American vs. Chinese Sci-fi
The rise of Chinese science fiction, led by Cixin Lin and Hao Jingfang, has given me another perspective on how societies perceive the future. Sci-fi, particularly...
‘Stubborn Attachment’s by Tyler Cowen
I am a long time reader of Tyler Cowen’s Marginal Revolution blog. I started reading because of a smug view that ‘I had to read...
‘Dark Emu’ by Bruce Pascoe
Every two pages, I had to put this book down and reassess one of my core beliefs about Australia. I believed that aboriginals were primarily...
‘Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World’ by Anand Giridharadas
Anand Giridharadas, an insider, punches holes through what he calls ‘MarketWorld’, the system of events, firms, thought leaders, philanthropists and policy makers who see market-based...
Random Notes from ‘Inadequate Equilibria’ by Eliezer Yudkowsky
For people more disposed to iconoclasm than conformity – inadequacy analysis (understanding that incentives can create inadequate solutions, solvable on a local level but rarely...
‘Fifth Ward: Friendly Fire’ by Dale Lucas
Sci-fi and fantasy has long been a forum for exploring how humans interact and how societies expand and contract. Tolkein saw the carnage of WWI...
‘Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World’ by Adam Tooze
Adam Tooze exactingly retraces of the 2008 financial crisis from its beginnings in Clinton era deregulation and the creation of the Eurozone without a ‘Federal...
‘Dreamland: The True Tale of Opiate Epidemic’ by John Allen Paulos
The most interesting system linkage that I learned about in Dreamland was that the rise of opiate addiction in rural and regional America (first oxycontin,...
‘A Fatal Risk: A Cautionary Tale of AIG’s Corporate Suicide’ by Roddy Boyd
There are a few people that I follow on Twitter. I must admit that I became quite addicted to Twitter in the US so I...
‘Smoky: The Cowhorse’ by Will James
Considered one of the greatest horse stories ever written, Smoky: The Cowhorse details the life of a bronco born on the range lands in the...