The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism by Russell Roberts
2007 132 pgs (116pg story)

First, I’m not a mental masochist, this was not on my must reads.  This is a required reading for my class in International Economics.  It only took me a few hours to read, although it is detailed.  I’m sure that I’ll have to read it again to get all the gritty information for the class.

David Ricardo, an English Economist, is a wanderer in heaven waiting for his theory of economics that he laid out in On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation to come too fruition so he may get into heaven.

Ed Johnson is President of Stellar Television Company in Star, Illinois.  He was asked to give a speech for the 1960 presidential nomination of Congressman Fred Bates at a major convention.  Earlier, he asked the congressman to pass a bill that would limit the imports of Japanse Televisions.  After the success of that bill, the congressman is running on a “Buying American will make America Rich again” platform and plans after being elected to limit all imported goods for the greater of the American economy.

The night before Ed is to give the key speech to introduce Fred as the right Presidental candidate with the right platform, Dave comes down to earth to convince Ed that Free Trade is better for the nation.  He does this by showing Ed what Star Illinois would like in 2005 with Free Trade and then Tariffs.   There is a lot of point-counterpoint on why Free Trade is better for workers and for other nations.

So, to summarize, this is “It’s a Wonderful Life” for economist and Dave is Clarence and Ed is George.

It makes a good explanation why Free Trade is better for all nations in a simple story.

Enjoy your reading!

Lopaka

1. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt
2. The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism  by Russell Roberts
3. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
5. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
6. Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Armada by Ernest Cline
8. It by Stephen King
9. The Martian by Andy Weir
10. Make Your Bed by Admiral Willam H McRaven, (USN, Retired)
11. Artemis by Andy Weir
12. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations by Michal Walzer
13. The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Neil Strauss, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, and Tommy Lee
14. The Shining by Stephen King
15. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
16. Dracula by Bram Stoker
17. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
18. 1984 by George Orwell

Ready Player One
Ernest Cline, 2011
385 pgs

Let the 1980’s nerd come flooding out!  This was the first novel since Dune that I honestly did not want to put down until I finished devouring it’s every little morsel.  I couldn’t stop smiling at all the 80’s video games/Dungeons and Dragons references.  I would recommend this book to anyone that is in their 40’s.  Also, even if you don’t get the references, it still is a good story.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
1872

This novel has graced my too-read list for many years.  Alas, I downloaded the entire Jules Verne collection to my Kindel and devoured this from page to page.  Sadly, the book wasn’t exciting as I was hoping it to be.   Much of the book is Professor Aronnax describing in absolute nauseating detail all the observations of the sea life while he is aboard the Nautilus.

Understanding that at the time this was written, that would have been very fascinating for many people since they would have never seen any of the fish nor the lands/sea’s that Verne describes in the book.

Still, the novel is a fun read if you are a fan of Jules Verne.  If you have never read any of his books, I would start with Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Cattales by Win Stites 82 pages

As a history aficionado, I do enjoy a good read that explores more than what happened. I also love to dive into the why. However, every now and then, the best stories are not the ones that are researched, categorized, and written by historians. The great ones are written by those that were there. The “first hand’ accounts.

Some of these stories can be embellished for entertainment. Just like a fisherman, these stories can stretch the imagination of the one that got lost. Those are the qualities that make these stories an enjoyable read.

Cattales is one of those reads. The book is a collection of stories from PBY-5 Catalina fliers in the days of WWII. They range from accounts from the Aleutians to training on the east coast. I personally got a good chuckle from some, especially the first one about the weather report for Adak. Since I have a first-hand account of the weather on the island.

This book was an easy and fast read that just allows the mind to relax and laugh.

This book was a gift from a friend who also enjoyed the James Bond books as I have.  This was a fun and fast read.  At only 226 pages, I finished it in about 1 day.  A very pleasurable story for one of America’s great writers.  I would recommend it to anyone for just a fun read.  It is similar to the James Bond books, just no government involvement.  Although a lawman that does things different than what the law allows is defiantly a James Bond style writing.

Lopaka

To go back into time and read about events and why they happened, history.  After reading a few fiction novels, it was time to start a novel, again, the I started almost 20 years ago; however, never finished.

Six Armies In Normandy by John Keegan is a very detailed account of what happened at the invasion of Normandy on 6 June ’44 until the liberation of Paris in August of ’44.  He doesn’t talk about each army and what happened at each beach.  However, he did pick specific units and gave a reach detail of their history and what they contributed to Normandy.  For example, the 101th and 82nd Airborne for the United States.  The significant contribution of Admiral Sir Ramsay had on the invasion fleet.  This book is a great read.  For me, it took about a week and a half to finish.  It is very detailed and I know that I won’t remember everything from the book.  In the end, my knowledge of the invasion and the overall complexity has expanded.

Lopaka

Dune by Frank Herbert is a 793 pg (Story only)/878 pg (including 4 Appendix’s).  This is a science fiction classic, originally published in 1965.

This book was absolutely a delicious book to read.  I’m not even close to a fast reader and I read this in 2 days.  From the start, you are hooked and I just didn’t want to put it down.  The story is great.  If you have seen the movies, then the story line is the same.  However, many of the details really change the meaning of the story.  The ending is different from the movies.  Religion and politics play deep in the book.  It’s the depth of the book that makes it wonderful.  I would absolutely recommend this to any reader.  Currently, I’m asking myself “why didn’t I read this when I was younger”.

Octopussy and the Living Daylights, Book 14 and the last James Bond book by Ian Fleming.  This is collection of short stories that several of the movies get their titles from. Octopussy, The Living Daylights.  In the short story, Property of a Lady, the film Octopussy auction scene is based on this short story.

Overall, the stories are fun to read.  However, they are short.  The last one 007 in New York is only 7 pages long.  Again, this was published posthumously.

Nice to complete the collection and move on.  I will miss some of the Bond stories.

Now up, Dune.

Lopaka

You only Live Twice, the 12th and final polished, completed book of James Bond by Ian Fleming.  The Man With The Golden Gun was released after his death and before he could edit the first draft.

This book keeps with the humanity of James Bond that the movies never deal with.  At least, until Daniel Craig’s bond.  The start of the book is with how Bond is dealing with the death of his wife.  With a character like James Bond, he is not handling it very well.   M, to try and get Bond back to his old self, sends him on a what is considered an impossible mission to Japan.  Once Bond arrives in Japan, that’s where the book goes at an odd pace.

This book doesn’t have the wonderful polish that the previous novels have.  The pace is fast, almost like Ian wanted to just finish the book.  It feels like he was tired of writing about Bond.  Even the scene that Bond is captured by Blofield and then questioned/attempted executed was very short compared to his earlier novels.  This was the final book with Ernest Blofield and James finally finishes him off at the end of the book.

This is not one I would recommend to anyone to pick up for their first Bond book.  It’s a decent read and nice follow up from On Her Majestys Secret Service, there are other Bond books that would be a better read.

Movie comparison.  The movie only uses the names of the characters and the setting in Japan.  However, that is all it uses.  However, the way that Ian wrote about the Japanese and also how Tiger and Bond talk to each other, it wouldn’t be a very good movie to make without offending people.  Also, the “Castle of Death” would be very difficult to film at the time the movie was made.

Now, on to The Man With The Golden Gun.

Lopaka