Thursday, April 28, 2016

Eat Well Age Better by Mason and Stoffman

This book's full title is Eat Well Age Better: How to Use Diet and Supplements to Guard the Lifelong Health of your eyes, Your heat, Your Brain and Your Bones. The authors are Aileen Burford-Mason and Judy Stoffman. Aileen Burford-Mason has her own web site here.

There are a number of reviews that really liked this book at Good Reads. However, I agree with the one negative one. This book seems to be more about taking supplements than anything else. It is like the so called health food stores which seem to be all about taking pills. There is also a nice review of this book by Helene Meurer at Alive.

There is a positive review of this book by Laura Eggertson in the Canadian Median Association Journal so I guess the book has some credibility. I guess the thing with me is that the only problems I have is excess weight gained at menopause that I would like to get rid of. This book did not give me any clues about this. There was some interesting information, but I do not think that there was anything particularly useful to me.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon

This book's full title is The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War. Robert Gordon is a Professor at Northwestern University in the Economics Department. Although I love the quote from Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist, who famously said: "We wanted flying cars but instead we got 140 characters," I do wonder about how all the current progress into space will affect us?

You can read the first chapter online at Ted Talk. There is a review of this book by Paul Krugman at the NY Times. Paul Krugman is not my favourite economist, but the review is worth reading. There is also a good review in the Economist. They think that Robert Gordon has underplayed the Third Industrial Revolution. There are again great reviews at Good Reads.

Robert Gordon gave a Ted Talk. Robert Gordon's thesis is talked about on PBS News Hour . On C-Span, Brian Lamb does a Q&A with Robert Gordon.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

A History of Iran by Michael Axworthy

This book's full title is "A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind". It is interesting that my book has the main title as A History of Iran, but the book shown at Good Reads has Empire of the Mind as the main title. I bought this book as my knowledge Iran or Persia

There are again good reviews on Good Reads. The review by Blair Dowden is interesting to me as it mentions some of the controversial ideas from this book. I do not know enough about the subjects to more than note these ideas as interesting. There is an interesting column by Paul Sprachman on the subject of this book at H-Net. There is a very short, but interesting review of this book by Alyssa McDonald atThe Guardian.

This is a short video review of the book by the sitehistorybookmix. Here is a short interview with Michael Axworthy re the Iranian nuclear deal. There is a crash course on YouTube about the IranianRevolution.

My pile of books to review has only 3 left in it besides the current book I am reading.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, April 18, 2016

The City by Joel Kotkin

This book's full title is The City: a Global History. Joel Kotkin has his own web site here. One fault I found with the book is that he knows nothing of cities outside of Middle East and Europe (plus US after USA was born). I expected a book on cities would include those of China, South East Asia, Miso America and South America.

There are a number of good reviews on Good Reads. Most give it a 3 or 4 star rating. I would not rate it that high, but I must admit it was an easy and interesting read. There is also a good review by Z Geography at Word Press. Finally, there is a short interesting review by Kirkus.

This is an interesting interview of Joel Kotkin by Steve Paikin of the Agenda. Steve Paikin tried to get him to comment on Rob Ford and Joel Kotkin ignored this. The City Club of Cleveland invited Joel Kotkin to speak about the future of Cleveland. (For me, the sound went off for a period at the beginning of this video but it came back on after around 5 minutes.)

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Wired for Culture by Mark Pagel

This book's full title is "Wired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social Mind". He talks about an interesting experiment. Sally puts a marble in her basket and goes away. Anne moves the marble to her box. When Sally comes back young children of 3 or 4 will say she will look in Anne's Box for the marble. Older children realize that Sally can have beliefs different from theirs and say that Sally will look for the marble in her basket.

Julian Baggini does a great review in The Guardian. There are also some good reviews at Good Reads. The negative reviews can be as interesting as the positive ones. On this site called Reading Evolutionary Biology Group there is a lot of links for Mark Pagel.

On this site is a half hour speech by Mark Pagel. Mark Pagel is on a panel at the Royal Society about "What it means to be Human". Mark Pagel gives a talk on The RSA about "Wired for Culture: The natural history of human cooperation".

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Identity Economics by Akerlof and Kranton

This book's full title is Identity Economics: How our identities shape our work, wages and well-being. The authors are .George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton. You can read an article att Duke University's Quarterly Journal of Economics about Identity Economics by George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton called Economics and Identity.

This seems to be a rather new inquiry line by economists. Economist seemed to in the past thinks that people added in what economists thought were their own best interests. They are just getting into how people actually act in economic situations.

There is a Q & A by Stephen J. Dubner with the authors on the Freakonomics site. . There is a review of the authors ideas at a blog called Understand Society. There are also some good reviews of this book at Good Reads.

There is an interview by Karen Ongley of George Akerlof. He has won a Nobel Prize in Economics. This is a short video of just over 8 minutes. This is an interview of Rachel Kranton by Steve Paikin. You have to see a short ad first.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

In Ishmael's House by Martin Gilbert

This book's full title is In Ishmael's House, a History of Jews in Muslim Lands. One interesting comment Martin Gilbert makes that I find quite interesting. It is that the Jews under Islamic rule never had it as bad as in Christendom at its worse and never as good as Christendom at its best.

In Islamic lands, there were never parallels of the Spanish expulsion during the inquisition or the Russian pogroms or the Nazi Holocaust. However, there was never in Islamic lands the progressive emancipation and acceptance that there was in the West in recent centuries.

I do wonder about the comment of no the parallels to the Spanish expulsion etc. This is because a lot of Jews were expelled from Muslim lands in 1948 under what was termed community violence. Also Mohammed attached and defeated the Jews in Arabia because he was disappointed that they would not follow him. Who he did not kill, he sold as slaves. Also recently in Europe, anti-Semitism seems to be rising.

David J Goldberg writing in The Guardian makes the same point as I did above. There are also some very good reviews at Good Reads. Mohammed Amin gives an extremely detailed review of this book.

Martin Gilbert speaks on Jewish History. This is a longish video over just over 1 hour. Martin starts speaking just over 3 minutes in.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Friday, April 8, 2016

The Colder War by Marin Katusa

This book's full title is The Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade Slipped from America's Grasp. You may not agree with him, but Katusa is interesting and he makes you think which is what good books should do. He thinks of Obama as a very weak leader. I know lots disagree with this, but Obama does not seem to be much engaged in his second term.

You will find an interesting review of this book by John Mauldin onForbes. I also follow John Mauldin at Mauldin Economics . At the Daily Bell there is a Q and A with Marin Katusa about this book. There is again very good reviews on Good Reads.

This is a short dramatic video with Marin Katusa discussing the petrodollars amount other things. This interview of Katusa on Alex Jones Show. Marin Katusa speaks via BookTV.org.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

The Ottoman Centuries by Lord Kinross

This book's full title is The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire. I read this book to become for familiar with Turkey. You can only understand what is happening currently in a country if you know the backstory of that country. The author is John Patrick Douglas Balfour. I do not know how balance the view from this book is because it is in English by an English author. But I know more about Turkey than I knew before.

Most of the reviews on Good Reads are positive about this book. It is well written and easy to read. There is also a very good review at Captivating Cappadocia. There is also an interesting review at Another Politically Incorrect Blog.

In this YouTube you can hear a short history of the Ottoman War Fought in Keresztes.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Smarter by Dan Hurley

This book's full title is Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power. This is the journey of Dan Hurley trying to get smarter. The results were interesting and he seemed to have some fun at the same time. This is a story of a journey of discovery and it is a great and easy and enjoyable read. He has his own website.

I generally look at the Good Reads site because it usually has some very good reviews. I was not disappointed. Annie Murphy Paulmarch in the New York Times does a good review of this book. There is also a short but good review by Ben East in the Guardian.

There is a short interview of Dan Hurley by Penquin on YouTube. In this longer video (about 1 hour), Dan Hurley speaks at The RSA. There is an interesting interview of Dan Hurley by Elisheva Schwartz on YouTube.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Mindware by Richard E. Nisbett

This book's full title is Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. This is a lively book on we think and how we can think more effectively. It is interesting that he talks about letting your subconscious help. You can do this by sleeping before making a big decision or do cost/benefit analysis of a problem and then throw it away.

As usual, there are some good reviews at Good Reads. Not everyone liked this book, but I certainly did. Nick Romeo in the Boston Globe does an excellent review. E. James Lieberman does a Q & A with Richard Nisbett in the Library Journal.

Richard E. Nisbett speaks at The Rockefeller University . This video is just over one hour and he speaks on a topic of "Intelligence and How to Get it: Why Schools and Cultures Count". Q & A Panel starts just over 39 minutes. This video is called "Know Thyself Uncut conversation with Richard Nisbett" is on YouTube.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Superpower by Ian Bremmer

This book's full title is Superpower: Three Choices for American's Role in the World. Ian Bremmer has his own Website for this book. He thinks that the US has three choices. First is put their head into the sand (and ignore the rest of the world), the second his to look after their own interests and the third choice was to try to solve other people's problems. I think that the problem with the last one is that you cannot solve other people's problems. I agree that Foreign Policy in the US is in a muddle and only reactive at the moment, but I do not see that improving in the near future.

As usual, there are some great reviews at Good Reads. There is an interesting review by Elena Holodny at Business Insider followed by Q and A. The review of this book by y Greg Waldmann at Open Letter Monthly is the best one I saw and read.

Ian Bremmer is interviewed on Foreign Affairs. There is a short interview by WSJ by Rebecca Blumenstein.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.

Friday, April 1, 2016

The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee

This book's full title is The Making of Asian America: A History. I was attracted to this book as there are lots of Asians in my country of Canada, but I know little of their history in North America. Did you know that the first Asians to America started with Acapulco in 1580? Did you know that the first Chinese to go to the American colonies arrived in 1829? Did you know that the US had Angel Island in the west (like Eilis Island in the east)? However this island was used to exclude people, especially Chinese people.

Erika Lee is a teacher, author and historian. She had her own website . She has also won awards for this book. She is the Director of the Immigration History Research Center and has the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History at the University of Minnesota. She is on the University of Minnesota website.

There is an excellent review of this book by Oliver Wang in theNew York Times. There is another really good review by Viet Thanh Nguyen in the Los Angeles Times. This interesting article by Karan Mahajan called The Two Asian Americas in the New Yorker talks about this book.

In this video, Erika Lee speaks about her. This video starts at around 3:55 and Lee comes in around 6:12. This video is almost 1 hour long.

Also, an index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. Follow me on Twitter.