Great overview that brings together different perspectives in a shocking narrative without becoming judgemental.
Protective parenting and the quest for emotional safety hurt the mental resilience of gen Z
Greg Lukianov and Jonathan Haidt – The coddling of the American mind
The writers provide valuable life lessons for individuals, but (unfortunately) do not discuss the broader societal function of protest movements.
Elections are not democratic but aristocratic, because only members of the elite get on the ballot
David van Reybrouk – Against Elections (read in Dutch)
It would be interesting to expand the solution space to include not just random selection of citizens but also modes of participation and collaboration from non-political domains like open source software development.
A subversive branch of the French royal family has been responsible for the emergence of the low countries as a geopolitical entity
Bart de Loo – The Burgundians (read in Dutch)
Politics and court life in the high middle ages evoked in a juicy style.
Indigenous societies show that, next to capitalism, there are many alternative blends of violence, knowledge and charisma on which a viable social power structure can be built
David Graeber and David Wengrow – The dawn of everything
The authors attack a overly simplified version of the theories they aim to refute, failing to recognize the necessarily non-linear nature of evolution.
Politicians need not believe in conspiricy theories to spread them
Russel Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum – A lot of people are saying
January 2020: The book spells out the scary power of herd mentality in a post-truth world (indebted to Harry Frankfurt and Fernbach and Sloman).
March 2022: In the perspective of this book, it is curious to see how far Putin can stretch his narrative on the Ukraine invasionfor his domestic audience.
The West has been underestimating the threat of Putin for many years
Garry Kasparov – Winter is coming
March 2022: A foresighted moral plea, that after the Ukraine invasion has become an even more chilling read.
When belief in progress has vanished, populists promise to rebuild the past – at all costs
Timothy Snyder – the road to unfreedom
October 2019: Elaborate and fascinating analysis of Putin’s Russia, which bears striking parallels to what populists in Western countries try, more recently.
March 2022: Chilling to see these themes back in Putin’s messaging around the Ukraine invasion.
The US postal service is a success story of the benefits of public funding
Winifred Gallagher – How the post office created America
In theory a fascinating topic, but in practice a boring read; as I should have expected because the Post leveraged rather than drove innovation.
To solve the problems facing our planet today, we need to think ahead seven generations
Roman Krznaric – The good ancestor
Hard-felt plea for including future generations into political decision making.
Traders trying to make a killing in an ever more sophisticated market economy are driven to ever smarter deals and lower moral standards
Javier Blas and Jack Farchy – The world for sale
Well documented account of how instrumental commodity markets have been in global politics.
Flawed data collection and interpretation hurt the position and prospects of women in many different ways
Caroline Criado Perez – Invisible women
Great exercise in spotting biases, and understanding how these manifest themselves in how the world around us is shaped.
Almost any country can hack its way to power, posing a threat to political systems and essential infrastructure world-wide
Nicole Perlroth – This is ho they tell me the world ends
Although the writer clearly picks sides, she does not shy away from the role of the US in the cyber arms race.
Today’s dominant ideology is the acceptance of ‘how the world really is’ and that any attempt to change that will lead to ruin
Slavoj Zizek – Like a thief in broad daylight
Mix of interesting Marxist perspectives on contemporary politics and confusing rants about old movies.
China’s debt-fueled economic growth cannot continue in the same way
Dinny McMahon – China’s great wall of debt
October 2021: Apparently, the financial troubles of Evergrande are the first cracks in the wall.
July 2019: Interesting perspective on China’s impressive rise over the past years, providing more context to the recent trade war with the US and contrasting the view of Kai-Fu Lee.
Like in other instances of decolonization, forming the USA has been a murky affair largely dependent on chance
Colin Woodard – American nations
The book is more about political realities than about cultures, with little attention given to the role of black people (apart from them being enslaved).
It is the responsibility of white people to end discrimination and assure racial equality
Layla Saad – Me and white supremacy
The “just shut up and listen”-attitude is refreshing, but will not convince anyone who is not already on the reader’s side and even antagonize many potential supporters of her cause.
Never trust data scientists, in particular when they do not have data
The writer never really succeeds in making the Simulmatics story seem important, partly because due to endless digressions about the bad marriages of the men who founded the company and partly because she avoids any substantial assessment of the actual models they used.
Truly understanding strangers is difficult, but failing to do so may cause grave harm to individuals as well as society as a whole
Malcolm Gladwell – Talking to strangers
Gladwell once more makes his well known point that prejudice is often subconscious and institutionalized (cf. also Blink), this time inspired by a BLM atrocity.
Experiencing other people’s suffering leads us away from rational decision making
The seemingly controversial thesis turns out to be a platitude hidden behind a carefully crafted facade of definitions.