DWD's Reviews

Published by Random House Audio in 1999 Read by Anthony Heald Duration: 2 hours, 59 minutes. Abridged Admiral Ackbar Probably no one, even George Lucas himself, knows more about the Star Wars universe than prolific author Michael A. Stackpole. He has authored comics and novels and helped to build the entire post- Return of the Jedi storyline. Isard's Revenge is set several years after the last movie. The New Republic (the government that took over from the  Rebel Alliance in Episodes IV, V and VI) is mopping up the various bits and pieces of what is left of the Empire. Several warlords have set themselves up here and there and the New Republic is negotiating or fighting with them. In this storyline, a warlord named Ysanne Isard, the former Director of Imperial Intelligence, presumed defeated and dead, has returned. She has put together a rather complicated plot to draw Wedge Antilles (newly promoted to General by Admiral Ackbar) and his Rogue Squadron into a trap so s...

Published in 1992 by AvoNova (Avon Books) Tim Sullivan's Lords of Creation tries (and really tries hard) to pull together a whole lot of ideas and one really big one and put them all into a 242 page sci-fi paperback novel. It is set in the year 1999. Instead of a successful first Gulf War,  America gets bogged in a protracted fight that saps its political vitals at home. The Republicans work with a growing Christian Milleniallist movement who believe that the end of the world as we know it is coming and America should be prepared. A Department of Morality is developed and led by a preacher who attacks all of paleontology as "the work of Satan." Entire university departments are shut down due to a lack of funding and only amateur paleontologists can continue to dig. A fossil dig in Montana. Photo by SD Public Broadcasting One group of such amateurs are digging at a remote site in Montana when they find a odd metal box buried deep in a fossil bed, with the fossi...

Published by Borders/Recorded books in 1990. Narrated by George Guidall. Duration: Approximately 6 hours, 30 minutes. Unabridged The Blessing Way is the first of the Leaphorn books but, ironically, Leaphorn is a mere supporting character throughout most of the second half of the book. College professor/archaeologist Bergen McKee is the main character - the one who has the most growth and teaches the reader the most about Navajo society and culture. Tony Hillerman (1925-2008) Nevertheless, The Blessing Way is an enjoyable book. I have read all of Hillerman's books at one time or another so I am going back and listening to some of the older ones as a high-quality diversion from my boring work commute. I intentionally picked this one, the oldest of the series, since I recently read and reviewed the newest of the series ( The Shapeshifter ), which, ironically enough, also prominently featured the Navajo Wolf/Witch/Shapeshifter. His descriptions of Navajo society...

An American Odyssey -Slow start, but once you get past the first 50 pages or so you won't want to put it down. This book is really a set of very, very short stories all tied together into two main narrative lines. It can be very frustrating to some who just want to get the story moving, but that the main plotlines are not really the point. The wonder and randomness and beauty and brutishness of this thing we call life is the point. This is no "Pilgrims Progress" in which the main characters struggle and eventually reach a higher consciousness and understanding. However, it is a Post-modernist American Odyssey. In the original Odyssey, Odysseus goes from one adventure to the next on his way home from war. In it the reader (originally the listener) learns life lessons and Odysseus comes home a better man for all of his troubles. Charles Frazier Inman and Ada's adventures remind me of that but without the over-arching themes (thus, it is post-mode...

Published in 1989 by Books on Tape, Inc. Read by Michael Prichard Duration: 4 hours, 45 minutes I read Looking for Rachel Wallace years ago, but I don't have a great memory for all of the plot details so I am re-enjoying the Spenser books as audiobooks. In this case, Spenser and Rachel Wallace kept me company while I wrapped presents and fed my one-year old. And they were quite good company. Rachel Wallace is a lesbian feminist activist who lives to shock and provoke the sensibilities of middle America in the late 1970s. Her activism has made her the recipient of several threats so Spenser is hired to protect her. If Rachel Wallace is anything, she is an ultra-feminist and no ultra-feminist (at least not in this book) is going to run to a big strong man for protection. Rachel Wallace realizes this and fires Spenser. But, soon enough, Rachel Wallace is actually kidnapped and Spenser goes on the hunt for her out of a sense of personal obligation. The climax of the ...

What this book is and what it is not Published by Tyndale House Publishers in 1997.  I picked this book up somewhere along the way and I am sure when I bought it I thought that it was something that it is not. What I thought the book was: -I thought it was a Graham Hancock-type (ironically, Graham Hancock is referred to in the text of this book) look into some of the oddities of the Bible. What really happened at Jericho? What does the archaeological record say? Where did Moses and the Israelites cross the Red Sea? Are there possible explanations for a parting of the Red Sea besides a divine one? What about those that claim that Jesus did not really die on the cross? Is the popularly referred to "Swooning" of Jesus an explanation for his resurrection. If not, why not. The kind of stuff you get on the History Channel from time to time That is not what this book is (although if anyone knows of such a cool book, let me know!) What this book is is a compil...

This movie swings for the fence with every pitch... Directed by Wolfgang Petersen   Released in 1985 This movie swings for the fence with every pitch. If you are not a baseball fan, that is saying that a batter swings for the fence means that he only goes for home runs and does not try to just get on base.   And, for you baseball fans out there, you know that the long ball hitter that swings for the fence with every pitch strikes out an awful lot. But, the fans love him anyway because when he gets hold of a good one it's a home run! This movie is a lot like a long ball hitter - the director tries to go for a home run on so many levels that you end up alternating between shaking your head at the cheesiness of it all and wiping at a tear at the way some of the scenes work so perfectly. The premise is that two enemy fighter pilots in a bitter intergalactic war shoot each other down over some horrible planet that will barely support life. One is human. ...

A Scotsman, a mastiff and a feudal nation Published by Mariner Books in 2006. When the United States first invaded Afghanistan one of my friends wondered aloud if we intended on keeping it as a colony. I quipped that we already owned a mountainous desert area full of people that have a religion that we don't understand - we call it Utah (with apologies to my Mormon friends out there). Rory Stewart After reading The Places In Between I truly realize the depth of our misunderstanding of the situation in Afghanistan. I keep up on the news better than most. I've spoken with veterans who have returned from Afghanistan. Yet, as I read Stewart's account of his walk across Afghanistan just weeks after the fall of the Taliban, I realized that this truly is a foreign culture - as alien to me as any on the planet. I am amazed that the mission in Afghanistan has been as successful as it has been. Stewart introduces us to the variety of cultures that Afghan...

Going back for a second read - this time as an audiobook Published in 1988 by Books on Tape Read by Michael Prichard Duration: 5 hours, 12 minutes (unabridged) I've long since read all of the Spenser novels but I am enjoying a second time around with the older ones as audiobooks - I listen while commuting. Robert B. Parker  (1932-2010) The Godwulf Manuscript is the first in a very long line of Spenser novels. The most essential parts of Spenser are here - wisecracks, details about cooking, his mostly unused office and a healthy interest in the opposite sex, Lt. Quirk (I'd forgotten he was Spenser's first "buddy" in a long line of buddies) and Spenser's self-deprecating inner voice. The Godwulf Manuscript is a much more "noire" style book than most of the rest of them - but then again it's not much of a surprise really - authors change over time. Spenser, however, does not change. The book is set in 1973 and Spenser ...

  Published by Dh Audio in 1982. Read by Samantha Eggar Duration: approximately 3 hours. Abridged Many years ago, in the early 80s, I was a devoted reader of all things Heinlein. Somewhere along the way I guess I lost interest (I don't remember), but I found this audiobook version of Friday and thought I'd re-live the old days a bit. From the product description on the back of the box I did not remember having read the book, but soon enough, I vaguely remembered the plot a bit. So, how was it re-visiting Heinlein? It was okay. The story line was not nearly as interesting as the backdrop (a fragmented United States - how I'd love to see a short history of this vision of earth plus a short description of the technology - Heinlein accurately describes the internet - not bad for 1982). Friday is a genetically modified human being created from bits and pieces from all around the world. She lives in a remarkably open society that openly discriminates against...

Thompson's original essay was much better Published by Sentinel HC in 2006 For those of you who do not know, Keith Thompson's first draft of Leaving the Left was a column in the San Francisco chronicle (found here ). I thoroughly enjoyed the original essay. I printed it out, read it to my wife, forwarded it to friends. A copy of it has set on my desk for the better part of two years - mostly in the way, but also as a reminder of my own personal journey away from the Democrats (my first 4 votes in any sort of Presidential race were proud votes for Jesse Jackson, Michael Dukakis, Paul Tsongas and Bill Clinton). Really, though, it's not so much that I've moved from them as they have moved from some of their core values to new core values. Political parties, like people, evolve in their thoughts. Keith Thompson, like many others, discovered that the political party of his youth (he was the youngest delegate to a Democratic national convention in America...

Long stretches of tedium punctuated by episodes of laugh-out-loud fun Published by Macmillan Audio in 2005. Read by Lorelei King. Duration: 7 hours, 48 minutes Unabridged. Eleven on Top is my fifth in the Stephanie Plum series, having previously read 1-3 and 8. Technically, 1-3 were enjoyed thoroughly as books on tape. The fact that I heard them all as audiobooks is a source of my frustration with Eleven on Top . You see, the first three that I enjoyed were read by the actress Lori Petty. In my mind, Petty accurately nailed the Jersey Girl attitude and accent of Stephanie. Lorelei King, a veteran reader does a good job with all of the characters but Stephanie - she plays Stephanie fairly accent-neutral. While the dialogue works without the New Jersey accent, it crackles and zings with it. I know that King is the choice for Evanovich to read, but I think that she is a letdown after listening to Petty's work. Secondly, the fact that I 'read' this book as ...

Published by  Simon and Schuster Audio in 1992. Read by David McCullough, the author Includes parts of recordings of speeches by Harry S. Truman and Douglas MacArthur Duration: approximately 6 hours Abridged Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) While I am a world history teacher, my favorite times in American history are the Revolutionary War Era, the Civil War Era and an interest in the Frontier as it moved across the United States. While I knew a great deal about Truman before listening to this audiobook, I really felt that I needed to know more. David McCullough's treatment of Truman is friendly, but not overly rosy. The audiobook version I listened to was abridged. I assume that the areas that were not focused upon in the abridged edition are more fleshed out in the unabridged edition. (Note: this abridgement was not sloppily done - I didn't even notice it was abridged until about 3/4 of the way through the book - it just seemed like he was glossing over the...

Published by Audio Literature in March of 1998. Read by Nick Ullett Duration: 3 hours Abridged I picked this one up on a whim. Having already read and reviewed Hancock's Heaven's Mirror several years ago, I knew what I was getting myself into - lots of alternative, well-researched ideas that cause you to think, "Well...maybe..." The first half of the audiobook was just that. Questions about the weathering on the Sphinx. Unexplained unwillingness to research into what lies below the Sphinx (is it a cavern? a room? a geologic anomaly?), challenges to the orthodox Egyptology's interpretations. Lots of good fun and as a history teacher I encourage challenges to Orthodoxy - for example, until fairly recently the Maya were considered to be wise sages of the rain forest who abhorred violence (turns out they readily engaged in human sacrifices all of the time), the Assyrians of Nineveh were considered to be a fantasy of the Bible and the city ...

Based on some dubious assumptions Published by Pocket Books in 2006. Brad Thor's thriller Blowback delivers as far as the international thrills and chills go. Main character Scot Harvath is a counter-terrorism expert on the tail of an Al-Qaeda operative who catches wind of something new - a plague that is being resurrected from the ancient past to be used against all non-Muslims. Harvath pursues his leads across Europe and the Middle East - that part is lots of fun. I have issues with Thor's treatment of Muslims and his main thesis. **SPOILER ALERT** Every Muslim in the book, with the exception of two, is either a brazen hypocrite or a crazed religious fanatic. One of the good Muslim is killed by the virus being spread the fanatics and the other is shot by the hypocrites. There are literally dozens of Muslims in the book - and only two are decent people? Thor's book rests on the premise that the Ottoman Empire is trying to resurrect itself by usin...

Yikes! Published in 2003 by Hatchette Audio Read by Hope Davis and Stephen Lang. Duration: 7 hours, 35 minutes. Unabridged The Lake House is the story of six bird/human hybrids who are created as the result of genetic experiments. They all can fly and all have superhuman strength.  This book is very poorly paced. Great chunks of action happen with shorthand writing and then Patterson spends nearly an hour of the 7 1/2 hour book describing two of the characters' first sexual experiences. The Lake House skips over scenes and parts of the story moves in fits and starts. For example, the children all "run" away to live in the woods and eat grubs just to get away from regular human society. Next thing you know, they're back at home without any sort of explanation. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and many of them are abridged so I am used to odd fits and starts by poor editing. I checked the packaging several times while listening to this book to see if it ...

Good but not great Published by Hatchette Audio in 2002. Read by Peter J. Fernandez and Michael Emerson. Duration:  8 hours and 7 minutes. I am glad to get back to the world of Alex Cross. I have read or heard 3 other Patterson books this year and have been sorely disappointed with two. I only liked one ( Jester) and I was looking forward to getting back to comfortable ground with Alex Cross. After reading a few reviews, it sounds like the audio version actually helps Four Blind Mice a bit. The two narrators are both quite good, with the exception that some of the bad guys sound too much like one another. The strength of Patterson's Cross books is the realistic conversations - the rhythms, cadences, colloquialisms and vocabulary sound right and this was certainly accentuated by great audio performances by Peter J. Fernandez and Michael Emerson. They sound so right that I am reminded of a personal story. Way back before Patterson's picture was plastered ...

It was good, but not great. Published by D.C. Comics in 2004. I am not the biggest comic book fan. I have never even set foot in a real comic book shop so I don't even know if the 'Comic Book Guy' on 'The Simpsons' is realistic or not. Continuity means nothing to me. Being a history teacher, I was more intrigued by the history part of the story. (Speaking of continuity, I know for a fact that Superman was fighting Nazis during WWII, just like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck - I've seen the movies!) However, I've read some of the big stuff (Dark Knight I and II, Red Son and a few more). I was dimly aware of some of the heroes featured in this one, which makes sense since JSA was originally intended to promote the lesser known heroes). This one was interesting, but in the end, not as good as I had hoped. Learning the new characters was fairly easy, but telling them apart in their street clothes was darn near impossible with the exception of ...

Published by Regnery Publishing in 2004. As a real history teacher (as opposed to the coach history "teacher" that too many people have had) I was looking forward to this book since I read and enjoyed other Politically Incorrect Guide... (P.I.G.) books. I have few quibbles or quarrels with the facts presented. Woods has done his research and I would even recommend parts of this book as a supplement to read alongside a regular American History book. He is especially strong on his facts about the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. However, I do have an issue with the way it is presented. Woods states in his preface that this book is not intended to be an alternative, non-PC history book. But, what is is exactly? I have pegged it as a supplement, but Woods really fails to do so. Sometimes, the book tries to come off as a "Gotcha! Betcha didn't know this!" trivia book, other times it goes into pretty strong detail and nearly is as well-rounde...

Beautiful pictures, wonderful essay    Published in 1996 by Graphic Arts Press. 142 pages. James Alexander Thom Darryl Jones captures Indiana's beauty like no one else. Jones has made several books filled with wonderful shots from all over Indiana, although he tends to focus on Southwestern Indiana hill country most of all. These are not all nature shots, like some of his other books. There are shots of small towns, grain silos, barns, the Colts, the Indy 500 and Conner Prairie. Jones' work is paired with James Alexander Thom's essay on Indiana history, character and its possible future. Thom's writing is not just mindless boosterism, but rather a thoughtful commentary by a Hoosier who is in love with his state, warts and all. The essay is just as wonderful as the pictures, if not better! I am considering this as a gift for a relative who moved out of state just to remind her of home and its unique character. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5....