false 26 115 108 true 5652867 read 3 true 1899658 currently-reading 4 true 1899657 to-read 7 false 3482964 history 3 false 7222520 sports 0 false 3355219 own-but-not-yet-read 0 false 3887145 do-not-own-but-read 0 false 7222523 business http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/30331388 Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration of the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (Hardcover) by Michio Kaku
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/235569-phillies-on-to-victory Arminius made a comment in the Terminalcoffee group:

Lidge did not pitch all that bad. He baffled Jeter in fact.

His mistake was not covering third when Damon stole second. Then he unraveled a little. He was afraid to through his best pitch (the slider) to Arod because it often lands in the dirt. It has a possibility to pass by Ruiz. Thus letting Damon score on a passed ball. So he throws Arod a fastball hoping he would hit at somebody
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/235572-where-are-all-the-phillies-fans Arminius made a comment in the the NEW philadelphia goodreader's group group:

Aren't there any readers on here that are Phillies fans? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/234944-it-s-not-over-yet Arminius made a comment in the Terminalcoffee group:

I can't wait to see them wine and cry! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/231771-world-series-predictions-commentary Arminius made a comment in the Terminalcoffee group:

They won the World Series last year. So they are still the World Champions. Of course, if the Yankees win one of the next three games they will be the World Champions.

And yes I am rooting for them. I have been a fan since I was a child and believe me there was a lot of lean years. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/232583-world-series Arminius made a comment in the the NEW philadelphia goodreader's group group:

Reasons to beat the Yankees:

1. They have the most world series wins in the history of baseball.

2. Revenge for our 1950 World Series loss to them.

3. Because we are the current World Champions and are still the underdog.

4. We suffered thru a lot of lean years.

5. Phillies fans will never desert you. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/25200-where-do-you-get-the-majority-of-your-books Arminius voted on the poll: Where do you get the majority of your books? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29625410 to: Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (Paperback) by Ron Chernow
Titan is another Ron Chernow masterpiece. Titan refers to John D. Rockefeller the oil tycoon and philanthropist. He had two qualities that may have been responsible for his great business acumen. The first was that he was a deeply religious Baptist. His belief that God would always take care of him allowed him to make, what some would consider, considerable gambles. The second quality was his reverence to money. He valued money so much that he recorded each expenditure in his personal ledger. He always looked at saving. He felt that money should not sit still so he always made sure his money was being paid interest. He obtained his religious convictions from his devout mother and his love of money from his often absent flim-flam father who earned money as a traveling medicine man.

When oil was discovered in western Pennsylvania Rockefeller quickly realized its value. He however lived in Cleveland where there was no oil. He would not move to the oil fields around Titusville, PA because the rowdy drillers appalled his religious convictions. So he borrows money with another bright man named Henry Flagler and they start Standard Oil. Standard imported oil to refine and resold it as mainly kerosene for lighting purposes from Cleveland. Some of Rockefeller’s brilliance shows how he manipulated railroads by buying up rivals and threatening not to use a particular railroad without receiving a discount. He also guaranteed to the railroads that he would fill every car. This act ensured the railroad would receive a profit because most refiners at the time could not fill all the cars leaving empty space on the train. He also built pipelines that encouraged greater rebates from railroads.

Oil at the time was only used for kerosene to light lamps and as lubricating oil. By the 1890’s Thomas Edison was promoting his electric light which threatened and eventually would take over kerosene’s need as an illuminant. But God would save oil because at the same time various automobile makers were cranking out cars which needed oil to run. This would perpetuate John D and some of his clan from the super rich to the ultra-super rich.

As the world got wind of his riches John D. would be swamped with donation requests. He would give plenty away because he was not only frugal but generous as well. But as he gave away money there was still venom thrown at him for his unfair business practices and his extraordinary wealth. And with this came investigations. When he was called to congress he gave calm non-information to the committee members so well that his lawyer said that he was the best client he could ever hope for.

As he began to age he started to work less and retreat to his New York house as well as vacation in Florida. At the same time his business partner Henry Flagler became less interested in Standard Oil and was instead envisioning the potential in developing swamp ridden Florida. His son John D. Jr. was entering college and they decided on Brown University because it was long standing Baptist College. Jr. did well and met and married Abbey Aldrich the daughter of a powerful Rhode Island Senator Nelson Aldrich. Jr. was a bit reclusive and had been taught by his devout mother that dancing was immoral. Abby, on the other hand, was outgoing and had been taught the art of dancing.

Jr. would work at Standard Oil but Standard Oil executive John Archibald would run it when John D. retired. Although John D. retired he still owned controlling stock and was still seen as the owner by outsiders. But after John D’s retirement he received tons of lawsuits. Also a bright reporter named Ida Tarbell, while harboring a grudge against him, began a series of negative stories about John D in a (just starting out) magazine called McClure’s. She exposed some true and some false stories but whatever she wrote sold magazines. One topic that she uncovered was that John D’s father, the flim-flam man, was still alive but no one knew where he was living. This set off a massive man hunt by eager reporters looking for “sure to sell” stories about the finding of the “Titan’s” elusive father. However, the flim-flam man died before he was caught. As the Titan received barbarous insults thrown at him he just ignored them. And at the same time he engaged in philanthropic activities of such proportion that it boggles the mind. He developed and funded medical research schools based on the newly used scientific method while he himself believed in and practiced the homeopathic medical method.

On the business side, Standard Oil was brought before the Ohio Supreme Court in 1911. It ruled that Standard was a trust and needed to be broken up. So as his great company broke into many independent pieces, God must have kept smiling on his devoted child. The reason is because as he no longer owned the companies he still held large sums of stock in each. And as each stock price rose he became richer and richer.

The author goes into the interesting story of the “Titan’s” youngest daughter, Edith. She marries another wealthy man named Harold McCormick son of the inventor of the farming reaper. However, Edith slides into deep depression and agoraphobia. So the couple ventures to Europe as a recuperative vacation. They wind up meeting Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, who agrees to treat Edith. Her father believes Jung is a quack but Edith becomes enthralled with him. She uses her money to fund Jung’s practice while he drags her treatments on for eight years. Her husband becomes involved with Jung as well. Finally she ends her affiliation with Jung and her marriage as well. She moves back to the U.S. and lives as a wealthy eccentric.

John D. decides to spend most of the rest of his life in his Florida retreat in Ormand,. He oddly reverts in many ways to a childhood that he missed by being so serious as a youngster. He played golf constantly and had a chauffeur drive him around town where he would pick up strangers just for conversation. He came to like picking up women supposedly where he would cover their laps with a blanket and let his hands roam. I do not believe this entirely because he never did this sort of thing in the past. I neglected to mention that his wife Cettie had died long before John D.’s Florida escapades. She was not a large part of the story because she feared crowds, suffered from agoraphobia (like her daughter) and was bedridden and sickly a lot of her life. She was, however, a devout Christian and very nice woman.

John D’s goal was to reach 100 years of age. As he made it into his 90’s he began to weaken and he gave up his passion golf. But he still rode a stationary exercise bike to gain needed strength. He would die at the age 97 just six weeks short of his ninety-eighth birthday.
There has been no greater contributor to society than John D. Rockefeller. He started colleges and medical universities, funded research to stop malaria and hook worm and gave millions to needy people. His son Jr. paid for and developed Colonial Williamsburg and the Rockefeller Center in New York City.






]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73864711 French Rothschilds, The: The Great Banking Dynasty Through Two Turbulent Centuries (Hardcover) by Herbert R. Lottman
bookshelves: currently-reading
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