Larry

Well I must say it is indeed getting a little better with this series. The last two editions in this series have been tragic disappointments with one pointless side plot after another. At least with this latest edition of the Wheel of Time, there seems to be a progression of the main story lines as well as some action that was sorely lacking in the last few books. I hope that the next few editions continue on this (hopefully) upward progression back to the original plot lines.

This is an excellent first read as an introductory into Hughes' life. I really enjoyed the close attention to detail of his early life and his relationship with his parents. The only reason this gets 4 stars is due to the skip of many of the details about Hughes' mental life. This book dealt only with facts collected for legitimate sources, and that was greatly appreciated. However the attention to his mental issues (specifically the details) seemed to be skipped over in many cases. I suppose this is difficult to write about, especially given Hughes' desire for isolation, but it would have been nice to hear a few tidbits of the first hand accounts of interactions with Hughes. There were small blurbs about such information scattered through the book (a good example would be his memo regarding the preparation of canned fruit), but much of this information was not given the attention most people would expect from first reading about Hughes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this examination of Lincoln's life. I have always been interested in the way Lincoln handled the huge stress and horrible tragedy in his life, and this book shed light on his early years that I had not heard about previously. The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was a result of the gap that was put and attention neglected on the death of Lincoln's sons. It seems that those events were glazed over, and more detail was really expected on these events. The historical examination on the study of Lincoln at the end was an absolute delight as well as the ending interview. This is an absolutely wonderful read about the details of Lincoln's early life and how he dealt with tragedy in his life.

This presents a good overview of the revolution. However, I was really expecting some more details as to what type of men were running the revolution. This seamed more like a summary of all the events in chronological order. Yes it was informative in a way, but I finished the book feeling like I really wanted to know more about the men behind the revolution instead of the typical events that surrounded it.

Most of the stuff in this one has already been heard through many of his stand up routines, but it still remains funny.

Dennis Miller has always tickled my funny bone. Regardless if you agree with his political or social positions, you have to laugh at the way he presents his unique brand of sarcasm. Some people simply don't get his humor, but he is truly one of the sarcasm comedy masters of our time.

This series is starting degrade. Most of the main plot lines are completely abandoned in this book. Many of the main characters are not even mentioned but in passing a handful of times. I am really hoping that the next installment of this series picks up because this must be the worst book in this series so far. Most of the new subplots in this installment of the series lead to dead ends. Many chapters that went nowhere left me feeling like I wanted my time back. I don't mind good details to help me visualize the scene, but when things are told from a slanted characters perceived opinion it is very difficult to know what is really going on. Especially when the character that Jordan describes the scene through is irrelevant to the rest of the story or even the scene.

This was a very well done introductory view of Islam. I loved the way this author showed the religion in a light that explained differences between traditional Christian and Jewish religions. It also gave some wonderful insight of the basic practices of the Islamic religion. I thought the explanations of the different points of view wonderful. I only give this audio book 4 stars due to the quality of the recording. The content of the book is well worth the listen/read.

This series is starting to drag on at this point. There seems to be no more action in these books. Most of them are filled with lots of political backbiting and scheming, but most of the action is left behind in this one. Perhaps the next one will pick up a little more steam. Still a good read in the series, but this one is a little lacking in the action department.

I must say that few books on the lives of saints capture the wonderful story that is put together here in this book. The book takes all the events from Patrick?s life and puts them together in a single read. The accurate historical details don't give way to the unproven and fictional tales about this saint. The historical era is also very well captured in this book. You get a real grasp as to what the church was like at this time in history. This was a great read that gives an excellent introduction into this great saint's life.