false 0 5 4 true 5983208 read 1 true 4580145 currently-reading 0 true 4580144 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48664974 to: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Hardcover) by David Wroblewski
bookshelves: currently-reading
Well I finally persevered and got to the end. I wanted to read this book to see what sort of work would get the only 2008 Oprah book club recommendation. If it was a truly great piece of writing I wanted to know why.

I'm not much for huge thick works of fiction, but I really did try to `get this one'.

I had read Marlie and Me and hated it. It should have been called "About a Dog". Dogs are not that great, puhlease. I feared that this book would unfold to be a huge hardcover version of About a Dog. It rose above that, but not enough so.

The author writes beautiful words and I did enjoy that images that he evoked of an innocent time and life in the country.

Too many details about dogs, dog care, dog training, dog relationships, dog obedience, dog personalities, dog breeding etc. etc. etc. though.

I deliberately didn't read the jacket as I had heard that it gave too much of the plot away - and indeed it does. A buit in spoiler :(

So I was hoping for an ending that would satisfy. Alas it left me disappointed. The ending is tragic and unsatisfying. So much so that I feel a bit ripped off and having invested all that time to get to the end. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57336088 to: Forgiving the Dead Man Walking: Only One Woman Can Tell the Entire Story (Paperback) by Debbie Morris
This is a true story that everyone should read. Written simply and clearly Debbie Morris details her horrible trauma at the hands of a pair of rapists and killers.

The book describes her path since the abduction, leading to being able to forgive her captors. It was a long and difficult path, but one that I think we can all learn from. It was only after she was able to come to the position of being able to forgive that she could recover and move on from the ordeal. The refusal to forgive and desire to hang on to the hate will only eat you up.

I like that her forgiveness didn't make her seem weak and glib. What she endured was awful but not unforiveable. Not unforgetable or un-punishable, but possible to forgive.

The main perpetrator was executed and wasn't believed to ever show any remorse, so the act of forgiveness was for herself, for her own recovery and sanity.

Well done for sharing with us the journey I say !

This book will be an encouragement for anyone struggling with unforgiveness. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54213279 to: Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World (Paperback) by David Bodanis
Quite enjoyed the way that the author showed how we stumbled across all of the principles that we take for granted today. It took many years for things like telegraph, electricity, radio, radar to be discovered and mass produced. There was lots of dead end research and lucky breaks along the way to piece together how electrons and magnets rule our modern world. It certainly wasn't clear to me from my university physics classes that the early researchers had so little idea of what they were dealing with. Just what were those electrons, how can you measure them, how can you harness them for good (and evil too) ?? Just why do we call them volts, amps and watts ? A bit of interesting `dark' background to Samuel Morse and Alan Turing too.

This is no mere physics book. It links together the luminaries of the field in a way that makes for a book almost like a novel.

I'm really getting into these sorts of factoid type entertaining reads. So many trivium to fill my wee head ! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50386118 to: What Would Google Do? (Hardcover) by Jeff Jarvis
I have to admit that the title of this book put me off from the start. Could it be a serious book based on a blatant rip off of WWJD. So I was a bit grumpy to start with, but the author won me over by the end of the book.

Jarvis does a pretty good job of pulling apart some of the things that Google has done and tries to apply it to other industries.

Google is perhaps give a bit too much credit as being the saviour of all businesses. Google got lucky with Adsense - it was a search company without any income until Adsense and Adwords was created. That was a stroke of genius that has made the company immensely rich. Going from that to youtube, google maps and gmail - and including them as brilliant innovations that will make google more $$$ is a bit of a stretch I think. Google still feels a little like a one product company to me. Time will tell which of their spaghetti on the wall sticks.

For those who don't know much about the history of Google, or haven't read The Search or The Long Tail for eg then this book is a good place to start and indeed complement them quite well. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48665055 to: The Shack (Paperback) by William P. Young
Not what I expected. Really challenged my idea of who and what `God in 3' would look like. Also challenged my idea of good and evil and suffering. Not sure I'm about to change my view on these things, but it sure has made me think about the bigger picture some more. Even disturbed me a bit to think so afresh. ]]>