I received this book from the Early Reviewer's club. While this isn't a book I would normally select for myself to read, I am so happy I stumbled upon it. All I can say is what an interesting book! I really like how Mr. Reynolds included a variety of blogs throughout the book. The content ranged from sad, to depressing, to informative, to just plain hilarious. Mr. Reynolds has a fantastic sense of humor, which makes the book highly entertaining. ( )

Warning: I got this book as part of the early reviewers program so I might be a little biased. This is the kind of book for people interested in medicine and health related stories. It also may serve well for people who like 'believe it or not' Ripley's type true stories. An easy read. I found it entertaining and informative, if sometimes unbelievable.

Blood, Sweat, and Tea by Tom Reynolds (a pseudonym - the author's real name is Brian Kellet) is a collection of entries from his Blog, Random Acts of Reality.. In some cases, he has added additional comments that bring home his point or provide a little "what happened next."

This was an enjoyable book, a fairly fast read. It was actually nice to learn that a London ambulance driver's patients are much the same as pretty much any patient I've encountered here in the US as a nurse - which is to say, I guess, that they're all human and subject to the same fears and frailties.

This is a very good blog, but I wish there had been more than that to the book. Mr Reynolds would have done well to re-organize these posts into chapters, each of which told a story or underscored the points he wanted to make. As is, it's a hodgepodge of experiences that may accurately reflect his day-to-day job but that do not accurately reflect the nature of his work.

It is clear that Mr Reynolds is both witty and kind. He insists that he is a misanthrope, but his actions speak louder than his words. He claims repeatedly that he "hates everyone equally," but all of his patients get the care that they need and deserve. It's nice to know we have men like him out there. ( )

another "commuter bus read"

I tried to finish this book, but I couldn't. Perhaps I will try again at a later date. I have read blogs, and I have read journals/diaries. However, this is the first book based on a blog that I have read. This book was just too disjointed for me to get into. No flow whatsoever. I don't know if it is a result of the blog format or the author. Perhaps better selection of which blogs to include in the book might have helped. I got the feeling that some story lines/threads were missing some key parts. It did have some interesting and humorous bits, but just couldn't sustain. ( )

You may be tempted to put down Tom Reynold's Blood, Sweat, and Tea: Real-Life Adventures in an Inner-City Ambulanceafter reading the tragic story in the prologue. Don't. This book based on a compilation of posts from his popular blog Random Acts of Reality, does have its share of tear jerker stories, but balanced by enough humour to help the reader maintain sanity and see how Reynold's maintains his as a member of the London Ambulance Service...

Full review at: http://library.tom-hanna.org/2008/tom...