Germany commemorates 35 years since fall of Berlin Wall Deutsche Welle
Final James C. Scott book is coming
Economic effects of Evangelical Christianity
New Emmanuel Carrère book is coming
1. Edwin Frank, Stranger Than Fiction: Lives of the Twentieth Century Novel. Very good short portraits of various classic novels, including Machado de Assis, Mann’s Magic Mountain, Dr. Moreau, Carpentier, Perec, and others. At this point I am usually sick of such books but this one I stuck with as it is rewarding throughout.
2. Peter Doggers, The Chess Revolution: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age, is a good book, though it is mostly interior to my current knowledge set.
3. Rebecca Charbonneau, Mixed Signals: Alien Communication Across the Iron Curtain. This book fit well into my recent “Soviet science” reading program. This is more of a “Cold War” book than a “UFO book.” And I learned the full saga behind the Byrds song “C.T.A. – 102” for the first time.
4. Geoffrey Wawro, The Vietnam War: A Military History, is the single best book on its topic and is both intelligent and highly readable.
Coming in 2025 is David Spiegelhalter, The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck.
The Legacy of Robert Higgs, edited by Christopher J. Coyne, is a very good collection for those interested in the topics Bob worked on.
Louis Kaplow, law and economics professor at Harvard, rethinks merger analysis in Rethinking Merger Analyses.
I have not yet had a chance to start Agustina S. Paglayan, Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education.
John Cassidy has a forthcoming collection of readings, Capitalism and its Critics, A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI.