CLYDE WISHAM
[b:The Deaths of Tao 17726421 The Deaths of Tao (Tao, #2) Wesley Chu https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1376921492s/17726421.jpg 24804136] is a typical middle book of a trilogy in that many things aren't resolved. The action picks up a few years after the end of [b:The Lives of Tao 15981711 The Lives of Tao (Tao, #1) Wesley Chu https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361886088s/15981711.jpg 19932371]. The war between the Prophus the Genjix continues with the Genjux pressing the Prophus everywhere. Things look very grim, and Roen and Tao have their work cut out to save the planet. Things get very very violent and many people both alien and human do not make it to the end of the book.The ending was a bit of a shocker for me. I will have to continue soon with the final book to find out where Chu is going with this.
The precocious young Flavia de Luce continues her detective adventures in [b:A Red Herring Without Mustard 8517008 A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3) Alan Bradley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388266441s/8517008.jpg 8586372]. Each of the Flavia de Luce mysteries seems to have a focus around which the story and often the mystery turns. In the first book it was stamps, in the second puppets, and in this one it is the smell of fish. I suppose you could say, there is definitely something fishy about this story.There is of course a mysteriously dead body for Flavia to puzzle out. But, there are several other related mysteries involving crimes old and new. And, there are a couple of (if you will pardon me) red herrings to add spice to the tale. All in all, another satisfying cozy by Mr. Bradley.
Three point five stars for the first book in C.J. Box's Joe Picket series.
The main protagonist, Joe Picket, is a game warden assigned to the Twelve Sleep area in Wyoming. When he finds a body on a wood pile in his back yard, Joe gets involved in a murder investigation even though neither the local sheriff nor his own bureau want him to help. The investigation soon turns up two more murders. The supposed killer is soon found and the case closed. However, Joe isn't satisfied. When he finds a connection to the attempted extinction of an endangered species, he continues the investigation on his on. This proves dangerous for both Joe and his family.
The story seemed fairly predictable for much of the book. However, Box rescued the story by putting a nice twist and some thrilling action in the last part of the book.
In the end I found that I quite like Joe Picket the game warden and somewhat unwilling detective. I will continue the series.
(The Penguin eBook version I read has a formatting problem. It has a link to other books inserted after chapter 37. That seems to indicate that the story is finished, but it isn't actually the end of the book. You need to scroll past the link page and read the epilogue that closes out the story. Bad Penguin, bad.)
Elizabeth Moon mainly writes adventurous fantasy (Paksenarrion series) and military space opera (Vatta's War series and Serrano Legacy series). However, [b:Remnant Population 96284 Remnant Population Elizabeth Moon https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320407954s/96284.jpg 92804] is something quite different.The main protagonist, Ofelia, is an old woman. When the company loses the franchise to colonize the planet she lives on, everyone is ordered to pack up for evacuation. Ofelia decides she doesn't want to go. Basically, the hell with it; she feels she is too old to start a new life in a new colony. And anyway, she is tired of having others run her life. She hides in the forest until her shuttle flight departs, and she is left behind – a one person remnant population.Then begins a quiet period as Ofelia adjusts to living on her own and enjoying freedom to do as she pleases. That changes when she discovers that she isn't so alone after all. There is an indigenous species that is both dangerous and quite intelligent.That is where the real story begins. ...Not your usual Elizabeth Moon fare, but I quite enjoyed it.
The Safehold adventure continues in [b:A Mighty Fortress 6940561 A Mighty Fortress (Safehold, #4) David Weber https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1423806268s/6940561.jpg 7173336]. It is an interesting story and I do want to know what happens in the Safehold universe. But, IMHO this book is too long and has way too many data dumps. I am sure I would have enjoyed the story more had it been sweated down to around 60% of its published length.That said, I will continue the series.But what about the story? Well, there is a lot of politics and some action. There are various bad folks whose heads we get into – some are really evil and others who are, shall we say, differentially motivated. The good guys make some costly mistakes, but recover. Also, there are David Weber's trademark big, desperate naval battles.
First of all, [b:The Walking Whales: From Land to Water in Eight Million Years 21921389 The Walking Whales From Land to Water in Eight Million Years Johannes G M Thewissen https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397635915s/21921389.jpg 41168402] is a beautiful book. The book is well bound, the type is clear, and the paper is high quality. Also, there are numerous illustrations, some of which are very nice full-color renditions of the predecessors of modern whales.This book is not predigested pap. It goes into the details of the science. Thewissen lays out the specifics of whale evolution using the fossil, the chemical, and the biological (both cladistic and DNA) evidence. It is a fascinating story.Just as fascinating though is the story of the years of field work often in remote and sometimes dangerous locations. What do you do when you have made a major discovery in the field but haven't the funds to transport your finds back to the laboratory? What do you do when the police block you from a fossil site because there are murderous kidnappers in the hills? What happens when you have to negotiate with an elderly paranoid who owns key fossils? The stories of the people involved are intertwined with the story of the science and make this an interesting book indeed.
[a:Walter Isaacson 7111 Walter Isaacson https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192222433p2/7111.jpg] has written a good biography of Einstein. Einstein, though famous, is still a somewhat enigmatic person. Isaacson brings him to life – the genius, the individualist, the pacifistic activist, the family man, the absent-minded professor, and even the casual philanderer. A lot of good research went into the book.This book is also a two-for. You get a good layman's introduction to the Theory of Relativity. In fact, I think [b:Einstein: His Life and Universe 10884 Einstein His Life and Universe Walter Isaacson https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328011405s/10884.jpg 985244] will teach you about as much as you can absorb about Relativity without getting into multidimensional non-Euclidean geometry and tensor calculus.Well worth reading if you are interested in Einstein and his times.
The main character in this novel is Wu Johanna. She is none other than Marco Polo's granddaughter, born into the family he left behind in China when he returned to Italy. Johanna is an attractive character. Lively and intelligent, she is also a risk taker. When a family crisis makes her position in her home in China untenable, she and a few close companions head west on the silk road. Adventures ensue.[a:Dana Stabenow 158170 Dana Stabenow https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1309557370p2/158170.jpg] obviously did a lot of research for this book. It is well written and I found some of the characters quite interesting. This story is quite a jump from her normal crime/mystery/romance mix. Also obviously, this is only the first part of the story. It is a bit irritating how she leaves things hanging at the end. But hey, if George RR Martin can get away with it, why not?
[b:The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line 18525889 The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Veronica Mars, #1) Rob Thomas https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394812296s/18525889.jpg 25630244] is a must-read for Veronica Mars fans (which I freely admit to being).The story takes place shortly after the events of the recent Veronica Mars movie. Veronica is still in Neptune where she is running Mars Investigations while Keith convalesces.The central mystery, which is quite well plotted, involves two teenage girls who go missing during “spring break” festivities. The Neptune Chamber of Commerce, having no confidence in local law enforcement, hires Veronica to find them. The story has some really tense and dark moments, but it also has plenty of the trademark Veronica sass.I listened to the audiobook version, which is masterfully narrated by none other than Kristen Bell herself. That was a real plus and I suppose is what pushed the story to five stars for me. Good book.
[b:The Shadow of the Wind 9529 The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1) Carlos Ruiz Zafón https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347296353s/9529.jpg 3209783] is a coming of age story set in postwar Spain. But it is much more than that. It is also a mystery story, one stretching over years. Furthermore it is a story of love, of hate, of loss, of vengeance, and even a bit of redemption.Good book.
I was disappointed in [b:Rescue Branch 17211371 Rescue Branch (Kinsella Universe, #2) Gina Marie Wylie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357503007s/17211371.jpg 23693291]. It just is not as good as [b:Kinsella 17211304 Kinsella (Kinsella Universe, #1) Gina Marie Wylie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357502703s/17211304.jpg 23693314]. It isn't focused. The book actually consists of two short novels that are related but center on different characters handling different problems. Both of them wander about expounding, I think, on whatever took the writer's interest at the moment. The book would have have been improved by another round of both content and copy editing.That said, I did like some of the characters and the stories held my interest enough to finish the book. Two and one-half stars rounded up to three.
[b:The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 16044941 The Guns at Last Light The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (World War II Liberation Trilogy, #3) Rick Atkinson https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388184356s/16044941.jpg 21858205], the third volume of a trilogy, covers the war in Western Europe from the invasion of Normandy until Germany's surrender. In it Rick Atkinson has reminded me once again of what an incredible, complicated, bloody, and horrible thing WW2 was.This book is required reading for those with a deep interest in war and WW2 in particular.
[a:D.S. Cahr 5989401 D.S. Cahr https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1349439681p2/5989401.jpg]'s first novel promises good reading to come. There were some things I didn't care for (for instance the future fashions just made no sense to me), but overall [b:The Secret Root 20512254 The Secret Root (The Mesh Chronicles Book 1) D.S. Cahr https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410033445s/20512254.jpg 19927373] held my interest. I am a bit of a sucker for stories about time-travel and teenagers in peril. (Three and one-half stars rounded up to four).
Three and one half stars.
Lewis Sorley did a stupendous amount of research for this book. There is so much detail that it is almost suffocates the narrative at times.
I don't think he makes his case, however, that Westmorland lost the Vietnam War. He has convinced me that Westy played a large, perhaps pivotal, role in the loss. But, the war was very big and multifaceted; there is plenty of blame to go around. I lay a lot also on Presidents Johnson and Nixon, on McNamara, and on the US Congress. Heck, in one of the notes Sorley even intimates that Douglas MacArthur could share some blame for the loss.
Westmorland's “Americanization” of the war with emphasis on “search and destroy” and body count, while ignoring the needs of the Vietnamese people and army, was a very bad strategy indeed. Some people told him so at the time, but he didn't listen. Also, Westmorland obviously paid no attention to the advice the British gave him based on their Malaysian experience.
It is interesting to me that as his rank increased his ability to take reasonable advice seemed to decrease. He also got farther and farther from his men, eventually loosing all touch with the soldier in the field. I think he was a basically good man and he was a good commander at lower ranks. He was at his best as a division commander and was unsuited for the higher commands he was given. He is a good example of “The Peter Principle” in action.
The book also strongly implies that Westmorland wouldn't have risen so high if not for the social adeptness of “Kitsy” his wife. I don't doubt it. Perhaps the country would have been better served if he had been chosen by a less personable woman.
I think the latter chapters concerning various items after Vietnam – litigation, and politics, and such – were less interesting and weaker than the first part of the book. They tell a sad story actually.
I quite enjoyed this book. Kinsella is hyper-intelligent and driven. She doesn't seek approval or fame. She understands science and technology and their long-term implications. She has a plan to save the human race from itself.
We could certainly use a Kinsella-like person now.
PS. I do wish Ms Wylie would hire a professional to design her covers. I'll bet she would sell more books.
[b:Fire with Fire 15803179 Fire with Fire (Tales of the Terran Republic, #1) Charles E. Gannon https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345678629s/15803179.jpg 21526593] is pretty good space opera. The main character, Caine Riordan, seems too good. He is a polymath – good at everything (a real outlier). But, I eventually came to like him quite a lot. The story itself is fun with a nice twisty plot. However, I can only give it three stars because the story leaves a lot of strings hanging (sequel perhaps?) and there were some things that really stretched my ability to suspend disbelief. (I wish GoodReads allowed half stars. I would bump this story to 3.5 stars.)