Two Books Worth Reading
From Alan Vanneman, film critic and blogger extraordiniare, and frequent Hit & Run commenter:
The NYT publishes a nice review of "Gusher of Lies," a book by Robert Bryce attacking the notion of alternative energy sources. A particularly nice factoid is that ethanol allows Detroit to inflate the milage of their cars, since only gasoline is counted as "fuel." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/books/07book.html
A heavier read, and well worth it, is "Power and Plenty," a history of international trade over the past millennium, part of the Princeton Economic History series, which also published "War, Wine, and Taxes". http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8493.html
reason talked Robert Bryce here. And with War, Wine, and Taxes author John Nye here. And here's reason.tv video of John Nye.