DWD's Reviews

Published in 2010 by FT Press. I picked this book up because I am a resident of Indiana and biofuels are a controversial topic. Some hail biofuels as a boon for local farmers, a green energy source, a creator of new jobs, and a step towards energy independence. Others  decry the whole project as stupidly burning our food in our gas tanks and a massive waste of money - cutting off our nose to spite our faces. What's the good news? This is truly a comprehensive introduction to topic of biofuels vs. affordable food. It is chock full of graphs, well-documented and is written in clear, easy to understand language. What's the bad news? It reads with all of the excitement of an introductory level college economics text, which is fitting since the publisher of this book is FT Press, an imprint of educational textbook giant Pearson. The other real problem is that if you are looking for an answer to the biofuel dilemma, it is not here. What you learn is that the relationship

A 1921 translation of an important piece of Reformation theology The Smalcald Articles were designed to be be a presentation of the basics of Lutheran theology that was to be presented at a Council of the Church in Mantua in 1537 - a Lutheran/Catholic discussion about what Lutherans and Catholics believed. As Luther notes in his brief introduction these articles laid out "what we could accept or yield, and what we could not." (location 2) They are named for the Smalcald (Schmalkaldic) League - a union of Lutheran cities and territories that opposed the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor. The Council never happened and the league never adopted the Smalcald Articles as an official statement of faith because of Luther's strident, I would even say enthusiastic, attacks on some core matters of Catholic faith, especially the office of the Pope. The Smalcald Articles were incorporated into the Book of Concord and are considered traditional standard Lutheran doctrine. The

Published by Hachette Audio 11 hours, 16 minutes Read by Peter Giles Unabridged The Scarecrow re-unites two characters from 1996's The Poet , crime reporter Jack McEvoy and FBI agent Rachel Walling. McEvoy is a victim of the ever-shrinking newsroom phenomenon that is hitting newspapers all across the country. He is the 99th out of 100 layoffs and he decides to go out with a bang. He is going to make the L.A. Times regret firing him by writing a Pulitzer prize quality series of articles. I don't want to do a book report here and re-tell the entire plot, but suffice it to say McEvoy and Walling dig up a lot more than they expected and lots of adventure and mayhem ensue. This is a highly entertaining audiobook. It made me look forward to my morning and afternoon commute - I wanted to listen to more. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly . Reviewed on April 30, 2010.

Relentlessly violent screwball book. This is my first Carl Hiassen book. It is also Hiaasen's first book as a solo author. Hiassen goes for over-the-top funny, much like Elmore Leonard and Dave Barry. but, in the end it wore me down rather than keeping me intrigued. The premise of the book is that a Miami-based newspaper columnist is sick of all of the development in and around Miami and the Everglades so he decides to start a campaign of terrorism to scare away the tourists and to discourage more development. The columnist (whose anti-development commentary rarely deviates from Hiasssen's as the narrator) is joined by an anti-Castro bumbling bomb specialist, an African American that is a former star member of the Miami Dolphins who hates almost all white people and a native Indian from the area who is flush with bingo and gambling money. Throw in a newbie Private Detective and an Orange Bowl Queen that is sick of the pageant scene and you have a potent mix but, in the en

I'm usually not into self-help or inspirational books but I enjoyed this one. My wife had this book and asked if I was interested in reading it. Sure, I said and put it on my rather large pile of books to read where it sat, with George's smiling face looking up at me for months. But, just this week I found out my school corporation transferred me to a different school (it was a seniority thing, not a performance thing) and I was more than a little bummed out because I like where I am at now. So, I picked up George's little book and plowed through it in about a day and a half, figuring I needed a bit of positive inspiration. George Foreman. Photo by el grito. Foreman talks about his two boxing careers but, more importantly, he divides his life into two parts - Old George and New George. In other terms, pre-Christian George and Christian George. George mentions St. Paul a couple of times and I'd imagine that George identifies with him because they share a comm

Thorough and interesting St. Paul's letter to the Philippians is not a very big book but it is a treasure trove of spiritual advice, advice about how a congregation should work together, historical information and ultimately, Paul points out how the Christian life should be lived with other Christians. R. Kent Hughes explains the historical setting of the book. He describes the city of Philippi, Paul's journey to Philippi and how Paul ended up in a prison in Rome when he writes this letter. Most importantly, Hughes explains Paul's theme that Christian life must be that of fellowship. Not that of coffee and doughnuts on Sunday morning fellowship, but fellowship like that expressed in the books and movies of J.R.R. Tolkein's Fellowship of the Ring ), a fellowship based on a shared sense of mission, devotion to one another and the mission (the spreading of the Gospel) and perseverance through hardship. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found o

Thought-provoking - made me question some long-held views Peter Brimelow has written a thought-provoking work that exposes the quirks and idiosyncracies of America's immigration policies by providing lots and lots of details, facts and charts while, for the most part, keeping the text lively and interesting. Not a mean feat. Brimelow is a writer for Forbes Magazine and, apparently, he enjoys digging into controversial topics. I've also reviewed another of his books concerning Teacher's Unions. He goes after the potentially explosive topic of immigration in two ways. First, he looks at the ways the current laws were supposed to have worked by delving in to the original debates of 1965. Secondly, he goes after America's cherished beliefs about immigration and asks rather simple questions that usually dismantle those beliefs as easily as a breeze destroys a house of cards. He tiptoes on the edge of sounding racist (he often questions whether it is in the best inter