WaFiTz! » Entries tagged with "Book Review"
Bookshelf: The Pirate’s Dilemma
I recently finished reading The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Hackers, Punk Capitalists, Graffiti Millionaires and Other Youth Movements are Remixing Our Culture and Changing Our World by Matt Mason. I posted a link to Amazon to buy the book but it’s free to download (you choose the price) from the Official website. I’ll start by saying that this is a great well-researched book for anyone who is (a) a pirate (b) a creator (c) a media exec or (d) wanting to look at the history and origins of piracy in context. Mason starts off from the odd perspective of introducing us to the punk revolution. The entire first chapter is devoted to punk capitalism. Whilst I think this has it’s place in the history of piracy, I didn’t think it was necessary to devote … Read entire article »
Bookshelf: The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything
I just finished reading The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything. I read it in part because I’m interested in big picture ideas and why things are the way they are, and partly because it’s coming from the same approach and school of thought as another book I read last year – Freakonomics . Not that Freakonomics and The Economic Naturalist are teaching exactly the same subject or entirely in agreement, the ‘school of thought’ I refer to is to examine cultural, historical and environmental mindsets and events and try to determine the reasoning behind such things. I’ll start by saying it’s a good book and it did cause me to learn a few things, but I didn’t find it as good a read as Freakonomics. For a start I found the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Bookshelf, Worthwhile Reading
Bookshelf: Beam Me Up, Jesus
I picked up this book, by Jim Gerard (who is apparently a comedian) expecting a witty, well-researched, ‘Louis Theroux’ look into end-times rapture pop culture – the cousin of Christian theology that we don’t mention in polite company, but I must have been thinking of another book and mistook it for this one. To be fair to Gerard, he does offer a disclaimer right at the start and this should be taken as a pitch for the humour and intellect level to be expected – “If you’re a secular humanist who believes in reason rather than magic fixers, this book will provide that warm feeling of smug superiority.” The book does start off well, the first few chapters and the Readers Digest version of the Book of Revelation really did make me … Read entire article »
Bookshelf: The End of America
I picked up this book in the Borders sell off, it wasn’t one I was desperate to read, but it piqued my interest. End of America, the: Letters of Warning to a Young Patriot, by Naomi Wolf was first published in 2007 and is already starting to feel a little dated – reading it just 3 years later after a new President and the rhetoric of The War Against Terror (TWAT) is losing it’s appeal. The warnings contained however, are not dated, and will continue to be relevant to both Americans and future societies who aspire to a democratic ideal. Reading this book brought back memories for me of the last decade and my general disgust with the theme that the world had changed and would never be the same again … Read entire article »
Bookshelf: The Morello Letters
I recently finished reading The Morello Letters from Monster Publishing. Jon Snow, who is featured in the book as one of the recipients of RM Morello’s letters is quoted on the cover as saying “The funniest collection of spoof letters I have ever read!” The concept, though not original is always good for a laugh. A typical oddball character writing letters to famous and/or powerful people in order to provoke a response. Unlike Jon Snow however, I’ve seen it done better, in the form of From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters. If you want to see some hilariously written letters then this is the one to read. The thing is I didn’t find Morello’s letters particularly funny, they were rambling and slightly tedious. However Morello does score above Toth in one … Read entire article »
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