Light Summertime Reading
(In improver to beingness a low-cal post, this is also intended to deed equally a fund raiser for the blog's expenses. For those of y'all who store at Amazon.com, if y'all follow the links below as well as purchase anything, I larn an advertising bounty. Thanks inwards advance.)
Economics Related
Since economic science as well as finance was my solar daytime job, I do non ordinarily consider the surface area to last "light reading" (although I am forthwith reading Milton Friedman equally enquiry for my mass on money, as well as it is frankly the best comedy I receive got read inwards a long time). I am avoiding textbooks which would remove y'all clit out a pen as well as newspaper to piece of work things out, such equally the novel Modern Monetary Theory textbook yesteryear Mitchell as well as Wray.
My showtime pick is GDP: Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Short But Affectionate History yesteryear Diane Coyle. (This is supposed to last link to her site, but the site was downwards when I wrote this.) This mass is inwards the "what I am reading now" category as well as my recommendation is only based on the showtime chapter. My supposition is that the repose of the mass is of similar quality. I volition likely do a review in i lawsuit I destination it...
I read Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise as well as Fall of the Dollar as well as the Future of the International Monetary System a few years ago. At this point, my retention of the mass is somewhat hazy, but it provides a practiced overview of the follies of the post-World War II currency system. I preferred his mass Golden Fetters (the history of the Great Depression), but that is definitely a heavier work. Having an agreement of how the Bretton Woods arrangement blew upward is non precisely of immediate interest, but it provides a lot of context regarding the euro's electrical flow problems.
Diagrams & Dollars: Modern Money Illustrated is a visual introduction to some of the ideas inwards Modern Monetary Theory. It is ebook only, for those of y'all who cannot larn away from electronic screens...
Finally, I receive got a shameless plug for my latest paperback - Understanding Government Finance.
Non-Economics, General Interest
The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age by Richard Rudgley takes on the thought that civilisation only appeared out of nowhere at around 5,000 BC. Instead, Neolithic humans were highly developed. For those of y'all amongst an involvement inwards the history of money, his description of the usage of clay tokens inwards merchandise equally impetus for the evolution of writing inwards Chapter 3 is really interesting.
The End of Food by Paul Roberts is an interesting receive got on industrial agriculture. Despite the scary-sounding title, it is quite balanced.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition is also a balanced word of societies that receive got collapsed, as well as some that receive got avoided it. Has a wealth of interesting details inside the discussion. Although non heavy-handed, the mass hints that elites inwards developed countries are next the path of previously collapsed societies. (Update: As I should receive got noted, specialists inquiry some of the claims inwards the book, peculiarly amongst regard to the Greenland Norse. For example, see http://news.ku.dk/all_news/2012/2012.11/greenland_norse_gorged_on_seals/, provided yesteryear Sam Taylor. However, working from memory, it was unclear whether it truly mattered for the word inwards the mass whether the Greenland Norse of a precipitous died off or else they drifted off to other locations; inwards either representative the guild disappeared. From my perspective, the value of the mass is inwards the interesting details, as well as non whether his grand theory is completely correct.)
Brace for Impact: Surviving the Crash of the Industrial Age by Thomas A. Lewis does non hint nigh elites; it argues that developed societies are heading for an epic crash. The focus is on the dysfunctional nature of decision-making inwards the United States. He is the publisher of The Daily Impact spider web site, which has splendid hair-raising stories on a multifariousness of topics, such equally the story of the care betwixt the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as the Mississippi river. The paperback is hitting amongst modest formatting issues (which I receive got been preparation myself to spot), but the text itself is good written.
Space Opera
I do non read a whole lot of fiction, but when I do, I prefer to read fairly low-cal scientific discipline fiction. The books inwards a higher house are older (like myself), but I prefer them to to a greater extent than recent books. Like other areas of fiction, genres receive got hardened inside scientific discipline fiction, to a greater extent than oftentimes than non becoming to a greater extent than serious as well as moving inwards stereotypical directions. (I receive got been reading nigh mass encompass design, as well as fifty-fifty the alternative of font is largely determined yesteryear what sub-genre y'all are targeting.) The scientific discipline fiction books I similar are to a greater extent than oftentimes than non classified equally "space opera" -- people flight around inwards infinite ships, as well as having adventures inwards the same means people did amongst sailing ships.
For those novel to scientific discipline fiction, Foundation yesteryear Isaac Asimov (the showtime mass of a trilogy, which was thence supplemented yesteryear other books, written yesteryear Isaac Asimov as well as others) would last a classic start. (Although at that topographic point are many books amongst "Foundation" inwards the title, the even out arc tin last viewed equally completed if y'all read only the trilogy: Foundation, Foundation as well as Empire, as well as Second Foundation.) It tells the even out of the evolution of psychohistory, a scientific discipline that was able to predict the evolution of human guild based on the trends created yesteryear huge populations. (The only space-faring race inwards the galaxy is human.) Based on other articles I receive got seen, quite a few economists receive got been taken yesteryear the thought of psychohistory, equally it could last viewed equally a cast of mathematical economic science that is non exclusively useless. The scientific discipline was developed yesteryear Hari Seldon, at the fourth dimension of the collapse of the galactic Empire. Psychohistorical predictions led him to believe that the historic menses of barbarism that would come upward later the autumn would last foreshortened if he prepare a scientific foundation at the border of the galaxy.
The Van Rijn Method: The Technic Civilization Saga by Poul Anderson is a collection of brusque stories laid inwards a hereafter history. They were to a greater extent than oftentimes than non published inwards magazines over a menses of decades, as well as thence they are self-contained stories. This mass is component of a vii component series, which covers a hereafter history from 2055-7100 (!). The showtime iii books encompass the menses when human civilisation switches from a guild dominated yesteryear trading companies -- the Polesotechnic league -- (Nicholas van Rijn is the memorable caput of i such company) to a Terran empire. The latter 4 books mainly encompass the career of Dominic Flandry, who could last compared to an interstellar James Bond. (His stories were showtime published earlier James Bond became a thing.) The books also include forewords amongst background information. Since the books mainly consist of brusque stories, they are perfect for brusque episodic reading, as well as y'all tin skip over to stories that hold off the most interesting without losing much. (As a warning, the showtime even out inwards the serial is quite unlike from the rest. It is laid inwards 2055, as well as discusses the mishap created yesteryear a spaceship crew getting likewise involved inwards a virtual Dungeons as well as Dragons type game. It may receive got been cutting border inwards 1981, but the premise is somewhat dated now. I Federal Reserve annotation this because it shows upward inwards the "Look Inside" characteristic online.)
The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster discusses i of the adventures of Flinx as well as Pip (his modest flying, deadly dragon-like companion). The space-faring adventures are largely stand upward alone; I read them inwards a random order, as well as it did non matter.
Chronicles of the High Inquest: Light on the Sound, by S.P. Somtow is the showtime mass of the Inquestor series. (The books were showtime published nether the writer cry Somtow Sucharitkul; he switched over to "S.P. Somtow" for some ground or another. The older books may last available used, amongst slightly unlike titles.) These books are definitely non "hard" scientific discipline fiction (in which the writer attempts to receive got a scientific explanation for everything), it mightiness last viewed equally fantasy laid inwards space. However, he describes an extremely odd society, inwards which the galaxy is ruled yesteryear near-immortal Inquestors who flit from planet to planet. They periodically destroy planets equally component of a game called makrúgh, in monastic enjoin to do an illusion of alter inwards a largely static (galactic) society. The books encompass the refuse of the Inquest. Once again, the books are somewhat stand upward alone; I truly started amongst the concluding mass (The Darkling Wind) without damaging my enjoyment of the series.
(c) Brian Romanchuk 2016
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