Richard Redano

A+ in Math & Physics; D in 20th Century History

Revisado: 11-04-23

This book's insightful explanation of the symbiotic relationship between math & physics rates A+. The book's survey of the history of zero and its impact on commerce rates an A in Ancient History. The book erroneously states that planes from the "U S Air Force" dropped atom bombs on Japan in WWII. The U S Air Force did not exist during WWII. Thus, this book gets a D in 20th Century History.

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Great on Project Mgmt But Uninformed on Renewables

Revisado: 03-09-23

This book provides a highly informative and well documented text on project management, including both the cause of major failures and the keys to success. The authors repeatedly mention their extensive database of project costs. Yet, in the last two minutes of the Audible recording, the authors abandon their reliance on data and proclaim, “We know what’s good for climate mitigation, for instance, BY ELECTRIFYING EVERYTHING: homes, cars, offices, factories, shops and making sure the ELECTRICITY COMES FROM ABUNDANT RENEWABLE SOURCES. WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO DO THIS.”
The book avoids defining “renewable sources.” In the broadest context, they would include hydropower, nuclear power, and geothermal power. No one seriously contends that there is sufficient geothermal and hydropower sources available in the U.S. to provide even 10% of the total energy needs. Nuclear fuel, especially thorium, is abundant and inexpensive; however, this book repeatedly points out that large scale nuclear power projects have some of the worst project cost overruns of all categories of projects. The nuclear industry’s proposed shift to small modular reactors is an unproven concept,
This leaves, wind and solar, the panacea twins of the green energy lobby. The book ignores the low capacity factors for solar and wind i.e. 24.8% and 36.1% in 2022, according to the Energy Information Administration. The proposed cure for this capacity factor shortfall is battery storage. However, the above quoted statement evidences an ignorance of the limits of existing battery storage capacity. According to False Alarm, by Bjorn Lomborg, the U.S. has sufficient battery storage capacity to store 14 seconds of average U.S. electricity use [p. 102].
The authors’ quoted statement assumes that a sufficient quantity of processed rare earth metals will be available to meet their renewable energy objectives. Yet, a March 2022 report by the Int’l Energy Agency entitles “The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions” states “The prospect of a rapid increase in demand for critical minerals – well above anything seen previously in most cases – raises huge questions about the availability and reliability of supply.” These are questions apparently ignored by the authors.

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Very Informative, But Desperately Needs A pdf

Revisado: 12-27-22

This book provides a wealth of information and insight into electricity pricing and the morass of regulations that jeopardize the stability of our grid. The audiobook makes numerous references to graphs and figures; yet no pdf came with this book. In over 12 years as an Audible subscriber, I have not listened to another Audible book that referenced graphs or figures without including a pdf that contained those references. I feel CHEATED by this publisher who was too cheap to provide a pdf. Additionally, Audible should have quality control standards that prevent such deficiencies.

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Displays Ignorance of Central Asian Geography

Revisado: 05-24-21

The book provides an insightful framework for analyzing Gray Rhinos. In Chapter 5 of the Audible version at 26:38 to 26:44, the author states that Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan are “central European” countries. This shows an astounding ignorance of central Asian geography.
The author’s numerous references to “clean energy” indicate a lack of awareness of the environmental impact of (a) rare earth mineral mining, (b) using metallurgical coal to make steel and concrete for wind turbines, and (c) disposing of solar voltaic panels after their useful life. An August 5, 2019 article in the WSJ stated that 900 tons of steel, 2500 tons of concrete and 45 tons of plastic make up one wind turbine.
In some places the book warns against adopting “group think” while praising the “wisdom of crowds” in other places. No guidance is provided on how to distinguish group think form the wisdom of crowds.

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A+ in History; D+ in Geography

Revisado: 03-20-21

While I purchased this book for its history of capitalism, I found its history of Protestantism to be comprehensive and fascinating. The book rates an A+ in history. Unfortunately, the book’s command of geography is less impressive. Near the end of Chapter 1, the author states, “Canada and Mexico are the only two countries that share borders with the US.” This statement ignores the maritime borders that the US shares with several countries, including The Bahamas, The U.K. (B.V.I), and Samoa. This apparent unawareness of U.S. territories merits a D+ in geography.

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Insightful; But Many Mispronunciations

Revisado: 11-28-20

Approximately 75-80% of this book focuses on the legal issues and relevant historical context involved in important five to four Supreme Court decisions. In this portion of the book, Senator Cruz provides wonderful insight into these cases. The remainder of the book contains facts of little or no relevance, such as informing the audience that a judge typed a memo using only two fingers, or that Senator Cruz met Bo Derek at an Austin bowling alley. The chapter on the Bush v Gore election litigation includes excruciating details surrounding Senator Cruz’s marriage proposal.
Many lawyers will cringe at the mispronunciations of basic legal terms in this book. The narrator consistently mispronounces “certiorari” by pronouncing the “t.” The narrator also mispronounces “stare decisis” as though the last word was “deceesis.” This repeated mispronunciation creates the impression that this book was written by a stranger to Supreme Court practice. It is a shame that Senator Cruz did not apply the same level of quality control to the narration of his book as he did to the text of the briefs he authored as an appellate advocate.

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Fascinating Discussion Of Liquids

Revisado: 06-21-20

I learned more chemistry from this book than I did in two semesters of freshman chemistry. The level of technical detail is perfect for the scientifically inquisitive reader who is not a chemist or a chemical engineer.
One glaring error in this book is the false assertion that Albert Einstein was a "patent lawyer." Einstein was a patent examiner, not a patent lawyer. This error shows shoddy research on the author's part.
Additionally the performer's British pronunciation of "patent" with a long "a" grates on the audio sensibilities of listeners in "the colonies."

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Highly Informative Discussion of Physics Topics

Revisado: 06-21-20

This book provides a highly informative discussion of numerous scientific topics at the "Goldilocks" level of complexity. You don't need a PhD. in the physical sciences to grasp the subject matter; yet, a broad familiarity with general principles of cosmology is quite helpful.

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Thought Provoking But Often Assumes Causation

Revisado: 05-22-20

Part II of this book discloses the obscene “arms race of college sports” as illustrated by the Univ. of TN’s $45M expenditure on a football practice facility “while other parts of the university were in need of repair” and by average head football coach salaries exceeding $5.7M at top 20 universities. The book explains how our misguided antitrust laws prohibit any practical solution to this problem.

A recurring theme of this book is that a consumer who is too lazy, irresponsible, or innumerate to analyze a purchase is being exploited. Chapter 3 describes a “bargaining hunting antitrust professor” who reserved a Las Vega hotel room without reviewing the applicable fees and who failed to pay his credit card bill on time because “so much work had piled up” while “he was away on vacation.” Wow! Even an antitrust professor is exploited by late fees resulting from his failure to pay his bills on time.

Although Part I of this book purports to show the negative impact of increased competition, many examples provided fail to support that thesis. Early decision constraints that universities impose upon their applicants are a form of reduced (not increased) competition. Consumers’ subjective correlation between price and quality is not a function of the number of competitors e.g. consumers paid more for Michelob than for Budweiser long before the explosive growth of craft beers. Buyers’ undervaluation of used cars is well documented in behavioral economics as resulting from information asymmetry between buyer and seller. The inability of shoppers to quantitatively compare discounts results from innumeracy. Drip pricing exists because it is profitable, independent of the number of sellers. The authors failed to establish that these “problems” increased with the number of competitors. In several cases where the authors assert a causal relationship between a problem and increased competition, it is mere ipse dixit.

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An Objective & Rigorous Analysis Of The Bible

Revisado: 02-09-20

The author's analysis of the many different books known as "The Bible" is as objective as humanly possible, especially in light of the author's status as an Anglican priest. The multidimensional approach to Biblical analysis is particularly informative and thought provoking. This analysis includes historical, linguistic, theological, and anthropological perspectives. This book is a "must read" for those with an open mind regarding "The Bible."

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