The Story Cure by DInty W. Moore

Looking for a book to help guide you through the process of writing a book?  Then you have come to the right place if you like to start writing right away and explore as you go.  While the book provides a great deal of insight it only covers the writing method that begins with an idea and you sit down right away to write what comes to mind.  For some of us that requires a little or in my case a lot more structure to prepare a story.  This book provides a good insight in the process once you get your story down and need to refine it.  Things like a beat sheet, outlines or chapter layout are not part of the author process but people who write like this might be in the minority.  It’s a book I would recommend but it will not fit everyone’s style or preparation method in writing.  

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.  

We Stood Upon Stars by Roger W. Thompson

We Stood Upon Star is a personal series of adventures through thirty-one locations across the US.  Each Story or chapter goes into the author’s personal experience in each location.  While the title suggests the author is finding God in lost places, other than the actual beauty of the location the rest is not always clear.  I have been to most of these places and will agree the beauty in almost all the locations are breath.  I thought the author could have described the location more so than his experience with nature’s substitutes for toilet paper or how to not fix an engine.  While overall entertaining, it was not something I would sit down and read in one sitting.  I would find myself only reading one or two chapters a day.  If you are a camper and/or love to explore natural areas of the US this might be a book you are interested in. 

    I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. 

Apache Wars by Paul Andrew Hutton

Good and interested book about an important time in US history when the southwest was undergoing struggles between three different cultures that resulted in a long drawn out conflict that prevented its settlement. The Apache bands raided, murdered, and plundered for centuries because that is the culture they were raised.  This included other Indian tribes, Mexicans, and early American settlers were the target of this way of life that resulted in issue with your personal security.  Life in the southwest depended greatly on how you in contact with them. The author describes the many events that finally resulted in the Apaches surrendering and settling on reservations that for the most part overlaid their original homelands. The author opinions about some of the people he has written about later in the history results in the exact opposite. This is the only issue I see with the book in general, this happens several times throughout the book. If you enjoy history I would give this book a try.

I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review of this book.

Writing my Wrongs by Shaka Senghor

While we relax in our homes, go to work and talk with our friends we choose to live in a vacuum.  We choose to ignore the struggle of others.  The author of this book takes you on a personal journey how a young man’s life can easily take a wrong turn.  That wrong turn, in the author’s case murdering someone, ended up in serving server decades in prison.  While that is the low point of the book the core of the book shows how the young man survived, learned and grew to understand that he was the only key to making it out of prison.  He goes through many changes in the prison environments, different confrontations and some prisoners who helped him.  While it took a long time for the author to fully understand, forgive and develop a plan to change his life.  He did see a burning desire in himself to not only help himself but could see the many young man and women heading for the same collision course he experienced.  I would like to see this book in our highs schools to teach them what they see on TV is not real but through the writings of the author you can truly see what will happen. This book will make you think carefully.   

I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review of this book.

The Inkblots Hermann Rorshach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing by Damion Searls

Fascinating at the start but later the book gets into more of details with in the professional of psychological.  This may go over the head of many but still a great biography behind the man of inkblots.  The story of the of Rorschach life and what lead him to the inkblot testing is an interesting story. The author provides a huge amount of research in this book.  He provides Rorschach childhood, his start in the field of psychology and how it is incorporated into today psychology practices.  The test developed was intended to understand how people see things.  Unfortunately, after his death the true meaning behind the test loses its focus and leads to another path that was most likely not really what he had intended.  The author’s research into how the Rorschach test was originally conceived is what I found the most interested part of the book.  Further research go into detail around what other psychologists and psychiatrists did with the test.  This lead to how it was measured and interpreted.  Again, I find the first part of the book which is mainly his biography the more interesting part of the book and what life events lead him to developing the inkblot test.  The unanswered questions because of Rorschach untimely death makes you wonder what the test could have been like if he had lived longer. 

I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review of this book.

The Acid Watcher Diet by Jonathan Aviv, MD, FACS

While the symptoms of LPR are commonly misdiagnosed and the symptoms are not what you think are related to your issue then you need to read this book carefully.  I was also one of the many people the author describes by being misdiagnosed based on my symptoms.  I was fortunate enough to find out over time many of the same things that proved to be helpful that are included in this book.  What this books brings is the full understanding what the condition really is, how it can be very dangerous to your health, what are the trigger points in foods, and solid medical advice as to what the condition could lead to.  While this is helpful what most of us are looking for is how to fix it.  This book provides everything you need to resolve your LPR issues.  The keys to foods to avoid and why, the how to change your diet to help heal short term and for long term health, lists of things to include in your diet and why, and finally a list of recipes that will help guide you to long term LPR healing and health.  This book I highly recommend for anyone with on going coughing, throat clearing, nasal dripping after meals, or a lump or burning sensation in your throat.

I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review of this book.

The Chamberlain Key by Timothy P. Smith

The author takes you on a very long-detailed journey of his experience revealing his

discovery.  The discovery being hidden messages in the bible.  If you have done religious research is not new.  But if you want a personal journey as to how he come to this conclusion, then this book might appeal to you.  For me it was yet another bible code book that provided patterns do exist in books but that was about it.  Hidden messages from God, Satan or even predictions of the future can be found in nearly any book in print.  Using advanced computer analysis, algorithm and statistical search engines you can develop formulas that will generate nearly any kind of outcome.  While this book provides more of a personal touch, if you are interested in the bible code there are other books that are far more interesting.  

I received a free copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my honest review of this book.