I had holidays and a life, so the book summary arrives unexpectedly late.
April 2023, let’s go.
Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to Economy
Thomas Sowell
One of probably the most influential economics textbooks ever, and a great example of everything wrong with economics. I have a longer text on Goodreads, but in short: the whole thing is written from a laissez-faire perspective, permeated with moral judgments, and often based on things that simply aren’t true (higher efficiency of American healthcare). Completely ignores the question of monopolies, which according to Sowell basically don’t really happen. Ugh.
Travis Baldree
It’s COSY FANTASY about a big orc warrior who decides to open a coffee shop and an archetypal band of misfits helps her. It’s simple, it’s fairly dumb, it’s… terribly cosy and actually a fine break.
Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
Jacob Goldstein
A collection of fairly random fun facts about what money is and how it works, with occasional references to Graeber and so on… a nice podcast in text form, I guess.
Desmond Matthew
I was enthusiastic about this in a special Facebook post. One of the best books I’ve read, which very cleverly addresses the causes of poverty, how everything is so much harder when you don’t have money, and how much money the US and other countries pour into supporting billionaires and the middle class.
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Caroline Criado Pérez
Let me start with what can be criticised — in places it’s a bit too anecdotal. The effort to lighten it up with humour (and especially humour at the expense of ex-partners) is a bit greasy. Individual points can sometimes be argued as “that’s not necessarily bias.” Otherwise, though, it’s an absolutely essential thing. The world is set up for men and women suffer because of it in one area after another. And we can change it. If you still don’t know “how women have it worse,” this book can really help.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers
I’m afraid cosy sci-fi isn’t as good as cosy fantasy. In places it tries to be a bit deeper, but the moral conclusions of the book actually rather irritate me, being terribly on the nose, and instead of “the universe is open,” it says “the universe is open kind of like a very liberal American lady, but only so far.”
The Age of AI and Our Human Future
Henry Kissinger
The most pointless book I’ve seen involving Kissinger. The policy conclusions make sense, but the rambling summarising of the development of human civilisation is vanity of vanities.