A Slippery Slope, indeed!
347429
Book 10 of Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Series opens with an homage to Robert Frost and then follows Klaus and Violet Baudelaire as they attempt to rescue their sister Sunny, who was separated from them by Count Olaf and his evil henchpeople at the end of Book Nine.  They head up the Mortmain Mountains and encounter a frozen waterfall (the slippery slope in question).  Along the way, they also encounter someone from the past who they hoped to never see again, someone who is a member of a rather annoying society of people who sing an irritating song using the letters of the alphabet.  Yes, all of them!
They also discover a shocking secret about one of the fires Count Olaf and his people started.  Although not the answer they were hoping for, they are still pleased by this discovery.  This leads them to attempt to unlock more secrets, which allows Klaus to use his literary skills and Violet her inventing prowess, a word which here means "talent".  Sunny also becomes less baby-like in this book and is able to use her newly learned cooking skills.
This book, like the others, is full of literary references, from a snippet of a poem by British poet Algernon Charles Swinburne to a very famous Leo Tolstoy novel that helps them open a secret door.  The secret of V.F.D. is still not quite solved, but hopefully will be by the end of the series.
I bought this book yesterday, the day it was released, and finished it in just under two hours.  Like his other books, it is a quick but very satisfying read, and you won't get tired of reading it multiple times.
It's hard to believe that the series is almost over (only 13 are planned), but they are books you'll never tire of reading.  Buy this book and sink deeper into the abyss that is the Baudelaires' life.
1385225
There is a huge market for books and articles that make the case for cutting back Social Security and Medicare. Major media outlets and publishers are anxious to give such pieces great prominence. Unfortunately, they care very little about the truth.
There are some very simple facts that readers of this book would probably never recognize.
1) The vast majority of the projected increases in government entitlement spending over the next 40 years are attributable to rising per person health care costs, not the aging of the population.
2) If the U.S. proves unable to contain the costs in its health care system, the economic impact will be devastating, even if we eliminated Medicare and Medicaid tomorrow.
3)If the U.S. cannot fix its health care system, then it would be easy to curtail spending on Medicare and Medicaid by simply contracting out for these services to the countries that have managed to control costs and still enjoy longer life expectancies than the United States (see "Medicare Choice Plus: The Answer to the Long-Term Deficit Problem" on the website of the Center for Economic and Policy Research).
4) If the U.S. does control its health care costs, then the increase in government spending on entitlements for the elderly over the next 40 years will be smaller (measured as a share of GDP) than it was over the last 40 years.
5) In forty years, our children will on average enjoy a level of after-tax hourly compensation that is more than twice as high as we receive today. This is not attributable to their brilliance and hard work, but rather will be the result of the public and private capital stock that we have passed down to them, as well as the state of technical knowledge..
All of these are simple facts that every economist recognizes. It is remarkable that a book could be published on generation inequality and never address these issues. It is even more remarkable that anyone takes such a book seriously.
1234450
This book was not good, and that hurts to say because I agreed with the overall diagnosis. Society - Western civilization specifically - is in trouble. Anyone who bothers to look past the rosy 'two cars in every garage' and the multiculti 'diversity is the greatest morality ever' can see that today we face problems which did not exist fifty years ago. There were no Columbines, there was no loss of purpose. I also dare say that desegregation has caused as much animosity between the races - if not more - than originally existed. Heresy, I know.

If you don't agree with that last suggestion, that would be because it is my opinion. Mrs. Jacobs has a lot of opinions in her book...though none so 'unenlightened', I'm sure. This book is just an intelligent person's attempt to talk about the things that irk her. There are no timeless insights, which is what a problem the magnitude of her thesis requires. Blunt ideas liks "Cars bad! Roads bad!" are not going to dissect our woes. Opinion is often presented as fact or maxim. I did not agree with many of those opinions. Although I have not read Jared Diamond's work cited, the applause he receives here had an unintended consequence for me. Many of Diamond's own reviews hint of the same problem that beleaguers Jacobs' work: opinion given as fact.

The positives I would attribute to Jacobs' Dark Age Ahead is that the subject matter is a poignant question of our time. Victory is bittersweet in that 'it is all down hill from here'; but if there is one constant of Western civilization, it is that the citizens are authors of their own destiny. Regrettably, too many of these same people choose to author a brave new world. The debate is needed, and anything that spurs that is ultimately a good thing. I would first read Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence or Bloom's Closing of the American Mind, however.
4478030
Unfortunately, I found this mat to be incredibly slippery, so will now be buying a new one after only having this one about a month.  I thought the slipperiness would fade, but it hasn't.  Makes it very hard to do a down dog!
815423
Here's what I wrote to the company, begging for improvements.

I just purchased this Sol mat because I sweat a lot during yoga and was told I wouldn't slip on this mat.  First, that is 100% accurate, it's the first non-slip surface I've found and I am thrilled!!

But.... the mat has other serious problems, and I don't understand why they haven't been addressed? I'm not the first that has noticed these issues.

1 -- it's far too thin. My other mats, ok I gotta put a blanket under my knees when I am on one knee, and not spreading the weight over both my knees.  But the Sol? I can't even do cat cow or child's pose without pain in my knees!  It's so thin and there is almost no cushion!  PLEASE make a thicker mat for those of us who need it.

2 - the underside of the mat is incredibly slippery.  So I don't slip on the top side, but when transitioning from upward to downward dog, for instance, the mat accordions like an inch worm because there's no friction between the underside and the floor.

If you can fix these issues, guess what? I'll buy another mat.  But PLEASE fix these, they are serious flaws in an otherwise amazing non-slip mat.
4637509
First, I have to thank to the many posters here who have done such an excellent job reviewing Dr. Berman's latest book.  I, too, deeply appreciate the insights provided by Prof. Berman in Why America Failed, the final book in his series examining what ails America.

There's no question that my country, with its breathtaking natural beauty, is rapidly descending into the abyss with little to no hope of redemption. How can you change the culture of a people who stubbornly refuse to question the paradigm in which they live and believe? Short of the divine appearing in the sky and telling us why we're doomed, you can't...and even then there'd be huge chunks of Americans in denial. We do, indeed, as Prof. Berman maintains in his blog, suffer from self-delusion (or more aptly, CRE).

(Actually, I've long questioned Dr. Berman's contention that self-delusion is chosen: I've always maintained that we're so brainwashed we're unable to see our situation objectively. However, in WAF he quotes Vance Packard as saying: "we can choose not to be persuaded," and after careful observation I must sadly admit that most people are unwilling to even consider any point of view that challenges the narrative in which they believe or one that makes them feel uncomfortable.)

To sum up our dilemma, the United Stated has a long history and culture of hustling...in fact, if we could proclaim a national dance it would have to be The Hustle. A nation that's convinced that every new gadget means progress, to say nothing about its belief in the possibility of limitless growth (a belief that's completely contradicted by what we see in nature), and an economy that's built upon people buying things they don't need with money they don't have, is doomed to face a harsh reality.

A warning here to all potential readers - there's no happy ending in this take-down of America's "culture." It's an exploration of dark side of the American experience with no remedies proposed, simply because the author doesn't believe there are any...a point of view with which I have to concur. Highly recommended.
4475942
I have been trying to react to the unpublished sideline which makes me so extralimital to adult book trade. Perhaps the idea of a Disimagination Machine as American policy in the subtitle to characterize how organized forgetting makes piffle of anything outside the marginal thinking of millionaires, billionaires, military strategy, global finance, mega=death, polygamy, art, mass communication, and subliminal selling could provide some education to those who need new ways to consider how official the unthinkable hides itself. Americans who were exposed to global hysteria about J. F. cave thought Europeans could think in knowing ways that only a fool would admit to public opinion. It is impossible to make a deal with tax and spend funding for years that keep swapping new authoritarianism for the disposability in permanent war of information checkpoints.
3287102
This mat is a big disappointment.  Read the reviews carefully:  MANY of them talk about how slippery this mat is.  It's true!

Read what people are doing to try to make this mat usable:  sanding it with sandpaper; washing it with salt; washing it with vinegar.  None of that stuff has worked for me!

I just wasted over $100 on this mat, which went into the trash because it's so dangerously slippery.  Manduka has written elsewhere that "you should use your mat daily for three months in order to break it in and increase friction."  Seriously????  Would you buy a car if the owner's manual said, "You must drive this car daily for three months, in order for the brakes to work."

I've been practicing yoga extensively for 10 years.  I perspire an average amount.  I've never, ever, had a problem slipping on a yoga mat.  But this mat is CRAZY SLIPPERY.

I tried washing it with sea salt.  I tried rinsing it with apple cider vinegar and water.  No difference.  Seriously, at the slightest perspiration, my hands and feet start sliding all over this thing.

I'm seriously irritated -- which takes a lot for me!  I should not have to go through these crazy treatments just to stay on my yoga mat.  There should be a big warning sticker on this mat:  "DANGER:  If you perspire at all, you will slip off this mat, perhaps injuring yourself."

Just google "slippery Manduka mat" and you'll note the many complaints.  I suppose the mat would be fine if you perspire very lightly, but apparently, many people don't fit that category.

When I called Manduka, I was told that there is a vegetable oil used in the manufacturing process which must be worn off during use, and that eventually, the mat will become less slippery.  But I truly don't want to risk breaking my neck in the meantime.  And, I should not have to.  Nor do I want to carry around a towel to put on my yoga mat.  This is going in the garbage.  What a waste of money.
1843685
John Robbins has benefitted from promoting a nutritional plan that calls for eating a low-fat, plant-based vegan diet to "save your life and our world" from the imminent dangers brought on my those dastardly meat-eaters. Puh-leez!

THE FOOD REVOLUTION simply ignores all the great nourishment that healthy grass-fed meats and pastured eggs provide people eating a solid nutrition approach while erroneously demonizing animal-based foods as the culprit not just in disease but also in destroying planet Earth. Oh brother, what utter nonsense and extremism!

If someone chooses to become a vegan like Robbins and his foreword author Dr. Dean Ornish have, then more power to ya. But this continued relentless attack on people who choose to eat meat is beginning to fall on deaf ears as people see vegan activists like this as the extreme end of an unproven and unsustainable way of eating. It's just more vegan propaganda that shows how desperate they have become to try to make the whole world eat like they do.

NEWFLASH: IT AIN'T WORKING!

Meat can be an incredible part of a healthy lifestyle if you choose humanely-treated animals from local farmers who feed them as nature intended. I agree with the conclusions made in the book about factory farms and that really does need to come to an end. But let's don't throw the baby out with the bathwater here. There's good stuff to be had by zeroing in on the right kind of animal-based foods and allowing them to nourish our bodies.

A real FOOD REVOLUTION can happen when we stop trying to pick sides in the nutritional debate and instead embrace the benefits that each has to offer.
3906090
I am desperate to read this book, but absolutely refuse to pay $14.99.  I think this book would have been on the bestseller list a lot longer if it had a fair price. All of a sudden the $9.99 book is becoming rarer, and $12.99 the new norm. Buying this book at $14.99 is what is allowing this price hike. Kindle hooks us, and now crooks us?  I'll buy it used in hardcover or wait for paperback.  How terribly sad and greedy. (and yes, I am totally aware that the price was set by the publisher....BUT, I somehow think Amazon is powerful enough to fight this, but let it go to test the market...and it was a test we failed miserably when we purchased it at $14.99)  Slippery slope, folks, slippery slope!
473884
Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the author was able to shine a light of truth on the unethical and secretive actions of Franklin Roosevelt and his administration. There have been many criticisms of that calculating regime - the attempt to subvert the constitution by "packing" the court and thus eliminating checks and balances, converting a democratic-republic of free enterprise into a socialist state, greatly lengthening the depression by raising taxes and enlarging the federal government... and now the culmination of our fears and the proof - the 8-step program to force the Japanese Empire into attacking Pearl Harbor.

Prior to that attack, our Congress wasn't inclined to go to war; indeed, the American people were not so inclined. The Roosevelt administration needed the Japanese to attack and a clear provocation to force their hand. That proposed 8-point provocation was followed in total. It included the submarine pop-ups around the island nation, supplies to China, increased numbers of troops and ships in the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), and more.

Now, there is irrefutable evidence as Stinnett prepared his information like an indictment, exposing the Roosevelt administration. The 3000 plus victims at Pearl Harbor were merely pawns in the regime's high-stakes game. Unfortunately, for them and the 500 plus Marines and civilian construction workers on Wake and the15,000 plus American troops and civilians in the Philippines... all abandoned by the Roosevelt administration - abandoned to fight without reinforcements or supplies, Roosevelt used Pearl Harbor to pursue a "Europe First" policy. Those courageous troops in the Pacific became the victims of the secretive and insidious plan. Apparently, the Roosevelt administration didn't honor one of the most revered beliefs of our armed force... "Never abandon troops in the field!"
Stinnett never offers an opinion as to whether the war was the correct thing to do. He merely presents the facts and allows the reader to form his or her own opinion. Since I had an uncle die in the Philippines after Roosevelt's abandonment, the Bataan Death March, and 30 months of torture, starvation, disease, and slavery, I've formed my opinion. Congratulations to the author for exposing the calculating and callous actions of the New Deal regime. Obviously, those actions were not going to be exposed by the complicitous media of the 1930s and 1940s!

Day of Deceit should be read by all Americans interested in retaining our democratic-republic and first amendment rights. History does repeat itself if the lessons go unlearned! Day Of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor

Side note: it's unfortunate that HRC violates the Freedom of Information Act, hopefully she will comply or face charges!
1258487
Long story short, this is an incredibly flawed ideology. First of all, the author continually denounces dogmatism and promotes individual freedom, then proceeds to illustrate incredibly dogmatic rules and tactics for the destruction of democratic principals.
Of course there are several problems and instances of hypocrisy in this radical rule-book that can be argued, but to keep it simple, I'll focus on one.........the FATAL flaw in their ideology is: in a free democracy there are already built in safeguards to avoid the supposed racial and economic oppression which progressives continually whine about. It's called VOTING! You can use all the hashtags, slogans and bumper stickers you want...but at the end of the day, there was a turnout rate of 24% for the last election(mid-terms of 2014). But wait, this amazing offer doesn't stop there....everyone also has the power to vote with their pocket-books.....if you don't like the fact that Kodak, for example, has "oppressive or racist" policies regarding employment, don't purchase their products. This is what we call freedom and the brilliance of capitalism.
Instead of true individual freedom and the genuine practice of democracy we get a progressive dogma of threatening intimidation, polarization and deceit. ....which is why liberalism in this country is synonymous with socialism and communism. Say for example, Saul gets everything he wants......is he magically going to turn off the sneaky tactics, the deceit and the intimidation? Not likely, welcome to progressive tyranny which we are all experiencing first hand by an alinsky pupil who's played the system to full advantage....has HE made the switch from intimidation and tyranny to individual freedom? Just look at the I.R.S., NSA and several other scandals for the answer.
Instead of whining and crying to get what you want, how about you effect real change by the freedom of representation........is it so hard to vote, or even run for office yourself?! Instead they promote thug-like and ridiculous tactics (let's all fart at the opera house)?!?
I rest my case with the desperation of human bodily functions.....mister alinsky was a true intellectual.
3745197
You have begun the journey and this will begin to take the blinders off.  It is all coming down and evil will have to account  for all the evil it has done.  It hates this, but it is happening!!  Get in touch with the truth inside.  Evil is all around us and deserves all it has inflicted!!
2067137
A lot of [people] have referred to this book as being against the backdrop of the Cold War, but the sad thing is that since the end of the Cold War, the warnings of this book have become MORE and not less pertinent, as the hard left have used the ruse that Communism has collapsed to inject their values into all of us, like a bacillus, through the back door.
I see the brainwashing of the children described in this book as being what university students in the so-called humanities go through, in nearly every university in the world.
The media and universities are trying to do to all of us what the teacher did to the children in the book!
And slowly as youth are filtered through the universities they will permeate the rest of society with corrupt neo-Marxist views, including elementary schools.
How many people throughout the world marched in support of Saddam Hussein earlier this year , without a thought about the morality of the positions they where taking?
Yes, the nightmare we read about in `The Children's Story' is happening across the world. Too many of us have lost the distinction between right and wrong.
Can the voices of freedom fight back?
2605536
I needed this book. As a "more-liberal-than-not," I always suspected something wrong with excessive social entitlement programs. As the other reviews here explain better, Sowell nails the problem  by distinguishing between specific, and "cosmic," injustices and inequalities (the latter to try to make everything perfect for everyone, regardless of the social cost to others.)
And yet.....As a teacher of thinking, I smell a rodent, or rather a subtext underneath here. I hear ultimate overtones hinting at a basic foundation-stance which might be as excessive as the li-be-ral programs he reasonably critiques. Namely, a free-market purism which may be care-less? An ultimate type of conservatism which reveres 100% laissez-faire. Minimal governmental regulation hands-off to let Adam Smith's "invisible hand" work its--magic?--for profit. Which will surely trickle down, or if it doesn't--so what? Sowell touts private philanthropy to address even first-level social inequalities, involving survival and minimal life-quality? Whoa! Bet he likes rampant deregulation. Would he banish welfare (P.S.--I would! No welfare! Instead, workfare--do labor, get money, just like everyone else...)
I can't fault this book for its explicit message critiquing excessive justice-seeking. I only wish I knew the total philosophy (perhaps smokescreened with footwork here?) upon which the message depends. And the implications.
My points? To SOWELL: please DISCLOSE your ultimate standpoint, rockbottom values--so I can see their implications.....To MYSELF: guess I'll read his Knowledge and Decisions to learn more.....To "LIBERALS ETC.": wow, see his needed Strong Medicine to understand our mess better anyhow.....
1189904
with notes...sorry, but, this is another "LIBERAL" economics book that offers more reform, etc I just think that we are waaay past the point of "regulating". It has gone too far, and too many are in pain...let's actually END Capitalism.....no more jingoisms about "ending it", please
4081286
Once again, like doping in sports, the ends appear to justify the means.  We decry election corruption in 3rd world and developing countries while wallowing in it in our own back yards.  The Repubtiles better look way beyond their navels and the babble of The Rick Santorum(s) as they've demonstrated that they can't win an election, buy an election or even steal one.

The irony is that "we the people" are turning the other cheek....hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil...and to think we got indignant about Watergate which was child's play compared to some of this stuff.