1-7 Star Rating – Page 18 – Public Intelligence Blog

Jason Matthews

6-Star Deeply Authentic Book About Nuances of Spying

After I read and then reviewed the first book, Red Sparrow, I was so deeply impressed that I immediately ordered the other two, this one and The Kremlin's Candidate, intending to read them on airplanes. That did not last.

This book went to my night-table, then to reading two hours past my bedtime, to last night when I could not put it down and read it until midnight. That is not normal for me, particularly as a former spy who considers most spy books to be utter crap.

This is not only the most authentic and nuanced book I have read about spying and why human intelligence and particularly offensive counterintelligence and covert action matter, but it is spectacularly well put together. The author is gifted in turns of phrase that make you laugh or cry or both.

Continue reading “Review: Palace of Treason (Espionage Fiction)”

2018/11/172018/11/13

Review: Red Sparrow (Espionage Fiction)

6 Star Top 10%, Intelligence (Government/Secret)

Jason Matthews

6 Stars Best New Espionage Everything

I have reviewed over 300 books on intelligence, almost all of them non-fiction. Apart from the George Smiley series by John Le Carre the only other fiction book I can think of that garnered my respect was Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry.

This book, by a former SE Division (Soviet Division) Operations Officer also known as a Case Officer (C/O) is SENSATIONAL. I bought it at the airport when my planned reading for the return flight turned out to be junk (Life After Google).

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2018/11/162018/11/16

Review: Skin in the Game – Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life

6 Star Top 10%, America (Founders, Current Situation), Best Practices in Management, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Complexity & Resilience, Consciousness & Social IQ, Culture, Research, Economics, Intelligence (Commercial), Misinformation & Propaganda, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

6 Star – Skin in the Game = Ethics = Sustainable

By the author Black Swan and Anti-Fragility, among many other works, this book is a simplified overview — a capstone work — and the easiest to read.

Skin in the Game is defined by the author as symmetry of risk and reward — in other words, you don't get to externalize losses to others while reaping the rewards without any personal risk.

That pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with banking, commerce, government, religions, and universities.

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2018/11/152019/09/06

Review: ANTIFRAGILE – Things That Gain From Disorder

7 Star Top 1%, Best Practices in Management, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Change & Innovation, Complexity & Resilience, Economics, Environment (Solutions), Intelligence (Public), Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Survival & Sustainment, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

7 Star Transformative — As Important as Governing the Commons — LOCALIZE

For those who do not know this, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action earned Elinor Ostrom a Nobel Peace Prize in Economics. This book, by the author of Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable is of that caliber. A later book,, Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life is easier to read — if you have time for only one go with the latter.

The core message of this book is that you cannot predict or control high impact low probability events, but you can downsize, localize, you can decentralize, and in so doing make much of the ecology “antifragile.”

Continue reading “Review: ANTIFRAGILE – Things That Gain From Disorder”

2018/11/132018/11/12

Review: Life After Google – The Fall Of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy by George Gilder

3 Star, Information Society, Information Technology

George Gilder

3 Stars Fad Book Limited Value

I gave up on this book after 100 pages (it is 320 pages long). I normally do not waste time writing negative reviews but in this instance think it appropriate to mention that I found it wanting.

The first third, on Google, is so far-fetched in its effusive praise and its articulation of the Google this and Google that I could not get the image out of my head: George Gilder kissing Eric Schmidt's ass. Over and over and over again.

Continue reading “Review: Life After Google – The Fall Of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy by George Gilder”

2018/11/122018/11/11

Review: The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

6 Star Top 10%, Best Practices in Management, Budget Process & Politics, Complexity & Catastrophe, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), Information Operations, Politics, Priorities, Public Administration, Water, Energy, Oil, Scarcity

Michael Lewis

6 Stars Presidential Transitions Matter and President Trump Blew It — With Follow-on Consequences

Although I am a huge fan of President Trump — I wrote the first article on how he could win (“Counter-Coup: How Trump Can Win,” CounterPunch, 14 August 2018) and went on to write the 30 piece Trump Revolution Series, I also believe in learning from the mistakes of others — this book has a great deal to offer the next President.

Early on in the book we learn that then candidate Trump did not want a presidential transition team and refused to assign campaign funds for it. When he was persuaded by Chris Christie that he needed one and Christie offered to raise funds separately, Trump assented, only to blow a fuse when he learned Christie had raised $9 million.

QUOTE (21): “Trump was apoplectic, actually yelling, You're stealing my money! You're stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?”

The book offers one capstone understanding and five insights that every presidential candidate should take deeply to heart:

Continue reading “Review: The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis”

2018/10/122018/10/11

Ed Jewett: Book Review – Microcosm and Medium by Joseph Farrell — A Mind Control Prophylactic

5 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ

There aren’t many things that get my anger and paranoia out for a walk on a rainy weekday afternoon than reading about advances being made by the military-industrial empire having to do with mind control.

I like to be left alone to determine the direction of my life, so I find Joseph Farrell’s Microcosm and Medium to be a breath of fresh air, first for its new information, then for some analysis by someone with advanced intelligence and terminal degrees, and thirdly for its approach to hope for humanity. There are things we can do to prevent the cell doors of tyranny from slamming shut.

Continue reading “Ed Jewett: Book Review – Microcosm and Medium by Joseph Farrell — A Mind Control Prophylactic”