A smattering of opinions on technology, books, business, and culture. Now in its 4th technology iteration.
17 February 2010
* “Freedom(TM)”:amazon by Daniel Suarez. Not as mind-wreckingly good as his prior, “Daemon”:amazon but a very nice conclusion to the tale. 3.5 stars, Amazon says 4.5 stars but that I think is carryover from the first book. * “Give Me Liberty”:amazon by Naomi Wolf. Nice nonfiction complement to the above. Does a nice job of illustrating how our rights have been eroded, and admonishing us to do something about. Amazon says 4.5 stars, well, it is a fine book, but I’d stop at 3.5 * “Judas Unchained”:amazon by Peter Hamilton. Vaguely remember the prior book but it has been a while and this book does not stand alone. Amazon says 4 stars, I am hard on books today, I’d say 3 stars * “The Forgotten Man”:amazon by Amity Shlaes. History of the Depression, interesting although some of the details could have been left to an appendix. Roosevelt’s level of power was amazing. The story of the transformation of government into a very active role is told well and is clearly not an unalloyed good. The abject failure of monetary policy is well told and a good lesson for today. And my impression of Hoover from high school history as a total bumbler changed, he was incredibly competent prior to his stint as president. Amazon says 4 stars, I’ll say 3.5, and with tighter editing could have been a 4.