Posted on 11/12/2008 4:21:35 AM PST by LS
As a diversion from the gloomy election news, here are some suggestions for Christmas reading:
Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction. This one is thick, I won't deny it. It's a history of the Nazi economy from Hitler's ascension through the surrender in 1945. But he has startling insights on almost every page. Usually I mark my books---this one has something underlined everywhere. Among other points, Tooze argues that Hitler's "economic miracle" was an illusion; that the "Volkswagen" was never, ever sold to average people; that the choices for weapons procurement in 1936-7 dictated the blitzkrieg, not vice versa.
Tony Judt, Postwar (By the way, both of these books are from my parent publisher, Penguin, but no, I don't get a kickback from them). This book, like Tooze's, is long, detailed, and dense. But like Tooze, Judt offers complete mastery of his subject, post-war Europe. He doesn't like Thatcher or Bush---but even at that, he seems to arrive at the right conclusions most of the time. His discussions of the collapse of communism alone are worth the read; his understanding of the conflicts between Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Walloons vs. Flemish show astounding levels of scholarly knowledge. Even if you don't agree with all his views, this is an irreplaceable counterpart to Paul Johnson's Modern Times.
Burton Folsom, New Deal or Raw Deal? As you might guess, this is a revisionist (good) review of Roosevelt's incredibly stupid policies during the Great Depression, extending and deepening the Depression.
Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals. Every conservative needs to read this. This is US now.
David Koenig, Realityland. An entertaining and informative behind-the-scenes look at DisneyWorld. As one who used to love Disney, before it got "gay-ified," I always loved to find out what decisions were made to keep this such a great vacation spot for so long, and why it fell apart.
Lynn Spencer, Touching History. A different look at 9/11 through the eyes of Air Traffic Controllers. This is an astounding tale of how we put thousands of planes on the ground in a matter of hours, how military planes were sent to shoot down Flight 93, and how National Guard units with no weapons were prepared to ram their aircraft into civilian planes to stop further terror attacks.
Gary Taubes, Good Calories, Bad Calories. Another pretty thick, long, and dense book, Good Calories, Bad Calories is written by a columnist for Science magazine, and will challenge your view of fats, meat, cholesterol, and weight gain. The short version: he advocates the "Atkins Diet," but how he gets there is daunting. He has mastered ALL the studies, and argues that the science of "fat" has become (surprised?) politicized. (Personal note: having exercised my brains out to lose weight, while hitting the "high carbs" diet, I was absolutely frustrated. After reading this I began a variation of "Atkins" and promptly dropped 15 pounds with no change in appetite, satisfaction, or health). Regardless of your views on diet, though, this book demands that you make sense of studies that show: no significant impact of exercise on weight loss among tested groups; no significant link between fats and heart disease; and much more. When you combine his conclusions about the politicization of meat with what we know about "global warming," it's very, very scary.
Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational. Written by an MIT behavioral engineer and mathematician,
Predictably Irrational reveals many surprising and disconcerting traits of human behavior. Ariely does NOT think that "markets work" because humans are not rational actors. (I disagree, but nevertheless, his studies are fascinating). He relates numerous tests, for example, of students who have an opportunity to cheat. What kinds of scenarios encourage them to cheat? What internal traits retard cheating? (Hint: merely asking students to remember ANY of the Ten Commandments before performing a test where they have an opportunity to cheat greatly reduces the likelihood of cheating). He goes through numerous market-related tests. In one case, he puts food or pop in a community refrigerator, and much of it is pilfered. But when he puts a plate full of dollar bills in there, no one touches it. His conclusion? The food is viewed as "everyone's" but clearly no one would put money in there because money "belongs to someone." So peoples' consciences allow them to rationalize taking the food, but not money.
Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss, a tremendous little book about "where" is happiness---not "what is happiness." Weiner travels the globe looking for the happiest place on earth. No, it's not DisneyWorld. He goes to Amsterdam for its drugs, Switzerland for it's serenity, India for its maharishis, and so on. In the process, however, he gets into the science of happiness. Yes, such a science does exist, and there is even an institute of happy studies in Europe. You'll probably agree with his conclusions (no spoiler here), but again, the journey is half the fun.
Don’t Let Science Get You Down, Timothy
By Alamo-girl and Betty Boop (FReepers)
You ought to write a book for the “Politically Incorrect Series”: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the 20th Century, exposing the harm that collectivism and radicalism has done not only to Western Civ, but to 3rd world countries, as well. It could also point out the great benefit that the best of Western ideals (freedom, free markets, private property) has done to improve lives in Western civ and around the world.
The Bible
Maimonides by Joel Kraemer
The Ringing Cedars series
http://www.amazon.com/Anastasia-Ringing-Cedars-Book-1/dp/0976333309/ref=ed_oe_p
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Killing Fear
Tempting Evil
Playing Dead
For a fun, light Christmas waiting at the airport read...try John Grisham's 'Skipping Christmas.' It was the book 'Christmas w/the Krank's' was screenplayed from. Again...just fun and entertaining...PaMom
Many thanks for your insights. Some outstanding reads there no doubt. I have three books going(more or less) right now. None of which I’ve cracked in weeks. Go figger. I might be what one would classify as a “binge” reader.
We need to start “Reader’s Anonymous.”
Hi, my name's FGS and I'm a binge reader. Heh, werksferme.
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