Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years

CUSTOMER REVIEW



If you've ever been watching an episode of Star Trek and heard a throwaway line about something that happened "in the 22nd century" and wanted to know more, this book is for you. If you ever noticed an apparent contradiction in how the show quoted its own historical events, this book is for you. If you've ever thought about the universe that exists around the characters in the Star Trek and wanted to know how it actually works, this book is for you. If you loved the adventures of Captains Kirk, Picard, Archer, Janeway and Sisko and were curious about how the things they did shaped the events of their time, this book is for you.

To be clear, Federation: The First 150 Years is not a technical manual. It's not an art book. It's not about the history of Star Trek the franchise or Star Trek the television show. It is a history book of the titular United Federation of Planets, the interstellar political body whose flag the Enterprise proudly flies. The book is written in an "In Universe" style, meaning that from the beginning to end, everything is from the perspective of a historian living and writing about Star Trek events as if they actually happened.

While that might sound dry, Goodman's prose is snappy and peppered with quotes and "first person" accounts, giving it a lot of flavor and personality. Clearly Goodman has a background and interest in real-world history, a background that informs the decisions he makes as he ties together all the one liners and throwaway comments from dozens of Star Trek episodes and movies into a believable, cohesive, and enjoyable narrative about the founding and growth of one of scifi's most famous interstellar nations.

Then there's the art. I've seen other reviews comment with disappointment about the art style in the book, but I disagree heartily. It was a bold and expensive choice for the publisher to commission dozens of new illustrations featuring events, seen and unseen, from the Trek canon. Some have complained that they were expecting more screenshots from the shows, but I disagree - this volume is an illustrated history written in style that, cover to cover, takes the Star Trek universe seriously. To use simple photos from the shows would break the immersion, as rarely are cameras really present at these historical events, and the few that were certainly wouldn't happen to have the same composition as a still frame from the television shows. The watercolors in the book elevate the work considerably, making it feel archival and purposefully crafted.

And that doesn't touch on all the other inclusions: newspaper clippings, snippets of important treaties and documents, and the extra set of materials tucked away in the back jacket. All designed with great care, flavor and attention to detail.

It's hard to overstate how many amazing nuggets are waiting to be found for a fan who has grown up with, and wanted to live at least a little part of their own life in the same universe as Captain Kirk and the rest.

Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years

CUSTOMER REVIEW



If you've ever been watching an episode of Star Trek and heard a throwaway line about something that happened "in the 22nd century" and wanted to know more, this book is for you. If you ever noticed an apparent contradiction in how the show quoted its own historical events, this book is for you. If you've ever thought about the universe that exists around the characters in the Star Trek and wanted to know how it actually works, this book is for you. If you loved the adventures of Captains Kirk, Picard, Archer, Janeway and Sisko and were curious about how the things they did shaped the events of their time, this book is for you.

To be clear, Federation: The First 150 Years is not a technical manual. It's not an art book. It's not about the history of Star Trek the franchise or Star Trek the television show. It is a history book of the titular United Federation of Planets, the interstellar political body whose flag the Enterprise proudly flies. The book is written in an "In Universe" style, meaning that from the beginning to end, everything is from the perspective of a historian living and writing about Star Trek events as if they actually happened.

While that might sound dry, Goodman's prose is snappy and peppered with quotes and "first person" accounts, giving it a lot of flavor and personality. Clearly Goodman has a background and interest in real-world history, a background that informs the decisions he makes as he ties together all the one liners and throwaway comments from dozens of Star Trek episodes and movies into a believable, cohesive, and enjoyable narrative about the founding and growth of one of scifi's most famous interstellar nations.

Then there's the art. I've seen other reviews comment with disappointment about the art style in the book, but I disagree heartily. It was a bold and expensive choice for the publisher to commission dozens of new illustrations featuring events, seen and unseen, from the Trek canon. Some have complained that they were expecting more screenshots from the shows, but I disagree - this volume is an illustrated history written in style that, cover to cover, takes the Star Trek universe seriously. To use simple photos from the shows would break the immersion, as rarely are cameras really present at these historical events, and the few that were certainly wouldn't happen to have the same composition as a still frame from the television shows. The watercolors in the book elevate the work considerably, making it feel archival and purposefully crafted.

And that doesn't touch on all the other inclusions: newspaper clippings, snippets of important treaties and documents, and the extra set of materials tucked away in the back jacket. All designed with great care, flavor and attention to detail.

It's hard to overstate how many amazing nuggets are waiting to be found for a fan who has grown up with, and wanted to live at least a little part of their own life in the same universe as Captain Kirk and the rest.

Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I love this book!

For anyone new to the Paleo approach to health and eating, Ms. SanFilippo's Practical Paleo is a perfect starting place. While the market has seen an explosion of books in the Paleo diet world over the last decade, this book is unique in that is combines the wisdom of the Paleo approach to nutrition with the unique insights that are emerging from the "functional medicine" approach to health.

She provides, for instance, 30-day meal plans that are tailored to specific health conditions, such as thyroid health and athletic performance. There's an especially delightful and informative discussion about gastrointestinal health (including a Poop Pageant in which she describes how stool character can be used to discern digestive problems that left me laughing until it hurt!). The book is packed with beautiful illustrations that make the discussions crystal-clear.

There are also a substantial collection of recipes, most of them unique that I have not seen before, consistent with the Paleo approach. Even readers who have read other Paleo cookbooks will discover many new twists on meals and snacks in this book.

All in all, Practical Paleo is a masterful piece of work.

The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Okay, look. I'm about as biased a reviewer as you can get. I read Gary Taubes' Good Calories Bad Calories in 2008 and was so moved by it that I radically overhauled my diet and started writing and researching about nutrition and obesity as a hobby.

So when I had the opportunity to review an advance copy of Nina Teicholz's Big Fat Surprise, I assumed I would enjoy it and agree with her conclusions... but I was in no way expecting to be so surprised and delighted by it... and so infuriated by the nasty nutrition politics that she exposes.

Could a single man, Ancel Benjamin Keys, indirectly be responsible for more mayhem than any other figure from the 20th century?

Was Keys' so-called “diet-heart hypothesis” -- which convinced a generation to eschew eating fat and turn instead to sugar, carbohydrate and processed vegetable oils -- one of the most deadly ideas of modern civilization?

These and other troubling thoughts can’t help but bubble to mind as you read Teicholz's nutritional thriller.

I’ll get to the juicy details in a second. But first, the overview:

In the middle of the 20th century, thanks to Ancel Keys and several other arrogant researchers, we began to fear dietary fat as an agent of heart disease and other ills. So we revised our diet to be “healthier” and wound up, ironically, suffering through profound epidemics of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases as a result.

Teicholz’s lucid summary of this disaster, The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease, was the #1 most read editorial in a recent issue of the Wall Street Journal. Her piece prompted conservative pundit, Rush Limbaugh, to do a lengthy expose on his talk show about the low fat diet myth.

I hesitate to be optimistic, but we may be witnessing a wave of mainstream support for Teicholz and Taubes’ signature ideas about nutrition and health.

In addition to Limbaugh’s harangue against Keys and the low fat diet, Dr. Oz — arguably the most influential doctor on TV — recently admitted that he was “wrong” about saturated fat being dangerous. Guest appearances by Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. David Perlmutter on Oz’s show also attest to Oz’s change of heart.

Meanwhile, documentarian Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame) recently admitted: “I am not eating carbohydrates, no bread, no pasta, no sugar. I feel better than I ever have.”

Katie Couric’s new documentary, Fed Up, which opens this weekend (as I write this review), also calls B.S. on the low fat high sugar diet and questions the idea that all calories are equal.

And a massive meta-analysis of 72 studies published in February in the Annals of Internal Medicine ,which exonerated saturated fat in no uncertain terms, is just the latest in a growing fusillade of attacks on the conventional “eat less fat and more carbs” nonsense.

We’ve still got a long road ahead, though, and many misconceptions persist. That’s one of the reasons Teicholz’s book is so important.

Interview with Jeremiah Stamler

Stamler was a colleague and contemporary of Keys, and he and Keys advocated aggressively for the diet-heart hypothesis. Stamler led the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT), a $115 million dollar experiment carried out from 1973-1982. It was a catastrophic failure for the diet-heart hypothesis, as Teicholz describes, yet its failure changed nothing about how the nutrition establishment operated.

In an interview with Stamler, she pointed out the following paradox: a 1997 follow up to MRFIT found that the treatment group had higher rates of lung cancer than the control group did, despite the fact that 21% of the treatment group had quit smoking compared with 6% of the control group. Stamler responded: “I don’t know! That could be a chance find… it’s just one of those findings. Troublesome. Unexpected. Not explained. Not rationalized!”

Fascinating stuff.

Slaying Dean Ornish’s Cherished Study Claiming That His Diet “Reversed” Heart Disease

Teicholz also interviewed Dean Ornish, the most celebrated modern advocate of low fat diets, and analyzed the study that made him a nutritional star. A 1998 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) helped make Ornish a household name. But this study was PLENTY flawed and got outsized pressed.

Teicholz writes: “Curious about the findings, I called Key Lance Gould, director of cardiology at the University of Texas, who helped Ornish launch his research career and was a co-author with Ornish on the JAMA papers…. On the phone, I could almost hear Gould’s incredulity over how Ornish promoted their study results. ‘Most people do a study and get one paper. Dean does one study and gets a bunch of papers. There’s a certain skill in marketing a small little piece of data. He’s really a genius at PR.’”

Fascinating Critical Reappraisal of Olive Oil and the Mediterranean Diet

We all “know” olive oil is one of the healthiest substances known to humanity. Right? Well, how did these beliefs develop, and is there good science to back them up? Teicholz’s explosive expose on the origins of the Mediterranean Diet and our (modern) fetishization for olive oil will blow your mind.

Here’s a nice gem: “…when [famous Harvard University nutrition professor] Walter Willett unveiled the Mediterranean pyramid in 1993, no controlled clinical trials of the diet had ever been done.”

The Scary Rise of Soybean Oil

Teicholz recounts the bizarre story of multimillionare, Philip Sokolof, who bought a full page ad in the New York Times in 1988 trumpeting “THE POISONING OF AMERICA” by saturated fats.

She also reveals a deeply disturbing graph published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showing how soybean oil consumption has skyrocketed. “Americans now eat over 1,000 times more soybean oil than they did in 1909, the biggest change in the American diet.”

I could go on. The book is a brilliant whodunnit, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Stop. Do not pass go: get your copy NOW.

The Alloy of Law: A Mistborn Novel

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I have read most of Brandon Sanderson's novels, including his Wheel Of Time additions. I am a big fan of his, and the genre in general, and read almost excessively. After having read the original Mistborn trilogy, I was very excited to hear this one announced. I only recently got to this book on my list, and having completed it in a single day I come away with mixed feelings.

Pros: It is a Sanderson book, and he seems to be turning into quite the masterful fantasy storyteller. He manages to come up with great new magic systems for each of his books, while also developing excellent characters and believable worlds. He manages to make you care about what is happening. This book is no exception. The characters read as real people, with distinct personalities, habits and mannerisms that charm or annoy you, weaknesses and strengths you can appreciate, et cetera. He manages to make you love or hate characters wthout making them absolutely good or evil. Specific to this book, you find that even the worst beings within have a sense of humanity about them. There is a sense of what makes them tick. Even if you despise the character, they feel human and you can understand their motives. Brandon Sanderson manages to avoid the typical pure evil "no knowing his mind" character for an antagonists. Likewise, the protagonists are never flawless knights in shining armor. They aren't titans who never show weakness of fault. They are people who are trying to do good or to achieve high goals, but do not always make it. This book advances an excellent story that began in the trilogy. I would not recommend this unless you have read the Mitborn trilogy, and I will not get into explaining the world. This book advances the world to an era similar to our late Victorian period. It sort of has a steampunk feel, but not entirely. There is a certain sense of wonder at impossible new technologies and machines that comes with that steampunk edge. That is mixed in with a bit of the western feel, but it is not a western. Toss these excellent characteristics into the mistborn world and it is an excellent mix. A wonderfully fresh and well designed magic system, a world with many religions rooted in stories you'll remember from the trilogy, excellent characters, and the sense of excitement, wonder, and adventure from the steampunk and western influences. It also takes on a slight Holmesian feel, with the main character being more than just a gunslinger or wizard or warrior. All in all, it mixes many of my favorite things and manages to keep them all clean and interesting. Overall, a very good read that was an easy single sitting book because I never grew weary of what I was reading.

CONS: It feels more like a very long "short" story than a full novel. This is not a bad thing alone, but it comes out incomplete. The ending feels like the ending of the first act of a play, not the ending of a novel. Mr. Sanderson spends an entire book developing these excellent characters with real relationships within an exciting world just exploding into the modern era, surrounded by amazing mythology and history rolled into religions based on the near flawless trilogy. It feels like such a great introduction into a new world of discovery, and right when you start to really dive in he pulls the plug and yells "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here!!" It's a massive let down. The worst part is that everything is so good, so well done, that I was loving every sentence, right up until I hit the back cover. Instead of putting it down early out of boredom, or finishing a 300 page book satisfied with a story well told, I turned the page wondering where the next chapter had disappeared to. It appears that this is a stand-alone novel, so we won't find out what happens to these excellent characters or how the different schemes turned out, where the world goes, anything, and that is frustrating when you realize that he has woven a world and a character set that you really loved and want to read more of.

My first book "review" so I'm sure it was hard to follow, but overall: Great story, great author, and a worthy read, but incomplete and disappointing because of this. Brandon has been pumping out material at an incredible pace, and the quality of the material has been outstanding, but I think this book was pushed out before completion and for a work of such great potential this is particularly disappointing.

Real Life Paleo: 175 Gluten-Free Recipes, Meal Ideas, and an Easy 3-Phased Approach to Lose Weight & Gain Health

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I'm one of those people who buys cookbooks and then literally cooks nothing from them because I'm only interested in 5-10 recipes max. (My last two $40 paleo cookbooks have been sitting unused for months. I made ONE recipe from one and NONE from the other. Seriously.) Then I get resentful because I spent so much money on a book that doesn't have the hundreds of amazing recipes I was expecting... FYI, this is NOT one of those crappy cookbooks. This is truly the end-all, be-all, go-to paleo guide. Whether you're a paleo rookie or a seasoned paleo veteran, you need to make room for this bad boy on your shelf. It pretty much contains all you'll ever need to know to succeed in this lifestyle.

Real Life Paleo is not just a cookbook. It's so ridiculously informative, I can almost guarantee it's THE BEST paleo book purchase you'll ever make. It quite literally takes a real-life approach to explaining (& living) the paleo lifestyle, giving you a designated plan for transitioning, swapping out bad for good foods, and ultimately thriving as your inner caveman/woman - for the long run! Whether you're new to paleo or have been living it for years, you CAN and WILL benefit from RLP. It contains a plethora of recipes, spice blends, and meal ideas, paleo lifestyle tips & tricks, nutritional information, helpful guides & recipe labels (nut-free, egg-free, nightshade-free, one-pot-meal, on-the-go meal, 5-ingredients-or-less, 30-min-or-less), along with all the reasons why paleo works. If you think you knew all there was to know about paleo or think you've tried all the paleo recipes out there, THINK AGAIN! I've been paleo since August 2011 and am still completely wowed by this book with all the enticing recipes & helpful information it contains.

I can safely say this is my absolute favorite paleo book, and that's JUST regarding recipes, alone. That's not even taking into account the ridiculous amount of real-life paleo advice, info, & tips this book provides, which trumps all the other grain-free cookbooks I've ever purchased.

Here's my list so far:

Peruvian Chicken Meal
Brunch Meal
Chinese Takeout Meal
Turkey & Waffles
Gnocchi
Perfect Steaks
Monkey Bread
Baked Not-Potato Soup
Snickerdoodle Whoopie Pies (I've tried their pumpkin whoopie pies and O.M.G. - I have no words)
Honey Nut Cereal
Spinach Artichoke Dip
Corn Dog Muffins
Mussels in Broth
Egg Nog
Pears wrapped in Prosciutto w/ arugula & pickled onions
Chinese Lettuce Wraps
No Bake Cranberry-Orange Bars
Chai Tea Iced Tea
Key Lime Pie

I've never been so excited to cook from a cookbook.

Confessions of a D-List Supervillain

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I enjoyed this take on the age-old hero vs villain story. Bernheimer has created a dystopian world where mankind relies on superheroes to save them, and the most popular superheroes are The Olympians - 12 common people who were chosen to wield the powers of certain of the Gods of Olympus.

Conversely there are the supervillains, and Cal `Mechani-Cal' Stringel is, by his own assertion, not one of the more successful of them, but he gets by.

The world has been taken over by bugs the size of grasshoppers that have attached themselves to everyone's necks, reorganizing the world into a hive society of junkies addicted to the bugs in the desperate way that a junkie is addicted to heroin. Because he works inside of his mechanical suit, Cal has managed to avoid this fate. Out of necessity, he finds himself trying to get the `good-guys' back on their feet and back to saving the world like they are supposed to be doing.

As superheroes go, The Olympians are as unlikeable and evil a bunch of shallow, self-serving stars as you could ask for. The supervillains, on the other hand, are actually the better human beings, because they are honest about their motives.

I don't normally like first person, present tense point of view in a story, because I find it difficult to get into into the story. But once I got past that initial issue I have to admit, this story captured and held my interest.

The adventures that Cal has as he tries to re-hab the Olympians and save the world are quite entertaining. There are some adult themes, but though there is nothing graphic I recommend this as a fun adult read.

Essential Readings In Health Policy And Law (Essential Public Health)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I originally purchased this book for my jurisprudence course in health law but years later as a Director of Compliance in the healthcare industry i still find all of the information comes in handy. This is definitely one of my to go to guides in my office.

Ubik

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Although "Ubik" wasn't the first Philip K. Dick novel I read (having read just about all of them now, it's hard to remember which was first, but I think it was "Martian Time-Slip"), I would recommend it as the best starting point for someone trying to decide if PKD is your cup of tea. "Ubik" has all of the major elements of the typical PKD novel (to the extent there is any typicality): (1) questioning of the meaning of reality; (2) an almost pathetic sense of humor in the face of the unraveling of reality; (3) an everyman protagonist; and (4) extreme readability despite a somewhat pedestrian writing style.
The plot can be summed up like this: some humans have psychic powers, but rather than being seen as heroes (as is the case in most sci-fi), they're possible sources of invasions of your privacy. Never fear, however, because some humans have developed anti-psychic powers -- they block the powers of the others. A bunch of anti-psychics go on a mission, but something goes wrong and they barely get away with their lives. Almost immediately, they notice that something is not right. Phone directories are out of date, coffee is disgustingly stale, and so on. Time, it seems, is flowing backwards!
For readers who aren't aware, PKD was one of the most influential sci-fi writers, with his reality-warping stories. His interest in this topic can be traced, no doubt, to his youthful experimentation with narcotics -- an experience recounted largely in "A Scanner Darkly."
PKD was an incredibly prolific writer; he wrote something like 16 novels in a five year stretch in the late-1960s, including "Ubik." Many of his best novels were written during that stretch. If you like "Ubik," I would suggest in no particular order: "The Gameplayers of Titan," "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch," "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (made into the movie "Bladerunner"), "Dr. Bloodmoney," and "The Man in the High Castle." By the 1970's, PKD stopped writing as many novels, and they became more thematically complex, with increasing emphasis on religious spirituality.

Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I love this book!

For anyone new to the Paleo approach to health and eating, Ms. SanFilippo's Practical Paleo is a perfect starting place. While the market has seen an explosion of books in the Paleo diet world over the last decade, this book is unique in that is combines the wisdom of the Paleo approach to nutrition with the unique insights that are emerging from the "functional medicine" approach to health.

She provides, for instance, 30-day meal plans that are tailored to specific health conditions, such as thyroid health and athletic performance. There's an especially delightful and informative discussion about gastrointestinal health (including a Poop Pageant in which she describes how stool character can be used to discern digestive problems that left me laughing until it hurt!). The book is packed with beautiful illustrations that make the discussions crystal-clear.

There are also a substantial collection of recipes, most of them unique that I have not seen before, consistent with the Paleo approach. Even readers who have read other Paleo cookbooks will discover many new twists on meals and snacks in this book.

All in all, Practical Paleo is a masterful piece of work.

The Nameless Dwarf (The Complete Chronicles): Nameless Dwarf series books 1-5

CUSTOMER REVIEW



You'd be forgiven for being wary of independent fantasy. It is, after all, a genre that attracts a lot of first time writers. Inevitably that results in a lot of sub-Tolkienesque dross that you probably wouldn't want to waste your time with. So you could hardly be blamed for steering your way safely towards the Gemmells, the Donaldsons and the Feists of this world.

That, however, would be a mistake, because hidden amongst the weeds are rare gems like Prior's Nameless Dwarf stories... And you certainly don't want to miss them. What does anybody want from first-class fantasy fiction? Strong characterisation? I like the fact that Nameless is a flawed hero and his companions are equally complex with well-developed back stories. I never felt that any of the characters were two-dimensional throwaway bit-parts - they all rang true. A fast-paced plot? The Nameless stories grabbed me from the first page and pulled me along relentlessly. You won't want to put this down once you start. Fully-realised worlds? I found Prior's world of Aethir to have been meticulously crafted - this is an author who has done his homework before developing his plot.

What really made even this jaded reader sit up and take note though is Prior's adept use of humour - not laying it on with a trowel or letting it get in the way of the story, but using it well to balance the darker moments and to control the pace. It's probably one of the hardest aspects to get right in fantasy, but these stories don't disappoint in that respect.

Complaints? Yes, but they are minor. Perhaps I was sent scurrying once too often for my dictionary, but it's really not a significant issue with the books.

You could read these tales individually, but my feeling is that they probably work best read as a longer single saga - as they are presented in this omnibus edition.

At the end of the day, I approached these volumes with an open mind, but I was at first pleasantly surprised and then both engrossed and entertained by this compelling tale of one dwarf's quest for redemption. I heartily recommend it to fans of the genre.

Meritropolis

CUSTOMER REVIEW



This is a dystopia book that reminds me mostly of Maze Runner and Divergent, with perhaps a bit of The Giver thrown in. The plot, however, seems more original. Charley is a protagonist with his fair share of issues, including a serious issue with anger management and perhaps a touch of the warrior gene. He is something of an avenging angel to the people of the city with an impossibly high aptitude for fighting, hunting, and supposedly a high intelligence (that I really saw no evidence of him using). Despite these capabilities, he is not a bully, but views the system in which he lives as evil. His greatest desire is to take the system - and the one responsible for the murder of his brother - down. He does not care what he has to do to achieve this, even if it means hurting a few people in his way.

The story here is not exclusively told through Charley's eyes, as there are brief scenes/plot points that are revealed through third-person closed/limited through other characters, including an engineer, the city commander, a femme fatal, mafia leader, average citizen, and Charley's best friend. This can be a little frustrating since none of these characters are given as much space as Charley and sometimes they seem to interrupt the flow of the story-telling. It would also be completely possible to tell the story without relying upon changing the narrator so many times. Also, there do seem to be several gaps in Charley's understanding of what is going on around him - he is flabbergasted by the motives of several characters when his high IQ should probably be aiding him in figuring that out.

Several people in this book endure tremendous hardship by losing loved ones, but everyone complies because they believe the system in place is protecting them. This is an interesting social commentary, and there are some religious overtones as well as several characters claim to have a belief in God. This in itself makes the book an interesting read and perfect for social conversation between younger readers. I think that gives the books some value.

I do feel let down by two things: the animal combinations sound very, very cool but I was expecting (because of the cover) some sort of minotaur/animal-human combinations. There were none of those. Also, I really wanted more information about the first female character introduced (through her own third-person narrative) because she seemed interesting and a decent foil of the main protagonist, but her perspective was not at all integral to this plot. Perhaps she will be more important in further books.

All in all, I think this book/series shows promise but it did seem lacking in a few areas in terms of development of main character and justification for the several perspectives given throughout the book. I would read the second book in the series to see if it better tied together the threads left undone in Meritropolis. Also, warning: book ends on a cliffhanger.

For the sensitive reader: There are mentions of deliberate murders, forced abortions, and violence including training, fights, hunting sequences, and battles.

I received a free copy of this book from Story Cartel in exchange for my honest review.

George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set (Song of Ice and Fire series): A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I wanted to read the Song of Ice and Fire series as an eBook on my iPad, and this set was the most cost-effective means of getting the 5 books, so I bought it. I won't comment on the books themselves at this stage because I'm only 10% of the way through the second book, except to say that I was inspired to buy the novels after watching Seasons 1 and 2 of HBO's Game of Thrones television series.

The blurb for this ebook does not tell you that what you will receive (unless it has since been changed) is the content of 5 books packaged into one single eBook file. This has got to be one of the most most bone-headed decisions I have come across in a long while. I see one icon in my kindle reader that encompasses all five books. So I don't see the covers of the individual books as depicted on the paperbacks.

Secondly, when you have an ebook that is nearly 5,000 pages long, things like trying to scroll to a particular page is not very accurate, and so on. It also means that if I want the eBook on my iPhone, I have to have the entire 5,000 pages on the phone etc.

I realise on the one hand my gripe is not that big a deal, but on the other hand it was very frustrating to expect one thing and receive another. The reality is that the publisher has specifically had to go to the trouble of concatenating these books into one eBook rather than just supplying the ebooks separately as you would get if you bought them separately. And I can think of no good reason for doing this.

In the end, I discovered by chance that Amazon allows you to get a refund on your ebooks within 7 days of purchase, so I refunded the combined set and bought the eBooks individually. Yes it cost a little more but at least I now have a more manageable collection.

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It

CUSTOMER REVIEW



McGonigal brings together the newest insights about self-control from psychology, economics, neuroscience and medicine to build willpower. She is a health psychologist at Stanford School of Medicine where she teaches a course called "The Science of Willpower" that quickly became the most popular classes ever offered by Stanford. Course evaluations call the course "life-changing".

The book's 10 chapters reflect her 10-week course, written in an interesting and easy style, without any "academic pompousness":

1. effective willpower - just noticing what's happening is key
2. the willpower instinct - anything that puts a stress on your mind or body can sabotage self-control but too much willpower is stressful
3. self-control is like a muscle - it gets tired from use but regular exercise makes it stronger
4. why being good encourages bad behavior - we use past good behavior to justify indulgences
5. why we mistake wanting for happiness - even false promises of reward make us feel alert and captivated, so we chase satisfaction from things that don't deliver
6. how feeling bad leads to giving in - self-compassion is a far better strategy than beating ourselves up
7. we discount both future rewards and future costs - we consistently act against our own long-term interests and we illogically believe our future selves will (magically) have more willpower
8. why willpower is contagious - humans are hardwired to connect and we mimic and mirror both willpower failures and willpower successes of our social network
9. inner acceptance improves outer control - attempts to fight instincts and desires ironically make them worse
10. final thoughts - the aha moment

Each chapter makes use of fascinating paradoxes to dispel common misconceptions about self-control. While I preferred the deeper "Willpower" by Tierney and Baumeister (who has studied contradictory human behavior for decades), this book is way ahead of any others I've read on the subject, for its wide range of down-to-earth and practical strategies for greater success. Another excellent book is "Willpower: The Owner's Manual - 12 Tools for Doing the Right Thing" by Frank Martela PhD.

(Note: the paperback and kindle versions are called "Maximum Willpower")

Outlander: A Novel (Outlander, Book 1)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR HEART TO A BOOK? Well, look no further. Diana Gabaldon has created the ultimate escape in Outlander. Don't let the 850 pages dissuade you. It's the fastest read you'll ever have.

The epic tale begins when Claire Randall, a young combat nurse in World War II, moves to Scotland with her beloved husband to reignite their marriage interrupted by the war. Hiking one day, Claire accidentally passes through the stones of an ancient stone circle and wakes up to find herself in 18th century Scotland. Lost, alone, and confused (yet determined), Claire's path crosses, and is inextricably linked to, a young Highland warrior... James Fraser. (The kind of man women want, and men want to BE.) The story that ensues would make Shakespeare proud-- danger, suspense, passion, betrayal, true love and tragedy. Gabaldon is a master storyteller. She shrouds her fantasy in just enough reality as to completely seduce her readers.

The time travel element as well as the romance, while unconventional for a "serious" historical novel, are handled brilliantly by Gabaldon. That said, this book is not for the faint of heart as the author tackles themes of a violent and sexual nature. However, the story is so realistic and beautifully told that it doesn't come off as a ploy to shock readers. Well-crafted and meticulously researched, Outlander is historical fiction at its finest... and so much fun! The hero and heroine come alive. You'll find yourself living and breathing in their world, anxiously devouring each chapter.

WARNING: have the next three books in the series handy. Once you turn the last page of Outlander, you won't want to return to the 21st century. I couldn't get to the bookstore fast enough. And, Gabaldon does not disappoint...

Monster Manual (D&D Core Rulebook)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



The Monster Manual is one of the Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition core rule books. It brings in one of the essential elements of D&D, monsters. You can't help but flip through the pages of this book. The inspiring art and pleasant layout is wonderful. Before the main monster entries start, there are 8 pages devoted to a brief introduction, a description of monster statistics including challenge rating, finishing off with some legendary creature rules. Then the juicy part of the book starts, just over 300 pages of alphabetically organised monsters. Each monster entry is usually accompanied by some awesome art depicting that monster. One aspect that really stands out are the new legendary rules. These rules help legendary monsters, such as dragons, stand out and be more of a challenge, especially in their lair. They are a wonderful addition and will surely create some memorable adventures.

A 25 page miscellaneous creatures appendix contains just under 100 entries. Ape, awakened tree, blink dog, eagle, frog, giant rat, mule, phase spider, swarm of bats, winter wolf and worg are a few examples. The entries follow the same format as used in the appendix at the end of the Player's Handbook, except that for non-mundane animals they also have a short paragraph describing them. This is followed by a 9 page nonplayer character appendix. After a short section on customizing NPCs it contains entries such as acolyte, archmage, commoner, noble and thug. Each entry has a short paragraph describing how that NPC's role fits into the world. A very nice and handy addition.

This book is full of gorgeous content. When not using it to play the game I can see myself lazing on the couch and flipping through its pages. It continues the high standard that this new edition of D&D brings. Highly recommended.

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Vine Customer Review of Free Product (What's this?)


This book could be a game changer, if enough people read it and take it to heart. Atul Gawande addresses end-of-life care, and how we're getting it wrong, both within the medical establishment and in our families.

Dr. Gawande's book focuses both on medical procedures and living conditions in later life. He addresses the reality that as people near the end of life, decisions about their living situation are primarily aimed at ensuring safety at the expense of retaining autonomy, especially when adult children are making the decisions. "We want autonomy for ourselves and safety for those we love," a friend tells the author. We mistakenly treat elders as children, Dr. Gawande says, when we deny them the right to make choices, even bad choices. People of any age want the right to lock their doors, set the temperature they want, dress how they like, eat what they want, admit visitors only when they're in the mood. Yet, nursing homes (and even assisted living communities) are geared toward making these decisions for people in order to keep them safe, gain government funds, and ensure a routine for the facility.

In addition, Dr. Gawande shows how end-of-life physical conditions are most often treated as medical crises needing to be "fixed," instead of managed for quality of life when treatment has become futile. Life is more than just a stretch of years; it must have meaning and purpose to be worth living, he says. This is a familiar concept (in fact, I read parts of this book in The New Yorker), but he builds a strong case for reform through case studies, stories from his own life, and examples of how individuals are either becoming victims of, or bucking, the system. He addresses assisted suicide only briefly, but he mentions it in relation to end-of-life care. "Assisted living is far harder than assisted death, but its possibilities are far greater as well," he writes.

The good news is that some people are doing what they can to improve the well-being of elders nearing the end of their lives. He demonstrates the beauty of hospice care in the home. He tells a great story of a doctor who convinced a nursing home to bring in two dogs, four cats and one hundred birds! It was a risky proposal, but the rewards were phenomenal. It made the place, and the people, come alive. I am aware, though, that these movements rely on individuals, and only if enough people have a vision for change will it come about. For that reason, I hope this book makes a big splash!