I like to listen to the university lectures aired on CSPAN on Sundays. Today's have been by Charles Murray, author of What It Means to Be a Libertarian, and Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.

I didn't get to hear much of Murray's lecture, though the little bit I did hear, some of the Q/A session, impressed me. He believes, for example, that University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill should not be fired for essentially stating that the victims of the World Trade Center collapse deserved to die. Murray believes that, instead, parents who object to Churchill's views should simply speak with their checkbooks--by sending their children to study elsewhere.

Jared Diamond is a professor of geology at the University of California at Los Angeles and works with the World Wildlife Fund. He seems to be something of an ecological historian, and Mark, who is a raving conservative, has actually read and likes Guns, Germs, and Steel, one of Diamond's previous books. I was rather pleased to discover that. Diamond talked about the role that ecological conservationism plays in whether societies collapse or survive, giving examples ranging from Easter Island to a comparison between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I plan on buying his book. It is apparently #3 on the New York Times nonfiction bestsller list.

Last night, on After Words, which is the show that replaced Booknotes, author Melissa Boyle Mahle was interviewed. She wrote a book, Denial and Deception, about the inner workings of the Operations Directorate of the CIA, where she worked as a field agent for quite some time.

When I'm actually going to read these books is anybody's guess.

Latest Cold Treatment: On the advice of my friend Donna, I bouht an herbal tea called Throat Coat, which is supposed to be soothing because it contains slippery elm. I bought it and also a box of Gypsy Cold Care tea because the name amused me.