Books

Rory finally gets a time to shine. I read this book while on vacation and it was a great read. It was a very fast and funny read while adding depth to Rory and Amy’s love for him. From the publisher ‘Why are you here? I mean – who are you, exactly?’ An archaeological dig in 1936 unearths relics of another time… And – as the Doctor, Amy and Rory realise – another place. Another planet. But if Enola Porter, noted adventuress, has really found evidence of an alien civilisation, how come she isn’t famous? Why has Rory never heard of her? Added to that, since Amy’s been travelling with him for a while now, why does she now think the Doctor is from Mars? As the ancient spaceship reactivates, the Doctor discovers that nothing and no one can be trusted. The things that seem most real could actually be literal fabrications – and very deadly indeed. Who can the Doctor believe when no one is what they seem? And how can he defeat an enemy who can bend matter itself to their will? For the Doctor, Amy and Rory – and all of humanity – the buried secrets of the past are very much a threat to the present… ...

I listened to this audiobook from Audible on my iPhone over vacation and while commuting. At Home is a wonderful collection of trivia about the objects in and around our home and our homes themselves. It does not delve into the type of details that A Short History of Nearly Everything does, but includes a lot of interesting Tidbits. I don’t have much else to say about the book, I found it interesting and a good listen but it did not wow me. ...

I read The Kings Dragon while on vacation recently and really enjoyed it. Written by Una McCormack and featuring the Mat Smith Doctor with Amy and Rory. The Doctor’s curiosity is peaked when he discovers the town of Geath covered in gold even though gold does not exist naturally on the planet. And to top it off Geath now has a king after thousands of years of self-rule. The pace of this book is a little slower that other recent Doctor Who books, it was kind of nice slowing down a bit. ...

I had a great time at the workshop and learned a lot. I have posted a few more pictures. This is Dana posing on a Steamer trunk.

I have finally finished reading this book after loosing it in a piece of luggage for a couple of months. I did not have LEGOs as a child; my interest in them began as a means to build robots and prototype enclosures for electronic gadgets. My interest grew quickly after buying a couple of small kits and now I am putting kits together on a regular basis. I am currently in the middle of building the 8070 Supercar. ...

Written by Neal Bascomb and Narrated by Kirby Heyborne the audiobook version of The New Cool from Audible is absolutely incredible. After a number of books that fell flat for various reasons this one really came through as a great listen. Over the last few years I have been getting into electronics, micro-controlers, and robotics and in 2010 my wife and I were able to catch the very end of the FIRST championship at the Georgia Dome. We didn’t really get to see much and what I saw didn’t make a lot of sense to me, after listening to this book it does now. ...

Written by Tim Wu and narrated by Marc Vietor “The Master Switch” is about the past and present of the United States communication industries. I bought this audio book from Audible.com. The information contained in this book is wonderful and enlightening. I learned a lot about the history of the telephone, movies, radio and the Internet. I am keeping this review really short to contrast how terribly long and drawn out this book is. I would estimate that half of the words in the book are unnecessary and do nothing but make the book longer and harder to read. I found it very boring and frustrating because of this. But the information you walk away with if you make it through the book is really great stuff. ...

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelley was written in 2001 and it is amazing how just 10 years can make a book’s examples feel so dated. IDEO is one of the greatest ‘idea’ companies of all time, but technology examples in this book made it feel very dated and out of touch to me. ...

I have been listening to Dave Ramsey for about 5 years now. I started listening before getting, Dave’s radio show and his book “The Total Money Makeover” were a revelation. When I met my wife money was one of the first things we talked seriously about, I believe that money is the number one cause of fights and divorce among couples, so being on the same page about money is a big deal. For a couple of months we listened to the show’s free daily hour-long podcast for ideas and inspiration. ...

I bought this lecture on Audble.com and listened to it during my morning and afternoon commutes. The Modern Scholar series are recorded college-level lectures. I enjoyed listening to this lecture and feel like I learned something, but not a lot. Maybe I will listen to it again and spend more time with the 82-page course guide while listening. I think there is a lot to learn from this lecture, but like most classes you only get out of it what you put in. In other words, it is going to take some work to get the most from this lecture. ...