Undercover Monday 3
Books of the week
I read Elie Wiesel’s Night – his account of surviving Auschwitz. It’s a simple and powerful book, almost unbearable. I picked it up in a Bodleian Library reading room and for an hour or so, while I read, I was completely unaware of everything going on around me. Brilliant and horrifying. Everybody should read it. (UK) (US)
One thing that will stay with me was the desperation of Moishe, who knows what’s coming – but the Jews of Hungary simply cannot bring themselves to believe him. Wishful thinking triumphs. And the chilling words of a fellow prisoner to Wiesel: “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.”
Totally different in tone is an academic treatment of another serious topic, Alan Krueger’s What Makes A Terrorist? (UK) (US). It’s a useful antidote to the hysteria. Of course, I understand why people are terrorised by terrorists; that’s the whole point. I think we might expect more from our politicians, though. Here’s Krueger’s own take on his own book.
As an escape from all that, I’ve been reading Lloyd Alexander’s magnificent fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain – available as five separate short novels or in a collected volume. (UK) (US). I can’t recommend them highly enough – simple enough for children to enjoy, but pacy, direct, full of imaginative twists. And the themes resonate into adulthood – for example, how does a child become an adult? Should we try to shield people from their own mistakes, or do they need to learn painful or even tragic lessons? I’ll be discussing the books soon on the Fictoplasm podcast.
On My Pile
Erik Barker: Barking up the wrong tree (UK) (US) – a guide to the latest and greatest in applied behavioural science.
Steve Mould: How To Be a Scientist (UK) (US) – fun science projects for children, but this one is a cut above the normal offering.
Tom Butler-Bowden: 50 Economics Classics (UK) (US) – TBB takes a broad view both of “economics” and “classic” here; for instance Naomi Klein is in here. But breadth is what you want from such a collection, I think.
Andrew Lo: Adaptive Markets (UK) (US) – Lo is a legend, looking forward to this, and to comparing it with the latest from another brilliantly original thinker…
Richard Bookstaber: The End Of Theory (UK) (US).
Recommended listening
Macro Musings interviews Paul Krugman.
Alphachat discusses the amazing Albert O Hirschman.
99 per cent Invisible does a live stage show about the Alaska Earthquake. It’s magnificent work.
And Soul Music is back. Best thing on BBC Radio.
My new book is “Fifty Things That Made The Modern Economy” – coming soon! If you want to get ahead of the curve you can pre-order in the US (slightly different title) or in the UK or through your local bookshop.
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