Review: The Lotus Empire

The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The this book in the The Burning Kingdoms trilogy
Previous Review of The Oleander Sword
Previous Review of The Jasmine Throne

The final book in this fantastic trilogy; and while I thoroughly enjoyed how it all concluded, it was not an easy trudge and took my way more time than it should have before I was able to finish it (I actually had to grab an audible from my local library to get there) … it just took so long to get anywhere that I frequently got bored and put it down for something else (with most of the world building in book one, this remains the best of the bunch). The basic plot here continues to be a contest of gods and culture … with each side represented by a relatable champion (although both sides have there share of cruelty that paints to whole conflict in shades of grey); however, it was difficult to watch the relationship slowly disintegrate after the author worked so hard to put them together … and only added to a general and growing disinterest in what was [so painfully slowly] happening to either. This was further disrupted by the fairly frequent PoV changes that made the story choppier that I typically like or tolerate (churn is NOT the same as action … which was lacking for most of this book). Ultimately it was still a solid story where its shortcomings were so painfully obvious when place against what came before ….

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheLotusEmpire #TheBurningKingdoms #NetGalley

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Review: Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground

Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground by Kurt Gray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a disappointment. I am reasonably confident that we can all see (and feel) the social/moral outrage currently dividing much of America and I was really hoping this work my provide some understanding and potentially a way to mitigate it. Yeah … probably not a realistic expectation; however, even worse, significant parts were completely undermined by my own experience and understanding of the human psyche and social mind. After a reasonable start, the author tries to make the case that humans didn’t evolve as apex predators (completely ignoring the actual definition of apex predator) arguing that if we go back in time far enough, we were obviously not predators … news flash … take ANY predatory organism on the planet and go back far enough and you will find an ancestor that was not a predator, so that is a pretty silly hill to die on … but the need here is because his entire premise is based upon the idea that evolution only accretes and never eliminates (a theory of evolution that is not supported). Okay … so ever worse … if humans are not apex predators … we much be prey? Yeah … No … Not really. But it only gets worse … because “as prey” we must have obviously adopted survival strategies common To prey … such as social groups designed to “dilute” the zone so that predators are over whelmed by too many targets … yeah … it doesn’t actually work that way either … 1) that specific strategies requires a rate of reproduction that out-paces predation, which, given human juvenile timeframes, birthrates and survival stats, doesn’t seem like a good argument and 2) social grouping are common even among apex predators … such as orcas … so there are other reasons for this that are likely to be a better fit to our human evolution. This whole line of reasoning completely undermined part 1 and I almost abandoned the book at that point.

It gets a little better with Part 2 and the author’s examination of harm … while I believe this is still too simplistic an answer that would be better described by using the term “threat [or harm]” it was close enough to get the general idea and more or less seems to be a good fit … especially the idea that, in general, our moral mind, or sense of morality, is founded on the perception of [potential] harm against the individual [or group in which the individual is a member]. What is missing is the how and why this is the mechanism, that determines/encourages social conformity (order vs chaos to improve survivability of the social unit) AND “othering” (briefly discussion without any indication or acknowledgment that ejection from the social group means that the moral mind no longer applies). There was elements that were good and useful, but they are generally hidden by imprecise language and/or outright misrepresentations of organizational dynamics.

Part 3 was the best part of the work and could easily stand on its own. The basic premise here is that facts don’t really matter because human nature isn’t really optimized for facts, but for story telling. This is almost an intuitive observation … if still overly simplified. The best way to counter moral outrage is to share stories from both sides … in other words, to re-humanize opponents (because the first step of justification for violence against an opponent is to dehumanize them). This does help turn down the temperature, but if does’t persuade (then again … the whole author continually emphasizes that the purpose here is NOT persuasion.

The chapters and sections in this work are …

Introduction - Swerve: The Power of Harm
Chapter 1 War: Is Understanding Betrayal?

PART 1: Human Nature - Myth 1 The Myth of Human Nature: We Evolved as Apex Predators
Chapter 2 Prey: The New Human Nature
Chapter 3 Social: The Rise of Morality
Chapter 4 Dangerous: Ignoring Our Obvious Safety

PART 2 Our Moral Mind - Myth 2 of the Moral Mind: There are No Harmless Wrongs
Chapter 5 Legacy: A Recent History of Harm
Chapter 6 Intuitive: The New Harm
Chapter 7 Vulnerability: Explaining Political Differences
Chapter 8 Blame: Moral Typecasting
Chapter 9 Suffering: Self-Focused Victimhood

PART 3 Bridging Moral Divides - Myth 3 Facts Bridge Divides
Chapter 10 Understanding: Telling Stories of Harm
Chapter 11: Hope: Opening Up

Epilogue Humility: Always Learning

Some of the other points that really got my attention (regardless of whether or not I agreed with them) are:

(view spoiler)[

Deep in our minds, every fight about morality comes down to one thing: competing perceptions of harm. We get outraged at people when they deny our assumptions about what causes suffering and when they reject our views of victimhood.

When we look at our moral psychology, the picture is surprisingly simple. Deep down, we all have the same moral cognition. We all have a harm-based moral mind. Harm is the master key that unlocks understanding across the messiness of human moral judgment.

The key point is that perceptions of harm on both sides are sincere, even if they don’t immediately make sense to you. It is tempting to dismiss someone’s feelings of threat as misguided or exaggerated, but studies show that our moral convictions are underlain by genuinely perceived harms.

Comparing politics to war motivates people to donate to campaigns, but it is terrible for democracy, because democracy requires us to cooperate and compromise for the good of the country.

The destruction narrative spells trouble for democracy. If you believe that your opponents are trying to destroy democracy, then you might think the only way to save your democracy is to resort to antidemocratic practices yourself, including illegal gerrymandering, restricting free speech, and forcing gridlock to hurt the other party.

Evolution always builds on top of preexisting mental structures rather than replacing them.

We stand at the very top of the food pyramid. We hunt any animal we please, and no animal hunts us in return. Scholars argue that we are apex predators because of the unique abilities of our body and brain.

There is no doubt that today’s modern humans are apex predators, and that our hominid ancestors were capable of brutal violence and calculated aggression. However, our hominid ancestors were not apex predators.

Morality is the most fundamental of human social contracts. Morality is a set of norms (expectations about behavior) shared by a group. These norms revolve around encouraging cooperation and kindness and discouraging selfishness and aggression.

Moral outrage is the psychological tool that motivates people to punish wrongdoers, even at cost or risk to themselves. It is a “commitment device,” something that commits people to punishment, even though trying to punish someone can be dangerous.

Alexis de Tocqueville, argues that as societies enjoy more economic and moral progress, people get more frustrated at injustices. Tocqueville understood the subjectivity surrounding which acts are judged as “injustices,” and that these judgments hinge on people’s reference points.

This theory partitions our moral mind into five different psychological rooms, two used by both liberals and conservatives (care/harm, fairness), and three used only by conservatives (loyalty, authority, purity).

The whole idea of harmless wrongs argues that—psychologically speaking—people are willing to condemn an act as immoral while also genuinely seeing it as harmless. In other words, in people’s minds there should be a clean break between what people see as harmful and what they see as wrong.

There are two ways to connect harm with virtues. The first is to recognize that virtues outline ways of acting that prevent salient harms in society. … The second way that a harm-based mind understands the importance of virtues is that virtues compensate for harm.

To help reduce this complexity, we have developed a suite of heuristics, also called rules of thumb or cognitive shortcuts, that help us make sense of the world.

Moral typecasting is the intuitive urge to see people as either 100 percent villains and 0 percent victims or 0 percent villains and 100 percent victims. This all-or-nothing division of pain and blame allows us to feel righteous when we excuse the misdeeds of those who suffer or ignore the suffering of those who have harmed others.

When people think about the mind of God, they anchor on themselves. God may be ultimately unknowable, but this ambiguity paradoxically breeds confidence that His convictions are your convictions. People’s moral egocentrism also convinces them that millions of others share their political opinions, sometimes leading to disaster.

But there is a more charitable interpretation of why victimhood is so often invoked on social media. The social distance and anonymity of the internet makes it harder to understand other people. In-person conversations allow for small talk that establishes common ground, allowing people to bond over their common love of music or their common dislike of the weather. On the anonymous internet, this initial connection and common ground is hard to find, especially when people immediately start arguing about politics.

Facts fail to foster respect in political discussions because our moral beliefs are based on intuitions of harm, not objective evidence. Our moral convictions are founded not on statistics but on feelings of threat.

The process of dehumanization starts when you see the other side as fundamentally different from yourself, especially as concerns their minds and morals. Encountering differences is not necessarily bad and can even be exciting, but they can also set the stage for feelings of superiority—and perceptions of inferiority—once conflict arises.

(hide spoiler)]

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Outraged #NetGalley.

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Review: How to Read the Psalms

How to Read the Psalms by Tremper Longman III
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I struggle with poetry in English … you can imagine how much more difficult are the Psalms; I was very interested in how this book might help with that (quite a bit it turns out). The book is divided into three (3) parts, with the first providing a solid introduction on what the Psalms are and how they are used. After each chapter, there are questions/exercises to help drive the point home as well as a list of sources for further research. Each chapter developed a specific theme in clear language that should be easy for pretty much any reader to understand. Of course, this is all an introductory work … so if you are already familiar with any of the scholarship surrounding the Psalms, this may be too simple a read … but I enjoyed it a lot. Part two (2) provides the reader with a few, more complex tools by which we can better interpret and understand the Psalm … somewhat necessary because the historical and cultural/linguistic distance between us and the ancient redactor is enough to make a number of themes difficult to tease out. Again, without too much detail, the author does a great job in explaining the most prevalent. Finally, the author walks you through three examples … a hymn, a lament and a thanksgiving psalm so the reader can see everything come together … all in all, an excellent introduction to the psalms.

The chapters and sections in this work are …

Introduction - An Invitation to the Psalms
PART 1 The Psalms Then and Now
ONE The Genres of the Psalms
TWO The Origin, Development, and Use of the Psalms
THREE The Heart of the Old Testament
FOUR A Christian Reading of the Psalms
FIVE The Psalms, Mirror of the Soul

PART 2 The Art of the Psalms
SIX Old Testament Poetry
SEVEN Understanding Parallelism
EIGHT Imagery in the Psalms

PART 3 A Melody of Psalms
NINE Psalm 98 Let All the Earth Praise God, Our Warrior
TEN Psalm 69 Lord, I Suffer for Your Sake
ELEVEN Psalm 30 Thank You, Lord, for Healing Me!

Epilogue
Appendix Is There a Meaningful Order to the Psalms?

Some of the other points that really got my attention (regardless of whether or not I agreed with them) are:

Thus, the Psalms are a kind of literary sanctuary in the Scripture The place where God meets his people in a special way, where his people may address him with their praise and lament.

We shouldn’t be surprised that we struggle to understand the Old Testament in general and the Psalms in particular After all, they are distant to us in three ways: historically, culturally, and theologically.

Though there are many different types of hymns, almost all of them share a similar basic structure 1 Hymns begin with a call to worship 2 Hymns continue by expanding on the reasons why God should be praised.

The lament is the psalmist’s cry when, in great distress, he has nowhere to turn but to God We discover three types of complaints as we read through the laments 1. The psalmist may be troubled by his own thoughts and actions 2. He may complain about the actions of others against him (the “enemies”) 3. He may be frustrated by God himself.

Besides mood, laments are also united by a similar structure The following seven elements are associated with a lament, though not strictly in the order listed here: 1. Invocation 2. Plea to God for help 3. Complaints 4. Confession of sin or an assertion of innocence 5. Curse of enemies (imprecation) 6. Confidence in God’s response 7. Hymn or blessing Rarely will all seven elements occur together, but a number of them will appear in each lament.

A thanksgiving psalm is praise to God for answered prayer.

Psalms of remembrance. The Psalms do not have a specific historical setting Nonetheless, they frequently make reference to the great redemptive acts of the past.

Wisdom psalms. In thinking of biblical wisdom, we normally turn to books like Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes In these books we read in concrete ways how God wants us to live our lives.

Usually we read to gain information; we think of it as a cerebral activity While the psalms inform us about God and his relationship with people, they do far more They arouse our emotions, direct our wills, and stimulate our imaginations

As we have observed, thanksgivings are closely related to hymns As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word for “thanksgiving” (todah) is formed from a verb that means “to praise” (yadah) Thanksgivings are further related to laments, since the former is seen as an answer to the latter.

The verb “lift” (dalah) elsewhere literally means to lift a bucket up from a well The verb evokes an image in our minds The psalmist had fallen into a well and the Lord helped him up.

Further, the psalmist asks God’s saints to praise him When we hear the word saints, we tend to think of dead believers The word here translated “saints” (hasidim) is related to a Hebrew word with which we have already become acquainted (hesed), which I have suggested translates as “covenant lovingkindness ” Thus, these saints are those who are in a covenant relationship, a personal relationship, with God.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#HowtoReadthePsalms #NetGalley.

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Review: Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human

Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human by Guy Leschziner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting exploration of the intersection between free-will and brain function/injury with respect to moral decision and the social conventions/limits governed by such. Organized into a chapter for each of the “standard” cardinal sins, the author introduces a medical case study that seems to highlight how the brain controls our ability to conform or not to the social prohibition defined by each sin … and, although it is a strength for some examples, does highlight the contributions made by trauma or injury to various regions of the brain. The author provides remarkable insights from his own medical practice along with some supporting research for each of his points … which was interesting from a scientific point of view, but generally much less helpful from a theological point of view. Still, the material was clear and well organized, making it an easy and accessible read.

The chapters and sections in this work are …

Introduction

1. Wrath
2. Gluttony
3. Lust
4. Envy
5. Sloth
6. Greed
7. Pride
8. Free Will

Glossary

Some of the other points that really got my attention (regardless of whether or not I agreed with them) are:

These Jewish principles were formalised by the Desert Fathers, early Christian hermit monks residing in the Scetes desert of Egypt, in the fourth century, and were listed as eight sins. It was Pope Gregory I in 590 CE who revised the deadly sins into the more familiar Seven Deadly Sins format–lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

For all of us, these ‘sinful’ character traits are perhaps less of a moral issue and more of a biological one, raising questions of responsibility, blame and free will in the face of sin. It is only at their extremes that they give rise to untethered human suffering, pain and tragedy.

Amongst our negative emotions, anger is unusual. Unlikely sadness, fear and disgust, which lead us away from the provocation, anger drives us towards it. To confront, to fight.

Through Gage, and others like him, it became obvious that the frontal lobes have a role in regulating and inhibiting behaviour, including impulsivity, anger, and other basic instincts. And, as we will see, in sexual behaviour too.

Neuroscience is therefore gradually exposing the links between childhood neglect and abuse, our genes, and our brain structure and function in those individuals with BPD. Even beyond those with a formal diagnosis of a personality disorder, however, aggressive people also exhibit differences in these brain areas.

By now, it should be apparent that there are many factors present from birth that influence our appetite and our weight, like the genes we are born with, the microbes we acquire as we enter the world, and who we surround ourselves with.

In all three of these soldiers’ cases, damage to their brains had somehow impaired their ability to control their sexual impulses, either in word or deed–demonstrating the presence of neurological mechanisms for restraining ‘lust’.

Since past behaviour is often a predictor of future behaviour, and having a large number of sex partners prior to marriage is a predictor in infidelity in marriage, men tend to evaluate past sexual activity in a prospective partner prior to commitment.

At its core, envy can be defined loosely as the desire of, or the wish to see someone deprived of superior qualities, possessions or achievements that someone else has. ... From a psychological perspective, jealousy involves the threat of someone taking something or someone away from you…

The hallmarks of this personality trait when extreme, as in NPD, result in a sense of being special: an entitlement, feelings of self-importance to the point of grandiosity, preoccupations of brilliance or success, and excessive arrogance. These features are accompanied by a lack of empathy, the tendency to exploit others to achieve their own ends, and attention-seeking behaviour.

Various dictionaries, however, define sloth rather more precisely. These definitions centre on inactivity, akin to these sickness behaviours rather than sleep, on a disinclination to act, to exert oneself or to work. A lack of effort, an idleness or indolence, an inability to generate action. Sloth is the lack of motivation.

In the neurological world, this syndrome is usually referred to as apathy*–diminished motivation to engage in physical, cognitive or emotional activity–and is seen in many common neurological disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s, as well as other rarer conditions.

Search the medical databases for ‘greed’ or ‘avarice’ and ‘neurology’ or ‘psychiatry’, and there is almost nothing to find. Greed eludes our medical lexicon in a way that the other ‘sins’ do not.

In contrast to these evolutionary aspects, greed’s economic benefits are actually very clear. In laboratory tasks, greed has been shown to be associated with trying to use time productively, to reach goals and make progress, to work harder and earn more money.

Greed hinders so-called prosocial behaviours: sharing, donating, comforting, volunteering, and other acts that benefit society. The greedy may have diminished empathic concern–the ability to sympathise with other people–resulting in an impairment of prosocial acts.

It is widely considered that the success and happiness of our children is dependent on their self-esteem, and that we as parents play a crucial part in building it. Children of this new way of parenting seem to benefit.

People with NPD often demonstrate extremely good cognitive empathy–the capability to figure out someone else’s emotions and motivations. … In contrast, people with NPD show little emotional empathy–feeling the emotions of others, rather than simply knowing them.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#SevenDeadlySins #NetGalley.

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Review: Still Falling

Still Falling by Martin Wilsey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The First Part of a Larger Story
Book: **
Performance: ****

The best I can say about this book is that I didn’t hate it. As stories go it was ok despite a general lacking of craft (the MC was pretty over the top with a lot of exposition slowing everything down). Fortunately I rather liked the MC and the narration made it fun to listen to. Each chapter begins with an unexplained extract from what appears to be some form of inquest … that hits at some form of disaster that the MC, and his trust AI sidekick, were involved in … then it jumps into the fantastic tale of Barcus (the MC) who is the “sole” survivor of an ambush of his survey ship by unknown planetary defenses who crash lands on the planet and has to hide from the native humans hunting him in sky ships that seem to just be transports for mercs on horseback Fortunately Barcus has a super, if mysterious, AI (that is pretty sketch … echos of HAL here) and two huge, advanced robotic machines that make him pretty much invincible (when he is riding in them at least). This of course allows him to pontificate at length about the bad guys … who were truly bad … and I am sure there is a reason, but it is not really explored here. Mostly this all allows him to add to his graphic, and rather gratuitous, body count (‘cause that is what you do with bad guys). There is also the expected love interest taken from the natives and a whole mess of anger and navel gazing that was mildly entertaining most of the time. So … basically you get a survival story that is entirely predictable that brings right up to where you might expect some conflict resolution … and then stops (with a whole bunch of questions waiting for the sequel).

In addition to the decent narration, the only thing that saved the story here was the world building … it was actually interesting if not well presented or explained. There is an apparent social hierarchy that resembles feudalism with “keepers” at the top and ignorant quasi-slaves (or serfs if you will) at the bottom and very little mobility … or recourse for abuse by those in the higher cast. It can be presumed that the keepers are the ones using (and perhaps trying to maintain) what technology remains on the planet, but it is pretty much a mystery how they tie into the planetary defenses that took out the scout ship (and the 2000 souls onboard) so quickly. All in all … this has the feel of being just the setup to a larger story that might be interesting enough to continue just to find out some of the answers … may be.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Blue Descent

Blue Descent by David Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ***

All the elements were there for a casual summer read that was entertaining, but not particularly deep. The narration made it easy to just let the story develop from a simple mystery to some more … paranormal. Not exactly believable, but still interesting and fun way to pass the time with a little treasure hunting mixed in with a few legends (rumors of the fountain of youth and monster sea creatures play a significant role here) and conspiracies (standard missing persons) that sort of magically all work out (almost predictably). That also makes it easy to come and go pretty much at will and not really miss much. As an intro to the series, it was okay … a little choppy, but a good introduction to the characters and story telling style that might be hit or miss for some folks.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Librarian Gladiator: Book One of the Tallindran Trilogy

The Librarian Gladiator: Book One of the Tallindran Trilogy by Dustin Bilyk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ****

A slightly different twist on a classic trope

Despite the somewhat provocative title, it was the dark world building premise that I found interesting enough to pick up the story … of course, high stakes, tourney style combat has been done before; but I had not yet encountered one where the penalty for the loser was the sacrifice of the entire family line and I was interested in how the author would implement this. Over all, this was a pretty entertaining story, first introducing our “librarian” hero as one of the selected four (4) before cramming a ton of action, adventure, mystery and surprises into the few days before the combat. 

The characters were well developed, if prone to some of the typical navel gazing that drives me to distraction (oh no I don’t want anything at all to do with that mysterious power that guarantees I can not die today cause it is just too scary or evil or what ever). The story does throw in a few good monsters that actually become an important part of the plot and a solid resolution at the end … with an obvious lead in to the next book (but this story is reasonably complete). All in all, the story would be a good 3.5 and the solid narration makes it easy to round up.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: MARSHAL OLIVER BLACKSTONE: Oliver's Gold

MARSHAL OLIVER BLACKSTONE: Oliver's Gold by Riano D. McFarland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: ****

The story itself was pretty much as expected for the genre; strong, mysterious and rugged man facing some threat that prevents him from winning his love interest … in this case, it is the marshal’s reputation and all of the young guns trying to win a name by taking him out … and a young lady who doesn’t quite fit into the Boston High Society her daddy’s wealth brings. Over all … it is a fell good tale that follows a well worn and very predictable path. The characters are all too good to be true, but are fun none-the-less (especially Oliver). Here there are two basic plots … how Oliver can become wealthy enough to “deserve” his lady love (which doesn’t hit home for me at all) and how to keep the danger from his violent past from breaking in on his new life of retirement. 

So the first half of the story is focused on trying to keep his history as a western marshal a secret (which is a bit of a stretch … with a bit of a genie out of the bottle problem that never really gets solved). The second half of the story is Oliver chasing his gold to solve the wealth problem. The story moves quickly here and there is enough hand waving to prevent any buildup before we get to the anticipated climax. All of that considered, the narration was quite good and makes this a fun distraction worth the effort.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: DBT Workbook For Emotional Eating: Stop Compulsive Overeating & Quit Your Food Addiction with Proven Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills for Men & Women ... a Healthy Diet

DBT Workbook For Emotional Eating: Stop Compulsive Overeating & Quit Your Food Addiction with Proven Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills for Men & Women ... a Healthy Diet by Barrett Huang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Decent Advice for Healthy Eating

The another book in the DBT Workbook series
Previous Review of DBT Workbook for Depression

This is another application of Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) applied to counter emotional eating and the associated health issues. DBT is adapted from Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) that has been found useful in treating emotion based behaviors through talking … with the dialectic presumably using opposing ideas. In that respect, it was not obvious to me how this fits in the DBT treatment arena. Like the previous book, Huang combines personal anecdotes to illustrate the concepts presented in the book, which, while helpful, don’t seem to be that revolutionary or particularly surprising. However, this was good advice and well organized, with an accompanying pdf to help put these ideas into practice. The narration was good for the material as presented and was easy to listen to and stay focused, but was not exceptional.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Introduction (9:51)
Ch. 1: Understanding Emotional Eating (22:21)
Ch. 2: Dialectic Behavior 101 (11:22)
Ch. 3: Mindfulness Skills for Emotional Eating (17:53)
Ch. 4: Distress Tolerance Skills for Emotional Eating (12:22)
Ch. 5: Emotion-Regulating Skills for Emotional Eating (27:55)
Ch. 6: Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills for Emotional (19:08)
Ch. 7: Developing Healthy Habits (24:08)
Ch. 8: Building a Support System (90:53)
Ch. 9. Dealing with Setbacks and Relapses (8:34)
Ch. 10. Maintaining Long-Term Success (11:22)

Conclusion (3:17)
Appendix (17:20)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Unfinished Business: Pursuit of an Antarctic Killer

Unfinished Business: Pursuit of an Antarctic Killer by Theodore Jerome Cohen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: **

A Mostly Boring Thriller

Generally I consider myself a fan of mysteries/thrillers and having been to some of the places in the story, I was hoping for a bit of nostalgia to boot … but it was not to be. The story itself had a little action, but much of it was told in passive voice taking away from any suspense that would have made it interesting and not something that sounds like reading a police report. Even the detailed court proceedings were extremely prediction and not that interesting. Perhaps it would have been better if I had read the first of the series, but this was billed as a potentially stand alone sequel that really wasn’t. Without a solid foundation it was just too easy to drift away and miss parts of the narrated story … but when my attention returned, it never really felt like I missed much. At 5 hours for 250+ pages, it is a bit on the short side, which limited how complex the plot could be … which seemed like it just faded out in the end … or I missed something in the rush for it to be over. I am sure this works for some folks … but not for me.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Hot Spur

Hot Spur by Philip McCormac
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: **

A Short, Almost Typical Western

I really do like westerns … both there seems to be at least two types. I prefer the wholesome stories of Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour and Max Brand as opposed to the course, gritty (almost adult themed) where there seems to be a need to highlight the darker side of human misconduct to emphasize just how evil the bad guys are. While not completely in the later camp, this story trends in that direction and was less enjoyable as a result. The story is on the shorter side, and we follow Harry Grant in what appears at first blush to be a hallmark style love triangle that was pretty clumsy all things considered. Still, some of the typical western tropes are there and it would have scored a little better except for the narration, which was told in an halting manner that adds an unnatural feel to often awkward dialog despite very good tone and timber (with good character differentiation). At only 3.5 hours, the action does move along nicely though and it was nice predictable enough to have in the background while I was working.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Viva McHugh!

Viva McHugh! by Jay M. Flynn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Book: **

Performance: **

A Short, Silly, and Sometimes Fun Spy Story

Super Spook McHugh is on a mission … on an unnamed island with an hispanic despot looking to extract a missing asset. I would go as far as naming Cuba is the inspiration … giving the authoritarian bend (with inquisitors to test/enforce compliance and “loyalty” … sort of like communist political kommissars). The story itself is pretty basic and predictable, even a bit unrealistic at times as the MC and his buddy careen through the countryside with the occasional help of local rebels and a lot of bluster and gun play. If you are looking for any finesse … you won’t find it here. The narration was choppy and often unnatural, which made it hard to get into what is arguably a simple and very basic thriller that was not all that interesting for much of the story (it is hard to enjoy a thriller that doesn’t generate much suspense).

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune by Theodore Jerome Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ****

An Ole Timey Mystery for Today

Another mystery in the Martelli NYPD series that should appeal to folks that like the noir style and police procedurals (think of a 60’s style in today’s NYC). The book itself is pretty standard for the genre (so take it all with a grain of salt) with little to raise it above the pack, but that still leaves it as decent entertainment, especially with the solid narration performance. Standard tropes and stereotypes apply … As mentioned, we get the standard murder mystery with a grizzled, veteran police detective with a Jane Doe and a mysterious connection to an archrival in the FBI who has his own case dealing with the “Boy Scouts” (ref Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School) that run NYC trash hauling business. To solve the case, they both play fast and loose with the rules to collar the bad guy(s) which might prompt an eye roll to two, but nothing that was out of place considering what is typical. The End comes up a little quick. but the Epilogue gives an okay summary to wrap everything up.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Danger Beneath The Surface

Danger Beneath The Surface by Jon Sniderman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ***

A Short Trip Down Memory Lane

I wanted to give this a listen based almost entirely on a bit of nostalgia … and on that point it delivers. Of all the places I have lived, AK was the best experience that I have had. It is a short vignette that, as near as I can recall, is more or less solid on location and science, so props for that. However, the story itself was pretty slow … a simple mystery plot that might have been a science thriller in a longer format, but there was not really a lot of suspense (most of this was just confirming details on why animals were getting sick and dying … and given the science theme was reasonably predictable). Still … the narration was decent and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: WILDCAT: A Novel of the West

WILDCAT: A Novel of the West by Stephen L. Brooks
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: **

A Simple Western

How many times do I need to be reminded that Kat’s pa wanted a boy? I didn’t care for it the first time and it got old fast. I didn’t particularly enjoy the “folksy” language either (doesn’t really add as much authenticity as might otherwise be expected when narrator struggles to differentiate the character voices) … and there is a LOT of dialog to wade through. All of that said … as far as Westerns go, this is pretty average … all the expected elements are there within a straight up, wholesome western plot that would be at home in a Zane Grey novel (although not quite the same quality). The drama can be down right silly and over the top at times. There are a few production quality issues as well … such as an odd skip just prior to chapter 9 (that’s worth subtracting a point on its own).

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Elodia's Knife: Book One of the Visigoth Saga

Elodia's Knife: Book One of the Visigoth Saga by Robert S. Phillips
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Book: *
Performance: ***

There Is So Much Wrong Here

To start … it is poorly written in passive voice with way too much descriptive text making it nearly impossible to actually put yourself into the story. Instead, the reader remains on the outside looking in, reading/listening to the third person narrative describing what happened, broken up by extremely awkward/unnatural dialog.
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There are zero sympathetic characters in this story. I uniformly disliked them all, not finding any of them to be even remotely believable. I don’t think there was a single relationships that was not extremely dysfunctional

There is way too much detail that doesn’t advance the plot … probably because the plot is MIA making this something of a rape fantasy that for some reason over uses the euphemism “bumping” as if that makes it all okay. This is even more aggravating because most of the historical details are just wrong … the roman military didn’t work like that, roman river patrol boats didn’t work like that, roman weapons and armor didn’t work like that, roman disciple and law didn’t work like that, roman christianity didn’t work like that … and all of these weird anachronisms might be hidden for most readers because the overarching history (the conflict between Rome and the Goths on the Danube) is at least correct in broad strokes. I found the poor research so ubiquitous that it was hard to ignore and I almost DNF.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Edith Wharton Collection

The Edith Wharton Collection by Edith Wharton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ****

A Nice Way to Enjoy a Classic

First off … this is not my typical fare; in fact, I don’t usually care for relationship drama, but I am on a bit of a classics kick and this seemed like an easy way to move outside my comfort zone … and for the most part that is true. The Narration on this collection was great and made it all very enjoyable. In “The Age of Innocence,” we get a Hallmark love triangle set in the NYC socialite scene that now has a bit of a nostalgic feel to it. I am not sure why “The House of Mirth” was not first, but they are remarkably similar stories to my mind, with perhaps a more stinging critique of social expectations and obligations of the time found here. Enough to make me happy to not be living then (while every age has its issues, I would like to believe that there is more freedom and opportunity today for many folks that traditionally had little or none). Granted this is all first world issues … but is still progress. The last piece, “Ethan Frome,” is the weakest of the three and explores an even darker side of human social relationships. All in all, it was worth the effort, but such stories remain a bit of a struggle for me to enjoy much.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

“The Age of Innocence”
Book 1 (5:47)
Book 2 (5:45)

“The House of Mirth”
Book 1 (6:41)
Book 2 5:32)

“Ethan Frome” (3:14)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Henry David Thoreau Bundle: Walden, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, and Walking

Henry David Thoreau Bundle: Walden, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, and Walking by Henry David Thoreau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Great Bundle, Poorly Organized

A collection of classics that most Americans probable encountered at some point in their education (I certainly did) and it was interesting to come back to them many … many years later to contemplate how my perception and understanding of them may have changed. In this case, I definitely enjoyed them more, especially thanks to the excellent narration (I still think he was a loon). As might be expected, the bulk of the bundle is taken up by Walden, with several chapters devoted to certain aspects of Thoreau’s experience. The treatise on Civil Disobedience remains the most interesting IMHO, but it was all good and recommended. The only criticism I have is with the organization … there are no labels to the chapters and entire chapters are devoted to Title and the Words “The End” (You can tell these because they are only 3 seconds long). In light of that, I have tried to outline what is what below.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Chapter 1 “Walden”
Chapter 2,3,4 - Economy (3:09)
Chapter 5 - Reading (22)
Chapter 6 - Sounds (35)
Chapter 7 - Solitude (20)
Chapter 8 - Visitors (27)
Chapter 9 - The Bean-field (24)
Chapter 10 - The Village (12)
Chapter 11 - The Ponds (54)
Chapter 12 - Baker Farm (15)
Chapter 13 - Higher Laws (25)
Chapter 14 - Brute Neighbors (27)
Chapter 15 - House Warming (33)
Chapter 16 - Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors (28)
Chapter 17 - Winter Animals (21)
Chapter 18 - The End in Winter (31)
Chapter 19 - Spring
Chapter 20,21 - Conclusions, The End

Chapter 22,23,24 “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” (53)

Chapter 25, 26, 27 “Walking” (1:12)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: David Hume Collection: A Treatise of Human Nature, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

David Hume Collection: A Treatise of Human Nature, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. by David Hume
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Audible Missing the Principles of Morals book

There really is not much to say about a collection of classic philosophy by such a famous personage. As a classic, it has already stood the test of time and is well worth the effort to explore the concepts and ideas within. It is, however, fairly typical of the genre, so if you struggle with the language typical of the genre, you will struggle here as will (it is not written for the plebeian audiences such as I). Normally that would leave the narration, which is perfectly fine for the task, as the determine factor for my rating; unfortunately, it appears that one of the four books advertised is missing from the audible edition (it is in the kindle edition, which suffers from formatting issues).

The chapters and sections in this work are:

“A Treatise of Human Nature” (21 hrs)
Book 1 - Of The Understanding
- Part 1: Of ideas, their origin, composition, connexion, abstraction, etc.
- Part 2: Of the ideas of space and time
- Part 3: Of knowledge and probability
- Part 4: Of the skeptical and other systems of philosophy
Book 2 - Of the Passions
- Part 1: Of pride and humility
- Part 2: Of love and hatred
- Part 3: Of the will and direct passions
Book 3 - Of Morals
- Part 1: Of virtue and vice in general
- Part 2: Of justice and injustice
- Part 3: Of the other virtues and vices

“An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”
Section 1 - Of the different species of philosophy
Section 2 - Of the origin of ideas
Section 3 - Of the association of ideas
Section 4 - Skeptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding (in two parts)
Section 5 - Skeptical solution of these doubts (in two parts)
Section 6 - Of probability
Section 7 - Of the idea of necessary connection (in two parts)
Section 8 - Of liberty and necessity (in two parts)
Section 9 - Of the reason of animals
Section 10 - Of miracles (in two parts)
Section 11 - Of a particular providence and of a future state
Section 12 - Of the academical or skeptical philosophy (in three parts)

“An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”
** Seems to be missing from this collection **

“Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion”
Part 1 - After I joined the company …
Part 2 - I must own …
Part 3 - How the most absurd argument …
Part 4 - It seems strange to me …
Part 5 - But to show you still more inconveniences …
Part 6 - It must be a slight fabric …
Part 7 - But here …
Part 8 - What you ascribe to the fertility of my invention …
Part 9 - But if so many difficulties attend the argument a posteriori …
Part 10 - It is my opinion …
Part 11 - I scruple not to allow …
Part 12 - After DEMEA's departure …

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Religious Appeals in Power Politics

Religious Appeals in Power Politics by Peter S. Henne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ***

An Interesting Look at the Use of Religious Appeals for Political Persuasion

This is primarily an academic exercise that looks at the use of religious appeals in three (3) specific instances and draws a few inferences from that. As such, the material is fairly dry, but interesting if you actually enjoy political analysis in any form. Generally we are first given some context of the situation from which the religious appeal is used, followed by how the religious appeal was constructed and finally an analysis of how effective the religious appeal was. In some respects, the targeted view here makes it difficult to make any over arching generalization outside of sometimes it works as expected and sometimes it doesn’t, but such appeals can’t be ignored within the political process. There primary explanation for this is a combination of source credibility and target material gain … which seems somewhat intuitive to me where such things a proof texting is used to justify already existing inclinations … in other words, religious appeals are primarily used to allow people to do what they already wanted to do without any guilt or moral condemnation. As such it seems that such appeals are purely machiavellian.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Preface (4:06)
Introduction (42:40)
Chapter 1 - Why, How, and When Religious Appeals Matter in Power Politics (1:09:15)
Chapter 2 - Religious Appeals in a Middle East Rivalry: Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Pact (1:33:37)
Chapter 3 - US Engagement in the Global War on Terrorism (1:29:27)
Chapter 4 - Russia: Undermining Western Opposition to the Russky Mir(1:19:10)
Chapter 5 - Expanding the Analysis (45:32)
Conclusion (1:11:09)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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