Update: Check out another book reviewing blogger at Big Mo’s Book Reviews.
Jim Cannon, a blogging pal from way back, interviews a national guard soldier serving in Iraq.
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I’ve got it, alright. I’m such a geek.
One of my dreams was to review books for a living. That’s it. No movie or music reviews. Just book reviews. Nothing seemed as cool as receiving free books every week and reviewing them for a living.
Then reality hit. Reviewing books doesn’t pay the bills. But I do it anyway because I love reading and writing and telling people what I learned from reading the book. (See Writings for samples) [4:23 p.m.: The following sentence appeared in an earlier draft of this post. It disappeared, so I'm adding it again: "I don't even know if I'm doing it 'correctly.' I don't care. I just like reviewing."]
Anyway, check out my latest at National Review Online, a review of Liberty & Learning: Milton Friedman’s Voucher Idea at Fifty. Ten education writers and researchers examine the late Milton Friedman’s “radical” 1950s-era school choice idea to determine whether it has stood the test of time.
Cato sent me the book after I blogged on school vouchers in “I’m A Libertarian On Education.” I was inspired to write the post in the first place after reading an op-ed by Andrew Coulson (director of Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom) about a bone-headed statement Seattle Public Schools posted on its web site. In “Planning ahead is considered racist?” Coulson noted that the school district was saying, in essence, that only whites could be racist and that long-term planning was “white,” and therefore, racist.
Yep. That’s how the statement read.
Coulson’s point, as a school choice advocate, was that government schools get away such tripe all the time because kids whose parents can’t afford private schools or to homeschool are force-fed hare-brained, “multicultural” mess. Only after a critical mass of people complained about the statement did the school district remove the PC junk. Why did Seattle post it in the first place? No idea.
Next up for review: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design and The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, written by blogger Matt Burden of Blackfive. Along with sharing his experiences as a military blogger, Matt compiled posts written by other “milbloggers” blogging and serving their country.
See “Live-Blogging the Milblog Conference.”
Questions for readers:
- What are you currently reading?
- Ever thought about writing book reviews?
- What are your views on school choice?
Related posts and articles:
- What’s so liberal about keeping children in dreadful schools?
- Book Wishes
- Christmas Gift Ideas: Books!
- What Are You Reading?
- Blog for Books!
Unrelated Addendum: Shout-out from Hugh Hewitt, where he recounts a GodBlogCon discussion about military service and public office. As a recall, my “I love a man in uniform!” comment received lots of applause.
