Read Books This will provide a list of the books I've read with a brief review. Users are blocked, contact me for access. I welcome discussions, but I'm tired of spam.

This is a well-written book of the events in 1066 that ultimately lead to putting William the Conqueror on the throne of England. The book starts by chronicling the recent history leading up to 1066 and culminating with the death of King Edward.

We learn the life of a common thane, his values and the scope of his world. It then expands into the justice system, their decision-making process, and ultimately how they choose their kings.

The book then follows events for each of the major players, King Harold, Harald Hardrada of Norway, and Duke William of Normandy. Filling in their backgrounds, motivations, and actions as each interacts with, or nearly misses the others.

The author builds on a series of events, each which could have changed the course of history, but collectively, led to the conquest of England. In the end, he brings it back to the thanes, and how it affected his world.

The story is very well told, contains a wealth of information and was difficult to put down. It provides a new perspective and great insights into an area of history most of us know too little about.

This is a behind-the-scenes story of Star Trek. It starts from its early concept and pitch to the studios. Herb Solow and Robert Justman (co-authors) discuss the politics and manipulations that happened to make Star Trek turn into a tv series. Years of work and three pilots later they debuted on the screen. But their obstacles never ceased, each year was a fight for renewal, there were problems with the cast, and problems with Desilu.

After reading it, I certainly have a different view of many of the people involved. My opinions of some of the major and minor actors and supporting staff has changed drastically. The authors attempt to take some of the credit normally attributed to Roddenberry and distribute it to other deserving individuals.

The book isn’t just for Trekkies, (the term was coined by the staff during the series run), but anyone interested in what goes on in a series production. My complaint is that the book is too terse. I feel like there’s a lot of information still untold.

This is a collection of short stories of World War II. The stories are from personal journals or personal accounts, and provide a different glimpse into different aspects of the war. One of the stories is of a Kamikazi pilot who was shot down and survived. There is one each from the German and Japanese perspectives of their end of the war, a story of a B17 and B52 bomber pilot, a German perspective on the invasion of Poland, and others. Each provides a unique view of the event and the people portrayed. The stories are well written and cohesive, although at time it can be gory. Overall, I found it an enjoyable and enlightening read.

This books traces Descartes’ influence through history, and the iconic holding of his bones by various people. It is enjoyable and enlightening as the bones are tied to Descartes’ influence on the individuals, society, and religion of western society.