Recently Mentioned Books
Showing 25 of 6798 mentions, ordered by most recent.
18. Singapore and Malaysia : Jim Baker, Crossroads: A Popular History of Malaysia and Singapore.
15. India: Edward Luce, In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India . Or India , by Michael Wood.
15. India: Edward Luce, In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India . Or India , by Michael Wood.
12. Mexico ; Alan Riding, Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans . Even though it, like the Barzini book, is out of date.
10. The United States : Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America . Or de Tocqueville? John Gunther’s Inside U.S.A. ?
10. The United States : Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America . Or de Tocqueville? John Gunther’s Inside U.S.A. ?
9. Ukraine : Serhii Plokhy, The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine.
8. Russia : Geoffrey Hosking, Russia and the Russians . One of the very best books on this list.
5. France : Graham Robb: The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography .
4. Spain : John Hooper, The Spaniards .
3. Italy : Luigi Barzini, The Italians . Or David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Peoples, and their Regions .
3. Italy : Luigi Barzini, The Italians . Or David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Peoples, and their Regions .
2. Germany : Peter Watson, The German Genius: Europe’s Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century .
To count, the book must have some aspirations to be a general survey of what the country is or to cover much of the history of the country. So your favorite book on the French Revolution is not eligible, for instance, nor is Allan Janik’s and Stephen Toulmin’s splendid Wittgenstein’s Vienna . I thought I would start with a list of some nominees, solicit your suggestions in the comments, and later produce a longer post with all the correct answers.
I believe it was Dan Wang who loved the Robert Tombs book The English and Their History and asked for more books of that nature. Another reader wrote in and wanted to know what was the best book about each country.
The author is Sam Rosenfeld and the subtitle is Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era . Here is the bottom line:
The author is Charles C. Mann, and the subtitle is Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World . What a splendid book, this is, all rolled into one the reader receives two distinct biographies, a history of mid-20th century environmental science, a book on technological progress in agriculture, and one of the best overall frameworks for thinking about environmentalism.
My column draws heavily on Varun Sivaram’s forthcoming Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet , Amazon link here . This book is full of useful information, a pleasure to read, and more generally a model for how to write about science, technology, and policy. It will definitely make my 2018 “best books of the year” list.
On press coverage, back in July Publishers Weekly had a paragraph on it, the Boston Globe did an interview of me back then that they just released , Vice interviewed me recently so I expect that out soon, and I’m told that a Wall Street Journal review is forthcoming. Amazon now has 5 reviews, Goodreads has 7, and 2 reviews have appeared on blogs.
I don’t mean to neglect all the other people who write for Bloomberg View, as this list is determined by whom I knew before there was any Bloomberg connection. As for some of the others, Leonid Bershidsky is an amazing polymath, the “every column is full of information” Noah Feldman has a new and wonderful book on James Madison , there is Joe Nocera and Justin Fox and Barry Ritholz , and I am trying to schedule a Conversation with the great Matt Levine , who always knows more than you think he ...
5. William Shakespeare, The Tempest . Given that I basically never regret a Shakespeare reread, I suppose I should do them more often. Folger edition of course.
4. Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed: A Retelling of the Tempest . Given the author is so famous, it’s strange this book hasn’t received more attention. Perhaps that is because it requires a reasonable degree of familiarity with Shakespeare’s The Tempest , worth the reread if you must or are so inclined. This is one of Atwood’s best novels, and it focuses on an over the hill director’s attempt to stage Shakespeare at the local prison.
3. John Wyndham, Chocky . How would/should parents react if one of their children appeared to be possessed? What weights should you assign to “possession by spirits,” as opposed to “possession by aliens”? Both conceptually intriguing and well-written. Also read his The Midwich Cuckoos on similar themes.
2. Fred Hoyle, The Black Cloud . The legacy of Wells and Stapledon surfaces yet again, if you are looking for an early but compelling science fiction novel you haven’t read, try this. The ecological features of the story are striking too.
1. Pierre LeMaitre, Three Days and a Life . French crime fiction, conceptual, very good for those who like to read in this direction. I am glad I finished it. The first half is pretty good, the second half excellent.