A nice change from recent Laurell K. Hamilton books in that the sex was not the focal point of the book. I was amazed that I had reached the 150 page mark and there had not yet been a too long scene focused on sex that cannot be avoided since in all likelihood something important happened in the midst of it all. This book, in tone and spirit was more reminiscent of the older Anita Blake novels than her more recent works.

This is the best sandwich I have ever had. It is so good when it is made right, but it is surprising to see how many restaurants screw up such a simple dish. Delis in Oak Park, IL have the best Italian Beefs, while the best beef in Minneapolis is at the deli in Snow Foods at the corner of Penn & Plymouth Aves.

This is the best, most comprehensive book about the ‘New Right”. In academic detail (Diamond is a sociologist) she describes where the disparate faction of the American Right came from, how they began to amass power and influence in post WWII politics, and where the right is moving now.
Very, very highly recommended for those who have an interest in trends in American politics or the political Right.
The book covers the growth of rightwing organizations and groups from America First to the Citizenz Councils, the various groups united behind the Goldwater campaign, the movement of Neocons from the Democratic party in the 70’s to the republican foriegn policy establishment in the 80’s, among many other trends.

A book describing the events mentioned in the New Jedi Order series about the living Planet Zonama Sekot. In the New Jedi Order books, the story of former Jedi Vergere’s visit and Anakin Skywalker’s subsequent visit is mentioned in passing. Rogue Planet fleshes out the bare bones of the story. It is a pretty good book, and does a good job of showing Anakin Skywalker as a young teenager, beginning to develop his own personality and goals.

The American public was captivated by the destruction of the Branch Davidians at Waco, and again by the deaths at Ruby Ridge, but no one heard about the government killings at Rainbow Farm in Michigan. The main reason this story never hit the national media was that it happened two days prior to 9/11.
In southwestern Michigan two men attempted to create a utopian environment. They had strong beliefs regarding the inviolability og their private property. Because they believed that what happens in private is none of the government’s business they were both shot in the head by FBI and Michigan State Police snipers.
Why were these men assasinated? What were the dangerous political beliefs that would cause law enforcement to kill two innocent men who did nothing other than espouse an unpolular view? The short answer is that they were willing to call the governemnt a liar when it came to the War on Drugs. These citizens allowed people to engage in the use of canabis on their property. Eventually an angry D.A and federal law enforcement agencies decided to attempt to seize their property, not because they were pot dealers (they weren’t); but because they were willing to work within the democratic system to support their right to do what they will with their property.
This is a must read book for anyone who is anxious about the loss of civil liberties associated with the drug war, or for anyone who thinks that the zone of personal privacy is ever shrinking in American society.

This book works as a bridge novel between the Prequel and Classic eras of the Star Wars universe. The story focuses on Leia’a feelings towards her father. It brings the story of her relationship with the memory of Vader to the point of the first Thrawn trilogy.

The religious right, we hear so much regarding its influence on the contemporary GOP, but we are rarely told about where its origins are, how it came to posess such power, and most importantly what their ideology is trying to achieve.
This book does a good job of answering these questions. It isthe author’s first book, and as such, is a bit rough around the edges. The writing is for the most part, tight, and although the author’s liberal bias does come through from time to time, this is hardly a fatal flaw as it is a book on current affairs, and not a scholarly treatise.
What this book does best is to give an overview of the history, ideology, and goals of the Religious Right, from the nascent origins in the early 20th Century through the Moral Majority of the post-Nixon years into the political powerhouse we see today.
In short: a very good book about an ideology we don’t know enough about, that could grow to threaten the foundations of the American experiment.

This is an important work to read, even though it is completely wrongheaded. The argument will try to suck you in, building a metaphysic from the most basic building block Descartes could imagine: the reality of his own thoughts. “Cogito ergo sum” is the famous line we all know: I think therefore I am.
The problems Descartes creates for himself are legion, but the biggest is the circularity of his argument. The book is good, it states the dualist position well, but Descartes was a better mathmetician than a philosopher.

I didn’t see the “danger” and “fascism” that are supposed to be inherant in this book. It was a fairly good read, analyzing a study sample (LTLS, if I recall) and then performing all sorts of statistical functions on the numbers and looking at what comes out. As we all know, numbers can say what you want them to, but when w are told obvious things, such as if you are poor, badly educated, and have kids early and out of wedlock, your chances of 1) being in the upper 10% of the population (as regards intelligence) and 2) staying poor are very poor and very good respectively.In sum, if you like reading controversial books, this is for you. If you like social science, this is for you. If you can’t understand graphs, then this book probably isn’t for you.

The novel “The Godfather” is the story of Vito and Michael Corleone. The movies are faithful to the novel-to a point. The movies split the story of the book into two parts, the story of Micheal taking over the family business, and the story of Vito’s growing up and into the role of the Godfather. These two stories are told in the novel.
The writing is good, the dialouge is good. Is this a modern literary classic? Probably not, but it is a lot of fun to read, a pulp fiction classic.