The author of this book spent a career as an economist for a consulting firm which did economic studies for third world countries. The purpose of the studies were ostensibly to show how much of build up of infrastructure would be necessary to exploit the country's natural resources. The idea was that for the country and it's people to prosper they would borrow money, build up their infrastructure, start extracting their natural resources (both with the help of American firms), then use the windfall to service the debt and have enough left over for public programs that would bring the country into the 20th century (i.e., health, educational and other programs).

The only problem with this scenario is that things did not and were not expected to really play out that way. Instead, the "windfall" would be much less than expected (or pilfered) such that the country would not be able to repay their development loans and debt relief could then be used as a negotiating point by the US government. What the US would want in return could be anything from the right to build military bases in that county to cooperation with how their UN votes are cast.

A book covering the tenure of the Bush administration's first treasury secretary Paul O'Neil. It's chock full of revelations like many that you've heard before. Among the most interesting is O'Neil's recounting of the very first cabinet meeting. This took place a full 9 months before the attack on September 11, 2001 yet at the meeting Condi Rice, when called upon, unfurls a map or Iraq and speaking as from a script mentions warning signs and the possible need of some intervention there.

O'Neil was opposed to the tax cuts that were pushed through (as was Greenspan) but the administration didn't really care about what he/they thought. After all he was just the head of the TREASURY for God's sake! At one point O'Neil suggests an economic summit with business leaders throughout the US. At first the admin didn't think much of the idea but soon it made sense to them. O'Neil recounts how instead of an information exchange and brainstorming sessions with business leaders that he expected the summit was stocked with stooges who could stand up and give testimonials about how good the tax cuts have been for business! The summit had been reprogrammed as a PR tool for tax cuts.

This book made me rethink what it is that I am doing with this particular web page. Am I reviewing what I thought of the book, the writing or the subject? I came across Gilbert's writing in a magazine article some years ago and it was the writing more than the subject that made me look for something else she had written. This book jumped out at me immediately. Her writing is crisp and to the point and it flows well. It is insightful, funny and fun to read -- the subject of this text is interesting and the writing delivers.

On the other hand, the subject being written about is a person that I grew to DISLIKE as the book progressed. To make matters more complicated -- I would think that the author might dislike the person being written about too but instead it is someone she has known for years and clearly admires very much. At several points I felt that the reader is lead to brink of the very point that is the issue with the character and then left there without the author pulling the trigger, so to speak. Without saying the next few words that are the obvious conclusion of the previous few sentences I was left wondering if the book was actually written FOR the subject. Is he supposed to read this book and suddenly "get it"?

In spite of the subject's talents, abilities and shear uniqueness (which are all substantial) he clearly has some major issues to resolve. Everything about the subject's character is the result of his relationship with his father. Call it protest, compensation for what the relationship lacked or just one up-man-ship but the character of the subject is clearly identical to that of his father.

Now, for a short summary of the actual book... the person who is subject of this book developed a unique skill set and relationship with the natural world around him at an early age. He spent his entire life pushing himself, those skills and that relationship further. From living in a teepee, capturing the food he lives on and making his own clothes he is everything the author feels is the epitome of "a man" or "a real man" in some fundamental way -- and the last of his kind. Thus the title.

In summary - book good, well written and interesting. The subject, interesting, talented and thought provoking but not very likable and to some degree a hypocrite. The message of his life and lifestyle, if there is one, is confused by some of the contradictions between what the person has made of his life and why he lives this way.

A big step beyond the typical books on Wright's works. I know a fair bit about architecture already and have been looking at pictures of Wright's creations since I was a kid. I have also visited a large number of his creations but beyond experiencing awe it has been hard to fully pinpoint the aspects that actually inspires the awe. This book filled in the blanks for me by actually codifying many of the patterns that occur in his work.

A memoir of the period starting with Clinton's first campaign and ending with the beginning of his second. Interesting inside look at the mechanics of politics. Turns out that politics is very, well... political.

Covers much of the same period of time of All Too Human but from a different perspective and with a lot more humor. Reich is funny! Where the two books do overlap though is with the arrival of Dick Morris and (a) how policy took a change in direction away from what inspired these people to be part of the administration in the first place (b) how obnoxious Morris is.

I see the betrayal but, to be fair, you might still be able accomplish things after you have compromised your promises and ideals as compared to sticking to them and then being voted out of office. It seems though that in Clinton's case some felt this was debatable.

The author explains his journey from his life as a plumber with some artistic talents to (through applying for a government job as an artist) working for the CIA as an "artist" forging documents and the like. Over the course of a 30 year career with the CIA the author worked his way up to head of the disguise program within the agency. He also actually participated in some missions in Moscow.

He says that he cannot be specific about one of their biggest breakthroughs in disguise but it sounds like it might not be too far from a Mission Impossible type of thing. A minor disappointment was that when I heard the author speak at a lecture (book promotion) he made more than one mention of "Moscow Rules". These were specific rules for intelligence operations performed in Moscow that were different or above and beyond traditional tradecraft. I stopped taking notes when I decided to buy the book but it turns out that the Moscow rules were discussed even less in the book than in the lecture. Interesting book none the less.

A biography of both a person (Filippo Brunelleschi) and a piece of architecture (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore). This major cathedral in Florence had been under construction for more than a century before it came time to start building it's dome. A dome of this size had never been completed and it involved a fair number of unsolved problems so the plans for it's construction were just put off until they were needed. When the time finally came the patrons of the cathedral announced a competition for ideas and models for the project. A local goldsmith/clock-maker won the competition and spent much of the next 25 years, or so, involved with the dome's construction.

Here is a person so creative that you might wonder if he was communicating with "the future" if not extraterrestrials. The size of the dome was such that they could not use any sort of support/centering structure in the middle and that was just the beginning of the challenges. Some of the machines he devised were used for lifting massive materials (marble blocks weighing several tons) to the top of the structure and for the precise positioning of them. So impressive were these contraptions that an apprentice (a young Leonardo DaVinci) to a local bronze worker made sketches of them in his own notebooks. This resulted in Leonardo being erroneously credited for some of these inventions.