Two Recommendations--An Empire on the Edge and Ghosts of Versailles

Just because, I'd recommend a book and an opera.

The  book is one I haven't finished reading, but I like very much.  It's "An Empire on the Edge", a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer.  It's the British side of the road to our Revolution, with lots of stuff I didn't know. (John Brown played as big a role in the Revolution as John Brown did in the Civil War.) Particularly like the interplay of politics, personality, economics, and government, with just a tad of bureaucracy thrown in.

The opera is "The Ghosts of Versailles", which we saw at Wolf Trap Friday in a chamber version. No DVD available for anyone outside the 1 percent, but if you have a chance, go see it.  Laughed until I cried.

Competition in E-Books?

Just found Amazon and Google offering a cheap price on a new book of historical essays (Inequality in Early America).  Don't know why, whether it's a result of competition or not, but I like it.

On a personal note, I got a Kindle for Christmas a couple years ago.  I like it.  I've been able to restrain myself from buying lots of pricey books ($9.99 and up) but not the cheapies--both the free and the 1 and 2 dollar specials from Amazon.  All in all it's increased my book purchases.

Dairy Down Under

From a post at Crooked Timber on New Zealand [hat tip Marginal Revolution]:

Then you drive through a town like Edgecumbe, past something which looks for all the world like an oil refinery, and realise that it is in fact a dairy, the size of an oil refinery. Four million litres of milk go through that particular plant every day (one litre for every New Zealander), and it’s not even one of the top three Fonterra plants. A lot of the milk is converted into powder, which is sold to the Asian market. This was my first clue that I might be heading into some interesting economics – at the duty-free shop in Auckland Airport, one of the things that they pile up high next to the scent and booze is great big tubs of infant formula.

From the context sounds like CAFO's have yet to come to the land of the hobbits.

Have I mentioned the David Hackett Fischer book:  Fairness and Freedom, which compares the histories of the US and NZ. The post touches on the history of the white settlers with the native Maoris.

Harshaw's Corollary of Parkinson's Law

According to Parkinson's Law:

"work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"

Or, as generalized since Mr. Parkinson first described it,

"The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource"

In this light, I've Harshaw's corollary: 

 "books expand to overfill available bookshelves"

Of course, this is time-limited--books are a vanishing breed. 

Most Interesting Sentence of Today

Actually, I'd say this sentence is very surprising.  Nate Silver is launching his new website today and he writes:

"The books in my office — I have about 500 — are arranged by color."

 What?  Is that the way a nerd does things?  

My Own Prediction

Nate Silver's book will hit the NYTimes best seller list.  (I'm about a third through and it's very good.)

Two Word Review of Little America

Mr. Chandrasekaran has written another book, Little America, on the war in Afghanistan, particularly since Obama was elected.  His first, Emerald City, was well-reviewed.

My review is simple: "oh sh*t", repeat at least once for each chapter.

[Updated: For a more considered reaction, see this from Foreign Policy ]

The Future of Books

Ezra Klein is a convert to e-books, particularly enjoying the instant access anywhere.

Megan McArdle weighs in here, betting on the logic of innovation, arguing (as in the Innovator's Dilemma) that advantages in some areas are sufficient for innovations to succeed.

The posts were triggered by the report Amazon is selling more e-books than printed books.

James Suroweicki in the New Yorker (not now available on-line) argues part of the reason the US does well is we've got a lot of consumers who are willing to take the risk of buying innovative products.  

Personally I don't have a Kindle, though I do have the app on my PC.  One of the things on my to-do list is to look at the Fairfax County library's e-book program, which doesn't yet extend to Amazon.  Probably I'll buy a reader when it looks as though I can get more books faster from the library that way.  As I get older I get less interested in innovations. I'm not sure whether that's age or the idea the upfront costs in time and energy compared to the benefits over a limited life-span become more and more daunting.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Via Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution, famous science fiction writers pick famous science fiction books. I haven't read any science fiction since I turned 30 (I reread some favorites after 30, including the book by Mr. Miller.)

Three Cups

I read Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea fairly early and was very impressed.  Now 60 Minutes and Jon Krakauer have debunked parts of the narrative.  Seems to me Dan Drezner has a good take on the whole thing.

Unforeseen Consequences: Ebooks

The rise of ebooks may mean the decline of donations of used books to library book sales.

Parenting--Tiger Moms and Pushy Families

The "tiger mom", the Yale law prof who talks about pushing her two daughters to perfection by behaving as a "Chinese mother" is getting lots of attention.  I'm also reading Condolezza Rice's memoir, which describes how her parents pushed her and pushed her (it's interesting, not great, but interesting).  This ties into a Tyler Cowen post on a study which indicates that environment makes the most difference for people in less fortunate conditions while genes make more difference in the more fortunate conditions.  (Think of this example: if food is scarce, you don't get many tall basketball players; if food becomes plentiful, genes for height can be fully expressed.  Stole that from a book I read which I'm too lazy to look up.)

Over my lifetime parents have invested more and more effort into rearing their children and giving them advantages.  I think that's a reflection of the good times we enjoy.  In the 19th century, a good parent was a good provider or a good homemaker.  Do those things well and the environment would take care of your kids.  Now with most Americans middle class or better, the competition is stiffer.  But because less is under the parents' control, there's more premium on the margins.  It's rather like athletes in track.  When I was growing up, the times for the mile were being lowered slowly.  Then came Bannister and Landy and the breaking of the 4-minute barrier and then fell quickly.  Now it takes more and more effort and training to eke out any world record in either the mile or 1500.

Ruin in Detroit

Via Marginal Revolution, a photo slideshow on the ruins in Detroit. What's most distressing is the library. 

Speaking of Optimism--Fred Brooks

My previous post was on optimism--Fred Brooks wrote a great book in this area 35 years ago: The Mythical Man-Month.  He has another out, which should be good. The Design of Design.  It's on my Christmas wish list.

Hypocrisy Among the Scholars

From the American Historical Association blog, discussing university pressesr:

Almost all authors want to see their books published in print, but as consumers (both in the libraries and off-site in their research and reading) they are clearly gravitating toward the consumption of electronic publications. So how long can these two patterns coexist?

Obama's Books

Politico has a piece on how Obama's book selections have increased sales. I haven't read the Price or the Friedman (although I follow his NYT columns), have read the Haruf and the McCullough, and maybe the Pelecanos. I like Pelecanos, both because he's from DC and writes about it, and his hitch on The Wire, but I think this is his latest book. I'll get to it.

I like Haruf--one of the few serious fiction writers I've read in the last few years. And McCullough is maybe a little popular (as a failed historian I'm implied by the historians' creed to look down on any popular writer) but the man can tell a story.

There Are Some People With Whom You Can't Compete

Tyler Cowen being one:

"Cowen readily acknowledged he’s an atypical library user, visiting four times a week libraries in three systems near his home in Virginia: Arlington Public Library, Fairfax County Public Library, and Falls Church Public Library. “I am drowning in wonderful public libraries,” he said, though he also noted, “I probably buy more than a book a day.”

Fifteen years ago, Cowen said, he was more likely to go to academic libraries. (He teaches at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.) What he finds useful at public libraries, he said, “is not really books per se, but the way of organizing information.”

A Good Book

Nicholas Kristof highlights the Greg Mortenson book in today's Times. I should have blogged about it when I read it, if I didn't. Mortenson turned a failure at mountain climbing into a success at building schools in the mountains of Pakistan/Afghanistan. Inspiring and down to earth. The book runs the danger of being saccharine, but it's not.

D-Day and Responsibility

The Post editorial page today notes June 6 by quoting the announcement that Eisenhower wrote to use if the D-Day landings failed. He took responsibility. The Post thinks it's a good model.

Causes me nostalgia. Perhaps the first "adult" book I ever read was Ike's "Crusade in Europe". It probably was a Christmas present for my father, who was into history and biography, for 1949. I very vaguely remember (I think) my grandfather trying desperately to get the news on our old radio--was it the Battle of the Bulge? Those old vacuum tube radios couldn't get good reception when the station was 10-15 miles away, considering the hills that surrounded us.

He wrote clear prose, not great, and didn't directly reveal how he felt dealing with the prima donas like Monty and Patton. Long before the Holocaust, he wrote about the freeing of prisoners from the concentration camps and included pictures.

I don't know whether it was the atmosphere of the time, knowing the importance the grownups placed on the events, or simply a small boy's fascination with things military, but I read and reread the book over the years.

Shakespeare in Odd Places

Just finished reading Ishmael Beah's book, "Long Way Gone", about his life in Sierra Leone, including as a child soldier. I recommend it. The material is grim but the narrative flows without self-pity or dramatics.

Last night my wife and I watched "Bollywood/Hollywood", a movie by Deepak Mehta featuring Lisa Ray. Mehta did "Water" with Ray, which got an Oscar nominee as best foreign film. Ray is stunningly beautiful, and not a bad actress. The movie is fun if you don't take it seriously. It would help if I knew more about Bollywood films because it has some in-jokes, but it's still a pleasant evening. Plot: rich son needs someone to pose as his intended wife to get mother and grandmother off his back until his pregnant sister gets safely married.

How do these relate to Shakespeare? Well, Beah as a child recites Shakespearean speeches for family and friends. He also gets into rap, hip-hop, and reggae and treasures his cassettes of rappers whose names I barely recognize. After becoming a soldier, his lieutenant spends his down time reading Julius Caesar. In the movie, grandmother uses Shakespearean snippets in egging on her grandson.

So a barefoot boy from Avon writes language that 400 years later is part of the culture of both Sierra Leone and India. And rap evolves in the Caribbean and US and travels back to Africa. The world is strange and wonderful