Recently Mentioned Books

Gerald Finley and Julius Drake, Winterreise , Schubert.

Bach, Brandenburg Concerti, Freiburger Barockorchester .

Gillian Weir playing Messiaen organ works .

5. Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Richard Strauss tone poems .

4. Sylvia Berry, Haydn piano sonatas .

2. Prokoviev piano concerti , by Jean-Effiam Bavouzet and  Gianandrea Noseda.

1. Busoni, late piano works , Marc-Andre Hamelin

That is from Alan Heston and Terry Sicular in this very useful 2008 book .  The Melanie Manion book is here .

That is from Alan Heston and Terry Sicular in this very useful 2008 book .  The Melanie Manion book is here .

That is from their new book The Hidden Agenda of the Political Mind: How Self-Interest Shapes Our Opinions and Why We Won’t Admit It , interesting throughout.

4. John D. Mueller, Redeeming Economics: Rediscovering the Missing Element .  That element would be Providence, and this work looks at how Scholastic insights can serve as a foundation for economic thought.  Loyal MR readers will know that is not exactly my brew, but some of you will find this of interest.

3. Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings .  This account of 1970s Jamaica, centered on a plot to shoot Bob Marley, shows a remarkable amount of talent, as well as a mastery of plot construction and different novelistic voices, some of which are in Jamaican patois.  If you pick up this book you will be impressed and indeed many of the reviews are glowing.  Yet somehow never did I care, feel entertained, or wish to read further.  I stopped.  I remain interested in that era, but will inst...

3. Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings .  This account of 1970s Jamaica, centered on a plot to shoot Bob Marley, shows a remarkable amount of talent, as well as a mastery of plot construction and different novelistic voices, some of which are in Jamaican patois.  If you pick up this book you will be impressed and indeed many of the reviews are glowing.  Yet somehow never did I care, feel entertained, or wish to read further.  I stopped.  I remain interested in that era, but will inst...

3. Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings .  This account of 1970s Jamaica, centered on a plot to shoot Bob Marley, shows a remarkable amount of talent, as well as a mastery of plot construction and different novelistic voices, some of which are in Jamaican patois.  If you pick up this book you will be impressed and indeed many of the reviews are glowing.  Yet somehow never did I care, feel entertained, or wish to read further.  I stopped.  I remain interested in that era, but will inst...

2. Kenneth D. Durr, The Best Made Plans: Robert R. Nathan and 20th Century Liberalism .  I may be biased because I just gave a talk at the Nathan Foundation and received it as a gift copy.  I call this the “real history of economic thought.”  It’s a look at the career of a man who worked with Simon Kuznets to improve gdp statistics, helped lead the war effort in the 1940s, supported the civil rights movement, founded a major economic consulting firm, and supported the idea and practice of econom...

1. Emmanuel Carrère, Limonov, The Outrageous Adventures of the Radical Soviet Poet Who Became a Bum in New York, A Sensation in France, and a Political Antihero in Russia .  Blends fiction, non-fiction, and occasional social science (was a non-corrupt transformation of the Soviet Union really possible?, Gaidar ultimately decided it wasn’t), but in terms of the subjective experience of the reader it is most like a novel.  Excellent and also entertaining.  I consider this a deep book about why lib...

That is from the new Joseph Berger book, The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America .

5. Jan Swafford, Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph .  A consistently excellent and engaging treatment of a figure you cannot read too many books about.  It does not seem like a book of 1000+ pages.  The funny thing is, this book does not come close to exhausting Beethoven, in fact it barely scratches the surface.  It’s as good as the classic Maynard Solomon biography.

4. Mark Metzler, Capital as Will and Imagination: Schumpeter’s Guide to the Postwar Japanese Miracle .  More interesting on Japanese economic history, and in particular postwar economic planning, than on Schumpeter.

3. Russ Roberts, How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness .  The best and most readable introduction to Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments .

2. Walter Isaacson, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution .  At first I was bored but the book picks up and is then interesting throughout, most of all I enjoyed the portrait of Bill Gates.  It is a good overview of how some of the main pieces of today’s information technology world fell into place, starting with the invention of the computer and running up through the end of the 1990s.

In the early stages of this war, Amazon boycotts have often increased the buzz for a book, such as with Beth Macy’s Factory Man .  But if these practices continue, they will cease to be news stories and an Amazon refusal to carry or promote plausibly will damage how books will do, without much potential for upside.

He has written a book on telecommunications regulation (with Laffont) although I have never read that material.

He has a 1994 book with Mathias Dewatripont on the prudential regulation of banks and how to apply the proper incentives to make sure banks do not take too much risk at public expense.  Obviously this also has since become a much more important topic.  How many of you know his 1996 paper with Rochet on “ Interbank Lending and Systemic Risk “?  They show the contradictions which can plague a “too big to fail” policy and the attempts of central banks to maintain a “creative ambiguity” about what k...

5. Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman .  A charming tale for bibliophiles, centering around a Lebanese woman who translates one classic novel a year, but for herself only.