‘Say You’re One of Them’ Summary:
As the story begins, Jigana’s family is intact, if barely, crammed inside their makeshift shanty, hoping for a lavish holiday meal. By the end, even this provisional community dissolves, a portrait in microcosm of the way a whole culture collapses. Hand-wringing journalists have described the misery of Africa’s urban poor, but Akpan also captures the humor and fleeting grace that make the degradation infinitely more painful to read about. His youthful protagonists are not the waifs of UNICEF ads or the noble victims of guilt-ridden postcolonial lit. Unlike the unshakably high-minded Valentino Achak Deng of Dave Eggers’ earnest quasi-real novel about Sudanese war orphans, What Is the What, Akpan’s characters are ordinary, flawed, sometimes funny kids who happen to be caught in a nightmare.

You’ll find no relief in the second tale, the masterful ”Fattening for Gabon,” in which a brother and sister wait for their uncle to sell them into slavery. In one of the most disturbing scenes in recent fiction, he strips off his pants and tries to coach his young charges about sex — a skill they will presumably need in their new life. The hallucinatory ”My Parents’ Bedroom” dramatizes the ordeal of Monique, a pretty, pampered 9-year-old girl, as her home is destroyed over two bloody nights during Rwanda’s civil war in the 1990s. ”When they ask you,” her mother tells her, ‘’say you’re one of them, OK?” ”Who?” asks Monique. ”Anybody,” answers her mother. The book should be depressing, but the blazing humanity of the characters and the brilliance of Akpan’s artistry make this one of the year’s most exhilarating reads.

‘Fiction that gives the children of Africa a voice’ is the heart and soul of this book. These are voices that are difficult to listen to from our sheltered lives. This book is for anyone who ever said, "Why didn’t I ever hear about this?" upon discovering an injustice in this world. For me, the most powerful story is the last. I will forever hold the powerful images of a toddler playing in his slain mothers blood. Each story is a work of fiction, but is based on real situations that have transpired. In the Afterword, written by a pastor who knows the author, Uwem Akpan, the writer offers his belief that the publication of these stories is a bold attempt to enlighten readers about children of Africa, which in turn may create a passionate desire to create a safer place for children all over the world.

I recommend ‘Say You’re One of Them’ to every one,  You will be a different person after you’ve read this book.

The Book Details:

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (September 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316086371
• ISBN-13: 978-0316086370

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‘Arguing with Idiots’ summary:
The book is divided into ten chapters, each one covering a single topic, and there are questions which are responded to by Beck’s character. In addition, there are also little side comments, sometimes called "A.D.D. Moments" and sometimes direct quotes by people Beck doesn’t agree with, said quotes putting those people in the worst possilbe light.

Love him or hate him (there appears to be no middle ground) Beck wirtes cogently (if often humorously) and well. He states his point of view on one subject and then moves on to another. Beck claims that he is a Libertarian rather than either a Democrat or a Rebublican, but I’m sure liberal readers (if there are any who actually finish this book) will be coinvinced that Beck is just another member of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" to quote Hillary Clinton at the beginning of the Monica fiasco. I don’t know what he is, because he takes almost as many shots at the GOP as he does at the Dems, so I’ll take him at his word about his party leanings.

Beck is conservative in the sense that he opposes "big government" and what he calls the "Nanny State", which is one that hovers over just about every aspect of American life. He fears that we are going into that situation, and there are enough signs around (for those who want to recognise them) that he might (just might) be correct. I’m a big believer in the policy of "wait and see" so I don’t make any judgments on his theories and opinions.

His section on Capitalism is quite interesting. Some of the Koolaid drinkers at both ends of the bar should be able to learn from the book’s history even though both camps can find fault with Beck’s "facts" and certainly his opinions. read ‘Arguing with Idiots’. it is a funny story.

The Book Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Threshold Editions (September 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416595015
• ISBN-13: 978-1416595014

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‘The New Empire of Debt‘ summary:

The problem began in the post-Reagan years, when any sort of prudent fiscal policy seemed to become a distant memory. Perhaps the greed & hubris of big government is creating an unrealistic perception that creating an unfathomable budget deficit really won’t hurt the economy; just keep borrowing. That’s no way to run a business and certainly no way to run a country; except to run it into the ground, financially.

We’ve become a bailout nation, with little regard for any financial common sense. The Stimulis Package is an ill-conceived plan that is going to be ensuring our long term financial devastation, which our children’s children will be still paying off, well into their golden years of retirement. Retirement? What’s that?

The message delivered by Bonner and Wiggin is startlingly clear; this country is heading down the primrose path of socialism and it’s a cost we won’t be able to afford. We’re crumbling under a mountain of debt, and the inevitable landslide will prove to be catastrophic, unless our fiscal policy is changed; very soon. We don’t have much time to waste; our nation’s financial future is on very thin ice.

Not every American needs to participate in national finances, but we need to know the truth. ‘The New Empire of Debt‘ is really a powerful book for every one.

The Book Details:

• Hardcover: 356 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (August 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470483261
• ISBN-13: 978-0470483268

‘Have a Little Faith’ summary:
Feeling unworthy, Albom insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he’d left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Albom becomes involved with a Detroit pastor–a reformed drug dealer and convict–who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.

Moving between their worlds, Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and well-to-do, Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat.

As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times. Although the texts, prayers, and histories are different, Albom begins to recognize a striking unity between the two worlds–and indeed, between beliefs everywhere.

In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor’s wobbly church, Albom sadly fulfills the rabbi’s last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.

It is interesting to read how Albom’s life changes because of these two men. ‘Have a Little Faith’ makes me think about the importance of faith in my life. I truly believe that faith can change lives after reading this book.

The Book Details:

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868724
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868728

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‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ Review:
Thank Richard Dawkins, In ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ he fills this gap brilliantly describing the multifarious and massive evidence for evolution. and this book is clear, absorbing, and vivid.

‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ summary:
Taking the title from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Dawkins begins by asking us to imagine what it would be like to be a European history teacher who is "continually faced with belligerent demands to give equal time" in his classes to Holocaust deniers. To him that would be what it’s like to teach the scientific fact of evolution around the world, especially in America, where 40% of us deny that humans evolved from other animals and who claim instead we were all created as distinct species not more than 10,000 years ago. Just like the Holocaust deniers these people are "history-deniers" too. The antidote to that kind of ignorant thinking is this present work, which presents "the positive evidence that evolution is a fact" (p.6). Many bishops and theologians embrace evolution as a fact, even if some of them accept it begrudgingly.

Who is he trying to reach? The creationist "history-deniers" themselves, but more importantly those who find themselves inadequately prepared to argue the case for evolution (p. 8). He claims: "Evolution is a fact. Beyond reasonable doubt, beyond serious doubt, beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt, beyond doubt evolution is a fact. The evidence for evolution is at least as strong as the evidence for the Holocaust, even allowing for eyewitnesses to the Holocaust. It is the plain truth that we are cousins of chimpanzees, somewhat more distant cousins of monkeys, more distant cousins still of aardvarks and manatees, yet more distant cousins of bananas and turnips…continue the list as long as desired…It didn’t have to be true, but it is. We know this because a rising flood of evidence supports it. Evolution is a fact, and this book will demonstrate it. No reputable scientist disputes it, and no unbiased reader will close the book doubting it." (pp. 8-9).

These are very large claims he’s making. Are they justified? Yes, I think so. I challenge the creationists to place this comprehensively argued book, which is illustrated by many diagrams and glossy full colored pictures, next to what a few ancient superstitious people wrote in the Bible and see which one makes the most sense. My bet is that if believers are truly interested in the facts they will see evolution is indeed a fact.

Dawkins knows how to communicate, he knows where to begin his case with dog breeding, and he knows science. It’s practically all here within the pages of this book. The reason why we don’t see evolutionary change is because it takes place slowly over generations, but dog breeders can do it quickly and efficiently. "Every breed of dog," Dawkins writes, "from dachshund to Dalmatian, from boxer to borzoi, from poodle to Pekinese, from Great Dane to Chihuahua, has been caved, chiseled, kneaded, moulded, not literally as flesh and bone but in its gene pool….The relevance to natural evolution is that, although the selecting agent is man and not nature, the process is otherwise the same." (p. 34).

With regard to flowers, birds and insects make these changes rather than humans, naturally, not artificially, just like the wind did before them: "Hummingbird eyes, hawk-moth eyes, butterfly eyes, hoverfly eyes, bee eyes are critically cast over wild flowers, generation after generation, shaping them, colouring them, swelling them, patterning and stippling them, in almost exactly the same way as human eyes later did with our garden varieties; and with dogs, cows, cabbages and corn." (p. 52). And he asks us: "If so much evolutionary change can be achieved in just a few centuries or even decades, just think what might be achieved in ten or a hundred million years?" (p. 37).

To believers who object that the earth isn’t old enough Dawkins marshals overwhelming evidence that it is billions of years old, along with evidence piled upon still more evidence to show evolutionary development of life on earth is indeed the greatest show on earth, and he is clearly in awe of it.

You don’t have to be a scientist to read it. Richard Dawkins does great work in laying out his scientific mind in an easy to read manor. ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ is a great book for every one.

The Book Details:

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (September 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416594787
• ISBN-13: 978-1416594789

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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Review:
William Kamkwamba is a great author, his book tells a moving and indomitable story, ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ is inspirational. this book takes you on a journey to discover pure innovation of a natural genjus. this should be required reading for anyone who dares to dream. A powerful read, take your future into your hands.

‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ summary:
The story is in three parts. The first part tells of Willam’s life growing up and that of his father, giving a fascinating glimpse of the village life of subsistence farmers whose culture has changed little in thousands of years. Daily existence includes very real fears of witchcraft, shamans for healing, and strong currents of superstition. Although written in clear, simple narrative (mostly by the co-author, Bryan Mealer, an AP reporter with extensive experience across Africa), it is by no means a child’s bedtime story. Malawi, an interior country of 13 million, has minimal health care, primitive agriculture, and no free public high schools. Villagers can be killed by wild animals in the forest. In 2001 the maize crops failed, plunging the countryside into famine and near social collapse, and William loses friends to disease and starvation. The government comes off badly in this episode, incompetent, brutal against the local village chief who complains, and corrupt.

William is a bright boy eager for school, but his family cannot afford the fees. He is forced to drop out. In the second part of the story, doing the best he can in spite of this disappointment, William finds an elementary physics textbook in a local library and sees diagrams of windmills – he cannot even read the English text. From this bit of information, with impressive focus and persistence he manages to build his own version from scraps of wire, an old bicycle hub, and flattened PVC pipe for blades. He has zero resources – not even a soldering iron, which would be useless in any case since there is no electricity in his household. But he is a natural engineer, and even with no guidance or help, he succeeds in making an operating windmill which powers a few lightbulbs for home and village, charges cell phones, operates a water pump – all of which make a real difference in village life.

The third part of the book, just as remarkable as his technological triumph, is about William’s discovery by the outside world. The hero of the discovery phase is really the Internet. William’s windmill comes to the attention of an engineer working in the capital city, who blogs about it, inspiring others to take a four hour bus journey to find William, who then quickly comes to the attention of international entrepreneurs and technologists. His life quickly expands – amazingly, straight from his village he is invited to speak at an African conference organized by TED, the California organization which publicizes emerging ideas about technology and design. Taken under wing by US sponsors, he travels internationally and finds scholarships for his own education as well as funding for his village technology.

Step by step, Willam explains what he needed for the windmill, how he adapted things he found in the junkyard, or took odd jobs to get money to buy what he could not make. Some simple tasks took three or four hours because he did not have the right tools and had to improvise. But he kept at it. All in all, he probably put a hundred or more hours into this project. Talk about determination! As I read the story, I could not help thinking how wasteful we are here in America.

William Kamkwamba is an alchemist who turned misfortune into opportunity, opportunity beyond his own. ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ is really a good reading for anyone who dares to dream.

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The Book Details:

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition, First Printing edition
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061730327
• ISBN-13: 978-0061730320

‘The Secrets Of Female Sexuality’ is the key to a successful loving partnership, I truly believe every guy who seriously wants to have a great relationship with a woman read this book. David Shade experienced his own wife leaving him for a "bad boy". He want to teach men how to be "bad boys" in the bedroom, so this doesn’t happen to them. So the perfect man would be someone he is a nice boy in the living room, and when out with friends.

Men are always complaining what woemen want. ‘The Secrets Of Female Sexuality’ describe this truths, Women can only get all the things they really want when men know these truths, but women cannot speak these truths because that would violate all the rules. Society covers up these truths to maintain order, but it leaves women unfulfilled and men confused. Men are further frustrated by the seemingly contradictory logic of women. She wants a ‘nice guy’ yet she is addicted to a self-absorbed jerk. Has a woman ever cried on your shoulder because the bad boy that she is so in love with is inconsiderate, while you are a respectful ‘good guy’? What is this power that bad boys have? They operate outside of social norms, and thus know the secrets. After many years in development, the book that needed to be written reveals the truths hidden behind social programming and explains the female mind with perfect clarity.

A good guy, equipped with these truths, is far more powerful than any bad boy could ever comprehend. Like wearing X-ray vision glasses, the truth breaks the restraints of misconceptions and kicks butt into an enlightened future of personal empowerment. Discovered: What women want. Freud never could figure it out, but David Shade did. Explained: Why nice girls have the rape fantasy. The secrets make perfect sense of it. Exposed: Why women go outside of their marriage. There are four things that a woman must have, and she will risk her own marriage to get them. Revealed: How to bring out her primal carnal ruthlessly expressive natural sexual creature.

Every woman has an inner animal waiting and wanting to be unleashed. David Shade is the renegade sex expert who had the courage to go outside the boundaries of conventional wisdom to find the things that really work, and work very powerfully. If you are a man who respects women and has the brass balls to handle the truth and a sense of responsibility enough to be entrusted with the power, you are the man who can make a woman wildly happy.

Things will never look the same again. Women want you to know the truth, but for them to tell you the truth would violate all the rules. That’s why it’s called… Secrets. Women are glad to see someone else explain it. Women are happy to endorse this. Then they get exactly what they really want. Discover what those rules are, why they cannot violate those rules, why they want men to know the truth, and what it is that women truly want.

Have a good relationship in a family is very important. There are men who think they already konw. if they haven’t read ‘The Secrets Of Female Sexuality’, they don’t. even if they want a better sex life.

The book detail:
Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: David Shade Corporation (September 16, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0692004475
ISBN-13: 978-0692004470

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• The significance of selling used books

Maybe you are a rech man, you don’t like used books, and  you do not think this is a good choice. but it is meaningful. Selling and buying used books save a lot of resources. it is green! if you are about to graduate in collgeg, and start a new life, sell your used college textbooks online. your used college textbooks will be bought by the young at lower price. it is more better than covered with the dust or into pulp.

• The used bookstores and used books selling tools

When you are looking for a good place to sell your used books, make sure that you take the time to find the one that is right for you and the one that will help you get the most out of your used books. This is not as easy as you might think and it could be hard to find a place that you can sell your used books to that will get you the most money. You can refer to  Great Used Books Search on Top Books Reviews. in the list, the most used bookstores buy back used books. I would like to provide  selling used books tools to you.

Selling used books tools:

Dynamic Buyback ISBN Link   Sell Books & Textbooks

Buyback Price Comparison      Get your Study Tools

• The price

Having said that college textbooks and educational books are very good sellers and can attract prices over 20 dollars or so therefore I would make an exception for those type of books. with the price of you used books, based on the quality and variety of your used books. But you don’t look forward to earn the same money as buying new.

When you sell used books, you may want to buy some used  books. your can buy them at lower price. You can also feel the benefits of selling used books.

The Book Summary:

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon–a prominent Mason and philanthropist–is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations–all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

The Lost Symbol Review:
The Lost Symbol is very similar to Dan Brown’s previous books, in that it has the same formulaic plot, structure, and theme, only this time it takes place in Washington, D.C. and involves the Freemasons instead of the Knights Templar. Just like in the Da Vinci Code, Langdon is called to Washington at a friend’s request, only to find him missing, and spends the rest of the book chasing clues throughout the city and trying to outwit a new villain who is seemingly as smart as he is.

I think The Lost Symbol is not the same depth as Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons,  but far superior than Digital Fortress and Deception Point. This easy read left me much more interested in our own Capital and with many points to ponder for some time. Inspires further research. (Wikipedia here I come) I am a huge fan of Dan Brown’s writing style and welcome all his books.

By the end of the novel, you won’t be a 33rd Degree Mason and you won’t be like unto a god in any way you can quite wrap your mind around, but you will have experienced a high-adrenaline ride. This thrill is what the journey is all about. Perhaps reality lurks around the edge of the plot and theme and perhaps sacred messages lurk within the vast white spaces between the lines of black type, but that’s not why we’re turning the pages from 1 to 509.

That’s not to say that The Lost Symbol doesn’t have it’s faults. The first is most notably the writing. While it has certainly improved since The Da Vinci Code, it still seems rather sophomoric, and not on par with someone who is one of the biggest-selling authors in the last twenty years. Even though it’s fiction, some of the characters’ actions really made me wonder if Brown has had much human contact while writing the book. There are other annoyances that he continually repeats in the book, but I won’t bring them up for fear that mentioning them may cause future readers to have their attention constantly drawn to them. Overall though, the writing is not terrible and the plot is suspenseful enough that I can overlook it.

Certainly, I don’t have the knowledge to know how much Brown twisted history and fudged facts in The Lost Symbol.  But, to be perfectly honest, I don’t care. The Lost Symbol is a novel and I read it as such. For the historical events alluded to in the story that piqued my interest , and happily, there were a number of them – I can do my own research. Doing just that after reading The DaVinci Code was half the fun of that book.

But, I still think that it is worth to read. Or high expectations cause the low evaluation. you can give up the evaluations, and read The Lost Symbol happily.

The Book  Details:

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Books; 1st edition (September 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385504225
• ISBN-13: 978-0385504225