A couple of books
I've read two books in the last couple of weeks:
What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank - I expected this book to be a general discussion of national politics. There was some of that, but he spent a lot of time focused just on Kansas politics and history, which was quite interesting. He looks at what the Democrats have done to lose the support of workers, and what Republicans have done to gain it. His thesis is bascially that the Republicans have set up a sort of "false class warfare" where class isn't about your actual class, but more about your consumer preferences, what you do for fun, etc. (so, the fake lower class shops at walmart and goes to NASCAR races, and the fake upper class drives volvos and goes to the theater) I would have liked to see more discussion of how the Dem's can get their butts in gear to win back popular support.
Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier - Many times I attempted to borrow this book from the grove st. house, and many times I left it on the coffee table or couch. But I have finally succeeded in reading it! Schneier started out as a computer security expert, but has branched out into security in general. In this book he presents a five-step plan for analyzing the efficacy and trade-offs in a security solution. The point being that we need to move beyond making fear motivated security decisions and start making rational ones. I enjoyed the book: it was well-written enough that I, the layperson, was not bored, and in depth enough that it actually said something. Plus he gets brownie points from me for alternating the gender of his pronouns when he's talking about theoretical people.
What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank - I expected this book to be a general discussion of national politics. There was some of that, but he spent a lot of time focused just on Kansas politics and history, which was quite interesting. He looks at what the Democrats have done to lose the support of workers, and what Republicans have done to gain it. His thesis is bascially that the Republicans have set up a sort of "false class warfare" where class isn't about your actual class, but more about your consumer preferences, what you do for fun, etc. (so, the fake lower class shops at walmart and goes to NASCAR races, and the fake upper class drives volvos and goes to the theater) I would have liked to see more discussion of how the Dem's can get their butts in gear to win back popular support.
Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier - Many times I attempted to borrow this book from the grove st. house, and many times I left it on the coffee table or couch. But I have finally succeeded in reading it! Schneier started out as a computer security expert, but has branched out into security in general. In this book he presents a five-step plan for analyzing the efficacy and trade-offs in a security solution. The point being that we need to move beyond making fear motivated security decisions and start making rational ones. I enjoyed the book: it was well-written enough that I, the layperson, was not bored, and in depth enough that it actually said something. Plus he gets brownie points from me for alternating the gender of his pronouns when he's talking about theoretical people.