Recently Mentioned Books

That is from the Pierre Azoulay and Danielle Li essay “Scientific Grant Funding,” in the new and highly useful NBER volume Innovation and Public Policy , edited by Austan Goolsbee and Benjamin F. Jones.  (But according to the book’s own theories, shouldn’t the book be cheaper than that?)

The subtitle of the work is Essays in Political Irrationality .  Definitely recommended, buy it here .  Fittingly, the dedication of the book is “To Alex Tabarrok, a captain of reason in a sea of political irrationality.”

I will be doing a Conversation with him, and he has a new book out Impromptu: Amplifying Our Humanity Through AI , co-authored with GPT-4.  But I can ask him about anything!

…of the Bank of England, in the eighteenth century.  Brought to you by Anne L. Murphy in her new book Virtuous Bankers: A Day in the Life of the Eighteenth-Century Bank of England .  This book is a remarkable achievement, as it truly does recreate the rhythms of a typical day in the life of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street:

Due out May 13 , this book is the documentation, definitely recommended, especially for the skeptics.

Definitely recommended, with numerous interesting parts.  And I am very happy to recommend Anna’s latest book The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown .

The marshaled evidence is convincing, and I will be blogging more about this book.  While some stiff competition is coming, this could be the most important economics and policy book of this year.  And yes it is remarkable that such a book is so needed, but yes it is.  And here is Melissa on Twitter .

A new and great book , authored by Melissa S. Kearney of the University of Maryland.  The subtitle is How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind , and here is one excerpt of the summary points:

Coming out is Robin Douglass, Mandeville’s Fable: Pride, Hypocrisy, and Sociability .

Do not forget John Cochrane’s The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level , as presented on John’s blog as well.

The impressive Jon Elster has just published America Before 1787: The Unraveling of a Colonial Regime .

There is Peter Turchin, End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration .

W. Paul Reeve, Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood .  Argues that the Mormons had relatively universalistic origins, and that Brigham Young was the one who introduced the later segregationist ideas.

Thomas Bartlett, Ireland: A History .  One of the best one-volume introductions to Irish history.

Colin Kidd, Union and Unionisms: Political Thought in Scotland, 1500-2000 .  A very good and well-written look at Scottish views on the Union over the centuries.  Explained conceptually in a nice way, not just a catalog, and tied to religion as well.

I have read only about 30 pp. so far, but this is clearly one of the best science books I have read, ever.  It is clear, always to the point, conceptual, connects advances in math to the broader history, explains the math, and full of interesting detail. By Reviel Netz .  Here is a brief excerpt:

6. There is a great deal of available trip prep material for Italy in the form of movies, fiction, and history.  Most of all, however, you should focus on using picture books to have an advance sense of the art and architecture.  The classic book on Italy, Luigi Barzini’s The Italians , is still worth reading.  And often the postwar fiction, or even Manzoni , are better trip prep than the very famous classics such as Dante and Petrarch (though you should read them anyway, but for other reasons).

6. There is a great deal of available trip prep material for Italy in the form of movies, fiction, and history.  Most of all, however, you should focus on using picture books to have an advance sense of the art and architecture.  The classic book on Italy, Luigi Barzini’s The Italians , is still worth reading.  And often the postwar fiction, or even Manzoni , are better trip prep than the very famous classics such as Dante and Petrarch (though you should read them anyway, but for other reasons).

The subtitle is The Making and Remaking of the Irish World , and the author is Sean Connolly.  Excerpt:

David Edmonds, Parfit: A Philosopher and his Mission to Save Morality .  I’ve already told you I love this book, due out April, definitely one of the books of the year.

I have not yet read Mark Calabria’s Shelter from the Storm: How a Covid Mortgage Meltdown was Averted , Cato Institute book.

Charles Dunst, Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman .  Full of true claims, common sense, and a needed dose of optimism.

Murray Pittock, Enlightenment in a Smart City: Edinburgh’s Civic Development 1660-1750 is an excellent book on how the built environment of Edinburgh, and its building reforms and improvements, shaped the Scottish Enlightenment.  Gives a better sense of the Edinburgh of the time than any other book I know.  I don’t mean the thinkers in the city, I mean the city itself.

Peter Frankopan, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History .  Long, full of information, and well written, but somehow lacks a central organizing thesis to hold it all together.

Rainer Zitelmann, In Defense of Capitalism: Debunking the Myths .  A very good pro-capitalism book, broadly in the Milton Friedman tradition.