Bush Books

I recommend this book to anyone, even though the tax cuts Paul Krugman argues against have already come. Krugman, who is a New York Time od-ed writer and also a policy professor at Princeton, presents clear reasons why the Bush tax cuts are not a good idea.

Conservatives will find the book biased, which it is since Krugman is pretty democratic. Although conservatives might be able to argue the political philosophy of progressive versus regressive taxes, they will find it very difficult to challenge the numbers that Krugman presents. The end conclusion is that Bush has used "fuzzy math" to propose a tax cut and that the money is just not there for such a huge cut. Krugman is right.

Even though the cuts have already come, this book is a great (and quick) read because it gives a clear explanation of social security, medicare, and other issues related to the national budget. Clear, concise, and easy to understand.

Every policy-maker and voter should read this book. After months of Krugman's anti-tac-cut NY Times Op-Eds, I was sick of hearing about this debate. But "Fuzzy Math" literally changed my mind in one night. It is not only a guide to the Bush tax cut but also a layman's guide to general tax policy, tax law, the federal budget, and distributional issues. Not only that, but Krugman provides a novel theory (at least to me) on why anti-big-government ideologues prefer tax cuts for the rich disproportionately over tax cuts for the bottom 99%. Krugman also exposes many statistical and other tricks that policy-makers play on the public in order to promote their programs. In short, this book does so much so thoroughly, and I am amazed that Krugman fit it all into so few pages.

This book needs to be read by every voting American, even those who support the Bush tax cut. Author Paul Krugman clearly explains the economic and political environments in which this tax plan takes place and concludes, first, that the tax cut is not only a bad idea but might have serious consequences as the Social Security/Medicare system becomes strapped and second, that "at every stage of the debate Bush and his people have tried to obscure what they were really proposing."
"Fuzzy Math" is a book written for intelligent lay people. I personally read it in two sittings (it's only 122 short pages), then, thinking that I must have missed smething, went back and read it again. It turns out I missed nothing. Krugman breaks down complex economic concepts and explains them with great lucidity and a little bit of wit. It's really an easy read.
Krugman begins by explaining how Bush arrived at his tax cut as the centerpiece of his campaign, first as an antidote to Steve Forbes' "Flat Tax" crusade and second, to secure the support of the far right elements of the Republican Party. He then describes the efficacy of tax cuts as an economic tool, particularly as they might be used to stimulate a sluggish economy (never an issue for Bush until the economy suddenly turned sour). He concludes that this is best left to the Federal Reserve Board's manipulation of interest rates. He further compares "demand side" tax reductions, aimed primarily at consumers, with "supply side" cuts which are directed toward potential producers and demonstrates that despite the Reagan rhetoric, the economic recovery of the early '80's was demand side driven and that a real supply side expansion occurred during the late '90's happened despite Bill Clinton's upper bracket tax increase.
Nexy Krugman explains the Federal Budget, beginning with where the money goes and then where it comes from. He explains that we've gone from being a "military state" to a "retirement state". He admittedly caricatures that, based on federal spending "the federal government has become a large retirement community that does some military stuff and a bit of humanitarian stuff on the side". He also explains that our national retirement program is not fully funded (as is a private pension plan). Instead the current group of retirees is living off the contributions of the current group of workers and that enormous problems will begin when the number of retirees begins to swell as the number of workers begins to shrink (about 2011). This is aleo why privatization of Social Security/Medicare is a bad idea: it will simply pull the rug out from under the feet of the current group of retirees. He discusses the origins of the recent budget surplus andhow it was tied to the recent economic boom.
He then breaks down the Bush tax cut, explaining who gets what. Using figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Citizens for Tax Justice (stats from conservative think tanks are unavailable) he concludes that about 40% of American families will get nothing or very little while the top 1% will collect about 45% of the benefits. He analyzes the Treasury Department's statistics in light of this data and exposes the hucksterism involved in the official Bush line. Unfortunately this is the only piont at which Krugman cites sources although he uses statistics elsewhere in this book. More citations would have given the book a little more authority.
Finally he proposes an alternative, a "smaller, faster, cheaper, better" cut that will get money into the hands of consumers faster and will be "front loaded" (benefits sooner) as opposed to Bush's "back loaded" (most benefits arrive much later) and so will have an immediate effect on the economy.
Krugman concludes with a swipe at the "utter dishonesty of the sales campaign".
There is no reason why every American citizen should not read this book. It explains what's going on in the tax debate and does so clearly and simply. In fact, bookshelves in any participatory democracy should be full of books like this.

by Steven Piraino. You are probably familiar with the recently passed Bush tax bill. You may also be familiar with Paul Krugman of Princeton University (formerly of M.I.T.), whose "New Keynesian" musings appear regularly on The New York Times editorial page. Recently, Krugman published his own critique of the Bush tax cut in a short, popular book entitled Fuzzy Math. To the author's credit, this book is brief, well-organized and tightly argued. Instead of aggressively pushing his own left-of-center political views onto the reader, Krugman spends most of the book exposing inconsistencies in the Bush administration's tax-cut sales pitch. He summarizes his own conclusions rather nicely: "Bush and his people . . . are radically understating the cost of their plan while overstating the money available to pay that cost. They have pretended that a plan that mainly cuts taxes for the extremely well off is basically a middle-class tax cut . . . And they have falsely sold the plan as an appropriate answer to a short run economic slowdown, when it is almost perfectly designed not to deal with that sort of problem." Much of this book is difficult to criticize on its own terms, as all of Krugman's claims have some merit. The Bush tax cut probably is less progressive and more "costly" than the Bush administration would have us believe. And, if anything, Krugman is not skeptical enough about the antirecessionary merits of using a tax cut to put money into consumers' pockets. This does not mean, however, that there is not a legitimate case for reducing taxes. As Krugman himself says, ". . . there is a case for tax cuts . . . though it is not the case the Bush administration is making." Unfortunately, the "legitimate case" that Krugman makes (and rejects) is weak and incomplete. The "correct" case for tax cuts, Krugman argues, is that tax cuts are a way to "induce people to work harder, save more, and take bigger risks." He then goes on to dismiss this case on the grounds that these benefits are unlikely to be dramatic. While superficially plausible, this analysis obscures the very essence of taxation and its costs. It is true that heavy taxation causes a variety of behavioral distortions, such as discouraging work, innovation, and investment. However, these distortions are not the costs of taxation, as Krugman suggests. They are the means that individuals employ to reduce the costs of taxation as much as possible. Furthermore, taxes are not costly because they reduce production; taxes are costly because they force individuals to consume a mix of goods that is less desirable from the standpoint of their own subjective preferences. This happens for two reasons. First, individuals behave differently in order to avoid paying a certain tax. As a result, goods that are taxed are underproduced. It is irrelevant whether or not the resulting mix of goods involves less labor, risk-taking, and investment than the mix of goods that would be produced on the free market. The important point is that the new mix is inferior to the old mix in relation to individual wants. Second, taxes transfer the command over resources from the private sector to the public sector. This is costly from the standpoint of individual wants. In the private sector, waste is minimized through the discipline of profits and losses. In the public sector, however, politicians acquire resources based on their ability to speak in public, smear opponents, and reward well-organized pressure groups. As a result, the spending projects financed by taxation generally bear little, if any, relation to the desires of consumers. Value-productive private ventures are starved of capital so that a whole host of useless or nearly useless "public goods" can be (over)produced. Consider, for example, the state of Massachusetts's infamous Big Dig transportation project (now running some $12 billion over budget), or the interstate highway splurge of the 1950s, or the pork-laden federal space program. Private investors would never pony up the extravagant sums that were necessary to fund these dubious projects, yet the list of public boondoggles goes on and on. Krugman's book makes essentially no attempt to defend politics as a means of resource allocation, making only the blithe assertion that "it's a value judgment, but I don't accept the idea that our government is too big and should be made much smaller." Krugman has the right to his own value judgments, but economics does have something positive to say about the market system-and that is that all parties necessarily benefit from the rights to voluntary exchange and association. This system stands in sharp contrast with the current political system, wherein resources are allocated with almost boundless disregard for consumers' wants. Whatever else can be said for such a system, the science of economics offers little or nothing to recommend it. If the Bush tax cuts bring us miles, yards, or even inches further from this system, a sound understanding of economics clearly strengthens, not weakens, their appeal.

In "Fuzzy Math," Paul Krugman debunks the deceptive hype deployed on behalf of the tax cut of 2001. Krugman points out how so extravagant a tax cut will force serious reductions in services - most likely, to social security.

Four years later, pundits and analysts told Americans of the dire threat to social security - a threat those same pundits and analysts dismissed when defending the cuts. As Krugman suggested they would.

Still, some might be disappointed to find that Krugman is less prophetic than simply an academic applying basic economic observations in a realistic manner. By clarifying processes of taxation, spending, and budgeting, Krugman succeeds in clearing away fog and myth, offering a healthy handbook for economics to all American citizens.

Hightower pulls no punches in this witty and insightful look at GW and his policies. The cartoons are hilarious. If you're already a fan of Hightower's weekly coloums then this will be right up your alley. If you're not a fan then this book will easily make you one.

Especially after this tragic election in which Bush and GOP won, as a true conservative, I can't blame Jim Hightower for poking fun at the current neo-cons who have given us good conservatives a bad rap. If you're a non-conservative, you shouldn't have trouble getting a few laughs from it. For you conservatives out there who are tired of the current neocons taking you for granted by exploiting the macho weakness, read this book and learn to stop beating around the bushes but instead sledgehammer the neocons and get the last laugh. And I say the same to liberals and moderates who are sick and tired of being called weak !

This book was...interesting. I would have liked some proof of some of the information, while on subjects like food and the environment, for all our sakes I can only hope he was exaggerating.
The best things in this book are the tongue-in-cheek intros, outlandish though they are.
Overall, this book was pretty good. Not the best read if you're a Republican seeing if you should swing your vote, but it's good for Democrats to get a laugh.

Enjoying the lifting of the veil from an extremeley dangerous individual.The material is all in the public domain but this places it between two covers. The subject should probably be secured in a locked ward at St. Elizabeth's Hospital.

There are no perfect sides to take in politics. We can only fulfill our obligation to this country and our fellow countrymen by being inquisitive, willing to listen, and being able to make up our own minds without the need to lambaste others who do not share our 'family values' or belief in the current 'plutocracy'.
Before we get our panties in a twist over a dissenting voice perhaps we should do some research on the author, his experience, his justifications, and make an intelligent, correctly spelled retort, or commendation. Jeez, as far as I know, it's still a free country, unless the 'hatred' perceived by the rabid right shuts down dissent altogether.

Very interesting information about the French Revolution. In school no one ever breathed a word about how anti-Christian and anti-Jewish the French Revolution was! I was taught in school that it was the French equivalent to the American Revolution. Gasp! It was nothing of the kind. Did you know they abolished the seven day Jewish/Christian week and had a 10 day week? If you want to know more about the martyrs of the French Revolution this will be a good book to start with.

This work would have benefited from editing. It tends to jump from person to person, place to place, time to time. Nevertheless it is the first work I have had the good fortune to read that is unafraid to expose the underlying causes of the French Revolution, and to reveal something more than the popular characterizations of its leading actors.
The sixteen women who are the focus of this account are true heroines, true martyrs of the Revolution. The author has done us a great service in providing non-fictionalized biographies of these Carmelite nuns - they represent sincere people from every walk in life who are determined to follow their consciences no matter what 'everyone else' may think and do.
May their history inspire our compatriots to imitate their example, cost what it may.

Beginning with what's positive in this story of the 16 martyred Carmelite nuns, the sections that actually deal with the lives of the Carmelites in Revolutionary France are quite interesting, and anyone who has seen and loved "Dialogues of the Carmelites" will find something to savor in his narrative.

That being said, Bush's history of the French Revolution is nothing short of flawed, biased, and, often, inaccurate. As another reviewer has said, Bush, a self-professed "Orthodox Christian," presents the French Revolution as a Great Satan unleashed to destroy the Catholic Church. Inequality in Pre-Revolutionary France is completely ignored. Early on, he condemns the Revolution for the banning of Monastic Vows (which, he claims took place in October, 1789, when it actually occurred in February, 1790). He also condemns the Revolution for the confiscation of Church property, while failing to mention that the Church was one of the largest landowners (untaxed, by the way) in Pre-Revolutionary France and that the Church heavily taxed the Third Estate through a tithe. He seems to relish inventing a his own version of the French Revolution while failing to take into account not only the generation of scholars that went before him but any primary sources not currently kept in a Church archive.

He also presumes a good deal of knowledge of French Revolutionary History on the part of his reader--so, if it's been a while since you last thought about the Revolution, be prepared to run to for the nearest encyclopedia every so often.

Still, his material on the Martyred Carmelites is gripping and presents a nice companion to "The Dialogues of the Carmelites." Just be forewarned that Professor Bush is not a historian of the French Revolution, wears his biases on his sleeve, and is only telling part of the story.

...I would tend to agree with an earlier reviewer who spoke of this work as a "religious tract." The author seems so invested in his thesis of "revolution as Satanic plot" that he does tend to beat the reader over the head--and also seems to give Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the doomed king and queen of the time, more credit as rulers than they are due, based on his own admiration for thier personal piety and good character. Those familiar with more recent history need look no further than Nicholas II and Alexandra of Russia (and Alexandra, somewhat ironically, strongly identified with Marie Antoinette) to realize that one can be personally devout, upright and ethical, yet a complete disaster as a ruler. Given the nature of the subject, getting any "ultimate" insight into the minds of those 16 nuns may be an impossible task--writing as a hagiographer, conciously or not, is not perhaps the best way to come close.

Author, William Bush has researched and revealed the mystery of sacrifice of 16 Carmelite Nuns during the French Revolution. TO QUELL THE TERROR exposes the dark side of the French Revolution. The lunacy and injustice of the leaders of the period were committed to destroy the Church and religious faith. The nuns offered their lives to restore peace to the church and to France. Ten days after their deaths Robespierre fell and with his execution at the same scaffold used for the Carmelites the Terror effectivlely ended. Eye opening and informative read.

the book is for a cousre that I am taking in grad school and it was such a good read.
I submiited my write-up and I received an A-.
I will pass it on to my sons.

By the time you've heard Thomas Friedman say the World is Flat, we will need a new metaphor. His expansion of the typical economic description of products produced and assembled in countless countries is delivered with the enthusiasm of a teenager who just discovered sex. Friedman's personal exploration of modernization around the world is fascinating but by now, everyone always knows about it. Granted this is not a brand new book and it's insights are usefull for understanding the current paradigm but it's time might already have passed. The economic roller coaster presented to us on the daily news is warping business as we know it. The world is no longer flat but if you have been living on a desert island for the past five years and suddenly wanted to go into business then you might want to know how we got this point.

I thought the book was a hard cover - when I received it and it wasn't, I wrote to the person who sent it, asking how I could return it, because I needed a hard cover book to replace one for a friend - I received no response back. So I'm stuck with the wrong book.

As a new citizen to America, reading this book made me realize of the potential and dangerous capitalistic doctrines of the new globalized world. For example, the NAFTA fiasco. I was visiting Mexico not long ago, and I was surprised how pricier DELL computer are there, and they are assembled in mexico!

So, is the world Flat to the hard working class student that need a laptop to develop his programming skills at home, because the school he goes to does not have enough computer for all students or maybe the professor is mediocre?

What about the rise of tuition in America? Students are falling into debt even before they are productive adults. What kind of burden are we putting on the students of the future by letting the government shorten financial aid? (let alone private school tuition)The world is flat is a very good insight into globalization, but it only tell the story of what the develop nations want to hear.

I ordered this for a class and ordered it 3 weeks before my class started, thinking it would arrive within 2 weeks. However, it took 4 weeks (1 month) for it to arrive, while all the other books I ordered off Amazon from other sellers arrived within 1-2 weeks.

So, very slow delivery time on this book.

Take care, God bless.

The very idea of these airheads expressing their "faith in God" is vile enough. But the idea of including Laura "Gas Pedal" Bush is really too much. Why didn't she care when she ran over her boyfriend 25 times, the whole time shrieking about revenge? I don't consider that very holy.

Why are we not a Christian nation again?

These women are hardly worth a look into faith. Try someone worthy and readable without laughing...or puking.

I was really encouraged by all the many stories of triumph in this book. Women I look up to who have had difficultly in life. I see them and I think they have had an easy life and that's why they're leaders and influencial, but they haven't. They've overcome through their faith and it gives me hope that I can too. I keep my copy in my bathroom and rarely a person who uses it doesn't come out commenting on one of the stories. It would be a great book to give as a gift for any occassion or to someone who is struggling with one of the twelve issues the author covers.

I think a couple billion people could think of other people to tell stories about. Not these.

I met author Leslie Montgomery at the CBA/International Christian Bookseller's Convention where she was signing copies of the book. I got in line because I like collecting autographed books by authors. I had no idea the treasure I'd found. I put the book in my purse so on the flight back to Miami I'd have something to read - I couldn't put the book down; I cried so much as I read the story about the couple who lost their son Matthew, but I was encouraged by their faith in God. I lost my son two years ago. I know what it is like. Thank you for sharing your story and thank the author for writing it down. I'm buying copies for my book store immediately. I highly reccomend this book to anyone going through a hard time. I pray that the author keeps writing books like this. Thanks.

The book was boring. I don't know why it is recommended for law students. There are much better books law students could be reading.

I actually felt myself getting smarter while reading this book. Outside of just covering "technicalities" of studying law, he also offers a fascinating perspective on the study and practice of law in relation to the lawyer's life (money/finc. security as primary motive for entering legal profession.) Also interesting are his views on making/missing law review and the effect this has on 2Ls. Overall, an excellent read, time well spent, and very deserving of the word "classic."

Professor Llewellyn's writing style is not easy. It's not an antiquated style, but rather the style of an obviously erudite man whose mind is very active and whose thoughts are not always felicitously expressed. If you've ever sat in a class with a professor you thought brilliant but a little "nutty," this book will remind you of that professor. Many of his phrases are either obscure or seemingly illogical. My advice is that if you insist on doing a close textual reading of a book, do not read this book. If, however, you are interested in picking up general themes about the study of law and its development from a distinguished--and somewhat obscure--legal mind, then this is the book for you. It is not, emphatically, an easy book to read. To put it simply: either Llewellyn had a poor editor or his editor never heard of Strunk & White's Elements of Style.

Professor Llewellyn's distinguished collection of lectures is best used nowadays, in my opinion, as a baseline to see what has changed in the legal profession and what has not. Llewellyn's discussion of the case system is a terrific look at the judge's toolbox, but law students today cannot rely on a deep understanding of the case system to become good lawyers -- the proliferation of other forms of law, particularly statutory and administrative law, is too great. On the other hand, Llewellyn's extreme statement of the legal realist position -- still only one competing theory of law when he gave his lectures -- is now the undisputed champion of the legal discipline, and it's fascinating to travel back to a time when the author felt the need to be an apologist for it. The chapters that stand up best, in my opinion, are the ones discussing the dilemma of siding with the powerful after graduation; this is a topic that only becomes more timely as expenses rise and the pressure to join Big Law grows for new law graduates. I would especially recommend this book for casual students of legal history or jurisprudence.

Llewellyn wrote "Bramble Bush" as an introduction for law students, which is how I first read it in 1967. Nevertheless, practicing lawyers would profit from re-reading this wonderful book every several years, especially before working on an important appeal or on a case that may not be decided solely by the application of settled law. Its chapters on "This Case System" are a masterful exposition on how to understand, apply, and distinguish legal precedents. Another essential work on the development of caselaw is Cardozo's "The Nature of the Judicial Process." For a thoughtful introduction to the role of the lawyer in actual practice, I recommend, both to studends and practitioners, the advisedly titled "What Every Lawyer Knows" by Walter T. Fisher.

Really a good book

With the plethora of cookbooks available, you sort of have to wonder what the point of this one is.
Does anybody think that any publisher would seriously consider publishing a cookbook by a man whose total culinary credentials appear to consist of (1) Navy mess cook and (2) private cook to one family?
Ariel de Guzman is probably a nice man & a perfectly competent cook, but it is unlikely he would be a PUBLISHED cook without the "Bush" tag.
A number of the recipes sound quite good--but it's a little alarming, I must say, with all we have learned about nutritional values, to read that Mr. de Guzman thinks canned vegetables are "more nutritious than fresh."
One of the previous reviewers commented that "last year, at President Bush's yearly checkup at the doctor's, it was determined that he is as healthy as a well trained athelete...so the recipes are not bad for you." I think maybe that reviewer is a bit confused. I have to assume he or she is referring to the yearly physical of the CURRENT President Bush, not the former one. Ariel de Guzman is the former president's cook.
I would assume the present President Bush, who has not lived with his parents for many years, only occasionally eats de Guzman's food, so his reportedly splendid physical condition is due to other culinary influences. (I understand that Mrs. Laura Bush monitors the present President's intake of calorie and cholesterol laden foods quite closely.)
btw, I do rather resent the gratuitous description, by one of the reviewers, of President Clinton as a "grifter." This is, presumably, a COOK book, not a POLITICAL book. Let's try to keep those sorts of comments for the reviews of political books.

Ariel is to be commended for his stick -to -it- ness and his family who all sound wonderful. I enjoyed reading about him as much as the Bushes. And the recipes were different and good!

Some good recipes that I would try, but also some that I probably wouldn't.

I bought this cookbook after having read an article in The Houston Chronicle. Then, I bought it as soon as it came out and flew home to try out the recipes. I've only been able to try one, so far, but look forward to the others. What a great cookbook and wonderful book to read as well! We just made a trip to the Bush Library in College Station too and having already read the cookbook helped put even more fun and excitement into the tour. If you're a cook or just love the Bush family, like we do, you definitely have to add this to your collection. We can't get enough of the Bush Family around here! Their sense of humor and undying faith are a blessing in this world today! Can't wait for '43's book and library either! Thanks for everything! The Ball Family, Houston

Where to begin? As I tallied up all of the mind-boggling abuses of power, criminal activity and greed I became filled with a deep sense of dread. I came to the realization that if only 1% of this book is true then this is a president (a family) that should be behind bars for a very long time. And we are all in some very serious trouble - unless you're Kenny-boy Lay.

Dubya's stolen election, lies to start a war and the rampant cronyism plaguing our government today give all the more credence to this awesome work and further demonstrate just how desperately ruthless and vicious the Bush family is. For those of you who dismiss this tome as fiction - there's a reason the first few publishers wouldn't touch it. Here we go again - this time it's global!

The George Bush in the title is Bush 41, not Bush 43. You find binLaden and George W. Bush (43) each mentioned twice in the 400 page book. Interestingly the mentions are all within two pages of each other, and concern a national guard buddy of W getting a contract to manage the financial affairs of one of the bin Ladens, back in the late 60s or early 70s. So there is a good chance W and Osama ore old friends! The book chronicles a lot of shady stuff the family has been mixed up in for a long time. It's not an easy read but it is like looking at source data and you can make up your own mind. At the time this book was written, the idea that W would ever be in important government position was not on anybody's mind.

This is an excellent work on yet another of the major scandals that the major U.S. "watchdog" news media had somehow missed. Very well-researched and reported, "The Mafia, CIA & George Bush" follows the trail of corruption of some of the most powerful, elite figures in U.S. and international finance, organized crime and spying. It is, in fact, a trail that leads in this book all the way to the law firm of the newspaper Brewton then worked for, the Houston Post (Brewton now teaches journalism at Texas Tech University). The spider's web that ties all these shadowy elements together is presented in a very readable format, despite the overwhelming amount of information that journalist Brewton presents.

Although this book was published in 1992, four years before Gary Webb broke the "Dark Alliance" series in the San Jose Mercury News, unsurprisingly many of the players in Brewton's work reappear in Webb's extended "Dark Alliance" investigation. The late Webb, when he was still alive, publicly recommended that people buy this book by Pete Brewton if they could find it. Now you can, right here on Amazon. As a journalist, I highly recommend it too. Read Brewton's "The Mafia, CIA & George Bush" and Webb's "Dark Alliance" back to back, and find out more than you ever wanted to know about what the U.S. government is really doing behind all those American flags waving in the wind.

Information before the fact is always a good measuring stick. This work has all that and more. When this book first came out in 1992 the information within was not widely known or could not be readily documented beyond doubt or question. (even tho it was documented and the facts were there for anyone to see they received no press or attention...perhaps because it was an election year and the information went unnoticed)

Today much of that information and its embeded documention is found blasted in the headlines of today. The S&L is old news. The Iran-Contra, is old news. The drug war of the Regan era is old news. The alledged sweet deals of the time and their cover ups are also old news. However Mr. Brewton's book tells us about them when they were happening and while they were being covered up. They have become the FACTS of today and are now household stories. Time has proven the work. As of today, the facts have been establish for all to see and read .

We the American people have been had and it seems we don't care anymore.

I bought this book almost three years ago and every time I delve into it the writing style has me so bored I can't make it beyond the first chapter. The author is so busy documenting that this book becomes about as dry as a heap of court paperwork. While the events described may make a good tabloid documentary someday, this particular book is better left as source material for another writer.

It's hard to imagine that a man this stupid could actually get elected to any public office much less president of the United States.

This book is a panic and one of the funniest I've read! You can see the chasm between the Lingua Pura and Bush's atrocious treatment (or should I say MIStreatment) of language. The malapropisms that man is guilty of would embarrass most people, but it is doubtful that Bush (aka Dumbya) is able to see that. Even Archie Bunker, the subliterate fictional bigot of "All in the Family" fame was much more articulate than Dumbya! I have yet to hear anybody tear the language asunder as this man has. It's embarrassing! I guess you could say Dumbya is unwittingly witty as he is unintentionally funny.

As another reviewer stated in his clever review on the US board, luckily Archie never governed a country. Even so, at least Archie would be a tad brighter than Dumbya, whose administration is of the emperor's new clothing genre. This naked emperor has provided comic relief with some of his more ludicrous statements.

Regardless of whether or not you support Dumbya, this delightful book will provide a good look at what passes for a mind for Dumbya. The man is an embarrassment!

This book, including the first volume, are he perfect way to show the American public just how stupid this man is (George W.) How can you expect some one to run a country when they cant even speak coherently. I laughed at every page yet couldn't shake the feeling that it scares me out of my mind that our leader, who didnt even receive the majority of our votes and is now forgetting our own counrty and turning the attention to a war that will benefit no one but himself and people like him, actually has the support of many Americans whos greatest concerns are God, country, and the American way of life. And to top it off, Bush thinks these books are funny! Hes proud that his words have already been collected and publised. We should not only look at our president with disgust but at our selves as well for giving some one like this the power to ruin our lives. If a total of less than 200 pages with only a couple of quotes on each page can so easily degrade our president imagin what a full length book could reveal.
Patriotism is standing up for what is right, not blindly supporting your country. America, remember that.

BR>This is more of a fun book than the first so buy more of it, read more of it, and enjoy more of it.
Rick Goodner, Author of "Co-Dependent... What a Bore and Other Clinical Observations"

Hilarious! Great reading. I highly recommend this book! Though many imagined images about Dubbya come to mind as I read this book, I do wish it featured Ocker's hillarious illustrations which I found along with quotes in the George W. Bush Coloring Book!

This book is written for the travelers of life, not the tourists. I found it to be full of fascinating information on the culinary habits of other cultures.

Although "multi-culturalism" is such a buzzword in America these days, few actually mean it. They actually want everyone to behave like spoiled, "politically correct" urban dwellers. This book is a refreshing change from that numbingly dull mindset.

The author seems like someone who truly respects other cultures...even if that means eating whales, dogs and other politically incorrect critters. He is sensitive about the environment, but will put your own cultural prejudices to the test.

I would have rated it higher but the biological misinformation that popped up throughout the book could be distracting. Calling "dirt" inorganic is just sloppy writing.

But, all in all, this is a fine book. I would suggest it to travelers, food lovers, hunters, biophiliacs and anyone else looking for a walk on the wild side.

Here's the story of this book. One day I was at the old Barnes and Noble off of main street and this book was on the self and I noticed it while looking for a cook book. It was great! I almost bought it and then decieded not to. Well over the next 3 years I kept thinking about how I should have bought that book that I couldn't find when I went back to look (probably because it's out of print). Finally, I thought to look on Amazon, and low and libby, there it was! So guess what?????????


I bought it!

It's such a great book. After leaving it on my coffee table (and I Don't drink coffee) and having all my "friends" read it, I took it to my classroom and now I share it with my students, especially when I am teaching sociology. It's such a good teaching tool. I wish there were more pictures, but even without more (and it has a lot, I just want more), it's a great book. Obviously some students get a little grossed out, but that's what makes it so captivating, some of this book is like that accident we just have to look at but more positive. My favorite are the parts on Balut, Placenta (no pictures), Rats, Insects, Rotten Fish, and so many more! As long as you have a little bit of an open mind (or a lot), I am sure you'll like this book! Also, here's a list of things I've eaten to date that might be considered werid:

---cultural foods that are uncommon in my area----
Cow tongue
Blood Sausage
Gefilte Fish
Menudo
Haggis
Sails
Frogs Legs
All sushi
Fugu Fish (in Japan)
Kangaroo
Wild Boar
Lama
Rattlesnake
Elk
Alligator
Bufflo Oysters


---cultural foods that are more different---
grasshoppers
silk worms
scorpions
chimbai ants (they're pretty big)
meal worms
crickets
taruantula (home made too!, WARNING TRICKY TO PREPARE THOUGH)
wasp larve
giant water bettle
Balut

well, I am probably forgetting somethings, but you get the idea, I love to try new things!! I recommend "Typhoon" the resturant if you're in Southern California, and I recommend "Seattle's Finist Meats" if you want to order some interesting meat, I think they ship nationally? Good luck opening your mind, just don't let your brain fall out, THAT I won't eat, gross....

Lastly, if you have not yet registered with Amazon, this would be a good time to do so so you can rate reveiws, and rate products, and rate reveiws, and buy products, and rate reviews. Take care.
I am sure I am fogetting something here, but

Jerry Hopkins offers a glimpse into the wonderful world (universe really) of truly exotic foods, ranging the stinky fruit durian, which he refers to at one point as being like eating ice cream in an outhouse, to rats (not consumed often enough as far as I'm concerned) to even his son's placenta, which the author warns you to de-vein if you are to serve to party guests.
My only complaint, and it is a slight one, is that the book seems to be a little too concentrated on the cuisine and customs of Southeast Asia, which is somewhat understandable give the fact that Hopkins resides in Bangkok. However, I would have liked to seen some more information on Gamle Ole or the maggot cheese which is consumed in Sardinia, or hakarl (Greenlandic Shark).

Moose Nose Jelly, Placenta Paté, Double-Boiled Penis Soup, Jelly Fish Salad, Asparagus-Scorpion Canapés, Deep-Fried Field Rat, etc.

Jerry Hopkins and Michael Freeman do a good job presenting the strange foods from around the world (but mostly Asia it seems). Mr. Hopkins trys to persuade the reader to expand his culinary resources beyond beef, pork, and chicken, but for this reader his book had the opposite effect. It's a good argument for vegetarianism although he does provide information about some unusual vegetables. This book more than anything else calls to mind the banquet scene in the film "The Dark Crystal" (qv). I think I'll stick to my mundane American diet albeit with not quite so much meat in it.

Some factual errors appear in the text that should have been caught during the editing process: armadillos are not reptiles but mammals; the sea cucumber is not the same thing as a sea slug (nudibranch) nor is it a mollusc; chitin, not 'chitlin', makes up 3-10% of an insect's body weight. Also, Mr. Hopkins repeats the story of a restaurant where the patrons consume the brain of a living monkey. I wish he had confirmed this personally rather than repeating a news item.

An intriguing book, but one that may have not have the effect the author intended.

Strange Foods is a fascinating investigation of foods that are unpalatable to westerners. It'd be a real treasure, but it is beset by both factual and writing errors.

One caveat: this is NOT a book for the squeamish - not only does Hopkins discuss, in great detail, the consumption of things like gorillas, insects, and endangered species, but Michael Freeman provides full-color, often full-page photos of nearly every food item in the book. If the text doesn't turn your stomach, at least a few of the pictures will.

The errors will also turn some stomachs, mostly those belonging to writers and scientists. The book is full of non-sentences and in some places seems entirely unedited; I found an average of four errors on each page, and I wasn't reading for mistakes. Hopkins' convoluted sentence construction and affinity for fragments makes for truly eye-watering reading at times. Although the factual errors were less prevalent, they were present, and in some ways they were even worse than the writing.

Also, there are areas where Hopkins carefully skirts the issues behind his culinary experiments; he's determinedly neutral on environmental and species-preservation issues. I imagine his stances would really irritate a committed environmentalist - the section on whales, for example, might raise a few WWF eyebrows, as would the section on bush meat (primates).

Still, the book is worth a read, even for people (like me) who are unlikely ever to try any of the foods mentioned. It's always good to see how the other half lives, and eating is a huge part of that. For world travelers, too, it is handy to know beforehand what to expect; those who read this book will be fully prepared for strange dietary preferences, no matter where in the world they go. I don't consider this book useful as a reference source (because of the errors), but it is entertaining. On the whole, Strange Foods isn't worth the cover price - check it out of the library or buy it used - but it is worth the time it takes to read it.