Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
I downloaded a free Kurt Vonnegut short story a few days ago. It was free then and free when I just checked so I’m guessing it will be free for a while but check.
The story was “2 B R 0 2 B “ which does seem like kind of an odd title but it makes perfect sense when you read the story. Well, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of an older short story of his called Continue reading “Free Kurt Vonnegut short story”
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.
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.
In 1945 Inverness the Scots Gaelic word Sassenach is defined as Englishman or Outlander at worst. I suspect in the Scotland of the early 1700s, a Scot who knew both English and Scots might have considered that Englishman was the worst of those 2 possible meanings.
I mention those 2 periods as the action in Outlander Continue reading “Outlander or Sassenach: book and Starz TV series”
William J. Bernstein is an impressive man. He has an M.D. and Ph.D, practices medicine with a specialty in neurology, and has become a respected investment expert. He is best known for his quarterly journal on asset allocation and portfolio management.
He has written several books for those of us would like to intelligently manage our investments. And he offers personalized services for those with rather large investment portfolios (25 million dollars and up).
Now Dr. William J. Bernstein has offered a free ebook aimed at the young who are interested in saving for retirement. The subtitle really tells you what this book is about – How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly
His plan is a simple one. He has said it is one that can be understood by a child and requires about 15 minutes each year.
Yet he believes it will yield better results than possible with most financial advisors. And quite likely he is right.
The book is also a guide to furthering reading to increase your financial literacy.
Since the key to the plan is deferred gratification, following this plan is not easy. But even if the implementation is only partial you will be better off in the long-term. So if you try and find it too difficult to continue, you are better off.
The book is not very long (estimated at 27 pages). It is very definitely worth anyone’s time. It is written for the younger generation but anyone with an interest in long-term saving and investing will benefit.
And the price is simply amazing. Dr. Bernstein is giving it for free on his website. It is in several formats and easy to download (nothing beyond a click is required). Amazon gives it away for free from time to time but most times it is 99 cents.
You have little-to-nothing to lose and quite a bit to gain so – read this book.
Sarah Ettritch’s The Deiform Fellowship Two: The Cult is the second in the The Deiform Fellowship series. I thought the premise a bit odd but the title of the first intrigued me and so I gave it a try.
I wrote my review of The Atheist: The Deiform Fellowship One less than a week ago and as I was writing I was thinking about how good this book was and that maybe I should try the second in the series.
I should mention (for the benefit of those who haven’t read my review yet) that Deiforms are agents of God (or at least believe that to be true) and the main character in The Atheist is Jillian. And there is an interesting conflict of beliefs since Jillian is an atheist. Continue reading “The Deiform Fellowship Two: The Cult by Sarah Ettritch”
I had mentioned last month that I had subscribed to the Wilson Quarterly for years and enjoyed it. They stopped printing paper copies so now I can get the articles on-line or on my Kindle. Continue reading “Wilson Quarterly, Pacific Standard, Frustrated Blogger, and Expanding Social Security”
I mentioned before that I subscribed to the Wilson Quarterly by mail for several years. There were long articles and almost always several were interesting. There were shorter articles (maybe a page or so) which summarized longer articles often published in scholarly journals or more popular magazines of the intellectual or policy type. And Book Reviews that I found interesting.
The Wilson Quarterly was a very thought provoking and often gave me a look and differing perspectives on various issues. But a while back, they stopped printing on paper and published the Quarterly on the web.
I was trying to decide if I wanted a web subscription. I enjoy reading in my easy chair and was looking for something that would allow me to read the Wilson Quarterly without sitting at my computer. Of course I could get a web subscription and read at my desk or on my laptop or Chromebook.
I also noticed they have subscriptions via iPad, Nook, Kindle Fire, Kindle, Android Tablets and Sony but I had none of these except an old Kindle. So I thought I would give the Kindle subscription a try.
I was a bit skeptical since the Kindle was several years old (no touch) and I was unsure how easy it would be to maneuver around the Wilson Quarterly as there are several sections and several articles withing each section. So far it seems fairly easy to move around and read articles of interest.
Amazon has a try it policy. I am now trying out the Kindle version for a 30 day trial. You order and give credit card info but they won’t start charging while you are in the trial period. What could be fairer than that?
I had previously written about the Bluefire Reader e-reader on my iPhone so I thought I should also tell you about the Kindle App on the iPhone 5.
I have a Kindle which is several years old and really like it. I often use it to read the books I review on this website. More about that in my Bluefire link above.
The iPhone 5 screen is bigger that the old iPhones so that might make a difference in the experience but I suspect it would not make all that much difference. Any iPhone screen would be much smaller than a Kindle.
So if you are reading with similar size fonts the main difference is that there is less on each page. On the Kindle you have buttons to advance the page, but the app changes the page when you touch with screen at the side. Or you can also use the swiping action if you like that.
With the Kindle you have a bunch of buttons available to do various things but with the app those functions are hidden most of the time but reveal themselves when you touch the top or bottom of the screen. I haven’t checked to see if all functions on the Kindle are also on the app but those I use are there.
My Kindle is Wi-Fi only (no 3G) so if I am in the presence of Wi-Fi, the app and Kindle can synch so I can go back and forth between reading a book on one and then the other and my place carries over.
I usually read on the Kindle when at home. But the app is great if I am waiting somewhere and want to read my book for a while. I usually carry my phone when we go anywhere and carrying the Kindle around is not hard but now it is unnecessary.
I also use the app at home if my wife wants to use the Kindle so we don’t have to be a two Kindle family. Also sometimes I just use the app on my phone because I feel like it.
Note added:
I forgot to mention that the app is free from the Apple store. So if you have an iPhone and a Kindle account, you have nothing to lose by trying this. You’ll probably like it!
This is from a series of low cost ebooks put out by mysteriouspress.com. This series called Bibliomystery are short mysteries that have to do with books or bookstores.
This is the second of this series that I’ve tried and I liked this. They are low cost and short so they are a good way to sample a writer and see if you like him or her without committing much of your time or money to the trial read. For example, Amazon estimates this story is the equivalent of about 25 pages and the cost is about two dollars.
I reviewed my first exposure to this series about 2 months back . I liked the book and decided to try another sometime soon.
So when a chance came up to try “The Book Thing” by Laura Lippman, I signed up via NetGalley. Pretty soon the book was on my Kindle and I was reading. The story involves Tess Monaghan, a PI from Baltimore who features in a series of mystery novels by Laura Lippman.
Tess volunteers to solve some mysterious thefts in a neighborhood bookstore. The mystery is certainly not one of the life-and-death variety but it is interesting. I enjoyed the story and the author’s way of telling it.
Along the way you get to hear a bit about Baltimore and its neighborhoods, bookstores and their importance, the important role books play in our lives, how parents can give their children a love of books and reading, and more. Not the least of these is The Book Thing of Baltimore.
If you do like this story, you may also be interested in many of the other novels by this author which reasonably priced in the Kindle store. By the way, if you are not a Kindle reader, other formats are available through the mysteriouspress.com link in the first sentence of this review.