
Title : Moving Mom and Dad!: Why, Where, How, and When to Help Your Parents Relocate (Revised)
Author : Sarah Morse
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Extremely helpful in my late middle age for my own life plan
A wonderful humorous yet serious book about a hard subject for all of us; even those of us who have already lost our parents. I especially enjoyed the delightful illustrations.
B. C. Taber/ Marlborough, MA
![]()
Title : Mrs. Ted Bliss
Author : Stanley Elkin
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Once Again, a Masterpiece by Elkin
One of the most distinct voices in (Jewish) American literature, Stanley Elkin, has done it again with Mrs. Ted Bliss. From the title to the final chapter, the reader is forced to examine his/her preceonceptions about age, retirement, sex and social roles, and other stereotypes. Mrs. Ted Bliss, a retired widow with no skills, gets caught in a web of intrigue that leads to the downfall of a drug lord when she sells her car. Mrs. Ted Bliss, however, is no Mrs. Pollifax, ready to karate-chop her way out of danger. Give it a read if you want to laugh out loud.

Title : One World, Ready or Not
Author : Wil Greider
Rating : 3 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Take two aspirins, don't call me in the morning
A man goes to his dermatologist to have an ugly mole removed from his neck. He returns one week later to have his stitch removed.
"The good news is, you won't have any scar," the doctor says. "The bad news is, you'll be dead in six months."
Though many people criticize Mr. Greider's conclusions, few -- even eminent scholars -- can say why. They admit most of his facts are correct (damning with faint praise) without saying which facts are wrong. They provide simplistic parables about the economics of hot dogs and buns without benefit either of logic or evidence. In short, most of Mr Greider's "critics" seem more culpable than Greider of the crimes against intellectual integrity of which they accuse him.
Let's simply stipulate that Mr. Greider is like Ralph Nader, a Cassandra. Let's stipulate further that he is histrionic even paranoic. Let's simply rest with "the facts".
What we have left is the picture of a global economy in ICU, surrounded (a) by technicians who are not monitoring high performance, but failing vital signs; (b) by FedEx boxes for shipping body parts.
Had the world not already experienced an economic death but 70 years ago, we might dismiss Greider's prognosis.
So, his facts are worrisome; but, not as troubling as his prescriptions. He doesn't think it inevitable that the patient has to die because the "government" can somehow "keep it going" with a different IV solution, tracts to bolster the spirits of the patient's next of kin, and specific instructions to other governmental and cultural caretakers.
He doesn't satisfy me that he understands that we are not simply in another industrial revolution, but a post-industrial evolution. Yes, the whole world is changing, as it has several time before in the last 100,000 years -- but what comes from that process will be far better -- and simpler -- than what is now becoming ruins.
So, Mr. Greider gets full credit for research, and no credit for insight. Therefore, a 5.
--John Grassi

Title : The New Golden Door To Retirement And Living In Costa Rica: A Guide to Inexpensive Living, Making Money and Finding Love in a Peaceful Tropical Paradise (New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica)
Author : Christopher Howard
Rating : 3 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Great Book!
Hi, I am working at ILISA Language Institute in Costa Rica, San Jose and I just want to say that this book helps our student a lot by giving them helpful tips or by arrange their own travel in Costa Rica. Thanks!

Title : How to Retire Rich
Author : James O'Shaughnessy
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A Nobel Prize for O'Shaughnessy!
The main message of _How to Retire Rich_ is that if you want to retire rich, or retire at all for that matter (ever!), you must invest in the stock market. You just don't have a choice in the matter. Sit down and let James O'Shaughnessy take you through the math---you'll quickly see that that is just the financial reality. The good news, however, is that investing in the stock market, when done properly, is not what you think it is. It's not about outsmarting all the other investors out there. It's not about trying to get a 'ten-bagger' so you can buy a cool car and brag at parties. It's not even about shrewd business savvy and scanning financial reports. It's about picking an effective strategy and sticking with it year in, year out until the day you retire, never pulling your money out of the market.
But if that sounds hard, don't worry. One of HTRR's strongest points is the wealth of wisdom it provides on the mental aspects of investing over the long term. What do you do if your portfolio tanks? What do you do if it soars? This is a problem? You'd be surprised! O'Shaughnessy is probably the only author with a completely rounded, mature outlook on the emotional aspects of investing. Reading HTRR will give you the confidence you need to invest and stay in the market through good times and bad.
So how do you invest? O'Shaughnessy breaks it all down for you, telling you exactly what to do. We're not talking the usual vague, feelgood accepted wisdom here such as 'buy market leaders' or 'buy on weakness, sell on strength'. Throw all those books in the trash! HTRR will tell you how to quickly find the precise stocks you should buy. You'll finish the book at 2 o'clock and have a list of the stocks to buy in your hand at 2:30. Yes, it's just that easy. You'll also know exactly when to buy them (now) and when to sell them (a year from now), and what do after that (repeat the process until you retire). What could be simpler?
O'Shaughnessy should be nominated for a Nobel Prize. He is a modern-day Charles Darwin with a theory that has all the hallmarks of a revolution in scientific thought. The theory is simple, but deceptively so. Many readers come away thinking they have understood it, only to later demonstrate that they clearly haven't. Even Motley Fool was apparently unable to grasp Reasonable Runaways (one of the strategies in HTRR). They tried to test it with a universe of stocks picked from Value Line (!). When it wasn't performing well after six months (!), they wondered how they could tweak it (!) to "make it dance" (their words). You'll understand just how ridiculous all of this is when you read HTRR.
Perhaps the reason for this widespread misunderstanding is that while the theory itself is simple, its ramifications are not---and without understanding its ramifications, it is impossible to truly understand the theory. Like Darwin, O'Shaughnessy has taken 'God'---the human element---completely out of the picture. That's what readers find so hard to grasp. O'Shaughnessy has shown that not only is human intervention in portfolio management not necessary, it's downright harmful. Given enough time, any human intervention will only lower a portfolio's returns from the optimum returns that could be obtained using a simple model.
I hesitate to include the returns I have earned over the past four years using the Reasonable Runaways strategy in this review, because I don't think they're typical. I have earned 93.15% (CARR of 17.88%) versus 1.17% (CARR of 0.29%) for the SP during the same period (July 15, 2001 to July 15, 2005). And this is during a time period that includes 9/11. But as you'll discover from reading HTRR, four years is a meaninglessly short amount of time over which to gauge performance. Also, giving out exciting returns numbers shifts the discussion away from the real message of the book---get in the stock market and stay there (investing properly of course). It's the only way you'll ever be able to retire, rich or otherwise.
For UK readers, Ifd also like to point out that if you invest in the US stock market and live outside the UK (as I do), itfs tax-free. How can you go wrong?