Reviews (2016-2018)

© 2019 Peter Free

Stephen Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Questions (2018) — a book review (24 October 2018)

Bruce Levine, Resisting Illegitimate Authority (2018) — a book review (03 October 2018)

Andrei Martyanov, Losing Military Supremacy (2018) — a book review (18 September 2018)

CaribSea aragonite special grade reef sand — aquarium substrate — a review (17 September 2018)

AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro - automatic (aquarium) water top off system — an interim review(16 September 2018)

Guy Mettan, Creating Russophobia (2017) — a book review (12 September 2018)

AquaticLife dual lamp T5 HO Marquis — freshwater aquarium light fixture — a review (04 September 2018)

Svetlana Alexievich, Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets (2016) — an abbreviated book review (24 August 2018)

Ian Angus, Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System(2016) — a book review (06 August 2018)

Svetlana Alexievich, Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War (1990, 1992)— a book review — in their own words (29 May 2018)

Ronan Farrow, War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence(2018) — a book review (24 May 2018)

Jon Meacham, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels (2018) — a book review(15 March 2018)

Topaz Labs Studio — and its "pro adjustments" — a short review (20 March 2018)

Epson WorkForce WF-2520 — wireless all-in-one inkjet printer — a review (07 March 2018)

Sera Marin Silicate Clear — a review (28 February 2018)

Eheim Professionel 4+ — model 250 — aquarium canister filter — a review (22 February 2018)

Innovative Marine MiniMax —all-in-one "nano" aquarium reactor — medium size — a review(21 February 2018)

Sera SiO₃ Test — aquarium water silicates test kit — an "ergonomics" review (21 January 2018)

Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O'Reilly, Shooting Ghosts (2017) — a review (08 January 2018)

Fluval GravelVac 11081 aquarium substrate cleaner — and Python small Pro-Clean with optional "Squeeze" bulb — a review (04 January 2018)

Irvin Yalom, Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist's Memoir (2017) — a short review (28 December 2017)

HM TDS-3 — handheld "total dissolved solids" aquarium meter — thermometer function review(14 December 2017)

Thule ProRide 591 (and presumably 598) — car top bicycle carriers — a brief review and caveat(26 September 2017)

Home Depot Husky steel garage shelving unit — 77 in (wide) x 78 in (high) x 24 in (deep) — a review (07 September 2017)

Gear Up OakRak — model 20095— floor to ceiling bicycle storage rack — a review (05 September 2017)

Blaine Harden, The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot (2015) — a book review (27 August 2017)

The "Gateway to the Air Force" — doesn't seem like much of one (20 July 2017)

Too high modern American pickup truck beds — and the statement that makes about silly fashions (09 July 2017)

Phonak Audéo B versus Starkey Muse — CROS type hearing aids for single-sided deafness — a review (13 May 2017)

Deutsche Telekom Speedport W 724v ("typ" A) — wireless telephone and Internet router — a review (21 May 2017)

Coleman QuickPump 120v versus Embark 120v — air mattress inflating pumps — a review (18 May 2017)

Peter Van Buren, Hooper's War: A Novel of WWII Japan (Luminis Books, 2017) — a book review (04 May 2017)

In an Amazonian (online) book world — the merit of thoughtfully negative book reviews (25 April 2017)

Gerbing 7 volt battery-operated — back wrap and kidney warming belt — a review — aimed at mountain bikers with cool season and winter lumbar spine problems (03 February 2017)

Chris Hedges with David Talbot, Unspeakable (2016) — a book review (22 November 2016)

Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels, Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (2016) — a mini book review (09 November 2016)

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (2006) — a micro book review (03 November 2016)

Rosa Brooks, How Everything became War and the Military became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon (2016) — a book review (25 October 2016)

Nikolai Obryn'Ba, Red Partisan: The Memoir of a Soviet Resistance Fighter on the Eastern Front(2007) — a book review (19 October 2016)

Eric Schlosser, Command and Control (2013) — perhaps best seen as an aid to thinking about leadership — a mini book review (13 October 2016)

John Marciano, The American War in Vietnam: Crime or Commemoration? (2016) — a book review (08 October 2016)

Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café (2016) — a book review (05 October 2016)

Flat versus clipless pedals — an older mountain biker's experience — Chromag Scarab flat pedals — a short review (17 September 2016)

Five Ten Freerider — flat pedal all mountain bike shoe — a short review (09 Sept 2016)

Deity Topsoil mountain bike handlebar — a mini review (26 August 2016)

Logitech wireless mouse M305 — M310 and M705 — a mini review for left handed people (18 August 2016)

MacDaddy Mac Backup Guru — bootable cloning software for Apple Mac computers — a review(20 July 2016)

Henry Marsh, Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery (2014) — a book review(15 July 2016)

Das Keyboard Model S Professional — for Apple Mac computers — a review (02 July 2016)

Amazon apparently games its affiliated bookseller ratings — this conceals unhappy transactions after refunds have been made (30 June 2016)

Noam Chomsky, Who Rules the World? (2016) — a book review (27 June 2016)

Topaz Labs Impression 2 — software that creates painting effects from photographs — a review(24 June 2016)

Adobe Dreamweaver has virtues — better control for beginners than WordPress offers is one(07 June 2016)

John C. McManus, September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far (2012) — a book review (01 June 2016)

With tech, if something can go wrong (20 May 2016)

Jeff Schmidt, Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes Their Lives (2000) — a Book Review (03 May 2016)

Jack Cheevers, Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo (2013) — a Book Review (19 April 2016)

Arthur Swinson, Four Samurai: A Quartet of Japanese Army Commanders in the Second World War (1968) — a Short Book Review (17 April 2016)

Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman, Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts our Democracy and What We Can Do about It (2016) — a Book Review (04 April 2016)

Thomas Frank, Listen, Liberal: or What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? — a Book Review (31 March 2016)

Herman Bodson and Richard Schmidt (editor), Agent for the Resistance: A Belgian Saboteur in World War II — a Book Review (22 March 2016)

Garmin Vivofit 2 — a Micro Review — and a Comment about Techno Crap (14 March 2016)

Nicholas Stargardt, The German War: A Nation under Arms, 1939-1945 — a Book Review (07 March 2016)

Michael K. Jones, Stalingrad: How the Red Army Survived the German Onslaught (2007) — a Book Review (17 February 2016)

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC WX220 — Pocket Camera — a Review (16 February 2016)

Fernande K. Davis, Girl in the Belgian Resistance: A Wakeful Eye in the Underground (2008) — a Book Review (11 February 2016)

Martín Prechtel, The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise (2015) — a Short Book Review (10 February 2016)

Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush(2015) — a Mini Book Review (09 February 2016)

Michael Jones, The Retreat: Hitler’s First Defeat (2009) — a Book Review — and My Critique of U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley’s Statement — that the Russian Federation Currently Poses an Existential Threat (25 January 2016)

Lesley Hazleton, After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split (2009) — a Mini Book Review (23 January 2016)

Brandon Friedman, The War I always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory and the Reality of War(2007) — a Book Review (13 January 2015)

Jeff Shaara, A Blaze of Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh (2012) — a Mini Book Review (12 January 2016)

Diana Johnstone, Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton (2015) — a Book Review (10 January 2016)