On books. I am feeling ripped off. I just read a book on identity theft written by an actual criminal who did time for the crime. It made a good story, but I have read seventh grade papers that were not as poorly written. While I have read some bad high school papers, I do not believe I have ever read one this bad. To make matters worse, it was an expensive book and a very short 188 pages. The margins were wide and the print large. I have had many students of all ages try that. Insider's Secrets To Identity Theft: What They Don't Want You To Know (Insider's Guide) by T Carter was published by www.lulu.com which is a self publishing outfit. I am now sure that I can write a book, get it published, and actually sell it because Amazon sold this one for 25.95 and with a charming review that mentioned neither its actually length or the horrible editing, I was intrigued enough to get suckered into buying it. I am feeling like an idiot, too.
I also bought Jeff Foxworthy's How to Stink at Golf. It too is short and not exactly what I was expecting, but it was cheap and will make a good gift to a golfer (if I meet one). It is, at least, funny. The third book I bought (yes, I am still worried about the economy, public and private, but books are my vice)wasUncommon Grounds: The Coffee and How it Transformed Our World by Mark Pendergrast. It will make up for the disappointment of the other two. This is, of course, all in the name of research. But I think I will check out my local library before I buy anymore books on these topics. Frauds can write fraudulent books and the unwitting will buy them. Jeff is just too funny and I had seen him on Glenn Beck plugging the book and was curious, so I will forgive him such a short book.
Two lessons, however, have been learned from the identity theft book. One is that identity theft is easy because people trust people too much and are generally gullible. Second, you cannot trust the reviews on Amazon.
I am now officially paranoid about everything. This is definitely a rant so I will sleep on this before posting it.