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Ken Follett’s monumental saga of the First World War

Ken Follett’s monumental saga of the First World War

No one is still alive with any adult memory of World War I, which ended a century ago. So when we think of the events that have shaped the world we live in today it's likely World War II looms large. But its antecedent three decades earlier may have had greater long-term...

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Explore My “BEST OF the category” selections

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

When people ask me that question, I never know what to say. In a lifetime of reading, I’ve read many thousands of books. And I’ve reviewed well over 2,000 of them on this site. Picking just one as a “favorite,” or even a handful of them, makes no sense to me.

The problem is, I read for many different reasons. Perhaps you do, too. And I read many different sorts of books. Mysteries and thrillers. Popular fiction, especially historical fiction. Science fiction.

And nonfiction, history in particular. You’ll find hundreds of reviews in every one of those categories on this site.

Look to the right for a rotating random selection culled from throughout this site.

Happy reading!

 

Cover image of "Troublemakers" by Leslie Berlin

Troublemakers: the people who put Silicon Valley on the map

Any casual reader whose knowledge about Silicon Valley comes from the headlines or the news online might get the impression that Steve Jobs and the Google and Facebook guys invented the place. Obviously, this is far from true. But even more serious coverage tends to focus on a handful of...
Cover image of "Career of Evil," one of J. K. Rowling's excellent adult novels

J. K. Rowling proves she can write excellent adult novels

In Career of Evil, the third installment in J. K. Rowling's pseudonymous series about the detective with the unlikely name of Cormoran Strike, we learn a great deal more of Cormoran's backstory and that of his intrepid sidekick, Robin Ellacott. The one-legged detective, formerly a military police...
Cover image of "206 Bones," one of the Kathy Reichs novels

Bones on TV and the Kathy Reichs novels: don’t expect similarities

OK, so I won't pretend that the long-running TV series Bones is the best that television has to offer. Far from it. But I confess that I watched the silly thing. All of it. (My excuse is that my wife is a scientist and found it interesting. Lame, I know.) Now, belatedly, I've picked up one of the...
Cover image of "Factory Man," a book that makes understanding globalization much easier

Understanding globalization, from the ground up

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes Between 2001 and 2013, 63,300 American factories closed their doors and five million American factory jobs went away. During that same time, China's manufacturing base ballooned to the tune of 14.1 million new jobs." Numbers like these are impossible for any of us...
Trident's Forge

A suspenseful mash-up of science fiction and mystery

The Ark has arrived at Tau Ceti g after a voyage of 235 years. The 30,000 clones who have survived the harrowing journey to this planet they call Gaia represent the eleventh generation since the Ark's departure from Earth. They are the remnants of humanity after a wandering black hole swallowed...
Cover image of "Indonesia, Etc.," a book about Indonesia today

A brilliant, muIti-dimensional picture of Indonesia today

If you're like most Americans, chances are you know little or nothing about Indonesia. Yet that island nation is the world's fourth largest by population (after China, India, and the USA) and fifteenth largest by land area (just after Mexico). It also is home to the world's largest population of...
superb spy novel: The Ghost War by Alex Berenson

North Korea, Afghanistan, China, Iran, all in one superb spy novel

A review of The Ghost War, by Alex Berenson. @@@@ (4 out of 5). The Ghost War opens on the coast of North Korea, where the CIA fumbles the extraction of their most valuable informer within the country. Soon afterwards, Wells is dispatched on a seemingly unrelated mission to Afghanistan, while his lover, Jennifer Exley, pursues the search for a mole within the CIA.

Cover image of "The Cold Millions," one of the best historical novels set in America

A gripping tale about the early American labor movement

For several decades in the mid-twentieth century, America's middle class prospered and grew. A vigorous labor movement gained livable wages and steadily expanding benefits for millions. To some extent, labor owed its central role in the economy to the reforms of the New Deal and the social change...
Cover image of "The Moscow Club," a spy thriller

Joseph Finder’s Moscow Club: a spy thriller to keep you up at night

Looking for a spy thriller that might keep you up at night? If you suspend disbelief, as science fiction writers ask you to do, you may enjoy this intricately plotted thriller from Joseph Finder, one of America's best contemporary novelists of suspense. For starters, you'll need to imagine a...
Cover image of "The Wright Brothers," a book about the Wright Brothers

The true (and surprising) story of the Wright Brothers

In a world awash with praise for digital pioneers such as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, it's all too easy to forget some of the extraordinary people who have shaped our world through business. We remember Thomas Edison, of course: the harnessing of electricity is impossible to overlook. But we recall...

My Most Popular Reviews

Weekly Reviews Delivered to You!

Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

Weekly book reviews to match your taste!

Love mysteries and thrillers? Historical fiction fan? Prefer to read nonfiction? Or, like me, you just love reading? Take your pick of my three weekly newsletters. Just click the Yes! button, and you’re on your way.

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Mal Warwick

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…includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

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