Synopsis: Philip Gourevitch, a staff writer for The New Yorker spends two years travelling in Rwanda in 1995-97 and produces an illuminating, if not always objectively rigorous, account of the Rwandan genocide, its causes and its aftermath.
My Take: Philip Gourevitch’s account of the collective insanity of late 20th century Rwanda is a moving account.
Not simply [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Policy'
“We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families”, Philip Gourevitch
July 21st, 2009 · 1 Comment · African, History, Non-Fiction, Policy, Politics
Tags:Philip Gourevitch
“The Long Tail”, Chris Anderson
July 16th, 2009 · No Comments · ICT, Policy
Synopsis: As search, storage and distribution costs trend towards zero in an increasingly digital world the economics of commerce are changing. While massively selling high-demand ‘hits’ remain important, lower costs have made it economical to trade in an ever increasing ‘Long Tail’ of low (but not zero) demand niche products a la iTunes, Amazon, eBay [...]
Tags:Chris Anderson
"The Undercover Economist", Tim Harford
July 11th, 2009 · No Comments · Economics, English, Non-Fiction, Policy
Synopsis: The economics correspondent for the Financial Times writes a pop economics textbook illustrating economic principles in accessible and engaging examples.
My Take: Should be required reading for all high-school students. Clearly articulated, widely accessible and practically illustrated explanations of the fundamentals of economics.
Highlight: A great chapter highlighting the benefits of sweatshops as a transitional industry [...]
Tags:Tim Harford
"The Tiger That Isn't", Michael Blastland and Andrew Dillnot
July 8th, 2009 · No Comments · Economics, Non-Fiction, Policy
Synopsis: Two stats geeks methodically unpick common statistical misrepresentations while giving readers a tool kit to allow them to test statistical claims that they come across themselves.
My Take: “The Tiger That Isn’t” really should be compulsory reading for anyone involved in public policy – advisers, politicians, activists and in particular, journalists. In their capacity as [...]
"Super Crunchers: How Anything Can Be Predicted", Ian Ayres
July 6th, 2009 · No Comments · American, Economics, ICT, Non-Fiction, Policy
Synopsis: Technological advances that dramatically reduce the costs of collecting and storing data combined with vast increases in computer processing power has made data driven decision making both more powerful and more feasible.
My Take: Ian Ayres is a great advocate. Perhaps the reason for this is that he divides his time and expertise between the [...]
Tags:Ian Ayres
“The Blair Years”, Alastair Campbell”
June 27th, 2009 · No Comments · English, History, Non-Fiction, Policy, Politics
Synopsis: Tony Blair’s Director of Communications and general master of the dark arts tells (almost) all about The Blair Years.
My Take: Ordinarily I steer clear of political biographies (diaries in particular!) but beore I moved to the UK I thought I needed a bit of a crash course in the who’s who of the Party [...]
Tags:Alastair Campbell
"The World is Flat", Thomas Friedman
June 6th, 2009 · No Comments · American, Economics, Non-Fiction, Policy
Synopsis: Cheap, ubiquitous telecommunications have reshaped the globe into a ‘flat world’ in which individuals compete on an equal footing regardless of their geographical location.
My Take: Um, yeah Thomas – where have you been for the past 7 years??
A shallow (excuse the pun)conceptual analysis stretched into a 500(!) page book. Friedman is sometimes an ok [...]
Tags:Thomas Friedman
"The Black Swan, The Impact of the Highly Improbable", Nassim Nicholas Taleb
June 3rd, 2009 · No Comments · American, Non-Fiction, Policy
Synopsis: Highly improbable and unpredictable events are the main drivers of change in society and as such forming predictions of future events or developing explanations for past events is futile. If you go around using the words “will” or “because” you’re a very silly boy.
My Take: Hmmm. An interesting concept and more power to anyone [...]
"On the Wealth of Nations", P.J. O'Rourke
May 29th, 2009 · No Comments · American, Economics, History, Non-Fiction, Policy
Synopsis: Libertarian polemicist digests Adam Smith’s ‘Theory of Moral Sentiments’ and ‘The Wealth of Nations’ and then regurgitates them along with satirical commentary.
My Take: I love the concept of this book – the first in a series on “Books That Changed the World” read and paraphrased by prominent authors “so you don’t have to.” Just the [...]
Tags:P.J. O'Rourke