This book features personal accounts of several members of the Royal Navy. They talk about their personal experiences serving in the Navy from World War I to World War II and the time period in between. I really enjoy personal accounts like this. I think they are valuable for the historical record and the human perspective. There were some really interesting experiences that were shared in this book, and I am glad that I ran across it and picked it up. 

 This book is about the life and career of Bernard Kerik, who went through several jobs in the NYPD before landing a job as the police commissioner. He was commissioner during the attacks on September 11th. I thought that it was motivational in that he set goals for himself that he wanted to accomplish with his career and he did. I felt for him about his questions regarding his mother and his determination to uncover the truth. At some point while I was reading this book, I googled him. I discovered he wound up serving jail time. This book covers the period of time before those events, so I do not feel that it was very clouded, though I would have liked to read what he had to say about that. 

 This was a good book. Eva Braun is an interesting person. What she saw in Adolf Hitler is a mystery to me, even though I have read about her and her motivations. This was really enlightening, and I would suggest it for everyone who is interested in her as a person and not just Hitler's lady love. 

 This book got off to a kind of slow start, and I thought I was going to hate it. It picked up, however, and turned into a really interesting read. I had never heard about this case, and just happened to see this at the library. This story was really tragic. All of these missing girls and family members and friends who loved them left behind, not knowing what in the world happened to them or who was responsible for that. It is also terrible to think that someone was just out there, maybe still out there, doing these things to people and getting away with it. 

 This is the story of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, whose soldiers provided fire support at the Siege of Bastogne. They escaped the Nazis at Ardennes, and fled to a town called Wereth in Belgium. The Nazis found out where these men were holed up, taken in by a local farmer, and then subjected them to torture and murder. These eleven men were left out of the final Congressional War Crimes Report, but were finally found and given a marker at their site of execution in Wereth. This was an absolutely tragic story. 

 Ervin Nyiregyházi was born in Budapest in 1903. His father was a singer in the Royal Opera Chorus in Budapest. He showed a great interest and capability in music from age one on. He was able to compose his own music by age two, which I find very remarkable. He was tested for intelligence due to this, and scored well above average for his age. Unfortunately, his father died when he was twelve, leaving him with his mother who he did not get along with. He would make claims that she sexually molested him, which is possible, but she was certainly what we would think of today as a Dance Mom or Pageant Mom. His mother evidently died in a Nazi concentration camp, and, according to him, he was quite please. At age 15, he performed Liszt's Piano Concerto in A major with the Berlin Philharmonic under Arthur Nikisch. Unfortunately, his management did him pretty dirty, and he wound up suing them. This was probably the start of his slide into the shadows. He wound up dying of colon cancer in 1987. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, which is a place I would absolutely love to visit one day.

I had never heard of this man before I found this book by accident while browsing at my local used bookstore that I love to frequent. I very much enjoyed learning about him. I looked up his work on YouTube and Spotify, and he truly was a very gifted musician and composer. I saved some of his pieces and performances to listen to again. If you are a fan of this type of music, this is a book and a man that you should absolutely check into. 

 This book tells the personal story of the authors experience in adopting a child from China. During this process, and in the years after, she found herself becoming increasingly aware of how there were so many baby girls in China that were available for adoption. China adopted out almost 80,000 children between the years 1999-2016, and about 80% of those adoptions were girls. A lot of the girls were placed for adoption, because China had a one child policy, and many families wanted to have a son. (I would take my daughters over a son any day of the week, but whatever.) Many of those adopted out were less than three years old, so they essentially grew up without the cultural identity that they would have if they would have been raised by their biological families, and that is sad to think about. Another reason that so many people adopted from China is that they charges less for adoption than any other country, especially the United States. This book does mention that people adopted from China because they were perpetuating the stereotype that Asian children are quieter, smarter, and more obedient than other children. I did like that this book included comments from some of the girls who were actually adopted from China, because it is important to hear their thoughts since they are the ones that lived this life too. This was a really interesting and eye opening book, as it was a subject I knew essentially nothing about prior to reading. 

 Percy Fawcett was born in the United Kingdom in 1867. He came from a family of interesting characters. His older brother was a mountain climber. His father was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He attended the Royal Military Academy and was appointed to several different locations once he graduated. He also worked for the secret service. He joined the Royal Geographical Society in 1901, where he studied mapmaking and surveying.

His first expedition to South America occurred in 1906. He was sent to map an area of jungle for the Royal Geographical Society. On this trip, he saw an Anaconda, which he said was over sixty feet. He was made fun of for that, as people did not believe him, but we all know now that they are huge. He also found some other animals that were unknown to the wider world, one of which was a large Apazauca spider. He did another expedition in 1913, where he reported seeing dogs with two noses. Of course, that could be a birth defect, but there are dogs called Double Nosed Andean Tiger Hounds that are found particularly in Bolivia. I had to google what they looked like, because I had never heard of them. They really do have two noses. This was also around the time that he decided there was a lost city, which he called Z, somewhere in the jungle.

In 1924, Fawcett, his oldest son Jack, and Jack's friend set out for the final expedition. His last letter was delivered to his wife by a Native runner on May 29, 1925. He had written the letter from Dead Horse Camp, and the contents of the letter seemed excited and optimistic. However, he did mention that he had some misgivings about his son's friend, Raleigh. He was reported to be crossing a tributary towards the southeast on the Amazon River. All three of the men were never seen or heard from again, and were declared lost in 1927. There are several possibilities of how they died, including disease, starvation, animal attack, or murder by local Native tribes. All sorts of rumors abound, but none can be verified with any accuracy.

I have been wanting to read this book for a while, so I was really excited to see that my local library had a copy. I haven't read a lot about South America, and the Amazon is such a deep and mysterious place, there is always something new to be learned. I had listened to a podcast about Fawcett a while back, and this book had a lot more detail in it about his life and expeditions to the jungle. The actual expedition to the lost city was way toward the end of the book, but I didn't mind that. It is important to get the backstory of how he got to that point. I thought this book was great, and I was not disappointed at all. 

 I bought this book while I was on vacation in Charleston. I had never been to Charleston prior to this past summer, and loved the city. There were so many interesting things to see and do while there. I wish that I would have picked this book up before the trip, because there are so many historical things in this book that I would have liked to have seen. I hope to return to Charleston sometime soon, and go find some of the places mentioned in this book. One place in particular is no longer standing, but the pillars from the building that used to house the Charleston Museum are now in a park. I remember taking a wrong street and driving past and wondering what they were for. I hope to get a picture the next time I go back. I really had a great time, and this was a great souvenir to pick up. 

 This book was written by Brent Jeffs, the nephew of FLDS cult leader Warren Jeffs. Brent outlines his life and family connections in this, the church doctrine, and the horrific abuse the he suffered at the hands of Warren Jeffs. So many boys have suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from prominent members of the church, especially Warren Jeffs. It was revolting to read about how people in general are treated, but especially kids. I feel that Brent was extremely brave for leaving and going public with his story. I hope that many others have the courage to do the same.