Guus Bosman

This is the fifth book I read in preparation for the 2016 Presidential Elections.

Hillary Clinton's book is much more upbeat, much more hopeful than Mike Huckabee's, Rand Paul's and even Marco Rubio's. At times it feels like the Democratic Party is the party of the future, while the Republican Party wants to go back to an earlier time (in particular after reading Huckabee and Paul).

Of course I'm biased. If the purpose of reading these books was to truly change my mind the exercise failed -- but I never really expected that. Nevertheless reading the various types of conservative views has given me more respect for the Republican candidates. I would not vote for them, and think voting for a republican president would make America worse off but I understand better what their values, concerns and solutions are.

Mrs. Clinton's book makes a powerful statement. She doesn't boost but clearly shows what an incredible experience she has and how many tough choices she has made. The book implicitly makes a strong case for Hillary as President. It was also interesting to read again about America's most recent foreign policy crises and events.

This is the second book I read in my effort to learn more about all major candidates for the Presidential elections.

I'll be honest -- Rand Paul was never going to win me over, our differences are too big. But this was an interesting read.

Sometimes it is as if Mr. Paul is just willfully ignorant of the whole story. Many of the cases of "EPA overreach" where he described "a landowner moving some soil from one side of his property to the other" are much more complicated then that. I found myself searching the names of these "victims" on Google and every time it is clear that there is much more to the story than what's described in the book.

I do understand his mindset, but he is taking it way too far. There are clear examples of grievous violations of the law and environmental rules in his book, for example by the Dutch immigrant who blatantly ignored the warnings and orders by the EPA and Corps of Engineers not to build on wetland. That's not government bullying: that's government doing its job.

Mr. Paul is also disingenuous about what he wants. He'll say that the definition of "wetlands" is unclear, and "wants to clarify it". Yet the proposal that he offers don't just "clarify" the definition -- they severely tighten the restriction and just majorly reduces the power of the Clean Water Act. Abolishing the EPA, as he wants, won't be very good for the environment either.

By the end of November, when we were scared about a possible premature birth of the boys, I badly needed a good book to read. On November 30rd I borrowed The Hobbit from the library, and yesterday I finished the final book of the Lord of the Rings. Two solid months of wonderful reading -- and of wonderful progress with the pregnancy, now at 35.5 weeks.

There is not much too say about these books: they are phenomenal. My father read them to me when I was a child -- something that must have taken several years -- and I read them again in high school, even used them on my literature reading list. I think Sasha and I saw one or two of the LOTR movies also. Definitely not the third one -- and I enjoyed that the most of all actually. Very satisfying ending.

This was the first time I read the books in English, interesting enough. But I kept hearing my father in my mind, talking about "Sam Gewissies".

This is the first book I read in my effort to learn more about all major candidates for the 2016 Presidential elections.

I don't often read autobiographies but this book came up in a conversation over the summer and Ginny kindly lent me her copy.

Ms Warren is passionate, down-to-earth yet very knowledgeable. She is probably not going to run for the presidency yet -- but who knows? After Tuesday's mid-term elections she might think a little more about giving it a try -- her main potential competitors Clinton and Biden didn't do very well with their endorsements. At the other hand, she is really focused on financial reform and consumer protection but doesn't have much of a reputation in other fields. I don't mean to diminish that: her role is very valuable, but she is less of a politician and more of an expert. Probably not the most logical match for running for President.

In any case, I enjoyed reading this book.