Reviews (17)

Review ofMemoirs of US Grant
General Grant's use of the English language is very interesting and informative.Absolutely a pleasure to read.

A Masterpiece
This book is a must-read for any Civil War or American history buff. Grant's writing is consistently clear, elegant, beautiful. He gives an engaging account of his wartime experiences that are accurate to the best of his ability, and he writes with introspection and humility. The personal letters at the end of the volume reveal much about this fascinating man, and are a welcome addition. Please read this one! Another wonderful book in this series is the volume containing Frederick Douglass's autobiographical works.

A History Buff's Wet Dream...
This is certainly a great book, and in parts, it is a good book. Grant has a very terse, matter-of-fact style, which makes for easy reading. The bulk of the book is devoted to the Civil War, and there are dry patches, and multitudes of "We went to the ridge, and then to the river, and moved our artillery up to the picket" and such-like. But that is what happened, and so you can't fault Grant for his meticulous detailing of troop movements, correspondence with fellow officers, etc. As I said, the great majority of the book is devoted to the Civil War, and there is not a word about Grant's tenure in the White House. Personally, of all topics covered by Grant, I find him to be most fascinating on the subject of the Mexican-American War of 1847. This is not something commonly focused on in history classes, but Grant's account is riveting. Additionally, Grant's remembrances of Lincoln are very interesting, as is his almost awed reverence for the military abilities of Sherman. The book is long, but it doesn't seem long, and if you have a love of history, this is indispensable stuff. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (Ulysses Simpson),    2. 1822-1885    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Correspondence    7. Generals    8. Grant, Ulysses S    9. Letters    10. Literature - Classics / Criticism    11. Military    12. Military Personnel    13. Presidents    14. U.S. History - Antebellum Period (1840-1860)    15. United States    16. United States - Civil War    17. United States - Reconstruction Period (1865-1877)    18. Literary Collections / Letters   

Editorial Review

Early in 1998, Read more

Reviews (25)

Great book.....
This book is great gives a good understanding of the research community and the search to understand angiogenisis.

Dr. Folkmans War
This book is a very well done documentary of the trials Dr. Folkman went through to have his ideas on cancer treatment considered.His ideas are now becoming the new approach, offering much needed hope for patients and their families.For anyone interested in cancer, thisbook is worthwhile.

Dr. Folkman is my hero -- a story better than SeaBiscuit!
This book by Robert Cooke is incredible!Mr. Cooke is able to explain to the average layperson the medical concepts of angeiogeneis conceived by the most under-valued person of our time:Dr. Judah Folkman.Dr. Folkman is to cancer what Salk was to Polio!Personally, Dr. Judah Folkman is my hero!A real hero, deserving of the Nobel Prize....and I don't speak lightly.I am a cancer patient that has recently learned that my cancer (thought was beat) has advanced to my lungs.The ONLY therapy for me is in anANGIOGENESIS drug therapy program for a drug currently in study and labeled as "PI-88."I am just so confident this drug will work.I am the only patient with my type of cancer cell (adenoid cystic carninoma), so I am a little bit more of a lab rat for this program.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Clinical Chemistry    5. Scientists - General    6. Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology   

Reviews (14)

A Guidebook to Thinking Outside of the Proverbial Box...
Fischer Black's life and somewhat rebellious style of thinking are taken under the lens in Fischer Black and The Revolutionary Idea of Finance. Clearly written for those interested in economics and finance, the author illuminates the personalities, relationships and debates that drove Fischer Black toward his famous contribution to options theory. It interestingly highlights the important role Fischer Black's understanding of Jack Treynor's Capital Asset Pricing Model played in shaping his views of the investment universe and in developing the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model.
A Masterful Biography
Fischer Black was not only a revolutionary thinker, he was an eccentrically original human being. Professor Mehrling's biography is a clear, concise account of the development of modern finance, and also a richly detailed portait of a complex man.

Outstanding scholarship wrapped in a 'John Nash-like' story
The author has done a very good job on two fronts.One, he has dissected a complex area of corporate finance and made it readable to someone with a decent grasp of business.Considering the complexity of CAPM, and how far it stretched conventional wisdom, that alone would be good for 4 stars.However, Fischer Black was an extraordinary person, moving between academia and the practice of devising new financial instruments for Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs with an aplomb few could match.
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Subjects:  1. 1938-    2. 20th century    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Black, Fischer,    6. Business    7. Business & Economics    8. Business/Economics    9. Economists    10. Finance    11. History    12. Investments & Securities - General    13. Mathematical models    14. United States    15. Business & Economics / Finance    16. Finance & Accounting   

Editorial Review

Inspired by Werner von Braun and his Cape Canaveral team, 14-year-old Homer Hickam decided in 1957 to build his own rockets. They were his ticket out of Coalwood, West Virginia, a mining town that everyone knew was dying--everyone except Sonny's father, the mine superintendent and a company man so dedicated that his family rarely saw him. Hickam's smart, iconoclastic mother wanted her son to become something more than a miner and, along with a female science teacher, encouraged the efforts of his grandiosely named Big Creek Missile Agency. He grew up to be a NASA engineer and his memoir of the bumpy ride toward a gold medal at the National Science Fair in 1960--an unprecedented honor for a miner's kid--is rich in humor as well as warm sentiment. Hickam vividly evokes a world of close communal ties in which a storekeeper who sold him saltpeter warned, "Listen, rocket boy. This stuff can blow you to kingdom come." Hickam is candid about the deep disagreements and tensions in his parents' marriage, even as he movingly depicts their quiet loyalty to each other. The portrait of his ultimately successful campaign to win his aloof father's respect is equally affecting. Read more

Reviews (515)

The book is prodigious
I loved the movie, "October Sky." However, the book goes into more depth than the movie. The relationship between Homer and his parents is far more interesting than the movie's depiction. The book and the movie had the space race, the coming-of-age theme, science fair competition, and young love. The book is written very well. The characters come alive. The book is prodigious, to use one of the character's favorite adjectives.

Refreshing read
A really interesting and inspiring story, appropriate for people of all ages.You won't be able to put it down.

WOW!
Rocket Boys/October sky, by Homer H. Hickam (jr), tells about the writer's life when he was a teenager. Set in the mountains of West Virginia, this best-selling book truly expresses what it is like to be traped. Whith its twisting plots and great writing I don't thing anybody wouldn't love this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1943-    2. Aeronautics    3. Aeronautics & Astronautics    4. Aerospace engineers    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Biography/Autobiography    9. Hickam, Homer H.,    10. Historical - U.S.    11. Scientists - General    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / General    14. Reading Group Guide   

Editorial Review

One reason Rick Bragg won a Pulitzer Prize for his feature articles at the Read more

Reviews (274)

More Than An Autobiography
Although this is the life story of the author, Rick Bragg, the book really centers on his mother.Rick has an older brother Sam and a younger brother Mark.They are the product of a broken home and were raised in an atmosphere of poverty.Their father was a victim of alcohol and eventually deserted the family.The mother is credited by the author for working hard at menial tasks and sacrificing in order to provide for her family. Rick becomes a successful reporter moving up the chain from smaller to larger more prestigious newspapers over a few years time.He finally feels he has arrived at the top when he moves to the New York Times.His goal now is to win the Pulitzer Prize.
eye opener
Braggs book was both very moving and an eye opener for me. I never actually looked back at the sacrifices my mother gave for her children. This book has made me open my eyes and appreciate her more. I look at her in a different light because of this book. I am not an avid reader but am now open to more of braggs work. I and my mother thank you.

Moving but real
I found the book both disturbing and moving. The author uses skillful language to invoke powerful images yet is mellow and matter of fact enough to reduce the tragic and dramatic to very real and very believable. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alabama    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. General    8. Journalists    9. Regional Subjects - South    10. United States    11. Working class whites    12. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    13. Biography: general    14. Bragg, Rick    15. Childhood and youth    16. Reading Group Guide   

Reviews (11)

powerful, beautiful, evoking
I began this book because I am a student of Annie's. I could not put it down, feeling like I myself was becoming somehow involved with her relationship with Ben (the 5 year old boy with brown hair and bangs). I felt like I was getting inside both Annie and Ben while watching the beautiful way in which they interacted. I could not be in the room with this book without wanting to read on into the relationship that evolves. The personal aspect of the patient-therapist relationship becomes the center focus as does Annie's life outside of these interactions with Ben. The reflection, time, energy, and exposure that is demonstrated by the author in this book was by far the best I have ever seen. This has become my favorite book, one that I will never live without, and also one that will remind me of what I want to do with my life and how to do it.

The Prevalence of Dismal Psychotherapists
Harvard child psychologist and severe child abuse survivor Annie Rogers suffered psychiatric hospitalizations once or twice a year from puberty until her late twenties -- when, after a six year insidiously inept and crazymaking "therapy," an attempt to stab and shoot that therapist and one last hospitalization for another word salad psychosis (and no more insurance), her exceptional and no doubt desperate sister and friends found the gifted and pro bono analyst Dr. Blumenfeld. If this exceptional memoir hasn't become a classic must read in psychology with many reviews by both patients and therapists by now, there are unfortunate reasons. One is that Annie's politically correct adolescence shows in her disdain for the "medical models and diagnoses" Dr. Blumenfeld himself could afford to abandon only because he knew them and the blind therapists who live by them so well -- and thus could authentically reach and stabilize the talented and brilliant, borderline and psychotic personality and doctoral intern Annie. "You have a kind of giftedness, Annie, that probably has always been inseparable from your suffering, and we don't know very much about that yet." What we need now is a wonderful book from the exceptional and sainted Dr. Blumenfeld and more from the healed and gifted writer Dr. Rogers on the two sided magic of play therapy with children. You must meet Annie's beloved "oppositional" 5 year old patient Ben and ponder the 7 foot angel "Theosporus" who protected and accompanied Annie from age 6 to Dr. Blumenfeld's office at 27. A Shining Affliction raises more questions than it answers -- it might have been twice as long, and it's hard to tell if important details were deliberately or unconsciously left out. As it is, it's a daring memoir by a once psychotic Harvard child psychologist that should be a controversial must read classic in both child and adult psychotherapy.

a strong memoir, about which I have a few criticisms
At its best it reminded me strongly of I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, in that it shows the healing relationship between an excellent therapist and a disturbed female patient.This book had the added benefit of having the patient/author also be a therapist, and while being healed herself doing a marvelous job of participating in the healing of a young boy whose problems are remarkably similar to her own.Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Psychology    3. Psychotherapy - General    4. Social Scientists & Psychologists    5. Psychology & Psychiatry / Counseling   

Reviews (53)

A good insight
A quick and fascinating read about one of the greatest business minds of our time.

Great book!
I am not the biggest Steve Jobs fan on planet earth but I will say that as biographies go, Bill Simon is one of the best of the best. I read Art of Deception and Art of Intrusion and even Profit From Experience and I have had the privildge of knowing personally the personalites of which Mr. Simon writes and I'm happy to say that his books are so good that you'd not know that the individuals in his work didn't write these books themselves. Buy it if you haven't. It's a very interesting view into the psyche that is Steve Jobs. I enjoyed it a lot.

Basically, its a big, anti-jobs rant.Don't be conned.
I've been in the software industry for quite awhile, and I've watched as the personal computer industry evolved from one where there were dozens of machines being sold to consumers down to the two primary platforms of windows and macintosh.While there is no doubt that the macintosh is the minority platform, there is also no doubt that its continued survival has engendered an unexplained amount of hate from those who are not fans of the machine.
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Subjects:  1. 1955-    2. Apple And Macintosh (Microcomputers)    3. Apple Computer, Inc.    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Business    9. Computer Industry (Economic Aspects)    10. Computer engineers    11. Corporate & Business History - General    12. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    13. History    14. Industries - Computer Industry    15. Industries - General    16. Jobs, Steven,    17. Juvenile literature    18. Scientists - General    19. United States    20. Biography & Autobiography / Business    21. Biography: general    22. Information technology industries   

Reviews (2)

Outstanding Cultural History (And It's Funny, Too)
The title "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" is, of course a quote from "National Lampoon's Animal House", one of the most beloved, successful, and influential films of the past 30 years.Doug Kenney helped write that movie and played the role of "Stork", as well as writing the almost-as-adored "Caddyshack", along with being one of the first and most powerful editors of the legendary magazine "National Lampoon".Josh Karp's book is both a biography of Kenney and a history of the whole "Lampoon" scene, which because of the sway of the quasi-spinoff "Saturday Night Live", becomes a social history of American comedy during the 1970's.And that decade was to comedy like the 1960's was to rock--a time which transformed show business and culture not just in the U.S. but in the whole Western world.The irony is that, as a woman who worked with the almost all-male writers of that scene said of them, "they were the most miserable bunch of guys I've ever known."
excellent biography of a man and a magazine
Ever since Esquire published their cover story on Doug Kenney, "Life and Death of a Comic Genius," many years ago, I've been hoping for a book like this to appear. Mention the name Doug Kenney to your co-workers and see what sort of reaction you get until you start talking about National Lampoon and Animal House.
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Subjects:  1. American wit and humor    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Comedians    7. Comedy    8. Comedy (Performing Arts)    9. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    10. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    11. History and criticism    12. Periodical editors    13. Publishing Industry And Trade    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts    16. Biography: film, television & music    17. Performing Arts   

Editorial Review

Robert Sapolsky, the author of Read more

Reviews (56)

Baboons in the Mist
This was a humorous and entertaining book, though it could use a bit of editing. It's hard to believe that such an educated person could fall prey to the various scams. I enjoyed reading about the cultural differences and refreshing perceptions Mr.Sapolsky endured and experienced.

compassion and intellect
Robert Sapolsky writes with the compassion of David Quammen, the challenging intellect of Stephen Jay Gould and the dedication of E.O. Wilson! He engages his readers, he charms them and he treats them as kindred spirits. If I wasn't an atheist I would thank God for Robert Sapolsky.

AFearful Symmetry
Sapolsky artfully interweaves 3 stories. The parallels are amazing as he recounts his experiences studying a baboon troop in Kenya, and the human troops he encounters in his work and travels throughout Africa. The third story is his development from adolescent subadult to mature scientist and fully adult, competent human. This book reads like an action packed novel, while impartingscientific truth within the context of a broad systemic paradigm. Sapolsky is able to think objectively, while acknowledging the compelling power of his own emotional responses. He is clear aboutwhich is which and the limitations of each. The choice to rigorously utilize both results in a rich tale that offers the reader a view ofcomplex connections, vivid similarities and profound humbling differences. This pattern of both and, holds true at the level of the individual, the community, the culture as well as across species.
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Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Africa, East    3. Anecdotes    4. Apes & Monkeys    5. Baboons    6. Behavior    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Nature    9. Nature/Ecology    10. Sapolsky, Robert M    11. Scientists - General    12. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    13. Nature / Apes & Monkeys    14. Wild animals   

Reviews (55)

I love Chuck!
I love this book!I also must say that I loved heavy metal when it ruled MTV.If you loved heavy metal, I think you have to read this book.If you didn't love heavy metal, then you may still enjoy the book, but I can't recommend it as highly.I think a lot of the jokes rely on knowledge of the music/metal culture, and if you didn't like metal you probably just won't care to read about Chuck's thoughts on it.Nevertheless, I think he has a gift for writing and this is my favorite book written by him.I swear that he is at least a little bit of heaven on earth.

really, really annoying
You have to be truly annoying to write a book so bad that I keep reading despite myself, until I finish it. You have to be transcendently annoying for the book to be so bad that I feel compelled to spend four minutes of my life giving it a bad review. Chuck Klosterman, take a bow. You are truly annoying.
Love It!!
A Heavy Metal masterpiece! A thoroughly entertaining look back at growing up listening to heavy metal- I, like Chuck, was born in 1972 and his stories remind me much of my youth and heavy metal wonder years.Thanks for the great book Chuck!I want to dig up my old Skid Row, Kiss, Def Leppard, Dio, Bon Jovi, Ratt and GnR cassettes and read the book again!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1972-    2. 20th century    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography And Autobiography    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    8. Genres & Styles - Heavy Metal    9. Heavy metal (Music)    10. History & Criticism - General    11. Klosterman, Chuck,    12. Literary    13. Music    14. Music History And Criticism +    15. North Dakota    16. Personal Memoirs    17. Social aspects    18. Social life and customs    19. United States    20. Music / History & Criticism    21. Western music: periods & styles   

Editorial Review

A thoughtful companion volume to the earlierSurely You Are Joking Mr. Feynman!. Perhaps the most intriguing parts of the book are the behind-the-scenes descriptions of science and policy colliding in the presidential commission to determine the cause of the Challenger space shuttle explosion; and the scientific sleuthing behind his famously elegantO-ring-in-ice-water demonstration. Not as rollicking as his other memoirs, but in some ways more profound. ... Read more

Reviews (51)

Not as entertaining as SYJ
This book starts off pretty interesting, but gets bogged down in criticism of NASA management.While I agree with Mr. Feynman on this, I kind of got tired of it after a while.Still, this is a worthwhile read, and if you're a Feynman fan I'd say get it.If you've never read Feynman before I'd strongly suggest Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!
Enjoyable
This book was great.It won't be the literary testament of the 20th century but the stories are thought-provoking, humourous and edifying.This book dwells a lot on the Challenger incident and the ensuing investigation.There is a fair amount of detail there which may not interest some readers but this reader found it to be a good mix of technical information into a very human story.I have actually not read Surely You're Joking yet so I cannot compare it.In short, recommended to anyone interested in the whole Feynman persona and more generally, the inner workings of a genius.

A Truly Nutty Professor Makes for Great Reading
More stories of the great physicist. In this book he tells of his early family life and the story of his first marriage. He also explains in great detail his role on the ChallengerCommission, and how the problem with the O rings came out. Great reading. Feynman was bigger than life. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. General    5. Physicists    6. Physics    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Scientists    10. Scientists - General    11. United States    12. Essays, journals, letters & other prose works   

Reviews (4)

Ambiguities and the Fog of War
After the retreat from Dunkirk in 1940, Britain knew that it would be fighting again within Europe, but until an invasion could be made by regular forces, a secret war had to be waged.For this purpose the Special Operations Executive was formed, with the object of clandestine insertion of agents to oppose the advancement of the Nazis.It was a perilous assignment, and agents were told to expect a fifty-fifty chance of dying; as it turned out, they fared better, a 75% survival rate.The section of the SOE devoted to activities within France was the assignment of Vera Atkins, where she was staff officer to the head of the section.Atkins was devoted to the highly secret operation, and only recently have the truths about the work of the SOE (including its many failings) emerged.Atkins took many of the secrets to her grave when she died in 2000.Sarah Helm, an investigative reporter, was able to interview her two years before her death."She didn't tell me much," Helm says."She never told anybody much."There was, however, quite a story, and it involved Atkins's personal secrets as well as military ones.In _A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII_ (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday), Helm has described her efforts to understand the secrets in a long and frustrating search for what made the brilliant and wary Atkins averse, beyond all callings of duty, to letting some secrets go.
A brilliant account of SOE and one of its spies
I've read a lot about World War II and SOE, and this outshines most books. Ms. Helm puts human faces on the dead and betrayed agents, and doesn't mince words when it comes to skewering those who sent them to their deaths. This is brilliantly researched and written, provoking outrageous anger at the novice spy handlers who ignored numerous warnings that networks had been penetrated and who continued sending agents to horrible deaths in concentration camps. Further, it shows their callous nature in covering up their stupidity and never admitting mistakes. There are many lessons here for today's times. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It will stay with me for a long time.

The incredible tale of a true heroine
Both the NY Times (William Grimes) and the Washington Post highly praise this book. It tells the story of two great searches . The first is of the heroine of the book, Vera Atkins who after the War searches in Europe to learn of the fates of the 117 of 400 agents she had helped prepare for their missions of gathering Intelligence for Great Britain against the Nazis. The second is the search of the author Sarah Helm to get the details of the story of her subject, a research which also involved extraordinary effort.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography And Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. France    6. General    7. Great Britain    8. Historical - General    9. Intelligence Operations    10. Military    11. Military - World War II    12. Missing in action    13. Secret service    14. Underground movements    15. Women    16. World War, 1939-1945    17. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (32)

Excellent "You Were There" Style
This is the best book about space travel I have ever read. Michael Collins is able to tell the story in a way that makes the reader feel he was actually there. He tells his story in a very knowledable and professional manner, but even more importantly, Collins uses polite mannerisms and dignity in his writing, a virtue absent from most modern writers. This book gave me a great deal of respect for Michael Collins as an astronaut and writer, and for Michael Collins as an American with dignity.
No Question About It--The Best Astronaut Memoir Ever!
There have been several excellent Apollo astronaut memoirs, especially Gene Cernan's "The Last Man on the Moon" and Jim Lovell's "Lost Moon," which was made into the feature film "Apollo 13." This one is still the most honest and reflective of them all. It extends a tradition of the aviator as litterateur into the age of space travel. One of the best
This is an excellent book.One of the best in regards to the space program and the ultimate in goals, the moon.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1930-    2. Aeronautics & Astronautics    3. Apollo 11 (Spacecraft)    4. Astronauts    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Biography/Autobiography    9. Collins, Michael,    10. Project Apollo (U.S.)    11. Scientists - Astronauts    12. Scientists - General    13. United States    14. Astronautics    15. Biography: general    16. Space travel & exploration   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. General    5. Medical - General    6. Motor Sports    7. Sports - General    8. Transportation    9. Biography: sport    10. Car racing    11. Sports & Recreation / Motor Sports   

Reviews (19)

Okay. . .
While the author does a good job at addressing the general issues of deployment, it is lacking in specifics.All of the information in this book I had already found on different websites - for free!And much of the information about keeping your house, car, and finances are common sense.I agree with other reviewers who feel this book neglects Army families.I found that I skipped many paragraphs of the book, simply because my husband doesn't deploy for six months on a ship.On top of that, I don't like that the author suggests that as a military spouse you have chosen this lifestyle, so deal with it.I did not choose this lifestyle, and I'm sure I'm not the only spouse who was married before their soldier decided to become a soldier.I don't see how those kinds of thoughts will help you cope with deployment.So if you're looking for a general 'how to' then this is a good book.There are some good chapters, but don't look for specifics, especially if you're an Army spouse.

My Deployment Bible!!
This book has some great ideas in it. Not only did we set up a budget (and spreadsheet to track all of our differences in pay, etc during deployment), I also used that chapter to help us plan our savings and emergency funds, something we hadn't gotten around to yet! We have used some of the communication ideas, too. We don't have kids, so I also appreciated the section about ME and how to stay busy and sane with the right kind of activities. The ideas for home security/feeling safe and also for getting to sleep at night were helpful too.
An important, general title tackling a host of deployment issues families across the country face
Military families facing the uncertainties of war now have something to turn to for guidance in Karen Pavlicin's Surviving Deployment: A Guide For Military Families. Learn how to stay together as a family, how to adjust to long absences and uncertain communications, how to overcome the challenges of single-family parenting and new responsibilities, and how to manage financially through a blend of personal stores from hundreds of fellow military families and checklists. An important, general title tackling a host of deployment issues families across the country face.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Military   

Reviews (6)

A Pleasure to Read
I look forward to reading this again and again to enjoy Angell's flowing and immaculate use of language and to visit again and again with his friends and family.

Humor, Sadness, Excellent Little Stories
This biography of a sort is really a series of stories that reflect important parts of his life. Being a supurb writer his little vignettes are a mixture of humor, history, personal views, and whatever he wants to say. I think I liked the story of his Army Air Corp life during World War II the best. The idea of the Army losing his paperwork so that effectively he didn't exist sort of told me that the Army hadn't changed when I went in a generation later.
more than a baseball writer
Roger Angell's LET ME FINISH is a collection of autobiographical essays by a writer best known for his New Yorker magazine articles on the World Series, and his profiles of Bob Gibson, David Cone, etc. (He also wrote the baseball classic THE SUMMER GAME.) Angell was born in 1920, and grew to adulthood in New York City. LET ME FINISH is a beautifully written account of Angell's life told in relatively brief chapters.
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Subjects:  1. Angell, Roger    2. Authors    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography And Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    9. Literary    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Sportswriters    12. United States    13. United States - 20th Century    14. History / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)   

Reviews (60)

Great Book
This is a great book, full of facts.It is very interesting to see the planes as they develop.I enjoyed all the different views supplied by the Airforce, the Engineers, the Pilots and the Government officials.The book cantains some foul language.Very interesting and totally enjoyable.Good technical information.Covers: Stealth, U2 and the Blackbird very well.

The best aircraft designer memoirs I've read to the date
Believe me if a Russian aviation nut goes to bed in 4 A.M. when he could not stop reading this, it really worth buying. Filled with good humor and Kelly Johnson's 'Goddam!'s, it also has an insider look at US aerospace industry decision making, sometimes wery paradoxal. I suspected that titanium for SR-71 was bought in Soviet Union and knew from our industry insiders that we captured D-21 Tagnoard a long time ago, but here I've seen proof from the first hands. I was nearly crying reading about Kelly Johnson death - I didn't know details before - and Lockheed's farewell to him publishing all-black newspaper page with crying Skunk Works skunk...Frankly, Johnson's memoirs were not so intriguinig for me, but now I'll re-read them with the other feelings. Highly recommend.

read it before it is banned by the accountants
One day soon, people will begin to claim that putting a man on the moon, safely operating an aircraft like the SR-71 for many years, or, flying daily New York to London supersonic never really happened - centimental people from the 60's just like to think their generation did those things. Without books like this the conspiracy theory would be attractive. Accountants are trained to know the cost of everything. Engineers, on the other hand, are trained to see the value in people and their ideas irrespective of their status. In the 1950s and 60s accountants just did the accounts. But it was a golden age for engineers.
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Subjects:  1. Aeronautics    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Business    4. History    5. Lockheed Advanced Development Company    6. Military    7. Military - Strategy    8. Research    9. United States    10. Aerospace & air transport industries    11. Biography: general    12. Career in aeronautics    13. History / Military / Strategy    14. Rich, Ben R   

Editorial Review

Forensic pathologist Michael Baden was a medicalexaminer in New YorkCity for more than 25 years.Now he works forthe New York State Police and teachesforensic medicine. This engrossing book covers: (1) several famous cases, including Baden's personal re-examination of the autopsy findings forMartin Luther King andJohn F. Kennedy; (2) unusual cases Badenhad as medical examiner for NYC, such as anautopsy on a dining room table at the Plaza Hotel; (3) how medical examiners decide onmeans of death, with a section on poisons; (4) the history of coroners and medicalexaminers since 12th century England;(5) disturbing politics involved in the office ofthe Chief MedicalExaminer of NYC; (6) identification of the dead; (7) time of death; (8)multiple-murder cases; (9) an almost perfect murder; (10) close calls, including neardeaths during sex; (11) cases of mistaken diagnosis; and (12) autopsy findings that shedlight on what happened in the Attica uprising. ... Read more

Reviews (35)

America should always listen to Baden.
This thoughtful and interesting book showed that this medical examiner stands above the others.More people should have listened to his evidence in the O. J. Simpson case. In case after case, his careful examinations brought justice where others had failed. Baden is a giant in hsi profession.

Forensics at its Best
As a loyal CIS fan, Confessions of a Medical Examiner takes the reader into the fascinating and real world of forensic science.What takes 40 minutes to solve on television in reality can take days, weeks, months and sometimes never.