Iceman: My Fighting Life Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Chuck Liddell is a great fighter and his fights are entertaining. The contradiction of his ferocity in the Octagon to his mild-mannered nature outside of it is fascinating. I wish the book had more depth and exposed more of the real Chuck. But after reading about how Chuck was raised and getting a glimpse into his demeanor and lifestyle, it makes sense why the book is rather shallow. I enjoyed and appreciated the insight Chuck gives into each of his fights (e.g., his opinions on this opponents, his disposition towards the fight, the technical breakdown and strategy employed, etc.). But I could do without his bragging, the awkward-at-best and poor-at-worst writing, and the general lack of biographical meat.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iceman: My Fighting Life

"When I walk out of the tunnel, I can see the lights, hear the music, feel the crowd, but it all begins to close off as I near the cage. By that point I'm thinking, I've been training hard, it's time to focus....Every man is born with a fight-or-flight instinct, and mine is to fight. It always has been." —From the Prologue What's it like to have no fear, to make people cower in their shoes, to know the sweet satisfaction of knocking a guy out with a single, devastating punch? You have to read my book to find out. I've been called the baddest man on the planet. I'm the face of Ultimate Fighting Championship, the leader in mixed martial arts and the fastest growing sport in America. In 1998 I won my first MMA fight. Not long after, the UFC came calling, and eventually fought my way to become the #1 ranked light-heavyweight contender in the world. Not bad for a bartender with a college degree in accounting. I was raised by a single mother and inspired by my grandfather, a first- generation Irish American from Mafia-run Brooklyn. I learned how to fight at a very young age. Now I'm 6'2", 220 pounds, and a trained lethal weapon, but I'm also fiercely loyal, maybe even a bit sensitive, and unexpectedly romantic. In raw detail, and with total honesty, I'm going to tell you the story of my fighting life—both inside and outside the Octagon— including my childhood in the poor section of Santa Barbara, gritty insider accounts of my major fights, stories behind my trademark mohawk and nickname, my ongoing rivalry with Tito Ortiz and deep-rooted friendship with Dana White, and how I balance life as a father, a UFC champ, and a superstar—or try to, anyway. With never-before-seen photos, Iceman is my true, no-holds-barred story of fighting my way to become a champion.

Click here for more information about Iceman: My Fighting Life

Read More...

Delta Scout: Ground Coverage Operator Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I enjoyed Tony's book in which he was a member of the BSAP (British South African Police) from the late 1970's until the early 1980's.He gives the reader a policemans perspective of fighting the terrorists.Tony would gather intelligence from a wide variety of sources and then either act upon this intel or pass it up the chain of command.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Delta Scout: Ground Coverage Operator

As a young Patrol Officer, Tony Tretowan was to experience rural life in remote stations in the bush of Matabeleland. He embraced the experience and learned Sindebele within a few months. The book is richly interspersed with anecdotes of wild frontier life - of rowdy prospectors, obstreperous farmers, maverick hunters and bizarre eccentrics. He deals with a wide array of crimes and incidents - from murder, tribal suicide, sorcery, robbery and drunkenness to horrific vehicle accidents.But as the bush war intensifies, Tony finds himself more and more involved in paramilitary operations. Ground Coverage was a BSAP intelligence-gathering unit - operating literally 'on the ground' in the rural areas. Known by his enemy, Nkomo's ZIPRA guerrillas, as Baleka, or 'he who runs hither and thither' because of his propensity for rapidly covering vast areas, alone in his beaten-up police Land Rover, the second part of the book deals with the author's conversion from civilian policeman to full-blooded counter-insurgency operator in an African guerrilla war. Told with a sensitivity and pathos that is rare in military memoirs, Delta Scout is a brutally honest, compelling account of innocence lost.

Get 27% OFF

Click here for more information about Delta Scout: Ground Coverage Operator

Read More...

Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The author has done a fine job in bringing this man, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) to life. He was one of the primary movers of the scientific world of the Victorian era, and much can be learned of the development of the physical sciences through a study of his methods, personal interactions, and achievements.
Thomson was one of the dozen or so illustrious men, almost entirely British, Scottish, German and French, who developed the central ideas of thermodynamics and electromagnetism in the middle of the 19th century. His particular contribution, among many, was to popularize and further develop the ideas of the Frenchman, Carnot, of the famous reversible heat engine. This was to lead ultimately to the discovery of the absolute temperature scale, now named for him, and to entropy. In electromagnetism, he stood between the non-mathematical insights of Faraday, and the highly mathematical formulation of Maxwell and Heaviside, which has changed little in its fundamental approach, and is still taught to sophomores today. In fact, he and a friend wrote the first recognizable classical physics textbook for undergraduates. And he played a big role as a consultant/inventor for the first transatlantic telegraph cable, a story well told here and in Gordon's recent "Thread Across the Ocean."
Thomson was something of a prodigy, gathering honors and publications at a very young age, but later in life his productivity fell off into an idosyncratic crankiness. His required approach to problems was to devise mechanical analogs for phenomena, which turned out to be too limited to arrive at a full field theory of electromagnetism and atomism, neither of which he ever accepted fully. He was a true believer in the ether, but was never able to use it to produce a fruitful alternative to Maxwell's E&M or kinetic theory.
It was interesting for me to note the obvious parallels between his life-arc and that of Einstein. Einstein was also unable to fully participate in the later scientific developments in quantum mechanics because of a prejudice or block similar to Thomson's requirement for a mechanical model. And then Kelvin spent an inordinate amount of energy in developing an improved ship's compass (a profitable success), while Einstein tried mightily (but unsuccessfully) to improve the refrigerator. Einstein killed Kelvin's ether by ignoring it, but was in turn killed by his insistence that "God doesn't play with dice."
Lindley has written a well-researched but entertaining and well written book. The illustrations are a good addition, not seen before by me. A scientist himself, he is well equipped to understand the science of the times, and is unerring and enthusiastic for his subject. Well done!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy

Get 34% OFF

Click here for more information about Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy

Read More...

Mischling, Second Degree: My Childhood in Nazi Germany Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I must admit, I have not read this book for many years, in fact, not since I was in the third grade. A rather insightful teacher assigned me this book, and it has profoundly enriched my understanding of the holocaust, evil, and human nature, by allowing me to see a humanized portrait of NAZI society at a very early age. As I have been raised Jewish, I have been nearly bombarded with information about the holocaust from a Jewish perspective (not that I regret this). However, I feel that we can only come to understand such a great evil if we understand that its perpetrators were as human as its victims, motivated by the same kinds of fears, hopes, false rationalizations, etc. that in some small way motivate every human being from time to time. This book is an excellent way to introduce this humanizing element to a young reader, and it helps to make sense of a senseless event in our history.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Mischling, Second Degree: My Childhood in Nazi Germany

The memoirs of a German girl who became a leader among the Hitler Youth while her Social Democratic family kept from her the secret of her partial Jewish heritage.

Click here for more information about Mischling, Second Degree: My Childhood in Nazi Germany

Read More...

Six Degrees of Paris Hilton: Inside the Sex Tapes, Scandals, and Shakedowns of the New Hollywood Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Ebner can write--I am a big fan of his blog hollywoodinterrupted.com, and his articles for RADAR where I first read him. This story is a deep, griping, nasty, exciting, star studded, crime filled, intense look at the "pretty people" and their dangerous play pals. THE MUST READ BOOK for anyone interested in Hollywood, crime, celebrities--Six Degrees of Paris Hilton is FACT but it reads like a novel, great turns of phrases, plot twists, awesome characters...and it's REAL. Wild!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Six Degrees of Paris Hilton: Inside the Sex Tapes, Scandals, and Shakedowns of the New Hollywood

The shocking story of Darnell Riley—a con man who worked his way into Paris Hilton's inner circle, only to expose Hollywood's dirtiest secrets.

Click here for more information about Six Degrees of Paris Hilton: Inside the Sex Tapes, Scandals, and Shakedowns of the New Hollywood

Read More...