Books Are Dumb. Reviews are dumberer.

2007-06-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Always running : La Vida Loca, gang days in L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez. ISBN:0671882317.
Memoirs of Chicano gang life in the late 1960's. He opens by explaining that his book is often banned in schools and is also one of the most stolen books in urban libraries. The book is raw and not full of crappy literary filler. Graphic as one would presume, but more explicit when it came to discussing his coming of age sexual escapades rather than the violence I had anticipated. Overall, a depressing, honest account of someone's fuck ups and attempts at success in a community with few opportunities. Plus there's an appendix chocked full of spanglish gang sayings, who doesn't need one of those?
Warning: You may want to slam heroin or start a riot upoon completing this book.

2007-05-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by: Bruce Cambell. ISBN-10: 0312291450

The star of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness writes a book. Ya know what? It was really good. Well by good, I mean it was very entertaining. I think I read the whole thing in a couple days. It was a very easy read that was tons of fun. I recommend it. He talks about growing up, meeting Sam Raimi as a kid and making crappy films together. Lots of pictures, BIG text, who wouldn't want read this?

2006-06-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Gospel of Judas by (way too many people to type, except Judas didn't make the author line, hmmmmmm) ISBN: 1426200420.

This book was pretty interesting. I actually read this about a month ago and forgot to write the review. So, from what I remember, Judas has a pretty interesting point of view on the whole turning in Jesus to be killed. His point of view seems to be more or less that Jesus wanted him to do it so that he could be released from his body and in a sense meet his destiny. Hmmmm smeels like a new Nightmare on Elmstreet kind of plot. I guess the most eye opening part of this book was the mention of just how many (a lot) of gospels were actually written that didn't make the cut into the bible. Overall, it's worth reading if for nothing else just to serve as a reminder to question absolutely anything that any kind of authority figure tries to get you to swallow. That's my opinion, not the book's.

2006-06-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

The Godfather by Mario Puzo. ISBN: 0451167716. Classic. If you haven't read it yet, well you might as well. Kick ass classic book of old school mafia fun (murder, drugs, sex.....all the worthwhile activities) with a touch of social commentary. My only complaint....the book stunk. No I mean literally, it was funky as all hell. I went to Barnes and Noble to buy the paperback and it smelled really bad. Like my hands smelled after handling it. So I didn't buy it and went to a different B & N on the way home. Found more copies there and those reeked too! WTF? Is it too much to ask that a 7.99 paperback doesn't smell weird??? I'm gonna ask penguin books the publisher what is up with that? Are they tring to push audio books or something? I bought it anyway because I really wanted to read it but it pisses me off anyway.

2006-06-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Stranger by Albert Camus. ISBN: 0679720200

This book is like your mother; old and cheap to buy. We follow Meursault around for a small portion of his self confessed content but pointless life. From burying his dead mother, to acquiring a new piece of tail. The story itself is boring, until you take into account the dog beatings, girlfriend smashing, arab shooting, and the guillotine. None of that is the point, everything is about how Meursault thinks and feels about the things he is doing, and the things done to him. I could write a bit about existentialism but I'm sure that would be the point in which 98% of you would stop reading this. Here it is in a nut shell: he doesn't care. Do you remember all the times in which you lied, or acted like you felt some emotion that you in fact didn't? Well Meursault wouldn't see the point in that. In the end people see him as not just detached, but amoral, soulless, an automaton.

In a world with paxil, and other mood mellowing pills that are handed out like candy to school children. I'd think everyone would understand this book, but people seem to find his detachment from life disturbing. I guess this makes me the fucked up one, I feel that it made him free, free to do nothing or everything and be content with what ever the outcome.

2006-05-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Buddha by Karen Armstrong. ISBN: 0143034367. This was an audio book form the library. Pretty damn cool. I spaced out listening to it in the car once in a while but overall.....I liked it a bunch. I learned a lot about the origins of Buddhism. Pretty neat stuff, worth reading or listening to if you're a lazy douche like me.

2006-05-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

Degas' Drawings. ISBN: 0486212335. Another book form the library. If you're into drawing or art, this book rocked. Seriously, his sketches are just simply as good as it gets. Composition, style, fuck he was a great master artist. Made me realize how far I have to go to be a great artist. Crap, now I'm gonna go stab myself in the head with a colored pencil. Great book.

2006-05-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. ISBN: 0385507755. OK, I got the audio book from the library. It was OK. Mostly I wanted to read it out of Oprah spite since she went overboard after the it's a fiction book crap that went down. Anyways, it was ok except for this really annoying habit the author had of repeating soemthing 3 times for effect. Seriously, it got painful by like the millionth little time he fucking used it. Otherwise. eh, good idea for a book. Writing style needs some help but I've read worse.

2006-05-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

Zen and the Art of Poker : Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game by Larry Phillips. ISBN: 0452281261. Hmmmmmm well it got good reviews on Amazon.......maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to get the finer points of the book. Let me give you the abridged version: "Don't play too many sucky hands." There you go. Simply email your thanks for the time saved not reading this one to my address under the profile or via comments. You're welcome...in advance.

2006-02-19T12:21:00.000-08:00

'Longitude' by Dava Sobel, ISBN: 0140258795. This book was great. It was bythe same authoras 'The Planets' and Galileo's Daughter'. Sobel charts the history of longitude / navigation and the problems associated with finding it at sea with no reference points. England eventually offered a prize to anyone that could solve the problem because the navy was losing so many ships due to errors in navigation and timekeeping with respect to the prime meridian in England. It's also a great story of the politics in the science community a hundred years ago (some things never change). Excellent book, fun to read.

2006-02-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

'The Mozart Effect' by Don Cambell ISBN: 0060937203 Well I grabbed this book at the library without a clue what it was going to be about. It deals with the concept of the healing capabilities of music. The author explores many case studies of people with different ailments, hearing loss and other issues that were healed or helped through different sounds, vibrations, chanting, etc. It was pretty interesting stuff but in all honesty I just got completely bored reading it about half way through and began reading other things. Eventually I renewed the book online but it came due again with out me ever touching it to finish. There was a lot of kinda interesting stuff about mozart and the specific positive effects his music and scales can have....but damn maybe a ghost author would have helped make the content more palatable. I dunno......it was just kind of too much work to read and bordered on out there hippy crap a little too often, which I thought was sad because I think if maybe 40% of the book had been edited out it would be a lot funner read.....maybe an audio book would be better....read by hot porn stars....

2006-02-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

'Creating Wealth through Probate' by James G. Banks ISBN: 1419505149. Weeeeelllllll, this was an interesting idea that just didn't really pan out. By that I mean I'm not sure if the author couln't be specific with how to create wealth through buying probate properties or if the book just sucked ass. I may have to go with the latter. The first half of the book is content and the last half is appendix with forms and stuff that the author has used. I think the book is mostly a commercial for his seminars. It's a good idea but the book doesn't supply a lot of specific help on how to do it. I don't really recommend unless you just want a new perspective on real estate investing. Definitely don't buy new. Go to a library or buy it used from half.com or something.

2006-02-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

'The Planets' by Dava Sobel, ISBN: 0670034460. OK, This book was great. I loved it. It was an easy an entertaining read about our solar system. Dava Sobel's writing style is light, fun and whimsical. Each chapter describes a different planet except for the first which talks about the sun. She blends trivia, religious dogma, and mythology to chronicle the history of human understanding of our solar system. I loved it and recommend it. I didn't realize it at the time when I grabbed the book at the library but Dava Sobel also wrote 'Gallileo's Daughter" which I enjoyed years ago. She has another book 'Longitude' that I'm going to have to read now.

My first posting on this blog

2006-01-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, I'll start talking about books in a bit. First off, welcome and hope you have fun.