Another month, another quick catch-up post. And actually I’ve read very few books by my normal standards.
One was a re-read, The Infinite Alphabet by Cesar Hidalgo, as I was ‘in conversation’ with him at Waterstones in Cambridge. It’s a very clear and readable explanation of complexity economics, with loads of vivid examples. I like the complexity approach: it has strong explanatory power empirically, and Cesar has got a long way in developing the underpinning theory. He and I also did a Crossing Channels podcast on the book a little while ago. I’d recommend this as a complement to current debates about industrial policy and the supply side of the economy.
Another work(ish) read was Everything Was Forever, Until it Was No More by Alexei Yurchak. I’d been looking forward to this. It’s about the paradox that Soviet citizens did not expect the end of communism and fall of the USSR but were not surprised when it happened. There are great chapters describing what it was like being a member of Komsomol, for example, living the doublespeak. Unfortunately the core of the book is bookended with critical theory/linguistics, which is so hard for me to read.
Non-work reading:
Suspicion by Seichi Matsumoto – rather dark.
Flesh by David Szalay. Don’t bother. This one got me (internally) ranting about why the Booker Prize winners have become so terrible. I couldn’t finish Orbital because it was soooooo dull, and didn’t bother finishing this one either because I didn’t care at all about what happened to anyone. Prophet Song was the only recent Booker winner I rated – couldn’t put it down. Meanwhile recent Nobel prizewinners have been fantastic – Han Kang, Olga Tokarczuk, Abdulrzak Gurnah, Laszlo Krasznahorkai etc.
Perspectives by Laurent Binet. Wonderful. An epistolary novel featuring 16th century Florentine painters and the murder of a fresco-painter. Very clever. Yes, the solution depends on a shift in perspective.
Hopefully, back to normal reading now as term is over. I’m also going to be reviewing a trio of books about the UK economy for the FT so need to crack on with those.
Meanwhile, here are some beautiful spring tulips.
