Luc REYNAERT's profile

New Reviewer Rank: 596

Classic Reviewer Rank: 291

Helpful votes received on reviews, lists & guides: 72% (4,544 of 6,366)

Nickname: lucreynaert

Location: Beernem, Belgium

In My Own Words:

Born in Beernem (Belgium).
Studied chemistry and applied economics.
Created a movie production company (commercials and feature films).
Bar owner in Brussels.
Kept notice of all my readings since 1958 after a suggestion by a teacher. Lost some after a computer crash.
Philosophical conviction: critical rationalism.
Best book ever: 'L'Ane d'Or' by Apuleius.
Best philosophical work: The last days of… Read more

Interests

philosophy economy classical literature classical music world cinema literature

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Reviews

New Reviewer Rank: 596 - Total Helpful Votes: 4544 of 6366

Classic Reviewer Rank: 291

The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Great Ideas) by Gareth Stedman Jones	The proletarians have nothing to loose but their chains, November 10, 2009 As Gareth Stedman Jones notes in his excellent and extensive introduction, `The Communist Manifesto remains a classic because of it unsurpassed depiction of modern capitalism and the transforming power of industrialization.' The industrial process destabilized all hierarchies and subverted all sacred and secular inherited beliefs and practices. It turned everything everywhere into an object for sale. But, it also liberated people from backwardness and tradition-bound dependence. The Communist Manifesto splits the world in two hostile camps: the Bourgeoisie (the haves, the owners of the means of production) and the Proletariat (the have-nots). The Bourgeoisie… Read more

Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy by Anna Politkovskaia	Communism was a dead loss for Russia, today is even worse, November 10, 2009 Anna Politovskaya was an important observer of the Russian society and a formidable investigative journalist; otherwise she wouldn't have been killed. Her analysis of Putin's Russia is not less than devastating. Russia Since the end of the Soviet era, the author sees three different historical changes in Russia. The first one is the introduction of a market economy and the fall of the Soviet ideology. The second one is the debt default of the Russian State, which wiped out all personal savings. The third one is the actual hybrid system of a free market, controlled politically by a new nomenklatura, economically by oligarchs (owners of former State monopolies)… Read more

War Without Fronts: The USA in Vietnam by Bernd Greiner	Conquer at any price, November 10, 2009 The professional historian Bernd Greiner analyzes not only painstakingly the war atrocities committed in Vietnam, but also their national and international political and military context. South-Vietnam was considered as an outpost of the Free World and had to be defended at all cost against the enemy, communism, which the US government depicted as a monolithic bloc. If one domino fell in the Far East, all dominoes would fall. The US army saw Vietnam as an opportunity to enhance its prestige and institutional weight. But the soldiers in Vietnam were the youngest and the poorest in the US society, of which a part was even mentally deficient (Category 4). They were poorly trained… Read more