Lately, I’ve not had a lot of time to read. But when I have had time, I’ve enjoyed reading the wonkish and pointed “The Myth of the Rational Voter” byBryan Caplan. It’s an economist’s look at why, as the sub-title says, voters tend to support bad public policies. The reason, Caplan argues, is not special […]
Archives for 2011
Review | The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies by Bryan Caplan
2011-08-11 · by ·
Review | The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
2011-07-30 · by ·
Hannu Rajaniemi is smart. As in, he is Mensa smart. With a Ph.D. in string theory and another in mathematics, the founder of a think tank that provides business services using artificial intelligence, he is working with subject matter that just a generation ago was the stuff of science fiction. I almost expect to find him in the […]
Review | The Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution by Jack P. Greene
2011-07-21 · by ·
Time for a segment of “A moment in obscure history.” This time, we’re looking at the constitutional dispute that resulted in the American Revolution. Since sometime in 2009, the Tea Party movement has lead a revival of interest in theUS Constitution. Senator Mike Lee summed up why the increased interest of late during the release of his new book , The Freedom […]
Review | Comeback America by David M. Walker
2011-05-04 · by ·
As the former comptroller general of the United States, David Walker knows a little about the fiscal workings of the modern federal government. For fifteen years, he served under both Republican and Democratic presidents from Reaganto Clinton to the Bushes), and had a unique opportunity to call into question the decisions that have lead to our current fiscal woes.And he doesn’t hold back. As […]
Review | Heretics by S. Andrew Swann
2011-03-21 · by ·
After the events of Prophets, the human universe is on the brink of war while, eighty light years away, a being called Adam has arisen to set into motion an attack that has been centuries in the making. Should he succeed, he will rule all of humanity, and all sentient life, as a God. Only […]
Review | Rubicon by Tom Holland
2011-03-16 · by ·
“Beware the ides of March!” After a palace coup demolished the reign of King Tarquin of Rome in 509 B.C., a republican government flourished, providing every person an opportunity to participate in political life in the name of liberty. As Holland, a novelist and adapter of Herodotus’ Histories for British radio, points out in this […]
Review | The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
2011-03-15 · by ·
Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different, and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show […]
Review | The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
2011-01-21 · by ·
I long for the days before the Last Desolation. The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men. The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to […]
