Bryan

This book is similar in its presentation to another I read by another National Security Council staffer, David Rothkopf, entitled “Running the World.”

I purposely chose to avoid reading this book for quite a time after it came out, as I generally dislike the “timely” political non-fiction. I find that the basic premise is:

I was right. Nobody listened to me. The government operated best when I was at the zenith of power during my career. It was bad before I got to this point and has fallen apart since I was there.

Both of these books more or less followed the same script.

Having said that, Richard Clarke is an incredibly interesting bureaucrat and our government is fortunate to have had employed him. The government is also worse off for having disenfranchised him and others like him. I would love to have dinner with the man over a good bottle of wine or two to hear the stories that he couldn't write.

One final bit of criticism has more to do with the editor than Mr. Clarke himself. One of my pet peeves is the incorrect spelling of homophones. In this case, every time Mr. Clarke wrote “insure,” he really meant “ensure.” It is a minor point but I noticed it each time it was done, totalling probably a dozen times throughout the book.

Sports insiders have determined that the best way to put together a club was to spend the most money. Billy Beane (and the New York Yankees of late) have proved otherwise. The A's have discovered that choosing ball players based upon their uncanny ability to get on base, rather than throw gas or mash a bunch of home runs, is the key to winning. And that is what they have done.

They have provided the template for what financial investors term, “Buy low and sell high.”

This was a great book. You can tell this by all of the professionals who dismiss it at their own peril.

One of the only fictional accounts of a real event I have read, but one of the greatest stories ever told. This book has encouraged me to read more of Mr. Pressfield's works.

Cryptocurrencies are not what you think. And you can't really separate crypto currencies from the block chain. Really interesting look at where this innovation came from and how it is changing the trust business.

Russka is an historical novel which allows a reader to understand a good part of the history of Russia without the drudgery of reading a text. Several families are interwoven throughout this story as you follow along the dozens of generations at critical points in the history of this nation.

Sometimes the characters were difficult to follow or remember several chapters later, but Mr. Rutherford tries to alleviate this by maintaining certain familial characteristics.

This book definitely felt rushed, but having said that it significantly detailed the decision to launch the raid, which I found interesting. I can't say that every President or wanna-be would have made the same given the lack of true intelligence, but I am thankful that he did.