Epinions Recent Reviews for jamesmcook

Kyle Mills - Darkness Falls: Darkness Can't Fall Soon Enough

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 22:31:30 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - I might say that as one of the side benefits of being an active blogger, I received Kyle Mills' new novel, Darkness Falls, for free in the mail. But I wouldn't be wholly accurate in writing that, since reading the eco-terrorism thriller didn't...

On B.S. IS B.S.

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 16:07:40 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Has no one else noticed the twinkling tease in Harry G. Frankfurt's celebrated On B.S.? [You know what the word is. I don't think I can use it on the Epinions website.] In the very discussion of B.S. — the mannered and intentionally deceptive...

A Superficial Take on Moral Choice in Gaming

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:58:42 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - I have not played video games for some seven and a half years, which is not coincidentally the length of time I have been a parent. But last week as I shopped in Target a video game entitled Fable: the Lost Chapters caught my eye with the large text on...

Read Best as a Prelude to Jonathan Strange

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:53:14 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Although it has been released a year after the excellent first novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke's collection of stories entitled The Ladies of Grace Adieu actually precedes the novel by date of authorship. Each of the tales...

A Complicated Movie. But is it Unfair?

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:47:53 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - I watched Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan the weekend before last, and while I laughed heartily in some parts of the movie I was pretty underwhelmed by some parts of it. I thought the "inferior...

Horrid Title, Exquisite Book

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:41:46 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - The only negative thing I have to say about this book regards its title. Doesn't it sound like the book’s going to be dry, stentorian, hoity-toity, boring and pedantic? I was happily surprised to find the opposite inside. The table of contents is...

An Unreasonable Man: A Nader Documentary With A Schism

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:36:23 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - An Unreasonable Man, a documentary film attempting to describe the course of Ralph Nader’s professional life, begins with the following quote of George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in...

A Punch-and-Kick Philosophy of Love across Time

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:31:31 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - I have just now finished The Time Traveler’s Wife, and I am swooning. Yes, there is quite a bit of time travel in the book, which might make you think of this fictional novel as some sort of science fiction. But it’s not really about time travel, if you...

Avoiding the Trite and Pat in Consideration of Irish Fairies

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:18:52 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - A couple of months ago, I picked up a copy of Meeting the Other Crowd, a compilation of Irish folk tales put together by Eddie Lenihan, with some unclear assistance by Carolyn Eve Green. Thanks to my friend Bob, I’d been exposed to The Good People, an...

Not a Credibly Written Piece of Historical Fiction

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:13:39 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Part of enjoying a novel is the successful suspension of disbelief. I find I have to be able to feel that the events and characters in a book COULD be real, even if they are at times fantastically not. I don't mean that a book can't have magic, or that...

Supernaturally Believable, Emotionally Accessible, Thoroughly Credible

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:50:54 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Who'd have imagined I could so thoroughly suspend disbelief in regards to a supernatural, ghost-dwelling novel for middle schoolers. But I couldn't help myself. I was sucked right into The Dead Fathers Club and in a furious one-day read found...

Consistent, Safe, High-Quality Yogurt

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 13:15:57 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - For about a month now, I've been using the Girmi yogurt maker. It's an unfortunate name when you say it -- who wants to eat "germy" yogurt -- which may be one reason why a very similar yogurt maker is now being marketed under the name "Euro Cuisine."...

Doesn't Deliver As Advertised

Thu, 13 Jan 2005 18:40:43 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - When I saw the cover, I was hooked. James Carville stands against a white background in a black t-shirt, arms folded, bandaged, with a black eye and looking seriously miffed. Next to his shaved head are the words "Had Enough? A Handbook for Fighting...

This Star Theater Falls Flat

Fri, 7 Jan 2005 10:03:11 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - When my son received a Star Theater for Christmas, I was really excited. I'd seen advertisements for the Star Theater in a number of catalogs for educational toys, and it sounded like fun: stars, with constellations, would be projected upon the walls...

Which Planet Did They Think They Were On?

Sat, 2 Aug 2003 21:07:28 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - On a rainy day watching a sick child, I felt a strong need to help my young son escape his pain and...

When You Can Choose Your Own Adventure, It's Not An Adventure

Tue, 1 Apr 2003 22:33:57 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Note: This is a review of the audio book version of "Star Trek Borg."

This past week, I drove 15 hours to New Orleans (and 15 long hours back), and I found myself straining to stay awake in the wee hours. A bookstore off the side of the...

What is this book trying to say?

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 22:35:19 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - The Story in Brief

The main character, the rainbow fish, swims through the sea with dazzlingly beautiful scales but ends up lonely and shunned because he won't share his scales with others. The octopus tells rainbow fish to give away his...

Poorly Designed for Little Tikes

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 21:58:11 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Why I Purchased the Little Landscaper

A few months after my son turned two, he began to take interest in everyday objects in the world around him. One of the most intriguing household objects to him at this time was our lawn mower. Whenever...

This is the Gold Standard?

Mon, 3 Dec 2001 21:59:21 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - A Great Reputation...

When I moved from Ohio to Arizona to start graduate school, I stuffed all my belongings in a minivan and spent a month crisscrossing the continent, enjoying the last remnants of my freedom. One of the relatively few...

Cheap Computer-Generated Junk

Mon, 3 Sep 2001 23:35:45 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Book Summary

Molly Collie is a short cardboard book about a dog named Molly Collie who likes to round different kinds of animals up. The catch here is that the book has a wiggly tail sticking out of it that young readers are...

HTML: You Call This Professional?

Mon, 3 Sep 2001 22:54:54 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Note: This review focuses on the "web publishing" feature of Microsoft Office 2000's Word, Excel and Powerpoint programs.

Relevant Personal Background

I am a professor at a major East Coast university. I also create...

A Letdown

Mon, 2 Jul 2001 22:19:11 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Summary: Vicki Iovine's third time around is not a charm. This book lacks the unique mother-centered focus of her previous two books, and there are many more comprehensive toddler-centered books out there. The thinness of Iovine's approach shows...

A Keeper

Thu, 7 Jun 2001 15:30:18 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Book Summary

Wibbly Pig Can Make a Tent is a board book for toddlers that features a sweet, pudgy-faced, vaguely British piglet. Wibbly Pig effectively takes the role of a toddler, doing various fun things around a household. The...

The Difference is Astounding

Sun, 27 May 2001 14:40:28 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - Back when I was a poorer man, I bought the cheapest products I could afford. One of these was a Murray walk-behind lawn mower. It looked like a run-down machine even new, but I had no choice. Of course, the Murray couldn't handle even minor...

Cloying and Annoying

Tue, 17 Apr 2001 22:06:01 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jamesmcook - A Caveat

OK, let me be the first to admit it: I am swimming against a tide of favorable opinion. Just about everybody I encounter seems to love Sandra Boynton's Barnyard Dance, the board book for babies and toddlers. So let me...