I found this book to be a refreshing look at obesity. Yes, healthy lifestyle changes are still a part of the answer,(WE WILL NEVER GET AWAY FROM DIET AND EXERCISE AS PART OF THE SLOUTION—but this book offers explanations as to why those two things do not often accomplish the desired weight loss) but the book gives good insight on what brain chemical processes may be at work to thwart out best efforts at losing weight. I have already purchased two of the recommended supplements and will continue to review the book for even more information. I gave five stars.
In The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander electrified the story, even though she had a relatively small part in the plot; here, in the second novel of the series, she is given center stage to Blomkvist’s secondary role, making The Girl Who Played With Fire much tauter, more exciting than the first book. Larsson begins to expose what makes Salander tick, and the result gives her character an interesting vulnerability, one that makes her more human and less crazy.
But let’s get one thing straight; even with the more humanizing portrait, you would not want to corner Salander in a dark alley. Nor do you want to give her access to your computer. She is every bit as gritty and clever as she was in the first, and her stark determination to live by her own moral code drives the plot. When a journalist working for Blomkvist and Berger and his PhD candidate girlfriend are murdered, it’s bad enough, but when those murders are linked to that of Salander’s sadomasochistic guardian, Salander becomes the only suspect. On the lam, she seems to make no attempt to clear her name and instead gets in deeper. Throw in a “blond giant” (similar in many ways to the albino monk of The DaVinci Code), the seedy underpinnings of the sex trade, and returning characters, and you’ve got a suspenseful, likable, satisfying thriller.
As a pure thriller, The Girl Who Played With Fire is stronger than its predecessor because it has fewer meandering subplots, more unrelenting suspense, and more deftly drawn characters, even if Larsson occasionally resorts to types. The author seems to have found his narrative stride with this. If you liked the first, you’ll love the second. I just hope Larssen’s third manuscript was polished enough before he passed away to build on his already finely-tuned skills as a novelist.
This is the true story of “The Man Who Never Was.” It’s one of these stories that we know the ending ~ the Allies won World War II ~ but we are still worrying that it will work out okay. I found myself cheering and laughing through the entire book. Ben Macintyre goes into great detail about everyone involved in Operation Mincemeat. During World War II, the Allies were planning the invasion of Europe after their success in North Africa. The obvious place to start was Sicily. The British had to come up with a scheme that would fool the Nazis into thinking that the invasion would be somewhere else. British Intelligence dressed up a corpse in a Royal Marine’s uniform and dropped it off the coast of Spain. The corpse was carrying letters signed by real British generals that implied that they were going to invade Sardinia and Greece. Spain was supposed to be neutral but Franco was more sympathetic to Hitler, so the British knew that the papers would reach Hitler. Well, at least they hoped so. And a lot of things could go wrong, such as an autopsy could reveal that the man had not died at sea but of rat poisoning. CSI fans, this Operation Mincemeat book is for you.
And James Bond fans, meet the real M and the real Q. Because if you think this story sounds like something Ian Fleming could make up, you are correct. He did, but in all fairness, several other people came up with the same basic idea. Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley (pronounced “Chumly”) are the masterminds who put together the identity of the anonymous body. They create an entire biography for the body, even a girlfriend and debts. The body was carried to the drop point by submarine. We get details on the missions of this submarine. Dropping off a body in enemy waters was definitely not the most dangerous mission they were assigned. That would be sitting on the surface ahead of the Sicily invasion while being bombed by the Italians, Patton’s idea by the way. If you have seen the movie “Darby’s Rangers,” Bill Darby is in this book, too. This is a fascinating, true, spy thriller, with double agents, communists, Nazis, and Nazi haters, including one in charge of German intelligence. So in summary, if you are interested in WWII history, submarines, spy thrillers, or the inner workings of British Intelligence, this book is for you.
Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy is now available in a complete hardcover set.
All across America, readers are talking about Stieg Larsson’s best-selling novels, set in Sweden and featuring Lisbeth Salander—“one of the most original and memorable heroines to surface in a recent thriller” (The New York Times). The trilogy is an international sensation that will grab you and keep you “reading with eyes wide open” (San Francisco Chronicle). “[It] is intricately plotted, lavishly detailed but written with a breakneck pace and verve” (The Independent, U.K.), but “be warned: the trilogy is seriously addictive.” (The Guardian, U.K.).
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared without a trace more than forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to try to discover what happened to her. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist recently sidelined by a libel conviction, to investigate. Blomkvist is aided by the pierced and tattooed computer prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption on their way to discovering the truth of Harriet Vanger’s fate.
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Mikael Blomkvist, now the crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the murders. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Lisbeth Salander lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. On her own, she will plot revenge—against the man who tried to kill her, and against the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life.
This whole book makes great interesting sense, based-on rational spot-on interpetations of historical records and facts. But, the section on “Saving Time”, starting on page 22, especially makes interesting sense to me. Matt Ridley states a general principle ["Time: that is the key"] that covers human history down to local interactions — detailing the ways that human history — even on the small scale of individual interaction, transaction and choice — tends to strongly follow a least action principle [as I state it] to “save time” [and energy]. So, “the greatest good for the greatest number” tends to work-out naturally — even quickly — VIA FREEWILL AND EFFORT. These events in time naturally involve individual people, groups, nations and cultures developing special skills and specializations — as stated in “Saving Time” and in the whole book.
But, for those who would tend to resist such a “rational optimism” — this book is full of strong and diverse numerical data and graphical proof backing direct inferences to confirm trends of natural progress in human history and likely future progress — therefore towards such a “rational optimism”. Also, for those that would tend to assume that this author and this book are pushing a line of discourse to support a particular usual general faction — whether “Red”, “Blue” or “Green” — well this work denies the typical particular pessimisms of each of these factions in detail — concerning whether social evolution, economy or ecology each naturally progress well-and-good. See attached comments for more info. Time: That Is The Key +++
I loved this book. I heard my old man and my grandpa in some of the quotes. I am happy to see that so far all of the reveiws are 5 stars – I am sure there will be a poor review sooner or later, but you can ignore those.
My dad never used language quite as salty as Justin’s dad, but his point was the same. My dad did not say I love you on a regular basis, however, he would show up at your house ready to build a shed, pour a sidewalk, install a patio, or build a deck at 6am ready to roll and wondering what the hell you were doing since you weren’t already half done. Which would not have been any good anyway since you would have been doing it wrong. THAT is how a DAD shows love – a Father can only say I love you.
When I get together with friends, my dad always comes up as a topic of conversation. Stories about my dad are always popular and always end in laughter. This is a book full of dad stories and I am happy to say they are every bit as good (and some quite a bit better than) stories I tell about my dad.
If you don’t think this Sh*t My Dad Says book is funny and heartwarming, I truly feel sorry for you – you have missed out in life. Justin’s dad is not mean, he just tells it like it is. The truth is rarely pretty, and life is not rated G.
This book is not just random quotes, it has several short, easy to read chapters that tell you a bit about life in the Halpern home and how Dr. Halpern shaped the boys’ lives. Each chapter ends with a dozen or so hilarious quotes from Justin’s dad.
I bought one for my dad and one for my wife’s dad – this is a can’t miss Father’s Day gift – provided of course, your Father is also a DAD.
This is an interesting book. It really isn’t about heroes, as some of the people covered are definitely not heroes. Rather, it is a set of short biographical sketches of about thirty-five different people (there are also a couple historical accounts thrown in).
The sketches are just that: sketches. Don’t look for deep historical insight or detail; rather look for a quick outline of a historical person or event. The figures range from Helen Keller to Daniel Boone. The biographies are presented warts and all and the book is not an exercise in hagiography (which is one of the book’s strongest points).
I enjoyed reading The Dangerous Book of Heroes and learned some things. I like that the book was so far reaching in its coverage. The book is not for young children. I would recommend it for early teens onward. Adults can also enjoy this book. The book is best read in multiple settings, if you read it straight through you will probably grow weary of it. All in all, I would recommend the book and hope that you learn some things you didn’t know before. Enjoy!
Supreme Justice is a sequel to Executive Privilege, which I hadn’t read. This book can be picked up without having read the earlier novel. Supreme Justice is a fast-paced legal thriller with plenty of action, reminding me of some of the early works of John Grisham. The plot, in which men at the pinnacle of power conspire to murder Supreme Court justices in order to protect their not-so-clean past, was not entirely believable, unless you’re a firm believer in conspiracy theories in Washington politics, but if you didn’t think too hard about the story and just let yourself be carried along, it’s a highly entertaining book, perfect for light summer reading at the beach, pool, or on an airplane.
The book revolves around a former police officer who’s on death row for murdering her boyfriend…we’re convinced she didn’t do it, but her appeal goes all the way to the Supreme Court because her attorney was unable to introduce incriminating evidence about the boyfriend because the Department of Homeland Security deems the information classified. The story jumps back and forth between the past, present, and even the future, but the plot is not too difficult to keep track of. The author, who argued a case before the Supreme Court as a young attorney himself, gives us a fascinating inside look at the Supreme Court and its clerks, combined with murder, drug smuggling, crooked CIA directors, and more. Recommended for those who like a good legal thriller.