Mer Barr

A biography can sometimes be all from other peoples' points of view, if the subject of the book is not a part of the interviewees. This book does meet those criteria but the chosen glimpses have a gossiping quality that is rather mean-spirited and ego-based, and I'm not fond of this.

I didn't need to get too far into the book to get the over arching message of the book, that the majority of interviewees felt Princess Margaret was hard to interact with. No need to stick it out to the end.

I normally like Elmore Leonard and checked this one out as I'd heard it was the basis for the “Justified” tv-series, but I'm returning this uncompleted because I'm not a fan of drug-related stories. I quite watching the tv series for a similar reason.

I'd hoped to get more on the lead character in Justified. Maybe it's there in the story but I just an not interested anymore.

I have to say I enjoyed both mediums, the book and the movie, equally.

The visual makes it easier to follow the loops, and the 2 warriors seem to work together longer and not so much on the battle field. The word gives you a much better 1st person understanding.

The only thing I didn't like about the book is that all the storyline existed on the battle field where it was difficult to follow who was doing what.

Interesting perspective on authors I'd only heard of or may have only read 1 or 2 of their books. The magazine has been mentioned in many books I've read related to scientific topics so I'm glad I now have more detail about Astounding and it's editor.

The one aHAH moment for me was regarding Campbell's tactic to get noticed by the armed forces, by having one of his regular authors write a story about the creation of the first US nuclear bomb being designed secretly. I'd heard about this potential leak in several books related to the scientists of the Manhattan Project but I don't remember them specifically calling out the source of the story. And a bit saddened that the man appeared to be so desperate to be in the war that he'd risk national security, and one of his authors, to do it.

This series of biographies really got me thinking about alot of subjects. Seeing other people's lives thru their eyes, what a group of friends can be, not seeing the issue that someone else has a concern with, and thinking creatively and out of the box.

I'm reading this as a result of enjoying the tv series “Midnight, Texas” which I enjoyed and was hoping the book would be more complex than the shows, which most books are. The section of the tv series that was related to the story of the book was pretty faithful from what I can remember, so although it wasn't more enlightening it was thankfully not a let down.

Whoa! I'm so glad I was listening to this, rather than watching it like another title tied to the author; Pan's Labrynth! This is definitely better than the TV series by the same name.

An interesting modern version of the vampyre story, good movement, lots of suspense, a bit confusing during the storyline transitions.

I'll read the 2nd in the series.

Lots of thought-provoking ideas and beliefs. I'm glad I didn't try to keep track of the relationship between the rooms to each other, or visualizing the world. That was all just too complex, strangely, and it would have been enough frustration for me to throw down the book and walk away.

Some science, alot of pausing for personal opinions, and some too-detailed descriptions of the ways a beaver can die. A nice catchup on the situation in England and the rest of the world.

The story continues to be good but this short stuff makes me unhappy. I'll wait for someone to put all 6 ‘books' together into a more traditional length book, then I'll buy it.

President Snow reminds me of [a:Elmore Leonard 12940 Elmore Leonard https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1240015224p2/12940.jpg]'s bad guys. He gives you the kind of detail into their inner workings that although you may not like them, you do understand their reasonings. Since I'm not fond of him, it's hard to get enthusiastic about his biography. And I'm more sensitive to negativity and gruesomeness now, than I most likely was when I read the series.

Another great book by the author. I'd heard of DARPA but didn't know exactly what it did/does. There's alot that is horrifying but there are alot of amazing stretching of possibilities.

A roller coaster ride between confusion on what all those terms being thrown out meant and having my mind explode over the parts I do understand. All in all a really great book worth rereading for even more understanding.

I wish there were videos that synced with the motion explanations through out the book. That would be amazing!

I loved the continuing story line from book 1 and getting reacquainted with the characters. However, like book 1, there's an emphasis on the blow-by-blow telling of each fight that I'm not a fan of.

I'm thankful the author didn't try to tell Eisenhower's entire biography and instead scoped it to one important subject in American history. It was a tradition for Kansans to visit his presidential library while in high school and, of course, you can care less as a teen, so it was ensightful to see his life and the topics that you heard about on the tv but also could care less about, as a teen. :-)

As chess is involved I did alot of skimming over the sentences about the strategies but I did enjoy the author's weaving of the game into the life of the characters involved. I did enjoy the descriptive prose that involved alot of touch and a dreamy quality to it but I did not enjoy the amount which at times brought the story to a screeching halt, often.Reminds me of another book about chess, mysteries, math, and music; [b:The Eight 113310 The Eight (The Eight #1) Katherine Neville https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388263286l/113310.SY75.jpg 268923].

Another fine plot in the series. Still enjoying Bob's perspective and his quirky coworkers and peers. Still finding technology that's well above my understanding; thankfully the author doesn't spend alot of time on those areas and I can get on with the story.

FYI, this is a series that needs to be read in order, as there are references to happenings and people in the prior books, and there's no catchup.

Fully acknowledging that this is one person's take on Hatshepsut's biography, it sounds like the author is knowledgeable in ancient Egypt, appears to base her conclusions on facts, and has done some serious contemplation on interpreting what she knows and fleshing that out to make the woman and her world become real in the mind's eye.This level of research and the author's interpretation reminds me of [b:The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: An Elusive World Wonder Traced 16179911 The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon An Elusive World Wonder Traced Stephanie Dalley https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1354631905l/16179911.SY75.jpg 22034490], which I also enjoyed.

It's like sitting inside Mrs. Adams' head, listening to her reminisce about her life [past present and future], various individuals she's met [past, present and future], family, you name it. If you don't focus on the one trip the title implies and think about the ‘Last Days of Napoleon', you'll be happier.

The author does a great job of sharing what life is like for him, how he's been successful and not with various challenges, and he shares a very interesting meditation practice that is not so narrowly scoped to traditional Buddhist images and themes. A practice for people looking for newer themes maybe.

I gave this book a 5, when I was 10-20 years younger. Today I give it a 3.5 as it reads more like young adult to me.

A great storyline and nice wrap up too! This one has more of a ‘message' than the other 2. I don't try too hard to figure that out.

Enjoyed the first part of the book better than the second only because I knew nothing at all. The connection to music was especially fascinating. The second part, I was old enough to know about but was good to get to know some of the movers and shakers a bit better.

Unlike alot of second in a series, this book's plot, wit, and writing style is just as good as the first. Will continue on the next in the series.

No gore, no death, very refreshing for a ‘mystery'. And it has 3 sisters with interesting personalities that live on their own terms, not those of the society of the age.

Putting the next in the series on my TBR list.