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Rating: 
Summary: Maybury plants the seed of curiosity and makes you want more
Review: Do not confuse the 3 star rating with a negative evaluation. Quite the opposite is true. However when reading a series like this one must put them all into perspective. I thouroughly enjoyed this book. It was just too short, it was overpriced for the length of the text and it is simply the tip of a much larger iceburg of political, social and historical thought that makes you close it saying "is that all there is, I want more, give me MORE!" Very well done actually, because it draws you into the other eight books in the series, and if you do not have them I highly recommend getting them all before you start. I began by reading Mr. Maybury's "Are you Liberal or Conservative, or just confused?" Which I rated at five stars and was instantly hooked. I ordered the rest of the collection (the other eight) in one batch so as to get them all together so I could get started reading them in his recommended sequence as soon as possible. This book however was no more than an hour read or so and left me starving and anxious to get into the rest of the soup. His books are actualy fun to read and easily pull you into the world of "Uncle Eric." His considerable talents to educate, fasincate and bring the subject down to a desktop level of understanding, helping you to contemplate what was, what is and what should be in poltics, the economy, morality, education, justice and many other subjects is refreshing. I have since moved on to "What ever happened to penny candy?" and am just as captivated by it as the last two. This first book sets the basic foundation for all his others, which is that there are models out there that we each react to. Regardless if it is moral, social, poltical, educational, family life, community standards and the like. There are good ones and there are bad ones. There are historically proven models and there are new age individuals who want to tear many of the existing models down and rebuild them sort of speak in their own image or opinion of how things should be. This can be good or it can be devistating on our citizenry and our children. So it is vitally important to understand models in general and to create beneficial models for ourselves and society. Needless to say we are not doing very well in many areas, but fair in others. In any case this is the starting line and the finish line is eight books away. I highly recommend Mr. Maybury's books for anyone from any background, persuasion and/or political party. If nothing else they make you think. Aristotle said, or was it Socrates? In any case one of them said, "an unexamined life is not worth living," so read these books and ponder his simple assertions against your own beleifs and ideals. I understand he is writing more books along this same line about the world Wars and such, for our future enjoyment, I will more than likely order them as well. A great series to read and enjoy. Good job Mr. Maybury.
Rating: 
Summary: Short and sweet
Review: This is the kind of book you'll want your kids to read. It's short, sweet and simple. Maybury points out how we build mental "models" to understand the world. The two best ones for economics and law (and the ones that Maybury uses) are the Austrian School of Economics and the British Common Law. Essentially they're two sides of the same coin, so they reinforce each other. If you understand the basics of both of these models, then you'll have a leg up on 99% of the people in the world in understanding how things work. You'll be doing your children a great favor by teaching these models to your them. They certainly won't learn them in public schools, which pour masses of facts into students heads but don't tell them how to related them to each other, and the world. Maybury shows you how to correct this major--and tragic--error in education.
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