Page Count Grade 0-9 Date I finished Source (FPL: Fargo Public Library)
Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 288 pages 6.3 1/1/05 Suzanne
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 560 pages 7.0 1/1/05 Suzanne
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 607 pages 7.5 1/1/05 Suzanne
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 326 pages 7.2 1/1/05 Suzanne
The Fates of Human Societies
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 480 pages 7.5 1/1/05 Suzanne
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 230 pages 3.7 1/1/05 Judy
A Novel
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 400 pages 5.0 1/1/05 Suzanne
A Novel
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 448 pages 6.0 1/1/05 Suzanne
A Novel
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 400 pages 6.5 1/1/05 Suzanne
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 320 pages 5.0 1/1/05 Suzanne
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 416 pages 7.2 3/18/05 FPL
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 280 pages 5.9 3/18/05 FPL
Neil Armstrong's Stellar American Journey
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 320 pages 6.0 3/18/05 FPL
[Lost in May Computer Crash] 384 pages 7.2 5/1/05 FPL
[Lost in May Computer Crash], also read part of "Egypt After The Pharaohs 332 BC - 642 AD: from Alexander to the Arabe Conquest" by Alan K Bowman 382 pages 5.0 5/1/05 FPL
The Missing Manual
A good overview of Windows XP but I don't think I learned much. I would like to find a bout about XP with more detail; something for power uses. 550 pages 5.2 5/21/05 FPL
A fun tale of sluething and a good example of why you should leave it to professionals. Of course the heroes David and Susan would disagree as they fall in love with each other from the NYC grand jury room to Hong Kong and back again. 595 pages 6.5 5/23/05 FPL
Volume One
Dylan doesn't have a bad word to say about anything or anybody, which makes the book a little hard to take. He has a reputation of being moody and mercurical but it doesn't come across that way. Usually if I've heard the author, I hear his voice when I read his book. In this case I didn't hear Dylan's voice at all, just a pal from Minnesota. (Robert Zimmerman) There are five chapters that deal with five different periods in his life. I sort of like this format. The most interesting was "Oh Mercy" as this is my favorite Dylan CD. Bob talks about how it was made in some detail. p174. "Bono knows Kerouac's stuff peretty good, Kerouac, who celebrated American towns like Turckee, Fargo, Butte and Medora- towns that most Americans never heard of. It seems funny that Bono would know more about Kerouac than most Americans." 293 pages 6.2 6/1/05 FPL
How The Mind Forgets And Remembers
Seven different problems of memory. How they happen, why they happen but very little about how to overcome them. The last chapter makes the case that these lapses are a neccessary byproduct of a success process which allows the brain and our memory to function properly. He had a good point, and it makes me feel better about losing my keys. At the same time, I browsed through another memory book which had some memory tools: namely visualization. I already know about this, but I need to find another book with a more hands on approach. 206 pages 4.5 6/1/05 FPL
An interesting tale of the rise and fall of Semisonic. A band I've barely heard of. The drummer wrote the book, and it's pretty entertaining. Record companies and record executives don't come off very well. You can see where radio has been distroyed and yet it's the only way to sell records. The record companies won't develop their talent because the executives won't be around long enough to reap the rewards- and so the entire mess moves to the internet. 286 pages 6.0 6/2/05 FPL
User Guide
This was a very good overview to the program, and especially the new features. 350 pages 6.0 6/3/05 Suzanne
A Desktop Quick Reference
This is a very good overview of Windows XP and the built in programs, control panels, and services in the program. It did answer a number of questions I had like how to you copy the file names in a folder. Most of the answers were difficult- Windows XP isn't as easy or transparent as Mac. I made lots of notes. If you were going to buy a manual for XP this would be a very good start. 592 pages 7.2 6/9/05 FPL
Your Complete Guide To A Better Bottom Line
A pretty good guide about doing taxes if you run your own business. I help to read it before doing our taxes with Turbo Tax and answered some questions I had that even Turbo Tax with it's deep help screens didn't answer clearly. The books also shows tax strategies for businesses- so I dog-earred a lot of pages. I did finish most of this book before April 15th, but there were chapters that didn't really apply, which I put off until now. 505 pages 5.7 6/10/05 Craig
The True Story of the 92nd Signal Battalion and the Liberation of Dachau
Suzanne told me to read the book a couple times. In her discription she kept coming back to the holocost. I've read enough books about these black periods, and passed. Recently enough time as gone by were I thought I could handle it. Although the 92nd Signal Corp liberates Dachu, most of the book is open eyed look at the 92nd from basic training to the end of the war through the eyes of Jack Sacco's father. The story is told in the first person as an historical fictional novel. As such it's an easy read and it's entertaining while giving you a feel for being in the ETO during WWII. 316 pages 7.9 6/11/05 Suzanne
A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family
This took a long time to read because the print was so small, but I really enjoyed reading it, remembering those episodes, and laughing out loud. I didn't read it as a primary books, just something I would grab when I wanted to read something light or for only a few minutes. 235 pages 7.5 6/12/05 Craig
I liked the story, but I felt like I was reading a kids book that occasional would deal with adult themes. Suzanne liked it a lot but I found it okay but probably wouldn't read another unless I was bored. 235 pages 4.0 6/13/05 Craig
The only weak part of the book is the ending when the sister seems to come out of nowhere to kill Nora Sinclair- not that she didn't have it coming, but it seemed like a cheat. Other than that it was a fun book to read with lots of sex and action. 311 pages 7.5 6/20/05 Craig
More Than 2000 Hacks, Tweaks, Mods, And Customizations
I don't think this is the same book as Window XP Hacks. It was still interesting, but most the hacks were cosmetic and not neccessarily something I want to do, especially considering how touchy Windows is. 341 pages 5.0 6/23/05 FPL
Once I started this book, I really couldn't put it down. It doesn't hurt that most of the action takes place in North Dakota. This kind of story is not necessarily my cup of tea but it was so well written that you can help but love it. It's the kind of book you could recommend to anyone. The kind of story that would make a great movie, but Hollywood will ignore or set their worst screenwriters against. 312 pages 8.7 6/27/05 Suzanne
Commander In Chief, United States Central Command
I don't know if it was his co-writer , Malcolm McConnell or his editor, but this is one the best written autobiographs I read in the long time. If there is any weakness, it's Frank's fondness for military appreviations. I thought I knew what they all were, but even I had to check the glossary in the back every couple pages. (Which is obviously distracting) Other than that Tommy gave a good read of his life, you really felt like you know him. And then a good read on the War on Terror. I'm satisfied this administration, and Frank's command knew what they were doing. No plan is perfect, nor did Franks say his was, but when you weight the real options, the results have been pretty good. 568 pages 8.0 6/29/05 FPL
It's a look at Karen Hughes, and her stuggle to balance two families: her family at home and the George Bush Administration. It was a look from a different angle at some of the challenges I read about in the Tommy Franks book. She illustrated what a decent guy George Bush is. I may not agree with all his policies or strategies but at least I know he takes care in coming to a decision and isn't just doing things for political effect. 335 pages 6.7 7/2/05 FPL
Bill traveled Europe and seemed to have a bad time everywhere he went. The writing was funny in spots. For a travel writter he seemed to do a really bad job of planning. 245 pages 3.4 7/10/05 Suzanne
100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools
Very good. Windows XP In A Nutshell is a better book for beginners or as a simple reference book, but this book covers more details and lets you get under the hood of Windows XP and fix some of what's wrong with Windows and adjust other settings which bother me. Basically I've stripped XP down to it's Windows 2000 core. Downloading TweakUI from Microsoft helps. 362 pages 7.0 7/24/05 FPL
A Literary Autobiography
This book is a collection of various peices that Buckley wrote about himself. ( mostly chronological) Some are interesting but a couple were mind numbingly boring. Luckily those MNB pieces were usually followed by something of interest. 572 pages 5.0 7/30/05 FPL
Although I enjoyed reading it, I didn't like the premise. Setting up a death squad with no oversite seems to me to be inviting disaster. Or certaining climbin down into the mud of the terrorist themselves. And maybe these people speak this way but it doesn't sound or read very intelligent. The book also just seems to end- probably to help sell the sequel. 431 pages 5.0 8/15/05 FPL
Digital Security In A Networked World
This books told you how digital security works, or more how it doesn't work. This book is sort of depressing, it seems there is no security you can count out. You need to be paranoid to keep prying eyes from your computer. The book didn't discuss products, rather he talked about technologies. His web site is a little more informative with concrete strategies. http://www.schneier.com/essay-078.html p6 Admiral Grace Hopper, "Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems." p344 croggle at it's naïveté 398 pages 5.2 8/17/05 FPL
The Novel Of England
This is the best Rutherfurd book I've read so far. I found the sweep of English histroy as seen through the local charactors to be interesting. Less a collection of facts and figures but variables, which move families around while creating obsticals and oportunities. 1033 pages 7.7 8/30/05 Suzanne
Memoir Of A Marine Grunt
The story of a young man who got drafted into the Vietnam War. He joined the Marines, served for a year where every day his life was at risk, got wounded and finally got back to the states after a couple odd incidents were he decided to go back to Vietnam (from Japan) then decided to stay for rest of his time. He came to his senses and had is orders lost, so returned to America. The war stories are very interesting much better than works of fiction. 336 pages 7.2 9/25/05 FPL
An interesting looking at the history of our planet and primate evolution in particular. The book starts at 145 Million BC and ends 500 Million AD. Humans are only around for a short time. Mostly is semi intelligent monkeys running around looking for food and trying to not to be eatten. There are a couple of Science Fiction moments. We send nano robots to Mars and they completely convert the planet to other nano robots which take off for the universe, but thankly (and unexplained) don't eat the Earth. Also there are tool using dinosaurs. 645 pages 7.3 10/11/05 FPL
The Soundtrack To My Life And Times
Neil and I seem to share a number similar interests as far as music and books. Even our outlook on life is sorta the same although I'm not the drummer lyricist for a famous rock band. I liked reading about his take on things I enjoy but probably learned more from the things I don't have much interest in. It's where we diverge that shows how and why I'm different from Neil. There are weak spots in the book where he seems to ramble on and on about nothing- I blame his editor. 380 pages 6.8 10/11/05 FPL
On Man's Humble Quest To Become The Smartest Person In The World
A.J. sets out to read the 2002 Encyclepedia Brittanica front to back. It's a funny story but not overtly so. It goes a long way to illustrating Mr. Jacobs. I got a strong sense of the guy and his relationship with his wife, family, co-workers and friends through his use of EB trivia. 369 pages 6.6 10/18/05 FPL
It wasn't super great but I did enjoy reading it and near the end I couldn't put it down. I will certainly pick up the sequel. Reid Malenfant decides to start his own private space company using some exotic technologies and surplus NASA parts. He's helped by some wacos who think they got a message from the future- and did.. The government and especially NASA don't like being shown up by Reid and Reid doesn't help things by flagerently ignoring the law. 441 pages 6.7 10/26/05 FPL
No One Goes To Antartica Alone
I picked the book up because it sounded interesting it was. And you think North Dakota is cold. I found the politics of Antarctica interesting. All these countries are there pretending to do science when they're waiting for the day Antarctica is open for development. 208 pages 7.4 11/18/05 FPL
In this parallel story of Reid Malenfant, the galaxy is full of aliens. Most are interesting in stripping our Solar system of everything. The Gaijin get here first but are more intested in us- or seem to be- they fight off the others. Reid disappears early in the book only to return later- to save the galaxy. The kicker is he doesn't save the one we know. 453 pages 7.4 11/20/05 FPL
A bloody story told over the backdrop of the Draft Riots in New York City in 1986. The story starts slow but it builds to the end. 665 pages 6.9 11/22/05 FPL
Origin
This time Reod Malenfant and Emma Stone find themselves on a inhabited moon, which jumps from universe to universe - differing only by the impact, which created our moon, which determined the outcome of the primate evolution. It was interesting but a little red in the tooth. 441 pages 7.0 12/3/05 FPL
A Novel Of The Civil War
I first heard about this book when I listened to an excerpt of "Never Call Retreat" - I thought it was about leading the Republican revolution but it was about the Civil War. This is book one of a Trilogy- an alternate history of the Civil War. I've read some alternative historys and they are always interesting. I had added advantage of a strong familarity of the charactors and battles: from both books and movies. It's exciting when you don't know what's going to happen. In this case Lee listens to Longstreet and the outcome of the battle changes. 463 pages 7.5 12/10/05 FPL
A Novel Of The Civil War
Almost as good as Gettysburg, but I was really into it by this time and read it quickly. The story does a good job of illustrating tactics and politics, by this I mean you don't even notice the lesson. 404 pages 7.2 12/14/05 FPL
Lee And Grant The Final Victory
The battle scenes seem realistic but the post victory political scenario did not. This trilogy of books was well written and very interesting. For some reason I seem to have read quite a bit about the Civil War, but I don't consider myself a Civil War buff. 496 pages 7.4 12/20/05 FPL
Although I didn't learn anything from this book, it was a good review of the material I know. I would also recommend this book to anyone who knows a little about HTML or web design and wants to learn more. 298 pages 6.8 12/20/05 FPL
Frank's first draft of the story "Spice Planet" was interesting. It was a stock SF story without many of the element which make Dune special. The letters were sort of interesting, and the short stories I had read before. 489 pages 4.2 12/30/05 Suzanne