Rating – Three Stars In Exploring Chaos, Hall has combined eighteen essays that explore the science of chaos in several disciplines: the stock market, quantum physics, the arrow of time, electronics, mathematics, fluids, chemistry, engineering, the solar systems, and so forth. The authors are prominent scientists, professors, and aerologists. This book is not an easy […]
Author Archives: smartinshelton
Book Review – African Kaiser
Rating – Four Stars Gaudi weaves an intriguing chronicle of the ferocious campaign in East Africa between the German Schutztruppe and British Commonwealth troops during the Great War—1914 to 1918. He develops the account of this little known Afrikanischer Krieg from the German perspective and in an easy, empathetic, and coherent style. The account is […]
Book Review – Lindbergh
Rating – Four Stars Berg presents a comprehensive biography of Charles A. Lindbergh, the famous hero and the infamous blackguard. The pioneer aviator, world traveler, political activist, intrepid warrior, zealous environmentalist, and international celebrity. Accordingly, this tome is heavy in weight and content. Berg’s writing style is refined and empathetic. In this meticulously detailed litany […]
Film Review – Dunkirk
Rating – Two stars I enjoyed the first few minutes of Dunkirk. The narrative was presented in classic cinematic design—relevant, dynamic, kinetic action void of dialogue and supported by pertinent sound effects. “Here’s a winner,” I reckoned. Unfortunately, as the film continued, I became increasingly disappointed. I do not know what to make of […]
Ghost Towning
I was hooked on ghost-town photography the instant I viewed my pal’s photographs of Belmont, Nevada—the crumbling old buildings, abandoned mining equipment, dilapidated fire truck, crumbling courthouse, and all manner of detritus scattered through the site. Images flashed through my mind of the town in 1905, when it was fully functional as the county seat […]
Book Review – Flyboys: A True Story of Courage
Rating – Three Stars As usual, my simple mind is confused. I do not know what to make of this book. It’s not a history of naval aviation in World War II, and it’s not a personal memorial to all the lost fliers “that did not return” to their aircraft carriers. It is a salmagundi […]
Amelia Earhart Died on Saipan Scenario Fiction
The airways and television were abuzz about the “new” photograph that purports to show Earhart and Noonan on Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands in Japanese custody. At 8:00 PM, Sunday, 9 July 2017, the History Channel broadcasted a two-hour show claiming that this photograph solves the mysterious disappearance of the famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart. As a […]
The Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
2 July 1937 At 0843 hours, local time, Amelia Earhart transmitted this in-flight message, “We must be on you but cannot see you…but gas is running low.” Radio operators aboard the USGS Itasca—her guard ship anchored off Howland Island—recorded in the Log Book, “Her voice was loud and clear.” Accordingly, her aircraft, the Lockheed […]
Book Review- Steve Canyon Volume 7: 1959 to 1960 by Milton Caniff
Rating – Two Stars Disappointed again. Perhaps I’m getting too old nowadays to appreciate Caniff’s story-telling art. I recall clearly my thrill as a nipper waiting for the morning paper to see and read new frames of Caniff’s classic “Terry and the Pirates” comic strip—superb in every dimension. I ordered this Steve Canyon book several months […]
Book Review- The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
Rating – Five Stars Toland presents in this superb tome a view of the Pacific War (1941-1945) that most of us have never thought about or seen. He writes in a smooth, engaging style. We are engrossed in the narrative of this page-turner. We view the details of this horrendous campaign from the Japanese perspective—it’s […]