Book Spectrum: The Episodes

Posted in: Current Events, Issues, Non-Fiction Posted on

Lethal Doses: Inside the Mind of an International Fentanyl Kingpin

While politicians have used the Fentanyl crisis to grandstand while more people are dying each day from drugs laced with the deadly chemical, Lethal Doses tells the story of an undercover agent who was on the front lines, doing something about it.
In the book, author and former undercover agent John Madinger takes us into the world of clandestine operations in a quest to find one of the most notorious and dangerous illicit drug chemist, George Erik Marquardt, known as the “Godfather of Fentanyl.” While we usually only get to read the headlines after a major drug bust, Madinger brings  the reader deeply into the world of fentanyl creation and a mental chess match between him, law enforcement and Marquardt in an effort to gather enough evidence to bring the prodigy chemical creator to justice.
While Madinger allows readers to appreciate what actually goes into investigating and prosecuting international drug criminals while virtually embedding them into the front lines of the War against Fentanyl, he also takes us into the mind of his adversary. We learn of the genius of Marquardt, his childhood, his personal trauma and what drove him into a life where he would soon become responsible for massive deaths of unsuspecting Americans.  Rarely do we get that kind of perspective and fly-on-the-wall view of the intricacies of undercover drug enforcement ops and at the same time learn to understand the mentality of a criminal mastermind as well as what makes him proverbially tick.
Lethal Doses is an essential read for those who want to understand the War on Fentanyl, world of drug creation and what drives a highly intelligent person to such an illegal and deadly occupation.

Posted in: Business, Lifestyle, Non-Fiction, Uncategorized Posted on

Linda Jensen to Small, Medium AND Larger Business Owners: What’s YOUR Exit Strategy?

What’s Your Exit Strategy? opened my eyes to the future outside of running my business. While we tend to focus on staying strong and expanding, Linda Jensen offers us valuable advice so we can be ready for outside hurdles and what to do when it’s time to sell.
Often we see books, and valuable ones, helping small and mid-size business owners build and strengthen. There are also plenty of books about life after retirement. Ms. Jensen’s book is unique and important as she teaches us in a pleasantly unorthodox way how to prepare for the ending of one’s business whether it be preparing to sell it or setting up a succession plan. What’s Your Exit Strategy? also helps those whose businesses might be suffering from an economic downturn, aiding someone who needs to transition from that particular endeavor to another venture. As a business owner, I have always looked toward running my day-to-day operations, servicing clients and looking for new challenges. Reading Ms. Jensen’s book has me more prepared for when the time comes to cash in on the many years of hard work, navigate the hoops one must travel through and look toward a nice post-business ownership life.
This is not a typical procedural “how to” book. Inside What’s Your Exit Strategy?, the reader will find lessons learned from the successes and failures of others who told their stories as Ms. Jensen narrates and delves into relatable, even when unanticipated, potential situations. These true tales keep the attention of the curious business owner whose time, frankly, is valuable and perhaps would not want to labor through a droning instruction pamphlet.
What’s Your Exit Strategy? is an extremely valuable book for Boomer and Gen X business owners who need to look ahead to very serious concerns outside the confines of the work days from not only Ms. Jensen’s expertise, but also through the experiences of others.

Get the book here: Amazon.com: What Is Your Exit Strategy: Maximize Your Business Mindset. Minimize the Minefields: 9781948261890: Jensen, Linda: Books

Lorraine Geraci the Girls from Brooklyn book Lorraine Geraci the Girls from Brooklyn book Lorraine Geraci the Girls from Brooklyn book
Posted in: Fiction, Relationships Posted on Posted in: , , , , , ,

Lorraine Geraci Tells Her Story Through the Girls from Brooklyn

Author Lorraine Geraci set an intriguing fictional story based on her own real-life experience with recently finding her own birth mother in her new book: Girls from Brooklyn.
In the story, Ms. Geraci takes the reader to secret hidden magical realms, the lives of three unique women from the sixties into today, their lifelong connection and their showing that family is not always blood. Readers will the heroic actions of family and friendships that shaped their journeys. Mystery, adventure, magical powers and the unknowing demon that lies in the magical realm of Brooklyn is a rather enjoyable story on several levels both in the real world and fantasy realm.

Lorraine has been a Learning and Professional Development leader and speaker in the Mortgage and Utility Industries over the last 30 years.Her professional experience has also allowed her to instruct and present to over 15,000 Real Estate and Mortgage professionals nationwide. The art of verbal expression and writing was always part of what she focused on.As a certified professional coach, and novice writer for many years prior, Lorraine finally wrote and published her first book Living A RockStar Life in 2014. This self-help focused book provided advice on getting out of your own way to have the life you want and deserve. She incorporated this thought process into her personal and professional life over the years in Corporate America. In 2023, some major unforeseen life events provided her with the direction and passion to continue her writing crusade and share important stories and lessons.

Posted in: Uncategorized Posted on

No Soldier Left Behind: A Chronicle of the Life and the Making of a Truly Selfless and Humble Hero

Book Spectrum is extremely honored to have Gen. John G. Kulhavi on with us to talk about his life and the biography written about hin titled: NO SOLDIER LEFT BEHIND
The phrase “No soldier left behind” has been repeated by many and practiced by true leaders. Author Don Steele offers the reader a look into the life of one of those great leaders: Army Brigadier General John G. Kulhavi in his book titled “NO SOLDIER LEFT BEHIND.”
Often, we hear from military leaders who are now regular pundits on television. General Kulhavi stepped away from a potentially waiting spotlight after serving in Vietnam and rising through the Army ranks to take a quieter path as a financial advisor. There, he altered the history of the financial industry – quietly and humbly – by convincing fellow military man, Morgan Stanley CEO Donald Regan, to go with his idea to employ investment teams rather than individuals to make important decisions for their clients. Through Don Steele, we learn what makes a truly brave, yet humble hero as the author takes the reader back to the General’s influences during his younger days, including from his mother who owned a store in a small Michigan town where they moved. He learned to virtue of selflessness and “no man left behind” from his mother and perhaps from after his dad left the family ,
The biographer keeps sure to describe Gen. Kulhavi’s early life and his having to help lead his family at a young age as important in shaping his leadership and life principles. In the book, we not only learn of the General’s leadership and personal virtues which shaped him, but how he treated opportunities. Steele describes how Gen. Kuhlavi found a life-changing opportunity to join the ROTC while in college, leading to an officer’s commission, his battles, hardships and recovery from his plane being shot down during the Vietnam War and his innovative thought while working within the private sector. Having been close with the General (they were college roommates), Steele brings us not simply a great man and his exploits, but a real look at what made him not only accomplished and a great leader, but also what out of his personal life and experience built his attitude, drive, leadership acumen and humility.  
Those who delve into the General’s life in the book will find there is more to a man than his deeds (whether they are life-changing ones or perhaps small victories) while younger people reading will learn what true leadership is about and perhaps offer someone to whom they can look up and aspire toward.  

Powered by Get RX Meds Now:  https://www.getrxmedsnow.com

Posted in: Uncategorized Posted on

The Transhumanist Quest for Immortality with Dr. David Martorano

Immortality is a long-coveted fantasy of many a fictional supervillain and one which has intrigued many among us. It’s an idea which invokes both wonder and fear, but often sought by those who desire to stay alive for varied reasons. How does one gain immortality? Is modern transhumanist science – combining the powers of tech with one’s human bran and body – the answer? At what cost would one want to become immortal? Would it a gift, curse or perhaps both at the same time? Dr. David Martorano explores the questions from varied points of view while telling a fascinating story in Immortality.
In the book, Dr. Martorano takes the reader to New Babylon, a post-E-pocalypse technology-dominated future world run by artificial intelligence and occupied by the results of humans merging with computers (similar to the vision of today’s transhumanists, some of whom are devising microchips for human brains).
The author’s fictional world has some interesting parallels to our own: The corporate technocrats, the tech-worshippers, those wary of the dangers of a technocracy, anti-tech extremists and many who are caught in the middle.
Dr. Mortorano cleverly balances the positive impacts of alternative intelligence and transhumanist tech with its destructive potential, asking two rather interesting questions: What happens if people lost much of their humanity in exchange for computer-based convenience and could powerful artificial intelligence gain a level of humanity as the two entities interact? He offers perspectives on the latter through an AI named MARTIN, who balances his role in the world and his familiarity with humans. Dr. Martorano takes a rather intriguing look at the world today’s Transhumanists fantasize about through their ambitious lenses. He also looks at the extreme on the other side, which see technological progress as dangerous and, in some cases, evil.
 Readers will both be engulfed by the story and provoked into thought about a question scientists, theologists, philosophers, storytellers, politicians and free-thinkers have asked for decades: Could Artificial Intelligence, as it keeps moving toward its full potential, evolve or destroy humanity?

About Dr. David Martorano:  Dr. Martorano is a visionary board-certified informatician and psychiatrist with a distinguished career in management and clinical care. After completing his medical training at Columbia University and his residency in psychiatry at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute, Dr. Martorano has dedicated over a decade to advancing clinical services and medical leadership.His expertise spans psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and addiction treatment. He has honed his skills at prestigious institutions such as UCLA’s Addiction Medicine Clinic, Mood Disorders Clinic, Anxiety Disorders Clinic, and Interpersonal Psychotherapy Clinic. His research background includes groundbreaking work in reproductive neuroendocrinology at the Rockefeller Institute and contributions to electrophysiology and alternative medicine literature.

Posted in: Adventure, Alternative History, Fiction Posted on

Houdini’s Last Handcuffs with Charlie and Cheryl Young

Harry Houdini’s magic, career and life were all fascinating. He escaped all kinds of restraints, encasements and situations. Still, there was one thing even the great Houdini could not escape: mortality, which hit him at an early age in 1926. He did, however, say he would try. Houdini reportedly told his wife, Bess, “If there is any way out. I will find it… I will find you and I will make contact with you on the anniversary of my death.” While that never happened, the escape artists’ fascination with spirituality and communication with those in the afterlife from his attempts to contact his deceased mother though to his own passing provide the background for this highly intriguing “what if” historical fiction book, Houdini’s Last Handcuffs, by Charles C. Young and Cheryl L. Young.
The Young siblings drew from their own childhood and family background, providing a real-life scenario for the book. Their father, Morris Young, was a stellar magician in his own right and hugely influenced by Houdini. In this alternative world, the authors take Houdini’s own dabblings into the spiritual realm to a new level, hypothesizing the potential of the performer’s resurrection.
Charles and Cheryl Young brilliantly balance Houdini’s own explorations into spiritualism, skepticism of the realm’s grifters, real artifacts from the escapologist’s performance years and the showman’s mystique while telling a captivating story through their younger selves’ eyes about what started as a mere curiosity which snowballed into a battle between good and evil involving not only powerful forces, but their own childhood friends.

Pick up the book here: Houdini’s Last Handcuffs by Charlie and Cheryl Young – VINE LEAVES PRESS

Posted in: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller Posted on Posted in: , , , ,

Dream Me Home: A Mind’s Adventure – In and Out of Consciousness with Laurie Elizabeth Murphy

Registered Nurse and Psychotherapist Laurie Elizabeth Murphy draws from her own experience working in the field to create a uniquely intellectual and entertaining mystery in her new book, Dream Me Home.
The idea of one’s real life and dreams intersecting into an interwoven story fascinated me. While I expect twists and curveballs involving the main characters, Laurie Elizabeth Murphy brings the reader into different planes and with this psychological mystery and, dare I say, mind’s adventure.
Ms. Murphy’s background as a nurse and in the psychological field enables her to present to the reader a more unique and thought-provoking journey quite different from the regular whodunnits and love/relationship stories. Many authors have combined the two, but Ms. Murphy introduces us into the minds and motives of the main protagonist through several means: her experiences, her conversations with a therapist and through her own dreams – all realized after a traumatic home invasion which gradually changed her life in several ways. The writer also looks more deeply into our own human emotions, desires and failings through the other main characters.
In Dream Me Home, Ms. Murphy offers the reader not only the thrills of a mystery, psychological drama and unexpected turns, she conveys real-life ponderances about marriage, crime, passion vs. true love, control and finding one’s true self.

Posted in: Education, History, Non-Fiction Posted on Posted in: ,

Jack Warren, Jr’s Freedom: A Deep Dive into the Revolutionary War

The American Revolution did not only lead to the birth of the United States as its own nation, but set the tone for the creation of what would soon become the Free World as many other countries followed suit with roads to their own independence. Sadly, however, political tones controlling the public education system and academia have either failed to teach or purposely minimized the true importance of the Revolutionary War. Historian Jack Warren, Jr. talks with host Chris Cordani on Book Spectrum about the war, its beginnings, the players (famous and not-so-well-known) and why it should be emphasized more to younger generations today and moving forward with his new book: Freedom: The Enduring Importance of the American Revolution

The book provides a profound look into British America, the Revolutionary War, the birth of a new nation, what freedom truly means, and how the events of the past hold significant importance even in modern society.
Freedom delves deep into what planted the seeds for revolution, the Revolutionary War, important figures, and the ideals that the new nation was built upon. Accompanied by a vast collection of full-color reproductions of paintings of the colonies, people, battles, and maps, as well as a multitude of quotes from America’s founding fathers, Freedom is accurate, detailed, and all-encompassing.

For more informatoin on Freedom: Freedom: The Enduring Importance of the American Revolution – The American Revolution Institute

About Jack D. Warren, Jr.: Jack Duane Warren, Jr., is a native of Washington, D.C., whose work focuses on the enduring achievements of the American Revolution. He attended the University of Mississippi and Brown University. He is married to his wife, Janet, and they have three grown children. He has been studying and reflecting on American history since he learned to read. He considers himself a historian of American public life—much more than just politics and governance.Jack Warren has been actively involved in historic preservation and in how the places we preserve are presented. He was one of the leaders in the successful effort to preserve the site of George Washington’s childhood home from development to securing its designation as a National Historic Landmark. He also helped preserve the house where Washington lived in Barbados and was involved in the successful effort to save a large and critical part of the Princeton battlefield, including the land over which Washington personally led the charge that resulted in his first great battlefield victory over British troops. During the summer of 2020, he sat beside a statue of George Washington to talk to protestors about why we have honored Washington and ought to honor him still—Washington challenged a world that was grotesquely unfree and laid the foundations of free society—while protecting the statue from vandalization.

Posted in: Health, Health Care, Healthy Living, Uncategorized Posted on

S4 E4 – Dr Shereen Lim Reveals Why Many of us Have Trouble Breathing: BREATHE, SLEEP, THRIVE

Did you know that the way a child breathes will impact every aspect of their development including their sleep quality, learning, behaviour, jaw and facial development, speech, and future health?
Dr, Sherren Lim wrote Breathe, Sleep, Thrive to connect the dots to help you identify the important developmental milestones for good airway health development and breathing, the red flags that indicate things are off track, and what can be done about it to help your child not just survive, but thrive.
I found this quite a bit intriguing as it affected my own health from youth into adulthood. This book is an excellent resource for parents whose children may be experiencing the same issues. Their lives could be changed for the better

Pick up Dr. Lim’s book here: Breathe, Sleep, Thrive: Discover how airway health can unlock your child’s greater health, learning, and potential : Lim, Shereen: Amazon.com.au: Books

Dr Shereen Lim is a Perth based dentist with a post graduate diploma in dental sleep medicine from the University of Western Australia.She has been involved in the team management of snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea for over a decade.Dr Lim is dedicated to promoting airway health from infancy as an alternative approach to minimize the development of these problems, and is author of the book “Breathe, Sleep, Thrive: Discover How Airway Health Can Unlock Your Child’s Greater Health, Learning and Potential.”Her work in private practice is restricted to tongue tie management from infancy to adulthood, early interceptive orthodontics and myofunctional therapy.

Posted in: Biographies, Inspirational, Non-Fiction, Success Posted on Posted in: , , , , , ,

Patrick Asare, The Boy from Boadua: One African’s Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream

We talk with people who have overcome great adversity on the show and my guest today has had more than his share. From a remote village in Ghana, following his dreams to look for the life he wanted in America – Patrick Asare documents his trials and trail in the book: “The Boy from Boadua: One African’s Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream”

Growing up in the jungles of Ghana and now thriving in suburban America, Patrick Asare defied all odds on his journey through life. In his incredible memoir, The Boy from Boadua: One African’s Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream, he recounts his childhood, family, education, and the experiences that made him into the person he is today, in addition to reflecting on socio-cultural relations, race, and the social structures in the different countries that he has lived. Patrick Asare offers a new perspective as someone who has had first-hand experience in a variety of cultures, specifically within the education system.

Patrick was born and raised in Ghana. After completing secondary school, he attended university in the former Soviet Union, studying electrical engineering at Donetsk National Technical University in the then Soviet republic of Ukraine. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and also completed a certification program to become a Russian language teacher. Patrick resided in the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, during the historic perestroika era, when President Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the reforms that ultimately led to the breakup of the Soviet Union. He traveled extensively throughout Eastern and Western Europe and became one of the few people with firsthand knowledge of ordinary life on both sides of the Iron Curtain. After graduating from Donetsk, Patrick immigrated to America, where he initially taught Russian and math in public schools in Buffalo, New York. He earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1995 and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 2003. Patrick is a principal at UGI Energy Services, LLC, a diversified energy services firm in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where he lives with his family. He previously worked as a senior electrical engineer at Caterpillar, Inc. in Lafayette, Indiana. Patrick has written extensively on social, political, and energy policy topics. He is a Democracy and Development Fellow at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, an Accra-based think-tank. Some of Patrick’s energy policy articles have received attention worldwide.