Sassy Women To Celebrate: Helen Gurley Brown

Cosmo may be a pile of drech now, but back in the day, it was a the bible for a new wave of woman taking ownership for themselves (professionally, personally and sex-ily)! And Helen Gurley Brown was the unstoppable (and one of the first female) editor for years. Check out this article about her and a biography.

Also, while I am talking about magazines, apparently, based on a small survey of my dad and uncle, apparently Playboy was also a great magazine when it first came out. It taught men how to be men, and how to be worthy of the hot hot hot women on the pages of the magazine - kind of like a how to magazine for wooing women in a respectful manner.

Books Books Books: The First American

I am diving into a book about Benjamin Franklin, time to get edumacated... Hehe.... Will let you know how the 600+ pages with tiny tiny print goes....

Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations - Who Knew?

While I am on the topic of Laissez-Faire economics that Ms. Rand is so fond of espousing, everyone should also consider reading The Wealth of Nations.

Why? Well, it is one of the first set of books to really talk about free trade and division of labor for higher productivity in a comprehensive and easy to understand way.

But Smith is much smarter than that. Yes, he was the first proponent for free trade and open markets.

BUT, did you know that Adam Smith himself also felt there were very good reasons to have government spending and that government should do some specific roles? The rule of law is one, the second is for education and the third is for infrastructure development.

Very interesting, no? Enjoy!

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand: I love to hate you

www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13185404&source=hptextfeature

Apparently, Atlas Shrugged is seeing a boom due to what people are viewing as a turn to socialism by the Obama administration.

I personally do not agree with Rand's theory of enlightened self interest - and in fact, I think her own theory is inconsistent in the book. Regardless, this is a must read classic. Given today's environment, it does talk about the perils of having government step in and the mediocrity that can be an unintended consequence.

Love it or hate it, just read it!