R. Squyres

politics pretending to be a novel

Revisado: 02-12-25

Catchers isn't so much about the story, as it is casting people (groups of people) in negative and positive lights. Everyone fits the liberal mold with no character growth.

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Really Bad

Revisado: 12-03-24

Is this written by a child? Each chapter is supposed to look at a sermon. But what it really does is a one paragraph summery (bad summery) of the sermon, always concluding with some strange statement like, "This sermon has caused many to become very serious about prayer" . . . and then it uses the rest of the space to quote Bible verses that Charles Stanley cited in the sermon. So it's really a paragraph of summary, and a page of scriptures. What authors like this are doing is exploiting the name of Charles Stanley for their own gain, without doing any real work. The book is shameful exploitation and the author should be embarrassed.

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Audible shouldn't even sell this

Revisado: 12-03-24

This is rough. It feels like listening to a third grader read a report on their favorite person. It skips major events that Stanley himself has talked about; struggles when he came to FBC Atlanta, and his fight and reconciliation with his son Andy. In fact, I'm not even sure it mentioned that he had children. The book is worse than a gloss, it's like someone skimmed Wikipedia and wrote a book trying to remember what they'd read there. It's so disturbingly bad, audible shouldn't be taking money for this. Send it back to the third grader for a rewrite.

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A Surprising Confession

Revisado: 11-15-24

The book contains a startling, almost unbelievable conversation between the author, Bob Woodward, and General Millie. In this conversation, Millie tells Woodward, “you guys (the press) need to do something about Trump.”

Here’s what’s surprising. An active United States general directing the free press to go after a politician and take him down. And Woodward’s willingness to do it, and openly state that’s his agenda. He’s so confident, he even reports that he’s in collusion with U.S. General’s. This wasn’t a retired general, this was an active duty general asking the press to help him stop a political candidate for the 2024 election.

Surprising that the press is now openly acting on behalf of Generals to take down political candidates. Now that actually is a threat to democracy.

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Fighting Aliens

Revisado: 10-15-24

I was hoping for something like, Red Storm Rising. But there's too much scifi throughout. The enemy might as well be aliens from another world. The authors don't know how any of this future tech works, they are just story devices to give the enemy a fighting chance. A book that is meant to be a warning that America is in trouble, is really just like: Sure - we're in trouble if we're fighting Ray Bradbury or H.G. Welles. This novel has nothing to do with the real world.

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Agenda Driven

Revisado: 09-07-24

Fora man who argues we should have an open mind, Luis Elizondo is severely judgmental. The book is exhaustingly arrogant. Elizondo carries a “Let me tell you poor mortals...” attitude. In his estimation, he has seen behind the curtain, and he is now here as a prophet of fear to tell us what to and not to believe in.

Believe in God? In Elizondo’s estimation, you’re not only foolish, but a danger to the rest of humanity. A grounded theology, Elizondo argues, causes a person to be unable to evaluate the evidence clearly. Where did Elizondo get this view? From the government agents he later tells us not to trust.

The book is a strange mix of documenting alien encounters, and Elizondo’s commentary on the dangers of being grounded in any kind of theology.

This is like sitting at the dinner table with your crazy uncle, who hates religion, but wants to tell you about UFO’s.

I don’t need the UFO guy to define my worldview. Too much commentary, not enough documentation. He has seen a lot of stuff. I'd appreciate the information, minus the sermon and rants. What could be a helpful expose of what we have actually encountered, comes off as an old mans rantings.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

A Very Humble Man

Revisado: 06-12-24

Nicholas Meyer is a very humble man. I'm telling you that, because you won't know that reading his book. The book drips with arrogance. But Meyer gives us all a helpful tip -- he TELLS US pride is not his problem. I laughed out loud.

A good book gets bogged down with unnecessary political meanness.

Meyer does a nice job of taking us behind the scenes for what we are all showed up for -- his Sherlock Holmes novel. You did show up to read all about his Sherlock Holmes novel, right? And his utter shock that using someone else's characters might cause copyright problems. Really, if you fought with a dead writers estate because you stole his characters and tried to make money off it -- maybe leave that out of your biography; it's not endearing.

There's plenty of Star Trek here. And plenty of Meyer. Whichever you are showing up for, you'll get a healthy dose. Enjoy, I did.

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Courtroom Drama

Revisado: 04-23-24

Most of this book takes place in the courtroom. Like real courtrooms, the drama is sometimes slow, and then suddenly quite intense. But, wow, the end !

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Difficult

Revisado: 10-21-23

The book is unmoving. A lot happens, but the reader is left emotionally disengaged. It was also the first time I felt Ken Follett purposefully twisting a story to include liberal political views. He makes a hard break with historical reality in an attempt to refashion morals. Follett's view seems to be, if he tells the lie long enough we will all forget history and accept his version.

It's not just that this book wasn't for me, I realized this author is no longer for me. Long, preachy novels that just aren't much fun. Where's the guy who wrote pillars of the Earth? Or all those spy novels. We come to his books hoping to have fun, but instead get a dull history lesson -- and then we find out even the history was a lie.

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Powerfully Humble

Revisado: 09-11-23

This book is beautiful. It’s many things we think Hollywood isn’t. It’s about a strong family, great parents, lasting love and brothers who really care about each other. It’s also about movie making and television. Lots of that! From Andy Griffith Show to Gentle Ben and Happy Days, we bounce along with the brothers as they chase unique careers.

What really makes the book a powerful read, one that pulls you along as a reader, is their honest humility. There’s not a lot of bragging here, but there is a lot of reflection the people who poured into them. The book is full of real gratitude. What the Howard’s give Hollywood (and their parents) is something akin to a thankyou card in the form of a book.

I enjoyed all of it. And hey, a nice thing about reading books about child actors, is you don’t have to wait for the main character to grow up to get into the story! This thing starts with camera’s rolling. Well worth the credit.

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