I think if you are ever going discuss around the water cooler that you believe in “Supply Side” economics then you owe it to yourselves to read this book as it is the definitive book on this subject.

One of the major misconceptions of this view is that people believe that those who hold to this view are greedy and uncompassionate to the poor.  However, the lynch pin of this book is charity.  Gilder asserts that capitalism works because people give without any expectation of a return:

CAPITALISM begins with giving. Not from greed, avarice, or even self-love can one expect the rewards of commerce, but from a spirit closely akin to altruism, a regard for the needs of others, a benevolent, outgoing, and courageous temper of mind…Not taking and consuming, but giving, risking, and creating are the characteristic roles of the capitalist, the key producer of the wealth of nations, from the least developed to the most advanced (Chapter 3).

Also, Guilder explains that market forces help prevent greed because even the greedy must find away to service the needs of those they wish to do business with, and as long as the greedy cannot force or deceive the people they are servicing they buyers cannot be harmed.

Also, Guilder discusses the problem of the welfare state destroying marriage, which to some extent has since been corrected within the past decade.  Guilder explains that welfare, rather than helping people get out of a dyer situation they find themselves in, it encourages them to be slothful and unproductive making them even more reliant on the government.

One of the fascinating, self prophesying discussions in this book is its discussion on bailing out the auto industry.  He mentions (more than twenty years ago now)that this is a bad thing as did not work with companies like Renault which was subsidized by France and he gives some other examples.  Gilder explains what ends up happening is that it only ends up strengthening the labor unions which is the very source of the high costs on a car to begin with.

Now that the US automakers have been bailed out, we can wait and see if he was right or not.

Although the book is a little dated now, it is still a good read, and very informative for those who want an understanding of how the market economy works.

In the future man has not only ventured out into space but has started colonizing it.  Also during this time, as is the case here on Earth, man has separated into enemies in space where one group controls one region of space, and the other group controls another region.  These groups are known as the Alliance Worlds and the Syndicate Worlds.

Sort of like WWI, an ambush causes a war to brake out between these two groups, and due to sheer size of the colonizations that have occurred, spread out over many planetary systems it is almost impossible for a short end to the war.

Enter our hero Jack Geary, who is a commander of an escort ship for The Alliance during the initial battles, sacrifices himself so that almost everyone else in his escort can escape.  It is thought he is dead anyway, until a hundred years later he is found in a drifting escape pod in cold sleep.

When he is brought back to life he has is shocked to find out he has become a legend of the likes of George Washington and is known as “Black Jack Geary”.  The soldiers, a renegade attack force of several space ships deep in enemy territory who found him, are looking to him to take their rag tag group out of perilous situation before they are all slaughtered.  John Geary is suddenly made commander of the entire fleet.

Some in the group resent the fact that Geary is in charge because his seniority even though he has been asleep though most of it.  Also some don’t trust his legendary tactics even though a lot of it is not true.

This provides an interesting backdrop as this character tries to save the fleet while trying to catch up on what has happened and earn the trust and respect of all of those around him.

All in all a good story.

As someone who really had no formal schooling in the lives of the kings and queens of England this was a great starter book.

From William the Conqueror and the Norman invasion all the way up to the current Queen Elizabeth; the stories are interesting, concise, at times funny, and very informative.

I usually enjoy reading Sowell’s books, but I do not think “A Conflict of Visions” was written for the typical casual reader as myself.  I think the audience for this book is more for current or upcoming economist studying in school, because in my case, a lot I just did not understand and I think a lot of it Dr. Sowell assumed the reader should already know which I didn’t.

That being said this book is really a look at worldview perspectives from an economic standpoint.  There are two views, “The Constrained View” which says that man is essentially imperfect (Christians would call this the sinful nature imposed on mankind from the fall of Adam)  and dependant on the market forces to solve economic problems, and the “Unconstrained View” which says that man has the potential of perfectibility and will be able to eventually come up with solutions that will solve all of the worlds economic problems.

The main gist of this book is pretty compelling but again, a lot of it was way over my head.

I must say that normally I am not that much of  a big fan of Science Fiction.  The dark, drab stories set in dark, drab worlds to me is depressing.  Having said that, I must admit that this is not only one of the best Science Fiction books I have ever read (that’s not saying much!), but its one of the best books I have read this year and probably on my top ten list now.

The hero in this story, John Perry, is a likable, interesting person, and his costars are equally interesting.  The basis of the story where old people from Earth are recruited to fight wars with new super bodies is so unique and interesting.  The author does a good job detailing what it was like to go through that change and the benefits and challenges it brought to each of those who went through the transformation.

There is good bit of humor and the book does not take itself too seriously, which I find really refreshing with a Science Fiction book.  Most books in this genera that I come across seem to talk to down to normal people where as this book is written for those who do not pick up Science Fiction books every day.  Things are explained to help the reader along while not slowing down the pace of the story.

I should have read this book first rather than reading “Civil War: Naritive” because that book was very advanced and made some assumptions that reader had some understanding of background of the Civil War, where as this book was much more readable and for someone without that historical back ground could gain a better understanding.

This book was good at laying the foundation of that what all was happening at that time.  The title of the book is somewhat misleading because it really discusses the social, political, religious, and yes military conditions during not only the time of Lincoln, but on into the early twentieth century.

This book is a good survey of that time period.

I must admit, that I came to this book with much trepidation, because I though such a renowned scholar and intellect would just blow me away with his arguments in this book.  I was expecting not to understand anything he was saying and just give up at some point.

To my surprise and delight, this book is immensely readable and very persuasive.  Flew has a knack at presenting difficult philosophical questions down to a level where the laymen like myself can understand.  For each argument he offers up really good examples  to compare with that helps along the way.

For those who thought Flew had lost his mind when said that he became a theist, should read this book and at least get his explanation.  They will see that he is very cogent and sharp in his pros.

I have always loved Rickle’s humor.  He has a way in which he able to “kid” with some that is pretty funny, but never seems to be hurtful or offensive.  At least it is done in such a way that you know he is just kidding.

The book is an autobiography of his career from the very beginning to recent time.

Its pretty lighthearted and it does not take itself very seriously at all, but it is a fun read.  You will not find any major revelations in this book, but its just a fun, funny read.

I got this book because I love the genre.  A normal, maybe even hard-up character, who somehow gets themselves in a situation where they end up discovering something within themselves that they did not know they had and they end up saving humankind.

The problem with this book was the main character, Thomas Covenant, was so loathsome, that I just could not root for him even if he did succeed.    Even when you get past the fact that he rapes an underage girl that was only trying to help him; the rest of the story, all he does is whine and is just an all around nasty person.

I know that its become a popular technique to make the main character an anti-hero, but I do not think it makes for a good story, unless that person changes and “repents” for lack of a less controversial word and becomes a better person.  I think you see that in someone like Bernard Cornwell’s “The Saxon Chronicles”, where the main character, Uthred, is raised to be a ruthless warrior, but as the series progresses you see that he is becoming a just leader, loving father and husband.  Maybe the future books progress in this manner but I am not sure if I want to risk my time trying to find out.

Unfortunately I already bought the second book in the series but I do not think I will be reading it.

In Comfortably Numb, Chares Barbers makes the case that we in United States are too readily taking anti-depressants drugs.  The evidence he brings up to support this phenomenon is pretty compelling.  His big gripe is with the physicians who so easily prescribe these drugs, when maybe a more appropriate remedy is a referral to a psychiatrist.  He also takes aim at this notion that we here in the United States must always be happy, and when we are not, we think there must be something wrong with us and therefore need drugs to correct the problem.

He does a good job explaining the history of how these drugs came to be, and questioning how, if these drugs are so recent, did people survive without them for so many millennia.

The second part of the book where he talks about the solutions to this problem is a but dull, but one of the interesting solutions is his recommendation of the psychiatric treatment called “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy“.  His portrayal of this treatment is compelling and seems to me a promising alternative to taking drugs, at least for a good portion of people.