Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney

Personal recording

Birmingham seems to have run out of steam in this last book of his trilogy. Birmingham has wasted a story line that intrigued the audience for two books. In this third book, Birmingham did not even bother to provide a map of the disaster that struck the U.S. Reading the book one discovers that the map was, unfortunately, unnecessary. This run of the mill alternate history tale did not require any of the original and neat stuff that Birmingham developed in the previous two books of the trilogy. Predictable, wordy, and lacking originality, this final book is best used to hold doors open during windy days. It certainly isn't up to bringing the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion.

In the early 1970's my husband took a one year course in Semitic History from a badly distracted Professor Netanyahu. Having taught an amazing first semester of ancient and medieval course, Professor Netanyahu was barely able to articulate modern Jewish History to his class, especially the period around WW2. One platitude that Professor Netanyahu repeated ad infinitum was the historical inability of Jews to see their destruction on the horizon. He stressed that Jews throughout history always looked at the brighter side of their lives noting how they saw themselves as part of the non-Jewish community in which they dwelled. Until it was too late. Moshe Arens' excellent "Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto" fills in the gap left by Professor Netanyahu and makes it clear that the Polish Jews had the same blind spot and social fragmentation that runs throughout Jewish History. While one can get lost in the jungle of names and acronyms of the time, the story that is told is clear and compelling. The lessons of the costs of social fragmentation, delay, and their cost is useful for today's Jews and the rest of the world confronting another wave of darkness.

Status Anxiety provided 24 hours of enjoyment and answers to a lifetime of questions. I've spent my adult life dealing with issues Alain de Botton addresses with intelligence, insight, and an appropriate degree of humor. I couldn't put this book down, something I rare say for nonfiction.

What Nurses Know - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome provides an excellent starting point for understanding and coping with CFS. As a person with CFS who is married to a person with CFS, this book offers a useful review of the challenges we face. It also provides good information in a readable format. One criticism of the book is the overuse of acronyms. Too often I found myself searching back through the text for an obscure acronym only to find it referred to something that didn’t really matter. In the future editions I would hope that the editors of What Nurses Know will make an attempt to eliminate the use of unnecessary acronyms. For people who prefer to skim the book rather than read it word by word, they present a serious barrier. I particularly appreciate the validation the book offers to those of us who have to press to have medical professionals believe that there's something wrong when test results come back negative. I recommend this book to CFS sufferers, family members and to the entire medical profession.

Delavier's Core Training Anatomy is a beautiful book, beautifully written. As a natural scientist, I appreciate the detail provided, the excellent anatomical drawings and the specific answers to logical questions anyone would have when beginning core training. I am not an athlete, in fact I know next to nothing about weight-lifting, etc. So I was looking forward to a book that would get me started in retraining my 50+ year old body in order to protect my back health and prepare me for the rigors of retirement. I am beyond delighted with Delavier's Core Training Anatomy book. It provides a step-wise approach to identifying training goals, beginning and advanced training program development, and even a section on training for specific goals (wellness, six-pack ab development, and sport-specific conditioning). This single book will take me from my present flabby condition through to having a healthy back and, if I persist in my training, a 6-pack abdomen before I reach my 60s!! Fabulous. In addition to being well-written, wonderfully organized and beautifully illustrated, this soft-cover book is well-made. It is a heavy book with plenty of clay in the paper and, as a result, it has the 'feel' of a high-quality publication. At the same time, it is not too thick to carry to the gym. I am looking forward to putting the information in this great book into practice, AFTER I talk to my doctor about my plans (as suggested in the book for anyone with back problems, hernia, etc.). show more Hurray for Delavier's Core Training Anatomy, a book jocks and nerds can appreciate. show less

Once again, NOLO provides a clear and simple explanation of a potentially complex topic. Estate Planning Basics is an excellent overview of financial planning topics. It provides solid information that anyone concerned about putting their estate in order should consider. The book is well organized, easy to use and simple to review and apply. I highly recommend it to anyone with financial assets or other valuable resources.

Best Tent Camping: Michigan is an excellent reference book for tent campers. The book provides detailed maps, contact information, basically everything a tent camper needs to enjoy Michigan's natural beauty and recreational opportunities. The book is small enough to fit in a glove compartment or backpack. The only criticism I can offer is that the paper quality seems less than top-notch. But then, who cares? since the book will probably get rained on, dropped on the ground and generally beaten up if you use it to its full potential. I recommend this practical book.

The War That Came Early is more a continuation of previous books in the series. Since I didn't read the first two books in the series, I found it very difficult to get into the story. Perhaps that's my bad, but I have a reasonable expectation that authors of series attempt to bring readers into the story line, in case (like me) they haven't read the earlier books. Otherwise, it seems more like they should write a longer book, rather than break the story into several books. In addition to that issue, I found Turtledove's introduction of many, many, many characters, with no particular protagonist, both confusing and boring. I didn't find myself drawn into the plot (what plot?) and I found myself rolling my eyes as yet another character was tossed into the mix. All in all, I found the War That Came Early to be a rather slow read, filled with too many characters that I didn't really care about. Finally, I enjoy alternate histories, but found there wasn't much 'alternate' in this history (maybe I missed the subtle differences or just don't know my WWII history enough to catch the differences). I have read Turtledove's books in the past and enjoyed them. For some reason, this time I didn't. It felt like this book was an extension of another book and that the author was simply grinding out a story that had little or no plot with characters that he cared less about than I did (and I didn't really care at all).

NOLO provides a comprehensive, yet easy to read, reference book that is ideal for small business owners. As a small business owner and attorney I found the content of this book to be well researched, balanced, and comprehensive. The book includes frequent real life examples to illustrate important points, as well as a user-friendly format. I found the book to be an excellent overview and guide to small business legal issues. I would recommend it to friends and family.

Interesting idea, but poorly executed. The book bogged down toward the middle. There was little or not adherence to the characteristics of either Holmes brother, or to much else of the Holmes canon.

The Journey Through Wales provides a scattered treatment of travel by the author and his companions. The Description of Wales provides interesting insights into life in Wales at the time. I found the heavy-handed religious and antiquated natural history 'facts' proffered by the author tiresome, but read the books and got some insight into Wales at the time of his writing.

Berlin 1961 is described as "...a fresh and thought provoking look..." at the events around the Berlin crisis in 1961. Although the reviewers were very positive about the book, I cannot believe that they reviewed it for accuracy and content. For example, the first page of the Introduction contains a glaring historical inaccuracy. The author states that American M48 Patton tanks faced off against Soviet T-72 tanks. This is wrong, and is the equivalent of saying that WW2 Sherman Tanks were attacked by U.S. F-4 Phantom jets of the Vietnam era. All sources I have checked with indicate that the T-72 did not come into service until around 1970. Dr. Kissinger, Strobe Talbot, David Ignatius and General Scowcroft all seemed to have missed this important factual detail.

Furthermore, contemporary accounts of the time clearly show that, while many in Washington D.C. thought that this might be the approach of Armageddon, people at the scene did not so believe, and the White House and the Soviets were communicating by back channels to quickly diffuse the situation.

Yes, the U.S. alert status was raised but, on the official level, it was under full control. So much so that, at the scene U.S. operatives walked across the demarcation line to look at the Soviet tanks that had mud over their identification markers to hide who they were. The book treats this important moment in history in a manner that is unfortunately hyperbolic and inaccurate. It may sell books by catching readers' show more attention, but it fails the historical accuracy test. show less