Violet Moller – The Map of knowledge
Well narrated account of how Christian and Muslim scholars traveled the world in search of ancient knowledge and preserved it through diligent copying.
Violet Moller – The Map of knowledge
Well narrated account of how Christian and Muslim scholars traveled the world in search of ancient knowledge and preserved it through diligent copying.
Catherine Nixey – The darkering age
If only the book had appeared c. 1700 years earlier it would have been relevant, now it is just a source to tap into for an unhealthy dose of self righteous indignation.
Michael Pye – the edge of the world
A collection of juicy stories backed by interesting historical facts grounded in documented history and archeological finds.
John Kay and Mervin King – Radical Uncertainty
Economists should stay away from pseudo-philosophical assertions, in particular when these hinge on misinterpretation of Bayesian methods, use flawed logic, and do not lead to realistic recommendations.
Andrew Hodges – Alan Turing: The imitation game
A quite complete account of the life and death of one of the most fascinating figures of early computing.
Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo – Good economics for hard times
Smart agent-based modelling perspective on global challenges around poverty and sustainability.
JimMcKelvey – The innovation stack
The book is exactly what it tries to avoid: being just another entertaining founder story (in this case about Square).
Peter Frankopan – The Silk Roads
Due to the breadth of the topic, the compelling perspective disintegrates and it ends up as a long parade of interesting facts.
Philipp Blom – Nature’s mutiny
The perspective of the ‘mini ice age’ reduces to little more than including quotes by historical figures on the harsh winters when narrating the events of the time.
Joe Navarro – What every body is saying
The glossary of non-verbal signals and their meaning makes you aware of the limitations of Zoom, Teams, and Skype, espacially in COVID times.
Michael Lewis – The Fifth Risk
The book should be mainly read for the anecdotes on female astronauts and nerdy coast guards.
The great leveler – Walter Scheidel
Next to revolution (in the spirit of Marx), the book claims there are just three other forces strong enough to achieve leveling: mass warfare, epidemics, and system collapse (the last of which is arguably overlaps with the others).
Michael Beschloss – Presidents of war
In choosing the personal perspective of the leader, makes the book prone to the narrative fallacy.
In COVID times, we are constantly bombarded with figures, statistics, and bold claims. How many people will die? On average, how long do patients stay in ICU? How many ICU bed will be needed? How long will it take to flatten the curve?
Some of these figures will turn out to be true. Others less so. And many will be structurally biased.
This is best illustrated by an innocent example: The most successful weatherman is not the one who makes the most accurate prediction of rain or shine, but the one who predicts rain a bit too often. No-one will blame him when it turns out to be a sunny day. A faulty prediction of sunshine will be less appreciated by his audience.
Similarly, it is best to over-estimate the number of ICU beds you need two weeks from now. That is just proper risk management.
Just be aware: correctly interpreting the figures you see in the news may require game theory as much as it requires statistics.
The author weaves the perspective of women, slaves, and other disadvantaged grouped into the narrative of US history, making the work part of a bigger movement.
The book’s set-up with multiple scenarios for the future works surprisingly well and is especiall concerning for European readers: Europe is almost completely irrelevant in all of Webb’s scenarios.
Edward Snowden – Permanent record
Extensive justification of why Snowden exposed the scope of surveillance by the NSA (with too many references to patriotic US heros among Snowden’s ancestors).
Gregory Zuckerman – the man who solved the market
The book would have been a better read if it had focused on one of its two narratives: the rise of algorithmic trading and the forays of hedge fund executives into US politics.
Christopher Harding – Japan Story
The author provides a richness of perspectives that guide the reader beyond clichés.
Charles Severance – Python for everybody
A highly recommended introduction to coding for aspiring data scientists, providing a rare mix of fundamentals and well-chosen practical examples.