Economist books of the year (science and technology picks) | Hacker News Reader

Economist books of the year (science and technology picks)

economist.com

50 pointsepo17 comments

The China books are also of general interest to gain an idea of the nature of our new masters. For UK readers the books on US politics may be of interest. A good present gift list.

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A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming

Anyone read this? Opinions? Sounds interesting.

It is the "best of <year>" time again. I found this list disappointing. Is this really the best of the best for 2010? Maybe this list is evidence that not only do people no longer read much, but significant thinkers don't write much any more. Depressing, IMHO.

How many of these books have you read?

For those you haven't read, what makes you think that they're not any good?

Which "significant thinkers" do you think should be writing more books?

I've read none of them. I read the teaser summaries or capsule reviews and could not get excited. I do read a lot of books, but for these particular books to be the best of the best puts our literature in a sorry state. Most of the books chosen by the economist look to be formula books that will last a few weeks and then be forgotten. "Business books" almost always seem flimsy and without much more content than a single good idea or two drowning in a sea of case studies.

As for what "significant thinkers" ought to be writing books -- well, that's another problem. When I try to think of really significant thinkers who have something meaningful to say, it's a pretty short list, whether they write or not.

I seen What Technology Wants mentioned several times now around the web. Is it really that interesting, or is it just riding some hype?

Interesting list of books. Is it just me or we are seeing a large number of books (not just here and not just books) dealing with the failures of communism, soviet russia and china?

I'm wondering, are we fearing the comeback of these ideologies or what's the reason behind this surge in popularity?

Well, it is the Economist.

To which I should add: their book reviews are uniformly excellent, which is to be expected considering the quality of the paper itself.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I've been dragging down their median subscriber salary for 20+ years now.

That's one of the best ways to say "I've used this product" I've ever seen.

I don't know about Soviet Russia and Soviet Communism, but I think the latest China-bashing is the inevitable backlash against the "China ascendant" and "Chinese Century" hype of a few years ago.

Can anyone paste the list here? I don't have a subscription to the The Economist.

Politics and current affairs

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. By John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama. By David Remnick

The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers. By Richard McGregor

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory. By Peter Hessler

Molotovâs Magic Lantern: A Journey in Russian History. By Rachel Polonsky

Curfewed Night: One Kashmiri Journalistâs Frontline Account of Life, Love and War in his Homeland. By Basharat Peer

The Fear: The Last Days of Robert Mugabe. By Peter Godwin

The Watchers: The Rise of Americaâs Surveillance State. By Shane Harris

The Rule of Law. By Tom Bingham

The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Childrenâs Futureâand Why They Should Give it Back By David Willetts

Biography and memoir

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance. By Edmund de Waal

Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Familyâs Feuds. By Lyndall Gordon

Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) With Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. By Stephen Sondheim

The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece.By Eric Siblin

History

Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. By Timothy Snyder

Why the West RulesâFor Now: The Patterns of History and What They Reveal About the Future. By Ian Morris

Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. By Frank Dikotter

Red Plenty: Industry! Progress! Abundance! Inside the Fifties' Soviet Dream. By Francis Spufford

A World on Fire: An Epic History of Two Nations Divided. By Amanda Foreman

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of Americaâs Great Migration. By Isabel Wilkerson

Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth. By Hilary Spurling

A History of the World in 100 Objects. By Neil MacGregor

Economics and business

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. By Michael Lewis

More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of the New Elite. By Sebastian Mallaby

High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg. By Niall Ferguson

Science and technology

A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming. By Paul Edwards

Biology is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life. By Rob Carlson

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves. By Matt Ridley

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. By Steven Johnson

What Technology Wants. By Kevin Kelly

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. By Siddhartha Mukherjee

Culture, society and travel

Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages. By Guy Deutscher

Sweetness and Blood: How Surfing Spread from Hawaii and California to the Rest of the World, With Some Unexpected Results. By Michael Scott Moore

Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theatre. By Larry Stempel

McGilchristâs Greek Islands. By Nigel McGilchrist

Fiction

Freedom. By Jonathan Franzen

To the End of the Land. By David Grossman

Parrot and Olivier in America. By Peter Carey

The Unnamed. By Joshua Ferris

Mr Peanut. By Adam Ross

The Imperfectionists. By Tom Rachman

Selected Stories. By William Trevor

Poetry

Human chain. By Seamus Heaney

White Egrets: Poems. By Derek Walcott

(lets hear it for perl one-liners.)

Thanks sir!

I'm not logged in and it worked for me (I am a subscriber though), does this work? http://www.economist.com/node/17626972/print

delete your Economist cookie. That will get you past the weekly article limit for non-subscribers.

I suppose I should bite the bullet and get an economist subscription for myself.

I'm sure you'll love it - I sure do. They also have an audio edition you get for free with your subscription, where they read every word of the issue. It fills my week of commuting better than anything else.

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