Charles Ashbacher Reviews

  Review of Lewes, Delaware: Coastal Stories , by Robert Casseday, ISBN 9781628061581 Five out of five stars Mythical stories about a real place on the coast   While these stories are similar to other stories and have some factual basis, they are tall tales, some taller than others. Lewes, Delaware is an actual town with over 2,000 residents and a lot of history. It is the first European settlement in Delaware, founded by Dutch settlers in 1631. This gives it a lot of time for the tales to be concocted and embellished.   There is a story about a haunted lighthouse, another about the fish factory on Canary Creek where the dumpings in the creek enticed a shark to swim out of the ocean with terrible consequences and even a reference to Jack the Ripper. There is the almost obligatory story of the monster fish, one involving Blackbeard the pirate, an unusual one about Marie Antoinette having lived in Lewes for a time and the last story involves a massive earthquake t...

  Review of Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa , by Colonel Joseph H. Alexander Five out of five stars A concentrated, brutal battle   While the battle for Guadalcanal between Allied and Japanese forces involved land, sea and air forces in greater numbers than took place on Tarawa, it could not match the concentrated savagery. In the battle for Guadalcanal that came earlier, the Japanese forces eventually withdrew rather than fighting to the end. That was not the case with Tarawa.   After the Japanese forces in control of Tarawa realized that the Allies would eventually attack, they spent a year fortifying the islands against an assault. This was not the case with Guadalcanal. The overall size of the islands of Tarawa were also small, so that there was no real room to maneuver, therefore both sides knew that it was going to be a frontal assault against well prepared positions. The Japanese forces also understood that there was little chance of any aid...

  Review of The Funniest Moments in Sports , by Herman L. Masin, ISBN 0871311526 Four out of five stars Good, generally retreaded jokes   As someone that has been reading sports fiction, fact and humor for decades, I have read a great deal of all types. There is one fact of humor and that is that if a joke is not based on some new social or technical achievement, it is probably an old joke simply being retold. At most, the context has changed.   That is the case with this book. For example, there is the story about a rookie catcher where each of the first six batters all swung at the first pitch and got a hit. When the manager asked the catcher, “What kind of pitches is he throwin’,” the catcher replied, “I don’t know, I haven’t caught one yet.” This is a story that is more well-known where the great Yogi Berra was the catcher. The validity of the story has been confirmed by Berra himself.   There is another story about a man impersonating the giant outfi...

  Review of Calendar Girls , DVD version Five out of five stars Great human interest story   This movie is based on a true story. There is a close knit group of women in the British village of Knapely. They belong to the local chapter of the Women’s Institute and tragedy strikes when one of the women’s husband comes down with Leukemia and dies. After discovering that the couch in the waiting room is very uncomfortable and seeing a girlie calendar, one of the women comes up with an idea for fundraising.   Her idea is to create a girlie calendar featuring women of the Women’s Institute nude and engaging in typical activities of women in the club. Props would be situated so that the important parts would be hidden from the camera. After some initial skepticism, enough women agree to pose so that they can make a calendar. The project is a great success, and it raises hundreds of thousands of pounds for leukemia research.   This movie is very well cast and act...

Review of The Batboy , by Mike Lupica, ISBN 9780399250002 Five out of five stars Living the dream, sort of   Brian Dudley is a boy that loves baseball. While he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the statistics of baseball, he also understands the strategies behind the actions taken by managers on the field. His father is a former major league pitcher that so refused to give up a role in baseball that he left to serve as a coach for a team in Japan. His father’s devotion to baseball dominates everything else in his life, to the point where Brian’s parents divorced, and Brian has no contact with his father. His mother now wants nothing to do with baseball.   Their lives are complicated when Brian is offered a batboy position for his hometown team the Detroit Tigers. Brian also plays on a youth team and has some skills. It is the dream job for Brian, as he has been a devoted follower of the team for many years.   The batboy job goes well until former star Hank Bis...

  Review of Pacific Alamo: The Battle for Wake Island , John Wukovits, ISBN 9780451212054 Five out of five stars Propaganda and military victory   When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and many other outposts in Asia in the early part of December 1941 their forces appeared unstoppable. The list of quick victories included Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. Military installations considered formidable fell with what seemed to be a minimum of resistance.   However, there was one American outpost that put up a very stiff fight, and that was the American garrison at Wake Island. A small outpost that served as a transit point for Pan Am airlines, Wake was a strategic location in the middle of the Pacific. There, a small garrison of American military units augmented with construction workers that joined the fight handed the Japanese a defeat.   This book is the story of a valiant resistance against impossible odds. ...

  Review of Mad Max Fury Road , DVD version Four out of five stars Nonstop action overwhelms   The three Mad Max movies starring Mel Gibson broke new ground in the post apocalypse genre. There was some form of catastrophic event where civilization fell apart over a very short time. There was always the underlying premise that there was a nuclear war and most of the survivors were in very arid lands. This movie applies the same premise, and the male hero is once again named Max. Although we do not learn that until the end.   There is a massive grouping of humans that are subjugated by a small band of ruthless men that have the total obedience to the death of their war gangs. When Max encounters that group, he is captured, enslaved and turned into a living blood bank. Max is played by Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron plays Imperator Furiosa, the leader of a small group of women fleeing across the wasteland in a makeshift vehicle that has both gas and water tankers. ...

  Review of The Broadcasters , by Red Barber Four out of five stars A history of the people that broadcasted sports   Walter Lanier “Red” Barber’s first broadcast was in 1930 for the University of Florida’s radio station WRUF. He was a last second replacement for an agricultural professor, so he was forced to take the mike and read the paper, “Certain Aspects of Bovine Obstetrics.” In other words, the birthing process of cattle. Even though the beginning was accidental and unexciting, Barber was hooked and decided to make radio his career.   Over thirty years later, he announced his last major league baseball game and ended what was a remarkable career. His final game was in 1966 and over that time, Barber interacted with all of the major league stars and the most prominent managers. Since he is most known for his career covering baseball, few know that he also called many football games.   This book is part autobiography and a history of the development ...

  Review of The Czech and Slovak Legion in Siberia, 1917-1922 , by Joan McGuire Mohr, ISBN 9780786465712 Five out of five stars Another sad tale of U. S. military sent with no plan   In the last years of the First World War, some of the belligerent nations began to fall apart. The Russian Czar abdicated and was replaced by a series of weak governments. On the eastern front between the Central Powers and the Russian forces, large numbers of ethnic Czech and Slovak soldiers fighting for Austria-Hungary had either been captured in battle or surrendered in large clusters. Once they were under Russian control, they organized themselves into coherent combat units. Severely persecuted by the Germans and Hungarians in the Austrian Empire, they were eager to join the battle against the nation they were formerly fighting for.   When the Russian forces collapsed and the German-Austrian forces began taking control of large sections of Russia, the Czech and Slovak units were...

  Review of Ditka: An Autobiography , by Mike Ditka with Don Pierson, ISBN 0933893388 Three out of five stars Too much about Ditka the person   On the surface, the football career of Mike Ditka is very interesting. His first year with the Chicago Bears he caught 58 passes, an unheard of total for a tight end. Before Ditka, tight ends were almost totally blockers, so he revolutionized the position. He played on the 1963 Bears championship team and in two Super Bowls as a player for the Dallas Cowboys. Ditka’s next gig was as a coach for the Dallas Cowboys. During that time the team reached the playoffs eight times, won six division titles, three NFC championships and a Super Bowl. He was the head coach of the 1985 Chicago Bears, considered by many to be the best team of all time. Ditka also played under Papa Bear George Halas and played two seasons with Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus.   With all of these professional achievements, the expectation is that this book w...

  Review of Miracle on 49 th Street , by Mike Lupica, ISBN 0399244883 Five out of five stars Great feelgood story about life   While one of the main characters is a star basketball player of the Celtics, this is a story that will make you feel good about life. It also has a happy ending climax that takes place on Christmas. Josh Cameron is the MVP of the NBA and has a spotless reputation. Molly Parker is twelve years old and has recently lost her mother to illness. Now apparently orphaned, she is currently living with her mother’s best friend Barbara in college. Although she is treated quite well and Barbara’s daughter does not resent her, Molly never feels like her residence is her home.   In her last days, Molly’s mother told her that Josh Cameron is her father. Armed with no evidence other than a letter, Molly engages in what could be considered stalking of Josh. Using some basic deception tricks, she manages to meet Josh and tell him what she considers the ...

  Review of Cover-Up , by John Feinstein, ISBN 9780375842474 Five out of five stars Teen sports reporters in the big time   Teenage sports reporters, both age fourteen, Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson have already made a name for themselves when they solved mysteries at the NCAA Final Four and at the U. S. Tennis Open. They have their own cable sports show called Kid Sports and so have a significant following. However, the higher powers decide that Steve is not quite the flash that they need, so he is replaced by a pop singer.   The Super Bowl is taking place in Indianapolis and both reporters are present and are covering it as credentialed journalists. One of the teams is the California Dreams and they learn that the entire offensive line of the Dreams failed their latest drug tests. The owner of the team is a very rotten person and is trying to keep this information from coming out. He is so nasty that he even has his bodyguards attempt to intimidate Ste...

  Review of Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends , by Martin Lindstrom, ISBN 9781250080684 Five out of five stars Reasons to buck the trend and go small   The conventional wisdom is that the key to success in business is to construct and mine large data sets. Generally speaking, the bigger the better. This book is constructed on a theme that is the exact opposite. The author presents several examples of where he used a small number of observations properly interpreted to discover and analyze major trends in consumer behavior.   All are interesting and very well presented. One of the best and most significant for the modern world is about the LEGO building blocks. The company was experiencing falling sales and the solution was not to dumb the kits down but to make them even more complicated. Purchasers appreciated the challenge of creating monster constructions using the blocks. In an environment where the overall trend appears to be the making of ...