DWD's Reviews

Much more intellectual than I expected Published in 2012 by Simon & Schuster Audio. Read by Adam Grupper and the author, Mark R. Levin. Duration: Approximately 8 hours. Over the years I have listened to Levin's radio show from time to time (he used to be carried in my city) and what I always remember from that show is Levin's frequent bombastic outbursts, a kind of manufactured rage that was meant to punctuate his points but lost their punch as I realized that he wasn't just getting angry over some particularly egregious issue, but he was angry over all of them. But, I have listened to three of his audiobooks and find them to be much better than his radio show. The first one I listened to ( Men in Black ) was just for a goof and I was surprised to find that it was pretty solid and the next one ( Liberty and Tyranny ) was even better. This one was an intellectually robust look at the major philosophers who have espoused tyrannical forms of governments disguised

Very enjoyable short listen Published by Blackstone Audio in 2009. Read by Robert Whitfield Duration: 90 minutes Socrates (469-399 B.C.) This unabridged lecture on Socrates covers all of the major aspects of the life of the famed Ancient Greek philosopher including his personal life, his military career (he served with distinction as a hoplite , the Athenian equivalent of a buck private), the sordid story of his execution by the government of Athens, his influences, who he influenced, his impact, both good and bad, on Western society and more. Throw in the entertaining (and surprisingly approachable considering it is about philosophy) text and the great delivery by narrator Robert Whitfield and this short little audiobook is a well worth listen. I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. Reviewed on March 11, 2012. <br /> <img src="http://wms.assoc-amazon.com/20070822/US/img/noscript.gif?tag=dwsre-20" alt="" /><br

Ultra-gritty crime novel Published  in 2012 by Forge Books. Hard Knocks is among the grittiest of gritty crime novels. It is set in Boston and in ex-cop turned private investigator Jack Reilly's world, everything is ran by a political machine, the mafia or both. Everyone is on the take, it's just that some people get caught and others are a bit luckier or smoother. Jack Reilly is not like his brother, an unlucky small time mafia wannabe who rotates in and out of prison. But, he's retired (with a "disability") after he was tainted as being the mayor's bag man who picked up bribes. Reilly is quite clear that he was not a bag man (except when no one else could do it) but he did a lot of work for the mayor as the man who could dig up dirt on anyone and make sure it made it into the right hands - a wife, a reporter, a political opponent. Reilly gets dragged into a case by Bucky,  a lock-picking friend of his brother from prison who discovered a lot of in

Borrows heavily from movies and TV, decent action. Event is not a bad book, per se, but I kept on thinking, "I've seen this before." The book introduces a secret government agency called the Event Group which investigates historical legends, paranormal activity, UFO sightings, etc. They are sort of an X-Files , Men in Black and Delta Force rolled into one. The Event Group collects items of historical significance and studies them to plan for future disasters. They also keep these items secret.  Why? I was never quite clear as to why Noah's Ark, the existence of King Arthur, or the arrival of the Vikings in the Americas in the 800s were state secrets. Plus, comments such as the Event Group not wanting to give King Arthur's body to the Brits because it belongs to "the world" seem silly when the Event Group is just storing Arthur in a vast underground base in Nevada. They are not sharing any of this information with anyone - they ar

Wonderful, just wonderful. Published by Simon and Schuster Audio Read by Cotter Smith Duration: 4.5 hours  Abridged A family friend gave me the abridged audio version of this book that has been on my "to read" list for years. I'd never quite gotten around to it but, boy, am I glad I finally did. Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) In Ambrose's hands the story of the Lewis & Clark expedition is lifted from the stale and stilted pages of the history textbooks and it becomes an exciting narrative - full of adventure, wonder and tons of hard work. Ambrose is a gifted writer. I am reminded of the David McCullough quote: "No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read." No danger of that with Ambrose. Not only has he read everything there is to be found on the topic but has traveled the route several times. William Clark (1770-1838) Cotter Smith did a great job of reading the text and keeping up

Read by David Ackroyd Duration: 3 hours, 5 minutes (abridged) Strengths: When Elephants Weep is full of moving anecdotes concerning animals and the possibility of them having emotions. It is a pleasant listen and usually not "over the top" in its preachiness. It was well read by narrator David Ackroyd. The authors make a compelling, if not scientifically rigorous argument for animal emotions. Weaknesses: The authors are continually preaching against scientists who do not believe that animals have emotions and may even doubt that animals can even feel pain. However, they rarely point out the scientists or the studies that espouse this view. It felt like a straw man argument after a while. They also fail to cite any work that backs their claims besides convincing rhetoric. In the end, it was a convincing, mostly entertaining book that was a lot more entertaining and pleasant than a PETA brochure, but without much more actual content than such a brochu

A wonderful introduction to Kahlo (a review of the English translation) Frida Kahlo with Diego Rivera in 1932 If you saw the Selma Hayek movie on the life of Frida Kahlo and want to know a bit more, this book is a wonderful introduction to her professional life. In fact, the movie and this book complement one another quite nicely, since the movie tended to focus on her personal life. Andrea Kettenmann's book follows the life of Kahlo and does a great job of explaining the symbolism of Kahlo's work as it pertained to her personal life, her health setbacks and her political beliefs. In my opinoin, the intensely personal nature of her work is what makes her such a compelling artist. She was especially good at depicting her pain, both psychic and physical. This book goes a long way to explaining many of her works. There are 93 illustrations in this book and most of them are of her paintings. Also includes a couple of photographs of Diego Rivera's works that i