The start of the beginning of a leftist program, but not much more.
In a polarized, post-truth US political landscape, the special prosecutor system for investigating presidents urgently needs an overhaul.
Elie Honig – When you come at the king
Refreshing in the way the author separates their legal perspectives from political preferences in an increasingly partisan landscape.
The tale of Europe in the 20th century is one of immense human suffering, marked by two world wars and the decay of idealism at a massive scale
Geert Mak – In Europe (read in Dutch)
Impressive work that bridges the gap between a conceptual narrative and the personal experience of the people living through it.
Over the past decades Apple and the Chinese tech industry grew in co-dependence, but in recent years the balance of power has been shifting towards China.
Patrick McGee – Apple in China
The hardware-centric perspective sets the book apart from other accounts.
As trusted deputy of FDR, Harry Hopkins had a major impact on the way in which WWII unfolded
Geert Mak – Wisselwachter (in Dutch)
The author is skilled in blending the arc of history with the personal narrative of the actors shaping it, but could have been a bit more strict in curating the stories he included.
Trying to bring innovation to an organization that relishes traditions inevitably leads to an intense political battles
Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff – Unit X
However hard the authors try, it is hard to make the political machinations sound exciting.
Autocracy has become a team sport in which autocrats team-up with kleptocratic financiers, tech surveillance providers, and each other to bring liberal democracy to its knees
Anne Applebaum – Autocracy Inc.
Unfortunately, the strongly opiniated perspectives of the authortake away some of the power of the solid analyses.
Facebook leadership does not care about employees or humanity, but only about market power and profit.
Sarah Wynn-Williams – Careless people
To make the central thesis compelling, it would have been better to split the book in two: one on Facebook’s policy choices and one on how it treats its employees.
The only way to control the power of tech power houses and defend the rights of ordinary citizens is stricter regulation
Marietje Schaake – The tech coup
Although the book makes valuable points, the full focus on legislation risks overlooking the importance of thriving innovation for defending long term competitiveness in geopolitical context.
Capitalism has fallen: not due to a communist revolution, but by the hand of a new elite of rent-extracting technology companies that has grabbed power
Yanis Varoufakis – Technofeudalism
A surprising blend of philosophical reflections, personal dialogues, the retelling of a Netflix series, and a Marxist polemic pamphlet.
The coupling of personal and economic freedom increasingly appears to be a thing of the past
Martin Wolf – The crisis of Democratic Capitalism
After a slow start, the book provides interesting analyses, which after the 2024 US elections is more relevant than ever.
The ability to quantify and appreciate risks provides a competitive edge, but in the face of existential risks many models break down
Entertaining, but in-all, the book reads as a manifesto written for those who already agree.
A prince needs to carefully balance show of force and political scheming
Niccolo Machiavelli – The prince
In theory Machiavelli had it all figured out,
An unstable cocktail of money, power, prestige, politics and bling brought a Florentine banking dynasty to the highest regions of power. for as long as it lasted
Mary Hollingworth – The medici
Well written, striking the right balance between a thorough historical narrative, juicy gossip about minor royalty, and arty name-dropping.
Military theory always seems to be focused on solving the challenges from the previous war
David Patraeus and Andrew Roberts – Conflict
Somehow, in the world of Mr. Patraeus, all people who agree with the general are the most capable, intelligent and respected leaders to ever walk the earth while the French are never any good.
The West has for a long time under-estimated the tenacity of Russian covert operations
Gordon Corera – Russians among us
The connection between ‘illegals’ and digital information warfare seems mostly motivated by the author’s (or publisher’s) desire to give the book more relevance, rather than the coherence of the narrative.
If power is all you want, just follow these 48 simple steps
Robert Greene – The 48 laws of power
A pile of cynical, often conflicting, recommendations presented with Machiavellian panache.
The populist far-right has been able to gain ground due to the failure of progressives to address underlying concerns across broad strands of the population
Rhetorically strong, with well chosen observations spun into a seductive narrative that is designed to give hope.
To optimally solve for the UN Social Development Goals, optimize on simple metrics with good pay-off
Bjorn Lomborg – Best things first
Nice exercise that provides some nice contrarian thinking, as long as one is aware that the methodology of cost-benefit analysis (as applied here) seems to ignore systemic risks (e.g. climate change) and under-plays the difficulty of getting from theory to policy (let alone realization).
A solid system of taxation is one of the major indicators for the success of power structures
Chris Wickham – Medieval Europe
Rich and fascinating deep-dive into an under-estimated millennium.