General Non Fiction Ebooks

The Great Book of Archaeology

This is an interesting and a captivating story of an Australian woman who along with her husband gets kidnapped by Russian thugs in 1992. The couple, Danny and Yvonne Weinstock started a business venture doing barter trade with Russia that kept promising to be the goose that laid the golden egg. But if anything sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So it is in this story. br / br /Things started well for the Weinstocks, but the road became somewhat bumpy in a year or so and eventually the going got pretty rough. They were informed by one of their Russian "partners" in Vladivostok that one of their barter trades went awry in Taiwan and they owed the partner $1.4 million. The Weinstocks were convinced by their partner in Moscow that they need to travel to Russia to sort it out. Almost as soon as the couple arrives, they're taken hostage and spirited away into a country home for torture and extortion. It lasts 11 days during which things look pretty bleak for the Aussie couple, but in the end they're rescued by the Russian authorities. Luckily for the Weinstocks, the story has a happy ending in that they are alive to tell the tale. But the ordeal of the capture leaves their mark on them. While the physical healing takes place rather easily, the psychological effects and emotional trauma leave deep scars on Yvonne and healing is very slow. The couple suffers financial loses and eventually they divorce. It's nice that they remained friends and civil with each other. br / br /The book also covers the main life events of the author prior to the start of this unfortunate joined venture from her early youth on, as well as where live has taken her after the divorce. Other reviewers have covered the details of the story so I don't want to repeat them in too much detail and be a plot spoiler. br / br / br /However, there is something about this story which I think escapes just about every reviewer. And that is the fact that there were a plenty of red flags along the way that if heeded their kidnapping ordeal could have been prevented. Now, I certainly don't want to minimize their suffering or justify the perpetrators. There is no justification for their kidnapping or for the behavior of their kidnappers. But the story that doesn't come out strong enough from the book is how to properly do international business. Especially when doing business with emerging - and needless to say uncharted markets. br / br /First of all, I cannot help but question why the Weinstocks didn't even run a background check on Matthew Hurd, a stranger who walked into their office off the street and convinced them to start their Russian venture. Not only that, but they also made him a partner and turned him loose on the business with virtually no controls or checks or balances!? Second, they had multiple overseas accounts to run their business which they hardly paid any attention to. It took some drastic events to occur before they even did some basic balancing and accounting.

Busy Pandas (Busy Books) / John Schindel, Mike Husar

This book is an outstanding read! Court Transcripts provide such a realistic feature to this tragic event. Whoever stated testimony for Hamby was left out must not have read the entire book as Hamby's own testimony is in there. A large book that reads easily and quickly. Hard to put down and I read it in two days.

Out Of A Deep Pit / Trudee Hunter

The Forever Forest: Kids Save a Tropical Treasure (Sharing Nature with Children Book) / Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini, Rachel Crandell

A poignant and touching story woven together from journals and notes. It speaks of true Christian faith, love of family and sacrifice for others. It is rich in desription and brings back many memories of living in a small town and attending a local Methodist church.

Bologna Annual 2003 Non Fiction (Bologna Annual. Illustrators of Children's Books) / Diverse

Russia: The Land (Lands, Peoples, and Cultures) / Greg Nickles

Stephen King: The Non-Fiction