History shows us that true military genius is rare. Some who are credited with it—George Washington, for example—clearly didn’t possess it. Even Napoleon, who blundered into the Russian winter and then compounded the error by overstaying in Moscow, fell short. Perhaps only a handful qualify....
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A review of A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. @@@@ (4 out of 5). It’s easy to get the impression that science has answered all the big questions and is spending more and more time and money focusing on the little ones. Read Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, and you will quickly be disabused of that illusion. Truth to tell, the human race is still abysmally ignorant of some of the most fundamental matters that determine how, why, and where we live.
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Robert Goddard writes suspenseful crime thrillers that typically span many years of British history. Invariably, they demonstrate graphically the unforeseen consequences of long-ago acts. Long Time Coming is one of the 31 novels he has written since the 1980s. It’s a thriller that reveals...
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This is a big book as science fiction novels go, and it doesn’t fit it in any one of the standard categories. First Contact novel? Check. Space opera? Yes. Adventure story? That, too. Travelogue? Even that. Political novel? Oh, yes. But at its hard SF heart, Poul Anderson’s The Avatar...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes James McBride won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2013 for The Good Lord Bird. It’s an often-hilarious novel about the abolitionist John Brown’s ill-conceived attack on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. That act is often...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly 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.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly 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.