in which I write about stuff
author: Chris Baty
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2009/11/02
date added: 2009/11/19
shelves: non-fiction, writing
review:
Delightful! Best tip for me: make two lists, one of things you hate in novels, the other of things you love. Keep them handy for reference, throw in stuff you like, avoid stuff you hate. 🙂 Harder than you’d think! Definitely a good kickstart for NaNoWriMo.
author: Patricia A. McKillip
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2009/09/30
date added: 2009/11/19
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
lovely, if a bit thin in places.
author: Libba Bray
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2009/11/19
date added: 2009/11/19
shelves: fantasy, fiction, history, kid-lit
review:
author: Frans de Waal
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2009/11/02
date added: 2009/11/19
shelves: history, non-fiction, psychology, science, sociology
review:
meh.
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 2009/10/06
date added: 2009/10/06
shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi
review:
A lot of the reviews say if you can make it through the first 100-200 pages of exposition, then the story is great. But there just isn’t enough time in this world to wade through a novel’s worth of setup, and somebody should’ve told him so. I’ve tried twice now, and this needs to go back to the library at some point. So I’m declaring defeat. Maybe when I am a very old woman with nothing better to do I’ll give it one last try, but probably not before then!
author: Libba Bray
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2009/10/02
shelves:
review:
author: Adam Cohen
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2009/09/20
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: biography, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Not so much about FDR as about a handful of people who brought the New Deal into being. A fascinating group, too, with quite a range of backgrounds. I found myself fond of Frances Parker in particular.
My main reaction to the book, though, was jealousy. They did so much, and so quickly, and for the most part just ignored the haters. I wish the current administration would do half as much.
author: Lucy Hawking
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2009/09/29
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: fiction, kid-lit, sci-fi, science
review:
Roald Dahl meets Bill Nye, basically. Super-cute and engaging, plus plenty of science facts and photos. If I had a kid, I think it’d be a fun bedtime read.
author: Seth Grahame-Smith
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2009/09/28
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: fiction, history, horror
review:
Yes, it’s a mash-up of Pride & Prejudice with a zombie story. Not especially well-written, but totally cheesy and entertaining. Plus: ninjas!
author: T.R. Reid
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2009/09/27
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: economics, health, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Fascinating overview of health insurance systems around the world…Reid uses the treatment of his shoulder as a trope for seeking care in several different countries, but ranges all over the history, politics, and economics of these systems.
Really, what he does is clarify the whole debate with a straightforward description of options and maybe more importantly, illuminates the underlying issue, beyond the technocratic questions of how. Do we believe that everyone deserves basic health care?
(My answer, obvs, is yes, absolutely!)
As it turns out, there’s really just four basic models of how to pay for health care:
* Beveridge (Britain): government owns the health care system (for the most part) and pays the bill via taxes. Also rather like the VA.
* Bismark (Germany, France, Japan, Switzerland): employers and employees buy insurance from private non-profit insurers, with government providing the insurance of last resort, and generally setting rules for payment schedules. Care providers are independent but highly regulated. Kinda like insurance for many working Americans, only w/out the profit motive.
* National Health Insurance (Canada, Taiwan): government provides insurance, with individuals paying premiums and copays. Care network rather like in the Bismark model. Basically the same as Medicare, to the point of that being the same name as the original Canadian system!
* Out-of-pocket (India): if you have money, you get care. If not, well, that’s just how it is. This is the model that prevails in the third world…and for uninsured Americans who have too much money for Medicaid and are too young for Medicare. 🙁
Personally, it seems like a straightforward embrace of the Bismark model is most likely to work here.