Book Reviews

I was reviewing this blog site and notice I have a favorite books section, but only the list. I like good books a LOT. I think I cherish good books because I've read (or at least started) a lot of bad ones. I hated reading until after undergrad. I'd been forced to read a lot of terrible fiction in my formal education days (except for "Lord of the Flies") and it just really turned me off. So, I have a developed hatred towards fiction. I'm more of a realist anyways. My book list is made up of all non-fiction and the only fiction I've read that a teacher hasn't required me to read is "DaVinci Code". I just HAD to see what all the hubbub what about.
Here are my reviews (just what I pulled from personal notes I put into a word document as I finish each book) on several of the books I have on my list (and I few I don't).

What Jesus Meant
Interpretation of bible from Northwestern professor
Very good. I liked his simple take and translation on things

Rome Inc.
Rise and fall of the Roman Empire… parallel with rise and falls of big corps
Awesome book, I'm not even a history guy and I loved it
Very cool parallels between big business and Rome

Why I am a Catholic
Wills
Same guy as “What Jesus Meant”
Did not finish… very long and SLOW!!

From Good to Great
Comparison of co.’s in diff. industries and the commonalities of their successes of going from being a good co. to a great one
Very Good book and great read for anyone in leadership
A bit repetitive, but not in an annoying way (like Wiki-Nomics)

Jesus CEO (Recomended by Millionaire Republican)
Much lamer than I expected
Don’t know what it was, but just kinda blah!

Wiki-nomics
Made it most of the way through, got slow and repetitive (VERY)
First 100 pages or so are very good, good concepts and ideas
Repeats itself like no other. Could have ended after 150 pages and saved a lot of people a lot of time.

Bringing Down the House
MIT black-jack team… AWESOME!!
I love this book. Couldn’t put it down and read it in 3 nights. That’s impressive for me!!!
If you like fun, excitement, and just cool stuff then you HAVE to read this book!!

Leadership (Rudy Giuliani)
Really cool book. He started writing this before 911.
Just very interesting to hear him describe not only 911 stuff, but his leadership style

Rich Dad, Poor Dad
EVERY teenager should read this book. It should be a mandatory piece of the national curriculum for financial literacy that I think should exist (I’ll blog about this soon)
I don’t agree with everything in here, but it’s a great book!! MUST read for anyone over 15 who hasn’t read it!!

Fair Tax Book
Total propaganda and very interesting proposal.
Most propaganda bothers me, but this doesn’t. I like how it’s written and it’s ideas for taxing spending instead of income.
Most interesting piece is how this method would end up taxing illegal income, because it’s spent legally.

Great Gatsby
Yes, I know this is fiction, but I’ve read this twice now. Just re-read it because some of my “at-risk” students were reading it for class. I told them I’d read it again with them to help them get through it along the way.
I am glad I did. I knew I loved the book. I realized I had forgotten why.
Man, what a classic. Will ALWAYS uphold the test of time. I hope I re-read this book at least every 5 years!!

The World is Flat
Kick-ass book. I read it before it became popular and I’d like to think I helped make it popular.
Man, I told everyone I knew to read this book. I’ve used so many excerpts from this in class. I love when he says that when he was a kid and didn’t eat his dinner, he was told “There are kids in China starving” and now he tells his children “There are kids in China starving for your job”.
Love it… Read it!!!

Responsible Spending

As I was reading over my last post (I just put up about 5 minutes ago), I realized that the term "responsible spending" that I used deserved a blog of its own. I'll keep it short, but I feel it's worthy of its own posting.
Spend responsibly!! If you can't afford it, DON'T BUY IT!!!! What the heck?? Also, don't rely on someone else telling you if you can or can't afford it. Don't let someone telling you, "Yeah, I'll loan you the money for this" be your justification for buying an item you can't afford. "We'll loan you the money" does NOT equal "You can afford it"!!!
Seriously!!!!
No, really, seriously.

Debate-Able

Last night's debate got me fired up. It got me more fired up than normal and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because O'Bama didn't actually answer ANY questions. Maybe it's because McCain was focusing so hard on moving his body to look animated and personable that he couldn't get words out smoothly. Maybe it's because I'm at the point (again) where I just want the election to be over because I'm sick of hearing ignorant people comment on the candidates.
At 33 (almost - might as well be), I am bummed that I am already so cynical. It bothers me that stupid people are allowed to vote and procreate. I wouldn't want it any other way, really. But it still bothers me. There are a couple stances in politics that I just cannot understand how a smart person can take. (I avoid the word "educated" because I know too many people who've been given degrees that aren't smart. I also know many smart people without anything more than a H.S. degree)  I think this may be what really gets me going. So, I'll address them (duh!):

1. Taxing "rich" a higher % than "non-rich"
How can this make sense? I make more, I pay more in taxes relatively. O.K., I still don't buy that one completely, but I can live with it. But if my household makes more than 250,000 (I wish) why should I have to give more pennies on my dollar than you? This doesn't work even if you do agree that I should pay a higher %. Because if I pay more taxes, I spend and save less (both very essential to the economy). If corporations pay more taxes (Corporations are made up of human beings by the way. This seems to be very conveniently forgotten.), they have to find a way to pay those extra dollars. Do you think they are going to pay with their profits? Really? No way!!! They will pay those extra taxes by doing two things: 1. Increasing prices (you and I take that hit) 2. Lowering wages / laying off workers (you and I take that hit too).
After making this point, the typical democrat response is (I swear they are given response flow charts like a telemarketer because they all respond the same way on things. My favorite is when you just completely have them on something and they say "Hmm, I'll have to check the facts on that"), "Well then, how is the government going to pay for everything?" This is where I start my belief that the person cannot be smart. The gov't is going to pay for "everything" because they must become responsible spenders (which I am not claiming Bush has been) and get rid of a ton of crap that makes up "everything". Does this mean some people may not be able to buy houses... YES!!! If you really want to buy a house, get a job that pays more!! If you can't... read a book or something and then apply again. We are in this credit crisis because Dem's wanted their voters, who they make their living off of (underachievers), to be able to get home loans. So, how can they do that? Sub-prime, no-documentation loans!! What a joke!!
Taxing the rich more and making it easy for lower income earners to buy houses and other luxury items gives no financial incentive to move up and out of a low income situation. That's doing the poor a dis-service. How about this: Tax the poor more and the rich less!! Holy crap, that would make me want to earn more. If I knew that earning 10,000 a year more meant I got to keep an extra 1,000 a year?
2. Pro-Choice
This means you think it should not be illegal for an expecting mother (and a medical staff) to murder their unborn child. I honestly just got sick to my stomach typing the last half of that sentence. It's murder.
The typical "pro-choice" response, "Do you understand what kind of burden that would put on society?" Yes, life if full of burdens. We deal with them as best as we can and I was taught that it's not to be done by murdering the person who's creating the burden. But, if you must, how about this: Let's at least give the kid a chance. Maybe until he or she is about 10 or so. If it seems like they really are going to end up being a burden on society, then whack 'em.  (stomach just got sick again typing that because it's just as ridiculous as abortion).
3. Peace Hippies
I can understand people being against certain wars and reasons behind why we entered into them. However, the people with the bumper stickers that say "War doesn't solve anything"... stupid. It sure does!! Solved the problem of Sadam Husein running his country like a madman. Solved Hitler's rule.  I'm not sure (at least I'd like to believe this) anyone is "pro-war". People who claim to be "anti-war" seem to think that if you are not against a certain war, then you are a cruel gladiator. I'm not "pro-killing animals", but I like to eat meat because it's delicious. So...

Well, that's it for now. Those are the big three for me in terms of not understanding how you can have a different viewpoint and still be smart. Oh, wait, and people who hate Wal-Mart because of their business practices. If you hate Wal-Mart because it's dirty, I'm not with you but I understand. This actually reminds me of a quote my buddy (republican) Chris said to another buddy (democrat) of ours while he was going off about how much he hated Wal-Mart. Chris interrupted him and simply said, "Pete, why do you hate saving money?" EXACTLY!?!?!?