reviewerID stringlengths 10 21 | asin stringlengths 10 10 | reviewerName stringlengths 0 49 ⌀ | helpful list | reviewText stringlengths 0 32.8k | overall float64 1 5 | summary stringlengths 0 452 | unixReviewTime int64 861M 1.41B ⌀ | reviewTime stringlengths 9 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0143112627 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
20,
20
] | This collection of Sagan's 1985 Gifford Lectures are as fresh and relevant today as they were over 20 years ago...perhaps even more so. In this collection, we are reminded of what made Sagan such as successful spokesman for scientific endeavor and rationality in general.The material Sagan uses to frame his arguments ar... | 4 | A lost voice of reason | 1,199,145,600 | 01 1, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0143113496 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | In the Woods was written well enough to keep me going through 400 plus pages, but I have three problems with the book: (1) the three-way perfect, sweet friendship between Sam, Cassie and Ryan is too perfect to be believable, (2) Ms. French doesn't write male characters in what strikes me as an authentic tone -- it seem... | 3 | Uneven | 1,229,385,600 | 12 16, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0143122797 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | The story of Bell Labs and its influence on technology developments of the 20th century is a remarkable one. Scientists there either outright invented or developed the underlying technology behind the laser, the microwave transmitter, fiber optics, the solar cell, radio astronomy and, most notably, the transistor. One ... | 4 | A Giant in the History of Invention | 1,336,953,600 | 05 14, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0143125427 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | What if there was a secret psychology of words that allowed the inner recesses of the brain to be accessed? And what if that access allowed practitioners of such a skill to convince people that planted thoughts and commands were actually their own? That's what you'll explore in Max Barry's thrillingly excellent "Lexico... | 5 | A Ripping Good Yarn | 1,373,328,000 | 07 9, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0143170090 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
27,
32
] | This is a book with two main plots: (1) financial investigative journalist has been bested in libel court by a business tycoon who has succeeded in turning the tables, making our protagonist out to be a shoddy muckraker in the eyes of the public, and (2) a mystery in which our valiant protagonist has been hired by the ... | 3 | Coffee. Making coffee. Talking about making Coffee... | 1,251,849,600 | 09 2, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0151012784 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
41,
48
] | Newton and the Counterfeiter is split into roughly four parts: Newton's career as a pioneer of what came to be known as classical physics, his less well-known pursuits in alchemy, the criminal career of counterfeiter William Chaloner, and the eventual crossing of their paths while Newton was Master of the Royal Mint. A... | 3 | A Lesser-known Chapter in Newton's Life | 1,246,665,600 | 07 4, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0192835793 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | High American society, New York, turn of the 19th century: Lily Bart, an associate of the well-heeled who often attends their social functions, has no fortune of her own. What to do? Marry into money. This should be easy enough for Lily as she's found to be beautiful by many of the men who orbit about her, but she seem... | 4 | Protagonist, Blame Thyself | 1,267,833,600 | 03 6, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0192837176 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
5
] | I was tempted into reading this book after finishing London's "Martin Eden", a somewhat autobiographical work of fiction. "John Barleycorn" purports to be more a striaght autobiography that focuses on the role of alcohol in London's life from his first tentative introduction at the age of five to his millde-career as a... | 3 | Drinking and the author's life | 1,140,307,200 | 02 19, 2006 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0195370120 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | Levy uses our fascination with giant beasts from a long gone epoch to introduce the reader to the very real and pressing concerns of today's imperiled ecosystem. The disappearance of creatures like the mammoth and the giant ground sloth hold important lessons about the role of megafauna and top predators. (And just so ... | 4 | The Vanishing World | 1,404,000,000 | 06 29, 2014 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0226983358 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | This is my first foray into the writings of Carl Zimmer. Given its extreme brevity (because it's actually a collection of essays), I know that it's not necessarily representative of his other books which, based on this one, I'm looking forward to checking out. Three stars only because it's a solid and edifying treatmen... | 3 | Viruses 101 | 1,316,217,600 | 09 17, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0262134977 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
3
] | Digital Apollo is a very valuable addition to historical record of Project Apollo. Many books have been written about the program, but most tend to focus exclusively on the astronauts. That's an important part of the story, but Apollo was so much more. Specifically, thousands of engineers and scientists who shattered t... | 5 | A wonderfully detailed examination of the Apollo Guidance Computer | 1,247,616,000 | 07 15, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307279863 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
9
] | Okay, not bad....though it didn't turn out to be quite the book I thought it would be. I was expecting more of a spoof on the super hero genre (I mean, c'mon, look at the cover!), not just an exploration of "what would it be like if comic books were written for adults?" What author Grossman delivers is less of a side-s... | 4 | Super Hero Beach Book | 1,183,507,200 | 07 4, 2007 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307341569 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | As someone who enjoyed Flynn's first offering, "Sharp Objects", I was anxious to read her second effort. I'm pleased to say that I was not disappointed.Libby Day, surviving member of a family massacre, reluctantly sets out to solve a 25-year old mystery: did her brother, now in prison for the crime, really commit it? S... | 4 | Dark Indeed | 1,246,147,200 | 06 28, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307346609 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | I would never have picked this book up had it not been for a firm endorsement by a friend. I'm not generally interested in this type of genre, but World War Z is not the type of book that the cover and title would suggest. While a world-wide zombie plague is the springboard premise for the book, the premise is used not... | 4 | An Analysis of Societal Breakdown | 1,235,260,800 | 02 22, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307360814 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | Ah, finally, a literate adult book. Julian Barnes' Sense of an Ending is a compact little masterpiece in which protagonist Tony reviews the sums of his life as he prepares to enter his senior years. Tony is twice divorced and has plenty of time on his hands in retirement to consider and evaluate turning points in his l... | 5 | Life is complex no matter your age | 1,395,532,800 | 03 23, 2014 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307386171 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
3
] | The two characters in this latest McEwan novel are not particularly notable. It's their situation that this book seems to be commenting on: a time before the sexual revolution of the 1960s in which two young adults could not openly discuss the intimate aspects of their relationship. For someone who was born in the late... | 4 | A time I cannot connect with | 1,186,790,400 | 08 11, 2007 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307389375 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
3
] | You may have some pre-formed opinion of who Wernher von Braun was: American engineering hero who helped make man's first steps on another world a reality; amoral opportunist who would would work for any government willing to fund his dreams of space; or, as designer of the V-2 rocket, a Nazi villain guilty of crimes ag... | 4 | Von Braun's Faustian Bargain | 1,304,208,000 | 05 1, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307408841 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | There is an almost "collective unconscious" type of knowledge that we all have about Nazi Germany. We have images in our minds of Nuremberg rallies, Hitler's podium rantings and jack-booted troops marching through the streets. For Americans, our knowledge and interest in this time period usually begins and ends with ou... | 4 | Present at the Creation | 1,310,169,600 | 07 9, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307477479 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
4
] | This book could have been alternately titled "A bunch of people and what happened to each of them over time" (though that would have been much more unwieldy than "A Visit From the Goon Squad"). Egan does a great job of mapping out the complexities of life as people age. What starts out as a cohesive group of friends or... | 4 | Where are they now? | 1,310,169,600 | 07 9, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 030758836X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
3
] | Having read Gillian Flynn's first two efforts, "Sharp Objects" and "Dark Places," I was very mush looking forward to digging into her latest, "Gone Girl." No one writes about dark, twisted characters better than Flynn, and Gone Girl certainly does not disappoint in this respect. It's part mystery and part psychological... | 4 | Riveting but with a hard-to-swallow ending | 1,342,915,200 | 07 22, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307593991 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | Aristotle. Philip of Macedonia. Alexander the Great. You've heard of these men, but what do you know about them? Not much? Well, that's okay; you don't need a prerequisite in ancient history to thoroughly enjoy Annabel Lyon's solid novel "The Golden Mean."This is the tale of the philosopher Aristotle who is asked by hi... | 4 | "My famous tutor" | 1,310,947,200 | 07 18, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307741346 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
120,
133
] | This is a manuscript for a movie. In recent interviews Ben Mezrich has been very open about that. He writes books from the very beginning in the hopes that they will be optioned for movies. And it shows.Mezrich, author of "The Accidental Billionaires," the book upon which the Facebook movie "The Social Network" was bas... | 2 | Second-rate story, third-rate writing | 1,311,811,200 | 07 28, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0307742954 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | Many people under the age of 50 or 60 (unless they be classic film buffs) will not be particularly familiar with the name Hedy Lamarr. Yet to the generation that grew up in the 1940s and 50s, she was a household name, synonymous with glamour and beauty. What's not generally known is that this international beauty had ... | 4 | Beauty and Brains | 1,330,214,400 | 02 26, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 030788743X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | Ready player One posits a dystopian future America, not so dissimilar from our present, in which forty years of recession, environmental depletion and energy scarcity have made life in an elaborate virtual reality system far preferable to life in reality itself. This virtual reality system, called the OASIS, is free to... | 5 | A quest paired with a tour of 80s pop culture | 1,314,921,600 | 09 2, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312203438 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | I picked this book up because it addressed one of the issues that I think about frequently, but rarely see discussed in book form: our ad-saturated culture. We are so bombarded by advertising that we become blind to it...we can no longer see the forest for the promotional trees thrown at us by Nike and its advertising ... | 4 | See the forest... | 1,030,233,600 | 08 25, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312283709 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
11,
14
] | This is another author writing in the new genre of "wait til you hear how scewed up _my_ childhood was!". If you like reading disconnected chapters about a sexually abused teenager forced to live with 1970s psychobabble-addicted hippies who sit around watching TV all day, this is your ticket to entertainment. "Running"... | 2 | Why is this book popular? | 1,162,771,200 | 11 6, 2006 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312347294 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
6
] | This book is billed as a grand thought experiment based on the question "what would happen to the earth if humans disappeared en masse tomorrow?". It is less a though experiment than a platform to remind you that humans have done a thoroughly good job at ruining the planet and the delicate balance of interconnected spe... | 3 | The really (really) Long View | 1,197,158,400 | 12 9, 2007 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312358342 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | Despite the conceit of a rapture-like event which randomly whisks a good chunk of the world's population to some unknown destination, The Leftovers is not remotely mystical. It does not contain a deep analysis of religious belief. Its characters do not dwell in a world extraordinarily different from our own. And this ... | 3 | Enjoyable, but left me wanting | 1,317,772,800 | 10 5, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 031237478X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
4
] | Dan Falk's "In Search of Time" is a thoroughly approachable and enjoyable review of what physicists and philosophers are able to tell us about the nature of time, an aspect of life that we take for granted as obvious and understood...until you start to look at it closely. Falk covers every aspect of time from ancient a... | 4 | Make time for this book | 1,353,110,400 | 11 17, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312421273 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
4
] | I'm generally a non-fiction reader, but I picked this book up on the strength of a testimonial I overheard at the bookstore. Why is a story about the diverging lives of a mid-western family so engrossing? Because you'll probably recognize not only yourself, but maybe other members of your family in these perfectly craf... | 5 | Which memeber of the Lambert family are you? | 1,032,566,400 | 09 21, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312422164 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
6
] | This seems to be one of Frnazen's obsessions in this collection of essays. This collection is basically a series of out-loud inner discussions in which Franzen wonders what the fate and relevance of the American social novel is and whether worthy novels need to be considered impenetrable by the Average Joe. There are s... | 4 | What is 'serious literature'? | 1,069,200,000 | 11 19, 2003 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312424183 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
5
] | Haven't there been enough of these already?What starts out to be an amusing series of tart "letters" written by main character Lewis Miner, aka "Teabag", to his high school newsletter turns into a tedious drag of pointless narrative. The story? There really is none. Where do the characters go? Nowhere. You've read this... | 3 | Yet another slacker novel | 1,216,252,800 | 07 17, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 031242843X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
5,
8
] | Leo believes that his lovely young wife has been replaced by a near-perfect double. He spends the next 240 pages from that starting point moving deeper and deeper into exotic delusions that support his increasingly untenable belief. It seemed like an interesting premise. At first, I even thought that it might be a set-... | 2 | A 240-page acid trip | 1,217,721,600 | 08 3, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312430027 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | This book chronicles the experiences of the 2-16 Rangers, deployed during the famous Iraqi "Surge". Author David Finkel, who was embedded with them, does not deal with politics in "The Good Soldiers", he does not deal with rhetoric, he deals with reality -- the reality of what the Surge was for this particular Army uni... | 4 | Brutal. | 1,265,155,200 | 02 3, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312558155 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | Let's begin with a message for the author: Dexter Palmer, you're a good writer. You created a number of shining moments in "The Dream of Perpetual Motion." You simply left too many pages of sluggish drifting in between those moments to qualify this as a satisfying novel.This novel takes place in an alternate history in... | 3 | Too Much 'Dream', Not Enough 'Motion' | 1,302,566,400 | 04 12, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312576463 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
10,
13
] | Franzen's novel got saddled with a "work of genius" label even before it was released, creating a hype storm so ferocious that it would be hard for any book to live up to. So, I'll step back for a moment, imagine that I hadn't heard any of the advance publicity and declare: I thoroughly enjoyed Freedom.I enjoyed it f... | 5 | I fell for these characters | 1,284,940,800 | 09 20, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312855036 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | Having devoured the complete Apollo canon of histories, biographies and autobiographies, I admit that I'd been putting this one off for some time. I suppose because Deke was a Mercury astronaut who never flew in that program and was barely an Apollo astronaut (if you see the Apollo-Soyuz test Project as actually being ... | 4 | A behind-the-scenes tour with Deke | 1,373,155,200 | 07 7, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0312867131 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | Reading 'Calculating God' is what 'My Dinner with Andre' would have been had the protagonists been scientists (and one of them was an alien with inside information). The plot of two alien races descending upon the earth in search of paleontology data is almost secondary to the book's main thrust: an extended discussion... | 4 | Fun SciFi Prop for a Debate Over Theism | 1,239,494,400 | 04 12, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0316016381 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
3
] | Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End started out as a very funny satire of typical American office life, populated with buffoonish characters that most probably recognize from their own professional lives. In fact, it was so funny in the first few pages that I had great hopes of settling in for a lot of laughs over t... | 3 | Slightly confused comedo/dramatic/SeriousSillySatire | 1,207,958,400 | 04 12, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0316056561 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | This is the first e-book that I ever read. Not that it's relevant to the review of the book itself, but somehow it seems important to note following all of the physical books that I've reviewed on Amazon since 2001. I heard the author interviewed on the radio and the topic of how and why all cultures substitute vague w... | 4 | Fun with words | 1,299,628,800 | 03 9, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0316066524 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | ...you'd get Infinite Jest. One of the most original books that I've ever read. It's hard to sum up this sprawling book, even harder to figure out what it was really about. I have to say that the main draw in this novel for me was the style of the prose. Wallace's lengthy, twisting, complex langauge is like a tasty taf... | 4 | If spoiled slackers became serious authors... | 1,032,912,000 | 09 25, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0316075841 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | Malcolm Gladwell has a formula: take a bit of common wisdom, something most people accept without question, and pick each assumption apart until you find that that bit of wisdom isn't really supported by facts. Sure, it's a formula -- but it also tends to be pretty entertaining. "What the Dog Saw" is a collection of wi... | 4 | Take an assumption, then flip | 1,265,587,200 | 02 8, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0316091049 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | It's likely that you know a few things about Dwight D. Eisenhower the World War II general and Supreme Allied Commander, but what do you know about Eisenhower the president? If you're like me, not a lot beyond a few details of the U-2 incident involving Francis Gary Powers. If you'd like to know more about this sometim... | 4 | A highly readable account of Ike's tenure | 1,355,788,800 | 12 18, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0345464575 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | The third and fourth books in Updike's series of books tracing the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom are probably the best of the bunch, with the final, "Rabbit at Rest" being the most engaging of the four. In them, Rabbit experiences the satisfaction of having "made it" in his forties, comfortably relaxing with his new ... | 4 | Rabbit wasn't particularly loveable, but I'll miss him | 1,255,564,800 | 10 15, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0345485920 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
50,
62
] | Po Bronson spent a lot of time interviewing people around this country and around the world about their careers, their callings, their regrets and their dreams. All of this based on a single question: what do you want to do with your life? If you've ever asked yourself this question before, or if you're struggling with... | 5 | Examine Your Life and Learn | 1,041,206,400 | 12 30, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0345803450 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | Sweet Tooth was a return to the kind of novel that got me interested in the work of Ian McEwan in the first place: subtle, clever, involving and literate. His plot of a young British girl who becomes a low-level operative in MI5 during a low point in Britain's post war political scene drew me in with the uniqueness of ... | 4 | Good, but with a too familiar ending | 1,381,017,600 | 10 6, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0345807294 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
71,
76
] | The Circle is Dave Eggers’ response to what’s happening to us all: the fundamental transformation of human society created by perpetual electronic connectedness. Surely you’ve felt it. I know I have...and I’m glad that a major novelist like Eggers has taken it on. Someone needs to.Eggers wraps h... | 4 | Secrets are Lies, Privacy is Theft | 1,381,968,000 | 10 17, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0374224242 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
3
] | This is a difficult book to review as I'm not entirely sure how I felt about it. Let's just say this: if you like stories which leave their meaning wide open to personal interpretation, "Odds Against Tomorrow" might be a great book for you.Without revealing too much, protagonist Mitchell Zukor is an unsettled young man... | 3 | Hit and Miss | 1,368,921,600 | 05 19, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375404945 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | Say the name "Lindbergh" and it's likely that one of two things immediately come to mind: that Charles Lindbergh was the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane or that he was the famous flier who's baby was kidnapped in what was once known as the "crime of the century." Both of these facts reflect what Ch... | 4 | Absorbing book about a man of contradictions | 1,378,598,400 | 09 8, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375405445 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | Having just finished David McCullough's authoritative biography of John Adams and having my appetite for details on American Revolutionary figures whetted, Ellis' book seemed like a logical next book. Actually, the last two chapters of the book cover much of the same territory as McCullough's, namely, the uneasy relati... | 4 | Revolutionary characters | 1,034,985,600 | 10 19, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375423729 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
1
] | This book could have alternately been titled "A History of the Bit: How the bit made modern communication, computing, logic, an understanding of biology and a whole bunch of other stuff possible." It's James Gleick's extremely ambitious attempt to wrap his arms around the entirety of the expansive concept of "informati... | 4 | A History of the Bit | 1,302,307,200 | 04 9, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375434313 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | "At Home" uses Bryson's english home (a former parsonage) as a conceit for exploring virtually any topic that he wishes to pursue. Each chapter is named for a discrete room in his home and serves as a jump point for a series of inter-connected ramblings. If this were any other author, "ramblings" might be derogatory, b... | 5 | Bryson makes almost any topic fun | 1,293,494,400 | 12 28, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375502025 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
11,
12
] | When I finally did get around to reading this huge bestseller, I was met with pretty much what I had expected...a breezy, movie-like collection of WWII memories. What this 35-year old gets from Mr. Brokaw's book is that the generation that fought World War II was more honest, harder-working, more dedicatated to their s... | 3 | Interesting, though shallow | 1,043,020,800 | 01 20, 2003 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375701427 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
3
] | Through 'American Pastoral' Philip Roth explores grand themes of the second half of the "American Century." Seymour "Swede" Levov, son of a fully assimilated Jewish family, has it all growing up in post-WW II America: he's attractive, popular, athletically gifted, married to a former Miss America contender and believes... | 4 | The culture shock we never recovered from | 1,205,107,200 | 03 10, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375758283 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
4,
4
] | "The Chip" attempts to pack a lot of history and a lot of ideas into a very short 260-odd pages. For the most part, it succeeds. The reader gets just enough history on boolean logic, Thomas Edison, and vacuum tubes to appreciate the astounding achievment of the first monolithic circuit without feeling overwhe... | 4 | Quick and entertaining tour | 1,035,331,200 | 10 23, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0375759255 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | The themes in Babbitt are as relevant now as they were when this book first appeared nearly 100 years ago. George F. Babbitt is a successful middle aged businessman and and respected member of the local establishment. He appears to have everything: a wife, a family, his own business, political connections that make his... | 4 | Mid-Life Peer Pressure in America | 1,167,177,600 | 12 27, 2006 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0387716750 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | You're likely reading this review because you're interested in the Apollo program...really interested. More interested than the average interested person. You've read the popular accounts. You know who the LMP was on Apollo 14. You know what a SLA panel is. Your friends are tired of hearing about your little tid bits o... | 5 | Apollo: the Missing Manual | 1,356,912,000 | 12 31, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0393038912 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
4
] | Guns, Germs and Steel is a well reasoned volume that presents its ideas clearly. It may get you to think for the first time about questions to which you thought the answers were obvious, but upon reflection, you find are not. In reading this book, you'll learn why it was so easy for a tiny Spanish force to conquer a co... | 4 | Why aren't aboriginals running the stock market right now? | 1,032,566,400 | 09 21, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0393066800 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | Spillover deals with the phenomenon of disease spread to humans through contact with animals. As humans press into ever more remote corners of the earth, crowding once distant animal populations into ever smaller physical spaces, the frequency of our encounters with them increases...and so does the opportunity for huma... | 5 | Out of the forests and into the cities | 1,364,083,200 | 03 24, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0393079988 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
4,
7
] | Great House is not a novel that necessarily lends itself to a straight up or down "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" kind of review. Some have labeled it as experimental, but I don't think I'd go that far; I've certainly read novels that seemed much more on the fringe of what's expected of a novel. Not having read any ... | 3 | This isn't for everyone | 1,299,628,800 | 03 9, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0393332136 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | I seriously enjoyed "Talented Mr. Ripley". Enough to seek out the first sequel in the Highsmith's long-running series. The basic sketch of the plot is that Tom abets some British pals in running an art world scam in which wealthy buyers purchase forged paintings of the dead artist Derwatt. Except for the conspirators, ... | 4 | Less plausable than "Talented", still fun | 1,278,547,200 | 07 8, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0394415353 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
3
] | Hofstadter breaks his analysis of the history of matters of intellect in America by looking at three broad areas: religion, education in relation to labor movements and politics and changing philosophies on how children should be educated. While I found the discussion of historical labor movements to be uncompelling as... | 4 | Knowledge Threatens the Pioneer Spirit | 1,362,268,800 | 03 3, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0399154302 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | This book was my first exposure to Mr. Gibson's work. Of course, I was very familiar with his name, if not his past plots. Given the high expectations that his name recognition generated, I was certainly expecting more. Much more. None of the characters were ever really developed...owing to the maddeningly short chapte... | 2 | Not actively bad, merely boring | 1,195,776,000 | 11 23, 2007 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0446571571 | null | [
7,
7
] | Interested in a story about a chimp that learns how to think, talk and act like a human? This is the book for you. However, if you're looking for a plausible explanation of how such a thing could happen, this is not the book for you. Likewise, if you're squeamish, you may wish to look elsewhere.The conceit of a chimp t... | 4 | Fascinating...but disturbing | 1,310,169,600 | 07 9, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0449219771 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
1
] | Almost since its initial publication in 1959, William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has been regarded as a classic text in the canon of historical narratives documenting Germany under Nazi rule. I've never been an aficionado of this material, but I became interested in the history of mid 20th century German... | 4 | A Remarkable Eyewitness Account | 1,341,705,600 | 07 8, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0451215095 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | I held off reading this biography of Pete Conrad for years because it didn't seem to be of a high enough quality when I thumbed through it at the book store (remember those?). After a recent trip to Kennedy Space Center Vistor's Complex, my interest in all things Apollo was revived and I decided to finally pick this bo... | 3 | Pete Conrad: A Lightweight Bio | 1,333,152,000 | 03 31, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0582421276 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
2
] | Hundreds of people have reviewed this book, but I haven't yet, so here's my contribution. This is a book that ordinarily would not have read had I not had a little push from someone whose opinions I respect. "Memoirs" could have been fluffy and soap opera-ish, but it avoids most of those literary traps by esc... | 4 | A secret world | 1,068,508,800 | 11 11, 2003 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0609605887 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | Then you should read this book. Gig is an unexpectedly engaging collection of vignettes of diverse American workers. It makes you think long and hard about your job...as well as all those jobs that someone has to do, but that no one really wants to. (What does the garbage man really think about when he's riding the bac... | 4 | You think you hate your job? | 1,030,233,600 | 08 25, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0618509283 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
3
] | The Plot Against America is an imagined history of Philip Roth's own youth in which he is witness to an alternate version of history where aviation hero Charles Lindbergh displaces Franklin Roosevelt as President of the United States. Containing some familiar themes from Sinclair Lewis' 1935 book "It Can't Happen Here... | 4 | It might have happened | 1,258,243,200 | 11 15, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0618556133 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
3
] | Fick gives an account of his entry into the Marine Corps as an idealistic young man yearning for a true challenge that would test his inner strength. His decision to become a Marine occurs prior to 9/11, the event that would turn what he thought would be a peace time stint in the Corps into an obligation to participate... | 4 | The first big toe dipped into Iraq | 1,202,601,600 | 02 10, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0670022381 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
5,
6
] | I stumbled on to the books of Ken Robinson in the way that thousands of others probably have: through his wildly popular TED Talks. His easy-going speaking style and gentle sense of humor serve the topic of self-discovery particularly well. In Finding Your Element, you'll find a writing style that closely matches what ... | 4 | There's still time to find your element | 1,371,081,600 | 06 13, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 067973337X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
13,
15
] | Beak of the Finch appears to be unique among popular evolution texts in the way that the author illustrates his points by highlighting measurable changes in the physical attributes of animals to prove the validity of Darwin's thesis: that plants and animals, through selective breeding, sprout biologically advantageous ... | 3 | A Reasonable Introduction to Evolution | 1,214,956,800 | 07 2, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0679747567 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
44,
46
] | This book is slightly mistitled; it probably should have been called "HOW Things Bite Back", since there's not a lot of "why" until the last few pages of the book. Tenner provides many discrete examples of how various technological solutions to problems of the past have resulted in unforseen consequ... | 3 | Action and Reaction Again and Again | 1,034,208,000 | 10 10, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0679759336 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
4,
6
] | Nicholson Baker immediately grabbed me with his "character can stop time" premise. Really immediate. Like Page One immediate. There aren't a lot of authors that can pull that off, so my hopes for "The Fermata" were high. My interest level remained high as he explored the premise in extreme detail. We all know what men ... | 3 | Wading through graphic sludge | 1,275,523,200 | 06 3, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 067977548X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
8,
9
] | Gleick's slim little book about the quickening pace of...well, everything...turned out to be surprisingly tedious. The book's main drawback is that it's nothing more than a collection of loosely related anecdotes: how airline scheduleing software optimizes plane routes, how call switching programs handle zillions of ca... | 2 | Not Fast Enough | 1,043,971,200 | 01 31, 2003 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0684813637 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
3
] | If you're like I was, you're pretty rusty on the personalities of the American Revolution. If you'd like to educate yourself on this important part of our shared history, you'd do well to start with McCullough's extremely thorough biography of John Adams--signatory to the Declaration of Independence, the first Vice Pre... | 5 | Don't know much about the Revolution? | 1,033,516,800 | 10 2, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0684842696 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
9,
18
] | I tried, really _tried_ to plow through Underworld's 800+ pages. I just couldn't do it. Too much like work. I can appreciate what DeLillo was trying to do to sum up post-WWII America, and using the travels of one of the most famous baseballs in sports history is certainly a clever way to do it, but I simply never felt ... | 2 | I gave up | 1,032,912,000 | 09 25, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0684849267 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
5,
5
] | Smith's biography of U.S. Grant will undoubtedly leave any reader with a new appreciation of this Civil War hero and oft-maligned two (and nearly three) term president. Though Grant is universally recognized as one of the greatest of all U.S. military leaders, he has often been depicted as an incompetant chief executiv... | 4 | A Man of Character | 1,037,577,600 | 11 18, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0684871580 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
5,
5
] | [2006 UPDATE: actual events in Iraq have pretty well discredited this book since I wrote this review, so take it with a grain of salt.]I read Germs in January, 2002, when it looked as if the U.S. was about to go to war with Iraq once again. Needless to say, this was a timely book to read.Miller et al take the reader on... | 4 | This book may influence your thinking on Iraq | 1,043,107,200 | 01 21, 2003 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 073571245X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | Eric Meyer has made a career out of teaching web professionals and amateurs alike how to fully exploit the powerful design features of cascading style sheets. There's proabbly no one out there who knows more about the quirks of how modern browsers implement CSS and how best to deal with these infuriating inconsistencie... | 5 | The CSS guru speaks | 1,033,776,000 | 10 5, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0739488341 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
4
] | The Lucifer Effect is largely a book about the details of the Stanford Prison Experiment in which college students were enlisted to participate in an experiment testing human behavior in incarceration scenarios. This experiment in psychology, conducted by author Philip Zimbardo in 1970, is a widely cited landmark study... | 4 | It's in us all | 1,207,440,000 | 04 6, 2008 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0743226712 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | Reading "1776" is a bit like starting the Star Wars saga at Episode II: You've missed most of the political setup of the Episode I, and you're not going to get to see the conclusion in Episode III. What the reader gets is a narrative that leaps strsight into the action of the beginning of the war. This book centers on ... | 4 | The American Revolution: First Chapter | 1,145,664,000 | 04 22, 2006 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 074325631X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
4
] | Everbody's always trying to somehow get into Neil Armstong's mind and find out what he's _really_ like. Well guess what: there's no deep, dark inner secrets about the man. Our celebrity culture has brought us up to expect that there's always a story behind the story. But, sometimes there isn't. Turns out that Armstrong... | 4 | The whole story at last | 1,138,665,600 | 01 31, 2006 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0767907590 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
8,
8
] | I had an impulse to pick this book up after seeing a documentary on Philo T. Farnsworth on PBS's "the American Experience" about four years ago. The account on the show was somewhat breezy owing to the hour long format. I was hoping to find more detail in Stashower's book. I was both satisifed and maybe just ... | 4 | The Mythic Inventor | 1,035,849,600 | 10 29, 2002 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0767926439 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
2
] | Veterinarian Trout takes the reader through some typical experiences in the career of an American vet using a day-in-the-life conceit (which he tells you up front is more of an amalgam of actual incidents accumulated over the years). You'll deal with the details of canine and feline surgery, anecdotes of pleasant owner... | 3 | Before you apply to vet school... | 1,294,444,800 | 01 8, 2011 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0803211287 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
12,
12
] | Since you're reading this review, and this is a somewhat obscure book, I'll assume that you're like me: you've read a lot of books covering the history of the Apollo Project already. Some have been outstanding, like Murray & Cox's "Apollo: the Race to the Moon" and Chaikin's definitive "A Man on the Moon", and some hav... | 5 | A Far Above Average Chronicle of Apollo | 1,262,390,400 | 01 2, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0803224346 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
12,
12
] | For me, Apollo has always been where it's at. Big rockets, big missions, groundbreaking history. Skylab? A bunch of guys floating around the earth for months at a time. Dull, right? Your mind will most certainly be changed when you read this excellent addition to the "People's History of Spaceflight" series.I picked th... | 5 | Apollo's Forgotten Sibling | 1,263,772,800 | 01 18, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0803226489 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
6,
6
] | Having recently read the excellent "Wheels Stop," the volume in the "Outward Odyssey" series which covers the post-Challenger Shuttle program, I was eager to get my hands on a copy of "Bold They Rise," which chronicles the Shuttle's technical conception and significant first flights. This addition to the "Odyssey" ser... | 5 | A Terrific Chronicle of the Early Shuttle Program | 1,398,470,400 | 04 26, 2014 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0803226659 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
18,
18
] | This is the third volume I've read in the terrific "People's History of Spaceflight" series. It fills in the gap between "In the Shadow of the Moon," covering Gemini and Apollo up to the first landing, and "Homesteading Space," the Skylab story. In the Shadow of the Moon is one of the best new additions to the Apollo l... | 4 | "New" Apollo gems get harder to come by | 1,273,276,800 | 05 8, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0803235348 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | This is the fourth book I’ve read in the excellent “People’s History of Spaceflight Series,” the prior books covering Projects Gemini, through Apollo, ands finally, Skylab. “Wheels Stop,” familiar to space-watchers as the final call heard from Mission Control at the conclusion of a S... | 5 | The Most Complex Flying Machine Ever Built | 1,395,532,800 | 03 23, 2014 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0812970497 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | Walking through FDR'S estate in Hyde Park, New York, I was intrigued by the exhibits that I saw there, particularly a display of letters written by desperate Americans petitioning the White House for support in light of extreme hardship. These letters were posted in a room dedicated to explaining the origins of the soc... | 4 | A good primer, but lacking detail | 1,327,190,400 | 01 22, 2012 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0812977866 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
5,
8
] | Shteyngaart gives us an improbable love story between 39 year old son-of-Russian-immigrants Lenny Abramov and the 24 year old daughter-of-Korean-immigrants Eunice Park. Their strange romance takes place in near-future America where the more ridiculous elements of modern life and culture are carried to satirical extrem... | 4 | Super Sad Reality | 1,289,001,600 | 11 6, 2010 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0813042097 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | So this is the one we've all been waiting for. Of all of the astronaut autobiographies, John Young's has been one of the most eagerly anticipated. John Young, the astronaut's astronaut. He's seen more and done more than any other astronaut in American history. No other astronaut can (or will ever be able to) lay claim ... | 4 | The Missing Astronaut Biography | 1,367,971,200 | 05 8, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0865478937 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
2,
2
] | This is a quirky little book dealing with the vanishing art (and some would say "vanishing act") of handwriting. If you think that it might be difficult to write an entire book about this somewhat interesting but admittedly limited topic, you're partially correct. In its defense, and owing to its subject, it is a brie... | 4 | If you care at all about handwriting, check it out | 1,365,292,800 | 04 7, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0871403595 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
16,
20
] | Winter is the time for reading books about Big Ideas, and certainly there's no bigger idea than very the existence of the universe. Most people, either alone in quiet contemplation or engaged in alcohol-fueled conversations with friends at a bar, have at one time or another considered the question "why should there be ... | 3 | Word games and circles | 1,358,553,600 | 01 19, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 0871404036 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
5,
5
] | "Kingdom Come" is intended to be a satire of modern consumerist culture in which the protagonist, searching for the cause of his father's supposedly random death at the hands of a shopping mall gunman, stumbles on to an unsettling suburban culture of violence, xenophobia...and extreme shopping.Central character Richard... | 3 | Consumerism and fascism collide | 1,359,590,400 | 01 31, 2013 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 1400032407 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
3
] | Two twentieth century geniuses, Kurt Godel and Alan Turing, are the subjects of this little novel. Through the course of the book's 220 pages, we get a glimpse of the inner torture of each. They're both beacons of intellect who, while succeeding academically, either have a hard time understanding the logic of basic hum... | 3 | Disconnected Geniuses | 1,194,048,000 | 11 3, 2007 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 1400044731 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
0,
0
] | Many others have already written of the amazing nature of this book: two insightful novellas written about the second World War...not in retrospect, but as it was unfolding. As if the achievement of a well written reflection on contemporaneous events were not enough, the circumstances surrounding author Nemrovsky's pre... | 4 | The Occupiers You Know... | 1,246,147,200 | 06 28, 2009 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 1400062349 | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
3,
4
] | I'm primarily a non-fiction reader. I suppose that the fiction novels I've picked up have been poorly written with unbelievable dialogue and characters, or they've just been plain boring. So, given all of this, I'm not sure what prompted me to pick up Slick. I suppose it was the dust jacket which promised a story about... | 5 | Original and entrancing | 1,101,859,200 | 12 1, 2004 |
A1DLQ64TCES0P8 | 140006788X | Gary Schroeder "GS23" | [
1,
1
] | Others have summarized the plot in great detail, so I won't add much about that here. Instead, I'll focus on my reaction. First, I have to say that I was a great fan of Pessl's debut novel "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" so I was really looking forward to her second effort. "Night Film" shares many similarities to... | 3 | Great buildup but finishes with a whimper | 1,386,201,600 | 12 5, 2013 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.