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Paula G. (Paulathegreat) - Reviews

1 to 20 of 146 - Page:
The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir
The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir
Author: Roman Dial
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 10/30/2022


This is a very good book but do not google how it came out when you are half through it. It totally ruins the rest of the book.


Alice I Have Been
Alice I Have Been
Author: Melanie Benjamin
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 55
Review Date: 2/23/2016


This book was ridiculous. Alice comes off as bratty and sexually precocious. Dodgeson as a pedophile. Both would be insulted by this book.


Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying (Among Other Things)
Review Date: 1/10/2014


She is OK as an author, but really annoying as an narrator. She literally reads periods in the middle of Every sentence and inflects in a snotty adolescent sort of way.


American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author: Andrew Cuomo
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 4
Review Date: 4/18/2021


Kill thousands of people and write a book about it. You can get royalties forever.


Anthology of Christian Mysticism
Anthology of Christian Mysticism
Book Type: Paperback
  ?
Review Date: 5/1/2022


There is no such thing as Christian Mysticism.
You can have one or the other. Christian mysticism is just a sign of the paganification of Christianity.


Arctic Homestead: The True Story of One Family's Survival  and Courage in the Alaskan Wilds
Review Date: 1/27/2022


A lot of the drama in this book is driven by poor judgment and lack of planning.
Let's get a homestead in Canada or somewhere, but let's not check out the homesteading laws. That should be fun. If it isn't let's not bring sufficient money to get us there. What could possibly go wrong.
Our toddlers have whooping cough. I bet we can save money if we camp out in the rain!
Let's partner with someone we don't know. Maybe we can experiment with alcohol and various weapons.

If that is bad enough the narrator does nothing to make herself sympathetic. She obviously dislikes her infant step daughters. Both she and her husband play with firearms and explosives in situations that probably had a civilized solution.

She refers to "God's will" as verification when she gets her way, but never seems to be on a quest to see what God's will may be or to live it if she knows.

She doesn't seem to like other people, or her life, or much of anything or anyone.


Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture
Author: Michael A. Bellesiles
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 2.8/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 3/3/2015


The author claims to use documents that were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. That means he didn't just misread the documents, he didn't even try to find the documents to research because he knew his thesis wasn't backed up.

When his friend offered to review the data to help him clear his name, he didn't return their calls because he knew the data didn't exist.


Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture
Author: Michael Bellesiles
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 1.7/5 Stars.
 3
Review Date: 3/3/2015


The author claims to use documents that were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. That means he didn't just misread the documents, he didn't even try to find the documents to research because he knew his thesis wasn't backed up.

When his friend offered to review the data to help him clear his name, he didn't return their calls because he knew the data didn't exist.


Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture
Author: Michael Bellesiles
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 2.3/5 Stars.
 5
Review Date: 3/3/2015


Henry,
The author claims to use documents that were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. That means he didn't just misread the documents, he didn't even try to find the documents to research because he knew his thesis wasn't backed up.

When his friend offered to review the data to help him clear his name, he didn't return their calls because he knew the data didn't exist.


As Nature Made Him : The Boy Who Was Raised as A Girl
As Nature Made Him : The Boy Who Was Raised as A Girl
Author: John Colapinto
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 129
Review Date: 3/31/2015


Heartwrenching.


Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic That Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries
Review Date: 8/22/2022


A compelling look at a strange neuro-psychological phenomenon. It gives an in depth description of individual cases with typical or not typical reactions to post sleeping sickness. Also shows the research of the time.
Ms. Crosby is much better as a scientist than as a social historian, but the book will hold you until the last page.


The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Author: Barack Obama
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
 134
Review Date: 7/7/2016


Racist. AntiAmerican. Ignorant.


Before We Were Yours (Large Print)
Before We Were Yours (Large Print)
Author: Lisa Wingate
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 7
Review Date: 1/26/2020


 This is a very readable book.  The story holds you and the writing is good.

It is based on the Tennessee Children's Home (TCH) Adoption scandal when Georgia Tann sold children that had been given up and kidnapped to adoptive families.  While waiting for sale the children were kept in deplorable conditions that included neglect, hunger, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse.  Many of these children were not orphans.  Friendly judges gave these children into the custody of the home.  The adoptions were often not legal.  Biological parents had not signed away custody, were not even aware what had happened to their children.  Many of the parents who adopted from TCH were not screened and not fit.

Georgia Tann is the reason that, to this day, most adoptions are closed-with no contact between old and new families.  The adults that the TCH children became had no way to trace their real families, nor did their grieving parents have a way to find them.

The given reason for this chaos, was that children in rich families have better prospects.  Tann apparently really believed that she was helping children by moving them from poverty to wealth, regardless of the character of the adoptive parents.  This remember, was the 1920s and 30s, before Hitler ruined eugenics.  Many people were open in their belief that there were superior and inferior people.  Surely a child would have a better chance being reared and influenced by a superior person.

This story tells of a family of children whose parents are tricked into signing adoption papers while their mother is in hard labor with the youngest.  The children are removed from their custody and taken to a branch of the TCH.  Always the oldest ones are trying to get home to their parents, but when they do things are not what they expect.

This story alternates with the story of a grand-daughter, a woman of class and privilege who is putting together this family history.  She is horrified and intrigued as she goes along.

Eventually the story has a mostly happy ending.

I have read as much as I could get on the TCH scandal and Georgia Tann.  I felt that the book has a little bit of PC revisionism that I didn't like.  First, the book did mention that Tann saw children as blank slates, but not that her stated motive was to do her part to destroy the lower classes by giving their children to upper class parents.  This is a very important point to the meaning of the story.

Another thing that annoyed me is that in real life a lot of the molestation was done by Tann and her friends.  However, in the book, the one male character had to be the molester because in the PC culture women do not sexually abuse people (they must be victims not aggressors) and lesbians (which Tann was at least as pertained to her abuse of children) must never be portrayed as villains.

The story is worth reading in spite of this twisting, but it would have been even better had Wingate chosen to portray reality as it is (a theme in the end of the book).


Before We Were Yours
Before We Were Yours
Author: Lisa Wingate
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 89
Review Date: 1/26/2020
Helpful Score: 1


 This is a very readable book.  The story holds you and the writing is good.

It is based on the Tennessee Children's Home (TCH) Adoption scandal when Georgia Tann sold children that had been given up and kidnapped to adoptive families.  While waiting for sale the children were kept in deplorable conditions that included neglect, hunger, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse.  Many of these children were not orphans.  Friendly judges gave these children into the custody of the home.  The adoptions were often not legal.  Biological parents had not signed away custody, were not even aware what had happened to their children.  Many of the parents who adopted from TCH were not screened and not fit.

Georgia Tann is the reason that, to this day, most adoptions are closed-with no contact between old and new families.  The adults that the TCH children became had no way to trace their real families, nor did their grieving parents have a way to find them.

The given reason for this chaos, was that children in rich families have better prospects.  Tann apparently really believed that she was helping children by moving them from poverty to wealth, regardless of the character of the adoptive parents.  This remember, was the 1920s and 30s, before Hitler ruined eugenics.  Many people were open in their belief that there were superior and inferior people.  Surely a child would have a better chance being reared and influenced by a superior person.

This story tells of a family of children whose parents are tricked into signing adoption papers while their mother is in hard labor with the youngest.  The children are removed from their custody and taken to a branch of the TCH.  Always the oldest ones are trying to get home to their parents, but when they do things are not what they expect.

This story alternates with the story of a grand-daughter, a woman of class and privilege who is putting together this family history.  She is horrified and intrigued as she goes along.

Eventually the story has a mostly happy ending.

I have read as much as I could get on the TCH scandal and Georgia Tann.  I felt that the book has a little bit of PC revisionism that I didn't like.  First, the book did mention that Tann saw children as blank slates, but not that her stated motive was to do her part to destroy the lower classes by giving their children to upper class parents.  This is a very important point to the meaning of the story.

Another thing that annoyed me is that in real life a lot of the molestation was done by Tann and her friends.  However, in the book, the one male character had to be the molester because in the PC culture women do not sexually abuse people (they must be victims not aggressors) and lesbians (which Tann was at least as pertained to her abuse of children) must never be portrayed as villains.

The story is worth reading in spite of this twisting, but it would have been even better had Wingate chosen to portray reality as it is (a theme in the end of the book).


Before We Were Yours
Before We Were Yours
Author: Lisa Wingate
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
 4
Review Date: 1/26/2020


 This is a very readable book.  The story holds you and the writing is good.

It is based on the Tennessee Children's Home (TCH) Adoption scandal when Georgia Tann sold children that had been given up and kidnapped to adoptive families.  While waiting for sale the children were kept in deplorable conditions that included neglect, hunger, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse.  Many of these children were not orphans.  Friendly judges gave these children into the custody of the home.  The adoptions were often not legal.  Biological parents had not signed away custody, were not even aware what had happened to their children.  Many of the parents who adopted from TCH were not screened and not fit.

Georgia Tann is the reason that, to this day, most adoptions are closed-with no contact between old and new families.  The adults that the TCH children became had no way to trace their real families, nor did their grieving parents have a way to find them.

The given reason for this chaos, was that children in rich families have better prospects.  Tann apparently really believed that she was helping children by moving them from poverty to wealth, regardless of the character of the adoptive parents.  This remember, was the 1920s and 30s, before Hitler ruined eugenics.  Many people were open in their belief that there were superior and inferior people.  Surely a child would have a better chance being reared and influenced by a superior person.

This story tells of a family of children whose parents are tricked into signing adoption papers while their mother is in hard labor with the youngest.  The children are removed from their custody and taken to a branch of the TCH.  Always the oldest ones are trying to get home to their parents, but when they do things are not what they expect.

This story alternates with the story of a grand-daughter, a woman of class and privilege who is putting together this family history.  She is horrified and intrigued as she goes along.

Eventually the story has a mostly happy ending.

I have read as much as I could get on the TCH scandal and Georgia Tann.  I felt that the book has a little bit of PC revisionism that I didn't like.  First, the book did mention that Tann saw children as blank slates, but not that her stated motive was to do her part to destroy the lower classes by giving their children to upper class parents.  This is a very important point to the meaning of the story.

Another thing that annoyed me is that in real life a lot of the molestation was done by Tann and her friends.  However, in the book, the one male character had to be the molester because in the PC culture women do not sexually abuse people (they must be victims not aggressors) and lesbians (which Tann was at least as pertained to her abuse of children) must never be portrayed as villains.

The story is worth reading in spite of this twisting, but it would have been even better had Wingate chosen to portray reality as it is (a theme in the end of the book).


The Best Little Girl in the World
The Best Little Girl in the World
Author: Steven Levenkron
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 53
Review Date: 10/4/2015


Well written.

For a psychology book written in 1979 (in the Freudian period)it is very realistic. Mostly from the point of view of the patient.

Minor characters were somewhat cardboard. (the black hospital room mate, the parents, the siblings)


Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity
Review Date: 1/22/2017


I am fascinated by the Buck case and the eugenics movement. However, this book was just hard to read. I don't know why. It just seemed patronizing and self righteous to me.


Between Heaven and Earth: Finding Hope, Courage, and Passion Through a Fresh Vision of Heaven
Review Date: 6/17/2023


Be careful of Berger as he has gotten some of his information from mediumship. It is condemned by the Bible in both the Testaments. While I feel for the Berger's pain they are not in communication with their son, but are playing a dangerous game with spiritual forces.


Blue Windows : A Christian Science Childhood
Blue Windows : A Christian Science Childhood
Author: Barbara Wilson
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 5/22/2019


Compelling, but depressing


Bold Spirit : Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America
Review Date: 3/21/2012


The beginning was a little slow, but at the end it paid off.
I would have liked to know her. She was stubborn and independent, but I really think she did do it for her family.


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