Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s early afternoon here in Lithia, Florida, on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. Although the cold snap that has held the Tampa Bay area in a vise grip throughout the long Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday weekend is easing off and the temperature is 70°F/21°C, I am still having trouble coping withContinue reading “Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, January 17, 2023, or: Some (Superficial) Observations About ‘Operation Downfall’ and a Brief Life Update”
Category Archives: Book Reviews
Musings & Thoughts for Monday, January 16, 2023, or: A Quick Preview of Things to Come on ‘A Certain Point of View, Too’
Hi there, Dear Reader. It’s Monday, January 16, 2023 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the United States – and here in Lithia, Florida, it is late morning. It’s chilly – 57°F/14°C under sunny skies – and even though it’s going to warm up to 67°F/19°F and the afternoon will be sunny andContinue reading “Musings & Thoughts for Monday, January 16, 2023, or: A Quick Preview of Things to Come on ‘A Certain Point of View, Too’”
Book Review: ‘The Third World War: The Untold Story’
Dies Irae: The Story Continues…. In early 1982, Sidgwick & Jackson of London and Macmillan Publishing of New York published The Third World War: The Untold Story, a war novel co-written by General Sir John Hackett and seven collaborators, many of whom had co-written The Third World War: August 1985, published four years earlier and,Continue reading “Book Review: ‘The Third World War: The Untold Story’”
On Books & Reading: An Oral History of 9/11, and Observations About ‘The Third World War’ Duology
The Growing TBR Stack My copy of Garrett M. Graff’s The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 arrived yesterday at 4:56 PM. I retrieved it from our front porch where the Amazon Prime driver had dropped it off, and within a few minutes I had taken it out of its shippingContinue reading “On Books & Reading: An Oral History of 9/11, and Observations About ‘The Third World War’ Duology”
Book Review: ‘The Third World War: August 1985’
On May 1, 1978, London-based Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd. published The Third World War: August 1985: A Future History, a work of near-future speculative fiction by Sir John Hackett, a retired general in the British Army, and a group of co-authors that, according to the publisher, included an admiral, an economist, and a diplomat, allContinue reading “Book Review: ‘The Third World War: August 1985’”
Book Review: ‘SSN’ (originally published as ‘SSN: Strategies of Submarine Warfare’)
The Inspiration: Tom Clancy’s SSN On November 16, 1996, Simon & Schuster Interactive released Tom Clancy’s SSN, a computer video game/submarine simulator based on the Improved Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack sub USS Cheyenne (SSN-773). Co-produced by Clancy Interactive Entertainment and Virtus Corporation, SSN was a single-player third-person perspective game set in what was then theContinue reading “Book Review: ‘SSN’ (originally published as ‘SSN: Strategies of Submarine Warfare’)”
Book Review: ‘The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem’
The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem Written by: Jack Mitchell Illustrated by: Jessica Benhar Publisher: Abrams Image, an imprint of Henry N. Abrams Publishing Date: September 28, 2021 Spirit of learning, angel of the Force, In grief, in longing for your tender touch, I call you to my side: let sorrow cease, LetContinue reading “Book Review: ‘The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem’”
Book Review: ‘A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America’
A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America (2020 hardcover, 2021 paperback) Written by: Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig Publisher: Penguin Press (a division of Penguin Random House) Category: Domestic Politics Format: Paperback No. of Pages: 512 Publication Date: Hardcover: January 21, 2020; Paperback (Updated with New Reporting): February 23, 2021 “This taut and terrifyingContinue reading “Book Review: ‘A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America’”
Book Review: ‘The Complete Maus’
On November 19, 1996, Pantheon Books published the hardcover edition of Art Spiegelman’s The Complete Maus, a 295-page omnibus edition that combines the two volumes of Spiegelman’s graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, with a related comic, Prisoner on the Hell Planet: A Case Story, included as a unifying element. Originally published in Raw –Continue reading “Book Review: ‘The Complete Maus’”
Book Review: ‘The World of Star Trek’
In the summer of 1985 – sometime during my freshman year at Miami-Dade Community College – I purchased a paperback copy of a reference book titled The World of Star Trek by author, screenwriter, and cultural observer David Gerrold. Originally published in 1973 – during the “lost years” after Star Trek: The Original Series’ cancellationContinue reading “Book Review: ‘The World of Star Trek’”
A Certain Point of View, Too 