Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

On NPR's Talk of the Nation (March 1, 2012):

Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living, by Allan Lokos. Tarcher, 2012. Print Length: 240 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"To survive the roller coaster ride of life - the seemingly endless shifts from pleasure to pain, gain to loss, and praise to blame - requires a substantial depth of patience. And yet patience is one thing many feel they have precious little of. In this life-changing book, Allan Lokos sheds new light on this much sought-after state of being and provides a road map for cultivating more patience in one's life. According to Lokos, anger and patience are two sides of the same coin and, therefore, if we hope to develop our ability to be patient we must first learn to recognize and tame anger's many manifestations - from annoyance, rage, and bitterness, to ill will, hostility, and indignation. In this revelatory book, Lokos draws on years of Buddhist practice, as well as interviews with a wide range of people who have had their patience tested - and often sorely so - in order to discover where the heart of patience lies." - Publisher.

On NPR's Talk of the Nation (March 1, 2012):

Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times, by Eyal Press. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. Print Length: 209 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (21 reviews). Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"On the Swiss border with Austria in 1938, a police captain refuses to enforce a law barring Jewish refugees from entering his country. In the Balkans half a century later, a Serb from the war-blasted city of Vukovar defies his superiors in order to save the lives of Croats. At the height of the Second Intifada, a member of Israel’s most elite military unit informs his commander he doesn’t want to serve in the occupied territories. Fifty years after Hannah Arendt examined the dynamics of conformity in her seminal account of the Eichmann trial, Beautiful Souls explores the flipside of the banality of evil, mapping out what impels ordinary people to defy the sway of authority and convention. Through the dramatic stories of unlikely resisters who feel the flicker of conscience when thrust into morally compromising situations, Eyal Press shows that the boldest acts of dissent are often carried out not by radicals seeking to overthrow the system but by true believers who cling with unusual fierceness to their convictions." - Publisher.

On NPR's Fresh Air (March 1, 2012) and on and on PBS's Charlie Rose (March 5, 2012:

The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, by Masha Gessen. Riverhead, 2012. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to her own people and to the world. Handpicked as a successor by the 'family' surrounding an ailing and increasingly unpopular Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin seemed like a perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the shadows, dreaming of ruling the world, was a public figure, and his popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see the progressive leader of their dreams, even as he seized control of media, sent political rivals and critics into exile or to the grave, and smashed the country's fragile electoral system, concentrating power in the hands of his cronies. As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and for The Man Without a Face she has drawn on information and sources no other writer has tapped." - Publisher.

On CSPAN2's BOOKTV (March 3, 2012):

The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution, by Brion McClanahan. Regnery History, 2012. Print Length: 282 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (13 reviews). Kindle edition $9.18. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Are liberals right when they cite the 'elastic' clauses of the Constitution to justify big government? Or are conservatives right when they cite the Constitution’s explicit limits on federal power? The answer lies in a more basic question: How did the founding generation intend for us to interpret and apply the Constitution? Professor Brion McClanahan, popular author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, finds the answers by going directly to the source — to the Founding Fathers themselves, who debated all the relevant issues in their state constitutional conventions." - Publisher.

On NPR's Diane Rehm Show (March 8, 2012):

The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers - and the Coming Cashless Society, by David Wolman. Da Capo Press, 2012. Print Length: 240 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"For ages, money has meant little metal disks and rectangular slips of paper. Yet the usefulness of physical money - to say nothing of its value - is coming under fire as never before. Intrigued by the distinct possibility that cash will soon disappear, author and Wired contributing editor David Wolman sets out to investigate the future of money...and how it will affect your wallet. Wolman begins his journey by deciding to shun cash for an entire year - a surprisingly successful experiment (with a couple of notable exceptions). He then ventures forth to find people and technologies that illuminate the road ahead. In Honolulu, he drinks Mai Tais with Bernard von NotHaus, a convicted counterfeiter and alternative-currency evangelist whom government prosecutors have labeled a domestic terrorist. In Tokyo, he sneaks a peek at the latest anti-counterfeiting wizardry, while puzzling over the fact that banknote forgers depend on society's addiction to cash. And in rural Georgia, he examines why some people feel the end of cash is Armageddon’s warm-up act. Told with verve and wit, The End of Money explores an aspect of our daily lives so fundamental that we rarely stop to think about it." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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What People Magazine is Reading This Week (March 5th Issue)

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the March 5th issue of People:

Girlchild, by Tupelo Hassman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. Print Length: 288 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (21 reviews). People's slant: "...lyrical and fiercely accomplished first novel...a lovely tribute to the soaring, defiant spirit of a survivor." - Helen Rogan. Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Rory Hendrix is the least likely of Girl Scouts. She hasn’t got a troop or even a badge to call her own. But she’s checked the Handbook out from the elementary school library so many times that her name fills all the lines on the card, and she pores over its surreal advice (Uniforms, disposing of outgrown; The Right Use of Your Body; Finding Your Way When Lost) for tips to get off the Calle: that is, the Calle de las Flores, the Reno trailer park where she lives with her mother, Jo, the sweet-faced, hard-luck bartender at the Truck Stop. Rory’s been told that she is one of the 'third-generation bastards surely on the road to whoredom.' But she’s determined to prove the county and her own family wrong. Brash, sassy, vulnerable, wise, and terrified, she struggles with her mother’s habit of trusting the wrong men, and the mixed blessing of being too smart for her own good. From diary entries, social workers’ reports, half-recalled memories, arrest records, family lore, Supreme Court opinions, and her grandmother’s letters, Rory crafts a devastating collage that shows us her world even as she searches for the way out of it." - Publisher.

Lone Wolf, by Jodi Picoult. Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2012. Print Length: 385 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (12 reviews). People's slant: "Does the family that howls together stay together? This page-turner will keep you wondering." - Joanna Powell. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Luke Warren has spent his life researching wolves. He has written about them, studied their habits intensively, and even lived with them for extended periods of time. In many ways, Luke understands wolf dynamics better than those of his own family. His wife, Georgie, has left him, finally giving up on their lonely marriage. His son, Edward, twenty-four, fled six years ago, leaving behind a shattered relationship with his father. Edward understands that some things cannot be fixed, though memories of his domineering father still inflict pain. Then comes a frantic phone call: Luke has been gravely injured in a car accident with Edward’s younger sister, Cara..." - Publisher.

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, by Deborah Feldman. Simon & Schuster, 2012. Print Length: 274 p. MEMOIR. Amazon customer rating: 2 1/2 stars (178 reviews). Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"The Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism is as mysterious as it is intriguing to outsiders. In this arresting memoir, Deborah Feldman reveals what life is like trapped within a religious tradition that values silence and suffering over individual freedoms. The child of a mentally disabled father and a mother who abandoned the community while her daughter was still a toddler, Deborah was raised by her strictly religious grandparents, Bubby and Zeidy. Along with a rotating cast of aunts and uncles, they enforced customs with a relentless emphasis on rules that governed everything from what Deborah could wear and to whom she could speak, to what she was allowed to read. As she grew from an inquisitive little girl to an independent-minded young woman, stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott helped her to imagine an alternative way of life. She had no idea how to seize this dream that seemed to beckon to her from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, but she was determined to find a way..." - Publisher.

Briefly Mentioned

If you are suffering from fantasy withdrawal after finishing The Hunger Games, you may also enjoy:

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Tor Books, 2010. Print Length: 340 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3016 reviews). Kindle edition $5.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut - young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

The Golden Compass, by Phillip Pullman. Knopf Books, 2001. Print Length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (1514 reviews). Kindle edition 6.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing?victims of so-called 'Gobblers' - and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved." - from the inside flap.

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print Length: 404 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (515 reviews). Kindle edition $6.29. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight - she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace - or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away..." - Publisher.

Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld. Simon Pulse, 2008. Print Length: 388 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (178 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book two in Westerfeld's The Uglies series. If you haven't already, you will want to read Uglies, the first volume, before you start this one.

"Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she's completely popular. It's everything she's ever wanted. But beneath all the fun - the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom - is a nagging sense that something's wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally's ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what's wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold. Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life - because the authorities don't intend to let anyone with this information survive." - Publisher.

Pure, by Julianna Baggott. Grand Central Publishing, 2012. Print length: 448 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (85 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost - how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. " - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Just Out: Recent and Choice Nonfiction for the Kindle

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative. - Tracy Kidder.

Nonfiction encompasses a wealth of reading possibilities - history, essays, memoirs, scientific research, travel guides, cookbooks - essentially everything that is based on fact, real events and real people. Recent nonfiction titles for the Kindle that you might have missed:

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family and a Lost Middle East, by Anthony Shadid. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $10.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In spring 2011, Anthony Shadid was one of four New York Times reporters captured in Libya, cuffed and beaten, as that country was seized by revolution. When he was freed, he went home. Not to Boston or Beirut - where he lives - or to Oklahoma City, where his Lebanese-American family had settled and where he was raised. Instead, he returned to his great-grandfather’s estate, a house that, over three years earlier, Shadid had begun to rebuild. House of Stone is the story of a battle-scarred home and a war correspondent’s jostled spirit, and of how reconstructing the one came to fortify the other. In this poignant and resonant memoir, the author of the award-winning Night Draws Near creates a mosaic of past and present, tracing the house’s renewal alongside his family’s flight from Lebanon and resettlement in America. In the process, Shadid memorializes a lost world, documents the shifting Middle East, and provides profound insights into this volatile landscape." - Publisher.

The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks, by Joe Kloc. The Atavist, 2012. Amazon Short (154 KB). Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $1.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Joseph Gutheinz is on a mission to save the moon. Decades ago, astronauts brought back 850 pounds of rocks from their lunar journeys; the U.S. gave some away as 'goodwill' gifts to the world’s nations. Over time, many of them disappeared, stolen or lost in the aftermath of political turmoil, and offered for millions on the black market. Gutheinz, first as a NASA investigator and then the leader of a intrepid group of students, has dedicated his life to getting them back. Author Joe Kloc tells a wild story of geopolitics, crime, science, and one man’s obsession with keeping the moon out of the wrong hands." - Publisher.

Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan, by Sean Parnell, with John R. Bruning. William Morrow, 2012. Print Length: 384 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (15 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In combat, men measure up. Or don't. There are no second chances. In this vivid account of the U.S. Army's legendary 10th Mountain Division's heroic stand in the mountains of Afghanistan, Captain Sean Parnell shares an action-packed and highly emotional true story of triumph, tragedy, and the extraordinary bonds forged in battle. At twenty-four years of age, U.S. Army Ranger Sean Parnell was named commander of a forty-man elite infantry platoon - a unit that came to be known as the Outlaws - and was tasked with rooting out Pakistan-based insurgents from a mountain valley along Afghanistan's eastern frontier. Parnell and his men assumed they would be facing a ragtag bunch of civilians, but in May 2006 what started out as a routine patrol through the lower mountains of the Hindu Kush became a brutal ambush..." - Publisher.

Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, by Lauren Winner. HarperOne, 2012. Print Length: 272 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (44 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In the critically acclaimed memoir Girl Meets God, Lauren F. Winner chronicled her sojourn from Judaism to Christianity. Now...Winner describes how experiences of loss and failure unexpectedly slam her into a wall of doubt and spiritual despair: 'My belief has faltered, my sense of God’s closeness has grown strained, my efforts at living in accord with what I take to be the call of the gospel have come undone.' Witty, relatable, and fiercely honest, Winner lays bare her experience of what she calls the 'middle' of the spiritual life. In elegant and spare prose, she explores why - in the midst of the overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and boredom of her deepest questioning about where (or if) God is - the Christian story still explains who she is better than any other story she’s ever known...an absorbing meditation combining literary grace with spiritual wisdom." - Publisher.

Simon: The Genius in My Basement, by Alexander Masters. Delacorte Press, 2012. Print Length: 368 p. This title has complex layouts and has been optimized for reading on devices with larger screens. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"An intimate portrait of an everyday genius. Alexander Masters tripped over his first subject on a Cambridge pavement, and the result was the multi-award-winning bestseller Stuart: A Life Backwards. The second, he’s found under his floorboards. One of the greatest mathematical prodigies of the twentieth century stomps around the basement in semi-darkness, dodging between stalagmites of bus timetables and engorged plastic bags. He eats tinned kippers stirred into packets of Bombay Mix. Simon is exploring a theoretical puzzle so complex and critical to our understanding of the universe, that it is known as the Monster. It looks like a sudoku table - except a sudoku table has nine columns of numbers. The Monster has 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000. The Genius in my Basement is the grumpy, poignant, comical story - more intimate than either the author or his subject intended - about the frailty of brilliance, Britain’s most uncooperative egghead, and a happy man." - Publisher.

The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America, by Scott Weidensaul. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print Length: 496 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (16 reviews). Kindle edition $15.40. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark, before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains, it was the East that marked the frontier - the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans. Here is the older, wilder, darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground - when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other, while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land. The First Frontier traces two and a half centuries of history through poignant, mostly unheralded personal stories - like that of a Harvard-educated Indian caught up in seventeenth-century civil warfare, a mixed-blood interpreter trying to straddle his white and Native heritage, and a Puritan woman wielding a scalping knife whose bloody deeds still resonate uneasily today. It is the first book in years to paint a sweeping picture of the Eastern frontier, combining vivid storytelling with the latest research to bring to life modern America’s tumultuous, uncertain beginnings." - Publisher.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg. Random House, 2012. Print Length: 402 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (34 reviews). Kindle edition $13.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed. Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern - and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year. An untested CEO takes over one of the largest companies in America. His first order of business is attacking a single pattern among his employees - how they approach worker safety - and soon the firm, Alcoa, becomes the top performer in the Dow Jones. What do all these people have in common? They achieved success by focusing on the patterns that shape every aspect of our lives. Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly's Feb 24th Issue

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the February 24th issue include:

Diary of a Mad Fat Girl, by Stephanie McAfee. NAL, 2012. Print length: 368 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...the kind of breezy summer read that's perfect for wintertime, too." - Sara Vilkomerson. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (197 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Graciela 'Ace' Jones is mad - mad at her best friend Lilly who cancels their annual trip to Panama City for mysterious reasons; at her boss Catherine for 'riding her ass like a fat lady on a Rascal scooter;' at her friend Chloe's abusive husband; and especially at Mason McKenzie, the love of her life, who has shown up with a marriage proposal three years too late. Ace's anger begins to dissipate as she takes matters into her own hands to take down Chloe's philandering husband - and to get to the bottom of a multitude of other scandals plaguing Bugtussle, Mississippi. Then, she starts to realize that maybe Mason deserves a second chance after all..." - Penguin.com.

Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir, by Donor Weber. Simon & Schuster, 2012. Print length: 368 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "It is devastating to watch Damon die - and to watch his father try to keep living." - Tina Jordan. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (21 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"A family's love lies at the heart of this gifted boy’s fight to survive. Born with a congenital heart defect that required surgery when he was a baby, Damon Weber lives a big life with spirit and independence that have always been a source of pride to his parents, Doron and Shealagh. But when Damon is diagnosed with a new illness as a teenager, his triumphant coming-of-age tale turns into a darker and more dramatic quest: his family’s race against time and a flawed heath care system. Immortal Bird is a searing account of a father’s struggle to save his remarkable son, a story of a young boy’s passion for life, and a tribute to his family’s love. It is also a story of the perils of modern medicine and the redemptive power of art in the face of the unthinkable." - Simon & Schuster.

Wild Thing, by Josh Bazell. Reagan Arthur / Back Bay Books, 2012. Print length: 401 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...walks, talks, and squawks like a crime thriller, but it makes casual passes at left-field absurdity that aim for Hiaasen or Vonnegut." - Keith Staskiewicz. Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (27 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"It's hard to find work as a doctor when using your real name will get you killed. So hard that when a reclusive billionaire offers Dr. Peter Brown, aka Pietro Brnwa, a job accompanying a sexy but self-destructive paleontologist on the world's worst field assignment, Brown has no real choice but to say yes. Even if it means that an army of murderers, mobsters, and international drug dealers - not to mention the occasional lake monster - are about to have a serious Pietro Brnwa problem." - Publisher.

Flatscreen, by Adam Wilson. Harper Perennial, 2012. Print length: 336 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...darkly funny...after a while it wears on you, and it starts to feel like this study of one man's inertia isn't really going anywhere either." - Keith Staskiewicz. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Flatscreen tells the story of Eli Schwartz as he endures the loss of his home, the indifference of his parents, the success of his older brother, and the cruel and frequent dismissal of the opposite sex. He is a loser par excellence - pasty, soft, and high - who struggles to become a new person in a world where nothing is new. Into this scene of apathy rolls Seymour J. Kahn. Former star of the small screen and current paraplegic sex addict, Kahn has purchased Eli’s old family home. The two begin a dangerous friendship, one that distracts from their circumstances but speeds their descent into utter debasement and, inevitably, YouTube stardom. By story’s end, through unlikely acts of courage and kindness, roles will be reversed, reputations resurrected, and charges (hopefully) dropped." - harpercollins.com.

The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice, by M. G. Lord. Walker Books, 2012. Print length: 224 p. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "La Liz would have loved the hubbub." - Lisa Schwarzbaum. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Countless books have chronicled the sensational life of Elizabeth Taylor, but rarely has her career been examined from the point of view of her on-screen persona. And that persona, argues M. G. Lord, in its most memorable outings has repeatedly introduced a broad audience to feminist ideas. In her breakout film, National Velvet (1944), Taylor's character challenges gender discrimination: Forbidden to ride her beloved horse in an important race because she is a girl, she poses as a male jockey. Her next milestone, A Place in the Sun (1951), is essentially an abortion-rights movie - a cautionary tale from a world before women had ready access to birth control. In Butterfield 8 (1960), for which she won an Oscar, Taylor's character isn't censured because she's a prostitute, but because she chooses the men with whom she sleeps - she controls her sexuality. Even the classic Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) depicts the anguish that befalls a woman when the only way she can express herself is through her husband's career and children. Daring in conception, and drawing upon unpublished letters and scripts as well as interviews with Kate Burton, Gore Vidal, Robert Forster, Austin Pendleton, Kevin McCarthy, Liz Smith, and others, The Accidental Feminist will surprise Taylor and film fans alike with its originality - and add a startling dimension to the star's enduring mystique." - walkerbooks.com.
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Please note: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Take Me Out To The Kindle: New Baseball Books for the Kindle Reader

Whether you follow the Grapefruit or the Cactus League, if you're like me, about this time of year you start thinking "spring training" and counting the weeks until major league baseball gets under way again in early April. While we're waiting, get up-to-speed with these recent baseball titles for the Kindle:

Baseball Prospectus 2012, edited by King Kaufman and Cecilia M. Tan. Wiley, 2012. Print Length: 576 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Now in its seventeenth edition, the Baseball Prospectus annual shows once again how it became the industry leader: the 2012 edition includes key stat categories, more controversial player predictions, and the kind of wise, witty baseball commentary that makes this phone-book-thick tome worth reading cover to cover. Still, stats are just numbers if you don't see the larger context, and Baseball Prospectus brings together an elite team of analysts to provide the definitive look at all thirty teams - their players, their prospects, and their managers - to explain away flukes, hot streaks, injury-tainted numbers, park effects, and overrated prospects who won't be able to fool people in the Show like they have down on the farm." - from the back cover.

Good Wood: The Story of the Baseball Bat, by Stuart Miller. ACTA Sports, 2011. Print Length: 192 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $7.19. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"New York Times contributor Stuart Miller takes readers on a journey through the rich and storied - and occasionally nefarious - story of the baseball bat and those who have made them and swung them. With over 50 photos, Miller reveals the creation, history, and development of the bat, brings readers up to date on modern methods and materials for making bats, and explores the folklore surrounding bats." - Publisher.

Baseballissimo, by Dave Bidini. McClelland & Stewart, 2011. Print Length: 360 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In the spring of 2002, Dave Bidini set off for Nettuno, Italy, with his wife, Janet, and their two small children, in search of his favourite summer game, baseball. Nettuno was his destination because this town, south of Rome, has been the baseball capital of Italy since 1944, when the game was introduced by the American GIs who liberated the region. Bidini wanted to spend time in a town where everyone is as nuts about the game as he is, and in Nettuno, they love the game so much that they hand out baseball gloves and bats to children taking their first communion. For six months Bidini followed the fortunes of the Serie B Peones, Nettunese to the core. At the same time he was also learning about his own heritage, having spent his youth vigorously ignoring his Italianness. The result of his summer in Italy is vintage Bidini: a funny, perceptive, and engrossing book that takes readers far beyond the professional sport to the game that people around the world love to play." - Publisher.

Around the Bases: 30 Stadiums and Four Acquaintances That Built a Friendship That Will Last a Lifetime, by Steven Grosso. Print Length: 165 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.
"...a compelling story of friendship, travel, and baseball. A narrative tale taking the reader into United States cities and Major League Baseball Stadiums through the eyes of four friends. This journey is filled with insightful, humorous, and uplifting stories. Come join us in the journey." - Publisher.

Out of My League: A Rookie's Survival in the Bigs, by Dirk Hayhurst. Citadel, 2012. Print Length: 417 p. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"After six years of laying it on the line in the minors, pitcher Dirk Hayhurst hopes 2008 is the year he breaks into the big leagues. But every time Dirk looks up, the bases are loaded with new challenges, on and off the field: a wedding balancing on a blind hope, a family in chaos, and paychecks that beg Dirk to answer, 'How long can I afford to keep doing this?' Then it finally happens - Dirk gets called up to the Majors, to play for the San Diego Padres. A dream comes true when he takes the mound against the San Francisco Giants, kicking off forty insane days and nights in the Bigs - with a big paycheck, bigger-than-life personalities, and the biggest pressure he’s ever felt. Like the classic games of baseball’s illustrious history, Out of My League entertains from the first pitch to the last out, capturing the gritty realities of playing on the big stage, the comedy and camaraderie in the dugouts and locker rooms, and the hard-fought, personal journeys that drive our love of America’s favorite pastime." - Publisher.

Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box, edited by Eric Bronson. Open Court, 2011. Print Length: 366 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Professor Bronson asked nineteen intrepid philosophers who are also baseball fans to turn their penetrating gaze on this most American of games. The result has been described as a 'philosophical home run.' Chapters include: The Zen of Hitting, There are No Ties at First Base, Baseball and the Search for an American Moral Identity, Damn Yankees: Why America Needs Reggie Jackson, The Ethics of the Intentional Walk, Saving the Twins with Rawlsian Justice, Wait 'til Next Year: The Faith of a Cubs Fan, Taking Umpiring Seriously, He Missed the Tag!: The Ethics of Deception, and The Asterisk in the Record Book: Roger Maris and Normative Assessments." - Open Court Books.

The Book of Baseball Literacy, by David Martinez. Homerunweb Books, 2011. 3rd edition. Print Length: 389 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $3.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"From the gloveless pioneers of the 1840s to the strife-ridden headlines of the 2000s, this comprehensive reference offers nearly 700 important baseball yarns, stats, and stories in a style as lively as the game itself. Incredibly thorough, never dull, the book answers these and countless other questions: Who was Ray Chapman, and why is he important? Did Abner Doubleday really invent baseball? What is sabermetrics? Who set off the Pine Tar Incident? Where was the first organized baseball game? Were the Cubs cursed by a billy goat? What are waivers and options?" - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.



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What People Magazine is Reading This Week (Feb 27th Issue)

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the February 27th issue of People:

Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life, by David Treuer. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012. Print Length: 368 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). People's slant: "...poignant, penetrating blend of memoir and history... " - Eric Liebetrau. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Celebrated novelist David Treuer has gained a reputation for writing fiction that expands the horizons of Native American literature. In Rez Life, his first full-length work of nonfiction, Treuer brings a novelist’s storytelling skill and an eye for detail to a complex and subtle examination of Native American reservation life, past and present. With authoritative research and reportage, Treuer illuminates misunderstood contemporary issues of sovereignty, treaty rights, and natural-resource conservation. A member of the Ojibwe of northern Minnesota, Treuer grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation, but was educated in mainstream America. Treuer traverses the boundaries of American and Indian identity as he explores crime and poverty, casinos and wealth, and the preservation of his native language and culture. Rez Life is a strikingly original work of history and reportage, a must read for anyone interested in the Native American story." - Grove/Atlantic

The House I Loved, by Tatiana de Rosnay. St. Martin's Press, 2012. Print Length: 222 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (29 reviews). People's slant: "...quietly elegant...a mesmerizing look at how the homes and neighborhoods we occupy hold not only our memories but our secrets as well." - Lisa Kay Greissinger. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Paris, France: 1860’s. Hundreds of houses are being razed, whole neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, moulding it into a 'modern city.' The reforms will erase generations of history - but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand. Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her beloved late husband. And as she delves into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years..." - macmillan.com.

Friends Like Us, by Lauren Fox. Knopf, 2012. Print Length: 289 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (27 reviews). People's slant: "The book is funny, breezing along as it nails its Gen-Y characters, but it's weightier than fluff. In fact, it's a strikingly wise exploration of the bonds people forge and break." - Robin Micheli. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"For Willa Jacobs, seeing her best friend, Jane Weston, is like looking in a mirror on a really good day. Strangers assume they are sisters, a comparison Willa secretly enjoys. They share an apartment, clothing, and groceries, eking out rent with part-time jobs. Willa writes advertising copy, dreaming up inspirational messages for tea bags ('The path to enlightenment is steep' and 'Oolong! Farewell!'), while Jane cleans houses and writes poetry about it, rhyming 'dust' with 'lust' and 'clog of hair' with 'fog of despair.' Together Willa and Jane are a fortress of private jokes and shared opinions, with a friendship so close there’s hardly room for anyone else. But when Ben, Willa’s oldest friend, reappears and falls in love with Jane, Willa wonders: Can she let her two best friends find happiness with each other if it means leaving her behind?" - randomhouse.com

Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath, by Mimi Alford. Random House, 2012. Print length: 208 p. MEMOIR. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (97 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In the summer of 1962, nineteen-year-old Mimi Beardsley arrived by train in Washington, D.C., to begin an internship in the White House press office. The Kennedy Administration had reinvigorated the capital and the country - and Mimi was eager to contribute. For a young woman from a privileged but sheltered upbringing, the job was the chance of a lifetime. Although she started as a lowly intern, Mimi made an impression on Kennedy’s inner circle and, after just three days at the White House, she was presented to the President himself. Almost immediately, the two began an affair that would continue for the next eighteen months. In an era when women in the workplace were still considered 'girls,' Mimi was literally a girl herself - naïve, innocent, emotionally unprepared for the thrill that came when the President’s charisma and power were turned on her full-force. She was also unprepared for the feelings of isolation that would follow as she fell into the double life of a college student who was also the secret lover of the most powerful man in the world. Then, after the President’s tragic death in Dallas, she grieved in private, locked her secret away, and tried to start her life anew, only to find that her past would cast a long shadow..." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Chess Apps and Books for the Kindle Reader

Sometimes one thing leads to another. Say you purchase a Kindle for convenient reading on-the-go. But wait, it has apps too! And some aren't too bad. There are apps both for the standard Kindles and for the Kindle Fire and some of the best of the bunch - especially if you have a Fire - are chess games. If you're a chess novice interested in learning and/or playing the game on your Kindle, start here:

Kindle Chess Apps:

Chess (A Classic Game for Kindle), by Oak Systems Leisure Software. Platform: Kindle. Compatible with: Kindle Keyboard, Kindle DX and Kindle (2nd Generation). Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (51 reviews). Price: $2.99. Ad-supported? No.

"In Chess you go head-to-head in a bid to capture your opponent's King. Play against Kindle or challenge a friend with Pass 'N Play mode. Choose between 10 levels of difficulty and choose whether you want to play with an optional time limit to increase the challenge. You can also take back a move if you have made a mistake, as well as save your game at any time." - Oak Systems.

Chess Genius, by Lang Software Limited. Platform: Android. Compatible with: Kindle Fire. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (5 reviews). Price: $4.99. Ad-supported? No.


"Chess players of all skill levels will love ChessGenius, an award-winning chess program with 33 engaging playing levels. Save and load games to PGN databases, copy and paste PGN games to clipboard, and enjoy a simple, elegant user interface. ChessGenius gives you features like Tutor, Hints, and Chess Clocks for tournament-style play. Improve your chess skill and enjoy a user-friendly chess app for your Android device to take with you on the go." - Lang Software.

Chess Free, by AI Factory Limited. Platform: Android. Compatible with: Kindle Fire. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (16 reviews). Price: $0.00. Ad-supported? Yes.

"Based on the company's innovative Treebeard gaming engine, the app allows you to play chess against a computer opponent with a more human style. It's a trait not found on typical chess programs and represents a modern approach that pays homage to the grandmasters of this ancient board game. Featuring ten levels of difficulty, Chess Free is suitable for novice and expert players alike. Treebeard employs intelligent weakening for the lower levels, which makes this app perfect for beginning players, too. There's also a complete chess-move manual included for those completely unfamiliar with the game. If you want to try your moves against a person rather than a machine, the app also has a two-player mode. Just like when you play against the computer, the manual mode allows you to use a game clock that limits play from 5 minutes up to 60 minutes, and moves from 5 seconds up to 60 seconds. While there are many unique aspects of the app, one in particular proves helpful in improving your game at any level: the Show CPU Thinking option. Once activated, Chess Free reveals which move Treebeard is considering next by placing a blue border around the piece the computer wants to move and another around its targeted square." - AI Factory Limited.

Chess Premium, by Optime Software. Platform: Android. Compatible with: Kindle Fire. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (35 reviews). Price: $0.99. Ad-supported? No.

"Tired of playing chess games that look like they were designed for a Commodore 64? Chess Premium features great-looking chess gameplay for Android-powered devices. It supports both one-player and two-player gameplay - play against friends or test your skills against a challenging computer opponent. Get stunning graphics, exciting sounds effects, configurable player names, and score tracking. Stay challenged with a configurable AI engine. Undo moves if you move to the wrong square, and get automatic saves for your game." - Optime Software.

iChess for Android, by Asim Pereira. Paltform: Android. Compatible with: Kindle Fire. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Price: $0.00. Ad-Supported? Yes.

"iChess for Android presents over 1100 puzzles for players of all skill levels to solve. With three levels of difficulty, it won't be hard to find puzzles suited to your abilities. Try to figure out how to checkmate the opponent (although some puzzles don't end in checkmate!). If you're stuck, you can ask for a hint. You can also analyze puzzles you've already solved to remind yourself of what you've already learned. Or, copy it in FEN format to analyze with an external engine such as Chess for Android. Take a Bird View to view solved, failed, and unseen puzzles. A scorecard keeps track of your progress, including number of solved puzzles and hints used. Some puzzles are positions from actual Grandmaster chess tournaments. Can you match wits against the best" - Asim Pereira.

Learn Chess:

Chess for Dummies, by James Eade. For Dummies, 2011. 3rd ed. Print Length: 484 p. This title has complex layouts and has been optimized for reading on devices with larger screens. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (14 reviews). Kindle edition $12.64. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Offering easily-understood explanations of the game and its components, this book is a must have for those developing an interest or looking for an extra edge in chess. Offers easily-understood explanations of the game and its components. Provides introductory chapters and then introduces readers to different perspectives on chess from strategy and etiquette, to winning defensive and offensive secrets. Contains approximately 25% new material, including updated chapters on computer chess games, playing chess online, new tournament rules and much more. James Eade became a United States Chess Federation chess master in 1981. International organizations awarded him the master title in 1990 (for correspondence) and in 1993 (for regular tournament play). Today, he writes about and teaches chess." - Publisher.

The Everything Chess Basics Book, the U.S. Chess Federation and Peter Kurzdorfer. Adams Media, 2012. Print Length: 304 p. This title has complex layouts and has been optimized for reading on devices with larger screens. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $8.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"...an authoritative guide that appeals to chess players of all ages and skill. From understanding the chess pieces to learning the basic moves to forming a winning strategy, The Everything Chess Basics Book teaches readers all they need to know to sharpen their skills and pick up a few advanced techniques and tricks along the way. ...also features information on: special moves; threats; types of chess; chess ethics and sportsmanship; notation, scoring, and timing; and more! Packed with hundreds of clear diagrams..." - Publisher.

Learn Chess, by John Nunn. Gambit Publications, 2000. Print Length: 192 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (12 reviews). Paperback edition: $9.46. Not yet available in a Kindle edition. I included this because it is still one of the best introductions to chess available for the novice and because the two books listed above are not easy to read on the smaller-screen Kindles.

"Starting with the very basics, this book tells you everything you need to know to become a successful chess-player. No prior knowledge is assumed. The reader learns step-by-step, with each new point illustrated by clear examples. By the end of the book, the reader will be fully ready to take on opponents across the board, or on the Internet, and start winning. Dr John Nunn has built up a world-wide reputation for the outstanding clarity of his writings on a wide range of chess topics. This is his first book to tackle the fundamentals of chess." - Publisher.

Improve Your Chess:

The Mammoth Book of Chess, by Graham Burgess. Robinson, 2009. Print Length: 576 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (16 reviews). Kindle edition $6.39. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Please note: one Amazon reviewer reported that the Kindle edition is difficult to use due to small illustrations and difficulty moving back and forth on the Kindle between chess problems and solutions. You might want to consider the paperback edition of this book.

"Comprehensive, up to date, and clear, this invaluable guide will help even less experienced players to progress to good club level and better. It offers a complete guide to the main opening gambits along with hundreds of test positions for players at every level. Graham Burgess, FIDE Master, shows you all you need to know, from entering the world of chess, through Internet games, to major international tournaments. Features include: Entirely new and expanded sections on online chess, computers and openings. A complete guide to all the main opening gambits. Hundreds of test positions for players of all standards.Courses in tactics and attacking strategy. Analysis of some of the greatest games ever played. Information and advice on club, national, and international tournaments. Glossary of terminology. Practical advice and information for further study." - Publisher.

A Guide to Chess Improvement: The Best of Novice Nook, by Dan Heisman. Everyman Chess, 2011. Print Length: 386 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $19.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...features the very best of Dan Heisman’s multi-award winning chess column Novice Nook, which has run for the past ten years at the popular website ChessCafe.com. This book is full of valuable instruction, insight and practical advice on a wide range of key subjects: general improvement, thought processes, planning and strategy, tactics, endgame play, technique, time management and much more besides. Dan Heisman is a USCF National Master, a FIDE Candidate Master, a full-time chess teacher and the author of many chess books." - Publisher.

Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy, by Ray Cheng. Wheatmark, 2008. Print Length: 216 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (69 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Raise your chess to the next level with this program of 600 instructive and challenging exercises covering all aspects of the game. This book will sharpen your tactical vision, deepen your positional understanding, and enrich your knowledge of theoretical positions. It will also strengthen your analytical skills, and instill a sound move selection process. Win more games and increase your enjoyment of chess!" - Publisher.

1001 Deadly Checkmates, by John Nunn. Gambit Publications, 2011. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $14.95. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...delivering checkmate is the greatest thrill the game has to offer. The ability to spot checkmates is a vital skill – and this easy-to-use book shows you how it is done. By focusing exclusively on positions from real games, ranging from junior events to grandmaster encounters, Nunn ensures that the mates featured are those which arise most often in real life.
All 1001 puzzle positions have been carefully checked, and are graded by theme and difficulty. Most of the puzzles are suitable for novice and junior players. The last chapter challenges you with ‘extreme checkmates’, but don’t worry: you’ll be ready for them! The Kindle edition of this book has been specially reorganised for easy use. The solution to each puzzle is always on the page following the puzzle itself, and the puzzle diagram is repeated there, so it is not necessary to flip backwards and forwards when viewing the solution." - Publisher.

Lessons with a Grandmaster, by Joel Sneed and Boris Gulko. Everyman Chess, 2011. Print Length: 298 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (7 reviews). Kindle edition $17.53. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Imagine you are a club player who has been given the opportunity to talk at length with a famous grandmaster. How would you make the most of this opportunity? Club players are unaware of the subtleties in Grandmaster chess. Great players can analyze chess at a depth that is unfathomable to amateurs. However, having reached such a high level can make it difficult to understand what is lacking in the mind of the amateur. Lessons with a Grandmaster bridges this gap between grandmaster and amateur through a series of conversations between teacher, the renowned Grandmaster Boris Gulko, and student Dr. Joel R. Sneed, a professor of psychology and amateur chess player. The lessons are based on Gulko's own battles against fellow grandmasters, and there is particular focus on strategy, tactics and the role of psychology in chess competition." - Publisher.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess Openings, by William Aramil. Alpha, 2008. Print Length: 212 p. This title has complex layouts and has been optimized for reading on devices with larger screens. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...provides all readers need to know to solidify their opening game and get on the road to victory. In it, the authors provide a step-by-step walk-through of 100 of the most effective opening moves. Each opening strategy is clearly and succinctly explained, with numerous illustrations that bolster the reader's understanding." - Publisher

Back to Basics: Tactics, by Dan Heisman. Russell Enterprises, 2011. Print Length: 192 p. This title has complex layouts and has been optimized for reading on devices with larger screens. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (11 reviews). Kindle edition $12.62. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Tactics are usually why most people find chess fun! This book will greatly enhance your enjoyment learning about - and benefiting from - the recurring patterns of tactics. In chess, if you lose all your pieces you can't win! And if you capture each of your opponent's pieces, winning should be easy. Even if you just get ahead by a small amount of material, your chances of winning soar. The way to win your opponent's pieces is through the use of tactics. This book is about all types of beginning tactics. The author covers comprehensively the subject with basic instructional material, examples, and problems of all types - about 500 examples and problems ranging from too easy to very difficult!" - Publisher.

Chess History and Chess Masters:

The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, by David Shenk. Anchor, 2007. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (58 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Chess is the most enduring and universal game in history. Here, bestselling author David Shenk chronicles its intriguing saga, from ancient Persia to medieval Europe to the dens of Benjamin Franklin and Norman Schwarzkopf. Along the way, he examines a single legendary game that took place in London in 1851 between two masters of the time, and relays his own attempts to become as skilled as his Polish ancestor Samuel Rosenthal, a nineteenth-century champion. With its blend of cultural history and Shenk’s personal interest, The Immortal Game is a compelling guide for novices and aficionados alike." - from the trade paperback edition.

Chess Duels: My Games with the World Champions, by Yasser Seirawan. Everyman Chess, 2011. Print Length: 434 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $25.00. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Four-time US Champion Yasser Seirawan provides a fascinating and highly entertaining account of his games and encounters with the world champions of chess including Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Max Euwe. Having been involved in frequent battles against world champions over a 25-year period, Seirawan is in an ideal position to reveal how it really feels to be facing the legends of the game. He describes and analyses, in depth, his most memorable encounters – both famous victories and painful defeats, against the best chessplayers of the last 50 years. Seirawan recounts many stories involving these giants of the game - giving an intriguing insight into their personalities away from the board." - from the back cover.

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness, by Frank Brady. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 418 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (124 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Endgame is acclaimed biographer Frank Brady’s decades-in-the-making tracing of the meteoric ascent—and confounding descent—of enigmatic genius Bobby Fischer. Only Brady, who met Fischer when the prodigy was only 10 and shared with him some of his most dramatic triumphs, could have written this book, which has much to say about the nature of American celebrity and the distorting effects of fame. Drawing from Fischer family archives, recently released FBI files, and Bobby’s own emails, this account is unique in that it limns Fischer’s entire life—an odyssey that took the Brooklyn-raised chess champion from an impoverished childhood to the covers of Time, Life and Newsweek to recognition as “the most famous man in the world” to notorious recluse." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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