DWD's Reviews

Despite the lack of details about "Survivor" it is a solid autobiography Published in 2007 by Life Press Rupert Boneham is one of the few bonafide celebrities to have come from the "Survivor" television show. Rupert tells about his difficult family life growing up in Kokomo, Indiana, his difficulties as a young man struggling with alcohol, drugs, tricky female relationships and his own desire for an instant family. However, through it all that big heart of his shines through and the reader is rooting for him to find his way. Despite his gruff and bearlike appearance, this book confirms that the attribute that we loved him for on Survivor was no act - this man is a Teddy Bear with a heart as big as all outdoors. Most enjoyable is Rupert's discussion of helping troubled teens. Even at his lowest, Rupert helped out kids - often his program was their last chance to stay out of jail. Rupert proudly details some of his successes and acknowledges

Solid and entertaining with good battle sequences Published by Thomas Dunne books in 2007 While not as strong as Stephen Pressfield in Gates of Fire , Michael Curtis Ford makes a strong contribution to the burgeoning collection of historical fiction books set in ancient times. In this case, we follow Odoacer, a real-life German/Hun who variously fights against and fights for the Roman Empire in its last days. The fight sequences are strong and with the exception of a couple of slow spots early on, this book hums right along. If readers are unaware of Odoacer's true place in history they may want to delay researching him until they have finished the book in order to avoid spoilers. A coin bearing the image of Odoacer (433-493 A.D.) Part of Ford's style is to narrate without necessarily telling you the year or how much time has passed. From time to time he gives dates but oftentimes you have to guess how many weeks/months/years have passed. This is anno

This is a prime example of the worst that can happen to a perfectly good sci-fi series. Published in 1998 by Random House Audio Read by Anthony Heald Duration: 2 hours, 58 minutes Abridged The action in Slave Ship takes place during Episode VI ( Return of the Jedi ) but includes plenty of flashbacks to right after Episode IV ( A New Hope ). To be fair to K.W. Jeter, it's not like he has a completely free hand to do what he would with these characters - there's an existing Star Wars timeline to deal with. However, that is not the entire problem with this book. It is repetitive and tedious - the audiobook presentation only enhances the repetitive nature of the text. I must have heard the phrases "Kuat of Kuat" and "Kuat Driveyards" a hundred times in a 10 minute period. Pronouns, anyone? So much conversation and so much of it repeating the same phrases over and over again. This book also hold the record for most uses of the word &quo

"He chose to live a bold life rather than settle for mediocrity" Published by Back Bay Books in 2006. "The only certainty about Columbus is that, for better or worse, he chose to live a bold life rather than settle for mediocrity." (p. 268) That is how Dugard ends a lively and informative biography of Christopher Columbus. As the title indicates, Dugard focuses on the fourth voyage of Columbus and its successes and mishaps. In order to properly place this voyage in its correct context, he uses the first half of the book to give the reader a fairly comprehensive biography of Columbus, as well as a thorough look at the politics of the day and other voyages of exploration, especially those of the Spanish and Portuguese. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) Columbus has been a whipping boy for the politically correct crowd for decades now. Dugard does a solid job of putting Columbus's actions in their proper context without becoming an apologi

Should have been titled "S is for Slow" or "T is for Tedious" Published in 2004 by Random House Audio Read by Judy Kaye Duration: 11 hours, 33 minutes "Occasionally I'm simply a minor character in someone else's play." -Kinsey Millhone. "R is for Ricochet" really is an appropriate title for this one since, like a misfired bullet that bounces around and hits uninvolved bystanders, Kinsey gets caught up in a client's mess and nearly gets herself killed. Set in July of 1987, this is one really slow-developing book. Lots of detailed descriptions of Kinsey's clothing, her client's clothing, the bad guy's clothing, Kinsey's thought processes about her clothing choices, the clothing of the IRS agent in the story, the clothing of a witchy rich lady, the clothing of Kinsey's love interest, the clothing a stripper wears to work, shopping malls, the clothing they look at in the shopping mall, hotel

Thoroughly enjoyable, quick but thought-provoking read Published by New Beginnings Press in 2007 Inspired by Stein's "Nick and Jessica" column - a column that was copied and pasted and forwarded to millions of e-mails across the world. Stein has collected a series of columns from the years 1978-2006, mostly from the 1998-2005. Topics range from Elvis and the celebrity culture to Richard Nixon to current foreign policy to the widows and orphans of fallen soldiers to the deaths of his parents. Ben Stein Often profound and usually very funny, Stein usually has a gentle wit and tries to put a gentle spin on things. But, 2 or 3 of these essays demonstrate that Stein can be cutting (however, his cutting observations are correct) and those are all of the more powerful since they stand out from the norm. Although this is a relatively short book, Stein's essays about his parents are worth the price of the book all by themselves. If his comments about his father