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Assorted links
1. Me on the Hebrew Bible, in print.
2. Markets in everything, making solicitors pay.
3. Markets in everything, iPhone apps edition, the photo is safe for work.
4. The economics of *The Economist*, and why it still makes money.
5. China Mieville defends Tolkien.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 19, 2009 at 03:38 PM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
Right on. It has recently been dawning on me that the creation/garden story alone could qualify as the greatest work of human literature; the rest of the Torah is just a fractal projection of that story, and all other human literature is just a fractal projection of Torah.
Posted by: Joshua Allen at Jun 19, 2009 5:03:49 PM
The comments at the Gizmodo almost-NSFW link are hilarious. ;)
Posted by: Bob Montgomery at Jun 19, 2009 5:12:26 PM
Right on. It has recently been dawning on me that the creation/garden story alone could qualify as the greatest work of human literature; the rest of the Torah is just a fractal projection of that story, and all other human literature is just a fractal projection of Torah.
I'm inclined to agree with you, but still...the creation/garden story is the first 3 chapters of Genesis; about 2000 words. It takes 5 minutes to read it through, if that. That tiny little story is the greatest work of human literature?
On the other hand, it pretty much has the entirety of the gospel in it, so that's something.
Posted by: Bob Montgomery at Jun 19, 2009 5:16:45 PM
Well, The Economist, unlike Newsweek, isn't carrying water for the leftists. It also actually has well written articles.
Posted by: Doc Merlin at Jun 19, 2009 5:34:58 PM
@Bob - Good point. IMO, its "greatness" is that it is the most succinct possible telling of the story that encompasses the whole of love, destiny, life and death, human nature, hope and fear, and so on, without any distortions. People can (and do) make very beautiful and gripping elaborations, but the best would all distill down to this story.
Posted by: Joshua Allen at Jun 19, 2009 5:50:58 PM
It's hard to tell whether The Bible or The Economist is more inerrant.
Posted by: dearieme at Jun 19, 2009 6:26:17 PM
I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. The idea of the Old Testament (aka Hebrew Bible) that I got from Catholic education was of a somewhat primitive scripture. And in adulthood I have been negatively impressed by the violence and exclusivism (racism?) countenanced by the Hebrew god. I am more impressed positively by the universalism of the Roman gods and the evolving monothesism of "paganism."
Posted by: Mario Rizzo at Jun 19, 2009 8:10:28 PM
I long ago gave up on Time and Newsweek because they seemed to believe that most news happens in the United States (much of it in Hollywood). The Economist, whatever other faults it may have, is free of this failing.
Posted by: Allan Beatty at Jun 19, 2009 8:47:15 PM
I have a love-hate relationship with The Economist; it's become far more leftish over the years, and has gone hook, line, and sinker into Greenie pieties. And I often catch errors in its tech coverage.
But it's the only way to get decent news about odd parts of the world without hardcore Googling.
Posted by: Foobarista at Jun 19, 2009 9:20:47 PM
I agree with Tyler's appreciation of the Hebrew Bible, and I am also a nonbeliever. But I do quarrel with his comparison with Buddhist texts. I place Buddhism within the Hindu tradition, and I find the Hindu Vedas and texts such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana every bit as complex as the Hebrew Bible. In the years since discovering the Ramayana, I have read three different translations of the Valmiki text and several other versions (as well as a number of books of criticism). I would describe it just as Tyler describes the Hebrew Bible: filled with interconnections and subtleties that are revealed only with multiple readings. I think Tyler is exactly right to confess in the Blogging Heads conversation that he is biased by his Western perspective. I found his dismissal of Hindu/Jainist/Buddhist traditions to be very surprising, in light of his extensive travels and readings.
The first commenter writes: "It has recently been dawning on me that the creation/garden story alone could qualify as the greatest work of human literature; the rest of the Torah is just a fractal projection of that story, and all other human literature is just a fractal projection of Torah."
This is very much a Western-centric argument. And I'm not being "politically correct," I'm just being sensible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
http://www.bl.uk/ramayana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita
Posted by: gte at Jun 20, 2009 1:23:20 AM
Actually, I should have made clear in my previous post: I reject the comparison-approach to World literature (a U.S. News and World Report rankings approach). The Hebrew Bible is beautiful and inspiring on its own terms. It doesn't need to be compared to Indian or Chinese texts to be appreciated.
peace,
gte
Posted by: gte at Jun 20, 2009 1:28:36 AM
The article missed the other side of The Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit. It's a pretty serious research shop that I suspect is quite profitable. The analysis done at EIU bleeds over into the magazine giving it a depth the competition can't match. Compared to what EIU charges for their country, regional, and industry analysis, the magazine is cheap. They also have some very good people. Michael Reid's recent book on Latin America is a prime example. How many magazines have writers good enough to publish with Yale University Press?
Posted by: Charlie Sawyer at Jun 20, 2009 2:14:20 AM
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Posted by: ChemicalsBuyersGuide at Jun 20, 2009 4:18:35 AM
I think that Dan Ariely's TED talk is closer to explaining why The Economists has done well: They probably have some behavioral economists on their staff.
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Right on. It has recently been dawning on me that the creation/garden story alone could qualify as the greatest work of human literature; the rest of the Torah is just a fractal projection of that story, and all other human literature is just a fractal projection of Torah.
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