Books read in October 2012

1. A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle

A murderously violent hero is not one to endear him to the reader unless I suppose you share his brand of Irish republicanism. We do not seem to be given the historic context which produced such nationalism, only the outworkings of it. But as the author tells us that the 1916 captured rebels were jeered by the Dublin populace, I think I am not alone in my dislike of how Henry fought.

2. How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes:  by Peter D. Schiff

Believing that government has a duty to give us sound money and prevent that legalised theft called inflation I enjoyed this cleverly told tale of the folly that is Keynsian economics. Here is the Austrian school for dummies. In an era when our government loves to print money and call it quantitive easing not inflation, we need the message of this book as we continue to speed to an even bigger crash than the last one. One interesting but undeveloped theme in the book is that universal suffrage could be held to blame for our parlous economic state.