The glory of the firefox cache and google desktop brings my book reviews back from the cold vacuum of a errant keystroke.

Google Desktop + Firefox Cache = Crazy Delicious
(Obscure internet reference)

In other stuff, I am nearly finished painting. I need some work in the kitchen, and then I can move on to the computer room. Once that is done, I only have the doors and finishings to do. Nice to be nearly complete on that.

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Wow, did I every clutter up the front page with posts about book reviews or what? :p

This was an interesting listen. I had to take it in bites, and I listened to it while commuting to work, so it took me a little over 2 weeks to consume. There are sections that are long and dry, just like the economists themselves, however, there are also sections that are thoroughly engaging. The sections on modern economists are entertaining enough. However, the sections on Adam Smith, and particularly Karl Marx are the real gems. I can see how many people, particularly those whom are fond of Marx are both distrustful and critical of this book, but Skousen’s depiction of Marx is not one that I have ever heard prior. Indeed, Skousen points out aspects of Marx’s life that supporters of his theories would rather sweep under the rug. It is often pointed out how he lived in squalor while in England and in Soho. His children suffered from severe malnutrition, and his standard of living was appalling. This period lasted about 15 years, and during this time he wrote the small treatise “The Communist Manifesto”. What people fail to point out is that he was one of the Bourgeois prior to spending all his money in an attempt to finance a revolution. He was adulterous, although this has no bearing on his work, that would be an Ad Hominim if it were. And finally, as he wrote the communist manifesto, and lamented that the workers should be taken care of, his children were starving, and suffering. Yet, he was offered work that would have allowed his children to eat, and his standard of living to improve, but he refused on idealistic grounds. He chose the idealistic view over his children. Perhaps that is laudable, but I do not think so. Later on, he invested in the stock market (after writing Kapital, which is rife with economic theory errors) and made a killing, and was once more one of the Bourgeoisie again. I find that quite ironic. This was, in my opinion the strongest part of Skousen’s work. Again, fans of Marx will disagree.

I am not technically finished this work, but I will likely be done by the time anyone reads this post. It is a series of 35 lectures covering, guess what? A history of science from 1700 to 1900. Surprising I know. Gregory is an entertaining speaker, and has a wonderful grasp of the history involved in science, this should be obvious as he has earned his PhD in the subject. But his ability to convey the wonderment and excitement of discoveries in science over this period is paramount here. He manages to really give you a feel for what the society was like at the time the discoveries were made, and the implications that these discoveries had. He does not belittle these people for coming up with incorrect conclusions, indeed, you don’t even know what the incorrect conclusions were in most cases, until he introduces the theories that supplanted the ones he has just described. (Well, unless you have already studied science in detail, and are familiar with the currently accepted modes of thought within science that is.) However, Gregory manages to maintain your attention throughout, even when he does take some apparently irrelevant detours into the history of religion and philosophy at those times, which as he progresses turn out to be perfect relevant to the subject he is discussing. As I only have 2 more lectures in the series to go, I will no doubt finish when I take Daisy out for a walk tonight. And I can see how he is setting the stage for modern physics, and how that leads into Einstein and his theories. However, since Einstein published after 1900, he is not covered in the course. Still a great listen.

I recently finished this work by Bob Brier, and as usual, his teaching style and speaking excellence made for an entertaining listen. His other work “The History of Ancient Egypt” covers most of this course in greater detail, however, he is such a joy to listen to that you cannot help enjoy listening to his descriptions of the most important leaders in Egypt over the course of 3000 years. For an audio college level course, it feels more like you are listening to a good documentary on Egyptian leaders than actually studying. Then again, this is what makes the majority of the Teaching Company Lectures so engaging.

In the process of trying to pair down my Giant post, and split it into a more cohesive list of posts, I deleted over half of the content with an errant keystroke in textpad.

And google and yahoo have not cached it.

Dammit.

Update:
HA! Cached by firefox! Good old google desktop pulls the fat out of the fire!

I was surprised by this audio book, it is not a book per say, and I don’t believe it is available in dead-tree format. It is a mock interview with Thomas J. Stanley, where he covers the techniques used by people who are the suppliers to millionaires to bring more millionaires into their social circle. It is a book about networking with the affluent as the title suggests. However, it should be noted that those who do the networking are not millionaires themselves, well, at least not always. It should also be noted that the process of networking takes about a year to yield tangible results, so it is not for the impatient, but it is for the dedicated. Stanley pays particular attention to Financial Advisor’s and Accountants and a dash of Lawyers in this work. But, if you pay attention, the techniques within this work are applicable to any who wish to network with millionaires, or, for that matter, network in general. I was talking with my mother about this book, and she said that this is exactly what my great grandfather did well. Network. That is what was responsible in many ways for his fortune.

This is an excellent work by Stanley, and continues on where “The Millionaire Next Door” left off. It is a general treatise on how millionaires think, and what integrity means to them. I find it quite interesting that integrity is the SINGLE most important trait amongst millionaires, and that the single unifying habit that they all share is that they don’t gamble or play the lottery. Ever. The book also goes into great detail about how they run their businesses, and the specific thought process they follow when choosing how to spend their money. In particular, they look at the cost of “doing something themselves” and contrast that with their average hourly “wage” and then decide if it is worth doing, or, just worth paying for. If they can earn more money by paying for it, that is what they do. Confusing I suppose, but then if you don’t understand it, maybe you should check out the book! If you enjoyed “The Millionaire Next Door” then you are certain to enjoy The Millionaire Mind as it is an even easier read/listen. The diatribe between Stanley and a salesperson determined to get his hands on “The List of Millionaires” is particularly amusing. Ironically the next book tells you how to create your own list.

Another Sci Fi book. What can I say? Too much educational stuff, I need a break! I can see why this book is lauded so much, and I can see how every member of the cast of Aliens was required to read it prior to filming. Much of the book is present in Aliens. In fact, I would say that the Aliens movie is closer to the book than the Starship Troopers movie itself was. It is a fairly good romp, although it does contain the constant preaching that Heinlein is famous for. Indeed, in this book he sharply contrasts communism (the bugs) with capitalism (the humans) in an all out war. As much as I agree with his conclusion, because of all the books on Economics I have read, I strongly disagree with the majority of his argument. It is a very 50′s argument mind you, and was considered correct in that time. However, it is difficult for me to agree with a sentiment that states that if you do not physically correct (nearly abuse) your dog or children they will grow up to be unruly and vicious. Apparently the correct course of action outlined by Heinlein is for me to physically discipline my 8 lb schnorkie or it will become a killer…

This was a surprisingly good book, albeit short. I have heard many people complain that the audio book leaves out key details that the dead-tree version includes, and I must agree to this. I will be going over the dead-tree version, and the audio version again. This book is really for anyone who wants to accomplish more with their time, and to avoid being inefficient in general. I recommend this one.

I started listening to this to give my mind a break from all the excellent TTC college courses I have been listening to lately. It started off in a fairly dull fashion, and I felt it was coming across like standard sci-fi dreck. However, as the novel gets moving, it exploits Einstein’s Relativity to great effect, and time dilation at light speed becomes a key plot device. The book slowly gathers power, and as you continue, you begin to understand why the beginning is so “dull” it sets the stage for what is to follow.