Book Review: Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was so excited to read this book because the previews and reviews indicated this was a book written by someone with an uncanny ability to live life to the fullest, make lemonade out of lemons, and attract unbelievable blessings in his life. The book did not disappoint. Bob Goff clearly lives his faith but he never comes off as preach-y or holier-than-thou, and in fact seems to simply live a life of purpose and grand love for humankind.

This book is filled with easy to read chapters illustrating positive traits with examples from the author's life and discussion about how this relates to living a life of active love. The scriptural examples were pertinent but not overwhelming. The author appears to have a very logical approach to religion and scripture, noting that it is more important to live a good life than to study a good life.

I honestly most admired his parenting, as it seemed to be based around the idea of finding opportunities for his children to learn valuable lessons as well as finding opportunities for them to find their passions. The way he created those lessons is by saying "yes" to life more often than he said "no" or let his own doubts or fears take over. This is a man who believes in himself and believes that the right things will happen to the right people at the right time.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it even to those readers who do not consider themselves particularly religious. There is something to be gained in the ideas of following your passion, saying "yes" to the possibilities of life, and embracing those things that scream of the pursuit of a "good" life and encourage the life lived with great love.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Book Review: The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was a little unsure of this book since I don't normally like horror or paranormal-type stories, though I do enjoy suspense. I know, it's a fine line. This is a story of a family who moves into an old house with a small barricaded door in its basement. The father of the family has his demons he is fighting after crashing a plane and killing most of the passengers. They thought this new house and new city would be a way to start over. Probably they had something else in mind that what really happened.

I had a hard time putting this book down because I figured the little door in the basement was the big mystery, but that mystery was actually solved quite early on. The bigger mystery is much more complex, and understanding the town herbalists' interest in said door was really the bulk of the book. How the story ties into the father/airline pilots post-traumatic stress was also pretty unique.

I wasn't thrilled with the way the book ended, but in hindsight couldn't imagine a different ending working any better.

Thanks to Read it Forward for the book!


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I am not collecting any more books in my household, so if you are interested in having this book, I will send it to the first commenter who says "I want it!" Either include your email address or make sure it is associated with your blogger profile and I will email you privately for where to send it.

Book Review: Run by Blake Crouch

Run by Blake Crouch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is another book I read while on vacation and was one I felt compelled to keep reading, even though this genre is not one I usually enjoy. It reminded me a bit of McCarthy's "The Road" with regards to the sort of "post-apocalyptic" survival story.



It is a story of a family on the run from a population that has mysteriously become ruthlessly murderous. It is a story of survival, a story of a family coming together in peril, and it is a darn good thriller.



I enjoyed the twists and turns to the plot and the mysteries surrounding the characters that were not fully explained until later, like the appearance of the "Aurora" and the role of the forensic scientist. While implausible, this was an enjoyable book overall.



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Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security Review

I was recently given the opportunity to try Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security through BzzAgent. Being an IT professional, I am pretty hard to please when it comes to technology.

When I agreed to try Trend Micro, I already used another brand of anti-virus and spyware protection and was frankly perfectly happy with them, which is why I was irritated when I installed Trend Micro and it insisted on uninstalling everything I had installed and was using. Intellectually, I understand why it did that, because anti-virus can compete with one another but it was not very graceful the way it happened which made for a less than perfect user experience.

When I installed the software, I also agreed to use the back-up service, SafeSync.  Now, there are a few problems with that decision. First, I didn't realize when I agreed to use it, that there is a 10 GB limit for the trial and I have way more data than that.  When it hit the limit, it bugged me to death to add more storage or remove files and yet kept trying to sync. I finally had to delete all of my files from the online storage and turn off the service.  Now this is a great example of me being picky. I had just finished an evaluation of Enterprise cloud storage and backup at work, so I had already looked at and used the top services on the market and those that didn't make the top tier were quickly identified and eliminated.  I do think if a user were able to correctly identify the amount of storage and types of files one needed to back up, this service would work fine, but I have seen way better user interfaces on other products.

The other downfall that became readily apparent is the fact that I have a probably five year old laptop. Yes, an IT professional with old, crappy hardware...what can I say? The online backup bogged me down like nobody's business.  I actually started looking for a new laptop after using this because it made me so crazy.

Now that I've complained, let me tell you what I loved. I was sync'ing my iPad and uploading all my music to Google Music (beta) and somehow ran out of room on my hard drive (shocking!). Trend Micro has this fantastic tool that realizes your hard drive is bogged down and offers to clean it up for you.  Magically, I recovered over a Gig of space using this tool. I was back in business!

Here's the stats according to Trend Micro...

Titanium™ Maximum Security has all the bases covered when it comes to protecting you online. Check out the product's key features:

Set and forget
Titanium™ Maximum Security is extremely easy to activate, and once it's done, you don't have to do a thing. Not only is the software non-intrusive, but it takes up less than half the disk space and memory of other security products — so your computer runs faster (and you avoid stress). From the main console, you can access easy-to-read security reports with all the details about the Internet threats that attack your computer. Talk about no worries!

Maximize your PC's performance
The System Tuner feature of Titanium™ Maximum Security can help you recover disk space, make Windows run faster and optimize your computer's performance.

Keep your files private
Imagine if you lost your laptop— your laptop with hundreds of important files you want to keep private. What would you do? With Titanium™ Maximum Security, you can locate and lock your files remotely, and even wipe the data if necessary. So no one will ever see those photos of you in skin-tight leather...

Social networking security
Titanium™ Maximum Security automatically scans your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace wall to visually show you what links are safe or malicious. You never have to click a bad link again! Just think of all the crazy videos and offers you're saving yourself from...

If you want to try Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security yourself, use the discount code "BZZ30" at trendmicro.com or use this downloadable coupon at Best Buy.

Stay tuned. I just installed the product on my son's computer and activated the Parental Controls.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Just to cover all the bases, I am a BzzAgent and was provided this software to review and this post reflects my opinion.

Book Review: The Ultimate Choice by Lisa C Hinsley

The Ultimate Choice by Lisa Hinsley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this book while on vacation, so was able to plow through it pretty quickly without interruption. Given that, it was a fast read and reminded me a bit of "The Hunger Games" combined with Orwell, as the description reads.



While an interesting examination of a future humanity, the will to survive in light of government control, and a mother's love, the book lacks the complexity to be anything other than a young adult novel. That said, the book is thoroughly entertaining and gives one the opportunity to ponder how government comes to power over the lives of its citizens and how we value human life.



From the perspective of school curriculum, this would be a good companion to "The Hunger Games" and Shirley Jackson's "Lottery."



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Book Review: One More Theory About Happiness: A Memoir by Paul Guest

Paul Guest was a normal 12-year-old, fascinated with the old firecrackers
his grandfather kept in a jar. He'd break them up and set fire to the rupture,
creating showers of sparks. The day after he graduated from grade
school, he borrowed a bicycle, lost control, and flipped it. Lying on the
ground, unable to feel his body below his neck, what he thought was blood
running from his nose was, in fact, spinal fluid.

Guest would never again have the use of his arms or legs. Even so, he
says he was lucky: "If I couldn't lift my arms I could breathe. I could feel... I no longer had to be, or even could be, who I once was. What I once was. I was broken. And new."

One More Theory About Happiness: A Memoir by Paul Guest

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is Paul Guest's memoir about his life after becoming a paraplegic after a bicycle accident at age twelve. I was in a car accident as a teenager, where I broke a vertebrae and spent much of my senior year of high school in a body cast. That said, Guest's description of that ethereal separation when you know you are hurt, but don't yet know how badly, was spot-on. I loved his poetic, yet factual, descriptions of the events of his life and appreciated the lack of self-pity. The story was sparse on details in many places, but the overall effect of the book was stunning.



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Book Review: Please Stop Laughing at Me... by Jodee Blanco

Please Stop Laughing at Me... One Woman's Inspirational Story by Jodee Blanco

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I currently work for a public school district and bullying really is a big deal to anyone who works with kids. I also have a son who will enter school next year and I want to make sure he is neither a bully nor a victim. I wanted to like this book. I wanted to learn some really insightful things about preventing or dealing with bullying, but for me, this book did not deliver.



Blanco tells an interesting story about her junior high and high school experiences being bullied, but there seemed to be a lack of resolution. In several places in the book, Blanco criticizes her parents for their advice about ignoring the bullies and not letting them see that they're getting to her. Then, when she fights back, she acknowledges that doesn't work either. So what is the answer?



Blanco identified that she was bullied because she was different from her classmates, but also says that she wasn't willing to change for anyone. One of her big issues was with "standing up for what is right," which is noble, however, calling a teacher out in the middle of class for saying something politically incorrect about developmentally disabled students, probably isn't the best way to deal with it, either.



The conclusion to the book, with Ms. Blanco attending a class reunion and finding all the bullies believed they were just "kids being kids" and now they were all such nice people, never realizing they had hurt her was supremely disappointing. It's great that she "overcame" but I just couldn't get the real,employable strategies against bullying from this book.



I received a free review copy from Booksneeze.com



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