Author Archives: Marquis

A government should engage with any terrorist group that has a viable following. Not because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s necessary and ultimately, inevitable. This sums up the point Jonathan Powell is making. And he would … Continue reading →

Before this book, I really didn’t know much about life in, or collapse of the Roman Empire. To be honest, while I knew the Empire existed around the time of Christ, I had no idea that the empire lasted another … Continue reading →

This should be mandatory reading. There is simply no other way to say this. This books follows up on Michael Sandel’s book Justice which is also incredible. This book explores the issues of prostitution, choice, and what is fair. Even … Continue reading →

This was an excellent book. I’ll get around to writing more one day. Short version, I didn’t realize how reluctant America was enter WWII. I had no idea that isolationist held such sway. As a pilot an already inclined to … Continue reading →

Although I read a fair bit on economic development, I tend to stay away from books that detail in too great a depth the actual plight of the poor. I know it’s bad, but somehow reading about the details doesn’t seem to help. I’m aware it’s bad, but what overall can be done? That’s why this book was on my “maybe list” for a while – before I read it. Now it’s on my essential reads list. Continue reading →

Could economic growth actually end? The environmental study “Limits to Growth”, published in the 1970’s, was the result of the digitally modeled inventory of the worlds resources and depletion rates. At that time Limits to Growth suggested that sometime after 2020 world economic growth would slow or even stop as environmental hard limits were reached. The books was revised each decade and the conclusions remained pretty fixed – growth would end. This book, “The End of Growth” explores the possibility that limits to growth might exists and that we might now be bumping up against such limits.

Economists rarely recognize limits to growth since economists believe that resource substitution and ingenuity will always prevail thus opening up new frontiers for future growth. This gives me warm fuzzy feeling but the evidence for it has some huge gaps. More on this later. Continue reading →

The fight for energy that we see going on now has been going on for centuries. And this book is an amazing summary of the key historical events.

From the first oil wells, the to Russian natural gas pipeline fights, to shale gas, and tight oil this book covers the fight for fortunes that have been ongoing since the industrial revolution. Continue reading →