This book is on The Last Podcast On The Left reading list, so I had to get it. I usually really like the books that are suggested on various episodes, and I trust Marcus Parks to not suggest anything boring. Plus, I like true crime books.

This book is about Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, two cousins who were known as The Hillside Stranglers. The name was given to them, because the bodies were found in the hills surrounding Los Angeles. The descriptions of the rape, torture, and murders of the ten women in this book were appalling. These two men were seriously disturbed. They wound up convincing some girls to engage in prostitution for them when they were short of money. They posed as police officers to lure girls into their car. They even tried to snatch the daughter of famous actor Peter Lorre. It always amazes me how trusting people were, especially when they whipped out their fake police badges. The 1970s were a time of a lot of serial killings, and I always find myself making shocked expressions when I read about people hopping in cars and hitch hiking around. Overall, this book was very informative about the activities of these two weirdos and the subsequent trial. I learned a lot about the case from the book, and it is worth picking up if you are interested in serial killers or this particular case. 

 I picked this book up at the library, simply out of curiosity. I've been doing some Ancestry.com research into my family, and discovered that some were long-time Appalachian Scots-Irish residents. I personally have the hardest time understanding a Southern Mountain dialect, and I never really understood about 80% of the phrases and words that my grandmother on my father's side used. I always thought the word "holler" was a stupid word, and have since learned some things about the word "holler". Holler means to yell. Holler is the mountain word for hollow, which means something is not filled in the center. Holler also means hollow, which is a valley in-between mountains or hills. The mountain way of life is very different from the life that I lived, and it was interesting to see it from a more insider perspective. 

 Flight 705 was a Federal Express DC-10 cargo plane. The plane was carrying electronics and other items from the Memphis, Tennessee hub to San Jose, California. The three person flight crew consisted of Captain David Sanders, First Officer Jim Tucker, and Flight Engineer Andy Peterson. Also on the flight was Flight Engineer Auburn Calloway, who had flown the plane in with his crew and was catching a return flight, as was common for plane crew to do. Calloway had been having issues with his employer previous to this, especially when it was discovered that he had lied about his flight hours logged and his Naval service. Calloway intended to catch a ride on the plane, murder the crew via blunt force trauma to look like they died in a plane crash. He wanted to make everything look like an accident so that his ex wife would receive his life insurance, and had previously transferred all his money to her. Calloway attacked the crew with hammers, dealing out some serious blows and injuries. Despite the injuries, the crew managed to fend off Calloway while performing some wild plane maneuvers that would be difficult under normal circumstances, especially with that size of plane, and land the plane without crashing it.

This event occurred in 1994, so I had not heard of it prior to spotting this book in my local used bookstore. I grabbed it because it was a dollar in the disasters section, which always draws my attention. The book was page turning. I was curious to see what would happen to everyone, and I did enjoy getting to know the crew members back stories. I thought the book was properly researched and written in a way that was factual and action packed. 

 Adam Makos is one of my favorite historians. I have not read anything of his that I do not like, and this one was no exception. It is well researched and well written, the story told in a way that is engaging and leaves you longing to find out more about what happened. This particular book tells the story of a very badly damaged American bomber, piloted by a twenty one year old, as it limped across the skies of wartime Germany in an attempt to get back to Allied territory. A German ace in a fighter plane came along and assisted the bomber in getting back to Allied territory, which was an amazingly chivalrous thing to do. I loved the humanity of this book in a time where humanity seemed to be lacking. This was an amazing book. 

 This was a very good book about how a Jewish girl was able to escape the Nazi's and their death march. She began playing piano at a young age, and uses her talents on the piano to help her get through the war years. She was eventually adopted by and American soldier and became one of the first Jewish refugees to get a place in the Julliard School. I thought this story was moving and encouraging. I really enjoyed it. I own this book, but saw that it was available on Audible Plus, so I listened to it instead. 

 I have watched videos on Facebook that Tiffany put out, which is how I came to be aware of who she was. I thought her story would be interesting from the things she said in her video, so when I found out she had a book, I bought it! I thought this book was great, and offered a picture of what life is like as an opiate addict, as well as what king of experiences people have while incarcerated.

The book goes into detail about her experiences as an opiate addict, which is a problem that is rampant in the United States. I think people often do not consider how or why people began using drugs, and just think negative things about them. Drugs can affect everyone from all walks of life, as noted in this book. The author had a good job, a lot of friends, had done a lot of great things, and was a good student in school. Drugs do not discriminate. Of course, once she began using, her personal relationships began to fall apart- especially the one with her boyfriend, who was the Deputy Sherriff. I cannot imagine being arrested by all of my friends and sitting in a jail with people who knew my boyfriend and what I had done. She was not treated so great by the law enforcement officers, and I know that them being friends with her boyfriend did not help that. I have watched several jail and police shows and there is always someone that seems to be on a power trip that wants to make a bad situation worse for people. The book really makes you consider the working of jails and prisons in the United States. Overall, it was a good book. 

 I found this book at a thrift store and picked it up because I had watched a documentary about Columbia recently. This was about Commander Rick Husband, as the title clearly states, and was written by his wife. I enjoyed learning about his life and how he started his journey to becoming an astronaut. It was heartbreaking to see how his death impacted his family, friends, and coworkers. People all over the country and world were gutted by this tragedy and the aftermath and facts that subsequently came to light. This was a decent book, and I would suggest it to anyone who is interested in the space program, however it was not the best book I read this particular year. 

 This is the story of General Hans Kammler. He was responsible for the construction of the concentration camps and slave labor camps. He supervised Wernher von Braun, famous rocket scientist, who helped with the American space program after the war. He was also a subordinate of Henrich Himmler. He was declared dead at the end of the war, though nothing was ever presented as proof. This book was very interesting trying to uncover what the real story behind his disappearance was. I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about this man, when I hadn't heard of him before. 

 Japanese war crimes during World War II was something that was rarely, if ever, mentioned during my college studies. I learned a lot from this book about how prisoners of war were treated, how civilian populations were treated, and certainly about the competitions between Japanese soldiers for the shenanagins they got up to. I think this was a very important book, and I am glad that I found it. 

 I was not overly impressed with this book. Everyone hyped it up, and I went into it with high expectations, mostly because I am interested in the space program. It was a good book, and very interesting. Even if one isn't into history or the space program, one can appreciate the struggle of being a woman in the workforce, not to mention a woman of color in the workforce. Where would we be without so many women pioneers? Not one of my favorites of my January selection for the 2021 Reading Challenge, but still good.