DWD's Reviews

A great legal thriller Published in 2001. The oddly titled The Jury (it's not about the jury at all - they are barely mentioned) is a sharp, tight legal thriller that hums right along until the neat little twist at the end. Paul Madriani and his law partner Harry Hinds have are defending a murder suspect, a genetic researcher named David Crone. The book joins the trial already in progress. Madriani and Hinds have one big problem, though. The unflappable Crone keeps so many secrets - trade secrets, research secrets and vital information that he just didn't think was important enough to mention to his attorneys that they don't really know where they stand in any of this. Throw in a family friend with a genetic disorder that may be cured by Crone's research, you get a solid mixture of urgency, ambiguity and frustration that kept me glued until the end. I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. This book is found on Amazon.com here: The Jury by Steve Martini . Reviewed...

An informative historical adventure Originally published in 1995. Follett's A Place Called Freedom was one of the most requested books when I worked at a now-defunct used book store many many years ago. I finally got around to reading it and I can see why it was in such demand. Follett introduces the reader to the turbulent politics on 1760s England, Scotland and America. He throws in a liberal dose of romance and the reader will be reminded of the Tom Cruise / Nicole Kidman epic movie Far and Away . There are plenty of similarities - both feature poor, rural heroes who fall in love with the landlord's spunky daughter. Nevertheless, it's a great read and unique enough to stand up in its own right. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a view of England's politics and turmoil on the eve of the American Revolution - it puts America's arguments for revolution in a clearer context - it even strengthens them. On top of that, the book is a great ...

A wonderful book - it creates a world for the reader and at the end you are sad to leave it. Originally published in 1967. For me, when I read an absolutely excellent novel, I have a hard time getting into another one - you end up rejecting the new one because it's not as good as the last one. This is one of those novels for me. So, I guess I'll be cleansing the reading palate with a few magazines. I first read I Heard the Owl Call My Name when I was 14 or 15 years old. I haven't thought about it for years until I came across it at a book sale and picked it up on a whim. I approached re-reading it with some trepidation - I was afraid that it would not be as good as I remembered and I would be disappointed. Well, it wasn't as good as I remembered - it's much better! Age and experience make you appreciate some things more, I suppose. I shot through I Heard the Owl Call My Name in less than 24 hours - a new record for this slow and steady reader. Gr...

Considering the reputation of this author, I was quite disappointed Originally published in 2000. In order to start with positive thoughts - What does Carr do right with Killing Time ? 1. His vision of the future, published in the year 2000 about the year 2023, does correctly predict that Afghanistan would be a hotspot for the American military due to a fanatical, independently wealthy, international Muslim terrorist. 2. He predicted that the U.S. would become involved with Saddam Hussein in Iraq over WMDs. (Ironically, in this book, Saddam tries to nuke France in 2006) 3. Carr does an interesting thing by writing a sci-fi book that sounds Victorian. 4. His beginning themes of capitalism gone amuck are interesting, despite their misguided nature. What does he do wrong? 1. There is little or no character development. Even our main character is minimally fleshed out. He joins a group of anti-information age terrorists with little or no qualms, despite the fact that ...

I was so thrilled with this book - at least I was at first... Originally published in 1990. I borrowed The Mother Tongue from my mom - I picked it up off of the shelf and after reading the first 3 or 4 pages I knew that I had to finish it. So, I borrowed the book and was happy with it and its light and humorous telling of the long and occasionally tortured history of the English language. But... the mistakes and problems started to pile up. Bryson illustrates a lot of his points by showing the reader how other languages had similar developments. Most often he uses French and German, which is appropriate considering their close ties to English. On occasion, though, he uses Spanish, which is something that I am sensitive to since I teach Spanish. Mr. Bryson's assertions about Spanish accents and pronunciation were wrong more often than right. Too bad Mr. Bryson did not have a Spanish speaker actually pronounce a few of the words for him so he could see that his...

Fantastic! Originally published in 2002. D'Souza starts Whats So Great About Americ a with a thorough indictment of America. In a 30 page chapter entitled "Why They Hate Us" he honestly and thoroughly lays out all of the arguments about why America is reviled by so many. By the end of the chapter the reader begins to wonder if there really is anything so great about America. The balance of the book is spent answering every charge leveled in the first chapter. I have rarely read a book on contemporary politics in which I agree so thoroughly with his analyses. I may be just a high school history teacher but I do a lot of thinking about history and a lot of reading. The big ideas such as those of Locke, Rousseau and Jefferson fascinate me and I like to think about what their philosophies mean for us if implemented in the real world. D'Souza's comments on the West being an inheritance from both Athens and Jerusalem (pp. 60-61) closely mirror a concl...