1992 Christmas List, http://www.rasmusen.org/_amazon/xmas92.htm

• 1. James Stephen, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity , 1874, $17.95. For those of you who wonder how my seemingly bizarre political positions can be consistent: read this book, which shows how intelligent utilitarianism leads to conservatism. It was just reprinted this year, with a foreword by Richard Posner, who admires the book while vigorously disagreeing with it.

• 2. Infrared cordless headphones. These are very useful in an office, where you want to (a) avoid bothering other people and (b) move around the office from phone to computer to bookshelf.

• 3. John C. Miller, Triumph of Freedom: 1775/1783 . 1948. A book on the Revolution. Unlike the civil war, hardly anything written on the Revolutionary War is interesting. This book is an exception.

• 4. Country music. Bloomington is where new operas premiere, but it is also country country. Country singers have wit, style, and melody, unlike most singers off broadway, and it has been improving in recent years as the proportion of western to southern style has grown. Garth Brooks is a genius, except for his most recent, third-rate album. For starters, I recommend the Heroes and Friends disk by Randy Travis, composed of duets with famous singers from Merle Haggard to Roy Rogers (and even Clint Eastwood!). See also Mark Chesnutt (``Bubba Shot the Jukebox'') and Confederate Railroad (``Jesus and Mama Always Loved Me'').

• 5. Ken Burns, The Civil War , 1990, TV Series. The civil war has inspired many good books, all going over the same ground. This series shows why--- personality, geography, technology, and ideology combine to make this war close to home .

• 6. Lexis and Westlaw. These two legal research services are a delight to use. You can sit down at your computer and find out what the Supreme Court said yesterday without having to read between the lines of newspaper articles written by the mentally disadvantaged. Alas, this is very expensive unless you are a lawyer or connected to a university.

• 7. Edith Piaf. She is off-key and throaty, but somehow it works. (Recommended by David Schimmelpenninck.)

• 8. Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park , 1990, $9.60. I found all Crichton aside from Andromeda Strain worthless, but he has scored again. This is real science fiction, combining paleontology and computer technology.

• 10. Eric Ambler, A Coffin for Demetrios , 1938,$7.16. This adventure novel is from back in the days when the Near East still existed and English gentlemen still had adventures. (Recommended by Alan Schwartz.)

• 11. Greta Garbo, Ninotchka, 1939, movie,$17.99. An early prediction of the fall of the Soviet Union. Contains the classic proletarian response: ``That depends on the size of the tip.''

• 12. The Magliozzi brothers, Car Talk , 1991, $9.56. Cars are fascinating, but car books are generally boring. This is an exception.

• 13. Charles Papazian, The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing, 1991, $9.60. This book is a joy to read; I bet Papazian could write on accounting and make it interesting. He is aesthetic, scientific, and practical all at the same time.

• 1 4. Prozac. A wonderful anti-depressant drug. I felt tired for three years, and this pill solved the problem in three months. More effective than jogging, and less work.

• 15. Derek Jacobi, I, Claudius , 1980, $10.84 per episode, TV series. Watching this is the best way to learn about the complexities of the Julio-Claudian family. The series is unfair to Livia, but more interesting than Tacitus, whose absence you will note from these lists.

• 16. Caving. If you live in the right part of the country and do not mind mud, this could become an obsession. Caving combines adventure, mystery, and discovery, even in a safe cave with beer cans all over.

• 17. Glover and Gibson, Lethal Weapon, 1982, $17.99, movie. A violent action movie done with a very fine hand at the controls. Very L.A..

• 18. Belgian lambic . This style of beer violates the usual rules by being purposely soured, contaminated by wild yeast, and made using hops whose favor has faded away from age. I like the gueze variety better than those made with raspberries, cherries, or peaches.

• 19. Robert Macneil, The Story of English , TV series, $99.99. How can a TV series be made about speaking? ---By showing people talking about interesting things in their daily lives, in exotic settings, with careful editing.

• 20. Batman Returns, 1992, movie, $13.49. I never liked Batman much, but with both Catwoman and the Penguin this is very fine stuff. Superb casting, especially, all the way down to the very minor characters.