The Better and the Worse

Welcome to The Better and the Worse. I'm JT Fournier. Featuring book reviews and arguments on ethics and public policies, this site, perhaps, serves moral beings throughout the universe. Many reviews are ranked and rated. Several reviews are quick reviews I wrote because the files I wrote the original reviews on will not open. I would like to thank Tripod for providing this free site. I would also like to thank thousands of hard working thinkers for their outstanding ideas in the books and periodicals I have been fortunate to read. Recommendations for a Better America Ranking and rating methodology Glossary of terms used on this site A through L Glossary of terms used on this site M through Z Noteworthy or Amusing Articles (old) Noteworthy or Amusing Articles (new articles at Delicious.com) Giving 110 percent (shoddy satire) Twitter Favorite ways of avoiding problems Mass Media Headlines If Muslims Conquer the United States Quick takes psychology Quick takes thinking Quick takes policy Quick takes education Quick takes philosophy Quick takes various Quick takes ethics Links Contact me: jt64f at ya who

Book reviews: Important or Interesting Books or Both... or Neither: 10 Economics at the Wheel --Richard C. Porter 10 In Praise of Hard Industries --Eamon Fingleton 8 True Security --Michael J. Graetz and Jerry Mashaw 8 Nobody's Children --Elizabeth Bartholet 8 Real Choices/New Voices -- Douglas J. Amy 7 The Academic Achievement Challenge --Jeanne Chall 7 The Feminine Economy and the Economic Man --Shirley Burggraf 7 Inside American Education --Thomas Sowell 7 Luxury Fever --Robert Frank 6 Rewarding Work --Edmund S. Phelps 5 Will America Grow Up Before It Grows Old --Peter Peterson 5 Growing Up with a Single Parent --Sara McClanahan and G. Sandefuer 5 The Great American Tax Dodge --Barlett and Steele 4 Patient Power --John C. Goodman and Gerald Musgrave 3 The Age of Diminished Expectations and  The Accidental Theorist --Paul Krugman 3 Promises to Keep --David Popenoe and others 3 The Abolition of Marriage --Maggie Gallagher 2 Restoring Prosperity --Jeff Faux and others 2 Posterity Lost --Richard Gill 1 The Greedy Hand --Amity Shlaes 1 The Stakeholder Society –Anne Alstott and Bruce Ackerman 1 Myths of Rich and Poor –Cox and Alm 0 The Baby Boon --Elinor Burkett Not rated or ranked: Common Schools, Uncommon Futures: A Working Consensus for School Renewal --Barry S. Kogan, editor The Price of Motherhood --Ann Crittendon The War Against Parents --Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Cornel West Is Our Children Learning? --Paul Begala The Great Disruption --Francis Fukuyama Reducing Poverty in American --Michael Darby, editor The End of Education --Neil Postman What's Worth Fighting for in Your School --Fullan and Hargreaves Thinking Books:  10 A Competent Logic Textbook --Nobody 7Hard Thinking --John D. Mullen 7 Decision Making: Its Logic and Practice --John Mullen and Byron Roth 5 How to Think About Weird Things --Theodore Schick and L. Vaughn 5 Understanding Scientific Reasoning --Ronald Giere 5 Strategies for Creative Problem Solving --H. Scott Fogler 5 Thinking and Deciding --Jonathan Baron 5 Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric --Howard Kahane 5 Tools of Critical Thinking : Metathoughts for Psychology --D. A. Levy 0 Unlimited Power --Anthony Robbins Not rated or ranked: Plagues of the Mind -–Bruce Thornton Understanding Those Who Create --Jane Piirto Introductory Ethics 10 The Limits of Safety --Scott D. Sagan 9 Elements of Moral Philosophy –James Rachels 8 The New Killer Diseases --Elinor Levy and Mark Fischetti 8 Twenty Ways the World Could End –Corey S. Powell 8 Everyday Morality --Mike W. Martin 7 A Practical Companion to Ethics –Anthony Weston 6 Judgment Misguided: Intuition and Error…--Jonathan Baron 6 All Consuming Century --Gary Cross 6 Seducing America: How Television Charms…--Roderick P. Hart 6 Everyday Ethics --Joshua Halberstam 6 Seven Ethical Theories --Robert Wellert 4 One Nation, Two Cultures --Gertrude Himelfarb 4 How Much is Enough? --Alan Durning 3 Think a Second Time --Dennis Prager 3 A Question of Values --Hunter Lewis 2 Virtue and Vice --Christina Hoff Summers 0 Bobos in Paradise --David Brooks Not rated or ranked: Half Penny on the Federal Dollar--M. O'Hanlon and Carol Graham The Best American Magazine Writing 2000 --Clay Felker, editor The Elusive Quest for Growth--William Easterly Perspectives on AID and Development --Catherine Gwin and others Players and Issues in International Aid –Paula Hoy The Alms Bazaar --Ian Smillie Nuclear Monopoly --George H. Quester War Scare --Peter Pry How Could You Do That? --Laura Schlessinger The Ten Stupid Things Men... --Laura Schlessinger The Ten Stupid Things Women... --Laura Schlessinger The Ten Commandments --Laura Schlessinger Pricing the Priceless Child --Vivian Zelizer Target Earth --Duncan Steel and Reader's Digest Capitalism, the Market, the ''Underclass,'' and the Future by Barry Schwartz Time for Life --John P. Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey College Level Ethics 10 Power and Prosperity --Mancur Olson 8 Autonomy and Self-Respect --Thomas E. Hill 7 Self-Deception and Morality --Mike W. Martin 7 Care and Commitment --Jeffrey Blustein 6 The Virtues -- Robert B. Kruschwitz and Robert C. Roberts 5 Culture of Cynicism --Richard Stivers 3 Freedom and Its Discontents --Peter Marin 0 Maternal Thinking --Sara Ruddick Not rated or ranked: Technology as Magic --Richard Stivers Contracting for Development --Rueben Berrios Explorations of Value --Thomas Magnell, editor Miscellaneous Works: Are You Normal? --Bernice Kanner Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides Mean Genes --Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager --Thomas Hine War of the Worlds --Mark Slouka Amusing Ourselves to Death --Neil Postman I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional --Wendy Kaminer The Plug-In Drug --Marie Winn Contract Ethics --Howard Kahane It's the Media, Stupid —Jim Nichols and Robert McChesney The Geography of Nowhere –William Howard Kuntsler Beyond Prozac --Michael J. Norden The Future of War --George and Meredith Friedman Narrative Works: 10 Death March --Donald Knox 6 The Cliff Walk --Don J. Snyder 6 Jack Faust --Michael Swanwick 0 White Noise -–Don DeLillo General and Political Philosophy 10 There Are Two Errors in The The Title of This Book --R. M. Martin 8 The Big Questions --Robert Solomon 8 Overcoming Welfare --James L. Payne 6 Kierkegaard's Philosophy: Self-Deception and Cowardice…--J. Mullen 5 Government's End: Why Washington Stopped… --Jonathan Rauch 4 Contemporary Political Philosophy --Will Kymlicka 0 The Disciplined Mind --Howard Gardner Not Rated or Ranked: The Great Conversation --Norman Melchert Eros in a Narcissistic Culture --Ralph D. Ellis The Mysterious Flame --Colin McGinn The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener --Martin Gardner Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistimology --R. Douglas Geivett and others, eds. Word and Spirit : A Kierkegaardian Critique of the Modern Age --Ronald L. Hall Psychology  10 The Nurture Assumption --Judith Rich Harris 8 Losing Control --Roy Baumeister and others 8 White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts --Daniel Wegner 8 Passion and Reason --Bernice and Richard Lazarus 7 The Marriage Clinic --John Gottman 7 Evil --Roy Baumeister 6 Flow --Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 4 Management of the Absurd --Richard Farson 2 The 10 Dumbest Mistakes Smart… --Arthur Freeman and Rose Dewolf 0 Happiness Is a Serious Problem --Dennis Prager Not rated or ranked: The New Behaviorism --John Staddon Breakdown of Will --George Ainslie Evolutionary Psychology --David Buss Punished by Rewards --Alfie Kohn Beyond Discipline --Alfie Kohn Three Seductive Ideas --Jerome Kagan From Behavioral Science to Behavior Modification -- Harry Kalish Stats and Stuff 10 Tax Expenditures: The Hidden Entitlements – Robert McIntyre and Citizens for Tax Justice 7 The State of Working America –Lawrence Mishel and others 0 Bill Gates Grants Self 18 Dexterity…--The Onion