2003

My Turn At Bat

Ted Williams

7/2003

I relate to Ted in some ways, minus his overwhelming drive to be the best. And he was the best hitter ever in baseball. Reading this book gave me new insights into baseball and what it means to really know and understand a sport and how that helps you play it better. I also took those insights and applied them to ultimate. This book is a good read for a player of any sport i think. Plus Teddy was on my favorite team, the Red Sox.

The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt

William Nothdurft

8/2003

This is a small story about old dinosaur bones found in Egypt, moved to Germany, destroyed in the Allied bombing of Munich, and then "rediscovered" back in Egypt in 2001 by an American team. While they were looking, they found a really big dinosaur. Nice background on the first discovery and subsequent loss, but overall not a whole lotta plot except "we found a really big dinosaur." Kinda cool if you're into that i guess. All those dinosaur names sorta blur together for me.

Ghost Soldiers

Hampton Sides

9/2003

Amazing story. This book chronicles in detail the 6th Army Rangers 3 day staging and nighttime raid of a Japanese POW camp behind enemy lines in the Phillipines. In the camp were the last remaining survivors of the Bataan Death March, most of whom were barely stong enough to be able to walk out of the camp when their liberators arrived. There isn't an overly detailed description of the Death march itself, but there's lots of background on the men in the camps and the tortures they had to endure. Gripping reading.

The Cruelest Miles

Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury

10/2003

Another great story, and a great book. This is the story of the 1925 dog-sled relay in up to -60-degree cold from Nenana, Alaska to Nome, over 300 miles. The sled teams were carrying a case of diptheria anti-toxin to stop a serious outbreak in Nome. More than just a story of the relay, this book tells of all the men and their dogs. The lead dog Balto was made famous because he led his team the last 53 miles into Nome, but Togo, a lead dog on another sled, ran 191 miles over much worse terrain. If you've ever wondered how i feel about my dogs, read this book and you'll get a good idea.

Left For Dead

Pete Nelson

11/2003

The subtitle of this book is "A Young Man's Search For Justice For The USS Indianapolis", which helps to separate it from the many other books out there also titled "Left For Dead". Like the subtitle says, it's a story of an 11 year old boy who does a history project on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis at the end of WWII. The book covers the mission of the ship (carrying the A-bombs to the island of Tinian), the sinking, and the subsequent 4-1/2 days in the water, where the survivors were picked off by sharks. Simultaneously it tells of the boy's mission to reinstate the honor of the captain, who was courtmartialed for losing his ship (the only captain of about 300 lost vessels to be tried).

The Professor and the Madman

Simon Winchester

12/2003

This is the story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary and the man in a British insane asylum who contributed many definitions and citations to the book. It covers the making of the dictionary and some background on other dictionaries of the time, but most of the book is about the life of the "madman". Not as engrossing as i hoped, but interesting.

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