Recently Mentioned Books

7. Javier Cercas: Soldiers of Salamis .  One of the best novels on wartime guilt, collective memory, and the ambiguous role of the author in a narrative.  Recommended, if you are willing to give it a suitably careful read.

2. Calderon: Life is a Dream .  The piece of Spanish literature you are most likely not to have read that you should read.  Every smart, well-educated person should know this book.

That is from Naked in Haiti: A…Morality Tale About Tourists, Prostitutes and Politicians , by Dan King.  This book has received very little notice but it’s a more interesting look at human commodification than anything you’ll find coming out of Harvard or Princeton.  I can only say that the author really seems to know what he is talking about , if you get my drift.  This work would not have been approved at university institutional review boards.  It’s also one of the best books on "life on the ...

The book is the latest attempt to write a populist, Progressive economics tract.

Album about : Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain .  One of my three or four favorite Miles CDs, so an easy pick.  Admittedly the move toward an "acoustic-electric" sound does not appeal to all jazz fans, so this album remains underappreciated.

Spanish pianist, playing Spanish music : Alicia de Larrocha is the obvious choice.  Her Albeniz and Granados recordings remain unsurpassed.

Classical guitarist : Segovia, starting with his recordings of Bach .  It’s not just amazing technique, these are some of the best musical interpretations of Bach by anyone playing any instrument.  They are what I call lifetime choices for one’s collection.

In other words, who really knows?  The excerpt is from Darwin’s new book After Tamerlane: The Global History of Empire Since 1405 , which should be read by anyone…who…reads books with titles like that.  It is most interesting on the Indian and Arabic collapse of the 18th century and on fitting the Russian conquest of Central Asia into the more general history of European imperialism.  I didn’t find any revelations in the book, but it was consistently interesting and readable throughout.

High levels of inequality often bring more integration, at least in terms of spatial proximity.  Even with high rents there is a large community of Latinos living just outside of Aspen, Colorado.  Guess why.  They don’t live right next to the very rich but they do live among non-Latinos.  And the greater availability of cheap services is one reason I prefer life in the United States to Western Europe.  Cheap shipping of goods means I still can get French cheese and German books .

The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved by Judith Freeman . This book is essential to anyone looking for a) a love letter to Los Angeles, b) a chance to cultivate an obsession with Raymond Chandler, or c) a new model for writing intelligent nonfiction. It’s a colorful local history of the California metropolis in the first half of the 20 th century plus an erotic biography with lots of speculative commentary interspersed, most of all on how Chandler conducted his unorthodox lov...

That contrast is from Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational .  Even if you add in auto theft, burglary, and larceny-theft, the former sum does not exceed $16 billion.

5. William Gibson, Neuromancer .  Wow, this is now twenty-four years old.  I’m teaching it next week in Law and Literature class.  Upon rereading what strikes me most is how little science fiction it offers and how much it follows in the stylistic footsteps of Hammett and Chandler.

4. Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence , by John Chasteen.  Every now and then a history book sweeps you up into its world; this one did it for me, most of all the treatment of Alexander von Humboldt but from beginning to end as well.  The best and most readable book on its topic.

3. Castles, Battles, and Bombs: How Economics Explains Military History , by Jurgen Brauer and Hubert van Tuyll.  The table of contents looks amazing, but my browsing indicated this book to be boring.  Still, some of you should read it.  It is full of factual substance, slotted into an economic framework.

2. Dante, Paradiso , translated by Robert and Jean Hollander.  There still is not a gripping English-language Paradiso on the market, as the Mandelbaum translation is flawed as well and don’t ever trust Penguin translations with anything.  This one doesn’t elevate me as the text should.  But it has the best notes of any edition, is laid out most nicely, and is the best for trying to follow the Italian and cross-reference the translation.  If you buy only one English-language Paradiso maybe it is...

1. Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America , by Andrei S. Markovits.  Not the usual swill on this topic; sadly the main prediction of this book is that the passing of Bush will not make America much more popular in Europe.  Read this short article on the same.

For commentary on chapter four from Tim Harford’s The Logic of Life , Megan McArdle steps up .  The post is over at her blog, go over there to leave your opinions and show the Atlantic Monthly who’s got the better commentators!

There is more on the way in behavioral economics.  There is Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior , by Ori and Rom Brafman and Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness , the defense of voluntary paternalism from Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, due out later this June and April respectively.

There is more on the way in behavioral economics.  There is Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior , by Ori and Rom Brafman and Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness , the defense of voluntary paternalism from Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, due out later this June and April respectively.

That is from Dan Ariely’s new and excellent Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions .  Here is Dan’s book-related blog .  All of a sudden my head is spinning, wondering what a relative price ratio really means (we can’t divide by zero).  Or is this just the Alchian and Allen theorem on steroids, namely the claim that fixed charges encourage the consumption of the higher quality good?  Or I think: "Zero, is there something special about that number?"

I learned from this new book .  Most of all it shows how the earth likely will change as temperatures rise.

The book is by David Dranove and the subtitle is An Economist Explains How to Revive the Healthcare System Without Destroying It .  Here is the Amazon listing .  Here is the book’s home page .

5. Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You With the Bill) , by David Cay Johnston.  This is quite a good compendium of different ways that government screws us over, written from a mixed populist/libertarian point of view.  Recommended.  I expected not so much but the substance here held my attention.  I’d now like to know the total welfare cost of all these bad policies.

4. Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism , by John Updike.  Scattered essays on just about everything.  Completely apart from his fiction, Updike is simply one of the smartest and most impressive people out there.  It is amazing how many topics he knows so much about and how well he writes about them.

3. Architecture of Authority , by Richard Ross.  This book is nothing more than photos of jail cells, parole hearing rooms, Mary Boone Gallery, and the like.  Thought-provoking.