"[capital punishment] is said to be a deterrent. I cannot agree. There have been murders since the beginning of time, and we shall go on looking for deterrents until the end of time. If death were a deterrent, I might be expected to know. It is I who have faced them last, young men and girls, working men, grandmothers. I have been amazed to see the courage with which they take that walk into the unknown. It did not deter them then, and it had not deterred them when they committed what they were convicted for. All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment convince me that in what I have done I have not prevented a single murder."
-- Albert Pierrepoint (autobiography)

That said, there appears to be some dispute over his eventual position on capital punishment.

On what @SDGundamX said, before I read his post I was going to say that passion industries are generally known for notoriously long hours, bad pay and horrible treatment. I was actually going to mention game developers (especially what I've read about crunch time before release), also chefs who often get paid less than the waiter staff, and of course most creative jobs where job insecurity and poor pay abounds.

It's simple economics. These industries know that these people are willing to put up with more to do what they love. There may not even be a conscious decision on an individual level for a given employer looking to hire, you simply know that you can find employees for X profession at X level of pay and can't really offer more if you want to stay competitive with your competitor. Meanwhile there are people streaming in who don't consider the pay or conditions beforehand and are just adding to a surplus of workers.

That's not to say that people can't be successfully, job secure or wealthy in these sectors but we know most notably from the arts that most of the money accrues to the top actors, top musicians. I do agree that when you see these people giving motivational speeches about 'never giving up' or 'always chasing their dreams', there are dozens who put in just as much effort but never got their lucky break.

The arts may be one of the worst examples, but I think this is true to a lesser extent for all 'passion' industries. It's textbook selection bias and our tendency to lionize success. On a related point, it's like how we idolize successful entrepreneurs and think their autobiographies contain the holy grail to success when perhaps the hypothetical book by a failed entrepreneur detailing their failings might actually be more beneficial to our lives.

If a people 50 years ago looked at Obama's record they would probably guess he was centrist right. Sometime's I wonder about Steward's complete lack of historical perspective. Especially when he's slurping the Democratic party. If he was the Liberal he claims to be, he should lambast Obama for his ideological comprimises. One thing's for sure, Obama's reflective autobiography will be a great read.

Has he written an autobiography? I've been interested in reading it since reading Scar Tissue.

http://videosift.com/video/A-Liars-Autobiography

thanks for the promote
In reply to this comment by eric3579:
*promote

Frank was a genius. Some of his music will forever be my favorite music. Imo this is the best ensemble of musicians he put together. They don't miss a beat, they are so tight. Also Ruth was hot.
Read his autobiography it's well written and very funny.

Keith Richards, in his autobiography, talks about Mick's amazing moves. He says that, in their early days, the stages the Stones played on were so tiny that Mick had to get really imaginative about stage use while still keeping the crowd excited. Becoming the master of the space around him gave him the moves that would define him, even after their stages got larger and larger.

>> ^Deano:

I've just started Richard Morgan's The Cold Commands (which I think is sci-fi/fantasy with gay characters but I'm not entirely sure) and then I'm going to reread American Tabloid by James Ellroy as I stopped and forgot all about it and I want to read the entire trilogy eventually.


You, sir, have excellent taste in books. Ellroy and Morgan are both awesome, especially the Dudley Smith and Takeshi Kovacs books respectively.

As for me, my last few were Iain Banks Transition, the Atheists Guide to Christmas and Paul Kimmage's Engage (true account of a tetraplegic rugby player, fascinating story and insight into coping with such a horrific accident).

I'm currently reading Milligan's Meaning of Life: An autobiography of sorts by Spike Milligan. It's really just a collection of Milligans other writings but it's great fun.

>> ^bmacs27:

Was the interview even necessary? The guy's autobiography is called "Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story."


No it's not necessary...a trial is though. This is still America.

Was the interview even necessary? The guy's autobiography is called "Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story."

This was required summer reading at my high school back in the 80's. I ended up writing my college app essay about him. Really has stuck with me.
>> ^Boise_Lib:

>> ^hpqp:
Thanks, I did not know this! Respect +100

goes off to look up his bio in local library
>> ^RadHazG:
Feynman was in fact, an expert safe cracker. He managed to crack almost every safe part of the Manhattan proj. and made a point of trying to bring to the heads attention how vulnerable the safes in fact were to being cracked. Their response? To instead have everyone change the codes and warn everyone about Feynman! Typical. Check out is autobiography. It's one hell of a read.


There are many books out there, this is my favorite one by far:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Hi Netrunner, I've just finished reading a book that reminded me of your posts the whole way through. It's called "A thinking reed" (from Pascal's Pensees) and is the Australian politician Barry Jones' autobiography... now it's not a perfect book by any means, it's a bit like a group of related essays rather than a cohesive work, but it is interesting and entirely the sort of discussion I can see you wanting to engage in.

I linked to it in this video http://videosift.com/video/Barry-Jones-Reprieve-speech so I won't repeat myself, but the death penalty was only one chapter in a very long book!

I'm pretty sure it's available in your parts, if not then get in touch.

Here is a review, but from an Australian point of view, it doesn't really explain why a U.S. citizen might want to read it... but I think that learning about other systems can only help understanding your own. Oh, and the Russia trip where he persuaded the police he was a high ranking Communist was rather amusing, as were other parts

http://www.theage.com.au/news/book-reviews/a-thinking-reed/2006/10/27/1161749298281.html

>> ^hpqp:

Thanks, I did not know this! Respect +100

goes off to look up his bio in local library
>> ^RadHazG:
Feynman was in fact, an expert safe cracker. He managed to crack almost every safe part of the Manhattan proj. and made a point of trying to bring to the heads attention how vulnerable the safes in fact were to being cracked. Their response? To instead have everyone change the codes and warn everyone about Feynman! Typical. Check out is autobiography. It's one hell of a read.



There are many books out there, this is my favorite one by far:

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Thanks, I did not know this! Respect +100


*goes off to look up his bio in local library*

>> ^RadHazG:

Feynman was in fact, an expert safe cracker. He managed to crack almost every safe part of the Manhattan proj. and made a point of trying to bring to the heads attention how vulnerable the safes in fact were to being cracked. Their response? To instead have everyone change the codes and warn everyone about Feynman! Typical. Check out is autobiography. It's one hell of a read.