A Little Ludwig Goes a Long Way

A smattering of opinions on technology, books, business, and culture. Now in its 4th technology iteration.

Recent Books -- Undertow, Price of Time, Destiny Disrupted, Going Zero, The Soulmate, Born in Blackness, Flawless, Tomorrow

18 June 2023

  • The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet. A dark essay tour through the divisions and delusions in the US. I can only hope that some of this just burns itself out.
  • The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest by Edward Chancellor. A strong argument that low interest rates are destabilizing and deeply inequitable. Kind of an anti-MMT book. He really hammers home the point through analysis of several hundred years of financial history. I’ve personally been a huge beneficiary of the slowly declining interest rates over most of the course of my working life, another way in which I was incredibly lucky.
  • Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary. A history of the world from the perspective of the Islamic world. I hace often wished I could read history textbooks from other cultures, as we are all programmed with a worldview that is unique to our culture. This is a great book, I learned a great deal about Islamic culture and how they may see the world. The Islamic focus on community vs the Christian focus on the individual was a great learning for me.
  • Going Zero by Anthony McCarten. Fun thriller about invasive surveillence and a race to avoid and expose it.
  • The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth. A young couple witnesses a suicide, and then their life unravels as secrets come out. Fun and fast read, but won’t stick with me.
  • Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War by Howard W. French. It is sad that this material is not taught to us all. I come away from this feeling that the US has not really accepted responsibility for this stain on our history, and that we need to do more to remedy the impacts in both the US and outside the US.
  • Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital by Elise Hu. A critical look at the beauty products industry and culture from the front line of beauty products, Korea. A topic I knpw little about and a perspective I don’t understand well, so this was very educational.
  • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Entertaining and well written. I am not sure it will age super well as it has so many topical references but it was fun.