K. Donath

What an amazing book! At first, when the book was recommended to me, I thought, 'a book on check lists??' But Mr. Gawande show fantastic insight into the power of the check list and why it's more than a check list, but what it says about us and how we interact with other people. His stories are both riveting and insightful. In this age of super specialization, it's the simple stuff that can bring down a project - and our ego's.

Too cheesy for my taste - too much fake tough guy talk. This is one of those cases where the movie is better than the book.

I don't know, just sounded too cheesy for me. After listening to No Easy Day and Inside Delta Force - both great books - this one sounded like the author didn't really understand modern day special forces. George Guidall did a good job reading it, but I'm not sure he's the right guy for this book. I liked the Ben Coes books better, like Power Down

Listen, don't mess with A Christmas Carol - just read it and Dickens will do all the rest. No retelling, no special gimmick - just give it do me in an English accent. I loved Dale in the Harry Potter series, and he does a great job here. There are times when I hear Dobby the house elf, but that's okay, he does a great job with the spirits and Scrooge. So enjoy Christmas and have a go with this edition, you won't regret it.

At first the book sounds like one of those 'barefoot cult' books: run in bare feet because when we were monkeys we did it and now it will cure all your leg problems. And 'looks at us, we found a tribe of people who run ultra marathon's every day, they drink a special corn beer and have no currency'. Yeah, okay. But the book quickly gets past that and tells a very engaging story about how the Tarahumara (said corn beer drinkers) come to run an ultra marathon in the USA, the people that abuse them, the folks who want to learn from them, how a group goes to Mexico to run with them, etc. - the author grabs you with impossible situations (climbing out of a Mexican canyon at night with drug thugs around), how the Tarahumara ditch their shoe sponsor shoes during a race, or American ultra marathoner running out of water on a 100 degree day and lost in a canyon. You just can't put the book down! Interjected in the story are interviews that explain how running shoes have impacted our feet and amazing descriptions of our anatomy that uniquely equip us to run and run far. While I'm going to keep my shoes on, it does give me a lot to think about. If your a runner, this is a must read. If you're not, you love the stories, and maybe, just maybe you'll think about taking a jog!

Okay, I should have caught this with the word 'retelling' in the title - why on earth would someone change the story line?? This is "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens for crying out loud! You don't mess with "A Christmas Carol"!

Crais is one of my favorite authors and this book does not disappoint! I group the series into three parts: books 1 through 7 (Indigo Slam), 8 through 12 (Chasing Darkness), and 13 (First Rule) to present. The books in the second part tend to be my favorites with Watchman being my overall favorite. This book is the best in the third grouping. Taken is the 15th book in the series and continues to build on previous themes, like John Stone.

The book moves fast, with time running out for Cole and the two kids he's trying to protect. The book does make an odd jump near the beginning that threw me at first - it jump forward in time after Cole has been taken, then jumps back, so be aware that's coming.

Luke Daniels is my favorite Cole/Pike narrator and he continues to do an excellent job in this book.

Kit walks down an alley with his great grandfather (who should be dead) and ends up in a fishing village many years in the past. And so it goes. It's fun to watch Kit and his friends try to figure out how to navigate another time in history, such as Kit's girl friend, who ends up in the 1400's and now has to find a job! The story builds on the ley lines of England - linear arrangements of trees, roads, rocks, etc. that have captured the imagination of many over time.

The pace of the book is just right - it keeps moving and you want to see what's around the next bend. It does jump around, because different groups of characters are being developed in different parts of history, so that can be a little confusing. This the first book in the series and the second book, the Bone House, is just as good!

Simon Bubb does a good job of reading and is a good match for the story line. As for Lawhead, this is one of the better Lawhead books I've read. I like this better than "Hall of the Dragon King" and better than the Albion series. On par with the King Raven series. I liked the first three books of the Pendragon series better.

It really hits you: these are kids out of high school, engaged in an international conflict of epic proportions, using the latest technology (unproven), and half of them died. OSHA would not approve! But they did it - they manned up and did the job. This book really puts the reader there, through lots of stories both on the ground and in the air. It's just the kind of WWII book I love: stories from the men and women engaged in the conflict. I told my 12 year old to listen to it and he couldn't put it down! He also wondered what Spam was, so we bought a can! Mr. DeMunn is perfect for reading this book.

This is a fascinating book that really gives insight into the mind of the Samurai. It does a good job of reconciling the violent life of the Samurai with the peace of Zen. For a westerner, this gives a glimpse into the eastern mind. The Mr. Reed does an outstanding job, but the sound quality is slightly lacking.