Review: Common Sense for the Common Good: Libertarianism as the End of Two-Party Tyranny

Common Sense for the Common Good: Libertarianism as the End of Two-Party Tyranny by Gary E. Johnson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another interesting third party candidate from the past. This is the short book that came out prior to the 2016 election that told his story. I found the autobiographical parts of most interest. Johnson worked in the real estate industry so offered an interesting perspective compared to Trump, with a more typical "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" American success story. The parts of the book about Libertariansism were short and insightful if you haven't run across the concept before, but very basic. I suspect there are more timely and more thorough books on the subject.

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Review: Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World's Fair and the Transformation of America

Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World's Fair and the Transformation of America by Joseph Tirella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Worlds Fair, held in 1963-65 in New York, is the platform on which author Tirella investigates a few interesting aspects of the times. The author describes the creation and building of the fair, focusing on Robert Moses, and telling his story as a political builder. The author then tells of civil rights fights around CORE, the state of art through Andy Warhol, pop music through Bob Dylan, and the up and coming counterculture with anecdotes about Ken Kesey. The author did a good job mixing these disparate parts to illustrate the times. My interests tend to business history, and I found the stories involving Walt Disney’s participation in the creation of rides and attractions for the fair were very interesting, as were Moses machinations to build the fair with participation with many corporate and government entities funding. It comes across as a great sales job that, in the end, doesn’t make the money but leaves behind a great legacy of parks infrastructure and Disney attractions we still visit today.

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Review: The Dispossessed

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to the audio of this, having no idea of what I was getting into. A battle of ideas, the socialist against the free thinkers. Some reviewers call this an anti-Ayn Rand book, but it seemed different in that both sides of the argument get a reasonable view – you can see the good and bad on both sides. Rand didn’t do that. I was surprised that by the end of the book the characters talking and the situations sounded more like any of a number of spy novels involving the USSR and deep thoughts on philosophy and practices. Think Le Carre. Interesting, but it felt too familiar to other books I’ve read. I suspect I’ve read newer books that copied parts of this one…

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Review: Chicago Cubs:: 1926-1940

Chicago Cubs:: 1926-1940 by Art Ahrens
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've read quite a few of these photo history books over the years. I enjoyed how they focused on a time period, a location, or a specific theme. Most I've read have provided some surprise, in terms of interesting photos, or details in the description that I hadn't heard of. This volume had some interesting details, but overall this felt more average than outstanding. Why? Many of the photos of the players were staged publicity photos or staged photos like they would use for baseball cards. They just didn't portray any action. The other photos are of the stadium, or scorecards, also didn't feel active. The writing in the book included summaries of the different eras within this 15 years, divided up by Cubs managers. I didn't know the details here, such as the everyday players that weren't superstars, but that makes up a lot of the text. In the end, you get a lot of info that just isn't very interesting. While I give the author kudos for including photos of some of those "common" players, they didn't add much to the story. Overall, this one just didn't catch my interest as much as other volumes in the series, like the "Chicago Cubs: Baseball at Catalina Island" volume did. I can see this being of great interest to those with a focused interest in this time frame of Cubs teams.

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