Archive for April, 2010

Presumed Innocent – Scott Turow

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

 

 

Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (December 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446676446
ISBN-13: 978-0446676441
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

Rusty Savitch. Chief Prosecutor. Murder Suspect? That pretty much summarizes the plot for Scott Turow’s novel presumed innocent. This novel was originally released in 1987. This May, after 23 years, the sequel Innocent will be released. To celebrate that release, they re-released this novel. I’m glad they did. I’d never heard of it prior to this. It was even a movie starring Harrison Ford that I’d never seen (word of advice, read the book before you see the movie). The story is told from the point of view of Rusty Sabich. He’s given the assignment to discover who murdered a fellow attorney. This attorney just happens to be a woman he was having an affair with. Rusty finds himself involved in a mystery to determine who the killer was, and the subsequent trial. The book involves a lot of detective work, and very good trial scenes. It kept me wondering what the true story was behind the murder.

There was some strong language, so I’d say adults or older teens on this one. I was a bit distracted by the first person perspective. I”m not quite used to that in thrillers, but eventually got into the groove of things. You could never truly tell which characters were the good guys, and which weren’t. Rusty at times seemed like a bit of a self-centered, obsessive, jerk. I think that characterization helped with the story. If he’d been a loveable guy, then you wouldn’t have the suspense factor.

The one drawback. After I finished, my wife tried to read it. The descriptions, etc. for her tastes were a bit verbose. Some readers don’t like details like the white carpet felt like puffs of cotton on his bare feet, etc. If you are that type of reader, you might not be able to get into this. If you can get by that though, I think you’d enjoy the story. If you are a fan of thrillers, then pick this one up. Be sure and stop by here and enter our contest to win a copy. Be sure to stop by in May. I’ll not only have a review of Innocent, but a giveaway as well.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Valerie at Hachette Book Group for a review copy of this book.  It in no way influenced my review.

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

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Alex Cross’s Trial – James Patterson and Richard Dilallo

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

 

 

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Grand Central; Reprint  (April 6, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446561800
ISBN-13: 978-0446561808
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

Racism. The Ku Klux Klan. Mississippi. One of the ugliest time periods in American History. Ben Corbett, a white lawyer with a wife and two daughters, is contacted for a special government mission. They want him to go to Mississippi to investigate stories about Lynchings. His contact is Abraham Cross, grandfather to Moody Cross, a relative of Alex’s. Once there, events unfold in often terrifying sequences.

The book is written as a book within a book. The author is really supposed to be Alex Cross writing about event’s in his families past. James Patterson and Richard Dilallo have managed to capture that time, in what I think, is a very realistic manner. Sometimes, maybe too realistic. There were passages where I cringed. The language, the behavior, and the events were true to the time period. The bravery of the main character facing all of this kept driving me onward in the book. The book was sprinkled with famous historical personalities too. I won’t mention which ones, because part of the fun is seeing these people, through he author’s and character’s eyes.

This is one of those books where you hesitate to say you liked it. The story was real, the people seemed real. But the reader isn’t supposed to like it. You’re supposed to hate the fact that this went on. You’re supposed to feel and see things through the eyes of Ben. Some of the scenes involving lynchings presented very strong imagery. Imagery that at times I couldn’t get out of my mind.In that respect I think the author succeeded. There were times where I cheered on Ben, and times where I was ashamed of our nation’s past. I’d recommend it to any James Patterson fans, people interested in early 20th century American history, or just those generally wanting a good book to read. I’m not sure how much Mr. Patterson wrote, and how much Mr. Dilallo wrote, but it was enjoyable. On a family friendly level, I’d say no one under 17/18. There was some strong language, and racially charged situations and language. All seemed withi context, but could be offensive to some audiences.

Be sure to check out our giveaway for this book here.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Valerie at Hachette Book Group for a copy of this book.  It in no way influenced my review.

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

Article – By Rick Rhodes – Earth Day and Reading

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Reading for the Green Minded

A person over the course of their lifetime can accumulate a ton of books. I know I’ve got way more than I need. Some I dearly love, and some I hold on to because there are bits of information within them that I’d like to hang on to. As a reviewer, I get a ton of books. Ethics codes say these can’t be sold, so that leaves finding other venues for them when you run out of room for them. What do you do though with the books that you’ve decided to let go of. Just toss them in the garbage, or give them a new life. What about those books, you want to read, but aren’t sure you want to dedicate that precious shelf space to. I hope to present a lot of alternatives to you.

Let’s begin with one of the newest ways to love books, yet remain green. The electronic reader. There are many different e-reader devices out there now, more to come. I’ll cover the biggest and most widely used.

Kindle – Available from Amazon.Com – Actually available in the Kindle 2 or Kindle DX. The Kindle DX is a larger, more expensive, more powerful version of the Kindle. The Kindle holds about 1500 books, while the Kindle DX holds 3,500. The Kindle DX has a larger screen than the Kindle. The DX is priced about $200 more than the Kindle. The DX is available with U.S. and Global wireless, while the Kindle seems to come with Global wireless. The Kindle will accept Amazon e-books and convert PDF’s, while the DX will accept PDF documents as they are.

Nook – Available from Barnes & Noble – The Nook is 7.7 inches high by 4.9 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick, and weighs about 12 ounces. Roughly the size of a paperback book. It holds the contest of 1,500 books, and will take a microSD card to expand the number of books available. Books are available via a free 3G wireless network as well as free wi-fi in all Barnes and Noble stores. It also holds about 26 hours worth of audio for your audiobooks. Battery life is about 10 days without recharging, but use of wi-fi/3G will lower that.

Sony E-Reader – Available from a variety of retail outlets. Sony has two versions of their e-reader. The lowest priced is the Sony Pocket E-Reader at around $199. The other is the touch screen, and retails for about $259.  This is probably one of the most popular choices, next to the Kindle.

One of the biggest drawbacks right now it seems is each device is proprietary. Sony has their format for e-books, Amazon has theirs, Nook has theirs. Some will take many formats such as PDF, others not as many. From my perspective, I’m holding off. In doing my reviews, an e-reader would come in handy for many reasons. For one, I’d clear out a lot of shelf space by upgrading to electronic copies of some of my books. Secondly, I’d be able to accept some books for review faster, and if I see a new book that I want to read, I can get it within a matter of seconds. Also, there’s the factor that it would be better for the environment. However, I’d like a device that allows me to take notes on the book as I’m reading it. Some of them do have limited note taking ability. If you decide to purchase one though, the best advice is to try each of them out. Don’t be so eager to jump on the bandwagon, that you just buy one, because it’s an emerging technology and I think eventually, like MP3 players, at some point you can find e-readers priced for everyone. So if you are shopping for one, what are some things to look for:

E-Ink Display – This gives you a display very much like the printing on a book. This type of display is much better I’ve read on the eyes, than an LCD display.

Storage Content – Will 1,500 book capacity be enough, or will you need more. If you don’t think that’ll be enough, make sure it’s expandable.

Battery Life – You don’t want to be on a 5 hour plane trip, and have it run out of juice on you 2 hours into the flight.

Hidden costs – Are there costs to access the wireless networks?

Book Availability – How many books are available for this device? What formats does it accept?

But wait, you say, I don’t want e-books, I love the feeling of curling up with a physical book. I like the feeling of turning the pages. I can’t get that from an e-reader. But what do I do with the books that I’ve read, but don’t really want to keep around permanently. Well, I’m glad you asked. There are many ways and places you can recycle those books.

You can send your used textbooks (I know I still have a ton) to Books Beyond Borders. Their purpose is to provide educational and reading opportunities to underpriviledged countries.

You could check with your local library. Some will take your books and have library books sales as a fundraiser. A Great way to support your local libraries, which today, sadly, are mostly underfunded.

Friends of Libraries, USA – Their purpose is to help rebuild libraries in areas hit by hurricane’s, earthquakes, etc.

At Freecycle.org you can list your ads for free and give your books or anything else away!

A fun way to recycle a book is through Bookcrossing.com – The idea behind this site, is that you leave a book in a public place, then post it. Someone else goes and picks it up. You can find books others have left, and track the ones you left.

Housingworks.org – They work to end homelessness and AIDS in NYC. Books can be mailed [126 Crosby Street, NYC 10012 (212-334-3324)] or dropped off.

PaperbackSwap.com At this website, you mail your books in, and get credits for them. You then use those credits to get other books you want to read.

BooksThroughBars.org This site provides books to prisoners. You do need to check though and make sure you send the types of books a particular prison allows.

Some other places to donate are homeless shelters, local schools, and hospitals. Over at For the love of books they have a discussion of this very topic. Some of their commentors can give you ideas on things in specific areas of the country such as NY, or Florida.

For books that are too damaged to pass off to anyone else, you can always go to paper recycling centers. However, from what I’ve read, you need to rip the hardovers off books, since they can’t be used, and just leave the paper content.

I hope this gives you some ideas on recycling/reusing books.  What ways do you know of, or can you think of to make use of books you no longer want?

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

Review: Anywhere: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the way you do business – Emily Nagle Green

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

 

 

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 14, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0071635149
ISBN-13: 978-0071635141
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

What is anywhere? Quite simply, it’s what we as people are moving toward as a civilization. Most of us are connected to the world in one way or another. There are some with their wireless phones, laptops. We have devices to track our locations from satellite and tell us where we need to go. This book sets out to inform businesses of what anywhere (connectivity) is, how they can achieve it, and where it could be heading in the future.

I’ve seen the changes that are leading to what this book describes.  My first job was involved in eletronic banking.  A person would boot up software on their PC, click a button to make payments, then a file was transferred via a modem to a database somewhere, where it would the be processed and paid.  Today, you can flip open your cellphone, go to almost any banking site, transfer funds, send payments, or check balances. 

The book while giving a lot of detailed information, keeps things simple enough for even a non-technical person to appreciate. The thing that grabbed me the most was some of the examples. One example, was of a pharmaceutical company that was manufacturing a pill bottle. This bottle would alert medical personnel and others when doses were missed.  While it sounds a bit out of an Orwellian Fantasy, I could see the value in this.  You have people who forget as they get older.  With costs of medicine running so expensive, you also have people skipping doses.  This would help curb that.  There were other examples though, such as being able to pay for parking, from your cell phone, or as happens now in some places with e-readers, going into a store and getting offers for specific products.

One section of the book focuses on the types of people to look for in anywhere.  As in marketing, there are those who have to be kicked dragging and screaming into using the new technologies.  There are those who want to use them, but will wait and see where things are going.  There are those who will be waiting in line the night before products go on sale. 

I found the book very interesting.  The most interesting part to me was all the thoughts about where the future could take us.  I could see this book being a real benefit to those involved in tech business, and even those in other businesses that could use technology to help them reach more customers.  For the average person, I’m not sure this book would hold a lot of interest, but for those like me who are interesting in tech products, I think you’d enjoy this book.

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Anna at FSB Associates for providing a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review.

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

Article – By Kelly Gannon

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Six Tips for Saving Money on Eyeglasses

By Kelly Gannon

It’s an unfortunate fact, but most people will need eyeglasses to help them see at some point in life. If you’ve already had to purchase glasses, then you know how expensive they tend to be. While according to a 2005 study from MIT the average true cost of eyeglasses is only around $2 per pair, if you go to your local optician or optometrist you should be prepared to pay between $178 to $390, on average. There was a time when people had no other choice but to pay this hefty fee, but today the frugality-minded have a host of cost saving alternatives to choose from. Here are the top six ways to save:

Shop at Costco, Sam’s Club, or Walmart

Glasses can be bought at Walmart for as low as $40, and glasses at Costco can be bought for around the same price. At Costco, just the glass part of the glasses can be bought for as low as $20, and their frames start out at $19.

Even Cheaper : Order Glasses Online

The average price for glasses bought online is $20 – $30 total for both the frames and actual glasses. If you’re into “extreme frugality”, there are even reputable online stores that sell glasses for as low as $8! The quality is often the same as you would receive in a traditional optical store. The one major downside is you don’t get to try them on before buying them. Still, if you have an old frame, a significant amount of money can be saved this way. While this is a great option for most people looking to save some cash, it’s not really the best option for people who need progressive or bifocal lenses. Those types of glasses require measurements that need to be taken “in person” and must be estimated when the lenses are bought online. While this works for most people, it’s not ideal. For some, it doesn’t work at all – online retailers will be sure to let you know their limits.

Re-lens an Old Pair

If you only need new glasses because of a broken frame, consider having your current lenses put into a replacement frame. You can have this done at Walmart or Costco, but expect to pay a “mounting fee” of around $25 in addition to the cost of the new frame. Also, this will usually only work if you get the exact same frame that you had the first time.

Another option, if you have a frame you love but need new lenses, is to bring the frame to an optician or Walmart / Costco and have new lenses put in. This way, you will only pay the cost of the lenses. When frames often cost hundreds of dollars by themselves, this can be a great way to save some extra cash.

Buy OTC Readers and Use Single Vision Glasses Instead of Expensive Progressive Lenses

How badly do you really need those progressive lenses? Do you really just need glasses for reading? A lot of people who are told they “need” progressive lenses can actually make do with mega-cheap reading glasses from the drugstore. Make sure to explore this option with your eye doctor.

Avoid Brand Names on Both the Frames AND the Lenses

Brand name frames and lenses don’t necessarily mean an assurance of durability or quality. There are many stylish frames that aren’t coming from a famous brand, and there are perfectly functional lenses being produced in Asia and distributed by little-known sellers. If you need to save money, let go of ideas about needing to purchase brand name products.

Donate Your Old Glasses and Claim a Tax Deduction

Did you know that you can take your old glasses to LensCrafters or the Lion’s Club International and donate your old glasses as part of the “Gift of Sight”  program and then claim the donation as a tax deduction? You can, as long as your glasses aren’t broken. If you’re needing new glasses simply because your eyesight has worsened and you need a new prescription, this is a great way to save some money and also do a good deed.

Kelly Gannon is a content editor for Just Eyewear, an online glasses retailer. She writes on topics including current events, healthcare, and personal finance.

Review – Sexaholics – Pynk

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

 

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; March 23, 2010
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446179582
ISBN-13: 978-0446179584
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

Miki Summers is addicted to sex. All sex. Onesomes, twosomes, threesomes, tensomes. Valencia is bisexual and engaged, but wants to keep her girlfriend Miki on the side. Her Fiance wants her to be monogamous to only him. Brandi is hooked on sex with strangers and one night stands. Teela is hooked on watching. She often takes other women home to watch her husband have sex with them. Each of these women meet one night at a Sexual Addicts Anonymous meeting. The story then proceeds to detail their lives, and their addictions after the meeting. Each chapter switches from one woman to the other, eventually bringing the story of all four woman together.

I first received an offer to take part in a blog tour for this book.  The tour part sounded interesting.  I agreed though with no idea what the world of Erotic Literature was truly like, well outside of some semi-pornographic novels my mother unknowingly purchased at a yard sale when I was 14. At first, while reading it, I was shocked. That’s not typically something easy to do. But it was uncomfortable. I felt like I was reading a porn movie, a bit voyeuristic. Heavy, hardcore descriptions of acts, some of which I’d never heard of. As the novel progressed though, I began to see the tragedy of the characters. Even though they could probably see their worlds crumbling around them, the addiction was too strong to deny. Like with smoking, alcohol, and drugs, they just kept searching for a newer and stronger high.

By the end of this, my focus wasn’t “I can’t believe she just wrote all that”, but was on the characters, and wondering what was going to happen to them. I could see the train coming, through their eyes, and know they were headed towards dangerous situations, but powerless to do anything to stop them. And I think that’s the true idea behind addiction, whether it’s sex, drugs, food, or anything else. It’s that powerlessness over it, and the inability to stop even though you see the dangers ahead.

The characters seemed very realistic to me. I actually cared what happened to them. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve known versions of these people throughout my life, and known people facing addictions. I’ve struggled for years in not smoking, so in my own small way I can see things from their perspective. The author also did a good job in detailing the need, like with AA for admitting that you are powerless, and the need for some higher power.

The sex scenes are very graphically described. I would mark this for adults over 18 only, and if given a rating would probably give it a hard R or light X. At the same time though, I feel it’s a book that someone dealing with addiction, or who knows someone who is, could relate to, and maybe get some encouragement from. For that reason, or if you enjoy erotic literature, I’d say pick it up, I don’t think you’d be disappointed. But if you’re the type that gets embarassed or upset at wardrobe malfunctions during a super bowl game, then I’d say it’s probably not the book for you.

If you or a loved one do have problems with sexual addiction, and need to seek help, this might be a good place to start: http://www.sexaa.org/

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

Be sure and check out our interview with Pynk here, read an article from her here and enter our contest to win a copy of her book here

*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Anna at Hachette Book Group for allowing me to participate in this blog tour, helping arrange an interview with Pynk, and for providing some books to give to you. This in no way influenced my review of this book.

Be sure and stop by all the other participants in this blog tour and see what they had to say about this book.

www.armsofasister.blogspot.com 4/7/2010 Review, Giveaway
www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com 4/7/2010 Review, Giveaway
http://reesspace.blogspot.com 4/7/2010 Feature, Giveaway
http://sumanam.wordpress.com/ 4/7/2010 Feature, Review, Giveaway, Q&A [Seems like this site is gone now]
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com 4/7/2010 Giveaway
http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com 4/8/2010 Feature, Review, Giveaway, Guest Post
www.bibliophilicbookblog.com 4/9/2010 Review, Giveaway
www.authorexposure.com 4/9/2010 Feature, Giveaway
http://myoverstuffedbookshelf.blogspot.com/ 4/10/2010 Review, Giveaway
http://momofboyswithtoys.blogspot.com 4/10/2010 Feature, Review, Giveaway
www.longlivechicklit.wordpress.com 4/10/2010 Review
http://a-mom-life.blogspot.com 4/11/2010 Feature, Review, Giveaway
http://onemorefoggynotion.blogspot.com/ 4/12/2010 Feature, Review, Giveaway, Guest Post
www.justjenniferreading.blogspot.com 4/12/2010 Review, Giveaway
http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspotmcom 4/14/2010 Review, Q&A
http://bethsbookreviewblog.blogspot.com/ 4/14/2010 Giveaway

Interview – Pynk – Author of Sexaholics

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Hi Readers, We’ve been give the opportunity to ask a few questions of the Author Pynk in regards to her book Sexaholics and her writing process. For those of you who don’t know, Pynk is the “erotic” pseudonym for author Marissa Monteilh. Among her mainstream titles are May December Souls, The Chocolate Ship, Hot Boyz, Dr. Feelgood, Something He Can Feel, As Fate Would Have It, and Make Me Hot.

Her novel Make Me Hot was an African American Literary Award nominee. In the field of erotic novels, as Pynk, she has written books such as Erotic City and the upcoming Sixty Nine. Please take a moment to read through this interview and learn a little more about Pynk.

Rhodes Review: What was the inspiration of this book?

Pynk: Back in 2002, it was reported that Eric Benet attended sex addiction counseling after his break up with Halle Berry. I remember hearing the term Sexaholic and knew that I wanted to explore a fictional sexaholic experience from a female perspective. Later I decided to write the title under the name of PYNK. The title was purchased in 2006, and even today, sexaholism is still a timely topic.

Rhodes Review: From your research, what do you think women/men who actually suffer from sex addiction do to get better?

Pynk: Sex addicts act on their desire for self pleasure through sex with other people or alone, risking their jobs, relationships, marriages, or sometimes their lives. Sex addicts are unable to manage their feelings and are out of control because sex is their drug, temporarily allowing them to escape the real issues.

Healing must be spiritual, emotional, and physical. One must admit to being powerless and determine what the underlying issues are that trigger the pain. It is important to be aware that when emotions and desires arise, the sex addict needs to focus on abstaining and believing in a power greater than themselves to get them through. Sobriety is possible with a twelve-step program, and the recovery can be long lasting, but it is not easy. That sobriety is a true form of sexual healing. Once an addict, always an addict – but abstaining one day at a time is key. Victory over lust is possible.

Rhodes Review: What is your writing process like?

Pynk: My stories are character driven, so I get to know each one by preparing character resumes, and then I think of situations I can throw in the way, and let them have at it. I call that fiction-friction. Sometimes I outline where the story goes, but most times it takes on a life according to my characters, and I even let them surprise me. I always remind myself that this is a journey for my characters to live out, and what they might do has nothing to do with what I would do. A writer must separate himself/herself and be brave. It’s only fair to the reader, and to the characters themselves.

Rhodes Review: What are your muses, ie. What gives you ideas to write about?

Pynk: Music is the main one. Anyone who reads my novels knows that songs play a big role in my stories. I can hear a song and usually something about it will move me, inspire me, and it sweetens my desire to engage in my love affair with words. A good, well-written song with a special melody gets me going. That, and true peace and quiet, or a nice long shower, usually trigger my ability to hear my characters talking.

Rhodes Review: Did you always plan on writing?

Pynk: No. I’d planned on becoming a CFO because I was good at math, or a model because I was tall and skinny. Along the way in life I was a banker and a fitting model. Those were not my gifts, and neither was acting or news reporting, which I also explored. My greatest talent has been my passion for writing. I sat down to write my first novel in 1998 and have not looked back. I have found my gift.

We’d like to thank Pynk for taking the time to answer these questions, and for Anna at Hachette Book Group for arranging this. Be sure and stop in to see our review of Sexaholics and enter our contest to win yourself a copy.

Review – Wow: A Handbook For Living – Zen Ohashi & Zono Kurazono

Monday, April 12th, 2010

 

 Cover for Wow: A Handbook for Living

Paperback: 170 pages
Publisher: One Peace Books (March 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0978508483
ISBN-13: 978-0978508487
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

This is a harder book to review than some. It’s actually a series of exercises that are supposed to help you live a better, or happier life. In a time period for a review, in which you need to turn around the book, it’s a little harder with something like this. You need to take the exercise and try them out for a few days, weeks, or months, and see if they work. They seemed to be fairly good advice though. Sometimes, however, it gave me the impression of listening to Dr. Phil (How’s that Working for you). One example, is to think of the biggest issue in your life. Now, take 5 seconds and think about how to solve it. That will usually give you the answer you need. I think that taken as a whole, following this advice could help you reflect more on things. Perhaps that’s the purpose, to take time and think over things.

There is actually very little text in the book. I read it in about an hours time. It’s mostly one or two sentences, some photos, and lots of white space. But as I mentioned, the purpose is to use the 31 ideas and spread them out over time. Concentrate on one area at a time, and see how that works. I’d recommend it, if you need a way to get in touch with parts of yourself. But then only if you have time to perform the exercises as needed.

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Backlash – Aaron Allston

Monday, April 12th, 2010

 

 Cover of Fate of the Jedi: Backlash

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: LucasBooks (March 9, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345509080
ISBN-13: 978-0345509086
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

Characters:

Han Solo – Captain of the Millenium Falcon
Leia Organa Solo – Jedi Knight
Luke Skywalker – Jedi Grand Master
Ben Skywalker – Jedi
Vestara Khai – Sith

Overview:

Luke Skywalker continues his exile from the New Republic. This time around, He, Ben, and the Solos end up on Endor. He’s tracking Vestara Khai, the Sith he previously encountered. Along the way they help join two tribes of Dathomiri, and discover whether Vestara has a hidden agenda.

Review:

I’m not totally sure how I felt about this book. It seems that Luke and Ben have now abruptly ended their search for why Darth Caedus came to be. While I liked seeing Dathomiri life, I’d like to have seen a little more of the Nightsisters. There were some interesting battles in this. One in particular involved a native Dathomri life form. I’m not 100% certain though that it really advanced the story much. Being the fourth book in the series, I expected it to grab me a lot more than it did. There are times where I can’t put a Star Wars book down. That didn’t occur in this case. I’d recommend it if you’re following this series. It’s definitely not a stand-alone novel. I keep holding out hope that the broader picture/storyline will impress me a lot more. So far, I’ve just had lukewarm feelings towards it. I’d say it’s definitely only for the Star Wars fan, and probably not the general public.

I do look forward to the next one though, because at some point, I’m thinking, all evil is going to be unleashed. When that happens, I think I’ll begin enjoying the story a lot more.

*Disclaimer* An Audio Book version of this was provided by Random House Audio. Thanks go to Kathryn for that audiobook.

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.

Traction: Get a grip on your Business – Gino Wickman

Monday, April 12th, 2010

 

 Picture of cover of Traction.

Hardcover: 248 pages
Publisher: eos; 1st edition (October 8, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0979799007
ISBN-13: 978-0979799006
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

Would you like to improve your business? In Traction, Author Gino Wickman gives you advice on how you can. This advice is based on what he’s created called the EOS (Entreprenaurial Operating System). Upon reading this book, the system seems to be based on a common sense approach. He breaks this approach down into 8 chapters, each focusing on one aspect, or component of the system. These are as follows:

Vision – Where do you want your business to go, what is your focus? Communicating your goal.
People – Are the people working for you, the right people, doing the right job?
Data – Using the numbers (sales, customer complaints, etc). to determine how well you are doing.
Issues – What problems are you facing. This can be broken down into high level, department, individual.
Process – What are the major areas of your business (accounting, marketing, etc) and the processes under each of those processes
Traction – Getting everything lined up (vision, people, data, etc.) in order to make things move forward.

I think for someone who is struggling in their business, that this would be a helpful book. While I’ve never ran a business, I did work in the corporate world. It seems I was always expected to strive for leadership/management type positions, where I was more comfortable in the technical side of things. Putting me in as a manager, woudl have, according to the author, been the right person/wrong seat situation. The author does a good job of describing the ideas behind each concept and how to implement that concept. He provides charts, graphs, and questionnaires along the way to help you in defining your own business, and in putting these steps in place.

This book could be read by someone of any age. However, the target demographic would probably be business students, or business owners. It didn’t help me, as I’m a non business person, but I could see the value of it if I were. So check it out if you get the chance, and see what you think.

You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.