Recently Mentioned Books

Peter Gluckman and Mark Hanson, Ingenious: The Unintended Consequences of Human Innovation .

Robert H. Frank, Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work .

Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, Why Liberalism Works: How True Liberal Values Produce a Freer, More Equal, Prosperous World For All .

An excellent book, you can order it here .

That is the new biography by Benjamin Moser , along with Ingmar Bergman bios you can call this topic my soap opera equivalent.  Here are a few scattered bits:

That is from The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings , edited by Lawrence Sutin.

Edward Snowden, Permanent Record .  Starts slow, but an interesting read no matter what you think of him, most of all of how one can step by step be led to actions one did not originally intend.  I thought his own case for what he did was weaker than I had been expecting.  Embedding it in an “the internet used to be so much better” narrative doesn’t help.  Nonetheless, I read through to the end eagerly.

Matthew Gale and Natalia Sidlina, Natalia Goncharova .  The images in this book I found mind-blowing, claiming a place for Goncharova as one of the very best artists of her time (and what a time for the visual arts it was).

Joshua Gans and Andrew Leigh, Innovation and Equality: How to Create a Future That is More Star Trek and Less Terminator .  A very useful 131 pp. introduction to those issues, most of all arguing that a future full of innovation does not have to push inequality to untenable levels.

Tom Segev, A State At Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion .  I read about one-third of this one.  A fine book, beautifully written, but somehow too much of the material felt familiar given other accounts I had consumed.

Nicholas Lemann, Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream .  Lots of mood affiliation in this one, but the chapter on finance economist Michael Jensen and his longstanding connection with “guru” Werner Erhard is excellent material you cannot find elsewhere.

Thomas J. Campanella, Brooklyn: The Once and Future City . More detailed than what I am looking for on this topic at 552 pp., but some of you will find this an interesting resource.

Again, I am very happy to recommend Alain’s superb book Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities .

I will be doing a Conversation with him, no associated public event.  As you read blogs, you might know Henry’s longstanding work over at CrookedTimber , and also his role in Monkey Cage .  Henry is also professor of political science at George Washington University, has with Abraham L. Newman recently published a path-breaking book on the increasingly important concept of weaponized interdependence , is an expert on comparative labor relations, and is an all-around polymath, including on fictio...

That is the new, interesting, and engaging book by Sean Carroll .  Some of it is exposition, the rest argues for a version of Many Worlds Theory, but with a finite number of universes.  Here is one excerpt:

That is from the new and interesting Only the Dead: The Persistence of War in the Modern Age , by Bear F. Braumoeller, which is largely a critique of Pinker on trends toward peacefulness (Pinker gives only the more optimistic data on Europe).  And from the text:

3. Author/novel : Daniyal Mueenuddin , In Other Rooms, Other Wonders .  I am not sure why this book isn’t better known.  It is better than even the average of the better half of the Booker Prize winners.  Why doesn’t he write more?

2. Qawwali performers : Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Sabri Brothers, and try this French collection of Qawwali music .

That is the new book by Paul Tough , I read it through in one sitting.  The back cover offers an appropriate introduction to the work:

Samantha Power has a new and excellent book out, The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir , which I very much enjoyed.  And so a Conversation with Tyler was in order, here is the audio and transcript , here is one bit:

You can order it here , worthy of my year-end “best non-fiction of the year” list.

That is the new and fascinating book by Judith Grisel , unlike most neuroscientists on these topics she has been addicted to many of the drugs she writes about, or at least has tried them “for real,” furthermore her book integrates her personal and scientific knowledge in a consistently interesting manner.

That is from the new Pico Iyer book , pleasing throughout.  Here is an FT interview with Ayer about the book , and more.  Don’t forget:

I am an admirer of Yancey Strickler, of Kickstarter fame, he has a new book coming out This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World .

David Bentley Hart, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell & Universal Salvation , argues that from a Christian point of view all will be saved and none damned to eternal torment.  Not my framework, but I am not going to push back against what I take to be a Pareto improvement.