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1491
by lz in Reading Archive on 26Oct2008
What do we really know about life in the "New World" before the "Old World" invaded it? In American history textbooks, life pre-Columbus is shortened to a page or a few paragraphs. This book seeks to remedy that, to shine a spotlight on the tremendous civilizations that populated North and...
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Vagabonding
by lz in Reading Archive on 22Oct2008
I don't feel quite right about crediting Mr. Potts as the author of this work, since 85% of the book was quotes from other writers (Walt Whitman, Joseph Conrad, Ed Buryn, Thoreau, etc. etc. etc.) and "in their own voices" type stuff from regular travelers. The overall gist of the...
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In His Sights
by lz in Stranded on 22Oct2008
I've been having some issues with my latest crop of books I've attempted to read. This is only one of the bad bunch. Supposedly written by a professional writer (er, journalist), the quality of the writing is 6th grade level, thus qualifies as worse than a beach book and nearly...
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Life is too short to suffer through reading a bloated 300+ page book that was inflated from a doctoral dissertation. I don't have anything against non-fiction, in fact I'm devouring a well written and approachable 1491 (America before Columbus); I just feel strongly that these types of issues could get...
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Traffic
by lz in Reading Archive on 11Oct2008
One of my dream jobs is to be a traffic engineer. Reading this book feeds some of that desire, with explanations as to why merging at the last minute is a good thing (uses more of the available roadway), how traffic calming devices work in London and the Netherlands (make...
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The Writing Class
by lz in Reading Archive on 05Oct2008
I first fell in love with her writing with Jenny and the Jaws of Life, an amazing book of short stories. If I'm not mistaken, this is Willett's first novel, and it's a good one. The premise for the story is a writing class, one of those adult-extension classes where...
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America America
by lz in Reading Archive on 01Oct2008
This one came highly recommended to me, but I disagree; it's simply average writing telling a somewhat interesting tale. Our narrator (Corey Sifter) is the editor of a local newspaper, present day, mentoring a young college-bound highly intelligent girl of bohemian parents. Sifter weaves the current day plot (caring for...
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