Walter E. Williams is a Professor of Economics. He sometimes stands in for Rush Limbaugh, which is where I first heard of him. If you have ever heard Walter E. Williams host the show, you should have a good idea about what to expect from this book.
If you are not familiar with Walter E. Willams, treat yourself to some very insightful, sensible, truthful, and sometimes funny reading. The book contains a plethora of two page articles written by Williams in the mid to late 90s. Topics include, Politics, Race, Sex, Governement, Law, Society, Education, and you guessed it - Economics.
Liberals may find this book making too much sense, and may not enjoy it, but for everyone else it is recommended reading.
Read some of these lines from the book and see if you can resist picking up a copy:
"the civil rights struggle is over and done"
"I become ecstatic when a photo of a white player comes up on the screen"
"45% of female marines were unable to throw a hand grenade far enough to
avoid blowing themselves up"
"the black family could survive slavery and Jim Crowism but not the welfare
state"
"obesity, not emaciation is more of a nutrition problem for America's poor"
"since 1965 the nation has spent $5.4 trillion on poverty, that is enough to buy
all manufactoring equipment, every office building, the entire maritime
fleet, and every railroad, airline and trucking company"
"for them (liberals) schooling is for building habits of soical cooperation and
equality rather than rigorous training of the mind"
Enjoy reading it !
This is the third book by Sawyer I have read. This one is probably the best so far, even considering FlashForward, which I enjoyed so much.
When the alien Hollus, lands on Earth, he seeks a scientist to speak to. He finds Tom Jericho who is a paleontologist. Tom is also an atheist trying to deal with a terminal illness. Hollus believes God exists and is seeking to learn more about 'Him' by studying concurrent mass extinctions which have occured on all known planets that support life. While studying Earth's fossil record, Hollus tells Tom he is absolutely sure God exists, but Tom needs to see the 'smoking gun'.
As I have noticed, all three of Sawyer's books have nearly the same format.
The story takes off right from the start with the aliens landing at the museum where Tom Jericho works. The middle of the book seems to slow down a tiny bit as the main character is developed - during which mostly scientific facts are introduced for analysis. Don't get me wrong though, it is not by any means uninteresting. At the end of the story, all the real science fiction takes place leaving you with hopes that Sawyer will write a sequel.
Some of the most interesting points :
The Philosopher's Secret - God does not exist, but the masses need to believe
Transpermia - life spreading from planet to planet by meteorites
Creationism - the belief that earth was made 4004 years ago by God
Kin Selection - oddly, I have just learned about this term from '3 Scientists and Their Gods' which explains why living things may sacrifice themselves for their children
Beings becoming part of cyber-space
Genetic engineering
