This book looks at the next arena for war, cyberspace, a war that America may already have lost.

Cyber war is already here. In the past few years, several countries have found themselves under cyber attack from unknown persons. There have been a number of documented instances when American defense computer systems have been hacked, and terabytes of information (including classified information) have been copied.

American computers, because America is so wired, are quite vulnerable to hacking. The average home computer, along with thousands of others, can be taken over by an anonymous person, and used to simultaneously attack, for instance, the computer system of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. A potential enemy has probably installed "logic bombs", bits of undetectable software, in the right place. At the proper moment, they will, for instance, shut down a large part of the electricity grid (for weeks or months), or spread a computer virus inside the Pentagon.

The best thing America can do about it is to really beef up its cyber defense. America can put some doubt in an attacker’s mind that their cyber attack will work. America’s entire electricity system is extremely vulnerable to hackers, because the important parts are very accessible from the Internet. Tests have been conducted to see how easy it is to take control of a major electric generator system from the Internet. In several cases, it happened in less than an hour. New regulations are needed to force utilities to secure their systems, with real penalties for non-compliance. In the pentagon, it is very easy for malware to move from an unsecured computer to those that handle classified data, with disastrous results. If another country really wanted to declare all-out cyber war, the electronic collapse of America could happen in less than one hour.

It would be easy to dismiss the warnings in this book as impossible; it can’t happen here. Which would you prefer: to let it happen, and then panic and point fingers, or spend some money now to reduce the chances of cyber war affecting the average American?

This is a really interesting book that is certainly up to the minute. It’s easy to read for the average person, and not filled with technical or military jargon. This one is very much recommended.

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Harry Kiernan is a twenty-something with plenty of drive to succeed. He talks his way into a sales job with Executive Careers International, Atlanta’s most prestigious careers company. They specialize in executive-level jobs, but they also charge a hefty fee of several thousand dollars. From the beginning, Harry realizes that he has walked into a pit of vipers.

ECI exists mainly to collect that several thousand dollar fee. There are two small provisions in the contract (which clients are pressured to sign) which state that ECI does not guarantee the client a job. In meetings with the client, which are recorded without the client’s knowledge, the salesman walks right up to the line, but never actually promises the client a job. ECI’s "exclusive access" to people who do the hiring is nonsense; the client can do most of the work themselves on the Internet. Almost all of the glowing letters from satisfied customers shown to new clients, are fake.

ECI is a place of fear; there is no camaraderie or team spirit. George is the public head of the company, but Alex is the power behind the throne. He is a thoroughly dislikable person who cares only that an employee makes their monthly sales quota of older people signing away their last several thousand dollars. If yes, the employee is safe until next month. If no, they are summarily fired. Alex lets Harry in on an offshore tax evasion scheme. The number of customer complaints is growing, along with penalties paid to small claims court and the state of Georgia. Alex tells Harry to reduce the number of complaints, while raising the number of clients, or else. When Harry is arrested by the IRS, he learns just how badly Alex and George have screwed him.

The author does not mean to imply that all such firms are corrupt, but this is a pretty strong cautionary tale for anyone thinking of signing on the dotted line. Don’t be seduced by fancy ads; be doubly and triply sure that a firm can deliver on its promises. Do as much of the job searching research as you can on your own. Somewhere along the way, read this book. It’s worth your time.

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As leader, your job is to articulate the goals for your group (division, company, department, etc.). Do it several times a year, not just at the yearly staff meeting. The job of your subordinates is to turn those goals into reality. Give them a chance to do it. Resist the temptation to rush in and personally fix every problem that comes along. Doing so only reinforces the message that you don’t trust your subordinates.

Is your Employee Manual supposed to be followed by all employees, or is it optional for certain employees? Consequences for not following the rules have to apply to everyone, or why bother? Create some kind of system for giving potential leaders more and more responsibility. When you retire (or die) someone will be ready to take up your duties.

Every employee has a different way to get motivated; find out what they are. Some respond better to face-to-face meetings, while others might prefer e-mails. What is your leadership style? If you like one-on-one meetings, think twice about standing up in front of everyone at the annual staff meeting.

Get out from behind your desk every now and then. Walking the shop floor and talking to your employees as people might just show them that you honestly do care about them. It’s the little things that will inspire your people to give that extra bit of effort.

Like the title says, there is no need to yell at people to be a good leader. This book makes it simple and easy to follow. Even if you can’t do all the things in this book, doing just some of them can only help. This should be on every manager’s reading list.

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The Earth that mankind knew, and grew up on, is gone. A new planet needs a new name; hence Eaarth. It is a place of poles where the ice caps are severely reduced, or gone. It is a place where the oceans are becoming more acid, because of excess carbon absorbed into the water, not to mention the toxic chemicals and other pollutants being dumped into it. It is a place of more extreme weather patterns.

The average person might not care if an entire glacier completely melts away, like the Chacaltaya Glacier in Bolivia. Those living downstream, dependent on that glacier for their water supply, will certainly care. Since 1980, the tropics have expanded worldwide by 2 degrees north and south. Over 8 million more square miles of land are now tropical, with dry subtropics pushing ahead of them. The chances of Lake Mead, which is behind Hoover Dam, running dry in the next 10 years, have reached 50 percent. The residents of an oceanside town in North Carolina are spending up to $30,000 each to place large sandbags in front of their homes to keep the ocean at bay.

The times when America, or the world, can simply grow its way out of its financial problems are gone forever. Building enough nuclear power plants to get rid of even a tenth of the climate change problem will cost at least $8 trillion. According to one estimate, America needs to spend over $200 billion a year for decades, just on infrastructure, to avoid the kind of gridlock that will collapse the economy. A small village in Alaska is being evacuated, because of rising sea levels, at a cost of $400,000 per person. There is not enough money on Earth to evacuate everyone threatened by rising sea levels.

What to do? Some people are taking another look at small-scale agriculture, getting away from a dependence on artificial chemicals and fertilizer. Eliminate the middlemen, like advertising and transport, and put more money in the farmer’s pocket. Along with local agriculture, consider local power generation.

This is a really eye-opening book. The first half is pretty bleak, showing just how bad things have gotten. But, there is plenty of hope in the second half of the book. It is very much recommended.

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Akashi, Antonio, James and Amy are your average high school students in detention, again. They meet with Mrs. Kramer, an eccentric, elderly teacher at the school, who teaches a course on money management. Every Saturday, they meet at a local fast food joint, where Mrs. Kramer takes the four into the world of money.

Have an emergency fund, equivalent to three or four months salary, in a savings account or money market account, accessible if needed. Pay off your debt as soon as possible, whether it is credit card debt, student loans or car payments. When you get some money in your pocket, it is tempting to buy a big-screen TV or fancy new clothes. Don’t do it; live beneath your means; cut your expenses as much as possible. Is it more important that others think you are a rich person, or that you actually are a rich person?

It’s also tempting to buy and sell stocks on a short-term basis, looking for a quick profit. Again, don’t do it. Every time you buy or sell stock, your stockbroker makes money, not you. Research good quality, no fee mutual funds (especially index funds) that you can invest in for the long haul. Just because a fund had a good year last year, it does not mean they will have a good year this year.

A popular way to make money is by buying houses and "flipping" them. If that is not for you, and if you know the right people, think about "flipping" cars or motorcycles. People will always need decent, reliable transportation. The book also looks at buying a car (consult Consumer Reports and choose quality over flashy), insurance, knowing your way around a supermarket, investing in real estate, getting a job and keeping it.

This book is a goldmine of information. Written as a dialogue, this is very easy to follow for the person who does not want to read another "money literacy" book. This is highly recommended for every teenager and twentysomething who think that a million dollars will suddenly show up in their mailbox.

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In December 1996, the author woke one morning knowing that something was very wrong with her. Within four hours, the left hemisphere of her brain had deteriorated to the point where she could no longer read, write, talk or understand what those squiggles were on her telephone keypad. While her logical left brain was shutting down (she was able to get help in time), her intuitive right brain gave her a feeling of total peace and being at one with the universe (not necessarily a bad thing). Taylor is able to give an almost blow-by-blow description as her brain shut down. For instance, when she loses the ability to speak, that means that a spot called Broca’s Area is affected.

Taylor’s type of stroke was called an arteriovenous malformation, an abnormal arterial configuration. Even though it’s a rare type of stroke, it’s the most common type of stroke for younger sufferers (Taylor was 37 years old when she suffered her stroke). After several days in the hospital, she was sent home with her mother, who had come to help nurse her back to health. The plan was to get her as well, and as strong, as possible, because the operation to fix her arterial malformation, a stereotactic craniotomy, was coming. She survived, and over the next several years, was able to put her brain back together, leaving out the unpleasant and negative parts.

During her recovery, Taylor learned the things that caregivers should, and should not, do to help stroke patients. Make eye contact with me. Honor the healing power of sleep. Speak slowly and enunciate clearly. Please don’t raise your voice. Keep visits brief. Ask me multiple-choice questions, not Yes/No questions. Break all actions down into smaller steps. Don’t finish my sentences or fill in words I can’t find.

This is a really interesting book. On one level, it looks inside the brain to show just what happens during a stroke; good for stroke victims or caregivers. On another level, it shows that the two lobes of the brain have very different personalities. It’s very much worth reading.

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For thousands of years, humans had made quite detailed observations about the heavens. It wasn’t until the 14th century, when humanity emerged from the Dark Ages, that people started to test their theories about why the heavens were the way they were. Stars, like the Sun, emit energy in wavelengths shorter and longer than visible light, ranging from gamma rays to radio waves to ultraviolet light. Detecting those waves can tell a lot more about objects in the sky than just what we see.

Billions of years ago, matter, time and energy existed as what is known as the initial singularity, smaller than an atom and with nothing else outside of it. Then the Big Bang happened. If the expansion had happened just a little faster than it did happen, then gravity could not have drawn matter together to form stars and planets. Of the four forces that affect various kinds of matter (strong nuclear force, electromagnetic force, weak interaction and gravity), gravity is the weakest, but it has an unlimited range, working over hundreds of millions of miles.

The book explores the Solar System, giving a short profile of all of its inhabitants, from the Sun to Pluto (no longer considered a planet). Also explored is the search for life on other planets; as of now, there is no actual evidence of life anywhere except on Earth.

The axis of Earth is tilted by approximately 23 degrees, which helps to explain Earth’s seasons. At the summer solstice, the North Pole is tilted toward the Sun, so its rays beat down most strongly on the Northern Hemisphere. At the winter solstice, the North Pole is tilted away from the Sun, so its rays beat down on the Southern Hemisphere. During the spring and autumn equinoxes, the tilt is sideways to the Sun, so both hemispheres get an equal amount of light.

The author does a very good job at presenting the material in language accessible to anyone. For those who want to learn more about the heavens, but consider themselves scientifically illiterate, this is an excellent place to start.

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A husband and wife laying outside on a clear night talk about aliens. Among the husband’s speculations are that aliens home in on a psychological signal given off by one person alone. That is why sightings are always in rural areas, and never in the city. The aliens could be here already, but out of phase with humanity.

A moderately-famous writer penned a series of stories about a human and his alien sidekick. In a dream, or delusion, the alien comes to life and tells him the truth about the universe. An alien scout is sent to Earth to offer it membership in the Galactic Community. Watching some electromagnetic transmissions, he/she/it is horrified by the state of present-day Earth society. Aliens can show up in the strangest places; inside a brown dwarf star, inside the human eye and as parasitic blobs that attach themselves to humans, and seem to thrive on human philosophical paradoxes. Throughout the galaxy, various alien species are uplifted to sentience seemingly in the blink of an eye.

Mankind has a hard enough time communicating with non-human intelligence here on Earth, so how is Man supposed to recognize a message from an alien intelligence? Aliens might also show themselves through graffiti-like tags in e-books in a supposedly invulnerable digital library. In present-day Rome, a humanoid figure all in black appears at a certain spot, with absolute regularity, about every ten and a half years. Perhaps it is an alien out of phase with humanity. A homeless woman can’t escape the feeling that one of her six physical senses has disappeared.

These are not just SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) stories. They do a very good job of showing that aliens can appear almost anywhere. They will keep the reader entertained, and are really worth reading.

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Among the first things you should do is to do a Google search of your name, to see what the Internet says about you. If there are any drunken, or racy, photos of you on Facebook, for instance, restrict their availability or delete them, now. You can plan on a potential employer doing the same search.

After that, take some time and do a through self-inventory of what you do best and enjoy most, and your skills that are most transferable. What did you like most about your last job? What would be your dream job? (Please don’t say "A job with high pay and no responsibilities.") That way, you can be absolutely detailed about the type of job you are seeking, and use that to focus your job search.

Most people want to limit their job-searching to replying to online job vacancies, mailing resumes, answering newspaper ads or using private employment agencies. Their rate of success is small, so don’t make them your only job-search methods. Much more effective job-search methods include asking your network for job leads, knocking on the door of any employer that interests you (whether or not they have a vacancy), and using the Yellow Pages, alone or with others in a job club, looking for fields of interest.

Before you get on the Internet, know what kind of job you are seeking. There are a seemingly infinite number of sites to visit, including omnibus search engines, sites with jobs in specific fields, and social networking sites. Pick just a few sites, and monitor them (jobs are frequently cross-posted to multiple sites). If a site allows you to fill out a profile, or post your resume, do it. You never know who will read it. Employers prefer to fill vacancies from within, before they advertise for the opening, and deal with a bunch of semi-qualified candidates. If they already have your resume, or have seen you work as a temp or contract employee, your chances have greatly increased.

This book is short, and excellent. To those who bemoan the total lack of available jobs, the author asks "Have you done anything more than rely on the Internet or Sunday want ads for your job searching?" It is very much recommended for all job seekers.

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If there is such a thing as a definition of a successful person, it is someone who finds something about which they are passionate, they take action to achieve that objective, and they don’t give up when setbacks get in the way.

Billy works for a CPA, and thinks that he has a knack for making people laugh. Therefore, it’s nothing to participate in a comedy club’s open mike night, become a successful comic, and appear on the Tonight Show, right? All you need is talent, right?

Randel, the narrator, tells Billy that passion and determination are much more important than talent. Stephen King got so many rejection letters that he needed a large spike on which to hang all of them. Steve Martin spent 10 years working to become a stand-up comic, after he worked at Disneyland as a teenager, trying out jokes and magic tricks on the public. Did they give up when success was not immediate? Brian Williams of NBC News and Jim Nantz of CBS Sports knew what they wanted to do when they were 8 years old. Many people give up on their dreams out of fear of failure, or fear of looking stupid. That may happen, but unless you try, failure is assured.

Billy’s wife, Beth, is a paralegal with an interest in politics. She has been asked to run for the town Board of Finance, but she is wavering. She decides to go for it, and after getting beaten handily, is ready to give up on politics. Randel tells her that persistence in whatever you do is most important, along with not giving up when things don’t go your way.

This book is excellent. It does a fine job at presenting a potentially vague subject like "success" in terms anyone can understand. Don’t let the stick figure illustrations turn you off of this book that is made for busy people.

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The reason for America’s unfamiliarity with palm oil is that, for the last 30 years, Americans have been subjected to a huge amount of corporate propaganda (what else is new?). The culprit is the domestic vegetable oil industry. They have convinced the average citizen that tropical oils, like palm oil, which are high in saturated fat, are a leading cause of high cholesterol and heart disease. Supposedly, poly- and monounsaturated fats are the way to go. If that’s true, why are the rates of heart disease much higher in America than in the rest of the world?

Many medical studies have shown that palm oil can protect against a huge number of common ailments (the book references over 300 studies). For instance, palm oil can protect against cancer, heart disease, it improves blood sugar control, it supports healthy liver and lung function, it helps protect against mental deterioration, like Alzheimer’s Disease, and it helps strengthen bones and teeth. The book goes into detail about why saturated fat is better than unsaturated fat, and why palm oil is so healthy. Believe it or not, fat is an essential nutrient; the human body needs a certain amount of it every day. Those who are on a low-fat diet are doing more harm than good to themselves.

Palm oil is used in cooking, baking and deep frying, and can be used in place of margarine or vegetable oil. It can be used as a dietary supplement, and is non-toxic even in large amounts. It is even a natural anti-aging and anti-wrinkle moisturizing skin cream. The book also includes recipes that use palm oil, to cook and see for yourself.

Here is a fascinating book that is full of useful information for anyone. If the medical profession can only suggest a long and expensive course of treatment for whatever ails you, consider trying some palm oil. What have you got to lose? This book is very much worth reading.

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Winter is a time for repairs or preventive maintenance on their specially built square stern canoes, called Grand Lakers. Most people need a second job to make it through the long winter. The author is a singer/songwriter who released several CDs. Mud season happens somewhere between winter and spring, when it seems as if the entire world has turned to mud. It is also a time to curse the roads and trails, made by the timber companies, which are frequently little more than collections of ruts and potholes.

Spring means the return of guiding clients, called "sports." Many sports have become friends, returning year after year. It’s an important psychic boost to the year-round residents (and the money doesn’t hurt). April 1 means the opening of fly fishing season. It’s totally unimportant if there is still ice on the rivers, or if there are giant snowbanks leading right down to the water; serious fly fishermen will be there.

In summer, guides make use of every square inch of storage space in their canoes as they take sports out for an all-day fishing trip. The guide knows where trout or salmon are likely to hang out; it’s not enough to simply cast and expect the fish to bite. There are a number of occurrences where sports experience emotional decompression or confess things to their guide while in the canoe. To be the only human beings on a lake with no other signs of human habitation, and to watch an eagle snatch a fish out of the lake, or to watch a moose or black bear rumble past, the term "religious experience" comes to mind.

In the autumn, fishing season gives way to hunting season. Some people have to use the newest “guaranteed” rifle or hunting gadget, while others stick with family heirlooms that have worked in the past. Autumn is also the time for house repairs, and wood chopping, that weren’t taken care of during the summer.

Along with being a Maine Guide, and a musician, Spencer is also an excellent storyteller. He does a fine job of putting the reader in the canoe, or up a tree waiting for a large animal to walk by. For armchair sportsmen, and serious sportsmen, this is very highly recommended.

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Big-box proponents like to talk about the jobs and tax revenue that the retailer will bring to town. This assumes, of course, that the town has not already approved a huge, multi-year tax break to encourage the retailer to build. Studies have shown that the rise in jobs and tax revenue that come from a big-box retailer are almost exactly offset by the lost jobs and tax revenue that will come from the Main Street businesses forced to close. Other studies have compared a dollar spent at a local business to a dollar spent at a big-box retailer. A much greater percentage of the locally spent dollar will stay in town than the big-box dollar, which will be wired to corporate HQ at the end of the day.

What can the average town do about it? Consider passing a town ordinance restricting all retail activity to downtown; big-box retailers like to build on the edge of town. Another possible ordinance will restrict retail stores to no more than a certain size, like 50,000 square feet. On a related subject, another possible ordinance can restrict, or ban, formula restaurants. These are businesses where, from one restaurant to another, the decor is the same, along with the food and the method of its preparation (like a fast food restaurant).

This is a short book, barely 100 pages, but it is full of information for any town who has been approached by a big-box retailer. It is a gem of a book.

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Nicholas Gambit is an African-American who has nearly graduated from the local university. He is desperate to escape his Kansas City ghetto, and is one of those who may actually make something of himself. Nicholas has gotten on the bad side of Raymond Smalls, a local drug dealer, by beating him up in a fight. Nicholas knows that it is only a matter of time before Raymond kills him, but he refuses to cower, or carry a gun.

One night, his mother is murdered, and Nicholas almost joins her (courtesy of Smalls). In a moment of emotional crisis, Nicholas leaves with a man named Wilkes, who has learned that Nicholas has special "abilities." He is taken to an isolated compound, and along with others, taught to be a trained assassin. This is very high-level, and very serious training, in subjects ranging from self-defense to forensics to recent US foreign policy. In one self-defense class, two men are brought in with orders to kill Nicholas.

Wilkes runs one of those super-secret organizations that is known to very few people. After several years of training, one of Nicholas’ assignments is to protect a man who says he has evidence that the intentions of Wilkes are not exactly benign; that he is creating a private army. Meantime, an African princess named Chelsea is going to college in America. Back home, her father is overthrown, and her parents are killed, in a coup d’etat. Chelsea, who knows her way around subjects like weapons and fighting, takes it upon herself, along with those loyal to her, to kill anyone involved in the coup, no matter how indirectly. Another of Nicholas’ assignments is to stop her.

Wilkes is killed in a gun battle, so Nicholas finds himself as a "man without a country." He travels for a long time, finds love, and eventually enters into his third life, as a preacher.

This is a really interesting story; the author certainly knows what he is doing. There is plenty of action and violence, but it also has heart and emotion, too. Here is a first-rate piece of writing.

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