Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Friday, April 17, 2026

Book Review: Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001

 


Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001, first published in 2002, is a collection of stories of people who either survived the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, had loved ones killed in the attack, or helped in the aftermath of the attacks. Some of the stories are very well known if you have watched any of the 9/11 documentaries made over the years, and some are lesser-known. They were created from interviews conducted by authors Mitchell Fink and Lois Mathias with the people involved. All of the stories are at least a page long, and some stretch for a few pages. 

The hardcover version of the book is just under 300 pages. The authors did an excellent job of conveying the emotions of the people who participated in interviews, which, given that the book was published in January of 2002, just a few months after the attacks, were quite raw. Most of the stories are from people who were in New York, either during the attacks or helping with the search-and-rescue efforts. The authors did, however, interview some people who were at the Pentagon and interviewed some of the family members of passengers on Flight 93. Ultimately, it is a very emotional read that provides a lot of detail about things that were not apparent from watching the TV coverage (for those who are old enough to have done so that day) or from the documentaries. It is absolutely worth reading. 

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