Through My Eyes

Yet, Tim Tebow would have never been such a famous figure in football without the decision first made by his parents. The book starts out with his parents’ decision to give birth to their son instead of following the suggestion of doctors to abort him. It is this beginning that has set the stage for his life.

His parents grew up on a farm; from them he received an education and learned the value of hard work, persistence, and his faith. When Tim wanted to become a quarterback, his father supported his dreams and found a team that would play him in that position. It was through his family’s support and his faith that he achieved his dream of becoming a quarterback in the NFL.

Most of the football in the book takes place during his time with the University of Central Florida Gators and his first year in the NFL with the Denver Broncos. While he wasn’t as famous as he is now during this time in his life, he already had his faith.

Perhaps, that is what makes this book so unique. Tim Tebow isn’t afraid of making faith a part of his life or revealing how it influenced him. The book isn’t preachy at all and doesn’t try to convert anyone. It is a story of inspiration and his influences in life. His faith is as much a part of as his life as football is.

That being said, there are those who won’t particularly care for a story that has tones of Christianity in it. But that is a part of who Tim Tebow is and he is not ashamed of it.

While it is a inspirational story, if you are a critic or not a fan of Christianity, than you probably won’t like this book. Otherwise, it is one you should add to your collection.

The Zombie Survival Guide

The book begins by analyzing the zombies themselves. After all, you have to know how a zombie thinks or doesn’t think about when facing one. It is an essential part of learning how to survive in a world when the zombies do attack.

Included in the book is an in-depth analysis of potential weapons to be used against the zombie. Each weapon’s advantages and disadvantages are discussed so that you can make the best choices when it comes to defending your family. While it maybe a little hard to carry a flame thrower, don’t underestimate the power of a good blade, even though it can get a little messy.

Fighting the zombies is only a partial element of this book. You also have to know where to hide when the numbers become overwhelming, and places to avoid. But most importantly, you have to know what exactly to do after an attack when things are very chaotic. Preparation is the key to survival in an any apocalyptic zombie world.

This book is a serious look into what to do about a zombie invasion. But what makes this book really fun and satirical is that it treats the threat of zombies as a serious matter.

Making number three on the New York Times’ Bestseller Nonfiction list isn’t much of a surprise. The book is well written and basically fun to read. If you thought you knew everything about zombies from video games, well there are a couple of things still left to learn about them.

Bottom line, you should buy this book if you have any interest in surviving a zombie attack or just love pure satire. You can also get this book from the library or borrow from it a friend.

Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom

The cover picture shows one of the more unique friendships of a dove and monkey embracing. What is remarkable is that the dove stays put while the monkey lays down its head down in a form of embrace. It is a pairing that is quite unexpected in the animal kingdom.

Among other stories are those of motherless babies — like a leopard finding comfort by sleeping with a calf. These stories show motherhood can triumph over the instinctive nature of two animals that would normally be enemies.

It is a cute book for kids and would make a very good gift for kids who love animals. The animals are quite cute. The stories that go along with them are very inspiring. Young kids will appreciate the pictures even if they can’t read the stories that accompany them.

Any animal lover will like this unique insight into nature. The color pictures are appealing portraits of  moments in the animals’ friendships.

It is a fairly quick read since the stories themselves aren’t that long. You will spend more time looking at the pictures than reading the actual stories. But they are a good accompaniment to the photographs and explain how the relationships came to be.

This is a very good gift book for friends and family. They will love the sentiment behind the friendships of the animals and perhaps learn a few things that they didn’t know.

While there are the expected cat and dog friendships that have been seen before, there are a few surprises in store for the readers. Look for discounts when buying this book.

With nine sassy chapters (including my one of favorites, titled: “The Only Thing You Should Ever Fake… Being A Domestic Goddess”), Jane sheds lights on how to handle any situation life throws at you, whether it be a flat tire, a fashion emergency (the stain removal guide is basically my Bible), or whipping up a gourmet dinner for unexpected guests. She teaches you how to keep up with the boys while still remaining a lady, how to nail that dream job, and how to manage your life without going into debt.

I enjoy reading through the book when I have free time just for the tips in the margins. I’m a sucker for useless trivia, so I loved these little facts that I’ll be able to pull out of nowhere someday. When my roommates and I had minor emergencies and wanted to handle them on our own (read: not running to our cell phones to call our parents!) I’d consult Jane’s guide. For example, when my roommate left her light on in her car… and woke up to a dead battery. Luckily we had jumper cables, but we didn’t know if it went red-then-black or black-then-red. I suppose we could have Googled it, but having it handy in a book saved us that time.

While some of these tips could certainly be considered a little old-fashioned (the etiquette chapter for instance, though I’d argue that being polite never goes out of style!) and some may seem excessive (I know I certainly can’t afford to stock a full bar just to satisfy any guest’s needs!), many of them are classic tips and tricks of the trade. Jane’s tongue-in-cheek commentary is clever, creative, and empowering.

The Modern Girl’s Guide to Life is definitely a great idea for a upcoming holiday present for your favorite modern girl!

I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words

However, this is not an actual biography of Steve Jobs. It contains his quotes. Most of them are interview quotes and insights into his business philosophy. It is not his life story, which is available for reading in other books.

In some respects, this is the perfect book for the average reader who wants to find out about Steve Jobs but doesn’t want to spend hours reading a biography. It is short, only numbering about 160 pages. A lot of those pages are taken up with citing the sources of the quotes. So in reality, it is quite a bit shorter if you don’t read the citations.

The setup of the book sort of reminds me how some sites arrange Mark Twain quotes. They are arranged by subject rather than stuffed into any sort of timeline. In a way, this is a much better setup, because sometimes it can be difficult to tell exactly what subject a particular quote is referring to.

It also contains a time line of Jobs’ life. This is a short synopsis of his major life events. But it doesn’t really go into much detail.

Clearly, George Beahm took a lot of time to research and document those quotes. He appears to have a lot of respect for Steve Jobs and it shows here.

If you like Apple products and are somewhat interested in Steve Jobs, then this is the book for you. For big fans of Steve Jobs, this is a convenient book  of his quotes to own, but you will find much more information about him in his biography.

Released by Crown Publishers on November 9, 2010, Decision Points is not one of the absolute newest releases, but it is a book the remains relevant and insightful for any American alive during the second Bush administration. This memoir, as the title so cleverly suggests, centers on the key decisions of the Bush presidency and his insights into what he would have done differently. This is where my interest started to grow. Where the first two chapters center around Bush’s decisions in his life before presidency, such as his decision to quit drinking and his decision to run for governor of Texas in 1986, the next 12 chapters focus on the major events of his presidency, ranging from the September 11, 2001 attacks to the financial crisis of 2008.

There are some very interesting insights into Bush that I would not have expected, but there are also plenty of chapters in which Bush blatantly attempts to reshape his political legacy and correct some of the major poor decisions he made in his eight years as the “leader of the free world.” One of the mistakes in his presidency that Bush addresses is the way that his administration handled the response and relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As a New Orleanian, I knew this section would be entertaining. To “remedy” the issue, Bush simply writes, “As a leader of the federal government, I should have recognized the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster.” This is perhaps one of the least sincere, most bland attempts at reshaping a personal political legacy that I have ever seen.

The bland writing is a defect that is seen often throughout the Decision Points. It gets slightly more colorful when Bush writes that when he thinks about the Iraq War he still claims to have “a sickening feeling every time”. It is moments like this when I remember why Bush was so unpopular. The memoir is probably the most crass and informal memoir ever written by a president. While the book ends with Bush writing about picking up dog excrement, Decision Points does give key insights into why Bush made the decisions he did. To summarize the 484-page book, when it came time to make an important decision, he followed the guidance of Jesus Christ, and his own gut. This explains a lot.

The secrets featured in this latest book all revolve around faith. For example, one of the cards was from a woman in Texas whose husband was a Baptist pastor. Her secret: no one ever suspected her of being an atheist. The premise of the book centers on the complicated, and often taboo, themes of faith, doubt, life, death, and the complications of religion. Another secret is from a woman who lost her unborn child mid-pregnancy. It reads, “That was the day my baby, God, and my heart died.” As you can suspect, many of the secrets are heavy, and painful. Others are uplifting, and somewhat humorous. A scandalous example of this can be found on a postcard with a photo of two young Mormon missionaries that states in beautiful cursive, “Whenever I meet a Mormon missionary, I get the sudden urge to tie him up and have my way with him.”

The secrets found in the book are some of the most personal ones Warren has ever received. Confessions are found from people at every stage of life, from nearly every major faith. This has been called Warren’s “most profoundly moving (book) yet”. To add to the internal beauty of the book, each postcard is decorated in a unique, and often stunningly beautiful manner. The bright colors and designs often contrast the stark sadness and mourning that many of the secrets possess.

Warren’s books, and the PostSecret project in general, are so important because they not only provide an outlet for the individual sending in the secret, but they provide an unsurpassed snapshot into the lives of everyday Americans. We all have our secrets, and many find comfort in seeing these hundreds of examples of other people’s secrets. If you are in the mood for an uplifting, endlessly entertaining book, pick up a copy of PostSecrets: Confessions on Life, Death & God, today for around $16.

I also strongly recommend sending in an anonymous secret to Frank Warren. The address is PostSecret, 13345 Copper Ridge Rd., Germantown, Maryland 20874.

Of the twenty-four aboard the ship, there were three survivors. Two men, a Sergeant and Lieutenant, along with one woman, a WAC, survived the crash. Injured in this mountainous terrain, the three individuals struggled against the harsh conditions of the jungle. Fighting off starvation, disease and badly infected wounds weren’t their only problems. The unknown savages of the land were also waiting for them.

The crash didn’t go away unnoticed. A rescue mission was launched. The team’s leader was a Hollywood fly-boy who was more interested in drinking than in leading a rescue mission. But somehow, he and his team had to overcome the many challenges to get the three survivors to safety. This certainly was not a typical rescue.

The story showcases the rescue mission but also provides a glimpse into the twenty-four people who were on that crashed plane. Oftentimes, it is only the survivors that have their story told. The book also tells about those who died in the crash, the members of the rescue mission, and provides glimpses of the natives who lived on the island. Pictures are included to give the book life and a reference for the reader.

It is an incredible story that gets lost in the other events that happened during World War II. Even if you aren’t into history or World War II, the story alone is worth reading. From the lives of those who struggled to survive to the reaction of the natives to outsiders, you are transported to a time when the rest of the world was in chaos and this island was untouched by time itself.

The book can get a little long because it does details the lives of the other people who died in the crash. The price is also a little on the expensive side. If you find it for a decent price, it is definitely worth adding to your library.

Henrietta Lacks was a woman back in the 1950s who received the devastating diagnosis of cancer. After collecting her cancer cells, scientists discovered that her cells had a remarkable ability to replicate. It was this power that allowed scientists to unlock many secrets of the cell world and aid in the development of many different types of drugs. Dubbed the “HeLa” cells, her cells are still famous and can be easily found. However, very few scientists realized that it was a living person who donated the cells.

But this power did not come without a cost. Henrietta Lacks died shortly after the diagnosis in the “colored” ward of the hospital. Perhaps, it was her family that suffered the most from her fame. The code of ethics was breached by both scientists and journalists who showed a blatant disregard for the fact that Henrietta was once among the living. Henrietta’s family has not gained any compensation for the continued use of Henrietta’s cells.

As Rebecca Skloot digs more into this story, she explores the more important question of scientist ethics. In the book, she gathers the opinions of experts in the scientific field and presents the hard questions of whether or not science should be accountable to  individuals. She also notes the difficulties the family has since gone through as a result of all the fame.

It is a very interesting look into the past and a very relevant issue for today’s society. As science continues to outpace the laws that surround it, the questions of ethics is still very much at the forefront. While science strives to keep its impartial distance, this book is a reminder that at the core, there are still human beings who have lives and families that are affected by the decision of the scientists.

It can be a hard book to read. Not because of how it is written but because of the subject matter. It certainly provides some thought provoking material. It is an interesting book to pick up and read, to discover the science of the past and the questionable path it took to make future findings.

The Glass Castle

Before you pick up this book, you should know that it contains incidents that could be considered abusive. There may be some content that is disturbing since much of the incidents involve children. This is not a book that contains light reading.

As Jeannette recalls the stories of her childhood, it is the memories of her parents that are the strongest. Her father is showcased as a brilliant but frustrated genius. When he is good, he shows her and her siblings a world of magic. When his weaknesses overcome him, he is bad, neglectful, and irresponsible. The good moments spent with him were almost a dreamy type of storyline. However, Jeannette seems to whitewash his bad moments of his drinking habit and other personality flaws. To be fair, the stories are told from a child’s point of view and most children tend to idealize their parents despite the flaws.

Her mother is a very selfish creature who often gets lost in the world of her art. To her, taking care of children is a burden rather than a responsibility. As a result, the children are often left to fend for themselves and find their own food. It can make you wonder why she had children in the first place.

As a result of her parent’s disinterest in settling down and confronting their own problems, Jeannette and her siblings traveled from place to place in sort of a nomadic lifestyle. They finally settled down for a time in a place that her father never wanted to return to, his hometown. It is from there that Jeannette finds her escape to New York. But her parents aren’t content at being left behind and follow her. For a time, she has to deal with their insertion into her life. The ending is a little disappointing because it leaves the reader with some questions that remain unanswered.

It is a story of her life as she remembered it and the obstacles that she had to overcome to get to where she is now. However, the book does not portray anger at these childhood stories. Instead, they are more memories whitewashed by time and reflecting the more hopeful characteristics of her life.