John T. Reed’s news blog

I have published 35 books, about 108 if you count editions. I learned long ago that I should wait until I approve the proof of the book sent to me by the book manufacturer before I start to take orders. Today I received the proof of The Unelected President  novel and sent back my approval to print it with no changes. Last I heard, they expect it will come off the press on September 16th. Only when you approve the proof can you be confident about ship dates. 

I don’t understand why so many die in an earthquake in Italy. You expect that in the underdeveloped world, but Italy is a G-8 country.   Earthquakes in rural areas kill almost no one and no animals. Earthquake damages nothing but humans and their structures and almost all the deaths are the result of inadequately designed structures collapsing on top of people.   Furthermore, third-world countries do not have a near monopoly on earthquakes. We have them in CA and Japan and other well-developed areas. What the third world, and Italy who would deny being part of the third world,...

Here is a web site that ranks countries by how many Rio medals they won per capita: http://www.medalspercapita.com/Congratulations to the top three: Grenada, Bahamas, and Jamaica. Grenada and Jamaica also were the top two in weighted medals by GDP. National wealth does not buy you medals. Per capita, the U.S. ranked 43 out of 86 thereby winning the gold medal of mediocrity. Russia was 42nd. The three least competitive countries per capita were India, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Interestingly, five of the six countries whose currencies I recommend were in the top 25: New Zealand 4th, Denmark 5th, Australia 14th,...

I thought of a way to interest Republicans and Conservatives in libertarian Mike Medlock’s story in The Unelected President. They say they FAVOR the same things as Medlock: smaller government, stronger defense. So why don’t they DO all the things Medlock DOES during his first 94 days in office? In my Aggressive Tax Avoidance for Real Estate Investors book, I say to do two things: learn the law so you can take advantage of the overlooked provisions and where the law is fuzzy, choose the position that most favors you without going over the line into behaviors that can be...

Here’s another rewarding note from a reader. Most people who do a job at whatever get compliments once or twice a year. When you deal with hundreds of thousands of customers, as a writer, you get about the same rate of compliments as a % of customers, but the quantity is more like daily or weekly. A nice side benefit of being a public figure.   ‘You were talking about how quality writers attract their readership. I'm not sure if it has occurred to you, but their are people who think you are the "best" writer/commentator out there, hands down....