Recently Mentioned Books

2. The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo , The Flying Burrito Brothers ( the first two albums ), plus Gram Parsons’s Grievous Angel .

2. The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo , The Flying Burrito Brothers ( the first two albums ), plus Gram Parsons’s Grievous Angel .

2. The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo , The Flying Burrito Brothers ( the first two albums ), plus Gram Parsons’s Grievous Angel .

That’s a typical question from the new Princeton University Press book by Lawrence Weinstein and John Adam .  The title is Guesstimation and the subtitle is: Solving the World’s Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin.

That is from James Cuno’s excellent Who Owns Antiquity: Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage .  The book criticizes nationalistic identity politics, calls for measures to broaden international access to antiquities, and argues that museums should again be allowed to acquire undocumented antiquities.  In other words he favors a cosmopolitan, property rights approach.  Here is the book’s web page .  Here is an interview , with incisive questions.

A few of you asked me for more commentary on this linked article . Will is on board but I think it is provocative but unconvincing.  Here are a few points: oddly, the author doesn’t mention the strongest argument against such a tax, namely that the Chinese and others may not follow suit.  I don’t worry much about one-time compliance costs if energy improvements bring a sounder long-run state of affairs; admittedly a big if.  The side deals from a tax will be bad and I expect an inefficient versi...

Addendum : I am reminded of Borges on Veblen : "When, many years ago, I happened to read this book, I thought it was a satire.  I later learned it was the first work of an illustrious sociologist."

I think of his mid-career work as being most important, such as his The Formation of National States in Western Europe .  In any case America has lost one of its leading social scientists.  Wikipedia offers good links .  Here is Tilly on how to do social science work , recommended.

James Joyce, Ulysses , Kindle edition , $3.19.  Free shipping, too.

An alternative strategy is to find — today — the eighty-year olds who are still fascinating and run your new ideas by them.  Most of them will gladly receive you.  I used to fly out to Ann Arbor occasionally to meet with the great Marvin Becker , but in general I haven’t done much of this in my life.  Call that my failing but it’s another reason why so many eighty-year-olds don’t bother to appeal to Young Turks as a constituency.

I remain a fan of Richard Posner’s book on old age , one of his best.  I ask Bryan: would he still take the advice that his 12-year-old self might have taped to a door?  Neurological changes aside, the elderly simply have less incentive to be deferential and to court their younger colleagues; Aristotle knew this too.

Princeton University Press ran a small ad for my book last Sunday in the New York Times book review. I was curious if it would have any effect on sales, so I ran a little experiment.  I checked the book’s sales ranking in amazon.com at periodic intervals starting on Saturday afternoon.

That question is from Larry Bartels’s Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age .

2. Paradise with Serpents , by Robert Carver.  The only question is whether this is the first or the second best book on Paraguay in the English language; here is the other contender .

2. Paradise with Serpents , by Robert Carver.  The only question is whether this is the first or the second best book on Paraguay in the English language; here is the other contender .

1. The World is What It Is , by Patrick French.  This authorized (yes, authorized) biography digs up all the dirt on V.S. Naipaul; I’ve never read anything like it.  Here is a Paul Theroux review .  Here is another rave review .  Theroux’s own self-loathing, quasi-fictional biography of his "friendship" with Naipaul — Sir Vidia’s Shadow — remains one of my favorite books but this is a wonderful sequel.  And if you haven’t read through Naipaul’s ouevre you should, especially A Bend in the River ,...

That is from Peter Moskos’s Cop in the Hood: My Year Spent Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District .  In Brooklyn of 2003, there were 35 million dollar blocks .  Here is more information , plus maps and graphs.

That’s the new book by Kevin Phillips .  He concludes:

The author is Bill Kauffman and the subtitle is The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism .  Here is one excerpt:

That is from David W. Anthony’s The Horse The Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppe Shaped the Modern World .  In particular this book focuses on the origin of the Indo-European language group and the relationship between archeology and linguistics.  He is also skeptical of Jared Diamond’s well-known thesis that early Europe had much diffusion of innovation in the East-West direction.  Recommended.

Peter Barnes, Climate Solutions: A Citizen’s Guide is the full title.  This simple book is written in the form of punchlines and cartoons but it’s still one of the more insightful treatments of the topic.  He is skeptical of a carbon tax:

4. Hammerklavier Piano Sonata .  Schnabel’s take on the slow movement is the most profound, but his outer movements are a mess.  Gilels or Pollini are safer.  The box of late piano sonatas by Solomon covers the slow movements beautifully as well; when push comes to shove that is my pick.

1. The Emperor Concerto .  This warhorse is a much underrated piece of music, especially the slow movement.  The best recording, and indeed one of the best classical recordings of all time, is Michelangeli-Celibidache .

The Economist has a new travel blog , the new Fuchsia Dunlop book is only "good," the first issue of Reason magazine under new editor Matt Welch is out (so far I like it; it’s less cultural, less left-wing and more current affairsy than before), finally I am into Wilco, Vishnu’s Crowded Temple is an interesting account of the blend between Indian politics and religion, Arthur Brooks’s Gross National Happiness argues that the traditional conservative recipe makes people happy, Ramon Llull is a mu...

The Economist has a new travel blog , the new Fuchsia Dunlop book is only "good," the first issue of Reason magazine under new editor Matt Welch is out (so far I like it; it’s less cultural, less left-wing and more current affairsy than before), finally I am into Wilco, Vishnu’s Crowded Temple is an interesting account of the blend between Indian politics and religion, Arthur Brooks’s Gross National Happiness argues that the traditional conservative recipe makes people happy, Ramon Llull is a mu...