My Library

Taflak Lysandra is an installment in libertarian science fiction author L. Neil Smith's alternate history of the «North American Confederacy» and its spacefaring spawn. For those not familiar, the North American Confederacy was born when the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 was a success and the «Hamiltonian» Constitution died. The North American Confederacy had, by the 20th century, evolved into an anarchocapitalist society with little government and few rules beyond the social norm prohibiting the initiation of force. It's also a very prosperous, technologically advanced society.

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I'm rereading Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency now. This book is typical Douglas Adams, full of obscure references, sarcasm, wordplay and a plot that twists and turns until your neck is a position as impossible as the couch on Richard MacDuff's stairway. But then the central premise of the book is somehow inextricably linked to the «tree falling in the forest» concept of Schrodinger's Cat. I have about 20 pages to go and I have faith that all will be clear in moments...or not.

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The sixty greatest conspiracies of all time : history's biggest mysteries, coverups, and cabals is an interesting read with stories from the Manson family to purported CIA ties to Jonestown to aliens among us. This book won't be satisfying to either true conspiracy theorists or total skeptics, but it is an interesting read for the curious. The book distinguishes fact from speculation, which won't make conspiracy theorists happy. On the other hand, it is willing to speculate on possibilities, which won't fly with the complete skeptics. It's interesting and you can pick a particular conspiracy, read it and put the book away for a week or a month before checking out the next one. It gives a glimpse, or more than a glimpse, into the minds of those who believe every conspiracy theory that comes their way, but it stops short of ridiculing all conspiracies as the dreams of nuts. It's also strictly bipartisan - there are plenty of conspiracy theories coming from the left and the right.

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is one of the best recent books I've read. The book is really a collection of really good character sketches wrapped around the story of the trial of socialite Jim Williams in the murder of his much younger gay lover. Colorful characters abound in Savannah and Berendt brings out the best from female impersonator the Lady Chablis to disbarred attorney Joe Odom to the crazy man who carries a vial of poison destined for the cities water supply. The book is excellent. The movie, starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack and directed by Clint Eastwood, is really a must see, also.

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Richard Marcinko, Navy Commando and creator of Seal Team Six and bestselling author of the Rogue Warrior series, shares the Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior: a commando's guide to success. Specifically, he shares and explains his Ten Commandments of SpecWar. Like the works of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, the rules of SpecWar find easy adaptation in business and other areas of life. From the First Commandment's injunction to lead from the front to the Final Commandment - «Thou Shalt Win At All Cost» - Marcinko has a style all his own and it's a style very much about results and winning.