Recently Mentioned Books
Showing 25 of 6685 mentions, ordered by most recent.
3. Jonathan Rottenberg, The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic . More intelligent and thoughtful than most other books in this area, this treatment stresses the (partial) cognitive advantages of having a tendency toward depression.
2. The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age , by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh. A popular book on how a lot of future jobs will be very short-term and how to deal with this world on a practical basis.
1. Walter Lippmann: Public Economist , by Craufurd D. Goodwin. An excellent study of the man who was probably the most influential economics columnist and commentator of his era, even though he is not usually remembered as such.
The author of this new and excellent book is my colleague Peter T. Leeson and the subtitle is Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think . Here is one excerpt:
The subtitle is An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness , and the author is Russ Roberts. The focus is on Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and why that is an important book. This is Russ’s best book in my opinion, so you should consider buying it here . My favorite section is the discussion of the Chilean maid, definitely recommended.
6. The wisdom of the confident crowd ? And top economists do not generally favor monetary policy rules . And Barry Eichengreen has a new forthcoming book . It looks like a major work.
The subtitle is Words of a Yanomami Shaman , and the shaman is Davi Kopenawa from the Amazon, with transcription and assistance from French anthropologist Bruce Albert. Imagine 487 pp. of a highly intelligent, articulate shaman telling you what he thinks, and perhaps more importantly telling you what he thinks about. Here is one bit:
3. Jason Brennan and Lisa Hill, Compulsory Voting: For and Against . I like Jason’s chapter entitled “Should We Force the Drunk to Drive?”
1. Jason Brennan, Why Not Capitalism?
From the FT there is more here . You don’t have to regard any of those points as arguments against a “Taylor Rule.” But it is disingenuous to think that peddling the Taylor Rule as a monetary option counts as a rule for those who have general reasons for believing in monetary rules over discretion. The Taylor Rule is lucky enough to be called a “rule,” and besides, any reaction function can be described as a rule of sorts. In those two senses it is indeed a rule . But the Republicans who are...
The editors are Dow James and Glen Whitman and the subtitle is Zombies, Vampires, and the Dismal Science . Authors include Steven Horwitz, Sarah Skwire, Ilya Somin, and also Hollis Robbins, “Killing Time, Dracula and Social Coordination”, among others.
3. Honest ontology, fantasy, and comedy . And here is Eric Kaplan’s forthcoming book Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation . He is connected to the show Big Bang Theory .
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness
That is from the new and noteworthy book by Kristian Coates Unrichsen, The First World War in the Middle East . I wouldn’t say it is a fun book, but it is clear, well-written, and very good background reading on a number of today’s crises.
7. The Amazon site for the book is here . Here is the Wikipedia page , the book still sells about 250,000 copies a year. Steven Spielberg once bid for the movie rights.
5. Carl Wilson, editor, Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste . Most of this volume concerns Céline Dion, or is that Celine Dion ? Fascinating in parts, the subtitle should have been the title.
4. Hans Ulrich Obrist, ?Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Curating*? , a successful Swiss attempt at being clever and punchy.
3. Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia, Inc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation . Lots of emphasis on the islands. Pretty good, not great.
2. Francisco Goldman, The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle . Further evidence that politics is often the enemy of really good books, nonetheless this is still a moderately interesting treatment.
1. Tom Doyle, Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s . This book actually has some fresh material, plus you realize that John and Paul were even more obsessed with each other than we used to think.
The author of this new and excellent book is David Skarbek and the subtitle is How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System . It carries rave blurbs from Thomas Schelling and also Philip Keefer. My favorite section was the discussion of how the rate of gang formation in prisons depends on how the prisons are governed (start at p.65). For instance when prison officials cannot reliably protect prison inhabitants, gang membership is especially likely. Gangs rarely operate in UK prisons and...
The full list is here , possibly gated. They also recommend the Adam Tooze book on the post WWI era , which I now have finished and really like and also find to be quite Sumnerian. Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet is an excellent read as well.
The full list is here , possibly gated. They also recommend the Adam Tooze book on the post WWI era , which I now have finished and really like and also find to be quite Sumnerian. Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet is an excellent read as well.
By the way, you can buy Nader’s new book, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State . I very much enjoyed my preparation for this interview, which involved reading or rereading a bunch of his books and also a few biographies of him.
Robert Howse, Leo Strauss: Man of Peace .