Recently Mentioned Books

Here are some of Cardiff Garcia’s thoughts on my own new book, Average is Over :

1) Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O Hirschman , by Jeremy Adelman 2) The Undercover Economist Strikes Back , by Tim Harford 3) Giving Kids a Fair Chance , by James Heckman 4) How Asia Works , by Joe Studwell 5) America’s Assembly Line , by David Nye

1) Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O Hirschman , by Jeremy Adelman 2) The Undercover Economist Strikes Back , by Tim Harford 3) Giving Kids a Fair Chance , by James Heckman 4) How Asia Works , by Joe Studwell 5) America’s Assembly Line , by David Nye

1) Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O Hirschman , by Jeremy Adelman 2) The Undercover Economist Strikes Back , by Tim Harford 3) Giving Kids a Fair Chance , by James Heckman 4) How Asia Works , by Joe Studwell 5) America’s Assembly Line , by David Nye

1) Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O Hirschman , by Jeremy Adelman 2) The Undercover Economist Strikes Back , by Tim Harford 3) Giving Kids a Fair Chance , by James Heckman 4) How Asia Works , by Joe Studwell 5) America’s Assembly Line , by David Nye

1) Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O Hirschman , by Jeremy Adelman 2) The Undercover Economist Strikes Back , by Tim Harford 3) Giving Kids a Fair Chance , by James Heckman 4) How Asia Works , by Joe Studwell 5) America’s Assembly Line , by David Nye

That is the new book by Noel Maurer and the subtitle is The Rise and Fall of U.S. Intervention to Protect American Property Overseas, 1893-2013 .  This is an excellent book and somehow the title, while descriptively accurate, does not do justice to its interest and contents.

You can pre-order the book on Amazon here .  On Barnes and Noble here .  On Indiebound.org here .  And from Penguin here .  It is due out this Thursday.

6. Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials .  I had never read this trilogy before, thinking it was a “fun but not essential” story for teens.  In reality it is as close as we moderns are going to get to Milton, Blake, and Dante.  For me it is one of the better literary creations of the last twenty years.

5. The Divine Comedy , by Dante and Clive James.  This really is a co-authored work.  It is the most beautiful poetic treatment of Dante in the English language, yet I fear it is no longer Dante.  I would prefer it if the book were simply marketed as Clive James.  In fact I fear it will displace “the real Dante” in my memories.  I am conflicted, and may not finish it for this reason, besides I already know how it ends.  Some of you will love this, however.

4. The Silent Wife: A Novel , by A.S.A. Harrison. Fun, a good short plane read, you toy with the idea that the guy really does deserve to die.

3. Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries .  I’ve read 200 pages of this 800 pp. novel and am not sure whether I should continue.  It is set in 19th century Otago, New Zealand, it focuses on the obscure criminal activities of some migrant derelicts (and elites), and it has superb writing and plot.  It could be one of the books of the year.  But do I care?  Perhaps this FT review nails it .

2. John D. Barrow, Mathletics: A Scientist Explains 100 Amazing Things About Sport .  I found half of this book to be fun, a pretty high hit rate given its style of many short chapters.  I learned how basketball players create the illusion of “hang time” (their bodies are falling parabolically, but their heads don’t have to be), that Mark Spitz would not qualify for U.S. Olympic trials today, and why the best discus throws are into the wind.

1. Roger Osborne, Iron, Steam, and Money: The Making of the Industrial Revolution .  A good popular overview of the British industrial revolution, focusing on inventors, coal, and engineering innovations.

You can buy the book here .  There is an excerpt from the book here .  Here is the book’s home page .  Here is a WSJ review .  Here is a Joseph Nocera review .  Here is our MRU video on Sachs’s Millennium Villages Project .

6. Director : George Roy Hill, how about A Little Romance ?

5. Coen Brothers movie : Raising Arizona or Fargo .   The more serious ones strike me as too grim.

5. Coen Brothers movie : Raising Arizona or Fargo .   The more serious ones strike me as too grim.

2. Rock music : The Replacements were pretty awesome for a short while.  The Artist Formerly Known as Prince has an impressive body of work, with Sign of the Times as my favorite or maybe Dirty Mind , though when viewed as a whole I find the corpus of work rather numbing and even somewhat off-putting.  Bob Mould I like but do not love, the peaks are too low.

2. Rock music : The Replacements were pretty awesome for a short while.  The Artist Formerly Known as Prince has an impressive body of work, with Sign of the Times as my favorite or maybe Dirty Mind , though when viewed as a whole I find the corpus of work rather numbing and even somewhat off-putting.  Bob Mould I like but do not love, the peaks are too low.

1. Folk singer : Is that what he is? Bringing it All Back Home remains my favorite Dylan album, of many candidates.

3. Avi Tuschman, Our Political Nature: The Evolutionary Origins of What Divides Us .  He traces differences in political views back to three underlying factors, namely attitudes toward tribalism, tolerance of inequality, and perceptions of human nature (competitive vs. cooperative).  Think of this book as the next step after Jonathan Haidt.

2. Sumantra Bose, Transforming India: Challenges to the World’s Largest Democracy .  The first sentence of the last paragraph of the book is this: “In the post-1989 era, the people of India have progressively empowered regional(ist) parties and leaders.”

1. Isaac William Martin, Rich People’s Movements: Grassroots Campaigns to Untax the One Percent .  He even covers Frank Chodorov.

The author is Paul Sabin and the subtitle is Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future .  I found this book informative, charming, and highly readable.  Here are a few excerpts: