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MR book club
I've thought of running a week-long or five-day MR symposium of a book of general interest to MR readers. Each day I would "review" one part of the book, in sequence. You could read along and of course comment, but the posts also would be fully intelligible to people who weren't reading the book at all.
If we did this, which book would you like to have covered, not counting some of the books we discussed yesterday...?
Posted by Tyler Cowen on July 19, 2007 at 07:50 AM in Books | Permalink
Comments
i vote Gold: The Once and Future Money.
Posted by: kid mercury at Jul 19, 2007 8:23:58 AM
Irving L. Janis:
Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes. 2nd ed published 1982.
Posted by: Daniel Klein at Jul 19, 2007 8:35:48 AM
Finnegan's Wake
Posted by: josh at Jul 19, 2007 8:37:47 AM
War and Peace!
Posted by: D at Jul 19, 2007 8:42:12 AM
Are you going to give us a head start? You're a fast reader :)
Posted by: joe at Jul 19, 2007 8:45:31 AM
The Origins of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker
Posted by: Finnsense at Jul 19, 2007 9:19:45 AM
Fiction: The Savage Detectives (Roberto Bolan~o); Non-Fiction: Escape from Empire (Alice Amsden)
Posted by: Niall at Jul 19, 2007 9:23:05 AM
I would be biased towards fiction since I'm curious to see how people evaluate and approach analysis of literature. The evaluation of nonfiction writing seems to be a little more straightforward to me and seeing as how this is a blog largely driven by economics/current issues of the day (with many, many exceptions of course) it would seem to be more valuable on the margin to devote this time to a great work of fiction.
Now, as far as which work of great literature, I don't even know where to begin. How about one from your underated week, like Bleak House?
Posted by: mtlippincott at Jul 19, 2007 9:34:58 AM
The Forgotten Man
Posted by: drtaxsacto at Jul 19, 2007 9:59:38 AM
I vote for Our Final Hour, by Martin Rees.
Posted by: Carl Shulman at Jul 19, 2007 10:15:11 AM
Paul Collier's latest book.
Posted by: JB at Jul 19, 2007 10:27:55 AM
For some thought provoking fiction -
Michael Crichton - State of Fear
For some mindless Action/Adventure -
Matt Reilly - Ice Station
Posted by: Jon at Jul 19, 2007 10:32:27 AM
Atlas Shrugged... just to see someone get through it in a week.
Posted by: Ross Parker at Jul 19, 2007 10:37:04 AM
I'd like:
1) King Lear
2) Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
3) The Mind-Body Problem by Rebecca Goldstein
4) The World According to Garp by John Irving
Posted by: Jake at Jul 19, 2007 10:40:24 AM
The Master and Margarita. This seems to be not widely known, despite its critical acclaim.
Posted by: db at Jul 19, 2007 10:40:27 AM
I'm interested on thoughts involving wide-viewed "unreadable" authors. Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow would be a nice start.
Posted by: mike at Jul 19, 2007 10:43:52 AM
I vote books, not plays (even as much as I love Shakespeare).
Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain: The Science of Neuroeconomics by Paul W. Glimcher
Posted by: Eric at Jul 19, 2007 10:47:53 AM
I would be interested if you discussed books that were either technical and therefore difficult to get through on our own, or if they required lots of cultural background. I am reading Sacred Games on your recommendation but find that I lack the cultural background and am probably not reading the same book as you. So either something like that book, or books like Reynold's Income and Wealth, that we might not otherwise read without some guidance. Thanks.
Posted by: bh at Jul 19, 2007 10:50:09 AM
This "symposium" sounds suspiciously like criticism, which, we already know, is useful only as the handmaiden of Google. The project ought to be killed, on your own recommendation.
Posted by: Aaron Haspel at Jul 19, 2007 11:00:01 AM
I think I can save everyone's time by summarizing, in advance, what Tyler's posts will entail:
Book from established literary canon --> Absolutely enjoyable.
Book not from established literary canon --> Absolute drivel.
Posted by: Person at Jul 19, 2007 11:00:06 AM
Keep in mind that it can take several days for Amazon or B&N to deliver a book so if you want us to order through links on your site, you should give us plenty of notice (a week? 3 days?)about the next book so we can all be ready at the same time. A classic coordination problem? This might also drain your commissions if people instead choose to go to Borders. Are you then providing a public good and being under-compensated?
Posted by: bh at Jul 19, 2007 11:20:03 AM
Another vote for the "unreadable" books. And it would help if the timeframe were pushed out to allow for people who don't have time to read 50-100 pages a day.
Posted by: eriks at Jul 19, 2007 11:21:17 AM
I would like to see, and would gladly participate in, an extended discussion of John Rawls,Theory of Justice. But I doubt I will live that long.
Posted by: Kent Guida at Jul 19, 2007 11:24:28 AM
Jonathan Spence's bio of Mao, partly because it'd be interesting to compare notes with everyone, but most just because I'm already halfway through it.
Posted by: Michael Blowhard at Jul 19, 2007 11:24:34 AM
Jonathan Spence's bio of Mao, partly because it'd be interesting to compare notes with everyone, but most just because I'm already halfway through it.
Posted by: Michael Blowhard at Jul 19, 2007 11:24:59 AM
