Steve Gross

Although a slim book, only about a third is devoted to Washington's Monument. Also, too many footnotes.

Solid thriller.

Masterwork by a scholar. Everything you always wanted to know about Rashi.

Probably the best one volume history of Israel. On the plus side, the writing is generally clear and politics-free. The bits of poetry are welcome. On the negative side, the outlook is a little to the left of center but not obnoxiously so.

A somewhat scientific exposition of what makes people more productive. Very Malcom Gladwell-like.

an order of magnitude improvement over the first book, “In the Name of God”. The Israeli color is welcome.

Average thriller

I listened to the audio book, so I might be disoriented, but other than Part 4, which deals with pilots and human error, the book seemed kind of a hodgepodge. Didn't feel like there was an orderly structure behind it.

Even though the book is only 160+ pages, it's padded. Wolfe goes into various alleys, ,like explaining the cosmogonies of specific peoples or details of Everett's sojourns in the Amazon that have nothing to do with his thesis; namely, evolution is incapable of explaining speech. His final paean to the power of speech is way overblown.

I think that the hands of both authors can be seen here. Sometimes the writing is historically interesting, other times it's dull and plodding and repetitive. Scientific explanations are not always clear.

An interesting book about an unknown world. The writing is lively, understandable, sometimes funny and a little bit silly.

A fascinating read, full of interesting ideas and speculations. Somewhat dense. I would have given this book five stars except for the author's constant, shrill anti-religious comments. He has the typical scientist's arrogance in dismissing religion without knowing much about it.

Although three are some wonderful stretches of writing, it's tooooo long

Probably the definitive account of the Demjanjuk story. Well told with an emphasis on the legal aspects.

Would have given this book four stars but for the pointless intrusions of 1) talking about his wife and their travels and 2) meaningless description of his Palestinian dinner. Still, lots of interesting information.

The tone of this book is snarky throughout. It also meanders. The editing could have been much better - two separate translations of the Helios text, two almost word for word description of the Dura Europus synagogue and a page or two on traveling with his wife which is totally self-serving.

A little too much of “I trust my gut” and a little to little of Reacher noticing things and figuring them out. But still, Reacher is Reacher.

Nice summary of the various scientists and engineers involved with electrons. Final third is marred by a boring diversion into Silicon Valley politics.

Beautifully produced book that all real booklovers will enjoy. Sections deal with all parts of book making - paper, ink, binding, content.

Interesting read but not up to Millard's previous books. Tends to meander in the middle with lotsof characters' names. It would have been nice to have an epilogue with what happened to all the players but instead a mini-history of South Africa that was not all that relevant.

Probably the best written of Silva's last ten books, which have become repetitive and formulaic.

Gentle introduction to understanding the words of the Hebrew bible. The ending spends too much time in the author.

Slow first half and rather depressing.

Three's a lot more to GPS than you know. I would have loved to see more technical information and diagrams, though.

maybe better-than-average thriller but a little marred by a drawn-out multi-voiced ending.