years, we come to know Washington as
a man who is aging, suffering from arthritis and other physical ills. We learn
that he accepted public service even though he longed to return to his life as
a successful farmer at Mount Vernon. Don’t miss out the pleasure and knowledge
this book imparts. Another book inspired by the first President is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">George Washington’s Secret Six</b> by Brian
Kilmeade and Dan Yaeger ($27.95, Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Press). Most
histories of the revolution have overlooked the full story of how Washington
put together a remarkable network of spies, knowing he would be leading a long
war of attrition against the British and would need the best information
possible on their maneuvers. Best known as being on “Fox and Friends”, Kilmeade
and his co-author have put together a fascinating story on the way his network
gathered intelligence and spread false information. In particular it is the
story of the Culper Ring led by Robert Townsend. Together they had achievements
that uncovered all manner of schemes and, in particular, prevented Benedict
Arnold from surrendering West Point to the enemy. The outcome of the revolution
often hung on the work of these patriots. Anyone who loves American history
will want to read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ever since
9/11 Americans have had to get up to speed on Islam as a virulent form of
Islamo-fascism has forced them to address the terrorism that accompanies it.
Another iconic figure, Thomas Jefferson, is famed for having an English
translation of the Quran, the Islamic bible, which he purchased in 1765, eleven
years before he wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was no fan of Islam,
nor were other Americans who had any knowledge of it. Historian Denise A.
Spellberg has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thomas
Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders </b>($27.95, Alfred A. Knopf) which
The Daily Beast has described as “essential reading in these troubled times.”
Like the other Founders, Jefferson was an avid reader and that informed many
decisions he would make in the years in which he rose to fame. As President,
Jefferson had to deal with Barbary pirates that were raiding American merchant
ships and taken sailors hostage. That led to the creation of the U.S. Marine
Corps and a mission to Tripoli to put an end to the raids. What we learn in this
intriguing book is the hostility to Islam that was widely shared among early
Americans. “Europeans and Americans after them, tended to be quite hostile to
Islam,” writes Spellberg as we discover that the feelings modern Americans may
feel were held by those who preceded them. The Constitution’s abolition of a
religious test to hold public office is the reason a Muslim was sworn into
office as a U.S. Senator in recent years. In Jefferson’s times, they were
outsiders whose inclusion represented the furthest reach of toleration and
rights in the new nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
seeking to learn more about Islam, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Koranic
Allusions: The Biblical, Qumranian, and Pre-Islamic Background to the Koran</b>,
edited by Ibn Warraq, ($32.00, Prometheus Books) explores the evidence of the
many influences from religious sources outside of Islam, incorporating stories
in the Koran about Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other characters from the Bible
that were drawn from the Jewish Torah and the Christian Gospels. Ibn Warraq is
a scholar who has authored “Why I Am Not a Muslim”, “Defending the West”, and
“Virgins, What Virgins? And Other Essays.” He is also the editor of “Leaving
Islam, What the Koran Really Says” and other books that represent a great body
of knowledge that anyone interested in Islam should most certainly read. Most
Americans have not read the Qur’an (Koran) and would be astonished to discover
its hostility to all other faiths can Islam. There is a reason for the turmoil
in the world today that we trace to Islam and it is the call to jihad or holy
war until all submit to Islam. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Honor and Betrayal: The Untold Story
of the Navy SEALS Who Captured the “Butcher of Fallujah”—and the Shameful
Ordeal They Later Endured </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Patrick Robinson ($26.99, Da Capo Press) is a case history of why morale in our
armed forces today has been savaged by the “political correctness” that has
been imposed on all the services. It is the story of a daring nighttime raid in
September 2009 in which the SEALs grabbed the notorious terrorist, Ahmad Hashim
Abd Al-Isawi, the mastermind behind the 2004 murder and mutilation of four
American contractors. Instead of being hailed for their bravery and a
successful mission, those in the chain of command gave greater weight to the
claims of Al-Israwi that he had been abused, claiming he had been punched and
given a bloody lip. What followed was pressure on the SEALs to sign confessions
to “lesser charges”, but instead they each demanded a court martial to prove
their innocence. When Americans became aware of this outrage, more the 350,000
signed petitions demanding that they be exonerated. Even U.S. congressmen
petitioned the Pentagon to drop the charges. This is a story worth reading as a
lesson of how far our military have strayed from its values under the pressure
of an administration that gives greater credence to the word of a terrorist
than to its own heroes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many
Americans are unaware of the millions who have died under communist regimes.
One instance of this was the great Chinese famine from 1958 to 1962 and it is
told in Yang Jisheng’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tombstone</b>,
($17.00, Farrar Straus Giroux, softcover). An estimated thirty million lives
were needlessly and intentionally destroyed as the result of the megalomania of
China’s leaders at the time. This is not easy reading because Jisheng has
selected 121 internal reports from local officials to their bosses. They are
frank, grisly, and specific portraits of the horrors. We need books like this
to remind us that communism has no heart and never did. The astonishing thing
about this book is that that author, a long-time journalist who worked for the
Xinhua News Agency until his retirement in 2001, still lives in Beijing with
his wife and two children. The fact that this book has been allowed publication
suggests some greater flexibility by the current Chinese leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A curious
aspect of history is the fifty members of the 27 Club, famed musicians who died
at age twenty-seven. The story of six is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">27</b> by Howard Sounes ($26.00, Da Capo Press) who focuses on Brian
Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy
Winehouse. For anyone with an interest in the music scene, this has to be
‘must’ reading as Sounes examines first their lives and, second, their deaths.
All six had troubled childhoods, fast-paced lifestyles, and mental issues that
led to depression and substance abuse, though Sounes argues that the most
recent member, Winehouse, was different from the others because she had a
stable, supportive family. Even someone like myself who did not follow their
careers nor pay much attention to their music found this a fascinating book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
best series of books filled with information about all manner of topics is
Visible Ink Press’s “Handy Answer” series, particularly as regards history.
Just out this month is the latest addition, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy African American History Answer Book </b>by Jessie Carney
Smith, PhD ($21.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover). It is an extraordinary
collection of data that highlights the history of black life in America, from
those renowned to the lesser-known who made barrier-breakthroughs in the arts,
entertainment, business, civil rights, education, government, military,
journalism, religion, science, sports, music and so much more. It is filled
with fascinating things such as who was Ringling Brothers’ first black woman
clown? What is the oldest, non-church, published black newspaper? What was the
first national Catholic black fraternal order? It is perfect for browsing and
history buffs will love it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading
memoirs and biographies is a great way to learn life’s lessons through the
experiences of others. We only get to live our own lives and must do so day by
day. A memoir takes one to other places and can be read at one or more
sittings. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I had
expected <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Life Inside the Bubble: Why a
Top-Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away From it All</b> by Dan Bongino
($00.00, WND Books) to provide some insights to what it was like to be in close
proximity to President Obama. If that would be your reason to purchase it, save
your money. Bongino gives away no secrets (no pun intended). Instead, it is a
fairly prosaic recounting of his life from his days as cop with the New York
City Police and his ambition to climb a career ladder that led to twelve years
within the Secret Service and ultimately the elite unit that protects the
presidents. Bongino has the set of values that we admire and there is nothing
here to criticize in that regard. The book does not tell you much about what
life for any President is like beyond what you might imagine on your own. The
President’s days are tightly scripted and he is the most scrupulously protected
person on the face of the Earth, but you already knew that, didn’t you? Indeed,
there is very little in this slim memoir that will surprise you. Bongino who is
running for public office is making headlines these days decrying the Obama
administration, but you will not find that in his book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Perhaps
only two percent of the U.S. population is composed of farmers and most
Americans have little or no idea what it means to be one. I had never stepped foot
on a farm until I began to travel widely in the 1980s as a photo-journalist. It
is a very different lifestyle from the rest of us and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">One Woman Farm: My Life Shared with Sheep, Pigs, Chickens, Goats, and a
Fine Fiddle</b> by Jenna Woginrich ($16.95, Storey Publishing) is a delightful
introduction and insight to what it means to be a farmer. It is a finely
crafted memoir of the author’s immersion into a life she had yearned for and
how it differs from those in cities and suburbs. It is, as one might imagine,
determined by the work of a farmer; one marked by seasons and the life cycles
tending her plants and animals. There are days for gathering applies, for
shearing, and for harvest as she chronicles a year running from October to
October. It is hard work, but she enjoys it and you will enjoy this engaging
memoir. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Graced With Orange </b>by Jamie
C. Amelio ($24.95, Meadow Lane Publishing, Austin, TX) begins with a chance
encounter in Cambodia with a little girl asking for a dollar so she can attend
school. When Amelio visited the school she discovered a very different world
from the one in which she had grown up. The visit to Cambodia turned into a
mission to provide more schools and the creation of an organization, Caring for
Cambodia.” CFC changed her life, made her marriage stronger, brought two
Cambodian girls into her family, saved her son’s life, and is in every respect
an inspiring memoir. At this point, the non-profit CFC has since 2003 helped
change the lives of more than 6,400 Cambodian children. In our comfortable
lives here in America, we are often blissfully ignorant of the challenges that
those in other nations face. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Denis
Healey, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, decided to take a year off and
travel the world without any responsibilities. He wrote about that in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breaking Free </b>and followed up with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Traveler </b>($12.95 each, Vingdinger
Publishing, softcovers), He retired at 48 and is married with one son, Sean.
They live in Warsaw, Poland these days. These two books chronicle the
experiences, both exterior and interior, of a man in search of his own
identity, facing his past and contemplating his future options. He relates some
great encounters as he crossed Turkey, traveled throughout India, Thailand,
Vietnam, Bali, and Australia. He learns about spirituality and religion, love,
poverty, and even met with Mother Theresa at one point. An interesting man in
his own right, his two books are entertaining and thought-provoking. Good
reading for the sake of good reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Songs of Three Islands: A Memoir </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Millicent Monks ($18.95, Prospecta
Press, Westport, CT, softcover) is subtitled “A personal tale of motherhood and
mental illness in an iconic American family.” The family is the Carnegie’s, one
associated with great wealth, but as the author notes, it also had a history of
mental illness the affected four generations of women. It affected the author
as well who searched for answers that led her to Jungian analysis, meditation,
and sutras that enabled her to find a delicate peace which, having reached her
sixth decade, she recounts. “If I can do something worthwhile to help people
with children who are mentally ill,” says Monks, “I would think that was
something worth accomplishing in my life.” Her daughter fell victim to it. Reading
about mental illness can be disturbing, but the author puts it into a
perspective that will help those who have encountered or are living through
similar experiences and of the three women of the Carnegie family who endured
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Books for Kids & Young
Adults<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Somewhere
under the Christmas tree there should be a book or two. There is a vast
selection of books for kids from the very youngest to the older teens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A Tree’s Christmas: A talking tree’s
story of its Christmas adventures </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
James Andrew Bowen ($9.95, Clearview Communications, Tampa, FL) is now in its
fifth season of establishing itself as a story that will be indelibly
associated with the holiday. Bowen has been a lifelong journalist. He grew up
in the rural south and had many memorable Christmas’s to recall. The story
draws on one of them in which the ritual of taking the decorations off the tree
and removing it to the garden to become mulch for the next year’s vegetables.
Laying there in the cold, the little tree draws the attention of other trees
and begins to share its story as told by Anne, a 13 year old who wonders if it
might have occurred in a dream. It is a touching, tender story and one I would
heartily recommend. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikYPk7fKrV9Nlcln2VmWpaSpRTPB0I4dZf0WrQr24yeCIwhimfZWwN15rzzywFo1ZOfR45WrRTpbiKg6lRy2kuvN-VVPVAUdO76AsyG68losp9vndt6FqnuS3OGR6JZpaX2yvtOul7q8c/s1600/Cover+-+Christmas+Tree+Elf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikYPk7fKrV9Nlcln2VmWpaSpRTPB0I4dZf0WrQr24yeCIwhimfZWwN15rzzywFo1ZOfR45WrRTpbiKg6lRy2kuvN-VVPVAUdO76AsyG68losp9vndt6FqnuS3OGR6JZpaX2yvtOul7q8c/s200/Cover+-+Christmas+Tree+Elf.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another tale is sure to become a favorite among the young
set is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Christmas Tree Elf </b>($19.95,
hardcover, $9.95 ebook, Valentine Sheldon Co.)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>by Valentine D’Arcy Sheldon and beautifully illustrated by
Jeremiah Humphries. It tells a story about Mrs. Claus who always wanted a
Christmas tree to decorate and Santa brings one home. They love the tree but
become so busy preparing for Christmas that it is not until Christmas Eve that
they realize they have not watered it. A Mysterious elf shows up to save the
tree and teach them that all living things need care and attention. This book
has garnered many excellent reviews and recommendations. You can add mine.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhA7fR0l7dcF7htnz2Qxz5kTmj3QwUQ8ZT-6AAVJufZfhk857_2juFAN8zP0FlnpU_PPaVaZoStB8w3GEoFy8h0P4wrjKHk9GGq_YOcVLMS3TWzFZuPFPFCcJgiXk-nDLlgGAbMXYsu_k/s1600/Cover+-+Top+Ten+in+Sports.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhA7fR0l7dcF7htnz2Qxz5kTmj3QwUQ8ZT-6AAVJufZfhk857_2juFAN8zP0FlnpU_PPaVaZoStB8w3GEoFy8h0P4wrjKHk9GGq_YOcVLMS3TWzFZuPFPFCcJgiXk-nDLlgGAbMXYsu_k/s200/Cover+-+Top+Ten+in+Sports.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For any
boy or girl who loves sports, I would definitely ensure they receive <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sports Illustrated Kids – The Top Ten of
Everything in Sports </b>($19.95, Time Home Entertainment) that ranks athletes,
playing fields, rivalries, games, controversial calls, memorable moments and
more. A large format book, it is extensively illustrated with photographs. The
texts are short and crisp. It is amazing how much they packed into this book.
It incorporate sports history and is filled with the kind of information that
brings a wide range of sports to life, providing hours of reading that can be
enjoyed in short bites. Some young adult fiction (age 12+) is served up in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Field</b> by Tracy Richardson ($15.95
hardcover, $11.95 softcover, Luminis Books). Eric Horton is a standout player
on his high school soccer team, but he has been having terrible dreams that
wake him up at night. He also has eyes for Renee, the hot new student from
France. Could his prowess on the field, his feelings for Renee, and some
strange experiments Renee’s dad is cooking up in the physic lab at the
university be connected? This is a combination of the real world of soccer and
the mystical world of the Universal Energy Field. This is a very imaginative
novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For all
children, there is the question of what they want to be when they grow up and
Wigu Publishing, Laguna Beach, CA, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is
developing a series, starting with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When
I Grow Up I Want to Be…in the U.S. Army </b>($12.95) which will be joined by
books on being a teacher, a firefighter, and in the U.S. Navy. They are written
by Mark Shyres and illustrated by Debbie Hefke who uses a combination of
artwork and photos. I would imagine they are aimed at ages 7 to 10. Having
served in the Army, I can confirm that the text provides a realistic depiction
of what life in the service is like and, for example, points out the many
different occupations that exist from doctors and lawyers, to military police and
firefighters, as well, of course, as combat units. “No matter what the job or
rank, each soldier’s duty is to protect our country against anyone who wants to
hurt us or our country’s friends, or allies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Couldn’t have said it better myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Eric Shanower
is an award-winning comic book artist with a love for the era of the Trojans
and Athenians. His series <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Age of
Bronze </b>is now into Book Two, “The Story of the Trojan War—Betrayal” ($28.99
hardcover, $18.99 softcover, Image Comics, Inc., Berkeley, CA) As the Greek and
Trojan armies clash, the action begins immediately where the previous volume
left off. It’s the first battle in a war that will last for ten long years.
Achilles fights Hektor while the beautiful Helen watches the battle from high
on the walls of Troy. Shanower’s artistry depicts the story with elegant
pen-and-ink drawings that make the action seem to spring off the page. One
usually associates graphic novels with the young set, but an older reader will
enjoy this series with equal pleasure. History, its myths and legends come
alive in this series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In no
particular order let’s look at just some of the usual monthly deluge of
softcover books that have arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Felix F.
Giordano has created a great character in Sheriff Jim Buchanan who is patterned
after his real-life uncle, Carl “Buck” Buchanan, who had a twenty-year career
with the Maine State Police. Even fiction needs to be grounded in reality and
you can enjoy three novels by Giordano, the latest of which is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Montana Harvest </b>($14.00, softcover,
available from Amazon.com for $12.52) that joins “Mystery at Little Bitteroot”
and “The Killing Zone” in this series. Set in the fictional Cedar Country,
Montana, Buchanan is approached by the FBI concerning a missing persons
investigation, it turns out that not only his own life, but also the life of
the person dearest to his heart is at risk as well. Told mostly with excellent
dialogue, it’s one of the stories whose characters immediately intrigue the
reader and you will be pleased when you read this and his other novels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAIsrQ2OtXPvA_3SsaDeTt7VIYhVIi93P2jb1K9H3AgHxSjZ6hp-xO0ZsgK37E5x3b903Gx76z_if7QaWRqE-Sr9CYVhmomeo0PD62yuPPmhijAZFddmO-3nDVx2neBQj4gY_0sGctPk/s1600/Cover++-+Sister+Season.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAIsrQ2OtXPvA_3SsaDeTt7VIYhVIi93P2jb1K9H3AgHxSjZ6hp-xO0ZsgK37E5x3b903Gx76z_if7QaWRqE-Sr9CYVhmomeo0PD62yuPPmhijAZFddmO-3nDVx2neBQj4gY_0sGctPk/s200/Cover++-+Sister+Season.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Making her
adult fiction debut with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Sister
Season</b>, ($15.00, NAL softcover) Jennifer Scott is an award-winning young
adult author under another name. This novel is generally called women’s fiction
because it will have a strong appeal for women readers. It features three
sisters who discover that coming home for the holidays isn’t as easy as it
seems. Growing up, the holidays were joyous times with laughter all around, but
the years have taken their toll on the family bonds as they went their separate
ways. This time they have returned home to bury their father. As you might
imagine, old conflicts surface and new secrets are revealed against the
background of what should have been a happier Christmas. Readers will enjoy
getting to know Claire, the youngest, Julia the eldest, and Maya the middle
child. All have gone on to different lives, but ultimately, they have to answer
the question, when you are a sister, aren’t you a sister for life? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Love is on
the mind of Edith M. Cortese, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Thousand Years of Johnny Von </b>($19.25, Trumpet Boy Press, Los
Angeles) as she tells the story of Estella, a single, 33-year-old woman who
happens to live on the same street as a rising movie star, Johnny Von, and
would very much like to get to know him as she pursues her job as a Hollywood
Hills dog-walker. She has her own dog, Moochie, and, despite being a bit shy,
he is gorgeous enough for her to overcome her doubts and get to meet him and
make him fall in love with her. She is filled with “what if” fantasies that
draw on classic love stories that will surely entertain you as she seeks to
turn fantasy into reality as her Cinderella figures out to capture the heart of
Prince Charming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
romance is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Color of Home</b>
by Rich Marcello ($15.99, Langdon Street Press, softcover). Nick and Sassa are
guarded, skeptical survivors who have skillfully buried the effects of tragic
pasts. They are two New Yorkers who have a series of intimate conversations
that cause they to fall in love and begin a remarkable journey toward their
true selves, toward the healing that makes they whole again, toward finding
home. This is a thoroughly modern love story about being willing to be
vulnerable, to rise above loss, and to create and nourish a unique love for one
another. You will enjoy the journey that Nick, a successful music entrepreneur,
and Sassa, a free-spirited chef discover together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5f8pGelkt6-_JHak9cKpFjhpQcHmA9Kdk-TxuyQaAdGR4eJi6xmFdIHhZWn6ZCJRYj7yNTlvsYXJx5ZuvETk1j_NYb8wRtMME8Nd_jP7sT1EFena8Idj3EJBJ0ih2F4buIA3wHV96_Vc/s1600/Cover+-+Killer+Weed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5f8pGelkt6-_JHak9cKpFjhpQcHmA9Kdk-TxuyQaAdGR4eJi6xmFdIHhZWn6ZCJRYj7yNTlvsYXJx5ZuvETk1j_NYb8wRtMME8Nd_jP7sT1EFena8Idj3EJBJ0ih2F4buIA3wHV96_Vc/s200/Cover+-+Killer+Weed.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
who enjoy a good mystery, there’s the gripping <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killer Weed</b> by Michael Castleman ($14.95, MP Publishing, Petaluma,
CA), a tour through a marriage under duress, forty years of pot dealing in
America, and two murders, one contemporary, the other a cold case from 1968.
The reader gets an interesting history of how marijuana was introduced,
starting with importation from Mexico, then progressed to Colombian freighters,
and was followed by growing in remove national forests, until it was grown
indoors under solar-powered lights. Cannabis prohibition in the present day is
also a theme of the book. You will go from San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury in
the late 1960’s and two murders that join the neighborhood to its Golden Gate
Park. It is the fourth Ed Rosenberg Mystery set in that city. This is an
emotionally complex, character-driven story that begins when Ed and his wife
Julie are fired from their jobs at the San Francisco Foghorn (a fictionalized
Chronicle) and, with two kids and a huge mortgage, turn to using drugs to cope.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are thrills to be had in Harry Hunsicker’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Contractors </b>($14.95, Thomas and Mercer, softcover). He is a
seasoned novelist of three previous novels and is the former executive vice
president of the Mystery Writers of America. A fourth generation native of
Dallas, he knows how to draw you in and keep you turning the pages. In this
novel, he takes the reader into the shadowy world of private military
contractors and the hypocrisies of the “War on Drugs”, featuring a disgraced
former Dallas PD officer, John Cantrell. He and his partner/lover, Piper, make
their living busting drug shipments along the U.S.-Mexico border for
commissions. One such seizure puts them in possession of a star witness in an
upcoming cartel trial. The cartel has other ideas and they soon find themselves
in the crosshairs of the cartel, a group of competing contractors, and a
corrupt Dallas police officer with nothing to lose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;">That’s it for December and the year 2013 that was filled
with some remarkable fiction and non-fiction that Bookviews.com has reported
upon over the past months. Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers
about Bookviews.com, the most eclectic look at the current literary scene. And
get ready to come back in January 2014 for more!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span> </div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-21524292493346134492013-11-01T07:11:00.000-07:002013-11-01T09:17:54.836-07:00Bookviews - November 2013<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBifWn9ekGYcFqOVN5vWKNJJwVAuPutP4Fqpga-65Jh89AYx1Mgjxylw6qGgxsmBl2hr2rrrWQlPzXzlaa6eDp5ki4wLF-YUt5_8nOZAxo2OvqlUr3g2ABnBzNluAmXY9y2ht2_agFPJw/s1600/Cover+-+America+3.0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBifWn9ekGYcFqOVN5vWKNJJwVAuPutP4Fqpga-65Jh89AYx1Mgjxylw6qGgxsmBl2hr2rrrWQlPzXzlaa6eDp5ki4wLF-YUt5_8nOZAxo2OvqlUr3g2ABnBzNluAmXY9y2ht2_agFPJw/s200/Cover+-+America+3.0.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Move over
Nostradamus, James C. Bennett and Michael J. Lotus have looked into their
crystal balls and jointly come up with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America
3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> Century—why America’s
Greatest Days are Yet to Come </b>(25.99, Encounter Books). Over the years I
have read any number of comparable books that have attempted to look into the
future, some more successfully than others—perhaps because change has become so
rapid since the end of World War Two. Anyone with an interest in the broad
outlines of American history and curiosity about how the various national and
international realignments will affect the future will find this book an
interesting, well informed analysis of what may lay ahead. Bennett was
cofounder of two private space transportation companies and other technology
ventures. He has written extensively on technology, culture and society with a
particular emphasis on the Anglosphere, the shared history of English speaking
nations. Lotus has a BA in economics from the University of Chicago and a JD
from Indiana University. He practices law when, like his coauthor, he is not
writing about history and politics. Together, they bring their considerable
knowledge to address whether the U.S. will undertake the reforms it needs to
fix its economy, even suggesting that some of our larger states may divide into
smaller, more manageable ones. Both agree that, at the heart of our nation is
the nuclear family. This is, quite frankly, a book that will challenge your
beliefs and ideas on every page. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When the
Supreme Court rationalized that the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as
Obamacare, was a tax and not legislation in direct conflict with several
elements of the U.S. Constitution, not the least of which is its Commerce
Clause, it set off a firestorm of resistance that we are seeing today. Clark M.
Neily III has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Terms of
Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited
Government </b>($23.99, Encounter Books) in which he argues that America’s
judges have abandoned a key feature of the Constitution, its limits on
government. He deems the ACA one of the most blatantly unconstitutional pieces
of legislation since the expansion of federal power during the era of the New
Deal. Neily is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice where he
litigates constitutional cases involving economic liberty, property rights,
free speech and school choice, among others. He makes a powerful case that the
nation is being radically transformed from its founding principles to one where
property rights and economic freedom are in jeopardy as the Supreme Court
routinely protects government prerogatives at the expense of liberty. To
understand what is happening and why, I recommend you read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For anyone
who grew up on the plains of America or still lives there and loves its vistas,
there is a book of photography by David Plowden, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Heartland: The Plains and the Prairie </b>($75.00, W.W. Norton), a
large format collection of black and white photos that will conjure up memories
and provide a lot of pleasure with their stark testimony to the beauty of vast
expanses, long roads, silos and distant farmhouses. While the Midwestern
flatlands cover nearly a quarter of the North American continent, spanning 73
million square miles between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians, they are
largely unknown to the bulk of the population that lives on the nation’s
coasts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a visual return to the
land that feeds Americans and whose exports feed many others as well. For those
from cities and suburbs, the book evokes the immense distance, the flowing
grasslands, ever distant horizons, and dominating skies of the Midwest. Plowden
has more than twenty photography books to his credit and this one will make a
great Christmas gift for someone who fondly recalls the great plains and
prairie, the heartland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My late
Mother gained recognition as a teacher of haute cuisine and author of cookbooks,
so food was always a topic of conversation in my home. It is a topic, too, in
magazines, on websites, and continues to generate new cookbooks. If you are a
“foodie” then you will surely enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Best
Food Writing 2013 </b>edited by Holly Hughes ($15.99, Da Capo Press,
softcover). Its seven sections, ranging from “A Critical Palate” to “Home
Cooking”, has plenty to enjoy as various trends are explored such as the
growing interest in buying locally grown veggies and fruits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ms. Hughes has edited this series since its
inception in 2000 and she has produced another winner this year, too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_tEICsK2qOmBw78tz44Mu5aI9NAg0iEMCyNWyFfY3mujCPF03NZPfxI4Gjeo6-r6Jp_5vfvHrJr_pfweK6ZZwEA2xgYncpQB2V1Fu_EbXgvnjkCEYpGOD58Hh4Nb25gfK6EtrCOuBMtA/s1600/Cover+-+Sassy+Cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_tEICsK2qOmBw78tz44Mu5aI9NAg0iEMCyNWyFfY3mujCPF03NZPfxI4Gjeo6-r6Jp_5vfvHrJr_pfweK6ZZwEA2xgYncpQB2V1Fu_EbXgvnjkCEYpGOD58Hh4Nb25gfK6EtrCOuBMtA/s200/Cover+-+Sassy+Cookies.jpg" width="197" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While on
the topic of food, one of my favorites is cookies. Happily, Luane Kohnke has
written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sassy Cookies: Sweet, Spicy
& Savory Treats with Swagger </b>($19.95, Pelican Publishing Company). The
author’s wholesale bakery in New York specializes in cookies catering to
corporate clients. Her book provides more than forty original recipes, all of
which are gluten-free. They include Lemony White Chocolate, Chocolate
Shortbread, and Hazelnut Cream Sandwich Cookies. One section is devoted to
cookies that are an accompaniment to soups, salads, and fruit-and-cheese trays.
Suffice to say, in addition to the classics, there are some tasty treats you
will want to try for their originality. If you’re a chocaholic like me, there’s
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chocolate Desserts to Die For! </b>(26.95,
Pelican Publishing Company) by Bev Shaffer that will keep you happily baking
and eating for years to come. Even a novice can master the recipes. How about a
Chocolate Crumb-Crusted Chocolate-Caramel Cheesecake? All I can say is “Yummy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
two books from Zest Books this month, one or both of which is sure to please
you or someone you know. One is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Why?
Answers to Everyday Scientific Questions</b> by Joel Levy ($10.99, softcover) and
the other is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How Not to Be a Dick: An
Everyday Etiquette Guide </b>by Maghan Doherty ($16.95) aimed at those aged 18
and up. The former offers answers to common questions that often are not taught
despite years in school or college. It is lots of fun to read as Levy provides
answer to why we don’t eat grass, why trees drop their leaves, why we sleep or
dream, and the classic, why is the sky blue? The latter book will prove quite
helpful in a world filled with people who behave like idiots who cut into line
in front of us or kick the back of our seat at movies. How does one deal with
them? Ms. Doherty offers some straightforward advice on how to deal with
challenging social situations—with roommates, relationships, in the office, etc.—to
the point where you will be prepared. It is a very useful book for a younger
person at a point where they leave the comfort zone of home and go out into the
world and for the older reader who feels ill at ease in social situations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciBjfBF-4iYBUx2Eqx2gFbrf3pIGIwYsZ4iiDJl0zuE3bthEZLsx_OtWp2UxW7SBCqhQaF4oHhmsoAQMwhCJGM2PsopL6pH7WaMtvgYxvW4vXmfjXCugUpqey24brEVXfmnZXX-lyMNw/s1600/Cover+-+What+God+has+Joined.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciBjfBF-4iYBUx2Eqx2gFbrf3pIGIwYsZ4iiDJl0zuE3bthEZLsx_OtWp2UxW7SBCqhQaF4oHhmsoAQMwhCJGM2PsopL6pH7WaMtvgYxvW4vXmfjXCugUpqey24brEVXfmnZXX-lyMNw/s200/Cover+-+What+God+has+Joined.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am happy
to report that Jeffrey Bennett’s latest volume to his “America, the Grand
Illusion” has been published. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What
God has Joined </b>($29.95, Kettle Moraine Publishing, softcover) and it joins
previous volumes “Orphans of the Storm”, “From Revolutions to Evil-ution”, “The
Edge of Darkness”, and an “Uncertain Glory.” The special genius of these
volumes and the latest is that they take the actual documents, speeches, and
published records from a specific time period in U.S. history and bring them
together in a way that enables the reader to grasp what people at that time
where thinking, writing, and saying. In the process, these volumes free our
history from the mythologies that have grown up with it to focus directly on
what was occurring. This particular volume takes the reader from just before
the Civil War to its end and the first steps toward reconstruction. Imagine,
for example, being able to read the constitution of the Confederacy? Or the
actual wording of the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott case? All the major players
from John Brown to Stephen Douglas to Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis,
among a large cast, are represented here. Anyone who loves reading history as
much as I do knows the value of these volumes. They are priceless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
lost count of how many Illinois governors have ended up in jail, but the latest one is
Rod Blagojevich and the story of his rise and fall is captured in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Only in Chicago: How the Rod Blagojevich
Scandal Engulfed Illinois and Enthralled the Nation </b>by Natasha Korecki
($16.00, Agate Publishing, softcover). Ms. Korecki had a front-row seat for the
trial of Blogo and before him, George Ryan. She is a reporter for the Chicago
Sun-Times. In December 2008, Gov. Blagojevich was arrested on federal
corruption charges that ignited a political firestorm that reverberated all the
way to the White House when he was charged with attempting to sell
then-President-Elect Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat. As a courts reporter,
the author began to write “The Blago Blog” and this book reflects all the many
twists and turns the case followed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTyOO4ZBT4u7XkAp7tSkh-4MpqDjao9QdXGWgcsJ8ltLbVkv-38mxh2F9B-7ApAxYrf300i4k8TZO99Sl8HhmhrokW886scGy9lPBU39CDrMWXWe6hVDBPo-dw7iQGq2W6g7buJSUzyhE/s1600/Cover+-+New+Mexico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTyOO4ZBT4u7XkAp7tSkh-4MpqDjao9QdXGWgcsJ8ltLbVkv-38mxh2F9B-7ApAxYrf300i4k8TZO99Sl8HhmhrokW886scGy9lPBU39CDrMWXWe6hVDBPo-dw7iQGq2W6g7buJSUzyhE/s200/Cover+-+New+Mexico.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">New Mexico: A History </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Joseph P. Sanchez, Robert L. Spude
and Art Gomez ($26.95, University of Oklahoma Press) marks the first complete
history of this state in more than thirty years. It will greatly please anyone
who was born there or lives there today, but also anyone interested in a state
that preceded its U.S. history as a place of Spanish exploration and
settlement. From well before the founding and after New Mexico was known for
the Camino Real, the Santa Fe Trail, and for the railroads and famed Route 66
provided access. It was admitted to the Union in 1912 but modernization began
in earnest after World War Two. Its history makes for a rich reading
experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Have you
ever wondered where the punctuation marks we take for granted came from? Keith
Houston has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shady Characters</b>
($25.95, W.W. Norton) to provide a fascinating glimpses into the tumultuous
history of some of our most familiar, but little understood, punctuation marks.
It spans ancient history to today as it marries a history of typography with
cultural criticism and social history as he tracks the evolution of eleven punctuation
marks from the interrobang (?) to the asterisk (*) and the others our mind
processes as we enjoy whatever we’re reading. Along the way you will learn how
punctuation is intimately bound up with religion, technology, culture and the
desire to accurately represent one’s self on paper or these days, on computer
screens. For those who delve deeply into literature, a book originally
published more than sixty years ago, Robert Graves’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth</b> ($18.00, Farrar,
Straus, Giroux, softcover) has been reissued. It reflects Graves’s vast reading
and curious research into the territories of folklore, mythology, religion and
magic. It is, simply said, the work of a poet-scholar and, if you find such
matters of interest, you will welcome this new edition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Lives of Real People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Paul
Johnson is one of the greatest living historians and has written biographies of
Napoleon, Churchill, and Darwin. Now he has given us an illuminating, concise
biography of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mozart: A Life </b>($25.95,
Viking) that everyone who loves his music will want to read along with others
who find the history of music of interest. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of
the most prolific and influential composers of all time, winning new fans with
each new generation. His compositional output was prodigious, but you may not
know that he had such a gift that he mastered all the instruments except the
harp. When the clarinet was invented he learned to play it as well and added it
to his arrangements. Many myths have grown up around Mozart and Johnson
challenges many of them including those about his health, wealth, religion and
relationships to his family. He debunks the popular myth that he was a tortured
soul who died in poverty. As always, the truth is more interesting than the
fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Norman
Rockwell is arguably the best known artist and illustrator in America. Now
there’s a biography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">American Mirror:
The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell </b>($28.00, Farrar Straus Giroux). For
four decades his paintings were on the covers of The Saturday Evening Post, one
of the most popular magazines of its time. His images of small-time America
evoked an earlier era, but one many senior citizens can still recall. They
symbolized the culture and values of the nation. He died in 1978<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and now Deborah Solomon, a long-time New York
Times interviewer, art critic and biographer of Jackson Pollock and Joseph
Carnell, has written a biography that is both thorough and surprising as it
reveals an obsessed man who may have repressed his true sexuality throughout
his life. His strongest relationships were with men despite marriage and a
family. A decade in the making this biography is a triumph of research and
attention to detail. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2KHuxhWAhw0bgIm8Hn99vaECHNUJmqH_-4RWi6ukZmQMrJrNMK-XOcRn7kbP8O0D6aAGmtl4b8LLbOHOC_sIQFO1QccitWbeYzABuPDYmoPljOLGKIcRmTFL-zjWEvd_jDxz3XA0sIA/s1600/Cover+-+Pinkerton+Great+Detective.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2KHuxhWAhw0bgIm8Hn99vaECHNUJmqH_-4RWi6ukZmQMrJrNMK-XOcRn7kbP8O0D6aAGmtl4b8LLbOHOC_sIQFO1QccitWbeYzABuPDYmoPljOLGKIcRmTFL-zjWEvd_jDxz3XA0sIA/s200/Cover+-+Pinkerton+Great+Detective.jpg" width="131" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Pinkerton’s Great Detective: The
Amazing Life and Times of James McParland </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Beau Riffenburgh ($32.95, Viking) marks the first
biography of a man who was a legend in his time after he had infiltrated the
Molly Maguires, a brutal Irish-American brotherhood responsible for sabotage
and at least 16 murders in the Pennsylvania coalfields. His two-year effort
resulted in 19 trials and that was just the beginning of his career. He led the
und for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch and was so well known at one point
that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invented a meeting between him and the fictional
Sherlock Holmes. In time he became known as “The Great Detective” and the
biography is filled with stories of outlaws and criminals, detectives and
lawmen, based on the archives of the celebrated secretive agency and its premier
sleuth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Princesses Behaving Badly: Real
Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Linda Rodrigues McRobbie ($19.95,
Quirk Books) is lively reading for anyone who enjoys history divested of the
mythology that so often accompanies it. Little girls may dream of being
princesses and others may follow the lives of modern day princesses such as
Lady Diana, Grace Kelly, and now Kate Middleton, history provides many real
princesses, whether royal by birth or marriage, who fought, stole, schemed, and
partied as they made their way through a complicated world in which they were
often chattel in arranged marriages whose job was to produce royal offspring.
From Olga of Kiev (ca. 890-969) who avenged her husband’s death by slaughtering
almost the entire Derevlian kingdom to Stephanie von Hohenlohe (1891-1972) who
charmed her way into the heart (and out of the prisons) of both the Nazi Party
and Lyndon B. Johnson, the ladies in this book offer a lot of entertaining and
interesting reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Someone
ought to send the White House a copy of Michael Wheeler’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World </b>($26.00,
Simon and Schuster). There has been no dearth of books on how to negotiate and
they fall into the “win-win” method and the hard bargaining style. Wheeler, an
award-winning Harvard Business School professor offers a third option. As he
points out, “Negotiation can’t be scripted. Yet as negotiators we have to
persist even when information is ambiguous, boundaries are hazy, and the scene
is constantly changing.” He notes that master negotiators regard the challenge
as one of learning, adapting, and, of course, influencing. His book offers an
improvisational approach and shows how many different fields of endeavor use
the techniques he recommends. Having taught the art of negotiation to thousands
of MBA students, executives, managers, and public officials, his book now
provides the reader the lessons they have enjoyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgniOv8FLraFR0exvT2tqmT-FFyjNhqs7H_FKbaTQyaHYBbd4do6CCUW-ytQptzxH7SMt4xjQ4DNioW1FUF27R_loaEX0yaQrnRx0lhybDSlk_nR6pUlxf1vpumNoa1hV9lCcAYzGgivBQ/s1600/Cover+-+Unlimited+Sales+Success.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgniOv8FLraFR0exvT2tqmT-FFyjNhqs7H_FKbaTQyaHYBbd4do6CCUW-ytQptzxH7SMt4xjQ4DNioW1FUF27R_loaEX0yaQrnRx0lhybDSlk_nR6pUlxf1vpumNoa1hV9lCcAYzGgivBQ/s200/Cover+-+Unlimited+Sales+Success.png" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I once had
a teacher who said that “Nothing ever happens until someone sells something to
someone else.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If your livelihood
depends on sales than you just might want to pick up a copy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unlimited Sales Success: 12 Simple Steps
for Selling More Than You Ever Thought Possible </b>by Brian and Michael Tracy
($22.95, Amacom). Brian has trained thousands of people and still found time to
write 55 books that have been translated into 38 languages. Michael is the vice
president of sales and business development at Analog Analytics, a software company
that was acquired by Barclays Plc in 2012. For either the novice or the person
who has been in sales a while, the book provides advice on how to spot and
avoid a poor prospect, how to turn indifferent customers into buyers, and lots
of other tips that improve one’s prospects. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The BossHole Effect: Three Simple
Steps Anyone Can Follow to Become a Great Boss and Lead a Successful Team </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($16.99, Mill City Press, softcover)
by Dr. Greg L. Alston is a short, easy to read book on how to become a
respected, effective leader. He defines a BossHole as someone who behaves like
an imbecile but has the authority to impact others’ lives. Dr. Alston has
worked extensively in the chain drug and healthcare industries, supervising
thousands of employees, working for hundreds of bosses, and “thwarting
BossHoles at every turn.” He is currently both Associate Professor of Pharmacy
Management and Assistant Dean for Assessment at Wingate University School of
Pharmacy in North Carolina. Suffice to say he brings a lot of experience to
this guide that offers a step-by-step strategy by which readers can become
great bosses with minimum struggle and maximum success. We all encounter
BossHoles in our careers and this book will teach you how to effectively deal
with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For a quick
laugh, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Your Guide to Spotting
and Outing Bloodsuckers at Work: A Little Book of Monstrous Puns </b>by Rita
Harris and Heather Harwood ($17.99, Authorhouse, softcover). Working off the
vampire theme, these two come up with a variety of puns that, for example, turn
a chef into Count Spatula. Don’t say you weren’t warned! It would make a cute
gift for anyone suffering a horrid boss or co-workers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Advice, Advice, Advice<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I wish I
had read more books of advice when I was younger. Fortunately I had parents
that offered a lot of good advice, but as often as not one needs to learn from
others and, if they have demonstrated they expertise, their books are often a
very good investment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As a
semi-retired senior citizen, I wish that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Failure
is NOT an Option: Creating Certainty in the Uncertainty of Retirement </b>($14.95,
Incubation Press, Bend, Oregon, softcover) had been around when I was
younger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Written by David Rosell has
extensive credentials as a financial planner and, as ten thousand “baby
boomers” are reaching retirement age every day, many discover they are not
ready and not able to stop working and enjoy their senior years. If you or
someone you know are approaching the age of retirement, this book will prove an
invaluable source of financial survival tips about the eight fundamental risks
every retiree faces, providing strategies to avoid mistakes and turn existing
adversity around. This book is not the usual advice about just putting money
away for retirement. It goes well beyond that. The book comes with a rousing
endorsement by Charles R. Schwab, Jr. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDezX56l8a5jlGpyJN8ouIn4Wk5m5X09KoL2Aalj5RD6ofANRy7MQ7vdkWHgd9nZzQ_jA5xDFTuJsrOPwnnu9-tX8_KfZvJ-r33t2xpeDy8KFVLwvm4ZHpRpC_UVcWX4OqDnx6V1pSSo0/s1600/Cover+-+He-Wins-She-Wins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDezX56l8a5jlGpyJN8ouIn4Wk5m5X09KoL2Aalj5RD6ofANRy7MQ7vdkWHgd9nZzQ_jA5xDFTuJsrOPwnnu9-tX8_KfZvJ-r33t2xpeDy8KFVLwvm4ZHpRpC_UVcWX4OqDnx6V1pSSo0/s200/Cover+-+He-Wins-She-Wins.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s
plenty of advice for couples on how to resolve conflicts in marriage and we
know that half of all marriages these days end in divorce despite the high
hopes when the knot is tied. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He Wins,
She Wins: Learning the Art of Marital Negotiation </b>by Dr. Willard F. Harley,
Jr. ($19.99. Revell), a clinical psychologist, marriage counselor, and author,
has as its ultimate goal recommendations that will help couples grow in their
love for one another. At one point he advises, “Never do anything without the
enthusiastic agreement between you and your spouse.” Is that possible? It is if
they address the way emotional reactions often prevent calm discussion or
neither of you want to talk about an issue. There’s a problem, too, if you or
both are indecisive. His previous book, “His Needs, Her Needs” sold more than
two million copies, so you can be confident that this one contains advice that
will help overcome the problems that every married couple encounters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I confess
I have always had a problem with trust. I suspect a lot of other do too. That’s
why I think Ellen Castro’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spirited
Leadership: 52 Ways to Build Trust </b>($14.95, Langdon Street Press,
softcover) will likely be very helpful to anyone with a similar outlook. She
earned her Med from Harvard and an MBA from Southern Methodist University where
she served on the faculty of The Business Leadership Center. She is, in fact,
an example of the advice she offers, learning it through experience and then
translating it into practical, uplifting, concise, “how-to” exercises that
benefit those who are successful and inspiring hope in those who feel hopeless.
It is a book about emotional intelligence, social skills, and people smarts.
These are essential skills if one is to travel through life courageously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When Life Hurts: Finding Hope and
Healing from the Pain Your Carry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
by Jimmy Evans with Frank Martin ($21.99, Baker Books) will no doubt prove
helpful to those who carry the hurt that comes with divorce, abuse, illness or
the loss of a loved one, among other forms of emotional pain. Evans is the
cofounder with his wife, Karen, of Marriage Today, a television ministry, and
together they have authored a number of books on marriage and family. No
stranger to emotional pain, Evans shares his own life experiences and, as one
might expect, incorporates faith in God to deal with deep-seated wounds. The
book is enhanced by the skills of Martin who has collaborated with others
including Dr. Robert Schuller and has been a family commentary writer for Focus
on the Family for the past fifteen years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">School Skills<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I used to
hate taking tests in school. It was more an attitude than lack of preparedness,
but nowadays the entire educational system from coast to coast has been taken
over by standardized tests—a very bad idea since any teacher will tell you that
students learn at their individual rate, mastering different subjects as
individuals, not as a bunch of robots in a classroom. That’s why two books by
Elie Venezky, available from </span><a href="http://www.prestigeprep.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.prestigeprep.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, are worth checking out; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Test Prep</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sanity</b>, a guide for parents, and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Test Prep Sanity for Students </b>($13.46 paperback, $9.99 Kindle). Both
have a track record of success based on the author’s 14 years of helping
students prepare for tests and 20 years working with teenagers. Love’m or
hate’m, youngsters have to take tests so any parent that takes the time to
learn how to help and any student who learns how to take tests is going to be
at a definite advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting
into the college of one’s choice is another challenge and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to Prepare a Standout College Application</b> by Alison Cooper
Chisolm and Anna Ivey ($16.95, Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley, softcover)
offers advice based on the author’s experience as college admissions
professionals who now work together at Ivey College Consulting, based in
Cambridge, MA. A book like this can make all the difference between acceptance
or rejection. In a fiercely competitive world, this is often the first step. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Woof, Woof! <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbsnRdyKH8sx6S8qhaTVGHTDFJd_aq0IDus70caGR3hyS9PmpUqabNdKaxV-Vxy9Ked7BnlpfNNqzxJ4e9k2pyDiUloDuAHMAQBASqIF8cdAaYr_Trqvypv3x1HgCFkEiaCdOjsrnjRA/s1600/Cover+-+mama-and-boris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbsnRdyKH8sx6S8qhaTVGHTDFJd_aq0IDus70caGR3hyS9PmpUqabNdKaxV-Vxy9Ked7BnlpfNNqzxJ4e9k2pyDiUloDuAHMAQBASqIF8cdAaYr_Trqvypv3x1HgCFkEiaCdOjsrnjRA/s200/Cover+-+mama-and-boris.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
dog people and cat people. For the former, there are a number of recent books
they are likely to enjoy, starting with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mama
& Boris: How a Sister’s Love Saved a Fallen Soldier’s Beloved Dogs </b>($19.99,
Reader’s Digest). Written by Carey Neesley with Michael Levin, Carey was very
close with her brother, Peter, and naturally she worried about him when he was
sent to Iraq as part of his Army service. In weekly calls, Peter told her of
adopting a stray dog and her pups. When three of them died, Peter became
committed to saving the remaining two, Mama and Boris. However, on Christmas
Day, Peter was killed. Carey wanted to honor his memory by bringing the dogs
home to Michigan. Not the easiest task since they were halfway around the
world, but she was assisted by a network of heroes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a wonderful story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">According
to HelpGuide.org, pets can detect and affect their owner’s mood, blood
pressure, and overall health. Many have become therapy dogs, visiting hospitals
to lift the spirits of those recovering from illness, particularly children.
They also visit nursing homes. Kathryn Walter has written a novella, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Babbette’s Pack</b> ($26.99, Xlibris.com)
based on true medical cases and featuring her Shih Tzu named Babette as the
heroine, a dog that can detect fictionalized, but actual canine skills to
predict seizures, low blood surge, and other events. “I was inspired,” said
Walter, “to write this book from my time as a physician’s assistant and RN.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sushi: The Lhaso Apso—A Love Story </b>($14.95,
softcover) is the story of how a little dog gained the love of one family and
the legacy she eventually left behind. Claudia and Paul Elhoff tell the story
of how Sushi became a part of their lives and how she bravely battled recurring
cancer. Readers who have gone through the pain of losing a pet to illness or
old age will especially relate to this heart-warming story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwGZkkBvwQolVdXRokasKjbdARrv-UFTT8PmMs7sBlnrbkWXauT5W_F0xtgX243NOUgJ3CII3RfeqLN8rgwr_I6k4EZLyGwIBAI2HhX1f_aSTg-Bo-56erLlZFwPwfAySbeLPGJCx-0A/s1600/Cover+-+Throw+the+Damn+Ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwGZkkBvwQolVdXRokasKjbdARrv-UFTT8PmMs7sBlnrbkWXauT5W_F0xtgX243NOUgJ3CII3RfeqLN8rgwr_I6k4EZLyGwIBAI2HhX1f_aSTg-Bo-56erLlZFwPwfAySbeLPGJCx-0A/s200/Cover+-+Throw+the+Damn+Ball.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For some
laughter and fun, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Throw the Damn
Ball: Classic Poetry by Dogs </b>($15.00, a Plume original) that purports to be
an anthology of poetry written by dogs and “edited” by R. D. Rosen<span style="color: #333333;">, Harry Pritchett, and Rob Battles. These are poems about
things that really matter to dogs, love, loss, sex, friendship, meals, and
bodily functions. These three have collaborated on bestsellers, “Bad Dog”, “Bad
Cat”, and “Bad President.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While dogs
may be man’s best friend, the “poets” do not ignore their owner’s faults and
frailties. There are 112 poems in this book which should be on your gift list
for anyone who has a dog. It is hilarious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
kid who’s age 7 to 9, there is a very unique book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Bee Society</b>, ($15.95, The Bee Society Press, LLC) that the
author would have you believe was written by Georgie Bee, a honey bee who has
taken it upon himself to explain the life of bees to humans. He is quite chatty
and charming, and the book is extensively illustrated with both artwork and
photos, but it is the text that provides both entertainment and information
about, well, bees. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjueo10CoLDmPlfMbNemRNzEjiIaLNxbWgg-tIqQYVxiglMX6WTS8GVF1IR96OuzRJdBLmI154KZfWluukIKfc0cVwh8IaSUs-zMhIWyQCama4pZTbug0wmTGBqDawOzPRh7QcCPqNsyNg/s1600/Cover+-+last+enchanter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjueo10CoLDmPlfMbNemRNzEjiIaLNxbWgg-tIqQYVxiglMX6WTS8GVF1IR96OuzRJdBLmI154KZfWluukIKfc0cVwh8IaSUs-zMhIWyQCama4pZTbug0wmTGBqDawOzPRh7QcCPqNsyNg/s200/Cover+-+last+enchanter.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From
Tanglewood Publishing come two novels that pre-teens, 8 to 12, will enjoy. This
first is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last Enchanter: The
Celestine Chronicles—Book Two</b> by Laurisa White Reyes ($16.96). Book one,
“The Rock of Ivanore”, was a bestseller, but now it has been months since
Marcus and Kelvin succeeded in their quest to find it. Kelvin is living as
royalty in Dokur and Marcus is studying magic with Zyll. Then Fredric is
murdered and Kelvin becomes king, it is evident that neither is safe. This is a
wonderfully written sequel, filled with action, magic, and adventure. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Deepest Blue </b>by Kim Williams
Justesen ($15.99) explores the problems when a teen finds himself at the center
of a struggle when his birth mom wants custody even though there has been no
contact for five years, Mike the young teen has been living with his father
whose girlfriend has been like a mother to him. Mike has to take on the legal
system despite the fact that he has no legal rights in cases of death or
divorce. For those 12 and older, this is a deeply moving story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
so many novels being published every month that it’s nice to know that one can
become reacquainted with authors we may have missed out on reading earlier. For
example, Kurt Vonnegut, best known for “Slaughterhouse Five”, was around awhile
and evolving as a writer. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">We Are What We
Pretend to Be </b>($12.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) is a collection of his
first and last unpublished works with an introduction written by his daughter,
Nanette. We see his budding talent in “Basic Training” as well as his last,
unfinished novel, “If God Were Alive Today.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The two stories are bookends to his life. Similarly, David Mamet is
famed as a stage and film director as well as a playwright, notably for
“Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Verdict.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Three novellas have been gathered into a book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Three War Stories</b>, by Mamet and self-published by Argo Navis Author
Services. One assumes it is available via Amazon and other outlets. Suffice to
say Mamet is a great talent and his book is more proof of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLk0VYVd0k_YcWnGHs6BDSkZsyVNLJrmDmlYyPtfi0iK5M38kAER1kCK1pHaQuQboQOLko3ELx2_5Vhr7Jx3t6T4soUgR2c_uSu4pcJOjY7FRzVwhoKmqNUwmQK9gjMMnDZibx4J3vi3c/s1600/Covwe+-+Loose+Ends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLk0VYVd0k_YcWnGHs6BDSkZsyVNLJrmDmlYyPtfi0iK5M38kAER1kCK1pHaQuQboQOLko3ELx2_5Vhr7Jx3t6T4soUgR2c_uSu4pcJOjY7FRzVwhoKmqNUwmQK9gjMMnDZibx4J3vi3c/s200/Covwe+-+Loose+Ends.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I enjoyed
James Phoenix’s previous novel, “Frame Up”, the first in the Fenway Burke
Mystery Series, so I was pleased to receive <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Loose Ends</b> ($27.95, White Cap Publishing, Weymouth, MA) and not
surprised to hear he had inherited the fans of Robert B. Parker as well as
Raymond Chandler. He’s that good. Unlike most detective heroes, Burke is
happily married and even a feminist. It’s a combination of old and new
detective genre as we greet Burke again aboard his floating home in Marblehead,
Massachusetts, his wife, baby daughter, and two enormous English Mastiffs,
really big dogs. Burke is introduced to a man in his 90s, Morris Gold, a
legendary money man for the mob. His grandson’s wife has disappeared without a
trace, but he doesn’t want the police involved. When he takes on the case, it
has a lot of loose ends and the chase takes him to New York City, then
Venezuela and Columbia. Getting her home is going to require all his skills and
courage. Fortunately, he has plenty to spare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The other
novels this month are all softcovers and I will wander through the stack with
no particular direction in mind. Laura Spinella returns with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Perfect Timing</b> ($15.00, Berkley Publishing).
It is a romance in which Isabel Lang, a young woman, has moved from New Jersey
to Alabama where she forms an unlikely friendship with the musically gifted
Aidan Roycroft. They share everything from a first kiss to family secrets, but
a tragedy at the town’s time-honored gala causes them to flee to Las Vegas.
Seven years later, Aiden is now a famed rock star and Isabel is working at a
radio station. I won’t tell you more in order to avoid spoiling the story. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Secrets She Carried</b> marks the debut
of Barbara Davis ($15.00, New American Library) and a very good one as she
invites us along with Leslie Nichols, the main character, to a discovery of a
family’s long-buried past. Leslie does not have happy memories of Peak
Plantation, the scene of an unhappy childhood that included her mother’s death
and her father’s disgrace. When her grandmother, Maggie, dies, Leslie isn’t the
only one who was left with the property. Jay Davenport, its caretaker, has a
claim to it as well and Maggie has told Jay a terrible secret. Leslie and Jay
will uncover the kind of secret that transforms one’s life forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Sy_hEezjL7JZCqafriHdgy7L9IoMT2MdfbDxTgtNIMlBvNPi8m2vULxqczvxoDEtJ2uEm5U3uVIZPbXbO2LcL2zdvoizG9KhADff37WMrskRkhGrlSzPdIM6WSReU5uqSUoE46z_KSc/s1600/Cover+-+The+Publicist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Sy_hEezjL7JZCqafriHdgy7L9IoMT2MdfbDxTgtNIMlBvNPi8m2vULxqczvxoDEtJ2uEm5U3uVIZPbXbO2LcL2zdvoizG9KhADff37WMrskRkhGrlSzPdIM6WSReU5uqSUoE46z_KSc/s200/Cover+-+The+Publicist.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I hear
from book publicists all the time. It’s one thing to write a novel, but it
takes real know-how to promote one. Christina George is a book industry insider
and has written a series called “The Publicist” in which the second novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shelf Life</b>, is just off the presses ($8.00,
via Amazon.com). Publishing is filled with people who have huge egos, often
unrealistic expectations, and some who write books whose shelf life can be
measured in days. Kate Mitchell is the publicist and trouble arrives when one
of her star authors is led away in handcuffs. At about the same time her career
and love affair hit the “off” button. She had to rebuild her life and, as fate
would have it, her name becomes synonymous with a huge bestseller. This is what
is often called “chick lit” because the girls will really enjoy it more than
the guys. Also in the genre is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Love
Waltzes In b</b></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">y Alana
Albertson ($9.99, Bolero Books) which has an uncanny resemblance to Dancing
With the Stars, he popular television show. In her novel, Ms. Albertson, a
former competitive ballroom dancer, pulls back the curtain to expose the sex,
lies and secrets that remain hidden behind the glitzy costumes and fast moves
in this, her debut as a novelist. The book has already won a number of awards
and as you follow Selena Marcil, the star of a hit show, Dancing Under the
Stars, you will be drawn into her life and quest for love. Chick lit, yes, but
a good read too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmUkrw268f-IRLxm3NidGq2-SOuDGLNGtORP-4ENSa0Vkoe9TJ4RS8_HIcBTvCGXYIbmODbvAJ1MHFKT7uTS8bIx_LZcAfV73v27DZIn-vSITMoYmIbbxU6qIm9NbXV5IVXGTo7pIwOyE/s1600/Cover+-+Caught+in+the+Current.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmUkrw268f-IRLxm3NidGq2-SOuDGLNGtORP-4ENSa0Vkoe9TJ4RS8_HIcBTvCGXYIbmODbvAJ1MHFKT7uTS8bIx_LZcAfV73v27DZIn-vSITMoYmIbbxU6qIm9NbXV5IVXGTo7pIwOyE/s200/Cover+-+Caught+in+the+Current.png" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For a
change of pace, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Caught in the
Current</b> by Daniel Hryhorezuk ($15.95, Langdon Street Press) that takes the
ready back to the summer of 1970 in the Soviet controlled Ukraine. A first
generation Ukrainian-American is on a break from his college studies, having
organized a European tour with a group of friends. Unbeknownst to the group,
Alec has agreed to gather information for the Ukrainian Youth Organization that
seeks to undermine Soviet rule. This is a coming of age novel like no other
because we are now grown distant from what life was like in the Soviet Union, a
complete dictatorship. The novel is semi-autobiographical and well worth
reading for its insights and drama. A foreign nation is the backdrop for
another novel is the Philippines in Gina Apostol’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gun Dealer’s Daughter </b>($14.95, W.W. Norton). It is her third novel
and her U.S. debut with a lush, dizzying depiction of wealth, corruption, and
rebellion in the 1970s. As she idles away the years in a decrepit mansion
overlooking the Hudson River, Solidad Soliman is the narrator as she
obsessively relives a brief, but traumatic episode from her adolescences. She
was born into privilege in the Marcos-era Philippines, but never questioned the
true source of her family’s wealh until she enrolls in university in Manila.
There she joins a rebellious Maoist student group and becomes infatuated with
Jed, a fellow rich kid. Solidad must come to terms with the fact that her
father is an arms dealer whose weapons prop up the nation’s tyrannical regime.
The novel captures the issues, the pretenses of all involved, and the turbulent
time in which it is set. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for November! Come back in December and start making your gift list of
special books for special family and friends. Meanwhile, tell others who love
to read about Bookviews. </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com228tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-87755579794642289142013-09-29T07:18:00.002-07:002013-10-01T06:03:06.429-07:00Bookviews - October 2013<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For policy
wonks like myself, a number of new books will provide a variety of insights. In
2012, the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>U.S. Supreme Court became the
center of the political world when, in a decision that astonished
constitutional scholars or ordinary citizens, it voted 5-to-4 to save the
Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare. The story of how the case
reached the Court is told by Josh Blackman in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare </b>($27.99,
Public Affairs) and, given its impact, affecting individuals, physicians, the
increase in the size of the government to administer and enforce it, and the
economy, it will be one of those decisions that has far-reaching effects on
life in America. The fight to overturn Obamacare became a legal firestorm, but
the best way to understand it was the broadening of the
already-stretched-to-the-limits Commerce Clause. The ruling said in effect that
the government had the right to require people to purchase health insurance
even if they did not want to and the right to fine them if they did not. This
is unprecedented. Ultimately, the Chief Justice cast the deciding vote on the
grounds that Obamacare was a tax and the constitution assigns that right to the
government. The law goes into full effect this month and has already been
unilaterally altered by the Obama administration and is replete with waivers for
various favored constituencies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the Balance: Law and Politics in
the Roberts Court </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Mark Tushnet ($28.95, W.W. Norton) will likely appeal to lawyers and those with
an interest in the way shapes public policy. Most certainly, Chief Justice
Roberts’ vote that permitted Obamacare—the Affordable Care Act—to proceed on
the basis of its being a tax will be of greatest interest to readers. The
author is a professor at the Harvard Law School and a prominent scholar on
constitutional law, so those concerned about the role the Court plays will find
much of interest as he and others try to determine the outcome of future votes
and the thinking behind previous ones. He reviews cases involving First
Amendment, gun control, abortion rights, business regulations and other issues,
concluding that law and politics exist side by side on the Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Two new
books take a look back over the politics and issues that have shaped and
changed life in America since the 1960s. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Front
Porch Politics: The Forgotten Heyday of American Activism in the 1970s and
1980s </b>by Michael Stewart Foley ($30.00, Hill and Wang) recounts the history
of campaigns both famous and forgotten, from the steelworker’s fights against
factory shut-downs to farmer’s struggles to save their farms and communities,
along with other examples of community activists and neighborhood groups
demanding toxic waste clean-ups. The better known battles of the time included
gay rights, and helping the homeless. He concludes that Americans were more
inclined to get directly involved in issues that affected them while today they
seem to have lost their belief in direct political action. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the
1960s </b>by Robert O. Self ($17.00, Hill and Wang) examines the way the changes
affecting marriage and the nuclear family affected the politics of the last
five decades as more single-parent families occurred, as programs such as
Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty actually worsened the situation, particularly
for African Americans, than anticipated, and as issues such as same-sex
marriage emerged. The changing role of the white heterosexual male as the
breadwinner was significantly changed and the issues of “traditional values”
regarding the family came under attack. It is a very different society from
that which existed following the end of World War Two and this book explains
the how and why of that change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A massive
campaign to demonize people who enjoy lighting up a cigarette, a cigar or a
pipe has led to bans on smoking just about everywhere, including in some
places, in one’s own home if children live there. Michael McFadden has written </span><a href="http://tobakkonacht.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: #378add;">“TobakkoNacht</span></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">: The Antismoking
Endgame.” (Aethna Press, $27.95, softcover) The title is a play on Kristallnach,
a 1938 event in Nazi Germany that revealed the depths of that regime’s hatred
of Jews, leading eventually to the Holocaust. Smokers are not being rounded up
and killed, but they are subjected to bans and meritless increases in the cost
of smoking; taxes that greatly benefit the states imposing them while using the
power of taxation to denigrate smokers. McFadden’s research is extensive and in
depth when it comes to exposing the many myths about smoking and his expert
knowledge of statistics debunks how they are cited to further efforts directed
against smokers. To learn about the scope of the effort to ban smoking, this
book will provide the answers and I highly recommend it.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A few
miles from where I live is West Orange where Thomas Edison lived and had his
laboratories after his early years in Menlo Park. We now take for granted those
early and many inventions, the incandescent light bulb, movies, phonograph
machines, even Portland cement.. Edison was the first business celebrity, along
with Ford and Firestone, and it is fitting that another innovator, Bill Gates,
would have written the foreword to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Edison
and the Rise of Innovation</b> ($29.95, Sterling Publishing). It is a really
wonderful book about the prolific inventor and the way he combined scientific
knowledge, well-equipped laboratories, talented collaborators, investment
capital, and a real talent for showmanship in ways that transformed how new
technologies were funded and created as the last century dawned. Leonard
DeGraaf, the archivist for the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, was the
ideal man to write this book that, in a large format, is filled with Edison’s
examples of his personal and business correspondence, lab notebooks, drawings,
all lavishly illustrated to bring his life, his success and his era to life in
a way that anyone who loves history will thoroughly enjoy. Thinking ahead to
Christmas, this book would make a great gift for anyone with an interest in
history, technology, and innovation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There is
endless discussion and debate about the educational system in America and
everyone agrees that kids in the inner cities are often cheated of the benefits
of those in wealthier suburban area. Ilana Garon has done them a big favor with
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Why Do Only White People Get Abducted
by Aliens?: Teaching Lessons from the Bronx </b>($24.95, Skyhorse Publishing)
as she tosses out political correctness and the popular image of the
“teacher-hero” and reveals the true stories, sometimes hilarious, often
shocking, that she encountered as a new teacher navigating the public school
system. From gang violence to teen pregnancy, to classrooms infested with mice,
Garon say it all. In the process, her wily students made her realize how little
she knew about teaching, about poverty, and about life in urban America. In the
process she provides the reader with some real insight to what is occurring (or
not) in classrooms where securing an education must cope with many other
challenges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Topic is Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One need
only listen to radio or watch television to realize how health-conscious
Americans are. They are obsessed with the topic. It is no surprise, therefore
that there are also a regular flow of books on various health-related topics.
Here are some of the latest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Every
parent wants their baby to grow up healthy and happy. Ruth Yaron has updated
and revised <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Super Baby Food</b> ($19.99,
F.J. Roberts Publishing, softcover) topping out at just over 650 pages! When
her twin boys were born prematurely and very sick, she applied herself to
learning everything about how to prepare natural, healthy foods for them. While
she knew how to program satellites for NASA, she was an inexperienced cook, but
she put her research and mathematical skills to work as she studied all aspects
of homemade, mostly organic, whole grain cereals, fruits, and home-cooked
vegetables, along with the best storing and freezing methods. Within this
remarkable compendium of information on the subject is a whole world of healthy
foods for newborns and infants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Making Peace with Your Plate: Eating
Disorder Recovery </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Robyn Cruse and Espra Andrus, LCSW ($16.95, Central Recovery Press, softcover)
addresses anorexia, an eating disorder that has the highest mortality rate of
any mental illness. Then there is binge eating and bulimia as well that can
bring misery and death. Ms. Andrus is a clinical therapist who specializes in
working with people suffering a range of eating disorders. Ms. Cruze recovered
from an eating disorder that had crippled her spirit for more than a decade.
She is a freelance writer and, together, they have produced a book that will be
of enormous help to anyone struggling to overcome an eating disorder with its
unique three-phase approach to eating that provides a concrete plan for
long-term recovery. If this describes someone you know, I would recommend you
give them this book. Also from the same publisher is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Love in the Land of Dementia: Finding Hope in the Caregiver’s Journey </b>by
Deborah Shouse ($15.95, CRP, softcover. This book provides compelling evidence
that love is the greatest healing force on earth and the author tells of how
Alzheimer’s disease began to claim her mother, it threatened the fabric of her
parent’s long and loving marriage, and strained relationships with family and
friends. However, over time when even memory and identity were all but gone,
they found ways to make their peace with her disease. For anyone facing a
comparable experience, this book will be a blessing. Both of these books has an
official publication date in November.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A problem
that is all too common is establishing and maintaining relationships and, in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Forging Healthy Connections: How
Relationships Fight Illness, Aging and Depression </b>($14.95, New Horizon
Press, softcover) Trevor Crow and Maryann Karinch join forces to explore
strategies that anyone can implement in order to create and maintain a healthy
network of connections that provide an emotional safe haven in our professional
and personal lives. They examine why so many of us fail or lose relationships
as we age, explore trust issues, and other causes of a loss that has a direct
effect on our health and mental well-being. Ms. Crow is a licensed marriage and
family therapist and Ms. Karinch is the author of 18 books, many of which focus
on human behavior. Together they make a great team and this book can help
anyone, older readers and those who will be older, resolve some of the problems
they may be encountering. A useful book is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">9
Realities of Caring for an Elderly Parent: A Love Story of a Different Kind</b>
by Stefania Shaffer (19.95, Pressman Books, softcover) is written for the 43.5
million American adults who provide care for someone—their spouses, friends,
and most of all, their parents. This guidebook will provide a treasure of
useful advice, but perhaps the most important is for the caregiver to attend to
their own health because it does take a toll if you do not. And it can be
costly, too. If you are a caregiver or know one, this book is filled with the
kind of information and advice that is invaluable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Healing Pain and Injury</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Maud Nerman ($24.95, Bay Tree
Publishing, softcover), an assistant professor at the Western University
College of Osteopathic Medicine and an adjunct clinical professor at Tuoro
University Medical Center, brings over thirty years of experience to the
subject of recovery from all manner of neurological problems from brain injury
to epilepsy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book’s focus is
treating pain and injury resulting from trauma. The author offers three simple
steps to understanding and treating the hidden and little recognized causes of
traumatic pain. If you continue to experience pain despite treatment, this book
may unlock the doors to relief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Biographies, Autobiographies
& Memoirs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You could
fill a library with books about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only man to win
four elections to the presidency, a man who led the nation through World War
II, and a master politician. It is the younger Roosevelt who is often
overlooked and Stanley Weintraub fills that gap with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Young Mr. Roosevelt: FDR’s Introduction to War, Politics, and Life </b>($25.99,
Da Capo Press). <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyone interested in
American history and, in particular, the portion that FDR dominated, will
welcome the way FDR’s formative years prepared him. Remembered for his
successes, his early life taught him how to deal with failure and, of course,
the Polio that left him crippled. During his presidency, few Americans ever saw
a photo of him in a wheelchair. To stand, he required heavy metal braces. By
the spring of 1913, however, he began his political career with an appointment
as the assistant secretary of the Navy. That would be followed by a failed
initial run for vice president, and, as noted, Polio. What the noted historian
demonstrates is that Roosevelt not only learned from those trying times, but
grew past them. It is a remarkable journey. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I often
wonder what kind of courage it must take to be a war correspondent and, to a
great extent, Paul Conroy’s new book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Under
the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Last Assignment</b>, ($26.00, Weinstein Books)
provides the answer. Ms. Colvin wanted to be where the war zone was, wanted to
report on what was occurring, and she paid for that with her life in Syria in
2012 after both had been smuggled in by rebel forces. She died during a hellish
artillery attack that also seriously wounded Conroy who was a former British
soldier with fifteen years covering conflicts in Iraq, Congo, Kosovo, and
Libya, prior to Syria. Both shared a compulsion to bear witness to events.
Anyone who has spent any time in a war zone, in combat, or just wondering what
it is like will thoroughly enjoy this book. One might say they shared a foxhole
or two together and the story he tells is gripping and a great tribute to his
friend, a great journalist. Wars, of course, generate all manner of books and
World War II is still a rich source. </span></div>
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Military historian and retired U.S.
Marine, Dick Camp, the author of a slew of books, has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shadow Warriors: The Untold Stories of
American Special Operations During WWII </b>($30.00, Zenith Press) which,
despite the nearly seven decades that have passed, still have the capacity to
amaze. It is the story of the top-secret exploits of the brilliant, courageous,
and previously unacknowledged heroes. Only in recent years have their exploits
been declassified and Camp provides an action-packed narrative of units that
composed the special forces, laying the groundwork for many of our present-day
units such as the SEALS and others. Camp’s book addresses both the European and
Pacific theaters which required elaborate spy networks, covert parachutists,
amphibious raids, and, yes, even the occasional catastrophic mission failure. </div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Joseph
Wheelan goes further back in our history with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Terrible Swift Sword: The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan </b>($16.99,
Da Capo Press, softcover), one of the great generals of the Civil War, part of
a triumvirate that included Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman. He was the
youngest of the three, but his fame came not only in winning battles, but for
his skills as a strategist and his personal leadership in battle. It was
Sheridan who applied the concept of “total war”, a scorched-earth approach that
is credited with winning the war and one he had ruthlessly used in campaigns
against the Plains Indians to bring them to reservations. Once there, he became
one of their most high-profile protectors. This is a first-rate biography that
would be enjoyed even by a son of the old confederacy for its attention to
detail and portrait of a man of courage and honor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Italian courtier, author of “The Prince”, Niccolo Machiavelli, has had his last
name immortalized as a synonym for the options and methods a ruler has in order
to stay in power. As Joseph Merkulin, the author of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Machiavelli: A Renaissance Life </b>($21.95, Prometheus Books,
softcover) reveals,the often vilified Machiavelli as both a diabolically
clever, yet mild-mannered and conscientious civil servant. In 720 pages, his
life was a true adventure, filled with violence, treachery, heroism, betrayal,
sex, bad popes, noble outlaws, menacing Turks, and a cast of others who peopled
an era famed for the power of the Medici family and shared with both Leonardo
da Vinci and Michelangelo. At one point he as imprisoned, tortured, and
ultimately abandoned, but he remained the sworn enemy of tyranny and, to the
surprise of many who will read this book, a champion of freedom and the
republican form of government! Anyone who loves biography and history will most
surely enjoy this book. Another man immersed in the politics of his era is the
subject of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Upton Sinclair: California
Socialist, Celebrity Intellectual </b></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($28.95,
University of Nebraska Press). Lauren Coodley provides an opportunity to learn
about a man famed in his time as the author of “The Jungle”, and an inveterate
embracer of all manner of causes. He has largely vanished in terms of any
legacy despite the fact that he wrote nearly eighty books and even won a
Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In the first half of the last century, his writing
and activism made him a household name who dedicated himself to helping people
understand how society was run, by whom, and for whom. It was a time when
socialism was on the rise in America and much of its agenda has been written
into an entitlement society that exists today. His interest and support of
feminism and a devotion to healthy living put him ahead of his time. He’s worth
getting to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijnoc7cBB-RCeVT73PRjQiQKHnVm0XPs9DMklop0h4k2QiKCCHc-_-AuXyO6Ess4To2afIXvqLoLz92V-kWUSmsbskZekTQK7umWHZ37ePo5sqsywCszocrXndfr_gI-pDYBP8WwvrwGs/s1600/Cover+-+God's+Double+Agent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijnoc7cBB-RCeVT73PRjQiQKHnVm0XPs9DMklop0h4k2QiKCCHc-_-AuXyO6Ess4To2afIXvqLoLz92V-kWUSmsbskZekTQK7umWHZ37ePo5sqsywCszocrXndfr_gI-pDYBP8WwvrwGs/s200/Cover+-+God's+Double+Agent.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">God’s Double Agent </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Bob Fu with Nancy French ($19.95,
Baker Books) may surprise you with the fact that tens of thousands of
Christians live in China today, living double lives to avoid a government that
relentlessly persecutes them. By day, Bob Fu was a teacher in a communist
school and by night he was a preacher in an underground house church network.
He tells of his conversion to Christianity, his arrest and imprisonment for
starting an illegal house church, his harrowing escape along with his wife in
1997, and his life since in the United States as an advocate for those who want
to enjoy the freedom to worship as they wish. This book is worth reading not
just for the inspiring story of his life, but to remind ourselves of freedoms we
take for granted. Richard Rodriguez has authored <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography </b>($26.95, Viking) and the title
refers to a friend who has since passed away who he met on the day her divorce
was finalized. “As a homosexual man, at a time of growing public acceptance of
homosexuality,” says Rodriguez, “I find myself thinking about my intimacy with
heterosexual women, and my debt to them for my formation as regards both my
spirituality and my sexuality.” His book is a Roman Catholic’s personal
exploration of, not only Christian history, but of Judaism and Islam, and the
roles each played that have brought them to the present times. There may not be
a large audience for this book, but those that read it will find it challenging
and entertaining at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A very
different kind of autobiography is found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Heist and High</b> by Anthony Curcio and Dane Batty ($15.95, Nish
Publishing Company, Portland, OR, softcover). Curcio was an all-American high
school football star, a kid with a short at being an all-star college wide
receiver, and maybe even going onto the NFL, but an addiction to a prescription
pain-killer drug led him to pull off a robbery of a Brink’s armored truck that
netted him more than $400,000. He headed for Las Vegas where he was subsequently
caught. It was a sensational crime at the time and the detective who caught him
said the robbery had “all the preparation of a top-notch heist by an
experienced criminal.” This is a cautionary tale because it is estimated that
more than eleven million people abuse these drugs. Curcio is rebuilding his
life after serving his federal prison sentence in Texas and Florida, having
been released in April of this year. His co-author has assisted in telling a
fast-paced, very moving story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Books for Younger Readers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A very
cute book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Summer Saltz: I’m So
Hollywood, </b>by Connie Sewell and illustrated by Elyse Wittaker-Peak ($16.95,
Tiny Hands Publishing, Hilton Head, SC) has a lesson for young readers, ages 3
to 8, about just being oneself and not taking on airs. When fun-loving Summer
gets a pair of an ever-so-sassy pair of white sunglasses, she takes on the
personality of “I’m so Hollywood” and plans a party to show off a bit. When her
best friend shows up wearing the same glasses and the fun begins as she learns
that it is not what one wears, nor adopting the attitudes of movie stars. Young
readers (and those being read to) will learn a valuable lesson along with
Summer and thoroughly enjoy it. For those youngsters who love wordplay there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sir Silly: The World Where Words Play </b>by
David Dayan Fisher ($6.95, Sunnyfields Publishing) where Sir Silly thinks in
rhyme and lets his imagine dance freely. Illustrations by Patricia Krebs
enhance the text and the book is sure to impart some lessons in the way
language, plus imagination, can open the mind to useful lessons in the way the
world works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3Ze9dSEZM5or39VuWt45LhvLgDe7NMFPwbkJqBU4gx2nsFb-cmOfZ_R3XG5vLmLnVImGp7H7VcAI9mU8tJxYFXySDg50sKoL1DiU-65F_UCzjMRXQjo7xGUU4IYyaxP4EnwqtVGaEdA/s1600/Cover+-+Mermaid+Sails+the+Bay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3Ze9dSEZM5or39VuWt45LhvLgDe7NMFPwbkJqBU4gx2nsFb-cmOfZ_R3XG5vLmLnVImGp7H7VcAI9mU8tJxYFXySDg50sKoL1DiU-65F_UCzjMRXQjo7xGUU4IYyaxP4EnwqtVGaEdA/s200/Cover+-+Mermaid+Sails+the+Bay.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mermaid Sails the Bay </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">marks the debut of Greg Trybull
($16.66, Amazon.com, softcover) will particularly please young adults. It is
springtime in 1908 in a San Francisco still recovering from the Great Quake of
1906. It is a time of advances that include electricity, automobiles, and
radio, but is also a time when the era of the great sailing ships will give way
to more modern vessels. Three brothers, Ed (16), Bill (14) and Ted (12) are
about to embark on an adventure when their father buys them a 16-foot Whitehall
boat which they christen the Mermaid. That summer they encounter Teddy
Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet and end up the target of pirates that shoot rotten
fruit for cannonballs. They surmount the rough seas, save the lives of new
friends, and learn to get along with one another. This is a great way to enjoy
history and indulge young dreams of adventure. Another kind of adventure is
found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mickey Price: Journey to
Oblivion</b> by John P. Stanley ($15.99, Tanglewood) a science fiction romp
that even NASA astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, liked. He said, “This rocket-speed
adventure captures all the danger, mystery, and excitement of NASA moon
missions with laugh-out-loud moments along the way. It also reminds us that
there are still great mysteries on the moon and beyond, just waiting to be
discovered and explored. I know kids will love this story and I hope it
inspires them. Go outside at night—look at the moon—dream big!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Written for those ages 8 to 12, even a
slightly older reader like myself, like Aldrin, thought this book was terrific.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
novel that will appeal to younger readers, as well as older ones, is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fifteen Minutes</b> by Karen Kingbury
($22.99, Howard Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) that examines the
price of fame as it raises questions about compromise, character, and cost in a
celebrity-focused culture. Kingsbury has been called “the queen of Christian
fiction” and draws on her friends among the music industry elite where she
lives in Nashville. When the former winner of a TV talent show takes her turn
as a judge, she has a secret motive to save others from the perils of fame. The
focus of her concern becomes Zack Dylan, the most popular contestant, who has
kept his strong faith as well as a girlfriend back home secret. Will the glare
of fame cause him to lose everything he holds most dear? It is a question worth
asking and answering. Teens will likely enjoy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Crypto-Punk </b>self-published by George Traikovich ($9.00, Kindle 99
cents, Amazon, softcover) about the latest fad at Bixby Elementary, dressing
like B-movie monsters. What is driving the strange compulsion? That is what the
Zero Avenue kids, Drew, Clementine, Grady, Newton, and Spider, as they unravel
the threads of a conspiracy that blurs the line between science and magic,
friends and enemies, and which draws them into an adventure that tests their
character and their loyalties to one another. This one is scary and lots of
fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I say it
every month, but it is no less true that there is a torrent of novels being
published, either by mainstream publishing houses or, increasingly,
self-published. No need complain for a lack of fiction these days. My fiction
team is recommending a bunch this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGmfnTsHG-wnrkirWCst47Z-drfVeyfe39LpXQrZoyKmgOxDX5zQE5AN0hC7avc-UYEySmhC8g_XIZYDP2cqjTPgSzigRpDNlHysYKKOcYWAMaVaBaHPzta4ikNKRc5qFXLU10Yvvq8qQ/s1600/Cover+-+The+Octavian+Latticework.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGmfnTsHG-wnrkirWCst47Z-drfVeyfe39LpXQrZoyKmgOxDX5zQE5AN0hC7avc-UYEySmhC8g_XIZYDP2cqjTPgSzigRpDNlHysYKKOcYWAMaVaBaHPzta4ikNKRc5qFXLU10Yvvq8qQ/s200/Cover+-+The+Octavian+Latticework.jpg" width="138" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One new
novel feels like it comes right out of the daily headlines even though it is
set ten years into the future. Jack Belmonte makes his debut with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Octavian Latticework</b> ($22.00,
Voltaire Publishing) in which a rookie counter-terrorism agent for the
fictional U.S. Anti-Subversion Authority is hot on the heels of Brigade 910, a
domestic terror group that is led by the shadowy Octavian. Johnny Luca and his
partner discover plans for a major attack. In the White House, President Reed
Wilkins has vowed to veto a draconian Total Information Awareness Act that
would turn the U.S. into a total surveillance state. It’s up to Luca to save
the president from assassination and to thwart the plots. Well, suffice to say,
it is a story filled with political secrets, government cover-ups, and domestic
terror plots. Another novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The North
Building</b> ($15.50, Munroe Hill Press, softcover) takes one back to the days
of the Cold War. Jefferson Flanders, the author, obviously finds this an
interesting period of history as he set a previous novel in it as well. This is
a sequel to “Herald Square.” Whether you know anything about the Cold War or
not, you too will find it of interest as Flanders takes us back to the years
just after World War II when the Soviet Union became the greatest challenge to
the U.S. and Europe, a threatening presence in the world. Set in New York in
1951, Dennis Collins is returning from covering the war in Korea. The last
thing he wants is to be sucked into a world of spies, counterspies, and the
leaked military secrets that may have contributed to the retreat to the Chosin
Reservoir, a low point in the conflict. The novel has some familiar names from
that era that include President Eisenhower, Allen Dulles of the CIA, and the
British spy ring led by Philby and MacLean. The North Building of the title is
the office on the CIA campus where agents out of favor with their higher-ups
get exiled to ponder their errors. This is a taunt and heart-racing
geopolitical thriller that includes a nicely interwoven romance as well. A
Washington Times reviewer loved it; I did too, and so will you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8wIkBincnTvAAtQ-TtTA_QTg0iEPg2gMyijIuTmVAwaLx6RMDZTdqvN_xTFyAukAmYv_1JbRMCvL7XipuI747b8W9ThyphenhyphenreocVm6TWKjkZEmMG_SqR9j32QhkNuMqu7C6W10iFuS9d0U/s1600/Cover+-+Rising+Sun,+Falling+Shadow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8wIkBincnTvAAtQ-TtTA_QTg0iEPg2gMyijIuTmVAwaLx6RMDZTdqvN_xTFyAukAmYv_1JbRMCvL7XipuI747b8W9ThyphenhyphenreocVm6TWKjkZEmMG_SqR9j32QhkNuMqu7C6W10iFuS9d0U/s200/Cover+-+Rising+Sun,+Falling+Shadow.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
excellent novel. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rising Sun, Falling
Shadow </b>by Daniel Kalla ($27.99, Tor/Forge) occurs in 1943, during the
Japanese occupation of Shanghai, China, trapping droves of American and British
citizens, along with thousands of “stateless” German Jewish refugees,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>behind enemy lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the hostile environment, newlyweds
Dr. Franz Adler and his wife, Sunny, adjust to life running Shanghai’s only
hospital for the refugee Jews. Bowing to Nazi pressure, the Japanese force
their Allied friends into internment camps and relocate the twenty thousand
Jews into a one-square-kilometer “Shanghai Ghetto.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heat, hunger, and tropical diseases are constant
threats, but the ghetto demonstrates miraculous resistance, offering music,
theatre, sports and Jewish culture despite the condition. This is a tale of
espionage, survival, and the power of love and family. World War II generated
another novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brave Hearts </b></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Carolyn
Hart ($13.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover) as it tells the story of
Catherine Cavanaugh, caught in a loveless marriage with a British diplomat. It
is wartime London and the Germans are bombing London. She meets an American war
correspondent, Jack Maguire, and rediscovers hope and love again, but the war
intervenes when she and her husband are unexpectedly transferred to the
Philippines. Jack follows, but shortly after their arrival the Japanese attack
and trapped civilians are forced into a harrowing adventure to escape them.
Hart is a cofounder of Sisters in Crime and won many awards for her novels—more
than fifty—so you know she knows how to tell a gripping story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Murder has
long been a staple of fiction and Jonas Winner gives it a new twist in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Beginning: Berlin Gothic </b>($14.95,
Thomas & Mercer, softcover). Long after the Iron Curtain has come down,
Till Anschutz has been taken in by the Bentheims and, along with his new
brother, 12-year-old Max, the boys explore the office where their cold, distant
father, horror novelist, Xavier Betheim, writes his novels. They discover a
secret door that leads to a dark hallway that connects to the city’s
underground tunnels. They also discover gruesome photographs and films, leading
them to conclude that Xavier has been leading a disturbing double life.
Meanwhile, Berlin Police Inspector Konstantin Butz is working on the case of a
mutilated corpse of a woman. It is the latest in a series of related murders.
This novel is full of twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages. Another
novelist, James Sheehan, knows a lot about the law. He practiced it for thirty
years and has written three acclaimed legal thrillers. His latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Alligator Man </b>($23.00, Center
Street, Hachette imprint).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone has
killed Roy Johnson, the former CEO of Dynatron, famous for preying on smaller
companies, stripping them of their assets and leaving their employee out in the
cold. Lots of people have a motive for killing him. Pieces of his clothing have
been found in alligator-infested waters. The assumption is murder and one of
those on whom suspicion falls is Billy Fuller who lost everything, but is now a
New York Times columnist. A former childhood friend, Kevin Wylie, a Miami
attorney, learns of Billy’s problem and, though all the evidence points to his
guilt, he believes Billy is innocent. I recommended Sheehan’s last novel, “A
Lawyer’s Lawyer”, and I definitely recommend his new one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Last Animal</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Abby Geni ($24.00, Counterpoint
Press) is a treat for anyone who loves reading short stories. Geni is a
graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop and someone who observers
expect to become a major name. She is off to a great start with this
collection, ten remarkable stories unified around the theme of people who use
the interface between humans and the natural world to cope with issues of love,
loss, and family life. The stories are thoroughly researched, giving them an
authenticity. This collection has already garnered many accolades and I will
add my own to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for October! Come back next month and don’t forget to tell your friends,
family and co-workers who love a good book about Bookviews.com. </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-65079626529887360732013-08-30T06:29:00.001-07:002013-09-04T11:51:24.616-07:00Bookviews - September 2013<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The one
book you must read this month is Erick Stakelbeck’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Breakthrough: America’s Next Great Enemy </b>($27.95, Regnery
Publishing Co.) because it will tell you what you need to know about the
September 11<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> “Million Muslim March” in Washington, D.C. and why
the Muslim Brotherhood haa been in the streets of Cairo trying to retake
control of Egypt after having been banned for more than five decades there
until the overthrow of the Mubarak regime. Secular Egyptians are fighting to
avoid having to live under Sharia law, the 1,400 year old system of slavery
that sanctions beheadings, stoning, and the oppression of women and all other
religions. You will learn about its history and how widespread it is in
America, using a variety of front groups, all devoted to destroying our nation
along with, of course, Israel. Founded in 1928 by fanatical Muslims, it is in
eighty nations and boasts over a hundred million followers. You will learn how
the White House has opened its doors to some of its leaders, how top ranked
national security officials favor Islam, and how mosques are being built
throughout the nation in order to proselytize and create enclaves in our midst
from which will come those who will use terrorism against us. Americans are
being deceived by our own media, by those in our universities, and by those in
our government. This book spells it out, documenting what has occurred and what
will occur if Americans do not waken to this threat to the nation and the West.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsL9ky3NvbwPbSjz08QTzCWWGYbRVnK4EBrv1X9CU-5X-Ha-xDaVxg59Rf2sZ0zbdPC0G8IiiGC_nYTg98kkYA2AuMvlV5T-wDFBo9x26nrjVQNdh7A6NhupBQNppjm7bCTP0nsrodRS0/s1600/Cover+-+What+Went+Wrong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsL9ky3NvbwPbSjz08QTzCWWGYbRVnK4EBrv1X9CU-5X-Ha-xDaVxg59Rf2sZ0zbdPC0G8IiiGC_nYTg98kkYA2AuMvlV5T-wDFBo9x26nrjVQNdh7A6NhupBQNppjm7bCTP0nsrodRS0/s200/Cover+-+What+Went+Wrong.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
reelection of Barack Obama was a tremendous shock to Republicanswho could not
conceive that a first term that began with enormous spending—the stimulus—that
produced no shovel-ready or other permanent jobs or any improvement to the
economy and ended with the Benghazi scandal in which a U.S. ambassador and
three others will killed in a terrorist attack would not hand the election to
Mitt Romney, their candidate. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Went
Wrong: The Inside Story of the GOP debacle of 2012 and How it can be Avoided
Next Time </b>by Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. ($25.95, WND Books) is a brilliant
analysis of why the GOP again choose a “me too” candidate and, in Romney’s
case, a man who utterly failed to wage an aggressive campaign. Corsi explains
how the Democratic campaign relied on the most modern techniques of computer
modeling to identify exactly who to reach, combined with a get-out-the-vote
campaign that ensured that more of them actually voted. The GOP thought that
Romney’s economic message of small government, lower taxes, and less regulation
would resonate with voters, but it did not and, in the end, a significant
number white Republicans, the party’s core, just stayed home, disappointed with
the campaign. It cost them the White House, but Tea Party candidates, scorned
by the GOP elites did well at the polls. Obama was reelected by his core
constituency, African Americans who voted 98% for him, Hispanics, single women
and younger voters. Republicans, Tea Party supporters, conservatives and
independents should read this excellent book to learn what must be done in the
forthcoming 2014 midterm elections and how to capture the White House and
Congress in 2016. Corsi believes it can be done.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Having
begun my professional life as a very young journalist in the late 1960s, I
found Harry Rosenfeld’s memoir, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From
Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaperman</b> ($29.95, Suny
University of New York Press) of interest as he recalled his family’s escape
from Nazi Germany to the U.S., his youth growing up in New York, and his love
of journalism that began early with a low-level job with the Tribune. Rosenfeld
made his way up to editorial positions with the Washington Post and played a
pivotal role when the Watergate scandal began as a break-in of the Democratic
headquarters. He recounts how Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, both young
reporters, were selected to investigate and how it grew into the greatest
scandal to affect a U.S. president ever. It would take two years before Nixon
resigned in the face of a pending impeachment. It is history as seen through
the eyes of a journalist that is a contribution to understanding much about
newspapers in an era where they were the dominant provider of news to the
present times. It is a personal story, but it is also a story of the most
dramatic times America passed through since the end of WWII.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A new
breed of journalist has emerged in the digital age and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breakthrough: Our Guerrilla War to Expose Fraud and Save Democracy </b>by
James O’Keefe ($26.00, Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) is
the extraordinary story of how this young man and colleagues exposed the
corruption of ACORN, leading to Congress defunding the voter fraud
organization, revealing the biases within National Public Radio, the easy
tolerance of fraud at Planned Parenthood, and in many government agencies. In
2010 O’Keefe formed Project Veritas, a 501c(3) organization dedicated to
citizen journalism. Best known for its sting operations that caught the various
operatives of these organization on camera, O’Keefe is dedicated to exposing
corruption that endangers the election process, the contempt of organizations that
receive government funding, and many other ills within our society and
government that undermine our values. He was fortunate to find a mentor in the
late Andrew Breitbart, but the untold story until now is the way the Left
fought back with law suits and outright lies intended to defame him and his
group. What he accomplished was funded largely on his credit cards in the early
years and his dedication got him through some very scary moments. If you have a
feeling that something is very wrong with our nation’s institutions, you will
find your fears confirmed in this excellent book that exudes his still youthful
enthusiasm for “citizen journalism.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jay W.
Richards undertakes to explain the elements that led to the 2008 financial
crisis in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Infiltrated </b>($25.00,
McGraw Hill Education). He is a philosopher with a special focus on politics
and economics. The book is described as “part socioeconomic analysis and part
examination of the continuing debate over who is to blame for the crisis and
who is still trying to gain from it.” I found it tough going to the point where
I finally gave up. About the only thing I know is that we live in an era of
crony capitalism and the interplay between government and the financial markets
is intricate and deep. Suffice to say, only those with a concerted interest in
such questions will want to read this book and, I suspect, there are so many
players involved that it defies much more than informed speculation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Am I a Jew?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> By Theodore Ross ($16.00, Plume,
softcover) will intrigue both Jews and Christians as the author tells the story
of how, when he was nine years old, his mother forced him to convert to
Christianity after growing up in a Jewish family. When she moved to a small
town in Mississippi, she wanted to pass and, one assumes, wanted to make life
easier for Ross, but he always knew he was a Jew and those years never really
altered that perception. His parents were divorced so he was a Christian in
Mississippi and a Jew in Manhattan when he returned to visit his father for
holidays and summer break. As an adult living in New Mexico he became aware of
“crypto-Jews” of Spanish origin, those who fled the inquisition or pretended to
convert to avoid death. As he began to pursue this slice of history he became
aware of how many people believed they were Jewish though living gentile lives.
A whole sub-culture of those seeking to “return” to their spiritual roots was
revealed to him. Told with humor and a sharp eye for detail, Ross tells his own
story and that of others seeking an answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Linked only by Judaism, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bombed in
His Bed: The Confessions of Jewish Gangster Myer Rush</b> ($16.95, Alma Rose
Publishing, softcover) is an as-told-to book by Bruce Farrell Rosen, his
nephew. Rush was a very successful gangster who grew up in Depression-era
Toronto, a man who would have been successful in any enterprise, accumulating
wealth through crime and legitimate enterprise. He had a gift for stealth, and
chutzpah, but he disdained the press and the way he was depicted. He was, as
the saying goes, larger than life. He was in turn a cat burglar, ran guns into
Palestine before it became Israel at the request of a rabbi, marketed a sex
herb he discovered, and bought companies, turning them and other ventures into
success stories. There is no way to briefly describe his life and we can thank
his nephew for getting him to share his life for what is a very interesting
biography. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Every so
often a book comes along that I know will appeal to a narrow niche of readers
and, in the case of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Land of Lincoln—Thy
Wondrous Story: Through the Eyes of the Illinois State Society </b>($40.00,
Jameson Books, Ottawa, IL) by Mark Q. Rhoads that is surely the case. It helps
if you were born, bred and perhaps still live in Illinois. The author was the
president of the Illinois State Society from 1989 to 1990, serving on its board
for 27 years until 2012. Suffice to say he has had a long and distinguished
career, all of which touches upon his beloved state in some fashion or other.
His book is a definitive history of Illinois reaching back to 1853 and moving
along to the present through the events and the lives of men who made their
mark on the nation and the state. We all know about Lincoln, but the book is
filled with the politics of Illinois that was filled with interesting people,
some on the national stage, others in the state, some of whom helped share the
history of the nation as well.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Visible
Ink Press publishes a series of books that I recommend highly. They come under
the common title of “The Handy” book of “Answers” and several are debuting this
month. They include <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Chemistry
Answer Book</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy Astronomy
Book (Third Edition), </b>and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Handy
Art History Answer Book</b>, all priced at $21.95 and all authored by experts
in their fields. Earlier editions in my personal library include answer books
about history and science. In a very complex world, these books are a treasure
of information that break down their topics into easily comprehended and
informative texts that provide hours of interesting and entertaining reading
while turning you into the smartest person in the room!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To learn more about this series, visit </span><a href="http://www.handyanswers.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.handyanswers.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Silly, Funny, and Fun</span></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xMn3LLm30aDRHuXCCebLxZ0QxiiE7z44ItgPDp_55E6fXdjcp3gbmWwcvraZTwsEhqdZ0tnZpJPlkXaNnJJkDy-kEFg81H3WZ1S6O8ceUS9lC3WrBNpyre8OIO6Tb9h7K8TMrHk5EHA/s1600/Cover+-+Dare+to+look.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xMn3LLm30aDRHuXCCebLxZ0QxiiE7z44ItgPDp_55E6fXdjcp3gbmWwcvraZTwsEhqdZ0tnZpJPlkXaNnJJkDy-kEFg81H3WZ1S6O8ceUS9lC3WrBNpyre8OIO6Tb9h7K8TMrHk5EHA/s200/Cover+-+Dare+to+look.png" width="153" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some books
are just supposed to be fun to read and that surely applies to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ripley’s Believe It or Not ® Dare to Look!</b>,
a coffee table, large format book ($28.95, Ripley Publishing) that is filled
with some of the most bizarre, incredible, and amazing true stories from around
the world. Moreover, by downloading an APP for “oddScan” you can scan some of
the images and they come alive off the page. This book will appeal to anyone
with an interest in the odd ways some people behave and the things they do.
There’s the guy who pinned 161 clothes pegs to his face, an eight page gatefold
of ventriloquist’s dummies, and much more fun stuff on every page. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
who enjoy exploring mysteries, conspiracies, and cover-ups, Nick Redfern’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Monster Files</b> ($15.99, New Page Books,
a division of Career Press, softcover) will more than satisfy with its “look
inside government secrets and classified documents on bizarre creations and
extraordinary animals.” Redfern has either uncovered some strange information
from “secret files in the Pentagon, the Kremlin, the British military, and
other government agencies” or he is putting on the reader. Either way, it is
quite entertaining with its tales of lake monsters, an alleged link between the
CIA and the Abominable snowman, and Russian experiments with animal ESP.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There is
one type of book that I enjoy simply because it is so much fun. It is a
collection of odd facts and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1,227 Quite
Interesting Facts to Blow Your Socks Off</b> by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson,
James Harkin and the QI Elves ($15.95, W.W. Norton) lives up to its title.
Lloyd and Mitchinson are the creators of an award-winning BBC quiz show called
“QI” and Harkin is a senior researcher. It is pure trivia, but it is arranged
so that each page’s items link together in some fashion. Not that it matters
because each page has some surprising fact such as the international dialing
code for Russia is 007 or that heroin was originally sold as a cough medicine.
Did you know that Google makes more money--$20 billion a year—from advertising
than CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX combined? You will liven up your conversations with
all manner of facts after you’ve read this very entertaining book.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By far the
most amusing take on ghosts I have seen in a very long time is Doogie Horner’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">100 Ghosts: A Gallery of Harmless Haunts </b>($9.95,
Quirk Books)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just in time for Halloween
next month. In fact it would make a great Halloween gift. Horner is a writer,
designer, and stand-up comedian with two previous books to his credit. Suffice
to say he has a very whimsical mind and the illustrations that compose the book
show many variations on the theme of the white sheet and two eye-holes that is
the comic book version of a ghost. He has found some very amusing ways of
taking this simple piece of artwork and transforming it into a chuckle on every
page of a book you can hold in the palm of your hand. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lots of Useful Advice</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I think
someone has been writing a book of advice since the invention of the printing
press and, of course, the Bible, written much earlier, is filled with advice on
how to live one’s life. A number of such books have arrived so let’s take a
look at them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Raising a
young man to turn out well is always a parent’s concern and Rick Johnson offers
some advice in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Man in the Making:
Strategies to Help Your Son Succeed in Life </b>($12.99, Revell, a division of
Baker Publishing, softcover). Written from a Christian point of view, its
advice is universal, however, citing the need for intentional guidance,
education, and good role models. Johnson cites famous men of the past as models
of manhood and the values they possessed. Shannon Perry has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Overlooked General: Parenting Teens and
Tweens in a Complicated Culture </b>($14.99, softcover, </span><a href="http://www.shannonperry.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.ShannonPerry.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">). A radio and TV host, she formerly
was a public school teachers and counselor, and certified instructor for crisis
counseling and parenting classes. I cite this to let you know she has the
knowledge and experience to address bullying and other difficult issues that
include eating disorders, drug use, and other problems that today’s tweens and
teen must address and avoid. Well researched and filled with good advice, I
would recommend this book for any parent of a young girl and boy who wants to
deal with these issues. For parents with a child who insists on having the last
word there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Parenting Your Powerful
Child </b>by Dr. Kevin Leman ($17.99, Revell). It is filled with practical
advice on how to turn the battle zone in your home into a peaceful environment.
Dealing with a child that insists on getting his or her way requires insights
as to how they got that way and what steps can be taken to change attitudes and
behaviors. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A short,
clever book by David E. Silvey offers advice on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Smart Way to Deal with Stupid People: How Some Get What they Want
and Other’s Don’t </b>($14.99, Smart Way Books, softcover) is not so much about
“stupid” people but rather those in a position to be of service, but may fail
to do so. It’s about navigating frustrating situations and people in a
conflict-free way and, if you or someone you know, always seem to be in
conflict with others, it would make a very gift or book to read. It is
available on Amazon Kindle, Nook, and Lulu. In the world of business, the
challenge is to hire the right person and Abhijit Bhaduri, who’s been a human
resources executive at several large, global organizations such as Microsoft
and PepsiCo, has written an interesting book on the subject titled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t Hire the Best: An Essential Guide to
Building the Right Team</b> ($14.95, Hogan Press, softcover) which may seem
counter-intuitive, but the author contends that by selecting candidates with
the right personality fit and competencies, rather than the most impressive
experience or education, an organization can ensure that it brings in the right
people who can work effectively and successfully together. The book is already
getting raves from business leaders for its practical advice on how to improve
the way they assess their candidates. We have all heard of the “glass ceiling”
that kept women from climbing the corporate and career ladder. Norma Yaeger
stepped into the male-dominated world of the stockbroker on Wall Street in 1962
and brings lots of perspective and experience to her book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Breaking Down the Walls</b> ($15.99/$9.99, Publish Green, softcover and
ebook). This is her story and the advice she offers a new generation of young
women entering the workplace with more choices than those who preceded them. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK3X8_a9hluNMXCOXOsWGrzZgYTXVaPYyE786f_UxPqZux9eRlL2uD1hldMZKjcXUT_UBKhKWnBjMJGts042b10FcFTyy-KxpfnrgUolC4goUuVZfAreltz-4YrXNfI9TQF3fkW3tQwc/s1600/Cover+-+Shifting+Gears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjK3X8_a9hluNMXCOXOsWGrzZgYTXVaPYyE786f_UxPqZux9eRlL2uD1hldMZKjcXUT_UBKhKWnBjMJGts042b10FcFTyy-KxpfnrgUolC4goUuVZfAreltz-4YrXNfI9TQF3fkW3tQwc/s200/Cover+-+Shifting+Gears.jpg" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After a
life spent working, the time comes for retirement though it must be said the
current economy may make that more difficult than before. More than 10,000
adults turn 55+ every day and they are faced with questions about what to do
with the prospect of several more decades of life. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shifting Gears to Your Life Work After Retirement</b> by Carolee
Duckworth and Marie Langworthy ($18.50/$8.50, New Cabady Press, softcover and
ebook) offer a roadmap for Boomers to live the final years and make them their
best that covers a wide range of topics from a 10-point retirement countdown, a
5-step process to create a unique retirement adventure, how to use one’s time
best, and how technology offers web connectivity and other benefits. The book
offers advice on how to reinvent one’s personal and professional next phase
along with some good parenting advice for one’s senior years. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Regrettably, some
seniors fall victim to dementia. A 2009 census revealed that more than five
million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia. That
means there are fifteen million family caregivers and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">An Unintended Journey: A Caregiver’s Guide to Dementia</b> by Janet
Yagoda Shgram ($20.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) was written to provide the
kind of advice to get them through that challenge as she guides readers through
the often-confusing world of dementia care. She explains the basics of dementia
as a brain disorder, its accompanying behaviors, the procedures to diagnose and
stage the disease, as well as the legal aspects of providing care for an adult
who is no longer competent. There’s excellent advice and guidance on every
page.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Science and Such</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Science
has transformed modern life for the better and is so much in the news that it
has become a kind of religion. It has been corrupted in recent decades,
particularly in regard to the greatest hoax of modern times, “global warming.”
It is producing a lot of books of late so let’s look at some that have arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An
important moment in the advancement of science and mathematics was the
publication of Isaac Newton’s book in 1687. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Magnificent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Principia</i>:
Exploring Isaac Newton’s Masterpiece </b>by Colin Pask ($26.00, Prometheus
Books) is a guided tour of the book that created the framework for what we call
modern science and why we now take matters from gravity to our solar system for
granted. For anyone with an interest in the history of the book and its impact,
Pask will take you on a journey that will put you in the company of
intellectually curious readers, as well as the professional scientists and
mathematicians who actually read it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Environmentalism
has produced whole libraries of books and all seem to blame humans for
everything that occurs in nature without crediting it with enormous powers well
in excess of anything humans do. A typical example of this is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Invisible Nature: Healing the Destructive
Divide Between People and the Environment </b>by Kenneth Worthy ($19.00,
Prometheus Books, softcover) which sees all aspects of human life from food
production to the use of toilet paper as some kind of assault on nature. I have
a tip for you. Nature doesn’t care. Much of human history has been devoted to
overcoming the dangers to human life that nature poses and we have developed
everything from agriculture to feed us to cities to house us in order to avoid
living in mud huts and eating nuts and berries. A similar doom and gloom look
at nature is find in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Air: The Restless
Shaper of the World </b>by William Bryant Logan ($16.95, W.W. Norton,
softcover) which includes the usual claptrap about carbon dioxide that is
released when we burn coal or use oil to generate energy for the power we
require to turn on the lights or drive our cars. Carbon dioxide plays no role
in “global warming” or “climate change”; it is a bare 0.038% of the Earth’s
atmosphere, but without it all animal life would perish as it is the “food”
that all plant life needs for growth. We need to stop worrying about the
so-called “greenhouse gases” and begin to consider the threats posed by
assaults on the Constitution and the Islamist movement.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGW_G7lTu7C9-Z9zOUhFb0Ei5i4Fdg4SFAq07K8SiQc4GuSdfVFIQWz9NpzUhg81s864br0i7Z-sGPMxVcH73WePO288WMGm1R0lgQEDpfBoAHYtPcJgghlvWeWluBuBDMJDV4l6mqnRc/s1600/Cover+-+The+Particle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGW_G7lTu7C9-Z9zOUhFb0Ei5i4Fdg4SFAq07K8SiQc4GuSdfVFIQWz9NpzUhg81s864br0i7Z-sGPMxVcH73WePO288WMGm1R0lgQEDpfBoAHYtPcJgghlvWeWluBuBDMJDV4l6mqnRc/s200/Cover+-+The+Particle.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On a more
positive note, there are some books about science that are not blatant
propaganda. One such is Edward Ashpole’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Signatures
of Life: Science Searches the Universe </b>($25.00, Prometheus Books) that
explores the question of whether we are alone in the universe or whether life
is a universal phenomenon? There are countless galaxies, but the astronomers in
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have spent the last fifty years
scanned the universe for any signals of other intelligent beings and have found
none. The author examines the problems inherent is this effort, seeking radio
or optical signals from an alien intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Granted that this is a fairly specialized aspect of science today, this
book does it justice. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Particle At
the End of the Universe </b>by Sean Carroll ($17.00, Plume, softcover) tells
the story of the biggest machine ever constructed, taking ten years to build,
and costing in excess of $9 billion. It required the cooperation of engineers
from more than a hundred nations and, in the end, its colossal discovery was
the unbelievably tiny Higgs Boson, often referred to as the “god particle.”
Don’t ask me to explain what it is other than that it is a subatomic particle,
deemed the most important scientific discovery to date. The story behind the
construction of the project is a great drama, the result of unprecedented
international cooperation and all manner of deal-making and even occasional
skullduggery. As such, it makes for lively reading.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As someone
who cannot balance his checkbook without the assistance of my bank’s online
page, anything to do with physics and mathematics is a mystery to me, but there
are a number of books that do a good job of explaining it. One such is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Quantum Universe (And Why Anything that</b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Can Happen, does) </b>by Brian Cox and
Jeff Forshaw ($15.99, Da Capo Press, softcover). The authors are professors of
physics at the University of Manchester and do an excellent job of demystifying
quantum physics to the point where even I can understand it. They do so in a
very entertaining way for those of us interested in why the laws of physics
determine everything in our world and the universe. This one is worth reading. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Way of Science: Finding Truth and
Meaning in a Scientific Worldview </b>by Dennis R. Tumble ($20, Prometheus
Books, softcover) involves a lot of deep thinking about the deeper benefits of
science, particularly its emphasis on critical thinking and science literacy.
The reason we trust science is that it is subject to reproducibility. Unless a
theory or a claim can be reproduced by other scientists, it is subject to
dispute and those disputes are critical to arriving at a truth. I am not
talking about “a consensus” or agreement, but a conclusion that has been proven
to the point where it is accepted on its own merits. The best part of science
is that it keeps us open to a sense of wonder about the world we inhabit and an
optimism that the human condition can be improved. I took some comfort, given
my lack of arithmetic skills, in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Magnificent
Mistakes in Mathematics </b>by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingar Lehmann ($24.00,
Prometheus Books). This is a book that will appeal to those who work in the
world of mathematics, but also to those with a general interest in the subject.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Making of the Mind: The
Neuroscience of Human Nature </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Ronald T. Kellogg ($20.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) explores in detail five
distinctive parts of human cognition. In more basic terms, why did we humans
turn out so different from chimpanzees with whom we share a fair amount of DNA?
According to the author, we have very good working memories, a well-tuned
social intelligence that lets us interpret what others are saying, a capacity
for symbolic thought and language, and an inner voice that interprets conscious
experiences by making causal inferences. Unlike the chimps, we know our species
has a history, a past, and that it has a future. Kellogg is concerned that our
modern world of 24/7 media leads to a great deal of mass distraction. This is
one of those kind of books that provides a world of insight to our own lives
and that of society in general.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknLO3x9lLfb3RU0ymcFeTnsZQLmlSk-189EPrbHDvyIrFzZTpGOrG2Yuf8M1uph9q7Daw3Svm4cGbsoGpXCuhdRzNbX7_emiZwduVybOqV4x0MlRkQaWcdYu1dDzIp3J86WSsJ3gCiP4/s1600/Cover+-+Sports+Gene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknLO3x9lLfb3RU0ymcFeTnsZQLmlSk-189EPrbHDvyIrFzZTpGOrG2Yuf8M1uph9q7Daw3Svm4cGbsoGpXCuhdRzNbX7_emiZwduVybOqV4x0MlRkQaWcdYu1dDzIp3J86WSsJ3gCiP4/s200/Cover+-+Sports+Gene.jpg" width="137" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What
Makes a Hero: The Surprising Science of Selflessness </b>by Elizabeth Svoboda
($27.95, Current, an imprint of Penguin Group USA) is an interesting look the
way people will act selflessly and why. Using a variety of examples of people
who demonstrated this quality, the author shows how this can greatly improve
our mental health in our daily lives though it sometimes comes with a price.
Interestingly, breakthroughs in biology and neuroscience reveal that the human
brain is primed for selflessness which, to be candid, came as a surprise to me
which is, of course, why the title of the book is about this “surprising
science.” It turns out that we all have the capacity to be heroes in our own
ways. Another book from Current is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance </b>by
David Epstein ($26.95) that offers an interesting look at sports that raises
some interesting questions. For example, half the men who hold the top ten
records for the 100m dash are from Jamaica, Two of them, Usain Bolt and Yohan
Blake, hail from neighboring parishes. Is there something in the water or is it
in the gene pool? This book looks at sensitive subjects such as what role race
and gender play in athletics? And why do bodies respond differently to
identical training? Everyone can recall the star athlete from their school
days, the one who made it look easy and the question the book explores is why
some have the “sports gene” while others clearly do not. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sports Illustrated </i>senior writer, Epstein, tackles the nature
versus nurture debate and examines what science has to tell us. Along the way
he dispels many of our perceptions about why top athletes excel. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You have
no doubt noticed that several of the books noted in this section are from a
single publisher, <a href="http://prometheusbooks.com/">Prometheus Books</a>, and the good news is that several are
available as ebooks at significantly lower prices than the traditional format</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kid Stuff</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am a
great believer in getting kids to love books at an early age. For the very
young, being read to from a book, particularly a picture book, engages them and
encourages them to learn to read on their own. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am a fan
of the Howard B. Wigglebottom series by Howard Binkow and the latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Fable About Trust </b>($15.00, We Do
Listen Foundation) by Binkow and Rev. Ana, and illustrated by Taillefer Long.
The book introduces 4-8 year olds to the concept that trust is earned and that
it is okay to say no. Filled with appealing and recognizable characters, it
teaches a valuable lesson in selecting one’s friends and avoiding doing things
because others urge one to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
learn more about the series as </span><a href="http://www.wedolisten.org/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.wedolisten.org</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bimbambu
</b>by Ileana Katzenelson ($18.73, Soul Prints Press) is for the pre-school
youngster age 3 to 5 or so. It was inspired by a story told to her by her
father, a concentration camp survivor, and explores the theme of being
compassionate and giving. The main character is a bird who, asked to share its
feathers by a variety of other animal characters does so and who receives their
help in return. Illustrated by Sean Brown, it is a story the very young will
want to return to again and again. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A very clever,
entertaining picture book for the very young is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vampire Baby </b>by Kelly Bennett and illustrated by Paul Meisel
($15.99, Candlewick Press) takes a common experience when infants get their
first teeth and want to test them out on everything. For older siblings this
can be a painful experience. In this story, a baby develops fangs! She may be a
vampire, but she is still is much loved little sister. It is, of course, a
metaphor for the transition that occurs when a new child joins the family.
American Girl is more than just a publisher. The company introduces new
characters and, in the case of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty
Baby</b>, creates dolls, outfits, and accessories. Aimed at girls who are 3
years old and up, the first of a series is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty
Baby and Me</b> by Kirby Larson and illustrated by Sue Cornelison ($14.99)
along with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby at the Ballet</b>,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby Love the Snow</b>, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bitty Baby the Brave</b>. All involve
learning experiences of one kind or another and, from a parent’s point of view,
will prove helpful. Little girls will just enjoy them.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZ1RHUUSMDH7OuW6xtte4N38KdKLlzN85GcGQX2owqE0-QxJ_AWvwpo0c6lA1SDQPvdVcD4ijZ-hH5KlCrQ_nd0p70CfEU4iGzQS3IPCWOUbKL7ex72871ChNxIjxXW1Piqkz6_htxng/s1600/Cover+-+Dragon+Boy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZ1RHUUSMDH7OuW6xtte4N38KdKLlzN85GcGQX2owqE0-QxJ_AWvwpo0c6lA1SDQPvdVcD4ijZ-hH5KlCrQ_nd0p70CfEU4iGzQS3IPCWOUbKL7ex72871ChNxIjxXW1Piqkz6_htxng/s200/Cover+-+Dragon+Boy.gif" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dragon Boy and the Witches of Galza </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($15.95, Xlibris, softcover) is a
debut novel in a planned series by A.A. Bukhatir and it will appear to younger
readers age 12 and up with its story of an old woodcutter named Aijou who
mourns the death of his cherished wife, living in near total isolation. His
life takes a dramatic change when, having lost his way in an enchanted forest,
he encounters two tiny fairies engaged in a battle with a fire-breathing
she-dragon. They prevail and as she lays dying she assumes her human form and
begs Aijou to adopt her baby boy. He agrees, not know that the infant is
actually a dragon. This is an intricate story filled with all the elements of
fantasy and mystery that will intrigue younger readers. A non-scary story along
the lines of Alice in Wonderland has been penned by Mark J. Grant. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lila: The Sign of the Elven Queen </b>($14.95,
Mascot Books) is a modern fairy tale about s six-year-old girl who lives in New
York. She has two cats, but dogs are not allowed in her apartment building, so
she asks her parents if she can have an invisible dog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They agree and as they go about buying
invisible pet supplies for “Fluffy” when a black and white Aussie appears to
Lila and introduces himself as Fluffy. All manner of adventures follow,
including invisible people who discover a birthmark on Lila that is the sign of
their Elven Queen. When she turns seven, she is made a princess. This is an
instant modern fairy tale and one that is sure to please ages eight and older.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The best
thing about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Green Golly & her Golden
Flute </b>($19.99, Eifrig Publishing) is the CD of music performed by Keith
Torgan and Barbara Siesel, the authors of this book for those ages 4-10 that
comes with it. Suzanne Langelier-Lebeda illustrated it, but even her artwork
cannot rescue the story that is based on the tale of Rapunzel whose long hair
helped her escape from the tower in which she had been put. Whether read to at
bedtime or read by the child, the story that begins with the baby Golly’s
parents giving her away to a witch for a bowl of salad is so inherently
terrifying that everything that follows defies the understanding of the world
by even the youngest reader. The intent was to spark an interest in classical
music, but the result is a poorly conceived, poorly written story with negative
themes throughout. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While I
receive many books each month, the vast bulk of them continue to be novels and
there is apparently no end to the hunger for a good story.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SZ4nG71S_VzXhDThkSP6-25RWsV_4GSlSvqQB7ETVIAex_SZ9e6VVF6-1kA6X0Alxb0mb33eNeQO01NnkKmexqbNg2MSLvrH9Bz5dSOZd0SP7oc4ctDHQcfq2JvXeZt5dCEUMrsdJZU/s1600/Cover+-+Clever+Fox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SZ4nG71S_VzXhDThkSP6-25RWsV_4GSlSvqQB7ETVIAex_SZ9e6VVF6-1kA6X0Alxb0mb33eNeQO01NnkKmexqbNg2MSLvrH9Bz5dSOZd0SP7oc4ctDHQcfq2JvXeZt5dCEUMrsdJZU/s200/Cover+-+Clever+Fox.jpg" width="136" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Judge
Jeanine Pirro has made a name for herself as the host of a Fox News show. I
don’t know where she finds the time to write novels, but she is also gaining
recognition for her “Dani Fox” series based on a smart and sexy female
assistant DA in Westchester County. Her second novel, as the first, draws
heavily on her own experience in the field of law. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clever Fox</b> ($19.99, Hyperion) Dani has won a big case, but lost her
true love, and now she must take on the case of a gruesome murder of a young
woman with family ties to the New Jersey mafia. This pits her against a
powerful New York crime boss, the press, and her boss. Fortunately she has an
experienced detective on her side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
only is she a good story teller, but Pirro has an ear for the way those in law
enforcement talk to one another and deal with the pressures involved. She also
knows what it is like to have been young and inexperienced in a male dominated
environment. This novel works on many levels. Crime and the suspense that goes
with it have established John Rector as a leading novelist and bestselling
author. His fans will welcome his return with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out of the Black </b>($14.95, Thomas & Mercer, softcover) in which
Matt Caine, a Marine who has completed a harrowing tour of duty in Afghanistan
is trying to put his life together after the death of his wife and the
responsibility for his young daughter Anna. He is, however, jobless, broke, and
in debt to a notorious loan shark. When a drug addict from his pre-Marine days
slithers back into his life and offers him a job driving a van for a supposedly
foolproof and profitable kidnapping job, Caine realizes too late that the
target is the wife of a powerful crime boss. The tension just mounts from there
and you will find yourself reading with rapt attention to see how events play
out. When you hear the name John Gilstrap you know you’re in for a high
suspense reading experience. He’s back in a paperback, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">High Treason</b>, ($9.99, Kensington Publishing) featuring freelance
hostage rescue specialist Jonathan Grave in a fifth installment of Gilstrap’s
series. The First Lady has been kidnapped and the FBI director knows that Grave
is a man who always gets results, no matter what, and this is a mission that
must be carried out with utmost secrecy. In tracking his way through a
labyrinth of lies and murder, Graves discovers a traitor at the highest level
of Washington power who is about to commit the ultimate act of terror. It’s
great reading at the beach or patio as summer comes to an end. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQb-JKETdQ17KIgN0lkXpFg4zM8jfaTv4YUPLox2NqRPMj9R3q6mYxb__gh28dJVhgBkiAdumrmRGbxY8VBzdnI2lnQGeUDCB7RE7BxxIkhAxjuy9iL8oLVgzz18Zj6SrbVyLYEaqEpi8/s1600/The_Childhood_of_Jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQb-JKETdQ17KIgN0lkXpFg4zM8jfaTv4YUPLox2NqRPMj9R3q6mYxb__gh28dJVhgBkiAdumrmRGbxY8VBzdnI2lnQGeUDCB7RE7BxxIkhAxjuy9iL8oLVgzz18Zj6SrbVyLYEaqEpi8/s200/The_Childhood_of_Jesus.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another
writer of renown is J.M. Coetzee, the author of 21 books that have been
translated into many languages. He has twice been awarded the prestigious
Booker Prize and in 2003 won the Nobel Prize in Literature. A native of South
Africa, he now lives in Adelaide, Australia, and his latest book is curiously
titled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Childhood of Jesus </b>($26.95,
Viking) even though it is not about Jesus, but rather about a small boy who
arrives by boat in a new country after having been separated from his parents
and the piece of paper that would explain everything. During the trip, a man
has taken it upon himself to look after him and upon arrival they are assigned
new names, new birthdates, and essentially new lives. They know little Spanish,
the language of the land in which they find themselves. The renamed Simon and
David make their way to a relocation center and Simon finds a job on a grain
wharf where he warms to his co-workers. He knows, however, he must locate
David’s mother. While walking in the countryside with David he catches sight of
a woman he is certain is the person for whom he is looking and persuades her to
assume the role. There are many levels to this story of renewal against great
odds and it is testimony to why Coetzee is regarded as one of the great authors
of our time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ralph “Gaby”
Wilson has beaten the odds of writing and selling screenplays many times,
having sold 45 of them and now he has tried his hand as a novelist with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Illegal Woman: A Gypsy Love Story </b>($19.99,
Xlibris, softcover), about a young writer from Kansas who meets a gypsy woman
in 1965 France. It is an unusual encounter as K.P. Kelly finds himself marooned
in Europe without any money and alone. His only hope is to hitchhike to Paris
where he there may be some checks from his publisher at an American Express
office. He is 600 miles away when he catches the eye of an alluring Gypsy
woman, Kalina, who teaches him how to travel by his wits. For a while he lives
with her family and learns the Gypsy culture and together they travel across
France in a spicy romp. This book is a lot of fun to read. Vermont could not be
a more different locale, but it is the setting for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You Knew Me When </b>by Emily Liebert ($15.00, New American Library,
softcover). Katherine Hill left her small New England hometown in pursuit of a
dream and now, twelve years later, she is a high-powered cosmetics executive in
Manhattan, far removed from her former life. By contrast, her former friend,
Laney Marten, did not get to live out her dreams, becoming a young wife and
mother. When Katherine receives word of an inheritance from a former neighbor,
she reluctantly returns home where she is met by Laney and, tethered together
by their shared inheritance of a sprawling Victorian mansion, they must address
their long-standing grudges and determine if their earlier friendship can be
revived. This is a novel that women will find of interest. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some
novels do not neatly fit into a particular genre. Several that explore the
human condition provide some intriguing reading. From Canada, the award-winning
author Jane Urguhart has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sanctuary
Line </b>($24.95, Quercus) about 40-year-old Liz Crane who returns to her
family home on the shores of Lake Erie in southern Ontario with the intention
of gathering data on the migration patterns of the monarch butterflies that leave
Canada every winter for Mexico.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she
re-establishes herself in the place where she grew up, a commercial fruit
orchard that is still productive but falling into disrepair, she finds her
attention being overtaken by the powerful memories of childhood and the
generations that came before her. Never married, she realizes that she leaves
no one to carry on the family line. This is a novel of the mind and heart where
a life is examined against the metaphor of the monarch butterflies and their
migrations. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Between a Mother and Her Child </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Elizabeth Noble ($15.00, Berkley,
softcover) explores how a tragic death can tear apart the seemingly comfortable
marriage of Maggie and Bill Barrett, and their three children. On December 26,
2004, their lives in London are shattered by news that their eldest son has
been killed in a tsunami that left thousands dead. Maggie shuts down, unable to
connect to her children or husband. Feeling isolated, Bill leaves to try to
find some peace on his own and, when he announces he has fallen for another
woman, Maggie finally realizes it’s time to move on and to pull her family back
together. Her sister, on a visit, from Australia steps in to find a path to
healing and it all adds up to a compelling story. Many baby boomers from the
50s and 60’s wake up to discover that the American dream they thought would be
the pattern for their lives did not provide the answers they sought. Wallace
Rogers debuts as a novel with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Byron’s
Lane</b> ($15.99, London Street Press, softcover) He has been the mayor of Eau
Claire, Wisconsin, and manages a consulting business involving local
governments. It never fails to amaze me where talent is found. In this novel,
narrated through the thoughtful witness of his friend Tom, we follow Jonathan
Adams as he examines his life at late middle age. A civil contract in Iraq, he
thought he could improve people’s lives through democracy, but finds himself
traumatized by his experiences there, bitter about a failed relationship, and
distressed by the feeling he has become irrelevant in the new century. Baby
boomers in particular will find this novel of interest, but it is a good read
for anyone. The quest for meaning in one’s life is also found in Derek
Sherman’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Race Across the Sky </b>($16.00,
Plume, softcover. It spans two very different, but equally fascinating worlds,
the cult of ultra-marathoners and the underbelly of the biotech industry. It is
a story of the lengths a family will go to save each other. Caleb Oberest is
the ultra-marathoner who left behind his workaholic life in New York and
severed all ties to his family and friends to run the 100-mile marathons across
treacherous mountains. His brother, Shane, is a sales rep for a cutting-edge
biotechnology firm, creating new cures for disease. Despite his efforts, there
were distances between him on Caleb and Caleb has fallen in love with a new
member of his marathon group and her infant daughter. When he discovers the
baby has a fatal disease, he reaches out to Shane. Much is at stake for both
brothers and you will be turning the pages as fast as you can to find out how
the story concludes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Machiavelli—A Renaissance Life </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Joseph Markulin ($21.95, Prometheus
Books, softcover) could only have been written by a former professor of Italian
and Comparative literature with a specialty in Medieval and Renaissance
studies. The result is history in a novel during the turbulent era of
Florence’s Medici family, the nefarious Borgias, and artists Leonardo da Vinci
and Michelangelo, and the doomed prophet Savonarola. Machiavelli is famed for
his instructions on governance, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Prince</i>, but this novel fleshes out his life as he does his best to navigate
Florentine Renaissance politics. It is a riveting story and will also impart a
grasp of history you will find intriguing. Historical fiction is also found in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Robert the Bruce </b>by Jack Whyte ($27.99,
Forge Books), the second volume of his “The Guardians” series as he follows
Scotland’s greatest heroes as they rise to glory and become legend. The first
was devoted to William Wallace and this novel tells the story of a man who is
remembered as a national hero and one of Scotland’s greatest kings. It is a
hefty volume at 573 pages and will satisfy anyone who enjoys the fully-told
story of the decades-long path of the struggle for Scottish freedom. In May
1328, King Edward III signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton that
recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Bruce as its king.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaF5bLlik8iA2FgIFV80BPuQzwyQ4QjXabW_rJnYB2dCm9JiH4FhmlRaZgRuAwY-icyXUyxTCFPB_2XKJyDJ9dToCjWfCjuOr_V3wnLRhySifG3vr_uGHnWaj9nZ7NHmcqdsU4rdx2QDQ/s1600/Cover+-+The+Return.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaF5bLlik8iA2FgIFV80BPuQzwyQ4QjXabW_rJnYB2dCm9JiH4FhmlRaZgRuAwY-icyXUyxTCFPB_2XKJyDJ9dToCjWfCjuOr_V3wnLRhySifG3vr_uGHnWaj9nZ7NHmcqdsU4rdx2QDQ/s200/Cover+-+The+Return.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
passing of the great novelist Elmore Leonard in August was a reminder of how
blessed we are with the talents of superb storytellers. Leonard started out
writing westerns and when that market lost its appeal he switched to writing
the crime novels on which his reputation is based. My friend, James D. Best,
seems to be making a similar journey because he is arguably one of the best
writers of westerns, but his newest novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Return</b>, ($12.95 Wheatmark, softcover) featuring Steve Dancy, a character
from several of his previous novels, is set in the East. It is the summer of
1880 and Dancy has returned to New York from two years of misadventures in the
West. Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent light bulb is about to put
the gaslight industry out of business and Dancy sets out to obtain a license to
sell electric lamps. Edison agrees on one condition; that he and his friends
stop the saboteurs who are disrupting the electrification of Wall Street. That
is just the beginning of Dancy’s newest set of challenges, along with the woman
he has brought back with him and a feud that began out west and could cost him
Edison’s backing. The action never stops until you get to the last page. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: accent1;">That’s
it for September! So far the year has been filled with new non-fiction and
fiction to satisfy any interest and there is still more to come as autumn
ushers in many new books in anticipation of the Christmas season. Tell your
book-living family, friends and co-workers about Bookviews.com where they will
find news of these new books.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
</span>Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-78740664064407226662013-07-28T09:36:00.006-07:002013-08-30T06:29:51.106-07:00Bookviews - August 2013<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYDqIR1ZMttHGwrjGXzii_sYvqIyiAqCASqeZ1XGwjpCglz7NYFhvhosjG19FNhhRkiRHJS7xgwjqg9-ifQBYpw1yAE1MGqTQj-hnHDBafYhNtkE52pNWpbrNG-axrAi3ceHtx3R9THU/s1600/Cover+-+BlackBookoftheAmericanLeft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYDqIR1ZMttHGwrjGXzii_sYvqIyiAqCASqeZ1XGwjpCglz7NYFhvhosjG19FNhhRkiRHJS7xgwjqg9-ifQBYpw1yAE1MGqTQj-hnHDBafYhNtkE52pNWpbrNG-axrAi3ceHtx3R9THU/s200/Cover+-+BlackBookoftheAmericanLeft.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David
Horowitz, founder of FrontPageMag.com and the child of two members of the
Communist Party, longtime progressive, had an epiphany when a friend of his was
killed by the Black Panthers, masquerading as the New Left in the 1970s. Since
then he has devoted his life to warning against the deadly agenda of communism
and exposing the lies of the progressives whose agenda has always been the
destruction of American values. His latest book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Black Book of the American Left</b>, ($27.99, Encounter Books) is a
collection of his writings and speeches since then and provides alarming
insights to the way communism in Russia and elsewhere has resulted in the
murder of tens of millions. Its strength is in its revelations of how the Left
has worked to undermine the nation to fulfill its utopian fantasies and its
weakness is that it repeats itself over the course of nearly 400 pages. As a
guide to the Left, it is invaluable, filled with many insights along with the
facts he cites. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tAJIMsZzEyUSY1mLtNIOcbrBBzp-XiqJPHjnAqYz_QFdCBIiZZW8vkcRH3Gy2n0lmpkLeLJIqrrxcc60pf5nZoLrWwF0uE5tEwLVoEv6His6WOA4S4wQZ2LgQufVckv6XBLDK72TLoM/s1600/Cover+-+America's+Way+Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tAJIMsZzEyUSY1mLtNIOcbrBBzp-XiqJPHjnAqYz_QFdCBIiZZW8vkcRH3Gy2n0lmpkLeLJIqrrxcc60pf5nZoLrWwF0uE5tEwLVoEv6His6WOA4S4wQZ2LgQufVckv6XBLDK72TLoM/s200/Cover+-+America's+Way+Back.jpg" width="142" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For those
with a passion for the nation and its system of governance, there’s Donald J.
Devine’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">America’s Way Back: Reclaiming
Freedom, Tradition, and Constitution </b>($29.95, ISI Books). Devine has spent
most of his life as an academic, a professor at the University of Maryland and
at Bellevue University, teaching governance and politics. In the 1980’s Ronald
Reagan tapped him to be the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
in his first term. He trimmed 100,000 jobs and saved more than $6 billion by
reducing generous benefits. He has written eight books and this one examines
the tensions between freedom and the need for a system that does not allow too
much power to be acquired by any element of the U.S. government. He discusses
the role of tradition including the influence of Judeo-Christian values in
governance. The U.S. Constitution is the oldest active one and a remarkable
instrument. The book is filled with lots of information and insights that apply
to the nation’s present problems and challenges. An interesting corollary is Radley
Balko’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rise of the Warrior Cop: The
Militarization of America’s Police Forces </b>($27.99, Public Affairs) which
was on display in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing when SWAT teams went
house to house in one neighborhood to find the terrorist who was still at
large. What is generally unknown, however, is that such teams “violently smash
into private homes more than a hundred times per day” and police departments
across the nation now have armored personnel carriers designed for use on the
battlefield, while others have helicopters, tanks, and Humvees, as well as
military-grade weapons. It is a different mindset from daily police work and is
coming to dominate law enforcement. This is one of those books that raises
important questions and, as you read it, some scary ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In this
scary economy, many homeowners are facing foreclosure and if that is you or
someone you know, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Foreclosure
Phenomenon: How to Defend Your Home from an Impending Foreclosure </b>($24.99,
Telemachus Press, softcover) by Joaquin F. Benitez who experienced losing his
home. His is an inspiring story of an immigrant who subsequently earned a
diploma in civil engineering and his book is intended to help anyone with a
step-by-step guide to help save one’s home, strategies to deal with three
different types of financial situation, how to calculate property value, and
how to address the emotional, physical, and mental toll of a foreclosure
proceeding. He counsels, too, that even a loss can free one from the burden
that is no longer affordable and open a door to a new life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some books
are just extraordinary works of art in addition to their texts. From the world
of science comes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Invisible Worlds:
Exploring Microcosms </b>by Julie Coquart ($49.95, H.F. Ullmann) which is a
large format book filled with 99 extraordinary photos of the tiniest things on
Earth. It is microphotography devoted to nature, biology, chemistry, medicine,
mineralogy, and textiles, all in full color, and all revealing the astonishing
way everything is designed to function from the dental enamel coating your
teeth to the Penicillin that prevents the spread of certain bacteria or the
Salmonella bacteria we call food poisoning. The simplest handful of sand takes
on amazing shapes and colors. Clearly, this book is not everyone’s cup of tea,
but for those who love science and see into the microscopic world around them,
this book would make a great birthday or holiday gift. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Learning Las Vegas: Portrait of a
Northern New Mexican Place</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers ($39.95, Museum of New Mexico Press and Foundation
of Landscape Studies) is devoted to “The other Las Vegas”, a town that is seven
hundred miles from the one in Nevada, but they might as well be on different
planets. It is a small town that the author, the founding president of the
Central Park Conservancy and the Foundation for Landscape Studies, has chosen in
order to examine “the meaning of place in human life.” You surely do not have
to be from this town to appreciate its streetscape, its architecture, and
public places, such as the plaza that is a venue for numerous events. Her text
is enhanced by her many photos. The town’s location made it an important stop
on the Santa Fe Trail and today it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Anyone with an interest in architecture, landscapes, and how location leaves
its mark on those who live in a particular place will thoroughly enjoy
“learning” that Las Vegas was a Wild West outlaw Mecca, a major trading center,
a railroad hub and a film location that epitomizes a vanished America, but
remains home to its residents to this day. Serendipitously, the University of
Oklahoma Press is set to publish <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New
Mexico: A History</b> by three historians ($26.95) that traces it from the
earliest days of Spanish exploration and settlement. Those interested in the
West will find a treasure of new books at </span><a href="http://www.oupress.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.oupress.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">. All manner of books on topics that
reflect is history and culture can be found there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our Emotional Lives<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting a
handle on our emotions is often a lifelong effort. It is the reason there are
so many books providing advice on how to deal with them. Over at New Horizon
Press they make it a specialty. Just out this month is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Smart Relationships: How Successful Women Can Find True Love </b>by
LeslieBeth Wish, ($14.95, softcover) is written for women who have achieved
success in their careers but find that their romantic relationships do not
endure. Many distrust their judgment about men or fear the toll of breakups. A
psychologist with more than 35 years of experience, the author teaches women
the structure of intimate relationships and how to break free of past failures.
She explores self-sabotaging behavior and provides strategies to take charge of
their love and workplace relationship decisions as she explores fundamental
needs to feel safe and loved. I have no doubt this book will prove very
helpful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ten Steps to Relieve Anxiety:
Refocus, Relax and Enjoy Life </b>by H. Michael Zal ($14.95, softcover) is not
officially due out until October, but if you have problems with anxiety you
might want to make a note to yourself to pick up a copy. I have been a lifelong
worrier and I suspect I inherited the trait. It has never incapacitated me and
has often protected me from making decisions that would likely not turned out
well. There are those, estimated at 6.8 million Americans who suffer from
Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Dr. Zal, a psychiatrist for the past forty
years and a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, has all the credentials and
experience to write about the subject. The good news, then, is that you are not
alone and the better news is that this book provides ten easy-to-follow steps to
achieve a less stressful, calmer life. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On a theme
similar to “Smart Relationships”, Joyce M. Roche with Alexander Kopelman have
written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Empress Has No Clothes:
Conquering Self-Doubt to Embrace Success </b>($18.95, BK Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, softcover) for women who, despite their success, feel like
imposters. Ms. Roche rose from humble circumstances to earn an Ivy League MBA
and serve in top executive positions including president of Carson Products
Company, now a part of L’Oreal. She was the first female African-American vice
president of Avon Products where she led global marketing and, in 2006, Black
Enterprise Magazine hailed her smong “Women of Power.” Despite this, she writes
that she couldn’t help feeling like a fraud even though she clearly was not. In
this book she shares her struggle with what she calls the “imposter syndrome”
and offers advice and coping strategies based on her experiences and those of
other high-achieving leaders who also suffered from it. To know that others
feel this way and to learn how to overcome it makes this a very valuable book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Acrobaddict</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Joe Putignano ($17.95, Central
Recovery Press, softcover) is the autobiography of a gifted athlete who
abandoned his Olympic dreams when he fell down the hole that heroin digs for
those who fall under its grip. He loved both gymnastics and heroin. The latter
took him from the U.S. Olympic Training Center to homeless shelters. It is a
harrowing tale with a powerful narrative that tells how the same energy,
obsession and dedication that can create an Olympic athlete can detour into
being a drug addict. This is his story of recovery and like so many books is a
cautionary tale that has a happy ending, but which almost ended his life. It
makes its official debut in September. For a look into an even darker aspect of
mental disorder, Mary Papenfuss has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Killer Dads: The Twisted Drives that Compel Fathers to Murder their Own
Kids </b>($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover). This is one of the most
horrific of crimes and the veteran journalist explores five examples of “family
annihilators” that reflects the dark trajectory of machismo in economically
stressful times. It is based on some fifty in-depth interviews of victim’s
friends and family, and the profiles by researchers of these “killer dads”
driven to kill their children by a sense of failure and their distorted egos.
There is much more in here and none of it makes for easy reading. For those who
want to learn more about this crime, it is an excellent work of research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My friend,
Dr. Alma Bond, a psychiatrist, has authored a series of “On the Couch” books
that examine the lives of the famous and the fictional, from opera singer Maria
Callas to Lady MacBeth. She always brings a lifetime of knowledge and
experience to her books. Coming in October is one that is sure to interest the
fans of the movie icon, Marilyn Monroe. Many books have been written about her,
but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Marilyn Monroe on the Couch </b>($23.95,
Bancroft Press) provides insights to the actress who had talent beyond her
luminous beauty and yet remained so fragile despite her fame. Dr. Bond focuses
on her fame from the 1950s and 60s, a time in which she sought the help of a
Manhattan psychoanalyst to cope. It is an illuminating book in ways that others
sought to achieve, but often missed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I love
reading history and recommend it as the best way to understand the present.
Having lived through the period of the civil rights movement, I found William
P. Jones <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The March on Washington: Jobs,
Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights </b>($26.95, W.W. Norton)
especially interesting, in part because I heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
speak at a nearby college and had the opportunity to go backstage and meet him
for a short chat. On August 28, 1963, nearly a quarter million people were in
Washington, D.C. to demand “Jobs and Freedom” at a rally is best remembered for
his speech “I Have a Dream.” Few recall that his was the last of ten speeches
devoted to ending racial segregation and discrimination in the South, but also
to achieve equality nationwide and the opportunity to have quality education,
affordable housing, and jobs with a living wage. Even less known was that the
rally was the result of grassroots activism by organized labor and the
Socialist Party. A professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, the
author restores the march to its proper context as he relates the 25-year
struggle that preceded it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This book is
an important contribution to the history of those times and the effort that
began in the 1940s by men like A. Philip Randolph, the leader of the union, the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The civil rights movement in 1963 had been
a long time coming. The 1960s were a turbulent time and they are captured here
in a book that is well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A much
earlier period in time is the subject of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fatal
Rivaltry: Flodden, 1513—Henry VIII and James IV, and the Decisive Battle for
Renaissance Britain </b>by George Goodwin ($29.95, W.W. Norton). It was a time
of great kings, colorful queens, conniving courtiers, and political popes; a
time of extraordinary wealth in a period when the power of the Renaissance
infused the lives of those in power. Set against each other was England’s Henry
VII and Scotland’s James IV, suspected of having murdered his own father. His
marriage to a Tudor princess brought a tenuous peace with England after five
centuries of war, but his brother-in-law Henry VII had plans of his own which
lead to a battle that established England’s political domination of Scotland
for the next five hundred years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
author ably captures the many aspects of those tumultuous years, marked by
shifting alliances with kings, popes, and emperors, ultimately erupting into
bloodshed that ushered in a new technological, economic and geopolitical era.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Music, Music, Music<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My least
favorite form of music is “heavy metal” perhaps because I grew up in a period
that transitioned from the “crooners” to rock’n roll. I can still recall how an
older generation thought Elvis Presley marked the end of western civilization.
Even so, the music was more melodic than today’s. That said, there are several
books that address the music with which many have grown up and enjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ministry: The Lost Gospels According
to Al Jourgensen</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
($26.99, Da Capo Press), a musician who earned the praise of Trent Reznor of
Nine Inch Nails, Corey Taylor of Slipnot, and others as their musical
influence. Jourgensen, with Jon Wiederhorn, recounts his rise to infamy within
the tumultuous ranks of the rock industry amidst the non-stop use of heroin,
cocaine, crack and booze, along of course with the groupies. This is a
cautionary autobiography in which he relates his Cuban roots, growing up in
Chicago, and his friendships with Beat Generation icons William S. Burroughs
and Timothy Leary. He created the band called Ministry, has been a producer,
songwriter, vocalist and guitarist. Now much older and living in El Paso,
Texas, his book is more about what not to do with one’s life than one misspent
in so many ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Da Capo
Press has two other music-related books out as well. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways</b> by Evelyn McDonnell
($25.99), an all-girl punk answer to Led Zeppelin, all teenagers that took is
aggressive, libidinal rock music from Los Angeles to Japan over its four years
of fame. Among its members, Joan Jett and Lita Ford would go on to have successful
solo careers, but the band fizzled like a dud cherry bomb in an environment of
drug abuse and clashing egos as its members quested after fame. This story of
the group reveals that, for all their outward bravado, they were still just
girls who got homesick while on tour and by the wizardry of their manager, Kim
Fowley, were able to elbow their way into an industry dominated by men. For
those who follow such things, the book will be full of insights, but it too is
a cautionary tale. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Detroit Rock City: The
Uncensored History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in America’s Loudest City </b>by Steve
Miller ($16.99, softcover) takes the reader back to Detroit in 1966 when the
lights of the Grande Ballroom stage went up every night on young rockers trying
to make a name for themselves. Out of their numbers can performers such as Ted
Nugent, Bob Seger, along with Iggy and the Stooges. Based on more than 200
interviews, this is an oral history that chronicles the manic and obsessive
love affairs that Detroit had with its music and does to this day. As is the
case with rock’n roll, it tells the story of a drug-fueled subculture playing
hard and partying even harder. By the 1970s, America had lost interest in its
punk music, but it was a catalyst for others who followed in its wake. Most of
us are more likely to recall the great Motown period.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Younger Readers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A number
of books that will appeal to younger readers have arrived. One that might also
interest older ones is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sharkopedia: The
Complete Guide to Everything Shark </b>by Andy DeHart, a marine biologist
($19.95, Time Home Entertainment/Discovery Channel, softcover), a large format
book with more than 400 photos that includes information on all 498 known shark
species. Sharks hold a special fascination for all ages and this book will more
than satisfy their interest as it discusses their feeding habits, behavior,
anatomy and senses, and countless other information that is fairly astounding.
Another natural phenomenon is the subject of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Volcano Rising</b> by Elizabeth Rusch ($17.95, Charlesbridge), aimed at
ages 6 through 9. Along with its illustrations by Susan Swan, it is filled with
information about real volcanos around the world and the role they play on
planet Earth, creating new land, mountains and islands, and much more. It’s
just out this month and a visit to </span><a href="http://www.charlesbridge.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.charlesbridge.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> will introduce you to this
outstanding children’s book publisher’s latest books, such as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Me and My Dragon: Scared of Halloween</b>
by David Biedrzyck ($17.95) for ages 4 through 7 about a boy whose pet dragon
is scared silly on this spooky holiday. Even this grownup thought it was
hilarious. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thomas and
Peter Weck have created a series of books for readers age 4 to 8 called the
Lima Bear stories. They are illustrated by Len DiSalvo in a delightful fashion.
I have seen and recommended a number of their books such as “The Megasourus”
and “How Back-Back Got His Name.” The newest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bully Bean </b>($8.95, </span><a href="http://www.limabearpress,com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">www.Limabearpress,com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, distributed by Small Press United)
and it addresses a common problem children encounter, the bully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the kingdom of Beandom, Bully Bean is
feared and Lima Bear is one of his favorite victims. When the bully gets
trapped under a heavy rock, he calls out for help and sees Lima Bear walk away,
but only to discover he has rounded up others to come back and get him out of
his jam. He learns a good lesson and so will the youngsters who read this enjoyable
story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Football
season will begin soon and for those youngsters who love the sport, there’s the
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Big Book of Who: Football </b>($17.95,
Time Home Entertainment and Sports Illustrated Kids) that is a guide to 101
players filled with profiles, facts and stats that will provide lots of
enjoyment to younger readers, along with his extensive photos of the sport’s
champions, record breakers, super scorers, and yardage kinds. Grownups, too,
will enjoy this one.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWHsnNfme3uYG5YibppfThnZo234fVgL7nlzDPj3jWGKF3Q3zUlFlyvf1YSSgjX7MaKbFNbvGObRlQdLCTremjieKMcxCJOSkRykI5SvitprIT_B16iReV1XpaC0-k0F_U8tjVr_mtXA/s1600/Cover+-+atom+and+eve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWHsnNfme3uYG5YibppfThnZo234fVgL7nlzDPj3jWGKF3Q3zUlFlyvf1YSSgjX7MaKbFNbvGObRlQdLCTremjieKMcxCJOSkRykI5SvitprIT_B16iReV1XpaC0-k0F_U8tjVr_mtXA/s200/Cover+-+atom+and+eve.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
novels, too, for young adult readers and one that is sure to please is Jeff
Yager’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Atom & Eve </b>($13,51/$4.99
Kindle, Hannacroix Creek Books, softcover) set several years into the future in
which a powerful flu that causes many deaths and a dramatic slowdown of the
economy. One of those affected is Ricky Romanello, a college freshman. A
research scientist has developed an anti-aging drug that she believes could
eradicate the flue and Ricky becomes one of the test subjects. The government
approves the drug and the epidemic is soon over. He is cured, but soon he and
others discover an unintended side effect that has catastrophic consequences
for the entire population. Jeff comes from parents who are writers and, at age
23, his first novel demonstrates that talent can be inherited. Another
futuristic novel for young adults is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Meme Plague </b>by Angie Smibert, ($16.99/$9.99, Amazon Children’s Publishing,
hardcover and Kindle), book 3 of the Memento Nora series at a time when
everyone has microchips implanted in their brains that are designed to erase
memories and add new ones. The two main characters, Micah and Nora are
determined to take charge of their memories by building a new electronic
frontier that cannot be controlled by local politicians and others. In an era
when we now know the government is capable of knowing all our phone calls,
emails, and other activities, this novel is a cautionary tale that is well
worth reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Due in September is William Elliot
Hazelgrove’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Pitcher</b> ($15.95,
Koehlerbooks) about a Mexican-American boy with a golden arm who has no change
to make the high school team until a broken-down World Series pitcher who
coaches the team agrees to coach him and give him an opportunity to fulfill his
dream. It has been nominated for the YALSA Printz Award and is the Junior
Library Guild’s pick for a new autumn release as well. The award honors the
best book written for teens and this story that includes the issues of
immigration and the mythic dream of overcoming all odds will please its readers
on many levels. I will happily join those who believe it is a great new story.
For diehard Giants fans there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Years the Giants Won the Series: A Fan’s Journal of the 2012 and 2010 World
Series Seasons </b>by Joseph Sutton ($15.00, Mad Dog Publishing Company,
softcover), a little book that chronicles the two games. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The deluge
of novels continues, but it is mid-summer and a time for vacations and the
leisure to read a story for entertainment and diversion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One novel,
however, runs 685 pages and you risk a hernia just picking it up. Worse, it is
an astonishingly boring story that was widely rejected by publishers when it
was first proffered in the 70s and 80s in Italy, the home of its author,
Goliarda Sapienza, now deceased. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Art
of Joy </b>($30.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is described as “a sprawling,
formally inventive, sexually explicit feminist epic” which is literally talk
for a long, shapeless, self-indulgent mess. It was eventually published in
France and Italy, but failed to attract much attention. It was initially
published by the author’s lover, Angelo Pellegrino, and for reasons known only
to its current American publisher, is offered now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Anne
Hendren has had far more success with her books and her latest is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Project Runaway</b> ($11.00, Ring of Fire
Publishers, softcover) about fashion designer, Karin Ohisson, who has moved to
New York to follow her dream only to have her work appropriated by a designer
to takes credit for it. Disillusioned, she decides to return to her roots in
Idaho where she links up with her ailing aunt Hannah and her sewing group that
produces quilts. After Hannah passes away, she decides to return, but in the
interim she has learned a lot about herself and with a renewed appreciation for
family bonds. It has a happy ending, but you will have to read it to find out.
A very different character in a previous era, Prohibition, is Jersey Leo, the
quintessential outside, an albino of mixed race. Jersey is a bartender at a
speakeasy in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen and has used his boss’s money to
purchase what turns out to be counterfeit moonshine. The novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sugar Pop Moon</b>, by John Florio takes
its name from this stuff ($15.95, Seventh Street Books, softcover) and Jersey
enlists his father’s help to track down the bootlegger. They encounter some
very nasty characters as he tries to avoid retribution from the mobster who
owns the speakeasy. It is an interesting story of his relationship with his
father and moves along swiftly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilxwzcwHdV6a7uR1fnGpb2bi17mNQ3bRmxL5Pj_XX7mOgRiPY7Ewo44hs2rqO7P2IA0dXfL149_Tt7pWUEm8Ba4J3DGghJZCEoTMyIc7d6znctokJXpvI88NobDQvUO-Ll4EpdCCPiTGI/s1600/Cover+-+Serpent+and+Pearl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilxwzcwHdV6a7uR1fnGpb2bi17mNQ3bRmxL5Pj_XX7mOgRiPY7Ewo44hs2rqO7P2IA0dXfL149_Tt7pWUEm8Ba4J3DGghJZCEoTMyIc7d6znctokJXpvI88NobDQvUO-Ll4EpdCCPiTGI/s200/Cover+-+Serpent+and+Pearl.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For a
change of pace, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Serpent and
the Pearl</b> by Kate Quinn ($15.00, Berkley, softcover) set during the Italian
Renaissance in a novel of the Borgias and their never-ending crises of marriage
and murder. It is Rome in 1492 as the Borgias make their rise, looking to put
one of their own as Pope. Vivacious Giulia Farnese seemingly has everything,
beauty, wealth, and a handsome young husband, but she is stunned to discover
that her marriage is a sham and she is to be given as a concubine to the ruthless
Cardinal Borgia, a candidate for Pope. Suffice to say the bodies mount up as
she and your friends must decide to flee the Borgia dream of power or even
survive it. A more contemporary history is the background for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Island of the White Rose </b>by R. Ira Harris
($24.95, Bridge Works Publishing) and it makes for excellent reading. It is set
in Cuba in the years that led up to the overthrow of one dictatorship, that of
Fulgencio Batista, that only led to another, Fidel Castro’s. Father Pedro
Villanueva, 34, is the son of an upper-middle-class Havana family and
non-political, but when asked to try to free a parishioner’s son from La Cabana
prison he enlists his brother, Alberto, to bribe the guards there. The prisoner
is released, but Alberto is killed in the handover. Pedro joins the underground
to support the Fidelistas. His involvement deepens, but as history
demonstrates, he is betrayed by the Castro regime for which he smuggled arms on
his family’s sloop, named the White Rose for a symbol of Cuba. This is a very
compelling story that is well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcBYiz5KIj0_er35kwv8HFHIMw-pk4w4Pw_th7uDkg9njF5w630WAytt3J0RkUUktZU1NDrxXbvh1lnypvYagNzf8PRgREG0IMdTOYlXOaS0XuaEhPcRaHmQ0Nfv5N_ZfHwlnD_qqGDQ/s1600/Cover+-+The+Fort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcBYiz5KIj0_er35kwv8HFHIMw-pk4w4Pw_th7uDkg9njF5w630WAytt3J0RkUUktZU1NDrxXbvh1lnypvYagNzf8PRgREG0IMdTOYlXOaS0XuaEhPcRaHmQ0Nfv5N_ZfHwlnD_qqGDQ/s200/Cover+-+The+Fort.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thomas and
Mercer, a publishing imprint of Amazon.com, has three novels out in August
worth considering. One is by Aric Davis who has two previous novels to his
credit and, in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Fort </b>($14.94,
softcover) he takes the reader into the world of tattoo parlors, dive bars,
pool halls, and police stations of the present-day Midwest for an action-packed
story for a suspenseful coming-of-age story of innocence, evil, and the bonds
of friendship. Beginning in the summer of 1987, Tim, Scott and Luke are
enjoying life in the tree house fort they have built in the woods behind their
homes. They spot a killer with his latest victim, Molly, and know they must do
what they can to save her, but both their parents and the police doubt them.
Told from the alternating viewpoints of the boys, the killer, and the detective
on his trail, it is an electrifying story. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Out
of the Black </b>by John Rector ($ 14.95, softcover) tells a harrowing story of
former Marine Matt Caine who is widowed after a car crash that claims his wife.
He struggles to support his daughter, but is broke from hospital and funeral
bills. Desperate to pay his mortgage, he borrows money from some notorious
local thugs and his in-laws are threatening a custody battle. Things go from
bad to worse when he is lured into a kidnapping plot. This is a tightly plotted
thriller and one that you will read to the last page. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Unthinkable </b>by Clyde Phillips ($14.95, softcover) is the fourth
installment of Phillips’ bestselling Jane Candiotti series. She’s a hard-nosed
San Francisco detective and this is her toughest case, a mass murder that has
claimed the life of a member of her family, a teenaged nephew. On a blustery
night, six strangers find shelter in a neighborhood restaurant—only to be shot
dead minutes later. The carnage leaves the city on edge. Despite being pregnant
with her first child, Lt. Candiotti is driven to solve the crime and you will
be driven to read this story from beginning to end in one sitting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In June of
last year I reviewed “The Last Policeman” by Ben H. Winters and recommended it.
Now he’s back with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Countdown City: The
Last Policeman Book II</b> ($14.95, Quirk Books, softcover) and I am pleased to
recommend it as well. It received an Edgar Award for Best paperback Original.
The first book of the trilogy is set in a pre-apocalyptic period in which there
is just six months before an asteroid is scheduled to impact the Earth, that
deadly deadline, but Book II is down to 77 days for Detective Hank Palace no
longer is out solving crimes until a woman from his past begs him for help in
finding her missing husband who disappeared without a trace. As society is
falling apart Palace pursues the few clues available that lead him to a
college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment and then onto a coastal landscape
where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees. Science fiction
meets societal chaos in this compelling tale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;">That’s it for August! September promises to kick off the
fall publishing season with many new non-fiction and fiction books, so it’s a
good idea to check back then. Meanwhile, tell your family, friends, and
co-workers who love to read all about Bookviews.com where you will find news of
books that may not be on the bestseller lists, but should be on your reading
list. </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-65644883874697245682013-06-30T20:38:00.000-07:002013-07-11T07:17:38.030-07:00Bookviews - July 2013<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7EGHsRXzlqO_CK-x-3jflqZfFv165Zc6JiXJ1wkYlq9Jg_i9c_xhcZ1Hc0oezajvjKhEqiK4wKXuP2L8OeRnE6u2PwPPSDPm2rOITQVeLlXCwCvo05J_K_LCkuFRF4FsSfkRhoVGm_s/s692/Cover+-+Cuban+Connection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7EGHsRXzlqO_CK-x-3jflqZfFv165Zc6JiXJ1wkYlq9Jg_i9c_xhcZ1Hc0oezajvjKhEqiK4wKXuP2L8OeRnE6u2PwPPSDPm2rOITQVeLlXCwCvo05J_K_LCkuFRF4FsSfkRhoVGm_s/s200/Cover+-+Cuban+Connection.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I was a
mere lad of twenty-two when Fidel Castro successfully overthrew the Cuban
dictator, Flugencia Batista, and took control of that island nation. What
followed were the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The story behind these events and the assassination of President Kennedy is
revealed in William Weyland Turner’s latest book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Cuban Connection: Nixon, Castro and the Mob </b><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">($25.00, Prometheus Books) and it is a real
page-turner. Turner, a former FBI agent who became an investigative journalist,
has authored a number of books on the subject, but this one pulls together his
interviews with Mafia mobsters and with members of the Cuban revolution who
became disenchanted with Castro. It demonstrates how little Americans knew
about those events and, in particular, the many efforts to assassinate Castro.
Fifty-four years later, the truth can be found in this book and I heartily
recommend it, particularly in light of the scandals surround the Obama
administration. What we did not know then and do not know now that hold the
keys to the events since then and what is occurred today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzS96iLWvUJhS4GaRxBG46vxs73N7oiKyObKur4mjYnTmX3J8DHKxH6-mq64_dWHbjRa6WxlQhWNPH5-8ts1O6VNr-XFPaSxi473Qdo5urIouIFpq9-bV17W6UbnW1ADDqpBji32-d2Ss/s386/Cover+-+Taxing+Air.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzS96iLWvUJhS4GaRxBG46vxs73N7oiKyObKur4mjYnTmX3J8DHKxH6-mq64_dWHbjRa6WxlQhWNPH5-8ts1O6VNr-XFPaSxi473Qdo5urIouIFpq9-bV17W6UbnW1ADDqpBji32-d2Ss/s200/Cover+-+Taxing+Air.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">A group of Australian scientists have combined with a
professional cartoonist John Spooner (The Age, Melbourne) to write a new
easy-to-read and humorous book on global warming. Lead author Bob Carter is a</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">n Australian
palaeontologist, marine geologists and an adjunt professionial research fellow
in earth sciences at James Cook University, Queensland. For many years he has
been on the front lines debunking global warming, based on the claim that
carbon dioxide is causing the Earth to warm. Actually, the Earth has been
cooling for the last sixteen years. He has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Taxing Air: Facts and Fallacies About Climate Change </b>($30.00,
Kelpie Press, softcover) is filled with the best scientific information on the
topic and for anyone who wants to learn the truth, I can highly recommend it.
Readers will learn that the sea-level rise is natural and declining in rate;
that global ocean temperature is cooling slightly as well; and that no
scientist can tell you whether the world will be warmer or cooler than today in
2020 or beyond. More than a hundred basic questions are answered in the book
which includes whimsical cartoons and humorous sketches throughout.. A carbon
dioxide tax that was recently imposed on Australians has had the effect of raising
their costs for energy thereby negatively affected its economy in many ways—which
should serve as an object lesson for other nations to not follow suit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">If you are among the half of the population that is concerned with the
breakdown of our national culture, the failure of our schools, and other
societal problems, and you want to know why everything has changed for the
worse, then you will will want to reach Vincent Ryan Ruggiero’s book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Corrupted Culture: Rediscovering America’s
Enduring Principles, Values and Common Sense </b>($19.00, Prometheus Books,
$11.99 ebook). A professor of humanities emeritus at the State University of
New York, Delhi College, he has authored twenty-one previous books on critical
thinking, ethics, education, and communication, among other topics. For a heavy
thinker his text takes some effort to tackle, but is worth it as he provides an
in-depth historical analysis of cultural trends and tracing their origins to
the last century when intellectuals began to conclude that humans are
irredeemably stupid and that it was government’s job to tell them how to live
their lives. If you wonder why self-esteem replaced self-respect<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and why rights and entitlements became more
important than responsibilities, among a long list of problems facing the
nation, this book explains it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96_3UsO8HiXSURLydX9V3zYz-ZUuLBslwLXQlauKkbEsqlGbqWl3Ne0ceBZTMqeBxf3xEoVQC4m7uqz3jjnthspd_7jpzk01dfmIldPXlZsC2Ufr82gU-58FjJAT08ncXFHCnttWqqPc/s1167/Cover+-+Time+SPACE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi96_3UsO8HiXSURLydX9V3zYz-ZUuLBslwLXQlauKkbEsqlGbqWl3Ne0ceBZTMqeBxf3xEoVQC4m7uqz3jjnthspd_7jpzk01dfmIldPXlZsC2Ufr82gU-58FjJAT08ncXFHCnttWqqPc/s200/Cover+-+Time+SPACE.jpg" width="185" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Just published this month is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New
Frontiers in Space: From Mars to the Edge of the Universe </b>($29.95, Time
Home Entertainment), a large format, extensively illustrated book that will
surely please anyone with an interest in our space program. It looks at the
powerful new telescopes that have given scientists the ability to hunt for
Earthlike planets in distant star systems and the entrepreneurs who are picking
up where the space shuttle left off, developing plans for commercial space
travel. It asks questions about the yet unanswered mysteries about the cosmos
regarding galaxies such as what matter makes up the universe, and how black holes
are formed. There is much more in this handsome coffee-table book that offers
hours of reading pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">I have been a business and science writer for some fifty years and had to
learn by doing, but for anyone who is into science and wants to pursue it as a
professional writer, I can certainly recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Science Writer’s Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch,
Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age</b>, edited by Thomas Hayden and
Michelle Nijhuis ($17.50, Da Capo Press, softcover). Science writing has become
an increasingly popular field, but trying to make a living communicating
science can be tough say the editors, especially in an industry that has
changed so much in recent years (tell me about it!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a combined collective experience of many
years, the Writers of Scilance, an online group of science writers, share their
knowledge and it can help anyone new to the field or adjusting to the changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Reading
History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">If I had to chose just one category of literature, I would chose history.
I find it entertaining in many ways, both for the people and events, and for an
insight to past eras that inevitably provide insights to our present one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTAD0SwQoRxTiZgDAgF083-rZx7yvPL61KPKGD_kJC07RqLlDrKNk7BazrDG07w74htkVv3XiQyCmV31dkDXV4C93cas3OKHGYEO5TpfIZhJr8j6BAa4I8kuIPSWRBN_oN6jJpI8h_kw/s271/Cover+-+Founding+Conservatives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTAD0SwQoRxTiZgDAgF083-rZx7yvPL61KPKGD_kJC07RqLlDrKNk7BazrDG07w74htkVv3XiQyCmV31dkDXV4C93cas3OKHGYEO5TpfIZhJr8j6BAa4I8kuIPSWRBN_oN6jJpI8h_kw/s200/Cover+-+Founding+Conservatives.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Early American history focuses on Washington, Jefferson and Adams among
other founders, but it is a quirk of history that others in their company, in
the years leading up to and during the Revolution, the problems with the
Articles of Confederation and the writing of the Constitution, have gotten
short shrift. David Lefer has written <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Founding Conservatives: How a Group of Unsung Heroes Saved the American
Revolution </b>($29.95, Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Publishing) and has
saved them from the quasi-oblivion to which other historians have consigned
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among them was John Dickinson who
drafted the Articles of Confederation to unite the former colonies into states
composing the new nation. James Wilson was a staunch free-market capitalist and
who was joined by like-minded men to fight off a mob demanding controls on the
price of bread. Roger Morris created a stable money supply to finance the
Revolution and founded the first national bank of the United States. In an age
of monarchs the Americans had developed a very different view of themselves as
citizens, not subjects, and their states as individual republics, self
governed, and devoted to the welfare of the citizens, not just a class of
nobles. As far back as the ancient world, republics were known to be the most
prosperous. It is a revelation to read of these and other men who did, indeed,
save the American Revolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VAmWqfqTg6XbT0oWodb9bVz49ti6B-ibuSXr3ItpukoPeowLYwneX0KPL58bWapGuy-td4MbXSZMJFbLL1ZdjH5SWvznqEj0g0DW2t9nrsRq43DEQdTjNyjFfVp0fSFDH4CfVSDlqb0/s475/Cover+-+How+Jews+Defeated+Hitler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VAmWqfqTg6XbT0oWodb9bVz49ti6B-ibuSXr3ItpukoPeowLYwneX0KPL58bWapGuy-td4MbXSZMJFbLL1ZdjH5SWvznqEj0g0DW2t9nrsRq43DEQdTjNyjFfVp0fSFDH4CfVSDlqb0/s200/Cover+-+How+Jews+Defeated+Hitler.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">It is a common belief that the Jews of Germany and Europe went passively
to their deaths in the concentration camps and surely millions were duped by
the Nazis that they were merely being “relocated.” Information about the camps
was kept secret from Jew and non-Jew, and often not believed when it leaked
out. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How the Jews Defeated Hitler</b> by
Benjamin Ginsberg ($35.00, Roman & Littlefield Publishers) reveals that it
was not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whether</i> Jews fought, though
poorly armed, outnumbered, and without resourses, but the means they used as
participants in the the anti-Nazi resistance units and as soldiers in both the
U.S. and Soviet armies, the latter involving engineering skills that
contributed to the famed T-34 tank and other weapons. In the U.S. Jewish
organizations aided the Roosevelt administration in discrediting the prevailing
feeling of isolationism that initially prevented support for Great Britain.
Jews also provided the war effort with invaluable assistance with espionage and
cryptoanalysis. Their greatest contribution was the development of the atomic
bomb that ended the war with Japan and World War II. The author sums up the
reaction of European Jews at the time; they could not believe Germans intended
to kill them all! A professor of political science, Dr. Ginsberg concludes with
a look at the way old enemies of the Jews have mutated into new ones, the most
obvious being Muslims worldwide, but also those on the Left seeking an alliance
with them. This is a fascinating story that has not been told in its full
context until now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Historian Ian Mortimer loves to time-travel and did so with a previous
book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Time Traveler’s Guide to
Medieval England </i>which I read and enjoyed. Lives were short, illness almost
always risked death, and it was a brutal and dangerous place. Now he is back
with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Time Traveler’s Guide to
Elizabethan England </b>($27.95, Viking). It was an exciting time to be alive
and, of course, the period in which Shakespeare wrote his plays. The British
were discovering and settling new worlds beyond their island and some would
circumnavigate the globe. Where people in the medieval era saw the sea as a
barrier, in Elizabethan times it was recognized as one of its great resources.
Using the diaries, letters, books and other writings of the day, Mortimer
offers a detailed portrait of daily life, recreating the sights, sounds, and
the smells of the streets and homes of 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century England. He
informs us of Elizabethan attitudes towards violance, class, sex, and religion.
London was home to 200,000 people at the time and Oxford and Cambridge, home
now to famed universities, had about 5,000 each. In the course of Elizabeth’s
reign society evolved a new conception of itself, but remained “still violent
and charitable, corrupt and courageous, racist and proud.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Every so often a book comes along that deals with a topic that will
intrigue a few readers, but may not attract a wider audience. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of
Real Medical Practices Through the Ages</b> ($16.00. Perigee, an imprint of
Penguin Publishing Group, softcover) by Nathan Belofsky is not for the
squeamish as it recounts in a very entertaining fashion the appalling things
that physicians from ancient times, through the Middle Ages and right up to the
twentieth century believed and did in the name of “curing” the patient. As
often as not they inflicted more pain than the ailment. Until relatively modern
times they had no idea what germs were or did. In general they preferred to
avoid any physical contact with the patient short of taking their pulse. The
real bloodwork was left to those ordinary folk who pulled teeth or set bones.
Aneshesia was completely unknown. Presidents from Washington to Garfield to
Harrison all died more from the treatments than the ailments, although Garfield
had taken a bullet. If stories involving medicine interest you, this is
definetely the book to read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">The Best Planned City
in the World </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">by Francis R. Kowsky ($29.95, University of Massachusetts
Press) offers a view of history we tend to overlook. It is hard to imagine any
of the world’s major cities without their public parks. Examples include
Central Park in New York, London’s Hyde Park, and the Tuileries Garden in
Paris, but as the author notes, until the 1850s the concept of a “pastoral
environment in the heart of the city available to all classes of society”
simply did not exist. The movement for open spaces for the enjoyment of nature
required visionary men. In 1868 two of them, Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvert
Vaux set their sights on Buffalo, New York and, in doing so, set in motion the
concept of park systems. Published in association with the Library of American
Landscape History, this book examines that careful planning that went into
parks. The Buffalo park system was to be the first of its kind, a revolutionary
urban experiment in what was then one of the busiest ports. Olmstead and Vaux
had already made their name with New York’s Central and Prospect Parks, but
Buffalo was to have three parks, distinct from one another and linked
throughout the city by majestic, tree-canopies boulevards. Extensively
illustrated, it is an excellent book on urban history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">On a lighter side, there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behind
the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America</b> by Leslie Zemeckis ($24.95,
Skyhorse Publishing). Given unprecedented access to the performers diaries,
letters, albums, and memorabilia, the author has gathered their stories that
brings this pre-and-early TV era of entertainment to life, a time when it was
the training ground for many entertainers who migrated to Hollywood and
television, but it is the strippers that burlesque is most remembered for. Many
years ago, when she had written an autobiography, I met Blaze Starr and then
reviewed her book. Blaze was famous by then for her affairs with Louisiana’s
Governer Earl Long and others. Her contemporaries included Lily St. Cyr, Kitty
West, Tempest Storm, and Sally Rand. They made an artform of stripping,
providing a bit of sexual fantasy for a generator for whom this adult
entertainment was considered a bit racy but acceptable. That is until New York
Mayor shut down the city’s burlesque clubs. Other cities would follow suit, but
burlesque lives on in places like Las Vegas with its extraordinary shows. This
is a piece of show business history that is itself entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">The Handy Art History
Answer Book </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">by Madelynn Dickerson ($21.95, Visible Ink Press) joins <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Handy History Answer Book </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Handy Science Answer Book </i>as an
excellent compendium of information that takes the reader on a walk through
history and the world of art. From prehistoric to modern and various cultures,
this book puts a world of information between its covers as it traces art
history from cave paintings to contemporary works, guiding the reader smoothly
through the major art movements, the artists, and the important art pieces from
35,000 B.C.E. to today. While we tend to associate art with the West, this book
also demonstrates how other cultures influenced modern artists. Anyone who
loves art will want to have this book in their personal library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Real People
in Memoirs, Biographies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbipdolObFbiev5VyBcQODNEpldWr05v-JcauiMJ2fRj3c8GEwCCNE-SfSSuaeYX2IhYuGN_Wj917zrDnA_H9bvgEtWJ4fTnQs5-EDsgWsECS_yfcubHEkk4f2RSxniaELV9GDkIn3tyY/s676/Cover+-+Rocket+Girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbipdolObFbiev5VyBcQODNEpldWr05v-JcauiMJ2fRj3c8GEwCCNE-SfSSuaeYX2IhYuGN_Wj917zrDnA_H9bvgEtWJ4fTnQs5-EDsgWsECS_yfcubHEkk4f2RSxniaELV9GDkIn3tyY/s200/Cover+-+Rocket+Girl.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Rocket Girl: The
Story of Mary Sherman Morgan—America’s First Female Rocket Scientist </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">by George D. Morgan
($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) is an interesting biography on several
levels. For one, it was a search for answers by the author about his mother.
For another, it is about a moment in history that transformed the space race to
create rockets as Mary Sherman, a chemist working for North American Aviation,
was given the challenge of developing a fuel that would get a rocket
successfully into space. This was in the wake of World War II when a woman
chemist was still a rarity. The author tells of how in 1938, his mother, a
North Dakota farm girl dreamed of a career in chemistry. The effort would team
her with Werner von Braun, but the entire program was so cloaked in secrecy
that it took the passage of many years for the author to get at the facts of
her life during that time. Life is, indeed, stranger than fiction and this book
is proof<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>again of that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">We often ask how a successful person, someone of achievement, can become
addicted to alcohol, illegal or prescription drugs, but it happens all too
often. The story by Dr. Sylvester ‘Skip’ Sviokla IIl, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Harvard to Hell…and Back: A Doctor’s Journey through Addiction to
Recovery </b>($16.96, Central Recovery Press, softcover) is not uncommon as
many physicians have also become addicted, but the author has so many reasons
to avoid it that his story is a cautionary tale. He had wealth and an enviable
life until the addiction brought his life crashing down. What makes this story
carry more weight is the fact that it is written by this “doctor to the stars”
who risked losing everything. It is also worth reading to know one can overcome
the addiction. He is now medical director of several methadone clinics and
co-owner of a substance abuse clinic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">From time to time we hear of some person who decides to take a close-up
look at America and what fun it is to learn what they discovered. Paul Stutzman
previous wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hiking Through</i>, the
story of how, following the death of his wife, left his career as a restaurant
manager, to hike the Appalachion Trail in search of peace, healing and freedom.
I reviewed it and still recommend it, but I can also recommend his latest book,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Biking Across America </b>($12.99,
Revell, softcover) in which he took on another challenge, putting aside his
hiking boots for a bike and starting at Neah Bay, Washington to end finally in
Key West, Florida. These are the two farthest points in the contiguous United
States. Along the way he met hundreds of people, some of whose stories he
tells. Through good weather and bad, he peddled on and discovered what so many
others have, that America is filled with some very good people. This is a
delightful, inspiring story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">To Your
Health<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Americans are obsessed with their health so, naturally, there are lots of
books on the subject. Here are a few new ones that have arrived at Chez Caruba.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Why Can’t My Child
Stop Eating? A Guide to Helping Your Child Overcome Emotional Overeating </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">by Debbie Danowsky,
PhD ($14.95, Contral Recovery Press, softcover). That’s the kind of title that
says it all. Michelle Obama has made every parent of every overweight or obese
child give this topic serious thought and this book provides real-world solutions
to the social, emotional, and physical problems these children encounter. It is
an emotional recovery plan crafted by an author whose own food addiction
recovery program produced results. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Skinny
Smoothies: 101 Delicious Drinks that Help You Detox and Lose Weight</b> by
Shell Harris and Elizabeth Johnson ($16.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) provides
recipes for low-calorie, nutrient-packed drinks, plus lots of tips to jumpstart
and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The authors say that smoothies are a
wholesome way to lose weight without feeling like you’re dieting. I have never
had a smoothy, but I am willing to take their word for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">The Sugar Detox </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">by Brooke Alpert, RD,
CDN and Patricia Farris, MD, FAAD ($24.99, Da Capo Press) addresses my
“problem” and that of many others, a love of sweets. I have never met a cookie
or ice cream I did not like. The authors say that the average American consumes
more than seventy pounds of sugar each year and that a high-sugar diet can be
detrimental to nearly all areas of health and beauty. The side affairs aren’t
just weight gain, but include premature aging and increased risk of diabetes,
atherosclerosis, heart disease, and even cataracts. This is a serious book that
offers a one-month plan to wean readers of their sugar cravings with a
four-week schedule of menu plans and fifty recipes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Blood Pressure Down:
The 10-Step Plan to Lower Your Blood Pressure in 4 Weeks Without Prescription
Drugs </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">by Janet Bond Brill ($15.00, Three Rivers Press, softcover) is written by
a natinally recognized expert in cardiovascular disease prevention, a
nutritionist in private practice for many years. Nearly a third of adult
Americans, an estimated 78 million people, have been diagnosed with
hypertension, and millions more are on their way to this condition. The good
news, says the author, is that hypertension is easily treatable and
preventable. You can, she says, bring your blood pressure down in just four
weeks and you can do it without resorting to prescription medications. I like
the sound of that and you will, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">The New Testosterone
Treatment: How You and Your Doctor Can Fight Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer,
and Alzheimer’s </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">($20.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) is by Dr. Edward
Friedman, a leading authority on hormone receptors and prostate cancer. As the
title says, it deals with prevention and its focus is on the use of
testasterone. It notes that we experience our highest hormone levels during our
teen years and it is a time of life when the cancers and, of course,
Alzheimer’s are not a threat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could
bringing hormones back to teen levels be the key to vibrant good health? The
book says that the answer is a resounding yes. This book will be of particular
interest to medical professionals, but also to anyone concerned with their
health. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">I confess I have never been much into exercise. When I was in the Army
fifty years ago I was required to so a lot of exercise and have not been famous
for doing as much since. One form of it has been popular in the orient for
centuries and you can read about it in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tai
Chi—The Perfect Exercise: Finding Health, Happiness, Balance, and Strength </b>by
Arthur Rosenfeld ($19.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) and he makes it look like a
lot of fun. Many of us lead fast-paced, often stressful lives and our physical
and mental wellbeing often takes a backseat to juggling work and family
responsibilies. Like yoga, the art of tai chi provides a refuge as a low-impact
exercise among all age groups. If this interests you, this book will open the
door for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Kid Stuff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8dODUC4VDg5wV4nc3NUFqFHARxIfjbGO5OOqALSWjLePFe2lje6xxkGSFtEynyd1Qo5upLu2Kj8Wq47iXhJ66gZbhnRE-4MoeqXUFpRifX_PAUWEB5HdVXOz64rOeNHEIH_6XUraI7c/s350/Cover+-+Princess+Cupcake+Jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8dODUC4VDg5wV4nc3NUFqFHARxIfjbGO5OOqALSWjLePFe2lje6xxkGSFtEynyd1Qo5upLu2Kj8Wq47iXhJ66gZbhnRE-4MoeqXUFpRifX_PAUWEB5HdVXOz64rOeNHEIH_6XUraI7c/s200/Cover+-+Princess+Cupcake+Jones.jpg" width="171" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">A delightful story for those of pre-and-early school age, there is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Princess Cupcake Jones and the Missing Tutu</b>
by Ylleya Fields and illustrated by Michael LaDuca ($15.95, Belle Publishing).
Parents know that children’s rooms are often a colorful managerie of toys here,
clothes there, and stuff everywhere. When something is lost, it may take all
day to find it. In this entertaining story, Princess Cupcake learns why she
should keep her room clean if she wants to easily find her favorite things,
among which is a favorite tutu. Her search for it is hilarious—particularly if
you are very young. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those ages 8 to 12, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Call Me Amy</b> by Marcia Strykowski will resonate with familiar themes of growing up. The year is 1973 and for Amy Henderson, it has been a lonely one with too many awkward moments to count. When she finds an injured seal pup, she rescues him to rehabilitate him. In the process she forms an unlikely alliance with Craig, a boy around her age, and an older woman in town. With their help she discovers that people aren’t always what they seem despite what others may think of them. This is a story filled with many elements that will appeal to younger readers and I highly recommend it.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">The New Horizon Press has two new books for kids with special needs, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Treasure Hunt for Mama and Me: Helping
Children Cope with Parental Illness </b>($9.95) by Renee Le Varrier and Samuel
Frank, MD, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Owen Has Burgers and
Drum: Helping to Understand and Befriend Kids with Asperger’s Syndrome </b>($9.95)
by Christine M. Shells with Frank R. Pane, MAE, BCBA. When a parent is
suffering from a serious disabling or terminal condition, a child is subject to
confusion, worry, and grief. The former book helps them to understand that,
despite the physical limitations that come with illness, the love of a parent
is forever. The latter book addresses the fact that between two and six kids
out of every thousand in the world have Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum
disorder, one that is a part of the popular TV show, Parenthood. The book notes
that they learn differently from others, but their friends can learn to
understand it and respond appropriately to it. Asperger’s makes it difficult
for both youngster’s and grownups to recognize the signals people send
regarding their moods and feelings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Novels,
Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Summer is associated with reading a good novel on the beach or patio and
this summer those who enjoy fiction—if the stacks of new novels I have
received—will have a bounty from which to select. Here are just a few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qljEZ7pVOW0qrQuMHAc7DQRTpkHv0DllYv1S6-BeBIn1YbCl3_csI7LLk5OYn4Yxi68zyUCoK5IRziXFUP8HxbX__E66fUh8lCS1xlsN48Hc-ZaVTWS4Ha9Zc6i3wIfqJ5aNSOkvtPo/s391/Cover+-+Until+She+Comes+Home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qljEZ7pVOW0qrQuMHAc7DQRTpkHv0DllYv1S6-BeBIn1YbCl3_csI7LLk5OYn4Yxi68zyUCoK5IRziXFUP8HxbX__E66fUh8lCS1xlsN48Hc-ZaVTWS4Ha9Zc6i3wIfqJ5aNSOkvtPo/s200/Cover+-+Until+She+Comes+Home.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">A good mystery is always worth reading and Lori Roy’s new novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Until She Comes Home</b>. ($26.95, Dutton)
set in Detroit in the 1950s. It’s a thriller that examines the transformation
of a neighborhood. Alder Avenue is a respectable place where the neighbors care
for one another, but that changes when two seemingly unrelated events occur;
the disappearance of childlike Elizabeth Symanski and the murder of a local
African-American woman. As the neighbors search for her, they fear that their
world will be changed forever if she is not found. It will leave you reading
until the end. The novel has been called “extraordinary”, “compelling”, and
“beautifuly, quietly disturbing.” It is all that and more. Jeffrey Deaver
delivers again with his series featuring forensic expert Lincoln Rhyme in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Kill Room </b>($28.00, Grand Central
Publishing). A U.S. citizen in the Bahamas is shot by a killer per excellence—a
man capable of delivering “a million-dollar bullet” from a mile or more away.
As the investigation gets going it is learned that the fiction, Robert Moreno,
was known to have strong anti-American sympathies and was assassinated by the
U.S. government. A New York assistant district attorney, Nance Laurel, is
unwilling to let the rule of law be ignored and brings a criminal case against
both the director of the National Intelligence and Operations Service (NIOS)
who ordered the killing. Rhymes is assigned to investigate the killing, but the
NIOS is not going to permit to succeed. This is a psychological thriller with
an intricate plot and arrives just as a succession of scandals involving the
government’s surveillance programs have raised some very real fears. Deaver has
won sevem Edgar nominations by the Mystery Writers of America, a Nero Award,
and other accolades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6JiAW_hLhZBlPZvhb9c28BzuTkAd7wMlouWarjunKW-st7Mw9CEUQ2Bg0e3pxk-kAmjsEoS_GkYUNSMA8tu8XbezxAkbSAviKnN5kiYT2R0agBn-4IXL0rQO2Qo8rpjb8XFY8pEH0lPg/s475/Ciover+-+Primetime+Princess.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6JiAW_hLhZBlPZvhb9c28BzuTkAd7wMlouWarjunKW-st7Mw9CEUQ2Bg0e3pxk-kAmjsEoS_GkYUNSMA8tu8XbezxAkbSAviKnN5kiYT2R0agBn-4IXL0rQO2Qo8rpjb8XFY8pEH0lPg/s200/Ciover+-+Primetime+Princess.png" width="137" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">A host of softcover novels offer all manner of summer reading fun. The
world of show business is featured in two of them. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Star Attraction</b> by Alison Sweeney ($14.99, Hyperion) introduces
the reader to Sophie Atwater, a CrackBerry-addicted, coffee-guzzling,
sleep-deprived publicist extraordinaire on the rise at Los Angeles’ elite
boutique firm, Bennett/Peters. She has an attentive, somewhat conventional
boyfriend and she’s just landed the client of a lifetime, Billy Fox,
Hollywood’s new ‘golden boy.’ Fox has the brains and brawn that put him in
competition with George Clooney and Ryan Gosling. Put in close quarters with
Fox, sparks begin to fly and Sophie learns what it is like to be on the arm of
a rising movie star. This is a kind of Bridget Jones meets Hollywood Boulevard
story, full of fun and is a debut novel for Sweeney who is a host on the NBC
series, “The Biggest Loser”, and a role in “Days of Our lives.” How she found
time between that, plus being a wife and mother, to write this novel is
anyone’s guess, but we’re glad she did. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Primetime
Princess</b>, ($14.95, Amazon Publishing) another novelist makes her debut.
Former NBC Executive Vice President, Lindy DeKoven, taps into her real-life
network television career to write a deliciously scandalous story in the
tradition of “The Devil Wears Proda.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the center of the novel is Alexa Ross, vice president of comedy development at
Hawkeye Broadcasting System who has fought her way passed the boy’s club and
after firing Jerry Keller her sleezy ex-boss, Alexis thinks she’s really at the
top. Then she learns Keller has been re-hired and is her newest employee. All-out
war ensues and Alexa has to wonder if all her efforts have been worth it. You
will have to read this entertaining novel to find out.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">A most unusual novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lady Macbeth
On the Couch</b>, ($14.95, Bancroft Press) could only have been written by a
psychoanalyst and, indeed, was. Dr. Alma Bond has written twenty books, some
about famous folks such as Jackie O and Maria Callas. The character of Lady
MacBeth has intrigued many others including Sigmund Freud. In Shakespeare’s
play she pushes her husband to commit regicide to acquire the throne and in Dr.
Bond’s historical fiction, Lady MacBeth tells her own story of the events of
the enduring drama about ambition and dirty deeds. Just as the play takes one
on a roller-coaster ride of intrigue, this novelization takes one into the mind
and heart of one of theatre’s most compelling characters. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">William Shakepeare’s Star Wars</b> by Ian Doescher ($14.95, Quirk
Books, hardcover) is an officially licensed retelling of George Lucas’s epic
Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. Doescher knows his way
around iambic pentameter and the story has soliloquies and the clever wordplay
one would expect of Shakespeare if he wrote of the wise Jedi knight and the
evil Sith lord, of a beautiful princess held captive, and a young hero coming
of age. From MacBeth to Star Wars…you cannot make up stuff like this though
there are authors who will take on the challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">The emerging science of psychiatry plays a role in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Lost Prince </b>by Selden Edwards ($16.00, Plume). It is a
follow-up to “The Little Book” and begins in fin de siecle Vienna where Weezie
Putnam met and tragically lost the love of her life, Wheeler Burden. She
returns to Boston as Eleanor, a newly confident woman armed with the belief
that she holds advance knowledge of nearly every major historical event to come
during her lifetime. She marrieds, starts a family, hires a physicist to manage
her finances, and begins to build relationships with some of the most
influential thinkers of the twentieth century, including Sigmund Freuds, Carl
Jung, and William James. She reconnects with Arnauld Eeterhazy, a young
Viennese scholar. When he is sent off to war in 1914, she must decide to allow
history to unfold come what may or use her extraordinary gifts to bend it to
deliver the life she is meant to have. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJs1Y7_hco4GBIgWlV3AGqx9c5RzQ8sK4y-Xg62Zmz9yVuivboIPjfaBW2lnghjXhLZ4ugzwk2XNuX1btyjFwa9t6NQbCRlLHXM1WVNDZDD5muVnSnj6DUew3Eev_6-WMOZxnXoD_ShUM/s300/Cover+-+The+last+Camelia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJs1Y7_hco4GBIgWlV3AGqx9c5RzQ8sK4y-Xg62Zmz9yVuivboIPjfaBW2lnghjXhLZ4ugzwk2XNuX1btyjFwa9t6NQbCRlLHXM1WVNDZDD5muVnSnj6DUew3Eev_6-WMOZxnXoD_ShUM/s200/Cover+-+The+last+Camelia.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">The Last Camelia </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">by Sarah Jio ($15.00,
Plume) combines mystery, history, and romance as it follows two American women,
Flora and Addison, who are separated by more than fifty years, but connected by
the enigmatic Livingston Manor in whose countless rooms the long history of its
inhabitant’s sins are kept, upstairs and down. On the eve of the Second World
War, the last surviving specimen of a camellia plant known as the Middlebury
Pink lies secreted away on the English country estate, an amateur American
botanist, is blackmailed by an international ring of flower thieves to
infiltrate the household and acquire the covered bloom. To protect her family
she travels an ocean away to work as a nanny to the children of the manor. More
than half a century later, Manhattan garden designer, Addison, is threatened by
a dark figure from her past and takes up residence in Livingston Manor, now
owned by the family of her husband, to escape exposure. Does the last camelia
bring with it danger? You will have to read the novel!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">A very different story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Innocence
</b>by Louis B. Jones ($14.95, Counterpoint Press). Set in Marin County, it
follows John Gregenuber, a former Episcopal priest who has given up his parish
for a career in real estate. Born with a cleft palate, he has his life behind
the minor disfigurement of a “hare lip” but following corrective plastic
surgery, he has been invited to go on a romantic rip to a secluded country
estate with Thalia, a young woman who has also undergone the same surgery. It
is a story of two intelligent, shy people, both of whom felt unqualified for
love, and a weekend that promises happy beginnings, but which includes Thalia’s
seven special-needs clients! It is improbable, somewhat absurd, and
occasionally harrowing, but never boring!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Throughout his career, Anthony C. Winkler, widely recognized as Jamaica’s
great humorist, has been compared to Mark Twain, P.G. Wodehouse, and Kurt Vonnegut.
When you read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Family Mansion </b>($15.95,
Akashic Books) you would understand why. It is a wildly funny, satirical, and
poignant portrait of a young English gentleman whose best-laid plans derail
against the backdrop of 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century British culture and Jamaica’s
luch, but harsh land, a time when English society was based upon the strictist
subordination and stratification of the classes. Harley Fudges’ charmed life is
marred only by the existance of his brother who stands to inherit everything,
leaving him to his own devices. Arranging for his assassination seems the
easiest soluion to the problem, but it goes terribly wrong and Hartley heads to
Jamaica to start a new life. After a few months falls hopelessly in love with a
slave girl named Phibba. It is a clash of cultures that Winkler turns into a
romp. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CNN calls Bridget Siegal’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Domestic Affairs </b>($15.99, Weinstein
Books) “The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fifty Shades of Gray </i>of
political novels.” Ms. Siegal has worked on many political campaigns and is a
political consultant, writer and actor, residing in New York. When a
twenty-something political fund-raiser, Olivia Greenley, gets tapped to work on
the presidential campaign of George governor Landon Taylor, it’s her dream job.
Her best friend is the campaign manager and Taylor is a decent, charismatic
idealist. What happens when Campaign Lesson #1, No Kissing the Boss and Lesson
#2, Loyalty Above All, go down in flames before the first primary? Is the
candidate a true romantic or a political hypocrite? How far can she go to
justify her happiness? Told with inside-the-Beltway detail, this novel will
entertain anyone with an interest in politics and even if you don’t. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4qoa1JgqjPYAuHeOTprSThrntFelFcORGDS64uW1JMLOGHsWOQ78C5iFPIqwFIbN8Br5Wv6XFrHJKKyLxwMnUUsvcO3GkyLvYOy5BDg2dUjE15tw4lEgnucNLUMf_wGs9nyF5QymGVM/s334/Cover+-+Miss+Peregine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4qoa1JgqjPYAuHeOTprSThrntFelFcORGDS64uW1JMLOGHsWOQ78C5iFPIqwFIbN8Br5Wv6XFrHJKKyLxwMnUUsvcO3GkyLvYOy5BDg2dUjE15tw4lEgnucNLUMf_wGs9nyF5QymGVM/s200/Cover+-+Miss+Peregine.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes;">For younger readers, ages 13 and up, I recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculiar Children </b>($10.99, Quirk Books)
now in softcover after its debut in June 2011 by Ransom Riggs took the
publishing industry by storm as a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Film rights
have been sold to Twentieth Century Fox and foreign rights in more than 35
nations. A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection
of very curious photographs (which appear in the book) come together in a story
in which a horrific family tragedy sets 16-year-old Jacob journying to a remove
island off the coast of Wales where he discovers the crumbling ruins. It
becomes clear that the children who once lived there—one of whom was his own
grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They
may have been guarantined on the island for a good reason and some may still be
alive. For any age, this makes for some great reading.<br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #365f91; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-no-proof: yes; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">That’s it for July! Come back in August
when there will be many new fiction and non-fiction books well worth reading.
Tell your friends, coworkers and family about Bookviews.com so they too can
enjoy the many new books arriving to inform and entertain.</span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725763524427810005.post-11924225993739043422013-05-31T06:01:00.000-07:002013-05-31T16:46:44.656-07:00Bookviews - June 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">By Alan
Caruba<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My Picks of the Month<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6BIHHq51DQZChPfm48YkwNBvAYEwcBUTcSjXcxmMs_X4xmUIC6NOwnaIraLJ2YJ_97VafNJ8fn9fYMfNOtcjJ46WUdunU-VPkckNrnprXaF6mRZOzr74NtSyT_-nd899EU09V7KDJjE/s1600/Cover+-+1913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6BIHHq51DQZChPfm48YkwNBvAYEwcBUTcSjXcxmMs_X4xmUIC6NOwnaIraLJ2YJ_97VafNJ8fn9fYMfNOtcjJ46WUdunU-VPkckNrnprXaF6mRZOzr74NtSyT_-nd899EU09V7KDJjE/s200/Cover+-+1913.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It is said
that you cannot understand the present unless you understand history and
Charles Emmerson has made an excellent contribution to history with his new
book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1913: In Search of the World
Before the Great World </b>($30.00, Public Affairs). In 1913, few if any
anticipated that World War I would break out the next year and Americans
resisted being drawn into it until 1917. Structured by taking the reader to the
world’s great cities in 1913, what emerges from its pages how much that year
resembles our own today. It was a year when globalization was occurring with
the ease of worldwide travel and communication with much commerce between
nations; a world in which the peoples of Europe traveled easily among its
nations and one in which all manner of change and innovation was occurring in
the arts, sciences, and politics. Royalty in Germany and Russia still played a
major role in their nation’s lives, but in America the nation’s economy was
booming thanks to immigration from the Old World to the new. Emmerson lets the
reader visit Europe’s capitals, to Bombay, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, Peking, and
of course, America’s great cities from New York to Los Angeles. It is a big book,
exceeding 500 pages, but learning of the world in that world is an exhilarating
reading experience and one that will transform your view of that year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjShp6JqFfTlWIEhbBJhN5OBJLYSyFmFHD7sbmNIhHC2Kkiuf9shMVL9XrPCGp-C30KqU-I3vOVRznnxL3VK9To22daSboglGkEYtxmzybpP8NOSfnrugG6PxPwVZxOxD2eCO07G6rZ9HU/s1600/Cover+-+A+Disease+of+the+Mind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjShp6JqFfTlWIEhbBJhN5OBJLYSyFmFHD7sbmNIhHC2Kkiuf9shMVL9XrPCGp-C30KqU-I3vOVRznnxL3VK9To22daSboglGkEYtxmzybpP8NOSfnrugG6PxPwVZxOxD2eCO07G6rZ9HU/s200/Cover+-+A+Disease+of+the+Mind.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Though it
is early in the year, I am inclined to believe that one of the best new books about
U.S. history will be Thomas Fleming’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A
Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War </b>($26.99,
Da Capo Press). Fleming has already established himself as one of the nation’s
leading historians. His new book provides an insight that few others about the
Civil War have done. Fleming examines how the Founders in writing the
Constitution had to compromise with the southern slave-holding states and thus
established a republic that declared that all men were equal, but in fact
created a nation that accepted slavery as a compromise to secure its
ratification. Though the Founders owned slaves, they understood that the issue
slavery could eventually tear the nation apart. At the heart of his book is the
fact that “Few people criticized or objected to slavery; it was one of the
world’s oldest social institutions…” From its earliest days, prior to the
Revolution, slavery was a part of life in America both in the north and the
south. “By 1750, there were a half million slaves in the American colonies.” By
1790, there were only six slave states, but the great wealth generated by
growing cotton created a new for greater numbers of slaves. Moreover, the
states before and after the Revolution were hardly “united” as most regarded
themselves as sovereign entities and cooperated in a fitful fashion. As the
black population grew, vastly outnumbered white southerners grew fearful of
them and events such as Nat Turner’s rebellion that slaughtered whites and the
bloodshed in Haiti only deepened those fears. By the time of the Civil War
there were four million slaves, most in the south. The rise of the abolition
movement created discord and hatred between the north and south until in 1860
the election of Lincoln led to secession. I heartily recommend reading this
book to understand what led to the Civil War—a long process—and the failed
compromises that could not deter it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The History of the Renaissance World</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> by Susan Bauer ($35.00, W.W. Norton)
represents two factors I favor, one is history and the second is a big, fat
book filled with all manner of information that continues to surprise me. At
768 pages, this book, beginning in the days just before the First Crusade, is a
chronicle of the many changes occurring around the world at that time. A
Christian empire was stopped short at the walls of Constantinople, the wisdom
of the Greeks was revived, the claims of monarchy were challenged, the early
signs of an Islamic threat to Europe emerged, along with that of Mongols. It
was a time in which the mini-ice age occurred, a great famine killed millions,
and the Black Death still more. We tend to think we are living in dangerous
times, but this book demonstrates the history of civilization is always about
dangerous times, as well as innovation, discoveries, and progress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Trying to
figure out what is happening in the world and why is a constant challenge.
That’s why books like Deepak Lal’s are so helpful. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Poverty and Progress: Realities and Myths about Global Poverty </b>($24.95,
hardcover, $11.95 softcover, and $9.99 digital, Cato Institute) informs us that
the greatest reduction of mass poverty in human history has occurred during the
current era of globalization. The number of the world’s poor is shrinking and
their lives—health, education, and life spans—are improving. Lal is an
economist who brings fifty years of experience around the globe to this book
that describes developing-nation realities and corrects mistaken notions about
economic progress. He says that the rapid spread of economic progress over the
last three decades is “one of mankind’s most amazing achievements.” It’s nice
to read some good news for a change and to discover, as the author documents,
that much of what we’ve been told is not true. You will come away with a new
and better understanding of what is occurring in the worldwide economy,
especially as it affects its poor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Anyone who
has to fly regularly on business, to visit relatives, or take a vacation knows
that flying these days can be an unpleasant experience. Mark Gerchick explains
why in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Full Upright and Locked Position </b>($24.95,
W.W. Norton). Gerchick is a former FAA chief counsel and an aviation consultant
with twenty years’ experience to draw upon as he guides readers through what it
means to board a plane today. His book is not a diatribe, but rather an
entertaining explanation thanks to his sense of humor as he explains why
travelers are nickel-and-dimed by the airlines, why bags are mishandled, why
the fares keep rising, and all the other factors that too often make flying a
stressful experience. It is a portrait of as multi-billion-dollar business that
has undergone profound changes over the past decade and he explains why the
constant demand for efficiency, cost-cutting, and new sources of revenue have
brought the industry and its passengers to the present state of affairs. This
is also a history of air travel from the 1970s deregulation as well as the
challenges currently affecting the industry. It is a fact-filled look at the
industry and one that is full of surprises. For those for whom flying is a
regular or occasional part of their lives, this book is well worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One might
think that a book devoted to a history of the Harvard Lampoon from the 1960s
would be very entertaining. One might be wrong. Ellin Stein has written a book
that extends to 445 pages. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">That’s Not
Funny, That’s Sick</b> ($27.95, W.W. Norton) is filled with the names of the
generation of funny men and women who reshaped humor in America, many of whom
got their start writing for the Harvard Lampoon. In time, two of them would
begin to publish The National Lampoon to great success. Stein has laboriously
reported about the key players and that is the main problem of the book. In
real life, many were simply not that interesting. Many seemed to be engaged in
adolescent rebellion not uncommon to that age cohort, but around them the 1960s
was exploding in actual rebellion on college campuses and in the streets of the
nation. There is no question they and others created an irreverent brand of
comedy that includes Saturday Night Live, The Onion, the Daily Show, South
Park, and others, but the book’s dissection of the people and factors that led
to this is too labored to hold one’s attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Books By and About Real
People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It is the
strangest thing to read a memoir by someone who you’ve known a very long time,
only to discover they had this whole life about which you were oblivious. In
the 1970s when we were both members of the Society of Magazine Writers (later
to become the Society of Authors and Journalists), I met Tania Grossinger who
was already a very successful public relations professional as well as
freelance travel writer. One of her PR clients was the famed feminist, Betty
Friedan, the author of “The Feminine Mystique.” Tania would help launch the
book that would eventually selling four million copies. Betty had mellowed by
the time I met her, but I recall I instantly liking Tania who was blessed with
one of those personalities that is welcoming and warm. So, when I sat down to
read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Memoir of an Independent Woman: An
Unconventional Life Well Lived </b>($24.95, Skyhorse Publishing) I did not put
it down until the last page. Tania’s PR career was at its peak in the one of
the most exciting times in our recent history. She knew all the major
personalities in radio and television who hosted talk shows. She did PR for the
Playboy Clubs, handled some the most famous authors of that era such as Ayn
Rand. She either knew or dealt with iconic names, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard
Burton, Hugh Hefner, and others she names. If her name has a familiar ring, she
was a member of the family that operated the famed Grossinger’s resort in the
Catskills and, even at a very early age, she came to know “celebrities” as real
people. She was especially blessed to have the friendship of Jackie Robinson of
baseball fame. Though her life sounds glamorous (and it was), there were elements
of sadness she unsparingly shares as well. I am delighted to call her a friend
and astonished to have read her moving, entertaining memoir. She did, indeed,
live an unconventional life and she did it very well! I want to keep her around
for many more years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Learning to Listen: A Life Caring for
Children </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($24.99, Da
Capo Press) is a memoir by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., covering eight decades
that has led him to be respected as “America’s pediatrician.” His books on
child-rearing in the earliest years of life have helped thousands of parents
understand what they need to know to be better parents. His Brazelton Neonatal
Behavioral Assessment Scale is used in hospitals worldwide as a way for doctors
and parents to interpret the behavior of babies. He began his medical career in
the late 1940s, a time when physicians were beginning to shed old practices and
develop medicine as it exists today. His observations revolutionized the way
pediatricians practice infant care and how parents parent. He is the author of
more than thirty books on child development and is a professor emeritus of
pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. This is a most interesting memoir to
read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My late
father was born in 1901, was two young for World War I and deemed too old to
serve in WWII. Although I served in the U.S. Army, I was fortunate to do so in
one of those rare periods of peace that did not require my being in combat. I
have read much about wars, but still cannot imagine what it must have been like
until I read <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stories in Uniform: A Look
at the Heroics, Sacrifices, and Triumphs of Our Soldiers </b>($15.00, Readers
Digest), a splendid collection in which the realities of war leap off the page
as told by some excellent writers. How such heroism and sacrifice can exist in
our present times is testimony to the same grit and determination of George
Washington’s soldiers, often unpaid, lacking even shoes, and enduring terrible
conditions, but following him into battle after battle until we had an
independent United States of America. A whole new generation of warriors will
earn your admiration when you read this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">May This Be the Best Year of Your
Life: A Memoir </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by
Sandra Bornstein ($12.99, Create Space, softcover) is the story of “a
50-something-year-old woman who faced a decision to teach English and social
studies to fifth graders at a prestigious international boarding school in
Bangalore, India. It would mean leaving her husband and soul mate, and three of
her four sons behind, and traveling well out of her comfort zone, She would be
on her own<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The opportunity, however, was
intriguing Her memoir tells of the many sights, sounds and discoveries she made
during her year; learning about the extensive poverty, the squalor that many
children lived in, and the lack of safety in Bangalore. The principal of the
school said, “This is going to be the best year of your life” and you can read
this memoir to see if that was true or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sometimes
dealing with a personal tragedy involves setting it down on paper. This is part
of the memoir, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Swimming with Maya: A
Mother’s Story </b>by Eleanor Vincent ($14.95, Dream of Things, softcover) that
begins when 19-year-old Maya does in a fatal horseback accident. She was
celebrating with friends here scholarship to the UCLA Theatre Arts program. Her
mother shares the intimate details of her tragedy and the healing process which
included the decision to donate Maya’s organs to help others. In 2011, only
one-fourth of the people in the nation on an organ waiting list received the
life-giving transplant. On average eighteen die each day. After her decision,
Eleanor Vincent could hear her daughter’s heart beating in its recipient’s
chest and she corresponds with the person who received Maya’s liver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a powerful memoir and a please for
the donation of organs to save live.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some
people just know how to get the most out of life and do so with gusto and the
kind of courage most of us to not possess. One of them is Sonya Klein, the
author of “Honk If You Married Sonja” and now her latest book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Roundtrip from Texas </b>($15.95, Ambush
Publishing, Barksdale, Texas, softcover) continues with more accounts from a
life spent as a fifth generation rancher in between going off to all parts of
the world. She married four men—hence the title of her first book—but it is her
attitude and knowledge, especially of food, that will capture your interest and
admiration. Musician Lyle Lovett is a cousin and recalls that “When I was a
boy, Sonja was one of the first grown-ups in my life to show me it was okay to
have fun. She was pretty, wore cool clothes, drove fast cars, and raced
motorcycles.” They spirit infuses the book, along with a keen eye and enjoyment
of food as she describes meals in exotic places in loving detail, from sea bass
in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Peking duck in Beijing. You may never visit these
places, but you will feel like you have when you read this delightful book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When I was
growing up the music of Gary U.S. Bonds could be heard, from “New Orleans” and
“School is Out” in the 1960s to “This Little Girl in 1981 and many more hits
still being played these days. He will be celebrating his 74<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
birthday as a published author with an autobiography, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">By U.S. Bonds—That’s My Story </b>($30.00, Wheatley Press, L.L.C.) written
with Stephen Cooper. Suffice to say his life spans the early days of R&B
and rock music to the present. He was an influence on Bruce Springsteen and a
member of the E Street Band, Steven Van Zandt, has written a forward to it.
Bonds shares memories of traveling with B.B. King and Sam Cooke, his big break
on the Dick Clark show, and a raft of stories that will entertain anyone who
enjoyed his music and that of his illustrious contemporaries. Bonds did not
fall prey to many of the temptations of the music industry, remaining true to
his beloved wife and daughter. There are life lessons about perseverance and
the support derived from friends and family.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are
people who love the outdoors and I am not one of them. That said, I can still
recommend <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Majestic and Wild: True
Stories of Faith and Adventure in the Great Outdoors </b>by Murray Pura
($13.99, Baker Books, softcover and ebook). An award-winning novelist, Pura has
long been an avid outdoorsman who has loved hiking, hunting, and more. Amidst
the stories he tells of his experiences, he shares his belief in the value of
getting out of the pew and into the outdoors to be closer to God. This is, as
you might imagine, a book intended to be enjoyed by Christians. Pura is an
ordained minister, has served five churches, and has written fifteen books. You
can find him these days living in the Rocky Mountains near Calgary, Alberta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Getting Down to Business
Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">With fewer
jobs available, many have had to improve their interview and other skills to
secure one. Martin Yates has just added to his list of excellent books on how
to write resumes and other secrets of success in a job search and career
management. This time he addresses the beginner in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Knock’em Dead Secrets & Strategies for First-Time Job Seekers </b>($15.95,
Adams Media, softcover) that provides a wealth of information and insight
regarding how to make one’s resume discoverable in databases, how to build and
leverage social networks, and how to turn job interviews into job offers, among
other related topics. This would make a great gift for any young person
graduating from college this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An
interesting book by a retired U.S. Navy Captain, L. David Marquet, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Turn the Ship Around: A True Story of Turning
Followers into Leaders </b>($25.95, Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin) is the
story of how he challenged the U.S. Navy’s traditional leader-follower approach
as captain of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine. Turning the old
paradigm on its head, Capt. Maquet took his ship from worst to first in its
fleet by pushing for leadership at every level. Instead of issuing orders, he
delegated control to officers and men in the ship’s various departments,
building a crew that was fully engaged in what they did. The Santa Fe began to
winning awards and promoting a large number of offices to submarine command.
Fortune magazine calls this book “The best how-to- manual anywhere for managers
on delegating, training and driving flawless execution.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, the author
currently teaches graduate level leadership at Columbia University. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There used
to be and probably still is something called “the old boy’s network”, but
Pamela Ryckman has put the world on notice about the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stiletto Network: Inside the Women’s Power Circles that are Changing
the Face of Business </b>($22.95, Amacom). Rather ironically, she dedicated the
book “about girls to my boys” whom she names and thanks for their love,
patience, and support. The author has written for the leading financial
publications and comes to this book with excellent story-telling skills as she
sheds light on how women in the world of business and finance are banding
together to help one another. This was, perhaps, inevitable as more and more
women sought success on terms formerly reserved for men. The book chronicles
the stories of a number of women who have achieved extraordinary success and
the groups, formal and informal, that aided them along the way. These are new
networks that are reshaping the business world and one suspects that men, as
well as women, will read this book to learn about them. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Getting It Done: How to Achieve Results and Accomplish Fulfillment in
Work & Life</b> ($16.95, Mill City Press, softcover) by Iris Dorreboom and
Rudi de Graaf is a fairly slim book that represents their thirty years of
experience as personal and organizational development consults, coaches, and
boardroom confidants. Co-founders of Beyond, they live alternately in France
and the Netherlands. Their book is a personal and professional guide in two
parts. The first pulls the reader into a leading role in a fictional adventure
where they discover how attitude and interaction affect every result. The
second part gives pointed direction on how to mindfully create the best
possible personal experience and professional outcome. You are very likely to
find yourself in its pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From Smart to Wise: Acting and Leading
with Wisdom </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by Prasad
Kaipa and Navi Radjou ($27.95, Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint), is by two men who
have been studying the concept of wise leadership since 1989 as a CEO coach and
a strategy consultant. They have worked with hundreds of executives in global
Fortune 500 companies, as well as entrepreneurial ventures. Their book is
unique in that they believe that just intelligence (being smart) alone won’t be
sufficient to deal effectively with the increasing complexity of the 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup>
century. They argue persuasively that what leaders need is “practical wisdom”
that includes qualities like prudence, humility, ethics, and a desire to serve
the common good. There is “functional smart” and “business smart” in which the
former excel in one field or function while the latter are “big picture
thinkers, visionaries, and risk takers with a competitive drive.” Both styles
have great strengths and serious limitations. Suffice to say this book will get
you thinking about your own strengths and weaknesses, how to improve them, and
how to apply them to achieve success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fabricated: The New World of 3D
Printing: The Promise and Peril of a Machine that Can Make (Almost) Anything </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($27.95, John Wiley and Sons,
softcover) by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman explores a technology that is so far
above my pay grade that I won’t even pretend to understand it. For those in the
business world, however, it provides an informative and comprehensive
exploration of the world of 3D printing. According to the authors he promise of
this technology is that businesses will be liberated from the tyrannies of
economics of scale, factories and global supply chains will shrink, putting
them closer to their customers. The whole process reminds me of the science
fiction shows like Star Trek where a machine materializes anything one wanted
to eat or drink in the ship’s cafeteria. Suffice to say, it is likely the next
wave of the future, so you may want to pick up a copy!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thinking About Thinking</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Blind Spot: Why We Fail to See the
Solution Right in Front of Us </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($27.99,
Harper One) by Gordon Rugg with Joseph D’Agnese answers the question that we
tend to ask in retrospect. If the answer was so obvious, why didn’t we see it?
In 2004 Gordon Rugg made international news by deciphering a 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
century text called the Voynich Manuscript that had a worldwide cult following.
It had defied code-crackers for almost a century. Rugg declared it a hoax and
his book demonstrates the surprising ways in which all people tend to make the
same sorts of mistakes, no matter their level of intelligence. With often much
dependent on those decisions, this book provides insight into what motivates us
and why we fail to ask the questions that will provide the answers we’re seeking.
His approach is based on the 7-step Verifier Method that can be applied to any
situation. This book will help you avoid logical errors, false conclusions, and
selective perception to arrive at good answers based on actual facts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZ1CsLTjyFygr6a-7ThhJm3Iaenl2cmvnikNKdxgO16wLI8SchVbxEVAUPa2DX5XWL2CH2TW1qqdINVrWND01DMEXaVFiNa03lvEgqrp01E8tESqx3qnHxUTaABJ0G4l5c-KaNvrFCxE/s1600/Cover+-+Time+Reborn.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZ1CsLTjyFygr6a-7ThhJm3Iaenl2cmvnikNKdxgO16wLI8SchVbxEVAUPa2DX5XWL2CH2TW1qqdINVrWND01DMEXaVFiNa03lvEgqrp01E8tESqx3qnHxUTaABJ0G4l5c-KaNvrFCxE/s200/Cover+-+Time+Reborn.gif" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to
the Future of the Universe</b> by Lee Smolin ($28.00, Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt), the theoretical physicist, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada,
named one of the world’s top hundred public intellectuals by Foreign Policy and
Prospect magazines, take the reader on a journey that will set your
intellectual synapses ablaze. Smolin believes that thinkers from Plato to
Newton, to Einstein, defined the concept of time incorrectly. The nature of
time, he says, has broader implications beyond physics in the realms of
religion, ethics, economics and law. If the laws of physics could change the
future, what does that imply about why they exist and why they currently allow
for a human-friendly universe? Good question and one which the author asks and
seeks to answer. A warning, however. Smolin has fallen into the “climate
change” trap and wonders into economics and the social sciences. This reader
concluded that Smolin should stick to physics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Prometheus
Books has carved out a niche for itself, publishing many books about atheism,
humanism, and similar “enlightened” topics that toss out belief in God (or
gods) and rely instead on science—almost as a new religion in itself. I am a
great fan of science, but I also believe that humans are hardwired spiritually
to find a larger reason for their existence and that of the universe. A number
of the newest books from Prometheus include <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Enlightenment Vision: Science, Reason, and the Promise of a Better
Future </b>by Stuart Jordan ($26.00); <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Science of Miracles: Investigating the Incredible </b>by Joe Nickell ($18.00,
softcover); <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">God and the Atom: From
Democritus to the Higgs Boson—the Story of a Triumphant Idea</b> by Victor J.
Stenger ($25.00); and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Turbulent
Universe</b> by the late Paul Kurtz ($20.00, softcover).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The common
theme in these books is a reliance on reason and science to the exclusion of
any spiritual explanation of how the universe works. For anyone who is
comfortable with this, any of these books will prove quite informative, but I
personally suspect that religion does more good than harm (with the exception
of the death-obsessed Islam), providing direction to leading a moral life and
comfort when one must face its challenges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s a
lot of “big thinking” going on in these books. There are views that believe in
the potential of humanity to accept universal human rights and recognize our
similarities over our differences. History, however, tends to argue against
that. The Stenger book reminds us that as far back as ancient Greek philosophers,
the concept of the atom as the building block of everything was already being
advanced. He concludes that between atoms and the void<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that is all that exists. Nickell has devoted
his time to debunking such things as the Shroud of Turin, “weeping” icons, and
miracle healings, among other spiritually-based claims. These things matter if
you want to disprove the role of belief, spirituality, in our lives, but why
bother? Jordan, a physicist, looks at the progress humanity has made since the
Enlightenment, but notes too that we have inherited some problems such as the
persistence of widespread ignorance, the disparity between prosperous and
impoverished nations, and the existence of weapons of mass destruction. He is
concerned about over-population, nuclear proliferation, and climate change.
Since the Earth currently sustains a population of seven billion and we can do
nothing about the 5.4 billion years of natural climate change, we’d best pay
attention to things we can actually do something about<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Novels, Novels, Novels<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The novels
keep flooding in so here’s a look at some of the latest to arrive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Karen
White already has a huge fan base of women based on her softcover novels and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Time Between </b>is her first as a
hardcover ($25.95, New American Library) just out this month. Set in South
Carolina low country, it is a beautifully written, compelling story about the
complicated bond between sisters, the enduring legacy of family, and the power
of forgiveness. The main character, 34-year-old Eleanor Murray is consumed with
guilt for causing the accident that paralyzed her sister and for falling in
love with her sister’s husband. When she is offered a part-time job caring for
an elderly woman, Helena, she accepts in the hope that this good deed will
atone for her mistakes in life. The two bond over their mutual love of music
and, as she learns of Helena’s past, she learns the key to healing her
relationship with her sister. This hardly does justice to the depth of the
characters and their lives as revealed in this novel, but it surely advances
the author’s career as an excellent novelist. Another new hardcover is
Elizabeth Kelly’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last Summer of the
Camper-Towns </b>($25.95, Liveright Publishing, a division of W.W. Norton &
Company). Filled with dark plot twists and the author’s talent for authentic
dialogue, the novel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is set in Cape Cod
and the year is 1972 as a twelve-year-old girl named in honor of Jimmy Hoffa
(!), Riddle James Camperdown, is the daughter of a labor organizer and a
retired starlet. She just wants to enjoy a quiet summer amidst the dunes and
the horse farms out of earshot of her bickering parents. This is a coming of
age novel filled with questions for Riddle and, after she witnesses something
potentially criminal, she decides to keep it to herself despite its being
crucial evidence in the disappearance of a local boy. It will, however, unveil
carefully constructed secrets within her family and their extended
relationships. It’s one of those novels that are impossible to put down once
you begin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The bulk
of the novels I receive are softcover (and thus affordable), so let’s wade
through the stacks, many of which debut this month. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s a
new erotic thriller, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vengeance is Now</b>,
by Scott D. Roberts ($17.95, 3L Publishing, Sacramento, CA) that is an
action-packed story about a disgraced former police detective and private
investigator, Tate Holloway, who has taken to drowning his sorrows in Tequila,
smoking weed, and turning tricks with wealthy women to make a living; a secret
he keeps from his girlfriend. His life really takes a turn for the sores when
he’s set up, framed, and forced to go on the run for unspeakable crimes. He has
to find the real killer and each revelation uncovers departmental and political
corruption that leaders to a heart-pounding final showdown. The author is a
writer, producer, and co-director with a career that spans twenty years. There
are plenty of plot twists in Patrick M. Garry’s novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saving Faith</b>, ($14.00, Kenrik Books), not to be confused with David
Baldacci’s novel of the same name. It raises a whole number of philosophical
questions as its narrator, a 20-year-old Jack Fenian, finds himself drawn into
the life of a former journalist, Ev Sorin, whose car he has had mistakenly
repossessed for a car dealership. While in court they watch a hearing on
whether to keep alive a comatose patient whose identity is unknown and who
Clare, a party to the case, is trying to save. Suffice to say this is a very
complex story of people seeking to find meaning in their lives and grapple with
the big questions of life. The novel follows four characters and their various
motivations as they come together to save the patient. This is Garry’s eighth
novel, many of which have won awards over the years. It is not light reading,
but it is a story that will draw you in and keep you engrossed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4qRSZBR2kVxg9KBKTxvastuk766tfwtqDJ4vFdgFLNqXZ0uRtYfJVGz0VhqbqZaUPYaBwImW5d6qj0Tbz2c_sYDqD3TviFW5fYWT9e1jY5xET8aRT65IETyTYm-j9bLCFoAcZ_EJjVk/s1600/Cover+-+The+Replacement+Son.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4qRSZBR2kVxg9KBKTxvastuk766tfwtqDJ4vFdgFLNqXZ0uRtYfJVGz0VhqbqZaUPYaBwImW5d6qj0Tbz2c_sYDqD3TviFW5fYWT9e1jY5xET8aRT65IETyTYm-j9bLCFoAcZ_EJjVk/s200/Cover+-+The+Replacement+Son.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Replacement Son </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">($16.95, Two Harbors Press) by W.S.
Culpepper is a psychological drama framed within an epic adventure story that
begins in Depression-era New Orleans, moves on to World War Two, and then to
the devastation following Hurricane Katrina. Harry McChesney was seven years
old when he learned of his brother who had died young and left his family in
misery. He becomes the replacement son of the title and a man who seeks to
rescue his family from the aftermath of his brother’s death, requiring a
lifetime of labors. Along the way he gets help from a trusted family servant, a
powerful talisman, and a bizarre set of twins. Harry is an unlikely hero and
this novel has the feel of a classic tale that stretches over a long period of
time. Another character seeking redemption is at the center of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wake the Dawn </b>by Lauraine Snelling
($15.00, Faith Words, a Hachette Book Group imprint). For those of a spiritual
nature, this book delivers the goods as the main character, Esther, runs a
clinic in a small Minnesota town bordering Canada, an act of atonement
following a hit and run accident years before. When a storm ravages the town
she must deal with the reality of her past and learn to forgive herself. She is
joined in this quest by a border patrol agent who lost the love of his life in
a tragedy and never finished grieving. When Ben finds a young child along in
the woods as the storm rolls in, Ben and Esther are brought together by this
opportunity to change, redeem their lives, and grow. Another novel with a
Christian core is Billy Coffey’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When
Mockingbirds Sing </b>($15.95, Thomas Nelson). It is about childlike faith, a
mysterious Rainbow Man, and a sleepy town divided between those who see a small
child’s visions as prophetic and those who are afraid of that they perceive as
the danger she represents. The story is based on his own daughter’s
conversations with God. Coffey is a gifted writer and the book will please
believers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Set in
World War Two, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I’ll Be Seeing You</b> by
Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan ($15.95, Harlequin) is about two women who have
never met strike up an inspiring correspondence and forge an extraordinary
friendship that sustains each of them while their loved ones are risking their
lives on the front lines. Neither of the co-authors has ever met in person,
giving the novel a unique sense of authenticity. The year is January 1943 and
Glory Whitehall has randomly pulled Rita Vincenzo’s name out of a hat at her 4H
meeting and begins to write to a perfect stranger. It is an unconventional
friendship that carries them through the uncertainties, dreadful loneliness,
and temptations of tending to home fires while the men they love are fighting a
world away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A very
different story is told in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hazardous
Material </b>by Kurt Kamm ($14.95, MCM Publishing) that explores the life of a
firefighter with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Bucky Dawson, who is
awakened at 1:45 AM and it is a real page-turner that tells of the gritty world
of outlaw motorcycle gangs and the meth labs in the heart of the Mojave Desert.
When his task force is called out to support a sheriff’s raid on a meth lab,
Bucky witnesses his estranged sister standing at the door of a double-wide
trailer just before it explodes. Divorced, lonely, and struggling with a
painkiller addiction, his life plunges into chaos after her death. There is
plenty of drama and danger in this story. I reviewed Mike Resnick’s previous
novel, “Dog in the Manger” his first Eli Paxton mystery. He’s back with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Trojan Colt </b>($15.95, Seventh Street
Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books) when the down-on-his-luck private eye is
on a routine security assignment to guard the high-priced yearlings of
“Trojan”, a recently retired classic winner in Lexington, Kentucky. He is no
sooner on the job when he must respond to a fracas in the horse born where he
arrived just in time to thwart a vicious attack on a young groom. The
assailants get away. When he doesn’t show up the next day, Paxton is assigned
to investigate his disappearance and it turns out that two other staff members
have disappeared in the past couple of months. Paxton has stumbled upon a
multi-million-dollar plot that the perpetrator will kill to keep secret.
Resnick knows how to plot a face-paced, intriguing mystery and you will enjoy
this one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If you
enjoy short stories, you will enjoy Alana Cash’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How You Leave Texas </b>($8.00, Hacienda Press) that is comprised of
three short stories and a novella by a native Texan, who tells the stories of
four young women who leave Midland, Austin, Fort Worth and Mayville, Texas, for
lives in New York, California, Jakarta, and, in one instance, jail. They are
seeking to escape boredom and sorrow and find that you can leave Texas, but
one’s life follows you around wherever you go. These are stories that women
will relate to from their own lives and the fourth, “Frying Your Burger” is
autobiographical, based on the author’s experiences in a year at Universal
Studios and the people she met there. All four stories are very entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themetint: 153;">That’s it for June! Come back next month and, in the
meantime, tell your friends, family, and coworkers who love to read about
Bookviews.com. There’s a whole lot of summer reading ahead and you won’t want
to miss out on the great new fiction and non-fiction that is waiting for you. </span></b></div>
Alan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.com6