This was recommended by a couple friends after I posted about the Mars Trilogy by the same author. I’m glad I pickThe Ministry For The Future
34/2024.
This was recommended by a couple friends after I posted about the Mars Trilogy by the same author. I’m glad I picked it up, it’s absolutely one of my favorites this year. It’s a more engaging prose and a timely message. And chilling. The “humanity getting its comeuppance” vibe is similar to The Swarm. But fewer killer whales here and more monetary policy.
This is a novel (really it’s a novel with some meditations, nonfiction essays, and riddles interwoven) about climate, and death, but more about international relations and macroeconomics. I’m fortunate to have spent a lot of my career around the UN system, and have seen that the political and bureaucratic complexities of multilateral institutions is sometimes our only hope and sometimes our greatest frustration. The author nails the nature of the system we collectively have built. The “You pay for being the victim, not the criminal” line is the modern IR system in a nutshell. He hints at a post capitalist future- let’s hope we can reform our systems before they destroy us and we live in the dangerous times this book portrays.
As with the Mars Trilogy, this book holds a liberal arts degree, bringing geology, psychology, economics and history together in some fascinating “what ifs” that make a great backdrop for the central theme. The narrative has a pace and punch that makes this book come across as much better writing than the Mars Trilogy.
Like the Trilogy, a lot of years pass in between these 563 pages. It strains the plausibility of the same folks in the same jobs, even through a catastrophe and global revolution. Maybe that helps us stay connected to the actors, but it is a stretch to think how much the main characters must have aged through this. ...more
Owls are cool. But I wasn’t aware of how amazing their adaptations are and what advantages they give owls. We’re talking “thWhat An Owl Knows
33/2024.
Owls are cool. But I wasn’t aware of how amazing their adaptations are and what advantages they give owls. We’re talking “their feathers are mostly lighter colored to save weight” levels of biological design. The folks at Ferrari don’t take this kind of care with their F1 designs. And there’s so much about this foreign intelligence we can’t properly understand- do they “see” sound through a linkage between aural and optical nerves?
Ackerman builds on this biological description of the owl to a behavioral one about how owls live and die, and then into an anthropological one about how owls and humans interact and how we can help save them. It’s a quick and informative read and a real wake up call to what’s happening around us in the dark. ...more
Hemingway’s first is my favorite novel. The writing is so radical and free. Much like all the men in the book, I’m proO Sol Também se Levanta
32/2024.
Hemingway’s first is my favorite novel. The writing is so radical and free. Much like all the men in the book, I’m probably tragically in love with Brett Ashley as well. And I’ve been, through the years, in the shoes of almost every character here. Each time I read it, I get a new sense of it- different scenes stick out in new ways, new linkages get made (it is a romance a clef, after all!).
I decided to read a Portuguese translation this year, and it brought out new experiences in a text I’ve read a dozen times. It’s a continental Portuguese translation, too, which added to the challenge. Papa’s clarity gets muddled by the rigid language and reflexive pronouns here and there (sentar-se, despacha-lós, and the like), but the emotions in the text are heightened here.
Romance languages are just more polite, and you feel the difference here. That killer line in chapter 14 becomes “O diabo leve as mulheres. O diabo leve a você também, Brett Ashley.” It’s less acidic. In fact, the first act, with Jake and Brett in Paris has more tension and pain in Portuguese than in English. (An infectious case of saudade?). The end still cuts you down to nothing, though. ...more
Ever see something that you have *no idea* how it was put together?
This one is a challenge; I’ve heard it called “the most Gravity’s Rainbow
31/2024.
Ever see something that you have *no idea* how it was put together?
This one is a challenge; I’ve heard it called “the most started book in the world.” It’s also one that’s been banned in some places. It’s certainly evocative. It’s very good in a lot of ways, especially around showing the horrors of war in a new way. It’s also a psychedelic trip that’s hard to move through without some frames of reference. It’s also weird and uneven. The “break into song” pieces and the last 10% being random vignettes I think require a lot of faith in the writer as an artist; I just don’t know him that well.
The prose is dense and widely variable in tone and pacing, so it’s slow going. It took me 4 weeks to sift through, reread, and I finally found an online guide that helped me keep some things straight and dispel any notions that I had hallucinations while reading. (Seriously, some of the chapters are utter nonsense and don’t link up to anything else here.)
The characters (and there are so many of them!) are a challenge to connect with, especially early on - many feel two dimensional: so-and-so is a “Pavlovian” and this is now his whole personality, etc. Others (Tyrone, Katje) seem to truly shine though.
The horrors of war are here, yes. As are the trials of men and women flung together by war and its companions. Hemingway did both in a truer way. Pynchon adds a modern era cynicism about global capitalism playing both sides of a conflict that is not out of place today, and welcome. ...more
I used to walk by Dashiell Hammett Street nearly every day when I lived in San Francisco, and I’ve seen some movie adaptations ofThe Thin Man
30/2024.
I used to walk by Dashiell Hammett Street nearly every day when I lived in San Francisco, and I’ve seen some movie adaptations of his work, but never read it. It’s thoroughly entertaining and I’m glad I closed off my vacation reading with it. The pace is nearly frenetic and the dialogue is so tense that you can feel him playing with the audience and keeping us engrossed. It’s really cinematic.
There’s a tender beauty along with the grit- really nicely done. Nick and Nora are lovely characters if idiosyncratic, even by Prohibition era standards. A real joy. ...more
This was on a NYT fiction list and I figured “why not.” Frankly it wasn’t satisfying. Comparisons to Henry James’ AmericansThe Late Americans
29/2024.
This was on a NYT fiction list and I figured “why not.” Frankly it wasn’t satisfying. Comparisons to Henry James’ Americans seem to fall flat. Generously, we can say it’s an indictment of the Academy as decadent, even while criticizing the broader capitalistic culture for perceived failings.
This is some kind of La Boheme set in a university town in Iowa. The characters are people you’d hate to be around. The Seamus character is an intellectualized version of Holden Caulfield with a death wish, and totally a waste. Fatima seems genuinely like the nicest person and she still has a petty streak.
It takes a full hundred pages to say anything notable (that Onlyfans is to sex as agribusiness is to farming; both are a capitalistic distortion of something good). Even then, the cultural criticism isn’t that novel or sophisticated.
Taylor spends too much time in cheap thrills eroticism and so any real criticism of the miserableness of the artistic class in the 21st century is too muddied by their desperate acts. I’ve heard his other works are stronger, but this doesn’t make me want to spend the time. ...more
Aside from his reputation as a subversive and even banned book, I didn’t know much about this one before opening it up.The Catcher In The Rye
28/2024.
Aside from his reputation as a subversive and even banned book, I didn’t know much about this one before opening it up. So I tried to go into it with an open mind. I agree with Washington Post critic Jonathan Yardley, who found the prose “a painful experience.” It’s no Gatsby.
The prose starts off with a really immature voice that I found it hard to connect with; it felt grating. Lots of angst and ennui. All wrapped into this staccato, stream of consciousness rant. It gets better as you adjust to the language, but he’s still not a very sympathetic character. Caulfield is just an immature, narcissistic guy with some problems.
We all know a Holden Caulfield in our own lives. That’s the only thing that makes this work. It’s a peek into the brain of that too-touchy person in our family or job. The sad thing is that Caulfield probably ends up going into the family business, failing up, and never amounting to much of a man.
The book finally gets properly grounded in itself in the last few chapters. The relationship between Holden and Phoebe is the only pleasant-ish thing in the book. He clearly loves his sister and she loves him the way you love an addict or an abuser. If you know a Holden in your life, you might be his Phoebe- and god bless you if you are.
Overall, I think the explanation that this is Salinger’s war novel makes the best explanation of why Holden carries so much baggage- trauma is heavier than ennui. ...more
A summer read for sure, even though it tackles tougher social issues than most beach books. This is the third book in the CaminoCamino Ghosts
27/2024.
A summer read for sure, even though it tackles tougher social issues than most beach books. This is the third book in the Camino Island series and pretty classic Grisham. Bruce Cable, the protagonist, is a known quantity at this point and so the story moves on to new characters and a mystery. And a healthy dose of disdain for fast money, big business types.
I was a bit apprehensive to see this southern white writer take on a story with a background steeped in slavery, racism and longstanding racial divides in the south. He does so bravely, and I’ll leave it to others to judge how imperfectly he does it.
Yes, it’s a legal thriller. But it’s also a story about intersectionalism and allyship, even if it’s a bit self-serving. The team assembled to fight corrupt money is formidable and should be an inspiration to those committed to fighting noble fights. The subtle jabs at a certain Floridian political class’ dismissive attitudes towards embracing the African American history in the state is clear. In fact the only thing that makes it clearly fiction is the trademark ending, which may not be possible in real life (who’s the cynic now, right?)....more
I’m struck at the obviousness of the assertion here that “gravity and levity aren’t opposing forces.” This seems obvious but Humor, Seriously
26/2024.
I’m struck at the obviousness of the assertion here that “gravity and levity aren’t opposing forces.” This seems obvious but too many things are all gravity and not enough humor. This books sets to right that, one MBA at a time.
I’m lucky to work with some people with a great sense of playful humor. It makes the hard days a lot easier and keeps the team together. So I was already sold on the premise here. In addition to laying out the benefits of levity in the workplace, there’s also helpful info to understand your own style and how to better use it in all situations.
When was the last time a leader made you really laugh? Not just a canned line in a quarterly business review, but an actual laugh? For a lot of folks, it’s been too long. The idea here is to work humor into your daily routine. It has a lot of good side effects: team cohesion, trust, and stress reduction are all worth it. And maybe this is more at risk in a “fully remote” future.
The overview of what “funny is” is good, but see “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” for a better understanding.
I liked The Handmaid’s Tale. At first I wasn’t sure about this one, which tries to be a sequel and a prequel at the same time, eThe Testaments
25/2024.
I liked The Handmaid’s Tale. At first I wasn’t sure about this one, which tries to be a sequel and a prequel at the same time, extending our knowledge forwards and backwards all at once. But it hangs together nicely. It is less shocking than the first book, despite efforts to appall. But nothing in it is too far from the truth- puritanical theocratic tendencies and billionaire backed baby-boosterism go hand in hand neatly in today’s America.
It also fleshes out some of the political questions I had about Gilead and its leadership. (How big is it? Where doesn’t it control? How does it conduct foreign relations?) That was satisfying. The facade of living under that regime is merely a caricature of all human societies, and it’s beautifully displayed here.
One thing I like here is the “Tease then Reveal” storytelling tactic from Atwood. Instead of trying to layer in innumerable twists, she sets things in motion with a generally predictable terminus. The journey is sometimes worth more than the destination after all....more
This might be the most romantic book about radio communication ever. And the human instinct to connect, to speak, All The Light We Cannot See
24/2024.
This might be the most romantic book about radio communication ever. And the human instinct to connect, to speak, to be heard- these things prove we exist!
I’m always fascinated by the books people recommend to me. This was such a recommendation and a very good one. Doerr gives us two instantly sympathetic characters- true innocents that you ache to protect as the world begins to crash around them. And later, a truly frightening villain, leading to tense scenes that remind me of No Country For Old Men and Wait Until Dark
The pacing and rhythm here are incredible. It’s a crescendo all the way to the end. I won’t write more so as to avoid spoilers, but it’s an amazing ride. I couldn’t put it down. ...more
Lincoln is, to my mind, the pinnacle of American leadership and maybe the greatest American who ever lived. Not perfect byAnd There Was Light
23/2024.
Lincoln is, to my mind, the pinnacle of American leadership and maybe the greatest American who ever lived. Not perfect by any shot, but guided by deep convictions and aiming ceaselessly to honor them. Fueled by curiosity, a seeker of wisdom, and a rejector of the status quo, who sought to embody the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Here, Meacham gives us a gorgeous biography, treading where many have before, but framed in Lincoln’s moral sensitivities, rather than his political or personal activities themselves. Lincoln comes through as a seeker of truth, if also an imperfect embodiment of it. He held on to racist ideas while simultaneously being very progressive for his time; rooted in the promises of the Declaration, he sees the humanity in all people, even if he thought segregation to be a fine status quo. This is of course a framing that we’ve evolved beyond today.
It’s also the story of the ongoing divides in America, fundamentally between those that accept oppression of others as a way of life and those that seek equality and equity for all. Lincoln spoke to the soul of the nation when we most needed him. Let’s hope he’s not unique in the story of America. There are echoes today of the same misinformation, election interference, and threats of violent insurrection that Lincoln faced.
Lincoln’s sense of humor comes through here, and one gets a very intimate feel for the man’s mind. He was immensely kind and contemplative.
The book is well written and well researched, with the source notes and bibliography totaling some 250 pages alone!...more
There’s a long history of Africa being divided, conquered, and exploited by European powers. That a violent domination by Belgium (fRed Rubber
22/2024.
There’s a long history of Africa being divided, conquered, and exploited by European powers. That a violent domination by Belgium (first her King, later her people) of the Congo river basin area persisted into the 20th century is less well known. Like all human travesties, its success depended on the complacency of those who otherwise could have prevented it. In this case, the British decided to stand by and allow the Belgians to commit atrocities based on a mix of commercial and geopolitical interests that betrayed the work done decades prior in ending African slavery and establishing at least minor protections for African people. There’s an element of “major power losing face to minor power; minor power commits atrocity” that has parallels to many conflicts today.
I’m glad this was recommended to me. I’d certainly have overlooked it without a strong suggestion from a friend.
This heartbreaking book was written in 1906 to protest British complicity in the Belgian King’s heinous behavior. Britain had basically imagined civil society out of whole cloth to end the Atlantic slave trade, and it dusted off its playbook to put to work in Africa. This is a contemporary history of that struggle and its arguments. It’s a well designed pamphlet, and evidence that the structure of arguments in public affairs campaigns doesn’t change much. It’s also a litany of crimes against humanity, all in the name of consumerism and financial accumulation, and a template of the “privatize gains, socialize losses” school of corrupt capitalism.
Whether it’s rubber in the Congo in the 1900’s, cotton in Mississippi in the 1800’s, or fast fashion at a mall in your town today, the modern economic system is based squarely on theft, torture, rape, and murder. Shifting to equitable and just means of production will not be easy, but the task is as urgent as ever. ...more
As pop psych goes, this is a really good book. A lot of my experiences reinforce the underlying concepts here, especially aThe Power of Habit
21/2024.
As pop psych goes, this is a really good book. A lot of my experiences reinforce the underlying concepts here, especially around willpower being more important than intellect for success, and the need to design new habits to replace old ones.
It’s a fairly practical little book, focused on identifying and modifying our small routines (at the personal as well as corporate and societal levels). Understanding what our habits are and why we have them empowers us to tinker with them and drive real change. ...more
A really delightful book. Price writes a witty and succinct tale of the founding of English America, dispelling any Love and Hate in Jamestown
20/2024.
A really delightful book. Price writes a witty and succinct tale of the founding of English America, dispelling any Disneyfied imaginings of a love story between John Smith and Pocahontas once and for all. The book draws from a wide array of sources and provides a rich contextualization for the story it tells. An easy read but one I found myself going slowly through so as to savor. It does stumble somewhat to a fawning patriotism near the end, but the story is too good not to be swept away by it at least in part.
The book is generally favorable to the English, but tries to empathize with Powhatan and is clear eyed about the situations that proved fertile ground for the birth of chattel slavery in the colonies.
Despite having visited Jamestown a couple times, the book adds color and life and vision to the experience of walking the historical site.
Over the years, John Smith has come to represent the first embodiment and conscious awareness of what a new people making their way in a new (to them) land needed- a hero made for the American project. “Nations define themselves in large part through their heroes, and historians found in (John) Smith the opportunity to define the qualities of a distinctively American hero: resourceful, of humble origins and high achievement, inclined towards action rather than reflection, peaceable when possible, warlike when necessary” (p234).
Undoubtedly, Pocahontas should be the second American hero- intellectually curious, welcoming if not always trusting of foreigners, ready to learn and adopt the best of the foreign customs, instinctively anti-establishment. ...more
Hank Williams was wrong: he didn’t “see the light,” he saw the reflection of photons on other objects. Zajonc here reminds Catching the Light
19/2024.
Hank Williams was wrong: he didn’t “see the light,” he saw the reflection of photons on other objects. Zajonc here reminds us how special sight is, and hints at the process, which is a learned manner of processing information- the nearly incomprehensible power of the brain. It’s the combination of information (light) and analysis (brainpower) that leads to the conscious activity we call sight.
By looking at the cultural and historic views of light as well as the scientific ones, our intimate relationship with a poorly understood part of the cosmos comes into contrast. It’s a love letter to scientific pursuit. It ends with a plea to look at physics in an wholistic way- no more atomization of all the features of the cosmos! (How else can we cope with chaos theory?)
Regarding the change from a spiritual world to a rational one as a massive paradigm shift: “The shift in view is a simple fact. This may be seen as progress by and a fall from grace by others, but we simply do inhabit a different world from that of the Australian aboriginal or ancient Sumerian. It differs less because of technical advances in our external world than because of a revolution in our way of thinking and seeing, a revolution located within us.” (P181)...more
Here Samir Admin condenses several of his prior works into a short argument on the difficulties capitalism has (internalObsolescent Capitalism
18/2024.
Here Samir Admin condenses several of his prior works into a short argument on the difficulties capitalism has (internal contradictions) and offers a new view on what development should mean. Writing just after 9/11, when anti globalization protests were still fresh memories, he writes: “…after the symbolic attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it is time to realize that there cannot be a united front against terrorism without a united front against international and social injustice.” - true today as in 2003.
One thing that’s clear here, and I’ve been saying for a while, is that there are negative consequences to capitalism’s push for “development” as a purely economic vision. Democratization should be a precursor to the development economics we ask countries to undertake. This is because economic freedom tends to flow from democracy and this in turn allows for better relations between capital and labor.
A common critique by Marxist thinkers of capitalism is that development in the 20th century has actually propagated wider disparities in quality of living and condensed human suffering into certain populations. There may be merit to this argument, even though we would point to more accessible basic needs on a universal scale as a good thing. Certainly those “developed” countries have seen their quality of life accelerate pace at rates that no one in humanity’s history has ever experienced. A new way of describing, measuring, and propagating development could therefore be attractive. The point is development is both relative and objective.
Admin lays out for key arguments: 1. Economic alienation is central feature of capitalism. 2. Polarization of global capitalism widens the development gap between the center and the periphery 3. There are powers beyond the market itself that shape how market forces work, “market laws” don’t in fact apply 4. Systems of political economics have beginnings and ends, and there may be a fragmentary period after capitalism before a new system emerges as the consensus or dominant new system.
He points to five areas where countries in the “triad“ (United States, Europe, Japan) have a monopoly. These are technology, worldwide financial markets, natural resources, media and communication, and weapons of mass destruction. It’s clear, but since the time this book was written, China has become very well situated in all five, which I think challenges some of the claims made in this book. Either the triad is an awful thing that should be overthrown, at which point China’s entry into it makes it a quad, but no less repugnant, or Membership in this triad isn’t simply a result of being a bad guy: China might get a pass. I’m not sure which way the author would come down.
Another criticism: in comments on global trade, and in the particular pharmaceutical industry Admin accuses capitalism of protecting the IP of drug makers so as to keep new medicine out of the hands of the periphery. He fails to account for how capitalism also seeks to exploit the local inhabitants of the “core of the core” by making drug prices far higher in the US than elsewhere- either capitalism is more exploitative at home than he thinks, or another dynamic needs inclusion here. ...more
Does capitalism have to end? No, according to the Systems Theory academics behind this one. But they affirm the currThe Entropy of Capitalism
17/2024.
Does capitalism have to end? No, according to the Systems Theory academics behind this one. But they affirm the current trajectory isn’t sustai nable, for both organizational and environmental reasons. It could run out of steam as it flails and tries futilely to respond to the climate crisis it’s created. “The entropy of capitalism, while fundamentally thermodynamic, is manifested more immediately as an exhaustion of ideas.” (P231)
This work was cited extensively in some of the Tech Ethics books I read last year, so it seemed worth coming to the source. Also: Marxist thermodynamics! Sadly, it also has some fairly weak arguments, a few conspiracy theories, and a lot of inventive language that weakens the whole. Like a lot of critics of capitalism, Biel goes too far in praising truly awful regimes like those in Libya under Qaddafi and Venezuela under Chavez, where the promises to the people were hollow from the start.
Chapter 4 is particularly worthwhile here, with a good overview of ecological and energy linkages. One takeaway is that food and energy production are linked in ways I haven’t really contemplated.
Chapter 5 though is a wreck, with allusions to secret cabals between Al Qaeda and Yale Skull and Bones members, using Seymour Hersh as a source, etc.
At the end of the day, Biel makes a binary issue out of a grayscale one. He says “sustainable development” is invalid because it was developed by capitalism and therefore only exists to accentuate poverty. This is clearly not true, as the robust middle class in countries that get it right (like Brazil) show. It is possible that capitalism doesn’t provide the most impactful or efficient mechanism on its own, but that’s not where Biel lands in his total rejection of capitalism.
The author picks up on several factors we describe today as “late stage capitalism”: homogeneity which reduces comparative benefits amongst operations, regions, and workers, heavy handed law enforcement and militarism to ensure the “core” remains in power, and environmental degradation, beyond the carrying capacity of the ecological system. It also rightly asserts that normal, rational responses to these issues are overridden in the system by detached financial activities that seek to profit from the mess, which is capitalism at its most cynical.
Other arguments (like the idea of military contracting/outsourcinf being a dissolution of an oppressive structure instead of the outsourcing of the structure’s needs) are harder to buy. Maybe an extra decade and the end of the war on terror give us some perspective here.
Dr Biel brings an old-school Marxist (self-avowedly Leninist) view to International Relations and Political Economy. Those are deep roots but the fruit hasn’t always been sweet.
He makes the case that “the masses” are becoming “gatekeepers of the natural world.” In this, he seems to make a Marxist critique of Malthusian arguments, that would suggest declining birth rates are in fact an act of resistance against consumerist forces. Nevertheless, his praise of Cuba for creating a “low throughput” economy as a model for the rest of us is junk: Cuba is perhaps the best example of poor production decisions and long lasting environmental degradation (why Cuban rum and cigars aren’t what they used to be, even as Cubans themselves go hungry).
The supposed advantages of “network capitalism” seem to have amounted to the gig economy and not much else in the last decade. So I think this portion of the argument around capitalism fostering new emergent versions of itself seems a bit flat.
Biel suggests (p 103) that the core would become stagnant prior to the periphery. I think this is questionable. In Latam, productivity per capita has stagnated long ago, while the US (his “core of the core”) continues to grow productivity.
He provides more evidence in his arguments about environmental depletion and the historic North-South relationships that make the South pay twice for the North’s energy consumption. This is embedded in our paradigm such that it goes unnoticed. As he puts it, “Denial of the past inevitably makes it difficult to get to grips with the present.”...more
I first heard about this effort by the Allende government to use technology in a radical way to centralize productiCybernetic Revolutionaries
16/2024.
I first heard about this effort by the Allende government to use technology in a radical way to centralize production and make the economy more efficient when I lived in Chile. It’s a novel approach to a homegrown precursor to the Internet, and a cautionary tale about getting the human factor right in any computing system. Parts of it reinforce Dependency Theory, while others refute it. Tech (alone) won’t save us.
Project Cybersyn, as it was known, was a huge leap forward in government use of data analytics to drive decisions. It shows visionary leadership. It’s not hard to imagine a different path for tech development wherein the US didn’t unleash Arpanet to the broader world and projects like this instead led to some alternate version of the Internet.
Apart from a picture of the Star Trek-inspired consoles, I didn’t know much about Cybersyn. It turns out it was a really unique interconnected network of data collection and processing, to deliver analytic capabilities to government. Some of the criticisms are valid- it was highly technocratic and could be dehumanizing in the wrong hands. But it was a legitimate response to a profound need for economic and social development.
Incidentally there’s a podcast about it but I find the delivery a bit sensationalistic and so dropped it in favor of this book, which is incredibly well researched and constructed.
The book is a more academic history than adventure tale, but includes the important details of how the US interfered in the development of this “Third Way” by restricting access to American tech. Some stories are timeless. The British technologist behind the architecture, Stafford Beer, seems to have presaged Fully Automated Luxury Communism that was emerging in Italian academia just after this time.
Technology brought to use by governments reflects political goals. Cybersyn was a technology meant to effect the political goal of improved national economic production in a Socialist context; citizen participation was also desired (see the CyberFolk component)although the technology limited somewhat their feedback in the system. The Chilean administration was clearly aware that the implications of the tech they chose to promote would have social consequences- it was a very deliberate and thoughtful time. Nevertheless, the opposition also tried to characterize the project as Orwellian and covert in nature; proof that great tech and great policy can be obscured by losing the narrative.
I liked Tim Marshall’s “The Future of Geography” (8/2024), but had more trepidation about this one which seems to advoPrisoners of Geography
15/2024.
I liked Tim Marshall’s “The Future of Geography” (8/2024), but had more trepidation about this one which seems to advocate that geography is destiny, and to struggle to capture the complexities of geopolitical realities. It’s a quick survey and necessarily very high level. I think the broad strokes of this book are largely correct; the chapters on Russia, China, and the US are more convincing than the others.
Since enough time has passed, we can check his prognostications on how geography would shape the future against the accomplishments of recent history (this may also be just how unprecedented our times are, that it confounds analysis from a decade prior) and find some of them lacking. I also think that it misses the elements of the cyber and space domains as emergent battle spaces. That’s a weakness to the analysis here.
The one area I think academic literature in the last decade really proves him wrong is Africa: yes, the terrain isn’t easy for empire building, but a lot of Africa’s human condition was imposed by stealing about a quarter of its people, disrupting political stability and taking anything that wasn’t nailed down....more
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