Recently Mentioned Books

That is from Matthew C. Klein , who is riffing on Ryan Avent, don’t forget Ryan’s new book .

That is from Mark Lilla’s new book The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction .  There is also this bit from the book:

That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column , which focuses on Edward Conard’s new book The Upside of Inequality (not a good descriptive title for the book, in my view).  Conard’s central idea is that risk-bearing equity capital is the truly scarce asset in most economic situations, and economic analysis should adapt accordingly.  He is very creative in seeing some of the implications of this view, for instance:

I loved this book, the author is Andrew Scott Cooper, and the subtitle is The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran .  It is the best book I know for understanding the Iranian revolution, and it is compulsively readable throughout.  Did you know for instance that the Ayatollahs were deeply disturbed by the presence of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and also Rhoda on Iranian TV?

That is from Barry Latzer’s new and interesting The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America .

There is much more at the link , including an assessment of Peru’s current economic prospects, and also how much the quality of national leadership matters at all.  And do read his book Peruvian Democracy under Economic Stress — it is one of the most underrated works on both Latin American development and in development economics more generally.

5. Marc Raboy, Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World .  A very good, very detailed, 863 pp. but still conceptual and history-of-science rich biography.  Compared to Marconi’s earlier fame, you actually don’t hear so much about him any more.

4. Nathan Hill, The Nix .  This is the trendy novel right now, and usually I don’t like those, but after one hundred or so pages I am still enjoying it.  It is both smart and genuinely funny, and doesn’t (yet?) grate on my nerves.  And what is “the Nix”?  Amazon says: “In Nathan Hill’s remarkable first novel, a Nix is anything you love that one day disappears, taking with it a piece of your heart.”  I say it’s the best mother-son story to come along in a long time.

3. Edward B. Foley, Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States .  A serious yet also readable look at rigged and semi-rigged elections in the United States, including in the recent past.

2. Philip Ball, The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China .  I am glad to see the Grand Canal finally get its due.  “An epic portrait of China’s water management history,” says one blurb.  I found half of this book fascinating and the other half not terrible.

1. Alex Cuadros, Brazillionaires: Wealth, Power, Decadence, and Hope in an American Country .  One of the best looks at contemporary Brazil, and it’s not just about the country’s billionaires.

The subtitle is The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives , and it is Tim’s best and deepest book.  You’ll be hearing more about it in due time, the publication date is October 4, you can pre-order it here .

For history, read up on eighteenth century scientific societies, Robert Darnton on the rise of publishing and the book trade, Habermas on the coffeehouse debate culture and the public sphere, and Brewer and McKendrick on the rise of consumer society in England.  Try Wikipedia for Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great, and other rulers of the time.  There is also Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment , and books on 18th century Freemasonry .  The French Revolution seems to require its o...

What an excellent title, the subtitle is The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst , and the author is Jeffrey Toobin.  Our age is actually not that crazy by historical standards.  Yet here are the last four sentences:

Abigail Tucker, The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World

Derek Thompson, Hit Makers: Why Things Become Popular

Daniel J. Levitin, A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age

The author is Nancy Tomes and the subtitle is How Madison Avenue and Modern Medicine Turned Patients into Consumers .  Here is one excerpt:

I have been reading Carlos M.N. Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 .  Yes I know it is 893 pp., but it is actually one of the most readable books I have had in my hands all year.

Do read the whole thing .  You can buy the Sanandaji book here .

So yes, buy this book but do not read it, for the temerity will rise in your soul.

That is from James Proctor, Faroe Islands .  Here is some Faroese on YouTube .  Here is a short (2:32) Faorese drama , with profanity in Faroese, subtitles too.

5. John Hardman, The Life of Louis XVI .  I’m only about fifty pages into this one, but so far it is a first-rate biography, both detailed and conceptual in nature, likely to make the list of the year’s best non-fiction books.

4. Mats Lundahl, The Political Economy of Disaster: Destitution, plunder and earthquake in Haiti .  More of a potpourri of Haitian economic history than what the titles indicates, the best 20 percent of this book has insights you won’t find in other places.  For me that is a high hit rate, I liked it.

3. The Curse of Cash , by Kenneth Rogoff.  The quality of argumentation and presentation is high, as one would expect from a Ken Rogoff book.  Still, I don’t think it has so much to convince those who might be worried about a currency-less surveillance Panopticon, or those who think negative interest rates are mostly a contractionary and not-so-useful tax on financial intermediation.