General Books - Page 12

La audacia de la esperanza: Reflexiones sobre cómo restaurar el sueño americano (Vintage Espanol)

Barack Obama

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

En La audacia de la esperanza, el senador demócrata Barack Obama reclama una política diferente—una política para quienes están cansados del agrio partidismo, una política que se basa en la fe, la participación de todos y la nobleza de espíritu que es parte esencial de “nuestro improbable proyecto de democracia”.

En el corazón de este libro está la visión del senador Obama de cómo podemos superar nuestras divisiones para enfrentar los problemas concretos. Él examina la creciente inseguridad económica de las familias estadounidenses, las tensiones raciales y religiosas dentro del cuerpo político y las amenazas transnacionales—desde el terrorismo hasta las pandemias—que se congregan más allá de nuestras costas. En sus anécdotas acerca de su familia, amigos, miembros del Senado y hasta del presidente, existe un poderoso deseo de establecer conexiones: la plataforma de un consenso político radicalmente optimista.

Como senador y abogado, profesor y padre, cristiano y escéptico, y sobre todo como estudioso de la historia y de la naturaleza humana, el senador Obama ha escrito un libro de un poder transformador.

Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World

Bill Clinton

By: Hutchinson Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $21.19

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 86 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I read this from cover to cover and couldn't put it down. It reminded me that we can all do something grand with our time. Clinton mentions volunteering with young people and I agree that it is so very important. If you have young ones as well, check out: The Ultimate Volunteer Guidebook for Young People Both books are an awesome gift to any young person.

Inspiring 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book awakens the spirit of giving. Everyone has something to offer not necessarily monetary. This book is about paying it forward. Pretty easy read.

Giving 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Clinton describes, how now that he has time, his world experiences in giving as a private person. He describes many NGO's fund raising and giving processes. He describes giving of money, time, ideas, as well as different models of giving. He claims there are three trends leading to an increase in giving, the Internet, charitable giving, democracy, the third of which speaks to the ultimate price we have paid for a free and democratic Iraq. He didn't say that in print, but I read it in the white space between the lines. While he described a stereo-typical agenda of a republican what you really come to appreciate is the non partisan tone in his overall message, a message to take note of. I also took note of his portrayal of a healthy and flourishing economy American economy under G. W. Bush (in print); a far cry from his party dogma, especially his wife. ("this administration...")

While inspiring, the book takes on the persona of a Clinton rant, much like the one America endured in his farewell address.

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Brida

Paulo Coelho, Luis Gabriel Moreno Ocampo

List Price: $19.50 By: Planeta Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $34.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Strange, even for Coelho 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

To say at the begining, this novel is out there. Even for Coelho. There is no resolution in the way that could be traditionally called a resolution - a decision is made, one which (***Spoilers****) goes against the traditional romantic grain of writing when Brida chooses her boyfriend, who is in fact one of her Soul Mates, over the Magus, who has spent a lifetime banished to a forest in Ireland until he finds his Soul Mate, who can release him.

Brida is not so much a tale as a snapshot of the life of a girl seeking to become a witch through the Path of the Moon and its brief but life-altering encounter with a man of the Path of the Sun. It is feminist in the sense that a woman finds her own path. It is New Age only by virtue of the magick that is not so much magick but the ordinary exalted. It is many things, Brida, but it is not resolved. And for that reason I do not enjoy it as much as Coelho's other books, giving it a 4 of 5.

Editorial Review:

This is the story of Brida, a young Irish girl, and her quest for knowledge. She has long been interested in various aspects of magic but is searching for something more. Her search leads her to people of great wisdom, who begin to teach Brida about the spiritual world. She meets a wise man who dwells in a forest, who teaches her about overcoming her fears and trusting in the goodness of the world; and a woman who teaches her how to dance to the music of the world, and how to pray to the moon. As Brida seeks her destiny, she struggles to find a balance between her relationships and her desire to become a witch. This enthralling novel incorporates themes that fans of Paulo Coelho will recognize and treasure—it is a tale of love, passion, mystery, and spirituality from the master storyteller.

Plan of Attack

Bob Woodward

Amazon Price: $11.90 List Price: $14.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 72 new & used starting at $2.42

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Total reviews: 255 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Plan of Attack is the definitive account of how and why President George W. Bush, his war council, and allies launched a preemptive attack to topple Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq. Bob Woodward's latest landmark account of Washington decision making provides an original, authoritative narrative of behind-the-scenes maneuvering over two years, examining the causes and consequences of the most controversial war since Vietnam.

Based on interviews with 75 key participants and more than three and a half hours of exclusive interviews with President Bush, Plan of Attack is part presidential history charting the decisions made during 16 critical months; part military history revealing precise details and the evolution of the Top Secret war planning under the restricted codeword Polo Step; and part a harrowing spy story as the CIA dispatches a covert paramilitary team into northern Iraq six months before the start of the war. This team recruited 87 Iraqi spies designated with the cryptonym DB/ROCKSTARS, one of whom turned over the personnel files of all 6,000 men in Saddam Hussein's personal security organization.

What emerges are astonishingly intimate portraits: President Bush in war cabinet meetings in the White House Situation Room and the Oval Office, and in private conversation; Dick Cheney, the focused and driven vice president; Colin Powell, the conflicted and cautious secretary of state; Donald Rumsfeld, the controlling war technocrat; George Tenet, the activist CIA director; Tommy Franks, the profane and demanding general; Condoleezza Rice, the ever-present referee and national security adviser; Karl Rove, the hands-on political strategist; other key members of the White House staff and congressional leadership; and foreign leaders ranging from British Prime Minister Blair to Russian President Putin.

Plan of Attack provides new details on the intelligence assessments of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction and the planning for the war's aftermath.

New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer

Bill Maher

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Rodale Books Amazon Marketplace: 141 new & used starting at $0.01

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Total reviews: 178 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Bill Maher is on the forefront of the new wave of comedians who influence and shape political debate through their comedy. He is best known not just for being funny, but for advocating truth over sensitivity and taking on the political establishment.
Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit ABC-TV program Politically Incorrect, where he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that helped him to garner a loyal following, as well as a reputation for being a controversial bad boy.
Bill Maher’s popular new HBO television show, Real Time, has put Maher more front and center than ever before. Particularly one regular segment on the show, entitled "New Rules," has been a hit with his ever-growing legion of fans. It is the part of the show during which Maher takes serious aim, bringing all of his intelligence, incisiveness, wit, and his signature exasperation to bear on topics ranging from cell phones ("I don’t need my cell phone to take pictures or access the Internet. I just need it to make a phone call. From everywhere! Not just the places it likes!") to fast food ("No McDonald’s in hospitals. I’m not kidding!) to the conservative agenda ("Stop claiming it’s an agenda. It’s not an agenda. It’s a random collection of laws that your corporate donors paid you to pass.").
His bestselling book, New Rules, brings these brilliantly conceived riffs and rants to the written page. This new edition of the book, in paperback for the first time, also features some brand-new material not found in the hardcover.

The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion

Matt Taibbi

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Not yet published By: Spiegel & Grau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A REVELATORY AND DARKLY COMIC ADVENTURE THROUGH A NATION ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN—FROM THE HALLS OF CONGRESS TO THE BASES OF BAGHDAD TO THE APOCALYPTIC CHURCHES OF THE HEARTLAND


Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi set out to describe the nature of George Bush’s America in the post-9/11 era and ended up vomiting demons in an evangelical church in Texas, riding the streets of Baghdad in an American convoy to nowhere, searching for phantom fighter jets in Congress, and falling into the rabbit hole of the 9/11 Truth Movement.
Matt discovered in his travels across the country that the resilient blue state/red state narrative of American politics had become irrelevant. A large and growing chunk of the American population was so turned off—or radicalized—by electoral chicanery, a spineless news media, and the increasingly blatant lies from our leaders (“they hate us for our freedom”) that they abandoned the political mainstream altogether. They joined what he calls The Great Derangement.
Taibbi tells the story of this new American madness by inserting himself into four defining American subcultures: The Military, where he finds himself mired in the grotesque black comedy of the American occupation of Iraq; The System, where he follows the money-slicked path of legislation in Congress; The Resistance, where he doubles as chief public antagonist and undercover member of the passionately bonkers 9/11 Truth Movement; and The Church, where he infiltrates a politically influential apocalyptic mega-ministry in Texas and enters the lives of its desperate congregants. Together these four interwoven adventures paint a portrait of a nation dangerously out of touch with reality and desperately searching for answers in all the wrong places.
Funny, smart, and a little bit heartbreaking, The Great Derangement is an audaciously reported, sobering, and illuminating portrait of America at the end of the Bush era.

Microbiology: An Introduction

Gerard J. Tortora, Berdell R. Funke, Christine L. Case

By: Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $59.88

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

what you see is not what you get!! 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I thought i was getting the paperback version of microbiology. I got the paperback but it was an international version that was illegal to be sold in the United States. I will never buy from this vendor again and if you want what you pay for you wouldn't either. Hopefully it wont be that different from the original version in content.

Editorial Review:

Over the years, instructors at more than 1000 colleges and universities have made Microbiology:An Introduction, their #1 choice. The new sixth edition builds on the hallmark features of past editions-an accessible writing style, a systems approach to diseases, an exceptional art program-and adds new features and supplements that meet the needs of today's students. This new edition becomes an even better teaching and learning tool with a new Interactive Student Tutorial CD-ROM, expanded critical thinking opportunities, a new Taxonomic Guide to Diseases Appendix, a World Wide Web Site, enhanced step-by-step descriptions added to text and illustrations, expanded end-of-chapter learning materials, and additional coverage of hot topics such as emerging infectious diseases, antibiotic/multi-drug resistance, and rapid identification of microorganisms.

Memo to the President Elect CD: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership

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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The next president, whether Democrat or Republican, will face the daunting task of repairing America's core relationships and tarnished credibility after the damage caused during the past seven years. In Memo to the President Elect, former secretary of state and bestselling author Madeleine Albright offers provocative ideas about how to confront the striking array of challenges that the next commander-in-chief will face and how to return America to its rightful role as a source of inspiration across the globe.

Much more than a set of policy prescriptions, Secretary Albright's writing blends lessons from the past with forward-looking suggestions about how to assemble a first-rate foreign policy team, anticipate the actions of other key countries, make full use of presidential power without repeating the excesses of the Bush administration, and revive America's commitment to its founding ideals.

Albright's advice is candid—as conveyed in a confidential memo—and seasoned with humor and stories from her years in office. Drawing on her extensive experience as an advisor to two presidents and a key figure in four presidential transitions, she provides an insider's analysis of U.S. options in addressing the decisive issues of our era: terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rivalries in the Middle East, the potential for nuclear war, and headaches created by such troublesome leaders as Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, and North Korea's Kim Jong-il.

The 2008 election promises to be one of the most dramatic in our nation's history. Memo to the President Elect offers indispensable guidance for the next occupant of the White House—and a wealth of insights for voters to think about before deciding who that person will be.

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 169 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

EXCELLENT WORK BUT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I had quite mixed emotions about this particular work. To begin with, the book was not what I expected. When I read several of the prereleases from the publisher I was expecting a more scholarly work, one that was a bit heaver on the research side, and less of the "rant" side. But to my somewhat disappointment, which is really neither here or there, it is probably more my problem than the authors. Expectations can so often let you down and the author really should not be held responsible for my not doing my research closer.

First, I am not a theologian, far from it. I do though have a great interest in this particular subject. I am what I would consider to be a Christian, although by the standards as outlined in this work, a rather poor one, or so it would seem. I have done a tremendous amount of reading on this subject and am in a position that I am fortunately (or unfortunately, depending upon how you look at it) able to observe first hand many of the phenomena outlined in this volume. Secondly, I have for quite a number of years, held the belief that the religious right; those of the Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and their ilk type, represent one of the greatest threats to this country since it was founded. I have felt that the apparent take over by these men and their followers of the Republican Party has been both amazing and frightening. It absolutely sickens me when this group asserts that they represent Christianity...I simply do not like being soiled with the same label.

Now as to this book. The author has made an attempt, and I must say, has made some very good points, to compare the religious right, i.e. fundamentalists and literalists with Fascism. Many of the examples the author provides us are down right scary and completely dead on. Personally knowing some of these folks; their beliefs and attitudes and teachings, I do feel the author makes a strong case. These people are indeed a great threat to our freedom and the stabilization of the world in general. It is at this point where I start having problems with the author's work. It would not take someone with a lot of intelligence to make some of the very same claims against the extreme left in our society, and their arguments would be just as valid as this author's!

Intolerance, be it from the left or right, is an odious and dangerous thing! People who tell you how to live your life and that their way is the only way, should be watched quite closely! On the other hand, I myself am as guilty as the next when it comes to the religious right as I find I have a very low tolerance level. I Suppose I need to work on that.

On the plus side of this work, I do feel this is one that everyone should read so that there is an awareness of the potential dangers out there for we as individuals, and we as a nation. Now this book had a definite agenda, there is no doubt about that. Personally I read books that have agendas with a jaundice eye. I guess what I am trying to say, is that I question this type of book and take a closer look than I do others. As my personal beliefs tend to lean toward this author's views, I had to agree with about 80 percent of his message. Like all such books though, it will not persuade either side, left or right, Christian or non Christian one way or another. For me it only reinforced what I already felt. Then I read a work such as this that disagrees with my feelings and experience, then I usually believe only about 20 percent of what I am being fed. Guess that is sort of human nature.

I enjoyed the book, agreed with most of it, but felt the author's propensity to rant made it much less effective than it could have been. In many ways he, the author, was practicing the same dreadful thing he was so critical of, that being intolerance. I do recommend this one as a read, but a read that should be tempered with common sense and certainly should not be taken as the ultimate authority on the subject. I am giving this one four stars. It could have been five stars had it been approached differently, and I probably should actually give in three or two stars simply because, in many ways, the author blew it.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Editorial Review:

In this audiobook, veteran journalist Hedges challenges the Christian Rights religious legitimacy and argues that at its core it is a mass movement fueled by unbridled nationalism and a hatred for the open society. Unabridged. 6 CDs.

Division Street: America

Studs Terkel

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Carl Sandburg's Chicago 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Chicago is the city of big shoulders. Carl Sandburg said that. Studs Terkel, in "Division Street: America," gives us the names of those people on whom those big shoulders rest. Like Edgar Lee Masters' collection of poetic epitaphs, "Spoon River Anthology," Terkel titles each chapter with the name of those whose lives are being described.

Division Street runs East-West through Chicago, ending at Lake Shore Drive. It is a major road, and Terkel could've chosen any avenue to name his book. What is important is that it cuts through the center of the city, and, symbolically, into and through the heart of it all.

Each story is a page or two. Some are five or six pages. None are too long. Terkel knows when to finish the story. However, to call the short chapters 'stories' isn't really accurate. They are edited conversations with people you might have known if you lived in Chicago in 1967 when this was first published. Some of the people are cops. Others are teachers, cabbies and nuns. There is even a couple CEOs and advertising guys. Terkel manages to connect with each interviewee, and allow them to do the talking.

Everything you've heard about Studs Terkel or this book is true. It is fantastically voyeuristic, and terrifically revealing without ever being cheap or exploitive. These people are so familiar, as if you overheard Terkel chatting with them at a diner or coffeehouse.

I wholeheartedly recommend "Division Street: America" by Studs Terkel.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Editorial Review:

"Division Street: America" is the book that first made Studs Terkel's reputation as the country's foremost oral historian, as "more than a writer. . . a national resource," in the words of John Kenneth Galbraith. Indeed, the people in Division Street were so compelling that Terkel revisited many of them for his recent bestseller, Race, showing how their opinions had changed and their prejudices had grown in the intervening decades.