startup_eng1

A very enjoyable story

Revisado: 07-07-20

The author did a great job taking the reader back to the South in the 1950s and 60s. Back into the marshes where the crawdads sing. The style and setting will remind the reader of "To Kill A Mockingbird". It is a story of a young girl abandoned by her family but strong enough to learn from nature to come of age and become known to the locals as the "Marsh Girl". The story has geeat pace and provides surprises right to the end. I highly recommend this book to those looking for a good read to escape today's problems.

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Interesting piece of history!

Revisado: 05-23-20

I had no idea that the Nazi organization in the U.S. was so large during the 1930s. Most U.S. criminal history seems to focus on gangsters during the 1920s and 30s. It sounded like New York and New Jersey were hotspots for the Nazis clashing with the Jewish Minutemen. The book is short but an interesting history of what took place in the decade preceeding WW2. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in this time period.

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A Whale of a Story About Whales

Revisado: 10-12-18

Whales are huge and they are cool!

But what else to we really know about them. Dr. Pyenson's book tells us that whales have been studied extensively and a lot is known about them. But, for every fact uncovered there seems to be 10 or more questions that arise that require further research.

Dr. Pyenson obviously is fascinated with whales and has the skill to explain them to just about anyone. This book has been written to be understood by laymen. If you like whales, you should read/listen to this book as you will probably find it just as fascinating as I did.

A couple of parts that I found particularly interesting are:

The research that took place to determine whether a baleen whale controls the flow of water into its throat when feeding or is the throat expanded due to shear volume without any control of the water by the whale. Doesn't sound to significant until you realize that the amount of water taken in during each jaw opening is the equivalent volume of a nominal living room in a house and that from opening to closing of the jaw takes place in less than 15 seconds. Amazing! Btw, the research calculated that the whale must control the flow as the forces are so significant that if they didn't control it the back of their throat would blow out.

The second item was about a whale graveyard found in South America. Just before reading "Spying on Whales", I had finished "This Is Your Brain on Parasites", which identifies just how much impact micro-organisms can have in our world in the past, presently and in the future. Regarding the whale graveyard, this impact was in the past.

The whale graveyard is unique in that there are several layers of whale fossils/bones in this graveyard. Each event that caused the whales to die (referred to as a whale fall) are thousands of years apart. The quality and quantity of the whale remains indicates that the cause of death was quite rapid. The theory is that the weather pattern had changed and caused substantial rain in the mountains which caused a micro-organism that inhabited the mountains to be washed out to the ocean shore. Much like a red tide is today, the micro-organism quantity proved to be substantial enough to cause the water that the whales were swimming in to become toxic. It is amazing that one of the smallest living organisms can kill one of the largest living creatures on the planet.

There are plenty of other things to learn about whales in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in whales. I listened to the audio version and recommend it to those that like listening to a very good story.

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There's A Whole Other World Out There!

Revisado: 10-12-18

Where some of the reviews chastised this book for being borderline science, I think they missed the point of book. I'm pretty sure the intent of the author was to open up a whole other world to laymen. I certainly fall into this category and found the book's topic to be both fascinating and a little disconcerting as there may be things happening to humans that have not until recent years even been considered. This is a world that none of us can see without special equipment and knowledge. Even those armed with both are challenged to come up the hypotheses and then, harder yet, figure out a way to prove their theories.

A second book, Spying on Whales, by Nick Pyenson discussed a whale graveyard in South America that really registered with me as I had been exposed to micro-organism in "This is Your Brain On Parasites". The whale graveyard is unique in that there are several layers of whale fossils/bones in this graveyard. Each event that caused the whales to die are thousands of years apart. The quality and quantity of the whale remains indicates that the cause of death was quite rapid. The theory is that the weather pattern had changed and caused substantial rain in the mountains which was a micro-organism that inhabited the mountains to be washed out to the ocean shore. Much like a red tide is today, the micro-organism quantity proved to be substantial enough to cause the water that the whales were swimming in to become toxic.

My point is that the study of micro-organisms is still relatively new, but appears to contain answers to past and current problems with much more to be learned. However, the whale graveyard theory, if correct, indicates that micro-organisms being the smallest living things on the planet have the ability to kill even the largest living organisms on the planet. I found this to be fascinating.

This book probably isn't for everybody, but if you like science and like to know what science is working on and what is currently being researched without having to be a scientist then you probably will like this book. I recommend it as well as the book about whales (read my review on it).

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Great Book Which Met Its Objectives

Revisado: 10-12-18

This book had two key objectives: 1) to honor those who perished in the downing of Extortion 17 and 2) dispel the conspiracy theories that indicated the downing of Extortion 17 was intentional. With all the detail and energy of a Tom Clancy novel, this book met its objectives. I highly recommend this book to any who want to know what really happened.

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The Poldark Saga Continues!

Revisado: 04-28-18

Great story. Highly recommend the audio version as the actor's performance adds a lot to the voice, sense and feel of the characters that would be lost in just reading. I'm looking forward to listening to the next book in the series.

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Another Great Baldacci story!

Revisado: 11-26-17

This story significantly shortened our trip to Florida (700 miles one way) and back as we were so focused on the non-stop adventure.
We highly recommend this book!

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Fuzzy World of Fraud

Revisado: 11-05-17

First off this book isn't for everyone. While there are anecdotes explaining rather well known perpetrators (e.g. Andrew Fastow, Bernie Madoff, etc.), the book is really so much more.

The book starts off looking at why they did it. It is surprising that the general consensus from the perps was that they did no wrong. "I'm innocent!", they claim. Yeah. Yeah.

But then book takes a turn and goes back to the early days of business; about the time of the robber barons in the late 1800's. Back then there were very few laws regulating business. Business became the last wild frontier.

It is this last wild frontier that created the situation that still exists today. Survival of the fittest became the norm. Creativity and power could determine who would win and lose in the business world. Decisions were made in the interest of advancing their businesses. Sometimes there was collateral damage; that is when regulation began.

There is one other aspect to consider as well. That is the one of impressions. Dress for success was another side of the business. Successful business people needed to not only "walk-the-talk" but also portray themselves as being successful. This is an important point in understanding why so many incidents took so long to become public knowledge. The "perps" cannot bring themselves to accept failure as they have developed a mindset focused only on success. "If only we can make one more deal, then..."

There is an irony built in to career of business professionals. To get to the top they have to be creative and forceful. Creativity is great until it crosses the line of legality. But, here is the problem: some would have you believe what is legal and illegal is mere fixed, thin line and that it should be obvious which is which. Then when the situation is reviewed by regulators this line could move left or right of where the business man think he is (i.e. the regulations can be interpreted in more than one way). Oops!

Finally, when you have waded through the history of business through the 20th century and gain perspective of how things have played out over the last 100 years, the anecdotes about real crimes are explained. I think the author set this up so the reader will reflect that understanding of the crimes is not as clear cut as one thought before reading this book.

I learned a lot from this book; more than I expected to. I highly recommend this book to those interested in business; particularly if they happen to be business leaders. It will provide a nice sanity check.

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Great Entry Level Explanation of the Universe

Revisado: 11-05-17

For those who may have read Stephen Hawking's "The Illustrated A Brief History of Time", you will find the Tyson covers much of the same ground. But, it is worth listening to this series of lectures because Tyson's descriptions and style will expand your understanding of the material.

Both authors are exceptional in their ability to explain the complex to the lay person, but they both have their distinct and separate methods. Experiencing both really enhances one's understanding of the material.

Plus, some of Tyson's information covers theories that have been adjusted since Hawking wrote his book.

I highly recommend this audio presentation. Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson is really easy to listen too. He is quite engaging.

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Gripping Pre-WW2 Italian-American Saga

Revisado: 11-05-17

Mario Puzo dedicates this story to his mother. He realized that all the detail of the story came from living with her. All the interactions both in the family and in the neighborhood were revealed day-by-day from conversations and interactions with his mother. We think this rings true as the story centers around an Italian mother living in a pre-WW2 U.S. East Coast tenement trying to find a better life for herself and her family.

The detail of this story puts you right there. You can feel all the emotions felt by Lucia Santa as she tries to make sense of life. You will laugh. You will cry. You will learn what life was like in Hell's Kitchen.

For reference, I found the book reminding me of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle"; except Puzo's book is an Italian-version of the human condition a few decades later.

We highly recommend the audio version of this book. My wife and I agreed that it would have been tough read and one would have lost many of the nuances intended in the story. Even with the audio, it takes a bit of time to develop an ear for the Italian names and determine who the players are. But, it is well worth the effort.

We highly recommend this book.

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