Dick Russell

This is a compelling and focused look at one environmental issue that has attracted interest from men and women who, generally, aren't involved in civic action or environmental work. Part biography of striped bass, part exploration of sport fisherman, part explanation of the interconnectedness of business and environmental interest, this book does a good job of not only explaining an increasingly serious issue over the last few decades, but also showing the Human side of our effects on the show more environment. Much time here is spent on the commercial interests involved, on agricultural effects and interests, and on, simply, pleasure and tradition. Russell's research brings him in contact with corporate America, farmers, and small-town businessmen even moreso than scientists and sport fisherman, though all are represented, and the time spent on research is obvious.

For straight non-fiction, this is a fairly easy read, obviously written for the layman with a passing interest in the subject or an interest in general environmental science or fishing. It might be a lot to take in one sitting, but for anyone with a life or living connected to the coast (or near-coastal tourism), or with an interest in further understanding the interconnectedness of day-to-day business with the environment, I'd recommend this as a worthwhile read. show less

Jesse Ventura unwittingly demonstrates the problem with so many conspiracy theories---they're good at finding holes in the accepted version of events, but then they proceed to string together an even more fallacious and utterly arbitrary version of their own! For instance, how's this for mistaken attribution of causation, exacerbated by temporal correlation: the Feds were keeping tabs on MLK and Malcolm X and had people following them before they were killed, so therefore, they must have show more been involved in the assassinations! Sorry, but it just doesn't follow. And that's typical of the kind of evidence Ventura musters for his conclusions, which, to be kind, we'll say is circumstantial at best. Even the parts that seem to be better documented and more logically argued are mired in so much obvious nonsense that it's difficult to sort out the grains of truth and get much of value out of this book. Even worse, a lot of it isn't just nonsense...it's dangerous nonsense.

The best chapter was the final one on "big brother"---specifically, the Patriot Act. His analysis that the Bill of Rights has been thrown out the window is, unfortunately, fairly accurate. However, he fails to distinguish between political power---i.e., physical coercion, the power of a gun---and economic "power"---i.e., persuasion, the "power" of the dollar---and therefore reaches the ridiculous conclusion that the government gathering information on us (for unknown, but pretty obvious, reasons) and businesses gathering information on us (in order to better serve us and hopefully sell us more of their product) are equally frightening. Yeah...right.

Possibly the worst chapter is the penultimate one, on the financial crisis of 2008. In it, after arguing for the entire book up to that point that the government is too powerful, bloated, and corrupt, he argues that the solution to the financial crisis is to...give the government MORE power over our economy? It's so crazy, it just might work! Similarly, he argues that we should have state-run healthcare---pointing to, as his shining example, the VA system. "If it's good enough for veterans, it should be good enough for the rest of us," he writes...and yet, in his subsequent book (63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read), he provides actual documentation of how inefficient and ineffective the VA really is to show what a raw deal the veterans are getting (the document he provides concludes that "the VA is killing veterans slowly through bureaucratic processes," even driving some to suicide...this is what we have to look forward to under Obamacare, folks!). Nice work, Jesse! You can't have it both ways. And, despite his reputation for "telling it like it is," Ventura's political lambasting is pretty one-sided. Also, does anyone else think it's creepy that he's apparently on a first-name basis with Fidel Castro? He apparently never met a dictator he didn't like!...at least not a Communist one. Jesse Ventura gives Independents a bad name...at least he doesn't let either of the major parties think for him, but he doesn't think for himself, either!

Anyway, since his political views seem pretty similar to Ron Paul's, this book at least provides the valuable service of showing what a disaster it would be to have someone like Paul in the White House. And, as promised, it did make me think...so I guess it was better than I expected!

Also, he really needs to bring back the 'stache! show less

I grew tired of the book rather quickly. It seems that highly educated researchers are looked upon as elitists and scorned, and that those that can "entertain" with shouts and outrage are more believable because they're more like the common man. I thought the book contained a series of allegations, many unsubstantiated, but nonetheless were entertaining. I believe that there were truths in the book, but many of those offered as "new" have previously been published by well respected show more researchers. For example, the fellow conspirators of John Wilkes Booth isn't such a secret, but discussed in Swanson' book "Manhunt". And Ventura's nagging question about how and why James Earl Ray left incriminating evidence behind after assassinating Martin Luther King is discussed quite clearly in Hampton Sides book "Hellhound on His Trail". So I never got the impression Ventura was really trying to educate, but more attempting to tease us with interesting questions and to have us buy into his conspiracy theories. Real research is difficult and time consuming, offering conspiracy theories based on loose facts is a lot easier. I think Ventura is something akin to Glen Beck and capitalizing on the popularity of that style, e.g., two high school educated media stars offering conspiracy theories in what they see, just from the opposite political spectrum. show less

Certainly a rehashing of a lot of old ideas combined with some new ones. Nothing here really totally convinced me but I am a skeptic's skeptic so it is hard to persuade me of anything if I can't hold it in my hands or see it for myself. All in all was very well written and is very thought provoking.