I just heard Robert Fisk interviewed. Sounds like the most intelligent reporter in the world to me.
His home of the past 25 years, Beirut, Lebanon, has been destroyed by what Fisk feels was unnecessary military action. The Israelis over-reacted. And they came out second best in the conflict.
Fisk speaks Arabic and is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden.
I will be checking out his books.
Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion.
Published Nov. 2005, this is an essential survival guidebook for your panic room.
As much as I want a robot dog, I could never trust it completely.
Information this important should be forced on people too dumb to read. Gladly the RENO 911! TV folks are responsible for the movie (which I assume will be an alarmist documentary) hosted by Mike Myers.
![How to Survive a Robot Uprising [UNABRIDGED]](https://i0.wp.com/images.amazon.com/images/P/0786172908.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
Thanks Ron & Kate for alerting me to this danger.
Ron & Kate invited me up to their comp. luxury suite at the Legends hotel resort in Whistler, BC. They also invited blues legend Colin James to play for me … and a few hundred other invited guests.
Rockin’ Ronnie was feeding barbecue to the great unwashed — including a whole hog. (Thanks for introducing me to hog jowl, Rockin’.)
The entire event was sponsored by Navan, Cognac in celebration of inebriation and Ron’s cookbooks.
I’ve been a fan of Thomas Friedman since I read From Beirut to Jerusalem years ago. He is one intelligent, articulate guy.
Now he’s cool, as well. Jon Stewart interviewed him on The Daily Show this week.
I highly recommend Friedman’s greatest book, an overview of where we are at in the evolution of this planet. The world is flattening. Trade & political barriers are falling. The internet makes it possible to do business or pleasure with anyone, anywhere.
I just got an email from Jason in the UK, for example, telling me about a product I have been seeking for years.
Friedman is an optimist. But I think the flattening of the world could go either way. Certainly we will see a huge backlash soon. The USA, for example, might put up trade barriers against China.
The best idea in the book, I thought, was Friedman’s call for the USA to set energy independence as the #1 goal for the future. He lays that argument out brilliantly. Jon Stewart was not convinced.
Rocketboom featured the Webby Awards with a short video clip of Friedman, their Man of the Year. Soundtrack by Prince.
Like every second person, I just finished another Dan Brown book — on MP3.
Angels and Demons is the prequel to The Davinci Code, and is similar. Brown has a good formula and he sticks to it. Short paragraphs with cliff-hanger endings. He drags the reader along, willing or no.
It’s not great literature, but the plot is superb. This time his targets are the Papacy and the Illuminati.
I recommend it.
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The most recent of the long awaited electronic books.
Supports PDF, HTML and text.
On Dana’s recommendation, I got the huge best seller on MP3. I’ve been listening to it as I bike about Calgary.
It is sweet, funny, touching and sad. Any dog owner would like it.
Actually, any dog owner could have written it! The story of every dog could fill a book.
(click on the book for details)
Live your dream. … ditch the nine to five, say ciao to the rat race.
They call it a “gap” year in the UK.
Greg and Lori Chartier took off with two teenage boys through New Zealand and Australia. And loved it.
I thought the book would be filled with dream travel itineraries. The Lonely Planet Planet Earth that I have long been anticipating.
Actually, most of it deals with practicalities: house, pets, finances, vehicle, job. Where to kennel the kids.
Real life examples. Author is paid 8% of cover price.
Inspired by Chris Bonnington’s Quest for Adventure, a regular Canadian kid became an Adventurer.
Kirkby hooked up with Jamie Clarke, Calgary’s most famous adventurer for:
His greatest claim to fame (or greatest sufferfest) was what he called The Grande Cirque — the first circumnavigation of British Columbia’s southern Coast Range.
His best destination so far — the Mergui Archipelago of Burma, off-limits to everyone for the past 50 years.
Rick McCharles 