The link below is to an article that takes a look at yet another Amazon venture – ‘Icons.’
For more visit:
http://www.teleread.com/amazon/amazon-publishing-announces-the-launch-of-icons/
Tag Archives: biography
Author Interview: Neal Thompson
The link below is to an author interview of Neal Thompson, author of the new Robert Ripley biography, ‘A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley.’
For more visit:
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/11/182260628/the-curious-story-of-robert-believe-it-or-not-ripley
Not My Review: A Curious Man by Neal Thompson
The link below is to a book review of ‘A Curious Man,’ by Neal Thompson. This is a biography of Robert Ripley, ‘believe it or not.’
For more visit:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/05/10/a-curious-man-the-strange-and-brilliant-life-of-robert-believe-it-or-not-ripley/
Not My Review: Young Titan – The Making of Winston Churchill by Michael Sheldon
The link below is to a book review on the new Winston Churchill biography ‘Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill,’ by Michael Shelden.
For more visit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/15/young-titan-churchill-shelden-review
Website: The Book Stand
The Book Stand is a Tumblr Blog I operate, focussing on ebooks. I post concerning free ebooks, with the occasional post offering what I consider to be a good deal on an ebook. Most posts are for the Kindle platform, though there is the occasional post concerning ebooks in other formats that I sometimes come across. There are also various infographics, pictures and quotes that have to do with ebooks, reading, libraries, etc.
My most recent series of posts (today) include a great quantity of free ebooks available in the Kindle format and will be of especial interest to those interested in nonfiction works concerning the US Civil War, various other historical and biographical works and theological works, as well as some collections of classic works.
I have linked to The Book Stand below:
http://bookstand.tumblr.com/.
Article: Books on Abraham Lincoln
The link below is to an article about the best books on Abraham Lincoln. A useful article.
For more visit:
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/10/149871122/best-books-and-surprising-insights-on-lincoln
Edmund Barton, by John Reynolds
Yes, I have finally managed to put up another post on this Blog – been quite a while I know. I apologise for that – been very busy with other pursuits.
Today’s book review is on ‘Edmund Barton,’ by John Reynolds. This book is the first in a series on Australia’s Prime Ministers by Bookman Press. The Bookman Press series sought to re-publish the best biographies on each of the Australian Prime Ministers to coincide with the centenary of Australian Federation. ‘Edmund Barton,’ by John Reynolds, was first published in 1948.
This book, though about Edmund Barton, is also a good introduction to the process of Australia becoming a federation of colonies to form the modern day nation of Australia. A biography of Barton must be a study of the beginning of Federation as Barton was probably one of the most important players in bringing Federation to pass, which also meant the creation of Australia as one nation. It is a fascinating introduction to just how a modern Australia was born from the federation of the various colonies that were then situated on the Australian mainland and in Tasmania.
As far as reading goes, I found the book to contain much that interested me, as I have not read or studied a lot on the federation of Australia and the process by which it was achieved. For me this has been an important addition to my understanding of Australian history in an area in which my understanding was quite poor. Having said that, I do not think the book is necessarily an easy read, but requires discipline to keep at it.
‘Calvin for Armchair Theologians,’ by Christopher Elwood
I have now read this book and have found my earlier thoughts sadly confirmed. My first comments on this book on this Blog at:
So I not only agree with my earlier thoughts on the book, but have even more to say about it. The illustrations (cartoons) I found to be completely inappropriate and the attempts by the author to justify them as irrelevant. There is just no place for the comical depictions of God given in the book.
The treatment of Calvin’s life is disappointing, with not enough detail given to it and some of the important events/incidents in his life are not treated or merely glossed over. It would have been better to have settled on the summary of the Institutes or do a full biography of John Calvin.
I also found the conclusions toward the end of the book disappointing and would suspect Calvin to be turning in the grave as a result of them.
The summary of the Institutes was probably not too bad, but I would have been better served to have read the Institutes rather than this book.
In summary – a very disappointing book that I would not recommend to anyone else to read.
At the BookShelf 