Recently Mentioned Books

You will find a different intersection of topic areas in Dominic Roser, David Zhang, and J.D. Bauman, All the Lives You Can Change: Effective Altruism for Christians .

Alvaro Rivas, Marx in the Age of AI: How Artificial Intelligence Reshapes Value, Class, and Ideology is a short but serious look as to how Marxian concepts might apply to AI, for instance whether surplus value will be earned on the AIs, or for that matter on non-human animals.

There is Kevin Kelly, Colors of Asia: A Visual Journey, Photos and Design .

For those interested in the longer term, there is Hilary Greaves, Jacob Barrett, and David Thorstad, editors, Essays on Longtermism: Present Action for the Distant Future .

4. Richard H. Davis, Religions of Early India: A Cultural History .  A very useful background read for understanding later Indian history and religions, as well as the more general spread of religion throughout the southern regions of Asia.  Avoids the common mistake of becoming too obscure on these topics.

3. Arindrajit Dube, The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It .  Dube notes his main theme is that employers have discretion in setting the real wage. A good overview of his work in labor economics.  I would stress that if you think “tight labor markets” are good for workers, you should be obsessed with doing lots to favor capital.

2. Elizabeth Alker, Everything We Do is Music: How 20th-Century Classical Music Shaped Pop .  A very good and readable book on this interaction, with excellent discussions of Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, La Monte Young, and Penderecki, among many others.

1. I have been reading in the history of archaeology, and have profited from Eric H. Cline, Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology , which is a very good introduction to what the subtitle claims.  There is also Toby Wilkinson, A World Beneath the Sands: The Golden Age of Egyptology , and Jason Thompson, Wonderful Things: A History of Egyptology, volume 2, The Golden Age: 1881-1914 .

1. I have been reading in the history of archaeology, and have profited from Eric H. Cline, Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology , which is a very good introduction to what the subtitle claims.  There is also Toby Wilkinson, A World Beneath the Sands: The Golden Age of Egyptology , and Jason Thompson, Wonderful Things: A History of Egyptology, volume 2, The Golden Age: 1881-1914 .

1. I have been reading in the history of archaeology, and have profited from Eric H. Cline, Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology , which is a very good introduction to what the subtitle claims.  There is also Toby Wilkinson, A World Beneath the Sands: The Golden Age of Egyptology , and Jason Thompson, Wonderful Things: A History of Egyptology, volume 2, The Golden Age: 1881-1914 .

The book is interesting throughout, recommended.

She has a new book out Thomas More: A Life .

Tom MacTague, Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945-2016 .

Ken Belson, Every Day is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut.

Strongly recommended, Dan and I had so much fun we kept going for about an hour and forty minutes.  And of course you should buy and read Dan’s bestselling book Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future .

WANG: Tyler, what does it say about us that you and I have generally a lot of similar interests in terms of, let’s call it books, music, all sorts of things, but when it comes to particular categories of things, we oppose each other diametrically. I much prefer Anna Karenina to War and Peace . I prefer Buddenbrooks to Magic Mountain . Here again, you oppose me. What’s the deal?

WANG: Tyler, what does it say about us that you and I have generally a lot of similar interests in terms of, let’s call it books, music, all sorts of things, but when it comes to particular categories of things, we oppose each other diametrically. I much prefer Anna Karenina to War and Peace . I prefer Buddenbrooks to Magic Mountain . Here again, you oppose me. What’s the deal?

WANG: Tyler, what does it say about us that you and I have generally a lot of similar interests in terms of, let’s call it books, music, all sorts of things, but when it comes to particular categories of things, we oppose each other diametrically. I much prefer Anna Karenina to War and Peace . I prefer Buddenbrooks to Magic Mountain . Here again, you oppose me. What’s the deal?

WANG: Tyler, what does it say about us that you and I have generally a lot of similar interests in terms of, let’s call it books, music, all sorts of things, but when it comes to particular categories of things, we oppose each other diametrically. I much prefer Anna Karenina to War and Peace . I prefer Buddenbrooks to Magic Mountain . Here again, you oppose me. What’s the deal?

By H.S. Jones, an excellent book .  For all the resurgence of interest in government and its problems, Bryce has received remarkably little attention.  But his theory of low-quality, careerist politcians, combined with imperfectly informed voters, seems highly relevant to our current day.  Public opinion is slow, and largely reactive, but potent once mobilized.  Leadership can truly matter, and he stresses national character and civic education.  In other words, Bryce’s The American Commonwealth...

By H.S. Jones, an excellent book .  For all the resurgence of interest in government and its problems, Bryce has received remarkably little attention.  But his theory of low-quality, careerist politcians, combined with imperfectly informed voters, seems highly relevant to our current day.  Public opinion is slow, and largely reactive, but potent once mobilized.  Leadership can truly matter, and he stresses national character and civic education.  In other words, Bryce’s The American Commonwealth...

Jeff Tweedy, Twilight Override .

Fontaines D.C., Romance , late 2024.

Saya Gray, Saya .

Oklou, Choke Enough .