WATERGATE

Nixon did not lose the Presidency from the petty Watergate burglary; he lost it from the cover-up. Just as LaRue is found not indicted for murdering his father, Nixon is not indicted for a petty crime. But, as Forest Gump would say, “stupid is as stupid does”. Continue reading →

The post WATERGATE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

CIVILIZATIONS COLLIDE

After listening to Achebe’s book, one guardedly chooses to believe that cultural evolution is moving toward a better life for Africans. The following YOUTUBE story about violence in Nigeria suggests civilizations continue to collide and one wonders if African life is getting better: YOUTUBE-ANOTHER LYNCHING IN WARRI: http://youtu.be/VQUga48SDiY Continue reading →

The post CIVILIZATIONS COLLIDE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY

If knowledge is power, knowledge is gathered through experience and information. Maybe it is time for America and other struggling economies to create a team of physicists, philosophers, managers, and mathematicians to build new models for a 21st century economy. James Owen Weatherall certainly thinks so. Continue reading →

The post ECONOMIC RECOVERY appeared first on awalkingdelight.

REINCARNATION

Finding the right balance in life is an overriding theme in Mo Yan’s story. As the inscription on the temple of Apollo at Delphi suggests, “Nothing in excess”; Aristotle, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and many others have suggested moderation in all things. Mo Yan suggests that both Chinese communism and capitalism fail to offer the right balance in life. Continue reading →

The post REINCARNATION appeared first on awalkingdelight.

STALIN

Secretiveness is a habit formed by life experience, inculcated in modern Russian culture. Historical truth is obscured by entrenched habit and obscure symbolic fragments of false accusations and convictions. After reading Montefiore’s story, "Sashenka", one wonders how many generations it will take to overcome the effects of Stalinism. Continue reading →

The post STALIN appeared first on awalkingdelight.

MONGOL EMPIRE

Conn Iggulden plays with historical truth (if there is truth in history) about Mongol ascension and intrigue but he excites the imagination with plausible explanations. Iggulden offers some interesting insight to the 13th century. Aggression and brutality pay when used in war but are less reliable when used in peace. Continue reading →

The post MONGOL EMPIRE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

Competent executives are not doers of things but developers of people. Change comes in well managed companies that realize developing one’s replacement is an opportunity and not a threat to one’s position. Not accepting that management belief creates fear in the executive office. Less competent executives and supervisors are threatened by competent subordinates rather than energized by liberated management time. Continue reading →

The post WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

ROAD NOT TAKEN

“Keynes Hayek” should be required reading for American legislators. America is not sacrificing the future with deficit spending for public works. Public works, like much-needed bridge repairs and power grid improvements, creates jobs, increase American wealth, and insure the future of American prosperity. Keynesian economics rescued America twice, once in 1929 and now in the 21st century. How much more proof is needed? Continue reading →

The post ROAD NOT TAKEN appeared first on awalkingdelight.

ART

At the end, one wonders whether art is entering a new dark age where the value of art is degraded by technology that makes too much of medium as message. Art needs to be more than a transaction between willing seller and buyer. Continue reading →

The post ART appeared first on awalkingdelight.

CIRCLES OF HELL

Judging from Laurent Binet’s “HHhH”, Hitler may be the only WWII leader who earns a lower place in Dante’s circles of hell than Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich is Hitler’s action-man, the organizer and perpetrator of the “final solution” that exemplifies the world’s shame. Continue reading →

The post CIRCLES OF HELL appeared first on awalkingdelight.

CAUTIONARY TALE

Marriage is an obvious subject of “Pride and Prejudice” but how one decides who to marry is the more interesting exploration. Truth of “being” is what one seeks when looking for a life partner. The irony is that one will never know the truth of one’s partner but the search is no less important than the finding. Continue reading →

The post CAUTIONARY TALE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

DISPROPORTIONATE WEALTH

The seamy side of disproportionate wealth frequently appears in books. Some are classics of fiction like “The Grapes of Wrath”; others are modern fictions, apocryphal, and less renowned, like Aravind Adiga’s “White Tiger”. “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” shows the ugly truth of a poorly regulated capitalist economy. Continue reading →

The post DISPROPORTIONATE WEALTH appeared first on awalkingdelight.

DECISION

Who would have thought there is so much to know about fonts? Garfield offers a first rate entertainment with “Just My Type”. One wonders, what font decision Garfield made? Who cares?--"Just My Type" is a short and enjoyable audiobook. Continue reading →

The post DECISION appeared first on awalkingdelight.

AN EXAMINED LIFE

This is a sad, depressing story because Wallace trivialized his life by committing suicide. If society is addicted to entertainment then Wallace infers suicide is a harbinger of the future. This is a myopic view of humanity but a true story of a closely examined life. Continue reading →

The post AN EXAMINED LIFE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

NEVADA MINING

Nevada is a storied mining state. The 1858 Comstock Lode opens silver mining in Nevada. In the 1870s, gold is discovered in Eureka County but the low grade deposits are too small to create much excitement; at least until 1961, when Newmont Mining Corporation moves into the Carlin area and begins producing gold from low grade deposits. Continue reading →

The post NEVADA MINING appeared first on awalkingdelight.

A BETTER PHYSICIAN

Doctor Gawande shines a light on dark corners of medical practice in the United States and suggests ways American medical mistakes can be reduced, methodology constructively changed, costs better controlled, and service equitably improved. Continue reading →

The post A BETTER PHYSICIAN appeared first on awalkingdelight.

ARTISTS & WRITERS

A suggestive thread weaves through Robert Long’s vignettes in "De Kooning's Bicycle"; i.e. artistic creativity seems linked to self-destructive behavior. This trite and banal inference diminishes the book’s appeal. Life is difficult for every human being, not just creative artists and writers. The monumental difference is that creativity in any field of endeavor gives one a chance to live forever. Continue reading →

The post ARTISTS & WRITERS appeared first on awalkingdelight.

WHO AM I?

Defined by a daughter that no longer lives in his life, Schroder becomes like his father; abandoned by all. Eric is only a perception of himself. He wanders between two identities with no relational reinforcement. He wonders, who am I? Continue reading →

The post WHO AM I? appeared first on awalkingdelight.

WHAT WE DO

George Saunders sees that measuring one’s success by possessions defines you as an inanity, an empty symbol of humanity. What we do; not just what we think is what we become. Continue reading →

The post WHAT WE DO appeared first on awalkingdelight.

ROBIN HOOD

Sir Walter Scott may be a better writer than is shown in “Ivanhoe” but for adventure and romance, Alexander Dumas is a better practitioner of the art. Continue reading →

The post ROBIN HOOD appeared first on awalkingdelight.

SKIN IN THE GAME

Doctors are not wholly good or bad; they, like all human beings, are motivated by money, power, and prestige. Doctors make mistakes. Patients make mistakes. Human beings are not immortal and life is ephemeral. Luck, both good and bad, accompanies good and bad decisions made by both doctors and patients. Continue reading →

The post SKIN IN THE GAME appeared first on awalkingdelight.

MODERN

Nearing the end of Vasari’s history, Michelangelo is shown to admire Titian’s work for his sensual beauty while criticizing Titian’s drawing experience.The beauty of Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” seems to argue both agreement and disagreement with Vasari’s purported opinion of Michelangelo. “Venus of Urbino” is a beautiful work of art but only a master of drawing would dare criticize Titian’s drawing prowess. Continue reading →

The post MODERN appeared first on awalkingdelight.

MEDICINE

Thomas Hager tells a terrific story that resonates with today’s complex societal relationship with the drug manufacturing industry. On the one hand, huge investment is needed to discover patentable new drugs; on the other hand, millions of people cannot afford new medicines that are manufactured and controlled by drug companies that seek better return on their investment. Continue reading →

The post MEDICINE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

HEAVEN AND EARTH

“Kafka on the Shore” has few definitive conclusions about life, heaven, hell, or other dimensional universes but it is like an “Alice in Wonderland” adventure; i.e. rather than a girl’s journey, it is a boy’s journey, sprinkled with real and imagined truths--sometimes funny; sometimes not. Continue reading →

The post HEAVEN AND EARTH appeared first on awalkingdelight.

LAS VEGAS SCHOOLS

In 2012, Superintendent Dwight Jones reported progress in Clark County’s public school system with an increase in graduation rate from 59 percent to 66 percent but the road to improvement remains steep and unforgiving (Wisconsin and New Jersey are nearing 90%). Some Las Vegas Valley parents choose not to stand and wait; i.e. faith-based schools are growing to offer education and graduation alternatives to Clark County’s public school system. Continue reading →

The post LAS VEGAS SCHOOLS appeared first on awalkingdelight.

MIRACLES

Getting back to who cares—maybe Einstein’s God is as real as life and miracles are evidence of existence; then again, Quantum Mechanics is saying that reality is probabilistic; i.e. a miracle is not a miracle but a statistical anomaly. Maybe Quantum Mechanics is evidence of alternate realities. While the known earth is choking on industrialization, maybe there is another probabilistic reality that reverses pollution—maybe Quantum Mechanics is a key to open a door to humanity’s alternatives. Continue reading →

The post MIRACLES appeared first on awalkingdelight.

PAINLESS HISTORY

Ken Follett offers a painless method for learning something about the history of the 20th century in "Fall of Giants". Follett’s trilogy may not be a precise factual report of 20th century history but no history, of any time, has ever been precise. Continue reading →

The post PAINLESS HISTORY appeared first on awalkingdelight.

LAS VEGAS VISION

Without youth, economic and cultural decay is inevitable; youth inherits and changes the world and Hsieh is bringing youth to downtown Las Vegas. Take an 8 block walk down East Clark Avenue or East Ogden; or walk the 5 blocks between the two avenues, and the impact of Hsieh’s change agent’ influence seems everywhere Continue reading →

The post LAS VEGAS VISION appeared first on awalkingdelight.

THEORIES OF PHYSICS

Newton is praised because of his prescient insight to the laws of physics for what mankind can see. Maxwell is praised for grasping the unity of scientific phenomena in his theory of electromagnetic radiation. Einstein is praised because of insight to the physics of the unseen through laws of special and gerneral relativity.The history of a static, immutable, Newtonian universe evolves into a quantum universe that begins by rapidly expanding; then, slowing down, and once again, rapidly expanding. Brian Greene explains theories of how and why the definition of space has changed. Continue reading →

The post THEORIES OF PHYSICS appeared first on awalkingdelight.

CATHERINE THE GREAT

History's events show that Catherine's reign is correctly catalogued as "the Great". Catherine the Great successfully replaced a weak, ineffectual Tsar with little bloodshed and governmental disruption. She expanded the Russian empire and won several wars. She raised recognition of the power and importance of education and women in the world by expanding schools and projecting an image of enlightened government. She changed the image of Russia from an ignorant farming nation to a forward-looking cultural center with technological, agricultural, and world trade experience; not bad, for an obscure German Princess. Continue reading →

The post CATHERINE THE GREAT appeared first on awalkingdelight.

HARDSHIP AND TRAGEDY

Ayn Rand envisions libertine capitalism while John Steinbeck proposes collective capitalism; neither of which acknowledge the truth of human nature. Mankind is both good and bad and cannot be left in a state of nature. Human nature in a capitalist society must be prudently regulated by a deliberative government that balances the interests of its citizens. Continue reading →

The post HARDSHIP AND TRAGEDY appeared first on awalkingdelight.

GOING CLEAR

To a non-Scientologist, history shows Hubbard as psychologically unbalanced but some of his teachings show a quality of human understanding that surpasses common knowledge. This “superior perception of reality” seduces followers into believing in something greater than them-selves; it gives direction and structure to drifting and unfocused minds. Continue reading →

The post GOING CLEAR appeared first on awalkingdelight.

BEING BLACK

“Beloved” is like a song with a refrain that reveals the terror and hope of being black in a prison of white jailers that exercise control over most aspects of their life. Morrison’s ethereal writing and voice soothes sense while searing conscience; i.e. elegant phrasing and allusions tell horrific stories of being Black in mid-19th century America. Continue reading →

The post BEING BLACK appeared first on awalkingdelight.

THE PLAY’S THE THING

Mantel’s first book, “Wolf Hall”, sets the stage for Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power; Mantel’s second book “Bring Up the Bodies” is the written play, with Cromwell as the main actor, the Queens as supporting actresses, and noblemen as bit-players; with the King as producer and director. Continue reading →

The post THE PLAY’S THE THING appeared first on awalkingdelight.

RISING GAS COST

Though no one has been able to clearly correlate rates of unemployment with gas cost, it is an important variable in job markets. Job seekers are the most immediately affected by rising prices but the transportation industry suffers soon after because gas cost is thirty to forty percent of industry’ fixed cost. Continue reading →

The post RISING GAS COST appeared first on awalkingdelight.

DAVID FOSTER WALLACE

Dave Eggers, Tom Bissell, and Evan Wright (authors in their own right) say that Max delivers a history of Wallace that is ‘well researched’, ‘hugely disquieting’, and ‘indispensable’ in knowing Wallace and why he will be missed. One is inclined to agree with all of the former, but may question the latter; i.e., will Wallace’s writing be missed? Continue reading →

The post DAVID FOSTER WALLACE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

POWER & COMPROMISE

Years ago, after reading “The Power Broker” (published in 1974 about Robert Moses and land planning in New York), one becomes witness to the power of Caro’s research and dramatic skill in reporting on post-20th-century American’ movers and shakers. His next project, after “The Power Broker” became Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States. Continue reading →

The post POWER & COMPROMISE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

POTATO PEEL PIE

Reading letters about WWII hardly seems a very good way to tell a story but Shaffer and Barrows change one’s mind with the “…Potato Peel Pie Society”. Letters between a fictional author and Guernsey Island residents tell a seamless story of the island’s military occupation during WWII. It tells the story of its resident’s experience, before, during, and after the occupation, and adds a poignant tale of romance. Continue reading →

The post POTATO PEEL PIE appeared first on awalkingdelight.

YELLOW BIRDS

Though this is a fiction about war, anyone who has been in the military realizes Powers is writing from experience. Combat is shown to make young men seem old because battle experience disassociates them from the brutality of killing another human being. Sergeant Sterling leads his platoon like a veteran of WWII though he is only a few years older than the 17 and 21 year old recruits he commands. Continue reading →

The post YELLOW BIRDS appeared first on awalkingdelight.

PHYSICS WIMPs

The authors gain attention by asking simple questions like “What is empty space made of?” but lose their audience by giving weak answers; e.g. the authors answer is that 75% of space is dark matter and energy; and then quote a science fiction spoof called “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”—“Space…is big. Really big"; so, the listener is lead to understand space is big and made up of 75% of something unknown. It is not that the information is inaccurate or incomplete based on current science, but it is unsatisfying. Continue reading →

The post PHYSICS WIMPs appeared first on awalkingdelight.