What’s on the Tivo, DVR, DVD
By Barry Ritholtz - July 3rd, 2009, 5:30PM
The various digital video recording and playback devices around the house have gathered together quite a nice collection of interesting fare for the next rainy weekend — which I absolutely insist will not be this weekend. (Enough of this London on the Hudson crapola!)
• Musical Minds: Oliver Sachs, Nova (on line)
• Guns, Germs & Steel: Jared Diamond, PBS 3 parts
• The Music Instinct: Science & Song: Bobby McFerrin and Daniel Levitin 3 part series
• The Ascent of Money: Niall Ferguson, 4 parts PBS/DVD (see this clip)
And finally, as a little counter-programming to all this intellectual fare:
• Jim Jeffries HBO If you have never seen this Australian comedian before, brace, yourself. Very funny (but crudely blunt).
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Nice links. Thanks.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Guns, Germs and Steel was a terrific book. More germane to the current situation is Diamond’s Collapse. His analysis of how collapse can arise in what seems a fast manner (valley civilization, food surplus, population growth, more marginal land, drought/stress….eventually an apparent rapid, but actually slow and somewhat predictable collapse was brilliant and illuminating. I would not bet on US collapse, but I would not bet against it. I highly recommend reading Collapse; it’s thoughtful, provocative, not at all a screaming doom-is-upon us book. Certainly for those with great faith (whether or not grounded in reality) in the future of the US, it is well worth contemplating all the civilizations and empires that have faded. In the 11thcentury Cahokia, a city near present-day East St. Louis, was the largest city in North America, larger than Paris or London at that time, and it’s size was exceeded in North America only in the early 1800’s when Philadelphia grew bigger than Cahokia had been. The 12th and 13th century Ghurids controlled not only Afghanistan, but also parts of eastern Iran, Northern India and parts of Pakistan. In 1500 the cities of Central America were much larger than anything in Europe at that time.
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
The Ascent of Money is fascinating, and it reveals what is very likely the real reason the persecution of Jews has continued for centuries (at least it is a reason that rings true to me). It was not because of the rejection of Jesus of Nazareth and complicity in his execution, as others told me in the past, but rather it seems much more likely that it was because they were the first money lenders, which was considered sinful by both Christians and Muslims.
Great stuff, thanks.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:17 am
OT
Palin resigns as governor; leaves plans secret
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090704/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_resigning
Ha! Some secret! This woman is a global disaster waiting to happen.
The day she is elected president is the day I leave the country. Eight years of W was barely tolerable. And his election or near election in 2000 was a disturbing sign of the growing level of profound ignorance in our electorate; her election would indicate all hope is lost.
I eagerly await the debates between her and Newt (and Mitt too); they will both be scratching their heads trying to formulate rational responses to the continuous stream of nonsense coming from her! It will be great TV!
The only thing better would be seeing her debate O.
When it come to a battle of wits, she is defenseless. And she will turn the right wing of the GOP into a laughing stock!
July 4th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Barry,
If you watch “Guns, Germs and Steel”, the TV version is so abbreviated and eviserated, that the message becomes very mild. You have to read the book to get the whole flavor of his thesis that the combination of geography, politics, societal factors, climate, native flora and fauna, genetics, communication and so forth were the causes of the rise of the dominance of the Europeans over the world. “Collapse” takes this a step further to document the fall of many different somewhat isolated civilizations due to unsustainable population, exhaustion of natural resources, ecological disaster, or other catastrophic events. Truly two great insightful books!