The Pundit's Folly


Book Description




The Pundit's Folly


Book Description

In this spectacle of words, the world is a sea of glass: a pageant of fond delight, a theatre of vanity, a labyrinth of error, a gulf of grief, a sty of filthiness, a vale of misery, a spectacle of woe, a river of tears, a stage of deceit, a cage full of devils, a den of scorpions.




This Time Is Different


Book Description

An empirical investigation of financial crises during the last 800 years.




The iPINIONS Journal


Book Description

ANTHONY L. HALL takes aim at the global events of 2016 with a unique and refreshing perspective. Here are some topics in this twelfth volume of his writings: Hillary Calling Half of Trump’s Supporters a “Basket of Deplorables” “Hillary was only half right ... But the most troubling thing is not how deplorable they are; it’s how willing they are to elect an even more deplorable man as president of the United Sates. The latter is what I find incomprehensible ... unforgivable.” Brexit “The irony seems lost on both sides in this Brexit debate that Britain poses a far greater threat to the EU if it remains. After all, Britain planted the seeds of disintegration years ago, when it began negotiating all kinds of ‘opt-outs’ from EU legislation and treaties.” Brazilians Protesting Cost of Rio Olympics “Brazilians need only point to the poisoned chalice Athens 2004 turned out to be for the Greeks. After all, the debt hangover from those Games not only triggered the EU financial crisis of 2010, but austerity measures to service that debt have many once-proud, middle-class Greeks now living like favela-dwelling Brazilians.” Report on College Coaches Raking in Millions “These salaries only validate my longstanding contention that college coaches are using the free labor of student-athletes to live like plantation owners. The only precedent for this is the Founding Fathers, many of whom were in fact plantation owners, preaching about all men being created equal while owning slaves.” VP-Elect Pence Hailing Trump for Accusing the FBI of Corruption “Nothing could be more foreboding than the willingness of no less an establishmentarian than Pence sacrificing democratic institutions and political norms at the altar of Trump’s ego, affecting that constipated countenance of sincerity as he does so.” J.K. Rowling merchandising Harry Potter like Mickey Mouse “I admired her because she helped millions of kids discover the love of reading. But my admiration waned when she started exploiting that love like a drug dealer exploiting a junkie’s addiction.”




To Save Everything, Click Here


Book Description

The award-winning author of The Net Delusion shows how the radical transparency we've become accustomed to online may threaten the spirit of real-life democracy




Future Babble


Book Description

In 2008, as the price of oil surged above $140 a barrel, experts said it would soon hit $200; a few months later it plunged to $30. In 1967, they said the USSR would have one of the fastest-growing economies in the year 2000; in 2000, the USSR did not exist. In 1911, it was pronounced that there would be no more wars in Europe; we all know how that turned out. Face it, experts are about as accurate as dart-throwing monkeys. And yet every day we ask them to predict the future — everything from the weather to the likelihood of a catastrophic terrorist attack. Future Babble is the first book to examine this phenomenon, showing why our brains yearn for certainty about the future, why we are attracted to those who predict it confidently, and why it’s so easy for us to ignore the trail of outrageously wrong forecasts. In this fast-paced, example-packed, sometimes darkly hilarious book, journalist Dan Gardner shows how seminal research by UC Berkeley professor Philip Tetlock proved that pundits who are more famous are less accurate — and the average expert is no more accurate than a flipped coin. Gardner also draws on current research in cognitive psychology, political science, and behavioral economics to discover something quite reassuring: The future is always uncertain, but the end is not always near.




The Pundits


Book Description

On a September day in 1863, Abdul Hamid entered the Central Asian city of Yarkand. Disguised as a merchant, Hamid was actually an employee of the Survey of India, carrying concealed instruments to enable him to map the geography of the area. Hamid did not live to provide a first-hand count of his travels. Nevertheless, he was the advance guard of an elite group of Indian trans-Himalayan explorers—recruited, trained, and directed by the officers of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India—who were to traverse much of Tibet and Central Asia during the next thirty years. Derek Waller presents the history of these explorers, who came to be called "native explorers" or "pundits" in the public documents of the Survey of India. In the closed files of the government of British India, however, they were given their true designation as spies. As they moved northward within the Indian subcontinent, the British demanded precise frontiers and sought orderly political and economic relationships with their neighbors. They were also becoming increasingly aware of and concerned with their ignorance of the geographical, political, and military complexion of the territories beyond the mountain frontiers of the Indian empire. This was particularly true of Tibet. Though use of pundits was phased out in the 1890s in favor of purely British expeditions, they gathered an immense amount of information on the topography of the region, the customs of its inhabitants, and the nature of its government and military resources. They were able to travel to places where virtually no European count venture, and did so under conditions of extreme deprivation and great danger. They are responsible for documenting an area of over one million square miles, most of it completely unknown territory to the West. Now, thanks to Waller's efforts, their contributions to history will no longer remain forgotten.




Supreme Command


Book Description

“An excellent, vividly written” (The Washington Post) account of leadership in wartime that explores how four great democratic statesmen—Abraham Lincoln, Georges Clemenceau, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion—worked with the military leaders who served them during warfare. The relationship between military leaders and political leaders has always been a complicated one, especially in times of war. When the chips are down, who should run the show—the politicians or the generals? In Supreme Command, Eliot A. Cohen expertly argues that great statesmen do not turn their wars over to their generals, and then stay out of their way. Great statesmen make better generals of their generals. They question and drive their military men, and at key times they overrule their advice. The generals may think they know how to win, but the statesmen are the ones who see the big picture. Abraham Lincoln, Georges Clemenceau, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion led four very different kinds of democracy, under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. They came from four very different backgrounds—backwoods lawyer, dueling French doctor, rogue aristocrat, and impoverished Jewish socialist. Yet they faced similar challenges. Each exhibited mastery of detail and fascination with technology. All four were great learners, who studied war as if it were their own profession, and in many ways mastered it as well as did their generals. All found themselves locked in conflict with military men. All four triumphed. The powerful lessons of this “brilliant” (National Review) book will touch and inspire anyone who faces intense adversity and is the perfect gift for history buffs of all backgrounds.




Time


Book Description




Untouchable Things


Book Description

Danger lurks within a close-knit group of London artists as a puppet master plots the fate of a beautiful actress in this psychological thriller. London actress Rebecca Laurence is center stage and shining in her role as Ophelia. For one audience member in particular, she is like a ballerina impaled in a musical box—one that he longs to add to his collection. Amid the thundering applause, he watches closely. Later, Rebecca meets the charismatic Seth Gardner. As attraction grows between them, he invites her to join his Friday Folly, a group of artistic friends. But as Rebecca is drawn into the web of tangled relationships all is not as it appears. The scene is set for one climactic night that will rip the group apart. Consumed by loss and surrounded by secrets, Rebecca must now escape the grip of the Folly if she intends to survive. And meanwhile, one man continues to watch.