Weekly Self-Published Book Review: Direction Memo

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review by Midwest Book Review:

direction memo 

Direction Memo

Paul M. Caspersen

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781432780722

Estate planning is a vitally necessary process to insure that property, wealth, and possessions are distributed in accordance with your instructions when you are no longer here to express or enforce them. Drawing upon his many years of experience and expertise as an estate planner, Paul M. Caspersen has published “Direction Memo: How to Write a Letter of Instructions for Your Estate Plan”, a 284-page compendium of superbly organized and presented information and instruction on creating an effect plan for the disposal of any estate of any size or cumulative value. Thoroughly ‘user friendly’, “Direction Memo” covers every aspect of estate planning from life insurance, to jewelry, to retirement plans or nursing home care for surviving spouses. It should be of special note that one of the primary values of sound estate planning is to lift the burden from family members of having to deal with these issues on top of the grief arising from the loss of a loved one. “Direction Memo” is strongly recommended for both personal and community library reference collections.

Weekly Self-Published Book Review: Along the Chisholm Trail and Other Poems

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review by Midwest Book Review:

 Along the Chisholm Trail and Other Poems

Along the Chisholm Trail and Other Poems

George RhoadesHowlett

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781432784997

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson

George Rhoades’ “Along the Chisholm Trail and Other Poems” is a rather interesting collection of poems, divided into two very distinctive and extremely different parts.

Part One deals with the cowboy life, and life along the Chisholm Trail. The author’s voice here is very distinctive, and the poems encompass all facets of such life, which is definitely epic. As the author put it so well himself:

“No wonder the cowboys rode
Into the hearts and imagination
Of the world, and shaped forever
The endurin’ character of this nation.”

The range of emotions expressed in the poems in Part One is very wide, and the author dealt with the subjects with a lot of dignity and respect. It would have been quite easy to depict cowboys as somewhat cartoonish, but that did not happen even in the most light-hearted of the poems in this collection. While this way of life is not familiar to me in the slightest, I greatly enjoyed reading about it.

Part Two is less homogenous, and much more contemporary, and deals with all kinds of ruminations on life, many of which are truly thought provoking. Some are sad, some are wistful, some downright hilarious, and of all of them my favorite happened to be one of the shortest poems in this book. “At Wal-Mart” has barely thirty-something words, yet it perfectly captures so much of what one sees there. While I laughed out loud at first after reading it, I felt compelled to re-read it later, and discovered that it was actually quite serious.

George Rhoades’ “Along the Chisholm Trail and Other Poems” was quite a departure from what I usually read, but I am glad I took the time to read it. It opened my eyes to a world that was completely new to me, and also reminded me of many everyday things to cherish and remember.

Weekly Self-Published Book Review: Carbavoid

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review by Midwest Book Review:

 the fuel for the future

Carbavoid

Cindy Fleck Howlett

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781432769017

A body is a finely tuned machine, and it takes fuel to keep it running well. “Carbavoid: The Fuel for the Future” is a health guide for optimizing one’s diet with good wisdom on how to deal with a diet well and how to use one’s diet with efficiency. With a focus on preventing diabetes and when it’s appropriate to be paranoid of sugar and fat, “Carbavoid” is a sage and much recommended read for those pursuing greater health.

Weekly Self-Published Book Review: The Mind of the Historian

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review by Midwest Book Review:

 the mind of the historian

The Mind of the Historian

Ali Parsa

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781432769222

History is perhaps in the eye of the beholder. “The Mind of the Historian: Causation in Philosophy of History: A Case Study in Perso-Islamic Historiography” looks into the philosophy beyond history as Dr. Ali Parsa argues that much of history is tilted towards the views of the writer, pointing the causes into what the writer believes. Using the Middle East as a focus of his discussion, “The Mind of the Historian” offers many intriguing ideas on the nature of history, and is very much recommended reading.

Weekly Self Published Book Review: A Welcome Walk Into the Dark

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review by Midwest Book Review:

 A Welcome Walk Into the Dark

A Welcome Walk Into the Dark

Ben E. Campbell

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781432778910

A quiet life in the mountains must soon face the demands of the modern world. “A Welcome Walk Into the Dark” is a novel exploring Appalachian life, as Ben E. Campbell explores the life and challenge that comes with mountain life and how the times changing have threatened the traditional life, resistance and embrace of change. “A Welcome Walk Into the Dark” is a strong look into the people of the mountains and their plight.