en-US Fri, 04 Apr 2025 11:42:03 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 200609759 77 Rocco Spanò Jon 5 5.00
author: Rocco Spanò
name: Jon
average rating: 5.00
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Amazing that Pammillo has transferrable skills. He guides the Megarasians by ship and then oversees the construction of the new Polis, sending strong men to the quarry to fetch stones.
]]> 22609469 The New York Times).

From a master chronicler of legal and financial misconduct, a magnificent investigation nine years in the making, this book traces the political intrigue and inner workings of the Catholic Church. Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this book is about the church's accumulation of wealth and its byzantine entanglements with financial markets across the world. Told through 200 years of prelates, bishops, cardinals, and the Popes who oversee it all, Gerald Posner uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in perhaps the most influential organization in the history of the world.

God's Bankers has it all: a rare expose and an astounding saga marked by poisoned business titans, murdered prosecutors, mysterious deaths of private investigators, and questionable suicides; a carnival of characters from Popes and cardinals, financiers and mobsters, kings and prime ministers; and a set of moral and political circumstances that clarify not only the church's aims and ambitions, but reflect the larger dilemmas of the world's more recent history. And Posner even looks to the future to surmise if Pope Francis can succeed where all his predecessors failed: to overcome the resistance to change in the Vatican's Machiavellian inner court and to rein in the excesses of its seemingly uncontrollable financial quagmire. Part thriller, part financial tell-all, this book shows with extraordinary precision how the Vatican has evolved from a foundation of faith to a corporation of extreme wealth and power.]]> 752 Gerald Posner 1416576576 Jon 0 to-read 3.95 2015
author: Gerald Posner
name: Jon
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 224126550 Lasso Tambong is a soldier in the CIA's secret wing embedded within the Gendarmerie Nationale du Cameroun. The story centres around a bet he makes with his boss and friend, Colonel Mvodo: If Lasso can resist the temptation to scale Section F—a deadly cliff in Koutaba marked INTERDIT—he'll soon be driving a Land Rover. But the aspiring agent’s pride gets the better of him, pushing him to defy the odds and sneak down a treacherous path to the base of the lethal ravine. Brace yourself as you follow him into the darkest depths of danger.

                                                                      * * *
TEASER:
“Okay, okay. Can we have another bet, just the two of us?”

“What’s on your smart mind, Mr. Colonel? I hope you’re not trying to plant Seyena in my heart. She’s way too risky if things don’t work out.”

“Nothing to do with her. Since when did I become a government pimp?”

“Then shoot. What do you wager about? I know you’re a man of your word.”

“My side is: you will attempt to climb Section F—alone with your bare hands—within the next six months,”  Mvodo said.

Unable to read Lasso’s big, flat eyes underneath the bushy brows, he ran an experienced eye up and down the tall, muscular structure in front of him. Then, he spotted the weakness he was looking for:

Lasso bounced, albeit slightly, on his toes. It was a quirk he displayed whenever overly full of himself.

Mvodo spotted it and knew his man had swallowed the bait. And he was sure Lasso’s ego would get the better of him.

“What’s your side, Agent Lasso?”

Lasso winced.

“Why would I put my life at risk? That’s ridiculous, but since you’re a fair loser, my side is this: I will never commit such a gaff. I bet I will NOT go down that dangerous path to Section F. That deadly ravine is for the untamed critters, not us civilised folk. What’s your stake, anyway?”

“My Jeep. Against your three months’ salary.”

“But that’s a government truck, sir. ”

“Oh, Lasso, you leave the trouble to me. My word is my word.”

“Make it two. Three is three-much.”

Recognising the flatter and keenness in Lasso’s voice, Mvodo lowered one side of the ante.

“That’s alright. For the brightest CIA agent in the making, let’s call it a deal: you hand me two months’ worth of your wage or own a Land Rover Jeep.”

“Okay, I’m all in.”]]> 16 Donald O. Besong Jon 5 4.75
author: Donald O. Besong
name: Jon
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2025/03/03
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]]> 123176936
This book was first published as a serial in 1900 through The Outlook, a Christian newspaper of New York. It was serialized so that Washington could receive feedback from his audience during the writing and could adapt his work to his diverse audience.]]> 206 Booker T. Washington Jon 0 to-read 4.58 1900
author: Booker T. Washington
name: Jon
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1900
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 7869 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Who is Jason Bourne? Is he an assassin, a terrorist, a thief? Why has he got four million dollars in a Swiss bank account? Why has someone tried to murder him?...

Jason Bourne does not know the answer to any of these questions. Suffering from amnesia, he does not even know that he is Jason Bourne. What manner of man is he? What are his secrets? Who has he killed?]]> 566 Robert Ludlum 0752864327 Jon 4 4.06 1980
author: Robert Ludlum
name: Jon
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/05
date added: 2025/03/02
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review:
I could remember the whole story after reading the book. But then, after watching the story I caught the Bourne amnesia; I know nothing about the story anymore.
]]> 15788657 34 Nelson DeMille 1455526843 Jon 0 to-read 3.61 2012
author: Nelson DeMille
name: Jon
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 25419228
Having eluded his former masters at the Omega Agency and escaped his past life as an operative, Nine has married his soul mate, Isabelle. They’ve carved out a new life for themselves, off the grid, in the remote islands of French Polynesia.

The contented couple have a five-year-old son, Francis, who is a chip off the old block and who has inherited his father’s unique DNA. Francis will soon have a sister as Isabelle is about to give birth to a baby girl.

Their idyllic lifestyle is shattered when Francis is abducted by operatives in the employ of the Omega Agency, the shadowy organization that brought Nine into the world and once controlled every aspect of his life. The terrified boy with the unique DNA is dispatched to one of Omega’s underground medical laboratories for scientific testing and experimentation.

Nine is desperate to find Francis before Omega can harm him. He soon finds he’s up against his fellow orphans – all elite operatives as he once was – who are under orders to kill him on sight. To overcome them, he must call on all his former training and skills. His search takes him around the world – from Tahiti to America, Germany, Greenland and the Congo.

To add to Nine’s worries, he has a serious heart condition that requires immediate surgery. The clock is ticking and he knows he’s on borrowed time. It’s a race against the clock to find his son before Omega can harm the boy – and before his heart gives out.]]> 395 James Morcan 0473236095 Jon 0 to-read 4.13 2013
author: James Morcan
name: Jon
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 48723786 156 Lance Morcan 0473499037 Jon 0 to-read 4.15 2019
author: Lance Morcan
name: Jon
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
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]]> 7061 235 Alexander McCall Smith 1400034779 Jon 5 3.81 1998
author: Alexander McCall Smith
name: Jon
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/25
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:
You are a talented guy (being a white guy), successfully seeing through the eyes of a Botswanaese womano. Very few of us get to mingle with Africans to see how simply they people live. I would like fo fram and hanging out in the hot sun too. Watching cattle is an occuption. Afterall, they sell the beef. This woman is setting up a detective agency and contrasting it with the lives of the commoner really brings the stereotype out, which makes it interesting. I love the way you describe Botswana.
]]> 30555488
In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor--engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey--hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.]]> 320 Colson Whitehead 0385542364 Jon 4 deep ]]> 4.04 2016
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Jon
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/02
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: deep
review:
I really felt depressed about the flashback of Ajari dying in the cottenfield. Cora is a tough cookie. I am also sharing a powerful video on Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad as this charity magazine honors Black History Month. Watch, subscribe, comment, and share—let’s spread awareness and make the world a better place!

]]> 62908396
Andromeda 2217: Space Moon Base Alpha One.
As the adventure continues, you will meet Captain Jonathan Shawnwood, Elisa, Aunt Lasara, his Mother Reanna, and Professor Zola, who you will get to know and love as you travel across the ocean of stars, to the magical world so many light-years away called Star Quadrant Omega.]]> 482 Stephen J., 166782886X Jon 0 to-read 5.00
author: Stephen J.,
name: Jon
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> 199467137 77 Rocco Spanò Jon 0 Enlightening. 4.81
author: Rocco Spanò
name: Jon
average rating: 4.81
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/23
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Enlightening.
]]>