Recently Mentioned Books

5. Bluegrass : The Louvin Brothers. Tragic Songs of Life is one of my favorite albums as it has a deeply scary and tragic feel; again you can love it even if you hate country and bluegrass.  Do you know the song "The Great Atomic Power"?

4. Country music : Hank Williams.  Even if you hate country music you should buy the two CDs of his collected works.  I also love Shelby Lynne; start with I am Shelby Lynne .

3. Jazz : Lionel Hampton is the obvious choice, but I will pick Sun Ra, who is a musical god of sorts for me. Jazz in Silhouette is the best place to start, although it does not communicate the overall diversity of his work.  He remains an underrated musical figure.

1. Popular music .  Emmylou Harris is from Birmingham and I like her albums with Gram Parsons .  "The New Soft Shoe" is an excellent song.  While I appreciate Nat King Cole in the abstract I never choose to put it on.  Lionel Richie has a nice voice but the sound is too bland for my taste.

The subtitle is A Migraine Diary and you can buy this very interesting book here .  Levy outlines his struggle with migraines, their possible roots, and what they reveal about the broader human condition.  According to Levy, Asians and African-Americans are less prone to migraines and the differences may be partly genetic in origin.

That is the title of the new novel by Rafael Yglesias .  Here is a tiny excerpt:

3. Architecture book , set in : Robert Venturi, Learning from Las Vegas .

1. Movie, set in : Viva Las Vegas , with a number of strong runner-ups, including Ocean's Eleven , Leaving Las Vegas , the still under-rated Casino , Diamonds are Forever , Showgirls , Austin Powers (partly, I recall), and you might even squeeze Godfather II into the category.  Catch this erotically supercharged clip of Elvis singing to Ann Margaret .  Wasn't Them set in Nevada?

It's been great (#1 Business book on Amazon yesterday) and I'm working to " fill the orders " as fast as I can.  If I'm not sending you your chapter *now*, it is because a) I am blogging, b) I am sending someone else the chapter, or c) I am getting on a flight.  I will get to it, it's also very good to hear from you all, and keep the orders coming .

Buy the book here on Kindle for 99 cents .

No, it's not a bonus chapter from Create Your Own Economy .

That's the title of the new Tom Palmer book and the subtitle is apt: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice .  It delivers what it promises plus the very short essays (Iraq, gay pride in Moscow) are quite interesting.  I view this book as defining one of the main threads in modern libertarian thought:

You can buy the book here .

I was asked six questions (mostly about Create Your Own Economy , but not all), here is one of them:

I'll be there soon and I'll have a free day — maybe even a day and a half — and I'm wondering what to do.  For all the talk about markets in everything, I can't find a good guide book on Alabama .  This worries me only a little.  There is Alabama Off the Beaten Path but first I would like to know the path.  Your suggestions are very much welcome and since they are coming in an intellectual vacuum they will have even more influence than usual.  (Imagine handing Road to Serfdom to a thirteen-year-...

5. The Book of Psalms , translated by Robert Alter (my favorite Biblical translator).  Recommended.

The East, the West, and Sex: A History of Erotic Encounters , by Richard Bernstein.  When I first saw this book I swore I wouldn't read it or buy it.  Then the excellent reviews started piling up.  Eventually I broke down.  It turns out the writing is superb and it has plenty of informative content.  But you know what, it is still a bad book and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  The always-excellent Laura Miller reviews it .

3. Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa from Mandela to Zuma , by Alec Russell.  An excellent book which shows how messed up this country is likely to remain.  Zuma in particular is a nasty piece of work .

2. Economics Does Not Lie: A Defense of the Free Market in a Time of Crisis , by Guy Sorman .  He is a French classical liberal, defending a market-oriented point of view.

1. Zhivago's Children: The Last Russian Intelligentsia , by Vladislav Zubok.  This excellent Belknap book focuses on the question of how the Soviets had much of an intelligentsia at all.  More fun and more readable than expected and consistently interesting throughout.  Soon this book will be put through the occasionally idiosyncratic "Natasha test."

If you aggregating a lot of binary opinions, I vote yes you should buy it .  It's more accessible and less mysterious-sounding than their usual fare, which you may consider either a plus or a minus.  If you're wondering what my underlying stance is, a few days ago I said to Brian Hooks something like: "I'm glad I've never really been a fan, that leaves me free to enjoy them without feeling threatened by what they stand for."

Many bloggers are citing a recent Scientific American piece , one part of which covers how autistics come closer to satisfying some canons of economic rationality.  Since I discuss the underlying research in Create Your Own Economy , I should point out that the SA article doesn't quite get it right.  They serve up:

I haven't read the book yet, but hope to report back when I do.  For this pointer I thank Eric Wignall.

He's one of the few musicians I've been listening to since I was six years old.  I've long thought I Want You Back is one of the best songs, period. She's Out of My Life has for a long time been a personal favorite, as is Girlfriend . Billie Jean survives being overplayed on muzak. Off the Wall is an underrated album, as is History .  His personal legacy is perhaps a dubious one, but he was one of the great dancers and entertainers of his century and it is a shock to read of his passing.  The J....

He's one of the few musicians I've been listening to since I was six years old.  I've long thought I Want You Back is one of the best songs, period. She's Out of My Life has for a long time been a personal favorite, as is Girlfriend . Billie Jean survives being overplayed on muzak. Off the Wall is an underrated album, as is History .  His personal legacy is perhaps a dubious one, but he was one of the great dancers and entertainers of his century and it is a shock to read of his passing.  The J....