Recently Mentioned Books

1. Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium , by Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O’Rourke.  A definitive economic history of many things, including globalization and trade.  It is nicely balanced, though a bit boring to actually read.

That is from Wayne Koestenbaum’s recent Hotel Theory , which is possibly the funniest book I have read, with the caveat that a satire of queered Heidegger theory, combined with a fictional story of Lana Turner and Liberace, may not be your thing.  I also loved The Queen’s Throat ; Koestenbaum is one of the most original writers working today.  Here are reviews of the book .

That is from Wayne Koestenbaum’s recent Hotel Theory , which is possibly the funniest book I have read, with the caveat that a satire of queered Heidegger theory, combined with a fictional story of Lana Turner and Liberace, may not be your thing.  I also loved The Queen’s Throat ; Koestenbaum is one of the most original writers working today.  Here are reviews of the book .

5. Popular music : LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver , or possibly Neon Bible , by Arcade Fire.

5. Popular music : LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver , or possibly Neon Bible , by Arcade Fire.

4. Classical CD : Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Peter Lieberson, "Neruda Songs." Read the excellent Ed Uyeshima review on Amazon, it is first.

2. Miscellaneous book : Letters of Ted Hughes .  Everyone loves this, I haven’t read it yet.

Here is one balanced appreciation .  The Wikipedia page is patchy but offers lots.  If you’re only going to buy one or two, I say start with Mantra and then move on to Stimmung .  The hard cores should seek out Spiral . Gesang der J ü nglinge is perhaps the most influential and seminal work, or perhaps Hymnen , order them here .  The junk includes the Helicopter Quartet, Tierkreis , anything with an American Indian theme, and most of material from the operas. Gruppen you probably had to hear liv...

Those are both from H.G. Wells’s excellent and far ahead of its time, The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth .  The novella concerns a new tool of genetic engineering that makes people thirty-five feet tall, and of course occasions social conflict. Well’s short fiction is in general much underrated.

Those are both from H.G. Wells’s excellent and far ahead of its time, The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth .  The novella concerns a new tool of genetic engineering that makes people thirty-five feet tall, and of course occasions social conflict. Well’s short fiction is in general much underrated.

Two books that show economic intellect to advantage are Discover Your Inner Economist , by Tyler Cowen and One Economics, Many Recipes , by Dani Rodrik. Cowen’s book is a set of observations on everyday life, while Rodrik’s book looks at the high-level issue of which economic institutions to recommend for underdeveloped countries.  I made the case for Cowen’s book here and the case for Rodrik’s book here .

Two books that show economic intellect to advantage are Discover Your Inner Economist , by Tyler Cowen and One Economics, Many Recipes , by Dani Rodrik. Cowen’s book is a set of observations on everyday life, while Rodrik’s book looks at the high-level issue of which economic institutions to recommend for underdeveloped countries.  I made the case for Cowen’s book here and the case for Rodrik’s book here .

Loyal MR readers already know about Tim, a regular columnist for The Financial Times and author of The Undercover Economist .  Here is Tim’s blog , and here is Tim’s homepage .

You may remember our very successful book forum on Greg Clark’s A Farewell to Alms .  In short, we all read the book together and I offered running commentary on the contents.  There was a special encouragement for reader comments, and Greg very graciously responded at length.  Next Alex and I, along with some specially invited guest bloggers, will be doing Tim Harford’s new The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World .  Tim’s book won’t be out until January 15, so of course...

Everything .

That is from In the Company of Crows and Ravens , a fascinating book.  Most of all this volume stresses how much crows have co-evolved with humankind.

John’s new book War, Wine, and Taxes sells new for $29.95 on Amazon [TC: this is correcting a previous mistake in listing the price], with free shipping in the U.S.  Many of the used copies of John’s book are selling for over $30, others in the $25-30 range, and the shipping charges are higher than Amazon’s. Last I looked , none of the forty used copies were selling for less than $25 and one was selling for $50.

Buy it here , or here on Amazon .  The Board of Editors included Russ Roberts and myself, and the publisher is Liberty Fund.

That is from Fabio Rojas’s new and noteworthy From Black Power to Black Studies: How a Radical Social Movement Became an Academic Discipline .  Here is Bryan Caplan’s review of the book .

In its first Asian guide , announced on Monday, Michelin has awarded more of its famed stars to Tokyo restaurants than any other city, with a total of 191 stars compared with 64 for Paris and 42 in New York.

6. Single song on iTunes : Anthony and the Johnsons, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.  The key here is to pick a song on an album you won’t otherwise buy or you won’t otherwise think of.

5. DVD : I watched through Planet Earth as quickly as I could .  Yana then took the box up to college, if you need another testimony.  If your loved one doesn’t merit an entire DVD box, I thought Away From Her was the best movie of the year; sadly the first-rate No Country for Old Men won’t be ready on disc in time.

5. DVD : I watched through Planet Earth as quickly as I could .  Yana then took the box up to college, if you need another testimony.  If your loved one doesn’t merit an entire DVD box, I thought Away From Her was the best movie of the year; sadly the first-rate No Country for Old Men won’t be ready on disc in time.

3. Classical music : Either William Byrd, Laudibus in Sanctus , beautifully recorded, or John Adams, The Dharma at Big Sur/My Father Knew Charles Ives , and yes I spent twenty years as a Johns Adams skeptic.  In the last few years he’s raised his music to an entirely new level.

3. Classical music : Either William Byrd, Laudibus in Sanctus , beautifully recorded, or John Adams, The Dharma at Big Sur/My Father Knew Charles Ives , and yes I spent twenty years as a Johns Adams skeptic.  In the last few years he’s raised his music to an entirely new level.