Browsing Tag

richard haass

Book Reviews,

Books Worth Reading

The first half of 2020 has come and gone, and it was certainly a half-year to remember. Common themes of the first half include Covid-19, the economy, Black Lives Matter, and the US Election.

My reading reflected some of these themes. Okay, so I didn’t read scientific journals about the Coronavirus. I wouldn’t have understood them if I had. Still, I read a lot of timely books. Overall my reading pace slowed to 44 books in the first six months, probably because of not commuting (thus fewer audiobooks).

Here are a few of my favorites so far. These books are …

Book Reviews,

Top Ten Books of 2017

To help with your gift list, here are my top ten books of 2017:

The “I need something fun to create bar arguments” goes to Tim Harford for his book Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy. Barbed wire? The gramophone? Passports? Curious insights like these fill the book and will create conversation, controversy, and interest.

The “historical fiction that has fascinating characters and everybody is reading these days” award goes to Amor Towles for A Gentleman in Moscow. Set in the first half of the 20th Century, the story of a Russian man …