DWD's Reviews

Uneven and the use of e-mails gets annoying The first 60 pages or so of the book were so unfocused that I could not grasp where Colmes was heading or what he was trying to do. The only real thing he seemed to be doing was showing how unhinged some of the people who e-mailed him really are (lots of people have wished him ill for his points of view) and he uses these nutjobs as a brush to paint conservatives as a group as downright mean - in fact that is the title of one of his chapters. (despite his own admission that people fire off e-mails without thinking and say things that they would most likely never say to someone's face) Finally, Colmes gets focused and the last 2/3 of his book is a decent read - even though he keeps the e-mail theme going and it really loses its effectiveness. His political commentary is full of the same type of political cheap shots that he accuses the Right of using, such as: -Colmes has a little chart showing the political spectrum from left to

Powerful, important but not perfect. Also - test yourself! Summary of the book: Foxman uses the common comment that the world has learned its lesson during World War II and will "never again" let hate do what it did to the Jews in World War II. He uses a question mark because he points to some rather depressing trends in this well-researched book that mark a rise of anti-semitism throughout the world, even in Japan. (reviewers note: How many Jews actually live in Japan? How many Japanese actually know what the Jewish religion is? I'm assuming this is just a nutball group that hates just about everybody and just threw the Jews in too). Foxman is the head of the Anti-Defamation League, a group based in New York City that monitors Anti-Semitic activity throughout the world. My review: Foxman is a bit too sensitive (something that he admits he is trying to avoid), but he's right,there are terribly disturbing anti-Semitic trends, especially in his chapter 7 con

Historical problems - but great acting. The movie makes some cheap, ineffective attempts to give the Joan of Arc story a bit more punch - including a "prophecy" from Merlin and the mischaracterization of the 100 Years' War as a War for France's freedom from Britain. However, there is some good acting in this movie, especially from Peter O'Toole - he brings humanity to a character that could have easily been a one-dimensional, generic bad guy. Is it a great movie? no Is it entertaining? Yes - and you get the bonus of watching a real pro like O'Toole show you how its done. I rate this movie 4 stars out of 5. This movie can be found on Amazon.com here: Joan of Arc . Reviewed on July 15, 2004.

Elvis Cole #2 Published by Brilliance Audio Read by Patrick G. Lawlor Duration: 6 hours, 52 minutes Unabridged Synopsis: Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike are hired by a Los Angeles businessman to find a missing ancient copy of the Hagakure , a book that details Bushido, or the way of the Samurai. Along the way, they discover hidden family secrets, connection to the Yakuza (Japan's ultra-violent mafia) and deal with a kidnapping and modern followers of the Bushido. Robert Crais Written in 1989, Stalking the Angel is an early Elvis Cole book. Crais is still doing a bit of casting about to find his rhythm with the characters of Joe Pike, Elvis and even his irascible cat. The plot doesn't flow as well as later books but it still a very nice listen. It is narrated by Patrick G. Lawlor who does a solid job of catching Cole's wisecracking side but overall does not catch on to Elvis as well as the narrators of his later books do. I rate this book 4 stars out

Well done Before this book, I had not had the pleasure of reading one of Evan Thomas' books. I picked this one up despite the fawning comments by Thomas in June 2009 ("I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world, he's sort of God.") My original thoughts were if this guy can't be any more unbiased in his observations than that, do I really want to read his stab at history? Well, I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. This is a solid history that is told well. The book flows along nicely and the reader is both entertained and informed. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)  with his men in Cuba The book's focus is the build-up of public support for the Spanish-American War (1898). As the title notes, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge and William Randolph Hearst are the main subjects in the book but other people round out the story, including Harvard professor and philosopher William James ( Pragmatism and

 Geoff Surratt's Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing is an entertaining and informative read. Like I noted in the title, I am not a pastor (but I have been an active church member nearly all of my life), but I still found the book quite enjoyable. Surratt's 10 things are: * Trying to do it all * Establishing the Wrong Role for the Pastor's Family * Providing a Second-Rate Worship Experience * Settling for Low Quality Children's Ministry * Promoting Talent over Integrity * Clinging to a Bad Location * Copying Another Successful Church * Favoring Discipline over Reconciliation * Mixing Ministry and Business * Letting Committees Steer the Ship Surratt does come at things from a non-denominational perspective so some of these items were not particularly applicable to my Missouri Synod Lutheran church, but most were. I was able to note that our church does most of these things well, including just moving out of a bad location (too small) an