Category Archives: Nonfiction

The Velvet Rope Economy, by Nelson D. Schwartz

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“The rise of the Velvet Rope Economy marks an end to the great democratization of American life in the post-World War II era.”

What is the Velvet Rope? The Velvet Rope is a system that uses class segregation to help businesses profit. Think of the fast pass systems at theme parks that only certain family groups can afford. Or the better seats at a sporting event. Or education. Why are businesses profiting from class segregation? How did we get here?

There are tons of examples for everything this book states. You will be familiar with most of them if you have lived in the U.S. for most of your life. If you have not, this might be a big eye opener. Different treatment, benefits, and price discrimination due to socioeconomic status is proven in airline services, theme parks, sporting events, health care, and education to name a few that are used as examples in this book. “It favors the people who have the money…”

The first part of the book is about the super elite that are “inside” of the Velvet Rope (5%-54% on a Kindle), and the second half is about those “outside” of the Velvet Rope (54%-83% on a Kindle). Exclusivity, social brain hypothesis, soft benefits vs. hard benefits, situational inequality, Pareto optimality, and class segregation are used to support the ideology behind the Velvet Rope Economy.

“…people will be left out of the economic system as more and more information accumulates.”

It only focuses on the present and what that looks like right now. It does state that we are headed to a caste system but goes into no further details.
This is a well researched book that is accessible to the average reader.

Visit author Jason Schwartz website to learn more about his book.

Read Publisher’s Weekly review for The Velvet Rope Economy.

Read the New York Times article written by Jason Schwartz covering The Velvet Rope Economy.

Visit his page at Penguin Random House.

Follow Nelson Schwartz on Twitter.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. Opinions are my own.

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Black Wave, by Kim Ghattas

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***Top book of 2020***


“I started this project with the full awareness that the extremist partisans on either side of the Saudi-Iran divide would find fault with everything I wrote- or perhaps they would pick apart the sections that depict them and applaud passages about their nemeses. I did not write this book for them. I wrote it for peers and colleagues and a wider audience of readers who want to understand why events in the Middle East continue to reverberate around the world. I wrote it for those who believe the Arab and Muslim words are more than the unceasing headlines about terrorism, ISIS, or the IRGC. Perhaps above all I wrote it for those of my generation and younger in the region who are still asking, “What happened to us?” and who wonder why their parents didn’t, or couldn’t, do anything to stop the unraveling.”
-Kim Ghattas, Black Wave

Above is the synopsis for Black Wave provided by the publisher.

The cultural and political changes in the Middle East were brought to life and breathed into each page beginning with the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The claim for the book is that the pivotal year of 1979 generated much of the conflict that is seen currently; so, we must understand 1979 at every angle in order to comprehend the Middle East of today. Because 1979 is the foundation for shaping the premise of the book, Part 1 which is 4 chapters (or 23 % on a Kindle) heavily centers around the 1979 Revolution.

The thesis is extremely well supported with exceptional research throughout each chapter reaching up to the year 2019. The reader sees the geopolitics in each region surrounding events that eventually lead to world developments such as the Iran hostage crisis, the emergence of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., and the growth of ISIS. We often always ask, “Why?” and this book attempts to explain the why.
*This is an intense book because it is eclipsed with several assassinations, insurmountable deaths, and extreme suffering.* (There was not a lot about the Kurds. There was not much about Yemen until the end.)

There were quite a few names in the beginning that I was unfamiliar with. All of those involved and mentioned were important, but it took some adjusting on my part to remember who was who. Because of that, I would recommend reading this on a Kindle.

Key figures (not limited to) : Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Musa al-Sadr, Juhayman al-Otaybi, Ruhollah Khomeini, Zia-ul-Haq, Saddam Hussein, Bin Baz, Osama Bin Laden, George H.W. Bush, Sadegh Khalkhali, Jamal Khashoggi, Qassem Suleimani, Mohammed Morsi, Nuri al-Maliki, Rafiq Hariri, Hafez al-Assad, Hassan Nasrallah, Crown Prince Abdallah, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Moqtada al-Sadr, Mansour al-Mansour, Nasr Abu Zeid, Salman al-Audah, King Fahd, Safar al-Hawali, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy. Opinions are my own.

More on this:

Read The Guardian’s review for Black Wave.

Click here to watch Trevor Noah’s interview with author Kim Ghattas.

Take a look at Kim Ghattas book tour dates

Watch author Kim Ghattas on CNBC discussing Qasem Soleimani’s death.

Follow Kim Ghattas on Twitter or Facebook.

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It’s Not About You, by Tom Rath

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The author of popular children’s book How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids brings us a short 35 page brief guide about finding a purposeful life.

” Your life has an unknown expiration date. Your efforts and contributions to others do not. The time, energy, and resources you invest in people you care for and your community keep growing forever. “ -Tom Rath, It’s Not About You

Though there are powerful highlights along the way, I enjoyed the first half more than the second half. Mostly this book is a celebration of those who have contributed to the author’s life, but the beginning does provide the reader with a quick reminder of how to invest in filling up others around us. It’s somewhere between a self-help and a memoir.

There is a three step guide, but the third step focuses on his career exploration differing in design form the first two . He does eventually explain how he ended up writing the book How Full is Your Bucket. From Step 3 on, it is a lot of rambling stories. The organization is muddled, and after the first couple of chapters the focus of the book doesn’t stay completely defined; it repeats ideas and goes on to tell more stories about people he has encountered.

6 Total Chapters:
*Step 1-Get Over Yourself
*Step 2- Invest in the People Who Matter Most
*Step 3- Focus on What Will Grow When You Are Gone
*Living a Life of Contribution
*How Can I Contribute Today
*Answering Life’s Greatest Questions

Currently available for free download on Amazon for Prime members.

Tom Rath’s children’s book has inspired many classrooms. Visit his website to learn more.

Read Forbe’s article featuring Tom Rath about how small changes can affect our lives in major ways.

Click here to read a short article about an NBA player who went to a local school to read Tom Rath’s children’s story about filling peers buckets.

Follow Tom Rath on Facebook.

” We are, to a large degree, the product of what others have contributed to our lives.” -Tom Rath, It’s Not About You

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You’re Not Listening, by Kate Murphy

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When is the last time you felt like someone truly listened to everything you said? How do feel when you leave a conversation feeling like the person really absorbed what you shared with them? How do you feel when you leave a conversation feeling like the person wasn’t paying attention or didn’t care what you were saying to them?

This is one of the most impactful books I have read all year. The message of true listening in You’re Not Listening serves to emphatically renovate the way we interact with each other. Kate Murphy’s words can revolutionize your conversations and relationships in a meaningful and powerful way. But, only if you listen.

There was so much that resonated with me, and I highlighted quite a lot. My favorite chapters were “Addicted to Distractions” about the endless distractions that interfere with meaningful social interactions, “Supporting, Not Shifting the Conversation” about how we often direct the attention away from the person talking and direct it towards ourselves, and “Improvisational Listening” about collaborating with others.

Look at all the tabs I had to make for this book so I wouldn’t forget certain quotes! There was so much highlighting going on!

Does it teach you how to listen? Sometimes pointers, tips, and guidance is mixed in. The purpose of the book though is to highlight the importance and value of listening. So, it teaches you the significance of listening rather than how to listen. But along the way you pick up tips about how to listen.

I highly recommend this book, and I think this is a must read for anyone in a leadership position. The book is extremely well researched but a very accessible read. It is comprehensible to the average reader and explains chapters in an approachable way.

Kate Murphy, author

“Half of surveyed Americans do not have meaningful social interactions on a daily basis.” *Read more

Read more about the importance of listening The Magic Relationship Ratio According to Science

What about listening to yourself? Read a bit about that here.

This was a group read with the Travelling Sisters. We had an amazing group discussion while reading. While discussing the book, group member Marilyn said, “This book is in my head all the time now, just feels like a part of me…” and I couldn’t agree with her more.

Thank you to Celadon Books for an advance copy! It was a pleasure and I loved it!

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Trending, by Kira Vermond

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Examples of trends in this book include Crocs, Pokemon Go, Hula Hoops, Hobble Skirts, baby names, anti-vaccination movement, quinoa, Starbucks Unicorn Frap, Beanie Boos, slime, Nazi propoganda, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Mona Lisa, the Payola Scandal, anesthesia, and Fondue.

Topics covered: supply/demand, dopamine, individualism, exposure effect, STEPPS, investors, information cascades, stocks, Robert Zajonc, scarcity, advertisements, mania, sunk cost fallacy, progoganda

Independent reading level 8 years old- 11 years old.

Ch. 1 (p.6-15) “What Makes a Fad a Fad?- How seemingly random toys, games, and fashion turn into the NEXT BIG THING”, Ch. 2 (p.16-25) “Spread The Word- How fads and the ideas and feelings that drive them spread and catch fire”, Ch. 3 (p.26-35) “Made, Not Born- How some fads are carefully crafted to make us want to jump on board”, Ch. 4 (p.36-45) “Bad Fads- How fads can have serious and even dangerous effects”, Conclusion p. 46, Index p. 48, Selected Sources p.48

My Thoughts: Trends, fads, and popularity cannot always be proven using science or economics alone. This book takes into account other elements that can help provide popular trends. For example, it notes that sometimes trends start just by word of mouth.

However, trends do not always stem from one single cause; and instead of providing the different and various reasons that provoked the trend, it only focuses one one solid reason behind each trend. For example, this book contributes the popularity of fondue as a result of Swiss advertisements alone. Rather than involving other factors, fondue is stated to have been a trend solely because of Swiss ads. But, I can see that by keeping it simple allows it to be more comprehensible for kids. In order for kids to understand easily, these are surface level explanations.

Thank you to NetGalley and OwlKids Books for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

More of Kira Vermond’s books:

Visit Kira Vermond’s website to learn more.

Read Quill and Quire’s article about Kira Vermond’s book Why Don’t Cars Run On Apple Juice?

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The Zookeeper’s War, by J.W. Mohnhaupt

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“Don’t trust anyone besides us. We’re not interested in politics. We deal only with animals.”


After WWII, Germany saw the division of East Berlin from West Berlin. The Berlin zoo remained on the West side (the Bonn Republic), but shortly after the divide Berlin saw the development of a new zoo on the East side (GDR). This created tension and competition between zoo directors and its employees. The politics involved and the active Strasi secret police often created tension for the zoo director’s. Politics heavily influenced their trading and buying. Years later, with the construction of the Berlin wall in 1961, the two zoos were even more laden with politics.

“Families were separated, West Berlin sealed off. And block by concrete block, the front lines were drawn between the Tierpark and the Berlin Zoo.”

The “war” between zookeepers does not begin until the very end of chapter 3 (marked at 32% on a Kindle). I enjoyed the first half more than the second half. There were more “fillers” such as lives, employees and their families, zoo structures, etc…in the second half. (This could be because the Berlin Wall limited their relationship, communication, and animal movement. The Berlin Wall is built and established at 43 % in the book.) I enjoyed reading most about the political effect on the economy and trading.

There are no footnotes in this source. There is a “Works Consulted” list at the end which acts similarly, but it makes it difficult to cite which from what within the book itself since there are no page numbers or chapters showing where this information was presented.

The two zoo directors it focuses on are Heinz-Georg Klos directing the West Berlin Zoo and Heinrich Dath directing the East Berlin Tierpark Zoo. Zoologists and others mentioned include, but are not limited to Jorg Adler, Falk Dathe, Lothar Dittrich, Wolfgang Gewalt, Katharima Heinroth, Heiner Klos, Bernd Matern, Patric Muller, and Ralf Weilandt.

Visit Simon & Schuster to read more about J.W. Mohnhaupt.
Heinrich Dath, Tierpark Zoo Director
President Kennedy visits West Germany. In the book The Zookeeper’s War, it is noted that President Kennedy gifted the zoo with an eagle during his visit.

Citizen 865: The Hunt For Hitler’s Hidden Soldiers in America, by Debbie Cenziper

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Written in third person narrative, this might not be everyone’s preferred nonfiction writing style. It extends beyond the facts that cling to the title to explain the weather that day, what the person looked like, and other details that some nonfiction readers might not find pertinent to the main content. Before the book begins, the author explains in the Author’s Note that most of the dialogue and wartime journeys have been “reconstructed” by her through documents and interviews; the reconstructed dialogue and scenes could cause speculation if used for research purposes.

It starts off with a young Jewish man, Feliks, running. His story comes back much later in the book. However, he has no connection to Citizen 865 or the other men that were on trial in the book, so I was a little confused about the correlation with his story in the book. The only connection I could make is that he was running from the Nazi’s, so the connection is very loosely done.

Most of the first half of the book focuses on OSI members, lawyers, and historians searching for information regarding the men at Trawniki. It specifies the historians and OSI travels, how they found the documents, and the conflicts they had to overcome in order to obtain information for a considerable amount of time in the book. Their research goes through documents and archives that detail the Warsaw ghetto, Polish Home Army, and the Polish Underground. A lot of information concerning Lublin is disclosed including the Lublin ghetto and the Jews of Lublin. The focus on Citizen 865 is not a point of concentration until the second half of the book, specifically during Part 4. Notably, as stated in the title, it is about various Nazi’s in America that a group of OIS agents and lawyers attempt to find and put on trial. They only Nazi’s they look for are “Trawniki Men”.

Organization: Part 1 Occupied Poland 1941-1943 (3-13%), Part 2 United States 1978-1992 (13-49%), Part 3 Poland and the United States 1941-1951 (49-63%), Part 4 United States 1996-2013 (63-88%), Epilogue 88-89%, Notes/Prologues (Bibliography organized by chapters) 91-100%

3.5 stars rounded up because I really enjoyed the court room scene against Citizen 865 at 66-81%. Thank you to NetGalley and Hatchette Books for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

More on this:
HISTORIAN PETER BLACK DESCRIBES RESEARCHING EVIDENCE FOR AN OSI CASE

‘Get the Nazi out of New York.’ The secret operation to deport the last living Nazi defendant in the U.S. was a rare success.

How the Nazis Got to New York: Immigration Fraud

Eli Rosenbaum, Nazi Hunter
Eli RosenBaum, former Director of the U.S. DOJ Office of Special Investigations
Peter Black, Senior Historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum who worked on the Citizen 865 case
Peter Black, Senior Historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum who worked on the Citizen 865 case
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In 2001, Jakiw Palij confessed to U.S. Department of Justice officials that he was a guard at Trawniki. Click here to read the full article.

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The Ancient World in 100 Words, by Clive Gifford

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The goal of this book is to describe each subject that pertains to an area in ancient civilization in 100 words. Each page has an illustration, a topic, and a one-hundred-word description. The illustrations are good and the one-hundred-word descriptions are mostly concise.

The book is divided into 5 sections, or five civilizations: Egypt, Phoenician, Minoan, Greece, Roman. The subjects explained in 100 words range from people, places, tools, language, and other variations. As an example, here are the content pages for Egypt: Nile, Mummies, Pharaohs, Amulet, Scribes, Sphinx, Osiris, Hieroglyphs, Cubit, Pets, Pyramids, Shabtis, Beer, Hatshepsut, Corvée, Vizier, Papyrus, Hittites, Tutankhamun, Cosmetics, Ra, Ramesses II, Nilometer, Horus, Rosetta, Cleopatra.

There is a two-page introduction that explain 5 symbols that relate to each ancient civilization. In order to note which subject falls under multiple civilizations, you must know the symbol or flip back to the beginning to match the symbol to the civilization. For example, the page on “Olives” is under the Greek section. However, at the top there are four symbols which indicate that olives were also used by not only Greece, but three other civilizations as well. So, if you do not look symbols at the top of the page then you might be misled to think that olives were only recognized by the Greeks. Several pages have more than one symbol.

The ancient civilizations are categorized in order of oldest to newest: Egyptians (p. 8-33), Phoenicians (p.34-37), Minoans (38-40), Greece (p. 41-73), and Romans (p.74-107). The selection on Minoans and Phoenicians is notably shorter than the other descriptions. While we do not of course have as much information on these civilizations in comparison to their counterparts in this book, I was disappointed an effort was not made to include more than 2-4 pages on them. There are the major settlements, agriculture, art, Minoan copper, Phoenician origin theories, and so much more that could have been included. Also, the term “Hellenization” was not mentioned in this book either which was a major part of ancient Greek culture. I understand that everything cannot be included, but it felt imbalanced.

There were quite a few discrepancies in this book. Having pet animals is only attributed to the Egyptian civilization. Calendars are only credited to being used by Egypt and Roman civilizations. A major inconsistency was the noting of slaves. Under Egypt’s category on page 22, it was stated that new research shows Egypt possibly didn’t have slaves but used a system called corvée. Flip to page 71 that explains the subject “Slaves” for ancient civilizations, and it provides the symbols that indicate only Roman and Greeks utilized slavery, not Egypt. Fast-forward to page 94 under the subject “Liberti” and the first sentence states, “Good news for some slaves in ancient Rome. Unlike those in ancient Egypt and Greece, they could be freed by their owners in an act called manumission.”

At the end of the book, it concludes with a short timeline and a simple glossary and index. I did not find the map at the end of the book favorable.

I think with some editing, this would be an amazing book that will allow primary and middle grades a clear and comprehensive overview of each ancient civilization. Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for a copy. Opinions are my own.

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Chappaquiddick, by Leo Damore

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Why did Ted Kennedy flee the scene of his wrecked car with his dead friend inside? 

This book exposes SENATORIAL PRIVILEGE at its finest. Leo Damore’s account is bursting with facts that account for what happened that mysterious night when Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne left a party together in 1969 only to find one of them dead the next morning. 

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Why was he found casually strolling about town early the next morning, rather than reporting the incident?

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In this account, the reader is thrown into the mystery of that July night that would absorb the news for the rest of the summer of 69’. Starting with the days leading up to the party, Leo Damore shows a detailed break-down of all the evidence that has been accounted for to-date. From different witness reports that were accumulated that night, to the delayed autopsy report, to the court proceedings, Leo Damore presents the evidence that was surfaced after-the-fact while also questioning the evidence that would never be examined. 

Was Mary Jo already dead before the car accident? Who was driving? Were they having an affair?

The beautiful Mary Jo:

Mary Jo

Before the book begins, I recommend reading the “Chronology” found in the beginning which presents a quick timeline of events from June 5, 1968- November 27, 1970. Also, I found the “Cast of Characters” at the beginning extremely helpful. The end of the book provides photocopies of reports, statements to the chief of police, etc.

I recommend it to lovers of conspiracies, true crime, and Kennedy fanatics. **However, it is an arduous read and is not for your casual reader. Literally, the author includes everything and everyone that could be linked to this crime. I felt like there was too much, and at different points the information could have been condensed. And, the rigorous 600+ pages are written in the typical non-fiction tone. **

More on this topic:
Chappaquiddick according to the Washington Post

What Really Happened: A Play-by-play

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Caligula: The Mad Emperor of Rome, by Stephen Dando-Collins

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Did he really appoint his horse to Senate? Did he really commit incest with his sisters? Did he really try to erect a colossal sized statue of himself in the Temple of Jerusalem? Did he really set Pontius Pilate free? 

This account of Caligula attempts to settle myth from reality while separating his cruelty with his dark humor. Rather than starting at his reign, this begins when Caligula is two years old. It recounts his father, Germanicus, and his successful campaigns under Tiberius. The reader experiences Germanicus’ heavy influence on the empire and on Caligula. Germanicus is the primary focus until approximately 18% (on a Kindle). Upon the death of Germanicus, the reader is thrown into familial conspiracies, senatorial plots, and marital affairs that saturate Caligula’s environment while growing up.

It isn’t until 27% (on a Kindle) that Caligula is deemed emperor. Caligula’s aqueducts, two new legions, rebuilding projects, and constructions are detailed. It is at 34% under the chapter “Enter that Monster” that Caligula is recorded to have changed in behavior after having suffered and survived influenza. His obsessions with the arts, sex, and entertainment are accounted for. It is with these obsessions combined with his lavish spending, paranoia, unpredictable violent outbursts, and the jealousy of others that lead to his demise. 

The summation leads to the finale of Caligula’s mental health. Depression? Schizophrenia? Bipolar disorder? Hyperthyroidism? Wilson’s Disease? The author goes through various mental health conditions to support evidence on his claim concerning Caligula’s mental health. 

Being only 287 pages on Kindle (or 272 pages hard copy), this is a crash course on Caligula. It is full of interesting facts and fascinating tidbits of history. The comparison between Trump and Caligula at the end was speculation and possessed too many opinions that should be left to the reader.
I recommend this as a good introduction to Caligula. Many thanks to Edelweiss and Turner Publishing for this copy in exchanged for my honest review.

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