Kurt Smock

Life changing

Revisado: 08-29-23

Quite literally if you were at absolutely any point within your business, this is going to be one of the best purchases you could ever make due to the sheer amount of information and perspective you will get when approaching your business within the next season, year or whatever your time measurements are. Please read this book if you are a business owner looking to better your life and others

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Be prepared for a real shock.

Revisado: 05-14-23

This book is extremely valuable for many reasons. The chief of which is how it expertly captures and disseminates the most current knowledge available on the topic of civil war according to the literature. If you want to know about the stages leading up to civil war, this book is an excellent resource.

(tldr; The bottom line is that Barbara F Walter, in her book, "How Civil Wars Start" is deploying tactics described in the book to either start a civil war or defend her side against one. This book is a rallying cry to the Left to be on alert, be in preparation of, and be prepared to resist an insurrection from the right. Which is honestly, pretty unsettling.)

Be prepared. If you have any US-fashioned 'right-winged' leanings or are even just centered and balanced in your political view, be prepared for the author's blindingly one sided hatred of republicans. If you have a "D" after your name, you're going to love this book and often find yourself saying (in the spirit of Breaking Bad character Walter White) "You're God-Dang Right." If you proudly place a "R" after your name, you will be continuously compelled to say in you're mind "Yea but..." as the Rs are regularly and continuously attacked in this book.

The one sidedness of this book is so alarming, the gift-wrapped hatred for those on the other side of the aisle coming from her could easily fit in the definitions of words like "incendiary" and "seditious." I challenge you this. Find ONE, singular criticism of the D's or the left. If you find one, I recommend your next project be to a needle in a haystack because you'll probably be very good at it.

This quote, which appears later in the book was, in my opinion, the most egregious example of blatant lies delivered via rational-sounding queries and broad commentary. And the book is FULL of these types of inconsistencies in an effort to promote groups the author wishes to paint in a positive light and demonize those who she wants the reader to share her negative opinion of:

"...when does sporadic violence escalate into civil war? ... The CIA has been studying this question for decades in an effort to QUELL INSURGENCIES AROUND THE WORLD; in effect to STOP CIVIL WARS BEFORE THEY START."

Fact: Insurgencies the CIA inspired, caused, or participated in:
1. Iran (1953)
2. Guatemala (1954)
3. Chile (1973)
4. Afghanistan (1979)
5. Iraq (2003)
And these are just the cold hard factual, declassified ones that are known, there is a far longer list of regime changes that the CIA is suspected to play a key role in that includes Cuba (1961), Venezuela (2019), Haiti (1992). The CIA is just as happy to start a civil war as they are to prevent one. Everyone knows this. Why not just say the truth? :::
"The CIA has been studying this question for decades in an effort to OVERTHROW GOVERNMENTS around the world when it serves American interests."

How someone with a straight face can write out a sentence like the quote from the book I've cited is puzzling at best, but on the face of it, it's generally just laughable. It is particularly amusing that someone who cites such detailed information about the problem with disinformation is actually participating in the behavior. It is interspersed throughout the book. And I'll be honest: it's hard to imagine that someone as intelligent as the author, someone who specifically studies regime changes and war, is unaware of these irrefutable facts.

She provides strong criticisms against militias while praising her country of origin whose constitution plainly states that "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." We can infer then that she proudly and boldly stands against the position of the founding fathers as it pertains to the role of militias in society.

The facts, the research, the data, and the exposition of the book was extremely enjoyable. I learned a lot. And though I have no opinion on politics and personally see both Republicans and Democrats as inherently evil and opportunistic on an organizational level (and equally so), I was raised by a bunch of Rush-Limbaugh-loving backwoods Rs back in the 90s, so I have a lot of empathy for the Rs.

If you are a Republican and decide to read this. Read it to hear the other side (because you can't miss it screaming across every page). The reality is that there are plenty of good criticisms of Republicans. Listen to the other side and learn. Clearly Rs are not perfect and some things (Like the occupation of the Capital) were grossly mismanaged by folks like Trump and other Rs in the past. Come on, we can all be honest enough to admit right that? If you can't, well, probably skip the book. You're mind isn't open to reality, but you are rather trapped in a battle for the survival of your worldview and this book will just make you angry. And I get that. I admit, the one-sidedness is pretty disgusting. But good info quality nonetheless. 5 stars.

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Older Book. But still pretty relevant.

Revisado: 07-16-22

Books like this are heavily context dependent. This book mentions Blockbuster and Netflix DVDs... In 2022 that will make it feel ancient. In some ways it is. But if you think about the subject matter in its context and extrapolate its logic out to present, you can see where we came from, where we are today, and how we got here. The Noise and the Signal was a good bit better on a lot of levels in my opinion. Still, this was worth the read.

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Absolutely Phenomenal

Revisado: 05-07-22

The narrator was awesome. Definitely my top 5 of all time. it's the kind of book you can go back and listen to 100 times and get something out of.

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One of my top 3 educational books

Revisado: 02-08-22

It's not just a out becoming the best in a given field. it's really a out how to efficiently get better. It's information that everyone should know because it will give everyone who reads it a higher quality of life.

it's good to know the mechanics of how to learn and get better.

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one of the best written

Revisado: 01-31-21

if you understand this book thoroughly, then you understand how to trade. The truth of profitable trading is hiding in there in plain sight for those who want to dig for it.

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Its like a walk through history

Revisado: 01-19-21

What I like about Greene's work is that he deeply focuses on specific attributes of a subject, in this case strategy, through stories. The books are very long. Thus, it's a pretty big commitment to get through one. however because of the compartmentalization of attributes and stories. it can easily be picked up and put down or one can skip around if they'd like with no negative consequence to the reading experience.

The stories he chooses are great because they're largely obscure. Where they are not obscure, you still probably will learn details of the story you didn't know before.

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Extremely Detailed Account

Revisado: 12-25-20

I was really just looking for the words, not the commentary but I respect the extreme depths of detail that the author takes the reader through. if you want to understand this legendary figure with the greatest clarity, this is the version for you. if you're looking for a book on strategy, it's in there, but it might be more efficient to listen to shorter version with just the translation and not all the commentary.

But I say that under the assumption that an alternative translation is accurate, which this author casts doubt on. good read though in any event.

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Reads just like a movie

Revisado: 10-30-20

This book was so fantastic I listened to the whole thing in one sitting. The storytelling is so fantastic. With McConaughey reading his own book it was so engaging. He wrote out the story of his life just like it was a movie. I think, in these pages, he scripted his life into one of the greatest stories ever. Its an amazing cast of characters and the adventures are so compelling. This book was really alive. It culminated into the greatest adventure of all, Being McConaughey. And that's the cliffhanger. but we can all watch it unfold in reat time. Very inspiring. Thank you for writing it.

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It fills a need for sure.

Revisado: 08-25-20

You want to learn about databases? You know some things, but you've really never done it before or you've tried it a bit and you just want more context for wrapping your brain about database concepts? get the book it's $2. Totally worth the $2 and 50 minutes to try. There's very little content in this regard so scoop this up and dump it in the think tank.

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