books about: disaster     books:       The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America44 reviews Timothy Egan Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009 Calamities Shape our Country and Build Institutions The book has been very accurately summarized by other reviewers. I would like to follow on one point that I had not thought about until I read a review. There is a comparison between the forest fire described in this work and Katrina. In both cases we see neglect by the government leading to a catastrophe. This fire gave impetus to the conservation movement. It also shows how even the most ...             This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly18 reviews Carmen M. Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff Princeton University Press, 2009 Sobering study of fiscal failures Every so often, experts sucker people into bidding up the prices of stocks or real estate because they announce that the economy has fundamentally changed. As the aftermath of the real estate bubble illustrates, the basics of economics don't really change, no matter what fantasies people come to believe. Economics professors Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff present a thorough historical ...             It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street10 reviews Nomi Prins Wiley, 2009 Superb book by Wall Street refugee from Goldman Sachs The PILLAGE PEOPLE EXPOSED! My review of It Takes a Pillage appears in the November issue of In These Times magazine, so I will be brief here. It's a can't miss account of how the Pillage People at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks drained our productive economy, produced an enormous collapse devastating America's most vulnerable, and have walked away with $17.5 trillion (that's the ...             The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl243 reviews Timothy Egan Mariner Books, 2006 the worst hard time The book was one of those "can't put down books". I read it in less than a week, it's so descriptive of the storms and the people involved. I could feel the sand in my eyes and mouth. His word pictures are so descriptive it takes your breath away. I highly reccommend this book for everyone's reading, it part of our history which everyone knows about but very few know the why and what it was ...             Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam21 reviews Gordon M. Goldstein Holt Paperbacks, 2009 Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam Lessons in Disaster by Gordon M. Goldstein It's been reported that Lessons in Disaster by Gordon M.Goldstein is must reading for Barack Obama's national security team. And for good reason. Tom Brokaw has called it "an illuminating book and a cautionary tale about the perils of intellectual arrogance overpowering good judgment at the highest levels of security decision making." The book ...             Zeitoun84 reviews Dave Eggers McSweeney's, 2009 unexpectedly powerful and moving Although this book is listed on its cover as a "best seller", I came across it quite by accident, while searching for another book. Then I read some reviews, bought the book, and began reading it "between books", or so I thought. To my wonderment and to my very pleasant surprise, it's a riveting book, one which I found almost impossible to put down. It reads like the very best of adventure ...             Fiscal Hangover: How to Profit From The New Global Economy (Agora Series)3 reviews Keith Fitz-Gerald Wiley, 2009 Down the Rabbit Hole: From Big Picture to Ben Franklins in the Bank! This book is NOT for those who cling dearly to the way things were, to a tidy and comfortable USA-centric view of the economic universe. Fiscal Hangover is clearly the work of a thinking man who eschews armchair analysis based on yesterday's models and "common knowledge". Mr. Fitz-Gerald has apparently spent significant amounts of time in the real, as well as statistical, trenches of the new ...             The Year of the Flood: A Novel65 reviews Margaret Atwood Nan A. Talese, 2009 Memorable, masterful Much of the future that she writes about is already here or looming, which is what makes it so compelling -- not being able to resist watching a train wreck, as someone put it. I read it in one sitting, not because I was breathlessly awaiting a cliffhanger outcome, but because it felt like I was there, on the sidelines, and I couldn't just walk away.             The Sellout: How Three Decades of Wall Street Greed and Government Mismanagement Destroyed the Global ...25 reviews Charles Gasparino HarperBusiness, 2009 technically could be stronger but gets the essence First off, I worked with or for many of the major characters (especially at Merrill, but also at Morgan Stanley). In particular I was at Merrill during the LTCM debacle and can say that amazingly Gasparino got the character of O'Neal, Kronthal, Kim, Semerci and Latannzio generally correct even in the earlier crisis. I remember O'Neal ripping a new orifice in Connie Voldstadt who headed European ...             Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster1545 reviews Jon Krakauer Anchor, 1999 A Great Book That Will Keep You on The Edge of Your Seat Into thin air is a great story by John Krakauer. John at the time in the book is writing for a climbing magazine and had always wanted to attempt mount Everest since he was little. The only problem was John Felt like he had been out of climbing for awhile and was getting to old. One day however he got the opportunity to join an expedition that was led by Ron Hall. Without any hesitation he ...             Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson11 reviews William Langewiesche Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009 Captivating from first page to last I just happened upon this book in the library today; of course everyone knows the story but I thought it would be an interesting read. To say it is an "interesting read" is really not doing it justice. I have not been able to put it down. William Langewiesche's writing is perfectly dead-on. He gives the facts but weaves it into a readable format including the parts about engine thrust and ...             The Housing Boom and Bust97 reviews Thomas Sowell Basic Books, 2009 The Housing Boom& Bust Thomas Sowell makes this complicated subject easy to understand and is unbiased in his assessment. Good book.             Anathem229 reviews Neal Stephenson Harper, 2009 Great physics, annoying philosophy Neal Stephenson writes books that you can't get out of your brain once you've let them in. "The Diamond Age" remains for me the quintessential "paradigm shift" novel of ideas; I think about the world differently having read it. Anathem is not quite up to that level, and also does not seem quite so spectacularly original as his other books. The special kids taken in to be trained up behind high ...             When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes98 reviews Cody Lundin Gibbs Smith, 2007 All Hell's about to Break loose. This is a good book, especially is you are going to have to survive away from home. The book blends survival in your house and survival if you have to leave your house (Get out of Dodge).             Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia49 reviews Ahmed Rashid Penguin (Non-Classics), 2009 An outstanding "must-read" book for Afghanistan understanding This is one of the most outstanding books I have read in modern history. It is not an easy book to read. I read through the whole book twice with a notebook in hand to be on top of all the principal players, dates and changing relationships. It is a scary book (from an American point of view) as it depicts America and the West as well-intentioned but incredibly ignorant and naive. After ...             The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism414 reviews Naomi Klein Picador, 2008 Great Theory In of her best books, Naomi Klein elaborates a theory about neo-liberalism and how governments implement this economic policies by taking advantage of disasters or situations. The Shock Doctrine explains a lot of things that happen around us everyday. For all political scientists, theorists, college students or just for a great historical-political-economical read, this is your book.             The Real Global Warming Disaster: Is the Obsession with "Climate Change" Turning Out to Be the Most Costly ... Christopher Booker Continuum Pub Group, 2009 Booker focuses his attention on the mother of all environmental scares: global warming. This original book considers one of the most extraordinary scientific and political stories of our time: how in the 1980s a handful of scientists came to believe that mankind faced catastrophe from runaway global warming, and how today this has persuaded politicians to land us with what promises to be the biggest bill in history. Christopher Booker ...             Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression8 reviews Morris Dickstein W. W. Norton & Company, 2009 As accessible as it is authoritative I found "Dancing in the Dark" to be an embarrassment of riches. The elegance of its writing, the political and psychological sophistication that inform it, the depth and clarity of its argumentation, and the jaw-dropping breadth of source material at Morris Dickstein's command all combine to make this a magisterial work of cultural history. Dickstein accomplishes what all cultural historians ...             Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown5 reviews David Wiedemer, Robert Wiedemer, ... Wiley, 2009 AFTERSHOCK - Failure to read could harm your financial health! I had the opportunity to meet Bob and Dave Wiedemer back in May 09 as a result of some business I was conducting. At that time they were hard at work on AFTERSHOCK - their second book. They gave me a copy of their original book - America's Bubble Economy. As soon as I read it, I was sold on their vision and philosophy of the markets. In fact I wished I had found the book back in March of 08. ...             The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine Michael Lewis W.W. Norton & Co., 2010 A brilliant account?character-rich and darkly humorous?of how the U.S. economy was driven over the cliff. Truth really is stranger than fiction. Who better than the author of the signature bestseller Liar?s Poker to explain how the event we were told was impossible?the free fall of the American economy?finally occurred; how the things that we wanted, like ridiculously easy money and greatly expanded home ownership, were vehicles for that ...              search for books afghanistan, aftershock, america, american, backroom, bailouts, capitalism, centuries, cultural, depression, destroyed, different, disaster, doctrine, doomsday, financial, government, hangover, housing, mcgeorge, meltdown, mismanagement, obsession, pakistan, personal, roosevelt, scientific, survived, washington, yourself books:    Kindle - Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device This is the future of book reading. I have used it and love it! randomly chosen book: Out Front: Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Plays we recommend A review of the current state of cosmetic science of hair an home  impressum - about us