The Last Nazi by Stanley Pottinger is a detective story/thriller. I don't usually read detective type stories, and this book reminded me why. They just don't hold my interest that well. Not to say the book was poorly written or anything like that, I just don't identify with the characters enough to really get into them, but on the other hand, the characters aren't far enough removed from my experience for me to believe their unbelievability. In this book the main character is an FBI detective hunting down a Nazi criminal in the United States. She, predictably, is Jewish. As a sub-plot, she is desperately trying to get pregnant, and is undergoing medical treatment to help with that. There were some surprising twists along the way, but in the end I felt a little dissapointed with the way the ending came together suddenly, almost as if the author suddenly realized that the book had to end in the next 20 pages no matter what.6 of 10

Assured Response by Joe Webber is a fairly traditional techno-thriller. Not great, but something to kill some time on the train. In Assured Response, the heros are daring and lucky, while the bad guys are immoral, vicious, and nearly indestructable... but not quite. This book has all the things that go into the typical techno-thriller, but stepped up a notch. The terrorists manage to kill everyone on a cruise ship and send it barreling at NYC, nuke the Hoover Dam, and shoot down the space shuttle, among other things. They stay one step ahead of the Military, FBI, CIA, Coast Guard, etc. etc. but they can't escape Our Heroes. Yeah.
I found this book to be a little too formulaic for my tastes. Does this mean I won't read the next book that I come across from Joe Weber? Probably not. But I can safely say I won't be reading this one again.5 of 10.

It's time for the Friday Five again.

When was the last time you...
1. ...went to the doctor?

Hmmm... Probably around September.

2. ...went to the dentist?

Also September, but I've got an apointment for the middle of March.

3. ...filled your gas tank?

I don't have a car. My wife does and she puts gas in it. The last time I put gas in a car would've been around Christmas time.

4. ...got enough sleep?

About, 3 hours ago. Yeah...

5. ...backed up your computer?

About that... I should probably do something along those lines Really Soon Now.

I read a lot, and since I can read at work frequently, I tend to read pretty fast. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H. W. Brands, kicked my ass. I took me more than two weeks to finish this book. It's only about 700 pages, but it took me for-freakin-ever. This is by no means becaue it didn't keep my attention. In fact quite the opposite. There is so much information in this book that it's overwhelming. Ben Franklin was an amazing man. The fact that Franklin is mostly remember for political reasons, is a disservice to a man who was a writer, an inventor, a scientist, and more. He lived a long, full life in which he invented the things you know, such as bifocals and the Franklin Stove, but also a musical instrument. The First American tells Franklin's story in a way that keeps your attention and is thourough to an amazing degree. Most of the information comes directly from Franklin's writings and many sections are told in his own words. It tracks his life from birth, through his becoming a runaway apprentice, to England, into American Government, then to France and back to America to contribute to the creation of a new nation based on reason and virtue. His philosophy was that it was the good in men that made society work. Perhaps if more people had followed his lead, American history would have been very different, even to the point of avoiding the civil war. Who knows. The First American was well written and engaging. The only complaint I might have is that, like many biographies, there seemed to be very little focus on the negatives in his life.
8 of 10

So yesterday I bought Neuromancer by William Gibson. As I was paying for it the lady ringing me up said, "I think William Gibson is going to be signing books at the Lincoln Park store some time soon." I, of course, thought to myself "Cool, I'll have to check that out." So today I went to the Border's website and searched for a date for William Gibson. No luck. So I went to Gibson's website to see if it had information, and sure enough it did:

February 12th/ CHICAGO
Borders Bookstore [Lincoln Park]

Damn it! I could've gone too.

Cycling great Pantani dead at 34A sad day for cycling. I belive that greatness can blossom only when a person is tested. Lance Armstrong, while his own life has given him many tests, would not be as great as he is if he did not have great competitors. Pantani was one of these competetors, who was great in his own right.

This moringin my wife and I decided it'd be fun to go to breakfast for valentine's day. We went to the Heartland Cafe near our house. It's a great place. Good food, leftist political propaganda all over, and a very friendly quirkyness. The service today was not as good as usual, but the busser was a better server than most servers are. We can't blame them entirely for the lower service quality though since there was a political event going on. Dorthy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County was there to be on a WLUW radio show that is broadcast live from the Cafe. The place was quite packed. Eventually, we got our breakfast burritos (they're huge) and were able to enjoy our food with the background music provided by the first guest of the radio show, a very good blues harmonica player. Then it was off to work. However, on the way out of the restraunt, Dorthy Brown lost my vote. As we were leaving I saw her drive off in a Ford Expedition with City plates. So, my tax dollars are paying for her to drive around in a $35,000 vehicle that gets 13mpg do do her campaigning? Why should I be funding her campaign?
TBWITWW has to be at work earlier than I do, and works further downtown. So, I got downtown about an hour early and had a Border's gift certificate burning a hole in my wallet. I got the Border's and wandered around and picked up a little something of a Valentine's Day present for TBWITWW, then noticed the sign that said taht all paperback books were buy 3 get one free. Hmmm. So I totally geeked out and got Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, and Neuromancer by William Gibson. Yup... big ol' dork fest. Oh well... lots of books for very little money. Hopefully once I finish The First American, I'll get some reviews up a little more quickly.