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I'm a reader who enjoys posting comments and recommendations about the books I read. You will not find a synopsis with my recommendations because you can just click on the book title for a link to www.goodreads.com for a synopsis and reviews by other readers. I prefer the 3 Reason format: the reason I chose to read it; the reason I liked (or disliked) the book; and the reason I recommend it.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Park Profiles: Grand Canyon Country (Park Profiles)Park Profiles: Grand Canyon Country by National Geographic Society

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The over 100 full-color photographs deserve the four-star rating. The book also promises firsthand information plus detailed maps. My edition is copyrighted in 1991, and often the text revealed itself to be twenty-years outdated during the firsthand anecdotes and discussions of land-use management. The detailed maps may indicate highways and points of interest; but, they are inadequate for visitors to the area.

I think this book makes a better souvenir for its photos than a book to help plan a vacation.



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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Australian Outback (World's Wild Places) Australian Outback (World's Wild Places) by Ian Moffitt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was the last book of the series, "The World's Wild Places" by the editors of Time-Life Books to read from my home library. This is the only book that disappointed me because I did not find the text to be as interesting as the photographs. I was not interested in the frequent references to the writer's fever he caught while in the Simpson Desert; nor did I care he was traveling with his family. It was a subtle difference; but, I preferred the text written by Craig McGregor for The Great Barrier Reef of this series.



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Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Bold and Magnificent DreamThe Bold and Magnificent Dream by Bruce Catton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I rate this 5 stars for it is worth keeping for reference. The Bold and Magnificent Dream compresses 323 years of history into 530 pages of historical narrative and analysis with a bibliography, maps and an index. If you tolerated the study of history and remember it only as a memorization of names of explorers, military leaders and statesmen along with the dates of discovery and battles before testing, this book provides an excellent opportunity to read the story of history. There are no footnotes within the test to jar the reader from the story. Occasionally an unfamiliar word sent this reader to my dictionary where I learned the definition of a precise word.

Reading this book reminds me we Americans have a long history of political debate about how to fund a central government which became the federal government. The question of should a state militia be used to invade Canada during the skirmishes in the War of 1812 makes me wonder how we got to the point of using our national guard to provide support in current wars/military actions much farther away.



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With The Bold and Magnificent Dream, I started on another bookcase or subcategory of to-read from my home library. This bookcase contains historical narratives from authors such as Bruce Catton, William B. Catton, Allen W. Eckert, Jeff Shaara, Michael Shaara, and Shelby Foote. These are books my husband and I bought because they interest us. They are books I postponed reading until I could give the reading more thought, and I postponed reading because I was once too tired to read after employed work.

Monday, April 11, 2011

A Lesson in Secrets (Maisie Dobbs, #8)A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed the most recent Maisie Dobbs novel. An undercover assignment from the British Secret Service allows her to meet other people in England who she would be unlikely to meet from the usual casework of her investigative agency. There is plenty of work for Billie at the detective agency. Along the way, you learn something about Britain in 1932.



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Saturday, April 09, 2011

The SaharaThe Sahara by Jeremy Swift

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Above all desert life teaches moderation in expectations: you hope and work for the best, but plan for the worst and are not cast down when it happens. The reward is personal freedom and self-discipline in equal proportions."

Again, I enjoyed the text as much as I enjoyed the photographs of a book of The World's Wild Places series by Time-Life books.



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Friday, April 01, 2011

AmazonAmazon by Tom Sterling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another book of the series rates 5 stars because I like the text as much as I like the pictures. I learned a lot about why the forests of the Amazon are different from forests in temperate climates, and this information explains why we North Americans or Europeans can't make assumptions about soil fertility based on what we may know about forestry close to home. This book gave more information about its indigenous people than other books in this series, and I appreciate that.



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