http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml Bookwormz: My Comments Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:25:48 -0600 http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/b4b8c91d4abce4bf72ab3dac9a3f3a2e_47c39143.writeback Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:10:43 -0600 Over the years I have read much about World War II. It started with a whole series of books that my grandfather had. These books were mostly pictures and they covered all the war years in both theaters, both Atlantic and Pacific. As a pre-teen I was fascinated by the photographs of the soldiers and the war equipment. On through the years I have many books about the war, books such as the Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich and The Bunker which was about the final days of Hitler. A couple of years ago I read a book called Iron Coffins which was written by a German U-boat captain who later became an American. My most recent read was written by a Dutchman who joined the German Waffen-SS. His name is Hendrik C. Verton and the book is In The Fire Of The Eastern Front and is about his experiences as a soldier in the German army. I was all prepared to greatly dislike this individual because of his choice of uniform and after finishing the book I can say I still don't care for his views on the war, but found myself totally drawn into his story. One might wonder why a young Dutchman would want to join an Army that had attacked and occupied his country and killed many citizens in the process. He mentions in the book that some of the people in his land were hoping for a United Socalist Europe after the war and they saw themselves as fighting against the Bolsheviks (Russians) whom they believed would attack and rule Europe. Also he mentions that the Nazi occupying soldiers made quite an impression on some of the young men of his country. There were other reasons but I won't go into everything here on this post. In the winter of 1941-42 young Verton found himself on the Eastern Front fighting the Russians and the Russian winter. The descripition of his involvement in the war was very riveting and it was hard to put the book down. In the summer of 1942 he became ill with typhus and was sent back to a hospital in Poland. He would recover there and be assigned to a training unit for a couple of years. He was thrust back in to the battle in East Prussia on the river Oder in a city called Breslau where the Germans would make their final stand against the Russians. The brutality of that period, which for him was from December 1944 to May 1945, was truly unbelievable. Breslau was a city of over 600,000 people and had not been touched by bombing until the Russian invasion that winter and by the end of the war in May of 1945 the city was almost totally destroyed. Verton's description of what the russian soldiers did to the people of city as they invaded is hard to fathom. That portion of the book was the most compelling, that last stand of the German army against the Russians. What the Germans did to the Jews and what the Russians did to the Germans, Poles and anyone else they came into contact with is the real tragedy of World War II. Hendrick Verton concludes the book describing how the German people were treated after the war, he became a Russian prisoner of war for a while and even after being released stayed in Breslau for a number of months. His description of how the citizens survived after the war is vivid and makes for interesting reading. One section made me mad and that was where Verton accused General Dwight Eisenhower and the Americans of withholding food from prisoners of war in a quote "deliberate program of extermination". I certainly don't believe that and would have to see definite proof of an assertion like that. I just don't believe that it happened. In the final chapters he tells of how he regained a life after the war which wasn't easy because he had to have a false identities and could not return to his native Holland because he would be viewed there as a German collaborator, and reprisals against collaborators were taking place there. He also met his wife in the year after the war in East Prussia and he gives some pages to their developing relationship and marriage. All in all it was a fascinating book. It gives you a look into the other side and horrors that they went through duing this war. Even though I don't agree with Mr. Vertons politics and his activities in the war, he was just a soldier like any other fighting for what he believed in, missing his family, suffering through horrendous circumstances. This book was released in 2007 so it is a new account of someone's memories of the war. As far as I know Mr. Verton is still alive and at this point would be in his mid-80s. He was 18 years old when he entered the German army, 22 when he was discharged. Although I don't agree with his assessment of many of the things in this book, I certainly recommend it and you will leave it having a better understanding of what went on during that troubling period of world history. http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/f3dca423f1a4561b63668f4e3902afdc_478ac449.writeback Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:09:14 -0600 Tonight I finished reading a fascinating book by Bernd Heinrich. "Winter World" is a book about how animals survive living outdoors in the winter time. As mentioned in an earlier post Bernd Heinrich is a biologist and professor at the University Of Vermont.... In this book here are just a few of the things I learned about animal survival.-------A tiny bird, the golden-crowned kinglet weighing 5 to 6 grams, about the size of a humming bird, survives sub-zero temperatures in Northern Maine and though out Canada. It is an amazing story how they do it.--------Four common North American hibernating frogs, the wood frog, gray tree frog, spring peeper, and chorus frog--all tolerate being frozen. In freezing-tolerant frogs there is extensive ice formation in the body cavity and in the spaces between the cells, as a matter of fact up to 65% of the total body water in the wood frog may be ice, but the frogs survive because no ice crystals form inside the frog's cells......professor Heinrich explains how this process is accomplished.------ Bears hibernate for up to five months a year and during that period of hibernation do not releive themselves of any metabolic waste. If a human went that long poisons would build up in the blood and kill us. Winter World explains how a bears physiology is different from ours in that regard.-- ---In the frozen north beavers remain in near- absolute darkness under the frozen ice of ponds for months on end.-----Professor Heinrich also tells about survival techniques of Squirrels, mice, chipmunks, various kinds of birds, insects, including bees, bats, turtles and many more animals. This book is a must read for the nature lover. So if you have ever wondered, as you are comfortably cocooned in your bed on a snowy winter night, how the birds are surviving in the trees just outside your window, then this is the book for you.----Professor Heinrich credits natural selection and evolution for the incredible survival skills of animals. I however see the hand of the master designer (God) in all of this. When you read of the ways that animals manage to survive the elements and the things that go on inside their bodies, it just makes sense to me that a higher power has to be involved.....This book is a great read, and so educational, I thoroughly enjoyed it. http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/100d5b4bf69ecad439a0fbd69064930b_4786e53c.writeback Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:40:44 -0600 Here is some information about reading more efficiently from an English professor who is a reading specialist. READING BETTER AND FASTER---- (by Dennis Doyle)----- For most people, it is easy to learn to read faster. Your reading rate is often just a matter of habit. But to begin, you may need to try to change some habits and try these tips:--------- 1. Pay attention when you read and read as if it really matters. Most people read in the same way that they watch television, i.e. in an inattentive, passive way. Reading takes effort and you must make the effort. A wise teacher once told me that you can learn anything if you do three things: ------------- PAY ATTENTION--- PAY ATTENTION and PAY ATTENTION.------ There are some simple methods that you can use to pay better attention and get more out of your textbook reading time. Different authors call it different things, but many researchers say that you will improve your comprehension if you somehow "preview" the passage before you actually sit down and read every word. ............. To do a preview you:----- take 30 to 60 seconds...... look over the title of the chapter. look at all the headings, subheadings and marked, italic or dark print. look at any pictures or illustrations, charts or graphs. quickly skim over the passage, reading the first and last paragraph and glancing at the first sentence of every other paragraph. close the book and ask yourself: ---What is the main idea? ------ ---What kind of writing is it? -------- ---What is the author's purpose?------- You might not think that you could possibly answer these questions with so little exposure to the material, but if you do the preview correctly, you should have some very good general ideas. If you have a general idea of what the passage is about before you really read it, you will be able to understand and remember the passage better. When you finally get to the point where you are actually slowly reading the passage, read in a "questioning" manner -as if you were seaching for something. It sometimes helps if you take the heading or title of a chapter and turn it into a question........ For example, if the heading of a section in the text is "The Causes of the Civil War", take that title and switch it into a question like: "What are the causes of the Civil War?". Now you have a goal; something to look for; something to find out. When you are goal-oriented, you are more likely to reach the goal. At least you'll remember one thing about the text which you have just read.... 2. Stop talking to yourself when you read. People talk to themselves in 2 ways, by: vocalizing, which is the actual moving of your lips as you read, and subvocalizing, which is talking to yourself in your head as you silently read. Both of these will slow you down to the point in which you find that you can't read any faster than you can speak. Speech is a relatively slow activity; for most, the average speed is about 250 WPM (words per minute).......... Reading should be an activity which involves only the eyes and the brain. Vocalization ties reading to actual speaking. Try to think of reading as if you were looking at a landscape, a panorama of ideas, rather than looking at the rocks at your feet........ 3. Read in thought groups. Studies have shown that when we read, our eyes must make small stops along the line. Poor readers make many, many more fixations (eyestops) than good readers. Not only does this slow you down, but it inhibits comprehension because meaning is easier to pull from groups of words rather than from individual words or even single letters. Try to read in phrases of three or four words, especially in complete clauses and prepositional phrases. Your mind may internalize them as if the whole phrase is like one big meaning-rich word........ 4. Don't keep re-reading the same phrases. Poor readers habitually read and re-read the same phrase over and over again. This habit of making "regressions" doubles or triples reading time and often does not result in better comprehension. A single careful, attentive reading may not be enough for full comprehension, but is often more effective than constant regressions in the middle of a reading. It is best to work on paying closer attention the first time through. Do a preview first before the careful reading and try the tips I mentioned above. You'll remember better without the rereading............ 5. Vary your reading rate to suit the difficulty and type of writing of the text. Poor readers always read at the same slow rate. An efficient reader speeds up for easier material and slows down for the hard. Some things were not meant to be read quickly at all. Legal material and very difficult text should be read slowly. Easier material and magazines and newspapers can be read quickly. Poetry and plays were meant to be performed, and if not acted out, then at least, spoken out loud orally. This obviously will conflict with good speed reading method which forbids vocalization. Religious writings and scripture were originally written to be recited and listened to by an audience which was likely to be intelligent, but illiterate. The "fun" of poetry, plays, or prayer is not really experienced if you "speed read" the text........... I don't know if I can accomplish all he suggests or not, but I am sure some of this will help me. http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/47cd442ded39b2cd91674d960b5d882a_477fe221.writeback Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:01:37 -0600 The last few days I have been thinking about why I read. I have concluded there are several reasons. The obvious first one is that I enjoy it.....My mother was a school teacher and I credit her with first exposing me to books but come to think about it my father always had something in his hands to read also. I think he was more into newspapers and magazines though. I don't remember him reading books. I got started on the Kid's series books, Hardy Boys, Sugar Creek Gang, Nancy Drew mysteries, etc. So it was a habit formed at a very early age and has continued into my several decades of life. The books I read now fit into several categories that influence my reading.....and these are in no particular order or hierarchy........1. Spirituality----I read to better understand my faith and beliefs.----2. Politics----I guess one could tell my political leanings from seeing the books that I have read.----3. Flying----I have always loved flying, I have always wanted to learn to fly but probably never will so I read about it.- ---4. Adventure----There are places on this earth that I would love to visit and things that I would like to do but I may never get to, so I read about someone else doing it. (one of those places I would love to go is the South Pole). -----5. Nature----I think if we all took the time to see how other species on the planet live, we'd all be more in tune with our environment...this is a new area in my reading and I can thank Professor Bernd Heinrich, (biology, University Of Vermont) for enlightening me. I highly recommend his books........Other things I love to read about....Music, World War II and Civil War and sports...... Other things may come to mind which I will add later if they do. Anyway those are some of the primary reasons for why I read. Let me know your thoughts. http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/78f41152b79187ed190782932d889125_477da681.writeback Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:22:41 -0600 All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. ~ Ernest Hemingway ~ http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/d190270385019e1e691a9f4a47379b4b_477b02b3.writeback Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:19:15 -0600 I discovered the work of Bernd Heinrich while browsing in my local library a couple of years ago. I have been to the state of Maine on Vacations several times and one of Bernd Heirich's books, "A Year In The Maine Woods", caught my eye. Below is Publishers Weekly's description of that book.---------------------- From Publishers Weekly---------- A professor of zoology at the University of Vermont, Heinrich here recounts a recent year he spent in the western Maine wilderness. With his pet raven Jack, he began his sojourn at the end of May. His cabin, without electricity or plumbing, sat in a clearing a half-mile up a steep brush- filled hill accessible only to four-wheel-drive vehicles. His mailbox was at the foot of the trail, and his nearest neighbors lived on the road beyond the mailbox. To keep in touch with family and friends, Heinrich, author of the National Book Award nominee Bumblebee Economics, installed a phone and answering machine in the neighbors' outhouse. He takes us through his busy summer and fall of chopping wood and making repairs to the cabin, all the while observing the wildlife around him. He battles with blackflies and mosquitos, mice and cluster flies. In January he conducts an on-site seminar for selected students. For readers who love the outdoors, even vicariously. ---------- --------------------------------------------------- -------- I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have since moved on to other Bernd Heinrich books. Mr. Heinrich is a professor of biology at the University of Vermont and has been rather prolific as an author over the past couple of decades. He divides his time between Vermont and the forests of Western Maine, where he grew up. Some of Bernd Heirich's titles are: Mind of the Raven, One Man's Owl, Bumblebee Economics, Ravens in winter, The Trees In My Forest and others. I have read Raven's In Winter and am currently reading Winter World a book that explores the manner in which animals survive in the winter. If you are a lover of nature and animals as I am, I would highly recommend his books to you. I find them very relaxing to read, he has a great writing style and can make even the mundane interesting, plus I always come away from his work so very much more knowledgeable about the natural world around me. http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/14c5d8dc8d56b7417382547989d1550e_43335cc8.writeback Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:39:20 -0500 The book is reasonably well-written although in a strange style: a mixture throughout of diary entries from 1957 and current commentaries. The narrative about the science and logistics is interesting enough, but the real heart of the book is the battle between the scientists and Captain Finn Ronne of the U.S. Navy. Captain Ronne, who wrote his own version of the IGY expedition at Ellsworth Station, appears to have been a completely arbitrary martinet, a self-serving dictator and political string-puller, and a bad- tempered paranoid and coward. He repeatedly put the expedition in danger by his refusal to provide equipment. He censored much of the communication in and out. He insisted that the scientists share dishwashing and other duties even when they were barely able to complete their scientific assignments. He evidently believed that the Navy support team of 30 or so men had more important things to do than assist the scientists, even though the sole purpose of the whole expedition was scientific. The sad tale of how he killed two emperor penguins 'in the most brutal way imaginable' is enough to turn one's stomach. There are parallels, as Behrendt notes, with Captain Queeg of the Caine Mutiny. Unfortunately in the nonfictional world of the Navy, Ronne's outrageous behavior, although known to his superiors, apparently went unpunished. The characterization of other individuals in the book is rather thin. But I would strongly recommend the book. http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/e39feed40219845c4cb3fe8ca697529e_43335a8e.writeback Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:29:50 -0500 Ball Four" is a diary that covers the year of a baseball player, in this case Jim Bouton, who spent the 1969 season with the expansion Seattle Pilots and then the Houston Astros. Entertaining on many levels, "Ball Four" also serves as a mirror of the times -- in the late 1960s, many established concepts and ideas, in politics, music, mass media, and sports, were being shattered. Baseball, always about five years behind the curve, was always thought of as a game that was played by wholesome, All-American men. They were our heroes. Ball Four, however, sheds new light and revealed, for the first time, that baseball players, even some of the game's superstars, are human. Bouton tells all, in, by today's standards, a tame fashion. We read about everything -- ballplayers cheating on their wives, playing with hangovers, racial problems between teammates, players taking uppers before a game, etc. Bouton is a very insightful writer and presents the material in a humorous manner, the humor, or barbs, is directed at his teammates, managers, coaches, and, in many instances, at himself. Baseball was outraged when the book first came out in 1970. Many players and baseball executives considered Bouton a turncoat. But the years have shown that Ball Four was a groundbreaking book, one that set the standard for tell-all books to come. These other books, however, have never reached the level of excellence of Bouton's "Ball Four." http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/91066dbf60ea4752902dc1bbfb80e67d_42d486aa.writeback Tue, 12 Jul 2005 22:12:42 -0500 I don't what it is about a James Michener Book that takes me so long to get through it. I know they are always very voluminous, but I can read though some 300 page books in just a couple of days. For some reason it takes me a month and a half to get though Michener's 800 pages. The bottom line is though, I always come away from one of James Michener's novels much more knowledgeable about the subject. It's almost like a fictional textbook. I have read several of his books and this latest one has educated me about a part of the world that had been geographically hazy for me. What got me started on this book was in my reading of Colin Powell's autobiography he stated that his ancestors came from the Caribbean. Thanks to James Michener's book I know have a good working knowledge of all of the well know Caribbean Islands, including their location and history. It is truly a fascinating part of the world. When the young woman from Alabama went missing in Aruba I already knew that it was a Dutch controlled island not far off the coast of Venezuela. How timely to be reading a book about a part of the world that has dominated the news for several weeks. Michener is also a good story teller and although some times I did hit dry spots in the book, for most part he kept me entertained. The novel started in the 1300s with stories about some of the indigenous natives of the Caribbean region and ended with the Cubans of the 20th century. Included was something from every century in between. I highly recommend this book. One of the good things about James Michner's books is if you buy used.....amazon.com or half.com ...you can pick them up very inexpensively and then even resell them after you are done if you so choose. http://www.bookwormz.zoomshare.com/2.shtml/43903d38a9f75abc5d07e9ebc2c9ad37_42b2290c.writeback Thu, 16 Jun 2005 20:36:12 -0500 I know it has been a while since I have been on here. Two reasons...1. A busy life. 2. I have been held hostage by a James Michener book. (800 pages) For some reason it takes me forever to get through a James Michener book but I always come away thoroughly educated about the subject of the book. That is the case with the book "Caribbean" amd I will give my impressions of that book in just a few days.