(Ratings from Amazon.com, as of this morning.)
At Amazon, B&N, and Walmart (Kobo):
Hell's Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II, by Jay A. Stout, $1.99
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255 ratings
5-star: 80%
4-star: 15%
3-star: 3%
[#1 Best seller in Amazon's Biographies of World War II category.]
The true story of World War 2’s legendary Hell’s Angels—the 8th Air Force’s 303rd Bomb Group.
Although the United States declared war against Germany in December 1941, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany’s industrial and military might were crippled. The first target was the Luftwaffe—the most powerful and battle-hardened air force in the world. The United States Army Air Forces joined with Great Britain’s already-engaged Royal Air Force to launch a strategic air campaign that ultimately brought the Luftwaffe to its knees. One of the standout units of this campaign was the legendary 303rd Bomb Group—Hell’s Angels.
This is the 303rd’s story, as told by the men who made it what it was. Taking their name from their B-17 of the same name, they became one of the most distinguished and important air combat units in history. The dramatic and terrible air battles they fought against Germany ultimately changed the course of the war.
https://www.amazon.com/Hells-Angels-Story-303rd-Group-ebook/dp/B00KWG5VX8/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hells-angels-jay-a-stout/1119671438?ean=9780698154698
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/hell-s-angels-2
Dachshund through the Snow (Andy Carpenter Series #20), by David Rosenfelt, $2.99
613 ratings
5-star: 80%
4-star: 15%
3-star: 4%
This Christmas, lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara, can't say no to helping young Danny and his dachshund, Murphy.
Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife, Laurie, have started a new Christmas tradition. Their local pet store has a Christmas tree, where instead of ornaments there are wishes from those in need. One poignant wish leads Andy to a child named Danny, whose selfless plea strikes a chord. Danny asked Santa for a coat for his mother, a sweater for his dachshund, Murphy, and for the safe return of his missing father.
It turns out Danny’s father doesn't want to be found, he’s on the run after just being arrested for a murder that took place fourteen years ago – a murder that Danny’s mother swears he didn’t commit.
https://www.amazon.com/Dachshund-Through-Snow-Carpenter-Novel-ebook/dp/B07P9LQ99N/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dachshund-through-the-snow-david-rosenfelt/1130073541?ean=9781250257383
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dachshund-through-the-snow-1
More Was Lost: A Memoir, by Eleanor Perényi, $1.99
22 ratings
5-star: 75%
4-star: 17%
3-star: 0%
In 1937, at the age of nineteen, Perényi falls in love with a poor Hungarian baron and in short order acquires both a title and a struggling country estate at the edge of the Carpathians. She throws herself into this life with zeal, learning Hungarian and observing the invisible order of the Czech rule, the resentment of the native Ruthenians, and the haughtiness of the dispossessed Hungarians. In the midst of massive political upheaval, Perényi and her husband remain steadfast in their dedication to their new life, an alliance that will soon be tested by the war. With old-fashioned frankness and wit, Perényi recounts this poignant tale of how much was gained and how much more was lost.
https://www.amazon.com/More-Was-Lost-Memoir-Classics-ebook/dp/B00XSVUJYK/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/more-was-lost-eleanor-perenyi/1101062656?ean=9781590179505
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/more-was-lost
Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character, by James Stavridis, $1.99
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611 ratings
5-star: 76%
4-star: 17%
3-star: 6%
[#1 Best seller in Amazon's Self-Help category.]
A meditation on leadership and character refracted through the lives of ten of the most illustrious naval commanders in history
In Sailing True North, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character from the lives and careers of history's most significant naval commanders. He also brings a lifetime of reflection to bear on the subjects of his study--naval history, the vocation of the admiral, and global geopolitics. Above all, this is a book that will help you navigate your own life's voyage: the voyage of leadership of course, but more important, the voyage of character. Sailing True North helps us find the right course to chart.
Simply as epic lives, the tales of these ten admirals offer up a collection of the greatest imaginable sea stories. Moreover, spanning 2,500 years from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century, Sailing True North is a book that offers a history of the world through the prism of our greatest naval leaders. None of the admirals in this volume were perfect, and some were deeply flawed. But from Themistocles, Drake, and Nelson to Nimitz, Rickover, and Hopper, important themes emerge, not least that serving your reputation is a poor substitute for serving your character; and that taking time to read and reflect is not a luxury, it's a necessity.
https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-True-North-Admirals-Character-ebook/dp/B07MYM7WCT/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sailing-true-north-admiral-james-stavridis-usn/1130335156?ean=9780525559948
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sailing-true-north
Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul, by Naomi Levy, $2.99
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274 ratings
5-star: 85%
4-star: 9%
3-star: 4%
“A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness...” —Albert Einstein
When Rabbi Naomi Levy came across this poignant letter by Einstein it shook her to her core. His words perfectly captured what she has come to believe about the human condition: That we are intimately connected, and that we are blind to this truth. Levy wondered what had elicited such spiritual wisdom from a man of science? Thus began a three-year search into the mystery of Einstein’s letter, and into the mystery of the human soul. What emerges is an inspiring, deeply affecting book for people of all faiths filled with universal truths that will help us reclaim our own souls and glimpse the unity that has been evading us. We all long to see more expansively, to live up to our gifts, to understand why we are here. Levy leads us on a breathtaking journey full of wisdom, empathy and humor, challenging us to wake up and heed the voice calling from within—a voice beckoning us to become who we were born be.
https://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Rabbi-Searching-Naomi-Levy-ebook/dp/B06XBX6QLP/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/einstein-and-the-rabbi-naomi-levy/1125110826?ean=9781250058720
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/einstein-and-the-rabbi
The Girl from Summer Hill, by Jude Deveraux, $1.99
(add Audible narration for $8.49*)
859 ratings
5-star: 71%
4-star: 15%
3-star: 7%
Enter Elizabeth Bennet. Chef Casey Reddick has had it up to here with men. When she arrives in the charming town of Summer Hill, Virginia, she leaves behind a demanding boss at a famous D.C. restaurant and a breakup with a boyfriend jealous of her success. Some peace and quiet on the picturesque Tattwell plantation is just what she needs to start fresh. But the tranquility is broken one misty morning when she sees a gorgeous naked man on the porch of her cottage.
Enter Mr. Darcy. What Tate Landers, Hollywood heartthrob and owner of Tattwell, doesn’t need on a bittersweet trip to his ancestral home is a woman spying on him from his guest cottage. Mistaking Casey for a reporter, Tate tries to run her out of her own house. His anger, which looks so good on the screen, makes a very bad first impression on Casey. Hollywood he may be, but he’s no sweetheart to Casey—and she lets him know it!
The plot thickens. Sparks fly—literally—when Casey is recruited to play Elizabeth Bennet opposite Tate’s Mr. Darcy in a stage adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Just brushing past Tate makes Casey’s whole body hum. As they spar on and off stage, Casey begins to think she’s been too quick to judge. Tate is more down-to-earth than Casey expected, and she finds herself melting under his smoldering gaze. But then Tate’s handsome ex-brother-in-law, Devlin Haines, who is playing Wickham, tells Casey some horrifying stories about Tate. She is upset and confused as she tries to figure out who and what to believe. As she finds herself falling for Tate, Casey needs to know: Is the intense, undeniable chemistry between them real, or is this just a performance that ends when the curtain falls?
https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Summer-Hill-Novel-ebook/dp/B013NIF8UM
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-girl-from-summer-hill-jude-deveraux/1122819807?ean=9781101883273
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-girl-from-summer-hill
Crushing It, by Lorelei Parker, $1.99
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107 ratings
5-star: 33%
4-star: 39%
3-star: 24%
In life, as in gaming, there’s a way around every obstacle . . .
To pitch her new role-playing game at a European conference, developer Sierra Reid needs to overcome her terror of public speaking. What better practice than competing in a local bar’s diary slam, regaling an audience with old journal entries about her completely humiliating college crush on gorgeous Tristan Spencer?
Until the moderator says, “Next up, Tristan Spencer . . .”
Sierra is mortified, but Tristan is flattered. Caught up in memories of her decade-old obsession as they reconnect, Sierra tries to dismiss her growing qualms about him. But it’s not so easy to ignore her deepening friendship with Alfie, the cute, supportive bar owner. She and Alfie were college classmates too, and little by little, Sierra is starting to wonder if she’s been focusing her moves on the wrong target all along, misreading every player’s motivations.
Maybe the only winning strategy is to start playing by her heart . . .
https://www.amazon.com/Crushing-Lorelei-Parker-ebook/dp/B07W5RTYRW/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crushing-it-lorelei-parker/1132868193?ean=9781496725714
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/crushing-it-8
A Midsummer's Equation: A Detective Galileo Mystery (Detective Galileo Series Book 3), by Keigo Higashino, $2.99
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311 ratings
5-star: 63%
4-star: 24%
3-star: 9%
Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as "Detective Galileo," has traveled to Hariguara, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. One faction is against the proposed operation, concerned about the environmental impact on the area, known for its pristine waters. The other faction, seeing no future in the town as it is, believes its only hope lies in the development project.
The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort's guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. The local police at first believe it was a simple accident — that he wandered over the edge while walking on unfamiliar territory in the middle of the night. But when they discover that the victim was a former policeman and that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, they begin to suspect he was murdered, and his body tossed off the cliff to misdirect the police.
As the police try to uncover where Tsukahara was killed and why, Yukawa finds himself enmeshed in yet another confounding case of murder.
https://www.amazon.com/Midsummers-Equation-Detective-Galileo-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00V39P8K4/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-midsummers-equation-keigo-higashino/1127599047?ean=9781250027917
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-midsummer-s-equation
*Audible narration only available for purchases at Amazon.com.
At Amazon and B&N:
Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler, $2.99
(add Audible narration for $3.99*)
5,927 ratings
5-star: 76%
4-star: 15%
3-star: 6%
Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.
When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.
https://www.amazon.com/Parable-Sower-Octavia-Butler-ebook/dp/B008HALO4Q
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/parable-of-the-sower-octavia-e-butler/1101058504?ean=9781453263617
The Deep End, by Julie Mulhern, $0.99 ($2.99 at Kobo)
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1,533 ratings
5-star: 63%
4-star: 23%
3-star: 10%
Swimming into the lifeless body of her husband’s mistress tends to ruin a woman’s day, but becoming a murder suspect can ruin her whole life.
It’s 1974 and Ellison Russell’s life revolves around her daughter and her art. She’s long since stopped caring about her cheating husband, Henry, and the women with whom he entertains himself. That is, until she becomes a suspect in Madeline Harper’s death.
The murder forces Ellison to confront her husband’s proclivities and his crimes—kinky sex, petty cruelties and blackmail. As the body count approaches par on the seventh hole, Ellison knows she has to catch a killer. But with an interfering mother, an adoring father, a teenage daughter, and a cadre of well-meaning friends demanding her attention, can Ellison find the killer before he finds her?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084VT6J33/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-deep-end-julie-mulhern/1121147166?ean=2940162885870
*Audible narration only available for purchases at Amazon.com.
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:
