Review: Money for Nothing: The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich

Money for Nothing: The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich by Thomas Levenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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What a great story! A romp through English history around 1700, showcasing several disparate characters (yes, all Great White Men) who unwittingly wove together the financial strands that built the Empire upon which the sun never set. In Econ101 I had learned of the first economic bubbles--tulipmania, and the South Sea bubble. The first was based on a product (tulip bulbs); the second, on trading promises. This book treats not of tulips, but of the imaginative development of the tradable stock certificate. Isaac Newton was so much more than a gravity and calculus inventor. What a fertile time for new thinking was 1700! Each chapter of this book describes a different character and his eventual influence on modern thinking.

Most of these characters are familiar, but their intertwined involvement is new to us. The author proposes one of the primary reasons for the success of the British empire endeavors of the 17 and 18 hundreds was due to their amazing ability to finance a military and trading enterprise much grander than any other.

This book is a must for any student of British history, or financial history. The narrative is fast-paced and exciting, imagining the fervor of scientific discovery as well as stock market fever! I also note the advances in governmental ethics since that time, wherein we thankfully now have greater expectations of honesty and probity in our representatives. The years 2016-2020 in the US hearkened back to those self-dealing days of yesteryear.

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Review: Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World

Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World by James Carroll My rating: 4 of 5 stars Fascinating comprehensive worldview, with Jesuitical logic in a broad sweep that links religion in a circular way to violence and the solution to violence. The author shows a great command of history and religion, with extensive endnotes to support or expand upon most of his claims; however, some sweeping indictments will certainly be resisted by the more fundamentalist People Of The Book (that is, the Abrahamic religions). A core symbolic thread is Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac on Mt.Moriah, the supposed site later called Jerusalem -- the author deftly cites that scene throughout the many centuries since the original event, demonstrating the human tendency to misinterpret that near-sacrifice in order to rationalize our own tendency to violence and scapegoating. I started the book in audio form, but found it unlistenable -- the author's c...

Review: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders My rating: 4 of 5 stars Must-read for any teacher of writing, and certainly for any would-be writer; also for any aficionado of Russian literature. This book is a distillation of the author's creative-writing class; reading it feels much like attending his class -- all that's missing is the back-and-forth of a seminar. View all my reviews

Review: The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir

The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir by Sherry Turkle My rating: 5 of 5 stars I cannot stop talking about this book, and not just because the author is a favorite of mine, with her earlier books about the effect of technology on education and our psyches. She describes encounters with so many other famous writers and technologists -- she was Present at the Creation of our computer-saturated internet world. Note that the title is purposely plural: several personal points are interwoven into the chapters, sometimes repeating details that a "normal" book would elide. But she is a talented writer and psychologist: the very writing style is intended to affect the reader and illustrate psychological points. I did cringe at the repeated references to the Freudian incident with her stepfather (fear not, dear reader -- no outright abuse here, just psychological trauma unearthed by years of analysis, along with all-too-typical infidelity and familial...

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