This 310 page saga is Scott Underhill’s second superbly written novel. I have had the pleasure of reviewing both of his books - and they are equally outstanding, yet profoundly different pieces of fiction.
Give a Little certainly provokes empathy for each of its characters. It is an emotional roller-coaster ride for the reader, while the family members in the book heal old wounds and the father battles alcoholism.
When the back cover states "Come meet Jaden and Simmeon Randel, two brothers you won’t forget" - they were not exaggerating. These two identical and opposing twins are the main characters in this novel.
One boy is a handsome football star that shares a love of the sport with his father. The other boy is portrayed as a deformed shadow. Both twins are struggling to find out who they are as individuals, and where they wish to take their lives in the future. Both make heroic sacrifices out of love for one another.
Never rivals (except for their father’s love), Simmeon and Jaden depend upon each other for their successes - until they fell for same girl. Events unfold that help these boys to see each other as individuals and as an inseparable entity. Give a Little portrays the deep connection twins feel through deep level psychic connections where they can actually feel when the other is distraught or in pain.
Get this book – you won’t regret it.
Kamis, 09 Februari 2012
Military Benefits
Imagine being halfway through college without cracking a textbook. Need a mentor? About 250,000 are standing by to help in your job search. Buying a home? How does no down payment sound? These are examples of the billions of dollars in military benefits available to service members and veterans. However, these extraordinary benefits often go unused or overlooked.
A new book called "The Military Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits" (Simon & Schuster, $20) could help the 30 million men and women who served unlock those benefits and make the most of their military experience.
The guide is full of insider tips, little-known benefits and shortcuts. It addresses the ins and outs of the system, identifying what can be claimed-or lost if left unclaimed. It offers tips like these:
GI Bill and Scholarships
• You may have up to $50,000 in educational funding just waiting to be used.
• Military experience can count toward college credits-you may be only a few credits shy of an associate's degree.
• There are $300 million in scholarships for military members, spouses and children; in some cases these cover full tuition.
VA Home Loans
A VA home loan offers advantages not associated with other types of loans. They include:
• Upper limit of $417,000 with no down payment required in most cases.
• No monthly mortgage insurance premium.
• Veterans with disabilities may have their loan fees waived.
• Veterans with permanent and total service-connected disabilities may be eligible for a grant up to $50,000 to adapt a house to meet their disability needs.
Careers
The book explains career services available to veterans, including:
• A nationwide, free mentoring service to quickly network with 250,000 other service members, veterans and spouses.
• Where to find online tools to translate your military skills to civilian terms to find jobs related to your military specialty.
• Tips on hot careers. Keep your security clearance active-civilian workers with clearance earn 24 percent more than their counterparts and there's never been a greater demand in classified programs.
• How to flag your resume for military-friendly employers.
A new book called "The Military Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits" (Simon & Schuster, $20) could help the 30 million men and women who served unlock those benefits and make the most of their military experience.
The guide is full of insider tips, little-known benefits and shortcuts. It addresses the ins and outs of the system, identifying what can be claimed-or lost if left unclaimed. It offers tips like these:
GI Bill and Scholarships
• You may have up to $50,000 in educational funding just waiting to be used.
• Military experience can count toward college credits-you may be only a few credits shy of an associate's degree.
• There are $300 million in scholarships for military members, spouses and children; in some cases these cover full tuition.
VA Home Loans
A VA home loan offers advantages not associated with other types of loans. They include:
• Upper limit of $417,000 with no down payment required in most cases.
• No monthly mortgage insurance premium.
• Veterans with disabilities may have their loan fees waived.
• Veterans with permanent and total service-connected disabilities may be eligible for a grant up to $50,000 to adapt a house to meet their disability needs.
Careers
The book explains career services available to veterans, including:
• A nationwide, free mentoring service to quickly network with 250,000 other service members, veterans and spouses.
• Where to find online tools to translate your military skills to civilian terms to find jobs related to your military specialty.
• Tips on hot careers. Keep your security clearance active-civilian workers with clearance earn 24 percent more than their counterparts and there's never been a greater demand in classified programs.
• How to flag your resume for military-friendly employers.
Funny As A Fictoid
While truth may be stranger than fiction, a fictoid is definitely funnier than a factoid, says the author of an hysterical new book.
What exactly is a fictoid? A fictoid is a bit of fictional history making a statement or telling a story in one sentence.
"A typical fictoid tells who did what, when and where," says Bill Dutcher, author of "Fictoids: Short Fiction...Very Short" (Dutcher & Company, $12). Neither historically accurate nor politically correct, the book takes a random walk through cultural history from 1220 B.C. to 2004.
Readers can learn who invented self-storage and who invented both the periodic table and the occasional chair; why Henry the Ninth couldn't get a date; who founded General Eclectic; who recorded "You were always there for me...but I was always here"; who told his bankers "You can call my loan, but it won't come"; who opened a high-priced helium bar, believed to be New York's first Squeak Easy; and whose unauthorized autobiography sold more than one million copies.
The book introduces such colorful characters as Sleeping Beauty's sister Lazy Susan, Norwegian film star Harrison Fjord, classical rap artist Yo Yo Mama and assistant press secretary Feckless Spinmeister. The illustrations were done by The New Yorker magazine cartoonist Jack Ziegler.
What exactly is a fictoid? A fictoid is a bit of fictional history making a statement or telling a story in one sentence.
"A typical fictoid tells who did what, when and where," says Bill Dutcher, author of "Fictoids: Short Fiction...Very Short" (Dutcher & Company, $12). Neither historically accurate nor politically correct, the book takes a random walk through cultural history from 1220 B.C. to 2004.
Readers can learn who invented self-storage and who invented both the periodic table and the occasional chair; why Henry the Ninth couldn't get a date; who founded General Eclectic; who recorded "You were always there for me...but I was always here"; who told his bankers "You can call my loan, but it won't come"; who opened a high-priced helium bar, believed to be New York's first Squeak Easy; and whose unauthorized autobiography sold more than one million copies.
The book introduces such colorful characters as Sleeping Beauty's sister Lazy Susan, Norwegian film star Harrison Fjord, classical rap artist Yo Yo Mama and assistant press secretary Feckless Spinmeister. The illustrations were done by The New Yorker magazine cartoonist Jack Ziegler.
Freaknomocs
If the thought of a book on economics is about as exciting as watching your toenails grow, or you are under-whelmed with statistics and number crunching theory, then the bestselling book <i>Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything</i> just might be the book to make you wake up without that extra cup of Starbucks' best. Actually, <i>Freakonomics</i> is an engaging read because it seems to be more about sociology and psychology than boring numerical analysis. With its well-paced and easy reading style, this book shows how the resulting correlation and causality of data impacts our lives and definitely makes us think differently about facts and figures. The authors, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, contend, "What this book is about is stripping a layer or two from modern life and seeing what is happening underneath," exposing why conventional wisdom is so often wrong. In effect, there are real tangible benefits in thinking laterally. To be sure, their seemingly off-the-wall comparisons are definitely attention grabbers. Who would have ever thought to make the unlikely comparison of teachers and sumo wrestlers to show that economics is, in essence, the study of incentives. But for those of you who desire a smooth flowing book, with multiple concepts building to an ultimate conclusion, you might be disappointed. Actually, the book presents six wholly different topics, with no unifying theme. And while <i>Freakonomics</i> does jump seemingly randomly from question to question, there are some lessons to be learned. For example, the book demonstrates that the most obvious reason why something happens is not always the real reason. To be sure, sometimes the real reason doesn't even make the list of possibilities. Or, as is often true in the case studies given in <i>Freakonomics</i>, the cause turns out not to be the cause at all, but the effect.
Perhaps the most hard-hitting and controversial riddle tackled by <i>Freakonomics</i> explores the cause of the dramatic drop in the U.S. crime rate in the chapter "Where Have All the Criminals Gone?" The book explains that by the 1990s violent crime had grown to epic proportions in the United States. Experts everywhere, from law enforcement to government agencies could only predict that it would get worse. The American way had somehow produced and coined the term "superpredator." "Death by gunfire", intentional and otherwise, had become commonplace. And then, instead of going up, the crime rate suddenly started to drop profoundly- by over 40 percent in just a few years. By studying crime statistics from all over the country in comparison with abortion statistics in the era after the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, <i>Freakonomics</i> arrives at a startling conclusion. The book submits that the highly publicized drop in America's violent crime rate since 1990 is due almost entirely to legalized abortion, rather than better police work, new gun laws, or any of a number of other factors put forward by agencies of all stripes eager to take credit for it. Although the authors concede they have "managed to offend just about everyone," from conservatives, (because "abortion could be construed as a crime-fighting tool") to liberals, (because "the poor and black women were singled out"), they stick strictly to the evidence, admitting that this view "should not be misinterpreted as either an endorsement of abortion or a call for intervention by the state in the fertility decisions of women." The book verifies its conclusion by consistently dismantling argument after argument for the other touted factors and keeps returning to the cause and effect of evidence at hand. After all, the "truth" as the authors see it, is not always convenient.
The other topics explored in <i>Freakonomics</i>, while not as controversial, are equally interesting. In fact, some could be considered amusing. If you are looking to spruce up you intellect for the next cocktail party, or widen your eyes to the world around you, then this book is a necessary read. However, what might be considered a turnoff by some is the annoying insertion of quotations from external sources about how innovative or creative the authors are as a precursor to every chapter. That being said, it is refreshing to have an odd economist, or at least an economist who ask odd questions to tease out the most fascinating facts concerning the mysteries of the world around us.
One word of advice: don't buy this book in paperback. At the list price of $25.00, it rings up at only 95 cents cheaper than the hardback book, which is a much more attractive and sturdy volume. Plus, because the hardback has been available for much longer, you can actually find the hardback for significantly cheaper (more than $7) if you search a few bookstores.
After almost a year in publication, <i>Freakonomics</i> continues to make the bestseller lists, currently holding (at the time of writing this review) the much vaunted Amazon #1 seller position. If nothing else, that is an important statistic to keep in mind.
Perhaps the most hard-hitting and controversial riddle tackled by <i>Freakonomics</i> explores the cause of the dramatic drop in the U.S. crime rate in the chapter "Where Have All the Criminals Gone?" The book explains that by the 1990s violent crime had grown to epic proportions in the United States. Experts everywhere, from law enforcement to government agencies could only predict that it would get worse. The American way had somehow produced and coined the term "superpredator." "Death by gunfire", intentional and otherwise, had become commonplace. And then, instead of going up, the crime rate suddenly started to drop profoundly- by over 40 percent in just a few years. By studying crime statistics from all over the country in comparison with abortion statistics in the era after the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, <i>Freakonomics</i> arrives at a startling conclusion. The book submits that the highly publicized drop in America's violent crime rate since 1990 is due almost entirely to legalized abortion, rather than better police work, new gun laws, or any of a number of other factors put forward by agencies of all stripes eager to take credit for it. Although the authors concede they have "managed to offend just about everyone," from conservatives, (because "abortion could be construed as a crime-fighting tool") to liberals, (because "the poor and black women were singled out"), they stick strictly to the evidence, admitting that this view "should not be misinterpreted as either an endorsement of abortion or a call for intervention by the state in the fertility decisions of women." The book verifies its conclusion by consistently dismantling argument after argument for the other touted factors and keeps returning to the cause and effect of evidence at hand. After all, the "truth" as the authors see it, is not always convenient.
The other topics explored in <i>Freakonomics</i>, while not as controversial, are equally interesting. In fact, some could be considered amusing. If you are looking to spruce up you intellect for the next cocktail party, or widen your eyes to the world around you, then this book is a necessary read. However, what might be considered a turnoff by some is the annoying insertion of quotations from external sources about how innovative or creative the authors are as a precursor to every chapter. That being said, it is refreshing to have an odd economist, or at least an economist who ask odd questions to tease out the most fascinating facts concerning the mysteries of the world around us.
One word of advice: don't buy this book in paperback. At the list price of $25.00, it rings up at only 95 cents cheaper than the hardback book, which is a much more attractive and sturdy volume. Plus, because the hardback has been available for much longer, you can actually find the hardback for significantly cheaper (more than $7) if you search a few bookstores.
After almost a year in publication, <i>Freakonomics</i> continues to make the bestseller lists, currently holding (at the time of writing this review) the much vaunted Amazon #1 seller position. If nothing else, that is an important statistic to keep in mind.
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