Quick Book Reviews Blog

While most of us prefer to read fictional stories because non-fiction often lacks in suspense or stimulation altogether, the truth is that fact is sometimes stranger than fiction. Sometimes there are things that happen in this world that are beyond most people’s imagination. As you can gather from the title of this entry, the story I am going to be talking about will be that of Louis Zamperini , a World War II soldier who fought for the United States.

While Mr. Tolkien has given us a memorable tale with his Lord of the Rings books, the truth is that many people felt as if the story was a bit too childish, and perhaps even clichéd at times. Well, to those who felt that way, I recommend that you take a look at a book titled A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, a man dubbed as the “American Tolkien” by Time magazine.

In the distant future, an alien invasion seems to be imminent against the human race. In order to fight it off, the government has put into place a program in which children are bred to become genius soldiers.  A young boy who goes by the name of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who lives with disconnected parents, a sadistic brother and a kind sister finds himself drafted into that program. While Wiggin’s skills and performance prove to everyone that he is an incredibly capable soldier, yet growing up in such a community has a psychological impact on anyone.

Regardless of whether or not you are interested in literature, chances are that you’ve heard the name Stephen King being bounced around.Indeed, his fame has grown to a level where pretty much everyone knows who he is, without necessarily knowing what he did, or what he even looks like. And let me say that this reputation is well-deserved on his part seeing as how he came along with some of the greatest horror classics known to mankind, including Carrie , It , and The Dead Zone .

Most people who read Stephen King’s works would agree that in recent years the master of horror may have let himself go a little. There has been a somewhat noticeable decline in the quality of his works, in every department including writing style and originality. However, Mr. King is only human and you cannot expect anybody to keep making masterpieces that each exceed the previous one; everyone falls at some point or another… it’s how you get up that matters. Well, it seems that recently Stephen King has bounced back with a few quite amazing works, including a move tie-in called Bag of Bones .

While it may be true that there is nobody out there that knows you better than yourself, there are times when a little insight from the outside is just what you need. As a matter of fact, chances are that every day you dedicate yourself to something you are not naturally good at, and as such a lot of people with amazing talents are untapped and wasted. While I’m not saying that the key to your happiness lies in some type of test or book, I would recommend that you take a look at the StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. 

For a long time now people have been reading Stephen King’s novels , marveling at the genius he manages to put on paper. However, while we keep on reading his works of fiction, a lot of us have noticed a distinct lacking when it comes to knowing what the master himself thinks like in real life. It’s one thing to learn about an author through his imagination, but it’s another to learn about him from what he truly thinks and says. Probably with this in mind (as well as a fat paycheck) Mr. King released an autobiographical work titled On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft.

After many long years of writing a prayer journal, Sarah Young decided it was time to share with the world the teachings God was bestowing upon her. She started writing down in a journal whatever God was communicating to her, but after some time she realized that her writings weren’t as inspirational as Scripture, although it did help her get closer to the Lord. She decided to re-organize her writings from Jesus’ point of view, dedicating half a page to a full page for every day of the year. Each page can be best described as bringing to you a specific teaching from Jesus. While unfortunately there were many who simply pretended to have a powerful spiritual connection with God in order to extort money from the faithful, Sarah Young doesn’t fall into that category.

Living as the silent type in a world that promotes the contrary can not only be inconvenient, it can be downright depressing at times. The world we live in was tailored for extroverts, people who would rather speak than listen. Those who prefer to listen are instead branded as shy and usually cast aside, and end up forcing themselves to act in a way that is contrary to what they really want. However, as was pointed out by Susan Cain in her book titled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking , the truth is that without introverts the world would be deprived of many great inventions, including the theories of gravity, relativity, as well as Google… and that’s just for starters.

Regardless of who you are or where you live, chances are that you share the same goal with a grand majority of Earth’s population: making money. While in theory it sound simple and easy enough, in practice things are usually different. Indeed, most people who made the transition to adult life figured out the hard way just how much pain acquiring money can bring.  While I’m not going to tell you that there is a secret and surefire way of getting rich within minutes, the truth is that your perception of your wealth impacts not only how well you handle your financial situation, but also on how you decide to lead your life.

Even though the United States of America haven’t existed for as long as most other countries out there, namely in Europe, it still managed to have quite a volatile history, full of economic, political and criminal scandals. As most of you are more than likely aware, a tragic event struck the country on November 22nd, 1963: the assassination of John F. Kennedy . The news spread like wildfire and not only created a real payday for the newspapers, but also started to inspire the imagination of various artists and writers.

While it is true that most people today pay little attention to books in favor of watching movies, there is a certain truth that remains for both forms of entertainment: they are filled with formulaic and cliché products. Just like in any business, whenever a product becomes extremely popular, it calls for a variety of knock-offs and spin-offs, all for the purpose of milking the cow. As a result however, truly talented writers and directors are being overshadowed by what makes money. If you have taken a look recently at the book market then chances are that the majority of works you ran into happened to be something that would pass as a cheap soap opera.

Release date: March 8, 2011 Publisher: Broadway Books Pages: 381 Buy: Amazon(US) |  Amazon(CA) |  Barnes & Noble Immortality is something that most of us fantasize about at one point or another… however, we all believe it to be something of a fairy tale, an impossible feat. While I’m not going to say that the secret to immortality has been uncovered, scientists have actually managed to find immortal cells… those of a lady named Henrietta Lacks. Rest assured, the lady has now been dead and buried in an unmarked grave for a few decades… however, her cells still live on as if nothing had happened. About twenty years after her death, scientists began investigating her cells through her husband and children. When they discovered the anomaly, the field of medicine grew exponentially. It gave us the ability not only to understand a lot more than we did about various viruses and diseases such as cancer, but it also helped to develop a large variety of ...

While some people may be in denial about it, there is no question about the fact that the United States of America are about to undergo some drastic changes.With public support for whatever the White House does being pretty low right now, the passing of the highly controversial NDAA bill as well as the proposition for SOPA and PIPA all point to the fact that an authoritarian reform is looming on the horizon.

While most of us read stories about war, filled with facts and accounts of what happened where and when, the truth is that these texts don’t come close to giving you a true impression of what war is like. Naturally though, seeing for yourself what it looks like would be quite a bold move, and one which I’m sure a majority of people aren’t willing to make. Luckily though, there are other ways of getting a more up-close look at what warfare is like from a soldier’s point of view. For example, there are some soldiers who have written books about their experience, with one of the most notable ones being a book by Navy SEAL Chris Kyle titled American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History .