How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artist and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media…Give Me a Break by John Stossel; 2004; HarperCollinsPublishers, New York; 294 pages; 302.2345 S888g/0-06-052914-8; 1/29-1/31

A working biography, a chronicle of Stossels television career from his early days at KGW-TV in Portland, OR to his current job as anchor of ABC’s 20/20. Along the way he tells stories of some of the stories that he has covered and how his perception of some things has changed. He started out covering scams and frauds, and when he started to cover how poverty kills more than smoking and how many government programs have either no real effect or a negative effect on people he went from being a respected journalist to a corporate shill. He does not defer to conventional wisdom and tells the truth about many government boondoogles. He also points out things that most of us don’t stop and think about. A good book to look at how things really are. RRR

On Deck; Cuba Strait by Carsten Stroud

Black Storm by David Poyer; 2002; St. Martins Press, New York; 292 pages; Fiction Poyer/3-312-26969-2; 1/27-1/29

This is the fifth book that I have read by Poyer. I have always been impressed with his understanding and depiction of the modern Navy. In this book his recurring character, Dan Lenson, is part of a Marine Recon team which goes into Iraq just before the beginning of Desert Storm. The team is looking for Saddams’ WMD. They find smallpox and the means to deliver them. The action is realistic and deadly, with not all of the team members returning. In an epilogue when the coalition forces go in to look at the reported facility and there is nothing there and the Iraqis’ deny all. RR

On Deck; Give Me a Break, How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media by John Stossel

Heartbreak & Triumph, The Shawn Michaels Story by Shawn Michaels with Aaron Feigenbaum; 2005; Pocket Books, New York; 343 pages; 796.812 M612h/978-0-7434-9380-2; 1/25-1/27

My guilty pleasure is professional wrestling, I liken it to Saturday morning cartoons, it is obvious good vs. evil. Michaels is one who has been up and down in the business and as evidenced by the stories in his life also. He is very honest about how low he had sunk and his involvement in so many parts of the sports entertainment business. Now he has the love of a good woman, 2 children, a career he loves and the redemptive love of Christ. If you are also a fan of pro wrestling you will enjoy the behind the scenes stuff. RRR

On Deck; Black Storm by David Poyer

The Lost Girls by Laurie Fox; 2004; Simon & Schuster, New York; 274 pages; Fiction Fox/0-74321-790-X; 1/23-1/25

…No one believes anymore. Especially not in fairies-they’re out of favor. Way out. And faith? Well, it’s almost sacrilege to have faith. Look at me. Once upon a time, I had all the faith in the world. I had faith in spades. But faith is messy, there’s just no telling where it leads you. Not to mention how embarassing it is. Yes, compared to it’s alternative-uncertainity-faith is practically insane! …

This is a book that I did not think I would get engrossed in, but yesterday at lunch I did not want to return to work and today I didn’t want to get off the bus.

The story of Peter Pan from the viewpoint of Wendy Darling, the great granddaughter of the original Wendy. Five generations of Darling women have interacted with Pan and traveled to Neverland. They have each responded differently when they returned to this reality. Most people view them as being insane or at the very least eccentric. The interaction between the five women is incredible, each character is separate and distinct and fully rounded. I look forward to reading Ms. Fox’s other book My Sister from the Black Lagoon. RRRR

On Deck; Heartbreak and Triumph; The Shawn Michaels story by Shawn Michaels

The Super Bowl of Advertising; How the Commercials Won the Game by Bernice Kanner; 2004; Bloomberg PRESS, Princeton; 215 pages; 659.143 K16s/1-57660-131-5; 1/20-1/23

Back in 1999 I had read another book by the same author and was impressed by it. This one however was no good. It’s subtitle indicated that it would be an analysis of the commercials, but all it turned out to be was a synopsis of the ads by Super Bowl and by type of commercial. If you just wanted to know who had ads at which game and what they consisted of this is the book for you. R

On Deck; The Lost Girls by Laurie Fox