Reviews Written By: A3ME5HY6FHN2OGprovided by Amazon.com |
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 | Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life | |
 | "author intrudes on his material" | 2009-10-31 |
| As an audio book, the level of sophistication was a good fit. It was informative enough, at sufficient detail, without approaching a deeply technical work. I understand why some readers could be looking for more, but there are limits to what can be absorbed as a drive-time companion. I believe the author found a reasonable mark and hit it. Say hello to the amygdala, brain chemicals, biofeedback and more. The last chapter, with an essay on Freud and modern neuroscience, appears with a much different style than the earlier exploratory segments.
What knocked the book down a level was the level of personal involvement and focus by the author. Some people might like the personal angle. With some exceptions where it added value, the story of Steven Johnson himself wasn't interesting and intruded on the content. Particularly irksome was irrelevant ego during interviews, along the lines of, "When I asked Dr. Jones about such and such, he told me...." The references to "I" and "me" turn the attention to the author instead of the meat of the delivery. That happened way too much. I'm curious how much the audio book contributed to the perception relative to print. 3.5 stars | ||
![The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly [Hardcover]](product_images/4969000/the-scarecrow-by-michael_t-4969007.jpg) | The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly [Hardcover] | |
 | "not enough mystery for five stars" | 2009-10-25 |
| The Scarecrow won't compete for the elite among Michael Connelly's novels. One reason might be Jack instead of Harry Bosch as the main character, but more likely is that there is not enough mystery in the story. We know who the bad guy is (don't worry, that's not a spoiler, it's made clear), leaving the matter of details and execution and a modest set of twists.
Beyond that, the novel is a vehicle for Mr. Connelly's riffs on two topics: turmoil in the newspaper business and insight into what havoc a skilled, evil person might do to others through Internet-based spying, hacks, and so on. The appeal of the latter may depend on the reader's interest in technology, and thus the hacking angle may fall flat for some. The Wizard of Oz theme, as one might expect from "Scarecrow" in the title, made more appearances than I realized at the time. That was a little extra cleverness and I wish I had paid more attention or thought more about the possibilities and implications, as in the hint from of Dorothy from Kansas and the killer's "signature". | ||
 | Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train | |
| "Pleasant detailed look at the old days of baseball" | 2009-10-10 |
| Readers get a fine view of one of the greatest pitchers of all time as a player and as an outstanding person, a well-deserved report on someone whose fame has faded relative to other greats such as Ruth, Cobb and Gehrig. (Here in Maryland, near Walter Johnson HS, many people apparently have no idea about the origin of the school's name.)
Perhaps even more interesting is the window into the game in the first three decades of the 20th century and indirectly into American life then. The big leagues were only in the midwest and northeast, travel was an effort, all games were in the day time, players needed other sources of income, and radio made its first appearance late in Johnson's career. The author makes a few references to segregation, such as Johnson's observation that Josh Gibson was an exceptional player held back by being "colored". Otherwise he has no cultural or political soapbox, with the only bias (if any) limited to defending his grandfather and players of hard reputations, such as Cobb, who befriended Johnson, if few others. Of all the numbers that flow through the book, the most amazing may be the complete games, totals that are so far beyond today's statistics as to appear almost ridiculous. I was unaware of Johnson's renown and respect as a gentleman, with regular testimonials included by the author. He was greatly helped in his research by family scrapbooks and newspaper archives, and enough recorded observations by former players and the general public to deliver the goods. There was no need to speculate what others thought about Johnson: the words were right there to be packaged into this fine biography. | ||
 | Encounter With Tiber | |
| "certainly better than I expected" | 2009-08-01 |
| The 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 prompted me to fetch my copy, bought really to get Buzz Aldrin's autograph years ago. The additional years since its publication have certainly highlighted the contrast between humanity's anemic space program (and various crises) of today and the scenario described in the novel, where even by now (2009) man has returned to the moon and continues on to Mars not long after. The accompanying economic boom would not be unwelcome, either.
The threads of human space travel and the alien Tiberians intersect when a surprise transmission indicates that the aliens had possibly visited the Earth, moon and Mars in the past, with artifacts to discover. The race to find and exploit those artifacts provides a major boost to space travel and drives much of the novel's 21st-century timeline. Here the book works well, with technical exposition that some might find occasionally tedious, and some I thought was nicely enlightening, as in the late stages when scientists analyze and speculate on why the Tiberian colonies failed. The main thread on Tiberian society and their attempt to colonize elsewhere before their home world was destroyed was also done well enough. "First contact" occurred in the human stone age past, with negative consequences for the humans and the very human-like Tiberians, who must leave Earth to try survival on a terraformed moon and Mars. Minor annoyance: some references to Aldrin himself were a bit irksome, as in a plug for his research on the inbound and outbound "cycles", and in naming a vehicle the "Aldrin". He also couldn't resist mentioning that the first word really spoken on the lunar surface in the transcripts from Apollo 11 was his own "Contact". Not cool. | ||
 | Founding Mothers : The Women Who Raised Our Nation | |
| "Nice props to deserving women" | 2009-03-15 |
| The familiar voice of Cokie Roberts does the reading in the unabridged audio material, and her admiration for these talented, accomplished and articulate women is obvious (and well-deserved). She brings some fresh insight to familiar names such as Abigail Adams and Martha Washington, who comes across much better than I imagined from traditional histories. The CDs are good drive-time listening, as Ms. Roberts moves along mostly chronologically, with some slightly confusing hops in time. You may easily stop and pick up again, as often the sections are short-to-medium topics that stand partly alone. She found a reasonable balance in the tricky question of how much to say about the men. Clearly Ben Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton and the others must appear in non-trivial amounts, either directly in their correspondence with the women, or as anchors for the actions of the women in support of the country. A common theme is the struggles of the women on the home front, handling family, business and everything else while the men were away. The author rightly reminds us how little women could do publicly that we take for granted today. I appreciated especially several women who were unfamiliar to me or whose contributions were higher than I thought, besides Mrs. Washington. There were the highly talented Eliza Pinckney who opened the book, Caty (aka Kitty) Greene (who may have invented the cotton gin), Sally Jay, Mercy Otis Warren, and others. When the women of Pennsylvania and then other states raised significant money for the troops during the war, the whole story was wonderfully touching. Another brief highlight was mention of some women who actually served in battle. The book had occasional wanderings off topic, mostly notably a thread on the Randolph family that seemed largely irrelevant other than its juiciness as a scandal. The history concludes when John Adams wins the presidency and America starts its transition into the post-founding age. | ||
 | Founding Mothers | |
| "Nice props to deserving women" | 2009-03-15 |
| The familiar voice of Cokie Roberts does the reading in the unabridged audio material, and her admiration for these talented, accomplished and articulate women is obvious (and well-deserved). She brings some fresh insight to familiar names such as Abigail Adams and Martha Washington, who comes across much better than I imagined from traditional histories. The CDs are good drive-time listening, as Ms. Roberts moves along mostly chronologically, with some slightly confusing hops in time. You may easily stop and pick up again, as often the sections are short-to-medium topics that stand partly alone. She found a reasonable balance in the tricky question of how much to say about the men. Clearly Ben Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton and the others must appear in non-trivial amounts, either directly in their correspondence with the women, or as anchors for the actions of the women in support of the country. A common theme is the struggles of the women on the home front, handling family, business and everything else while the men were away. The author rightly reminds us how little women could do publicly that we take for granted today. I appreciated especially several women who were unfamiliar to me or whose contributions were higher than I thought, besides Mrs. Washington. There were the highly talented Eliza Pinckney who opened the book, Caty (aka Kitty) Greene (who may have invented the cotton gin), Sally Jay, Mercy Otis Warren, and others. When the women of Pennsylvania and then other states raised significant money for the troops during the war, the whole story was wonderfully touching. Another brief highlight was mention of some women who actually served in battle. The book had occasional wanderings off topic, mostly notably a thread on the Randolph family that seemed largely irrelevant other than its juiciness as a scandal. The history concludes when John Adams wins the presidency and America starts its transition into the post-founding age. | ||
 | Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation | |
| "Nice props to deserving women" | 2009-03-15 |
| The familiar voice of Cokie Roberts does the reading in the unabridged audio material, and her admiration for these talented, accomplished and articulate women is obvious (and well-deserved). She brings some fresh insight to familiar names such as Abigail Adams and Martha Washington, who comes across much better than I imagined from traditional histories. The CDs are good drive-time listening, as Ms. Roberts moves along mostly chronologically, with some slightly confusing hops in time. You may easily stop and pick up again, as often the sections are short-to-medium topics that stand partly alone. She found a reasonable balance in the tricky question of how much to say about the men. Clearly Ben Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton and the others must appear in non-trivial amounts, either directly in their correspondence with the women, or as anchors for the actions of the women in support of the country. A common theme is the struggles of the women on the home front, handling family, business and everything else while the men were away. The author rightly reminds us how little women could do publicly that we take for granted today. I appreciated especially several women who were unfamiliar to me or whose contributions were higher than I thought, besides Mrs. Washington. There were the highly talented Eliza Pinckney who opened the book, Caty (aka Kitty) Greene (who may have invented the cotton gin), Sally Jay, Mercy Otis Warren, and others. When the women of Pennsylvania and then other states raised significant money for the troops during the war, the whole story was wonderfully touching. Another brief highlight was mention of some women who actually served in battle. The book had occasional wanderings off topic, mostly notably a thread on the Randolph family that seemed largely irrelevant other than its juiciness as a scandal. The history concludes when John Adams wins the presidency and America starts its transition into the post-founding age. | ||
 | How to Be a Star at Work : 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed | |
| "Considerable timeless advice" | 2009-01-24 |
| Although the book was published over ten years ago in the 1990s, Mr. Kelley presents many timeless characteristics of top employees in clear language. Professional and office workers (mostly) can help themselves greatly by absorbing his advice and executing. People who aren't true "star" material or can only manage decent compliance on some of the themes will still be better employees and co-workers. Mr. Kelley often follows the ever-popular anecdotal model, with a recommended attribute followed by one or more personal examples, or with the opposite approach, where a person who needs improvement is described, setting up the advice. This works pretty well to humanize the advice and doesn't sound too contrived, as the author keeps the stories short enough. See other reviews for the nine key points. The advice applies to young professionals and others throughout their careers. I read it as a refresher and also as a possibility for my daughter, who is about to leave college. The book has merit for both of us. Two demerits: 1) Mr. Kelley plugs his own program a bit much for my taste, personalizing the advice more than is required; 2) the numbers on productivity gains strike me as bogus or near-bogus. He tosses around 400% improvements, for example, and bases other conclusions on modest improvements in employees' ratings. I understand his desire to put some empirical basis behind his claims, but to a reader looking for advice, the numbers aren't that important, right or wrong. | ||
 | How to Be a Star at Work: Nine Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed | |
| "Considerable timeless advice" | 2009-01-24 |
| Although the book was published over ten years ago in the 1990s, Mr. Kelley presents many timeless characteristics of top employees in clear language. Professional and office workers (mostly) can help themselves greatly by absorbing his advice and executing. People who aren't true "star" material or can only manage decent compliance on some of the themes will still be better employees and co-workers. Mr. Kelley often follows the ever-popular anecdotal model, with a recommended attribute followed by one or more personal examples, or with the opposite approach, where a person who needs improvement is described, setting up the advice. This works pretty well to humanize the advice and doesn't sound too contrived, as the author keeps the stories short enough. See other reviews for the nine key points. The advice applies to young professionals and others throughout their careers. I read it as a refresher and also as a possibility for my daughter, who is about to leave college. The book has merit for both of us. Two demerits: 1) Mr. Kelley plugs his own program a bit much for my taste, personalizing the advice more than is required; 2) the numbers on productivity gains strike me as bogus or near-bogus. He tosses around 400% improvements, for example, and bases other conclusions on modest improvements in employees' ratings. I understand his desire to put some empirical basis behind his claims, but to a reader looking for advice, the numbers aren't that important, right or wrong. | ||
 | The Narrows: A Novel | |
| "Less LA, otherwise the usual suspense" | 2009-01-03 |
| "The Narrows" is Connelly #4 for me and it's right there with the others, which make a decent sampling, as each one has some differences as well as themes and details you quickly come to expect. The core attributes of Harry aren't going to change. Having read the four out of order was a minor disruption, although awareness of some backstory helps. For example, reading "A Darkness More Than Night" before "The Narrows" would be better than the other way around, yet isn't fatal. Again, Harry works the LA area and psychology dominates the story, with emphasis on motive and analysis more than conventional plot twists. "What" is never enough. Even some of the side topics, such as visits to his ex and their daughter, are mostly about emotions and reasons. The novel's connection to LAPD and the ins and outs of the business is slight this time, partly because Harry is not on the force and the interstate angle pulls in the FBI. Connelly gives us enough insight into the inside of the FBI to be interesting, without too much detail. His characters are almost always flawed and occasionally annoying, which could become tedious if overdone. I have not been disappointed with Michael Connelly yet and expect to keep chipping away at his catalog. He's clearly one of the top detective novel writers in America. | ||
 | The Narrows | |
| "Less LA, otherwise the usual suspense" | 2009-01-03 |
| "The Narrows" is Connelly #4 for me and it's right there with the others, which make a decent sampling, as each one has some differences as well as themes and details you quickly come to expect. The core attributes of Harry aren't going to change. Having read the four out of order was a minor disruption, although awareness of some backstory helps. For example, reading "A Darkness More Than Night" before "The Narrows" would be better than the other way around, yet isn't fatal. Again, Harry works the LA area and psychology dominates the story, with emphasis on motive and analysis more than conventional plot twists. "What" is never enough. Even some of the side topics, such as visits to his ex and their daughter, are mostly about emotions and reasons. The novel's connection to LAPD and the ins and outs of the business is slight this time, partly because Harry is not on the force and the interstate angle pulls in the FBI. Connelly gives us enough insight into the inside of the FBI to be interesting, without too much detail. His characters are almost always flawed and occasionally annoying, which could become tedious if overdone. I have not been disappointed with Michael Connelly yet and expect to keep chipping away at his catalog. He's clearly one of the top detective novel writers in America. | ||
 | The Narrows | |
| "Less LA, otherwise the usual suspense" | 2009-01-03 |
| "The Narrows" is Connelly #4 for me and it's right there with the others, which make a decent sampling, as each one has some differences as well as themes and details you quickly come to expect. The core attributes of Harry aren't going to change. Having read the four out of order was a minor disruption, although awareness of some backstory helps. For example, reading "A Darkness More Than Night" before "The Narrows" would be better than the other way around, yet isn't fatal. Again, Harry works the LA area and psychology dominates the story, with emphasis on motive and analysis more than conventional plot twists. "What" is never enough. Even some of the side topics, such as visits to his ex and their daughter, are mostly about emotions and reasons. The novel's connection to LAPD and the ins and outs of the business is slight this time, partly because Harry is not on the force and the interstate angle pulls in the FBI. Connelly gives us enough insight into the inside of the FBI to be interesting, without too much detail. His characters are almost always flawed and occasionally annoying, which could become tedious if overdone. I have not been disappointed with Michael Connelly yet and expect to keep chipping away at his catalog. He's clearly one of the top detective novel writers in America. | ||
 | The Narrows | |
| "Less LA, otherwise the usual suspense" | 2009-01-03 |
| "The Narrows" is Connelly #4 for me and it's right there with the others, which make a decent sampling, as each one has some differences as well as themes and details you quickly come to expect. The core attributes of Harry aren't going to change. Having read the four out of order was a minor disruption, although awareness of some backstory helps. For example, reading "A Darkness More Than Night" before "The Narrows" would be better than the other way around, yet isn't fatal. Again, Harry works the LA area and psychology dominates the story, with emphasis on motive and analysis more than conventional plot twists. "What" is never enough. Even some of the side topics, such as visits to his ex and their daughter, are mostly about emotions and reasons. The novel's connection to LAPD and the ins and outs of the business is slight this time, partly because Harry is not on the force and the interstate angle pulls in the FBI. Connelly gives us enough insight into the inside of the FBI to be interesting, without too much detail. His characters are almost always flawed and occasionally annoying, which could become tedious if overdone. I have not been disappointed with Michael Connelly yet and expect to keep chipping away at his catalog. He's clearly one of the top detective novel writers in America. | ||
 | The Narrows | |
| "Less LA, otherwise the usual suspense" | 2009-01-03 |
| "The Narrows" is Connelly #4 for me and it's right there with the others, which make a decent sampling, as each one has some differences as well as themes and details you quickly come to expect. The core attributes of Harry aren't going to change. Having read the four out of order was a minor disruption, although awareness of some backstory helps. For example, reading "A Darkness More Than Night" before "The Narrows" would be better than the other way around, yet isn't fatal. Again, Harry works the LA area and psychology dominates the story, with emphasis on motive and analysis more than conventional plot twists. "What" is never enough. Even some of the side topics, such as visits to his ex and their daughter, are mostly about emotions and reasons. The novel's connection to LAPD and the ins and outs of the business is slight this time, partly because Harry is not on the force and the interstate angle pulls in the FBI. Connelly gives us enough insight into the inside of the FBI to be interesting, without too much detail. His characters are almost always flawed and occasionally annoying, which could become tedious if overdone. I have not been disappointed with Michael Connelly yet and expect to keep chipping away at his catalog. He's clearly one of the top detective novel writers in America. | ||
 | Agile Database Techniques : Effective Strategies for the Agile Software Developer (Wiley Application Development S.) | |
| "more than agile topics and holds up after five years" | 2009-01-01 |
| Even though the book is over five years old, its principles still apply today. Time has been good to the maturation and deployment of agile practices, as what Mr. Ambler said in 2003 has become more conventional thinking. His advice and best practices make for excellent reading. Agile development is really only a subset of the book, with an introduction on agile development and a sales pitch for its adoption. In some sections, agile is woven into a topic, such as refactoring, that stands on its own with or without agile methodology. I can easily imagine material that started as essays on solid best practices being updated with the latest thinking, including agile. Our organization does not use UML and has no intention to do the detailed modeling that Mr. Ambler suggests. Readers in similar situations may consider those parts looking for ideas or quickly skim them without disruption to the rest of the arguments. I have read Scott Ambler in various contexts and his insights are always welcome. He knows the issues involved in development, including database-oriented projects, as demonstrated by his ability to touch lightly or go deep. One of the highlights here is that he articulates tradeoffs. Well, you could do this, or you could do that, and here are the issues to consider, wisely deferring the analysis and decisions to actual projects. | ||
 | Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth | |
| "Quite interesting to the non-expert" | 2008-12-22 |
| Gandhi's autobiography, written in his fifties with great accomplishments yet to come, cannot be read without companion study. He explicitly says significant content was skipped, and one can easily sense that when reading, even without much knowledge of the events. The book is mostly very interesting in its reflections on Gandhi's youth and the years in South Africa where many of his ideas formed and were first tried in practice. The 1910s and 1920s years in India are less engaging, with more political content and more details oriented toward what was a current, familiar audience. The target audience at the time also knew much more about what was going on, the various places, the concepts, and the people involved. Here is where I would have preferred more background, which instead must be provided for the non-expert by other sources. Initially I was surprised by the amount of space devoted to diet and other forms of self-denial, such as "lustful" sexual relations. Eventually that made sense as anchors for how Gandhi thought and adhered to moral principles (and tried to define them), not just in sweeping national issues, but highly personal matters. To him, only if you were personally pure, or nearly pure, could you deserve God's full love and support in higher missions. Gandhi humbly describes his successes and shows no mercy in pointing out his slips. Occasionally he defends himself against enemies or ones who simply disagreed, and it was refreshing, without the whining and partisan attacks of modern politicians. In many cases, Gandhi was quite gracious to his opponents. However, that was not true when calling out racism and other morally objectionable actions that he and others sought to remove, often successfully. Those stories are the highlight of the book. Gandhi cannot be considered a great writer, assuming the translation is faithful to his style and vocabulary. No singing Lincoln-esque prose here. Pretty straightforward language accessible to average readers, as when he compares religions or ponders racism while Indians practiced the caste system. The indirect descriptions of the culture in England, South Africa and India were sharp reminders of how much has changed in a hundred years. I could only imagine the smell and filth in scenes of Gandhi's travels and local poverty. Certainly anyone interested in Gandhi must read the autobiography and not rely on traditional biographies and historical studies. | ||
 | Autobiography : The Story of My Experiments with Truth | |
| "Quite interesting to the non-expert" | 2008-12-22 |
| Gandhi's autobiography, written in his fifties with great accomplishments yet to come, cannot be read without companion study. He explicitly says significant content was skipped, and one can easily sense that when reading, even without much knowledge of the events. The book is mostly very interesting in its reflections on Gandhi's youth and the years in South Africa where many of his ideas formed and were first tried in practice.
The 1910s and 1920s years in India are less engaging, with more political content and more details oriented toward what was a current, familiar audience. The target audience at the time also knew much more about what was going on, the various places, the concepts, and the people involved. Here is where I would have preferred more background, which instead must be provided for the non-expert by other sources. Initially I was surprised by the amount of space devoted to diet and other forms of self-denial, such as "lustful" sexual relations. Eventually that made sense as anchors for how Gandhi thought and adhered to moral principles (and tried to define them), not just in sweeping national issues, but highly personal matters. To him, only if you were personally pure, or nearly pure, could you deserve God's full love and support in higher missions. Gandhi humbly describes his successes and shows no mercy in pointing out his slips. Occasionally he defends himself against enemies or ones who simply disagreed, and it was refreshing, without the whining and partisan attacks of modern politicians. In many cases, Gandhi was quite gracious to his opponents. However, that was not true when calling out racism and other morally objectionable actions that he and others sought to remove, often successfully. Those stories are the highlight of the book. Gandhi cannot be considered a great writer, assuming the translation is faithful to his style and vocabulary. No singing Lincoln-esque prose here. Pretty straightforward language accessible to average readers, as when he compares religions or ponders racism while Indians practiced the caste system. The indirect descriptions of the culture in England, South Africa and India were sharp reminders of how much has changed in a hundred years. I could only imagine the smell and filth in scenes of Gandhi's travels and local poverty. Certainly anyone interested in Gandhi must read the autobiography and not rely on traditional biographies and historical studies. | ||
 | The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons | |
 | "Plenty of timely and timeless material for personal use" | 2008-11-08 |
| Readers will no doubt see their own situations and those of others in many of these cartoons. If you like to post cartoons in the office or share them with like-minded associates, you will probably find some examples that are spot-on. Isn't that the purpose of a book of cartoons - to be amused in general and find some perfect creations within? I have witnessed or participated in many layoffs, and thus that topic resonates with some fine choices: - "Pendleton, as of noon today your services will no longer be required. Meanwhile, keep up the good work." - "No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?" - "Hiring is OK, but firing provides a real sense of closure." Wall Street and corporate big wigs are well represented, naturally, as the dominant theme. Some overall favorites: - A rat on the phone, with a lever to pull at his desk: "Oh, not bad. The light comes on, I press the bar, they write me a check. How about you?" - "This might not be ethical. Is that a problem for anybody?" - "And now at this point in the meeting, I'd like to shift the blame away from me and onto someone else." - "I usually wake up screaming at six-thirty and am in the office by nine." The closing cartoon has a Wall-Streeter looking out the window at a large bubble floating by. Hmm.... | ||
 | Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero | |
| "Off the field excellence, too" | 2008-10-18 |
| As with David Maraniss' excellent bio of Vince Lombardi, the most appealing parts are that which cover off the field, hitting the life and times and getting into the character of the athlete. And in Lombardi and Clemente, we learn about two intense men. Maraniss gets into baseball to a satisfactory degree, with occasional game details and pennant races, without turning this into a "baseball book". It is more of bio of an admirable, highly accomplished man who played baseball. The look back to the 1950s and 60s may remind readers of how much baseball and society have changed. The rise of football and a variety of entertainment in general have pushed baseball down from its peak. The scenes of a rapt city and a whole country hanging on baseball that Maraniss describes so well are remnants of the past. Maybe if the Cubs and Red Sox had played a Futility Series a few years back could we have approached that awareness. Not any more. Far more important are the changes that brought Latin players to America and the reduced racism and bigotry from when Clemente couldn't eat with his teammates, reporters quoted him phonetically, and so on. The challenges of the trailblazing set were fascinating and profoundly sad. No wonder the proud and dignified Clemente resisted and took action, along with public and deep respect for the small number of players who preceded him in the struggle. The author rightly highlights many individuals whose names are mostly forgotten now. "Clemente" brings out the human side, prickly and generous, so it feels genuine. Enough praise, but not too much. Enough flaws, but no cheap shots or accent on the negative. Nice balance, and surprises (for me), such as the mix of strangers he befriended and brought into his circle. Imagine sending your teenage girl today far away to spend a few months with a famous athlete and his family today. I did not know the specifics of the crash, so much of the coverage was fresh reading. How disappointing to learn how avoidable that was, with such a convergence of mistakes. 4.5 stars | ||
 | Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons - Very Best of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons | |
| "It is what you expect" | 2008-09-12 |
| This album certainly must be considered four or five stars. It is exactly what you expect in a "very best": 20 songs, including six #1s and almost every one at least a top-ten hit. The songs I wanted were right there. The book is a nice history of the band, written in a positive style, naturally. For you "Jersey Boys" watchers, the departure of Tommy merits only a single sentence, with none of the financial challenges mentioned. Inclusion of the lyrics might have been a nice touch, but you know almost all of them anyway, don't you? The only area somewhat lacking is the quality of the sound. We must remind ourselves that the original 1960s recordings can only be pushed so far. Thus, they sound a little thin by modern standards of depth and richness. My particular CD had a few rough spots and drop-offs when run on a simple CD player. Fortunately, after ripping the tunes to my PC, they sounded fine. Whew. | ||
 | The Age of Science | |
| "physics dominates" | 2008-09-04 |
| The 20th century was certainly a century of amazing accomplishment in so many fields. How could the human mind make such discoveries and advancements in a few generations? As with so many science overviews, physics rules, with Einstein and the quantum physics revolution. Much of the book is taken up with a scan of scientific history leading up to 1900, so we are deep into the text before we arrive at the dawn of the 20th. From the table-setting, we get considerable detail on physics and some related chemistry. After that, we learn about biology and the climax with the seminal work on genetics and DNA. Good topics, all of it. I actually wanted less detail and more subjects, expecting more of an overview than extended essays on subatomic particles, cell division, and so on. So many potential topics didn't even get a whiff of recognition, or barely that. Think about medicine, psychology and other social sciences, electronics, flight, telecommunications, meteorology and many more. I was hoping for a summary of how more scientific fields advanced in the last 100 years. The style chosen for illustrations was unusual and largely ineffective for me. The book closes with ill-fitting non-scientific comments about the UN's initiative to deal with poverty. | ||
 | Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West | |
| "interesting premise, weak execution" | 2008-09-01 |
| You can read "Wicked", as I did, with little awareness of the musical. Of course this is a clever idea, and we often find the evil or bad people much more interesting, George Lucas' bungling of Darth Vader notwithstanding. Elphaba is the center of attention, naturally, but only occasionally is actually interesting. An opportunity for true development of her character and a mission was lost. Elphaba, never really "wicked", never really develops. She has her moments, inspired about animal rights and mildly fighting the Wizard's tyranny. I read the theme about the dysfunctional Oz and the suppression of rights and all that as a creative idea, and not as a parallel to America or anything else. Trying to compare Oz to modern times isn't that interesting and, if Maguire really meant to do that, he did a lame job. His story and writing were not nearly sophisticated enough, and he had no plot that developed the theme well enough. I wouldn't exactly call the book dull. For one thing, I kept wondering when the development into the "wicked witch" would occur and when Dorothy would appear. Why so long in the Vinkus west - is something going to happen? How exactly was he going to hook into the movie's events? It's getting rather late, don't you think? Finally, Dorothy drops in, the action picks up temporarily, and then the novels sputters to its end. I can see why the musical is apparently different. The novel clearly needed to be adapted for the stage, as it's too dark as is. | ||
 | Anna Karenina: The Maude Translation: Backgrounds nd Sources Criticism | |
| "both timeless and of its era" | 2008-08-17 |
| Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants. Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love. Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent. | ||
 | Anna Karenina (Modern Library Classics) | |
| "both timeless and of its era" | 2008-08-17 |
| Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants. Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love. Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent. | ||
 | Anna Karenina | |
| "both timeless and of its era" | 2008-08-17 |
| Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants. Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love. Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent. | ||
 | Anna Karenina | |
| "both timeless and of its era" | 2008-08-17 |
| Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants. Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love. Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent. | ||
 | Anna Karenina | |
| "both timeless and of its era" | 2008-08-17 |
| Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants. Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love. Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent. | ||
 | Anna Karenina (Everyman's Library (Cloth)) | |
| "both timeless and of its era" | 2008-08-17 |
| Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants. Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love. Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent. | ||
 | Anna Karenina: Adapted from Tolstoy | |
| "both timeless and of its era" | 2008-08-17 |
| Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants. Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love. Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent. | ||
 | Back Spin (Myron Bolitar Mysteries (Paperback)) | |
| "Comparable to others about Myron" | 2008-07-20 |
| I have read the Myron books out of sequence, which makes their freshness harder to judge. What may be a new angle or detail for sequential readers may be old news for me. Some of the regular style points and riffs the author uses appear here. Some are to be expected, such as wise-cracking by several characters, even small role-players. It wouldn't be right without some people as cynical wise guys. The story is adequate enough, with some slowness in the middle third. This isn't the book for golf lovers who can't tolerate some cracks about their beloved sport. Are golfers athletes? Myron: "sort of". Coben has some nice twists, along with some tips that were near giveaways. I was also amused by how much the cultural observations and occasional details have already aged. Take the AOL dial-up as one example. And forget the beepers. Such is the fate of novels meant to be timely. Another pleasant diversion from Mr. Coben. Read it in a couple of days and then move on. Jack's story might also remind you of Greg Norman and his challenges in the majors. 3.5 stars | ||
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