Book: “The Fund” about Ray Dalio by Rob Copeland

| February 21, 2024

Once again I started a new book before finishing the last book (audiobook). This time it was on the recommendation of a business journalist that I enjoy (often quirky) and follow online. The book is “The Fund” which so far seems to be a less than polite account of famed Wall Street legend Ray Dalio […]

An ebook and two photos from my friend Jeff for #TBT

| August 17, 2023

My friend Jeff and I regularly talk about the books we are reading over lunch or on the back porch (too infrequent though) and he sent me one to read last week.  I told him I would start as soon as I finished Pappy Boyington’s “Baa Baa Black Sheep” that I’m thoroughly enjoying. “Conservatism, A […]

Books: “Decades of Decadence” by Marco Rubio (2023)

| June 14, 2023

I needed another book to read like a hole in my head as the idiom goes, but since the newly released book by Marco Rubio called “Decades of Decadence” hit the bookstore today, I figured that I would “get on the list” at my local library. Lo and behold it was available on Hoopla as an […]

Books: Reading Yeonmi Park’s “While Time Remains”

| May 28, 2023

The “hold” for the ebook by Yeonmi Park titled “While Time Remains” became available this past weekend and even though I haven’t finished the last book I started; I guess I’m going to “start” another anyway (it is a “forever problem” — start a book, but never finish it).  From all the interviews of her […]

Book: “The End of the World is just the Beginning” – Peter Zeihan

| October 29, 2022

My friend Jeff and I enjoy discussing and debating nearly every topic under the sun, but few subjects have held our attention over the decades like the impact of technology on society, geopolitics and how changing governments handle or don’t handle the demographics shifts. I tend to look at it from the perspective of an […]

Books: “Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America” by Douglas Brinkley

| June 14, 2022

Although I once enjoyed reading biographical and history oriented books by Douglas Brinkley, as well as enjoyed interviews with him on TV, I’ve recently noticed a bit more political partisanship in his commentary and his appearances. To be fair, I wanted to give his writings another shot and try to remain open-minded. The book “Rightful […]

Books: “The Digital Silk Road” by Jonathan E. Hillman

| March 10, 2022

It looks as if the next book on my reading list will be Jonathan E. Hillman’s “The Digital Silk Road: China’s Quest to Wire the World and Win the Future.” It was release last October (2021) and after reading a review (and WSJ recommendation), I decided to download the digital e-book. I’m not an expert […]

Books: Downloaded “Unknown Valor” by Martha MacCallum

| January 21, 2022

The hefty book (1139 pages) that I tried to finish by the end of 2021 is finally done (halfway into January 2022) … so now in that same World War II Pacific vein, I’m starting Martha MacCallum’s “Unknown Valor” this week. I remember hearing about it last year, but never added it to my to-read […]

Books: “Beyond”by Stephen Walker about Yuri Gagarin

| July 7, 2021

One of the segments from the Wall Street Journal that I especially enjoy are the book reviews … or the “bookshelf.” I’m always intrigued by the history selections and the review on Stephen Walker’s book “Beyond” was no exception. It so happened that it is also a WSJ+ “free book club read” for the month […]

Book: The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WW2 Story …

| October 24, 2018

I can’t vouch for the complete book (I’ve just starting reading it), but for those of us who appreciate first hand accounts of heroism, survival and World War II history … spending $2 on Alistair Urquhart’s "The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific," is well worth it. An amazing story […]

Book: Secrets of Sand Mountain by Philip C Elrod

| August 30, 2017

Every once in a while I strike up a conversation with a lessor known author about their writing and want to read their work. Philip C. Elrod is one such author and after exchanging a few messages, I decided I should at least give the first book of his series about events atop Sand Mountain […]

Creative Anchoring: Everything about Anchors and Anchoring

| March 28, 2015

One of my favorite sailing authors Fatty Goodlander has a new book, Creative Anchoring: Everything about Anchors and Anchoring, and it is now available. With some travel ahead I opted to purchase and download the ebook to my iPad for $9.99 at Amazon. Fatty's writing style is always entertaining be it a magazine article, sailing […]

Get What’s Yours: The secrets to maxing out your Social Security

| March 12, 2015

In discussing FICA taxes the other day, I discovered just how much I didn’t know about one of the biggest taxes we pay throughout our entire working lives. I’m guessing most Americans are in my shoes? Now “let me be clear,” as President Obama has been known to say, I’m NOT “that” close to retirement […]

Two great books for the holidays: 41 and America in Retreat

| December 4, 2014

Finished the best book I’ve read all year, “41” by George W. Bush last weekend and started a new Kindle ebook on my tablet, “America in Retreat” by the Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens. Both are well written and very enlightening … although I’ve just started the second. The GW Bush book about his father, […]

Paying attention to Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen

| March 19, 2014

It’s a big day for Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen as she took the stage and continued a third wave of tapering of the Federal Reserve’s bond buying program. Not that any of this was unexpected, but it an indication that the Fed sees the economy improving and is slowly removing the nation’s fiscal training wheels […]

Book: General Stanley McChrystal and My Share of the Task

| January 15, 2013

If you enjoy reading history and military biographies, the new General Stanley McChrystal autobiography My Share of the Task will be your “cup of tea Joe.” I ordered an ebook version last week after reading a couple short reviews and found it difficult to put down. In fact, I found myself rewinding the Tivo buffer […]

Rethinking eReaders after hauling around fat books

| July 21, 2010

I met my daughter at the Barnes and Noble bookstore tonight and had a chance to play with her electronic Nook reader again, but this time in the store. I have to admit for reading, the screen is excellent and reading text easy even for my presbyopia. Reading from the eReader has me re-thinking that […]

B&N Nook gets an upgrade and is selling better than Kindle

| April 26, 2010

Since my daughter left her Barnes and Noble Nook at home, I took advantage of updating to the much speedier and improved version 1.3 software. The eBook reader has substantially improved its page turning and now has a less than exciting web browser. I’m not sure I’d use it for much more than very light […]

What are you really getting with eBooks?

| February 13, 2010

With my daughter at home for a couple weeks while doing an M3 year “exploratory” at Children’s Hospital here in Cincinnati, I had the chance to use her new Barnes and Noble Nook to read a book. After the newness wore off and the expense of paying for digital ebooks and publications took hold, I’ve […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog