Jim's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:16:45 -0700 60 Jim's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Confederate Agent: A Discovery in History]]> 30632268
The true story of the conspiracy that came close to destroying the Union from within, getting Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to join the Confederacy while New York City was in flames. Chicago was ready for rebellion, 100,000 Northern Confederates stood ready to strike. Based on official papers hitherto suppressed by the U.S. War Dept.—the secret and unpublished diaries of Capt. Thomas H. Hines, C.S.A., official agent of the Confederate government and mastermind of its underground.� Print Ed.
]]> 456 James D. Horan Jim 5 5.00 Confederate Agent: A Discovery in History
author: James D. Horan
name: Jim
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2017/08/03
date added: 2025/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Rogue's Harbor (Carolina Chronicles Series #12)]]> 25653186
It was not the intention of these men in the early 18th century to break away from the mother country, but to effect a colonial administration sympathetic to their problems. They also wished to be allowed free trade with other colonies -- and with countries other than England.

These problems form the background of Rogue's Harbor, whose real story is the colonists' love of their new land and their realization that the wealth of their part of the New World was not in gold and silver but in the virgin land itself.

Into North Carolina has come the Willoughby family, the father Nathan, the mother Dorcas, their teenage children, three boys and a 17-year-old daughter. The Willoughbys are of good English stock, removed to America not because of religious persecution or intolerable servitude, but because of a love for land, new land. They are gentry in the true sense, with servants and a companion for their daughter.

Nathan and Dorcas Willoughby have prospered in the new world. They have a sturdy house, good harvests, and a healthy family. Except for the eldest, Robin, who has gone to sea with a captain who has agreed to help the colonists evade the tariff by mis-marking his cargoes, they are content. But conflict develops when Nathan joins with the settlers in opposing the colonial governor's rule in an insurrection-by-petition plan and when Dorcas finds that her daughter intends to marry a man she thinks is a poor Scottish schoolmaster. She feels that the girl can make a better marriage, one arranged on English soil.

Nathan's insurrection proves a success for him and his confreres. Their demands are favorably received in England and their rights are firmly established, enabling them to conduct local affairs in comparative freedom. The schoolmaster and the Willoughbys' daughter elope and eventually he reveals that he is no mere teacher but the heir of a wealthy Scottish clan

During a pirate raid the youngest Willoughby son is captured, leaving the family inconsolable. At the conclusion of Rogue's Harbor young Mathew has been re-captured by his brother Robin and the sea captain appears with them at a large banquet -- replete with bagpipes, tartans and kilts -- given by the Scotsman, Buchanan, and his bride.

Rogue's Harbor reflects both a time and a place in our history, the idealism of man in his search for freedom and dignity, and the grace and charm brought to the New World by the gentlewomen who were their wives and daughters.]]> 242 Inglis Fletcher 9997512391 Jim 0 currently-reading 5.00 1964 Rogue's Harbor (Carolina Chronicles Series #12)
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1964
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/12
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Wicked Lady 4474974 245 Inglis Fletcher 0892440090 Jim 5 4.33 1962 Wicked Lady
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/12
date added: 2025/06/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Stone Cold (Joe Pickett) (2014-05-01)]]> 214269904 New York Times bestselling author who Lee Child calls “one of today’s solid-gold, A-list, must-read writers,� this pulse-pounding series inspired a Paramount+ TV show! In the Black Hills of Wyoming, Joe Pickett investigates a ranch owner whose immense wealth is built on a web of dangerous secrets…]]> 0 C.J. Box Jim 0 currently-reading 3.20 2014 Stone Cold (Joe Pickett) (2014-05-01)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 3.20
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/06
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Wall 19097140 Murder visits a seaside mansion in this gothic mystery from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author known as the American Agatha Christie. The house called Sunset has been Marcia’s summer home for her entire life. Both of her parents died there, and she and her brother spent their youth exploring its rambling hallways and seaside grounds. They love the old house, but Marcia’s sister-in-law has never taken to it. Juliette loathes the sea, and soon comes to loathe her husband, as well. After they divorce, Juliette pays a final visit to Sunset, demanding alimony. She is there for a few tense days before she disappears. It takes them a week to find her body. The peace at Sunset has been shattered, and Marcia must work quickly to keep her beloved childhood home from being forever spoiled. Somewhere in the creaky old mansion, a murderer lurks. Will Marcia be accused of the crime? Or will she be the next victim?]]> 399 Mary Roberts Rinehart Jim 5 4.05 1938 The Wall
author: Mary Roberts Rinehart
name: Jim
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1938
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/04
date added: 2025/06/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again]]> 223927267 From two of America’s most respected journalists, an unflinching and explosive reckoning with one of the most fateful decisions in American political Joe Biden’s run for reelection despite evidence of his serious decline—amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration In Greek tragedy, the protagonist’s effort to avoid his fate is what seals his fate. In 2024, American politics became a Greek tragedy.

Joe Biden launched his successful 2020 bid for the White House with the stated goal of saving the nation from a second Trump presidential term. He, his family, and his senior aides were so convinced that only he could beat Trump again, they lied to themselves, allies, and the public about his condition and limitations. At his debate with Trump on June 27, 2024, the consequences of that deception were exposed to the world. It was shocking and upsetting.

Now the full, unsettling truth is being told for the first time. Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson take us behind closed doors and into private conversations between the heaviest of hitters, revealing how big the problem was and how many people knew about it. From White House staffers at the highest to lowest levels, to leaders of Congress and the Cabinet, from governors to donors and Hollywood players, the truth is finally being told. What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run for reelection seem shockingly narcissistic, self-delusional, and reckless—a desperate bet that went bust—and part of a larger act of extended public deception that has few precedents. The story the authors tell raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will continue for decades.

The irony is that in the name of defeating what they called an existential threat to democracy, Biden and his inner circle ensured it, tossing aside his implicit promise to serve for only one term, denying the existence of health issues the nation had been watching for years, dooming the Democrats to defeat. The decision to run again, the Original Sin of this president, led to a campaign of denial and gaslighting, leading directly to Donald Trump's return to power and all that has happened as a consequence. Rarely does hubris meet nemesis more explosively. Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, Original Sin is essential reading.]]> 352 Jake Tapper Jim 4 currently-reading 3.63 2025 Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
author: Jake Tapper
name: Jim
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/04
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Coming Home 206571264 From the nine-time women’s basketball icon and two-time Olympic gold medalist—a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home.

On February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner arrived in Moscow ready to spend the WNBA offseason playing for the Russian women’s basketball team where she had been the centerpiece of previous championship seasons. Instead, a security checkpoint became her gateway to hell when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil. Brittney’s world was violently upended in a crisis she has never spoken in detail about publicly—until now.

In Coming Home, Brittney finally shares the harrowing details of her sudden arrest days before Russia invaded Ukraine; her bewilderment and isolation while navigating a foreign legal system amid her trial and sentencing; her emotional and physical anguish as the first American woman ever to endure a Russian penal colony while the #WeAreBG movement rallied for her release; the chilling prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout; and her remarkable rise from hostage to global spokesperson on behalf of America’s forgotten. In haunting and vivid detail, Brittney takes listeners inside the horrors of a geopolitical nightmare spanning ten months.

And yet Coming Home is more than Brittney’s journey from captivity to freedom. In an account as gripping as it is poignant, she shares how her deep love for Cherelle, her college sweetheart and wife of six years, anchored her during their greatest storm; how her family’s support pulled her back from the brink; and how hundreds of letters from friends and neighbors lent her resolve to keep fighting. Coming Home is both a story of survival and a testament to love—the bonds that brought Brittney home to her family, and at last, to herself.]]> 320 Brittney Griner 0593801342 Jim 0 currently-reading 4.36 2024 Coming Home
author: Brittney Griner
name: Jim
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Menace from Earth (Future History, #18)]]> 50837 She was smart
She was irresistible
She was after my boyfriend...

Contents:
The Year of the Jackpot (1952)
By His Bootstraps (1941)
Columbus Was a Dope (1947)
The Menace from Earth (1957)
Sky Lift (1953)
Goldfish Bowl (1942)
Project Nightmare (1953)
Water Is for Washing (1947)]]> 288 Robert A. Heinlein 0671578022 Jim 4 3.91 1959 The Menace from Earth (Future History, #18)
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Jim
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/28
date added: 2025/05/28
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]]> Cormorant's Brood 3447060 Historical romance 324 Inglis Fletcher 0892440023 Jim 5 4.37 1959 Cormorant's Brood
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1959
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/25
date added: 2025/05/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Cat Among the Pigeons (Hercule Poirot, #36)]]> 16342
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These readers have been carefully adapted using the Collins COBUILD grading scheme to ensure that the language is at the correct level for an intermediate learner. This book is Level 5 in the Collins ELT Readers series. Level 5 is equivalent to CEF level B2+ with a word count of 22,000 � 30,000 words.

Each book includes:
� Full reading of the adapted version available for free online
� Helpful notes on characters
� Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot
� A glossary of the more difficult words
� Free online resources for students and teachers

The plot:
Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious light in the school Sports Pavilion. Among the tennis racquets and lacrosse sticks, they find the body of the unpopular games mistress � shot through the heart. Schoolgirl Julia Upjohn knows too much, and begins to worry that she might be the next victim. Can detective Hercule Poirot find the killer before the ‘cat� strikes again?

Each level is carefully graded to ensure that the learner both enjoys and benefits from their reading experience.]]> 352 Agatha Christie 0425205967 Jim 4 3.86 1959 Cat Among the Pigeons (Hercule Poirot, #36)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Jim
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/20
date added: 2025/05/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family that Shaped Britain]]> 11217378
--The Wall Street Journal

In this fascinating and intimate portrait of the Stuarts, author Allan Massie takes us deep into one of history's bloodiest and most tumultuous reigns. Exploring the family's lineage from the first Stuart king to the last, The Royal Stuarts is a panoramic history of the family that acted as a major player in the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Union of the Crowns, the English Civil War, the Restoration, and more.

Drawing on the accounts of historians past and present, novels, and plays, this is the complete story of the Stuart family, documenting their path from the salt marshes of Brittany to the thrones of Scotland and England and eventually to exile. The Royal Stuarts brings to life figures like Mary, Queens of Scots, Charles I, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, uncovering a family of strong affections and fierce rivalries. Told with panache, this is the gripping true story of backstabbing, betrayal, and ambition gone awry.]]> 370 Allan Massie 0312581750 Jim 3 3.61 2010 The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family that Shaped Britain
author: Allan Massie
name: Jim
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/17
date added: 2025/05/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The Jungle by Sinclair, Upton. (Cengage Learning,2004) [Paperback]]]> 133016865 0 Sinclair Jim 4 4.25 The Jungle by Sinclair, Upton. (Cengage Learning,2004) [Paperback]
author: Sinclair
name: Jim
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/12
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]]> <![CDATA[I Wish Someone Had Told Me...: The Best Advice for Building a Great Career and a Meaningful Life]]> 216497057 304 Dana Perino 0063411474 Jim 4 4.03 2025 I Wish Someone Had Told Me...: The Best Advice for Building a Great Career and a Meaningful Life
author: Dana Perino
name: Jim
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/03
date added: 2025/05/06
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]]> The Wind in the Forest 2249817 Vintage hardcover 416 Inglis Fletcher 0892440112 Jim 5 4.42 1957 The Wind in the Forest
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1957
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Robert Ludlum's The Artic Event]]> 166651104 0 James H. Cobb Jim 4 4.17 Robert Ludlum's The Artic Event
author: James H. Cobb
name: Jim
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/25
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]]> <![CDATA[The Scotswoman (Carolina Chronicles, #9)]]> 1262430 544 Inglis Fletcher 0892440082 Jim 4 3.80 1954 The Scotswoman (Carolina Chronicles, #9)
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1954
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Breaking Point by C.J. Box (August 18,2015)]]> 135897466 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box has won almost every honor in his field. In Breaking Point, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is glad to catch up with old friend Lyle Pendergast, but then the man goes missing and is named a suspect in the death of two EPA employees. All signs point to Lyle’s guilt, but the more Joe digs into the case, the more he realizes he’s stepped into the middle of a deadly power play.]]> C.J. Box Jim 5 4.67 2013 Breaking Point by C.J. Box (August 18,2015)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Idiot's Guide to American History]]> 1918488 382 Alan Axelrod 0028638506 Jim 0 3.27 1996 The Complete Idiot's Guide to American History
author: Alan Axelrod
name: Jim
average rating: 3.27
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
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]]> Source Code: My Beginnings 213034913 The origin story of one of the most influential and transformative business leaders and philanthropists of the modern age.

The business triumphs of Bill Gates are widely known: the twenty-year-old who dropped out of Harvard to start a software company that became an industry giant and changed the way the world works and lives; the billionaire many times over who turned his attention to philanthropic pursuits to address climate change, global health, and U.S. education.

Source Code is not about Microsoft or the Gates Foundation or the future of technology. It’s the human, personal story of how Bill Gates became who he is today: his childhood, his early passions and pursuits. It’s the story of his principled grandmother and ambitious parents, his first deep friendships and the sudden death of his best friend; of his struggles to fit in and his discovery of a world of coding and computers in the dawn of a new era; of embarking in his early teens on a path that took him from midnight escapades at a nearby computer center to his college dorm room, where he sparked a revolution that would change the world.

Bill Gates tells this, his own story, for the first time: wise, warm, revealing, it’s a fascinating portrait of an American life.]]> 336 Bill Gates 059380158X Jim 5 4.06 2025 Source Code: My Beginnings
author: Bill Gates
name: Jim
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao's Soul]]> 201608158
When Rowan Jacobsen first heard of a chocolate bar made entirely from wild Bolivian cacao, he was skeptical. The waxy mass-market chocolate of his childhood had left him indifferent to it, and most experts believed wild cacao had disappeared from the rainforest centuries ago. But one dazzling bite of Cru Sauvage was all it took. Chasing chocolate down the supply chain and back through history, Jacobsen travels the rainforests of the Amazon and Central America to find the chocolate makers, activists, and indigenous leaders who are bucking the system that long ago abandoned wild and heirloom cacao in favor of high-yield, low-flavor varietals preferred by Big Chocolate.

What he found was a cacao renaissance. As his guides pulled the last vestiges of ancient cacao back from the edge of extinction, they'd forged an alternative system in the process-one that is bringing prosperity back to local economies, returning fertility to the land, and protecting it from the rampages of cattle farming. All the while, a new generation of bean-to-bar chocolate makers are racing to get their
hands on these rare varietals and produce extraordinary chocolate displaying a diversity of flavors no one had thought possible. Full of vivid characters, vibrant landscapes, and surprising history, Wild Chocolate promises to be as rich, complex, and addictive as good chocolate itself.]]> 288 Rowan Jacobsen 1639733574 Jim 5 4.27 Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao's Soul
author: Rowan Jacobsen
name: Jim
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/05
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]]> Cold Wind (Joe Pickett, #11) 9408479
But then things happen to make Joe wonder: Is Earl's death what it appears to be? Is Missy being set up? He has the county DA and sheriff on one side, his wife on the other, his estranged friend Nate on a lethal mission of his own, and some powerful interests breathing down his neck. Whichever way this goes . . . it's not going to be good.]]> 388 C.J. Box 0399157352 Jim 5 4.18 2011 Cold Wind (Joe Pickett, #11)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
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]]> <![CDATA[On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer]]> 214175211 Stow away with Rick Steves for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 journey on the legendary Hippie Trail.

In the 1970s, the ultimate trip for any backpacker was the storied “Hippie Trail� from Istanbul to Kathmandu. A 23-year-old Rick Steves made the trek, and like a travel writer in training, he documented everything along the way. From taking wild bus rides through Turkey to enduring monsoons in India, the experience ignited his love of travel and forever broadened his perspective on the world.

On the Hippie Trailcontains Rick's journals from 1978�the last year the trip was possible�and full-color travel photos from this trek of a lifetimethrough Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, plusa brand-new preface and afterword reflecting on the historic context of the moment and how the journey changed his life.

You know Rick Steves. Now discover the adventure that made him the travel writer he is today.]]> 256 Rick Steves 1641716436 Jim 4 3.89 2025 On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer
author: Rick Steves
name: Jim
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism]]> 223436601 An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.�

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of Facebook: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.]]> 382 Sarah Wynn-Williams 1250391237 Jim 4 4.23 2025 Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Jim
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A Graphic Novel]]> 4133366
Complete with Fitzgerald's original text, dazzling watercolor illustrations, and an afterword describing the story's origins and critical reception, this edition offers a fresh look at a literary masterpiece.]]> 128 F. Scott Fitzgerald 1594742812 Jim 2 3.71 1922 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A Graphic Novel
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Jim
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1922
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Journey to the Center of the Earth]]> 32829
The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life � a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.]]> 240 Jules Verne 0553213970 Jim 4 3.87 1864 Journey to the Center of the Earth
author: Jules Verne
name: Jim
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1864
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb: a Hercule Poirot Short Story (Hercule Poirot, #SS-13)]]> 5862870
Librarian's note: this entry is for the story, "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere on ŷ. The individual entries for all Poirot short stories can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Hercule Poirot Short Story."]]> 1 Agatha Christie 0886469589 Jim 3 3.62 1923 The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb: a Hercule Poirot Short Story (Hercule Poirot, #SS-13)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Jim
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1923
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Homo habilis and Homo erectus: The History and Legacy of Modern Humans� Direct Ancestors]]> 228847225 Homo sapiens, examples of the main types have been hybrids of older and more modern features.

One of the earliest species of the genus Homo to be discovered is Homo habilis, which basically means “handy man.� The name comes from the belief at the time of its discovery that this species was the first to start using stone tools. The first fossils to be uncovered in Olduvai Gorge were from the same stratigraphic layer as simple stone tools. Fossils of the crania and postcranial skeleton for this species have been found in both eastern and southern Africa and date to around 2.5�1.6 million years ago.

Given the gradual changes that take place in evolution, Homo habilis shares a number of characteristics that are similar to the genus Australopithecus, such as in the postcranial elements. That said, the size and shape of the Homo habilis skull are markedly different. The size of the brain is much larger relative to the size of the body, being around 680 cc. In order to house a larger brain, the skull features a more vertical frontal bone, creating a more vertical forehead. The brow ridges that sit on the lower portion of the frontal bone are also reduced in size. Other reductions in the face include reduced prognathism and a reduction in the size of the premolars and molars.

What is generally accepted is that Homo habilis was capable of making stone tools. These tools were flakes that were broken off from a core and had sharp edges. These tools could serve a number of purposes, such as cutting up the remains of an animal or cleaning its skin. But while Homo habilis almost certainly used tools, scholars still debate which species of Homo actually began making stone tools first since the species Homo rudolfensis also lived during the same time.

Features of Homo erectus suggest an evolution toward modern humans, and the features which separate Homo erectus from the other Homo species are found in the skull. The size of the brain was approximately 900 cc, making it larger than the brain size of Homo habilis. Homo erectus would not have the largest brain capacity of the Homo genus during its existence, with the emergence of Homo heidelbergensis approximately 800,000 years ago. The larger brain size may not matter much when the size of the brain is considered with the size of the body, which also increased.

The development of the skull also changed in Homo erectus. While the body became larger, the brain case did not become more vertical relative to the body, resulting in a sloping and long appearance similar to an American football. Other features that developed on the skull are thicker brow ridges and the development of bony projections at the rear of the skull.

While the facial features of Homo erectus would have made them noticeably different if they were alive today, their postcranial morphology may have been similar to mode]]> 215 Charles River Editors Jim 3 3.25 Homo habilis and Homo erectus: The History and Legacy of Modern Humans’ Direct Ancestors
author: Charles River Editors
name: Jim
average rating: 3.25
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
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]]> Queen's Gift 2865717 448 Inglis Fletcher 0892440058 Jim 5 4.27 1952 Queen's Gift
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> Jane 13539193
When dashing American explorer Ral Conrath invites Jane and her father on an expedition deep into West Africa, she can hardly believe her luck. Rising to the challenge, Jane finds an Africa that is every bit exotic and fascinating as she has always imagined. But she quickly learns that the lush jungle is full of secrets—and so is Ral Conrath. When danger strikes, Jane finds her hero, the key to humanity’s past, and an all-consuming love in one extraordinary man: Tarzan of the Apes.

Jane is the first version of the Tarzan story written by a woman and authorized by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate. Its 2012 publication will mark the centennial of the publication of the original Tarzan of the Apes.]]> 320 Robin Maxwell 0765333597 Jim 4 3.72 2012 Jane
author: Robin Maxwell
name: Jim
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> Trump: The Art of the Deal 1032
“I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”—Donald J. Trump

Here is Trump in action—how he runs his business and how he runs his life—as he meets the people he needs to meet, chats with family and friends, clashes with enemies, and changes the face of the New York City skyline. But even a maverick plays by rules, and Trump has formulated eleven guidelines for success. He isolates the common elements in his greatest deals; he shatters myths; he names names, spells out the zeros, and fully reveals the deal-maker’s art. And throughout, Trump talks—really talks—about how he does it. Trump: The Art of the Deal is an unguarded look at the mind of a brilliant entrepreneur and an unprecedented education in the practice of deal-making. It’s the most streetwise business book there is—and the ultimate read for anyone interested in achieving money and success, and knowing the man behind the spotlight.
]]> 384 Donald J. Trump 0345479173 Jim 4 3.65 1987 Trump: The Art of the Deal
author: Donald J. Trump
name: Jim
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> God the Invisible King 1336992 H.G. Wells 1596057270 Jim 0 0.0 1917 God the Invisible King
author: H.G. Wells
name: Jim
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1917
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
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]]> <![CDATA[The Adventure of the Marked Man and One Other]]> 169131294
In 1950 the pastiche, "The Adventure of the Marked Man", was published in Australian Women's Weekly; the pastiche takes the detective Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson to the seaside town of Penzance in Cornwall, where they investigate the strange warnings given to Allen Pendarvis and a subsequent attempt on his life.]]> 35 Stuart Palmer Jim 3 3.00 The Adventure of the Marked Man and One Other
author: Stuart Palmer
name: Jim
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> Carter Beats the Devil 4599 Carter Beats the Devil is a complex and illuminating story of one man's journey through a magical—and sometimes dangerous—world, where illusion is everything.]]> 483 Glen David Gold 0786886323 Jim 4 4.09 2001 Carter Beats the Devil
author: Glen David Gold
name: Jim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> The Rose Code 53914938 The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy...]]> 624 Kate Quinn 0062943472 Jim 5 4.42 2021 The Rose Code
author: Kate Quinn
name: Jim
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
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]]> The Rustlers of West Fork 595162
In The Rustlers of West Fork, the quick-thinking, fast-shooting cowpuncher heads west to deliver a fortune in bank notes to his old friend, Dick Jordan. When he arrives at the Circle J, he discovers that the rancher and his daughter, Pam, are being held prisoner by a desperate band of outlaws led by the ruthless Avery Sparr and his partner Arnold Soper.

Even if Hopalong Cassidy can free Jordan and Pam, he will have to lead them across rough and untamed Apache country, stalked by the outlaws who have vowed to gun him down. But Hopalong is no stranger to trouble, and before his guns or his temper cool, he's determines to round up Sparr and his gang and bring the outlaws to justice ... dead or alive!

This classic tale of pursuit and survival is vintage L'Amour and adds new life and luster to the legend of Hopalong Cassidy.]]> 259 Louis L'Amour 055329539X Jim 3 3.73 1951 The Rustlers of West Fork
author: Louis L'Amour
name: Jim
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1951
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
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]]> Toil of the Brave 2865711 548 Inglis Fletcher 0553258753 Jim 5 4.09 1946 Toil of the Brave
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1946
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
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]]> Trophy Hunt (Joe Pickett, #4) 983545 352 C.J. Box 0425202933 Jim 4 4.03 2004 Trophy Hunt (Joe Pickett, #4)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/02
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]]> The Terminal Man 7679
Dr. Roger McPherson, head of the prestigious Neuropsychiatric Research Unit at University Hospital in Los Angeles, is convinced he can cure Benson through a procedure called Stage Three. During this highly specialized experimental surgery, electrodes will be place in the patient's brain, sending monitored, soothing pulses to its pleasure canyons.

Though the operation is a success, there is an unforseen development. Benson learns how to control the pulses and is increasing their frequency. He escapes -- a homicidal maniac loose in the city -- and nothing will stop his murderous rampages or impede his deadly agenda. . .]]> 268 Michael Crichton 0060092572 Jim 3 3.41 1972 The Terminal Man
author: Michael Crichton
name: Jim
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1972
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/02/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Raleigh's Eden (The Carolina Chronicles, #5)]]> 2865712 598 Inglis Fletcher 0553259504 Jim 5 4.24 1942 Raleigh's Eden (The Carolina Chronicles, #5)
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1942
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> <![CDATA[In Plain Sight (Joe Pickett, #6)]]> 912959 224 C.J. Box 0709082312 Jim 5 4.13 2006 In Plain Sight (Joe Pickett, #6)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross, #2)]]> 13148
In Los Angeles, a reporter investigating a series of murders is killed.

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a beautiful medical intern suddenly disappears.

And in Washington D.C., Cross needs to find the solution to the most baffling and terrifying murder case ever. Two clever pattern killers are collaborating, cooperating, competing - and they are working coast to coast. Is Alex Cross up to the challenge?]]> 481 James Patterson 0446677388 Jim 4 3.99 1995 Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross, #2)
author: James Patterson
name: Jim
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> The 9th Man (Luke Daniels #1) 61618734
Luke Daniels is in London, between assignments with the Magellan Billet, when he receives a frantic call from an old friend. Jillian Stein is in trouble. She made a mistake and now her life may be in danger. She needs Luke’s help. Immediately. Racing to Belgium Luke quickly finds that she was right. A shadow team of highly-trained operatives are there on the hunt. Intervening, he finds himself embroiled in a war between two determined sides � one seeking the truth, the other trying to escape the past � a war that has already claimed one life and is about to claim more.

Thomas Rowland is a Washington insider, a kingmaker, problem-solver, but also a man with a past. For him everything turns with what happened on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. What history has recorded is wrong. There is more to the story, much more, and Thomas Rowland is at the center of that terrible reality. But forces are working against him, and Rowland will do anything to keep the world from learning what actually happened on that fateful day, including killing Luke, Jillian and anyone else who might be a threat.

In a race from Belgium, to Luxembourg, to the bayous of Louisiana and the Wyoming wilderness, to a final confrontation in the Bahamas, Luke Daniels confronts a series of shocking truths which not only rewrite history but will forever change his own life � as he comes face to face with the ninth man.




]]> 353 Steve Berry 1538721074 Jim 4 4.09 2023 The 9th Man (Luke Daniels #1)
author: Steve Berry
name: Jim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Journeys in Time: The History of Reported Accounts of Time Travel]]> 222888278
We take time for granted as it passes during every moment of our existence. Other things may change, but time remains constant and predictable. The past, the present, and the future exist within a harmonious, reliable, and never-changing system. Or at least that’s how it seems.

It was Albert Einstein who, in 1905, first theorized that time might not be quite as straightforward as that. In one of the most influential papers on physics ever published[1], he proposed something called “time dilatation.� This suggested that time was neither fixed nor constant and that the passage of time was related to the relative speed of the observer. The closer an object approached the speed of light, the more notable this effect was. For example, if it were possible to build an interstellar craft capable of reaching speeds that approached the speed of light, the passengers on that ship might experience the passage of a single year during a voyage, but when they returned to Earth, they might find that dozens of years had passed on the planet.

That was a truly revolutionary idea back in 1905, and it wasn’t until the 1960s that technology had advanced to the point that it was possible to conduct experiments to check Einstein’s theory by measurement. Those experiments and subsequent tests proved that he was entirely correct. Even in 1908, new theories proposed that time was the fourth dimension of spacetime and that it wasn’t fixed at all but governed by the same laws of relativity that applied to other aspects of physics.

These were exciting developments, and current theories of physics have taken this idea even further, suggesting that both space and time are “emergent,� that is, directly (and perhaps variably) related to other elements of the natural world in ways we still don’t fully understand. In later years, Einstein himself would say in a letter to a friend, “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.�

Of course, long before Einstein, people have contemplated time traveling, and there are still debates about the concept today. During the 20th century, new theories of the multiverse suggested that our world isn’t discrete and separate but perhaps one of an unimaginable number of other universes, separated by membranes that may be possible to see or even pass through. These ideas are difficult to grasp, but as theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg put it succinctly, “Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.�

Despite so many popular depictions in literature and movies, it is widely assumed that nobody has built a working time machine, but ordinary people have insisted that they’ve experienced odd events during which they found themselves in another time. Some of these experiences have been reported by seemingly rational individuals, and some have involved more than one witness. The conventional view is that all these people are either deluded or mistaken, even though others have found some of these accounts strangely compelling.]]> 81 Charles River Editors Jim 3 4.00 Journeys in Time: The History of Reported Accounts of Time Travel
author: Charles River Editors
name: Jim
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/12/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sinister Pig (Leaphorn & Chee, #16)]]> 48092
But if a hunter were involved, Chee knows the prey was intentionally human. This belief is shared by the "Legendary Lieutenant" Joe Leaphorn, who once again is pulled out of retirement by the possibility of serious wrongs being committed against the Navajo nation by the Washington bureaucracy. Yet it is former policewoman Bernadette Manuelito, recently relocated to Customs Patrol at the U.S. -- Mexico border, who possibly holds the key to a fiendishly twisted conspiracy of greed, lies, and murder -- and whose only hope for survival now rests in the hands of friends too far away for comfort.]]> 318 Tony Hillerman 0061098787 Jim 4 3.87 2003 The Sinister Pig (Leaphorn & Chee, #16)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Jim
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Atlas Maneuver (Cotton Malone, #18)]]> 173403990 401 Steve Berry 1538721031 Jim 5 4.00 2024 The Atlas Maneuver (Cotton Malone, #18)
author: Steve Berry
name: Jim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Walk Through Fire: The Train Disaster that Changed America]]> 61192831
On the night of February 22, 1978, a devastating freight train derailment drastically altered Waverly, Tennessee, and its place in history. This was one of the worst train explosions of the twentieth century, killing 16 people, injuring hundreds more, and causing millions of dollars in damage.

What could have been dismissed as a single community’s terrible misfortune instead became the catalyst for radical change, including the formation of FEMA, much-needed reforms in emergency response training, and the creation and enforcement of national and state safety regulations. Response to the disaster reshaped American infrastructure and laid the groundwork for the future of emergency management and disaster relief . . . and yet most Americans have never heard of Waverly.

Dr. Yasmine S. Ali, an award-winning medical writer and Waverly native, sets out to change this in WALK THROUGH FIRE, drawing from over a decade of meticulous research and interviews with survivors, first responders, and other firsthand accounts, including those of her own parents, first-generation Americans who were on call at the local hospital that treated the victims. Ali weaves a compelling narrative of small-town tragedy set against the broader backdrop of U.S. railroad history, rural healthcare, and other elements of American infrastructure that played a part in the creation—and the aftermath—of the Disaster.

A tribute to resiliency and a call to action, WALK THROUGH FIRE tells the harrowing story of the Waverly Train Disaster from the perspectives of those who survived it, and those who still feel its impact today, illuminating how much a nation still has to learn from one small town in Tennessee.

“The Waverly Train Disaster which happened just minutes away from where I live, was one of the worst events ever to happen to the people of Waverly, many of whom I have been honored to know, and this amazing story of how they dealt with it has important lessons for all of us. Like me, Dr. Yasmine Ali is from this part of the world and this book shows her dedication to sharing and honoring the history of her hometown.� � Country Music legend LORETTA LYNN]]> 272 Yasmine S. Ali 0806542187 Jim 4 3.97 Walk Through Fire: The Train Disaster that Changed America
author: Yasmine S. Ali
name: Jim
average rating: 3.97
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Tooth and Claw (A Longmire Mystery, #0.5)]]> 209018850 In the tradition of Wait for Signs and The Highwayman, Craig Johnson is back with a short novel set in the Alaska tundra where a young Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear face off with powerful enemies who will do anything to get what they want.

Tooth and Claw follows Walt and Henry up to Alaska as they look for work after they both returned from serving in Vietnam. While working for an oil company in the bitter cold of winter, they soon encounter a ferocious polar bear who seems hell-bent on their destruction. But it’s not too long until they realize the danger does not lurk outside in the frozen Alaskan tundra, but with their co-workers who are after priceless treasure and will stop at nothing to get it.

Fans of Longmire will thrill to this pulse-pounding and bone-chilling novel of extreme adventure that adds another indelible chapter to the great story of Walt Longmire.]]> 205 Craig Johnson 0593834178 Jim 4 4.25 2024 Tooth and Claw (A Longmire Mystery, #0.5)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Jim
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/20
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]]> Winterkill (Joe Pickett, #3) 244100 352 C.J. Box 0425195953 Jim 4 4.17 2003 Winterkill (Joe Pickett, #3)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/19
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]]> <![CDATA[A Superior Death (Anna Pigeon, #2)]]> 86492 310 Nevada Barr 042519471X Jim 4 3.88 1994 A Superior Death (Anna Pigeon, #2)
author: Nevada Barr
name: Jim
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Medallion of Petra (Sam Reilly #29)]]> 205396231
The operation revealed a treasure trove of dangerous weapons, along with a series of strange artifacts from the ancient world. One of the most unlikely discoveries was a small bronze medallion.

They named it the Medallion of Petra, and somehow, it was much more dangerous and valuable than anyone could have ever imagined�

…and now Sam Reilly must unlock its secrets, before it’s too late.]]> 522 Christopher Cartwright Jim 4 4.62 The Medallion of Petra (Sam Reilly #29)
author: Christopher Cartwright
name: Jim
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents]]> 51152447 The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.�

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.]]> 544 Isabel Wilkerson 0593230256 Jim 4 4.52 2020 Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
author: Isabel Wilkerson
name: Jim
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/12/01
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]]> <![CDATA[At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)]]> 16333
When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she's looking for at Bertram's: traditional décor and impeccable service. But she senses an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric hotel guest makes his way to the airport one day late!

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "At Bertram's Hotel." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 223 Agatha Christie Jim 4 3.72 1965 At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Jim
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1965
rating: 4
read at: 2015/05/26
date added: 2024/11/28
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]]> Lusty Wind for Carolina 1722040 562 Inglis Fletcher 0892440031 Jim 5 4.00 1944 Lusty Wind for Carolina
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1944
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> Shock Wave (Dirk Pitt, #13) 41704
A hundred and forty years after a British ship wrecks on the way to an Australian penal colony and the survivors discover diamonds on the tropical island where they wash up, Maeve Fletcher, one of their descendants, is stranded on an island in Antarctica with a party of passengers after their cruise ship seemingly abandons them.

Dirk Pitt, on an expedition to find the source of a deadly plague that is killing dolphins and seals in the Weddell Sea, finds Maeve and the passengers and rescues them from death. When Pitt later uncovers the cause of the plague, he discovers that Maeve's father, Arthur Dorsett, and her two sisters are responsible because of their diamond-mining technology. A deadly race develops to stop Dorsett from continuing his murderous mining operations and to head off a disaster that will kill millions. Pitt's struggle to foil Dorsett's ruthless plan to destroy the market for diamonds and thus gain a monopoly of his own takes him from harrowing adventures off the west coast of Canada to being cast adrift in the Tasman Sea.]]> 537 Clive Cussler 0743449673 Jim 4 3.98 1996 Shock Wave (Dirk Pitt, #13)
author: Clive Cussler
name: Jim
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/15
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]]> War 217217007

War is an intimate and sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics and American history.

We see President Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. We also see Donald Trump, conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power.

With unrivaled, inside-the-room reporting, Woodward shows President Biden’s approach to managing the war in Ukraine, the most significant land war in Europe since World War II, and his tortured path to contain the bloody Middle East conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas.

Woodward reveals the extraordinary complexity and consequence of wartime back-channel diplomacy and decision-making to deter the use of nuclear weapons and a rapid slide into World War III.

The raw cage-fight of politics accelerates as Americans prepare to vote in 2024, starting between President Biden and Trump, and ending with the unexpected elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.

War provides an unvarnished examination of the vice president as she tries to embrace the Biden legacy and policies while beginning to chart a path of her own as a presidential candidate.

Woodward’s reporting once again sets the standard for journalism at its most authoritative and illuminating.]]> 448 Bob Woodward Jim 4 4.24 2024 War
author: Bob Woodward
name: Jim
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Out Of Range (Joe Pickett, #5)]]> 983546
Joe Pickett is attempting to enjoy-all right, survive-his mother-in-law's wedding to a local big-shot rancher when he receives some disturbing Will Jensen,a fellow Wyoming game warden and a good friend, has killed himself. And Joe's been picked to temporarily run Jensen's Teton district.

Jackson, Wyoming, is a far cry from Joe's hometown of Saddlestring-it's the epicenter for many environmental extremists and an elite playground for the rich and powerful-and Joe quickly finds himself in over his head. Yet despite the pressures of his new job, he can't get his friend's suicide out of his mind. By all accounts, Will had changed in the last few months, becoming violent and unpredictable.

The closer Joe comes to the truth about Will's death, the more his own life spirals out of control-and he realizes that if he's not careful, he may end up as Jackson's next victim. Out of Range proves once again that C. J. Box is one of the most original and entertaining voices in mystery fiction.]]> 310 C.J. Box 0425209458 Jim 5 4.18 2005 Out Of Range (Joe Pickett, #5)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Saint Meets the Tiger (The Saint #1)]]> 1807014 From London to the Devon coast, Templar follows a trail of stolen gold and hidden identities, risking his life at every turn. In a world of deception, can the Saint's peerless bravado and razor-sharp cunning unmask the Tiger and thwart a criminal conspiracy?

Leslie Charteris' classic thriller crackles with wit and high-octane action as it introduces the much-loved character of Simon Templar in his first unforgettable adventure.]]> 305 Leslie Charteris 0441524117 Jim 3 3.64 1928 The Saint Meets the Tiger (The Saint #1)
author: Leslie Charteris
name: Jim
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1928
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
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]]> Men of Albemarle 1742526 500 Inglis Fletcher 055325670X Jim 5 4.12 1942 Men of Albemarle
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1942
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Black Saturday: An Unfiltered Account of the October 7th Attack on Israel and the War in Gaza]]> 209763283 Fox News war correspondent Trey Yingst shares his gripping, firsthand account of the events of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war, offering riveting insight and fresh facts that clarify the scope and magnitude of this latest and most dramatic outbreak in one of the bloodiest, most nuanced, and longest-standing conflicts in modern history.

On the morning of October 7, 2023, the militant group known as Hamas launched a vicious attack on Israel in the most recent stage of the deeply complicated and decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict. The assault, which took place on Shabbat—the day of rest for the Jewish people—instantly became known among Israelis and the world as “Black Saturday.�

On October 7, Fox News Correspondent Trey Yingst was on the ground along the Gaza border and witnessed firsthand the devastation, shock, and deep sorrow that whirled through Israel. A seasoned journalist who has reported from some of the most dangerous hotspots around the world, including the frontlines in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, Yingst was just one among many people plunged into the terrifying chaos of that horrific event. In this shocking and eye-opening chronicle, he pieces together the story of that tragic day and reveals how he risked his life searching for answers to essential questions in real time--who within Israel had been attacked; what happened to them; who, potentially, was next--while exploring the impact on both Israelis and Palestinians as a full-scale war ramps up and peace grows more elusive. “We have a responsibility now to account for and record these events—and tell the world the truth,� Yingst writes. “We cannot look away.�

Committed to reporting the whole truth, on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border, Yingst interviewed a range of exclusive contacts to incorporate multiple perspectives. From conversations with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and high-ranking soldiers, to interviews with Senior Hamas official Dr. Bassem Naim and Gazan journalist Nael Ghaboun, to heartbreaking accounts from civilians placed in the crosshairs of the attack and conflict that followed, Yingst takes us inside the newest phase of an old war in which thousands more people—men, women, and children—are suffering.

Combining candor, grit, and veracity, Yingst paints a vivid picture of horrors and violence, matched by acts of courage and humanity that cut through the darkness. A testament to unwavering resilience and tenacity, Black Saturday is the riveting chronicle of one journalist’s experience relentlessly pursuing the truth in the face of terror.

Black Saturday will include a 16-pages of full-color photographs.


]]> 338 Trey Yingst 0063420066 Jim 4 4.37 2024 Black Saturday: An Unfiltered Account of the October 7th Attack on Israel and the War in Gaza
author: Trey Yingst
name: Jim
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2024/10/12
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]]> Podkayne of Mars 50839 224 Robert A. Heinlein 0441012981 Jim 4 3.66 1963 Podkayne of Mars
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Jim
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/10
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]]> <![CDATA[A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death]]> 42202807 The first-ever practical, compassionate, and comprehensive guide to dying - and living fully until you do.

“There is nothing wrong with you for dying,� palliative care Doctor BJ Miller and Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our ultimate purpose here isn’t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.�

Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, created to help listeners feel more in control of an experience that so often seems anything but. Their audiobook offers everything from step-by-step instructions for how to do your paperwork and navigate the health-care system to answers to questions you might be afraid to ask your doctor, like whether or not sex is still okay when you’re sick. You’ll be walked through how to break the news to your employer, whether to share old secrets with your family, how to face friends who might not be as empathetic as you’d hoped, and how to talk to your children about your will. (Don’t If anyone gets snippy, it’ll likely be their spouses, not them.) There are also lessons for survivors, like how to shut down a loved one’s social media accounts, clean out the house, and write a great eulogy.

An honest, surprising, and detailed-oriented guide to the most universal of all experiences, A Beginner’s Guide to the End is the one audiobook that everyone needs.]]> 576 B.J. Miller 1508282102 Jim 4 4.30 A Beginner's Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death
author: B.J. Miller
name: Jim
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/07
date added: 2024/10/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Atlantis Stolen (Sam Reilly #3)]]> 29369495 A civilization stolen from the history books.
A billionaire’s obsession to unlock its secrets.
A brotherhood determined to hide the truth.
And time is running out.

Only a handful of people know what destroyed the ancient Atlanteans, whose very existence is a secret that they will kill to protect. Unfortunately, the very same catastrophe that destroyed that once proud civilization is drawing near once more.

The question is, can marine biologist Sam Reilly discover the truth in time to prevent it?]]> 339 Christopher Cartwright Jim 4 4.09 2016 Atlantis Stolen (Sam Reilly #3)
author: Christopher Cartwright
name: Jim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/04
date added: 2024/10/04
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]]> Scarlett 225473 823 Alexandra Ripley 0446515078 Jim 0 3.40 1991 Scarlett
author: Alexandra Ripley
name: Jim
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
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]]> Havah: The Story of Eve 12671060 368 Tosca Lee 1433671778 Jim 4 4.17 2008 Havah: The Story of Eve
author: Tosca Lee
name: Jim
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
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An enjoyable, imaginative "biography" of Eve, the first woman.
]]> <![CDATA[The 1940s: A Brief History (Enhanced Version)]]> 18892169 "The 1940s: A Brief History" presents a comprehensive look at the decade of “The Greatest Generation.� This compact digital compendium helps you track the diverse forces that shaped the decade. You’ll explore the exciting history behind the decade’s biggest cultural, political, and technological standouts.

You’ll also gain valuable insight into groundbreaking events and major figures from the 1940s, including:

World War II Rosie the Riveter, Charlie Chaplin, and FDR Inception of the Cold War The Baby Boom Creation of the Modern Jet Invention of Nuclear Warfare, X-Ray Technology, and Velcro

...and more. Stunning photos coupled with rarely-seen historical video footage provide added dimension throughout this Brief History.

]]> 32 Vook 1614305684 Jim 3 3.36 2011 The 1940s: A Brief History (Enhanced Version)
author: Vook
name: Jim
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sargasso Ogre (Doc Savage, #18)]]> 341824 WHO IS DOC SAVAGE?

To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of glistening bronze skin and golden eyes. To his amazing co-adventurers - the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group - he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius, whose life is dedicated to the destruction of evil-doers. To his fans he is one of the greatest adventure heroes of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequalled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement.

THE SARGASSO OGRE

A ruthless attempt on the life of one of Doc’s crew thrusts the Man of Bronze and his incomparable companions into a chilling new adventure. From the ancient, skull-lined catacombs of Alexandria to a fantastic sea of floating primitive life where they unravel the centuries-old mystery of the Sargasso, Doc Savage and his men once more pursue the perverse agents of evil!]]> 140 Kenneth Robeson 0553113208 Jim 4 3.82 1933 The Sargasso Ogre (Doc Savage, #18)
author: Kenneth Robeson
name: Jim
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1933
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/09/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Omega Strain (Mitch Herron, #1)]]> 36954081

Herron’s business is death and business is good. Though he’s an assassin without equal, his latest job is no walk in the park. Fanatics hell-bent on cleansing the planet ambush Herron and turn him into a walking bioweapon.


With only days before he’s used to spread the most lethal contagion in human history, Herron can surrender himself to quarantine or hunt down the fanatics, knowing he might be the only person who can.


The clock is ticking…]]> 162 Steve P. Vincent Jim 3 3.91 2017 The Omega Strain (Mitch Herron, #1)
author: Steve P. Vincent
name: Jim
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion]]> 11324722 An alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780307377906 can be found here.

Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures. But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim—that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.]]> 419 Jonathan Haidt Jim 4 4.18 2012 The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Jim
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/24
date added: 2024/09/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Stupid History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions Throughout the Ages]]> 9690945 Best-selling author Leland Gregory employs his masterful wit to expose historical myths, faux "facts," strange events, and tales of human stupidity throughout history.
If it would shock you to learn that Benjamin Franklin didn't discover electricity, you'll appreciate this take on hundreds of historical legends and debacles. Historians and humorists alike may be surprised to learn
Samuel Prescott made the famous horseback ride into Concord, not Paul Revere.
As a member of Parliament, Isaac Newton spoke only once. He asked for an open window.
On April 24, 1898, Spain declared war on the U.S., thus starting the Spanish-American War. The U.S. declared war the very next day, but not wanting to be outdone, had the date on the declaration changed from April 25 to April 21.
With these and many other stories, leading humorist Leland Gregory once again highlights both the strange and the funny side of humankind.]]> 274 Leland Gregory 0740792105 Jim 2 3.39 2007 Stupid History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions Throughout the Ages
author: Leland Gregory
name: Jim
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
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]]> A Case of Need 35385796 A Case of Need is Michael Crichton's award-winning debut novel, written shortly after he completed his medical internship. Set against the ever-building pressure and pace of a large Boston medical center, the tensions flare-and explode-when a surgical operation tragically ends in death, raising countless questions. Was it accidental malpractice? A violation of the Hippocratic oath? Or cold-blooded murder?]]> 319 Jeffery Hudson Jim 4 3.92 1968 A Case of Need
author: Jeffery Hudson
name: Jim
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1968
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
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]]> Bennett's Welcome 2865731 451 Inglis Fletcher 0892440015 Jim 5 3.92 1950 Bennett's Welcome
author: Inglis Fletcher
name: Jim
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/09/16
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]]> <![CDATA[A Time to Love (The Time Travel Journals of Sahara Aldridge #3)]]> 58530030 Sahara Aldridge, a young Egyptologist in 1922, is mastering the genetic surprise of time travel.

She’s survived a murderous vizier in King Tut’s Egypt, and taken on ancient Roman aristocrats bent on deposing Nero.

She’s even managed to open her heart to the charming Jack Moretti, despite the shocking secret he’s finally divulged.

But when the next clue to finding her parents lands her in an ancient Egyptian assassination attempt, Sahara’s tinkering with the past just might erase her future.

Skimming across the lofty pyramids of ancient Egypt to the elegant canals of 18th century Venice, the answers to Sahara’s desperate search for belonging seem only a breath away.

But an old score must be settled, and an old feud reconciled, before she can face a truth more than thirty years in the making, and a secret she was never meant to learn.

How can love be enough, when fear and hate are fierce?]]> 312 Tracy L. Higley Jim 5 4.58 2021 A Time to Love (The Time Travel Journals of Sahara Aldridge #3)
author: Tracy L. Higley
name: Jim
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/08
date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> The Egyptian Book of the Dead 790550 The Egyptian Books of the Dead is unquestionably one of the most influential books in all of history. Embodying a ritual to be performed for the dead, with detailed instructions for the behavior of the disembodied spirit in the Land of the Gods, it served as the most important repository of religious authority for some three thousand years. Chapters were carved on the pyramids of the ancient 5th Dynasty, texts were written in papyrus, and selections were painted on mummy cases well into the Christian Era. In a certain sense it stood behind all Egyptian civilization.

In the year 1888 Dr. E. Wallis Budge, then purchasing agent for the British Museum, followed rumors he heard of a spectacular archaeological find in Upper Egypt, and found in an 18th Dynasty tomb near Luxor "the largest roll of papyrus I had ever seen, tied with a thick band of papyrus, and in a perfect state of preservation." It was a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, written around 1500 B.C. for Ani, Royal Scribe of Thebes, Overseer of the Granaries of the Lords of Abydos, and Scribe of the Offerings of the Lords of Thebes.

The Papyrus of Ani, a full version of the Theban recension, is presented here by Dr. Budge, who later became perhaps the world's most renowned Egyptologist. Reproduced in full are a clear copy of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, and interlinear transliteration of their sounds (as reconstructed), a word-for-word translation, and separately a complete smooth translation. All this is preceded by an introduction of more than 150 pages. As a result of this multiple apparatus the reader has a unique opportunity to savor all aspects of the Book of the Dead, or as it is otherwise known, the Book of the Great Awakening.]]> 377 Anonymous 048621866X Jim 3 3.94 -1500 The Egyptian Book of the Dead
author: Anonymous
name: Jim
average rating: 3.94
book published: -1500
rating: 3
read at: 2015/04/25
date added: 2024/09/06
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]]> <![CDATA[A Time to Weep (The Time Travel Journals of Sahara Aldridge #2)]]> 57652828 Sahara Aldridge, a young Egyptologist in 1922, is chasing down the trail of her parents through the unknown corridors of time.

But when all clues point to Ancient Rome as the next place to search, Sahara retreats into the safety of her archaeological work, cataloguing treasures from the newly-discovered tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

As the discovery of the intact tomb propels the world into a frenzy of “Tut-mania,� the ever-present Jack Moretti is there to help, but what is his agenda?

And it appears Tempus Vigilia isn’t going to leave her alone. The secret society has sent others, tracking her movements and asking too many questions.

Now it seems her family is in danger.

Sahara must once again put her career on hold, to find what she has lost.

But will Ancient Rome hold the answers, or only one more reason to grieve?]]> 292 Tracy L. Higley Jim 5 4.38 2021 A Time to Weep (The Time Travel Journals of Sahara Aldridge #2)
author: Tracy L. Higley
name: Jim
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/04
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]]> <![CDATA[A Time to Seek (The Time Travel Journals of Sahara Aldridge #1)]]> 57482218
Sahara Aldridge, a young Egyptologist in 1922, is making a name for herself on the digsite soon to become Egypt’s most sensational discovery—the tomb of the boy-king, Tutankhamun.

Despite opposition from a mostly-male profession, Sahara fights to continue the legacy of her Egyptologist parents, who died tragically at sea when she was a teen.

But then a childhood friend finds a lost journal written by Sahara’s mother, hinting at the bizarre possibility of time-travel, and a crazy suspicion forces Sahara to confront a freak incident years earlier�

Is it possible her parents were time travelers?

And has she inherited this mind-blowing ability?

When the American journalist Jack Moretti begins asking too many questions, Sahara suspects he knows more than he’s telling.

Did her parents truly perish in an accident? Or did someone target and murder them because of their time traveling gift?

There’s only one way to unearth the truth.

Sahara must travel back in time, to the days of King Tut.

But the biggest surprise is yet to come� the truth about her parents, and about her own destiny, discovered in the whispers of conspiracy around the death of Egypt’s most famous Pharaoh.

But what secrets are better left buried?]]> 298 Tracy L. Higley Jim 5 4.25 2021 A Time to Seek (The Time Travel Journals of Sahara Aldridge #1)
author: Tracy L. Higley
name: Jim
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
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]]> Assignment in Eternity 50838
«Missione nell’eternità» è uno dei libri maggiormente celebrati di Robert Heinlein, l’autore forse più prestigioso della fantascienza mondiale, uno dei «padri fondatori» del genere: e lo presenta ai lettori di « Futuro » nel meglio delle sue qualità narrative ed inventive.

Titoli
L'eredità perduta (Lost Legacy, 1941), romanzo breve
Altroquando (Elsewhen, 1941), racconto lungo
Jerry era un uomo (Jerry Was a Man, 1947), racconto
Abisso (Gulf, 1949), romanzo breve]]> 276 Robert A. Heinlein 0671578650 Jim 4 3.78 1953 Assignment in Eternity
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Jim
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/27
date added: 2024/08/27
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]]> Savage Run (Joe Pickett, #2) 244105 Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett uncovers a conspiracy in this explosive novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

When a massive blast rocks the forests of Twelve Sleep County, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is called to the scene to help investigate the death of a colorful environmental activist. The case is wrapped up quickly, explained as an environmental publicity stunt gone wrong, but Joe isn't convinced. He soon discovers clues that suggest a deadly conspiracy–one that will test his courage, his survival skills, and his determination to “do the right thing� despite all costs.]]> 304 C.J. Box 0425189244 Jim 5 4.06 2002 Savage Run (Joe Pickett, #2)
author: C.J. Box
name: Jim
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/27
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]]> Arkangel (Sigma Force, #18) 199635066
The execution of a Vatican archivist within the shadow of the Kremlin exposes a conspiracy going back three centuries—to the bloody era of the Russian Tsars. Before his murder, he manages to dispatch a coded message, a warning of a terrifying threat, one tied to a secret buried within the Golden Library of Tsars, a vast and treasured archive that had vanished into history.

As combative forces race for the truth behind this death and alarming discovery, Sigma Force is summoned to aid in the search—not only for this missing trove of ancient books, but to follow a trail far into the Arctic, to search for the truth about a lost continent and a revelation that could ignite a global war. But Sigma Force has its own difficulties at home after an explosive attack on the National Mall—one aimed at the heart of their covert agency—has left them vulnerable and exposed.

The growing conflict—both on Russian soil and deep in the Arctic—will reignite a centuries-old war between the newly resurgent Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican, while sabers rattle across the nations of the Arctic Circle, threatening to turn those icy seas into a fiery conflagration.

Facing enemies on all sides, it will be up to Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force to unravel a mystery going back millennia—and uncover the truth about a lost civilization and an arcane treasure that could save the planet…or destroy it.]]> 499 James Rollins 0062893165 Jim 5 4.06 2024 Arkangel (Sigma Force, #18)
author: James Rollins
name: Jim
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/24
date added: 2024/08/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Innocents Abroad, Or, the New Pilgrims' Progress]]> 2443 560 Mark Twain 0812967054 Jim 5 3.83 1869 The Innocents Abroad, Or, the New Pilgrims' Progress
author: Mark Twain
name: Jim
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1869
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Beasts of Tarzan (Tarzan, #3)]]> 330110 240 Edgar Rice Burroughs 0809599848 Jim 4 3.75 1914 The Beasts of Tarzan (Tarzan, #3)
author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
name: Jim
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1914
rating: 4
read at: 2013/05/28
date added: 2024/08/13
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I'd forgotten just how good the Tarzan books were. Thoroughly enjoyed it once again.
]]> <![CDATA[Borrower of the Night (Vicky Bliss, #1)]]> 66508
A missing masterwork in wood, the last creation of a master carver who died in the violent tumult of the sixteenth century, may be hidden in a medieval German castle in the town of Rothenburg. The prize has called to Vicky Bliss, drawing her and an arrogant male colleague into the forbidding citadel and its dark secrets. But the treasure hunt soon turns deadly. Here, where the blood of the long forgotten damned stains ancient stones, Vicky must face two equally perilous possibilities. Either a powerful supernatural evil inhabits this place. . .or someone frighteningly real is willing to kill for what Vicky is determined to find.]]> 310 Elizabeth Peters 0380733390 Jim 4 3.72 1973 Borrower of the Night (Vicky Bliss, #1)
author: Elizabeth Peters
name: Jim
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/11
date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> Grave Descend 210724483 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park comes a gripping read: James McGregor’s latest dive is unusual. No one who was aboard the wrecked Grave Descend tells the same story, and the ship was carrying mysterious cargo. As a deadly plot unfolds, McGregor risks drowning under it all…]]> 176 John Lange Jim 4 3.64 1970 Grave Descend
author: John Lange
name: Jim
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/07
date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> Bar-20 (Hopalong Cassidy #1) 4340687
Six rounds in three seconds was his slowest time. No one in the state of Texas could beat him.

Until he met Slim Travennes, head of the Sandy Creek Vigilante Committee. Slim was snake-fast. No man could go up against him and live. No man.

Hoppy could stand or die. He had no other choice. None at all.]]> 288 Clarence Edward Mulford 0812522907 Jim 4 3.73 Bar-20 (Hopalong Cassidy #1)
author: Clarence Edward Mulford
name: Jim
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round Up Bar 20]]> 1975542 180 Clarence Edward Mulford 1419124587 Jim 0 4.22 Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round Up Bar 20
author: Clarence Edward Mulford
name: Jim
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (Tarzan, #11)]]> 643802 Following their spoors, the ape-man came upon the lost Valley of the Sepulcher, where Knights Templar still fought to resume their Holy Crusade to free Jerusalem.
Soon Tarzan, true Lord of their ancient motherland, was armed with lance and shield, mixed into their jousting and ancient combat.
It was then that the slavers struck!]]> 191 Edgar Rice Burroughs 0345324552 Jim 0 3.40 1928 Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (Tarzan, #11)
author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
name: Jim
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1928
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Jim 0 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Jim
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> The Dutch House 44318414
The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.

Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives, they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.]]> 337 Ann Patchett 0062963678 Jim 5 4.08 2019 The Dutch House
author: Ann Patchett
name: Jim
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/02
date added: 2024/08/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wailing Wind (Leaphorn & Chee, #15)]]> 48084 Officer Bernadette Manuelito found the dead man slumped over in the cab of a blue pickup abandoned in a dry gulch off a dirt road--with a rich ex-con's phone number in his pocket ... and a tobacco tin nearly filled with tracer gold. It's her initial mishandling of the scene that spell trouble for her supervisor, Sgt. Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police--but it's the echoes of a long ago crime that call the legendary former Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn out of retirement. Years earlier, Leaphorn followed the trail of a beautiful, young, and missing wife to a dead end, and his failure has haunted him ever since. But ghosts never sleep in these high, lonely Southwestern hills. And the twisted threads of craven murders past and current may finally be coming together, thanks to secrets once moaned in torment on the desert wind.

]]> 334 Tony Hillerman 0061098795 Jim 5 4.06 2002 The Wailing Wind (Leaphorn & Chee, #15)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Jim
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/01
date added: 2024/08/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mercer Boys' Cruise in the Lassie]]> 6250732 214 Capwell Wyckoff Jim 4 4.00 1948 The Mercer Boys' Cruise in the Lassie
author: Capwell Wyckoff
name: Jim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1948
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/29
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]]> The Showman 63365317 384 Simon Shuster 0063307421 Jim 4 4.18 The Showman
author: Simon Shuster
name: Jim
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/28
date added: 2024/07/28
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]]> Jerusalem: The Biography 9477628 The epic story of Jerusalem told through the lives of the men and women who created, ruled and inhabited it.

Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence.

How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the ‘centre of the world� and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the men and women � kings, empresses, prophets, poets, saints, conquerors and whores � who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem.

Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime’s study, Montefiore illuminates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a unique chronicle of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice � in heaven and on earth.]]> 752 Simon Sebag Montefiore 0297852655 Jim 5 4.07 2011 Jerusalem: The Biography
author: Simon Sebag Montefiore
name: Jim
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Atheist's Guide to Christmas]]> 8493485
When the Atheist Bus Campaign was first launched, over £150,000, was raised in four days � enough to place the advert 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life' on 800 UK buses in January 2009. Now dozens of atheist writers, comedians and scientists are joining together to raise money for a very different cause.

The Atheist's Guide to Christmas is a funny, thoughtful handbook all about enjoying Christmas, from 42 of the world's most entertaining atheists. It features everything from an atheist Christmas miracle to a guide to the best Christmas pop hits, and contributors include Richard Dawkins, Charlie Brooker, Derren Brown, Ben Goldacre, Jenny Colgan, David Baddiel, Simon Singh, AC Grayling, Brian Cox and Richard Herring.

The full book advance and all royalties will go to the UK HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust.]]> 272 Ariane Sherine 0007389825 Jim 3 3.50 2009 The Atheist's Guide to Christmas
author: Ariane Sherine
name: Jim
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2010/12/18
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves:
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Hilarious in the beginning, rather boring in the middle, improving near the end. Many British references to customs, songs, movies, etc. will leave American readers wondering.
]]> Blow Fly (Kay Scarpetta, #12) 31623
She is settling into a new life as a private forensic consultant and is deep into a case that has left colleagues in Louisiana profoundly disturbed. A woman is found dead in a seedy hotel, dressed to go out, keys in her hand. Her history of blackouts, and her violent outbursts while under their spell, offer more questions than clues about the cause of her death. Then Scarpetta receives news that chills her to the core: Jean-Baptiste Chandonne - the vicious and unrepentant Wolfman, who pursued her to her very doorstep - asks to see her. From his cell on death row, he demands an audience with the legendary Dr. Scarpetta. Only to her will he tell the secrets he knows the authorities desire: the evidence that will bring a global investigation to a swift conclusion. Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, and her colleague Detective Pete Marino are left to wonder: After all the death and destruction, what sort of endgame could this violent psychopath have in mind? And could this request be somehow related to the Louisiana case?

Her friends and family by her side, Scarpetta must unravel a twisting conspiracy with an international reach and confront theshock of her life - a blow that will force her to question the loyalty and trust of all she holds dear.]]> 467 Patricia Cornwell 0425198731 Jim 2 3.81 2003 Blow Fly (Kay Scarpetta, #12)
author: Patricia Cornwell
name: Jim
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves:
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]]> Eruption 199372731
“The book is a classic summer beach read...Eruption will revive the art of speed-reading...told with a singular voice that is a compelling amalgam of the two writers.”—USA Today

“Eruption is an epic thriller…fast-paced and deeply considered…a cinematic story rooted in science and infused with plenty of heart, tackling big themes like love and loss.�
–T

The master of the techno-blockbuster joins forces with the master of the modern thriller to create the most anticipated mega bestseller in years.

Michael Crichton, creator of Jurassic Park, ER, Twister, and Westworld, had a passion project he’d been pursuing for years, ahead of his untimely passing in 2008. Knowing how special it was, his wife, Sherri Crichton, held back his notes and the partial manuscript until she found the right author to complete it: James Patterson, the world’s most popular storyteller.

“Red-hot storytelling... The action scenes will make readers� eyes pop as the tension continues to build." –Kirkus, starred review

“Explosive…the summer’s ultimate literary mashup.� —Washington Post

"Takes readers on a thrilling journey." —BBC

"Beachbag-ready." —Boston Globe

“A seismic publishing event…all the elements of a summer blockbuster…it’s a thrill and the pages practically turn themselves.� —Associated Press

“Eruption is this summer’s literary version of a blockbuster action movie.� –Los Angeles Times

"Breakneck and plausible." —Publishers Weekly]]> 423 Michael Crichton 0316565083 Jim 5 3.78 2024 Eruption
author: Michael Crichton
name: Jim
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[First Frost (Walt Longmire, #20)]]> 199558474
It’s the summer of 1964, and recent college graduates Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear read the writing on the wall and enlist to serve in the Vietnam War. As they catch a few final waves in California before reporting for duty, a sudden storm assaults the shores and capsizes a nearby cargo boat. Walt and Henry jump to action, but it’s soon revealed by the police who greet them ashore that the sunken boat carried valuable contraband from underground sources.

The boys, in their early twenties and in the peak of their physical prowess from playing college football for the last four years, head out on Route 66. The question, of course, is how far they will get before the consequences of their actions catch up to them—the answer being, not very.

Back in the present day, Walt is forced to speak before a Judge following the fatal events of The Longmire Defense. With powerful enemies lurking behind the scenes, the sheriff of Absaroka County must consider his options if he wishes to finish the fight he started.

Going back and forth between 1964 and the present day, Craig Johnson brings us a propulsive dual timeline as Walt Longmire stands between the crossfire of good and evil, law and anarchy, and compassion and cruelty at two pivotal stages in his life.]]> 333 Craig Johnson 0593830687 Jim 5 4.33 2024 First Frost (Walt Longmire, #20)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Jim
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hunting Badger (Leaphorn & Chee, #14)]]> 48116 318 Tony Hillerman Jim 5 4.02 1999 Hunting Badger (Leaphorn & Chee, #14)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Jim
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Deception Point 750508 A conspiracy of staggering brilliance.
A thriller unlike any you've ever read....

When a new NASA satellite spots evidence of an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory� a victory that has profound implications for U.S. space policy and the impending presidential election.

With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Milne Ice Shelf to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable—evidence of scientific trickery—a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy.

But before Rachel can contact the President, she and Michael are attacked by a deadly task force…a private team of assassins controlled by a mysterious powerbroker who will stop at nothing to hide the truth. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, they possess only one hope, to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all…]]> 558 Dan Brown 0743490304 Jim 4 3.67 2001 Deception Point
author: Dan Brown
name: Jim
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Call of the Canyon 828299 Zane Grey 1406947210 Jim 4 3.69 The Call of the Canyon
author: Zane Grey
name: Jim
average rating: 3.69
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves:
review:

]]> James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett 0385550367 Jim 4 4.45 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Jim
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/28
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story]]> 30145126
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God-but then committed suicide without revealing its location.

Three quarters of a century later, bestselling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.

Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn't until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease.

Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the twenty-first century.]]> 328 Douglas Preston 1455540005 Jim 4 3.84 2017 The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story
author: Douglas Preston
name: Jim
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]>