Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan

This book's full title is Silk Roads, a New History of the World. I must admit I have read more Western than Eastern history. However, I have always been fascinated by the Eastern half of the Eurasian continent and its history. Peter Frankopan has a unique way of looking at history. I am always fascinated by history with different views and outlooks of history. It is what makes reading history a pleasure. This is also a very readable book.

There are some negative reviews. It seems that for some readers their expectations were not met. The main thing I think is because the when he talks about Silk Roads, he uses it as a metaphor for trade routes rather than just about the Silk Road. Peter Frankopan has his own site here.

There as some very good reviews of this book on Amazon but you have to scroll to the bottom of the page. Anthony Sattin gives an interesting review in The Guardian. Robert Irwin also does a good review in the Independent.

For this video from University of Oxford has other speakers about this book as well as Peter Frankopan. Peter Frankopan does not come on until around 26.42 if you want to skip to where he is speaking. The whole thing is about 1 hour long. A visiting lecturer Valerie Hansen at Williams College talks about the Silk Road and this book. Peter Frankopan speaks at Liverpool John Moores University. The title of the lecture is: The Silk Roads: Questioning the Eurocentric view of history.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Memory Illusion by Dr. Julia Shaw

This book's full title is The Memory Illusion: Why you might not be who you think you are. We have semantic and episodic memory. It is the episodic one that defines us. However, any event, no matter how important, emotional or traumatic can be forgotten, misremembered or even entirely fictitious. This is interesting stuff. The author, Dr. Julia Shaw has her own web site here.

There are good reviews at Good Reads. The book was well received and appreciated. I understand that as we can understand that our memories are not perfect (and neither is anyone else's). There is an interesting review by Jon Hernandez on CBC News. Brian Bethune wrote a good review in the Maclean's Magazine.

There is a good interview on her site here. Dr. Julia Shaw also wrote an article for Scientific American. There is an interesting video by Dr. Julia Shaw on YouTube. This video is how to plant false memories and it is on YouTube.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Bonobo and the Atheist by Frans de Waal

This book’s full title is The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates by Frans de Waal. This is an absolutely wonderful book. But I am sure that he rattled a number of people with his views. Saying that he went easy on religion is only the mildest comment.

I cannot help but agree with him in calling Christopher Hitchens an Evangelical Atheist. I think some people have made atheism into a religion. I also think that some people have made socialism into a religion. When people only talk dogma and that their way is the only true way, to be it sounds like religion. There are religious people who do not respect other people’s beliefs or opinion. However, there are atheists who are exactly the same.

I am sorry, but agree with Frans de Waal. I grew up in going to the Presbyterian Church. The churches I was exposed to were places where people were not afraid to question anything. I am not religious, but I am also not against it. I just do like Fundamentalist. I think that communism is the fundamentalist form of socialism and this to me explains its murderous bent.

Of course there are some good reviews on Good Reads. Frans de Waal certainly hit a nerve with some reviewers. I do like the review by W. W. Norton on Scientific American. Tessa Kendall puts out a well-written review on The Guardian.

AC Grayling takes a short at Frans de Waal light pass on religion at Prospect Magazine. Here Tessa Kendall defends Frans de Waal on her Blog.

Frans de Waal talks about Moral behavior in animals on TED. Werner Haag talks about Frans de Waal at the Atheist Community of San Jose. Science journalist Lone Frank interviews Frans de Waal.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Edward III by Richard Barber

This book's full title is Edward III and The Triumph of England; The Battle of Crecy and the Company of the Garter. I love English History and I have read a lot of it. I found this book quite enjoyable, but only half of it was really about Edward, the other half was information about knights.

There is a good review by Ben Wild in The Guardian. He is right that reading the book can be a bit frustrating at times. I just went with it and tried to just seat back and enjoy the ride. There is also another great review by Nigel Jones in The Telegraph. For both these reviews, I loved the included illustrations. Often British newspaper reviews are the best and of course there is nothing comparable to English History books for there to be lots of English Newspaper reviews. Ian Mortimer wrote a review at History Today. It is a rather odd book and not typically the way history is written. But it has its charms.

There is an interesting article on the Battle of Crecy at Crecy Museum site. Edward's victory over the French at Crecy on 26 August 1346 astounded all of Christendom. I cannot find any video by Richard Barber but he has an entry in Wikipedia. He has his own website here.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer

This book's full title is The History of the Ancient World From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. She has a very interesting take on Ancient History. Most of it seems to be who was killing whom in the Royal Families of ancient kingdoms and empires. She also paints a picture of quite a violent world. This book is also a broad coverage of the ancient world rather than focusing on details. She also has her own website here.

There are good reviews on Good Reads. Most liked the book, but there were some good critical reviews. She does take a big person type overview of this history. There is an interesting review on Publishers Weekly.

The author of this review at Library Thing is quite critical. Most of the people commenting did not read the book. I did not find that it was overtly religious and she admits in places that what is thought about some of the history but that the facts are not clear. This is fair enough as it covers history a long ways back and we do not know and perhaps will never know exactly what happened in many cases. Unlike the reviewer I did read the whole book.

We humans can make viewpoints into religion. Some people use atheism as a religion. Theirs is the only one true way. If you do not think exactly like they do you are either stupid or evil. Actually this sounds like religious fundamentalism to me.

This is a short reading from this book starting at Chapter one by Carmine Hudgens. It will give you a flavor of this book. Susan Wise Bauer and Jim Weiss have a discussion in this video. This is a reading from another book by Susan Bauer called Medieval World. This is part 2. I cannot find a part 1. In this short video, Susan Bauer talks about how Christians justified Slavery.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book

This is this book's sixth edition and there are co-authors of Karen Lindsey and Elizabeth Love. A number of people think that this is the bible for women with breast cancer and they use this quote from the New York Times on the cover. Dr. Susan Love has her own site here. You cannot do better than to start here and then read her book.

When I was getting tested for breast cancer, from the technologist that did the Mammogram to the second technologist that did the second one to the technologist who did the Ultrasound and the doctor that did the Biopsy all knew there was cancer. However, this being Ontario I had to wait and see my family doctor to get the results. I read the In-Between Days by Teva Harrison thinking the worst before I finally got some results. When the results were not so bad I read this book on everything you could want to know about breasts and breast cancer.

There is a good review of this book at Nancy Stordahl's site called Nancy's Point. She also talks about her books and other stuff on her site. As is usual there are good reviews of this book at Good Reads. Most people find this book excellent. Amazon also has good reviews but as usual you have to scroll to almost the bottom of the page to get them.

Dr. Susan Love is talked about at the Fred Hutch Org site and gives a Q&A session. This is a very short video by Dr. Susan Love. It is annoying as it is so short and you see an advertisement first and then it is rather choppy. This video is advise from Dr. Susan Lover via POPSugar. It gets points across, but it is also a bit annoying in the presentation and first you have to see an ad for the 2 minute video. Ads seem as long and the video. This is a 20 minute presentation by Dr. Susan Love brought to you by Young Survival Coalition.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

In-Between Days by Teva Harrison

This book's full title is In-Between Days: A Memoir about living with cancer. This was the first book I read after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Of course Teva Harrison is a lot younger than I am when diagnosed and I do not have metastatic cancer, at least not yet. However, just getting a cancer diagnosis is scary as hell.

Teva Harrison has her own web site here. There is not much there but she does have a blog. There is more of her work on The Walrus.

There are some good reviews on Good Reads. This is a graphic novel. I found it interesting, a lot of people found it beautiful. There is also an interesting review of this book by Sarah Liss on Macleans. There is review with some of Teva Harrison's drawings by Andrea Gordon at The Toronto Star.

There is a short video about Teva Harrison on Going Public with Her Diagnosis on YouTube. Teva Harrison gives a talk at Walrus Talks Health. She is interviewed by Steve Paikin.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

This book's full title is The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I did the other one by Eric Weiner of the Geography of Genius. Again this book is more of a travelogue than anything else. I find Eric Weiner a very entertaining writer.

I find the Nordic countries interesting and in this book I learned more about life in Iceland. Interestingly he talks about both Icelanders and Moldovans both drink "like fish", but Icelanders are happy and the Moldovans are not.

It is also interesting that an East Asian Happiness Gap and this demonstrates that countries emphasizing societal obligations over individual contentment report lower levels of happiness. There is also a Latin bonus because Latin American nations are happier than expected. It is thought that this is partly because of the Latino focus on family.

There are a few good reviews on Amazon if you scroll down the page. Not everyone is happy with his approach. There are also some good reviews at Good Reads. Again not everyone appreciates Eric Weiner's writing. Perhaps they had too high of expectations. David Newnham gives it a good review on The Guardian.

Eric Weiner is a keynote speaker at Happiness 2012 conference in Seattle. He talks about his book The Geography of Bliss's subject. It is around 45 minutes. In this next video the chapter on Moldovans is read. There is a short interview of Eric Weiner.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Language Animal by Charles Taylor

This book's full title is The Language Animal: The full shape of the human linguistic capacity. I found this book interesting in places, but a little tough to plough through in some areas. I do not think that I learned very much by reading this book, but maybe I did not always understand what he was trying to say.

Jonathan Ree wrote an interesting review of this book at The Guardian. Jane O'Grady also does an excellent review the Times Higher Education site. Charisma Lee gives a good review at London School of Economics and Political Science.

There is a lecture on Democracy, Diversity and Religon by Professor Charles Taylor at the London School of Economics and Political Science site.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Ottoman Endgame by Sean McMeekin

This book's full title is The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908 to 1923. This was a great history book. It is well-written and easy to follow. I have read a lot of history, but there are gaping holes in my knowledge of history in certain parts of the world. He also covers the Balkan and Russia besides the Ottoman Empire. It did seem to end rather abruptly.

The Guardian often has very good reviews of history books and this by Christopher de Bellaigue is certain one. There is another interesting review on the Economist. There is also an interesting review by Dr. Kate Fleet on the site Reviews in History. She complains the lack of Turkish sources in McMeekin's book. There are also some great reviews at Good Reads.

In this video, Sean McMeekin talks about WWI called "An Avoidable Catastrophe". In another video, M. Hakan Yavuz, Mehmet Arisan, and Ramazan Hakki Oztan talk about Ottoman Empire and the First World War. There is no video with McMeekin talking about this book.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Fortunes of Africa by Martin Meredith

This book's full title is The Fortunes of Africa, A 5000 Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour. This book is basically how Africa has plundered over the past 5000 years. Africa is a vast continent and to do an overview of it you probably need a theme. The plundering has been down local rules and foreign adventurers.

I have always been interested in Egypt and Egyptian history. He talks about the Arabs invading Egypt in 639 AD and they replaced the Roman Overlords. He says within a century Egypt changes because over a million Arab immigrants go to Egypt and many Egyptians adopt Islam and business is done in Arabic. By 750AD only a third of the population is Coptic Christians and Coptic has become a liturgical language.

Howard French gives a good review of this book on the Wall Street Journal. There is also an excellent review at The Economist. As with all Economist article, there is no name of reviewer given. I often go to look at the reviews at Good Reads. The reviews are often varied and well written.

Martin Meredith is interviews on SABC Digital News . Bruce Whitfield interviews Martin Meredith on CNBC Africa. This is an interview of Martin Meredith at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Kgosi Monametsi.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Thinner This year by Crowley and Sacheck

This book's full title is Thinner This Year: A Diet and Exercise Program for Living Strong, Fit and Sexy by Chris Crowley and Jen Sacheck, PH. D. Chris Crowley has a web pages on the Workman.com website. This is the second book I have read by him. The other one was Younger Next Year. I know he put another Younger Next Year book out for women, but I have not gotten it as I read the original one.

Jen Sacheck also has a website. It is a site worth exploring. She has a blog at this site. Also she has a section devoted to where she has given talks. http://thepoweroflifestyle.com/thinner-this-year/

I am still trying to get rid of the extra weight I put on at menopause but with very little results. He says if you eat crap, you are going feel like crap. You will be sluggish, dispirited and slow. If you are stupid enough about your diet for long enough, you will get sick and die. Good point. However, my problem is that I already have a very healthy diet and I walk and exercise.

There are some interesting review at Good Reads. There are lots who did not like this book. I must say that I did. Maybe Chris Crowley is a bit gung ho, yes, but you probably need this attitude to push eating properly and doing exercise. There were reviewers that quite liked this book also. On Dr. Ed Dodge'sblog he talks about this book. He did not like the title, but thought that the book was full of good information.

There is a very short video by Bill Fabrocini about exercising properly (and buying his DVD). Chris Crowley gives a talk at Private Advisor Group. Michele Ammon interviews Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge. In this video, Jim Zirin interviews Chris Crowley. Jeff Glor and Rebecca Jarvis interviews Chris Crowley and Jen Sacheck on CBS This Morning.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Art of Risk by Kayt Sukel

This book's full title is The Art of Risk: The New Science of Courage, Caution and Chance. Kayt Sukel has her own web site for this book here. There is a blog on her site.

I am interested in risk because I make my living investing in the stock market. I did not really learn anything new from this book, so that was a bit of a disappointment. I have always understood myself very well. I also get prepared by investigating stocks I invest in. Why I continued reading this book was because it was an easy read with some interesting stories

People at Good Reads mostly liked it. But they did not seem to get much more out of the book than I did. There is a review at Kirkus. Reviewer ends up saying about the book and risk that it was "Not an in-depth trip but an enjoyable tour".

Kayt Sukel talks at TedMed about risk. This is a bit off topic, but in this video Kayt Sukel talks about another of her books about Sex at Chicago Ideas Week. This is Your Brain on Sex is the name of the book. This is a video of Kayt Sukel being interviewed on radio. There is also a nice review by Meredith Knight on Scientific American.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The 100 Year Old Man by Jonas Jonasson

This book's full title is The 100 year old Man who climbed out the Window and Disappeared. It is never too late to start over. I seldom read fiction, especially if the fiction is not sci-fi. However, this book was a lot of fun. There has been a number of very interesting authors coming out of the Nordic countries lately and this is certainly by one of them.

There are reviews of this book on Good Reads. A lot of people did not seem to appreciate this book however; I thought it was great fun. Some of the readers felt this way also and give it a 5 star rating. Maybe this book calls for a certain sense of humor? The best thing about the review by Lowenna Waters in the Telegraph Telegraph is that the trailer for the film is included. There is a much better review by Aggie H. in the Guardian .

At this site of Lit Lovers there are a book summary, author bio and some discussion questions. You will find the official movie trailer here. David Domine left an interesting review at Literary Labors. At Harper Collins you can read a fair bit of this book. I looked at some reviews on YouTube, but found them boring.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner

This book's full title is The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places, from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley. Eric Weiner has his own web site here. The Genius Nuggets tab is interesting.

One thing I found interesting was that ideas embed themselves in the fiber of merchandise. Authoritarian regimes feel that they can open their economies but not their politics, but eventually subversive ideas that imbedded themselves in a can to tomato soup or a pair of crocs squirm free.

Ashlee Vancejan provides a good review at NY Times. The book is an interesting romp though some places and time. There are some good reviews on Good Reads. I disagree with the review that wanted to chop out one quarter of the book because he thought it was trivial stuff. I found Eric Weiner an engaging writer and this "trivial" made this book the great read I thought it was. I liked Susannah Nesmith review in the Miami Herald the best. She clearly describes what you will get if you read this book.

Eric Weiner talks at Google. Eric Weiner speaks at Idea City. He talks about happiness and genius. Jeffrey McMahon reviews this book on YouTube. I started here with part 1.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin

This book's full title is The Autistic Brain: Thinking across the Spectrum by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek. Temple Grandin has her own web sitehere.

There are some very good reviews on Good Reads. Most of the reviewers loved the book as I did. There is an interesting review by David Dobbs at NY Times. Scott Barry Kaufman also does an interesting review at Scientific American. These last two reviews are good both for the positive and negative things that they say about this book.

Temple Grandin talks at the Chicago Humanities Festival. Temple Grandin talks at Google. She does an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos . I liked this video the best. She also had a Ted Talk.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Eat Well Age Better by Mason and Stoffman

This book's full title is Eat Well Age Better: How to Use Diet and Supplements to Guard the Lifelong Health of your eyes, Your heat, Your Brain and Your Bones. The authors are Aileen Burford-Mason and Judy Stoffman. Aileen Burford-Mason has her own web site here.

There are a number of reviews that really liked this book at Good Reads. However, I agree with the one negative one. This book seems to be more about taking supplements than anything else. It is like the so called health food stores which seem to be all about taking pills. There is also a nice review of this book by Helene Meurer at Alive.

There is a positive review of this book by Laura Eggertson in the Canadian Median Association Journal so I guess the book has some credibility. I guess the thing with me is that the only problems I have is excess weight gained at menopause that I would like to get rid of. This book did not give me any clues about this. There was some interesting information, but I do not think that there was anything particularly useful to me.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon

This book's full title is The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War. Robert Gordon is a Professor at Northwestern University in the Economics Department. Although I love the quote from Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist, who famously said: "We wanted flying cars but instead we got 140 characters," I do wonder about how all the current progress into space will affect us?

You can read the first chapter online at Ted Talk. There is a review of this book by Paul Krugman at the NY Times. Paul Krugman is not my favourite economist, but the review is worth reading. There is also a good review in the Economist. They think that Robert Gordon has underplayed the Third Industrial Revolution. There are again great reviews at Good Reads.

Robert Gordon gave a Ted Talk. Robert Gordon's thesis is talked about on PBS News Hour . On C-Span, Brian Lamb does a Q&A with Robert Gordon.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

A History of Iran by Michael Axworthy

This book's full title is "A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind". It is interesting that my book has the main title as A History of Iran, but the book shown at Good Reads has Empire of the Mind as the main title. I bought this book as my knowledge Iran or Persia

There are again good reviews on Good Reads. The review by Blair Dowden is interesting to me as it mentions some of the controversial ideas from this book. I do not know enough about the subjects to more than note these ideas as interesting. There is an interesting column by Paul Sprachman on the subject of this book at H-Net. There is a very short, but interesting review of this book by Alyssa McDonald atThe Guardian.

This is a short video review of the book by the sitehistorybookmix. Here is a short interview with Michael Axworthy re the Iranian nuclear deal. There is a crash course on YouTube about the IranianRevolution.

My pile of books to review has only 3 left in it besides the current book I am reading.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The City by Joel Kotkin

This book's full title is The City: a Global History. Joel Kotkin has his own web site here. One fault I found with the book is that he knows nothing of cities outside of Middle East and Europe (plus US after USA was born). I expected a book on cities would include those of China, South East Asia, Miso America and South America.

There are a number of good reviews on Good Reads. Most give it a 3 or 4 star rating. I would not rate it that high, but I must admit it was an easy and interesting read. There is also a good review by Z Geography at Word Press. Finally, there is a short interesting review by Kirkus.

This is an interesting interview of Joel Kotkin by Steve Paikin of the Agenda. Steve Paikin tried to get him to comment on Rob Ford and Joel Kotkin ignored this. The City Club of Cleveland invited Joel Kotkin to speak about the future of Cleveland. (For me, the sound went off for a period at the beginning of this video but it came back on after around 5 minutes.)

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Wired for Culture by Mark Pagel

This book's full title is "Wired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social Mind". He talks about an interesting experiment. Sally puts a marble in her basket and goes away. Anne moves the marble to her box. When Sally comes back young children of 3 or 4 will say she will look in Anne's Box for the marble. Older children realize that Sally can have beliefs different from theirs and say that Sally will look for the marble in her basket.

Julian Baggini does a great review in The Guardian. There are also some good reviews at Good Reads. The negative reviews can be as interesting as the positive ones. On this site called Reading Evolutionary Biology Group there is a lot of links for Mark Pagel.

On this site is a half hour speech by Mark Pagel. Mark Pagel is on a panel at the Royal Society about "What it means to be Human". Mark Pagel gives a talk on The RSA about "Wired for Culture: The natural history of human cooperation".

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Identity Economics by Akerlof and Kranton

This book's full title is Identity Economics: How our identities shape our work, wages and well-being. The authors are .George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton. You can read an article att Duke University's Quarterly Journal of Economics about Identity Economics by George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton called Economics and Identity.

This seems to be a rather new inquiry line by economists. Economist seemed to in the past thinks that people added in what economists thought were their own best interests. They are just getting into how people actually act in economic situations.

There is a Q & A by Stephen J. Dubner with the authors on the Freakonomics site. . There is a review of the authors ideas at a blog called Understand Society. There are also some good reviews of this book at Good Reads.

There is an interview by Karen Ongley of George Akerlof. He has won a Nobel Prize in Economics. This is a short video of just over 8 minutes. This is an interview of Rachel Kranton by Steve Paikin. You have to see a short ad first.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

In Ishmael's House by Martin Gilbert

This book's full title is In Ishmael's House, a History of Jews in Muslim Lands. One interesting comment Martin Gilbert makes that I find quite interesting. It is that the Jews under Islamic rule never had it as bad as in Christendom at its worse and never as good as Christendom at its best.

In Islamic lands, there were never parallels of the Spanish expulsion during the inquisition or the Russian pogroms or the Nazi Holocaust. However, there was never in Islamic lands the progressive emancipation and acceptance that there was in the West in recent centuries.

I do wonder about the comment of no the parallels to the Spanish expulsion etc. This is because a lot of Jews were expelled from Muslim lands in 1948 under what was termed community violence. Also Mohammed attached and defeated the Jews in Arabia because he was disappointed that they would not follow him. Who he did not kill, he sold as slaves. Also recently in Europe, anti-Semitism seems to be rising.

David J Goldberg writing in The Guardian makes the same point as I did above. There are also some very good reviews at Good Reads. Mohammed Amin gives an extremely detailed review of this book.

Martin Gilbert speaks on Jewish History. This is a longish video over just over 1 hour. Martin starts speaking just over 3 minutes in.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Colder War by Marin Katusa

This book's full title is The Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade Slipped from America's Grasp. You may not agree with him, but Katusa is interesting and he makes you think which is what good books should do. He thinks of Obama as a very weak leader. I know lots disagree with this, but Obama does not seem to be much engaged in his second term.

You will find an interesting review of this book by John Mauldin onForbes. I also follow John Mauldin at Mauldin Economics . At the Daily Bell there is a Q and A with Marin Katusa about this book. There is again very good reviews on Good Reads.

This is a short dramatic video with Marin Katusa discussing the petrodollars amount other things. This interview of Katusa on Alex Jones Show. Marin Katusa speaks via BookTV.org.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Ottoman Centuries by Lord Kinross

This book's full title is The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire. I read this book to become for familiar with Turkey. You can only understand what is happening currently in a country if you know the backstory of that country. The author is John Patrick Douglas Balfour. I do not know how balance the view from this book is because it is in English by an English author. But I know more about Turkey than I knew before.

Most of the reviews on Good Reads are positive about this book. It is well written and easy to read. There is also a very good review at Captivating Cappadocia. There is also an interesting review at Another Politically Incorrect Blog.

In this YouTube you can hear a short history of the Ottoman War Fought in Keresztes.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Smarter by Dan Hurley

This book's full title is Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power. This is the journey of Dan Hurley trying to get smarter. The results were interesting and he seemed to have some fun at the same time. This is a story of a journey of discovery and it is a great and easy and enjoyable read. He has his own website.

I generally look at the Good Reads site because it usually has some very good reviews. I was not disappointed. Annie Murphy Paulmarch in the New York Times does a good review of this book. There is also a short but good review by Ben East in the Guardian.

There is a short interview of Dan Hurley by Penquin on YouTube. In this longer video (about 1 hour), Dan Hurley speaks at The RSA. There is an interesting interview of Dan Hurley by Elisheva Schwartz on YouTube.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Mindware by Richard E. Nisbett

This book's full title is Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. This is a lively book on we think and how we can think more effectively. It is interesting that he talks about letting your subconscious help. You can do this by sleeping before making a big decision or do cost/benefit analysis of a problem and then throw it away.

As usual, there are some good reviews at Good Reads. Not everyone liked this book, but I certainly did. Nick Romeo in the Boston Globe does an excellent review. E. James Lieberman does a Q & A with Richard Nisbett in the Library Journal.

Richard E. Nisbett speaks at The Rockefeller University . This video is just over one hour and he speaks on a topic of "Intelligence and How to Get it: Why Schools and Cultures Count". Q & A Panel starts just over 39 minutes. This video is called "Know Thyself Uncut conversation with Richard Nisbett" is on YouTube.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Superpower by Ian Bremmer

This book's full title is Superpower: Three Choices for American's Role in the World. Ian Bremmer has his own Website for this book. He thinks that the US has three choices. First is put their head into the sand (and ignore the rest of the world), the second his to look after their own interests and the third choice was to try to solve other people's problems. I think that the problem with the last one is that you cannot solve other people's problems. I agree that Foreign Policy in the US is in a muddle and only reactive at the moment, but I do not see that improving in the near future.

As usual, there are some great reviews at Good Reads. There is an interesting review by Elena Holodny at Business Insider followed by Q and A. The review of this book by y Greg Waldmann at Open Letter Monthly is the best one I saw and read.

Ian Bremmer is interviewed on Foreign Affairs. There is a short interview by WSJ by Rebecca Blumenstein.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee

This book's full title is The Making of Asian America: A History. I was attracted to this book as there are lots of Asians in my country of Canada, but I know little of their history in North America. Did you know that the first Asians to America started with Acapulco in 1580? Did you know that the first Chinese to go to the American colonies arrived in 1829? Did you know that the US had Angel Island in the west (like Eilis Island in the east)? However this island was used to exclude people, especially Chinese people.

Erika Lee is a teacher, author and historian. She had her own website . She has also won awards for this book. She is the Director of the Immigration History Research Center and has the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History at the University of Minnesota. She is on the University of Minnesota website.

There is an excellent review of this book by Oliver Wang in theNew York Times. There is another really good review by Viet Thanh Nguyen in the Los Angeles Times. This interesting article by Karan Mahajan called The Two Asian Americas in the New Yorker talks about this book.

In this video, Erika Lee speaks about her. This video starts at around 3:55 and Lee comes in around 6:12. This video is almost 1 hour long.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Golden Age Shtetl by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern

This book's full title is The Golden Age Shtetl; A new History of Jewish Life in East Europe. I had long heard about the Jewish Pale in East Europe, but I did not know that much about the area and history. So, when I saw this book, I just had to read it.

There are a few good reviews on this book at the bottom of the page on Amazon. Jonathan Rosenjuly of the New York Times posted a good review in 2014. There is some interesting and some critical reviews at Good Reads. Personally, I feel that all history is interesting and important. How would you understand the world today, without the history of yesterday?

Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern talks at Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. He starts over 3 minutes in the video and it is also some 6 minutes in before he speaks English. He starts talking about this book about 7 minutes into this video. Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern speaks at Cambridge.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Doomed to Repeat by Bill Fawcett

This book's full title is Doomed to Repeat: The Lessons of History We've Failed to Learn. It deals quite a bit with terrorism, but this is certainly a current issue especially for us in the West. The author suggests that the historical lesson from the assassins is that the use of terror for political and religious purposes is a major factor throughout Islamic history.

There are some good and some negative reviews here on Good Reads. I must admit that I very much enjoyed this book. Maybe it is a bit American centric. This review on Kukus is certainly negative. However, I have never read a history book that did not get some fact wrong. A brief, but interesting review is at True Review Online by Andrew Andrews.

Bill Fawcett writes in the Huffington Post about 9 history lessons we have failed to learn. This is an easy way to get to the essence of this book. There is an interesting YouTube video juxtaposition this book with other books. Video is short at just over 2 minutes.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

This book's full title is The Happiness Advantage, The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at work. Shawn Achor has his own web site here which he shares with Michelle Gielan.

One thing that I liked about Shawn Achor approach to happiness is that he says that doing acts of kindness will add to your happiness and give you a better more positive viewpoint.

There are some good reviews on Good Reads. Note that you have to scroll half way down the page to find them. On the Good Reads site there is also a list of quotes from this book. They are listed by the number of likes each quote got. Ivo Dias de Sousa on Intelligent HQ does a good review of this book.

Shawn Achor is on TED.com. In an article on Psychology Today, Shawn Achor talks a bit about his philosophy on Happiness. Shawn Achor talks about 6 exercises for happiness in this CBC broadcast (after two annoying ads). His exercises are also listed on the site. There is an article by Shawn Achor at the Huffington Post.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Hidden Half of Nature by Montgomery and Bikle

This book's full title is The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health by David R. Montgomery and Anne Bikle. I have just recently read this book. My other recent book reviews are all books that I read in the past year, but had not had time to put up reviews.

What I found interesting that does not seem to be mentioned elsewhere is in the beginning they talk about the start of life, including how life got to eukaryote life. Apparently there was a merger of an archaea and a swimming bacterium. This formed the first protist like pond scum. There was a second merger with a bacterium that breathed oxygen. This is our line. There was a third merger with a bacterium that did photosynthesis and this lead to plants. There are also remarks about how for every cell in our body we harbor 3 bacterial cells. There is a lot covered in this book.

David Montgomery and Anne Bikle have their own site called Dig 2 Grow. There is also a No Till site and organization as No Till agriculture has shown it does not erode soil any faster than natural process.

There are some good reviews on this book at Amazon if you scroll down the page. There is a short, but very good overview of this book at W. W. Norton Company Ltd. Lucy Rock has done an excellent review of this book for the Guardian.

Here David Montgomery speaks at a Health Conference. It is rather long at just over an hour. This is the only video I can find with one of the Authors. I can find nothing with Anne Bikle talking.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

A New History of Life by Ward & Kirschvink

This book's full title is A New History of Life, The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth by Peter Ward and Joe Kirschvink. If you are interested in how life got started on earth, this is a great book to read.

One thing I found interesting is that when Brian Harland first published his theories about snowball earth, he rejected that fact that the oceans could freeze because climate modelers assured him that the planet could never have escaped. Now we know that is not true.

There are some good reviews on Amazon near the bottom of the site as usual. A number said that they found the book hard to read, but I have an interest in this subject and did not have a difficult time reading this book. There is good, but quite short review of this book at Bloomsbury Publishing. I found the review by Jonathon Keats at New Scientist quite interesting. He is right. Most animals that have ever lived have gone extinct. I doubt we are so special that we could not go extinct also. The book review by James Sullivan at Nature World News is short and interesting.

Peter Ward talks at the University Book Store in Seattle about this new book. Peter Ward also did a TED talk on Mass Extinctions.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Rise to Greatness by Conrad Black

This book's full title is Rise to Greatness, The History of Canada from the Vikings to the present. I know that Conrad Black is quite a controversial person, but he does write well and he especially writes history well.

Jacques Poitras does a great review of this book at Canada's History. Usually I find good, well written reviews on Good Reads, but not this time. I know that Conrad Black is not a well-liked figure, but I find that he writes extremely well and I must admit I had no trouble reading this book and really enjoyed it. Don Marks of CBC called Conrad Black's history of Canada - Arrogant, misinformed and disgraceful. However, what can you expect from the CBC. Unlike the BBC, the CBC is narrow minded and extremely left wing and it is not a station for all of Canadians.

I must admit that Conrad Black's reply to his critics made me chuckle. David O'Brien of the Winnipeg Free Press gives a good and interesting review of this book.

Charlie Gillis of MacLean interviews Conrad Black. (There are two short annoying commercials in before you get to the interview. David O'Brien of the Winnipeg Free Press interviewed Conrad Black. He questioned Conrad Black's treatment of indigenous civilization in this book. Allen McInnis of Montreal Gazette has short interview with Conrad Black about the book. Jeremy Paxman and Conrad Black have an interesting discussion. Conrad Black at Ideal City gives an interesting talk about Canada's History.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Almost Nearly Perfect People by Michael Booth

This book's full title is The Almost Nearly Perfect People, Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia. I personally would like to live in this area as I would find the conformity rather stifling. The Nordic countries have done the best for any country that has tried socialism. They seem a rather practical people and they do not let debt get too far out of whack. Michael Booth is on Twitter and has his own website.

There is some good reviews of this book on Amazon if you scroll to the bottom section of this site. There is also a good review in The Guardian by Mariella Frostrup and she is right, the book is a light hearted approach to the Scandinavian counties, but he does touch on some serious subjects.

There is short video of an interview via WSJ of Michael Booth.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Knowledge by Lewis Dartnell

This book’s full title is The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Civilization in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm. From this book you can learn a lot of really basic stuff of how things work. I found it interesting how quickly he thinks our world could fall apart.

Lewis Dartnell has his own web site here. There is also a separate website for this book here.

The Guardian has an interesting review by Steven Poole. All we need to have survived a cataclysm is a 3-D printer with a stock of blue prints and if we can jerry rig power to it, we easily reboot. There are a few interesting reviews at the end of this Amazon page. There are much better reviews at Good Reads.

Lewis Dartnell talks at Google about this new book of his. There is very short video that shows how to open a can without a Can Opener.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Political Order and Political Decay by Francis Fukuyama

This book's full title is Political Order and Political Decay, From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. This book is another very long and very fascinating book by Francis Fukuyama on political order. Francis Fukuyama is always quite weighty.

There is a very good review of this book by John Gray at Literary Reviews. There is a review by Nick Fraser in The Guardian. A lot of good reviews come from UK sources, but there is also a very good one at the Washington Post by Gerard De Groot.

This is a short video by Francis Fukuyama at the Economist. It is a speech by Francis Fukuyama at Chatham House. A Q & A session starts after around 25 minutes. This video is talks by both Francis Fukuyama and David Runciman. This video is a panel moderated by Isabel Hull with John Mearsheimer, Peter Katzenstein and Francis Fukuyama at Cornell University. This introduction is long to this video at some 16 minutes. However, talks by all three professors I found quite fascinating and well worth while.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

This book's full title is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. This is an absolutely fascinating book. Harari has such a different view of history than I have read before. It starts from the beginning of time and ends at the present date. The concept of objective reality and imagined (or fictional) reality is quite interesting.

After this broad scope covering our past, he looks at our future. He sees a lot of our past and certainly our future in quite negative terms. He thinks that the agricultural revolution was awful for us humans. The great thing about this book is that it makes you think.

It is interesting that reviews either just praise this book to the sky or they are rather critical. A quote from the Strawson review is "Much of Sapiens is extremely interesting, and it is often well expressed. As one reads on, however, the attractive features of the book are overwhelmed by carelessness, exaggeration and sensationalism." Another quote is "Harari hates "modern liberal culture", but his attack is a caricature and it boomerangs back at him."

Ranjeev Dubey in Good Reads says "Every once in a decade, a book comes along that has the capacity to radically change the way we think about matters of substance. This book is one of them." Also Hedva in Good Reads says "It is amazing that such a young person could grasp the whole history of mankind, synthesize it and present it in such and interesting, coherent, fluent way."

There is a very interesting, but quite negative review by Galen Strawson in The Guardian. He points out some big flaws in this book. This review is quite different from a lot a read from reviewers that were just overall by this book. There are also quite a number of good reviews of this book at Good Reads. Tom Payne at The Telegraph also has an interesting review. John Lewis-Stempel's review in the Express might be entertaining.

Yuval Noah Harari presents this book as a course on MOOC. Harari speaks at RSA in September 2014. After a short introduction, Harari speaks to about 17 minutes into the video. This session is moderated by Tim Feilden of RSA org and ends with a Q and A. The series of lectures Harari gives are here. There are some 20 lectures divided into segments.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

India by Stanley Wolpert

This book's full title is India, Fourth Edition. I bought this book and one on Iran as I have read a lot of history, but I do not know that much of about either of these very ancient countries or areas. What attracted me to this particular book was they it covered not just the history of India. There is a biography of the Arthur Stanley Wolpert on Wikipedia.

As I have said this book covers more than just the history of India. The book covers the geographical area, Religion and Philosophy, Society (caste system etc.), Arts and Science and Polity and Foreign Policy. You get a broad scope about the area, the people and the history.

India, I had already knew had greatly affected the Western World via Math. We got our numerals from India, via the Middle East and so call them Arabic Numerals. I had also known we got the concept of zero from India. What I did not know is that we also got the idea of decimal point.

There are some good reviews on Good Reads. There are some people who really hated this book and found it hard to read. Most gave it a good rating as would I. I found the book very interesting and good to read.

There is not video on this book, but Stanley Wolpert is interviewed by Connie Martinson in a book called India and Pakistan. The second part of this interview is here. There is another interview of Stanley Wolpert on C-Span. (You have to go a bit into the video to get the interview.)

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Flash Points by George Friedman

This book's full title is Flash Points: The Emerging Crisis in Europe. Here he talks about Europe. George Friedman is always interesting. He has very settled points of view and you may or may not agree with him. He certainly makes you think about what is going on in the world. He is a bit of an alarmist.

However, there is a lot of unsettling news coming from Europe lately. They seem to be in quite a mess, especially financially. Russian seems to be pushy. You have to wonder how all this might turn out. That is why this book caught my interest.

As usual there are some very good reviews at Good Reads. Peter Szopo onIntellinews has written a good review on this book. Brad McMillan posted a good review of this book at the Independent Market Observer.

You can also get a peek at what Stratfor provides here.

George Friedman speaks at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. He speaks about 45 minutes into this secession and then there is a Q and A. This was a wonder speech and well worth watching. This is a speech by George Friedman on c-span. It is basically the same speech as the one at Carnegie Council. I have included it because there is a written transcribe of the speech. This is an interesting 6 minute video of MSNBC's interviewing George Friedman.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

100 Million Years of Food by Stephen Le

This book's full title is 100 Million Years of Food: What our ancestors ate and why it matters today. Basically he is saying if we eat the way our ancestors did, we would have far fewer problems. Another way to put this is not to anything our Grandmother's would not recognize as food. He takes us on a great journey to get to this conclusion. Stephen Le has his own web site here .

One thing I found interesting is that a number of cultures would not eat fish. There are drawbacks to eating fish. One is that fish bones can pierce the esophagus or the intestines. Fish are also quite lean and too much protein can be a problem for people. Another drawback is that toxins can accumulate in fish from marine plankton and cause paralysis and death.

Another interest idea was that eating meat may help you be fertile, attractive and strong at a younger age, but it will also help you to an early grave. The thinking is that you should eat little meat while young, but older people should eat more to be stronger and live longer.

There are some good reviews at Amazon but you have to scroll down to almost the end of the page. There is a great review at the Globe & Mail Dilia Narduzzi. There some very good reviews also at Good Reads.

There is a short interview on The Morning Show of Global News.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

How Civilizations Die by David Goldman

This book's full title is How Civilizations Die (and why Islam is dying too) by David P. Goldman, online Columnist Spengler of the Asia Times online. I do not agree with all he says, but David Goldman is a very interesting writer. I had not realized that the fertility rate was falling in the Muslim world. However, there are all sorts of statistics that you can find on the web that verify their drop in fertility.

This is where you find the blog Spengler. It is interesting that the reviews tend to give good or low ratings to this book depending on whether or not they agree with David Goldman. I would give good ratings to someone I disagree with but is an interesting read and shows a different way of looking at the world.

On the Amazon website you often get very good reviews from unknowns. When you go to Amazon website you should start scrolling to the bottom. That is where the good reviews are. There is an interesting review in Forbes by Reuven Brenner. At the site Good Reads there are various views on this book.

Islamic Civilization is Dying talk by David Goldman. There is a interview of David Goldman by Ezra Levant. There is a second interview with David Goldman talking about Europe. In this recent video David Goldman interview with Ezra Levant talks about Iran.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Third Plate by Dan Barber

I have gotten way behind on talking about the books that I have read. I read this one almost a year ago. I find books on how we are changing our views about food very interesting. I do love books by Michael Pollan, but Dan Barber in this book also has very interesting things to say on the subject.

This book's full title is The Third Plate, Fields notes on the future of food. Dan Barber has his own web site here. This is a very interesting book about what new things are being done by people to improve the food and the food supply in the US. I found it quite fascinating.

Here again Amazon has come great review. You have to scroll quite far down to get them. There is a good review of this book at the New York Times by William Grimes. There is also a short interesting review at NPR. The Toronto Star has a review by Jennifer Bain that also includes recipes for a third plate.

Food Farmer Earth interviews Dan Barber on YouTube. This is a relatively short video of some 15 minutes. This is a talk between Ira Glass and Dan Barber. This last one is just over an hour. Both these videos have adverts, but the type that let you skip after a few seconds.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

The Voice, The Word, The Books by F. E. Peters

This book’s full title is The Voice, The Word, The Books, The Sacred Scripture of the Jews, Christians and Muslims. This is one of the few books that admit that Islam was spread by conquering armies. First it the armies was led by Mohammed and then later his Islamic followers. The conversion to Islam was not the effect of being conquered, but it was a consequence of it.

What I found interesting in the book that I had not read before was the fact the conquest by Islamic armies Arabized people. First there was Arabic acculturation and then conversion to Islam. It took a while. From Spain to China, in the abode of Islam there was not a majority for the Islamic religion until the mid-10th century.

However, Arabization did not occur everywhere. In Iran the local Daric-Farsi culture refused to yield to Arabization. However, their written script became written in Arabic script. The same thing happened with the Ottomans. Their vernacular was written in the Arabic Script initially. However, when the Turks made Islam their state religion, they changed their script to a Latin script.

There is a review of this book at Princeton University Press. On this site you can also review the table of contents and the Introduction to the book. There are also some reviews at Good Reads. There is also a short interesting review at the Publishers Weekly.

You can read about the author, professor Francis Edward Peters here. He is also on Wikipedia. There is a short except from the film From Moses to Muhammad with F. E. Peters.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.