Review: Revelations: Diaries of Women

Revelations: Diaries of Women by Mary Jane Moffat

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This is an interesting collection of excerpt from womens' diaries. Thye go from known memoirists, like Anne Frank and Anais Nin to one, at least to me, lesser known: Henry James sister and the sister of William Wordsworth, for instance. The introductor, explanatory material is minimal but helpful. Overall, the women are left to speak for themselves, and whether it is the rigors of war (American Civl War and WWII) or finding a place to part a broken-down caravan or (in the case of a memorable "Unknown Japanese Woman) make an arranged marriage work despite frequent miscarraiges, the women do that very well.



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Review: Stoned Like a Statue a Complete Survey of Drinking Cliches: Primitive, Classical and Modern

Stoned Like a Statue a Complete Survey of Drinking Cliches: Primitive, Classical and Modern by Dean Martin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I think the authors were stoned when they came up with this idea, and carried it out. The slim paperback is B&W images of statues and statuettes, often pornographic with cartoon balloons holding weak comical observations on imbibing and cocktail parties, often with a snide attitude.



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Review: So Far...

So Far... by Kelsey Grammer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I was never more than mildly interested in "Cheers" and as such I was only dimly aware of his Frazier character and don't think seen nary an episode of the later "Frazier" sitcom. Still, I saw such positive reviews of this autobiography, I thought I'd give it a try. I am glad I did, especially with this audiobook effectively read by the author. It's a great performance and a honest and revealing assessment of a life full of tragedy, hope, and triumph.



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Review: Mathematical Mechanics: From Particle to Muscle

Mathematical Mechanics: From Particle to Muscle by Ellis D. Cooper

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



The author is a retired high school teacher and Mathematical Mechanics is aimed at AP-level high school calculus students and their teachers to undergraduates and on to those graduated into research fields. It cannot be said that the author succeeded entirely in reaching both such a wide audience and covering such a constellation of topics for all of them. However, in being so boundless Cooper writes in a personal, wandering forward fashion that brings to mind a notebook, a type of scientific memoir. Asides, favorite quotations and improvements to proofs and theorems give the text that flavor and make it something that can be dipped into by the enthusiast at any point.

[See my full review at MAA Reviews.]




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Review: Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present by Michael B. Oren

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Roughly three quarters of the book is given to American relations wiht the Middle East from 1776 to WWII, about 175 years. Post-WWII to the War on Terror is the final quarter, roughly three quarters of a century. As result, tying in where we are now seems rushed, almost glossed over.

However, the author does succeed in documenting his case that from birth of this nation until know the relationship of America to the Middle East has been a contradictory blend of exotic allure and Islamophobic revulsion.

I found it most interesting that even back in the terms of Thomas Jefferson the nation struggled with waging war or seeking peace, claiming acceptance of all beliefs while reviling the Islamic faith. Over that time, it is sad and disappointing that the Western/Xtian and Muslim civiilzations couldn't get past their own prejudices from that day to this: Muslim lens of "Christian dogs" having Satanic motivations and aspects while powerfully placed extreme right factions in America and beyond seeing a Jewish homeland and war with Islam as a necessary and sought precursor to messianic return.

Also, the narrator has an occasional but distracting habit of putting the wrong syllable emphasis into a word.



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Review: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I resisted reading this book for a while since the garish cover and title made me think of books that are generally consumed only via “executive summary” and aren’t worth much more than that. However, I am glad I have read for it I found a fascinating overview of anthropological applied psychology and neuroscience that belongs on the shelf next to the works of [a:Malcolm Gladwell|1439|Malcolm Gladwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1224601838p2/1439.jpg] and [a:Steven Pinker|3915|Steven Pinker|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235758085p2/3915.jpg].
Particularly interesting where the marketers at Procter & Gamble figuring out how to sell a Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history, by leveraging the habit of adding smells rather than eradicating them.
The CEO of Alcoa reaped marketplace gains by laser focus on safety, affecting and aligning worker habits and other corporate-scoped examples include Starbucks and the famous example (I heard it before of Target data mining for pregnant customers). Activism by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) along with the power of weak links in Rosa Parks’ movements adds a socio-political dimension.
I was somewhat disappointed by the denouement, where [a:Charles Duhigg|5201530|Charles Duhigg|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1349273209p2/5201530.jpg] seeks to compare a sleepwalker’s murder to a woman who hides and finds enabled a multi-year million dollar gambling habit.

I think he intimitation of a theory of aspect - perceptional differences was both the most intriguing and least developed part of the book...



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Review: The Accidental Anarchist

The Accidental Anarchist by Bryna Kranzler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was a delightful read about a Russian Jew's comical flirtation with anarchist terrorism and fighting in the Czar's army in The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905). Captured for his politically motivated crimes and being doubly persecuted as a Jew, the diarist that was the source of this biography teams up with a good-hearted, optimistic thief and escapes from a Siberian prison camp. The story nicely ends with the meeting and marriage to the headstrong woman that delivered his cast off message and saved him from execution.

The Kindle edition has nice hyperlinks to explanations of Yiddishisms and historical facts as clarified by the family members that boiled down the diaries to this book and their small afterword material about that journey really completes this history.



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