So I'm lounging around getting rid of my head cold, and I picked up John Stossel's Myths, Lies, and Stupidity... that I checked out from the Seattle Public Library a few weeks back.  If you can get past his libertarian slant on pretty much everything, he has some interesting observations on business in Chapter 3.  It's loosely substantiated Milton Friedman/Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko "greed is good" free-market economics.  I'm not sure I agree with all of it, but I do think competition is a good thing, especially for the customer.

Other gems in the book are little-known facts like the following:

  • approximately 20% of the world's marriages are between cousins,
  • if you put the entire world's population in the state of Texas, the population density there would still be less than New York City,

It's a good read if you are in need of a book to quickly run through in an hour or so...I wouldn't take the time to read every word, but it is handy for a quick alternative and cynical perspective on all that we've been told.