Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Out of the Valley – Book Review

Are you intrigued by the psychodynamics of dating? Have you ever wondered if that man or woman of yesteryear could have been the one? Have you suspected that that articulate attractive and poised person of interest may just have a chink in the armour? Then, Out of the Valley is for you. Cam Clark’s well constructed characters of Scott and Candice will have you reaching for this paper back at every idle moment. Although cast in darkness, it’s unwound through evolution and discovery. You’re there at their dinner table. You are transfixed by what will come of the text messages.

Cam juxtaposes between thoughts and words helping you with the disconnect. It’s the most appealing portrayal of human nature’s propensity for reservation in the face of fear. There is adversity and its confrontation. There is modesty in Scott’s manner. There is revelation in undiscovered strength and there is plot which hosts this pair. 

Have you ever found yourself in the valley? Perhaps, you’re there right now grasping for a foot hold up the escarpment in need of some edification. Cam describes the view from the valley with eloquence and meanders through the depths with gracefulness not representative of the state but typical of his writing style. 

Available on Amazon.

 

 

  

The Girl On The Train

I’m in disagreement with the parade of reviewers who were bored with this flick, The Girl On The Train. I thought Emily Blunt’s performance as a drunk traipsing suburban train tracks was stellar. The opening scene’s suggestion that she had a mere fascination in the lives of others proved to be an understatement. I was enthralled by her depth of obsession into the lives of characters cast into her old neighborhood and the consequence that eavesdropping from a train car would play upon unfolding events.  Her despair was gripping. I thought the pulse and flow of the movie moved in parallel to the plot as it developed and as a suspense mystery it needn’t have demonstrated the flash and effects of an action adventure.  There was eeriness to scenes typical of what one would expect given the story line. Two particular plot twists could have been better developed or omitted.  Not a film for the young ‘uns but you may be transfixed for a time.

Book Review Death of Money

Jim Rickards believes that the monetary system is in peril and consequently there is a plan in place to deal with the eventuality of the current reserve currency (U.S. dollar) to debase greatly.  According to Jim in his book The Death of Money, he suggests the writing was on the wall not when the balance sheet of the federal reserve and U.S. government exploded with the issuance of U.S treasuries via QE 1 back in 2009 but in 2005 when the production of derivative products such as mortgage backed securities accelerated swiftly.  In the eyes of the U.S. administration after consultation with Wall Street, the alternative to the government bail outs of 2008 / 2009 of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, GM, AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup etc was a run on banks and an economic apocalypse.  So – what has changed?  Jim believes an aura of acknowledgment is now pervasive amongst financial elites and that an orderly procession is underway to restore the gold standard through a unit called the “SDR” (Special Drawing Right).  I surmise from Rickard’s writing that a nation’s currency would be correlated to the SDR based on balance sheets, circulation and gold reserves.

It is suggested that governments have great staying power in coping with financial stress given counterparty interests which has prevented the cataclysm to date.  China has been a large net purchaser of treasuries emanating from the quantitative easing programs and apparently requires time to acquire more gold to position itself powerfully in the context of the SDR formula.  Mr. Rickards throws out the figure of gold at $9,000 per ounce as a possibility at the time of gold standard reinstatement and SDR conversion.  He naturally suggests that you allocate a portion of your portfolio in gold, namely 20 per cent. He recommends this modest percentage in the context of his theory given his belief that the gold market is manipulated and investors are at the whim of a price suppression scheme.

For the open minded – I recommend the book.