Getting older, we look back on events and wonder, "What was I thinking?". This is not to be lamented (unless you did some truly nasty things), it is part of the process of learning about life, of maturing. We humans are imperfect and will always be. The primary purpose of this book is to make you more "conscious" of your choices and move you to a more reasoned and mature level.

I use an example. I have a friend who has been divorced 17 years. Despite his many (non self recognized) eccentricities and way of being that would not be easy to live with, the breakup of his marriage was always and remains the exclusive fault of his wife. She was not perfect, but to believe it was all her fault is for my friend to ignore his reality - or as the author says, to not be "conscious" - is a psychological dead end.

Another friend has been divorced for 10 years. At the outset he was bitter and blaming of his wife. But over time he began to recognize there were things he brought to the relationship that were negative, that he was not perfect, nor his ex-wife imperfect. In fact he began to realize there were many strong points in the relationship, which he appreciated and valued in retrospect. It happened these feelings were reciprocated and over time the two became friends again.

What a better ending to the second story. Not only better in that the couple resolved their differences, but better in that they recognized on both sides that much value had been given each by one another. Yet more critically from the position of my second friend, he left the anger and bitterness still being experienced by my first friend - he went to a new, more reasoned and happier level. He in effect "grew up" - though there will always be room for more given our human imperfections.

This is not a glitzy self help book. Nor is it a quick read, it requires concentration and thought. But I think it is one fine book, a bit exceptional I believe.

The book starts at the beginning, meaning it goes into the family background of Paul McCartney, his ancestry and then forward to his immediate family. Since a biography of McCartney heavily involves The Beatles, it gives backgrounds of the other band members, though to a lesser degree. The extent of detail is impressive. The first half of the book was especially interesting for me, telling the story of the ascending and then descending Beatles. The second half, while well written and researched is less interesting only because the life of Paul McCartney post The Beatles was not as dramatic as the prior glory days.

I like the author's interpretations of events because they seemed carefully considered. An example is the break up of The Beatles. Yoko Ono was part of the reason for the break up. Some people put the blame square at her doorstep. The author reasons that while Yoko Ono was a catalyst - a key catalyst - she was not the ultimate cause. If you read the book, you will probably agree the break up was inevitable even had there been no Yoko Ono.

I enjoyed the book a lot - it is a good read. In some places, hard to put down.

The Great Reflation written by Anthony Boeckh, an American with a Phd from Wharton, who spent his adult life in Canada. He was for many years head of an organization called The Bank Credit Analyst which was and is one of the pre-eminent economic research organizations in the world. The book is about the current financial mess. He has amazing knowledge, not only of present matters, but of history leading to now. For example, he gave the history of the place of gold in the monetary system since we went to a gold standard in 1800. Numerous things and key to understanding how we got here.

In addition to amazing knowledge he (i) has an ability to express his ideas in an easily readable form and (ii) is not at all ideological - meaning that he looks at issues on the basis of what makes sense, what works or not. He took what for me were a large bunch of disparate ideas and tied them all together.

I became entranced. The book is not per se complex (no E=Mc2 sort of ideas), but intensively jam packed page after page with ideas. So I decided the only way I could (i) truly understand the detail he was writing in and (ii) have an easy reference point back - was to write notes. As a result I have 37 pages of typed notes.

It was fun, though a bit tiring because I would read (and type) till 4 in the morning. And while he has no certain answers (because what happens depends on many variables and politics), he gives a clear idea of what to look for as things unfold. This is a fine and exceptional book.

One could limp buy without this manual. At almost 900 pages it takes some time to digest. However it is well written and clear - only a couple of places that confused - and it puts you in the position of actually being able to properly run the system, rather than being on the periphery. It would be a waste to buy a Mac and never know how to really operate it. One suggestion - take notes as you go along. It is easy to think "I will remember that" and the next day to have completely confused it with all the other things you encounter in this book.