The seemingly controversial thesis turns out to be a platitude hidden behind a carefully crafted facade of definitions.
The left terrorizes the right while bathing in victimhood
The purposeful one-sided rant makes the book lose all credibility, in particular since the arguments can easily be reversed – especially in the wake of Trump’s desperate challenge the US election outcome.
It is not political philosophy, but political geography that led Democrats in the USA to embrace the knowledge economy
Jonathan Rodden – Why cities lose
In the US election system, geographic concentration puts democrats at a fundamental disadvantage.
The combination of dogged determination and a bit of luck can turn an antihero into a hero
Anita Anand – The patient assassin
Compelling story telling and enriching perspectives make it hard not to become fascinated by Udham Singh and his quest for revenge.
The escalating polarization in USA politics may well lead to an exit of California or Texas from the union
Daivd French – Divided we fall
The hypothetical scenarios are well crafted and unfortunately not as far-fetched as one might hope.
Update: After the Capitol attack (6 Jan. 2021) it became clear how close we came to this type of scenario.
Once people realize that the US will never ever be able to pay off its debt, inflation will skyrocket and the the economy will be in shambles
Good diagnosis of current monetary policy, but combined with a disappointingly naive belief in the free market as panacea.
Geography has surprisingly strong explanatory power when it comes to long-term trends in politics and war
Tim Marshall – Prisoners of geography
Insightful perspective that highlights how few options political leaders actually have in responding to external threats.
Because we fundamentally believe resources can and will be redistributed, we will fall into the trap of always trying to make the overall pie as big as possible
Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo – Good economics for hard times
Smart agent-based modelling perspective on global challenges around poverty and sustainability.
The ignorance of the Trump administration when it comes to the inner workings of government creates immense risks
Michael Lewis – The Fifth Risk
The book should be mainly read for the anecdotes on female astronauts and nerdy coast guards.
Without massive and violent disruption of the established order, there will be no meaningful redistribution of wealth
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).
For a democratic leader, waging war is a balancing act between ethics, national interests and electoral impact
Michael Beschloss – Presidents of war
In choosing the personal perspective of the leader, makes the book prone to the narrative fallacy.
The US constitution has always been used as a tool for suppression
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.
There is a big difference between leaking and wistle blowing
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).
Following the rise of Jim Simons’ Renaissance, quants have become a major force in US politics
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.
Politicians need not believe in conspiricy theories to spread them
Russel Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum – A lot of people are saying
Spells out the scary power of herd mentality in a post-truth world (indebted to Harry Frankfurt and Fernbach and Sloman).
Over the past 170 years Japan’s perception of itself has changed radically – multiple times
Christopher Harding – Japan Story
The author provides a richness of perspectives that guide the reader beyond clichés.
In Western societies the uneducated are outcasts, which poses systemic threats for democracy
Paul Collier – The future of capitalism
The author’s recommended retun to a local solidarity may address the issue at hand, but will also pose significant threats for ‘diversity and inclusion’.
When belief in progress has vanished, populists promise to rebuild the past – at all costs
Timothy Snyder – the road to unfreedom
Elaborate and fascinating analysis of Putin’s Russia, which bears striking parallels to what happens in Western countries, more recently.
Thanks to technology, it becomes ever easier for fringe movements to topple the establishment
Moises Naim – The end of power
the book, written pre-Trump, pre-Brexit and pre-Cambridge Analytics, underemphasizes the risk of large-scale orchestration of fringe groups to undermine nation states; thereby making the author’s call for stronger institutions feels a bit besides the point.
China’s debt-fueled economic growth cannot continue in the same way
Dinny McMahon – China’s great wall of debt
Interesting perspective on China’s impressive rise over the past year,providing more context to the recent trade war with the US, contrasting the view of Kai-Fu Lee.