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Random Impressions
by Michael Kube-McDowell


Currently reading [] Read and recommended [] The to-be-read pile

Review Archive: The Portable Universe 1982-1985

Review Archive: The South Bend Tribune 1981-1994

The Boomer Child's Bookcase: Scholastic Books

The Boomer Child's Bookcase: Landmark Books


Currently Reading - Last Revised: 04 March 2014

Stephen Coonts
The Cannibal Queen:
An Aerial Odyssey
Across America
(Atria, 1992)

Nick Freeth
The Guitar & Rock
Equipment
(Salamander, 2002)

     

Read Recently and Recommended
While I am no longer actively reviewing, I will use this space to offer thumbnail reactions to books I've made room for in my library.

¶¶¶¶

Robert Kurson
Shadow Divers
(Random House, 2004)
ISBN 0-37550858-9

Fascinating study of two
flawed but stubbornly
courageous divers who became
obsessed with a sunken
WWII German submarine
they discovered off the
New Jersey coast.

¶¶¶

Leonard Mosley
The Battle of Britain: The
Making of a Film
(Stein & Day, 1969)

The making of this film
portrayal of the epic defense
of
Britain is an epic in its own
right. This long out of print
volume offers a
producer's-eye view of the
trials and triumphs.

¶¶¶

Fred Stabley, Jr. and Tim
Staudt
Tales of the Magical
Spartans

(Sports Publishing, 2003)

This 25th anniversary memoir
of the Magic Johnson-led 1979
national champions contained
anecdotes that even a devoted
fan like me had never heard.

¶¶¶¶¶

Peter Maas
The Terrible Hours
(HarperCollins, 1999)
ISBN 0-06-093277-5

I thought I knew the story of the
submarine
Squalus--until Peter Maas
introduced me properly to "Swede"
Momson, the story's real-life hero.



¶¶¶¶

Robert A. Heinlein
For Us, The Living
(Scribners, 2003)
ISBN 0-7432-5998-X

While I wouldn't hand
this to anyone who
hadn't read and
enjoyed most of
Heinlein's ouvre, I found it a delightful
throwback that reawakened my hopeful
wish-to-believe.

¶¶¶1/2

Warren Kidder
Willow Run: Colossus of
American Indiustry
(KLF Publishing, 1995)
ISBN 0-96472053-1

One of the most remarkable
stories of America's wartime
industrial effort concerns
Ford's bomber-an-hour B-24
assembly line at Willow Run, Michigan. This writing in this
self-published history is uneven,
but I learned a great deal all
the same.

¶¶¶¶

Jack McDevitt
Moonfall
(HarperPrism, 1998)
ISBN 0-06-105112-8

Jack's writing possesses
the old-time virtues of
traditional SF storytelling
without seeming at all dated.
He has never disappointed
me.

¶¶¶

Colin Garratt
The World Encyclopedia
of Locomotives
(Hermes House, 2002)
ISBN 1-84309-033-3

I'm only keeping this
until I can find something
better. It simply isn't
big enough or appropriately
organized to live up to its
billing as a "world
encyclopedia."

'

¶¶¶¶¶

Bob Woodward &
Scott Armstrong
The Brethren: Inside the
Supreme Court
(Simon & Schuster, 1979)
ISBN: Unknown

No one who has read this could
have been surprised by
Bush v.
Gore. One glimpse of the
little men behind the curtain,
and everything changes.

¶¶¶¶¶

Richard Feynman
The Meaning of it All
(Addison-Wesley, 1998)
ISBN 0-965-058219

¶¶¶¶

Terry C. Treadwell
Ironworks: The Story
of Grumman and its Aircraft
(Tempus Publishing, 2000)
ISBN 0-7524-1717-7

Exhaustively detailed
behind-the-factory-gates
story of the company which
created most of the U.S.
Navy's most notable carrier
aircraft.

¶¶¶¶¶

Stephen E. Ambrose
The Wild Blue: The Men
and Boys Who Flew The
B-24s Over Germany
(Touchstone, 2001)
ISBN 0-7432-2309-8

The George McGovern you
never knew. One of the best
books ever written about
the bomber crews of the

Army Air Forces.

¶¶¶¶

Michael Shermer
How We Believe: The search
for God in an age of science
(W.H. Freeman, 2000)
ISBN 0-7167-3561-X

¶¶¶

Niles Eldridge
The Triumph of Evolution and
the Failure of Creationism
(W.H. Freeman, 2000)
ISBN 0-7167-3638-1

¶¶¶¶

Dossie Easton &
Catherine A. Liszt
The Ethical Slut: A guide
to infinite sexual possibilities
(Greenery Press, 1997)
ISBN 1-890159-01-8

This generation's answer to Open
Marriage -- an optimistic look at the
challenges of responsible polyamory.

¶¶¶

Gina Ogden
Women Who Love Sex
- Revised Edition
(Womanspirit Press, 1999)
ISBN 0-9672705-0-2

¶¶¶¶¶

Bill Bryson
Made In America: An Informal
History of the English
Language in the United States
(Avon Bard, 1994)
ISBN 0-380-71381-0

Almost every page contained
a delightful historical or
linguistic tidbit I wanted to share.

¶¶¶¶

Patrick F. McManus
A Fine and Pleasant Misery
(Henry Holt, 1978)
ISBN 0-8050-0032-1

My wife gave me this book when
she thought I needed to laugh.
She was right, and I did.

¶¶¶

Patricia Payne
Sex Tips From A Dominatrix
(Regan Books, 1999)
ISBN 0-06039287-8

¶¶¶¶

Lawrence S. Ritter
Lost Ballparks: A
Celebration of Baseball's
Legendary Fields
(Penguin Studio, 1992)
ISBN 0-14-023422-5

Can the steroid-era cable-TV
baseball fan appreciate the
gentle pleasures of a tour through
the ballparks in which yesterday's
heroes earned their reputation? I'd like to think so--in any case,
I did.

¶¶¶ Recommended
¶¶¶¶
Strongly recommended
¶¶¶¶¶
Highest recommendation


To Be Read

Books which have caught my eye.

     

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