Page 6-Sunday; October 8, 1978-The Michigan Daily iTS . -.A Less government: The 'truth according to William Simon By Mark Parrent A TIME FOR TRUTH By William Simon McGraw Hill, 248 pp., $12.50 DON'T LET the fact that A'Time for D Truth is written by a former Secretary of the Treasury stop you from reading William Simon's conser- vative message - it's not a blitz of complicated economic and mathematic jargon. Simon's laissez-faire defense is plainly written to present traditional right-wing arguments, and does so in a surprisingly fresh way. Despite the initial promise of his frank approach to the subject, however, his coverage of many of the issues is disturbingly incomplete. He describes current governmental intervention as bad in case after case. He proposes the lifting of governmental restrictions and leaves it at that. He usually provides nothing in place of the status quo but fuzzy abstract solutions. He also fails to Mark Parrent is a Daily day editor. analyze historically some of his philosophical arguments. Such discussions would no doubt make the book more burdensome, but credibility is lacking in his conclusions. William Simon served as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, "Energy Czar," and Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Nixon and Ford. He was an extremely vocal spokesman for the conservative school of thought during his rather short career in gover- nment. It has been said that his book is a preface to a 1980 presidential cam- paign, but that's neither here nor there. It is an interesting explanation of his position. Simon repeats his theme with em- phasis over and over through various examples and philosophical discussions: the less government the better. THE PROBLEM, as Simon sees it, is that this country's government is assuming more and more control over the economy. He says individuals are hindered from productive innovation at every turn by some government regulation. He sees the government as absorbing far too much wealth for redistribution by huge bureaucracies. Many startling examples are presen- ted, but he fails to propose specific levels of acceptance for such programs. He simply says they are bad, tells why, and leaves it at not much more than that. Another area Simon does not adequately examine is the environmen- tal regulation maze. He points out the strangling effects that many of the regulations have on various businesses, but never examines the comparative benefits of the environmental statutes. Overall, his attacks on big gover- nment are interesting and worth con- sideration. Especially interesting is his discussion of the Federal Energy Agen- cy he once headed. One notably worthwhile chapter is the segment on his dealings with New York City during its acute financial crisis. His explanation of his actions is intriguing, as is his evaluation that New York City is a microcosm of the United States at high speed. He ruthlessly attacks "liberals" as the big spending source of the huge See SIMON, Page 8 Tracking the elusive 40 Can there be life after 'Life'? By Julie Rovner By Richard Berke T HOUGH EVERYONE had told me Life was gone, its demise didn't hit me until the check came. A 17-cent refund arrived with a note from an apologetic publisher, who explained that hard times-notably network televison and soaring postal rates-had halted Life's presses. Since Life's day of reckoning in 1972, I have missed the magazine. Life reminds me of Vietnam, women in mini-skirts, Lyndon Johnson, communes, and Joe Namath-all captured in sharp, multi- colored photographs. But as it looks now, I don't ex- pect the revived Life to have the high priority in my magazine reading that it did six years ago. The new Life is not the old Life. The publishers had to make several changes in their publication to make it attractive to a market which is vastly dif- ferent from the one Life used to serve. And that's where the problem is. The shift of Life from a weekly to a monthly for- mat means it can no longer be a newsmagazine-and the editors acknowledge that. "Picture-magic" is their answer for sustaining a comeback. In the premiere October issue the editors say: "It is our intention that Life should look wonderful every time it appears ... our pictures and our stories will have to convey the continuing sense that this new Life, like the old one, is deeply involved with the world it covers..." W HILE EXTRAORDINARY photography, which fills the first magazine, is great to look at, without some element of timeliness the real value of the pictures is lost. The old Life kept readers informed on big news events, but with an offbeat flair that Time and joy good photography, but I think not. Aside from a significant amount of news, gone from the reborn Life are the commentaries and reviews that kept the magazine current. In some ways, Life has less appeal than People, the successful weekly spawned by Time, Inc. that capitalizes on photographs. Though People is gossip put across in a sometimes chatty style, its subject matter is timely; the magazine talks about what people are talking about. THE PROFILE of Pope John Paul I in the October edition points to Life's distance from its readers. The pope died in September, as we all know, but as far as the October issue is concerned, he is alive and well. The new Life does outclass its predecessor in one obvious area: advertisements, splendid ads. Use of vivid colors and the large, slick pages-an ad agen- cy's dream-are taken advantage of. A double-page lipstick ad could pass for a poster and an eight by 10 inch Big Mac, grease and all, certainly is attention- grabbing. Sometimes it is even difficult to distinguish bet- ween ad and magazine spread. I read through a full page spread on scouting in the new Life several times until I realized it wass created in Life's offices and not by a Madison Avenue ad hustler. My disappointment in the revised Life comes in part because it doesn't fill the void in memory of an all-purpose, entertaining, and, informative publication. But, I must admit, the old Life wouldn't survive today. Magazines have specialized reader- ships and mass appeal is hard to muster. But one fact is for sure: the revived Life doesn't WHEN THAT white envelope arrives about three weeks into next term, most students will fare just about as they expected. Some will crumple the carbon-copied grades and wait for the letter asking them to leave. But a few will have no complaints after having earned a 4.0. As grade point averages loom in im- portance, 4.0 has become more than a mathematical figure. It has become a way of life, a personal identification symbol for the academic elite. But those who attain that perfect score claim it is far from the central aspect of their lives. "If you saw me on the Diag, I wouldn't have horn-rimmed glasses or pants that only came down to my knees," says LSA Literary college junior Mark Pearlstein. Pearlstein is one of the University's Angell Scholars, a group of students who have achieved all A grades for two or more con- secutive terms. But despite their illustrious grade points, scholars of 4.0 caliber vehemen- tly rebutt their stereotypical role. They say they have a wide range of interests outside of academics and that they are not significantly more intelligent than most other students _ they just work harder. Pearlstein says that during a typical week he spends Tuesdays and Thur- sdays in the graduate library, where he is safe from the distractions of his apar- tment. Since he has no classes on those days, he camps out, preferably in a carrel, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. The other week nights are a bit "problematic" but they do include a solid block of study time. Regular studying is a distinguishing feature behind the academic success of excep- tional students. "It's a lot of hard work," says Pearlstein, "I guess I'm reasonably in- telligent, but if I hadn't worked so hard, my grades certainly wouldn't be what they are now." PROFESSORS AND students agree that grades, along with test scores, don't necessarily indicate superior in- telligence. And many claim the ability to get good grades, whether due to raw intelligence or hard work, is an accom- plishment in itself. "Professors have to judge students on their work and not on their records," says English Professor Eric Rabkin. "How do I know, when a student hands me a paper, whether it took him two hours or two weeks to do it? But who's to say that the gift of perseverence isn't just as rare as the gift of intelligence?" The hours 4.0 students log with their textbooks can sometimes take a toll on a student's peer relationships, as well as his or her dealings with instructors. "I've had trouble coming to terms with the fact that I'm very smart," says English major Joan McGee. She says she has earned a "reputation" among her friends and is often teased about her study habits. Pearlstein, too, admits he is often chided about his rigorous study habits but says he feels his grade point does points out that his friends represent just about every location on the grade point spectrum. Rabkin says he has noticed some ostrasizing of 4.0 students, although he says it is not because others harbor jealousy towards the exceptional student. "It's not considered nice" to be an extremely good student, says Rabkin, who entered the University at 16. "We feel we have to apologize for our good grades." A CCORDING TO Rabkin, earning high marks is considered an accep- table practice, but "The world doesn't want people who are too far off scale," he says. "Man is a herding creature and people who don't fit in are per-, ceived as a threat." Perhaps by virtue of their common academic achievement, exceptional students tend to socialize with other ex- ceptional students. McGee and several friends make the Classics Library in Angell Hall a regular meeting place where, besides studying, they gossip, drink coffee, and daydream, just like any other group of students who share an interest. Avery Katz, another Angell scholar, points out, "I like to socialize with my friends, and I don't think I study more than the average person. But then, I guess I hang around with people who study more than average. But to spend 12 hours a day at least two days a week in the, library Pearlstein, like the others, has a strong motivation. For him, it is a desire to go And 1 espec the A ~ A wouk says : the b are n Kat law a grade still a schoc grade abou critei Katz, sonal some The ce th its ov acad says, only still g do th. just t( Wh in the and c to qu signif "G: Pearl writix the si to dri convo Newsweek lack. The October Life is all stunning picture: the Shah of Iran in his Caspian hideaway, colorful hot-air balloons meandering through America, and dogs leaping for frisbees. While all those topics make for stunning visual displays, they are isolated from the tempo of the nation.