Books in My Queue
I have a long list of books waiting to be read — these half dozen, however, are at the top of my list — sitting on a shelf, patiently waiting to be read — or for my next flight:
• Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly Doesn’t it figure: The one book I don’t have is the one I want to read the most.
• Stephen Roach, Next Asia: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Globalization: Roach up and moved to Asia a few years ago, so I am curious as to what he has to say. Recent FT columns by him, however, make it clear he believes the “supply-oriented growth model that leaves the region heavily dependent on external demand” is sub-optimal. to say the least.
• Bruce Bartlett, The New American Economy: The Failure of Reaganomics and a New Way Forward Bartlett is a fascinating character, furious at W for betraying Reagan’s policies. The book has been described as “an informed insider’s knowledge with an economic historian’s perspective.”
• David J. Leinweber, Nerds on Wall Street: Math, Machines and Wired Markets Professor Leinweber is an alpha geek, an interesting and funny guy — the book looks quirky, chock full of his personality. This one looks like fun.
• Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature What language reveals about the Human framework of basic cognitive concepts.
• David Wessel, In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic Yes, it will be homework — but Wessel is a good writer, and I hope it is informative about the Fed’s inner workings.
December 7th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
those books sound interesting- I realize this is a financial blog- but do you also find time to read fiction?
December 7th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Less than I used to — I just finished “Everything Hurts” this weekend; Last month, I read “This is where I leave you”
December 7th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I’ve started Bridge of Sighs. Good so far. I always have time for Pelecanos, he’s like a good Clint Eastwood movie. I’m considering Fat Freddy’s Cat and R. Crumbs Book of Genesis for XMas presents. Maybe some Fab Furry Freak Bros and a new snow shovel (no no no) for myself.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Okay – If you must give the classics let me suggest – the Livermore book and the first Market Wizards are the top. Also the Shimizu Japanese chart of charts title is THE candlestick source in my opinion. Amazing to me how popular candlesticks have become. The rising three is my favorite, although a bit sedate. Happy Holidays, only four days to finish your Hanukkah shopping. Sixteen shopping days to Xmas. Damn I miss the Bronx sometimes.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
And here I was about to suggest that Barry reads “Atlas Shrugged”
As the author of Bailout Nation, might I suggest you start a book about the Tiger Woods saga? Rumor has it that a million woman march consisting of Tiger’s ex girlfriends is about to commence on Washington. http://thenextreporter.com/jg/tiger-woods-million-mistresses-marches-washington/083242/
December 7th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
“I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.”- Henry Miller
BR- put me to sleep already-
reacquaint yourself to some classic literature- or maybe something new-
“If trouble comes when you least expect it then maybe the thing to do is to always expect it.” - Cormac McCarthy
December 7th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
I heard more than a few interviews with David Wessel as he was stumping for his book, and on several occasions he completely misrepresented and oversimplified how the Fed came into being. The representation he provides is that the Fed was strategically architected by lawmakers which is not the case (Jekyll Island).
December 7th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Barry — my reviews on two of the books. The one by Reinhart and Rogoff is definitely a winner.
http://alephblog.com/2009/11/25/book-review-this-time-is-different/
http://alephblog.com/2009/10/31/book-review-nerds-on-wall-street/
Nerds on Wall Street had lots of good stuff, but it needed a better editor.
December 7th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Mea culpa on something I posted a few days ago…I wrote about how it was interesting that Neel Kashkari was human after all and posted an article portraying him as a guy who wanted to get away from all the Wall St Mayhem and just get out in the middle of nowhere.
Turns out…he’s baaaaaaaaaack….at PIMPco…that’s right, our favorite bailout chief has returned! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703558004574582200194483432.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
December 7th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature
Now that sounds like something I wouldn’t mind digging my nose into
@ahab
“If trouble comes when you least expect it then maybe the thing to do is to always expect it.” – Cormac McCarthy
Now that is something I’ve actually internalized. I guess it becomes second nature to a common man after a time. It doesn’t make the trouble any easier but at least you are more comfortable with diving under the desk every time it shows up
December 8th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Barry,
Read Bruce Bartlett first and post , sounds like an interesting book but is he a good writer?
We’ll all end up reading “This time it’s different” one day I presume
December 8th, 2009 at 12:17 am
i was going through my library and found an old book that might be relevant if you think that there will be deflation.
by nicky darvos (ballet dancer), “how i made a million in the stock market.” if your old enough you will remember this best seller. how times have changed.
otherwise, read “the panic of 1907.” a classic!
~~~
BR: Read Darvos years ago — Gary B. Smith had recommended it. Panic of 1907 was part of the research for Bailout Nation
December 8th, 2009 at 12:22 am
correction:
how “i made $2,000,000 in the stock market” by nicholas darvas. my memory is failing. he was just a world class dancer. the book came out almost 50 years ago.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Actually been trying to slog through Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature for the past year. I grew interested in what Steven Pinker had to write after watching a fascinating video of him speaking. But that book is a long slog, too linguistically intellectual for my mere mortal mind. Heavy on the linguistic lingo (pun intended) the book (for the first 1/3 I have been able to digest) is incredibly fascinating but sometimes I feel like I need a PHD in linguistics just to keep up with the jargon of the study of linguistics, and how humans learn language. Someday I will finish it.
I would suggest a sci-fi book to add to your list: Greg Bear, City at the End of Time. Fascinating sci-fi involving time and space travel. Excellent escapism.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:57 am
@Trainwreck: Same here. I couldn’t read all the way through the book though there are definitely some gems in there. I just finished listening to the audiobook version on my commute. Still boring but more bearable.
December 8th, 2009 at 4:55 am
About Stephen Roach on China and Asia, I agree with him completely that China needs to rebalance away from its export dependence, but I wonder if they actually can do it.
The Japanese have known that they absolutely have to shift to an economy led by internal demand since the Plaza Accord that revalued the yen in 1985. The entire time they were blowing their famous bubbles, all the media talked about was “naiju kakudai” (expansion of internal demand). They are no closer to this goal now than they were then. Despite the high price they are paying for their failure.
Maybe that is just Japan, but I don’t see Taiwan or South Korea doing much better either.
My guess is that the very characteristics of these nations and their societies that make the export-centered model work so well are obstacles to a more balanced economy.
I also notice that everyone who studies the economy of China says they need to rebalance but I never hear this from experts on Chinese politics. Because those focused on politics knew this isn’t going to happen.
December 8th, 2009 at 5:25 am
Next bubble in financial books? Asks Paul Kedrosky. http://paul. Kedrosky.com/archives/2009/12/the_next_bubble_1.html
I’m not commenting against any books.
December 8th, 2009 at 6:43 am
all interesting books, i’ll get a few, i also read darvos years ago, there is a lesson in there, “follow the trend, fck the news”
December 8th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Does anyone have any comments on Jump Point – How Network Culture is Revolutionizing Business by Tom Hayes. I just started it…
December 8th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Are Americans Too Broken for the Truth to Set Us Free?
by Bruce E. Levine
“…What forces have created a demoralized, passive, disCouraged U.S. population?
The U.S. government-corporate partnership has used its share of guns and terror to break Native Americans, labor union organizers, and other dissidents and activists. But today, most U.S. citizens are broken by financial fears. There is potential legal debt if we speak out against a powerful authority, and all kinds of other debt if we do not comply on the job. Young people are broken by college-loan debts and fear of having no health insurance.
The U.S. population is increasingly broken by the social isolation created by corporate-governmental policies. A 2006 American Sociological Review study (“Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades”) reported that 25 percent of Americans did not have a single confidant in 2004 (10 percent of Americans lacked a single confidant in 1985). Sociologist Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone (2000) describes how social connectedness is disappearing in virtually every aspect of U.S. life. For example, there has been a significant decrease in face-to-face contact with neighbors and friends due to suburbanization, commuting, electronic entertainment, time and money pressures and other variables created by governmental-corporate policies. And union activities and other formal or informal ways that people give each other the support necessary to resist oppression have also decreased.
We are also broken by a corporate-government partnership that has rendered most of us out of control when it comes to the basic necessities of life, including our food supply. And we, like many other people in the world, are broken by socializing institutions that alienate us from our basic humanity. A few examples:
Schools and Universities:…”
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2009/120809LEVINE.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1933392711/webrider
whether from a Psychological, or Sociological POV, the above article/book has much that should be heard..
“There is potential legal debt if we speak out against a powerful authority”, We’ll have to leave that one to ‘a Jury one’s Peers’, if, of course, We aren’t termed ‘Enemy Combatants’, and held incommunicado for an indefinite period of Time..
December 8th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Speaking of books, whatever happened to those signed book plates for your book? Are you still sending those out? Thanks
December 8th, 2009 at 11:28 am
BR: I envy you for your ability to read on a plane. I always end up next to someone who can’t stand not conversing with his/her seatmate, despite the presence of a book. An iPod works wonders for that, but I can’t read and listen to tunes at the same time.
@MarkEHoffer: thanks for the Levine piece. It’s very thought-provoking and important; however, I don’t feel like it’s gonna get any better. That’s depressing, which is why I need to read his book!
December 8th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
this was in my q .. I’ll put it here
Five facts about NATO commander Stanley McChrystal*
http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-44553420091208
“testifies to Congress”
Car bombings in Baghdad leave 101 dead
Baghdad, December 8 — The violence in Iraq got worse as four car bombs exploded in Baghdad this morning, all aimed at government buildings.
Jonathan Edwards – Sunshine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zurwvfj6f_0
“I’ll be damned if he’ll run my life ….”
*coda from Wiki – “His father was Major General Herbert McChrystal. He was the fourth child in a family of five boys and a girl, all of whom would serve or marry into the military.”
me again – I quickly looked for additional generations of them ‘isms .. don’t get me wrong .. (imdb) “Lt. Kendrick: No, I like all you Navy boys. Every time we’ve gotta go someplace and fight, you fellas always give us a ride.”
December 8th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
MorticiaA,
sure, no problem, glad you found it of value..
and, yes, this: “That’s depressing, which is why I need to read his book!”, is funny )
December 18th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
[...] is the next book in my queue after Reinhart and Rogoff’s This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial [...]