Chip Auger

Pretty Good

Revisado: 08-11-20

This was somewhat interesting. I'm not sure I can recommend it. And here are some

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I Learned Important Concepts

Revisado: 04-19-20

This is a five star book based not on the story or the quality of the writing but on the lessons it taught me about being a better human being and a better husband.

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Easy to Use and Learn

Revisado: 10-10-19

I was already using Lingo Mastery’s “Spanish Short Stories for Beginners,” when I saw their offer for a free Audible edition of “Conversational Spanish and Dialogues” on Redit. Since then this book as become my goto source for enhancing my main Spanish learning course, “Learn Spanish in Your Car.”
As a beginner in Spanish, I have found it difficult find resources that were basic enough for my understanding and still a worthwhile learning experience. “Conversational Spanish and Dialogues” checks both of these boxes nicely. If you’re a beginner to mid-level speaker, I believe you will find this book help and a pleasure to use.

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A Novel Seared into My Very Being

Revisado: 07-25-19

This is a story I’m not likely ever to forget. The story is poignant and made even more impactful by the narrator’s accent and voice. The writing is masterful and the prose beautiful.
There are a couple of plot inconsistencies or passages that strain one’s credulity. There is a minor inconsistency in the first-person narrator’s character development. But these flaws are not enough to keep this novel from a five-star rating.

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Dissappionting

Revisado: 06-27-19

This is mostly a collection of readings from diaries of persons associated in some way with a settlement in the Northwest Territories. It is too close to original documents to be a book for the general history reader -- may be better for academic historians. Lacks McCullough's story telling so aptly demonstrated in most of his other books. I would put this more or less on the level of his book, "Truman."
Not Recommended.

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The Ultimate Disruptive Technology

Revisado: 11-23-18

Various voices are beginning to sound the alarm concerning the advent of the most disruptive technology yet to come. The technologies that comprise AI-enhanced automation pose a severe risk to the ages-old paradigm of distributing purchasing power on a basis of the value of labor provided. Martin Ford’s “Rise of the Robots,” is certainly one of the more cogent and compelling of these alarms. He explains many of the ways automation is poised to intrude into or possibly obviate traditional areas of labor and even professions. It is time to heed these voices and begin a national or even global discussion on how we will manage the economic, sociological, and societal impacts arriving with the deployment of these technologies.
General artificial intelligence may or may not be realized in the near term. However, narrow-field AI has made impressive advances in recent years. The event horizon that will bring these profound changes may be decidedly more immanent then previously forecast, making the need for discussion and planning necessary public policy changes more immediate. Mr. Ford gives compelling examples of AI computers or AI-assisted robots that are already demonstrating the ability to takes on task, occupations, and professional domains once thought safe by virtue of their complexity or lengthy training requirements.
The author further expands on some of the expected disruptions inherent in the projected idling of the labor force. Foremost among these are the consequences of wide-spread unemployment on our consumer-driven economy. Ford describes some of possible adaptive adjustments that have been discussed. Not all of his suggestions are practicable or even desirable. Clearly the warning bell is now sounded.

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Essential Reading for Steinbeck Lovers

Revisado: 11-09-18

Written and published in the heart of the depression before his literary star exploded, this novel establishes his understanding and empathy with the common people suffering in this extreme economic period. The great abundance of available labor fostered extremely inequitable employment situations for most people. Many were forced to accept starvation wages.
We, who were there to witness these times in person, are able to see the detail and the daily suffering in “In Dubious Battle.” Steinbeck sets the story in the apple orchards of northern California. His telling of the story rings with such an authenticity that lets the reader know that this story could be in any industry in any part of the country during the great economic tragedy of the times. He exposes the excess of both sides of the labor dispute, the growers taking unfair advantage of the labor situation to fatten their wallets, and the union organizers (in this case communists) who blithely expose the workers to extreme risk.
This is another of JS’s dialogue-driven novels. He uses the vernacular of the depression era manual labor class to give his characters creditable reality. His narratives using the characters own word are terse and intense. Expect a short but intense novel-reading experience.

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Far Less Than Expected

Revisado: 11-07-18

Possibly I was romanced by the tv miniseries, or the talk of the “old salt’s” reminisces about the “Old Corps” when I was a marine in the 1960’s. Perhaps I’ve been conditioned to have my history spoon-fed by today’s very talented writers of history for the general reader. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t get into this at all. I love history. I saw combat as a marine in Vietnam. But war memoirs such as this one and the likes of “Unbroken” and “Flags of Our Father” are somehow not authentic to me.

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Highly-Readable Biography of a Revered Leader

Revisado: 11-06-18

This is the only Eisenhower biography that I’ve ever read, and it may be the only one I need to read. Jean Edward Smith provides the general reader with a rather succinct yet comprehensive view Eisenhower’s life. Dr. Smith is frank and unflinching in his telling of the story of Ike’s life, giving credit where it is due and pointing out deficiencies where appropriate. He rightly criticizes DDE’s military errors both in the North African campaign and as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. Dr. Smith’s description of Eisenhower’s performance as president is laudatory while maintaining the forthrightness, he used to describe his generalship.
Smith portrays Eisenhower as a man who succeeded by applying his intellectual acumen, industriousness, and personal charisma and abundance of good fortune. Unlike McArthur, Ike was not a standout at West Point. By the time World War II began in 1941, he had twenty years in-grade as a major. His rise to four-star general in the next two years was an unheard-of accomplishment. His successful leadership of the allied forces in Europe, though somewhat flawed, would be enough reserve his place of honor in American history. However, his thoughtful and measured leadership as President of the United States elevates his place as one of the top five presidents. Ike brought a negotiated end to the Korean War and shepherded the country through the Berlin Crisis, the Suez Crisis and eight years without a single US combat death.
This account of Dwight David Eisenhower is an amazing read. Dr Smith’s account will have you grieving again for his loss.

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Wait! What?

Revisado: 11-05-18

Mr. Colson does a excellent job of portraying the abhorrent cruelty of slavery as it was practiced in the United States. However, it’s difficult to find a reason why he veered so far away from credible history. In Colson’s underground railroad, steam locomotives actually travel through early nineteenth century stone tunnels under the South. There is also a high-rise in South Carolina. In this version of American history, the antebellum South Carolina government is rescuing slaves from the plantation by purchasing them and teaching them to read. While, at the same time forcing tubal ligations on the emancipated women, a procedure not performed until after the Civil War. Is this supposed to be allegorical, and I missed it? And all of this in the first five chapters. I quit reading at this point.

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