Talk: books Archives

Fareed Zakaria echos the same thoughts as Amy Chua. We need to export the republic - protection of minorities along with the ideals of democracy. Otherwise, as Lenin once said Democracy is the dictatorship of the majority.

Posted at 11:04 AM

August 21, 2005

Life stories

Amazon.com: Books: Booknotes Life Stories : Notable Biographers on the People Who Shaped America

Excellent biography-lite. You learn a lot of interesting anecdotes about famous people.

- George Washington died taking his own pulse.
- Thomas Paine was imprisoned in Paris during the revolution and was marked for execution. His friends had the mark changed and his head was safe
- Ulysses S Grant was born Hiriam Ulysses Grant and changed his name to avoid being referred to as HUG

Posted at 02:30 PM

August 09, 2005

Blink of an eye

Amazon.com: Books: Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Read this book in about 2 hours. We make our decisions within an instant and use additional data to justify our original decision

Posted at 08:04 PM

July 27, 2005

Elephants can't dance

Amazon.com: Books: Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround

Heard this on CD. One of the better CEO stories. I liked Jack's book better, but I related to this one more. Gerstner doesn't paint himself as a soothsayer who predicted and navigated the ever changing currents of technology. He just extolls the virtue of discipline and execution.

Posted at 07:37 AM

Te Tao Pooh Piglet

Amazon.com: Books: The Te of Piglet

I've had this on my bookshelf for 4 years. Finally on my flight yesterday I made my way through it. I had to skip Hoff's editioralizing on the 92 Kuwait war, the conservatives, etc.

Posted at 07:34 AM

July 20, 2005

Nirvana?

Amazon.com: Books: Siddhartha

Just read this book. Still thinking about it. It didn't live up to the billing it received. A decent and quick read never the less.

Posted at 10:54 AM

June 25, 2005

Communism

Amazon.com: Books: Communism : A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

Finished it this week on the audio edition. I only drive about 16 miles a day but its amazing how quickly I was able to finish this one.

Posted at 03:59 PM

May 17, 2005

Big Bang

This was a great read. I can almost claim I understand the space-time continuum and the general theory of relativity - especially the relativity of the speed of light. Einstein really shook things up and really delayed the acceptance of the 'expanding theory of the universe'

Amazon.com: Books: Big Bang: The Origin Of The Universe

Posted at 09:22 PM

May 08, 2005

Me talk pretty one day

Amazon.com: Books: Me Talk Pretty One Day

Finally back on the wagon - reading or in this case listening. Me talk pretty one day is a set of essays - read by David Sedaris. Sometime they are funny other times they're just blah.

Posted at 11:29 AM

January 13, 2005

Pigs et al

Amazon.com: Books: Never Wrestle with a Pig and Ninety Other Ideas to Build Your Business and Career

I read this last year but didn't include it in the list. Quick, breezy read.

Posted at 12:52 PM

Living Resume

Amazon.com: Books: Living History

As part of my resolution to read 24 books this year, I've finished this book. It read more like a resume than a useful book. Every person no matter how remotely connected was introduced as a good friend. Every foreign dignitary was mentioned by name.

The Monica Lewinsky portion was very guarded. The best section of the entire book was her run for Senate. She truly enjoyed the whole experience and it shows in the book.

Posted at 12:50 PM

September 27, 2004

Empire Falls

This book didn't have the greatest hook. But I managed to persist and it picked up. My favorite character was Tick.

Amazon.com: Books: Empire Falls

Posted at 09:00 PM

The Prize

At one point the US had such a byzantine quota system (one that favored oil that came to the US via land over ship) that the Mexican oil came Brownsville , TX by tanker, was loaded into trucks that were driven into Laredo turned back at the first roundabout and returned to Texas.

Rockefeller, Getty, Aramco, Royal Dutch (Shell) and others are covered amply in this 800 page tome. Very readable and interesting. WWI and II are covered from the perspective of the quest for oil.

Amazon.com: Books: PRIZE : THE EPIC QUEST FOR OIL, MONEY & POWER

Posted at 08:59 PM

July 18, 2004

Rubin

In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington

Robert Rubin along with Summers and Greenspan guided the economy for most of the 1990s. This book reminded me of the government shutdowns, the Mexican crises and the effort to get a balanced budget. Its amazing how easily we've forgotten how much credit Clinton deserves for having the guts to push for what he believed was right.

Posted at 10:52 AM

July 08, 2004

Glocalization

The Lexus and the Olive Tree

Tom Friedman's paean to the Gods of capitalism. Interesting book. Chock full of stories.

The McDonald theory is advanced - no two countries with MickeyDs have gone to war.

Some long uncertain analogies to hardware and software. The implication is that you need the "software" (rights, courts, democracy) for running globalization. Glocalization as a word is coined in this book. Worth the read. The NYTimes has a healthy travel budget.

Posted at 09:53 AM