(Ratings from Amazon.com, as of this morning.)
At Amazon, B&N, and Walmart (Kobo):
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by Joshua Foer, $2.99
(add Audible narration for $8.99*)
4,684 ratings
5-star: 69%
4-star: 19%
3-star: 8%
An instant bestseller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top "mental athletes." He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author's own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.
https://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Remembering-Everything-ebook/dp/B004H4XI5O
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/moonwalking-with-einstein-joshua-foer/1100224655?ean=9781101475973
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/moonwalking-with-einstein-1
The Little Shop in Cornwall, by Helen Pollard, $2.99
363 ratings
5-star: 64%
4-star: 23%
3-star: 10%
Claudia thought she knew how this summer was going to go. Turns out, she didn’t have a clue…
It’s been two years since Claudia arrived on the beautifully rugged Cornish coast with nothing but a suitcase to her name. She’d walked out on the husband who had never loved her, ditched the corporate job she’d never wanted and vowed that no gym membership card would come within ten feet of her ever again.
Swapping boardrooms and cocktails for a little shop right at the end of the beach road should have been a bit of a shock. But from the moment she first laid eyes on the empty, run-down store, Claudia knew this was where she was meant to be all along.
After all that upheaval, Claudia was looking forward to a quiet summer, full of the usual holiday makers and long walks along the clifftops. But life in her patch of paradise is about to change in more ways than one.
Enter recently widowed Jason, dragging his sullen teenage daughter Millie in tow. Millie and Claudia immediately hit it off. And while Millie loves everything about Claudia’s free-spirited way of life, practical architect Jason is less than thrilled about his daughter’s new interests. He doesn’t shy away from telling Claudia exactly what he thinks and sparks fly every time they meet.
But as circumstances throw Claudia into Jason’s path in increasingly unexpected ways, she begins to glimpse what lies beneath his fiery temper and sharp tongue. Claudia was sure her new life was perfect in every way. But was there something missing after all?
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Shop-Cornwall-heartwarming-beach-ebook/dp/B0862J7Q5Z/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-little-shop-in-cornwall-helen-pollard/1136764141?ean=9781838888916
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-little-shop-in-cornwall
The Charisma Myth, by Olivia Fox Cabane, $1.99
(add Audible narration for $3.99*)
1,719 ratings
5-star: 73%
4-star: 14%
3-star: 8%
What if charisma could be taught?
For the first time, science and technology have taken charisma apart, figured it out and turned it into an applied science: In controlled laboratory experiments, researchers could raise or lower people's level of charisma as if they were turning a dial.
What you'll find here is practical magic: unique knowledge, drawn from a variety of sciences, revealing what charisma really is and how it works. You'll get both the insights and the techniques you need to apply this knowledge. The world will become your lab, and every person you meet, a chance to experiment.
The Charisma Myth is a mix of fun stories, sound science, and practical tools. Cabane takes a hard scientific approach to a heretofore mystical topic, covering what charisma actually is, how it is learned, what its side effects are, and how to handle them.
https://www.amazon.com/Charisma-Myth-Science-Personal-Magnetism-ebook/dp/B005GSZZ24/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/charisma-myth-olivia-fox-cabane/1102829271?ean=9781101560303
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-charisma-myth-1
*Audible narration only available for purchases at Amazon.com.
At Amazon and Kobo:
Unlost, by Gail Muller, $0.99
15 ratings
5-star: 75%
4-star: 16%
3-star: 9%
Gail Muller was told she’d be in a wheelchair by the age of forty. At forty-one, she embarked on one of the world’s toughest treks – The Appalachian Trail. An inspiring, uplifting and moving account of one woman’s incredible journey into the unknown and how she reclaimed herself in the process.
As Gail took her first steps on the 2,200-mile trek through the wilderness of the USA, she had no idea what lay ahead of her, but she knew she felt burnout from city life, lost and broken – ready to heal a mind and body that she had battled with for so long.
From the resilience-building mountain climbs, painful injuries and harsh reality of braving the raw elements, to the unexpected friendships forged with other hikers and the kindness of strangers offering food and shelter – with every step, Gail started to let go of a past dominated by chronic pain and reconnected with herself in a way she’d never been able to before.
A love letter to the healing power of the wild outdoors and an incredible testament to the strength of the human spirit, Gail’s story is for anyone who has ever felt stuck in a rut, lost or scared. She shows us that even in our darkest times, it’s possible to find our inner grit, face our fears and feel hopeful.
https://www.amazon.com/Unlost-journey-self-discovery-healing-outdoors-ebook/dp/B094Y95W4B/
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/unlost-3
At Kobo.com:
A Mapwalker Trilogy, by J.F. Penn, $2.99
16 ratings
5-star: 82%
4-star: 18%
3-star: 8%
[The individual books are not ranked as highly as the trilogy. The trilogy seems to have been rated by people who had already read the series and were fans of it. The ratings of the individual books are:
Map of Shadows: 50% 5-star, 28% 4-star, 16% 3-star
Map of Plagues: 73% 5-star, 17% 4-star, 4% 3-star
Map of the Impossible: 79% 5-star, 14% 4-star, 7% 3-star]
A place written out of history. A world off the edge of the map.
In this fantasy adventure trilogy, Sienna and the Mapwalker team must defend Earthside from the invasion of the Borderlanders and face their darkest challenge against the Shadow.
Map of Shadows
A map of skin etched in blood. A world under threat from the Borderlands.
A young woman who must risk the shadows to save her family.
When her Grandfather is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Sienna Farren inherits his map shop in the ancient city of Bath, England. She discovers that her family is bound up with the Ministry of Maps, a mysterious agency that maintains the borders between this world and the Uncharted.
With the help of Mila Wendell, a traveler on the canals, Sienna discovers her own magical ability and a terrifying place of blood that awaits in the world beyond.
But when she discovers a truth about her past and the Borderlands begin to push through the defenses, Sienna must join the team of Mapwalkers on their mission to find the Map of Shadows – whatever the cost.
In a place written out of history, a world off the edge of the map, Sienna must risk everything to find her father … and her true path as a Mapwalker.
Map of Plagues
A city threatened by an ancient plague.
A love across borders.
A desperate choice that could break their worlds apart forever.
When a fragment of a deadly map is recovered from a medieval plague pit in London, the Mapwalker team must cross over into the Borderlands once more.
In a race against time, they must find the remaining pieces of the map in a journey across long-lost cities before the Shadow Cartographers wield it against Earthside in a devastating attack.
Can Sienna resist the call of the Shadow as she struggles to save her home? Will Finn take a risk on love across borders or leave the Earthsiders to their fate?
Map of the Impossible
A journey through the realm of the dead.
A threat that will change the world.
A choice that might save everything—or end it all.
As natural disasters sweep Earthside, a mutant army rises in the Borderlands, driven by the dark force behind the Shadow Cartographers. Sienna and the Mapwalker team must use the Map of the Impossible to journey through the realm of the dead and face the nightmare at its heart.
But when one of their number is taken and the team begins to break apart, each Mapwalker must face their greatest challenge.
Can the Mapwalker team reach the Tower of the Winds before the Shadow claims Earthside?
Will Sienna choose Finn — or turn away from the Borderlands forever?
This ebook boxset contains three full-length portal fantasy adventure novels. The trilogy is the complete series.
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-mapwalker-trilogy
At Amazon:
Infantry Attacks, by Erwin Rommel, $1.99
362 ratings
5-star: 81%
4-star: 12%
3-star: 5%
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel exerted an almost hypnotic influence not only over his own troops but also over the Allied soldiers of the Eighth Army in the Second World War. Even when the legend surrounding his invincibility was overturned at El Alamein, the aura surrounding Rommel himself remained unsullied.
In this classic study of the art of war Rommel analyses the tactics that lay behind his success. First published in 1937 it quickly became a highly regarded military textbook, and also brought its author to the attention of Adolf Hitler. Rommel was to subsequently advance through the ranks to the high command in the Second World War. As a leader of a small unit in the First World War, he proved himself an aggressive and versatile commander, with a reputation for using the battleground terrain to his own advantage, for gathering intelligence, and for seeking out and exploiting enemy weaknesses. Rommel graphically describes his own achievements, and those of his units, in the swift-moving battles on the Western Front, in the ensuing trench warfare, in the 1917 campaign in Romania, and in the pursuit across the Tagliamento and Piave rivers.
This classic account seeks out the basis of his astonishing leadership skills, providing an indispensable guide to the art of war written by one of its greatest exponents.
https://www.amazon.com/Infantry-Attacks-Erwin-Rommel-ebook/dp/B01GCESEXC
The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, by Steve Anderson and Karen Anderson, $1.99
399 ratings
5-star: 76%
4-star: 14%
3-star: 5%
The Bezos Letters lays out the fourteen growth principles that Amazon uses every day by examining Jeff Bezos’ personal letters to shareholders.
Jeff Bezos created Amazon, the fastest company to reach $100 billion in sales ever, making him the richest man in the world. Business owners marvel at Amazon’s success, but don’t realize they have the answers right at their fingertips as Bezos reveals his hidden roadmap in his annual letters to shareholders. For the first time, business analyst Steve Anderson unlocks the key lessons, mindset, principles, and steps Bezos used, and continues to use, to make Amazon the massive success it is today. Steve shows business owners, leaders, and CEOs how to apply those same practices and watch their business become more efficient, productive, and successful—fast!
https://www.amazon.com/Bezos-Letters-Principles-Business-Amazon-ebook/dp/B07VD2XMHQ
The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister (The Perry Mason Mysteries Book 4), by Erle Stanley Gardner, $1.99
483 ratings
5-star: 60%
4-star: 26%
3-star: 9%
Beautiful Sylvia Bain Atwood is overseeing her ailing father’s estate while her sister serves as his caregiver. But their father’s fortune has shadowy roots—and now one of his creditors is blackmailing the family.
When the situation escalates to murder, defense lawyer Perry Mason will have his hands full in this mystery in Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic, long-running series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany.
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Eyed-Sister-Perry-Mason-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B084TLFL1V
Willow Falls (Matt Bannister Book 1), by Ken Pratt, $0.99
1,065 ratings
5-star: 61%
4-star: 23%
3-star: 10%
Welcome to Willow Falls. The town young Matthew Bannister ran away from fifteen years before. Now famed U.S. Deputy Marshal Matt Bannister is coming home to reconcile with his family. He prayed he wouldn’t see his ex-best friend Tom Smith nor the only girl he ever loved, Tom’s wife, Elizabeth. However, old feuds unsettled never die and spark a powder keg of action when the desperate Moskin Gang kidnap Elizabeth and leave a murderous trail behind them. In anguish, Tom, the Willow Falls sheriff, turns to his despised old-friend to help get the woman they both love back alive, if they can.
Sometimes God’s greatest blessing is unanswered prayer.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L52BQ75
Dark Harmony (The Bargainer Book 4), by Laura Thalassa, $0.99
2,329 ratings
5-star: 63%
4-star: 23%
3-star: 8%
There are worse things than death. Things that lurk in the shadows and slip into your dreams. Things that have no business existing. Things that once slept … but have now awoken.
For Callypso Lillis, the fae magic that now runs through her veins is equal parts curse and good fortune. For the very thing that bonds her to Desmond Flynn, the King of the Night, also makes her vulnerable to the Thief of Souls, a man who wants to break the world … and Callie along with it.
But it’s not just the Thief whose shadow looms over the Otherworld. Des’s father is back from the dead, and he wants revenge on the son who sent him to the grave in the first place.
Des and Callie must figure out how to stop both men, and time is running out. Because there are forces at play working to tear the lovers apart once and for all … and unfortunately for them, death is no longer the worst thing to fear.
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Harmony-Bargainer-Book-3-ebook/dp/B07HMD24BP
Dr. Drew interviewed Scott Adams recently, and Scott Adams mentioned the absurdity that Republicans went to overthrow the government on Jan 6, but they neglected to bring their guns. On the first or second anniversary of the event, that alleged oversight made the narrative appear absurd to me, so I made a "video" that was supposed to be audio from January 6, captured on a video camera from which the lens cap had not been removed. I'm posting it again just because.
While I was waiting on hold to talk with a human at the IRS, I decided to put some food out for the dogs. I set the full bag of dog food on a chair, and walked away to get the bowls. When I turned around I saw the bag slowly tipping over, spilling much of its contents onto the floor. Fortunately I had help cleaning it up.
The main task for today is to begin revising McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader. It may take a couple of weeks, possibly more. I still have to work at Publix, and next week I start a new job in the memory care unit of a rehab/nursing home facility, and I'll also be working at Publix at least one night.
After that I'll take a look at the double-slit experiment, and see if there is an interpretation that is consistent with my theory of wave physics.
Also, I came across the attached meme, which I had created two or three years (or so) ago. I thought I'd include it because I still like it.
I recently proposed a theory of matter and energy called Wave Physics. In this theory, the only things in the universe are energy and the universal membrane, which is the medium through which all energy is transfered and stored.
Tonight I realized that according to this theory, everyone and everything in the universe are connected to each other at all times. Things that would be impossible according to the standard model of particle physics, are very possible in the universe of wave physics. Psychic transmissions and the power of prayer are physically possible and make sense if the universe works in any way like the theory I proposed.
If you've ever heard the phone ring and felt sure who it was before answering it, and were proven correct, this makes sense in wave physics, but not with particle physics. If you've ever looked intently at someone, and had that person quickly turn and look directly at you (I have), that phenomenon makes sense if all of us are parts of the same vast, ...
I was only scheduled to work three days this week, so I decided to work on a theory I'd been playing around with for fun over the last few years. I'd never been a big fan of the standard model of particle physics, so a few years ago, just for fun, I thought about exploring some alternate ideas, with zero training and zero experiments.
This week I wrapped up a few loose ends, and posted it to a community I created called Wave Physics. Originally I had called it Alternative Physics, but I changed my mind, so the link still has alternativephysics in it, but the community name is Wave Physics. I'd love for people to pay $5.00 a month to tell me how wrong I am.
https://alternativephysics.locals.com/
I also posted it on my personal website:
