Thoughts on Michael Graetz’ The End of Energy
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Books, Environment, Washington Leave a comment »Overall, this book passed my test – it was worth the purchase price.
On the negative side, I felt as though Graetz occasionally leans too heavily on a few stereotypes. For example, he repeatedly dredges up the view of environmentalists as being ‘think small’ and anti-growth. But he fails to mention that a number of prominent environmentalists, notably William McDonough, celebrate sustainable economic growth. On a related note, beyond passing mentions of electric cars and recent growth in solar and wind, Graetz doesn’t spend much time at all on recent business activity in clean energy tech. I didn’t see any reference to companies like BrightSource Energy or SolarCity, for example.
LIke I said, though, the book was worth it for me. I particularly appreciated his discussion on taxes as the obvious and rational choice for dealing with carbon pollution and climate change. In that vein, I also liked his hammering away at policymakers who are hamstrung by anti-tax mania and a fear of asking Americans to sacrifice anything. “Congress is especially bad at addressing long-term problems,” Graetz writes. Depressing.
Ordered: Italian Folktales
Posted: January 29, 2012 Filed under: Books 2 Comments »When I was a kid, my family read Italo Calvino’s Italian Folktales. I remember everyone loving it, so I just ordered up a copy on Amazon. Hope the book holds up.
How Times Have Changed
Posted: December 20, 2011 Filed under: Books, Environment, Washington Leave a comment »The End of Energy, page 220:
The Clean Air Act passed the Senate in September 1970 by a vote of 73 to 0.
Coal Horror Show
Posted: November 14, 2011 Filed under: Books, Environment Leave a comment »But the problems with coal emissions do not end with [acid rain]. Sulfur dioxide, although invisible, deflects light – and it is one of the main reasons that average visibility in the eastern United States is only 14 miles. Burning coal also produces one-quarter of the nation’s nitrogen oxide, an important contributor to smog, and coal emissions have led to high mercury levels in fish, causing brain damage to fetuses and children. One study…estimates that power plant emissions kills more than 30,000 people each year…
The Fall of the House of Forbes
Posted: October 7, 2011 Filed under: Books Leave a comment »I just got done with Stewart Pinkerton’s The Fall of the House of Forbes. I found it definitely worth the 13 bucks, but that’s probably because I worked at the company for eight years.
So, would I recommend the book to people who haven’t worked for Forbes? If you are fascinated by the eccentricities of rich people, certainly. Pinkerton serves up plenty of detail on the oddball and lavish sides of the Forbes family.
As a broader look at the media biz, I wouldn’t rate this one so highly. Pinkerton lays heavy blame for Forbes’ troubles on the family’s alleged incompetence, without going too into depth on the larger forces at work. So it can be misleading. For example, he dwells on the recent rounds of layoffs at Forbes but doesn’t really explain that plenty of other media companies were contracting pretty hard and cutting people at the same time.
On the flip side, he suggests Forbes is about to be crushed by Bloomberg and its “2000 journalists.” That may be true, but Pinkerton doesn’t go into what enables Bloomberg to field such a humongous edit staff. Again, I think that’s misleading. It leaves you with the impression that Bloomberg is a winner simply because they invest more in journalism.
A couple of other things bothered me about the book, but I thought it was a decent read overall. At the very least, I salute Pinkerton for writing down a bunch of stuff that I probably would have forgotten about in 10 years time.
Shaky
Posted: September 23, 2011 Filed under: Books Leave a comment »Always nice to have something to look forward to. JamBands.com:
Following the path of legendary rock stars like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards, Neil Young has announced plans to release his autobiography, next fall.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Posted: August 28, 2011 Filed under: Books, Recording, Sport Leave a comment »H/T Ukulele for Dummies.
Downloaded: Ukulele for Dummies
Posted: August 23, 2011 Filed under: Books 1 Comment »After thoroughly enjoying Dances with Dragons, I’m back to self help. This time it’s Ukulele for Dummies. I’ve had mixed results with these books. Reading Chess for Dummies, for example, hasn’t helped me to avoid getting crushed every single time by the computer opponent on my iOS chess app.
But this one has already taught me a couple of things. One is a way for dummies to remember the G-C-E-A sequence of strings on the ukulele. In the book, a cartoon provides a helpful mnemonic: ”Giant Cockroaches Eat A Lot.”
Downloaded Isabel’s New #Book: A Year in Six Seconds
Posted: August 2, 2011 Filed under: Books, Deep 2 Comments »I’m taking a break from George R.R. Martin to read my sister’s recently released memoir, A Year in Six Seconds. Obviously, I can’t review the book all that objectively, but you’ll find some nice comments on it at Amazon.com.
I will mention this outstanding aspect of the book – in the first few pages, it quotes Carl Sagan…twice! One of those quotes: “Understanding is joyous.”
Dances with Dragons: 764 iBook Pages In
Posted: July 29, 2011 Filed under: Books Leave a comment »I’m still going strong with Dances with Dragons, although I have to say the reading experience feels somewhat different than it did with the other books. Maybe the writing is pretty much the same as the rest of the series, and I’m just getting older or whatever, but it feels like this one leans a little too heavily on revulsion. The over-the-top disgusting bits just come a little too frequently.
One indicator of that showed up on the bus the other day – I was reluctant to even open up the book on my iPad, because I was worried the person sitting next to me might check out what I was reading and get get horrified. I have no plans to stop reading, though. Made it this far.
