by Stephen E. Ambrose, 2001, Simon & Shuster, New York
This book was an okay read and some of it was interesting, particularly the information about George McGovern’s service as a B-24 bomber pilot. There was, however, nothing great about the book. Ambrose developed a formula for writing these books, applied it, and the end products show it. 
by Peter Gethers, 1991, Fawcett Columbine, New York
Ye, Gads! Another cat story!
This cat is the most amazing animal that ever lived. It’s owner can let it run loose on the rooftops of Paris with nary a concern that it will encounter its demise. This cat can melt the heart of the meanest carmudgeon. This cat makes me want to trade-up all of our existing three felines for animals who are at least above average.
No, on second thought, I think we will stick with what we’ve got: three lazy, do-nothing, give nothing in return, peeing over the edge of the kitty litter, always demanding critters. After all, they need us almost more than we need them.
One thing is for certain though; I won’t be reading more books about that super breed anytime soon.
by Barbara W. Tuchman, 1988, Alfred A. Knopf, New York
The theme of this book was the incident that occurred on St. Eustastia island in 1776 when the Dutch government of island acknowledged a ship flying the flag of the United States. The author traces events in Europe that preceded the salute and then takes the reader through to the culmination of the Revolution with the British defeat at Yorktown.
I learned a great deal from reading this book that I had not known previously, particularly the primary reasons why the British lost the war. I was struck by the parallels between those reasons and the reasons why we Americans lost the Vietnam War. The reasons included antipathy to the war at home, over-reliance on superior fire power, not understanding the reasons why the enemy was fighting, adherence to a flawed tactical sea battle plan, and sheer mismanagement. In fact, I think that a thorough understanding of the prosecution of the American Revolution from the British perspective may have prevented us from committing to the Vietnam War in the way we did.
The book also gave me a real appreciation of the extent of the French contribution, in money and in military resources, to our victory. The author focuses a lot of attention on the war at sea which would not have been possible without the French fleet. We were also lucky that Admiral George Rodney of the British Navy was incapacitated at the time of Yorktown. He, in fact, destroyed the French fleet when he returned to duty a mere six months after Yorktown.
After reading An American Lion, Andrew Jackson in the White House, it was refreshing to read a book by a real historian. Ms. Tuchman’s book was well researched, provided a great deal of insight regarding the period, and the flow of the book made it easy to follow. There were a few places where it bogged down a bit, but the story she tells is compelling. 
by Jon Meacham, 2008
I was extremely disappointed by this book. Mr. Meacham has managaed to take a fairly interesting character and times of our nation and make it exceedingly dull. He does this through too much repetition (as in the case of the tiff about Margaret Eaton), long quotes from dairies when shorter passages would suffice, and by somehow keeping the main characters impersonal. It is clear from this effort that Mr. Meacham is not a trained historian as the overall result is mediocre history at best.
I am currently reading a book by Barbara Tuchman about our Revolution and the contrast is stark. The events in her book flow and the characters seem very real. When she inserts her own opinions she does it in a way that does not seem overbearing. Meacham’s book tends toward the opposite.
Nontheless, I made it through the book and was rewarded with new knowledge of an era of which was unknown to me. I was particularly interested in the secession movement in South Carolina a generation before the Civil War. Compromise averted the splitting of the Union at that time, but only delayed the resolution until a later date.
I would look for another volume about Jackson and his times if I had to do it over again.
by Frank Conroy, 1993
This is a wonderful book to experience. It is about a person who grew up in very poor circumstances but had a talent for music and the piano. Conroy pours an incredible amount of detail regarding the music and yet is able to hold the reader’s attention. The characters are extremely human and are full of surprises. The book is well-written and easy to follow.
A book well worth reading. 
by George MacDonald Fraser, 2007
This is a rollicking story of 16th century thugs, damsels, royalty, heros involved in political intrigue in the vicinity of the Scottish border. Fraser brings the style that made his Flashman series so popular to this tale.
This is, I believe, the last book that Fraser wrote before he died and he was well in his eighties when he wrote it. He delights in absurd situations and this book is particularly absurd in that he utilizes anachronisms in just about every passage. He also inserts a huge number of modern colloquialisms into Elizabethan dialogue. These effects made me chuckle at almost every page in the early going. They also, however, began to grow somewhat stale at about page 100. The story and the characters were enough to carry me to the end, but not with the same enjoyment that I experienced at the beginning of the book.
This was the second book of Fraser’s that I have read, the first being the original Flashman. I will, at some point, try another Flashman book, but I fear that too much may cause it to go stale also. I think I will have to pace them.
The following is a letter to the editor that I submitted to the Naples Daily News on Sunday, January 25.
I read with interest Sunday’s Guest Commentary, “Building economy that won’t rely on population growth”, by Tammie Nemecek. While I applaud the efforts of the Economic Development Council and the 37 community groups and organizations, I wonder if enough attention is being given to the medical industry in our county. As I perused the list of Project Innovation endorsers provided in the commentary, I was struck by the fact that our local hospitals and other medical providers were not listed.
I am concerned that we may be attempting to create some new industries from scratch in Collier County that already exist in many other communities throughout the United States and the world such as computer software, communications, etc., while there exists a real need for top-notch medical services and technology in our area. We are blessed with a large population of retirees who live here either year-round or part of the year, but the medical infrastructure to support those individuals seems only to exist elsewhere. I have one friend who recently had a brain implant to help control his Parkinson’s disease, performed at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. I have another friend who had a heart valve replacement, performed at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. One of our major hospitals in Naples offers only a limited cardiac care program and is not licensed to perform open-heart surgery. This facility also out-sources some of its routine laboratory work to facilities in other parts of the state rather than doing all of it locally. It is indicative of our failure to aggressively support the establishment of a world-class facility that the Cleveland Clinic threw in the towel and pulled out of our area a couple of years ago. The current migration of family practitioners in Collier County to “concierge” service also reflects our inability to attract and retain primary care physicians and further limits access to exceptional health care for many individuals.
I grew up in small town in Minnesota that was 40 miles from Rochester, Minnesota, home to the Mayo Clinic. We often referred to that clinic as “the mecca”, as it attracted patients from all over the world. By contrast, I have heard the joke as to where to go around here to get the best medical care. Answer: Southwest Regional Airport.
We are blessed with possibly the best climate in which to undergo medical treatment and subsequent rehabilitation. We also have potentially the optimum clientele who are in need of such services. Rather than attempt to compete in some of the industries where world-wide competition already exists and where Collier County may not bring any new natural resources to the table, I believe we should be looking to put our best foot forward in this vital sector where we can truly leverage our local strengths and needs.
by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter, 2008, Grand Central Publishing, New York
This is a nice story, but is probably more interesting because of the story of the author and small-town Midwestern America. Dewey was obviously a special cat, but it is difficult to capture that in a book other than saying multiple times how special he was. I was impressed by the Vicki’s life, however, and how she overcame a bad marriage to an alcoholic, multiple deaths in her family in a short period of time, terrible medical problems, poverty, and raising a girl by herself as a single mother. Despite these cards stacked against her, she managed to get a college degree and graduate summa cum laude. She then went on to make a significant impact on the library where she worked and the town she lived in. These are noteworthy accomplishments.
The cat part of the story was nice but I didn’t quite get how special the cat was. Maybe having three cats ourselves as well as some pretty special ones previously has colored my thinking.
by Vince Flynn, 1997
This is a very good thriller about assassinations of politicians in Washington, D.C. The characters are pretty good, although a tad bit overdone in some cases, and the plot moves right along and is, for the most part, believable.
I recommend this book for an enjoyable read if for no other reason.
by Randy Wayne White, Read by Ron McLarty, 2000 by Randy Wayne White, 2005 by Recorded Books, LLC.
This is another mystery/thriller set in South Florida. There is a lot of information regarding the early history of the area, including the lore of the Calusa Indians. In the epilogue the author cites some actual events that occurred in the more recent past on which he based the theme of the book.
White is a pretty good storyteller and couples his story with quite of bit of historical and scientific detail. Most of the time the detail adds to the story, but in a few cases, it seems to detract from the action. There are a few situations where the events seem to defy imagination as in the case where the hero (Dr. Ford) has a violent confrontation with a law officer and manages to retain his glasses throughout the fight. Other than a few lapses such as this, the story manages to hold together pretty well.
Ron McLarty, the reader, does a fine job of reading White’s novels. He manages to capture the voices of virtually all the characters, male and female.