Reddit reviews Ultimate Book of Cross-sections

Consider:

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Cross-sections-DK-Publishing/dp/0789411954

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Complete-Vehicles-DK/dp/1465408746/ref=sr_1_2?

s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486531971&sr=1-2&keywords=star+wars+complete+cross+sections

https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Biestys-Cross-Sections-Man-War/dp/156458321X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486531994&sr=1-1&keywords=stephen+biesty+man+of+war

Flatland is an awesome book. I read it in high school, and it's a nice social commentary mixed with the fun of life in multiple dimensions. Used copies are usually a dollar so I pick one up as a random gift whenever I go to the used bookstore. Plus it's free online.

I also suggest the Ultimate Book of Cross-sections. There's another informational book series I'll get then name of for you once I get home. I've been stockpiling books for my year old god daughter to read once she's older, and most of them I want to keep for myself.

>but I do study secondary education in Australia.

Ah. That explains almost all of it.

Dude, you should've lead with that. America is a third world country, IMO.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/

If you go by test scores alone, Australia is around 4% better than the US (except in reading, it's 1%), and Australia is just an entirely different country. We have less in common with Australia than we do with Canada.

>[other bits in here]

America is all about money. Money is our god, our religion, our language. Education is seen as an expense by rich people and conservatives, not so much as an investment. It's how you get people like Bush 43 that "graduated" from Yale.

I went to public school on the east coast of the US and moved a few times around the Midatlantic and South, but the school districts that I've been in were always underfunded and had race problems all over.

> Education inequality leads to manipulation of the general populace.

I agree with what you said, and I while I would go further than this, you're definitely not wrong.

>You seem to be taking these quotes literally.

I'm going to pull the sovereign citizenship argument here. I'm in the US, I'm a neoliberal, and he's unfortunately the President of my country. I had to deal with his bullshit for 3+ years already and will have to do so for the rest of my days.

>However, that quote about shooting people was said as part of a public speech. He is using it as a 'figure of speech' to boast about his popularity, as he always does.

Speech/writing is the only communication tool that we, as humans, have, before resorting to violence, to get our way. He has been consistently racist, hateful, spiteful, petty, greedy, lusting, etc. since his entrance into the megarich (and America's popularity) in 1984.

That, and America's executive branch is probably the most powerful executive branch in a "free" country. He can launch nukes and declare war without Congressional approval, to say nothing of embezzlement, accepting bribes, profiting personally, etc., because the GOP won't impeach his clearly treasonous ass.

FFS there's a running joke on /r/wallstreetbets that Trump tweets because he has S&P500 options positions (SPY PUT) and he wants to make a few million.

And we don't know how much money he has because he hasn't released his tax returns.

> I don't want to dismiss your sources as those are indeed evidence of serious corruption. But while I accept that, I don't see how even dozens of instances of corruption can allow for claims to be made about entire systems being corrupt and the US economy relying on them; that is a big leap.

Of course you wouldn't currently see how - you haven't seen enough evidence. That's the entire point of me providing the links. You wanted evidence, there you go.

>Unfortunately, the evidence that is available to those of us outside the elite is nowhere near enough to let us comment on what the elite are up to.

I have an insatiable lust for knowledge, a damn good memory, ADD, a mild form of autism, anxiety issues, a god complex and enough disposable income and time to absorb the following:

20 seasons of QI, 8 of 8 out of 10 cats

all of mythbusters

all of Top Gear

7 seasons of how it's made

300+ episodes of modern marvels

300+ episodes of planet money

150+ episodes of freakonomics

300+ episodes of rachel maddow

50 episodes of PBS frontline

150+ episodes of NOVA

all of secrets of war, WWII in HD Colour, Future Weapons, Lock and Load (note: I am a software programmer, and played 12 call of duties, guns are cool, IRL American gun owners, not so much)

100+ episodes of 99% invisible

all of more perfect

200+ episodes of radiolab

all of tell me something I don't know

7 years of car talk

all of slow burn: a podcast about watergate

all of the indicator from planet money

all of the colbert report (~200 episodes per year, 2007 to 2014)

15 years of the daily show (~200 episodes per year)

400+ episodes on khan academy's youtube

2000+ episodes of anime in sub (shoutout to /r/animemes)

all of Last Week Tonight

all of Adam Ruins Everything

Note: I grew up with more legos than I knew what to do with and basically memorized this book at age 6:

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Cross-sections-DK-Publishing/dp/0789411954

The Star Wars cross section books are damn cool.

Currently grinding through about 40-60 episodes a week of old Planet Money from their website, starting from the beginning (I watch and listen to everything at 1.5 or 2x speed), which was a podcast literally created 2 days after the collapse of Lehman.

I've learned more history than most people in America, and the only reason that all of those programs were created was because of the 1st amendment protections. Rich people slip up/boast, it's just that the press is able to report, and then comedians are able to make fun of, chiefly because the rich can't clean up their messes by buying the press. Mostly.

Plus it helps that I'm a American white guy that's racist against American white people. To paraphrase Stephen Colbert - "I don't see race, but people tell me I'm white and I believe them because my driver takes to the country club every week."

It also helps that I never really fit in with anyone within 20 years of my age group until I was 18.

Brother died young, was effectively an only child after 3, parents had me late - after 35. Dad was never around (had to work nights in a lower middle class job), my aunt lived with us and was big in my family, as she was unable to have kids of her own (and was recently divorced because of it), so she helped pick up the slack because she taught english in the same school district once we moved after around 5th grade. About half of my best friends were nonwhite over the years, and those that were white were just privileged in comparison. I couldn't go over some friends' houses because their parents were afraid that I'd sue for being around gunshots.

Not sure of the yellow cover, but it might be:

Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections

Ultimate Book of Cross-sections

Stephen Biesty's Absolute Best Cross Section Book Ever

​

All of the [DK Cross Section books ] (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Cross-sections-DK-Publishing/dp/0789411954) are awesome. All of my kids LOVE them.