It gave me a real insight into what he was able to accomplish as president, and why his military service was so instrumental in his policy and leadership. Some of my favourite quotes from the book attributed to Eisenhower were:

“God help the nation when it has a President who doesn’t know as much about the military as I do.”, when referring to the Military Industrial Complex, lobbyists, and foolish politicians.

Eisenhower had a healthy skepticism about the grandiose schemes of the  military. He knew how the top brass used worst-case scenarios to  frighten their civilian masters into spending more on unnecessary new  weapons systems and pet boondoggles.

In private conversation and in his public remarks, he often warned  against what he called “the garrison state.”7 Military necessity would  require citizens to give up their cherished freedoms—and, Eisenhower  feared, to become automatons of the state. Ike had witnessed the turn  toward fascism during the Great Depression.

Eisenhower was, in effect, his own secretary of defense. When Defense  Secretary Neil McElroy warned him that further budget cuts would harm  national security, Eisenhower acerbically replied, “If you go to any  military installation in the world where the American flag is flying and tell the commander that Ike says he’ll give him an extra star for his  shoulder if he cuts his budget, there’ll be such a rush to cut costs  that you’ll have to get out of the way.”

There are many more, but those were some that stood out to me, especially in regards to the current situation in the US.

The post My Review of Ike’s Bluff by Evan Thomas first appeared on Blog About Books.

The book is a very capturing read and at only 280 pages it isn’t a very long read. Andy experienced a lot of different adventures during his time in Russia, including buying a car, boiling snow for food, working with a local group of prisoners, and more.

The book has been reviewed four times over at Amazon, all a full five stars. You can purchase it through Amazon here.

The post Winter Road: Journey of a Russian Mission by Andy Frecka first appeared on Blog About Books.

In this book Lewis tells of his search for joy, a spiritual journey that led him from the Christianity of his early youth into atheism and then back to Christianity.
I find this book a difficult one to review. Because of my respect for CS Lewis and his other writings I would like to rave about this one as well, but truthfully I found this book to be a challenge. I was hoping it would give a greater insight into Lewis’ life and conversion from atheism to Christianity, but often it went at great length into rather unimportant events and English literature, sadly most of which I didn’t recognize. Events like his father’s death and service in WWI were glossed over. I was also hoping for more “solid reasons” for why he converted but instead more references to books unknown to me. Read this book if you are a Lewis enthusiast, otherwise there are plenty of other CS Lewis books I would rather recommend.

The post Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis first appeared on Blog About Books.

At many points while reading this book I actually found it quite hard to believe that it was true. The book read to me more like a Fredrick Forsyth novel than an autobiography of a senior inteligence office. It is a much better read than fiction as it is written by a man who has been there and done that.

No book this century has attracted more attention than Spycatcher. It made front-page headlines around the world as the British government tried desperately to suppress Peter Wright’s explosive revelations. Spycatcher tells with startling frankness and detail the devasting story of a government agency which operates outside the law, where the only rule was the 11th commandment: ‘Thou shalt not get caugh’.

Spycatcher is the first real shaft of light to penetrate the murky world of spy and counter-spy. That world will never seem the same again.

The post Spy Catcher by Peter Wright first appeared on Blog About Books.

That neither nature nor nurture bears exclusive responsibility for a child’s characters is self evident. But generalizations about genes are likely to provide cold comfort if it is your own child, who just opened fire on his fellow algebra students and whose class photograph – with its unseemly grin- is shown on the evening news from coast to coast. If the quesiton of who is to blame for teenage atrocity intrigues news-watching voyeurs, it tortures our narrator, Eva Khatchadourian. Two years before the opening of the novel, her son, Kevin, murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and the much-beloved teacher who had tried to befriend him. Because his sixteenth birthday arrived two days after the killings, he recieved a leniet sentace and is currently in a prison for young offenders in upstate New York. In relating the story of Kevin’s upbringing, Eva addresses her estranged husband, Frank, though a series of startingly direct letters. Fearing that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son becamed she confesses a deep, longstanding ambivalence about both motherhood in general – and kevin in particular. How much is her fault? We need to talk about Kevinoffers no pat explanations for why so many white, well to do adolesents – whether in Pearl, Paducah, Springfield, or Littleton – have gone nihilistically off the rails while growing up in the most properous country in history. Instead Lionel Shriver tells a compelling , absorbing and resonant story with an explosive, haunting ending. She considers mootherhood, marriage, family and career – while framing these horrifying tableaus of teenage carnage as metaphors for the larger tragedy of a country where everything works, nobody starves, and everything can be bought but a sense of purpose

The post We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver first appeared on Blog About Books.

“Yankoski’s parents were right: It was crazy to live as a homeless person in six American cities for five months; fortunately, this crazy idea makes for quite a story.”

The post Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski first appeared on Blog About Books.

“Tramp for the Lord continues Corrie ten Boom’s extraordinary journey of hope following the events recounted in her bestseller The Hiding Place. From her near-destitute days in postwar New York to heart-stopping adventures in Africa, Corrie’s inspirational life story proves that miracles do happen.”

Read more reviews on Amazon

The post Tramp for the Lord by Corrie ten Boom first appeared on Blog About Books.

“In Letters from a Skeptic Dr Gregory Boyd and his father Edward Boyd “debate” many objections to Christianity, the church, and the bible.

– Why is the world so full of suffering?
– Does God know the future?
– How can you believe that a man rose from the dead?
– Why do you think the Bible is inspired?
– Do all non-Christians go to hell?
– How can I be holy and sinful at the same time?

Greg Boyd initiated this correspondence with his father in the hope that his father would eventually come to know Christ. After three years, 30 letters and numerous phone calls, Edward K Boyd did just that.
Letters from a Skeptic will help you wrestle with the rational foundation of your own faith. It will also help you to know how to share that faith with the skeptics you love.”

The post Letters from a Skeptic by Dr Gregory Boyd with Edward Boyd first appeared on Blog About Books.

“In A Short History of Nearly Everything, the famed and much beloved writer Bill Bryson confronts his greatest challenge; to understand – and if possible, answer – the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. To that end he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, paleontologists, physicists, astronomers, anthropologists and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories and field camps. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest and it is a profound, funny, supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it.”

The post A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson first appeared on Blog About Books.

“At the heart of John C. Maxwell’s brilliant and inspiring book is a simple premise: To do well in life, we must think well. But can we actually learn new mental habits? THINKING FOR A CHANGE answers that with a resounding “yes” – and shows how changing your thinking can indeed change your life. Drawing on the words and deeds of many of the world’s greatest leaders and using interactive quizzes, this empowering book helps you assess your thinking style, guides you to new ones and step by step teaches you the secrets of: Big-Picture Thinking, Focused Thinking, Creative Thinking     and Shared Thinking”.

The post Thinking for a Change by John C. Maxwell first appeared on Blog About Books.