Recently Mentioned Books

1. Popular music : M.I.A. , with Arular and then Kala being my favorite works by her.

The author is Michael Axworthy and the subtitle is History of the Islamic Republic .  It is already out in the UK .  This is one of the few must-read books of this year ( How Asia Works and China’s War With Japan are the other two, plus Knausgaard), excellent and insightful from beginning to end.

The author is Michael Axworthy and the subtitle is History of the Islamic Republic .  It is already out in the UK .  This is one of the few must-read books of this year ( How Asia Works and China’s War With Japan are the other two, plus Knausgaard), excellent and insightful from beginning to end.

The author is James Astill and the subtitle is Cricket, Corruption, and the Spectacular Rise of Modern India .  This is an excellent book on India even if you, like I, have no real understanding of cricket.  Here are a few bits:

3. Rana Mitter, China’s War With Japan 1937-1945 , the US edition has the sillier title Forgotten Ally .  Let’s hope there won’t be a rerun of this show, in any case the return to knowing some background on this conflict is rising.  I count this as by far my favorite history book of the year, splendid content and writing both.

3. Rana Mitter, China’s War With Japan 1937-1945 , the US edition has the sillier title Forgotten Ally .  Let’s hope there won’t be a rerun of this show, in any case the return to knowing some background on this conflict is rising.  I count this as by far my favorite history book of the year, splendid content and writing both.

1. Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism .  Way, way better than that dog in the nighttime stuff.  Update: The correct link is here .

1. Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism .  Way, way better than that dog in the nighttime stuff.  Update: The correct link is here .

That is from Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter, The Norm Chronicles: Stories and Numbers About Danger , which is an interesting book about the proper framing and communication of risk.

The UK edition is out August 1st, the US edition is out in January 2014.

9. Popular music : David Byrne was born in Scotland.  I know the Cocteau Twins, Boards of Canada, Franz Ferdinand, and others, they are OK but I do not love them.  Dire Straits and Annie Lennox deserve mention, but overall I suspect many of you rate this group higher than I do.  Jesus and Mary Chain?  While we’re at it, there is Ewan McLennan and Bert Jansch , both of whom I enjoy.

8. Movie, set in Scotland : The Queen .

7. Movie : Gregory’s Girl .

6. Actor : How about Sean Connery?  Don’t forget Zardoz .

1. Novel : Alasdair Gray, Lanark .  Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod deserve notice as well.  I don’t relate to Trainspotting .  I understand the case for Robert Louis Stevenson and would wish to jump on board, but usually I lose interest before the end of his books.

Elster has been writing excellent books for over thirty years, and you can buy this book here .

3. Popular music : Sigur Ros, Agaetis Byrjun .  This CD has a transcendental and also anthemic sound, even if the group never quite lived up to their initial promise.  Bjork albums I usually find pretentious and I would rather listen to her earlier group The Sugar Cubes .

2. Novel, modern : How about Audur Ava Olafsdottir’s The Greenhouse ?  This is a boom area.  There are one hundred twenty Icelandic novels translated into German each year [correction of earlier estimate].

1. Saga : First choice goes to Njal’s Saga .  It’s the clearest and crispest of the lot.

5. Reiner Stach, Kafka: The Years of Insight .  Brings the author and his milieu to life to a remarkable degree and shows Kafka was a comic author after all.

3. Kate Christensen, Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites .  More a memoir than a food memoir (which is how it is being marketed), the subtitle is thus better than the title.  This is an excellent example of the “read smart books by people who are totally unlike you” principle.  I finished it in one sitting, and it takes a place with The Great Man as one of my two favorite Christensen books.

3. Kate Christensen, Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites .  More a memoir than a food memoir (which is how it is being marketed), the subtitle is thus better than the title.  This is an excellent example of the “read smart books by people who are totally unlike you” principle.  I finished it in one sitting, and it takes a place with The Great Man as one of my two favorite Christensen books.

2. Tom Miller, China’s Urban Billion: The Story Behind the Biggest Migration in Human History .  Excellent on land use but also one of the very best books on the Chinese economy, as seen through the lens of land.  Interesting on almost every page.

1. Derek Sayer, Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History .  There needs to be a single word for “excellent if read in conjunction with other books on the same topic, though a quality but wasted effort if read alone.”  This book is that.

Penguin Random House has in turned asked for its $1.7 million advance back, as they are still awaiting his delivery of a sequel A Suitable Girl .  The story is here , and for the pointer I thank Yogesh.  Seth never finished his doctorate at Stanford but A Suitable Boy is one of my favorite modern novels.