Reba Orton's Book Reviews

Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean by Michael Erard My rating: 4 of 5 stars I finished the book, "Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean" by Michael Erard on October 29th, 2018. I had started it on June 17th, only a few months earlier. I thought the material covering historical texts was a drag to read through. I was expecting a deeper linguistic analysis but this wasn't the right book to read. I also do not believe that "um" is a speech error. It is a channel feedback mechanism designed to tell the listeners to wait patiently. The book did cover sign languages and I commend the author for doing this. I had read the part in the book where one presenter on verbal blunders "psychically" caused the speakers after her to blunder more than usual. I experienced a similar "psychic" effect today. I finished the book during a lull at a work meeting while I waited for a lady technician at he...

Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment by David Perlmutter My rating: 3 of 5 stars I thought that Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment by David Perlmutter and Alberto Villoldo was the book about the blending of science and healing that I wanted to read but it turned out not to be the case. There were two distinct voices and separate sections featuring each author's point of view. This pattern repeated itself throughout the book. That is not a synthesis. At least one of the authors said that they were coming closer together in finding a common ground for their viewpoints. For example, this book made the connection between healing energy and mitochondria. The lifestyle schedules that the authors put into the book indicated to me that the authors intended this book to be an exercise and diet regime book on how to achieve optimal conditions for enlightenment. That was not clear in the title. It is not an intellectually stimulating boo...

To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America by Tara Bahrampour My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read the book, "To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America" by Tara Bahrampour from April 29th to November 9th, 2017. I recognized one Farsi word, ta'arof, on page 274 in this book after learning about it from an Iranian friend less than a couple months before and reading some of the research paper, "Offers and Expressions of Thanks as Face Enhancing Acts: Ta'arof in Persian" by Sofia A. Koutlaki that can be found in the Journal of Pragmatics. It is a word meaning to give food and drink to guests when you are having the same food and drink for yourself. According to the research paper, Iranians are similar to Japanese people when saving face. It is rude to eat or drink something without offering it to your guests first. Page 274 did not really explain what ta'arof was but since I already knew what it meant, I was pretty ...

Secrets of Computer Espionage: Tactics and Countermeasures by Joel McNamara My rating: 5 of 5 stars I learned that a file can be secretly attached to another file and we would not see the attachment in the directory or anywhere else. I learned about hardware keyloggers and what they looked like. I also learned general concepts of computer spying. The book was already out of date and appeared to be written in 2002 or 2003. It was nice to be able to catch up to at least that time. The book repeatedly recommended using encryption and strong passwords that are at least 8 characters long and cannot be found in a dictionary. There were many acronyms that were explained in the book like PGP - Pretty Good Privacy. The stories peppered throughout the book were fascinating. The book even talked about sophisticated counterintelligence equipment that rang a bell with me, since my ex-fiance was a counterintelligence technician when he was in the Army. However, th...

The End Of The World by Lamees Alhassar My rating: 3 of 5 stars The End of the World by Lamees Alhassar was a disappointment. The captain, who is the protagonist of the book, exhibited submissiveness to the point where I couldn’t believe that she was really a captain of a star ship on an important mission to find another world for the people of Earth to evacuate to. I bought this book because I was expecting a strong female role model but this was not the case. In addition, the author tried to do a lot of world-building through descriptions in separate sentences that disrupted the flow of the plot. However, the aliens weren’t alien enough. The interactions between the aliens and the captain or the crew did not seem to ring true and the dialogue did not logically flow from one sentence to the next. The writing was repetitious and I didn’t care for it. This book gets only three stars because I did enjoy the plot and the environmental consciousness mess...

Cara's Twelve by Chantel Seabrook My rating: 5 of 5 stars Cara’s Twelve by Chantel Seabrook was a book I couldn’t put down. It gripped my attention and wouldn’t let go, smile! The idea of 12 men being the consorts of a pending queen-to-be was an appealing concept but the book illustrates the potential danger of such an arrangement. Danger and intrigue abound and it can get difficult to know which men to trust. There were some parts in the book that were gruesome and I would not recommend this book for tweens. The plot is very good and included steamy scenes. It wasn’t too sappy and it wasn’t too much. It felt like it was just right for a romance book. The characters were well developed and I could tell who had certain personalities. Interpersonal conflicts were believable and realistic within the context. This author is a master at character development. I give this book 5 stars. View all my reviews

Jesus Lived In India by Holger Kersten My rating: 4 of 5 stars On April 27, 2017, I finally finished reading the book “Jesus Lived in India; His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion” by Holger Kersten. I remember thinking that the plotlines in the book seemed meandering and incoherent. I could not tell why the author transitioned from one section to the next. It seems desultory and put together by random. The linguistic research felt questionable as the author seemed to make fantastical leaps in connecting names together but I am not an expert in the languages and fields that he researched even though I am a linguist myself. With that said, I found the historical sections fascinating and it held my attention very well. At the beginning of the book, I learned that there were two types of Biblical voices in the New Testament, which were that of Paul and Jesus. Paul’s voice is the one that preaches that all that sinners need to do is accept Jesus into their he...