The Zero Marginal Cost Society by Jeremy Rifkin

This book's full title is "The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, The Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism". He has a web site here. He also has a short 10 minute video presentation on this site.

I found this book quite fascinating. He starts off describing the first two industrial revolution and then goes on to say why we are in a third industrial revolution. The first revolution had print for communication, coal for energy and the railway for transportation. The second had radio and TV for communication, oil for energy and the internal combustion engine for transportation. The third will have the internet for communication, renewal energy for energy and driver-less vehicles and drones for transportation.

On Integral World Edward Berge gives a chapter by chapter review of this book of Jeremy Rifkin. At the Financial TimesRichard Waters reviews this book. Waters calls this a thought provoking book and he is certainly right on that point. Another good article by Jeremy Rifkin is at the Guardian.

There is a speech by Jeremy Rifkin at Google. There is another speech by Jeremy Rifkin at Common Wealth Cub of California . Both these talks are about 1 hour long.

There is also a very interesting lecture by Jeremy Rifkin on Tuesday, 15 February 2005 in the European Parliament. This was about his book called The European Dream - America's nightmare?. Rifkin presented the core thesis of his book "The European Dream". According to him, the USA and Europe represent two different value systems and two conceptions of how to organize society.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Rifkin. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Exodus by Paul Collier

This book’s full title is Exodus; How Migration is Changing Our World. As always, this is another interesting book by Paul Collier. He talks about how migration affects no only the migrant, but the society that the migrants go to and the society the migrant leaves behind. This book was released with the title of Exodus: Immigration and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century in the UK.

No matter what you think of Paul’s thesis, we do have a problem that there seems to be little rational arguments about immigration. The field is left wide open to demagogues. If Europe had allowed some rational discussions on the subject would there be so many anti-immigrant parties there now?

This review is interesting in that Michael Clemens and Justin Sandefur at Foreign Affairs completely pan Paul Collier’s book. They especially do not like Paul Collier’s thinking that immigrants came from socially dysfunctional societies. Balance this with the review from the Economist below. Ian Birrell at the guardian finds the book interesting and a valuable addition to the discussion on immigration.

The Economist review includes an interview with Paul Collier. They call Paul Collier is one of the world’s most thoughtful economists. Paul Collier gives a short talk in this video. The last video is a long one of 90 minutes by Paul Collier at the London School of Economics. Paul starts talking about 3 minutes into the video. His speech ends after just over an hour and then there is Q and A.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Collier. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

The Undercover Economist Strikes Back by Tim Harford

This book's full title is The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run or Ruin an Economy. This is an interesting book. It makes the economics and some economic concepts easy to understand. The book is also written in the form of a dialog. It is an interesting concept. I think that it makes the book accessible, especially do those who lack understanding of some economic concepts.

Tim Harford has his own web site here. On this site Tim Harford talks about his various books and recent and popular articles he has written. Tim Harford is also on twitter StockTwits. He is a Financial Times columnist.

There are some interesting reviews at Good Reads. Not everyone liked the dialog format. As always, the review at The Wall Street Journal is good. This particular review is by Roger Lowenstein.

Tim Harford speaks at the London School of Economics about this Book The Undercover Economist Strikes Back. The video is 1 hour with Q & A at the end. This is an interview hosted by Cato Institute. The video is 90 minutes and Tim Harford and Alex Tabarrok. Tim starts speaking at almost 8 minutes into the video.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See harford. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

The Sea and Civilization by Lincoln Paine

This book's full title is The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World. The author of this book really knows his stuff. The book is well written and quite absorbing. He is well versed in the sea and ancient history as he is in what is happening on the seas today. Lincoln Paine has his own site.

There is a wonderful review of this book at The Wall Street Journal by John Darwin. There is also another very good review of this book at the Telegraph by Ben Wilson.

A Portland station in Maine has a short interview with Lincoln Paine. The US Naval College shows a lecture by Lincoln Paine on this book. Lecture is almost an hour long. The speech is around 37 minutes and there is a Q and A at the end. Here Lincoln Paine talks about Maritime History as human ecology.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Paine. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Younger Next Year by Crowley and Lodge

This book's full title is Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit and Sexy - Until you're 80 or beyond. The authors are Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D. I have read a number of books about being healthy in retirement or old age. They all say the same things. You need something to do that you are passionate about (that is do something you care about), you need to exercise, you need to eat properly and you need to socialize.

There is a wonderful review of this book by Clarence Bass on his blog site. Clarence goes into a lot of details about this book. There is a video review of this book by a couple of physical therapist. There is also an interesting review of this book at the Athlete In Me site.

This book has its own web site . Chris Crowley also has a blog about this subject. There is an interview by Jim Zirin of Chris Crowley. In this video, Chris Crowley talks about the Aspen Club.

There is a short PBS clip from a show done by Henry Lodger on PBS. Dr. Henry S. Lodger speaks at The UP Experience 2008. He talks about experiments were worms are made to live about 8 times longer than normal. This also works with mice and makes them live one third longer. This is generics. We should eat better and eat less, we should exercise more and we should care.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Crowley. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Advanced Civilizations of Prehistoric America by Frank Joseph

This book's full title is Advance Civilizations of Prehistoric America: The lost Kingdoms of the Adena, Hopewell, Mississippians and Anasazi. This is an interesting book. I thought I was buying a history book, but when I glanced at the back of the book, I noticed that it was classified as Ancients Mysteries/New Age.

According to Frank Joseph, all the North American civilizations were all started by alien peoples from Europe (Celts), Japan and South America. Really! I must admit I have a hard time believing this. Maybe one group emigrated from South America, this could be believable, but all of them?

Also, he says that when North American civilizations tottered then North American Indian tribes slaughtered them. He makes the native North American Indians out to be rather nasty people in the bargain. No wonder this book has been classified as Ancient Mysteries/New Age. It does not appear to be history as I understand history.

For this book I had a hard time finding any book review that did not just regurgitate the blurbs from the back of the book. There is one at Good Reads. There is a very interesting entry for Frank Joseph as Frank Cohen/Collin in Wikipedia. There is a second Wikipedia entry for Frank Joseph as Frank Collin.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Joseph. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

The World until Yesterday by Jared Diamond

This book's full title is The World until Yesterday, What can we learn from traditional societies. I have always enjoyed books by Jared Diamond. I have read other books by him such as Collapse and Gun, Germs and Steel. He has a unique outlook and his books make you think.

There are a couple of good reviews of this book on the site of Good Reads. There is a rather long review of this book at the Guardian by Wade Davis. It is worthwhile to read. He talks a lot about Franz Boas, perhaps more than he talks about Jared Diamond. He has good and bad things to say about this book, but I found it all quite interesting. There is a short video (6 minutes) by Jared Diamond. (Unfortunately, there is a short ad before you can see the video.)

There is a video call "What We Can Learn from Traditional Societies" and it is a talk by Jared Diamond at RSA. It is not very long at 20 Minutes. Q&A starts at around 15 minutes. The talk is about growing old in traditional societies. There is a wonderful hour long video with a speech by Jared Diamond via C-Span2, Book TV. He starts off this talk, talking about growing old in traditional societies. At the end there is a Q & A. period close to 35 minutes in.

There is a short 5 minute video about the book with a interview of Jared Diamond

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Diamond. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Empires of Food by Fraser and Rimas

This book's full title is Empires of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. It was written by Even D. G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas. We in the Western world have had great weather and good crops for some time now. . But are we making the same mistakes as other civilizations have with monoculture and deforestation? The book does jump around a bit, but it covers some interesting facts of other civilizations at other times.

There are a number of good reviews on this book at Good Reads. You have to scroll down a bit to find them. There also is a good review by David Barling at the New Castle University site. There is a rather negative review of this book at The Independent by Christopher Hirst.

There is a video at USC Canada by Evan Fraser. This is a talk given in 2010. The talk is in four parts with 3 parts being around 15 minutes long, and one being less than 5 minutes. The link is to the all four parts. Also, the Big History Project talks about the evolution of agriculture.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Boeckh. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

The Great Degeneration by Niall Ferguson

This book's full title is The Great Degeneration - How Institutions Decay and Economies Die. I tend to pick up any book written by Niall Ferguson. He is always an interesting writer. You do not have to agree with all he says, few people do. Niall Ferguson always has interesting ideas and he makes you think.

He says that we have structural problems that are holding us back. We are leaving a huge debt for future generations. I certainly agree that we are leaving a huge debt for future generations and I believe we should not do that.

Read a Forbes columnist take on the latest Ferguson- Krugman dustup dustup . The latest from Ferguson is in Huffington Post. There is a Part 2 and a Part 3.

There is a great review of this book at The Wall Street Journal by George Melloan. There is also an interesting review of this book by Dimitri Nasrallah in the Toronto Star

There is a great interview of Niall Ferguson about this book by Charlie Rose on Bloomberg. On CDB Day 6, there is an interview with Niall Ferguson. This last one is radio, not video. There is an older video called the "age of debt" has come to an end by Niall Ferguson in 2012.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Ferguson. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Ashoka by Charles Allen

This book's full title is "Ashoka, the Search for India's Lost Emperor". This book is really written as an adventure in finding information on Ashoka Indian ruler born around 302 BCE by colonial British amateur archeologist. It was however, a thoroughly enjoyable read

The problem is that Ashoka converted to Buddhism. Most Indians today are Hindu (with a large minority of Muslims). The Hindus at one point basically wiped out Buddhism in India so why should they celebrate a great King who was a Buddhist? I must admit I have not read many books on Indian history and would certainly like to know Indian history better.

There is a great review of this book at Winnowed. There is also an extremely interesting book review at Hindustan Times of this book. The reviewer, Patrick French, deployed the fact that Charles Allen talks about and gives most credit for information on Ashoka to British Colonist, not native Indians who did lots of work uncovering Ashoka. There is also another good review of this book by Samanth Subramanian at the Guardian.

Charles Allen talks at the Jaipur Literature Festival about Ashoka. This is an hour long video, which has Q&A at the end starting at around 37 minutes into the video. There is a 6 minute video on YouTube of Ashoka that is worth watching.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Allen. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Gutbliss by Robynne Chutkan

This book's full title is "Gutbliss, Feel Light, Tight and Bright - The Healthy Way". I loved this book. It was very easy to read and follow. She even has sample meals and recipes in the end of the book. I bought the book because I got stomach flu and had a hard time recovering from it. She talks about what to avoid, what to eat and how to encourage and repopulate gut bacteria.

The book talks a lot about what to do about bloating or gas for women. Indeed this is somewhat the main thrust of the book. Women are built differently than men and seem to have more problems with gas or bloating than men do.

She has her own site where you can pick up her being interviewed by Dr. Oz and on the Today Show. She is an integrative gastroenterologist and founder of the Digestive Center for Women, just outside of Washington, D.C. Robynne Chutkan is part of Gut Runners. The Gut Runners Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to improving digestive health in the community. They are basically saying if you do not want to constipated, you need to move, you need to exercise.

I found a nice lot of reviews on this book at Good Reads. There also a very interesting review of this book by Gena a nutritionist that works with Dr. Chutkan on the Choosing Raw site. There is also another good review on the Huntington News Net by David Kinchen. This article also refers to another interesting one on How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times at NPR Books by Daniel Lieberman.

See Robynne Chutkan on the Today Show. She has a very interesting article in The Atlantic talking about the future of probiotics.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Chutkan. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

This book's full title is "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants" by Malcolm Gladwell. I have read his other books. I must admit I was intrigued with them at first, but I was very disenchanted with What the Dog Saw, that I did not even review the book.

I bought this book because I had enjoyed some of the others books Malcolm Gladwell had written. But then I saw an interesting and very negative review in CanTech on Malcolm and this book. There is also another very negative review in Economist. There is an interesting review of this book at Kottke.org.

I do not believe that his popularity confers any great responsibility on him. It would seem to me that he is just trying to make a living by bring to light some suggestive research on various topics. I got bored with his last book called "What the Dog Saw", but found this one an enjoyable and easy read. I know that it is not great reading or great research.

I pretty much take it for what it is. I see no harm in it if you take it for what it is and that is probably just pop science. Malcolm Gladwell brings up interesting little tidbits about human behavior.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Gladwell. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.

Beware the Dragon by Erik Durschmied

This book's full title is "Beware the Dragon, China: 1,000 Years of Bloodshed". I found this book quite fascinating to read. I also found it very easy to read. The book starts in 1218, so it does not quite cover 1,000 years. Also, Durschmied starts the book off with the attacks on Europe by the Mongols. The Mongols were not Chinese and they did not control China until after the first attacks in Europe happened.

After the Mongols attacks on Europe and the Middle East, he goes on to talk about the advantage Europeans took of China after they discovered it. This was hardly China's fault. The next was about Japan's conquest of China. He does go on to talk about China's conquest of Tibet and there certainly China was awful and still suppresses the Tibetan people.

He also covers the USSR and China relationship, including the Chinese attack on the USSR at their mutual border supposedly over an island in the Ussuri River. He also relates China's effort to contact and make diplomatic relations with the US in 1971. He does cover a fair bit of ground in his book.

I know from reading history that China was not well liked by the peoples of around them, especially South East Asia when China was powerful. However, this was not much different that the South American's attitude to America.

There is a great book review in 2008, which this book was written, in the Guardian by John Gittings. He reviews not only this book but a number of "Dragon" books written in 2008 just before the China Olympics. Telegraph by Nicholas Shakespeare is a critical review of this book. I must admit I found the book interesting and easy to read, but I understand his criticism.

Erick has an entry in Wikipedia. There is not much in the way of videos for Durschmied. However, there is a TVO film of "Finding Fidel: The Journey of Erik Durschmied" he started his extraordinary career by interviewing a young Fidel Castro on the eve of the Cuban revolution.

On my website is how to find this book on Amazon if you care to purchase it. See Durschmied. Also, this book review and other books I have reviewed are on my website at Book Reviews.