Book Review - Thank You For My Service by Mat Best

I'm a big fan of entrepreneurs and hearing how they stumbled into their businesses.

Thank You For My Service by Mat Best is a nonfiction book telling the story of a teenage boy who joined the military, his experiences in the Middle East, and finding a purpose and direction after coming back to civilian life. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Stories. Mat is a great storyteller. He makes even the most mundane events sound exciting. He injects so much personality into his tales and has a great way to insert his wild opinions and commentaries into stories without interrupting the flow.

Lessons. Mat made a lot of mistakes and learned from most of them. He isn't afraid to share his mistakes or successes with others. He's very honest and doesn't fake humility or pride.

The Bad

Language. The language is definitely adult. It adds a certain humor and personality to the book, but some people may not be able to get past it.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

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Overall

Thank You For My Service by Mat Best is a nonfiction book telling the story of a teenage boy who joined the military, his experiences in the Middle East, and finding a purpose and direction after coming back to civilian life. Mat is a great storyteller. He makes even the most mundane events sound exciting. He injects so much personality into his tales and has a great way to insert his wild opinions and commentaries into stories without interrupting the flow. Mat made a lot of mistakes and learned from most of them. He isn't afraid to share his mistakes or successes with others. He's very honest and doesn't fake humility or pride.  The language is definitely adult. It adds a certain humor and personality to the book, but some people may not be able to get past it. I highly recommend this book and give it 5 out of 5 eReaders.

    

Book Review - Life After the State: Why We Don't Need Government by Dominic Frisby

I've been a Libertarian since studying Economics in college and seeing how incentives are much more effective to drive people and nations than regulation and force.

Life After the State: Why We Don't Need Government by Dominic Frisby is a nonfiction book about unintended consequences that always follow regulation and government programs. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Explanations. So often well meaning people do things to help others only to have their efforts backfire and actually make the problems they're trying to solve worse. This book explains how that happens, why that happens, and how to avoid that.

Examples. The author uses many examples from around the world and quotes actual numbers to support and illustrate his points. I appreciate the variety and the specific numbers he gives.

The Bad

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What I Would Like to Have Seen

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Overall

Life After the State: Why We Don't Need Government by Dominic Frisby is a nonfiction book about unintended consequences that always follow regulation and government programs. He clearly explains why well-meaning people do things to help others see their efforts backfire and actually make the problems they're trying to solve worse. This book explains not only how that happens and why that happens, but also how to avoid it. The author uses many examples from around the world and quotes actual numbers to support and illustrate his points. I appreciate the variety and the specific numbers he gives. I highly recommend this book and give it 5 out of 5 eReaders.

    

Book Review - Rewired: An Unlikely Doctor, a Brave Amputee, and the Medical Miracle That Made History by Dr. Ajay K. Seth

I am a big fan of biographies, history, science, and technology. I'm also a big fan of science fiction becoming science fact. It's not often these five areas come together in one story.

Rewired: An Unlikely Doctor, a Brave Amputee, and the Medical Miracle That Made History by Dr. Ajay K. Seth is a nonfiction short novel about one woman losing an arm and then regaining feeling and function via surgery and a prosthetic. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Story. This book tells the story of a woman who is bitten by a racoon, her arm becomes severely infected to the point it has to be amputated, and then a new, never-before-performed surgery restores sensation and motor functions to the art. The story itself is pretty remarkable, because everything that happens is pretty basic and ordinary, and yet the results of every event and every action was not the usual or even the expected. There were also many unexplained and seemingly impossible twists in the story.

Telling. The author is the doctor who performed the amputation and the surgery to restore sensation and function. He does a remarkable job detailing the events in a very interesting way. His ghostwriter(s) should probably credited on the cover as well.

Technology. This book discussions cutting edge technology and surgical techniques that not long ago were strictly in the realm of science fiction. It was a lot of fun to see them move into the light of science fact.

The Bad

Stops too Soon. This book stops too early. There is still so much more to this story, but I suppose the author wanted to get the important part out there for all to read, and maybe we'll have a sequel to finish the tale.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I really want to know what happens next. Does the main character get a new prosthetic, and does it work like a real arm?

Overall

Rewired: An Unlikely Doctor, a Brave Amputee, and the Medical Miracle That Made History by Dr. Ajay K. Seth is a nonfiction short novel about one woman losing an arm and then regaining feeling and function via surgery and a prosthetic. The story itself is pretty remarkable, because everything that happens is pretty basic and ordinary, and yet the results of every event and every action was not the usual or even the expected. There were also many unexplained and seemingly impossible twists in the story. The author is the doctor who performed the amputation and the surgery to restore sensation and function. He does a remarkable job detailing the events in a very interesting way. His ghostwriter(s) should probably credited on the cover as well. This book discussions cutting edge technology and surgical techniques that not long ago were strictly in the realm of science fiction. It was a lot of fun to see them move into the light of science fact. This book does stop too early. There is still so much more to this story, but I suppose the author wanted to get the important part out there for all to read, and maybe we'll have a sequel to finish the tale. Overall, it is a fascinating story. I highly recommend this book and give it 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.

  

Book Review - Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World by Tim Marshall

Geography is a fascinating study that is largely overlooked. And in today's bitterly-political world, it's rare to find a real scholar who looks at the facts and does his best to ignore his politics.

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World by Tim Marshall is a nonfiction book looking at the current world situation, why it is like it is, what is most likely to happen, and why so many seemingly "good" ideas are actually impractical fantasies. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Scholarship. People misuse words like "science" and "scholarship" to justify and give credence to their existing opinions, but very few people actually apply scientific principles or strict scholarship when analyzing a situation. The author of this book does, and it is fascinating and explains so much. It also helps the reader to understand why so many policies in the past failed when they sounded like such good ideas.

Writing. While this is a very scholarly book, it is written in terms that normal, average people can understand and, even better, enjoy. This book never becomes slow nor boring.

The Bad

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What I Would Like to Have Seen

I was very satisfied.

Overall

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World by Tim Marshall is a nonfiction book looking at the current world situation, why it is like it is, what is most likely to happen, and why so many seemingly "good" ideas are actually impractical fantasies. People misuse words like "science" and "scholarship" to justify and give credence to their existing opinions, but very few people actually apply scientific principles or strict scholarship when analyzing a situation. The author of this book does, and it is fascinating and explains so much. It also helps the reader to understand why so many policies in the past failed when they sounded like such good ideas. While this is a very scholarly book, it is written in terms that normal, average people can understand and, even better, enjoy. This book never becomes slow nor boring. I highly recommend this book and give it 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.

  

 

Book Review - Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators, Father of the Adventure Strip by Brian M. Kane

I absolutely adore early newspaper comic strips by the great masters like Milt Caniff, Roy Crane, and Hal Foster. And I find the story behind the comics and their creators tend to be worth exploring.

Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators, Father of the Adventure Strip by Brian M. Kane is a biography of the man and his work. It is available in both hardcover and paperback editions.

The Good

Telling of the Story. Biographies can be incredibly fascinating or painfully dull depending on who is doing the storytelling, and this author did a good joy of keeping the story moving while including a lot of information, details, and background information to set the story in the proper time and frame. While there is a ton of info, I never felt bogged down by it because of the quick page, conversational tone, and numerous visuals.

Artwork. This book does an incredible job of including a lot of photos and artwork, especially photos and artwork that have probably never been seen outside the family or since they were produced. I was really impressed with all the Christmas cards, sketches, doodles, advertisements, paintings, etc. and the quality of their reproduction.

 

The Bad

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What I Would Like to Have Seen

While I appreciate all of the extra matter included, it would have been nice to see a few more examples of the actual comics Hal Foster was so famous for. There were a few panels in black and white from his color comics run on Tarzan, but no full page comics which would have been really nice to see.

Overall

Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators, Father of the Adventure Strip by Brian M. Kane is a biography of the man and his work. It is available in both hardcover and paperback editions. Biographies can be incredibly fascinating or painfully dull depending on who is doing the storytelling, and this author did a good joy of keeping the story moving while including a lot of information, details, and background information to set the story in the proper time and frame. While there is a ton of info, I never felt bogged down by it because of the quick page, conversational tone, and numerous visuals. This book does an incredible job of including a lot of photos and artwork, especially photos and artwork that have probably never been seen outside the family or since they were produced. I was really impressed with all the Christmas cards, sketches, doodles, advertisements, paintings, etc. and the quality of their reproduction. I highly recommend this book and give it 4 out of 5 eReaders.

  

 

Book Review - The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug by Thomas Hager

I love history and the development of art, music, technology, and science. It always nice to find an author who did his homework.

The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug by Thomas Hager is a nonfiction historic look at the development of drugs and antibiotics focusing mostly on the sulfa drugs of the 1930s and 40s. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Information. The author did his homework. This book does an excellent job presenting the development of sulfa drugs, explaining what they were and how they work, and their effect on the world at the time. He also discussed the developments that came before it that paved the way for the sulfa drugs to exist and briefly covered what came after to replace them, completing the story.

Presentation. The story is well paced, very interestingly told, and has the right mix of scientific information and anecdotal diversions to hold the readers' interests and present the topic in a complete manner.

The Bad

Conclusion. It's a shame the author had to make a political statement at the end of the book. It did not fit the message or tone of the other 99.9% that came before it. It's more of a soundbite you'd hear on a talk show as opposed to the well researched scholarship of the rest of the book. It's little more than pandering to some uninformed audience who probably won't even pick up this book because it is too scholarly and well researched for that group's taste.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I was left not wanting.

Overall

The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug by Thomas Hager is a nonfiction historic look at the development of drugs and antibiotics focusing mostly on the sulfa drugs of the 1930s and 40s. The author did his homework. This book does an excellent job presenting the development of sulfa drugs, explaining what they were and how they work, and their effect on the world at the time. He also discussed the developments that came before it that paved the way for the sulfa drugs to exist and briefly covered what came after to replace them, completing the story. The story is well paced, very interestingly told, and has the right mix of scientific information and anecdotal diversions to hold the readers' interests and present the topic in a complete manner. It's a shame the author had to make a political statement at the end of the book. It did not fit the message or tone of the other 99.9% that came before it. It's more of a soundbite you'd hear on a talk show as opposed to the well researched scholarship of the rest of the book. I highly recommend this book and give it 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.

  

 

Book Review - How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition by Robert Greenberg

I've always loved music and thought I knew quite a bit from a decade of piano lessons and several music courses in school plus my time around music experts picking up tidbits from them. Then I read this book and realized I had a lot to learn.

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition by Robert Greenberg is a nonfiction book that covers the history of Western music from Greco-Roman days (what little we know about their music) to the early 20th Century and its structure and development. It is available as an Audible Exclusive Audiobook.

The Good

Information. This book has so much information from the history of music to the structure, the people, the cultural influences, and everything in between. There's a reason it's over 35 hours long, but every minute is filled with information.


Clarity of Explanation and Illustration. The author does an excellent job of explaining music theory and musical instruction and presenting several examples, again well explained, to illustrate the point. Even someone with next to no knowledge of music could follow the information, and yet even a music expert would not become bored or feel insulted.

Author's Excitement. The author is the reader, and he has so much enthusiasm for the material that is contagious and makes the reader equally as excited about the material.

The Bad

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What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish the author had spent a little more time in the 20th Century and the development of music to the present day. The 20th Century produced an incredible amount and variety of music with as much development as the centuries that had come before combined.

Overall

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition by Robert Greenberg is a nonfiction book that covers the history of Western music from Greco-Roman days (what little we know about their music) to the early 20th Century and its structure and development. This book has so much information from the history of music to the structure, the people, the cultural influences, and everything in between. There's a reason it's over 35 hours long, but every minute is filled with information. The author does an excellent job of explaining music theory and musical instruction and presenting several examples, again well explained, to illustrate the point. Even someone with next to no knowledge of music could follow the information, and yet even a music expert would not become bored or feel insulted. The author is the reader, and he has so much enthusiasm for the material that is contagious and makes the reader equally as excited about the material. I wish the author had spent a little more time in the 20th Century and the development of music to the present day. The 20th Century produced an incredible amount and variety of music with as much development as the centuries that had come before combined. I highly recommend this book and give it 5 out of 5 eReaders.