Friday, November 21, 2014

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.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

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.

Monday, June 16, 2014

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.

Monday, June 2, 2014

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.

Monday, May 26, 2014

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.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

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.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

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.