Average customer rating:
- Amazing
- This is one book about PW you wouldn't want to miss.
- A great book about a great prince.
- A must have for all Will lovers!
- Excellent
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William: The Inside Story of the Man Who Will Be King
Nicholas Davies
Manufacturer: Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Elizabeth II
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ASIN: 0312206836 |
Book Description
Prince William's sixteenth birthday, on June 21, 1998, heralded the end of childhood for this athletic and delightful young man. With his tremendous courage in the face of the dreadful tragedy of Princess Diana's untimely death, Prince William endeared himself to the whole world.
With his newfound maturity and striking good looks, he has inherited his mother's easy charm and disarming smile.
In this sensitive and beautifully illustrated biography, royal expert Nicholas Davies explores the complex character behind this monarch of the future. Davies follows Prince William from his birth at St. Mary's, Paddington, through his happy-go-lucky childhood and awkward pre-teenage years, to his burgeoning maturity.
Packed with rare, color photographs, this is the definitive biography of Prince William, the man who will be Britain's king.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing.......2000-08-20
This was the best book I have read on wills. It has info from birth to now and it was good from start to finish. It tells about his ups and downs of his life and it is just very well written. It is a really good book so buy it if you like prince william
This is one book about PW you wouldn't want to miss........2000-07-19
All right if you are a Prince William fan pick this one up, especially if youlike to read some good information too. This isn't a book just full of pictures, it has a lot of information about him and some lovely and rare pictures too. I'm warning you chapter 5 is a real tear- jerker as another of the reviewers put it and she/ he is right, it is a tear-jerker. Have fun reading this book it is the best I have read so far, but another book by Nicholas Davies, not yet published, maybe just as good be sure to try it, it is called----"William: King for the 21st Century"
A great book about a great prince........1999-06-12
I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was refreshing to hear a story about a wonderful young prince.
A must have for all Will lovers!.......1999-06-10
I received this book for my birthday, and I first thought, "Oh great, another boring Prince William book." But as soon as I opened it, I couldn't put it down! Not only does it have a bunch of "never-before-seen" photos, but this book offers a unique, inside perspective on William that I have never read before. And the best part is, is not all pictures! (I am a fan of books with actual text). So, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to READ about Prince William, and not just gaze at adorable pictures (which the book also includes). But I have to warn you, chapter 5 is a tear-jerker!
Excellent.......1999-05-31
I loved this book! I thought it was good and very well written. It gives alot of good info and is a must have.
Amazon.com
Miguel Tejada is a talented shortstop in the Oakland Athletics organization. Tejada grew up very poor in the Dominican Republic and started playing baseball as a means of entertainment and escape. At age 17, he signed a contract (which he couldn't really read) with the A's for a mere $2,000, eventually working his way through the minors to earn a shot at the big-league club. As Away Games illustrates, Tejada is one of the lucky ones. "The Dominican is representative of the roots of Latin baseball, a game in which the stakes have always been higher, success more meaningful, and failure more painful--a brand of baseball that makes the word 'pastime' seem trivial." Indeed, it's a tough road for Latin baseball players trying to make it to the major leagues. For many of them, baseball is a chance to evade a lifetime of poverty and Third World conditions not present in the United States (although those lucky enough to go pro also face significant language and cultural barriers once they head north); Away Games presents them as more than just gifted players who hit the jackpot. --Andy Boynton
Book Description
It all starts with a bamboo stick, a tattered ball, a makeshift field -- and a dream. Amid the squalor and destitution of the Dominican Republic's poorest barrios, young men toil away their adolescence for the chance to become bona fide major league stars -- and, with that, the chance to make something of themselves and their families. Baseball on this island is not always a game of fun. It's often a game of survival.
This is baseball Latin-style, and with it comes a fire, an intensity, an inner desire to play the best ball possible and leave behind the poverty of the island. It was this fire that drove Dominican-born Sammy Sosa during his 1998 MVP season, when he, along with slugger Mark McGwire, rattled the ghosts of Babe Ruth and Roger Maris. It was that same fire that drove Juan Gonzalez toward his second MVP trophy, marking the first season in history that baseball's top honors were swept by Latin players.
In Away Games, award-winning journalists Marcos Bretón and José Luis Villegas examine the story of Latin baseball as seen through the eyes of Miguel Tejada, a young Dominican shortstop and one of many promising Latin prospects in the Oakland A's organization. By telling Tejada's story, Bretón and Villegas also tell the story of every Latin ballplayer who has come before him: Roberto Clemente, Minnie Minoso, Chico Carrasquel, Zoilo Versalles, Felipe Alou, and countless others.
Just as African-American players electrified baseball in the 1950s, Latin ballplayers are transforming America's pastime today. Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and his brother Ramon, Raul Mondesi, Manny Ramirez, and Vladimir Guerrero -- they are baseball's future, and they come from places most Americans have never even heard of and from lives most Americans could never even imagine. The story of Latin baseball is an incredible tale -- baseball's last, great untold story.
Since the turn of the century, long-forgotten men who reached the major leagues before Jackie Robinson was credited with breaking baseball's color barrier have paved the way for the Latin stars we see today. And that legacy grows stronger each day, with young men like Tejada competing for a plane ticket off the island. In Away Games, Bretón and Villegas tell the riveting tale of Tejada's journey from the barrios to the starting lineup of the Oakland A's. They give voice to every kid's dream of playing baseball; it's just that for some kids that dream is more a necessity than for others. Told with unparalleled reporting and a sharp, critical eye, Away Games is not just the rags-to-riches story of Miguel Tejada's triumph, it's the story of Latin baseball and the American dream. For some, the American dream lies in glory on the basepaths in major league stadiums. For others, that dream is a harsh reality of New York ghettos and failed potential. Bretón and Villegas tell it all in this fascinating book that encapsulates Latin baseball as it heads into the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews:
One of best baseball books.......2003-05-10
This book is awesome, one of my favorites. I have read it more than once it is so good. What makes it so great is it tells the story of the latin baseball player that happens so often these days. From step to step, the book shows the reader how Miguel Tejada got from the barrios to America, to MLB star. What makes this bok so special is what a great story Miguel Tejada is. In his town, he was not regarded as a great player. But as soon as he was in a league there, he was great and never stopped. Now he has an MVP. A great job by Marcos Breton for the book and Jose Luis Villegas for the great pictures.
Tejada's 2002 AL MVP makes this story even more amazing..........2003-01-04
I was a fan of shortstop Miguel Tejada before I read this book and was overjoyed when he won the AL MVP honors this past year. The book opened my eyes to the incredible struggle and long odds that Dominican players - or any Latin players - face to make it in the major leagues. It makes Tejada's accomplishment seem that much more amazing and important to me. His story is interwoven with a lot of baseball history that I would not have otherwise known, and it is one that kids my age and up (8th grade) would enjoy because it makes you think.
A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH.......2000-08-10
THIS BOOK IS A REAL "SLEEPER". BRETON TAKES THE EVENTFUL LIFE OF ONE LATIN BALLPLAYER AND INTERTWINES THIS WITH THE HISTORY OF THE STRUGGLE OF ALL LATIN BALLPLAYERS. THE STORY OF SOME OF THE LATIN PIONEERS IS AN UNEXPLORED TERRITORY IN BASEBALL HISTORY. BRETON BRINGS THESE STORIES OF PREJUDICE, TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY TO THE SURFACE. I LEARNED ALOT FROM THIS BOOK, AND WAS WELL ENTERTAINED IN THE PROCESS.
Important Issue, Badly Written.......2000-06-09
Breton and Villegas make the case that Latin ballplayers are exploited and then, in the overwhelming majority of cases, tossed away by major league teams. Miguel Tejada was one of those who, it turned out, wasn't just cheap filler for an organization's minor league chain, but instead broke through to the majors. This surprised the A's organization which originally ranked him below other Dominicans who have since faded and returned to island obscurity or the life of an undocumented alien in New York City. Unfortunately, the author's case is buried by some truly stilted prose in a narrative that wanders all over the map without giving Tejada himself much more life in the book than as a paradigm for the author's argument. I happen to know already a fair amount about Latin ballplayers so this book brought me neither increased insight into them as a group or to Tejada as an individual.
Cuatro Balos: A baseball story absent from the sports pages.......2000-03-24
Being a baseball fan since Orlando Cepeda led the Cardinals over Yaz's 1967 Red Sox, I thought I was well versed about the history of minorities in major league baseball. (The Jackie Robinson story became gospel in my house.) After reading "Away Games," I had to eat some humble pie. The sports pages, which I read cover-to-cover as a youth, never made mention on how the Clementes, Tiants, and Marchials made it to the majors. Authors Marcos Breton and Jose Luis Villegas provide that missing story. "Away Games" is about how major baseball exploits young Latino men in the same way that the film "Hoop Dreams" documented basketball's exploitation of inner city black youth. Breton and Villegas elaborate on how the baseball establishment entices Dominicans into their camps and then uses them like throw away parts. I only wish the authors would have kept their focus on Miguel Tejada- "the star" of the book- rather than flip-flopping between his "life and times" with the history of Latino baseball players. (Actually, there are two books in one here- Tejada's baseball journey and the history of major league baseball in the Caribbean.) Far from being an enjoyable book, "Away Games" is often painful to read especially for gung-ho baseball fans; however, it should be included right next to the censored sports page as we're implored to "root, root for the home team."
Average customer rating:
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Saints and Shrews: Women and Aging in American Popular Film (Contributions in Women's Studies)
Karen M. Stoddard
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Women Writers & Feminist Theory
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ASIN: 0313233918 |
Book Description
Discover a hidden world in your own city!
From Ninjalicious, the author of Infiltration zine, comes Access All Areas, the the first published guide to the exciting art of urban exploration, a rapidly growing hobby that allows participants to personally experience their cities’ hidden and off-limits spaces. Through chapters on topics like sneaking around, equipping and training, readers will learn the basics of the hobby, as well as about the most popular sites for urban exploration, such as abandoned buildings, construction sites, storm drains and utility tunnels.
Always an adventurer, Toronto author Ninjalicious began his intensive, thoroughly documented approach to exploration during a lengthy hospital stay, when boredom motivated him to explore the beautiful old building’s every nook and cranny. He began publishing the zine Infiltration in 1996, in conjunction with the website infiltration.org, which, with nearly 2,000 visitors a day, is widely considered to be an authoritative source on the hobby of urban exploration. Ninjalicious completed Access All Areas shortly before his untimely death from cancer in summer 2005.
Copies are available for online purchase at www.infilpress.com
Customer Reviews:
Urban Exploration 101.......2007-09-11
For anyone in the "Urban Exploration" scene, the name Ninjalicious is almost legendary. Not that he was one of the first to explore tunnels and old buildings, but he was one of the first to really achieve some level of fame for doing so. So the source for this information is more than credible.
If you are a veteran explorer, this book probably will not tell you much you don't already know. If you are just beginning to explore, this may be a helpful guide, but you'd be better off finding experienced people and going with them. A little experience and a good amount of common sense should see you through.
That said, I still would recommend this book to any active or armchair explorer. The author's humor makes reading this book a joy and the personal stories he includes are highly entertaining. So if nothing else, read it for fun. Plus, you never know. There may be a gem or 2 of wisdom in there for even the most veteran explorer.
A great book by a great man.......2007-01-12
As a long time urban explorer, this book didn't really tell me much I didn't already know or that a little common sense couldn't figure out once you have been to a few places. That fact notwithstanding, this is a great introductory book to the art of urban exploration, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get into the hobby. It has lots of good pointers that would have been a lot easier to read then they were to figure out in my own.
Every urban explorer's MUST HAVE guide........2007-01-10
A comprehensive book outlining the ins and outs of urban exploration; no stone is left unturned. If you're into urban exploration and photography, this book is an essential tool to enhance your adventures. Read it again and again and keep it in your camera bag/backpacks.
A decent book about an interesting subject.......2006-11-10
This book is a nice introduction to the world of urban exploration. At times, it is patronizing and sounds like it was written by a kid for a kid, but the spirit of the information is sound.
Excellent read, even if you don't plan to infiltrate anything.......2006-02-06
I grabbed this book from the library because the subject intrigued me - not because I plan to infiltrate anything, but rather just because I wanted to read about it. And what a great read it turned out to be. Ninjalicious writes very well and with a good sense of humour. He covers the subject thoroughly (I can't imagine he overlooked anything) and with a good attitude. I enjoyed the several brief anecdotes scattered throughout the book describing infiltrations which Ninjalicious conducted (and documented with photos), and I particularly enjoyed the chapter on social engineering (the principles of which are applicable to many day-to-day non-infiltration encounters). Highly recommended.
Book Description
In addition to complete rules and instructions for playing dozens of games, tables of probabilities and percentages, and the fine points of winning play, this book — one of the best on the subject — also contains some 60 pages of information on how to detect cheating.
Customer Reviews:
What happened to the photographs???.......2004-07-12
This is a Dover reprint of the 1965 edition of Scarne on Cards. However, the photos showing card cheating techniques are missing. Also, the reprint is the abridged paperback version by Mass Paperbacks. While Dover is famous for printing its books on high quality paper that are signature-stitched so that it can last a lifetime (and possibly be rebound), none of this is present. The paper it's printed on is like the paper of a low-quality paperback and not signature-stitched. I was hoping that it would have come out much better and unabridged.
Book Description
Europeans and many American pundits believe that while the U.S. economy may create more growth, Europeans have it better when it come to job security and other factors. Olaf Gersemann, a German reporter who came to America, found the reality quite different. He checked facts and found the market freedoms in America create a more flexible, adaptable and prosperous system then the declining welfare states of old Europe.
Customer Reviews:
Good information.......2007-05-27
Most literature showing the greatness of capitalism through statistics is horribly biased, but this book keeps the bias to a moderate level. This means you get a wealth of statistical information that is not overly influenced by ideology, which is a rare find.
A Well-Made Case.......2007-05-01
Like the previous reviewer, I think Olaf Gersemann offers a balanced and well-documented case that France, Germany, and Italy would benefit from some American-style economic liberalization. Advancing an argument with logic and solid empirical evidence is not the same thing as writing propaganda.
Gersemann goes out of his way to point to that it is "foolish" to believe that post-war European economic models are "generally, under all imaginable circumstances, inferior to other economic models." He draws attention to the number of Americans without health insurance, the sorry state of many of our public schools, the alarmingly high rate of poverty among American unwed mothers and their children, and the "ridiculously high" compensation of many corporate managers. This book is not a one-sided apologia.
But it does, as advertised, manage to dispel many myths about American capitalism and the supposedly kinder, more agreeable European version.
As have a number of others before him, Gersemann reveals the hollowness of the claim that the purchasing power of working-class people in the U.S. has been stagnant since the early 1970s. And he does this using household income numbers as his primary statistical evidence, even though he could have shown even more improvement (as he briefly points out) if he had used the *per capita* money income of the average household. (Household income has been depressed because there are now fewer people per house, which is a sign both of more widespread home ownership, and thus more wealth, as well as a sign of higher rates of illegitimacy.) If further adjustments are made to control for immigrants--whose pre-immigration incomes do not, obviously, show up in U.S. statistics--it becomes even more evident that the American economy is much more successful at improving the of lot native-born workers in the bottom quintile than one would gather from watching ABC News or reading *The New York Times*. That our economy also improves the lives of immigrants, and in the process makes the gains of the native-born less statistically obvious, is cause for congratulations, not criticism. The improvement in the lives of particular individuals is what matters, not the fate of a particular quintile, the composition of which is ever-changing.
Gersemann also rebuts much of the nonsense reported about the percentage of Americans who are "trapped" in poverty and about low unemployment merely being the result of mind-numbing service jobs that don't pay a living wage. He demonstrates that those on the left who praise the security offered by the European system too often fail to note that security comes at the price of dynamism, which comes at the price of opportunity, especially for those on the bottom.
Unfortunately, the same neighborhoods in France that suffer most from this lack of opportunity, and from debilitating unemployment, voted overwhelmingly for the Socialist candidate (Ms. Royal) in last week's elections, even though it is not she but the much hated Mr. Sarkozy who stands at least some chance of offering them economic opportunities infinitely more lucrative than burning cars. And of course it was the French left that took to the streets when the government attempted to enact modest reforms to make the labor market more flexible. Marching for "social justice" and against "American conditions" also meant marching for the continued joblessness of North African immigrants. But what of it? It's all too easy to ignore arguments like Gersemann's, congratulate oneself on being morally superior to capitalists, and then take a nice long vacation.
Both Europeans and Americans would benefit from reading this book. It's not a groundbreaking work of research, and in fact most of the information Gersemann presents can be gleaned from the financial press. But the book doesn't pretend to be groundbreaking. What makes it a success is that it so clearly and dispassionately debunks many of the most frequently repeated falsehoods about the American and European economies.
Challenge - not propaganda........2007-04-20
It is surprising that "Cowboy Capitalism", recommended by two nobel laureates (the late Friedman and Buchanan), would be accused of propaganda by a critical voice (Newton Ooi, below) who first proceeded to point out that all the facts it presents are true. "Cowboy Capitlism" has an agenda, of course - an agenda to show through the raw numbers that European (or NYTimes readers') perceptions of the two economic systems of central Europe and the US are skewed... that there is more to the differences and the benefits/detriments that each system offers, than is popularily acknowledged. Fear and suspicions (and lack of knowledge) are the cause of this - rather than facts. This book pokes fun at the former by trying to reveal the latter.
In doing so, CC is actually rather fair. It does not pretend that the European economic system is per se inferior to the US System. In fact, there were times in which it was rather superior. (Times of great economic stability had Germany, for example, grow its economy at a pace well above that of the US. Or healthcare - where Europe admittedly piggy-bag rides on US consumers' expenses, but which Gersemann has no probolem stating is a matter of preference, not "better" or "worse".)
Anyway... to look at the criticism listed below:
Home Ownership: The argument that because of higher population density, home ownership would *naturally* be less ("less land to build on") is completely ludicrous. What would follow that argument would be mass-homelessness, not low ownership rates. People in Europe still live in places... the question is: why don't they own? Apartments count, too, you know! (Density contributes to homes being more affordable - which is one of the reasons. Red tape making ownership more difficult is another. Rent-protection is yet another. (And when looking at entire countries, the numbers *are* meaningful. The author did not compare only New York to rural Europe.)
Education: I'm European, so I don't want to argue the point that by going to high school I am automatically smarter than a US college graduate... even though I had to learn that knowing where Malaysa and Phoenix are (I've 'always' known), somehow don't give me the edge on the job-market that I thought it would. :-( There are Americans who audaciously compete with me, despite flagrant lack of geographical knowledge... And win out! Perhaps other factors matter, too? Drats.
Unemployment rates are not measured by whether one "has to work" or not. Unemployment rates are measured by how many people *want* to work and can't. A busy little Hausfrau who takes care of the kids and whose husband makes enough to support the entire family doesn't show up in the unemployment numbers, because she probably doesn't run out and declare herself unemployed. So the higher numbers of unemployment of women in Europe reflect women who "have to work" -- but won't find a job. And that's the real problem... whether one likes the social ramnification and the dissolution of the family nucleus or not.
Computer use, Internet access et al. in Germany is well behind that of the US. Especially among the crowd that didn't grow up with them.
Computers, even made from recycled materials or made with the use of recycled parts (I've done that, years ago, but I wonder how common that still is) would still show up as a computer sold... They don't sit around trash-heaps and maker their own computers out of trash, after all.
The last point - oil-war-obesety-pharma-industry - is a little too dense fore me to get into. I am baffled.
Cowboy Capitalism does not pretend not to take sides. But it wants to show that it takes the side of greater economic freedom, because there are benefits to more people to be had - at the price of less security for others. (That's obviously a gross oversimplification... but aims in the right direction, I should believe.) The way this book does it is humorous (in a dry way) and merciless... but not with blindfolds or immune to "inconvenient" facts. This is a must-read for when your European friends come over to visit and try to tell you why everything is so much better in the old part of the world. (30% youth unemployment in France, a terribly efficient but very rigid economy, are just one of many points to consider...)
P.S. The Thinktank CATO is a libertarian institution, not a conservative one. The two overlap on many issues, but are not the same. (Legalization of drugs, Gay marriage et al. are points libertarians support; conservatives by-and-large don't.)
Lying with numbers........2007-03-04
The title of this book, Cowboy Capitalism, is a term many Europeans use to describe the American business climate. More precisely, the American style of economics involves a lot of uncertainty and risk, with high chances of success (Microsoft and Google) and failure (Enron and GM) and the ensuing results of low job security, high income fluctuations, and high rates of bankruptcies for businesses and individuals. This book argues that this has produced an overall better standard of living in the US than in the countries of Germany, France and Italy. This book is published by the Cato Institute, a conservative US organization that lobbies for deregulation of public enterprises, free market reforms and low taxes. The book argues its points by presenting a lot of statistical data comparing the employment rates, home ownership rates, educational levels, disposable income levels, and other macro and micro economic indicators of the US, France, Italy and Germany. I do not doubt the validity of the numbers presented, but they only show part of the story. Lets go over them one by one.
First, this book gives numbers showing that home ownership is higher in the US than in France, Italy and Germany. This is absolutely true. The author attributes this difference to the fact that since America is more free-market, incomes are generally higher in America, and hence more people can afford to own homes. The author totally misses the affect of population density. The population density of the three European countries listed are substantially higher than in the US, meaning there is less land per person. This means there is less land to build homes on, so of course fewer people can own homes. If one looks back over the past 30 years; the primary engine for economic growth in the US is new home construction. Besides, the use of home ownership as a measure of prosperity is totally bogus. New Yorkers have lower home ownership rates than residents of most southern cities, yet New Yorkers in general are wealthier than people living in the deep South.
Second, the book states that a higher percentage of people in America go to college than in France, Germany and Italy. Again, absolutely true. What the author misses is the amount of knowledge learned K-12. Specifically, many European high school graduates are better educated than many American college graduates. For instance, just about every European has taken a year of calculus before leaving high school. There are many American college graduates who have never taken a semester of calculus! If you don't believe me, ask yourself why College Algebra classes are so common on college campuses. Here is another example. After I received my bachelor's degree, I backpacked through Europe and stayed at youth hostels. Every local I met knew where Malaysia (my birth country) and Phoenix, Arizona (my hometown) was on the globe. Coming back home, most of my American friends could not locate the places I visited such as Berlin, Rome, London, Munich, etc... Another example, every French, German and Italian I met in Europe could speak English to some degree. How many native-born Americans can speak a second language? Getting an education is about acquiring a bank of knowledge and set of skills. I dare say most citizens of Italy, France and Germany acquire more knowledge and skills K-12 than most native-born Americans acquire K-college. Given this statement, the higher rates of college participation in the US do not amount to much.
Third, the book states that employment rates are higher in the US than in France, Germany and Italy; especially among women. This is true. What the author does not mention is that many Americans, especially women, work because they have to. Specifically, a larger percentage of American adults are single or divorced than in Europe. And the percentage of single American women raising children is higher than in Europe. Growing up in America, half my friends had working mothers. The most common reasons why was that either their fathers walked out on them, or their parents were divorced. So of course their mothers had to work; they could not rely on the fathers to bring home the bacon. This brings up another unspoken truth. A divorced couple requires twice as many places to live as a married couple; i.e. two houses versus one house. This means that two divorced parents will have to spend more money than two married parents. The more money that is spent means the faster the economy moves, so of course the US economy will grow faster than the European economy.
Fourth, the author states that the use of high-tech products in France, Italy and Germany is lower than in America. He argues this point by stating that the number of units of high-tech items sold in the US is higher per capita than in the 3 European countries, and that these industries employ more people in the US than in the 3 European countries. True again. Again the author leaves out many qualifying factors. For example, Germany has strict recycling and reuse laws for computers. Specifically, when a German throws away her old computer, it does not end up in a landfill occupying space and leaking various chemicals into the environment. Instead, it is taken apart piece by piece. Those parts that can be re-used, like the fans, housing and cables, are packaged with new computers, while those that cannot are recycled. In this way, less is wasted. A side effect is that since more stuff gets reused, there is less need to produce, hence a smaller industry geared around the production of computers in Germany. Does that mean Germans are less computer literate than Americans? I doubt it. I do not remember seeing in this book a chart comparing computer literacy in Germany versus the US.
Fifth, this book compares the state of the pharmaceutical industry in the US versus his three target European countries. The book shows that this industry is more profitable, generates more new drugs, employs more people, and pays better in the US than in Europe. This is all true. But what the author forgets is that demand for pharmaceutical drugs is less in Europe than in the US. As any person who has lived in both Europe and America can tell you, Americans are more obese and out of shape than Europeans. Higher obesity rates leads to higher rates of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and a whole host of other chronic diseases. This in turn leads to a higher demand for pharmaceutical drugs to treat them, which in turn leads to a bigger and more profitable pharmaceutical industry in the US than in Europe. Why are Americans more obese than in Europe? That leads to my last point, so keep reading.
Last, this book totally misses a point that is very telling in comparing the economies of the US, Germany, France and Italy, and that is energy consumption. Per person, Americans consume more BTUs of energy from fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal than Europeans. Energy is the blood of economic growth. Since the end of WWII, America has pursued a policy of acquiring and using fossil fuels in increasing amounts with time. On the other hand, Europe has pursued a dual policy of reduced energy use and increased energy independence. The former includes cities built to encourage walking and biking, and high taxes on fossil fuels such as car gasoline. The latter includes nuclear reactors in France, and a high reliance on solar and wind power in Germany. These policies are primarily due to WWII. First, the effects of the war left these countries in no shape to pursue aggressive foreign policies of defending oil wells. Second, many Europeans are aware that the causes of WWII included competition for fossil fuels. On the other hand, America was not devastated by WWII, but strengthened. Hence, America's economic growth has mirrored a growth in its fossil fuel industries. Is this a good thing? Once you consider global warming, pollution, destruction of land due to mineral extraction, and other factors, I think the grade goes to Europe for being more energy efficient; even if it means a slower economy and lower employment rates. As a side effect, Europeans drive less than Americans, but walk and bike more, and hence are generally healthier.
In conclusion, the facts stated by this book are all true, but the conclusions they point to are not. Many of the points must be placed in context with other qualifying factors. Overall, this is an OK book that must be read for what it is, propaganda, and not an economic treatise or case study.
Don't Cut the Pie, Bake Another One.......2007-02-15
This book explains that the European model of allocation assumes that the economy is static and employment can increase only by sharing existing jobs with regulation of hours and guaranteed employment. The US model is dynamic and companies that don't perform are replaced through the process of creative destruction by companies that do. Excess resources get reallocated to new enterprises to the benefit of everyone.
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- A Wee Guide to Mary, Queen of Scots (Wee Guides)
- Adventures of a Bystander
- Almanach De Gotha 2000 : Reigning & Formerly Reigning Royal and Princely Houses of Europe and South America (volume 1)
- Amelia Earhart's Daughters: The Wild And Glorious Story Of American Women Aviators From World War II To The Dawn Of The Space Age
- An Enterprising Life
- Antagonismo politico en la Espana de Godoy: La conspiracion Malaspina (1795-1796) (Ensayo e investigacion)
Books Index
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