January 2017 - Richard M. Langworth

Churchill and the Avoidable War: Outline

31 January 2017 Comments 0 Comments

Was the war really avoidable? Yes, it was—at Munich in particular—but with great difficulty. No one can underestimate the problems in the way. And yet, tantalizing opportunities existed. "Appeasement" is not in "Churchill and the Avoidable War." It is far over-used, and broadly misunderstood. It is not popular, Churchill wrote, "but appeasement has its place in all policy." There are lessons in Churchill's Avoidable War that serve us well today. Will we listen? We rarely have.

Tech Start-Ups: Dan Lyons’ Eye-Opener

28 January 2017 Comments 0 Comments

Because my son works in Silicon Valley, and has start-up experience both as an employee and a founder, I found this book of interest and devoured it in three nights. It’s the story of a journalist who, at 52, tries his hand as a tech marketer, and is gravely shocked and disappointed with the culture he discovers in a start-up tech firm with hundreds of employees and bazillions in venture capital. . Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble, by Dan Lyons. Hachette Books, $15.16 from Amazon, Kindle $13.99. . Tech morphs constantly; humanity never changes. I bookmarked descriptions which reminded me of people my son has described—and people I’ve met in my own career, which is as far away as it gets from the Silicon Valley tech world.…