Book Reviews and More

Monday, 6 April 2009

Letter to the Editor

As a longtime student and proponent of SJU, I have been shocked and saddened by events there lately. I have watched the institution fall from being one of the preeminent Catholic Intuitions of higher education in Canada and possibly North America, to being just another church college affiliated with a Canadian University. SJU even just a few years back hosted and supported events on a global scale, The International Thomas Merton Society, held it's first conference outside the continental US at SJU. St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience once brought in world class lecturers with a great variety of backgrounds and breadth of opinion on Catholic Theology and Social issues. I am thankful to Imprint for bringing many of the issues there to light. I could not be as unbiased as the article in last week's issue and can only hope that new media pressure will help the board to take some much needed action.

(First published in Imprint 2009-04-03.)

Notes:

The situation at SJU has bothered me greatly, I know I do not have the ability to write about it on an unbiased way. But this story needs to get out there in a wider media and the Catholic blogsphere. Here are some of the links and articles I have collected, please feel free to link more.

A Wounded Faith Community
St. Jerome's faculty pursues union drive
Perrin says change is never easy
Faculty at St. Jerome's may move to unionize
St. Jerome's faculty no longer have trust in the president
'No confidence' vote at St. Jerome's
St. Jerome's faculty lacks faith in president
Faculty in revolt at St. Jerome's
St. Jerome's faculty sign union cards
St. Jerome’s, a wounded university: Part I, background
St. Jerome’s, a wounded university: Part II, an editorial
‘There is nothing as Catholic as forming a union’, says President of SJU Academic Staff Association
Supporters of UCC

I will post more links as further news develops. As an aside I wrote a piece about former president Michael W. Higgins called Waterloo loses a good man.

Sunday, 5 April 2009

Saving Abel - Saving Abel CD Canadian Tour Edition

Saving Abel
Saving Abel – Canadian Tour Edition
Virgin
AISN B001SGEUQA (Tour Edition)
AISN B0013FSVD4 (original release)

I picked up this album on a whim. The cover of the Canadian Tour Edition caught my attention, and the fact that they were touring with and opening for Nickelback made it an intriguing endeavor. When I go to review and album, I tend to listen to nothing but it for a week or so and immerse myself in the sound, lyrics and mood of the album, both as individual pieces of music and as a collective cohesive whole. As such this is the only CD that has been in my car for a week now, and the mp3’s I have listed to off and on all day at work.

At first I thought it was an ok album. Good sound, interesting lyrics and overall ok. I was not disappointed but at first I was not amazed either. That changed about the second day. The more I listed to the album, and assessed it as a whole the more impressed I became with the artists who created this work. The band formed in 2004 in Corinth Mississippi. It is composed of and eclectic electric sound of the lineup of guitarist Scott Bartlett, bassist Eric Taylor, and drummer Blake Dixon, lead singer Jared Weeks and Jason .

The sound is not as heavy or dark as Nickelback, and for a band with their first big album they have a sound that is uniquely their own. The lyrics are poignant and moving, from the ballad’s Drowning and Sailed Away to the rock anthems of In God’s Eyes and Beautiful You. The sound goes from soft to hard to very hard rock, yet remains a

unified whole. I am greatly impressed with this first studio release from Saving Able. It is a great album for driving, partying or just hanging out and studying, or for hanging on the back porch with some friends, some brews on the long summer evenings. It has an explicit lyrics warning on the album, but compared Nickelback’s Dark Horse this album is very tame in it’s lyrics. More hint and innuendo rather than blunt explicit content.

The difference between the Canadian tour edition and the standard edition is an extra slip case cover with different cover art, and a second ep CD with 3 songs, acoustic versions of 18 Days, Addicted and exclusive content release of Only Human. The greatest strength of this album is every artist is featured on different pieces and different parts of some songs. The band is a collective and each member is a strength, where the sum of the parts if greater than the whole. Overall a terribly impressive first album!

(First published in Imprint 2009-04-03.)

Saturday, 4 April 2009

Windows 7 Beta Review

Windows 7 Beta Review

Microsoft will not officially announce a date for the release of Windows 7, but they will officially say that new OS's typically come out 2 years after the release to market (RTM) of the previous version. If that is the case, by January next year Windows 7 should be RTM. However I have heard unofficially from Microsoft reps that we will likely see it on machines before Christmas. This article will focus on some of the good and some of the bad in Windows 7 based on research and on using Windows 7 as both a virtual machine and as a native operating system.

Working fulltime in IT I am always striving to stay up to date on new technology. As such, as soon as I had the opportunity to download Windows 7 from the MSDN (Microsoft Developer's Network) site I jumped at the opportunity. I had heard and read so many great things about it. Yet first I need to be honest. I like Vista. I know I am in a minority there, but I have been using it at home for over 2 years without a single issue. My uptime when Service Pack 1 came out was 78 days. I have never had a crash. The only issues I have ever encountered on Vista are helping friends who have put it on older machines whose hardware is not designed to support it. So initially I looked at Windows 7 as just a cosmetic change to Vista to try to remarket it, and help Microsoft recover from some of the bad press around it.

First it looks Like there will be fewer versions of Windows 7 to choose from. Here in North America we will have access to 4 of the 5 versions: Starter, Home Premium, Pro, Enterprise and Ultimate. Starter is limited to OEM for netbooks and developing countries, as opposed to 7 versions of Vista. Also, Microsoft has a huge Mojave Experiment where they test people with a 'new' operating system compared to Vista and they love it and then are told it is Vista. www.mojaveexperiment.com. But I was greatly mistaken about the 'just a cosmetic change'. Windows 7 is based upon the same core engine and design as Vista but it has been cleaned up not just cosmetically, but performance-wise also. MS has also made some changes to its original planned upgrade path. Originally you would have to reinstall from Vista to Beta, to RC to RTM version. Now you can do upgrade installs along the one. One of the new features in Windows 7 is that if you do an upgrade install and then run disk cleanup, it will prompt you to remove the old Windows directory from the hard drive thus freeing up space. Ms officially states that applications that have problems on Vista will have problems on Windows 7; from my experience and those of some testers I know, that is not the case. I know someone who put Windows 7 on an old P4 machine with a 1.8gb Processor with 512mb of ram. It runs faster than XP ever ran on that machine. People who had hardware issues with Vista have them resolved in Windows 7; between Vista and XP drivers, everything now works.

Also originally MS was saying that you could only upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista, but new sources reveal that you will be able to buy an upgrade from XP but you will have to do a fresh install, not an upgrade install.

One of the coolest features for end-users is location printing. If you're a mobile user with a laptop - at work, school, home, the parents - you can assign a default printer based on where you are. Also you can have rotating desktop pictures, but you can use an RSS feed, like flicker or other web service and not have to have the pictures on each machine you use. A lot of thought has gone into the planning and implementation of the changes in this OS.

Overall from all I have seen, read and heard this will be a great product. It is the first MS operating system to have lower hardware requirements than the previous. That means if you're already running Vista your machine will run faster with Windows 7. On a side note, with all the backlash against Vista, and Microsoft as a result of it, a great product has gone almost unnoticed, Office 2007. Office 2007 is an amazing product, once you get comfortable with the ribbon over the drop-down menus. It is very intuitive and user friendly. Yet most people hardly know about it. From all the early indicators in the Tech community, Windows 7 will be a huge hit; some companies are already planning on the migration and preparing to push for it. And they all indicate it will run better than Vista and on some machines - even better than XP.

(First published in Imprint 2009-04-03. Written in part as follow up to this article.)

Articles in this Series:

Unleashing the Inner Geek
MOS Microsoft Office Specialist
Playing with Multi-OS's
Inner Geek - Validated
Inner Geek - On My Way
Inner Geek - Validated February 2008
Inner Geek - Validated September 2008
The Changing face of BRAM
Inner Geek - Updated February 2009
Windows 7 Beta Review
Inner Geek - Updated April 2009
Inner Geek - Updated July 2009
Inner Geek - Updated November 2009

Inner Geek - Updated December 2010

Mac VS PC an It Guys Perspective
Inner Geek - Updated June 2011
Inner Geek - Updated December 2011

Friday, 3 April 2009

100 Cupboards - Book 1 by: N.D. Wilson

100 Cupboards - Book 1
100 Cupboards
N.D. Wilson - blog
Yearling - An Imprint of Randomhouse
ISBN 9780375838828

This was a fascinating, fabulous and fantastic book. To be honest, I was intrigued by the cover, and the write-up about the book. The story focuses around Henry, a 12 year old boy who arrives to stay with his cousins in Henry, Kansas. His parents are travel writers

and have been kidnapped. So he is staying with his uncle Frank, aunt Dotty and his three cousins, Anastasia, Henrietta and Penelope. Henry gets the attic as his bedroom. Then while Henry lies in bed, he starts hearing some thumping from the outside wall, and the plaster starts crumbing off. He finds two dial knobs on an elaborate door. With some scraping and hard work he uncovers a whole wall of cupboard doors, all different shapes, sizes and styles.

Henry and Henrietta begin to try to find out what they can about the doors; they each seem to lead to different places and times. And now the adventure begins in earnest. They learn many things, and have a great adventure but maybe some doors should never be opened.
This story is masterfully told, and the sense of amazement, awe and adventure it arises

in the reader is magnificent. Wilson has constructed a wonderful story that starts in our world and has so many possibilities. The reader finds himself racing ahead wanting to find where the story will go. I found myself cheering on Henry and Henrietta as they moved through the story. The characters are believable, the story well written and excellently paced. It is reminiscent of C.S. Lewis's The

Magician's Nephew, except instead of magic pools that lead to different worlds it is the magic of the cupboards.

This book would be an excellent read for your summer break, and book 2 has just come out - Dandelion Fire. So if you like it as much as I do, you have even more to read.

(First published in Imprint 2009-04-03.)

Books by N.D. Wilson
100 Cupboards:
The Door Before - 100 Cupboards Book 0.5
100 Cupboards - 100 Cupboards Book 1
Dandelion Fire - 100 Cupboards Book 2
The Chestnut King - 100 Cupboards Books 3

Ashton Burials:
The Dragon's Tooth
The Drowned Vault

Leepike Ridge

Parody:
Right Behind
Supergeddon

Picture Books:
The Dragon and the Garden - The Old Stories
In The Time of Noah - The Old Stories

Non-Fiction:
Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl
Death By Living

Author Profile Interview with N.D. Wilson

Wednesday, 1 April 2009

Big Earth, Little Me by Kate Endle & Thom Wiley

Big Earth, Little Me
Thom Wiley (Author)
Kate Endle (Illustrator)
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545092258

This is a great little book designed to introduce young children to the concept of environmental responsibility. In simple terms and examples it shows them how they can have an impact to help the earth. Each page has a flap or fold or lift-tab that shows the children the point from that page. Simply written so even young children can grasp the principles, and wonderfully illustrated, it is a great book for the children in your life. It is even printed with soy ink so the book itself has less of an environmental impact.

Saturday, 28 March 2009

The Sword Thief - 39 Clues Book 3 - Peter Lerangis

The Sword Thief
The 39 Clues - Book 3
Peter Lerangis
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545060431
The pace of this series is really picking up. This book takes place over the span of just a few days at the most. And new alliances have been formed and broken. First Dan and Amy are rescued by their Uncle Alistair Oh. Nellie their au pair is kidnapped by the Kabras siblings. Irina makes a few very brief appearances, and the Holts attempt to use brawn over brains one more time.

This book is the fastest pace of the three so far, starting right at the end of One False Note and racing to a cliffhanger in book 4 Beyond the Grave. In this book we journey from Italy to Japan to Korea. The main historical figure we find out about is the Hiyoshimaru or Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the mystery of his lost treasure.

This book was a bit of a race, from places and events and on and on. It felt rushed compared to the previous two books in the series. It also raced along with less dialogue and less description, the scenes were not as vivid and the facts were often just revealed. In my opinion this is the weakest of the first three books. This series has fantastic potential, with the combination of 7 authors telling a unified story over 10 books. But this one falls short of what has gone before. We can only hope that book 4 returns to the intensity and power of story portrayed in the first two books The Maze of Bones and One False Note. We can also hope that Lerangis does a better job when his turn comes around again for book 7.

The book does progress the overall story, and we do have a better idea of where the 39 clues are leading us, something to do with Alchemy. We also find out more of the history of the Cahills including the origin of this branch of the family dating back to the 1500's. The family dates back to Dublin and Gideon and Olivia Cahill. Gideon perished in a fire, a theme we are encountering again and again. We also find out a little more about Thomas and Kate, the founders of two of the modern branches of the Cahill clan. This book is good, just not great like the others in the series. Yet it definitely leaves one desiring book 4.

The 39 Clues:
The Maze of Bones - Book 1 - Rick Riordan
One False Note - Book 2 - Gordon Korman
The Sword Thief - Book 3 - Peter Lerangis
Beyond the Grave - Book 4 - Jude Watson
The Black Circle - Book 5 - Patrick Carman
In Too Deep - Book 6 - Jude Watson
The Viper's Nest - Book 7 - Peter Lerangis
The Emperor's Code - Book 8 - Gordon Korman
Storm Warning - Book 9 - Linda Sue Park
Into the Gauntlet - Book 10 - Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Black Book of Buried Secrets - Rick Riordan
Vespers Rising - Book 11 - Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson

Midnight Ride - Clifford Riley

…

Card Pack #1 - Books 1-3
Card Pack #2 - Books 4-6
Card Pack #3 - Books 7-9
Rare Card Pack

...

The 39 Clues Cahills vs. Vespers
The Medusa Plot - Book 1 - Gordon Korman
A King's Ransom - Book 2 - Jude Watson
The Dead of Night - Book 3 - Peter Lerangis
Shatterproof - Book 4 - Roland Smith
Trust No One - Book 5 - Linda Sue Park
Day of Doom - Book 6 - David Baldacci

…

The 39 Clues Unstoppable Series:

Nowhere to Run - Jude Watson

Breakaway – Jeff Hirsch

Countdown – Nattalie Standiford

Flashpoint - Gordon Korman

…

The 39 Clues Doublecross Series:

Mission Titanic - Jude Watson

Mission Hindenburg - Jenny Goebel

Mission Hurricane - Alexander London

Mission Atomic – Sarwat Chadda

…

The 39 Clues Rapid Fire:
Legacy - Book 1 - Clifford Riley
Ignition - Book 2 - Clifford Riley
Hunted - Book 3 - Clifford Riley
Crushed - Book 4 - Clifford Riley
Turbulence - Book 5 - Clifford Riley
Invasion - Book 6 - Clifford Riley
Fireworks - Book 7 - Clifford Riley

…

The 39 Clues The Cahill Files:

Operation Trinity - Clifford Riley

The Submarine Job - Clifford Riley

The Redcoat Chase - Clifford Riley

The Houdini Escape - Clifford Riley

Silent Night - Clifford Riley

Spymasters - Clifford Riley

…

The 39 Clues Super Special Books:

Outbreak – C. Alexander London

…

(First published in Imprint 2009-03-27.)

Friday, 27 March 2009

One Flase Note - 39 Clues Book 2 - Gordon Korman

One False Note
The 39 Clues - Book 2
Gordon Korman
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545060424

Much as book 1, Maze of Bones, focused on the life and times of Benjamin Franklin, book 2, One False Note, focuses on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his sister Nannerl. Continuing almost immediately after book one, the pace of this one is much quicker. Moving from Paris to Vienna, the Cahill kids, Dan, Amy and their chaperon are ambushed by the big burly Holt clan. Narrowly escaping them, the dangers from other family members only intensifies. With more bombs, boat crashes, and run-ins with everyone from their aunts, uncles and cousins to Benedictine monks, this book is one wild chase scene.
The adventures in this book take our trio from Paris to Vienna then onto Salzburg then finally Venice. This book not only has a faster pace than book one, but also more dialogue. Some of that may be due to the writing style of the different authors, and some the point in the story arch and plot development. Gordon Korman does an excellent job continuing from the story started by Rick Riordan in Book 1.The transition is almost effortless. The feel is slightly different but the story continues to flow well.

It is interesting reading a series of 10 books with seven different authors, in part because we do not know how much freedom each author has. Do they write their section and hand it off and the next author has to create from there, or is there an overarching story arc already sketched out and the authors are composing the different scenes as movements in a musical piece? Either way this book is excellent and like the first leaves the reader hungry for more. I cannot honestly remember the last time I read a series that was so addictive. I picked up the next book immediately and dread when I will have to await the next release. All in all an excellent book in what is shaping up to be a great series.

The 39 Clues:
The Maze of Bones - Book 1 - Rick Riordan
One False Note - Book 2 - Gordon Korman
The Sword Thief - Book 3 - Peter Lerangis
Beyond the Grave - Book 4 - Jude Watson
The Black Circle - Book 5 - Patrick Carman
In Too Deep - Book 6 - Jude Watson
The Viper's Nest - Book 7 - Peter Lerangis
The Emperor's Code - Book 8 - Gordon Korman
Storm Warning - Book 9 - Linda Sue Park
Into the Gauntlet - Book 10 - Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Black Book of Buried Secrets - Rick Riordan
Vespers Rising - Book 11 - Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson

Midnight Ride - Clifford Riley

…

Card Pack #1 - Books 1-3
Card Pack #2 - Books 4-6
Card Pack #3 - Books 7-9
Rare Card Pack