Somehow a whole month scooted by, so this is another round-up post. I read a lot as I was travelling a lot, but wrote little as I also had a big end of month deadline (met just in time).
When the Clock Broke by John Ganz – a good, sobering, read about the deep roots (in Reaganite economic policies as well as loder traditions of white supremacy) of the polarisation of American politics. It tells the tale through a focus on the growing extremist politics of characters like David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot.
War and Power by Phillips O’Brien – sent to me by an historian friend. A persuasive framework for understanding how (not to) win wars. My main takeaway was that planning and logistics matter above all else, along with the capacity of the domestic economy to produce what’s needed. Battles – not so much. Mr Hegseth has obviously not read this book.
What Is Intelligence? by Blaise Aguera Y Arcas. I read this very quickly when it first came out and have just re-read it, having picked up a copy at Social Science FOO in Mountain View. Super-interesting, ranging from quantum physics through neuroscience to AI. Lots of great facts I didn’t know (who knew bees could recognise human faces?). But also a thought-provoking argument about the unity of how intelligence evolves across the universe – including AI. I don’t know if I’m completely persuaded, but it has made me pause.
Accounting for Capitalism by Michael Zakim. This is an enjoyable history mainly about the growth of the clerical class in 19th and early 20th century America. It also touches on the technologies of book-keeping and the growth of statistics.
How Data Happened by Chris Wiggins & Matthew Jones. This would be a good introduction for students to the history of statistics from Quetelet on, and to the role of data today and the ethical issues raised by its use. For me, not a lot new here.
I also re-read How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind: The Strange Career of Postwar Rationality, written by a group of academics out of a workshop on the postwar elevation of rational calculation as the basis for policy. It’s interesting but rather superseded by Elizabeth Popp Berman’s Thinking Like An Economist and Jill Lepore’s If Then.
Non work reads:
Nonesuch by Francis Spufford – a new novel by Francis Spufford is always an occasion. I enjoyed it, but it’s a bit odd.
Telling Tales Ann Cleves – one of the excellent Vera series.
The Lost Man of Bombay and City of Destruction Vaseem Khan – two of his detective novels featuring a unique female detective in 1950s Bombay.
Sybil & Cyril by Jenny Uglow – I love her writing but didn’t care much about these two characters in the end
The Afghans by Asne Seierstadt and The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet – accidentally ended up reading two histories of Afghanistan, both a bit grim. I much preferred the Lyse Doucet one except for the quirk that she refers to herself in the third person – but one could trust that she knows the people she writes about.
In Extremis by Tim Parks – no, don’t bother. Unlikeable main character, not at all funny despite its billing. A shame, as I’ve enjoyed other books by him.
The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing – a lovely read, about creating a garden in a new home in covid-times and in the face of environmental change.