Wars, Guns, and Votes by Paul Collier

Title: Wars, Guns, and Votes Democracy in Dangerous Places
Author: Paul Collier
Type: Non-Fiction
Genre: Economic and Political Development
Series: No
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Harper
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads. 
Wars, Guns, and Votes, Paul Collier investigates the violence and poverty in the small, remote countries at the lowest level of the world economy. An esteemed economist and a foremost authority on developing countries, Collier argues that the spread of elections and peace settlements in the world's most dangerous countries may lead to a brave new democratic world. In the meantime, though, nasty and long civil wars, military coups, and failing economies are the order of the day--for now and into the foreseeable future.

Through innovative research and astute analysis, Collier gives an eye-opening assessment of the ethnic divisions and insecurites in the developing countries of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, where corruption is often firmly rooted in the body politic. There have been many policy failures by the United States and other developed countries since the end of the Cold War, especially the reliance on preemptive military intervention. But Collier insists that these problems can and will be rectified. He persuasively outlines what must be done to bring peace and stability: the international community must intervene through aid, democracy building, and a very limited amount of force.

Groundbreaking and provocative, Wars, Guns, and Votes is a passionate and convincing argument for the peaceful development of the most volatile places on earth.

Feelings: 

Paul Collier does very interesting research and what he puts forward in this book as well as The Bottom Billion are very good ideas for moving forward and trying to help those that are suck in the bottom in a cycle of poverty and living in a very poor country. 

This book took me a very long time to read for a couple of reasons: 1. His writing style seems to tell a lot about how he went about organizing his research assistants and getting the information he needed which I just don't find all that interesting. If I was the research assistant mentioned I would be honored but it seems to take up space in the book. 2. While he has ideas worth putting into action it is hard to find these ideas as they are often burred in other text.

This book addresses what we as developed countries can do to help those countries in the bottom billion and what countries in the bottom billion can do to help themselves. We have to look at power and how it effects those who have it. Is there anything that can be done to limit power and have checks and balances? What can we in the developed countries to to help the bottom billion countries not have corrupt leadership that drains the budgets?

The fundamental mistake of our approach to state building has been to forget that well-functioning states are built not just on shared interests but on shared identity. Shared identity does not grow out of the soil; it is politically constructed. It is the task of political leadership to forge it. (p.9)

 In the west we need to think about where aid dollars are going and if there is a way we can get them were they are needed without having it free up budget dollars that end up going to the military. How can we help create security in countries of the bottom billion? 

In fact, democracy had the opposite effect in poor countries to that in rich countries. ... We found that in countries that were at least at middle-income levels, democracy systematically reduced the risk of political violence. ... But in low-income countries, democracy made the society more dangerous. ... Democracies get safer as income rises, whereas autocracies get more dangerous. (p.20-21)

To offset the dangerous effects of democracy a country must have a per capita income of about $2,700 a year or $7 a day (p.21). This is a very interesting finding and one that should tell us a great deal about our efforts to use elections as a solve all for problems in the third world. 

This is just a small sample of what is included in the book. It is full of such insights. Without summarizing the entire book and having a very long list of what Paul Collier suggest it is hard to cover everything. My suggestion is slog through the extras and get to the points they are important for the successful development of the bottom billion.

If you could just read the meat of this book and skip the other parts this would be a very good book. I recommend this book to those that have read The Bottom Billion and enjoyed that. In many ways this book carries on the ideas started in there. If you have not read The Bottom Billion I would recommend starting there.

Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama

Title: Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Author: Barack Obama
Type: Audio Book (abridged)
Narrator: Barack Obama
Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir

Series: No
Copyright: 2005
Publisher: Random House Audio
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads

Before Barack Obama became a politician he was, among other things, a writer. Dreams from My Father is his masterpiece: a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking the big questions about identity and belonging.

The son of a black African father and a white American mother, Obama recounts an emotional odyssey. He retraces the migration of his mother's family from Kansas to Hawaii, then to his childhood home in Indonesia. Finally he travels to Kenya, where he confronts the bitter truth of his father's life and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

Includes the 2004 Democratic National Convention speech given by Obama.

Feelings:
This is the story of Barack Obama before he becomes a politician. While the story is about an absent father and who this effects a young Barack. Race is another question that arises from having an African father and a white mother. Where does one fit in society and how can one proceed to have a black identity when living with whites?

Spending some of his childhood in Indonesia with his mother and step-father taught him about history of a people and how it effects who we are and what we become.

History of race and country is still with us and through this book we see one man's struggle and triumph as he learns to understand his past, his family ties, an unknown culture, and the importance of being true to oneself no matter what that might be.

I wish that this hadn't been abridged but there was not an unabridged version of this book. I think that even those who do not like Obama politically will find this an interesting to listen to. This book isn't about politics it is about family and the struggle of understanding what that means.

Water Ghosts by Shawna Yang Ryan

Title: Water Ghosts

Author: Shawna Yang Ryan

Type: Audiobook
Narrator: Laural Merlington
Genre: Fiction

Series: No

Copyright: 2009
Publisher:Tantor Media

Rating: 2 out of 5


Summary: from GoodReads
 Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women suddenly appear out of the mist one afternoon in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River, and their arrival throws the community into confusion. Two of the women are unknown to the townspeople, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor, who had left her behind in China many years earlier and had not yet returned for her. Richard's wife's unexpected arrival complicates his life in no small way-not least with two prostitutes at the local brothel he frequents. One, the beautiful young Chloe, depends on him but has eyes for someone else, someone even more forbidden: the local preacher's daughter. The other, Poppy, the psychic madam of the brothel, is desperately in love with Richard, and she begins to sink into despair as he grows further and further away from her.

As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, Poppy's premonitions begin to foretell a deep unhappiness for all involved. And when a flood threatens the livelihood of the entire town, the frightening power of these mysterious women who arrived in the mist will be revealed.

Feelings:
The story could have been every interesting but it lacked something. I couldn't say exactly what it was that was missing. Maybe I just wasn't invested in the characters and thus didn't care what happened to them. I think that maybe the problem was that we jumped between many characters and didn't stick with just one. I might have cared more about them if there had been less jumping back and forth from one to the next. I did come to like some of the characters but the outcome didn't effect them so their story wasn't really changed at the end.

Chloe a white prostitute in a Chinese town doesn't understand many of the legends and beliefs that come from China with the immigrants. When the three women show up it affects her only in that she is no longer visited by Richard and must learn to really sell herself. She isn't interested in this and longs to leave the town. I think if this had been Chloe's story it might have worked but it isn't her story it is Richard and his wife and the two women that show up out of the river with her.

My feeling is that it could have been a very interesting story but it had to big a focus and placed importance on characters that maybe should have been minor characters. It just didn't work for me.

Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan

Title: Saving Fish From Drowning

Author: Amy Tan

Type: Audiobook (abridged) 
Narrator: Amy Tan
Genre: Fiction

Series: No

Copyright: 2005
Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads
A pious man explained to his followers: "It is evil to take lives and noble to save them. Each day I pledge to save a hundred lives. I drop my net in the lake and scoop out a hundred fishes. I place the fishes on the bank, where they flop and twirl. 'Don't be scared,' I tell those fishes. 'I am saving you from drowning.' Soon enough, the fishes grow calm and lie still. Yet, sad to say, I am always too late. The fishes expire. And because it is evil to waste anything, I take those dead fishes to market and I sell them for a good price. With the money I receive, I buy more nets so I can save more fishes." - Anonymous 

Twelve American tourists join an art expedition that begins in the Himalayan foothills of China - dubbed the true Shangri-La - and heads south into the jungles of Burma. But after the mysterious death of their tour leader, the carefully laid plans fall apart, and disharmony breaks out among the pleasure-seekers as they come to discover that the Burma Road is paved with less-than-honorable intentions, questionable food, and tribal curses. 

 And then, on Christmas morning, eleven of the travelers boat across a misty lake for a sunrise cruise - and disappear. 

Drawing from the current political reality in Burma and woven with pure confabulation, Amy Tan's picaresque novel poses the question: How can we discern what is real and what is fiction, in everything we see? How do we know what to believe? 

Feelings:
This is a culinarily distressing book. Part of this may have been that where the story starts in China, is someplace that I have been and I knew all the mistakes they were making without the author going into detail which she did. That's right all the food that makes them sick you hear about. All the stupid tourist culturally insensitive things they do them.

Once the story gets to Burma it gets a little less culinarily distressing and more about the characters. The political history included in the story is interesting and unfortunately even though this is a work of fiction some of what happens is what really has happened in Burma.

Something that is interesting and different about this story is that it is told from the point of view of a ghost and although she knows she is dead she is unsure how she died. Because of the fact that she is dead she knows all but cannot influence and must sit and watch.

I liked the story but could have done without much of the culinary distress that came from listening.

Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb

Title: Blood of Dragons 
Author: Robin Hobb 
Type: Novel 
Genre:  Fantasy 
Series: Yes. Volume Four of the Rain Wilds Chronicles 
Pages: 425 
Copyright: 2013 
Publisher: Harper Voyager an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary: From GoodReads.
The dragons' survival hangs in the balance in the thrilling final volume in the acclaimed River Wilds chronicles fantasy series The dragons and their dedicated band of keepers have at last found the lost city of Kelsingra. The magical creatures have learned to use their wings and are growing into their regal inheritance. Their humans, too, are changing. As the mystical bonds with their dragons deepen, Thymara, Tats, Rapskal, and even Cedric, the unlikeliest of keepers, have begun transforming into beautiful Elderlings raked with exquisite features that complement and reflect the dragons they serve. But while the humans have scoured the empty streets and enormous buildings of Kelsongra, they cannot find the mythical silver wells the dragons need to stay health and survive. With enemies encroaching, the keepers must risk "memory walking"- immersing themselves in the dangerously addictive memories of long-deceased Elderlings - to uncover clues necessary to their survival. And time is of the essence, for the legendary Tintaglia, long feared dead, has returned, wounded in a battle with humans hunting dragon blood and scales. She is weakening and only the hidden silver can revive her. If Tintaglia dies, so, too, will the ancient memories she carries - a devastating loss that will ensure the dragons' extinction.

Feelings:
Finally an ending.

After the last three books ended like a chapter ending but not really a closing this was somewhat of a relief. I do think that this may have had a little to much of a nice tidy bow tied on it but I have to admit I am just glad there was an ending so I'm willing to over look a little of the neatness of this story. I enjoyed the story but I do think it was a little to neat and because of that it lacked reality and believability.

There were somethings that happened that weren't perfect or ideal but they weren't devastating. With all of the events that happened in this book things things seemed to work out a little to well to be realistic but sometimes we want our stories to be the idealistic and the best possible future and not realistic.

With this book I think I would have enjoyed a little more reality the other books in the series didn't seem to shy away from what is difficult as much as this one did. Yes there were topics in here that were difficult but the characters got what was coming to them and those that were unfairly treated were avenged.

I liked the story around the memory stones and I think this may have been the most realistic part of the book. Thymara was still an interesting character to follow because of how she struggles to find balance and to make her own choices for the right reasons. Of all of the characters in the story I think she is the only one who we follow that really changed that much. The dragons went through physical changes but they did not really change much as far as attitude or action. Kelsingra, the city, played more of a role in this story but not so much as to become a character in and of itself but more to be a more foreboding and welcoming setting. The Duke of Chalced became a real character just on someone who was making demands on others. I like that he was in here and I think it is what made this more interesting.

The Characters were the enjoyable part of this book as with the others in the series. I think that the story itself in this book was a little weaker but maybe that was because it was the ending. I would recommend this book to those that enjoyed the rest of the Rain Wild Chronicles.

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix

Title: A Confusion of Princes
Author: Garth Nix
Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Series: No
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads

You'd think being a Prince in a vast intergalactic empire would be about as good as it gets. Particularly when Princes are faster, smarter, and stronger than normal humans. Not to mention being mostly immortal.

But it isn't as great as it sounds. Princes need to be hard to kill--as Khemri learns the minute he becomes one--for they are always in danger. Their greatest threat? Other Princes. Every Prince wants to become Emperor, and the surest way to do so is to kill, dishonor, or sideline any potential competitor. There are rules, but as Khemri discovers, rules can be bent and even broken.

Soon Khemri is drawn into the hidden workings of the Empire and dispatched on a secret mission. In the ruins of space battle he meets a young woman called Raine, who challenges his view of the Empire, of Princes, and of himself.

But Khemri is a Prince, and even if he wanted to leave the Empire behind, there are forces that have very definite plans for his future. . . .

Feelings: 
I enjoyed reading this book it was very different from many of the other Grath Nix books I have read. My favorite by him are the Abhorsen series. I think those are by far the best books by him. I have not read his other well know series The Keys to the Kingdom.

This book takes place in a very different world than what we would know. There is space travel and a higher intelligence that dictates what princes must do as well as others. The world which this is set in is very unique and described in a way that makes it easy to understand and enter.

Khemri is a Prince and he has died three times. When he is connected to the Mind he can be reborn, yes, as an adult the same age as he was when he died. a little odd I know but I enjoyed it. The deaths are even a confusion to Khemri at first.

This is in many ways a love story but it is well written and worth reading. I would recommend this to those that have read Garth Nix's other books and like them.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Title: Dodger
Author: Terry Pratchett
Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Series: No
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Harper
Rating: 3.5 to 5


Summary: from Good Reads.
 A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's...Dodger.

Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl--not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.

From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy's rise in a  complex and fascinating world,.

Feelings: 
This was I believe the first Terry Pratchett novel I have read. I picked it up at the library when I was looking for something else and I'm glad that I did. This was a fantasy that combined aspects of history into the story. Yes it is a bit jumbled up and the time line isn't exactly straight but it is fiction and fantasy and as Pratchett says at the end he took some liberties to make time the way he wanted it.


I have to admit that I liked having the historical people included in the story. Many of the historical figures where ones that I wasn't all that familiar with so I had no trouble suspending disbelief.


I liked his take on Sweeney Todd, he felt a little less malicious and a little more human in this version of the telling.

At some time, somebody must have told Mister Todd that a barber, in addition to tonsorial prowess, should have memorized practically a library of jokes, anecdotes, and miscellaneous rib-ticklers, occasionally including--should the gentleman in the chair be of the right age or nature--ones that might include some daring remarks about young ladies. However, the person who had given him this advice had simply not calculated on Sweeney's terrible lack of anything that could  e called bonhomie, cheerfulness, ribaldry, or even a simple sense of humor. (p.128)

This is an example of Pratchett's at times long sentences and how Dodger begins to understand Sweeney. Without giving away this particular part of the story it is difficult to say more.

I enjoyed reading the story. I think while it's aim was not to be historical fiction there are historical aspects and it does show some of what city life in London was like in the early Victorian age. It does make you think about how much better things are now even when they are pretty bad.

I would recommend this to young adult readers. This is not to say that this is strictly speaking an young adult novel. I don't think that it is. I would also recommend it to Terry Pratchett fans as I think that it is well written and an enjoyable read.