Recently Mentioned Books

The new Simon Schama book on the history of the Jews did not grab my attention, nor did the new short (derivative) novel by David Grossman .  Possibly the latter is better in the original Hebrew, given how much poetry it contains.  The new Siri Hustved book also didn’t thrill me.

The new Simon Schama book on the history of the Jews did not grab my attention, nor did the new short (derivative) novel by David Grossman .  Possibly the latter is better in the original Hebrew, given how much poetry it contains.  The new Siri Hustved book also didn’t thrill me.

The new Simon Schama book on the history of the Jews did not grab my attention, nor did the new short (derivative) novel by David Grossman .  Possibly the latter is better in the original Hebrew, given how much poetry it contains.  The new Siri Hustved book also didn’t thrill me.

That is the new book by Robert D. Kaplan, and the subtitle is The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific .  Since this is possibly the most important topic in the world right now, you should read this book.  Here is one interesting excerpt of many:

7. Richard Epstein has a new book on the classical liberal constitution .

The Frederick Taylor book is The Downfall of Money: Germany’s hyperinflation and the destruction of the middle class , and Martin’s is Money: The Unauthorised Biography .

The Frederick Taylor book is The Downfall of Money: Germany’s hyperinflation and the destruction of the middle class , and Martin’s is Money: The Unauthorised Biography .

The piece is fascinating throughout, and you will note that Seth is a Google data scientist with a Ph.d. in economics from Harvard.  His other writings are here .  Some of you may wish to see my book What Price Fame ?

The author is Ullica Segerstrale and the subtitle of this excellent and fascinating book is The Life and Work of W.D. Hamilton .  Here is one bit:

The subtitle is The Myth of Benjamin Strong as Decisive Leader .  Here is a summary from the book’s back cover:

The new and excellent Howard Eiland and Michael W. Jennings biography of Benjamin has a good discussion of that essay.

That is the new book by David Sedlak and the subtitle is The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource .  I found this consistently interesting, going well beyond the usual anecdotes one finds in the other general “history of water” books.  Here is one bit about Japanese water relations being Coasean in earlier times:

And here is the new forthcoming Robert Kaplan book Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific .  I have pre-ordered it.

Earlier today I was reading John Hauer’s excellent The Natural Superiority of Mules .  It is a deliberately species-ist book, without a shred of objectivity, and the title reveals the blatant biases of the author.  The book has data, but is not data-driven.  It is “advocacy of mules driven.”  Get the subtitle: “A Celebration of One of the Most Intelligent, Sure-Footed, and Misunderstood Animals in the World” (eyes roll).  Yet I learned a great deal from it, and I will read any web site that can ...

The author is my colleague F.H. Buckley and the subtitle is The Rise of Crown Government in America .  I am very enthusiastic about this book, which is a comparative study of American and Canadian systems of government with respect to the abilities to produce varying degrees of tyranny, in the former case mostly through the executive branch.  Buckley is himself from Canada and overall favors that system of government.  Here are two excerpts:

That is the new book by Daniel Hannan and the subtitle is How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World .

That is the new forthcoming Charles Murray book and the subtitle is Dos and Don’ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life .

Overall the text offers a strongly non-sentimental account, does not whitewash any of the participants in the disputes, and it communicates how much early American policymakers , including Truman, were skeptical about what ended up happening.  Today’s often-unquestioned assumptions were very often historically quite contingent.  You can buy the book here .

The author is Christopher Hale and the subtitle is the rather misleading Exposing Britain’s My Lai .

Here is an older (free) historical book on the employment of plebiscites to determine sovereignty .  Here is the new, well-timed, and not free March 2014 book by Matt Qvortrupp , on same topic.  Qvortrup, by the way, helped design the referendum for South Sudan.

Sadly, Sherwin Nuland has passed away too .  His How We Die: Reflections of Life’s Final Chapter is one of my favorite books, recommended to all.

The great Robert Ashley, one of the musical geniuses of the last forty years, has passed away .  He is one of the few who did something truly new in music.  Here is NPR on Ashley .  Here is the opera Perfect Lives , perhaps his greatest contribution.  Here are parts of that opera on YouTube .  Here is Ashley on Wikipedia .

This Drezner piece (pdf) indicates that applied sanctions don’t usually work, but the threat of sanctions can be effective.  Here is Dan on “smart sanctions,” (pdf)  which are not in general effective.  Here is Dan’s book The Sanctions Paradox .  Here is Dan on Twitter .  I hereby request a new article from Dan on sanctions, as they might be applied to Russia.  Here is a short BBC piece on the possible economic impact of sanctions today.

As I had predicted, this is proving to be a breakout book for Megan.  You can buy her book here .  There is more on the book here .

Vassily Aksyonov, The Island of Crimea , discussed here : “Written in 1979, Vassily Aksyonov’s “The Island of Crimea” imagines an alternative history (abetted by alternative geography—the Crimea is a peninsula) wherein the Russian civil war ends with the tsarist forces able to hold onto this southern scrap of the old empire. “