Recently Mentioned Books

The author is Joe Studwell and the subtitle is Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region .  That’s an excessively bland title and subtitle, but so far this is perhaps my favorite economics book of the year.  Quite simply, it is the best single treatment on what in Asian industrial policy worked or did not work, full of both analysis and specific detail, and covering southeast Asia in addition to the Asian tiger “winners.”

Two points : I think he understood the English language better than any other major composer, and how he sets and understands a text is without parallel, in English at least.  Furthermore as a conductor or pianist he is superb, try his Brandenburg Concerti or his piano on Schubert’s Winterreise , Peter Pears singing, among other works.  Those are two of my favorite recordings in all of classical music.

Two points : I think he understood the English language better than any other major composer, and how he sets and understands a text is without parallel, in English at least.  Furthermore as a conductor or pianist he is superb, try his Brandenburg Concerti or his piano on Schubert’s Winterreise , Peter Pears singing, among other works.  Those are two of my favorite recordings in all of classical music.

My most significant Britten heresy : I’ve never enjoyed listening to Peter Grimes and I find most of the experience oppressive.  More generally, for much of my life I never felt close to Britten’s music, as it made me crave Stravinsky and Mahler instead.  But I’ve listened to it quite a bit since January and have enjoyed it more than expected.

The ones I think are best : Cello Symphony , Winter Words (song cycle), and perhaps Billy Budd . War Requiem . Nocturne is a powerful spare late work.  I like Curlew River for its connection to Balinese music, although I would not put it among his best compositions from a strictly musical point of view.

The ones I think are best : Cello Symphony , Winter Words (song cycle), and perhaps Billy Budd . War Requiem . Nocturne is a powerful spare late work.  I like Curlew River for its connection to Balinese music, although I would not put it among his best compositions from a strictly musical point of view.

The ones I think are best : Cello Symphony , Winter Words (song cycle), and perhaps Billy Budd . War Requiem . Nocturne is a powerful spare late work.  I like Curlew River for its connection to Balinese music, although I would not put it among his best compositions from a strictly musical point of view.

The ones I think are best : Cello Symphony , Winter Words (song cycle), and perhaps Billy Budd . War Requiem . Nocturne is a powerful spare late work.  I like Curlew River for its connection to Balinese music, although I would not put it among his best compositions from a strictly musical point of view.

The ones I think are best : Cello Symphony , Winter Words (song cycle), and perhaps Billy Budd . War Requiem . Nocturne is a powerful spare late work.  I like Curlew River for its connection to Balinese music, although I would not put it among his best compositions from a strictly musical point of view.

The Britten pieces you are most likely to enjoy : Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings , that disc has Les Illuminations and Nocturne too and is the single best Britten disc to buy, and also A Ceremony of Carols .

The Britten pieces you are most likely to enjoy : Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings , that disc has Les Illuminations and Nocturne too and is the single best Britten disc to buy, and also A Ceremony of Carols .

I very much liked Neil Powell, Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music .  Also very good is Paul Kildea, Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century .  They are both also useful for understanding English intellectual life during the 20th century, most of all Auden but even Keynes and also the broader history of homosexuality in England.  Both are already out in the UK, where I picked them up earlier in the year, and both will make my best of the year list in late November.

I very much liked Neil Powell, Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music .  Also very good is Paul Kildea, Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century .  They are both also useful for understanding English intellectual life during the 20th century, most of all Auden but even Keynes and also the broader history of homosexuality in England.  Both are already out in the UK, where I picked them up earlier in the year, and both will make my best of the year list in late November.

The quotation is from Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending , and the underlying research is here .  I believe this hypothesis does not apply to me, nonetheless I am glad to season two of Borgen does not arrive until later in June .  I am never tempted by binge viewing, and in general I do not like to watch two episodes in a row.

The quotation is from Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending , and the underlying research is here .  I believe this hypothesis does not apply to me, nonetheless I am glad to season two of Borgen does not arrive until later in June .  I am never tempted by binge viewing, and in general I do not like to watch two episodes in a row.

3. Robert Kuttner, Debtors’ Prison: The Politics of Austerity versus Possibility .

2. Hugh White, The China Choice: Why We Should Share Power (that link is for Kindle, the US Amazon link for the hardcover version is not yet available it seems).  A book about what is possibly the world’s #1 issue.

1. Stephen H. Axilrod, The Federal Reserve: What Everyone Needs to Know .  A short introduction to the topic, from OUP.

The full story is here .  Here is commentary from Salam and Sanchez .  And I have just received the new book by Michael M. Weinstein and Ralph M. Bradburd, The Robin Hood Rules for Smart Giving , an analytical treatment written by two economists.

I continue to read from Bruce Fink’s A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis Theory and Technique .  Here is another bit of interest:

You can buy Season one here , and season two is coming out soon .

You can buy Season one here , and season two is coming out soon .

That is from Bruce Fink’s often quite interesting A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis Theory and Technique , which I suppose also doubles as management advice.

Economic Theory of Greed, Love, Groups, and Networks , by Paul Frijters with Gigi Foster.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager, Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea , the Korean conflicts in broader global perspective.  Good advance reviews, looks interesting on a browse.