Book Review: The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous, by: Joseph Henrich If you’ve ever wondered how Western culture, language, and technology came to have the prominent role it has worldwide, the answer may be literally WEIRD from a reading of Joseph Henrich’s book. WEIRD in this case …
Category Archives: Reviews
After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed
Book Review: After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed by Andrew J. Bacevich The Apocalypse this book refers to is the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which upended several previously sacrosanct presuppositions about economics, society, and diplomacy. Andrew Bacevich addresses the history and condition of the United States and the role the US is …
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Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy
Book Review: Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy by Jamie Raskin This book is an inside look at combating the dangerous scheming of those who would rather have a United States that is autocratic and oligarchic. The author, Jamie Raskin, a member of the US House of Representatives from a DC suburb …
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Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
Book Review: Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge You’ve likely heard some version of the old saying: If one person calls you a horse’s ass, just ignore them; if several people call you a horse’s ass, get a saddle. Eddo-Lodge artfully speaks for the millions of people of …
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Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race
Book Review: Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving From a white person to other white people, Irving presents a superb description of how the deeply embedded racism in our culture creates a formidable headwind for all who are not “white.” Until exposed to the objective historical facts …
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1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Book Review: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann This book blows the narrative taught in too many Western schools around the voyages of Columbus and their aftermath right out of the water. The author does this with well researched accounts of the civilizations that dominated the Americas for centuries …
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The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey Into the Business of Shared Leadership
Book Review: The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey Into the Business of Shared Leadership by Kevin Hancock In this book Kevin Hancock presents the ethos of the song Imagine (John Lennon), with hints of Crack in the Cosmic Egg (Joseph Chilton Pearce), in the narrative style of A Pilgrimage to Eternity (Timothy Egan). It’s a …
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I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year
Book Review: I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year by Carol Leonnig, Philip Rucker This book is a narrative of real world events, presented in the unvarnished recollections of the persons directly involved. It is not hyperbole to say that this is a nerve wracking account of how close the US …
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Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power
Book Review: Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power by Zachary Karabell This book is well worth the read (by people of all economic perspectives)—it belies its title by providing (instead of investment advice as a casual observer might erroneously infer from a title such as Inside Money) valuable historical insights …
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Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
Book Review: Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer America, this is you; this is us decoded. No matter who you are, or what your socioeconomic perspective, George Packer provides in this book the most insightful explanation I have seen of why some people behave in inexplicable ways and believe in …
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