Alan Greenspan Is Super Cool

The sage of our former times has been on the circuit hawking his new book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.

He was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart a couple nights ago (video clip here). His interview reminded me a little bit of what Albert Einstein said about understanding politics. Einstein said (paraphrasing) that math was much easier to understand than people.

Anyway, Greenspan said just about the same thing. He said (paraphrasing) that we rely on giant reams of data, because people make no sense.

Also, from what I understand, in Greenspan’s book he describes wooing his wife with an essay on the Sherman Antitrust Act. That is pretty funny.

Anyway, I’ve got to get the book!

The Funniest Book Ever

A collection of vignettes called Ant Farm by Simon Rich is the funniest book ever. I know that is a big statement, but it is true.

You must arrange to come in to possession of this book, but you can’t read it yourself. You have to find someone to read it to you (and then switch off in all fairness), because it is not readable through the tears of hilarity.

I simply could not read this book to myself. It is that funny.

I chose this quote because it not only illustrates my point, but uses similar imagery.

Where are all the time travelers? They’re on Wall Street, smoking Cuban cigars and laughing so hard that tears are streaming down their fat faces. Meanwhile, we’re sitting around like morons, betting our money on random dogs and horses and talking about how smart Stephan Hawking is. (117)

Of course, if my endorsement is not enough, Jon Stewart is quoted as calling it (among other things) "hilarious".

"Antique, Illogical And Democratically Indefensible"

Recently, the Queen of England came and went (Carter had some interesting comments here in a post titled "Send the Queen Home").

Isn’t it totally absurd that any modern country has a heredity ruler (figurehead, whatever)?

Jeremy Paxon (author of On Royalty: A Very Polite Inquiry Into Some Strangely Related Families) was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart a couple nights ago. Paxon called the monarchy “antique, illogical and democratically indefensible” (after about three minutes of a meager justification – some indecipherable stuff about the embodiment of a nation blah, blah, blah).

It really just makes no sense.

Comedy Central Sells Books (to me)

I have used a Tivo since 1999 and have no clue what time shows are on since I haven’t watched one while it was being broadcast in almost a decade (and not just because time-shifting is a cool term).

Despite that, I do know that Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report are back to back since they are tied together in between the two shows. As a result, I tend to watch them together.

In a single night I bought The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo and Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts by Clive James after learning about the first on the Jon Stewart show and the second on the Colbert Report.

I haven’t read either yet (and kind of wonder how Cultural Amnesia is different from The Creators: A History of Heros of the Imagination by Daniel Boorstin).

I hope that both books are worth the price of hardcover!