Lego
Digital Fortress, Dan Brown
Cryptography, action, and a love triangle. What’s not to love?
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2011-11-28
Rescue Car on the Moon
Contributed fiction.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2011-11-21
The Formal Report
Who says that a formal report has to be unreadable?
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2009-12-28
Freethinkers, Susan Jacoby
Subtitled "A History of American Secularism," the book seemed to promise a treatise on the origins and role of secularism in American life. Alas, the book is not scholarship but activism. Susan Jacoby preaches only to the choir in the Church of Lefties Against Religion. The work could have been much more if only Jacoby were as dedicated to fact as she is to her cause.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-09-15
A Man of Letters, Thomas Sowell
John McCarthy is credited with saying that "He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense." This suggests a corollary that is abundantly evident in reading the letters of Thomas Sowell.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-09-08
The Starbucks Experience, Joseph A. Michelli
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward." --Vernon Sanders Law.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-09-01
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose is the fourth book in the series by Lauren Willig.
- Posted by nikic
- Published: 2008-08-22
My Grandfather's Son, Clarence Thomas
Highly readable memoir of a remarkable journey from Rural Georgia to Capitol Hill.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-08-04
Distracted, Maggie Jackson
An intriguing story of... Oh, look! A chicken!
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-07-21
Born Standing Up, Steve Martin
Finding someone in this country who doesn't know of Steve Martin would be a chore that I'd prefer not to attempt to undertake. What's the point of finding someone who has been living under a rock for the last thirty years?
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-07-07
The Things That Matter, Edward Mendelson
"This book is about life as it is interpreted by books."
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-06-30
The Librarian
In the fall of 1978, I began school in the afternoon kindergarten at Beechwood Elementary in Whitehall, Ohio. In that year I became acquainted with a nice lady from the local branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. My memory of her is still very clear: she would sit in front of the class, holding the book up to her side, so that we could see the pages as she read them to us. I saw less of her as I progressed from grade to grade and it has been many years since I have been in the Whitehall school system or its branch of the local library system. Even so, I think of her every time I reflect back on early influences that helped me to develop a lifelong love of books and of reading.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-06-16
Fiction or Fact?
Fiction as fact. Fact as fiction. What's a reader to do?
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2008-03-17
Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart
At thirty years of age, Misha Borisovich Vainberg is grossly overweight at three hundred twenty-five pounds. Whatever his physical shortcomings, the son of the 1,238th-richest person in Russia is not in want of respect. Misha was educated in the United States at Accidental College, where he learned to think of himself as a multiculturalist. He also picked up the nickname of Snack Daddy, a girlfriend from the Bronx, and a penchant for rap and the culture, such as it is, of hip-hop.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2007-12-31
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Eric Hoffer
Though first published in 1951, Eric Hoffer's text on mass movements is an important argument for our time. In a mere 168 pages organized into four parts, Hoffer looks at the appeal of mass movements, the potential converts, united action and self-sacrifice, and finally the beginning and end of mass movements. The discussion draws upon examples from religious, social, and nationalistic movements.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2007-10-29
Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom
A student's personal account of a great teacher.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2007-06-04
The Measure of a Man, Sidney Poitier
With a career on stage and in film that has spanned more than five decades, actor Sidney Poitier has gained recognition for his work. Through his "Spiritual Autobiography," we learn something of the man behind the "star," from where he came, how he moved forward, and his views on life after having lived more than seventy years of it.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2007-05-28
Laughter in the Dark, Vladimir Nabokov
"Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster."
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2007-05-14
Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf
In every age, people who come from the centers of conflict are more likely to articulate keen insights into the human condition. From the second world war, for example, "Anne Frank":http://www.annefrank.com spoke to many of us all around the world. Who is relavent to today's conflicts? Check out the work of "Miroslov Volf":http://www.yale.edu/faith/center/volf.htm, particularly his book "Exclusion and Embrace":http://www.ebooks.com/ebooks/book_display.asp?IID=137930
- Posted by Mark
- Published: 2007-01-17
Smelling Christmas
This would be another attempt at nanofiction if it weren't wholly true. I therefore offer creative nanononfiction, in one hundred words.
- Posted by cmcurtin
- Published: 2006-11-13