Recently Mentioned Books

Toby Ord’s forthcoming The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity is a comprehensive look at existential risk, written by an Oxford philosopher and student of Derek Parfit.

Gordon Teskey, Spenserian Moments , The Master is finally receiving his poetic due.

4. Juan Du, The Shenzhen Experiment: The Story of China’s Instant City .  An actual history, as opposed to the usual blah-blah-blah you find in so many China books.  The author has a background in architecture and urban planning, and stresses the import of the Pearl River Delta before Deng’s reforms (Shenzhen wasn’t just a run-down fishing village), decentralization in Chinese reforms, and fits and starts in the city’s post-reform history.  Anyone who reads books on China should consider this on...

3. Ryan H. Murphy, Markets Against Modernity: Ecological Irrationality, Public and Private .  The book has blurbs from Bryan Caplan and Scott Sumner, and I think of it as an ecological, historically reconstructed account of the demand for irrationality as it relates to the environment, interest in “do-it-yourself,” and the love for small scale enterprise.  Interesting, but overpriced.

2. Richard J. Lazarus, The Rule of Five: Making Climate History at the Supreme Court .  A genuinely interesting and well-presented history of how climate change became a partisan issue in the United States, somewhat broader than its title may indicate.

1. Ben Cohen, The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks .  An intelligent popular social science book covering everything from Stephen Curry to Shakespeare to The Princess Bride, David Booth, Eugene Fama, and more.  I am not sure the book is actually about “the hot hand” as a unified phenomenon, as opposed to mere talent persistence, but still I will take intelligence over the alternative.

Due out in January, you can pre-order your copy here .

As for historic cinema, I am very glad I purchased the complete Blu-Ray set of Ingmar Bergman movies , spectacular transfers and the American viewer can watch the true, complete version of Persona for the first time.

DUFLO: You know that book, Bringing Up Bébé ?

On the classical music front, Jean-Paul Gasparian’s Chopin CD is one of the best Chopin recordings ever, which is saying something.

Elizabeth Strout, Olive, Again: A Novel .

Bernardine Evaristo. Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel .  The Booker co-winner and yes the focus of black women’s gender-fluid lives in Britain sounds too PC, but I was won over.  There is a Straussian reading of it as well.

Susan Gubar, Late-Life Love: A Memoir .

Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Herself Alone, volume three .

John Barton, A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book .

The author is Steven G Medema, and the subtitle is From Xenophon to Cryptocurrency, 250 Milestones in the History of Economics .  It is over 500 pages, one page per idea, with lovely color plates next to each page of text.  Test both your knowledge of economics and of history of economic thought.  For instance, it covers the median voter theorem, linear programming, the socialist calculation debate, and much more.  Very well done, and also a good gift book.

I will be doing a Conversation with him, and he has a new book coming out Why We’re Polarized .  Normally I would read the book right away, but I’ll postpone that a bit closer in time to the Conversation itself.

For systems that are dynamic and complex, like human societies, outcomes are a lot more mysterious.  A failure cascade of revolts (the hypothesis) will knock the institutions of modern government ever further from equilibrium, until the entire structure topples into what Alicia Juarrero calls “phase change”:  a “qualitative reconfiguration of the constraints” that gave the failed system its peculiar character.  In plain language, the old regime is overthrown – but at this stage randomness takes ...

Conversations with Zizek .  Maybe the best introduction to why Žižek is a richer thinker than his critics allege?  The book serves up insights on a consistent basis, and there is a minimum of jargon.  Marcus Pound had a good blurb: “Audacious and vertiginous, this book is everything one expects from him, a heady mix of psychoanalysis, politics, theology, philosophy, and cultural studies that will leave the reader both exhausted and exhilarated.”

David Goldblatt, The Age of Football: The Global Game in the Twenty-First Century .  Football meaning soccer of course, this book covers how soccer interacts with politics in many particular countries, including Africa, and just how much the game has grown in global markets.  Mostly informative, good if you wish to read a book about this topic (I don’t).

Razeen Sally, Return to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Island .  People do not think enough about Sri Lanka, including in the social sciences!  It is a richer and nicer country than what most people are expecting, and it is good for studying both conflict and ethnic tensions.  This memoir — information rich rather than just blather — is one good place to get you started.

Dana Thomas, Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion & The Future of Clothes .  Some parts of this book have bad economics and extreme mood affiliation, but in general it has more actual information than other books on the same topic and at times the author makes decent external cost arguments against the current system of clothes production.  So a qualified recommendation, at least I am glad I read it, even though some parts are obviously too sloppy.

Ajantha Subramanian, The Caste of Merit: Engineering Education in India .  A critique of casteism and growing inequality, this book also doubles as a fascinating history of IIT.  Best read in Straussian fashion as a sympathetic story of origins.

Roderick Floud, An Economic History of the English Garden .  Every page of this book does indeed have economics.  It just does not have interesting economics.  Which may mean that gardens are not so interesting from an economic point of view.  Which in turn would make this a good book.  But not an interesting book.

The author is Boye Lafayette de Mente, and he seems to know a lot about Korean bowing.  Do note the book is mainly about South Korea.  Reviewers, by the way, complain that there are significant mistakes in the Korean characters.  Recommended nonetheless, albeit with caveats, you can buy it here .