Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
1920 was a bad year for Cork. Well, a bad year for Ireland. But this is about what happened in Cork.
Ireland was fighting the British for its independence and the fighting in Cork was intense. The Burning of Cork by Gerry White and Brendan O’Shea is a rather detailed account of that fighting. Continue reading “The Burning of Cork”
I’ve spent a good amount of time the past few weeks reading this book, thinking, re-reading, and re-thinking my ideas about politics. Although far from being a believer in the right-wing of American politics, I thought this was a very good book.
The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right’s Future by Charles C.W. Cooke presents his beliefs that neither conservatives nor libertarians have a coherent solution to good governing. Continue reading “The Conservatarian Manifesto reviewed”
I just read Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security by Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller, and Paul Solman. It was an enjoyable experience.
Yes, I used the words “social security” and “enjoyable” in the same paragraph.
Imagine my surprise when I read this book that I thought would be important but dull and found it enjoyable. The authors not only convey the basic facts about social security and discuss how to maximize your benefits but do so in an entertaining fashion.
If you are unconvinced, Continue reading “Social Security – Get What’s Yours”
I think it appropriate to begin the review of a mystery with another mystery. Robert Goldsborough has done it again. Well, what has he done?
Robert Goldsborough is writing new Nero Wolfe mysteries in the style of the originals by Rex Stout. The two I have read before are very good . (See 2 Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Robert Goldsborough). I just finished another titled Archie in the Crosshairs and it was also quite good. Continue reading “Archie in the Crosshairs”
Open Road Integrated Media is a different type of book publisher. They specialize in ebooks and partner with many publishers to produce and market ebooks.
Perhaps in honor of St Patrick Day which is coming up in a few week (or perhaps this is just coincidence), they are having a sale on Irish crime novels.
I have read, enjoyed, and reviewed several mysteries published as ebooks by Open Road Media so I think this is worth a look. While there you might want to look around the website.
The Irish crime novels on sale are on the page http://www.openroadmedia.com/irishcrime?
The full title, Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader’s Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis, gives you a better idea of what this book is about and who it is aimed at.
The author is John J. Berger, a Ph.D. with expertise in ecology and and climate science. He has written this book not for other experts but for intelligent readers who wish to understand the current debate about climate change and the likely consequences.
I am in the process of reading this book but there is much to it and I suspect this is going to take awhile. So this is both a progress report and a review of the book as far as I have read and what I see coming based on on chapter titles.
By the way, if you look at the Amazon site you will see many favorable reviews. In fact when I looked all who reviewed the book gave it 5 starts (the highest rating). You may also notice the Kindle version is considerably less than either the hardback or paperback editions.
Dr. Berger starts us a brief picture of what will likely happen as a result of climate change in the next 90 years or so. That is, the life time of those being born now and in the very near future. It is an alarming picture and it could be worse if greenhouse emissions continue to increase.
The next chapter reviews the evidence that climate changes are already occurring. But climate does change naturally. The next 2 chapters explain the normal climate alteration process and then the unnatural process which is occurring now.
This is where I am now. So far, I am very impressed. Dr. Berger does a great job in explaining the complex issues in normal climate fluctuations (why we have ice ages and warming periods) and why most scientists believe we are now abnormally warming the climate.
Of course, weather varies. We have hot days and cold days. But based on yearly averages, 2014 was the hottest year on record. And the past few years have been pretty warm too. See Bloomberg for a great animated graph.
But back to the book. So far I think it does exactly what it set out to do. That is, it is an explanation of climate change and climate peril for the intelligent reader. And so far, the book looks very good at it. I look forward to reading the rest which looks like it lays out various climate perils in greater detail.
I’ve been doing a bit of family history myself so when I saw the title How to Do Everything Genealogy, my first thought was that covering everything in genealogy in a a book was certainly an impossible task and perhaps the author was some sort of charlatan. However, I soon discovered this was not the case and it actually was a very good book.
Continue reading “How to Do Everything Genealogy”
This is a review of Medicare For Dummies which was much better than expected. In fact, it was very good but I did have low expectations when I first saw the book.
Many years back my job involved computers and programming. I don’t remember the exact story so this will be a bit vague. For some reason I need to learn quickly about some commonly used program. I figured since I knew nothing about program X, most books or webpages about X would be way over my head.
So I figured I would start with the “Dummies” book and progress after I got the basics. It turn out badly. I didn’t really learn anything useful and felt insulted and frustrated in the process.
This book is much different. Continue reading “Medicare explained brilliantly”
Let me start by saying The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion is the second book in a series. I had read and reviewedThe Rosie Project: A Novel by Graeme Simsion several months back.
I thought it was a great book which was laugh-out-loud funny. And the second book continues the humor. Continue reading “The Rosie Effect: more than funny”
Mix a bit of suspense with politics in a fast moving and very entertaining novel and you have Full Irish by Pete Morin and Susanne O’Leary.
I was quickly drawn into the story when an Irish politician was murdered on his way to a meeting to deliver a small but mysterious package. The action quickly switches to a Boston law office and Massachusetts politics. And then back to Ireland. The 2 stories quickly come together in a transatlantic web of political intrigue and corruption.
I read Kindle edition so had no idea as to the number of pages. I just checked the Amazon site and they say the paperback has 260 pages. But it is fast paced and a quick read. I read the book in a few sittings. I have linked to a page that has both the kindle and paperback editions listed. I recommend the kindle if you have one and enjoy it. It is considerable cheaper.
At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope you do too.
Some love New York City or at least find it interesting. Some love to hate it. Some don’t care much one way or another. Unless you are in this last group, you probably will like this book.
I am now reading A History of New York in 101 Objects by Sam Roberts. Continue reading “A History of New York in 101 Objects”
Like many Americans, we are making our daily journey to the TV to watch the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts. So far I have found it very enjoyable. But last night’s third installment reminded me of an excellent book I read a couple years ago.
The book is The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. After former President Theodore Roosevelt lost Continue reading “Rio Roosevelt Revisited”
I had just finished with my review of Chris Culver’s new book when I followed my own link to Amazon. First I noticed that the Kindle edition of that book was significantly less than cost of the paperback.
Then I went to Chris Culver’s page
I understand that Amazon frequently changes prices so this might not be true when you get there. But it is certainly worth a look if you are interested in saving with the Kindle edition.
I was pleased when I saw a new book by Chris Culver on NetGalley. I had previously reviewed a book of his and liked it very much.
I applied for a review copy on my Kindle and was soon engrossed in Nine Years Gone. I was again impressed by Chris Culver’s skill in pulling me into the story. I was amazed by this ability when I read my first Chris Culver book. This time Continue reading “Nine Years Gone by Chris Culver”
I read The Rise of the American Corporate Security State: Six Reasons to Be Afraid by Beatrice Edwards and both the title and subtitle tell us what the book is about. Should we be afraid of our government?
Well, I would guess most are not afraid of all government. The National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and indeed most agencies do not put fear into most of us. But there are parts we fear. The IRS may come to mind.
Continue reading “Is it 1984 yet? American Corporate Security State”