Books for/about - International

The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Authors: Thomas L. Friedman

ISBN: 0374292795
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Summary: Knockout Analysis
Very sharp analysis and prediction. And very good characterization why extremism is so rife in the Muslim world. The only concern is that such gung-ho support of Free Trade as Friedman exhibits, is dangerious, especially when nations like China, and entities like the EU discriminate against and punish American-based companies and business interests.

Summary: Insightful view of globalization
Great read on globalization and how it does/will affect the future. Unlike other books, gives a 180 degree look into the immediate past, present, and potential future. Some areas in the book tend to lean towards prophecy, but Thomas Freidman does a good job of gluing his arguments together.

Summary: Science or Policy?
Thomas Friedman's tome on "globalization" is more a paean to neo-liberal capitalism than an analysis of technology and its potential benefits. After briefly exploring the profitless spirit of cooperation that motivated scientists, engineers, computer programmers and technical enthusiasts to develop "open source" free software, Internet file protocols, web platforms, web browsers, e-mail, and fiber optics technology for the common good, Friedman shifts focus to how these new technologies are now being exploited for profit through the magic of supply chains, outsourcing, in-sourcing, off-shoring, and labor arbitraging. From this point, he subtly shifts his theme from science to economics and takes up the torch for a new round of entrepreneurial enterprising under conventional neo-liberal assurances that improved technology will lead to a better future through market competition, reduced production costs, and lower prices. Unfortunately, he fails to account for why our highest expressions of technology over the past century have proved so completely futile in reducing worldwide unemployment, plight in the inner cities, the breakdown of infrastructure and social services, homelessness, hunger, disease, and premature death. He fails to explain why momentous achievements in agriculture, chemistry, transportation, computer science, biology, and medicine stand in such stark contrast to widespread wage slavery and grinding poverty in third-world countries while threatening the livelihood of millions of people in the industrialized countries.

Friedman expresses his flat (interconnected) worldview almost entirely through the eyes of capital, showing little regard for individuals who stand to lose their jobs during the exciting transition. He applauds flexible U.S. labor laws that allow employers to hire and fire without restrictions, but condemns Germany's restrictions as too inflexible for the quick redeployment of capital. Oddly, he does not express the same sentiment for flexibility with respect to government-subsidized /guaranteed corporate loans, regressive corporate tax rates, obsessive protection of corporate intellectual property rights (tantamount to monopoly), a government bail-out of the savings and loan industry, a government bail-out of banks that invested heavily in Mexico, huge subsidies for the airline industry and corporate agriculture. Apparently, he only expects little people to be adaptable and open to change. Corporate America will require its usual subsidies.

This book is well worth reading for its insightful and interesting history of the communications explosion. Friedman's delightful and easy-to-read prose provides copious and inspiring examples of technological progress and hope for a better future, but he naively depicts a world in which market forces are superseding nation states. Nothing could be further from the truth. America's largest multi-national corporations could not exist a day without government economic, political, and military support to protect their markets and subsidize their expenses. Contrary to Friedman's theme, policy still drives the world--not surrealistic market forces beyond mortal understanding and control. For better or worse, the world remains a product of our own creation. For greater insight on this subject, I recommend Failed States by Noam Chomsky, Empire with Imperialism by James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer, and The Left Strikes Back by James Petras.

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Conservatives Without Conscience

Publisher: Viking Adult
Authors: John Dean

ISBN: 0670037745
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Summary: Alaramist viepoint
Very conspiratorial in its tone. Not totally off the mark, but way too alarmist. When the Democrats take back the House, you will see John Dean was wrong in his theories.

Summary: From Goldwater to Bush II - Morphing of the Republican Party
I started out in my adult life as a Goldwater Republican and admired the Senator for his straight talk approach to politics, and adherence to a core set of political beliefs, which did not deter him from being able to work with his colleagues accross the aisle to get legislation accomplished. He was also good friends with JFK. John Dean in his latest book describes in vivid detail how we got from Goldwater conservatism to Bush II conservatism. What the book lays out is how alarmed Goldwater became when he started to see how the Republican Party was being taken over by the Christian right and their fundamentalist/evangelical religious views to be superimposed over our political processes at the local, state, and federal level of government. Goldwater and Reagan who were once close friends became somewhat alienated over the issue of religious interference in the political processes which Goldwater strongly opposed. In the book Goldwater describes in blunt terms exactly why this interference was so wrong for the country. Dean puts a lot of the blame for the current state of Republican affairs on Cheney and Rumsfeld who started out in political life working for Nixon, and drew the wrong conclusions from the Watergate scandel and subsequent resignaton of Nixon. Dean provides some excellent insights into the character makeup of each of the major Republican players and through anecdotal evidence just how shallow and manipulative much of the Republican leadership is. Especially damaging are the comments about Gingerich and Frist who did not exactly practice family values. Pat Robertson also comes across as a complete wacko with way too much influence with Republican Party circles. What's scary in this book are the thought processes of our current political leaders who apparently don't really believe in the U.S. Constitution, separation of powers, and checks and balances. Unfortunately, I read this book right after finishing the John Adams biography, which goes into great detail on how the founding fathers carefully constructed the U.S. Constitution to prevent abuses by any one branch of the government over another. The Supreme Court and the U.S. Congress were never intended to just be rubber stamps for the Executive Branch. This book is a must read for fiscal conservatives wondering how in the world the Republican Party was highjacked by Christian fundamentalists with extremely rigid views on how they view society and the world at large. Scary!

Summary: "Age of Reason"
The book will be a must read for Political Science majors in future college courses.

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	The One Percent Doctrine Publisher: Simon & Schuster Authors: Ron Suskind
ISBN: 0743271092 List Price: $27.00 Amazon Price: $16.20 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 3 Reviews: Summary: Praise for "The One Percent Doctrine" This is the careful work of a careful and insightful journalist. If you want a window on the twisted logic of the Bush Administration and its neocon ideologs as they misguided our run-up to the Iraq fiasco, read this book. Summary: The Haunted (White) House The scariest novel I've read since Stephen King's "The Shining." Substitute the snowed-in lodge with the White House and it is the same story. Summary: Truth is scarier than fiction If you've been paying attention to politics in the United States since 9/11, this book will be of interest. If you suspected lies and schemes from the White House leading up to the war in Iraq, this book will add fuel to your fire. Suskind unravels the story from the inside, with playfully written scenes between key characters involved in the intelligence community and the Bush administration. Not only will you learn about terrorists who are not, but you will also learn about Cheney's "one percent" doctrine, which, in a nutshell, states that the US government must act on anything which has a one percent chance of happening. From this platform, the US has invaded a country which (according to CIA experts at the time) had nothing to do with 9/11 and which had no WMD capabilities -- ok, maybe there was a 1% chance they might. Forget the 99% chance that they don't. By far one of the most frightening and enlightening books I've read in a long time. Summary:

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Godless: The Church of Liberalism

Publisher: Crown Forum
Authors: Ann Coulter

ISBN: 1400054206
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Summary: Ann! Will you marry me?
I've finally found my soul mate. A woman who is very intelligent, very good looking and able to hold her own in an intellectual bar fight. This is the blonde that offsets all other blondes.

Seriously, Ann has always been a contraversial writer, but that's becasue writers without contraversy have nothing to say. Ann's clear, consise and sometimes sarcastic wit peppers her very insightful. It's a great gift for a liberal with an open mind if you can find one.

Summary: Ann over the top
I couldn't put this one down. Ann identifies then debunks the foundations of the religion of liberalism. It will give you great insight into how liberals think and the ammunition to prove them wrong. Ann does go over the top with a couple of comments, but read the book for the 99.9% that isn't over the top, but pure conservative fact.

Summary: You'll either Love it or Hate it Depending on whether or not Your Ox is being Gored.
It amazes me how much time some people have on their hands to sit around on Amazon all day and knock books they haven't even read just because they loathe the author. They also sit around and savage reviewers they disagree with.

"Godless" is such a book. The only part most people know about is the snippet on the Jersey Girls, the WTC Widows who were probably trashing GWB before 9-11 and now do it expecting not to be criticized because they are "victims". All the controversy is much ado about nothing. All it does is make people want to buy the book and the author is the type to say anything to get publicity.

The book itself is a rehash of recent news stories about the separation of Church and State, the War on Terror, and Cultural Diversity Politics all peppered by Anne's satiric wit which may or may not be your cup of tea. Most of the allegations of "Plagarism" come from the fact that she paraphrases some well known items in the news. If you've ever been accused of plagarism on your blog or on a BBS for criticising a NYT article by someone who disagrees with you, you know this old tactic for trying to stifle disagreeable speech.

Anne spends most of her time pointing out what hypocrites those on the left are. She shows how there cannot really be values free education. She shows how the Left strains the gnat of Judeo-Christian Fundamentalism from society yet swallows the Camel of Muslim Fundamentalist Islamofascism in the name of Diversity and Political Correctness.

I personally find most of Anne's snide comments to be funny. If you enjoy her weekly column you will enjoy the book. If not don't bother.

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Daisy Cooks!: Latin Flavors That Will Rock Your World

Publisher: Hyperion
Authors: Daisy Martinez

ISBN: 1401301606
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Summary: Latin At Heart
When this soul food loving, African-American was asked by her Turkish-American boyfriend to prepare a Spanish fiesta for his birthday, I turned to Daisy Martinez. I'm a big fan of her cooking show because she makes everything look fun and easy. Her book is exactly the same; fun and easy. I was able to prepare a delicious, latin meal of steak, rice, beans and tomato salad for 10 people! The recipes were so simple that I memorized them the day before fooling everyone into thinking that I did it all on my own. Thanks Daisy!

Summary: Rice and Mush?
As an accomplished Italian/American cook who's trying to learn how to cook a few simple Latin dishes, I thought this book was THE book to have. I was a little disappointed, though, in some of the recipes. After scouring several supermarkets and bodegas, I finally purchased all the ingredients needed to make the sofrito, rice and beans and sweet plantains. I followed Daisy's clear and concise recipes TO THE LETTER. For the rice and beans, she says she does not rinse the rice and she uses Carolina Rice. Well, my rice was VERY tasty, but it was MUSH! In speaking to some "Nuyoricans", I learned that long grained, Carolina rice is the WORST to use. Additionally, her recipe calls for way to little oil. Sooo...I ended up with a full garbage can and an empty stomach. The pork chops were OK but not spectacular or even good enough to make again, considering they are fried (as is a lot of stuff in this book). The plantains were deee-lish, but what could go wrong there? I am a little annoyed because now I have a freezer full of sofrito and I'm reluctant to try anymore recipes from this book.

I give this book 3 stars because the instructions are fabulous and easy to follow, the tips are good and it's presented nicely (although we could use more pictures of food and less of Daisy). I'm glad, though, that I didn't pay the 30+ dollars to buy it off of her website. So far, I'm not impressed.

Summary: Daisy Really Knows How to "Salsa"
As a Puerto Rican cook myself, and growing up with a mother and two aunts who were excellent cooks themselves, I was very interested in Daisy's recipes and how they compared to what I was familiar with. Daisy uses the same wonderful spices and preparations. Her explanations were easy and fun to follow and the rice and other dishes were great. I also bought two more books for gifts. I only wish that it could have included more pictures of the recipes. However, I loved her background family info. It was very interesting. Thanks Daisy, for putting down those wonderful recipes in print for our enjoyment!

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	Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08,No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of th Publisher: Dutton Adult Authors: Greg Palast
ISBN: 0525949682 List Price: $25.95 Amazon Price: $16.35 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 5 Reviews: Summary: Extensive documentation makes things clear. As is usual for Greg Palast his diligent research makes the unbelievable truth believable. When the murderous cheating that takes place in the heights of the high stakes game of American politics is so audacious that people can literally nor believe that the Bush administration, or any human for that matter, could possibly be doing what they evidently are doing Mr. Palast comes to our rescue by presenting not only convincing evidence that you should believe your eyes and ears but makes clear the motives, rationalizations ("political philosophy") and methods behind them. He does this in a way that is entertaining enough to counter the soul numbing depression that comes with this knowledge. Summary: Great, with one glaring omission Contrary to an earlier reviewer's critique of Mr. Palast's prose as "flippant," I find it engagingly pithy and witty--a salubrious style for the often dismal facts presented. Altogether an excellent exposition of this regressive regime and its neofascist agenda, with one GLARING omission, thus my 4-star rating: Nowhere in these 300+ pages is found a single reference to Israel or the American Likudniks who have exercised a powerful--some say decisive--voice in the Neocon faction. It is fairly well-known that PNAC's manifesto for American empire was in part derived from an earlier document--the "A Clean Break: A Strategy for Securing the Realm" paper written in Israel for Netanyahu. Perle, Wolfowitz and Feith have very close to the Israeli right (some holding dual passports), yet there is not a breath about these connections, or the powerful influence of AIPAC in lobbying for the Iraq invasion. In the index, "Israel" and "AIPAC" are conspicuously absent, as is the context of this parenthetical remark on pg. 132: "Feith had created the Office of Special Plans, the neo-con's dream factory at the Pentagon. (His assistant there, Larry Franklin, later plead guilty for passing classified documents to lobbyists.)" What lobbyists, Mr. Palast? Perhaps he originally wrote "AIPAC lobbyists," but after the barrage of anti-Semitic slander heaped on Mearsheimer and Walt, decided he'd rather not run that gauntlet. And we are left with the impression that the strategic interests of the far-right Zionists and their minions in the U.S. have had virtually no influence worth mentioning on American foreign policy in the last decade. No, "the Jews" didn''t orchestrate it all, as the true knuckledragging anti-Semites are eager to believe, but AIPAC and its allies in the Pentagon were hardly a negligible factor in beating the war drums. Great work, Mr. Palast, but after calling Ann Coulter "gutless," (true), you might examine your own moxy before the next book. OK, I'm ready for the inevitable "anti-Semite!" flame fest now... Summary: Just think about it Other reviewers have highlighted the different subjects that Palast tackles - and enlightens - in this quirky but amazing book. Its principal merit is to bring clarity to topics, especially the political role of oil in today's world, that much of the mainstream media overlooks or else buys into the "standard line". And Palast seems to have the documentation to back up his theories (I love the hidden cassette recorder). This is a book that will leave you looking at the topics it examines with a new vision. So, add this to the list of "must read" books about today's world, and in particular the Bush World and America's big business/big finance interests worldwide. Read it before Chavez is assassinated. Summary:

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NIV/The Message Parallel Bible (New International Version)

Publisher: Zondervan
Authors: Zondervan

ISBN: 0310928893
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Summary: very helpful
I teach a ladies' Sunday School class and having the parallel version enables me to compare the two versions and share with them. I love it for my personal study also.

Summary: Multiple Translations Are Helpful - The Message is a Great Start
First About Translations and Pitting One Against Another:

I took Greek for several years and can make my way through some of the simpler parts of the New Testament with lots of trips to my reference books, but I'm actually a fan of multiple translations, and believe that we English speakers are so gifted/blessed/lucky to have so many good translations and paraphrases of the Bible in English.

When you get to a difficult passage and you don't read the original language, reading as many translations as possible helps you to understand the many multiple possible readings and meanings in the original. It is as close as most mono-lingual people will come to actually reading the original text.

With that said, The Message is a great paraphrase for people who are not fans of reading or whose vocabularies and understandings of texts are limited. It is also great for people like me who have read the whole Bible several times in the KJV, the NKJV, the RSV, the NRSV, the NASB, the ESV, etc. etc. who have memorized large sections of the Book and who have come so accustomed to some of the passages that the urgency and power of the core text sometimes gets lost. The new angles that Petersen introduces helps people like me return to the power of a first encounter with a very interesting and wonder-filled book in ways that might not otherwise be possible.

What the Message doesn't do well is capture the power of the poetry in the books of wisdom, in some of the prophets, and in parts of the gospels and in some of the letters of Paul (and, perhaps, in the book of Hebrews). I think that Petersen's version of the Psalms are particularly weak in this area.

But again, his version, set beside the KJV, the RSV, the ESV, the NRSV, and the NIV will allow each of the translations and paraphrases to complement each other and help readers increase their appreaciation and understanding. I think there is value in that. So this parallel version is a great opportunity to start the process of comparative understanding that we might call the discovery of inspiration.

There really is no reason to fight about it, unless we are one of the few people who can read the Greek and the Hebrew fluently, we'll all have to settle for someone elses 'version' and we will all benefit from the experience of reapproaching the text from several different angles.

Summary: You Must realize the Message's purpose
For the bad reviewers here - the purpose of the Message is to get people reading the Bible who normally would not. It is not intended to be a stand alone Bible, or a Bible for intense study - although The Message is a great companion translation to study with. I find that it makes me think about a passage in more depth instead of assuming I already know what it means.
Also, for the reviewer who believes we should learn English better and use the KJV and RSV - who's English? That of King James in the 17th century or the English we actually speak today? If you want to seriously study the Bible you should learn Greek and Hebrew - the languages that the Bible was originally written in. That's what Eugene Peterson did, and anyone who takes issue with his translation should not simply compare The Message to other English translations, but compare the message with the Greek and Hebrew Bible.
The Message is getting people into the Bible more than before - and that is good.

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International Marketing

Publisher: Irwin Professional Pub
Authors: Philip R. Cateora John L. Graham

ISBN: 0072941642
List Price: $159.75
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 4
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Summary: Not as bad as others are saying!
I purchased this book for an International Marketing course I had to take for my MBA Program. I have to disagree with what I have read about in other reviews - I found this book easy to read, and simple to understand. The examples used help clarify concepts and I felt the book was well organized. I especially liked the Country Notebook section in the back of the book. It was the perfect course-long project to apply the concepts and knowledge we learned about in class. I feel that this book is just about as good as an International Marketing MBA textbook can get!

Summary: Knowledgeable authors-boring writing
I took an International Business class for my MBA. I read every chapter in this book. There was a lot of knowledge included but there is often too much wordy writing and the book drones on. The definitions need to be in the margins. The last chapters are more of a cross cultural study of doing business with Japanese. It was a boring read-but good before bedtime for those that do not fall asleep easily.

Summary: Wordy, poorly organized, requires significant supplements
I used this book in an MBA International Marketing course. The text is a very cumbersome read. While the book contains adequate anecdotal information, the information is poorly organized and often fails to engage the reader. I routinely found myself searching for more concise supplemental materials for concepts the book failed to develop. The narratives are extremely wordy and consistently obfuscate salient points. If I were using the book as an instructor, I would use the country notebook section as a course guide and scrap the rest.

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