Read about 10 books on our 2 months of travelling… toward the end, read Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market, by Eric Schlosser (also penned Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal)

Found it enjoyable — probably not as good as FFN, but that’s only because he didn’t cover each of the three topics of RM (Marijuana, Migrant Labor Abuse, and Pornography) in as much detail as he covered food processing abuses in FFN. That said, the book was thought provoking — I’ve never understood why the government doesn’t just legalize weed and tax it. Doesn’t seem any worse than alcohol, and it actually has positive uses (as a textile, treatment for pain sufferers, etc.). Also, the government’s change in direction with regard to pornography over the years has been fairly drastic… especially when you think about the fact that massive, publically traded companies now ship porn thru to tv’s everywhere (in your home as ppv, in hotels, etc) as commonly as title fights.

The book obviously caters to the liberals among us.

Some notes of interest:

READ – Indoor Marijuana Horticulture – The Indoor Bible

– Primo Plant: Growing Marijuana Outdoors

– How to Grow the Finest Marijuana Indoors Under Lights

– The Big Book of Buds: Marijuana Varieties from the World’s Great Seed Breeders

– Marijuana Grower’s Handbook: The Indoor High Yield Guide

– Ask Ed: Marijuana Law: Don’t Get Busted

– Closet Cultivator

pg. 186 — found interesting that one of the largest sellers of sexual ‘devices’ is named Philip Harvey (runs Adam & Eve / PHE) and that he actually leads a dual-life — “for more than twenty-five years Harvey has managed family planning programs in developing nations and written dozens of articles on population control for academic journals. He has spent millions of dollars earned … to fund non profit programs overseas … in India, Ethiopia, Brazil, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.”

pg. 219 — Adam Smith “believed that the interests of consumers must always take precedence over those of producers, who often care little about the public good and always seek to avoid competition. “The sneaking arts of underling tradesmen,” he warned, “are thus erected into political maxims for the conduct of a great empire.””

— Karen and I noted, in Thailand (and other countries during our trip) how true this was — specifically, that cars in those countries didn’t have seat belts for the rear passengers. Now, we know that the car companies (Toyota, etc.) fully understand how those seat belts save lives, but SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED BY LOCAL LAW, they decide to save the money and not install them, so as to remain $ competitive. That is despicable, and exactly why the public needs the government (basically, the citizenry) to be their advocate.

pg. 293 — reminder (in the acknowledgments) that Eric Schlosser’s work had begun/was encouraged by the editors at The Atlantic Monthly — he noted their “willingness to publish long articles challenging the conventional wisdom.” — I’d say that’s reason enough to pick up a copy of the AM from time to time, wouldn’t you?

Read Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton on the trip, and enjoyed it — I found the first 1/3 somewhat boring as it was a lot of lists of people’s names and events, but after that it actually inspired me. Reminded me about the sacrifices public officials make (lower salary, long hours, constant scrutiny) and the potential nobility of their undertaking. Some notes from the book:

pg. 12 — “more than one opinion could live under the same roof”

“a person was not necessarily bad just because you did not agree with him, and that if you believed in something, you had better be prepared to defend it”

pg. 132 — “government could — and should — be a partner in creating opportunities for people who were willing to work hard and take responsibility”

pg. 160 — “something was missing from their lives — something critical … a little heart, a lot of brotherhood”

pg. 161 — “we need a new ethos of individual responsibility and caring”

pg. 237 — “if you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.”

READ — Stephen Ambrose book “D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II”

READ — Susan McDougall — “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk : Why I Refused to Testify Against the Clintons and What I Learned in Jail”

pg. 428 — John Wesley’s invocation, “Live every day doing as much good as you can, in every way that you can” … shortened from his poem/quote

“Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

To al the people you can,

As long as you ever can,

Amen!”

READ — Taylor Branch “Parting the Waters” — Pulitzer Price winning book on Martin Luther King

pg. 463 — “One hundred and fifty years ago, the women at Seneca Falls were silenced by someone else. Today, women — we silence ourselves. We have a choice. We have a voice.”

pg. 463 — “I dipped into the well of inspiration that Harriet Tubman had handed down to us all and vowed to just keep on going.”

pg. 505 — “It is my opinion that on Judgment Day the first question God asks is not about the Ten Commandments (although He gets to them later!) but what He asks each of us is this: “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE TIME AND THE TALENTS I GAVE YOU?””

ah yes — the book that i’m reading about the creation of the internet is Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins…

another book that i just finished was The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable… — I highly recommend this book as well — it tells the story of the introduction of the telegraph in the mid 19th century, and relates the extraordinary similarities to the evolution of the Internet (tons of hype, necessity for communication protocols, harbingers of world peace, etc. etc.) — is a quick read and very interesting