A fun read despite the subject matter
934485
A fun read despite the subject matter.  Inventive people that reinvented themselves as needed.  Lots of snippets of true stories that kept the pace going in this book.
2262673
A good read.  Not too deep, fun with a serious topic.
2380352
Fun fun read - based on a true life it is about a woman doing what up until then was considered a man's job. Well written. I am going to be recommending this to my book group. I've been doing some research into the real woman behind the book. A few of the basics are true, but quite a bit of information about her life was lost because of the Great Chicago Fire, and, of course, so much of women's history is lost in general, because men write most of the histories. I can't recommend this enough. An easy enough read for all reading levels, including young men and women. Only issue might be some sexual content, but even that is sufficiently vague and lacks details so would not be taken amiss other than by the most prudish of parents.
3177668
Penn's fair, honest, and actually, somewhat polite rants about religion (or rather godlessness) is a fun read. You sort of know going in what to expect, and I will admit that as a fan, I expected more. Some chapters delivered, and some missed their mark.

I enjoyed learning more about his personal life, his family and some wild tales from the past. Surprisingly, hair driers and male bath houses have played a role in Jillette's life. The stories about magic (tricks) and the characters that have crossed his path are great.

The misses? Chapters about Springsteen and some other topics that didn't make this reader ever care about what was going on. While I really enjoyed his approach to being an atheist, some of the characters and stories got run around and the stories so diluted that they were hard to follow.

After reading God, No! I know this:

 1) it's OK to say "I don't know".
 2)  Jillette appears to actually CARE about his fans, the world, his family,and society.
 3) some of Jillette's views make me uncomfortable, but really make sense.
 4) his view on politics is pretty sport-on.

Great subject matter, average execution.
513917
This is a fun, cautionary tale about the madness that is the Ivy League college admission process. As a higher educational professional myself, I was attracted to the plot of the story, although the story turned out to be a bit disjointed at times. Still, it's a light and fun read.
314137
A fun little book.  It's a series of stories, by the author, about her time with a guru or master before, during and after WW2, at a time when few Europeans were doing that kind of thing.  Whether you believe the premise or dismiss it, I think this is a fun read but it does touch on some difficult times and it's probably a little more palatable for the believer.  I found it thoroughly enjoyable and breased through it quickly.  Unfortunately it being out of print has lead to rising prices, but it might be a good investment.
2488361
"By Force of Arms" is an entertaining read.  Those critics who have savaged it for grammatical shortcomings have some excuse since it is marred by occasional lapses in editing.  The story line, with an initial Southern victory at Gettysburg ending one war and revanchist sentiment leading the North to stage a second war is an interesting perspective.  Most of the critics who have gone after this seem less than pleased at its outcome and more concerned that it does not fall into the trap of becoming lodged in sentiment centering on the South's "peculiar institution."  I, for one, am relieved that the author is willing to focus on military and political perspectives outside of slavery.  If you are open to a balanced perspective on motives and morality at the time, the read should be of some interest; if you simply want to vindicate recent interpretations of the causes of the war and its primary players and their links to slavery as the single issue of consequence, you may find it less than agreeable.  To each his own.
2033750
This book has its ups and downs but overall I found it to be an enjoyable read. I particularly liked the two human characters and their sometimes surprising reactions to the strange situations they were in. I've read the other comments and agree with many of them.
3075732
Let's face it: Whether or not you really believe that ghosts exist or not, it's still fun to read about them. The author takes a very subtle approach in demonstrating how for most people, ghosts represent feelings of loss, guilt, or unresolved issues rather than an actual spirit that has yet to make its' way toward the "Light". Especially telling is the believers that continue to have faith in the mediums despite failure to reproduce spiritual marvels under controlled conditions, or when the medium has been exposed as an outright fraud. It is very easy to look back on this era and laugh, or make fun, but if one looks closely enough, you can make adequate comparisons between the Spiritualist Movement and several other religious, social and political ones. The power of belief is a phenomenon perhaps even more interesting than even ghosts and apparitions!
2296944
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love France, and travel, and Matisse, and I enjoy painting. If any or all of those appeal to you, this book is a delight, a fun distraction. It falls into the travel and self-growth genre, but with a specific purpose -- to enhance an understanding of Matisse and painting. The author's many musings about art (whether his own, or quotes from Matisse or others) are interesting and thought provoking, and often insightful. He's a good writer, and though there isn't a strong "arc" to the story, there is enough of a story to this to feel that you're on a path. All that said, the author is annoying ditzy-brained at times -- he's so confused about email that he seems to think he needs a new account when he goes abroad, and he constantly refers to some accountant sending money as if the accountant is in charge of the budget when obviously he is not. This book lacks the wonderful characters of Mayle books, and doesn't quite conjure up French culture and cuisine the way some books do, but I was happy to do without those staples of the travel genre, to have a big dose of musings about art, and interesting anecdotes about Matisse.
3924448
I'm a Joanna Trollope fan. As an American, it's fun to read about contemporary social issues from a British point of view.
This book seems to reflect the authors own age and it's particular frustrations - midcareer doubts, sandwiched between elder parents and coming of age children, and relationship surprises. The style is ultimately readable and fast paced. Of course, we do have to note that all of the problems are padded with ample funds. That even leads to a modicum of social conscien.  Fun read
112116
This won't be the best book you've ever read, but it is nevertheless an enjoyable read.  There is a section in the middle where a series of side-stories are a bit repetitive, to the point where I began to forget which character had which backstory.  But in the end, none of that mattered, nor did the fact that you sort of know that the young protagonist will find her personal story joined to that of her research project.  This isn't a perfect story but I still liked it.
4217928
So this is a fun 'niche history' book that I think has enough different experiences and historical events to keep most readers engaged. The chapters give enough broad view that even if a couple don't connect, there should be a few more that would be entertaining. It does show that maybe it's better to laugh then cry at affairs at the heart, which after all can't actually kill you. But...they can lead to all sorts of fatal problems, as these accounts will show!

Even though it is often tragic history (Oscar Wilde, for example) it's written in an engaging style that finds the laughter behind the tears, as it were. Even the awful depredations of Emperor Nero come across funny, as opposed to horrible.

I would not look at this book as a literal history - I sort of like how Jennifer Wright approaches this by taking every rumor as basically historical fact. So the 10-year-old Marquees of Queensbury supposedly roasted and ate a servant over a spit - that obviously didn't literally happen, but Wright acts like that, and any rumor, actually DID happen. But these are rumors for a reason, and since she's certainly not writing this as a definitive account, I think it helps amp up the extreme "humor" of each situation.

I'm not sure this is the kind of book I'd recommend for a personal purchase, but it would be a great gift for anybody who went through a bad breakup, etc. It's almost better as a gift where there's no stakes, and the reader can just enjoy it for what it is, as opposed to worrying about "getting my money's worth," and a feeling like that. But anybody with an appreciation for these kinds of niche historical events, especially when they involve all the rumors that have been spread around over the years, should find some good enjoyment from it.
1166694
When I read this books subtitle, I assumed that it was mainly about using science for the general betterment of humanity. I was partly right; its about using science and technology specifically to battle climate change.

The books first forty pages or so of main text generally outline the usual doom and gloom that humanity will face if nothing is done about the human-induced component of climate change, i.e., the typical material that one encounters when reading most books on this topic. However, a reader who has read it all before but who still manages to persevere beyond those pages is in for a treat. The rest of the book is indeed about state-of-the-art science and technology as applied towards reducing carbon emissions through a variety of mechanisms and scientific tricks that industry as well as the average person can use. A great many domains are discussed including, but not limited to, energy sources, energy storage, transportation, food production and even space exploration. A few chapters describe the authors efforts to render his home (in Southern California) as energy-efficient as possible. Although not all of his techniques would be as useful worldwide, e.g., Nordic countries are not likely to have the same heat problems as Southern California, the concept is clear: to focus on how energy is used in the home and to try to find ways to reduce its consumption, improve efficiency, save money, possibly improve home comfort and have fun doing it.

I found the book to be great fun to read. The authors friendly, chatty, personable, lighthearted and often humorous style makes the information that it contains a real pleasure to discover.

One word of caution, though: I found that some of the passages describing the nuclear physics of nuclear power reactors to be often unclear and even misleading at best. A reader wishing to learn the details on this important subject would do well to look elsewhere.
964239
This book is about art fakery and that is a fascinating subject.  Jonathon Keats  certainly knows his subject and covers it well and thoroughly. However, such a subject could be written about in a more entertaining manner, I think. Not that this book is by any means boring, but it's the subject matter, not the writing, which keeps one reading along. I am not sure who the author was writing to, but it wasn't me. Nor did he seem to be writing to academia. Perhaps other art critics?

Anyway, this is a solid book on a fascinating subject. Of course, any book on art should be chock full of illustrations, but Advanced Reader Copies do not usually have this, so I can't comment one way or the other.
2922873
I am not a huge Stephen King fan, but I found the subject matter intriguing and I was not disappointed.  Some people seem irritated with some of the historical fact vs fiction, but come on people this is not a history book.  It is entertainment.
4468783
Judging this book by its cover and thinking it wouldn't be something I would particularily enjoy, I almost passed up the opportunity to find out about the interesting contents of it - an initial mistake similarly made by many of the characters within the "Eddie And Me On The Scrap Heap" story, toward nine-year old Eddie due to the traits of his autism and his uncle, Natie, due to what some considered an eccentric lifestyle.

Professional writer, Marc Littman, who obviously knows his way around words, has had experience living with a special needs child and writes a finely-tuned, realistic fiction novel that is easy to read with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but is also serious in its main points and lessons.  One such point was Natie's reply to Eddie's question of why people continually shunned them:  "I dunno, Eddie.  Some people don't get us.  They're afraid of what they don't understand so they act mean to hide that they're scared."

Characters of main interest are:  Eddie, Natie and their Jewish family, Natie's best friend who owns a junk yard and the modern-day "witch" they befriend.  Misunderstanding, rejection, disappointment, suspicion, hopelessness, aimlessness and the search for significance give way to acceptance and redemption, resulting in a nice conclusion and an enjoyable book to read.