A very good read, and quite short (under 200 pages):
Dead Aid: Why Aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa.
Dambisa Moyo. Published by Farrar, Straus And Giroux, 2009.
Very good and well worth reading.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday, December 29, 2008
Culture and Conflict in the Middle East
A professor at McGill University in Canada - Philip Salzman has written an interesting book - Culture and Conflict in the Middle East. I admit, it is now nearly a year old, but it takes me some time to read books. Life gets in the way of things we enjoy.
The book is interesting for its approach to the issues in the Middle East - Salzman argues they are tribal in nature, and when we reflect upon this, it makes some sense. When governments fall or are corrupt, individuals rely upon tribal structure to provide order and stability.
Implications - they marry each other off to cousins and others - why? to benefit from expanded family growth - fertility. More kids. Expand the tribe. Give great thanks for a son, who will produce many children and expand the tribe further. The larger the tribe, the more power the tribe holds, the greater the strength, the greater the insult when an insult occurs - resulting in violent actions against other tribes (whereby the tribe with the most males will be in a better position to win).
It would behove the tribe to impose restrictions upon the females and then to watch over the females to catch a female from an opposing clan or tribe and force her family to commit an honor killing (thereby depriving the tribe of reproductive benefits).
book
The book is interesting for its approach to the issues in the Middle East - Salzman argues they are tribal in nature, and when we reflect upon this, it makes some sense. When governments fall or are corrupt, individuals rely upon tribal structure to provide order and stability.
Implications - they marry each other off to cousins and others - why? to benefit from expanded family growth - fertility. More kids. Expand the tribe. Give great thanks for a son, who will produce many children and expand the tribe further. The larger the tribe, the more power the tribe holds, the greater the strength, the greater the insult when an insult occurs - resulting in violent actions against other tribes (whereby the tribe with the most males will be in a better position to win).
It would behove the tribe to impose restrictions upon the females and then to watch over the females to catch a female from an opposing clan or tribe and force her family to commit an honor killing (thereby depriving the tribe of reproductive benefits).
book
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Books to Read
Author - Kenneth Timmerman. The book: Shadow Warriors.
If anyone has time, any amount of time - the book needs to be read.
If 10% is true ... well, if 10% is true then ... I cannot even fathom the 'then' part.
400 pages, extensively documented - EXTENSIVELY.
Timmerman wrote another book I found very good - The French Betrayal of America (if you still have time, pick this one up also).
books to read
If anyone has time, any amount of time - the book needs to be read.
If 10% is true ... well, if 10% is true then ... I cannot even fathom the 'then' part.
400 pages, extensively documented - EXTENSIVELY.
Timmerman wrote another book I found very good - The French Betrayal of America (if you still have time, pick this one up also).
books to read
Sunday, July 6, 2008
3 Books
Reasonably good books and reasonably quick reads. Unlike a text you must study for a quiz or exam, you can skip a word or two and not lose the main point of the chapters:
Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. Hyperion books.
Children at War. P. W. Singer. Univ Calif Press.
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of three Lost Boys from Sudan. Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak. Public Affairs.
And just to be clear - a great deal of what is happening in the Sudan IS RELIGIOUS.
The fact the UN says otherwise is bullshit - they set up a committee to investigate the claims of genocide and reached the startling conclusion that it was NOT genocide. Amazing that any sentient being still thinks the UN is useful.
The fact they refuse to accept that it is genocide and religiously driven, is evidence of their uselessness.
Those who argue to the contrary, will ultimately find themselves complicit in the genocide.
fuck the UN
Sudan and Islam
Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. Hyperion books.
Children at War. P. W. Singer. Univ Calif Press.
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of three Lost Boys from Sudan. Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak. Public Affairs.
And just to be clear - a great deal of what is happening in the Sudan IS RELIGIOUS.
The fact the UN says otherwise is bullshit - they set up a committee to investigate the claims of genocide and reached the startling conclusion that it was NOT genocide. Amazing that any sentient being still thinks the UN is useful.
The fact they refuse to accept that it is genocide and religiously driven, is evidence of their uselessness.
Those who argue to the contrary, will ultimately find themselves complicit in the genocide.
fuck the UN
Sudan and Islam
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Just Do It!
So says the Pope. A vatican sanctioned sex guide is encouraging churchgoers to make love more often ...
The book - It's a Sin Not To Do It written by Roberto Beretta and Elisabetta Broli.
___________________________________________________
Population issues admittedly do play a role in this book, even if not explicit. Concern that Europe will be awash in non-Catholics soon enough ... and it may well be too late.
The book - It's a Sin Not To Do It written by Roberto Beretta and Elisabetta Broli.
___________________________________________________
Population issues admittedly do play a role in this book, even if not explicit. Concern that Europe will be awash in non-Catholics soon enough ... and it may well be too late.
Healthy, wealthy - and very afraid
Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear by Dan Gardner
We often forget we are the healthiest (or able to be the healthiest) generation in human history with the greatest medical and technological advances in human history and still more waiting to be discovered, imminenetly so. Fear sells - whether you are Hillary and her 3 am phone call or you are the current administration or you are the media - all have a stake in stoking the embers of fear wherever they may be.
Worth reading.
We often forget we are the healthiest (or able to be the healthiest) generation in human history with the greatest medical and technological advances in human history and still more waiting to be discovered, imminenetly so. Fear sells - whether you are Hillary and her 3 am phone call or you are the current administration or you are the media - all have a stake in stoking the embers of fear wherever they may be.
Worth reading.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments