I've just finished John Stossel's latest book, "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out The Shovel - Why Everything You Know Is Wrong". I agree with him about one thing - you do need a shovel, though it is for sorting through the, ahh, garbage in this book.

Stossel, those my age at least, will remember as a consumer reporter for ABC's 20/20. But he has taken a sharp turn to the right since then, and this book will surprise people who recall his time as a consumer reporter. Don't get me wrong, there are some myths exposed in this book. Among them:

• "Brand names are better";
• "Premium gas is better for your car";
• "Swimming after eating is dangerous"; and
• "Experts can cure homosexuality".

But, these are few and far between. The rest of the book is right wing propaganda. The silliest section of the book is his suggestion that the evidence for climate change does not exist, and that the earth is just in a warming phase. He also suggests that price gouging in times of crisis is good for everyone (he uses the impact of Katrina as an example). As he would say... Give me a break.

Save your money - spend 15 minutes at the Bookstore leafing through the good stuff, and ignore most of the book.

I’ve been reading Peter C. Newman’s book of interviews with Brian Mulroney (and, as it turns out, others). The Secret Mulroney Tapes is interesting to read, but I agree with much of what critics have said. It appears to have been slapped together with little care or thought, and it doesn’t flow very well – the reader is taken from chapter to chapter haphazardly and with no apparent direction (though perhaps I’m just not seeing it).

The interviews themselves are fun to read in places – Mulroney was apparently somewhat colourful in person. But the shock value wears off pretty quickly, and without it the interviews are far less insightful or interesting. Mulroney’s interviews actually form less of the book than you may think, as well – extensive interviews with others are also included (though some of those are also interesting here and there).

I would not recommend this book. If you are really curious, go read a bit in a bookstore or library first, or buy a used copy – give it a couple of months, and used bookstores will be littered with them.

Just read an excerpt from Ian Brown’s new book, “What I Meant to Say: The Private Lives of Men”. I’ve long found Brown’s writing insightful, as well as engaging. He is the editor of this one, though the piece in yesterday’s Globe and Mail is his own writing.

The book, I take it, is about the complicated lives of men in 2005. The topics it covers are wide-ranging and no stone is left uncovered. From what I can see, the book aims to uncover us for what we are – positive and negative.

It ought to be worth a read.