read at least 24 nonfiction books in 2009

7/24/09 read California Wine For Dummies by Ed McCarthy. Great book! Learned a lot and am anxious to put it to use. 5 stars.

7/10/09 read The Coolest Race On Earth: Mud, Madmen, Glaciers, and Grannies at the Antarctica Marathon by John Hanc. A short history of marathons and Antarctic exploration and an equally short overview of the Antarctica Marathon with an emphasis on the 2005 race which the author participated in. 4 stars.

7/2/09 read Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard, America’s Forgotten Heroes by David Helvarg. The USCG is great and I enjoyed reading about them. I would have enjoyed this book more if the author had not put his personal political opinions into the book.

6/23/09 read Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. Interesting, informative and at times hilarious. 4 stars

6/18/09 read The Everything Vampire Book by Barb Karg, et al. Covers folklore, book, film and television vampires. 4 stars.

Chasing Science at Sea Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea with Ocean Experts – Ellen Prager read 6/13/09. This was a bit disappointing. I was expecting more detailed stories of adventures at sea but most of the stories were only a paragraph or so. 3 stars.

5/31/09 read Before and After Jamestown: Virginia’s Powhatans and Their Predecessors by Helen C. Rountree
This was a very interesting read. A general overview of the Native Americans around the site of Jamestown, Virginia from prehistoric times to the present. 5 stars.

5/25/09 read Pieces of My Heart: A Life by Robert J. Wagner. A bit too much “kiss and tell.” He also tells which actors he thought were gay or bisexual. I was looking for more about his life rather than so much name dropping. 3 stars.

5/13/09 read Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership and Brotherhood by Donovan Campbell. A story of a new USMC officer and his platoon in Ramadi, Iraq.

4/28/09 read Thomas Jefferson: Author of America by Christopher Hitchens. Not the best biography of Jefferson I’ve read. In fact, it is probably the worst. I can’t recommend this one.