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.
A start-up in retail should resolve significant friction in the value chain and/or the consumers’ lives
Christiane Lemieux and Duff McDonald – Frictionless
Story on repeat: X had a frustration, X is so privileged that she can raise at least a couple of $100k from friends and family, and X starts an amazing company to solve the problem – at least in theory – for herself and the rest of the world.
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.
Do not start a restaurant, unless there is nothing else you can do
Entertaining and endearing, despite the writers (sometimes painful) personality flaws
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).
Fishermen tend to kill the thing they love
Everything you always wanted to know about the economic, cultural, historical, and culinary significance of cod.
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.
Kill Powerpoint, have to 2-pizza teams, and get your core values straight
Colin Brayer and Bill Carr – Working backwards
Somehow, there is no mention of pee bottles or other excesses concerning operational staff in the book.
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.
Over the past decades, most economists have been forced to flex their opinion on the efficient market hypothesis
Justin Fox – The myth of the rational market
The book resists the temptation to get lost in juicy stories, but focuses on the evolution of ideas.
The escalating polarization in USA politics may well lead to an exit of California or Texas from the union
Daivd French – Divided we fall
January 2021: After the Capitol attack (6 Jan. 2021) it became clear how close we actually were to this type of scenario.
November 2020: The hypothetical scenarios are well crafted and unfortunately not as far-fetched as one might hope.
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.
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.
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.
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’.