Reviews of the top forty fiction, nonfiction, advice and children books updated monthly.

JANUARY 2008

 Reviews of Top 40 Fiction, Non-Fiction, Advice and Children Books at this Online Book Store

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TOP TEN FICTION

Dear John (Hardcover Book) $14

As others have mentioned, I clicked the pic above and bought this the day it came out. His books are the only ones I will do that for. I couldn't put this book down. 

It tore my heart apart reading this and I wanted to shake some of the characters, hug some of them, and cry with them. Sparks did something with these characters to bring them to life for me and I found myself getting to know them and I even found myself talking out loud to them as I read. Dear John is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

There were instances where I would say "What??? NO!" or "Just turn around and walk away!" This book will tear at your heart strings and cause the tears to flow freely. 

It's an emotional rollercoaster. Great book!!

Wild Fire (Hardcover Book) $15

Retired NYPD Detective John Corey and FBI Special Agent Kate Mayfield are a husband and wife team at the ATTF--Antiterrorism Task Force. After a weekend vacation, they return to NYC to find that Corey's friend from the ATTF has gone missing from a surveillance assignment in upstate New York.

As Corey and Mayfield probe into Harry Muller's disappearance, disturbing clues surface. Muller's assignment wasn't what it seemed, and now he's dead. Bain Madox, the billionaire owner of a "right-wing loonies'" rural hunting club, is obsessed with security. High-ranking government officials were weekend guests at the time of Muller's arrival. And then there are the clues left by Muller before he suffered a "hunting accident."

Corey wants justice for his friend's death. Little does he know that Madox has a project ready to launch--four nuclear devices are set to trigger a nuclear holocaust that will make 9/11 look like a play date. All this in the name of future peace. If Madox isn't stopped, the world will change. Forever.

DeMille brings back the wisecracking Detective John Corey in his most intense case yet. It begins as a search for a friend and turns into an unthinkable nightmare. Real-life research into nuclear terrorism inspired DeMille's terrifying "what if" scenario. From start to finish, readers will be caught breathless. Wild Fire is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

Beyond its fictive value, WILD FIRE explores the question of how far people are willing to go to secure future peace. Are millions of deaths a fair trade for a world free of terrorism and war? Should sacrifices be made, and if so, how many and who?

After the final page is read and the book shelved, the question will remain: "What if?"

Born in Death (Hardcover Book) $17

This is the 27th book in the In Death Series.

This story begins with Eve and Roarke at birthing class with Mavis and Leonardo. It is the funniest first chapter ever. At this class they meet Tandy, a single mother to be from London. Mavis and Leonardo have befriended her and are to be her birthing coaches.

Dallas catches a double homicide of an accountant and her fiancé. All signs point to her finding something off at work. Born in Death is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

As this mystery deepens, Tandy pulls a no show at Mavis' shower. Eve and Mavis go to check on her at her apartment and she is not there. It looks like no one has seen her for a few days. Eve promises Mavis she will find Tandy. Eve, Roarke, Peobody and McNab are working double time to solve these two mysteries.

This was a good story. It was funny and touching. I started the book laughing and ended it crying. I thought the mystery was good. But I was bummed we had to wait for the baby til the last chapter. I liked how Eve and Roarke reacted in the birthing room. It was interesting to see how everything played out and I don't think Eve and Roarke fans will be disappointed.

For One More Day (Hardcover Book) $12

Mitch Albom pays homage to all mothers with this novel that beautifully shows the enduring power of a mother's love, a love so strong it can transcend even death. The moral of the story is not particularly original and not even handled in a unique way. But, grab the hankies and prepare to spend several hours reminiscing along with Chick Benetto about the things you wish you had done better with your own mother. 

Chick Benetto has hit rock bottom---divorced, alcoholic, has-been baseball player, and now comes the ultimate slap-in-the-face---his beloved daughter does not invite him to her wedding. After being shut out of the biggest day in his only child's life, Chick sees no point in continuing his miserable life and attempts suicide. But for his suicide he is drawn once again to Pepperville Beach, to the modest home where he grew up with his mom, dad, and sister. That is, until his dad deserted the family and life changed dramatically. 

The surprise for Chick is that his mom is still in the house. Intellectually, he knows she died ten years ago but here she is---cooking his food, sharing stories, giving advice. For One More Day is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

The reader learns about all the times Chick's mom stood up for him and all the times he let her down. The writing is smooth and poignant, the memories both joyful and sad. If you have lost your own parents, the words will be doubly sad. But Chick has been given a very special gift: he learns that when someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone and they can come back to you, even at unlikely times. 

Chick has the unheard of luxury of being able to spend just one more day with his mother, having the chance to ask questions about things that have bothered him, finding out at last why his father left, and much more. How does it happen? Is this just another ghost story or a religious experience for non-believers? I think I shed the most tears when I realized at novel's end who was telling the story.

I think sentimental readers will find this one enjoyable and uplifting. So take it for what it is, a nostalgic trip back to childhood, that period of time that never lets you go, even when you're so wrecked it's hard to believe you ever were a child.

Lisey's Story (Hardcover Book) $16

I'm a big King fan, and -- unless I'm dead broke or just plain dead -- will always read his new novels as soon as they come out, but all in all, I'd have to say "Lisey's Story" is not one of my favorites. It's not bad, exactly; there are way too many beautifully written passages to even consider calling the book bad.

However, I think that the book was badly in need of some editorial intervention at some point. I'm not referring to the book's length (though it IS too long, probably by about 300 pages), but rather to (1) an incredibly excessive use of silly language and (2) too many different threads of plot that don't manage to fully connect. Lisey's Story is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

In terms of the silly language . . . well, "silly" is patently the wrong word for me to use. Here's the deal. The two main characters, one of whom exists only in recollection by the other, are a (formerly) married couple who have a sort of private language consisting of certain phrases ("Strap On Whenever It Seems Appropriate," for example) and words (replacing "afghan," meaning the sawhl. with "african," and so on). 

This is nothing revolutionary; it's the same thing as an inside joke, and everyone I know, in each significant relationship, has a few of those that get tossed around until they do in fact become a sort of private language. But here's the problem with that in a novel: it kept me at a distance the entire time. I think it was designed to bring me into the interior lives of these two people, but it had the exact opposite effect on me, and at a certain point in time I began to get actively annoyed every time this sort of thing appeared. And it's used A LOT. Less so toward the end of the novel, but it's incessant in the first 200 pages.

My second major problem is that there's just too much going on, and some of it I can't quite manage to care about.

One plot is about Lisey taking care of her mentally ill sister Amanda, and this storyline, while well told, just doesn't come together. Amanda's story has no resolution; she's only there so that she can back Lisey up in another element of the story, which she fails to do with any weight -- so, in a sense, she's a pointless character.

Another plot deals with Lisey's attempts to clean out her husband's many papers, which leads to an increasingly dangerous series of encounters with a stalker who could have walked straight out of King's "Secret Window, Secret Garden" (King even acknowledges this, in a way I'm sure will be lost on all but the most ardent King fans). This part of the plot allows Lisey to be an active character (in other words, it serves to actually give her something to do), but I don't buy it for a second. It seems incredibly forced, and not at all relevant.

The third major plot element involves Lisey remembering -- through clues Scott left her before his death -- certain things about her husband's life (and their life together) that she has sort of been repressing. This element of the novel works almost entirely, and if the rest had been jettisoned, it would rank as one of King's finest achievements. 

This part of the story is a beautifully told love story with additional touches of divine fantasy and brutal horror, and it's pretty much sublime. The problem is, it's told haltingly, with many interruptions from the other parts of the plot. It's a shame, because the svelte form of a classic dark fantasy have been rendered into corpulence by material that ought to have been excluded.

Ultimately, it's a novel that's well worth reading (it's about one-third brilliant), but I personally can only classify it as a big-time missed opportunity. Still, mediocre King is better than most writers when they're on top of their game.

Cross (Hardcover Book) $16

James Patterson is a prolific writer of fiction and sometimes it seems he has invested less of himself in his work than he should. This book is one of his better efforts. It involves Alex Cross getting sucked into an investigation that is directly tied to the murder of his wife some years before in spite of his efforts to detach himself from police work.

Cross helps with a serial killer/rapist case who it turns out is a hit man for the mob. The plot involves Cross and his wife, the rapes and murders of several well put together Georgetownites, a vendetta against a mob boss and the resulting targeting of the mob. As usual there is a twist at the end that leaves you scratching your head and saying "That's really clever." Cross is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

Patterson draws his characters clearly and makes the reader care about what happens to them. Perhaps most importantly he makes you want to know what is the killer going to do next and what motivates him to do what he does. He shows the killer not as a one dimensional character, but a person who is able to be a caring family person shortly after committing a gruesome murder-the kind of duality we see in real life.

I highly recommend this book. I sat down and finished it in one sitting. I couldn't put it down and I delayed work to finish it.

The Shape Shifter (Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Novels) (Hardcover Book) $15

Since his retirement from the Navajo Tribal Police, Joe Leaphorn has occasionally been enticed to return to work by former colleagues who seek his help when they need to solve a particularly puzzling crime. They ask because Leaphorn, aided by officers Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito, always delivers.

But this time the problem is with an old case of Joe's—his "last case," unsolved, is one that continues to haunt him. And with Chee and Bernie just back from their honeymoon, Leaphorn is pretty much on his own. The Shape Shifter is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

The original case involved a priceless, one-of-a-kind Navajo rug supposedly destroyed in a fire. Suddenly, what looks like the same rug turns up in a magazine spread. And the man who brings the photo to Leaphorn's attention has gone missing. 

Leaphorn must pick up the threads of a crime he'd thought impossible to untangle. Not only has the passage of time obscured the details, but it also appears that there's a murderer still on the loose.

The Collectors (Hardcover Book) $15

The Camel Club is back in this new book by David Baldacci. We first met the Camel Club in the book of the same name. The Camel Club is a group of four men; the unlikeliest group of people you would ever think would be friends. Their occupations range from cemetery caretaker to a conservator of rare books in the Library of Congress. While some people might call them conspiracy theorists, they prefer to think of themselves as observers of the government.

When the Speaker of the House is gunned down, the blame was laid at the door of terrorists. But the Camel Club is not convinced of that, especially when the wealthy director of Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress dies in a strange manner. The coroner rules death by natural causes, but the Camel Club is not convinced and sets out to get the answer.

And then to throw some more grease on the fire, the author brings in Annabelle Conroy, a scheming con artist who plans on walking off with $30 million dollars swindled from an Atlantic City casino. The Collectors is included in the top 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

A thoroughly fun read, I enjoyed it immensely. Although a long book (432 pages) it only dragged in one place, a fact easily overlooked.

The Stolen Child : A Novel (Hardcover Book) $15

THE STOLEN CHILD, an ingeniously crafted tale about hobgoblins, is a coming of age story and one about identities both lost and found. This beguiling yet tragic novel is placed in the recent past when, at least in the "sophisticated" and technology driven West, the fairy myths have lost their hold on the popular consciousness and the creatures have thus become, to our loss, an endangered species joining griffins, mermaids, gorgons, centaurs, and unicorns.

It's the late 1940s in a rural setting outside Chicago. Seven year-old Henry Day, alone in the woods near his home, is abducted by a band of a dozen hobgoblins, which, in mythology, are faeries "gone bad". By the story's definition, each hobgoblin was once human before being kidnapped while still young and, by some subtle process, turned into a creature that never ages, even over hundreds of years. 

At some point, determined by seniority within the group, a hobgoblin, or "changeling", can return to the society of humans by co-opting the identity of a kidnapped child. Once returned to the "upper world", the hobgoblin takes up the aging process where he/she left off. In this case, Henry, now "Aniday", languishes in the purgatory of eternal childhood while his replacement matures to fully actualized adulthood as "Henry Day". Aniday's tragedy comprises an identity and life's potential lost, while Henry's is that his new identity vies with that of his previous human existence, began in 1851, which Day subliminally remembers and eventually obsesses over. The Stolen Child is included in the 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

The novel's thirty-six chapters alternate between Aniday and Henry, each telling his first-person story as it extends over three decades, the history of each touching at points with the other until a final confrontation, such as it is.

This is Keith Donohue's first novel, and I'm awarding five stars for cleverness, though it does have problems which would compel me to grant only four if coming from a more accomplished author. The story concludes in a way that was, for me, very unfulfilling; I thought it lacked closure for both characters. 

Also, the hobgoblins, who were all once human and can become so again anytime they chose, now live a wretched, unhygienic, near-starvation existence continually exposed to the elements and possible injury while subsisting only with the help of food, garb, and utensils scavenged or stolen from humans. (Indeed, the mischievous hobgoblin will steal one sock from a clothesline to create "the mystery of the missing sock from every washday".) 

That being the case, the author, while removing for the reader much of the magic, mystery and whimsicality of the faeries' existence, supplies no compelling imperative for them to remain the creatures they are. Indeed, they exist at all because human society once believed in their reality, and they now approach extinction because the twentieth century's technological enlightenment leaves them no room.

THE STOLEN CHILD is a fairy tale for adults that transcends standard fare.

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TOP TEN NONFICTION

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Hardcover Book) $14

I chose this title, "A credit to his race.....the human race," because it is what Jimmy Cannon, the legendary sports writer said about Joe Louis, perhaps America's greatest boxer of the 20th century. I found reading this book to be a breadth of fresh air. The man is passionate, interesting, speaks to the heart, and is effective. As politicians go, it's a pleasure to see Obama has a future because he certainly has a NOW. I come from the other side of the political divide from the Senator, and that's why I find a man like this refreshing.

I am not an ideologue, and find such people terribly boring. When they appear in the room, I leave the room regardless of what side of the aisle they come from. Obama is different than the normal breed of politician out there. There use to be a time when a life in government was a way of giving back to the country part of what the country allowed you to create for yourself.

You never went in government to make a buck, but it's become obvious that for many politicians, government is a way for them to earn their fortunes, and it's off the people's back. There was a time when corruption was in the back rooms, and out of the way. The people always knew it was there, but it was not in your face. My, how things have changed.

When you read this book, you find the thoughts of a reflective American based on his own life experiences. It is predicated on the belief that there are some things that GOVERNMENT CAN DO EFFECTIVELY, AND WELL, and this Senator would like to do just that. The Audacity of Hope is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

This is a man who just might be President of the United States some day. I don't know about 2008, because by then Obama may not have had enough time to become seasoned, to have been around the block long enough to have a natural grasp of the issues by simply being there.

If you have ever been in the thick of a Presidential campaign, and you were to hitch a ride with the candidate on his plane, there is something that becomes very clear, very quickly. It's a question as to whether the candidate is competent or not. There are maybe 500 political opinion makers in this country who count. They are the writers, the television personalities, the pundits, and the editors. These 500 men and women always pass judgment on whoever is running for President.

If they smell incompetence, they bury you. An example is John Edwards in the last election cycle. I like Edwards, he had a lot of star quality, and that means a lot in the world of politics. He just didn't cut it on the competency issue, and the group of 500 burned him during the campaign.

Obama needs time to become seasoned. I just hope it doesn't mean he will give up his spirit, that wonderful quality that is the driving force of someone who is going to make it big in politics. He also has a natural base that will stand by him. African Americans make up 25% of the Democratic vote in this country. It is natural to assume that Obama should get at least half his natural base, which gives him 12 to 13%. He's got to pick up at least 7 to 8% of the remaining Caucasian (politically correct, for the red necks from Georgia reading this, I'm talking about the white vote). This means Obama should have at least 20% in the very early primaries. With 6,7,8 candidates in the running initially including Hillary, it comes down to Mrs. Clinton better watch out.

If this all sounds rather callous and crude, I am telling you what happens when you sit down in that room, and start talking POWER, because with the power goes the MONEY. My sense is Obama will make the run because we now live in an age where you just can't think 2 elections out. Obama may not be Mr. Right, but he certainly is Mr. Right Now.

In 2012, he could be yesterday's noise. Look at Al Gore who may have won in 2000. You can't count a vote that close in Florida, and John Kerry who lost by 85,000 votes in Ohio. Both men have less chance than a one legged, blind man with no teeth running in 2008, yet both deserve a second opportunity.

When you read this book, you will be blown away. The Senator for years taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and it doesn't get any better than that. Let me let you in on a secret. If you want to know if someone knows a subject find out if he can teach it, and this man can teach law.

What I look for in a book like this is an author who can challenge me. Can he get me to re-examine the philosophy on which I have based my whole life. If he can do that, than it's a book I cherish. Obama has succeeded in challenging my political philosophy, and I truly appreciate it.

He talks about his own understanding of the Constitution. Why he believes this beautiful document is a "Living" document, and not a "Static" document. He discusses different justices, and their understanding of the law, and it's a beautiful narrative.

Listen to the flow of his language on just one page, "We say we value the legacy we leave the next generation, and then saddle that generation with mountains of debt. We say we believe in equal opportunity but then stand idle while millions of American children languish in poverty. We insist that we value family, but then structure our economy and organize our lives so as to ensure that our families get less and less of our time."

This is a beautiful man, with a heart, and a story to tell, and perhaps, just perhaps one day he will go for the dream, and then the promise will be fulfilled.

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (Hardcover Book) $16

John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet.

In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory.

Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits—drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.

In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder.

With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. The Innocent Man is included in the 10 best fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.

Culture Warrior (Hardcover Book) $15

I usually enjoy Bill O'Reilly's television show and occasionally listen to his radio broadcast so you can probably tell that I'm not entirely unbiased in my opinion of his work. Having said that, however, this book seems more vitriolic than reasoned, focusing more on personal attacks than insightful analysis. I'm surprised and disappointed. 

It has an awful lot of shameless self-promotion and not enough fair and balanced debate. And this is coming from someone who more-or-less agrees with the author's perspective...

I certainly understand his assertion that there is a culture war going on, particularly in the media, with "secular-progressives" on one side and "traditionalist conservatives" on the other. I think any fair-minded person can see that whether they like it or not. I mean this whole "happy holidays" vs. "Merry Christmas" debate makes that rather obvious no matter what side you are on. 

I am put off, however, by the way O'Reilly places himself on a pedestal as if he is the only one in America who sees things correctly and is doing anything to make America a better place. Get over yourself man! You may be a highly successful journalist, but no one worships the ground you walk on. Culture Warrior is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

O'Reilly's criticisms of organizations such as the ACLU and folks like Tom Brokaw, Al Franken, George Lakaff, Norman Mailer, Dan Rather, Stan Rosenfeld, and George Soros may be more accurate than not, but they get far more personal than necessary. He asserts that it is necessary to take the high road, using reasoned argument rather than emotion against the S-Ps yet throws out terms like "smear merchant" and "black-hearted" himself. This ire is unnecessary and counterproductive. His jabs at figures on the right don't make up for the overdone haranguing against the left.

The bottom line is that this book is a great diatribe if you're a right-wing "cool aid drinker" (to use an O'Reillyism), but it's certainly not going to change anyone's mind on the subject. This could have been a lot better... It was worth reading but had I known more ahead of time I would have waited for the paperback.

Marley & Me : Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog (Hardcover Book) $12

I just finished Marley and Me last night. I ordered it last weekend from Beardsmen. Being an avid animal and dog lover, I couldn't pass it up.

Needless to say, I devoured the book in two days. I loved it. To me it was so refreshing to see such commitment in another dog owner. I have always believed that when you adopt a pet it should be part of the family, and it is a lifelong commitment. You don't give up and get rid of them, just because of hard times or problems.

I applaud Mr. Grogan, and his family, for being the kind of people who love and care for their dog friends and for writing such a heartfelt tribute to his pal, Marley. Pets ask for so little and return so much.

I have had many dogs and I always get a kick out of the commercial on TV for a new Ziploc dog food bag for a certain chow...they use the expression "Dogs Rule". How perfect. There is nothing quite like having a dog, whether they have impeccable manners or not. Marley & Me is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

I laughed and I cried and I understood everything that Mr. Grogan had to say. I also live in Florida so I felt a special connection to the Grogans when they were speaking of the culture here and the thunderstorms--and how dogs hate them.

All in all, Mr. Grogan's writing is clear and interesting and down to earth. I couldn't put the book down. It is a joy.

I even went so far and to visit the website he has listed in the book. There was an email address to write to him, which I did, and I was absolutely amazed when Mr. Grogan wrote back to me three hours later to thank me for my nice comments.

Do yourself a favor and read the book.....you'll close it in the end and your heart will feel like it is too large to fit inside your chest.

State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (Hardcover) $17

"State of Denial" documents the Bush administration's Iraq debacle from the beginning. First there are Bush's initial rationale for becoming (our least-prepared modern-day) president prior to completing his first term as Texas' governor - basing his entire rationale on tax cuts, modernizing the military (e.g.. missile defense), education reform (Bush's major Texas "success" in Houston turned out to be a fraud), and helping faith-based initiatives (no thoughts whatsoever about foreign policy). 

Another Bush motivation to run, per Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador, was to get revenge for his father's defeat by Clinton/Gore; then there was the smoldering need for finishing the job on Saddam Hussein. (Needless to say, these do not total to good rationale for becoming U.S. President, nor are they indicative of a serious thinker.) State of Denial is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

Selecting Cheney as V.P. running-mate also helped set things in the wrong direction - his bias towards finding evidence of WMD (e.g.. digging into unverified intelligence cables), focus on secrecy and regaining executive powers underlay much of the Iraq War marketing. Then there was Bush's selection of Rumsfeld for Secretary of Defense - partly based on the idea of proving Bush #1 wrong (didn't trust Rumsfeld, thought him too self-sure and arrogant), and Rumsfeld's subsequent selection of Joint Chiefs Chairmen that were easy to roll over (e.g.. reduce requested Iraq troop strength; fail to take their issues directly to Bush, per Nichols-Goldwater).

(Failing to send enough troops into Iraq probably is the single most disastrous mistake made in Iraq War II, other than invading in the first place. However, it may be unfair to blame Rumsfeld - the Bush administration "group-think" (except for Powell) was that we'd be out of Iraq within a few months; further, it is doubtful that the U.S. has the troops to sustain levels the generals believed were needed. 

On the other hand, Rumsfeld has no excuse for not immediately taking action to improve vehicle armor against IEDs, failing to create a military strategy - besides aggravating all Iraqis through night-time raids, then driving up and down the roads allowing them the opportunity for IED revenge - to achieve security, and failing to create a set of 3-5 key performance measures and goals.)

Deeper into the plot we get CIA Director Tenet's July 2001 effort to convince Rice to make terrorism a priority, only to get the "brush-off" from her - Woodward documents that no terrorism plan was even made ready for approval until 9/10 (after eight other issues), hardly the priority Rice claims. Far worse, if the FBI had simply been focused and monitored one of the two hijackers it knew were in the country, it would have learned that he bought ten tickets for himself and other terrorists for those fateful 9/11 flights - possibly unraveling the entire plot!

"State of Denial" continues on to assemble other key pieces, including Bush's stubbornness, over-reliance on Cheney and Rumsfeld, and lack of curiosity (probably also the reason Bush #1 did not communicate his serious Iraq concerns pre-invasion), Rice's inability to challenge others' thinking, to move beyond "you're not on the team" vs. dissenters, follow-up on action items, and failure to update Iraq planning as the situation changed, Bremer's extremely damaging decisions (delaying elections and turnover of power, disbanding the Iraq army, de-Baathing the nation), Powell's failure to use his moral authority to confront Bush, and an incredible administration-wide inability to make decisions in an open and inclusive manner, set goals, delegate, pursue performance discrepancies, resolve disagreements (e.g.. assign responsibility for postwar Iraq security), or follow-up. (How did he ever get through Harvard Business School?)

Meanwhile, as the "Iraqis stand up" (hundreds of thousands of trained police and army recruits), we fail to "stand down" because the number of attacks continually increases - despite Bush's constant claims of progress.

Bottom Line: President Bush, our first "MBA president" both lacks the requisite experience and skills, and is psychologically unfit to lead the nation; to compensate he focuses on being a "cheerleader" (simply willing things to happen), and distorts and withholds information.

A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005 (Hardcover Book) $45

I am a very big fan of Annie Leibovitz, and have been for nearly fifteen years - ever since I had the opportunity of viewing some of the artists photographs in a Gramacy Park photography agent's office. 

Ms. Leibovitz has captured the beat of society in her many but many photographs . . . all with a unique depth and in some way, a contradiction to the obvious: which is in part where Leibovitz's genius lies. A Photographer's Life 1990-2005 is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

In the retrospective 'A Photographer's Life: 1990 -2005, there is a series of high profile and well known individuals that range in their celebrity and notoriety: however, one thing is certain, each individual captured through Ms. the artist lenses is depicted in such sheer dimensions that their essence, their struggles, their strength, and their desire are captured in ways that offer the whole picture. 

In 'A Photographer's Life: 1990 - 2005', Annie Leibovitz has captured the kaleidoscope of the movers and shakers who have created the moving image of life as we have experienced it.

Extraordinary.

America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It (Hardcover Book) $16

At least, that's how he signed my copy. I'd call Mark Steyn's essay the single best distillation of the challenge posed to the West by radical Islam that I have ever read. America Alone is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

Regular readers of Mr. Steyn will not be unfamiliar with his central points:

1) In the ongoing conflict between the West and Islam, both the demographics and the will to power favor the Islamists. That a country like Spain, with a birth rate of 1.15 children per adult women, will extinguish itself in a few generations, while immigrants from countries such as Pakistan (birth rate 4.53) will move in to fill the vacuum.

2) That as an aggressive, unassimilated minority edges closer to a majority (as in France, with an estimated 30% Muslim population in the under 20 age group), the character of the democratic institutions will become more closely aligned with Islamic law and culture.

3) That the post-Christian welfare state is largely to blame for the pessimism and failures of will demonstrated by Europe.

4) That America represents the primary exception to this trend, if only by degree, and that only a concerted effort to save our society stands a chance of reversing these trends.

That's a reasonable précis of Steyn's book, and he is certainly not unique in either his diagnosis or his prescription for the West. What sets this apart is his writing. The argument is made in a way that is the most engrossing and entertaining presentation of these ideas I've ever read.

Steyn, as part of his superhuman writing regimen, is the obituarist for The Atlantic Monthly, and he puts that talent on display. This is not just a description of a set of demographic realities, but a loving, if premature (he hopes), obituary to a dying great culture. It's Steyn's ability to blend humor with the terminal diagnosis that sets him apart.

Take the following, from letting the book fall open at random (pages 60-61), where Steyn weaves together these seemingly disparate ideas: a photo of Lincoln with his future assassin in near proximity, the globalization at the root of a bird flu scare ("Any minute now there would be toxic cockatoos over the white cliffs of Dover, and the East End would be reeling under a blitzkrieg of sneezing parakeets"), the Black Death in Europe in the 1340s, the exportation of radical Islam from the Bedouin to the West, and finally a quote for Dean Martin's old nightclub act. I can't even describe it adequately; Steyn actually pulls it off, brilliantly.

Finally, I'd like to try to approach the book from the opposite direction. Invariably, political book reviews become contentious. It may be apparent that I came to this book predisposed to agree with the thesis, and I would not argue. That said, I think this is one of the rare political books that could be read and enjoyed regardless of personal politics. Dare I say it, but Steyn might even change some minds. Between his inventive turns of phrase, his references to pop culture and classic Americana, and his interesting digressions on topics as diverse as the heyday of French television and European history in the Middle Ages, Steyn offers something for everyone. And that's appropriate. 

Unlike many political books, this does not seem written to say "I'm right and you're wrong", but rather "we're all in this together".

The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded] : A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Hardcover Book) $17

As a US born citizen, I earned my Ph.D. in physics in Houston in 2000 as a minority student--and I'm not talking about my being Hispanic. I was surrounded by Chinese and Hindu speakers in the middle of Texas. These foreign students had come to the U.S. for one reason. To get as much American know-how as possible before returning home. 

As Friedman discusses in his book, these students used to stay and help drive our innovation and economy, but now they have good prospects back in their home countries. In other words, the world of science and technology that drives innovation and economic engines is becoming flat. Would you believe that even at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where I currently work, the sound of foreign voices (temporary postdocs) permeates the place?

I don't necessarily believe this foreign presence is a bad thing. Friedman makes the point that much of the world needs to come up to our standards. However, we also can't afford to fall behind. While we try to keep our space shuttles together with chewing gum, China has a vision of putting their people into space and on the moon. And it is now more true than ever that he who controls the high ground controls the battle, be it in warfare or economics. The World is Flat is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

One thing Friedman needs to address more is stem cells and cloning. While we fight religious fundamentalists killing stem cell research, and debate so-called Intelligent Design, sick Americans are flying to China to get rudimentary stem cell treatments. This was one of the topics that came up when I moderated a UN panel on the bioethics of cloning and stem cells. Imagine, one question went, what will happen in twenty years to the competitiveness of our children when only the richest rich can afford to create offspring with soaring IQs through advanced, pricey in vitro/bio technologies. I then asked what will happen to America if in, say, twenty years, the Chinese are creating 150 IQ kids while ours debate Intelligent Design over evolution.

This, cloning/stem cell technology, is just the tip of the iceberg of the coming promises and perils of advanced bio and nano technologies in which America may fall behind. Just Google the research being done to make brain chips to replace damaged brain tissue.

The World Is Flat gives us a much needed wake-up call on the consequences of America existing in a flat world. 

Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War (Hardcover Book) $18

March 2003: The United States invades Iraq.

October 2006: The world finds out why.

What was really behind the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq? As George W. Bush steered the nation to war, who spoke the truth and who tried to hide it? Hubris takes us behind the scenes at the Bush White House, the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress to answer all the vital questions about how the Bush administration came to invade Iraq.

Filled with new revelations, Hubris is a gripping narrative of intrigue that connects the dots between George W. Bush’s expletive-laden outbursts at Saddam Hussein, the bitter battles between the CIA and the White House, the fights within the intelligence community over Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, the startling influence of an obscure academic on top government officials, the real reason Valerie Plame was outed, and a top reporter’s ties to wily Iraqi exiles trying to start a war. Hubris is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

Written by veteran reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn, this is the inside story of how President Bush took the nation to war using faulty and fraudulent intelligence. It is a news-making account of conspiracy, backstabbing, bureaucratic ineptitude, journalistic malfeasance, and, especially, arrogance.

State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America (Hardcover) $17

It's hardly 'news' that Pat Buchanan has strong supporters and critics. So whenever he writes a book, they all come out to voice their opinions. But what Buchanan writes are not opinions, they are examinations of facts where he starts with a premise, presents his arguments, and states his conclusions. Most critics disagree with conclusions, but few dispute that his premises are valid, and no one seems to dispute his facts & arguments made in support of his premise. This latest book is a set of sobering examinations of the history and implications of America's present immigration policies.

'State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America', takes its title from the State of Emergency declarations made recently by the governors of Arizona and New Mexico as the immigration problems have spun out of control.

People who think current illegal and other immigration is not a problem that threatens to undermine the American republic will have their naiveté or skepticism shattered by what's presented in this book. State of Emergency is included in the reviews of the top 10 best non-fiction books that you can buy at this online book store.

Immigrants used to come here BECAUSE they sought to assimilate and become part of the American culture. Buchanan argues powerfully that the current immigration wave is radically different from previous ones. Both the number of (particularly illegal) immigrants, and their attitudes, are hostile or resistive to adoption of our traditions, Buchanan shows.

He quotes Enoch Powell, who warned Britain 40 years ago when that country began to feel the impact of limitless immigration, that immigration had the character of an invasion; the aliens, he noted, were arriving not as mere individuals, but as whole villages, transforming British culture, and not for the better. Now the same thing is happening in America - but on a much larger scale. Buchanan makes a powerful case that an America under siege by an immigrant invasion (where most of the aliens are not interested in assimilation into the culture) can not long remain a "land of the free". He warns that America could come to resemble The Balkans (Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, et. al.), or Lebanon.

Buchanan presents facts showing that Mexico's government is deliberately fostering the invasion across the southern U.S. border. It is encouraging people to become public charges in the United States (passing on the social costs of crime, poverty, illiteracy, etc. to American taxpayers). And, Mexico is encouraging "Reconquista" of the Southwestern states. He charges that President Bush has ignored this conscious and aggressive policy, which Buchanan contends merits nothing less than impeachment (that matter is also a topic on Buchanan's blog-web site).

Buchanan also notes that (though this is a separate set of events), a parallel hostile Muslim invasion of Europe is creating "Eurabia." This is the source of recent geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and most NATO & other European countries.

In addition to crime, often in the form of violent gangs, the invaders come with diseases, some unknown to us, some of which we thought had been almost wiped out - tuberculosis, for instance. Buchanan notes that the immigrants, mostly illegal of course, have put such a strain on California's medical system that 48 hospitals in the Los Angeles area alone have been forced to close down. It's illegal to turn even illegals away if they need medical care.

This points up another critical problem. We are now paying, more dearly than even the pessimists dreamed, for a growing and limitless global welfare state. Milton Friedman long ago put it simply: You can't have open immigration and a welfare state. No system can afford infinite eligibility and benefits from a finite tax-base of U.S. citizens. This is an axiomatic truth; Mr. Friedman is simply pointing out what is self-evident. Sadly, laments Buchanan, not very many people are listening.

Liberal opinion generally thinks it's mean-spirited to do the math. Neo-Conservatives, Buchanan has argued for years, are out to abolish nationhood, and seek to erect un-elected global governments. The neo-Cons, Buchanan asserts, are firmly in control of the Bush presidency. The alien invasion carries another threat too: with the lack of border control, terrorists have found it easy to pay 'coyotes' to slip them and their equipment across the border -- and thus avoid the scrutiny at airports and other legal entry points.

Buchanan's book cites a vast number of statistics to prove its premises. Examples: One in 12 illegals has a U.S. criminal record; in Los Angeles, CA 95 per cent of all homicide warrants target illegals. Some libertarians reply insistently that the current immigration is a net plus for this country, but even on purely economic terms - setting aside such considerations as morality, culture, and national character -- Buchanan shows that is false. 

RAND, and other independent research groups have repeatedly concluded that the costs of educating illegal alien children, welfare dependency, crime, and other costs associated with high levels of immigration cost billions of dollars every month. Soaring state and local structural budget deficits to pay for the social costs of immigration prove that point: Immigration is very expensive, and as taxes are cut for the very wealthy, America's 'middle class' is absorbing all of that burden.

I wonder if Buchanan is too optimistic in thinking that the U.S. Government, which has done so much to create and aggravate the problem, is still capable of solving it.

Some of his recommendations, such as a 2,000-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, may retard the invasion, but by his own account, these measures already seem too little, and too late. And he notes that so far, there is no sign the U.S. government has the will to enact or enforce them.

This book is an excellent follow-on to Buchanan's last two books "Where the Right Went Wrong" and "Death of The West". It is one of those books you read hoping the author is completely wrong, but fearing that he is completely right.

Like Enoch Powell, Buchanan has been widely criticized for 'being right' ahead of time. While he's taken a great deal of abuse for stating his views, facts and events have strongly vindicated his positions.

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TOP TEN ADVICE BOOKS

You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management (Hardcover Book) $15

I am not a doctor, nor am I a nutritionist or fitness trainer. Nevertheless, I am an AVID reader of anything related to the above, and I own or have read or tried most of the major fitness books and programs on the market today. So, to say that this is most definitely the best book out there for real, sustainable weight loss and health maintenance is not something I take lightly. But it is the best diet/health book I have read.

There are several reasons this book is so good. You On a Diet is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

First, the illustrations combined with the witty dialogue make it fun to read. 

Second, the book is written by two highly talented doctors, and they impart their knowledge about how our bodies work and how they lose weight to readers in a very accessible way.

Third, this plan is incredibly DOABLE. And that is probably the most important aspect of any diet, since so much failure in the realm of weight loss and weight maintenance results from our inability to keep up with the extreme measures many programs require (How many days in a row can one eat only cabbage soup? Can you go a lifetime counting points every time you put something in your mouth? Do you really want to calculate nutrient percentages for every meal you have?).

In a nutshell, You: On a Diet discusses how your body works and why it gets fat. It provides extra incentive to lose weight by highlighting all of the health problems fat can cause. Then it sets forth a VERY REASONABLE AND HEALTHFUL plan for losing weight and gaining health. 

That plan includes:

1. Walking for 30 minutes every day.
2. Performing 30 minutes of weight training each week.
3. Doing 60 minutes of additional, higher intensity cardio each week.
4. Taking a stretch break for 5 minutes each day - preferably after your walk.
5. Eating more fiber and cutting out the saturated and trans fats and enriched flours and sugars (the "white stuff").
6. Eating 3 meals plus snacks daily, and eating one of the healthier desserts in the book only every other day.
7. Trying to eat basically the same thing for breakfast and lunch each day (this is so effective I have found - variety sometimes breeds indulgence).
8. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night.
9. Getting "some" on a regular basis, if you know what I mean.
10. Drinking lots of water.

And that's basically it. If you follow these guidelines, you will lose weight (or as Dr. Oz likes to say - lose "waist"), and you will look, feel and be healthier. And if you make a mistake? MAKE A U-TURN. It's OK. This is a lifestyle program, not a get-thin-quick scam.

For its entertaining and informative text, and effective and healthful and reasonable program, I rate this book a HIGH 5. The best I've read, and I've read most of them. Bravo.

Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over Again (Hardcover Book) $20

I am going to start by saying that I have been a fan of Ina's for a few years now. What I have always loved about Ina is her easy going nature, her love of family and friends, and her uncanny ability to make even the simplest things seem elegant. Her recipes are almost always easy but delicious and it is a rare occasion when I stumble across one that wasn't sensational. 

She has become a trusted source for me for recipes and entertaining ideas. With all that being said, it is no surprise that I eagerly anticipated the release of her new book. It pains me to give Ina anything less than a 5 star rating, but I'm afraid this book has not quite delivered to my expectations.

My real disappointment lies in the lack of truly inspiring recipes. For a seasoned cook, many of her selections are horrible disappointments. For example, buttermilk mashed potatoes, not one but two versions of chicken salad, tomato feta salad, potato salad, blue cheese burgers, herbed basmati rice, omelet for two...if you have found your way into a kitchen from time to time, then you probably already know how to make these dishes. What's more, with such an abundance of simple recipes, this book seems oddly out of place in Ina's collection. 

Perhaps if this were her first it wouldn't feel so elementary, but after 4 wonderful cookbooks with many fabulous and often innovative recipes, this one just seems oddly uncharacteristic. This would be a great book for a beginner cook. Or if someone was new to Ina then I might recommend they click the pic above and buy this book first, but for us Ina vets, it feels like a step in the wrong direction. Barefoot Contessa at Home is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

This is not to say that there aren't any noteworthy recipes. I, for one, am anxious to try her shrimp bisque, her ribollita, loin of pork with fennel, zucchini pancakes, seafood gratin and her coconut cake. But for the amount of recipes I will actually gain, this book sadly feels skimpy.

In Ina's defense however, she did name the book "Barefoot Contessa at Home" for a reason. If you sit down and read this book from cover to cover you will see that there is an underlying theme from which Ina never deviates...home. Right from the beginning Ina takes us on a journey of what "home" means to her, from the beginning days of her marriage when she struggled to create a comfortable home for her and her new husband, to the later years when she found herself at home in the Hamptons. 

In her characteristic easygoing charm, Ina is able to paint a whole different picture of the Hamptons than we are probably used to...not the stuffy, snobby Hamptons that we may think of, but a place of true community. She talks about the couple who inherited a farm and began raising the best chickens ever to grace a Sunday dinner table, and the family of fishermen that spans three generations. She describes a place steeped deeply in history and with a character all its own. Her guide to the Hamptons at the end of the book may seem odd at first, but it is, in fact, a beautiful testament to the place she calls home, and Ina is more than proud to share it with us. 

She also pays tribute to "home" in other areas of her book, like how to make your dinner guests feel at home or how to outfit and decorate your house to make it feel homey and comfortable...not only for you but for all the friends and family who will drop in from time to time. 

She even talks about how to design a kitchen so that it not only functions well but is inviting and comfortable for all who venture in it. In this context I suppose her recipes are not so far off from the true theme of her book. Home is the place we feel most comfortable of all and oftentimes the simplest of dishes are the ones that make us feel the warmest inside. If this is what Ina set out to do, then she has certainly succeeded. 

But if you are an Ina fan, then you should know before clicking the pic above and buying this book that you are not going to find the Ina you are used to. This is Ina at her most relaxed, curled up in a cozy armchair in her home in East Hampton. And she has invited you in to stay for a while. To quote Ina herself, "How bad is that?"

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home (Hardcover Book) $27

I don't know if budgetary considerations led to a decision to produce a book that is in black and white (without full color photos) but that is my only quibble with the book. I'd have preferred a full color version.

However, for sheer quality and detail about all aspects of housekeeping, this one can't be beat. It is chock full of information about all the vital areas of maintaining a home, including seasonal chores - large and small. Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

You'll learn about which products you can safely use on wood floors, how to clean a room properly, top to bottom...etc.

This is going to be a standard on my reference shelf.

Paula Deen Celebrates!: Best Dishes and Best Wishes for the Best Times of Your Life (Hardcover Book) $14

`Paula Deen Celebrates', by Food Network star and home cooking matron, with assistance from "Savannah Magazine" columnist, Martha Nesbit expands Ms. Deen's franchisee in a most logical and expected manner, by being a collection of recipes appropriate to twenty-one (21) favorite occasions to celebrate with food.

Among all the various different cookbook styles, the special occasion menu book seems to be the one most useful for the largest number of people next to your basic encyclopedic reference cookbook such as `The Joy of Cooking' and `James Beard's American Cookery'. And, Ms. Paula has, to my lights, done a better than average job at providing both an excellent selection of occasions and recipes for those occasions. Paula Deen Celebrates is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

Her rather idiosyncratic selection of events is:

New Years' Eve Brunch
New Years' Day Good Luck Meal
Elvis's (sic) Birthday
Valentine's Day
President's Day
Big Easy Mardi Gras
My Wedding Anniversary
St. Patrick's Day
Easter Dinner
An Easter Egg Hunt
May Day Pink and White Party
Cinco de Mayo Fiesta
Mother's Day Tea
Graduation Potato Bar
Father's Day Boating Picnic
Fourth of July Outdoor Grill and Low-Country Boil
Movie Watching Pizza Party in Bed
Thanksgiving
Sunday Afternoon Football Party
Homemade Christmas Gifts
Christmas Dinner

One thing that immediately strikes me about the choice of recipes is the emphasis on coordinating food colors and personal traditions, to the total disregard of seasonal availability. For example, for the New Year's Eve Brunch, one dish requires fresh tomatoes and another requires fresh blueberries, both of which are out of season in late December. That's not to say they are unavailable, it's just that they are expensive and not at their best, but price be darned! Paula will have her traditional favorites, come heck or high water.

Paula's recipes are written in exactly the same way you have come to expect from her earlier books, with just enough information for a knowledgeable amateur cook. That means a total novice may now and then be at a bit of a loss, as when Paula gives instructions for butterflying a beef tenderloin. A teaching cookbook would include a series of diagrams on how to do it. A teaching book by someone like Jacques Pepin would include additional instructions to get the greatest possible area of meat exposed to the rub being applied to the meat. 

Similarly, a recipe for shrimp and lobster bisque, done by someone like Jasper White (of '50 Chowders' fame) may take three or four pages and start with some live lobsters rather than steamed lobster tails. But then, Paula's recipes here, just as her endearing presentations on her show imbue the auditor with a great sense of confidence that `you too can cook a great homemade meal to entertain your family'.

There is no question that these recipes and menus will appeal most to natives of the southeastern United States, from Virginia to Georgia to Mississippi, to Kentucky, but there is nothing that will turn anyone else off of the recipes.

There are also several recipes that seem to be included for pure whimsy. My two favorites are Elvis' banana and peanut butter sandwich and the `turducken, a chicken, stuffed into a duck, which in turn is stuffed into a turkey. Thankfully, there is a company that does this feat for you, and Paula provides the web site for same. To think that just five years ago, this notion was totally unknown to the foodie nation. Just one of the things for which we have to be thankful to the Food Network (sic).

One caveat may be that Paula's style of cooking does not appeal to me as much as some others, such as the Mediterranean styles from Italy, France, Spain, and Morocco, and the Pennsylvania Dutch style. I am also not entirely pleased with some small aspects of her cooking, such as the use of self-raising flour. 

In spite of those personal tastes, I really think Paula has hit the nail on the head in putting together an excellent book on entertaining menus and recipes. Like Jamie Oliver, she succeeds more than many in communicating how good food can engender warm feelings `en familia'. I especially like her lower than average list price which, when discounted, will make clicking the pic above and buying her book almost painless, especially once you use one of her delightful menus.

I will also note that Paula could use a better copy editor. Her English usage and sentence structure are fine for talking in front of the camera, but they give the feeling of stumbling over words, especially prepositions, when you see them on the printed page. I also think she would have done well to cash in all the effort expended to create her `Paula's Pearl's of Wisdom' and `Brandon's Decorating Tips' for one more holiday. I think Halloween would have appreciated some attention from Savannah's own Ms. Deen!

YOU: The Owner's Manual : An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger (Hardcover) $14

This is one of those rare non-fiction best sellers that actually deserves to be a best seller. The title gets your attention, so you crack it open expecting to spend five minutes satisfying your curiosity. Before you know it an hour has gone by and you're cruising along absorbing a wealth of medical information of intimate concern to you and your family. 

It does this with the aid of editorial layout techniques you've seen before ... multi-choice quizzes, truth-or-myth blurbs, factoids, clever and effective illustrations. While such techniques in other books often come across as cheesy, in this book they are used effectively, probably because they are built from such valuable and interesting information. The book is large, but it's not an encyclopedia. 

The focus is on organs and conditions that are most important to the aging process, and conditions most preventable. It concerns issues you talk about and are concerned with, e.g., what is the greatest threat to your arteries (it's not cholesterol); what's the most revealing sign that you might have Alzheimer's; fact or fiction - ginkgo biloba is a good brain function booster? Especially nice is every chapter ends with specific recommended actions. You the Owner's Manual is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

The last 57 pages regard exercise, diet, recipes. Written for the layperson in a concise but fun style. I might disagree with a minor point now and then, but on the whole this is a great additional to a health and fitness library.

Each year I update my short list of recommended reading for my adult health & fitness clients. I chose books that are some combination of breakthrough, effective, satisfying, and fun. You: The Owners Manual easily makes the list. 

The God Delusion (Hardcover Book) $15

Very few scientists are religious, and highly successful ones are the least religious: a study in 1998 suggested that only about 7% of members of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA believe in a personal God. There are some, of course, who mention God from time to time as a poetic way of personifying nature, and Einstein is often claimed as a religious man on the basis of remarks of this kind, notwithstanding his perfectly clear statement that "the idea of a personal God is quite alien to me". 

Today nearly all working scientists can identify with the mathematician Laplace, who said that he had "no need of that hypothesis" when asked by Napoleon why he did not mention God in his book. Richard Dawkins, however, goes much further than this; for him, belief in a personal God is not just an unnecessary hypothesis, but a major source of evil in the world. 

No wars, he says, have been fought in the name of atheism, but many have been fought in the name of God, and much of what we call ethnic persecution is in reality religious persecution. Belief in God, therefore, is not just something to be politely set aside, but something to be actively opposed. A large part of the book is devoted to justifying this position, much more radical than the vague agnosticism that nearly all of his academic colleagues will readily agree to. The God Delusion is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

Like an earlier famous atheist, Bertrand Russell, Dawkins has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible that goes far beyond that of most Christians. He quotes chapter 19 of Genesis, which tells us that the "uniquely righteous" Lot offered his two virgin daughters to satisfy the lusts of the men of Sodom who arrived at his house wanting to sodomize the angels who were visiting him: "do ye unto them as is good in your eyes". 

Likewise he produces ample evidence of what has long been obvious to any intelligent reader of the Bible, that it is simply impossible for every word to be the literal truth, because it abounds with internal contradictions. Dawkins is perfectly aware, of course, that the more sophisticated Christians recognize the absurdity of belief in an old man with a white beard up in the sky; that they readily accept that there are many inaccurate statements in the Bible and that the God of the Old Testament is very hard to hold up as a role model for humanity; and that they do not advocate applying the penalty of death prescribed in chapter 20 of Leviticus for cursing one's parents. 

For most such Christians the Old Testament is an embarrassment, but Dawkins is not convinced that the New Testament is as much of an improvement as is sometimes claimed, and describes "atonement, the central doctrine of Christianity, as vicious, sado-masochistic and repellent". The more general problem is that once you accept that there is much that is repellent in the Bible how do you justify picking out the bits that you like and ignoring the bits you don't like?

If Dawkins were merely trying to demonstrate that religious belief is irrational, there would be little point to his book: most of his academic colleagues accept that already and need no further convincing, and his religious opponents will not read the book anyway, except perhaps in search of passages they can use against him in their hate mail and websites. Nonetheless, people who are broadly in agreement with him do need to read the book, because of his contention that religious belief is not just irrational, but is also dangerous. 

He gets angry when he reads of "a Muslim child", aged four, when what is meant is a four-year-old child of Muslim parents, or when religious massacres in what used to be Yugoslavia are euphemistically called "ethnic cleansing". His aim, therefore, is to make his readers angry as well.

Dawkins is, of course, famous as an evolutionary biologist, and he also discusses the appearance and survival of religious beliefs from an evolutionary point of view. In the words of the novelist Barbara Trapido, "People have no sooner got themselves born than they start to imagine the gods want them to flatten their heads, or perforate their genitals, or arrange themselves into hierarchies based on the color of their skins. The gods require them to avoid eating hoofs, or to walk backwards in certain sacred presences, or to hang up cats in clay pots and light fires underneath them." 

For this sort of thing to make evolutionary sense there must be a survival value for the individual in religious belief. What can it be? Dawkins explains it in the same way as he explains the habit of moths burning themselves to death by flying into candle flames, not as something beneficial in itself but as an unfortunate byproduct of behavior that in nearly all circumstances is indeed beneficial, namely flying towards a light source. 

For religion, he suggests that it is nearly always beneficial for small children to believe what their parents tell them, with the consequence that they believe not only in the dangers of playing with fire, but also in whatever nonsense their parents tell them as well.

The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Wealth Cycle Investing (Hardcover Book) $15

Don't read the review just click the pic above and buy the book right now. I bought this book at an airport and could not stop reading it. I read it on the way there and then read it again on the way home. The practical down to earth principles I have already applied and seen some great results. Front to back one of the best books on the market.

With this book as your guide you will be able to take control of your assets-and generate new income, explore and profit from nontraditional investments, use real estate and private equity to accelerate wealth accumulation, balance your risks with even bigger rewards, and earn more money than you ever thought possible. A terrific and very valuable little piece of reading for anyone. The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Wealth Cycle Investing is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

Asset build up and using it to do cash flow on a monthly basis is the secret of millionaires according to this book. Loral precisely hits the spot and explains how they do it. and as you guess, most of it from real estate. This is a good combo to The Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Tax Lien and Tax Deed Auctions. one book is about the concept, the latter is the application.

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence (Hardcover Book) $16

I have been enjoying Amy Sedaris's freaky-weird acting for years, so I had to click the pic above and snatch up this book the second I heard it was out. And, man oh man, I have been laughing for days. This is one addictive book, like a paper drug. 

I woke up this morning, and instead of thinking about my husband or cats or breakfast or my job, I imagined Amy Sedaris trying on pantyhose, and I thought "No Squirrels." (You'll understand after you read the book.) Then I wondered how on earth I would achieve that baked Alaska featured in her book.

This lady works comedic magic with this book. I have never, ever, ever read or seen anything like this strange book. I Like You is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

Yes, there is a plethora of valuable tips and recipes for entertaining, but the way Amy presents the info is nothing short of comic genius. The pictures are all gold. And her writing is rickety and charming. And wait till you find the secret poster! You will buy a locker just so you can hang it up!

Mark my word, this book will be *the* gift to give. It is destined to make Amy Sedaris a household name. Plus, it is extremely useful and entertaining.

Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006 (Hardcover Book) $18

I heard about this book a long time ago but never was interested in getting one because I'm only interested in cookbooks with glossy pictures and fancy mouthwatering covers. While I was waiting for my car's routine maintenance at Costco, I read it just to kill time there. 

I discovered that it was such a wonderful cookbook that I just got to click the pic above and buy it! I have about 100 cookbooks at home but this one is the best I ever bought. This book covers all kinds of dishes, and all cooking methods. They are easy to read and very illustrative. 

I think lots of recipes in other cookbooks are originated from this cookbook, or adapted from the ones in this cookbook. I think being the first comprehensive, illustrative and reliable cookbook in history, lots of cookbook authors referred to it when writing cookbooks of their own as time goes by. By reading this cook book, I can see Raychael Ray, Martha Stewart, and many other cooking moguls' recipes here. Joy of Cooking is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

My suggestion is, click the pic above and buy this cookbook and you can toss away Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals and others. This book has all the recipes you want to cook exactly as it is or to adapt to create your own. This book is valuable in that it helps you build a very solid foundation and understanding in cooking, equipment and all kinds of food ingredients, like "fig" which the Chinese believe to have healing power on your acid damaged GI tract.... Now I can cook it like a tasty American desert instead of the boring dull tasting Chinese herbal soup my mom taught me to make regularly to stay healthy. 

Like I say, with the cooking basics and all the wonderful recipes in Joy, I'm confident that I can create better recipes than Rachel Ray or Martha Steward. It's a cook book that is inspirational and helps everybody to discover new knowledge in cookery every time you refer to it! 

This is the cookbook that I'm definitely keeping and cherishing for the rest of my life ! I highly recommend this to everyone who wants to give a meaningful gift to the ones you care and love!

Letter to a Christian Nation (Hardcover Book) $10

Sam Harris believes that the United States faces a moral and an intellectual crises. Intelligent Design is being advocated as a serious alternative to evolution by natural selection, activities such as abortion and stem cell research are being opposed on religious grounds, and substantial numbers believe that the Bible represents mankind's greatest ethical guide. Worst of all, these manifestations of Christian mythology are slowly seeping into American schools, courtrooms, and legislative bodies via the slow erosion of the separation of church and state.

As the title suggests, the book is written in the form of a letter to a Christian: one of the country's millions of exceptionally devout believers who exalt Biblical morality, vote Republican, and anxiously await the Second Coming of Christ. Despite the format, the true intended readers are secularists who wish to arm themselves intellectually in the fight against fundamentalists over the separation of church and state. The "Christian" he addresses is a literary device that effectively allows him to point out the widespread immorality, hypocrisy, and unreason that Christians overwhelmingly embrace today.

A philosophy graduate from Stanford, Harris is particularly interested in the neural foundation of religious belief. He embarks on this effort to debunk and demythologize Christian dogma particularly because of what he sees as religion's superb capacity to breed violence and despotism. Thus, he sees danger in the secular world's persistent policy of pretending that religious belief is somehow healthy, sane, and compatible with human rights, dignity, and freedom. Letter to a Christian Nation is included in the reviews of the top 10 best advice books that you can buy at this online book store.

Hard-hitting and well written, Harris tackles Christian morality right off the bat. Christians argue that their religion is the ultimate foundation of morals, yet few of them consistently defer to the moral wisdom of the Bible, for good reason. Harris reminds us that it condones slavery and sexual slavery, genocide, xenophobia and war. It prescribes death for such "offences" as homosexuality and dishonoring one's parents, and the book is saturated with celebratory depictions of sadomasochism unrivaled by the work of Marquis de Sade.

The Bible would be simply another relic of antiquity in all it's bone-crushing violence and abhorrent moral lessons were it not for the substantial sector of the population that considers it to be the word of God. This despite that the Bible is a Bronze Age document of questionable historical veracity and dubious authorship, filled with contradictions and inconsistencies, and lacking the kind of prophecies or scientific facts one might expect from a deity. In fact, as Harris points out, the Bible "does not contain a single sentence that could not have been written by a man or woman living in the first century. This should trouble [Christians]."

Harris goes on to critique Christian positions on abortion, sex, STDs, stem cell research, and the Ten Commandments, taking even Mother Teresa to task in the process. Harris asserts that anyone who believes that the Bible represents mankind's greatest guide to morality "has some very strange ideas about either guidance or morality." Christians actually spread human misery in their opposition to stem cell research or safe sex education, according to Harris, because "the link between religion and morality--so regularly proclaimed and so seldom demonstrated--is fully belied... wherever religious dogma supersedes moral reasoning and genuine compassion."

Later on, Harris takes up the issue of science versus religion, which he sees as a fundamental, irreconcilable conflict between calm reason and ignorant dogmatism. Harris notes that "while believing strongly, without evidence, is considered a mark of madness or stupidity in any other area of our lives, faith in God still holds immense prestige in our society," where such unquestioning devotion is considered noble. He finds this troubling due to what he sees as religion's tendencies towards violence and intolerance.

Thus, Harris is deeply concerned with the tendency for the secular, civilized world to place religion on an inviolable pedestal, where it is not to be criticized or questioned by nonbelievers for fear of offending the devout. He laments that secularists are "unwilling to criticize ideas that are increasingly maladaptive and patently ridiculous," and instead pretend that science and religion are somehow compatible.

He then turns his attention to Europe, where public figures are increasingly unwilling to condemn the Muslim extremism in their midst for fear of sounding racist or bigoted. Yet, Harris explains, "the idea that Islam is a "peaceful religion hijacked by extremists" is a fantasy" and "most Muslims are utterly deranged by their religious beliefs". As a result, misogyny, religious hatred, anti-Semitism, forced marriages, honor killings, gang rapes, and a hatred of homosexuals "are now features of an otherwise secular Europe."

Letter to a Christian Nation isn't likely to convert any Christians to atheism, but hopefully it will provoke the more intellectually honest of them to begin considering their own fallacies and argumentative shortcomings. Atheist readers are likely to wish this book were longer. At just under 100 pages, it goes without saying that there is room for expansion on the important subject of religious pathology in America. All in all, Letter to a Christian Nation is a powerful blow against the religious fundamentalism that stands opposed to civilization today.

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TOP TEN CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America (Hardcover Book) $11

"Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America" is one book that is quite visually pleasing and educational simultaneously. 

It is about this family from Massachusetts that decides to take a road trip, in which they travel throughout all fifty states of the United States of America. The family and its children get to explore various aspects of these territories, including sights, sounds, and even smells (pleasant ones). 

The writer, Lynne Cheney, even provides some history lessons and quotes surrounding some of them which serve to give readers an idea of just how this country called the United States of America came to be. Our 50 States is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

The illustrations by Robin Preiss Glasser are quite easy on the eyes and they, alone, are enough to make the reader want to consider taking such a trip.

Merry Christmas, Curious George! (Hardcover Book) $11

Children who love Curious George will like this latest adventure, and the story is shorter and more accessible than some of the longer original entries in the series.

Curious George goes Christmas tree shopping with the man in the yellow hat, and climbs into a tree that gets delivered to a children's hospital. Although lost, the little monkey makes the best of the situation by decorating the boughs with such items as gauze, X-rays, and crutches and by changing the name tags on all the presents. 

All ends well as the young patients are entertained and the man with the yellow hat arrives to collect his companion. Merry Christmas Curious George is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

The text is stilted, and both the plot and illustrations owe a great deal to Margret and H. A. Rey's Curious George Goes to the Hospital (Houghton, 1966). Still, the illustrations capture the look, if not the flavor and charm, of the originals, and so this book  is popular with young Curious George fans.

A Princess Primer (Hardcover) $14

My son is in to the -ology books, Dragonology, Egyptology, well this book was bought in that vein by my grandmother for my 2 year old daughter.

This book has all the hidden treasures of any of the -ology books. It has minibooks, slide out items, windows to open and plenty of extras.

Everything from how to dress to what to serve at a royal ball is included here for the use of any Princess in the making. A Princess Primer is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

My daughter may only be 2 but she is truly a little Princess in training. She loves the pictures and all of the interactive bits.

I feel for any young Prince in her future (her distant, DISTANT future) as she will be well versed in her ways:)

"A Princess Primer" is a great book for all little girls! Any girl will love this book reading about a fairy godmother. The fairy godmother tells good stories, gives very helpful advice, and special hints on how to be a princess. 

book will make a wonderful gift for any girl who loves reading about princesses!

Mommy? (Hardcover Book) $15

I've been a Sendak junkie since I was a kid. His books have always been among my very favorites, and I'm happy to say they're among my kids' favorites as well. I also love pop-ups, so I was really excited to learn about this book. And I must say, my expectations have been surpassed.

The story line is very simple: a young child looks for his Mommy, encountering various monsters along the way and defeating them in creative ways. There are only a few written words in the book. But the story that the pictures tell is wonderful. 

What child wouldn't be delighted by a book in which a kid defeats the wolfman by pantsing him? Nosferatu gets a binky! And there's a ton of detail in the pictures as well. My girls like to spend several minutes looking at each page spread. Mommy? is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

Then there are the pop-ups. This book is really a paper engineering marvel. The pop-up bits are enormously detailed and full of movement. My favorite part is when the boy unwraps the mummy. It's an understatement to say the pop-ups are spectacular.

The only reservation at all I have about this book is that my kids will probably love it to death. Like another reviewer, I think I'm going to click the pic above and buy them their own copy and keep one for myself!

If you have the least interest in Sendak or pop-ups, or think you might, buy this book.

The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13) (Hardcover Book) $8

Dear Reader,

You are presumably looking at the back of this book, or the end of the end. The end of the end is the best place to begin the end, because if you read the end from the beginning of the beginning of the end to the end of the end of the end, you will arrive at the end of the end of your rope.

This book is the last in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and even if you braved the previous twelve volumes, you probably can't stand such unpleasantries as a fearsome storm, a suspicious beverage, a herd of wild sheep, an enormous bird cage, and a truly haunting secret about the Baudelaire parents. The End is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

It has been my solemn occupation to complete the history of the Baudelaire orphans, and at last I am finished. You likely have some other occupation, so if I were you I would drop this book at once, so the end does not finish you.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, Book 5) (Hardcover Book) $14

This is the fifth installment of the Artemis Fowl series, with reportedly just one more to go. Most of the surviving characters are back, including of course Artemis, the teenaged criminal genius and Butler his bodyguard, as well as Holly, the former female LEPrecon official, Foley the Centaur and Mulch the amazing digging dwarf, but this time there are also new and exciting characters. 

There's Minerva Paradizo, a twelve year old French child genius who can give Artemis' brain cells a challenge, Doodah Day, a thief who's the Michael Schumacher of the Pixie world, Imp No. 1 the non-warping demon, and the megalomaniac Leon Abbot, but that's not all folks. The Lost Colony is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

Way back when humans and fairies were fighting over the island of Ireland, the eighth fairy family, the Demons, refused to go live underground with the others, instead choosing to take their island home of Hybras into another time dimension until they were ready once again to attack the humans. 

Unfortunately, something went wrong with the transfer, and the whole island, demons and all ended up in Limbo. However, even time spells don't last forever, and as it unravels, demons begin appearing in the present, and even Foley can't work out exactly where the next one will pop up.

As you may have guessed, Artemis has already figured it out, and starts staking out the sites where demons are due to appear, but is thrown for a loop when he realizes that someone else has done the math, and that the demon he's been stalking has been demon-napped under his very nose. To make it worse, his new rival is a girl, albeit a very pretty one.

Book five has all the elements for an exciting read, including time travel, volcanoes, mercenaries, magical creatures (including a Yoda-like Warlock), and weapons - lots of weapons. There's also the code that runs along the bottom of each page, and I can tell you that it has to do with scrolls, demons and the slapping of rude body parts, but the rest is up to you to find out.

Another great addition to the Artemis Fowl series from Eoin Colfer, certified genius.

And Tango Makes Three (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards)) (Hardcover Book ) $11

It is appalling to me to know that there are sewer-filled, reprobate, sullied, paranoid minds, in which this book can be interpreted as having a cloaked "homosexual agenda."

Not since Jerry Falwell spotted "gay" Telly Tubbies on the loose has there been a more stupid accusation of a supposed threat to child development.

Only a sick jaundice eye would see such a "homosexual" agenda in this book. So fearful are these vacuous little minds that they fear that their son or daughter after reading this book will irrevocably forego traditional heterosexual marriage, turn gay and have a homosexual union and adopt a child other than their own to raise. So threatening is this utterly absurd possibility that in some schools, the book has actually been removed from the non-fiction and children's section.

So what is all the fuss about? What is this story? It is actually based on a true incident involving two male penguins that together took charge over an egg that they cared for until it hatched and reared the baby penguin, called Tango. And Tango Makes Three is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

From a biological point of view, this incident is fascinating but not all together unique. While we humans would have difficulty perhaps fully appreciating this, it is testament to how the importance of the survival of the species can have such strong instinctual drives for non-related members to ensure the survival of members of their species. But then again, this is not that unheard of even in human settings. 

In many places, the "it takes a village to raise a child" is actually taken literally, where non-biological fathers will watch over and protect the offspring of other men as if their own. The children are viewed as being members of the community and in this respect the child in question has not only a biological mother and father, but an army of non-related mothers and fathers not far behind. This unifies the community and makes it incredibly rich in social networks and very dependable and strong--socially and especially during times of crisis. 

In our modern world, such a concept might even seem disturbingly offensive in concept to parents seeing their child as only theirs and (for good reasons) not wanting their children to be so trusting of others in viewing them as proverbial "mommies" and "daddies." But to then fear this book for having a said "hidden" agenda of a homosexual nature is the only truly reprehensible thing.

This book is an endearing story and perfectly innocent for children. It is not housing any agenda of any kind and only a diseased mind would think otherwise.

As a Christian heterosexual male, I am ashamed of the all too frequent nonsense that many in the Christian community are saying and claiming. Poor examples for Christians such as Falwell and Pat Robertson, who in their sporadic fits of self-righteous retardation, offer not the New Testament message of God's eternal love and peace but rather the erroneous message of the ended era of Law, namely condemnation, wrath, and destruction (such as Robertson more than implying God would soon wipe off Dover, Pennsylvania for voting in upholding separation of Church and State).

And even if they were "gay" Penguins and creationism is completely true, then would not have God have created (yikes) "gay" Penguins? Hmm...

No word if the two male penguins and the purse carrying Telly Tubby are mingling yet, but I am sure Rev. Falwell will keep us all appraise of the situation.

God bless our nation--and SAVE it from its stupidity! AMEN.

Blizzard of the Blue Moon (A Stepping Stone Book) (Hardcover Book) $10

Blizzard of the Blue Moon is one of the greatest book by Mary Pope Osborne! Jack and Annie to New York City, 1938, during the time of the Great depression.

Their mission is to save the very last unicorn to stop the terrible blizzard. They get to know more about the unicorn as they meet Balor and Grinda, the apprentices of the Dark Wizard.
Jack and Annie succeed on saving the unicorn at the end.

I liked the part where they meet Teddy, Kathleen, Morgan and Merlin and receive the Wand of Dianthus for proving to Merlin they can use magic wisely and with thought. I highly recommend this book. Blizzard of the Blue Moon is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

My two children think they ARE Jack and Annie. The adventures they have with these books are wonderful. They each like them for different reasons. My son loves the idea of a magical tree house that takes you to wonderful places but gets you home for dinner safe and sound. My daughter likes how adventurous Annie is and how she can drive Jack nuts with her boldness. 

You just can't go wrong with these books!

Bird Songs (Hardcover Book) $27

Perhaps I am not the best person to review the quality and accuracy of the songs in this book/audio player (I would leave that to Rick Johnson of Osprey Ridge Studios who created the Hearbirds Course on CD available at [..] but as the former publisher of Waite Group Press [..] I must say that this is one of the most innovative and fun to use products to appear in book publishing in a long time.

The way it's put together is really creative - the electronic device glued strongly to the back cover is available at all times as you turn the pages. The system is minimalist which is its real charm. - a rocker switch increments an odometer like counter up or down. The number is keyed to the number on the bird page. In the middle of the rocker is a push button that starts the song playing. One more button controls the volume. That's it! Bird Song is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

The illustrations are very nice, soft watercolors, unlike the hard edged and brighter drawings found in traditional field guides like those from Peterson and National Geographic. The descriptive text about each bird is short and to the point, my only complaint is that its gray color is not easy to read on older eyes. Yet that is minor compared to the enjoyment I got just turning the pages and pushing the button.

When I was at Borders a crowd formed around me as they heard the bird calls - many thought a hawk had been trapped in the building. I highly recommend this book (and the price is right).

Star Wars Complete Visual Dictionary (Hardcover Book) $27

What an amazing, thorough, comprehensive guide to everything Star Wars. NOTHING is left out. You get not only in depth profiles of every major character, but every OTHER character in the universe. 

It's so detailed that they break down each PART of each weapon, ship, etc. For someone like myself who isn't the biggest Star Wars geek (but wanting to learn more), this is a godsend. 

There are many, many hardcore fans out there that can reference almost anything and anyone to do with Star Wars. Well, now you can too, and you don't have to see the films 3245 times to do it. Star Wars Complete Visual Dictionary is included in the reviews of the top 10 best children books that you can buy at this online book store.

It's a great companion to the "Ultimate Visual Guide" as well. It is a combination of the Visual Dictionaries for the other films, so all Episodes 1-6 are covered.