Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Halbs

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I'm left-handed! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Halbs's Quick Questions interview.)

Halbs's Reviews:

Just keep swimming

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World by William McRaven

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I went to the University of Texas, so Admiral Bill McRaven’s 2014 commencement speech “If you want to change the world, make your bed,” has a special place in my burnt orange heart. But the speech has a ton of important and practical life advice applicable to anyone. You can grab an idea or short story to focus on in any given day and it will help you. This short book is based on his speech – a little more fleshed out and with some […]

Raise a Glass

Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O'Meara

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“All drinks are girly drinks.” This sentence closes Mallory O’Meara’s book and also serves a sort of double-pronged thesis. All drinks are girly drinks in the sense that women can drink what they want. Historically, all drinks are “girly” drinks in the sense that women around the globe were integral to the development of brewing, distilling, mixing, and serving alcoholic drinks. (O’Meara is great at double meanings in subtitles. Her Lady from the Black Lagoon is subtitled “Hollywood monsters” in the horror sense, and also […]

A few good motivational ideas

It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life by Trevor Moawad, Andy Staples

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I found out about Trevor Moawad through NFL quarterback Russell Wilson. Moawad was kind of a mental coach for Wilson, as he also was for many other professional and collegiate athletes and programs. Moawad’s dad was a big leader in the motivational speaking and proto-self-help world, with a focus on self-esteem. Unfortunately, Trevor Moawad recently died from a terminal illness. I thought it would be nice to read his book as a kind of show of respect. It Takes What it Takes comes from the […]

“We’re in a kind of compulsory dodgeball game as we free-fall from Wherever to Ain’t Got a Clue.”

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

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The Colorado Kid is one of Stephen King’s three entries in the Hard Case Crime series. These Hard Case Crime books are throwbacks to 1950-ish pulpy novels, which at the time they initially came out cost the same as a movie ticket. They even come with the slightly unseemly painted covers of yore. (The HCC books, like the books they’re based on, are roughly the same cost as a movie ticket, which kind of stinks because movies are expensive!!) Colorado Kid sounds like it would […]

Star Trek: Game of Thrones Edition

Vanguard #2: Summon the Thunder by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore

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Earlier this year I reviewed book one in the Star Trek Vanguard series. Long story short – it’s a series set in the time of the original Star Trek tv show. It’s about the Federation and the rest of the known universe encountering technology that is simultaneously very old and very advanced. While I liked many of the ideas in the book, the writing felt a little hammy and dated. Summon the Thunder is book two in the series. While some plot points carry over […]

It’s about being there for your team

Just Show Up: And Other Enduring Values from Baseball's Iron Man by Cal Ripkin, Jr.

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When I was a kid, I loved baseball. I played it, I collected cards, I watched the games on tv and at the Astrodome, I read about it in magazines, I prepped my glove like it was Excalibur. You name it. The early 90s MLB strike ruined the game for me and I haven’t really been back. However, even as an outsider, I was aware of Cal Ripken, Jr.’s amazing streak of playing in over 2,600 games. Can you imagine doing anything 2,600 times in a row? I […]



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