Helpful votes received on all contributions:85% (1,903 of 2,255)
Nickname: paulweiss4
Location: Dundas, Ontario Canada
Interests
21st Century Renaissance Man, Jack of all Trades, Master of None:
Music, choral singing, Philately, Wilderness camping in all four seasons, hiking, canoeing Reading (historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, popular science and thrillers) Weight-liftin… Read more
21st Century Renaissance Man, Jack of all Trades, Master of None:
Music, choral singing, Philately, Wilderness camping in all four seasons, hiking, canoeing Reading (historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, popular science and thrillers) Weight-lifting, aerobics and fitness (at least I try hard!)
"The Great Gatsby" is a sad book. But perhaps the saddest thing of all is that F Scott Fitzgerald's tragic, moving portrayal of the American Dream demonstrates that the typical American's pre-occupation with the yearning for wealth, class and an easier life can ultimately be so empty, so meaningless and so utterly unfulfilling.
When Nick Carraway left what he saw as a comfortable but mundane existence in the Midwest, he moved East to a magnetic New York City to learn the bond business. Renting a "weather beaten cardboard bungalow" in a town called West Egg on Long Island, he met a distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan; her husband, Tom, struggling to live up to the brilliance of a… Read more
When I read the dust flap for Michael Palmer's 12th medical suspense novel, "The Fifth Vial" and realized that it was about the illicit black market for transplant organs, I just about set it aside unread. Surely, Michael Palmer, himself an MD and an imaginative successful author of 11 previous medical thrillers could come up with a better plot idea than the hoary old chestnut of the black market trade in transplant organs! Well, the book was in my hands, my drink was already poured and the fire was lit ... I couldn't be bothered going back to my bookshelf for a second choice! And that, my friends, was a wonderful piece of serendipity!
Natalie Reyes, a medical student in Brazil… Read more
Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and the Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, offers a twelve lecture primer on cosmology that is obviously aimed at a public largely uninformed about the beauties of the universe and its mysterious origins.
This lecture series' heart is certainly in the right place but, try as he might, I don't think that Tyson has found the perfect balance that he was doubtless seeking.
The physics of this lecture series is pitched somewhere between non-existent and low. Clearly then, "My Favorite Universe" is not aimed at a reader who, for example, is capable of making their way through Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos"… Read more
An eclectic combination of "off the beaten track" titles nominated by the members of the Yahoo reading group "Classic Sci-Fi" for their group read in April 2007.
These were the nominations for the March 2007 group read for the Yahoo Classic Sci-Fi list ... a fine group if I do say so myself! The list is a great one if you're only interested in the titles but it's still a work in progress as far as comments and guidance are concerned. Bookmark the list and&hellip Read more
The Victorian era , generally agreed to cover the reign of Queen Victoria (surprise!) from 1837-1901, has appeal for many of us as a kinder, gentler age in which men were gentlemen, ladies were a more sophisticated and lady-like group of ladies and conduct between friends and even rivals or enemies&hellip Read more
