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What I've been reading
1. A Culture of Improvement: Technology and the Western Millennium, by Robert Friedel. A very good treatment of the history of Western technology, although it is not accessible reading for most non-specialists.
2. Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming, by Chris Mooney. The lower your social discount rate, the more you should worry about (growth-reducing) storms, and the less you should worry about one-time adjustments, such as moving islanders to a mainland. In other words, you should worry about storms.
3. Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900-1969, by Dan Nadel. Some of the best evidence that comic books are valuable art.
4. Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne. On this rereading, I am obsessed by the notion that it is actually Uncle Toby who is Tristram's biological father. In any case this book has held up very well.
5. Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire, by Alex von Tunzelmann. Yet another high quality book on modern Indian history, here the theme is the departure of the British, the establishment of modern India, and of course partition.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 26, 2007 at 01:28 PM in Books | Permalink
Comments
#4: Have you seen Michael Winterbottom's crazy attempt at an adaptation "A Cock and Bull Story"?
Posted by: Naadir Jeewa at Aug 26, 2007 2:33:46 PM
Five at one time! Even Titus Pullo would be impressed.
But I still can't figure out how you know which parts of the books to read. Just scanning and picking up key words? Perhaps you should do a post on "How to read a book like an economist." (Maybe you have.)
Posted by: David Sucher at Aug 26, 2007 3:31:58 PM
david...there's a section on that in 'discover you inner economist' :)
Posted by: shawn at Aug 26, 2007 6:24:05 PM
dear tyler,
i wanted to ask you something.
as a relative new reader of your blog, i wanted to ask you whether your interest in India is newfound or something that was always there?
regards,
Rahul
Posted by: rb at Aug 27, 2007 3:26:06 AM
My interest in India is longstanding, but much strengthened by my two visits there in the last few years...
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Aug 27, 2007 7:33:36 AM
Tristam is supposed to be the work of a plagiarist
Posted by: JeAN at Aug 27, 2007 12:51:54 PM
Tyler,
per numer one, specialists in what?
Posted by: josh at Aug 27, 2007 1:27:46 PM
Number of pages read! That gives me the best indication.
Posted by: ss at Aug 27, 2007 5:07:36 PM
I asked my wife (a professor of English and a HUGE fan of Tristram Shandy) about number 4. Her response:
"No way. Uncle Toby has a groin injury, so sex with T's mum is out. Plus, T documents his actual moment of conception, and his parents were having sex. The guy is on crack."
Posted by: Matt at Aug 28, 2007 11:09:18 AM
Tell her to read more closely! Toby is much more like Tristram and not all the narrations can be taken literally. It is at least an open question.
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Aug 28, 2007 11:30:25 AM
Another book to add to the list: On A Hill They Call Capital, 8 guys pull off a revolution against the federal government based on, among other things, grievances with the Patriot Act. How can you go wrong with that premise?
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