The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

By John Brown | December 15, 2012 - 9:57 am |December 15, 2012 John's Reviews - books, movies, whatever

After this year’s presidential election I emailed my sister, a smart, super-competent, true-blue, bleeding-heart, save the weeds and snails liberal, who volunteered to do campaign work for Hilary Clinton in Colorado during the 2008 Democratic primaries and, of course, voted loudly for Obama in this last election. “Are you kidding me?” I asked. “How can →

Obama, Romney, Rich People, Roasts, and A Good Cause

By John Brown | October 19, 2012 - 1:59 pm |October 19, 2012 Blather

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Every year the Alfred E. Smith Foundation hosts a millionaires-only fundraising dinner for Catholic charities. It’s a custom to have the two main candidates speak in election years. President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney roasted themselves and each other this week, just two days after their brouhaha second debate. Not only are both talks funny, but →

No Apology: Chapter 1 – The Pursuit of the Difficult

By John Brown | October 3, 2012 - 11:11 pm |October 3, 2012 Blather

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WE MUST FACE OUR CHALLENGES OR DIMINISH Romney starts the chapter with a quote his dad used to recite to him: “the pursuit of the difficult makes men strong.” Romney states that over the years, he’s come to believe that this idea applies to more than individuals—it applies to businesses and nations as well. He →

No Apology: The Structure

By John Brown | October 2, 2012 - 8:31 pm |October 2, 2012 Blather

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I posted my review of No Apology on a few sites the other day. I can understand how some folks might be skeptical that the book is nothing more than a PR puff job. But I’m surprised at how many refuse to even test their assumptions with ten or fifteen minutes of reading (or listening →

No Apology

By John Brown | September 30, 2012 - 7:54 pm |September 30, 2012 Blather, John's Reviews - books, movies, whatever

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The Book Political TV ads can be fun. And annoying. Debates can be fun. And maddening. You can indeed learn things about the candidates from watching the ads and debates. But fifteen and thirty second snippets of information really don’t give you the full picture. And sometimes they actually hide the facts, producing nothing more →