Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics by Joe Biden

Well, I've finished reading Joe Biden's 2007 memoir Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics (click here to view all my posts about this book).

And while I would still recommend it to folks who want to learn more about the Senator and the Democratic Nominee for Vice President, I found that as I got further and further into the book it became clear that it was written as a campaign tool (for his 2008 presidential attempt).

The first half of the book -- Biden's childhood, the love story of meeting his first wife Neila, Biden's Senate campaign, the tragic death of Neila and his baby daughter Naomi in 1972, meeting Jill and rebuilding his family, and coming into his own as a Senator -- is beautiful and moving.

But as the memoir moves into September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq, I started to lose interest because it felt like Biden was trying to sell readers on a Biden Presidency.

Click here to view the table of contents, here to read an excerpt from Promises to Keep, or here to visit the Senator's website.

The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America by James Bamford

James Bamford -- author of Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization, and A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies -- has a new book out about the NSA's spying on average Americans. Click here to read a recent article from The New York Times about the author.

As I understand it, Bamford (with the help of former intercept operators) exposes how private contractors have done the sensitive work of storing and processing the voices and written data of Americans and non-Americans alike and that the NSA has created a massive facility in Texs to store such data.

I realize national security isn't of much interest to most folks with the current financial crisis, but The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America seems like an important book.

Click here to submit a question for the author for his 3pm online discussion today (October 14) on the Washington Post website.

Nobel Prize Winners 2008

I always like reading about each year's Nobel Laureates.

The Nobel Prize Winners announced last week and today are:

Physiology or Medicine
Harald zur Hausen, for his discovery of "human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and
Luc Montagnier, for their discovery of the "human immunodeficiency virus" (click here to watch a PBS Frontline video about it)

Physics
Yoichiro Nambu, "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"
Makoto Kobayashi and
Toshihide Maskawa, "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"

Chemistry - "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP" (isolated from jellyfish)
Osamu Shimomura
Martin Chalfie
Roger Y. Tsien

Literature
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, French writer of more than 40 books

Peace
Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland who is knowsn for his peace efforts and cautious diplomacy (particularly in Africa)

Economic Sciences
Paul Krugman (MIT PhD ’77), "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity"

I'll have to see if I can get a copy of one of Le Clézio's books and Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics (click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents) or any of his other books at my local library.

Promises to Keep by Joe Biden

The more I've seen of Joe Biden these last few weeks, the more I've come to like him.

I've started reading his 2007 memoir Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics (click here to view all my posts about this book) and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the Democratic Nominee for Vice President.

Since Biden took the title of his book from a line from Robert Frost's famous poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," I thought I'd share it here:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Click here to view the table of contents or here to read an excerpt.

Financial Crisis Books

As the stock market continues its massive decline, I find myself wanting to read more books about economics and financial history.

I've read The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (which I highly recommend) and The Power of Gold: the History of an Obsession; I'd like to read the recently published books about Warren Buffett and Goldman Sachs and there are some other books that seem relevant.

• Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz (1971)
• Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles Kindleberger (1975) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents.
• The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson (2008) -- to be published in November 2008
• Essays on the Great Depression by Ben Bernanke (2004) - click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents;
• The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman (2000) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents
• Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing by Roger Lowenstein (2004) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents
• A Short History of Financial Euphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith (1990) -- click here to view the table of contents
• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein (1998) -- click here to view the table of contents
• The Subprime Solution: How Today's Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It by Robert J Schiller (2008) -- click here to view the table of contents
• The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith (1997) -- click here to view the table of contents.
• Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920-1938 by John Brooks (1981) -- click here to view the table of contents.
• Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis -- click here to view the table of contents
• When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein (2000) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents
• The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street's Bullish 60s by John Brooks (1998) -- click here to view the table of contents
• Risk and Business Cycles: New And Old Austrian Perspectives by Tyler Cowen (1998) -- click here to view the table of contents

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

I'm going to write something that may shock some of you and may make you never read my blog again.

Here is goes...

I'm not 100% sold that global warming  is for real.

And many of my friends feel the same way.

And so do many scientists, even highly regarded ones at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other world-renowned institutions.

This may come as a surprise to you.

After all, I am a devoted reader of Michael Pollan's New York Times articles and books. I even planted a garden this spring. I recycle. I prefer to eat grass-finished, growth-hormone-free meat. I usually bring my own shopping bags to the grocery store. I refuse to buy wrapping paper -- I even SAVE and reuse wrapping paper. I often ask cashiers to let me walk out of other stores without a bag. I kept my last cell phone for 5 years and only replaced it when the screen gave out. I have lots of single-serving insulated travel mugs for coffee. I try to conserve water. Sometimes, I'll even go a day or two without showering. I only open the shades when I am in a room, to conserve energy by keeping unused rooms insulated. In the winter I keep I keep the house at a chilly 65 degrees; in the summer I keep it at 80 degrees though I prefer to not use the AC and stick to opening windows and using fans. I use a water bottle. I still wear clothes I bought 15 years ago. I keep a large stack of old printouts as scrap paper. I've participated in countless beach clean-ups. My used television set is not HD, which is totally fine since I don't have cable. I buy used books. I like organic fruits and vegetables. I reuse cardboard boxes, yogurt containers, and more. I don't wash my clothes after just one wear. I'm adamant about turning out the lights in rooms I'm not using. I prefer to walk and not drive. Growth-hormone-free brie is my favorite snack. Most of my furniture are hand-me-downs. I even enjoy carpooling.

It's not that I don't believe in global warming, I just haven't read enough of the science on either side of the argument to have made a decision. And as a scientist, I believe in understanding the science.

But with the public gone mad over global warming and eco-friendliness, it's hard to know where to begin looking for the hard science and research on both sides of the argument.

Which is why I've decided that as much as I ridiculed this book when it first came out, I've got to read Michael Crichton's State of Fear.

I'll read it with a grain of salt, but I'm hoping it'll at least give me the names of some scientists who have done studies that show evidence that global warming is not real.

Here's another shocker for you: I'm not convinced of the economics of recycling nor am I convinced that it really does help the environment.

And just a few years ago it certainly didn't make sense to recycle in terms of the economics. But I recycle anyway -- I figure it can't do any harm. And maybe by now it does make sense economically and in terms of the environment.

In any case, it has been important to me since I was a child to live in a way that conserves resources -- water, energy, gas, etc -- though I've never preached eco-friendliness. I'd rather just tell people about what I've read from reputable sources.

Don't hate me.