Review: The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows

The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows by Gabor Boritt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I like to read books before the movie, so I read this to prepare for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and get the correct role people like Will Johnson and Joshua Speed had to in Lincoln's life.

:)

Seriously, this is a great book about the cemetary consecration speech how it came to be (not on the back of envelope enroute in the train), what else went on that day, the battle and its repercurrsions (this also extensively covered in appendixes) and why the Emancipation Proclamation, as dry as it is, subsumed this concise bit of eloquence before buyer's remorse over racal integration caused the mythologizing populace to choose to see Lincol as wordsmith and not chain-breaker.




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Review: The Gamble: General David Petraeus & the American Military Adventure in Iraq 2006-08

The Gamble: General David Petraeus & the American Military Adventure in Iraq 2006-08 by Thomas E. Ricks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A fascinating indepth analysis of changling military strategy in Iraq focused mostly 2006-7. Basically, this covers the period from obvious need of reassessment to a policy of greater engagement and ultiamtely the surge. From Bush to the dawn of Obama's involvement, this is centered around Petraeus' entre into the mess. It is particularly enlightening how cooperation and engagement went further than bullets and bombs and I was moved by the comment of British peace activist and Mideast expert (and Petraeus advisor) that she hated war but loved the U.S. military and that America "doesn't deserve it's military"



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Review: The Long Escape

The Long Escape by Jeff Noonan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



For Noonan, a Navy career is a springboard toward seeing his family evade a dangerously abusive, alcoholic father. Most of the book focuses on Noonan's Navy time, so the weight of memoir is about a seaman's life between the Korean War and Vietnam seeing destroyers move into the era of computerized guided missile system.s



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Review: The Bizarre Truth

The Bizarre Truth by Andrew Zimmern

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Zimmern's role as globalist, field cutlural anthropologist add an enligtening dimension to his travels in Chile, Uganda, the Far East, Barcelona, and more. A few insances that I felt were unecessary animal cruelty (a bowl to hold the still beating frog heart, having a guinea pig beatend to death for a witchdoctor experience) leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but the hints of Zimmern's life outside and before globe-trotting snacking makes me want to know more about his life.



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Review: Constraint Logic Programming Using Eclipse

Constraint Logic Programming Using Eclipse by Krzysztof R. Apt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book is a practical introduction to constraint programming in ECLiPSe. While workong on my MSc at Oakland University, it really got me thinking that even as an exercise moving the programming mind outside OO is good exercise for the programming mind. With this book and the freedownload of ECLiPSe from http://eclipseclp.org/, any programmer serious about their craft can start that exercise.



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Review: Principles of Constraint Programming

Principles of Constraint Programming by Krzysztof R. Apt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book is a practical introduction to constraint programming using any procedural language to explore the concepts based on pseudocode examples. While workong on my MSc at Oakland University, it really got me thinking that even as an exercise moving the programming mind outside OO is good exercise for the programming mind. With this book and the freedownload of ECLiPSe from http://eclipseclp.org/, any programmer serious about their craft can start that exercise.



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Review: Constraint Logic Programming Using Eclipse

Constraint Logic Programming Using Eclipse by Krzysztof R. Apt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book is a practical introduction to constraint programming in ECLiPSe. While workong on my MsC at Oakland University, it really got me thinking that even as an exercise moving the programming mind outside OO is good exercise for the programming mind. With this book and the freedownload of ECLiPSe from http://eclipseclp.org/, any programmer serious about their craft can start that exercise.



View all my reviews