Sheryl

Hold on to your seats because she reads FAST! Those who can hold on for the wild ride will be well rewarded. The funny parts are really, really funny. A story about how her mom told her the facts of life had me and my 15 year old daughter laughing so hard tears were rolling down our cheeks. Other parts had my husband cracking up too. Note that it's not for kids in general, lots of language. The length was good. Long enough to be solid entertainment, and short enough to never drag or dwell. Enjoy!

Rob Gifford does a phenomenal job with this book. He travels down the China Road talking and listening to the people he meets along the way. He talks to people standing on the corner, working in the fields, sitting on the bus - anywhere he has the opportunity. If they invite him to dinner or to a local activity, he goes. Then he relates the stories to us as if he's sitting at the dinner table with us - one great story after another. He expresses theories about why things are the way they are based on the country's history, while thankfully sparing us any judgements about right vs wrong. Toward the end, he seemed a tad weary of his travels and the pace slowed down, but not enough to diminish the 5 stars the book deserves.

Temple Grandin's premise is that she has special insight into how animals think and act because her autism makes her see things the way animals see things.

I can summarize this book fairly easily...
Really-interesting-tidbit about animals followed by discussion about our human failure to do the right thing followed by Really-Interesting-Tidbit then more on humans misunderstanding and mistreating animals and on and on beginning to end. I found myself telling friends and family about the great tidbits, but her sources are sometimes a little sketchy (she sites movies and books for some stories). She also frequently cites one example and uses it for a sweeping generalization. I cut her some slack for the preachy tone since she IS socially impaired. Overall, she does possess a very unique ability to see the world in a different way AND to communicate her experience to the rest of us.

I've been searching for a romance author who can put a clever twist into a story, and I think Stephanie Crusie is perfect. Her humor and phrasing is modern and snappy. The plot line is filled with many surprises along the way. "Bet Me" was great fun to read.

I was expecting details about specific changes to the Bible and how those changes shaped the religions today. Instead, this book focusses on HOW changes to the Bible happened in general, for example sloppy transcribing or sometimes willful intent to convey a specific meaning. The actual details of such changes are only inserted as examples.

The first few chapters were a little slow, perhaps because I kept looking for the meat of the actual changes. But in the end, I wound up learning a lot about the tangled history of the Bible.

I also appreciate how the book avoids the entire issue about whether the Bible is Truth. This story starts when the earliest manuscripts are gathered, translated and transcribed.

From sociopath Eric Harris to the inexperienced police to the greedy media, and every horrible detail inbetween, this book had me fascinated. Dave Cullen dug deep for his research and tells the the whole story in this gut-wrenching, page-turning book. Information is given at a good pace and in a factual but interesting manner. If you read this book along with "The Sociopath Next Door," any belief that all people are inherently good will be forever shattered.