Reviews (Books & DVD) – Page 42 – Public Intelligence Blog

Ryan Holiday

4.0 out of 5 stars World-Class Integration with Some Flaws, July 2, 2015

This is a brilliantly executed formula book. It was given to me as a gift during a recent trip to Tampa, Florida, and I read it on the airplane flying back — so I do recommend it as a 2 hour airplane read.

The author, whom I know personally and whose book Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator I consider the superior original work — I gave it a rave review and met the author as a result, has done a superb job of combining an original foundation from several ancient philosophers with modern biographies of success, to create a distilled self-help book that focuses on perception, action, and will as the three things that anyone can control in the face of adversity.

Continue reading “Review: The Obstacle is the Way”

2015/07/022015/06/29

Review: Bare Feet, Iron Will

5 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ, Culture, Research, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform), History, Military & Pentagon Power, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, War & Face of Battle

James G. Zumwalt

5.0 out of 5 stars Oral History at Its Best — Relevant to Future Strategy, Policy, Acquisition, Tactics, June 29, 2015

I received this book as a gift from the author, a fellow Marine retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, sometimes mistaken for his father, Admiral Zumwalt. I have gone through it twice. It is immediately in my top five books on Viet-Nam from an intelligence point of view, the other four books being:

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2015/06/282015/06/27

Review: Change the Story, Change the Future – A Living Economy for a Living Earth

5 Star, Culture, Research, Economics, Environment (Solutions), Intelligence (Public), Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Survival & Sustainment, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution

David Korten

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings Us Full Circle — Valuable as Remedial Education for All, June 27, 2015

David Korten has been one of my heroes and indirect mentors through his books for over a decade. His book The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community resonated deeply with me, and I completely agree that the premise of that book, to wit, people are the new (restored) super-power actualized through local resilience and global community.

This book takes on great importance as we reflect on the United Nations and its Sustainability Development Goals (SDG), combined with The Most Holy Father agreeing to visit the UN in September to deliver and encyclical that has been leaked, on climate change. This book can be considered the middle book, the book that brings a largely unconscious public, generally poorly read, up to speed with “the new story.” It is not a new story, as one reviewer archly observes, it is in fact the original story harking back to a time when our indigenous ancestors respected the Mother Earth, observed plants and animals as co-equal intelligence, forgot nothing through oral history, and generally acted as stewards of the earth. One of the best books showing before (Mayan, Aztec) and after (guns, germs, steel) is 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus.

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2015/05/24

Review: Democracy More or Less – America’s Political Reform Quandry

4 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Congress (Failure, Reform), Electoral Reform USA, Executive (Partisan Failure, Reform)

Bruce Cain

4.0 out of 5 stars Academic Smoke — Disdain for the Public & Denial Over Two-Party Tyranny, May 24, 2015

I spent some time reviewing the author's history (he's been writing about electoral matters since the 1970's) and what Amazon offers through its superb Inside the Book feature, as I am unemployed and between the book price and what Amazon charges for delivery today this would have been a $40 commitment. My call: not worth it for the electoral reform activist, but useful as the nay-sayer summary for graduate level courses in politics.

The book suffers three strikes:

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2015/05/222015/05/22

Worth a Look: Beyond Data Monitoring – Achieving the Sustainability Development Goals Through Intelligence (Decision-Support)

5 Star, Decision-Making & Decision-Support

A bargain at 99 cents, with live links. 42 pages representing a lifetime of reflection and contributions from hundreds of other subject matter experts devoted to the idea that we can create a prosperous world at peace, a world that works for all.

As the United Nations (UN) contemplates its most important new economic and social initiative, the seventeen new Sustainability Development Goals (SDG), to be manifest in the Global Sustainable Development Report and related UN System activities, it is essential that the Secretary-General be afforded an opportunity to recognize the radical changes that are taking place in the external environment – and how the UN can capitalize on them to accelerate achievement of the SDGs.

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2015/05/192015/05/19

Review: Becoming Aware – How to Repattern Your Brain and Revitalize Your Life

5 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ

Lisa Garr

5.0 out of 5 stars UPLIFTING – Blends Science, Spiritual, Practical, May 19, 2015

I first encountered Lisa Garr when she reached out to interview me about my Open Source Everything Manifesto, and I found her to be one of the most charming as well as versatile (beyond intelligent – open and creative) interviewers I have ever met. That secured my attention going into the future and now I follow her offerings with great interest.

This book could not be timelier as America the Beautiful – and tens of millions of families — enter a time of great stress and general dysfunction.

Continue reading “Review: Becoming Aware – How to Repattern Your Brain and Revitalize Your Life”

2015/05/142019/09/06

Review: Truth – Philosophy in Transit

7 Star Top 1%, Philosophy, Religion & Politics of Religion, Science & Politics of Science

John D. Caputo

7 Stars Life Transformative Fundamental, Joyous, Optimistic, Calming Integrates Faith with Reason, God with Science – Cosmic Root

I read across 98 categories and the older I get, the more I think college should be spaced out over 20 years and degrees given expiration dates. This is an extraordinarily profound and moving book that is both readable and joyous.

Bottom line up front: truth in transit is truth in the becoming, the event, the conversation, the evolution — all men are created equal was initially all white elites; then all white men; then including slaves generally of color; then women; and now evolving to include transgender and perhaps one day, animals other than humans and even plants.

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