This book is currently available on Audible Plus. It was around five hours long, and I completed it in one shift at work. The physical copy is just under 300 pages. This book offers an overview of tragic fires that changed rules and regulations for public buildings in the United States. I had heard or read about all of the fires mentioned in this book, except for one. I appreciated the personal statements the author included in this book, as it gave a heavier weight to the facts presented. Not bad for a free to listen to book. 

 This book discusses the life and crimes of Edward Rulloff. Rulloff was born in Canada in 1819. He was, by all accounts, a highly intelligent man. He had interests and worked in several fields- school teaching, medicine, law, photography, and murder. The saga of his travels and crimes was an interesting read for me at work on Friday. I had never heard of this guy before, but this book was on the CrimeCon Book Club list, so I decided to try it out. 

 This book dives into the history of some famous, and also lesser know, people and places in New York. If you are interested in some neat facts about the state, this was a really good book for that. The physical copy of this book is around 500 pages. I had the Audible version that was available on Audible Plus. I did not realize this book was a companion to a podcast of the same name, but I added the podcast to my Spotify. I am looking forward to learning more about all of the neat places and history that New York has to offer. I really liked this book. 

 Dusty Rhodes was an American wrestler that performed in several professional and amateur wrestling promotions. Rhodes was born in Austin, Texas in 1945. He began his wrestling career in 1967. He officially retired in 2010. Rhodes went by the ring name "The American Dream". Rhodes has two sons who also entered professional wrestling, Dustin "Goldust" Rhodes and Cody "The American Nightmare" Rhodes. This book is a collection of personal stories told from the perspective of Rhodes. I did not care for the writing style of this memoir, nor for the personality of the author. I had this book on Audible, as it was free to listen to on Audible Plus, and I was not a fan of the narration either. I listened to this in one shift at work, and it did the job. I did also learn more about the earlier days of professional wrestling. 

 This book examines warfare in the Colonial Northeast. I chose to go on ahead and double major in both European and United States history since I only needed four extra classes to do so. I am wildly uninterested in United States history for the most part. This particular time period of United States history does not interest me in the least. I found this book to be terribly boring. It was required reading for the Colonial America class I am taking. If you are into this type of thing, you may really enjoy this book. I am not trying to discourage anyone from reading it, I just personally did not find that it held my interest whatsoever. 

 
 This book was a required book for one of my classes this term. I found it to be pretty boring, but it was useful for a few of the assignments I have coming up. The best thing I can say about it is that it was around 100 pages and I finished it. 

Paris Hilton, daughter of Richard and Kathy Hilton, was born on February 17, 1981. She is the granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Paris is known for many things: appearances in film and television, modeling, fashion and fragrances, and her party days. I have seen many people in various comments and reviews mention several things that I also plan to mention here, and a lot of these people are the same types who comment drivel on social media comment sections. People love to talk about what they don't know, think they know, and especially if they think it makes them look like an amazing person... when in reality, they are probably guilty of many of the same things. In this book, Paris Hilton takes a hard and fair look at her life experiences, especially regarding the time she spent in the "troubled teen" industry. (Industry is definitely what it is.)

****CONTENT WARNING****SLIGHT SPOLERS********
1. Much has been made about Paris Hilton's party days. A lot of the things that were published about her were untrue, or half true, and people who believe celebrity news sites like (gag) TMZ and the like are gullible as all get out. People in the spotlight, no matter if it is for their career or who their family is, are public figures and thus sign up for paparazzi and being in the spotlight. The fact of the matter is, these people are (gasp) PEOPLE. The public does not own them. They are entitled to a life outside of work and some degree of privacy. They do not deserve to have their homes broken into, stalked by weirdos, and dissected over the internet for everything. It's gross. 

2. Paris Hilton has said and done some very unfortunate things. She has used racist and other insensitive and ableist remarks. She mentions this in the book and does genuinely seem to feel bad about her past statements and behaviors. From what I have seen about her in recent years, she has not been behaving in that way. She seems to genuinely understand that is not acceptable and has been working to be a better person for herself and her children and has been doing good things in the world. People say and do a lot of things when they are young and stupid, or simply do not care. It serves no purpose to crucify someone from something they said or did 30 years ago when they have issued public apologies, statements to the contrary, and exhibit changed behaviors. I do wish that she would have said more on that topic in this book than she did, but I also can understand where she is coming from when she says the school she was in and people around her used that language and therefore she did as well. I know from personal experience that such language is used regularly by some members of my family, as well as very ableist and sexist language. There were phrases I didn't know were derogatory or racist until I became a history major as an adult and studied it. Keyboard warriors that virtue signal....calm your tits and hold your horses just a bit.

3. It is an absolute shame that people view Paris Hilton as a dumb whore, when she is actually the opposite. Perhaps not everyone participated in making sex tapes, and that is fine. She also did not ask to have her private moments made public. I would bet at least one person reading this has sent explicit messages, pictures, or made videos with someone. If someone put that on the internet it would be a case of revenge porn and terrible for them, but if it is a celebrity, they do not get the same respect. That is a shame. That is backwards. That is a violation. 

4. Paris Hilton extending grace and forgiveness to her parents and family members for sending her to these "facilities" (for lack of a better word) makes her a better person than I would ever be. I can hold a grudge to the end of time. I actually bought this book specifically to read about her experiences at these facilities, like Provo Canyon, and about her activism in those regards in present day. I feel guilty for watching trash tv like Maury and Dr. Phil when they would have teens on those shows and send them to these places. This type of place is not a real educational facility. It is not a facility for therapy and structure. It is a place for torture. Parents were lied to and scammed. Kids were abused in every way, kids died at the hands of these people, and kids have taken their lives because of what they endured. Trauma from this is real, and, sadly, an experience shared by so many. (There is a really good documentary on Netflix about a similar place, but the name escapes me.)

5. Society owes Paris Hilton, and others like her, a serious apology and some consideration. 

*********BACK TO THE REVIEW*******

I bought this book on Audible. It is narrated by Paris Hilton, who is very articulate and well spoken. She is not the character that people think. It was around 7ish hours, and I listened to it in one shift at work. I would have enjoyed it more had people not kept barging in my office, yelling about nonsense all day, but nevertheless. The book was worth reading for many reasons. Yes, this is a celebrity memoir, which isn't always for everyone, but the experience she had with the school is worth reading it for. People need to be aware that places like this are still in operation and there should be massive changes to legislation to prevent systemized abuse of children in these private industries and other state industries as well. This is absolutely one of the top five books I have read so far this year. 

 This review will contain some spoilers below, but I will warn if you wish to stop reading. If you are thinking about reading this book, I would like you to consider a few things before you do. The author of this book was a friend of one of the murder victims. There are some personal stories about their relationship that do not really pertain to the case, which is not typically what I go for in a true crime book. I prefer an outsider's presentation of the facts of the case. With that being said, I do think the author put in a great deal of time and effort to research the people involved in the book and try to piece together what happened to her friend. A lot of this book is tedious and unnecessary and seems to have been written as an information or thought dump. The book could have done with a great deal more editing. I am disappointed I used an Audible credit for this, but it did keep me entertained at work. Also, prepare to be extremely annoyed at the lack of police effort presented in this book and shady doings by law enforcement, because I sure was. If you do not wish to know anything else about this book, STOP NOW.

**************SPOILERS AHEAD***********TURN BACK************

This book discusses the brutal murders of three men: Brendan Mess, Raphael Teken, and Erik Weissman. The three were at the apartment of Brendan, watching a sports game on September 11, 2011. The men were discovered by the girlfriend of Brendan, on September 12. The men were found to have had their throats slit nearly to the point of decapitation. There are several interesting facts, which offer some clues to the reason behind their deaths. They were known to be involved in marijuana, and were also known to keep large amounts of cash from their marijuana dealings. Could this have been a drug deal gone wrong? Maybe...anything is possible. However, the author of this book presents some interesting information that leads in a slightly different direction. Perhaps these men were murdered because someone needed money and knew they had it. Brendan was friends with a man called Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a man who was Islamic and becoming increasingly fanatical. Tamerlan once described Brendan as his best friend, but perhaps grew to despise his Jewish heritage. It is suspected that Tamerlan and another man by the name of Ibragim Todashev were responsible for the murders. Tamerlan and his brother, Dzhokhar, would go on to commit the Boston Marathon Bombings the following year.

There are plenty of people who can attest to the relationship between Brendan and Tamerlan. Tamerlan would have had intimate knowledge of the business that Brendan had and the amount of cash he kept in his home. Tamerlan would also be in need of money to fund his terrorist plot. Some of this information seems very plausible. It also doesn't seem like a far leap to think that someone who could commit a terrorist attack would not also be capable of killing someone else before or after doing that. Unfortunately, both suspects in the triple homicide are dead themselves, thus the case remains a mystery as of yet. 

Craig and Stefanie Rabinowitz lived in a beautiful area of Philadelphia. They had a young daughter, a nice little home, and a group of close friends. Stefanie was a lawyer, and Craig owned his own import business...or so everyone thought. As it turns out, and as you may have guessed, Craig is a scum bucket from the Chum Bucket. I will not go into all the ways Craig the Scumbag scummed it up, but he had plenty of red flags. Unfortunately for Stefanie, that cost her, and she paid with her life. This book details the case and the investigation done by police. It also features comments from their friends and family members. I have read other books by this author, and he does his research and writes in a tasteful way to be a book about murder. 

This book was on Audible Plus, but I think it has expired now. Either way, if you are interested in this case, pick up the book. This case was also featured on an episode of Forensic Files, which is how I came to learn about it to begin with. The episode was called Summer Obsession, but I don't recall the season.

 This is the personal memoir of a filmmaker for National Geographic. I loved watching National Geographic shows and documentaries when I was younger, and also enjoyed the magazine. I loved the photography, and always thought that must be an exciting job to have. After reading this book, I can say with certainty...the job is exciting. Death defying, even. The author and his wife had tremendous adventures, dangerous situations, and narrow escapes. This was a really exciting and action packed book to listen to while at work. I enjoyed it greatly.