Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: A Cultural Paradox: Fun in Mathematics by Jeffrey A. Zilahy

“What did the number zero say to the number eight? ‘Very nice belt.’” Okay I admit that this is a corny joke. But did you know that the number zero did not make an appearance in history until the 6^th century AD? In fact, the Chinese didn’t create a symbol for zero until the 13^th century. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a math whiz. I have to use a calculator for simple computations. So why do I feel smarter when it comes to understanding math? Simply put, I read Jeffrey A. Zilahy’s […]

T B Markinson2019-01-23T12:38:19+02:00February 28th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Non-Fiction Book Reviews, Science Book Reviews|

Review: All Storms Pass by Luke Benoit

today I will ask myself what would I be

without anything? ALL OF IT…

what would I be worth if it were all

just stripped away leaving me just

with me and I had to be just who I am?

Page 531

Someone once told me that reading poems was like looking into the poet’s soul. Luke Benoit’s All Storms Pass: The Anti-Meditations consists of meditations that inspire, challenge, and guide the reader to look into their own soul and to find his or her true self. Benoit is a Certified Life Coach and a Certified Professional NLP Hypnotist. He […]

T B Markinson2014-05-19T22:12:04+02:00February 21st, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Non-Fiction Book Reviews, Self-Help Book Reviews|

Review: The Queue, A Novella and Warriors, A Trilogy of Plays On Aging by L. Michael Hager

I approached this book warily. After all, fiction and playwriting are such different forms, why put the two together? Fiction is designed to pull you into a world, and a published play requires you to imagine seeing a stage and, despite the stage directions, you forget that a stage is there or that the script is really meant for actors. Ideally, the characters and actions are so intriguing, you forget all the artifice. It’s a difficult form to get right for readers.

Still, as a published novelist and produced playwright, I adore both forms, so I plunged in, starting with […]

Christopher Meeks2020-02-21T07:30:46+02:00February 20th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Theatre Book Reviews|

Review: The River Secrets by Diane Dunning

According to The American Heritage Dictionary, hypocrisy is defined as “the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold up or possess; insincerity.” Most people abhor hypocrisy, and yet many are guilty of it as well. After all, we are human and intrinsically flawed. Diane Dunning’s ebook, The River Secrets, delves into this issue. Are there levels to hypocrisy? And better yet are there levels to sin? Does your notion of sin depend on the identity of the sinner?

The River Secrets centers on two lovers: Anthony and Francis. Anthony is a nun living in […]

T B Markinson2014-05-06T22:34:13+02:00February 16th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Short Stories Book Reviews|

Review: The Keeper by R.L. Mosz

In the 1930s, author Frederick Schiller Faust gave us a young medical intern by the name of Dr. James Kildare, a character who appeared for decades in movies, TV shows, radio shows, and even a comic strip.

Like Dr. Kildare, Dr. Christopher Seacrest, the main character in The Keeper, a first novel from R.L. Mosz, is young, handsome, debonair, and works with an older doctor he looks up to. Chris Seacrest, however, is not an intern; rather, he is chief of staff at a world-famous medical center, an accomplished neurosurgeon at the age of 34. As the book opens, […]

Lela Michael2012-02-14T17:10:33+02:00February 13th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|

Review: Basic Options Trading by Rocco Pendola

Basic Options Trading: Options Strategies For Beginners by Rocco Pendola is not a get rich quick read. If you are looking for a book to offer you outrageous guarantees about fast cash and then retiring along the Mediterranean this is not the book for you. However, if you are looking for a sensible, down-to-earth guide about the basic principles of options investing then Pendola’s eBook is a good start. The writer focuses on defining the concept of basic options, not giving advice as to how to make a quick buck. He writes, “I want you to be able to use […]

T B Markinson2019-01-23T12:49:29+02:00February 9th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Business Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Spiritual Alchemy by Anthony of the Desert

Spiritual Alchemy: The Fall, The Cure, The Jesus Prayer is written by Anthony of the Desert. In the 1950s, Anthony, whose birth name is Frank Jarvis Atwood, was born in Northern California. His childhood neighborhood was in an upscale area and he attended an impressive Military Academy. However, Atwood became involved in the drug scene and when he was eighteen he was in a state prison. Over the next decade, he would have several stays in different prisons in California.

In 1984, Atwood was arrested in Texas by the FBI for kidnap and murder. These crimes were allegedly committed in […]

T B Markinson2012-02-08T14:07:23+02:00February 8th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Religion Book Reviews|

Review: God Hates Fags by Joe Wellman

A minister, believing he was on a mission from God, identified a local teacher as a homosexual. The ‘outing’ led to the teacher’s murder. The states attorney decided the minister had put the teacher’s life in jeopardy by singling him out for only one reason; the teacher was a homosexual. The states attorney charged the minister with a hate crime reasoning you cannot use the Bible to justify homophobic behavior. Like a rock thrown into a pool, many persons in the community are touched by the teacher’s murder, the police investigation, the trial, and the jury proceedings.