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May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
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Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
April 22, 2013
US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer
April 19, 2013
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy
Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds
April 17, 2013
Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom
Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
April 15, 2013
Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral
Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators
April 12, 2013
Mark Clayton: New cybersecurity bill: Privacy threat or crucial band-aid?
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jackie Robinson's Friend, Hank Greenberg; CNN's Jake Tapper; Texas County in the News is named for 19thC. Jewish soldier and Congressman
The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: FRUITY QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS: A flavorful, colorful and edible vessel of delicately fluffy, mildly nutty filling combined with chewy apricots, tangy cherries, and crunchy pistachios
April 10, 2013
Peter Grier: North Korean missiles: Could US shoot them down?
Morgan Housel: Warning: Don't waste your capital being fooled by profit prophets
Donald Hensrud, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Take vitamin supplements with caution --- even approved, they may actually do damage
Eryn Brown: 74 DNA discoveries move cure closer for three cancers
April 8, 2013
Jonathan Tobin: What Part of No Preconditions Do American Jews Not Get?
Fred Weir: Is Putin finally trading his own party for a new power base?
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Jewish World Review
Dec. 16, 2008
19 Kislev 5769
This holiday season, give the gift of wisdom
By
Thomas Sowell
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Good books are especially good to give as gifts to the proverbial "man who has everything" because he (or she) may not have heard of a new book that fits their interests.
Good new books are one of the few good things about this past year. Here are some books that could make fine gifts, obtainable painlessly without battling crowds at the mall or even in the bookstores, if you order on-line.
The most outstanding political book of 2008 has been by Jonah Goldberg. It shoots to pieces the prevailing ideas of who is on "the left" and who is on "the right."
It can become especially relevant in the coming year, if the new administration goes further with the government interventions in the economy begun by the outgoing administration the kind of economic policies that were at the heart of fascism.
Fans of economist and JWR columnist Walter Williams will welcome a new collection of his columns in a book titled "Liberty versus the Tyranny of Socialism." Spiced with imaginative examples of economic principles in everyday life, it is vintage Williams.
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It's not all economics, either. Professor Williams' columns are also on education, law, politics and other subjects, all done in his own inimitable style.
Another economist and columnist, Robert J. Samuelson of Newsweek, also published a new book this year one focused on a topic that is likely to be of growing interest and growing concern in the years ahead. Its title is "The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath."
It is an account of how the American economy went from price stability in the 1950s to the beginning of inflation in the 1960s, reaching dangerous levels of inflation in the 1970s, with inflation then being brought under control with a lot of tough decisions and painful consequences in the 1980s.
This is the kind of book that may be more fully appreciated by an economist but it is written in plain English, with no graphs or jargon, so it should be interesting to a lot of people who are not economists.
"The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath" also has that most uncommon characteristic, common sense.
Not all the books recommended this year were published this year. "Greatness" by Steven F. Hayward is an unusual book published in 2005. In its 170 pages of text, it deftly compares Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan as leaders, revealing a truly remarkable range of similarities between these two men from radically different social backgrounds.
Written at a popular level in an engaging style, "Greatness" is also a book from which scholars can learn except for those who think they already know it all.
A very different book is a little book of whimsical cartoons titled "Furry Logic" by Jane Seabrook. It is good for a few moments of real pleasure and cheer during the holiday season, perhaps especially good for people recovering in hospitals or at home, but enjoyable by people of all ages and circumstances.
Books about the past can be relevant to the future, especially when the same kinds of policies reappear under new names. It is good to have an understanding of why these policies did not work when they were tried before, as a sneak preview of what to expect from such policies the second time around.
Since so many of the approaches that Barack Obama has advocated under the mantra of "change" are things already tried out during the 1930s by Franklin D. Roosevelt, a devastating and very readable book titled "FDR's Folly" by Jim Powell spells out just exactly what happened in the American economy when such policies were put into effect.
My own new book this year is "Economic Facts and Fallacies." While I cannot pretend to give an unbiased evaluation of it, I can point out that it received a prize at an international gathering in Zurich and has already been translated in Spain.
Since fallacies flourish during election years, you may already have heard quite a few of these fallacies this year. "Economic Facts and Fallacies" can help prepare you for what is likely to happen when those fallacies are turned into policies in the new administration next year.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR contributor Thomas Sowell's column by clicking here.
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© 2006, Creators Syndicate
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