Recently Mentioned Books

From the Diaries , April 13th, 1930:

The book covers 1982 to 1987, the peak of Thatcher’s power and influence.  Here is a rave review from Bruce Anderson , very much deserved.  I am very glad I paid the extra shipping fee from Amazon.uk , you also might try ordering it here at elevated prices, very much worth it, one of the books of the year.

That is all from Michael Marmot, The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World , pp.24-25.

The new Umberto Eco novel, Numero Zero , didn’t do much for me.

Riad Sattouf, The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984 .  A graphic novel set in Libya, Syria, and France, very moving and effective.

Jamie Holmes, Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing .  How to turn uncertainty and ambiguity to your advantage as a thinker, I kind of enjoyed it.

Louise O. Fresco, Hamburgers in Paradise: The Stories Behind the Food We Eat .  A  pro-capitalist, pro-globalization, pro-technology food book, or so it seems.  I am eager to spend more time with this one.

Richard McGregor, The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers .  As Chris Blattman wrote , a very good book.  In China, never underestimate the role of The Party.

Paul Murray, The Mark and the Void .  He is the author of the novel Skippy Dies , which has a strong cult following, this one.  Australian, snarky, deals with a financial crisis.

Paul Murray, The Mark and the Void .  He is the author of the novel Skippy Dies , which has a strong cult following, this one.  Australian, snarky, deals with a financial crisis.

James A. Harris, Hume: An Intellectual Biography .  I quite liked and admired the parts I read, my main hesitation is that such books have to compete against…reading Hume himself.  In any case many commentators seem to consider this the definitive study.  If you think maybe you should read this, you should.

That is the new book by Daniel P. Todes , the first sentence is:

I am very excited to report that next week will see the publication of Hive Mind: How Your Nation’s IQ Matters So Much More Than Your Own , by my colleague Garrett Jones, with Stanford University Press.  This will go down as one of the social science books of the year.

1. David Davidson and Knut Wicksell debated the natural rate of interest concept very early in the twentieth century, in Swedish I might add (see Carl Uhr’s books on Davidson and Wicksell ).  Most people believe Davidson won those debates and even Wicksell seemed to concede.  Whether a given rate of interest both maintains full employment and stable inflation depends on the rate of productivity growth, for one thing.  It can be that no single rate of interest can perform both functions.

1. David Davidson and Knut Wicksell debated the natural rate of interest concept very early in the twentieth century, in Swedish I might add (see Carl Uhr’s books on Davidson and Wicksell ).  Most people believe Davidson won those debates and even Wicksell seemed to concede.  Whether a given rate of interest both maintains full employment and stable inflation depends on the rate of productivity growth, for one thing.  It can be that no single rate of interest can perform both functions.

2. Jim Baker, Crossroads: A Popular History of Malaysia and Singapore. I loved this book and found every page gripping, it is hard to see how it could be better than it is.  One of the best books of last year, it turns out.

Definitely recommended, you can buy the book here .

The author is Scott Sumner and the subtitle is Financial Markets, Government Policy Shocks, and the Great Depression .  Here is part of the Amazon summary:

Strongly recommended, you can buy the book here .

Jim Baggott, Origins: The Scientific Story of Creation (both life and the universe) trods a familiar path but does it much better than most, recommended.

Also arrived is Eric Rauchway, The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace .  I haven’t read it but Eric is always smart.

Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island is nicely done but didn’t inspire me.  It’s already out in the UK.

Roger Lowenstein’s America’s Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve covers a poorly understood topic.

The title says it all.  That is the new book by Shane Greenstein of Harvard Business School, the subtitle is Innovation, Privatization, and the Birth of a New Network .  This extensive history is the best counter I know to the view that the internet as we know it was most of all a government project.  Definitely recommended.

That new book has the subtitle Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must be Stopped .  In addition to its critique of Putin, there is a good deal of political economy in this book, including some hypotheses which are worthy of further investigation.  For instance: