Popular Culture Books - Page 16

American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon

Stephen Prothero

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Jesus the Black Messiah; Jesus the Jew; Jesus the Hindu sage; Jesus the Haight-Asbury hippie: these Jesuses join the traditional figure of Jesus Christ in American Jesus, which was acclaimed upon publication in hardcover as an altogether fresh exploration of American history--and as the liveliest book about Jesus to appear in English in years.

Our nation's changing images of Jesus, Stephen Prothero contends, are a kind of looking class into the national character. Even as most Christian believers cleave to a traditional faith, other people give Jesus a leading role as folk hero, pitchman, and countercultural icon. And so it has been since the nation's founding--from Thomas Jefferson, who took scissors to his New Testament to sort out true from false Jesus material; to the Jews, Buddhists and Muslims who fit Jesus into their own traditions; to the people who adapt Jesus for stage and screen and the Holy Land theme park. American Jesus is "a lively, illuminating and accessible survey that takes us into unexpected corners of our shared religious heritage" (Dan Cryer, Newsday).

Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die

Michael Largo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

To die, kick the bucket, to meet your Maker, dead as a doornail, get whacked, smoked, bite the dust, sleep with the fishes, go six feet under—whatever death is called, it's going to happen. In 1789 Ben Franklin wrote, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." Death remains a certainty. But how do we die? It's the enormous variety of how that enlivens final exits.

According to death certificates, in 1700 there were less than 100 causes of death. Today there are 3,000. With each advance of technology, people find new ways to become deceased, often causing trends that peak in the first year. People are now killed by everything, from cell phones, washing machines, lawn mowers and toothpicks, to the boundless catalog of man—made medicines. In Final Exits the causes of death—bizarre or common—are alphabetically arranged and include actual accounts of people, both famous and ordinary, who unfortunately died that way. (Ants, bad words, Bingo, bean bag chairs, flying cows, frozen toilets, hiccups, lipstick, moray eels, road kill, starfish, and toupees are only some of the more unusual causes.)

Hooking Up with Tila Tequila: A Guide to Love, Fame, Happiness, Success, and Being the Life of the Party

Tila Tequila

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Web and reality television celebrity Tila Tequila, the "Madonna of MySpace" (Time) bares her secrets in this provocative and playful guide to love, relationships, sex, fame, and being the life of the party -- just in time to spice things up this holiday season.

The ways to celebrity are myriad, but in just two years, Tila Tequila has quite possibly become THE symbol of stardom in today's digital age. With upwards of three million MySpace pals and thanks to MTV's A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, the twenty-six-year-old sexy siren has become nothing less than a cultural icon. Tila's taboo-bending lack of inhibition has made her a trailblazer for the times, and there's no signs of slowing down this feisty four-foot-eleven wild child whose combination of sex appeal and accessibility has made her popularity unparalleled.

Hooking Up with Tila Tequila takes an exclusive and entertaining look beyond the virtual pin-up -- past the mischievous glint in her eye and sultry curve of her hip -- to the real-life Tila. In her own outrageously candid words, she tackles a variety of subjects from making it big to getting what you want in bed -- and out of it! Also included are real questions from her millions of fans, and Tila's unique brand of truthful advice, as she says, "Tequila-style." Filled with stunning never-before-seen photographs from Tila's private collection, Hooking Up with Tila Tequila delivers the scoop on everything her fans want to know -- and reveals the true story of how a fearless and determined Vietnamese ex-model used the Internet to earn the recognition that most people only dream about.

On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting for

Rick Perry

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Well written book, but flawed by misinformation and the authors biases/views 3 out of 5 stars.
16 of 21 people found this review helpful.

EDITED REVIEW.
As a long time scout and scouter, I have delved into the scouting movement and its history and have a large personal library of both BSA works and books about the BSA.

While this work is well written (much better then Hans Zieger's work), it is flawed by the misinformation given, and to a degree the author's beliefs and biases. The author is entitled to his views, but the misinformation is more problematic. THIS REVIEW DEALS ONLY WITH THE FACTUAL ERRORS OF HIS BOOK, not the 'truths' (his views) that he puts forth.

Some examples.

* Baden-Powell did NOT create scouting to train future soldiers. He created scouting to create better individuals and citizens. As an officer, he was very different from the stereotype of the british solder. His military scouting program was different from the typical drilling/boot camp type of training. In it, small groups of men learned self reliance and independence thru activities and games. B-P thought military training was inappropriate for youth ("drilling is not scouting") and spent a lot of time adapting his scouting program to be appropriate for youth. Even after he established scouting, some critics claimed he was trying to create future soldiers, and formed rival groups like the "Peace Scouts". Other critized B-P for failing to create future soldiers and formed rival groups like the "Empire Scouts".

* William Boyce did not get lost in the fog of London, that is a myth created by James West. Boyce was lost in London (but no fog) and was helped by a scout and later taken to scout HQ. But he did not meet B-P or the like. That's all embellishments and such added by West. Furthermore, Boyce had little involvement with the BSA after it was incorporated. It was others who got involved and saved the org and brought on board James West.

* the information on page 49-50 on the senior scouting programs is full of errors. I've researched this area extensively and have a website on it.

* B-P's wife Olave did NOT start Girl Guides. B-P did before he was married, then turned the program over to his sister Agnes. Olave got involved later. Juliet Low had been involved with the Girl Guides in the UK and brought it to the states, renaming it the Girl Scouts of the USA.

I did like it for its celebration of scouting and its positive values. But I am always annoyed by misinformation given about scouting.

Editorial Review:

In On My Honor, Texas governor Rick Perry, through the legacy of the Boy Scouts of America, takes dead aim at the moral relativism of the secular humanist movement, indicting its corrosive impact on the culture. Examining the left's legal assaults on the Boy Scouts of America - which span more than 30 years - Perry offers prescient insight into the multi-faceted war, which pits the proponents of traditional American values against the radical leftist movement that seeks to tear down our social foundations.

On My Honor underscores the depth to which the culture warriors of the left will go to force their secular humanist minority view upon American society and revered American institutions. It is a revealing look at a culture war that rages close to the surface of American life, and it is a must read for any American concerned that our society is slipping from the high moral ground of liberty to the valley of license.

Dishing Hollywood: The Real Scoop on Tinseltown's Most Notorious Scandals

Laurie Jacobson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Whatta Dish! A Collection of Hollywood Scandals Du Jour 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 34 people found this review helpful.

I fortuitously fell into this little gem the day after xmas.....a belated "BEST" present to myself.
While I already own Jacobson's two other books and hold her in high regard, this book proves that she is only getting better as a film historian and writer.
She assumes a slick, quasi-cinema noir persona in her narrative and mixes in a Sandra Lee-like easy 'recipe' that takes a not too subtle slam at each of the scandals/stories she relates. The vanity of the 'dish' (aka scandal/tragedy/hard luck story) only enhances the general readability of this book. This is a novel approach that makes an already interesting product even more appealing. I kept thinking that the author did a terrific job with the material she was presenting.
Aside from the kidding around, this book is really rather fair and factual. The author knows her stuff and relies on knowledgeable sources to substantiate or refute claims made in the book.
My only criticism of this book is that I wish it had been longer and had covered some other stories that I find interesting and want to know more about. Hopefully there will be a follow-up to this book which will do that.
Anyway, this is a very good read and worth the $ and time spent reading it.

Editorial Review:

"Dishing Hollywood is a delightful romp through sonic of the biggest scandals that have rocked Hollywood. The stories either appear here for the first time or the author has found a surprising new twist to them. The "dish" includes more than the scoop, for she also includes the corals or favorite dishes that are part of the story, such as: - "Inger Stevens: C'mon, who kills herself while in the middle of snaking her favorite sandwich, a BLT with avocado?- "Janis, Joplin: She should have stayed at Barney's Bcanery where she drank two screwdrivers. But no, she went back to her hotel and shot up. She died.- "Mama Cass: That damn sandwich! She didn't choke on it but suffered a heart attack while eating it.- "Natalie Wood: Her life was one scandal after another. Her last meal was a lot of wine and champagne with a little fish at El Galleon on Catalina Island.- "Lupe Velez: She may or may not have had a Mexican feast topped with barbiturates that landed her headfirst in the crapper.

Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey and the Last Great Show Biz Party

Shawn Levy

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Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For the first time, the full story of what happened when Frank brought his best pals to party in a land called Vegas

January 1960. Las Vegas is at its smooth, cool peak. The Strip is a jet-age theme park, and the greatest singer in the history of American popular music summons a group of friends there to make a movie. One is an insouciant singer of Italian songs, ex-partner to the most popular film comedian of the day. One is a short, black, Jewish, one-eyed, singing, dancing wonder. One is an upper-crust British pretty boy turned degenerate B-movie star actor, brother-in-law to an ascendant politician. And one is a stiff-shouldered comic with the quintessential Borscht Belt emcee’s knack for needling one-liners. The architectonically sleek marquee of the Sands Hotel announces their presence simply by listing their names: FRANK SINATRA. DEAN MARTIN. SAMMY DAVIS, JR. PETER LAWFORD. JOEY BISHOP. Around them an entire cast gathers: actors, comics, singers, songwriters, gangsters, politicians, and women, as well as thousands of starstruck everyday folks who fork over pocketfuls of money for the privilege of basking in their presence. They call themselves The Clan. But to an awed world, they are known as The Rat Pack.

They had it all. Fame. Gorgeous women. A fabulouse playground of a city and all the money in the world. The backing of fearsome crime lords and the blessing of the President of the United States. But the dark side–over the thin line between pleasure and debauchery, between swinging self-confidence and brutal arrogance–took its toll. In four years, their great ride was over, and showbiz was never the same.

Acclaimed Jerry Lewis biographer Shawn Levy has written a dazzling portrait of a time when neon brightness cast sordid shadows. It was Frank’s World, and we just lived in it.

The Physics of Star Trek

Lawrence Krauss, Lawrence M. Krauss

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 54 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

its possible 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Some things in the 'Startrek Physics' are possible..

Maybe not as denoted in the series/movies but in some fashion.
Let me list items that could be considered TREK technology.


1. Cellphones (though more in style/form that fact).
2. Visor (the visor used in STNG) is real today.
Certain kinds of blindness can see 2d B&W with this visor.
ITs been around for years.
3. Pc's ... in a way the original STartrek could have had todays pc's or similar ...

4. Some of our medical technology is a direct cause from the original startrek in that the major inventor of much of our medical stuff in ER is from a person who watched startrek as a kid and grewup specifically to invent as much ST stuff as he could.

Yes many things in SCIFI are not possible, but much of it is in some fashion.

Besides, often what is impossible today, is often possible tomorrow.

Remember these comments:
1. We wont need more than 5 computers in the whole world.
IBM (I think).
2. We will never need more than 640k (BILL Gates, confirmed).
3. We might as well shutdown the office, everything that can
be invented, has been invented. (Patent office I belive).

AMong others,
Myself, I bet my best friend in 1976, that some variation of computers like starttrek would be around in less than 5 years.
Two years later, he paid up, as I began using computers that could be linked up to be exactly that. (Slower obviously but there).

Editorial Review:

What warps when you’re traveling at warp speed? What is the difference between a wormhole and a black hole? Are time loops really possible, and can I kill my grandmother before I am born? Anyone who has ever wondered “could this really happen?” will gain useful insights into the Star Trek universe (and, incidentally, the real world of physics) in this charming and accessible guide. Lawrence M. Krauss boldly goes where Star Trek has gone-and beyond. From Newton to Hawking, from Einstein to Feynman, from Kirk to Picard, Krauss leads readers on a voyage to the world of physics as we now know it and as it might one day be.

The Star Trek Cookbook

Ethan Phillips, William J. Birnes

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Is there one food that humans, Klingons, Bajorans, and Vulcans would like? If so, what would it taste like? How would you prepare it? Could you find all the ingredients locally?

This is the task that faces Neelix, chef for the U.S.S. Voyager™, every time he takes on the challenge of trying to feed its crew of 140 food critics. But over the course of their journey, Neelix's learned a few tricks of the trade. He had to, just as a matter of self-preservation.

Ethan Phillips, in the persona of Neelix, and William J. Birnes, the New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Day After Roswell, throw wide the vaults of interstellar haute cuisine, revealing for the first time the secret preparation techniques behind all those exotic dishes and drinks. The favorite foods of characters from every Star Trek series and movie are here, all adapted for easy use in twentieth-century kitchens. The Star Trek Cookbook also features a complete guide for whipping up the all the drinks served at Quark's.

Fun, and easy to use, the Star Trek Cookbook is your indispensable guide to the food of the stars!

Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe (Smart Pop series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Serenity Found findings 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Jacob Clifton's work alone would have been enough to get me to buy this, but I ended up enjoying nearly the entire book, even more so than its predecessor, Finding Serenity, which contained the silly "Firefly is like the Tick" essay, the ludicrous "Joss Whedon isn't feminist enough because Zoe loves her husband and respects her boss" essay, and the offensive as hell "Joss Whedon can't possibly be a feminist, because no thinking man would be" essay.
This second volume is better for following the movie, for one thing, giving the authors more of the full story to work with, whereas the first book had only the series with its unanswered questions to consider. There are still some weak points, such as the too-personal-to-be-terribly-interesting "Things my spouse and I argue about while watching Firefly" piece; and the script outline of 'Out of Gas' by a guy who thinks the structure should be laid out scene-by-scene to demonstrate how cool it is...that one really lacked a thesis; and the "admittedly I have a huge chip on my shoulder" exhortation to geeks to be proud of their geeky selves, in which it was actually suggested that David Krumholtz could be plausibly seen as other than hot....
But there were really insightful essays outnumbering the ones that had me rolling my eyes and mouthing, "Blah blah blah," as I read. Jacob's was great, of course (I refer to him by his first name because I am a huge fan of his work and knew him only as Jacob of TWOP long before I learned his surname). There was a really thorough examination of the Libertarian ethics portrayed in Firefly; a thoughtful discussion of the Unification War in terms of its deliberate reflection of the American Civil War and even more carefully depicted differences from it; an in-depth look at many of Joss Whedon's female characters who have been essentially weaponized by meddlesome men; and several other really interesting takes on the Firefly 'verse that aren't for whatever reason leaping to mind right now.
Both books could easily have been trimmed, and one big book might have included only the best of these essays rather than a hit-and-miss double collection. On the other hand, it's great to have new Firefly-related stuff to devour at intervals with the show and film in the past and no likely sequels on the horizon.

Editorial Review:

This follow-up to Finding Serenity takes the examination of Joss Whedon's canceled cult favorite even further, addressing the events of the film Serenity as well as offering even more thought-provoking, fascinating, and far-thinking essays on the Firefly universe. Contributors include actor Nathan Fillion, who played Captain Mal Reynolds, as well as noted science fiction writer Orson Scott Card. Behind-the-scenes details are explored, including why Firefly makes such a good platform for the upcoming Multiverse online game (with an essay written by Multiverse executive producer Corey Bridges), while other essays examine recurring issues from both the series and the movie, such as the Alliance's hatred of science, the role of smart-mouthed women, and the real reason the Firefly universe has no aliens.

Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead

Jonathan Maberry

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth...

And law enforcement is ready to take them down!

Since Night of the Living Dead, zombies have been a frightening fixture on the pop culture landscape, lumbering after hapless humans, slurping up brains and veins and whatever warm, fleshy matter they can clench in their rotting limbs. But what if they were real? What would happen if, tomorrow, corpses across the nation began springing up out of their graves and terrorizing the living?

Employing hard science and solid police work not—to mention jaw-dropping (literally!) humor—Zombie CSU is the only guide you need to make it through alive—not undead. At last you can:

Investigate zombie crime scenes, collecting and analyzing evidence of zombie attacks, and create a "murder book"

Examine the psychology of the zombie and develop a perp profile.

Observe medical science pros as they probe felled zombies for forensic clues.

Devise a zombie apocalypse survival scorecard and more!

Complete with lists of must-see zombie flicks from around the globe and tons of tips for kicking undead butt, Zombie CSU features hundreds of interviews with real zombie experts, forensics experts, detectives, filmmakers, and more.

Special guest stars: Tony Todd, Brian Keene, Patricia Tallman, David Wellington, James Gunn, Robert Kirkman, Dr. Wade Davis, Robert Sacchetto, Zombie Squad, Ramsey Campbell, Kim Paffenroth, Jamie Russell, Michael CJ Kelly, Bruce Andy Bohne, and dozens more!