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Not up to expectations
I have read Mr. Clarke's prior non-fiction works and I was impressed. I jumped in with great anticipation when I saw this book released. Regrettably, it is not up to expectations.The Saudi government is overthrown. A progressive faction within the revolutionaries gains control of the security services and armed forces. They want to insure equality for all - men and women, free and fair elections, and a government by law. However, the bad guys are out there. The Iranians are planning an invasion, the Chinese are planning an invasion, the US Secretary of Defense is planning a huge training exercise which is the cover for an invasion. A US Intel bureaucrat and a British station chief get the info that these things are going on. Everything goes right for our heroes. Everything goes wrong for the bad guys. The planned invasions by all three nations fail or are called off. That is the book in a nutshell.The only level at which this book works is as an allegorical exposé of the US invasion of Iraq. A megalomaniac Secretary of Defense and his Under Secretary henchman plan to invade an Islamic state - even in the face of evidence that an invasion is not warranted. Sound familiar? | 01 star
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Marjorie's review
I love the Kindle. It is so easy to download books, and so easy to use. It is wonderful to be able to change the font so I can actually see the words. It is great to just have to carry around the kindle instead of a bunch of books on a trip. It is a wonderful, well thought out product. | 45 stars
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Not Enough Detail
The weight training/exercise portion of this book does not offer enough detail for a beginner. Even though it has pictures, I found myself wondering if I was doing the exercise correctly. On some, I obviously wasn't b/c my back hurt. There is little information on where you should (or shouldn't) feel the tension in your body. The information on why cardio doesn't work was interesting and somewhat helpful. I'm not a dieter but the food section was a bit of a "duh". The bottom line is, and this is has been proven over and over and over again - burn more than you eat and you'll lose weight - exercise and eat what nature provides (don't eat processed food). I wouldn't waste my money on this book. | 12 stars
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not what expected
I bought this book because I was interested in the content. However, I was dissapointed in the writing style, she kept changing from present and past tense. Furthermore I just couldnt get into the book and gave up about halfway through it. I would NOT recommend this book. | 01 star
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Love My New Kindle!
I recently purchased a Kindle and absolutely love it! The portability of being able to take multiple books with me when I travel is a huge benefit, and I am quickly getting used to the small keyboard and am able to use highlights and personal notes as I read and study. This is a great tool for the serious reader who travels! | 45 stars
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Alive Among Ashes
Letters formed, words flowed, as Emily Bront moved the ink across the pages. In 1847, around the age of 28, Emily saw the culmination of her writing, Wuthering Heights, published. Emily also heard it bashed, criticized, and spoken of as worthless in her life time. As the year 1848 rolled around Emily perished from the earth. We do not Emily's personal opinion of her book when she died, but her sister, Charlotte Bront, around 1850, wrote an introduction to Wuthering Heights. It was then that the book burrowed its way into the hearts of society. Since then some have admired Emily Bront's intricacy of characters and format of plot, while others still hold to the idea that the book is morbid.Set in 1801, the story travels back in time to the beginning of Heathcliffs entrance into Wuthering Heights, it then once more progresses, ending in 1802. Emily Bront's novel, Wuthering Heights, weaves the lives of Catharine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Mrs. Nelly Dean, for the bulk of the novel, is relating their lives to Mr. Lockwood, a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange (which is owned by Heathcliff, who lives at Wuthering Heights when Mr. Lockwood arrives). Intertwined with other impressionable characters Catharine and Heathcliff's lives are poured out. Catharine, a stubborn, saucy, selfish girl, grows up with her parents, her brother Hindly, and Heathcliff - a young starving gypsy boy brought home to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw to live with the family. Mistreated and degraded by Hindly and scorned throughout life by all, save Mr. Earnshaw and for the most part Catharine, Heathcliff grows bitter and vengeful. As time progresses and Heathcliff's bitterness thickens his love, his life, his Catharine, dies. She dies married to another man and giving her last breath baring her husbands child. All that Heathcliff then feels is left, is to live sadistically and desperately grieved among the ashes of his life.Wuthering Heights depicts love, loss, hurt, dread, selfishness, brutality, vengeance, and in a strange way a restoration of peace. As one reads the tale, one is aghast at the behavior of the characters' and nauseated by the plot. Yet, one is intrigued by the intricately woven details and structure of the novel.The novels strength is its style; personable characters that are intermingled with larger then life characters; and its tangible setting on the moors of England laced with a supernatural essence. Emily Bront captures the Romanticism ideation of the 19th century in such a way that one gets pulled into the era, into the lives of those at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.Regardless of the well written tale and excellent method of describing the mind set of those in the 19th century, having this idea of the supernatural intermingled with the real; the novels weakness is loud spoken. The characters of the novel are insufferable, and the plot dark and selfish. Leaving one sick to the stomach and ones mind plagued by terrible images after reading certain portions.Through the strengths and weaknesses of the novel a lesson is brought forth. If one lets selfish ambition and revenge rule their lives, they shall live a sad desperate life among ashes. Instead of a pleasant life, by forgiving and moving towards reconciliation and freedom from the chains of abuse. It teaches that each person has a choice; to do good and bring happiness to themselves and others, or to do evil and bring pain and suffering upon themselves and others. Though the novel in totality impresses this upon its readers and concludes this in the end, I feel there are other ways of learning this lesson.I can not recommend the book; for although the conclusion brings about a lesson reaching that lesson is inner torture. I was excited to read Wuthering Heights for the title intrigues. Now that I have finished the novel I am even more excited to let it alone, to let it die among the ashes.I rate this book with one star because it is well written, not for its content. | 01 star
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Redwoods On High
Mr. Preston has made a career from writing thrillers about killer diseases (The Hot Zone -- 1994; The Demon in the Freezer -- 2002; The Cobra Event -- 1997). In "The Wild Trees", the author shifts direction and writes about the the Redwoods trees of California (hence the title). While not the thriller like his earlier books, it is interesting about a little known topic. The heart of the book is about the lives of the eccentric scientists who climb the Redwoods for exploration. It is a good read on a cool spring night. | 45 stars
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The Awesom Kindle
The Kindle makes it so easy to read books now. I carry several at a time. I never use to like reading. Since purchasing in December I have read 5 books. This is huge!!!! LOVE IT!!!! | 45 stars
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Stealing Home
Maddie Townsend's life is changing faster than she can keep up. Her husband of twenty years has cheated on her and left her. Now, Maddie's kids are in turmoil as they all face life without Bill around and the reality that he's gotten his new girlfriend pregnant. With the help of her amazing best friends, Helen and Dana Sue, Maddie stays grounded. In fact, she's starting over with a new attitude and a new career. Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue are opening a day spa, and there just might be a new man in Maddie's life too. Cal Maddox really likes Maddie, but he's her son's baseball coach and Maddie's divorce isn't even final. Plus, in their sleepy town of Serenity, South Carolina, no one approves of their budding friendship. If they can sort thought the mess, Maddie and Cal may find that second chances can be even better than the first time around.Stealing Home is a very engaging story filled with realism, romance, and tons of emotion. Maddie not only survives the heartache of a cheating spouse and the effect it has on her and her children, but she thrives. She's incredibly strong. Cal is the perfect guy. He's patient and compassionate and he fits perfectly with Maddie and her children. Sherryl Woods starts off the Sweet Magnolias series with a bang. She not only made me fall in love with Maddie, her children, and sexy Cal, but she had me actually feeling a teeny bit bad for Maddie's cheating ex and his mistress at the end. I was happy to see Bill get what he deserved by seeing Maddie get what she deserved, but I had a tiny shred of sympathy for him when it ended. Stealing Home is a wonderful romance. I'm looking forward to reading Helen and Dana Sue's stories next.NannetteReviewed for Joyfully Reviewed | 45 stars
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Surprisingly Bad
I had to force my self to finish this book. i kept hoping it would pick up, it would add some suspense. I kept hoping it would go somewhere I had not expected. It didnt do any of those things. The ending was predictable, the twists were predictable.The only reaosn i am giving it 3 stars, is because he does have a nice style of prose and does a good job with character development. But it drags, and drags, and drags. Its a slow story. I would never recommend this to anybody. | 23 stars
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Five Ice Cold Old Styles for 'Wrigleyworld'
Wrigleyworld paints a vivid picture of life in and around Wrigley Field. I didn't realize how vivid until I sat at my first game this season, throwing back an Old Style, surveying the field and remembering parts of his book. I'm a life-long Cubs fan and Kaduk was still able to teach me a little something about the team I love and its history. | 45 stars
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Intention Experiment
I love the book and am very excited about the possibilities all this research offers. | 45 stars
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Exciting and Not at All Predictable
Tami Hoag has certainly mastered the art of writing a good thriller. She is one of those writers who can usually be relied upon to write consistently good books and there are not many of those about. Never one to hold back on her descriptions of brutal death, Tami Hoag manages to excel herself in this book.This is a book that revolves around the Palm beach elite and the lengths that they are prepared to go to to protect their own. Some of the people they class as their own are a group of powerful and wealthy Palm Beach bad boys, who call themselves the Alibi Club. A name that is self explanatory.In any other society they would have been locked up a long time ago and the key thrown away, but this group have a knack of escaping the law. Well escaping the law is one thing, but escaping justice is another . . . | 34 stars
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This is an Amazing Book!
I am surprised this book has not gotten any reviews yet, but, I guess there are a lot of songwriting books out there. This is an amazing book. The author goes through various aspects of the craft of songwriting, not assuming you're going to know any of them. I have mostly been skipping the music sections, because I already know a lot about that.But the lyric writing sections are great. He talks about creating a persona, an "I" that you use in performance, and how the "I" you create in your song must be at the same time genuine, but also a specific character that might not even look like you; how the feelings in the song need to reach out to the listener, so they can identify with what you are saying; how every song needs to revolve around a core idea, whether that is contained in the title, or not.I don't believe I know how to do this book justice in this review, but it is a wonderful book. His advice about songwriting is so well distilled, so clear, and makes so much sense! I love this book. | 45 stars
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It seems well documented
It is interesting to me that those who have attacked Michael Moore's book attacked it from all sorts of directions but none of the attacks that I've read were about the number of footnotes. He has 97 footnotes in the first 40 pages. This is a book with large print and it seems to be well documented.Moore starts off with a lot of questions that he feels that the people of the nation need to have answered. For those who are attacking the book I wonder. Do they not want to have answers to those questions? Do they not care about the answers to the questions? Or could it be that the questions are too frightening? Or could it be that they are totally unencumbered by the thought process?I think that it is important to hear the questions and wonder why we have not been given the answers to these critical questions.While Moore writes in a style that is earthy and direct his points are important and what he says needs to be read.His footnotes are there to be checked and his sources are given repeatedly. I have seen no one attacking his sources or his facts on much more than an emotional level. Yes, the emotions are high. The content is frightening but attacking the messenger is not appropriate. | 45 stars
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Remember... fiction tinged with factoids
The Castle in the Forest is Norman Mailer's attempt to... what? Explain Adolf Hitler? The Holocaust? The Nazi party? Tell a story?This novel focuses on events in Hitler's family from 1837 to 1903. Surprisingly, there is more space given to Adolf's mother and father, and brothers and sisters than the tyrant himself. As I remember, the book ends when Adolf (called "Adi") is about 17-18 years old. The narrator is a field agent of Satan ("DT"), who has been manipulating the Hitler family for decades.Mailer attempts to plant a seed in the reader to feel that you understand the beginnings of a number of things, including how Hitler became such a powerful orator (practiced in the forest), strong leader (led war games with other youth; learned from blacksmith to have will of iron), and killer (indirectly responsible for deaths of brother and father; attended or supervised gassing and burning of family beehives). True? Well. this is a fiction novel.Certainly R-rated, Mailer pulls no punches in his descriptions of peasant and civil servant sexual habits.At the end, I feel troubled. I'm not sure I understand Hitler, and why the "Final Solution" was proposed in 1941, yet I thought I was going to. There is more fiction than factoid here, but The Castle in the Forest captivated my interest through to the end. | 23 stars
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The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell
I think by the way it was written, they were going for the shock value. I finished the book, but, just because I never leave a book unfinished. | 23 stars
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Hey, where's my pillow?!
The book is written wonderfully, you may call it gothic romance, but the book's really got a style and genre of its own. Now, I only say this for GREAT romance novels, like the Brontes. The language greatly affects the way the story is expressed. It is told in a subtle and bumpy manner, going way ahead of the reader, its many pauses for the narrator gives the reader time to think the thing over, like the guest. Basically, the style and format is a fascinating one, it truly does intrigue the reader to a certain level. Now, it is hard to say if Heathcliff is the kind of man a girl would want( not that I'm a girl ), he is, if you want someone who truly loves you, he's not if you don't want someone to go CRAZY over you. It is--I think--clever of Emily Bronte, to leave this question for readers to consider as they sit comfortably in their beds reading this romance. But if you read it carefully, you will see that the narrator does not form a very high opinion of Heathcliff, yet the latter did deserve the revenge he got. Now, here we have another controversial point for us readers. Thus the novel is a quick one, without all the slow( at least very slow )descriptions and it forms different points of interest as it moves along just pulling the reader in. As the reader gets to the end he/she will feel a shocking yet not surprising end. The ending is a satisfactory one after chapters after chapters of points pointing toward the end. After all, the end is a slope for the way the novel is going. All in all, the book is satisfactory, and something that will--in a way--haunt the reader in later times. It is a masterpiece with all those interesting formats which I will never forget. | 45 stars
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It's really a book... and more
I was happy to read about Kindle being available in Europe. I ordered it immediately. In four days I received it and was very happy to touch and try it. It was a great pleasure that switching it on it greeted me and supported me how to use it. Having used it for already a couple of weeks I can say I really love it. What I like very much: 1. the reading experience is similar to reading a traditional book; 2. I can convert and put on it any text I want to read in the near future and I can be sure those texts are with me; 3. I always can connect to the Internet and browse the Amazon for books; 4. I can subscribe to magazines and newspapers and I can also try them by a 14-day-long period for free. My only suggestion to those planning to order one is to buy a leather cover with it -- it is quite unprotected on its own. | 45 stars
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Shaw can make a show
One hundred years later, George Bernard Shaw's Treaties on parents and children (1914) may still challenge quite a few minds and ,values'. So get ready for a mental earthquake, if a combination of dramatic, comic and socially corrective attitudes are not an usual spot for you, as a reader. more on [...] | 45 stars
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3 1/2 stars
As mentioned by other reviewers, this thriller follows a typical formula. Ex-CIA persona chases terrorist.Not a lot of originality hear. The writing was okay for a first novel. The story moved at a fast pace and supplied plenty of suspense but this novel provided no closure, and in the end, very little satisfaction.Here's hoping his sequel provides a little more satisfaction, although it would be hard not to. | 23 stars
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amazon Kindle 2
I loved my Kindle before I even had a book on it. I would have liked Amazon to havbe kept the SD slot and color picture viewing like the sony would be a great addition. | 45 stars
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Goofy Apocalyptic Fun
I make it a point to see any movie in which either New York or Los Angeles is destroyed. Sometimes, you just need to go see a goofy disaster movie.Frank Schatzing's The Swarm (no relation to the goofy b-movie/bee-movie of the same name) is a goofy disaster movie in book form. And what a disaster! The oceans turn against humanity.Some of the consequences are pretty obvious. Whale watching suddenly becomes a full-contact sport. Swarms of stinging jellyfish attack beachgoers.But then Schatzing gets creative. Shellfish toxins delivered en masse by deep-sea crabs into the New York City water supply. Zebra mussels mutating into highly mobile forms that can chase down ships. Worms and bacteria destabilizing the methane ice that holds the North Sea continental shelf together. These are some really nasty effects and Schatzing does a nice job of backing them up with just enough science so that the reader is able to grasp the full implications of each attack.The characters in the story are scientists, faced with a growing set of international crises that become more and more inexplicable until they begin to come to the only possible conclusion: An alien intelligence from the deep ocean has declared war on humanity. From there, the race to save the planet swings into full gear.Schatzing's undersea super-adversary is known as the Yrr, a collective being/beings that are imbued with the expected array of superpowers. The science breaks down a bit here, although Schatzing puts a lot of effort into discussing the ideas of alternative forms of intelligence and of how an alien intelligence might interact when confronted with evidence of human intelligence. Along the way, we get a reasonable amount of discussion of the nature of intelligence in other species, particularly dolphins.A lot of the science in this book is plausible, but a great deal isn't. Schatzing does make an effort to limit the Yrr. Some of their attacks are not actually all that effective. But in the end, they still come off as very arbitrarily powered superbeings in spite of Schatzing's attempts to dispel that cliche.In fact, Schatzing spends a lot of time trying to dispel cliches. His characters actively discuss the films Armageddon, Deep Impact, and The Abyss among others in an effort to establish that this scenario avoids the contrivances of those fictions. But in the end, Schatzing falls back on one of the most tired of cliches to drive his plot forward: The evil military/CIA people who refuse to listen to the good scientists.The book has some political overtones. The US president in the story is clearly a parody of President George W. Bush. He is drawn in broad caricature. The message of unforeseen consequences for environmental destruction comes across loud and clear, and Schatzing gets a bit preachy in his final epilogue in which he goes off on a tangent to discuss the religious implications of the events of the novel.That being said, this is still a really fun read, especially once the pace picks up and the book hits its stride. Schatzing's action and fight scenes are top notch, and he does a nice job with the large scale mass destruction that fans of apocalyptic fiction are going to enjoy.Some of the pacing with characters is a bit odd. Two characters with major roles at the end of the story are largely absent from the first half of the book. Some other characters are killed off at seemingly arbitrary spots.But the characters themselves are generally interesting and complex, and Schatzing develops them nicely over the course of the novel so that the reader does grow to care about many of them. Even the villains are given fair treatment at first, although they tend to fall back into their cliches as the climactic events approach.While far from perfect, this is a fun disaster thriller that will make you worry about a lot more than just getting eaten by a shark the next time you go for a swim in the ocean. Good beach read. | 23 stars
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A Classic Historical Analysis
Great Scholarly work on the evolution of society. Presents a very good perspective on the most important aspects of international relations. A must read for any discipline. | 45 stars
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A spiritual journey
This was Kipling's only full-length novel. For it he was reviled, during his lifetime, both as an imperialist and as an Indian-independence sympathizer. In truth, the novel reflects Kipling's own experience - first as child abandoned by his parents while they went to India, then as a treasured child upon whom all the love and attention of the Indian Ayahs (nannies) was showered, when his parents returned and took him to India to live.Actually, there are three aspects or themes of the story, reflecting the different phases of Kipling's life in India: first, as an army orphan, abandoned by those who were set to watch over him; second, as a participant inducted into the "Great Game" - the unseen, silent war of espionage between the British and the 19th century Russian Empire; third, as a spiritual journey as the boy, Kim, becoming a man, follows a Tibetan monk in search of a river that cleanses the soul.The way in which Kipling weaves these three themes together is quite unparalleled in modern literature. There are points where the writing verges on sublime. Also, in the context of the two recent conflicts in Afghanistan, the story contains much pertinent historical context. I know of no other novel quite like it. | 45 stars
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A good read
I enjoyed the story. Very interesting as how women where suppose to behave. I'm glad we've as women have evolved. | 23 stars
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Reacher vs the mercenaries
Jack Reacher gets a chance to match wits with exgi's who are mercenaries. How does Lee Child keep producing these wonderfull books without repeating plots or scenes? Really worth reading. A lot of action and pretty gruesome in some areas. | 45 stars
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This 'fire' needs more focus on character and plot development
Imagine it's one year after the horrific attack on the World Trade Center. Imagine a group of powerful and influential men, some with very close proximity to the president and imagine their impatience to exact revenge for the devastation of 9-11-01.Imagine some 70 suitcase-size nuclear weapons are missing from the Soviet Union. Imagine those weapons have fallen into the hands of Islamic terrorists.Imagine the government of the United States has a plan for what to do in case of a nuclear attack, calling for swift and immediate retailiation.Now, connect all those imaginary dots and you have the basis for Nelson DeMille's latest besteller, "Wild Fire."In DeMille's book, Wild Fire is the fail safe against a nuclear attack. Should the United States be attacked by a Muslim nation, Wild Fire would result in "the nuclear obliteration of the entire Islamic world," with immediate casualties estimated at two hundred million and long-range casualties to include another hundred million.The rich and powerful members of the Custer Hill Club, led by one of fiction's most ruthless villians, plan to implement their own version of Wild Fire. What they intend is both horrifying and intriguing.Bain Madox, Custer Hill's leader, has purchased some of Russia's missing mini-bombs and he's hatched a plan to detonate them in two American cities, knowing that the attack will be blamed on Muslim terrorists. The club's main objective is to provoke the government into implementing Wild Fire, thereby leveling most of the middle east.The reasoning behind the Custer Hill Club's pernicious plan? If the Islamic world is bombed into oblivion, there would be no more terroristic attacks on America and their vast oil resources would fall under the care and control of the United States.However, someone has gotten wind of the Custer Hill Club's plot and send orders for a low-level task force agent to do some snooping near the club's rural estate. When the agent ends up dead in a `hunting accident,' it falls to John Corey, ex-New York City detective turned federal agent, and his FBI agent wife, Kate Mayfield to find out what really happened to their friend, Agent Harry Muller. At the beginning of their assignment, the club's activities are the backstory. As the story progresses, however, Corey and Mayfield begin to realize there's more than a little hunting and fishing taking place on the club's vast acreage.Corey, the hero of two previous DeMille best sellers, "Plum Island" and "Night Fall," is not the easiest character to like. He's cynical. He breaks all the rules. He has a problem with authority and he's a bit of a chauvinist. How he landed someone as bright and conventional as Kate Mayfield is one of modern fiction's great conundrums.Corey's bravado is legendary. In his mind, he is ten feet tall and bullet proof. In the mind of his superiors, he's a loose cannon to be kept on a very short leash.In his defense, Corey is loyal. It isn't long into his investigation that Corey realizes his friend was nothing more than a sacrifical lamb sent to stir up the fury of the club and bring its members out in the open.Once Corey puts that part of the puzzle together, there is no stopping him from getting to the core of the club and its purposes.While Corey is to be commended for a job well done and living to save the world another day, his smugness and bravado wear thin in a hurry.In "Plum Island" and "Night Fall," the plot drives the story. It seems DeMille developed "Wild Fire" simply to showcase John Corey's most annoying traits. Maybe the author wanted to see if fans would continue to follow Corey, even at his worst.There are problems with the plot, too. An inordinate amount of time is spent on the last days of Agent Muller. DeMille uses Muller's capture by Custer Hill Club's security officers as a literary device to unveil most of the diabolical plot, explaining ad infinitum how it will unfold. With such a buildup, a detailed climax and followup is expected. But DeMille spends less than 50 pages revealing how Corey and Mayfield crack the Custer Hill Club case, save the world, and live to tell the tale.Then, as almost an afterthought, the author tosses in a brief and bloody appearance of one of Corey's arch enemies, whose presence only serves to muddy the water and make the reader wonder "what in the world?"DeMille's books will continue to sell because Robert Ludlum is gone and there are few authors producing solid, political, axis-of-evil thrillers these days. John Corey will continue to be featured because we all need a hero, no matter how grating his personality.Hopefully, DeMille will let his hero share the spotlight with other characters next time. Maybe he'll nuture the plotline a little more. And, maybe he'll do a better job on telling us how it all goes down. | 23 stars
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An outstanding anthology of informative essays.
Westfahl's essays in Science Fiction, Children's Literature And Popular Culture, range widely over American children's and YA popular entertainment, starting with a little known children's series but covering Superman, Horatio Algier and the Hardy boys, SF film (esp. the fifties) Star Trek and even music video in the context of film and advertising. Westfahl, a well known SF critic, allows himself more free-play in these essays. His playfulness gives rise to many intriguing speculations, connecting popular culture phenomena in convincing but previously unarticulated ways.I greatly enjoyed each of the essays, even the first one about a now-obscure children's series that features a too good to be true boy called Charlie ("How Topsy Made Charlie Love Him," from the Better Homes and Gardens Story Book), which he analyzes from a developmental and a feminist perspective. The chapter "Giving Horatio Alger Goosebumps," supplements the Sands and Frank book referenced above with critical perspectives on both production and marketing and social contexts for YA series fiction. "Opposing War, Exploiting War: The Troubled Pacifism of Star Trek," should be read alongside Bartter's essay in Sullivan's collection, listed below. "Legends of the Fall: Going Not particularly Far Behind the Music," offer basic analyses of MTV and VH1 stories of rock star legends, asking basic questions about their accuracy and comparing different 'kinds' of stories told about these famous people. My favorite essay is "Even better than the Real Thing: Advertising, Music Videos, Postmodernism and (Eventually) Science Fiction." In this essay, he describes for us the similarities in the stories told within advertising on the media. Media-based advertising for products tells stories within which the products are set, just like music videos which are used to promote artists and to promote music sales, and film trailers use some of the same techniques to summarize or condense the film, telling a story about it that may or may not be true.Westfahl makes a convincing argument for their inter-related development (similar to the critical argument made by Palumbo on comic books in the Sullivan collection) and this is only one of several insights provoked by this essay. As Westfahl's fifth through eleventh chapters emphasize, there are many more intersections between media which can be productively explored, from the realization of written as film to the expansion of television SF through written series fiction. More than any other sub genre, SF has adapted itself to the new media and made them an intimate link in the definition of the genre. The links between fiction and other popular culture phenomena are pervasive, fascinating, and in need of further attention. Thus, in addition to addressing age-based demarcations of SF, the critical works address defining moments in the history of SF are we know understand it's ability to expand and adapt to changing tastes, habits, and indeed needs, of its audience.Westfahl does not attempt a summary chapter, but ends with an analysis of The Time Machine and its many permutations in cinematic productions, giving us, by example, a socio-historical perspective on the film industry that also reflects on the history of science fiction. Since Wells' story is so tied up with the history of SF as a genre and with all the media carrying the SF story, including radio, television and film, the final essay does give us some sort of summary in that it covers the earliest and the latest forms for the story.Jan Bogstad, Reviewer | 45 stars
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wait for the P-I
Seattle has two major daily papers. The Times is the lesser one. It seems determined to convince liberal Seattleites to be more conservative. That's fine. But they went so far as to endorse George Bush for the presidency. Forget ideology, that's the kind of editorial misjudgment that makes me wonder about their whole enterprise. Hopefully, Kindle will offer the Seattle P-I soon to those wanting news of the NW. | 01 star
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Kindle 2
love it! the only negative i can see that stands out is the slow speed when using the 'mouse' to scroll items/lines/paragraphs/etc. but the speed of downloading books, no need to hook up to a 'pooter, the clarity, the audio reader, the overall simplicity, etc. FAR outweigh any negatives.I, like many, was concerned with losing the 'romance' of the printed page-- but the clean FLAT surface combined with the light weight is pretty cool...... | 34 stars
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Save paper
Buying stuff like a kindle usually makes me worry that we're all losing touch with the simple life. But now I don't have to have thousands of books all over my house like my parents do just because I like to read. Also, it helps save some trees. | 45 stars
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Bleak story of hope
There is little I can add to the many accolades and positive reviews for this book, but I feel compelled to comment on it anyway.Cormac McCarthy's vision of a dark netherworld brought on by an unnamed catastrophe is so addictive, you won't be able to put it down. It remained in my bathroom for days while I tried to devote time to another, much bigger and more time-consuming, book that I was supposed to be reading instead, but eventually the wrenching story of The Road won over all else. Every spare moment I had, I picked it up, and while I have said many times how slow a reader I am, I finished it in 2 days.Two people, a man and his small son, creep through a world deadened by nuclear winter, brushing off ashes falling like snow and curling together in hidden spots amongst the dead trees at night, wary of every human encounter, working their way with dogged hope toward the South and possible deliverance. Their adventures along the way are gripping, haunting, and sad; the total devotion to each other is the sole uplifting spirit in the whole story. It is clear that the father will do anything to protect the boy; and in a world where everything that survives has gone feral and vicious, his tender attentions to his son speaks worlds of the power of love.You will feel drained by this book - but somewhat hopeful as well. If such a thing ever happens, I would hope that there are more people like the father in this book than most of the people they run into. Absorbing, compelling, rich in dialogue between two scared people dependent completely on each other, and full of inventive solutions by the boy's father, the action in the book is evocative enough to visualize, real enough to feel. It is one of the best books I have read in a long time. | 45 stars
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ONE WORD: GLOBALIZATION
I give this book 5 stars for educating me about how the Pentagon thinks, organizes and deals with Internation issues such as military conflicts.The "New MAP" refers to the POST COLD WAR ERA. Measuring up possible future world powers vs. multiple smaller conflicts, and how "GLOBALIZATION" is steering countries like China towards becoming more Democractic over time.Mr. Barnett describes his role at the Pentagon, and politics that steer decisions in war time or peace time (Defense Budget inter fighting).I'm still reading this book, and I know the data is a bit outdated, but for someone newer to this subject, it's still informative and facinating to read, if this subject interests you. | 45 stars
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American History
A great book about the life and times of our country in the SW during the late 1800s. Very informative. | 45 stars
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Simply fantastic
The Amazon Kindle Reader 6" is exactly what I was looking for before I even knew I wanted one. SO what's so great? Readability...I'm a voracious reader and the Kindle is just the right size and weight to read wherever I am. The print and page size is just right and no eye strain. Functionality...It works in a very intuitive fashion. You don't really need an instruction manual to figure it out if you have even minimal skills with electronic devices. The on board instructions will fill in whatever questions might come up. Accessibility...you can literally buy and download books in a few minutes anywhere. Now that is truly amazing! The "archive"and "home" files work fine and keep your books where you want them. It also automatically puts whatever you are reading on the top of the list. It all adds up to a small library in a slim portable package. My only complaint is the listing of titles in the Kindle store. It seems that there are a lot of 'lesser' titles stacked in with the books that are most likely to be up front in your neighborhood bookstore. I have waded through more than 20 or 30 pages sometimes to find something that interests me. Still, overall, it's simply fantastic!Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) | 45 stars
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Fabulous version from Darcy's point of view
This is the third book in Aidan's trilogy and by far the best. She captures Darcy's emotions with detailed, descriptive prose. I couldn't wait to read what would happen next even though I know the story line. Her character development and thought processes for Darcy are believable. This is one of those rare books that you can't wait to finish because it's so entertaining and well-written but you don't want to finish because there's nothing like the first read of an outstanding book! I greatly enjoyed Lord Brougham and would love to see a future novel devoted to him, his work, and Miss Georgiana. (Hopefully there would be more about Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, also!) | 45 stars
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Definitely my favorite
Loved this book..from start to finish I loved it.Basically what we get her is two fold. Sookie's cousin Hadley has died (really, truly dead..she's a vamp after all you see..or was a vamp) six weeks earlier under mysterious circumstances and has to get to New Orleans in order to clear up the estate. While there she also has to meet up with the Queen vamp of New Orleans because Hadley just happened to be the Queen's lover.Of course nothing is ever just cut and dry with Sookie's life, especially when vamps are concerned so lots of hijinks and mysteries abound. All of it fun!There are some appearances from previous characters, some older, some newer. Eric and Quinn being two of the previous characters. In fact, Quinn is in alot of this book and makes an interesting new relationship interest/potential boyfriend for Sookie which should prove pretty fun reading as it develops in later novels. Amelia, Hadley's old land lord is also a great addition to the already colorful cast. She's a witch, you see. A very good one and one Sookie takes to immediately. I look forward to reading more of her later in the series as well.Some very VERY interesting developments go down insofar as Sookie's previous love life. I won't spoil it but I'll say it's a big twist that I didn't see coming.There's not a whole lot of Bill in this book and I'm glad for that. I always found him brooding and, quite frankly, overly boring and moody. I'm pretty happy that they ended their relationship several books ago.Now, the only thing that seemed a little confusing was how Hadley's death was surrounded. It seems to have happened between this book and the previous one. I may be wrong, but I do think that there have been some Sookie short stories so maybe it was developed in one of those? I just felt that I missed a book (even though I haven't) because Hadley's death has already happened and the circumstances of which have already resulted in a previous meeting between sookie and the Queen. It's summarized well enough in this book, but it seems like that's an adventure in and of itself that would have made for some fun reading as well. I'll have to see if I can find those short stories.As usual, the dialogue's witty, the characters are fun and the story is imaginative and entertaining. SUCH a breath of fresh air when reading overly prolonged and dragged out, spiraling downwards out of control series in the same genre (*cough* Anita Blake *cough*) | 45 stars
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Intense, beautifully written novel; in a word, "wow"...
The Road was my first stab at reading Cormac McCarthy (author of No Country for Old Men, All The Pretty Horses, Child of God), and it was, in a word, intense.In one of the more incredibly contrasting works I've ever read, McCarthy beautifully describes a wretched world, where a father and son traverse a large, unspecified section of the United States, in post-apocalyptic times. The father and son, who are nameless throughout the book, walk this road in hopes of making their way to the coast where the possibility of a better, safer life exists. The Road details their journey of survival in a lawless land, cataloguing their few triumphs and many pitfalls along the way.As you can guess, the book is dark and depressing -- very dark and depressing -- as most post-apocalyptic tales are. Though The Road is unquestionably sad and dreary, McCarthy's writing is stunningly simple and beautiful. Never has death and destruction so eloquently been captured, and it's no wonder McCarthy won the Pulitzer for his creation of The Road.In unique fashion, McCarthy purposely strips out most of the core elements of a novel -- names of characters and places, dates, situations (i.e. any mention of a "nuclear holocaust"), so you're left with just these anonymous people trying to get by in some freakishly awful environment (where ash blocks out the sun and covers everything else). McCarthy even leaves out punctuation in his sentences, leaving the reader with nothing but an unpolished, rough-edged diamond that is impossible to put down.I found all of McCarthy's descriptions and accounts of his characters and their situations absolutely breathtaking, but I most enjoyed the way McCarthy chronicles the relationship between The Road's two main characters -- the father and son. Their loving bond is what makes their journey possible, and only McCarthy could construct such a beautiful, poignant relationship amidst such a hellish backdrop... a remarkable feat.I highly recommend picking up The Road, even if you don't normally read darker, disturbing material. It's like nothing you've ever absorbed, and you'll find yourself tearing through the pages to get to the end. And once you finish, you'll definitely call your mom. | 45 stars
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Enlargement of the Imagination, Indeed!! Great for any age.
Read aloud, Abbotts' Shakespearean flare rings out with lovely sounds as wonderful to ears of a toddler at bedtime as it is to an adult with spirited imagination or any rebel who enjoys the venting of 'dangerous utterances'. An enchanting read at any age. I recommend it for younger readers so that they may have many years to re-read and grow with it.If you find a modern-day difficultly with Abbott's gender inequality (a clear challenge to some animators),consider that orthogonal planes do indeed look like lines to each other. "When ... flat human is turned on his side, his personality is hidden inside the plane ... indistinguishable from others. Another human then turned to her side orthogonal to the first would then appear just a line. We...turn to adornment to reveal a contrived identity, whether true or deceitful. Instead, if we were to expand the dimensionality of our perception we could see inside both the male and female planes. " (Peterson,Flatland Point: The DRUM & DRAW Navigations, 2009) | 45 stars
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A Wealthy Family Slowly Falls Into Poverty
Senator Bruce's great granddaughter passed away recently. She was a science teacher for most of her career, and her brother is a lawyer who's still living. Her husband was a dentist, and her children all have solid careers in law, teaching, medicine, etc. Mentioned somewhere in her death notice is her great grandfather, the Senator. Does the family care about their ancestor? If I were in their shoes, I wonder if I would.Blanche Bruce was born a slave and became a Senator, and later had a position in the US Treasury, becoming a powerful figure among the Black upper class. His son Roscoe went to an Ivy League school, and like his father, lived among the elite. By age 50 his family was poor, his ner-do-well son had ended up in jail, and public welfare was their income. The snobbish Roscoe Bruce Sr spent his life trying to be the creme de la creme of Black America, and when he found himself waiting in lines, he had no friends of either color. Maybe the Bruce family were victims of the "American Dream?" Roscoe Bruce's sole quest seems to have been social climbing, but not upward mobility, because the upwardly mobile are motivated by survival. Roscoe's goal was to be among the non-equals, and move among the elite circles.Expensive schools were a big expense of the family, and that was part of their downfall. In the early 1900's, you only went to college to be one of the following; teacher, minister, physician, or lawyer. Rarely did anyone get a "liberal arts" degree without something lucrative in mind. You didn't go to college to major in drama, theatre, film studies, cooking, or fine arts. College was for career-minded people (if only today's student loan indebted students would learn.) Blanche Bruce didn't intend to be a teacher, minister, physician, or lawyer; his goal was to simply graduate from a top school so he could be in the upper caste. He then got a job with the Tuskeegee Institute (and messed up) then because head of the Washington D.C colored schools, and demonstrated lethal incompetence (the kind that would get him thrown in jail today.) He wasn't a skilled worker, like Booker T. Washington, who started as a bricklayer, nor like W.E.B. Du Boise, who was a PhD and a tireless researcher (come to think of it, both Washington and Du Boise were workaholics in their chosen fields.) Bruce was just a snooty rich kid.This is a depressing story, but I give it 5 stars because there's a lesson in it. Bruce's descendants didn't become Senators, and they're not mentioned in the "society" pages. They're just ordinary Americans with jobs. The kind of people that work and pay their bills. I recently met someone in NY who's descended from the English royal family (her great grandfather was King George V) and when I asked, she said she's never met her royal cousins. Her father married without formal permission, and she doesn't get any titles or money from it. But she didn't care; she had a good job anyway.Few of Senator Bruce's descendants showed up in Washington when his portrait was unveiled. But I'm not surprised. Those of us with careers don't waste our vacation days trying to prove we're of "famous blood." | 45 stars
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Absolutely terrific work!
This is the first book by kindred that i've read. i knew of him mostly as a columnist for the sporting news who seemed to dislike everyone and everything, especially anything new or unusual. but i have always been fascinated by both cosell and ali, and was willing to give this a shot.....thankfully. this is one of the best sports books of recent years: cosell and ali as individuals and their relationship (which in reality took place almost fully onscreen) is covered in full, but the author also shows these incredibly complex characters, warts and all, as they maneuver through their respective careers.ali was never more alive than when he was in the ring, or training for a fight: that is why he, as so many other fighters, was loath to leave the life he loved, fought for several years more than he should have, and of course paid a dear price for it. the fact that he may be the most beloved human on the plane today owes more to our society's need for heroes than anything else: ali is no longer able to cheat on his wife(s), turn his back on his friends (since his current spouse controls his schedule), or be manipulated by religious leaders and businessmen with their own terrible agendas (since he has little income, there is little need for the con artists of the world to carve out their pound of flesh). now, we can project all our own ideas on to this man who reportedly spends the bulk of his day in prayer, harmless to all.cosell, having passed away years ago, can be looked at in a much more balanced and subjective manner now than when he was alive. his combination of ego and insecurity was toxic to most who associated with him, apparently, but there can be no doubt that he deserves to be considered a groundbreaker and a risk taker. while the rest of american media villified ali for attempting to evade the draft, cosell sided with the boxer. this and other events recounted by kindred show cosell, as compared with his contemporaries at least, to be a man of courage, vision and conviction. the fact that he became a casualty to his own ego later in his career (ex: trying to become a news anchor, distancing himself from the sport that made him famous once ali left the scene, the bitter jealousy aimed at his MNF cohosts) does not reduce his greatness.a wonderful, moving work that will not make you want to nominate either cosell or ali for sainthood (far from it), but instead will provide the reader a deeper understanding of both, as well as the times they lived through. | 45 stars
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Why both of us will like this book
Killing Floor ReviewNo spoilers in this review...This book came recommended by a coworker who is also an avid fiction reader. It was my first Lee Child book. I read it at about the same time trailers started for the new Tom Cruise movie. Although this book is not the movie based story, I always enjoy reading a book before watching the movie. The movie is based on One Shot, Child's ninth Jack Reacher story.Why I enjoyed the book:The book is written in first person. I love my first person shooter games and a book written in this format makes me feel like I'm looking over the main character's shoulder. I only see what he sees (more or less). It's a wonderful way to capture a story and scene (much like how we experience our own life's stories).Chapters are short 10-20 pages (in mass-market paperback size). There are also breaks every 2-4 pages which allow me to read in small increments when I don't have much time but want to keep up a steady pace. I hate to put down a book in the middle of a scene and get frustrated with authors who never put breaks in their writing to let you know that scene has ended and now begins a new scene.The main character is my ideal protagonist: He/she must be strong, fearless, intelligent, witty, and of course a highly skilled killer.The character uses deductive reasoning when evaluating a scene or interaction with another character. Although I think some of his deductions are a little far fetched. E.g. the method he uses in Chapter 31 to find a certain character in a certain hotel. I glaze over those few instances and admire the others.I learned something by reading it. Whether any of it is true or not, I think I learned quite a lot about US currency and counterfeiting. I also learned some useful hand-to-hand combat techniques. When choking a man from behind you ball up your fingers and apply pressure with your knuckles, not your fingers. Read Chapter 7 and you'll understand.It had excellent dialogue. Nothing anyone said felt out of place or just inserted to progress the plot.Everything including the characters and places/locations were easily visualized based on the descriptions and my own imagination. I could see every scene in my own mind. That's very important for me to get engaged in the scene.Terrific action scenes involving fighting, shooting, and driving. The ending has a grandiose climax of action and visuals.I will definitely read the next Jack Reacher novel in sequence.My previous read: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. The trilogy is maybe the best I've ever read. | 34 stars
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OLDER STYLE PALMER BOOK
If you have read Diana Palmer books from the past, you will see that this story is more like the books she wrote 20 or 25 years ago. The Hero, J.B., is hard and angry. The female love interest, Tellie, is a very young woman who has had a very hard life and has relied on the hero a great deal of her life. I enjoyed the secondary characters, Marge, J.B. sister and Tellie's best friend, she was a very likeable person. Grange, one of the men Tellie works with was also an enjoyable character, I would like to read his story. It was also good to see old Palmer characters from other books, like Cash, Justin and Calhoun Ballenger and Cag Hart. I enjoy the way Palmer brings in other characters from her old books to her new stories. If you have enjoyed Palmer's books from the past you will like this one also, or if you enjoy older style stories you will like this one, don't except a modern love story. | 34 stars
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Done It Again
Wow! Nicholas Sparks has done it again with this book. It is phenomenal. It is one of the best love stories he has written. | 45 stars
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BEST BOOK EVER!!!
It was an amazing book! it has definitly one of the best blaze books i ever read. Don't want to give anything away but it is definitly worth the buy. Let me say this.... my copy of this book has a paper stapled to the back. Every person or coworker that reads this has to write a review on back!!! Not one bad review and i had a lot of "Oh my God" and "WOW!!" Buy it you won't be disappointed. | 45 stars
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Growing Up
In "This Side of Paradise," Fitzgerald recounts Amory Blaine's journey from childhood to adulthood, a journey that he himself was just starting in the writing arena. "This Side of Paradise" has moments of brilliance that rival some seen in his later works but it is missing something that makes the later works truly memorable and classic. I recomend this book if you are trying to gain a complete understanding of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his life, but if you only read occasionally, one of his other books or his short stories would be more enjoyable. | 23 stars
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Great Series
From the first sentence, Mr. Dietz books draw the reader into another world which is not so dissimilar to our own. All of the characters have character. Even minor bio bod characters, cyborgs and even computers, become my friends. These characters (both male and female and human and alien) are amazing role models or great villains but never caricatures. Every politician and voter should read the series, Earth Rise and Death Day, to see what it really means to be an American we might have to face aliens! | 45 stars
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for one more day
For one more day was a good book for people of all ages. I am 52 and my dad is still alive at 83. After spending the day with him i feel a little crazy, but other people just love him and think he is so sweet. The book focuses on some of the reasons our parents do the things they did, but we didn,t know why they did what they did or why they are the way they are. Not all of us are lucky enough to find out certain things about our parents, but in this book he does find these things out. Very easy read with alot of thought. | 34 stars
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Nice and good but finish was not good
This is new and really nice product that make me to read more books and news time to time. But when I received it, the right side "next page" button is a little pressed. Finish is not good.Still its feeling whenever I press the button is not good and awkward. | 23 stars
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I would give it no stars
SHALLOW! I can not believe this is a best seller. It makes me sad to think so many people find this book good. | 01 star
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work of the master
Great presentation of the formation and features of the European feudal system with some comparison to the Japanese version of the feudal system. | 45 stars
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The Truth about the critics.
Wow, what a book! I must have looked stupid laughing out loud during my lunch breaks as I read it. But the laughter was mixed with concern about where our America is heading. His excellent, yet misunderstood use of sarcasm is well blended with the shocking, sometimes frightening and thought provoking questions he raises. I thoroughly enjoyed his previous book, but I admit I couldn't wait for this one because I knew that if he was outraged at Bush for stealing the Presidency in "Stupid White Men", he would be hilariously struck by the mess he has gotten us into in such a short time.Now let's talk about the reviewers that "allegedly" read this book, but were "disappointed" to find those web sites that list the "factual errors" in this book. Isn't it convenient that they don't share the links to these sites so we can judge for ourselves.So I decided to look for these myself, and I found some interesting ones. You know, I was really expecting to find at least ONE error or misrepresentation, but all they had were either inconsequential criticisms or debunking of opinions, not facts. In fact, none of the supporting articles that Moore references are even challenged!Let me show you a few examples of the 17 "factual errors" noted at spinsanity.org:#1. "Moore claims that [...] HarperCollins, which published Stupid White Men, "dumped [the book] in some bookstores with no advertising [...] yet on his web site Moore stated that "HarperCollins is doing their best to get the book out there." -Bryan Keefer, "Moore's myriad mistakes"HOW IS THIS RELEVANT? Also, these were not FACTS, just opinions. Can there be "Factual Errors" in opinions?Then he quotes Moore:"There is usually very little in the way of an electronic or paper trail when it comes to terrorists. They lay low and pay cash. You and me, we leave trails everywhere"And their "finding" is that "Moore evidently forgot about the credit cards used by the Sept. 11 hijackers". WHO CARES ?! That it NOT the point he's making. Plus, again, this was not a fact, but an opinion they're "debunking".Their "error # 17" is actually a comparison in Poll results about the war intentions of Americans. They compare to polls that ask a different question (omitting the "with the support of UN and allies") and use them as a contradiction of Moore's allegations. Now who's twisting the facts?And this one is outright ridiculous:#7. "Moore uses fake quotes as chapter headings, implying that Bush (or administration officials) said things they never said"Well duh! Chapter headings are meant to SUMMARIZE the text below. Any intelligent reader would know this and would read the referenced NEWS articles for the real quotes.Another site that tries to challenge Moore is moorewatch.com. Now this one is heavy on ranting, but light on anything constructive. Here's an example from their article "Michael Moore: The Fact-check":MOORE: Rush Limbaugh has been around for 20 years.REALITY: This year marked his show's 15th anniversary.Wow, they're right, Moore IS a liar! (That's sarcasm, for the literary-challenged)Now here, they too show their ability to twist facts. They quote Moore: "Private jets, under the supervision of the Saudi government were allowed to fly around the skies of America"They retort with: "The real truth of this incident is [...] No account has a flight of Saudis leaving the U.S. until after the resumption of normal air traffic".Well that's NOT what Moore is saying. He says they flew WITHIN America while all other flights were stopped, not "leaving" the U.S.The rest of their critics resort to name-calling to make their points. Though it really gets to me when they call Moore (and his readers) America-Haters, when it's obvious that Moore (and all of us) LOVE this Country. Its like the love you have for a parent which has Cancer, and you wish with all your heart someone can find a cure. | 45 stars
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Great sequal to the Other Boelyn Girl
This was a really enjoyable novel and the author has made a very upsetting time in women's history, interesting and bearable even with some humor. Only when I discuss the plot with others, do I realize how disturbing the reign of Henry the VIII really was. It makes me glad I live in the 21'st century! | 45 stars
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Excellent read
This book is one of the best I have read regarding Motherhood. It was a fun read, and educational too. | 45 stars
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International Travel.....
I was saved by the Kindle! We were flying to Europe for our daughter's wedding & I was wondering what to bring....not clothes, but books! How could I possibly bring enough books for the long flights as well as those down times that might occur? I am a commiteed book addict you see. Problem solved when my husband & another daughter gave me a Kindle...how cool! I downloaded 6 books for the trip & actually read about 4 of them while away. While at the pool at our hotel on Corfu, I had people stop to see this wonderous device....& I haven't stopped talking about it since. I thought I would just put it away when I returned home, but when I've read all my books from the library, back I go to my Kindle. I think you can tell I love this device & thank those who invented it! | 45 stars
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Amazon is Not loyal to its Kindle buyers
Let me first say I love my Kindle. I was one of the very first buyers of the Kindle, I sold my Kindle on Amazon and paid them a nice comissh to sell it, then I preordered and now own the Kindle 2. I have bought countless magazaine, newpaper subscriptions and books from Amazon since buying my Kindle.I have an issue with the price drop. I feel taken advantage of. Yes I paid what I paid, twice, 359 dollars each, with open eyes. Now there is a price drop of $110 to get new people to buy the Kindle 2. I and many more have marketed this product for free with everyone we meet, everyone in the bus station wants to see it and play with it, I always accomodate, I've probably sold 10-15 kindles among friends.I am editing in this paragraph to deal with responses I am getting that miss my point so I'll make it here for other readers. My point is that Kindle requires a lifelong relationship with Amazon, as it only reads Kindle books (and as of today pdf files). My point is that Amazon has a strange way of treating its loyal buyers, and I would think twice before buying something that requires trust in a questionable partner that doesn't care about gouging you.If Kindle was loyal to customers, why wouldn't they show respect to the original early adopters of this device who paid 100 more by allowing a credit towards Kindle books, obviously they make a profit on the book sales as well, so granting that wouldn't even cost them the full 100. And it would be a nice payment for all the marketing and support I've given them over the last few years. I bought two kindles and overpaid twice.It makes me mad enough that I'm almost ready to sell #2 and buy a Sony Reader, at least they aren't screwing their customers... | 01 star
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Totally disgusted
this one is a "throw-away". DON'T waste your time! An insult to her readers!!!!!!!!!!!! | 01 star
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Good Start But No Pictures
I've been a paper subscriber for years, and being not from a big city like Dallas, sometimes our paper doesn't arrive, and we end up getting two papers the next day. With the Kindle, we will get it downloaded each morning.It has about a paragraph of text for the major stories in each section. After that, you see the titles for remaining articles. Also, we may skip to the next article, skip to the next section, etc. Each article shows the word count which I find valuable. Having a word count for each article in the article list would be even better. I'd like to have a hyperlink to move to the start of each article too.The main drawback with this edition is no pictures. While most of the time, it's not necessary, today I read an article on funky potholders, silicone potholders and grips, and the Kindle edition did not have one photo, while the print edition had a photo of each one! Some of the descriptions were hard to bring an image to mind. With 90-95% of people being visually oriented, more photos would have helped.I had planned to cancel my print subscription, but right now, I'm not so sure. I do plan to subscribe to the Kindle version when we go out of town and place my print subscription on vacation.One advantage to the Kindle version is that I'm reading more of the issue, than with the paper edition, because I must page down through the article list.The biggest advantage by far is the vast reduction in paper that gets hauled to the dumpster. Also, how easy it is to read the Kindle, since you can boost the font size, and also not having to mess with papers spread all over the kitchen table. | 23 stars
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The Invisible Wall
Book was recommended by a friend who knows the author. It was a wonderful & interesting story - unbelievable at times amazed at how the family coped & survived. Believable as it is a true story - very easy to read because of the excellent writing | 45 stars
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Couldn't get past the first few pages
My title says it all. I'm an avid reader, but this floored me. I felt I needed a blueprint of names, places etc. to wallow thru this tome. Surely, there is better written historical 'fiction'. P | 01 star
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Sedgwickiness
...That's the word that the author invents to describe the existential mood among his family members, a strange mix of Brahman pride and manic-depressive despair. What's so brilliant about this multi-generational memoir is that by the end of the book you know exactly what the author means by "Sedgwickiness" and the word lingers in your mind long after you close the pages. Nowadays, I catch myself thinking, "Well, that's a very Sedgwicky person," or "Oh what a Sedgwicky thought I just had." When an author changes the way you see the world, even by one or two clicks, he has achieved greatness. | 45 stars
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fat b@stard
Why? Someone has described it as "political comfort food", where you get served up your own opinions and prejudices in a way that makes you feel better about yourself. It's fine to hate Bush, to loathe Tony Blair and to feel yourself to be - uncomplicatedly - vindicated. Moore routinely uses the word "lie" to cover real lies, genuine mistakes, wrong predictions and - worst of all - straightforward disagreements. No need for thought.When Moore does present anything like a thesis, it is confused and contradictory. In Bowling for Columbine, for which our under-fire hero won an Oscar, he seemed to be arguing that the essence of the gun problem was availability. But Moore also contrasted the US with Canada, which, per capita, has as many guns and many fewer slayings. It was the aggressive, paranoid culture itself - Moore suggested - that was the problem. But in that case the reviled National Rifle Association was innocent and irrelevant; no more culpable than their Canadian counterparts. Moore didn't even nod at the contradiction.Arguably worse, Moore has been accused of serious inaccuracies of fact, which you can find detailed on a liberal website called Spinsanity. I won't go into them here but I was interested in Moore's response when he was tackled on CNN not so long ago about these errors. The presenter Lou Dobbs asked him about the accusations. Part of the transcript goes like this:Moore: I think they found some guy named Dan was named Dave, and there was another thing. But you know, look, this is a book of political humour. So, I mean, I don't respond to that sort of stuff, you know.Dobbs: Glaring inaccuracies?Moore: No, I don't. Why should I? How can there be inaccuracy in comedy? You know.Dobbs: That does give one licence. I think you may have given all of us a loophole.Moore: When Jonathan Swift said that what the Irish do is eat their young - in other words, that's what the British were proposing during the famine - I think that, you know, you have to understand satire.You certainly do. | 01 star
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3 cups = 5 stars
The book three cups of tea, is a story of monumental dedication and superhuman efforts to build schools for people who had no hope of education. An inspiring story for any age. | 45 stars
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From an atheist: Blatant Subjectivism and Misrepresentation
I would not recommend this book to anyone. The author misrepresents atheism and also religion. Le Poidevin is also an outright subjectivist as is shown by entertaining the ideas of "Why something rather than nothing?" and "Possible Worlds" to name just a few.I would recommend George Smith's "Atheism, The Case Against God" instead. Smith takes on most of the same questions, but in a much more straight forward, to the point, objective way. | 01 star
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Best of the bunch
Is it just me, or is this the best Lehane book ever? I know that many might shout 'Mystic River' or 'Shutter Island' as his best, but for me Lehane got the balance spot on here. We had all the hard hitting Gennaro-Bubba stuff and banter we'd got to know and love in past classics such as Gone Baby Gone, but with a nice deep edge too as the investigation focuses on a chain of mishaps and suicides that might not be quite what they seem at first.And the central premise posed: could a killer be so crafty and clever that they could actually engineer these accidents or drive people to suicide. And also why???The intrigue was all here, the plot was great and the dialogue acid and right on the nail. I think that while I could appreciate the literay value of Mystic River it simply didn't have the same entertainment value for me, nor did I get quite so attached to the characters and their fate as I did with this book. And Shutter Island I'm afraid lost me early on. Maybe I was on 'short-attention-span' mode when I hit that. | 45 stars
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Interesting fiction about Sudan
I was a little reluctant to read this book because of its depressing focus on international aid in Sudan. While it certainly wasn't always uplifting, Caputo creates characters so well rounded and portrays Sudan so vividly that I started reading and found I couldn't stop. Some of the characters were frustrating and at some points I easily guessed the plot twists, but it was such an intriguing novel that I really enjoyed reading it. | 34 stars
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Where have all the Bob Lee's gone to?
Just an outstanding read and one terrific story. Bob Lee Swagger is an anachronism. A loyal good old country boy of whom this country is producing too few. He served his country admirably well in Vietnam as a lethal sniper racking up over 87 confirmed kills second only to Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, who had 93 confirmed kills. We find Bob Lee now living in seclusion after a divorce and sober after years of heaving drinking. His only friends, Sam Vincent, a country lawyer and his loyal dog Mike.Bob Lee is persuaded to come out of retirement to help pursue his old nemesis, a Russian sniper who killed his best friend in "Nam, Donnie and who fired the shot that wounded Bob Lee ending his military career. The Russian is now planning a hit on the president of the USA and Bob Lee has been asked to help foil the plot and apprehend the Russian sniper.But, things are seldom as they seem and, of course, this is no exception. I will not ruin the rest of the book by divulging the story line but suffice it to say Hunter weaves a very credible and exciting tale. You will flat LOVE Bob Lee by the end of the book.Another of Hunter's great characters is the hapless plodding loyal dogged FBI agent Nick Memphis, called "Pork" by Swagger, who adds enormously to the tale. This is just a fun exciting read. And don't be surprised if it doesn't manage to kindle in you an interest in guns whether you like them or not. And if it does, you should read John Ross' Unintended Consequences next. | 45 stars
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2nd Kindle for My Wife
This is the 2nd Kindle in out house. My wife got me one last Sept. and I love it. I let her read a few books on it and she also loved reading on it so I decided to get her one of her own. They are both under my account so we can share books. The free book selection on Amazon is great. The device is easy to use and a joy to used to read a book. I have read more books since I got it than I did in the previous 2 years. One reason is because I can take it anywhere. So any time I have a few free minutes I can take it out and read a few pages. My wife says I should try to get Amazon to give me a referral fee with the way I talk about it to friends and family. We Love ours. Is the Kindle right for you? I don't know, but I can tell you that the Kindle is right for me and my family. | 45 stars
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My new best friends
This is the kind of book that sucks you in so completely, that you are so sad when it ends, because you are not going to be able to visit with your "friends" anymore. | 45 stars
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Beautiful set of books-glad I added to my library
As always, Jane Austen books are so readable that you can read them many times and still delight in her characters and settings | 45 stars
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A very, very good novel
I read this a long time ago and hated it with a passion. I was chuckling reading the one-star reviews here, because had the Internet been around when I first read this book, I would have given it a scathing, one-star review.The first time around, I was bored to tears, and it took me forever to finish. This time, I was so moved by certain sections my tears were falling on the page, and it took me only a week (or maybe it was six days) to finish. And though I will never call this my favorite classic, I liked it so much that currently I am reading Lawrence's "The Rainbow."Make sure you get an edition that helps explain the dialect. After a while, I was able to figure it out myself, and that was kind of fun -- almost like learning a new language. | 34 stars
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Short But Good
The Professor is one of four novels by Charlotte Bronte. As with her novel Villette, it takes place in Belgium, but here the protagonist is male.It is based on Bronte's own experiences in Belgium. It is a short novel about half as big as Jane Eyre, and it does not have the emotional highs and lows of her most popular book.This is a light read that centers on an English teacher who has moved to Belgium, and his relationship with the managers of a girls school. Also, it involves his interest in a female student.It has a good ending and most will enjoy the read. It is not a great work of literature.As a point for any potential reader, it is best to not read any reviews that would give away the plot before reading, and similarly skip the analysis until later. | 34 stars
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I did not enjoy Alice in Wonderland
Ok, so everyone says that Alice in Wonderland was such a wonderful book, yes,yes, I am aware. But, I thought it was very confusing and all the characters were very stupid. I mean, it's not even a book about anything. Sure, it's trying to say that shes is growing up in the process of the dumb dream world but who cares?It was a bad way to write a story, or better yet it was a bad story to write about in the 1st place. | 12 stars
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Useful reference
I found this a very useful reference in that it explains the key parameters that are being tested and rates the qualities of each test. I would have liked to have seen the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) included, and discussion of tests of function such as the Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD)without which a cognitive assessment is incomplete. I personally feel that the usual frontal lobe tests do not translate into useful clinical concepts in the way that DAD exposes issues in frontal lobe executive function and explains the disability that is a critical feature of a dementing illness. | 34 stars
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You: On a Diet: The Owners Manual for Waist Management
Excellent book. Dr Oz is fabulous. The book is informative and inspirational. It's not just a one-time read...it is a great reference book to keep on hand. It helped me understand how the body works and why dieting doesn't work. | 45 stars
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Boring, Dull, one of the worst books ever written
This book was a total waste of my time. don't get me wrong though im a very avid reader but, DAG!! was Dickens intending for his book to be so boring or did it just mistakenly happen. The characters were hard to understand and so was the plot. ONe character in particular got on my last nerve: the circus person (can't remember his name because it was just that unimportant). He talked with a lipse which was hard to read. | 01 star
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Not what I thought it would be
I was so excited to get this book. Although it tells a good message, it repeats it over and over again. Nothing new after the first chapter. I was pretty dissappointed. If you want this book, buy Eat, Pray, Love instead. | 12 stars
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be positive.
anyone who read this book should know that this book is about opening your mind to your own power and believing that you can receive abundance, in any form---health, love, money, etc. this is not about the universe "owing" us as one reviewer said, but about the universe wanting to provide for us when we need it. be positive. dont' go out and buy a yacht, but be in the mindset that you can have it, and deserve it if that is what you want. if not a yacht, you may want your back to stop hurting---quit complaining, and believe your body well. fyi-if you don't want to spend the money--rhonda byrne has a summary of the secret on her website and lots of free stuff. peace and abundance to all. | 45 stars
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A special evil
What makes Talk Talk remain in my mind is the intensity of the hatred for the Bad Guy, Peck Wilson, that the story evokes. But why? Certainly there are more heinous crimes than identity theft. It is Boyle's portrayal of this character that promotes his evil to a level that transcends the crime. What brings out the disdain that many reviewers report is Wilson's unrelenting ridicule, not only of his victims, but of everyone he encounters. That all of us are implicitly portrayed as losers of various stripes, especially in contrast to his sophisticated indulgences, is the literary essense of the book, a most effective, if uncomfortable, technique. | 45 stars
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I'm a big fan!!
I waited a few days to write this review and I have to say, Kindle is everything you would hope it would be. I've downloaded books, magazines, sent myself word documents, it has become a fast friend. As an English teacher, I have a "book problem" that my wife doesn't understand. The first time I had to lighten the load, I actually thought I could sell my used books for about 25% of their original value... wrong! I was lucky to get $1.00 each. Now, with Kindle, I have my favorite books at my fingertips. I'm going to Europe next week and I'm excited to have it for the plane, layover in the airport, bus trips, etc. And... I've contacted customer support with questions and I waited less than a minute... got a real person... and got right answers! | 45 stars
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Typical Iacocca
As I recently picked up a copy of Lee Iacocca's "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" (2007, 274 page hardback) I was swept back into the 1970s when he dealt with political bud Jimmy Carter to avoid Chrysler's bankruptcy. I wondered what he has to say about leadership. With book's conclusion it's apparent that Iacocca tenders little new information for leaders.Iacocca's "nine C"s for leadership are obvious and not innovative. They are retiree talking points from one who seems upset about being pushed aside from contemporary relevancy. Iacocca comes across as a rich old socialist boss-man angry with everyone who should know how to make America the way he wants it to be. His language, and insistence, are from a by-gone era. As with his troubled K-cars (Chrysler should've sent him packing him over them... like Ford fired him earlier), American life long ago passed by Lee Iacocca.Although it is not new thinking, some of Iacocca's presentation has timeless power. It is certain that leaders must be ready for change. Truly, honesty and moral conviction are profoundly important in effective leaders. It is important for mentors to pass-on hard earned knowlege. And obviously America needs to re-tool its public education system (to remain globally competitive).It is less certain that "life is a team effort", or how "France has been America's friend since the beginning", or how will fully restored relations with Cuba benefit the United States. (His thoughts are not always clear or convincing.)Iacocca's group orientation suggest at least one pattern for success, but is it really the only, or best, way? This is typical Iacocca, seeing a solution from only one vantage point.Even though his odd, often emotionally charged, politics tends to distract from, and confuse, his point, Iacocca remains a master storyteller. His unsourced reminiscences from the past 50 years are interesting and quotable. These narratives make the book readable and recommendable. | 23 stars
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Where Was Rebecca Wells Going?
I think she has beaten this YaYa dead horse enough. Loved her first two books, but this disjointed sprinkling of stories that led no where left me confused and more than a little sorry that I bought the hardcover. Her characters have become sterotypical, predictable, single-faceted Southerners and even her writing style seemed very elementary. I felt like I was riding a roller coaster that I couldn't wait to get off. | 01 star
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More the Author's Fantasy than Anyone Else
First off, I didn't dislike this book. I found it to be a pleasant enough read and it went quickly. Really though this book is an ego-trip more than anything else.Sam Walker does a solid job of giving a background to the book. He explores the roots of fantasy or rotisserie baseball. He give page-time to the principle figures, both the originators of the phenomena and his competitors in the Tout War league he competes in. But everything else is about him. What Sam Walker did, why he did it, etc. The only thing that makes this bearable is that as a sports writer for the Wallstreet Journal he has unprecedented reach into the depths of Major League Baseball's collective clubhouse.If you've participated in fantasy baseball, you've lived Mr. Walker's story. All the agonizing over drafts, trades, slumps, and injuries is there. What's left? You get a few glimpses of obsession which comes off as nothing when compared to Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch" (the book, not the movie) You get some glimpses into a choice few players. But really, for me, there's no meat here, no lessons learned, even about the tremendous amount of money (upwards of 50k) Mr. Walker devoted to his season of managing his fantasy team in the Tout War's expert league.Somewhere you'd think there'd be some thought applied to what it means to be a fantasy player and a baseball fan, but that's not in this book. Maybe as a professional sports writer Mr. Walker has already crossed that bridge. Somewhere you'd think there be some time given to the paradox of trying to evaluate human beings like datasets in an equation. Beyond the book's interminable wishy-washiness over the difference between statistical and gut-reaction player evaluations, you get none of that.Still, there are no villains in this book (unless you count Troy Perceval and his assessment of the brief Jose Guillen protest) and most of the people who pass through the book's focal point are treated with general affection.In my opinion this is a book you can definitely get on your library's waiting list for. I'll happily give space on my bookshelves for something a little more meaty. | 23 stars
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Price on Paperbacks
The cost for downloading hardback books gives customers a break over retail price but WHAT ABOUT PAPERBACKS? With books available in paperback form, shouldn't the cost be LOWER than the retail price?? | 23 stars
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Review of The Turn to Biographical Methods in Social Science
The Turn to Biographical Methods in Social Science provides the reader with issues of methodology and theory and examples of biographical methods in use. In general, I found the chapters on methodology and theory to be both useful and clearly written. This was especially true of Case histories and families and social processes (Chpt. 3.) However I was a bit disappointed with the second part of the book that provides examples from biographical research. In my opinion, the cases chosen for the book will be of less interest to researchers and students working outside of Europe, and specifically, outside of Germany. For a wider take on biographical methods, I would recommend The Oral History Reader (Perks & Thomson, eds.). | 23 stars
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Outstanding!
I finished this book in about 24 hours. I couldn't put it down. This author is amazing; I want to read everything he's written so far. There is so much exciting page-turning drama and the characters are outrageous but believable. Plot twists and secrets galore. I can't wait to read more! Thanks, Mr. Harris! | 45 stars
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Very Solid Biography
This is a very compelling portrait of a very compelling man. The book is extremely readable--at times it reads like a good novel (which is in part the result of Jackson's exciting life, but the author does an excellent job telling the story). And he makes Jackson truly compelling: ambitious, flawed, a true believer in democracy and the Union, and at times really a tragic figure.I really enjoyed the way that the author weaves larger events in American history into the story. His chapters often begin with a description of a historical happening--the Seven Years War or the Constitutional convention--and then move into Jackson's narrative. At times this results in things not being described chronologically, but the author structures the book to avoid any confusion.The author is, like biographers ofter are, openly in favor of Jackson's political philosophy and critical of Jackson's enemies. His description of JQA's personality fit with convention, but is unfair to JQA himself. And his criticisms of the old Federalists was, at times, a little heavy handed. But on the whole he was fair with Jackson and with Jackson's rivals and, to be fair, the Jacksonians did carry the day.Given the excellent subject matter and the importance of Jackson himself, I felt this book could have been more detailed--at least 100 pages longer--without detracting from the overall movement of the book. | 34 stars
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Great brainless read.
A great pageturner. I will be reading the rest of the series.Been looking for a series just like this. | 45 stars
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Internationally disappointing
There are some major disappointments that anyone considering a Kindle should be aware of:- Books are often priced much more than you would expect to pay for ebooks. Some decent novels are $10 or less, but decent tech books seem to start at about $20.- The international book selection is disappointing at best.- Web browsing (except for Wikipedia) is not available internationally.I'm happy with the device itself but as an Australian Kindle owner, I'm very much feeling the lack of decent, reasonably priced content and am seriously disappointed about not being able to browse the web. | 23 stars
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Kindle 2
The Kindle 2 is a good item for people who like to read but don't know what to do with all those books when you are finshed. Its easy to use, easy to take with you just about anywhere. The kindle 2 has just 2 flaws with it that I found. 1. It needs some way of lighting the screen for reading in areas with bad lighting, perhaps some type of back lighting for the screen. 2. The Text to Speech feature needs some fine tuning, It doesn't recognize some words and miss pronounces other words. It also doesn't recognize Roman Numerals. When starting a new chapter it doesn't notify you that it is starting a new chapter. It just continues reading like one big run on sentence. Over all I like the Kindle 2. I am a truck driver and I take my kindle on the road with me. I use a device that plugs into the headphone jack and it play on the stereo in my truck when I use the Text to Speech feature.This way when I can't read cause I am driving I let the Kindle 2 read to me. Love that feature. | 34 stars
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Timeless!
Sometimes there's nothing better than settling in with an old favorite. Austen's Persuasion is a story of rediscovering what is lost. More than lost, what was let go. With her apt view of society of the day, the story still bears out all these years later. | 45 stars
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Modern teens meet Greek Gods
See that girl, the one with the bright red hair, overstuffed backpack, and aura of grumpiness? That's Charlotte Mielswetzski. And something extraordinary is about to happen to her.Thus starts the story, THE SHADOW THIEVES. At first I thought this book was yet another take on the popular UNFORTUNATE EVENTS.Boy, was I mistaken! This tale follows Charlotte and her cousin Zee, who comes to visit from England. Weird things start happening with his arrival. Kids start falling ill. A very cute kitten appears out of nowhere and demands to go home with her. And what's with those white-faced, yellow-eyed men in tuxedos, who follow her everywhere.I thought this story had a clever way of combining Greek mythology with two modern day kids. The story kept my interest and I found myself looking up some Greek characters. I have to admit, my knowledge of Greek mythology is rusty after all these years. The author does a great job of describing the underworld, the immortals, and the fate of those who die. I'd like to see some of these Gods in our world--which I'm sure the author will do with her follow-up book. | 34 stars
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A literature classic, but not quite what I expected
The book starts out OK, with the known Oscar Wilde wit and his excellent descriptive skills. However, towards the middle of the book, the plots descends into a lengthy tiring description of artifacts (musical instruments, stones and jewelry, portraits and so on) that really break the rhythm of the book. By the time I reached the end, I was quite fed up with this inventory of objects. The book ends with a moral, which I found to be quite void and meaningless, as I did not accept the book's premise - That all sins and corruption will manifest in one's physical image. | 23 stars
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My confession...
This is the third book by Michelle Cunnah.I have read her other two books which were very entertaining and fun to read. This book wasn't as good as the other two, which I LOVED. I was expecting this to be a 5 star book and it didn't meet my expectations. It was some what predictable, even the ending. But I did love that predictable ending! | 34 stars
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Check wireless availability!!
The product is very cool and I think my husband will use it a lot, but double check the wireless coverage. This device utilizes Sprint-which is not availabe in many places. Big disappointment- Christmas day and $359 dollars later, he still has to connect to the computer to download. :( | 34 stars
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Love my Kindle
Received it promptly -- easy to use -- great reading screen:easy on the eyes. I just love my Kindle | 45 stars
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Absolute Surender
Awesome book, every christian should read this book.Easy to find on Amazon and as they said delivered immediately.Thanks | 45 stars
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Grace redux, eventually
I am a long-time Anne Lamott fan, but lately her work has been revisiting (revising?) the same-old, same-old. In her third attempt to tap the well of her developing spirituality, the well has nearly run dry. Most of the experiences she uses to illustrate her ideas are ones that were on the cutting room floor of her last two "faith" books. I recommend "Traveling Mercies," but not this one. | 12 stars
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a little wordy, and not my cup of tea
I'm sure for some people out there, this book's a godsend, and I'm sure some people actually like Emma. Me personally, the book's not all that great, and I despise Emma. Why?, you may ask; because a) too many words, there's at least twice as many words to describe one thing as there is necessary. Yeah, so maybe I don't feel like 'hard reading' but it doesn't leave much to the imagination, and I'm a person who likes to have my imagination do the driving. The other reason I didn't particularly like the book - well, I don't get my kicks from reading about manipulative, immature women, which is my opinion of Emma. Manipulative, because she assumes it's her right to make matches, immature because she doesn't see anything wrong with it, especially when she's confronted with it. she has the 'i'm always right' feeling you'll sometimes find in a five year old. Other than that, for people who like wordy books, and as someone else said, like soaps, then read the book. | 23 stars
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