DWD's Reviews

I was very impressed with the audiobook experience. Published in 2002 . Long Lost is one of the best audiobooks that I have ever heard. Neil Patrick Harris does an absolutely wonderful job of conveying the emotions of Brad Denning, the main character. Harris makes you feel the loss of Denning, the joy of re-discovering his long-lost brother, the horror of having his family kidnapped...Well done! The plot of the book is compelling. Brad Denning is a successful architect with a happy wife and son. One day, a scruffy stranger approaches him and tells him that he is Petey, Brad's long-lost little brother who was presumed abducted when Brad was 13. Something is not quite right about Petey (who has no real proof as to his identity) and Brad's wife has her doubts. But, Brad's guilt about his part in his brother's disappearance (he told his brother to get lost because he was being a pest and that is when he was disappeared) leads him to let Petey into their lives.  Af...

A thrill ride - and a joy to read Published in 1999 After having slogged my way through a couple of books lately Riding the Snake was a real pleasure. Now, don't get me wrong with the 5 star rating here - it's not a life-changing book. It's just a whole lot of fun. And it should be since it comes from famed television producer and writer Stephen J. Cannell (1941-2010). One can tell that he has plenty of experience (what kind of experience? How about working on Adam-12 and Columbo , creating the Rockford Files , Baretta , 21 Jump Street , The A-Team , The Greatest American Hero and at least a dozen more) with creating likable, interesting characters and putting them over their heads in difficult situations. In this case, a white ne'er-do-well playboy from Beverly Hills and a black female street-hardened cop from South Central team up (out of desperation) to take on the Chinese Triad criminal syndicate in Los Angeles and Hong Kong while trying to solve...

Great Elvis Cole novel Published in 2000 by Ballantine Books. L.A. Requiem is a wonderful hard-boiled detective novel - a real pleasure, especially since I've run across a string of sub-par books lately. No worries with that here. The reader does not have to have read the previous Elvis Cole novels to read and enjoy this one - in fact, you will discover more about Cole's mysterious partner, Joe Pike, in this one book than you will have read about in all of the previous books combined. L.A. Requiem is book #8 in the Elvis Cole series and well worth the read. Rather than ruin it with lots of spoilers, let me describe it like this: lots of action, good old-fashioned detective work, flashbacks, tragedy, revenge, honor, loss and re-dedication. Very well done. Crais is definitely on my short list of authors to watch out for! I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here:  L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole #8) by Robert Crais . Reviewed Februar...

Thoroughly enjoyable Alexander McCall Smith The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency started out pretty slowly and I nearly stopped listening about 45 minutes into it. Suddenly, the story "clicked" for me and I gladly listened to the whole 8 hours and 15 minutes. Narrated wonderfully by Lisette Lecat, a native South African who injects a touch of authenticity with her lovely accent and voice rhythms, this book is much more than a series of detective stories. It is also the story of Botswana and its culture and the complex interactions between traditional and modern, male and female, rich and poor, and white, black and Indian. A lovely book and a real joy to listen to. Sometimes laugh out loud funny, sometimes deeply moving. Well done. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. Reviewed on February 13, 2009.

An Amazing One Volume History of the Civil War Originally published in 1956. When I was a freshman in college, way back in 1986, I happened upon a Bruce Catton (1899-1978) book in the bookstore while buying all of my textbooks for my first semester. I picked it up just because I was in a mood to be educated with something that looked more interesting and less daunting than my economics and math textbooks. My fascination with all things Civil War began with that book. I traded it in a fit of stupidity a couple of years later at a used book store near campus. I read his trilogy, re-printed articles in American Heritage and then I moved on to other talented authors, such as James McPherson. Bruce Catton (1899-1978) I had forgotten how truly gifted Catton was as a writer and I just assumed that because Catton was the historian of my childhood, he was an inferior writer. Why? I don't know. I picked up this older copy (see picture above) of   This Hallowed Ground: The Story of ...

Published in 2006 by the Indiana Historical Society. The Indiana Historical Society's My Indiana: 101 Places to See is a colorful, informative guide to touring the state of Indiana. Every one of the 101 sites gets two pages, including at least two color photos (some have as many as four), a multi-paragraph, well-written description of the place and a section called "If You Go" that includes direction, phone numbers, websites, hours of operation and fees. The choices are all solid and are spaced throughout the state. But, I could easily come up with 101 more places to go and see so hopefully the author is considering another volume. (Update: The author has created a book called My Indiana: 101 More Places to See ) Two notes of correction: 1) the entry for West Baden Springs (pp. 200-1) is out of date (thankfully). What was just an abandoned hulk of a ruined hotel (impressive even with pealing paint and no prospects for large-scale repair when this book w...

Truly Unique Mystery Duration: 3 hours, 1 minute Mind Slash Matter is a unique entry into the world of mystery thrillers. The hero is a 2-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, Rush Lightbody, who is now a shell of his former self due to Alzheimer's. However, he is able to function due to a wonderful computer that he pre-programmed before the Alzheimer's set in that interacts with him by way of speakers, microphones, video cameras and pagers. Thus, Rush Lightbody is able to convince the outside world that he is still okay by way of a series prompts and firm instructions that come from the computer. Rene Auberjonois At times, it is reminiscent of Peter Sellers' movie Being There in that the people Lightbody interacts with over-interpret his incorrect responses as exceedingly wise responses. Often funny, often sad, this book causes the reader to enter the mind of an Alzheimer's victim and get a taste of that alternate reality. It never degrades Alzheimer...

Engrossing - pulled me right in Published in 1988. There are two Stuart Woods out there, at least in my mind. There's the early Stuart Woods that wrote great books like Chiefs and there's the Stone Barrister-writing Stuart Woods that just writes a formula plot, mail it in and collects a check. In White Cargo , a wealthy American, Wendell Catledge, is yachting off of the coast of Colombia when he is attacked by pirates and his wife and daughter are kidnapped and end up in the underworld of the narco-traffickers. Catledge goes underground to find his family in Colombia. White Cargo is definitely an early Stuart Woods book! I found myself pulled into this plot and I just had to know what happened next, despite the fact that the violence and sexual exploitation was a bit too extreme for my tastes. The ending was fairly hokey but the overall strength of the rest of the book more than makes up for that. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon....

Published in 2002 by Dutton Adult Sure it's formulaic but it works! Ken Follett Ken Follett's Hornet Flight is a rousing World War II adventure full of all of the characters you'd expect in a film noire spy thriller about the Nazis. We have the plucky Englishwoman, spunky high school kids, brave soldiers and a scarred-up German officer who wears the jackboots and everything. You know how it's going to end even before you start thanks to too much information on the description page, but it's still a rollicking fun ride. It hit me just right during these blasé winter days. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Hornet Flight. Reviewed on February 21, 2009.

Great book even though it was not quite what I thought it was. So, if it was not quite what I thought it was, what is it? Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers is a very succinct, well-written and entertaining history of the Ancient Greeks and the Romans with a little commentary at the end of each section about how these histories influenced the Founding Fathers. For example, he has seven pages on a history of the Spartans (probably the best short explanation of the Spartans I have ever read) and two pages about the lessons learned. There are 13 pages on the Persian Wars and just one page about the lesson learned. "Declaration of Independence" by John Trumbull This book does fill a serious gap in our education nowadays. Unfortunately, in the world of education, it is not uncommon to think of Western history as not important to our lives ("Hey! Ho! Western culture's got to go!" - Stanford protester...

One of the most beautiful songs, let alone Christian songs, I've ever heard  Released in 1993. Creed is a simple re-tooling of the Apostle's Creed by Rich Mullins into a song. The changes to the creed are minor. What makes the song so beautiful is Mullins' use of the hammer dulcimer, a wonderful stringed percussion instrument. The music comes out as both wonderfully delicate yet as powerful as any strong drum introduction to any '80s Hair Band metal hit. Rich Mullins  (1955-1997) I am not a big fan of Contemporary Christian music as a whole. I do not dislike it, but there's precious little that I've heard that is worth my hearing a second time. This song has stayed with me for a long time. The lyrics as I stated, are based on the Apostle's Creed but the chorus is his and states a powerful concept that struck me as profound when I heard it a decade ago and still strikes me today: And I believe what I believe Is what makes me what I am I...

This teacher comments: One of the best non-fiction books I've read all year! Published by Simon and Schuster in 2000. I graduated from Indiana University in 1990 - just as the 'girls are fragile' movement was gaining momentum. I was taught the 'facts' that Sommers refers to in numerous in-services (for all of you non-teachers, many teacher in-services are attempts at teacher training in which a speaker comes and entertains or horrifies us with a speech that usually has little or no practical value - when I taught in the inner city it was usually the horrifying type: "these kids are all failing and blah-blah percent of them will end up dead or in jail and it's all because you didn't teach them how to multiply fractions or diagram a sentence correctly!"). Anyway, I did buy into some of the stuff about girls being fragile and being overrun in the classroom. I have heard the statistics Sommers skewers so completely and thoroughly and I swa...

One of the best books in the Spenser series. This is my second reading of Small Vices . I'd read it before, years ago, and all I remembered was that this is the one in which Spenser gets himself shot and very nearly killed. (The beauty, I guess, of having so many Spenser novels is that it is hard to keep them all straight so I can go back and re-read them like they're new every few years). Robert B. Parker  (1932-2010) If you are familiar with Spenser, most of your favorite characters see some action in this outing. If you are not familiar with Spenser, this may be a good one to start with, although I would recommend some of the older ones to begin. The never-aging Spenser lives through an entire year of his life in this one, but don't worry, he still doesn't age. Neither do Hawk or Susan. They're like James Bond in that respect. It used to bug me but I know that I don't want to read about Hawk and Spenser's adventures in a nursing ho...

The original short story that the movie is based on. Length: 58 minutes (1 CD) Read by Phil Gigante Originally written in 1954 and titled The Adjustment Team , this audiobook was  renamed so that it can be tied in with the movie that is very loosely based on this short story by famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The one hour length and subject matter put me in mind of an episode of the Twilight Zone - one of the really good ones where we find out the world does not work quite the way we thought it did. Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) The premise of the short story is that real estate agent Ed Fletcher is not where he is supposed to be when the adjustment team comes to adjust his office. Instead, due to a bureaucratic mix-up on the supernatural level, Ed comes in to work a few minutes late and finds an adjustment team at work. The team has frozen the regular world and drained it of all of its life while they make adjustments to all the things and inhabitants. ...

T he Glorious Cause is the second in Shaara's two volume piece historical fiction concerning the Revolutionary War. Rise to Rebellion was the first, and I believe the superior of the two, but The Glorious Cause is an excellent novel as well. Rise to Rebellion is the superior of the two novels due to the changes of heart that the readers sees in John Adams and Benjamin Franklin concerning the issue of independence from England. The Glorious Cause has little of that type deep soul-searching. However, it is a fantastic portrayal of the difficulties encountered by the Continental Army and George Washington, in particular. If I were to have my druthers, I would have preferred that Shaara had broken the second 600+ page novel into two novels  to make it a trilogy and expanded them both by delving more into the politics of the day and the difficulties of fighting a war with the governmental structures and restrictions that the Continental Congress was hampered with. ...

What a great idea. Greg Wright In a world where so many kids are disconnected from their families, Greg Wright is determined  to be a large part of his four daughters' lives. The only way to do this is to spend time with his girls - lots of time (I once had a principal tell me that kids spell love T-I-M-E and I have seen nothing in 21 years of teaching to contradict that thought). The "daddy date" is devoted time just to them as a unique and special person. He achieves this by having "daddy dates" with them. On a daddy date he picks up the girl at home, takes her to a restaurant and/or an activity (not a movie, but an activity that promotes conversation) that she would like. Finally, starts a discussion with her and mostly listens. As a bonus, he is modeling the kind of behavior a special young man should show them when they go on dates (his daughters do not date in high school - they can go out in groups but not paired off dates). Greg Wright is not ...

19 hours, 34 minutes Read by John Lee Published by Tantor Audio Unabridged. Alastair Reynolds’ The Prefect is a hard-boiled detective novel set in a future in which mankind has moved to new worlds far away from Earth and created any number of new technologies. But, people still find themselves confronted by age-old problems that come from within humanity itself. In the end, despite the all of the glitz of spaceships and high tech weaponry, this is really a book about freedom vs. tyranny, redemption, revenge, justice, revenge and honor. Set in the year 2427, The Prefect is the fifth novel in the Revelation Space series. Chronologically, it is the first novel (there are short stories and novellas in the series as well) and it can be read as a stand-alone novel. The Prefect takes place in the Glitter Band, a group of 10,000 space stations (called habitats) with a total population of 100 million all in orbit around a planet called Yellowstone about 10 light years from Earth....

Published by Blackstone Audio Duration: 6 hours, 36 minutes Narrated by Barrett Whitener Unabridged Robert A. Heinlein’s Time for the Stars is a true bit of science fiction history and, in a way, embodies all of the “cool” stuff that made me such a fan – a bit of physics, adventure, young people off to explore unseen worlds, and some newfangled technology. Heinlein (1907-1988) first published Time for the Stars in 1956, during a time period when he had a contract with Scribner’s to produce books that were young people friendly. They were aimed at young adults, although I enjoyed it as well. It is the memoir of the space travels of Tom Bartlett, who is also one half of a very talented set of twins. The premise of the book is simple enough. The Earth is too crowded and a research corporation called the Long Range Foundation has invested in several ships to seek out new planets that humans can inhabit. There are already colonies throughout the solar system but they ar...

Fantastic. A most interesting book. C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) The Question of God is a fascinating book. I heard it is an audiobook. I listen to audiobooks as an interesting diversion during my commute to work and I found this book to fit the bill perfectly. It is narrated wonderfully by Robert Whitfield. Fans of Freud have complained about the book because they think that Lewis comes out of these debates much stronger than Freud. I agree. But, I do not think Freud was disparaged or misrepresented in these "debates." Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Large, generous quotes from both men are the main feature. Both men speak for themselves with Nicholi adding relevant supporting information with occasional discussion of his own research. The arguments flow naturally and I cannot recall a time when the discussion seemed forced. Lots of biographical material is included as well. The reader (or, in my case, the listener) does not need to be an expert on either ...