The Lulu sales rank takes into account the sales revenue and not just the number of books sold (i.e. the price of the book times number of sales). The OLED Handbook costs $149.99 for the printed edition. The digital (PDF) edition, costs $97, and is much more popular (about 4 times more popular, actually).

This is the first e-book that I’ve written, I hope it will be well received. Initial response from people who read an advance copy were quite good…

The main thesis of this book is that the markets today are not efficient, because we are externalizing costs: health costs, cleaning costs, etc.  Anything that is paid by someone else and not the company that makes the product. In fact our markets today are optimized for companies that are good at externalizing costs. For example: let’s say we both make a TV. My TV plant uses a lot of bad chemicals that I throw in the garbage. These create health problems and need to be cleaned up, but I’m not the one paying for the cleaning or the health bills- the local authority and your health insurance is the one that has to pay. So in fact we are all subsidizing the wasteful plant.

He compares Organic food to “normal” food. He says that actually Organic is cheaper to make, because it does not destroy the soil with chemicals which gets to our water and food (not to mention Organic is healthier, and can actually produce more food per acre eventually). He also says the same about cigarettes. Did you know for example, the 1/3 of the fires caused in US homes are because of cigarettes? and you know why? because they contain special chemicals that keeps them burning. He claims that the cigarettes makers should pay for this, not all of us who do not smoke. Obviously the same goes for health issues – we are all paying more because of the smokers, and because the companies deliberately use dangerous and addictive chemicals.

He raises some nice ideas on how to advance towards a “sustainable economy”. He is in favor of Cradle-to-cradle which is rather a hot topic today. Another idea is to raise high green taxes and use the money to lower income tax. That’s a great idea. Think about it – we can raise electricity prices by 1000%, and then give the money back by lowering taxes. So eventually you’re not worse-off (at least not in average), but you have a HUGE incentive to cut your electricity usage. The same can be used for water, gas, etc.

The book is a bit depressing in parts, as all environmental books tend to be… but go ahead and read it. Like some reviewer said : “the book is a must read for anyone who cares about living”…

• Long Lost, Harlan Coben. OK, it’s a Harlan Coben book, which is pretty lame. But it was a OK read for the flight to Beijing.
• The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck: (thanks Guy for getting us this book!). A wonderful book, about life in China before the communist revolution (probably 1900 or so). A must read!
• Iz’a Mia, Oshrat Kotler: A really nice Israeli book. 3 Generations of women, originally from Bulgaria, making bad choices in men.
• The Jewish dog, Asher Kravitz: Michal says this is ‘holocaust lite’ – and she’s rather right. The hero in this story (and the storyteller) is a dog. Nice.
• Right Ho, Jeeves ,P. G. Wodehouse: Funny British aristocrat humor. I loved it.
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer: A very nice book talking about life in Guernsey island (one of the Channel islands) during WWII. My mom says it’s a “woman’s book”  but I liked it anyway.
• Night train to Lisbon, Pascal Mercier: A Swiss schoolteacher heads for Lisbon, trying to find details on a Portuguese philosopher that he reads about in a book. It’s a strange mix of a travel-book (well, almost) and a lot of philosophy. Sounds boring? It was one of the best books I read in years. Go read it!

Not many books to report on… I’ve read an interesting fatherhood-related book (read Michal’s view on it here), and now I’m deep into Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, I’ll tell you what I think when I finish, but so far it’s a great book.

In our near future we hope to have a short Switzerland trip, and maybe a not-so-short visit to China in October… but nothing’s certain yet.

Latest Metalgrass news: A new graphene related blog,  AdSenseLog 6.0.0 released today, and a lot of interviews and new content at OLED-Info and PicoProjector-Info.

I really liked all Harry Potters. I remember reading the first one during my NZ Trip, I think it was in the buscot Station.  I thought I wouldn’t like it (too popular?) but I ended up enjoying it. I think the series got better and better, and the final chapter is  a great read. Will it become a real classic? I think so. We’ll wait and see