Reviews for There's Life after a Heart Attack: A Journalist's Life-Affirming Account of Recovery

The average rating for There's Life after a Heart Attack: A Journalist's Life-Affirming Account of Recovery based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-11-23 00:00:00 Mike Craig We're looking at Marvelous Mac Games, written by Bob LeVitus who was apparently also known as Dr Macintosh, though I haven't found any evidence of him possessing a PHD. It was published in 1991 and clocks in at 112 pages. It features 15 shareware games, and includes a disk with said games for convenience, because the internet wasn't really a thing yet. Right, first let's look at the selection of games, which is an eclectic bunch. There are a few absolute classics, such as Continuum, Glider, and Scarab of Ra. There are also a few other arcade and puzzles games which, while not classics, are certainly a good bit of fun. The book even introduced me to a few titles I've never played before, such as Flipper, an unusual arcade strategy game which I'll have to cover at some point. Unfortunately, about a third of the book is dedicated to games such as Klondike, video poker, darts, and other digital renditions of traditional games. I understand why these were included, as it gives the selection variety, but it does age it considerably now that there are much more advanced versions out there. My biggest problem with the picks is the inclusion of MacPong II. Come on, this was 1991! There were plenty of exciting Mac shareware games, and you pick pong? It's not even two player, making it worse than the original! But I digress. As for what the book says about the games themselves, well, not much. There is a brief description of the game, then the bulk of the text is generally an in-depth tutorial on how to play, including how to start the game. There are also hints and strategies which are a nice touch, but there isn't anything deep that one wouldn't find out themselves after a few plays. All the games on the included disk are of course incredibly easy to find on the internet today, but one nice touch is that with at least one of the games, Gobbler, the author left his and his wife's high scores in the game, letting you try to beat them. If I ever write a book about Mac games, which I would like to do one day, I'm going to include my own high scores for people to beat. It's a simple but fun bit of interaction between author and reader. So, would I recommend people pick up this book today? Well, no, and especially not to the kind of people likely reading this review. There is nothing here you can't find on the internet now, and it also feels like it was written for people who are fairly new to both the Macintosh and games, which I'm sure none of us are. I can see it having a place in the market when it was published, but now it's an obsolete relic of the past.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-03-09 00:00:00 Frank Pires If you're reading this book, you're likely an Oscar Peterson fan, and as such you won't be disappointed in this book. It tells you, I think, all you would like like to know about OP and more. I'm a big OP fan and am also an amateur jazz pianist, so I've always had a large curiosity about OP. How did he develop such amazing technique? Why was he so criticized by some of his contemporaries and critics? Why was he recorded SO much? Was he the victim of racism growing up in Canada (spoiler alert...yes). All the answers to these and other questions are answered by this book. In the end, he's a human being with faults and shortcomings just like the rest of us. He doesn't come out looking infallible -- Lees provides an honest portrait, I believe. But he was an amazing figure in jazz and music in general. As the great Benny Green has said, "No one will ever play the piano as well as OP...ever."