National success requires achieving both continuity and economies of scale. Those big enough to have economies of scale rarely have good borders – think Russia. Those sufficiently isolated to have long continuities rarely have scale – think New Zealand. The Americans have changed their mind about their alliance and have turned sharply more insular. There […]
Category Archives: Book-Notes
Coming Apart (2012) Charles Murray
I don’t endorse Charles Murray. But as a man with no reputation points left to lose, he can be a particularly free thinker! In the early 1990s, Bill Gates was asked what competitor worried him the most. Goldman Sachs, Gates answered. He explained: “Software is an IQ business. Microsoft must win the IQ war, or […]
Has The West Lost It? (2018) Kishore Mahbubani
I first discovered Kishore on the Sinica Podcast (highly recommended). His eloquence and sharp takes on America and China inspired me to read some of his work. Being from Singapore, a country born of Chinese and British influences, Kishore provides a balanced (or at least, a fresh) view on Sino-Western relations. I enjoyed his constructive […]
Whiteshift (2018) Eric Kaufman
Whites are already a minority in most major cities of North America. Together with New Zealand, North America is projected to be ‘majority minority’ by 2050, with Western Europe and Australia following suit later in the century. If you’re white you may think, ‘I don’t identify as white, only as British.’ This arises because being […]
Cat’s Cradle (1963) Kurt Vonnegut
A beautifully cynical and philosophical satire. Vonnegut skewers both science and religion, and caps it off with the apocalypse. A fitting fiction for a time of pandemic. Science “Will this bother you as a scientist,” I inquired, “to go through a ritual like this?”“I am a very bad scientist. I will do anything to make […]
The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin (2015) Steven Lee Myers
Quotes “The KGB’s ranks has swollen under Yuri Andropov, who served as its chairman from 1967 to 1982, when he became the paramount leader of the Soviet Union. Andropov became on of Putin’s heroes, a distant and yet revered leader. Andropov understood the limits of the Soviet system and sought to modernize it so it […]
King Rat (1962) James Clavell
Quotes “True there are degrees of honor — but one man can have only one code. Do what you like. It’s your choice. Some things a man must decide for himself. Sometimes you have to adapt to circumstances. But for the love of God guard yourself and your conscience — no one else will — […]