Book Reviews by Ehlen Administration

Your Family Tree! What's in Your Roots? by David L Cole My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is an interesting little e-booklet about how to research your family tree and ancestral line. There are some really useful tips and tricks about which websites are worthwhile and which are kind of a waste of money, and some information about less than reputable aids. While I appreciated the enthusiasm of the author David L. Cole, there were a number of outdated grammatical errors (such as an overuse of hyphens in words like pro-gram rather than program) and organization was somewhat lacking. I think that the process he presented was a good one but I would love to see more of his process and some of the personal pitfalls and successes included rather than just general statements about how he traced his line back to England. I also would love to see more images included, as I really enjoyed the ones that were there, perhaps examples of census records or graves. However if you are really unsure o...

A Descendant of Adam or Progeny of Apes -Which Are You? by David L Cole My rating: 3 of 5 stars Creation vs. Evolution has been a hot topic for a long time, and recently come to the forefront again with the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham . A Descendant of Adam takes the creationist position and argues against evolution. While some compelling evidence was presented, particularly the reproduced article on carbon dating by Dr. Kent Hovind, the rest of the ebooklet I thought was a little light on persuading facts. While I lean creationist myself, in trying to put myself in the position of an evolutionist I have to conclude I would not be compelled by most of the arguments presented. It is common knowledge that Piltdown Man was a hoax, but still the theory of evolution is taught and accepted. Particularly if you are not a Christian, it is not too important that people were executed for trying to translate the Latin Scripture into the vernacular, so why does that matter in the ar...

Black Sheep in Tokyo by Bruce Stark My rating: 3 of 5 stars If you have ever wondered what it is like to work behind the scenes on robotics and animatronics this book has some interesting anecdotes and stories. It follows Robotics Electrician Bruce Stark primarily as he participates in building Tokyo Disneyland, as well as some of his work on a few movie sets like Jurassic Park and Lake Placid, both of which prominently feature large creatures. It starts in the late ‘70s and goes through the early ‘90s. Although some of the stories are really interesting, it is clear that Mr. Stark is an electrician and not exactly a writer. It’s a little disjointed at times, and there is not really an overarching story, just strung together memories. It ends a little abruptly. There are some really neat pictures, and I would love to see more of those because they really serve to illustrate some of the more complicated aspects of Mr. Stark’s work, which aren’t always easy to picture in your head...

Follow Elizabeth's board Essential Oils stuff on Pinterest. Hey All, I'm on vacation this week, but I thought I'd point out that I have an EO board on Pinterest with some great articles, ideas and suggestions for using EOs. (For the geeks out there also check out my Geek Chic board, chock full of Firefly, SG1, MST3K, TNG, AoGG, and many other acronymed geeky goodness.)   Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all opinions are my own. You can't buy a good review from me, people. I am way too mouthy for that.

How to Get Yourself Infected by Chronic Good Health by Carl J Hagelstam My rating: 4 of 5 stars Love the premise of the book, hate the title and the cover. How To Get Yourself Infected by Good Health is a good motto, but a mouthful of a title, and only slightly less awkward than the author picture for the cover. While I think it’s not a terrible pic of the author and his wife, I think that should be reserved for the author bio at the end, or maybe the back flap. As the premise of the book is basically to eat yourself healthy, a nice pic of appetizing whole fruits and veggies seems like a more appropriate choice to me. However, the information provided is pretty solid, and I wish more people would read and apply. The initial story is of the author, Capt. Carl Hagelstam’s journey to a quintuple bypass, and how he healed remarkably quickly and staved off further heart disease by doing his own research and changing his diet, lifestyle and approach to healing. It is followed by his ...

I recently won a contest for some Chik-Fil-A gift cards from Kate Eschbach's blog :) I'm elated to find out she's an adoptive mom - as you know adoption is near and dear to me . Wanted to spread the love and point you to her blog and lovely photography.  My family really enjoys CFA, we are there nearly every Tuesday, when our local CFA has a family night. One of their employees paints faces and hands, sometimes there is a balloon artist - amazing creations - and the best part is you get a free kids meal with every adult meal purchased. For a family on a budget this is a big deal, so thank you Kate, you made some very happy kids today :) Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all opinions are my own. You can't buy a good review from me, people. I am way too mouthy for that.

Phantom by Mary B. Sinclair My rating: 1 of 5 stars Phantom follows the musings of Jill, as she reflects on some terrible counseling sessions she had with a social worker after the death of her mother. Clearly the social worker didn’t do her job, because Jill was all over the place, spiraling downward into madness as she tried to reconcile Occupy movements with the tyranny of the gay agenda using the imagery in the Phantom of the Opera. Seriously. This is a relatively short story, particularly since the last third of the book was a pretentious “Q&A” or study where the author, Mary Sinclair, goes point by point to explain every single reference Jill made in the internal monologue. While I disagree with a lot of the explanations and the fatuous comparisons between Jill’s journey and other famous literary characters, the explanation actually made sense as an argument from the author’s POV, unlike the weird text and ramblings of the actual story, which was filled with grammati...

Like I said in my last post, you are in charge of your health care. Not the government, not your pharmacist, not your insurance, not your friends, not Big Food, Big Pharma, Big anything else, and not even your mommy. Unless you’re still a kid, then tell your mommy she’s doing an excellent job taking care of you if she’s looking into EOs. And if you are a mommy, recognize that raising your children is your job, along with their daddy, and that sometimes you know more than your doctor about them, given that you live with them day in and day out.  I’m not discounting physicians, they go to school for a long time and know more than I do about being sick and how to treat sick people. I’m grateful for that, and heartily endorse using them for this purpose. However, I’m also heartily endorsing NOT being sick if you can help it. I use EOs to keep my family healthy, and treat minor issues that come up for every mom, like scrapes, headaches, colds, etc. Now no one is perfect, and I s...

Voodoo Intersection: Poverty, Crime and Disease in Haiti by Yonie Richard My rating: 4 of 5 stars Voodoo Intersection explores the cultural relevance of the voodoo religion in Haiti, and places the poverty, crime and government corruption squarely upon it. Author Yoni Richard, a Haitian immigrant to the US, pulls no punches when describing the devolution of voodoo (what she calls inbred voodoo) and how it permeates the culture, usually to the culture’s detriment. It is a very quick read, and explains the basic tenets of voodoo and how they impact the Haitian daily life. It is a very blunt explanation, and very helpful to those who don’t know much about it. It is not a pleasant or politically correct tale, but accurate from what I know of history, and obviously poignant and meaningful to Richard, as it is the life she led and fled. What I find interesting is the juxtaposition of the Haitian democratic revolution - did you know that Haiti is the world’s longest-running modern demo...