Recommended Reading

mkpdavies · 06-02-2008, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Its the first of Colemans books I've read so I don't know if this is his usual writing style.

Exactly the same. He is tapping into the seam of resentment in this country, but not actually helping in any useful way.

TannyD · 07-02-2008, 04:52 PM

Has anyone read anything by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke?
The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology. It's quite enlightening what reasons they used as excuses to do what they did.

John in Scotland · 14-02-2008, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eurosceptic Atlanticist

Anyone read either of these? I'm looking at possibly investing, but was after a first-hand account before doing so:

The Bumper Book of Government Waste: The scandal of the squandered billions from Lord Irvine's wallpaper to EU saunas

The Retreat of Reason: Political Correctness and the Corruption of Public Debate in Modern Britain

I have read the latter. It is pretty good. Perhaps not absolutely brilliant, but definitely worth reading.

David Agnew · 15-02-2008, 12:49 PM

12 Books that Changed the World. Melvyn Bragg

Bragg takes 12 'books' and explains the context in which they were written, sketches their contents, and shows how they have impacted the world.

By reading this one book, you can get the gist of the Magna Carta, Darwin, Newton and Faraday.

The main reason that I am recommending it though, is that one of the books he has put in a nutshell is 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations' by Smidgey's hero - Adam Smith. It is interesting how Smith has influenced politics. What is particularly interesting is what happened when Smith's ideas were put into practice in Hong Kong.

Hartlepool · 15-02-2008, 01:33 PM

Go on then David,tell us all what happened in HK.

Smidgey · 15-02-2008, 01:42 PM

Death, disease, starvation, war and destruction!

Hartlepool · 15-02-2008, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smidgey

Death, disease, starvation, war and destruction!

So,is it fair to say Smiths ideas being implimented in Hong Kong caused all these things?

Smidgey · 16-02-2008, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hartlepool

So,is it fair to say Smiths ideas being implimented in Hong Kong caused all these things?

I wasn't being serious.

I was interpreting the slant that some lefties on this forum would put on it.

David Agnew · 19-02-2008, 10:29 AM

From 12 Books that Changed the World p313

Quote:

And Hong Kong of course, is exemplary Smith. The man given credit for this was its British financial secretary, Sir John Cowperthwaite, a zealous free-trader who put his ideas into practice in this forlorn outpost of half a million people.
Milton Friedman summarises the results of Cowperthwaite's reforms:
"In 1960... the average income in Hong Kong was 28% that of Great Britain; by 1996 it had risen to 137% of that in Britain. In short, from 1960 to 1996 Hong Kong's per capital income rose from being about one quarter of Britain's to more than a third larger than Britain's. It's easy to state these figures. It is more difficult to realise their significance. Compare Britain, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, the nineteenth-century economic superpower on whose empire the sun never set, with Hong Kong, a spit of land, overcrowded, with no reserves except a great harbour. Yet within four decades the residents of this spit of overcrowded land had achieved a level of income one third higher than that enjoyed by the residents of its former mother country"

David Agnew · 26-02-2008, 01:45 PM

How to be Right. James Delingpole
I hesitated a bit before recommending this book because Delingpole is deliberately outre (he praises foie gras, smoking and illegal drugs), and he is a bit blunt (he sums up Edward Heath in one word).

However, I like his definitions. For example:

Quote:

Little Englander
(n.) Idiot who stubbornly refuses to accept that higher taxes, greater bureaucracy, loss of national soverignty and the introduction of wave upon wave of pointless, meddling, irritating, pettifogging regulations are just what Britain needs.

He also hits the nail on the head with regard to: the difference between a major and a minor car crime, statistics we do not care about, amoral New Labour voting lawyers, how to shut down an argument and multiculturalism.

07-02-2008, 04:52 PM	#62 (permalink)
TannyD Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gloucester-Land of the Gulls!!! Posts: 705	Has anyone read anything by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke? The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology. It's quite enlightening what reasons they used as excuses to do what they did. __________________ TannyD, like Sunny D only better!! http://www.nationstates.net/01838/pa...n=mutantfreaks: http://gloucesterr.myminicity.com http://www.answerbag.com

15-02-2008, 12:49 PM	#64 (permalink)
David Agnew Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Maidenhead Posts: 290	words of wisdom 12 Books that Changed the World. Melvyn Bragg Bragg takes 12 'books' and explains the context in which they were written, sketches their contents, and shows how they have impacted the world. By reading this one book, you can get the gist of the Magna Carta, Darwin, Newton and Faraday. The main reason that I am recommending it though, is that one of the books he has put in a nutshell is 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations' by Smidgey's hero - Adam Smith. It is interesting how Smith has influenced politics. What is particularly interesting is what happened when Smith's ideas were put into practice in Hong Kong.

15-02-2008, 01:42 PM	#66 (permalink)
Smidgey Uber Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 2,010 Party: Libertarian Party	Death, disease, starvation, war and destruction! __________________ How vain is man, who boasts in fight the valour of gigantic might! -Georg Friedrich Händel

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15-02-2008, 01:33 PM	#65 (permalink)
Hartlepool Uber Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: North East England Posts: 6,409	Go on then David,tell us all what happened in HK.