Some of the reviews that we have read online about it that give us hesitation are:

it is full of all the things that I do not want to promote in the collection for which I am responsible: violence, consumerism, and a disrespectful protagonist. They get enough of this is every other form of media. (Children’s librarian on Goodreads)

Common Sense Media warns of violence, consumerism, drinking, drugs, and smoking:

Parents need to know that this has all of the violence, though none of the sex, of a James Bond movie. (Common Sense Media)

Although Focus on the Family doesn’t give a specific “Yes or No” rating for the book, the do say this:

Stormbreaker is written for kids ages 12 and up. The age range reflects readability and not necessarily content appropriateness.

About the profanity and graphic violence of the file they state”

Alex curses about his circumstances, though no swear words are seen in the text at that point. H—appears several times, sometimes as a curse word but more often to describe something horrific. The word d–n is also found a time or two. When Sayle says his jellyfish reminds him of himself, Alex asks if it’s because jellyfish have no brain, no guts and no anus. The book contains several disturbing descriptions, including that of the tongueless Mr. Grin whose mouth was deformed in a knife-throwing accident, a man crashing his motorcycle into an electric fence and an account of Sayle’s jellyfish wrapping itself around and killing Sayle’s assistant. Alex is involved with shootings, fiery car crashes and plane explosions. Russian assassin Gregorovich kills people without thought. He urges Alex to get out of the spy business and go back to school, because killing is for adults.

Based on what I’ve read about the book, and the trailer for the movie that was produced in 2006, I don’t think I am too keen on my son reading it. A movie where the main character is driven to violent action by a desire for revenge is not high on my lists of literature for my son to read …

The post Is Stormbreaker (Alex Rider) a Suitable Book for my Child? first appeared on Blog About Books.

It gave me a real insight into what he was able to accomplish as president, and why his military service was so instrumental in his policy and leadership. Some of my favourite quotes from the book attributed to Eisenhower were:

“God help the nation when it has a President who doesn’t know as much about the military as I do.”, when referring to the Military Industrial Complex, lobbyists, and foolish politicians.

Eisenhower had a healthy skepticism about the grandiose schemes of the  military. He knew how the top brass used worst-case scenarios to  frighten their civilian masters into spending more on unnecessary new  weapons systems and pet boondoggles.

In private conversation and in his public remarks, he often warned  against what he called “the garrison state.”7 Military necessity would  require citizens to give up their cherished freedoms—and, Eisenhower  feared, to become automatons of the state. Ike had witnessed the turn  toward fascism during the Great Depression.

Eisenhower was, in effect, his own secretary of defense. When Defense  Secretary Neil McElroy warned him that further budget cuts would harm  national security, Eisenhower acerbically replied, “If you go to any  military installation in the world where the American flag is flying and tell the commander that Ike says he’ll give him an extra star for his  shoulder if he cuts his budget, there’ll be such a rush to cut costs  that you’ll have to get out of the way.”

There are many more, but those were some that stood out to me, especially in regards to the current situation in the US.

The post My Review of Ike’s Bluff by Evan Thomas first appeared on Blog About Books.

The most useful portion of the Podcasting Hacks book is by far the chapter looking at the different formats that you can use when producing a podcast. It provides a good place to begin thinking about how you want to produce your podcast and the many options open to you. Some of the format varieties talked about are:

• Beercast
• Sports
• News
• Theatrical
• Magazine
• more …

The biggest limitation of the book is that it was published back in 2005, so given that a lot of the topics covered are technology related the age of the book seriously handicaps the usefulness of some of the content. Many of the sections in the book can be skipped as it talks about software and tools that have been discontinued, replaced, or dramatically updated. Quite a few of the web-sites referred to in the book are also no longer around.

Podcasting does for Internet audio listeners what TiVo does for television viewers–it puts you in charge of when you enjoy a program. Podcasting is a web-based broadcast medium that sends audio content (most commonly in the MP3 format) directly to an iPod or other digital audio player. You subscribe to audio feeds, receive new files automatically, and listen to them at your convenience.

Although I did enjoy reading the book my recommendation would be to pick it up from your public library or try to borrow it, rather than spending your money to buy it. Given the age of the book I feel that it is not worth spending the money on a full book when only one or two chapters are still relevant.

The post Podcasting Hacks by Jack D Herrington first appeared on Blog About Books.

The book is a very capturing read and at only 280 pages it isn’t a very long read. Andy experienced a lot of different adventures during his time in Russia, including buying a car, boiling snow for food, working with a local group of prisoners, and more.

The book has been reviewed four times over at Amazon, all a full five stars. You can purchase it through Amazon here.

The post Winter Road: Journey of a Russian Mission by Andy Frecka first appeared on Blog About Books.

Michael Chriton has quite a fascination with science, technology and the consequences and ramifications that advances in those areas have on society. He seems to have a common thread in his novels about what we could be bringing on ourselves by the uncontrolled and monitors pursuit of scientific advancement. From what I have read he is not against the advancement of science, but rather that we need to think through the consequences of them.

The Andromeda Strain is an interesting commentary on the consequences of space travel and research about space. The lack of foreknowledge about what the researchers are studying leads to VERY dire consequences.

The Andromeda Strain is a relatively easy read that looks at some very deep concepts. I would highly recommend this book, although as a parent you might want to read it yourself so that you can determine if you child is ready for it. It would be suitable for teens, but maybe not for pre-teens.

Below is a trailer for the original movie. There has recently been a mini-series made based on the book, but the original movie stays very close to the original, whereas the new series takes a lot of creative liberty with the story line.

The post Review – The Andromeda Strain – by Michael Chriton first appeared on Blog About Books.

To sign up to receive the free mp3 downloads of The World is Flat you have to sign up on an e-mail list that will promote Thomas L. Friedman’s next book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded”. You don’t have to buy anything, only sign onto the mailing list promoting the new book.

After signing up for the free audio book you will receive a confirmation e-mail for your address, then you will be sent instructions for downloading the book. The book is available as three different parts, so far I have received parts 1 and 2, both at about 128MB. I have not yet listened to them, but I look forward to it as The World is Flat Reviews I have read say that it is a pretty one.

You can register to download the free audio book “The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman” here.

The post Get “The World is Flat” Audio Book for Free first appeared on Blog About Books.

The book follows the path of two fictional characters, Ryan and Christine, and they try to “regain control and to successfully manager finances in today’s society”.

This finance book is targeted at people “seeking a blueprint for achieving long-term financial wellness”, which I think is the audience that pretty much every personal finance book ever written is targeted.

Here is a quote from the site about what the book is about:

“Ryan and Christine Richardson once enjoyed a solid relationship. They were educated, had a good income, and were focused on successfully raising a family. Like so many in their situation, they had allowed financial stress and frustration to erode their happiness. Join them on a journey as they transform their lives and begin to understand how to live within their income, stop accumulating debt, and build a solid financial future.”

It looks like the free book is a lead up to, “Money for Life Success Planner”, which “with this companion piece, the Money for Life Success Planner, you too can easily follow the same 12-week financial fitness program to reach your objectives. A program that makes your journey to financial security more manageable, predictable and even enjoyable”.

There also appear to be adds in the actual book for some of the products and tools used to get their financial budget under control, like mvelopes.

Money for Life looks like it should be an interesting read, and since it’s free for download, which you can do here, I’ve got nothing to loose by trying it out ..

The post Free Budgeting and Personal Finance Book first appeared on Blog About Books.

I’ve seen some interesting designs using books, and even seen a shelf made from a hollowed out and strengthened book, but really, you imagination is the limit with using books as decorative features.

You can read about a few different ideas of book decoration over at the Home Improvement Blog: Decorating with Books.

The post How to use Books for Decorating first appeared on Blog About Books.

The skills talked about in the book are not only relevant for small business owners and entrepreneurs, but can also be applied to non-profits and charitable organisations. It is well worth a read, and will be even better as an audio book to listen to during a long commute.

Technorati Tags: audio book, emyth, e myth

The post Download E Myth Revisited Audio Book first appeared on Blog About Books.

I’ll cut right to the chase and say that I plan to read the rest of the Oregon Files series.

The book Goden Buddha is a real page turner. You are really thrown into the midst of the mission of the crew of the Oregon. After a brief travel through time to set the stage for the book you quickly get introduced to the main characters of the book.

On the Oregon there is a large crew and you never really get to know any of them too deeply. The person that you probably get to know the most is Juan Cabrillo, who is the “Chairman of the Corporation”. This book is mostly about the action, but I can see how over time, and the course of the Oregon Files book series the character development could grow.

The crew of the Oregon are basically a bunch of mercenaries for hire, but they choose their missions based on being able to not only earn a profit, but also make a difference in the world.

So if you want a good action / war movie, the Golden Buddha could be the right book for you.

You can read more reviews over at Amazon, Golden Buddha, and please feel free to leave your own comments about the book below.

The post Golden Buddha – The Oregon Files by Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo – Book Review first appeared on Blog About Books.