BOOK REPORTS--

The Takedown by Jeffrey Robinson

It reads like a novel but in this case truth is better than fiction.  The subtitle describes it as, "A suburban mom, a coal miner's son, and the unlikely demise of Columbia's brutal Norte Valle (drug) Cartel."  The story regards a 13 year investigation of the group responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine entering the US.  A good read about the good-guys winning!  Well, sorta'.


A Life on the Road by Charles Kuralt

Longtime CBS-TV personality and host of his popular series "On the Road" shares this book-full of tales encountered in more than a million miles traveled in producing that show and many others in his stellar career..  Travel stories are my favorite genre and this one is a potpourri of pure delight.


The Whole Truth by David Baldacci

This is another dandy effort by this very popular novelist.  It takes a look at the armament industry and its use of marketing to manage the public perception of world events in the industry's best interests.  It has all the ingredients for another of his yarns you will want to read non-stop.  Baldacci has 14 previous best sellers.  I hope I can find all the rest I have not yet read.  Soon.


Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux

Imagine hopping a train in London then winding up in Moscow after a right turn in Warsaw.  From Moscow its on to Irkutsk via the Siberian Express then a rolling jaunt south through Mongolia on the way to the journey's real destination; exploring China by rail.  Theroux is a marvelous travel writer.  He described a Mongolian yak, for example, as looking "...like a cow on its way to the opera."