Book Reviews & Fundraising Update

We have now raised $6,278. That means we have made the goal of ten reviews at $5,000 and are $1,722 from the second goal of six reviews. We’re $4,722 from the final goal of a booklet meant to teach how to think better about society, world events and the future.

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I want to talk a bit about the book reviews I will be doing. Our 2016 fundraiser included reviews as well. Then I emphasized books which had been fundamental to forming how I think about the world. Jane Jacobs, the great sociologist Randall Collins—patterns and ways of thinking, more than specifics, though there were some specifics as well.

This time I want to introduce books which are more about specifics, though specifics should, as I think always be examined to understand how they illustrate or arise from more fundamental rules.

So, for example, a book on China’s economy, because there are facts about that economy most Westerners don’t know. One, that floored me when I learned it, is that China is the most decentralized major economy, and it isn’t even close. Chinese central planners actually give more money and freedom in spending to provinces and municipalities than Western governments do.

This isn’t emphasized anywhere, and it’s extraordinary, and it contradicts much of what we assume about China. If you don’t know this, you can’t actually understand China.

A specific book I want to review, probably in more than one article, is Peter Hall’s Cities In Civilization. It’s almost 20 years old now, and it’s a massive doorstopper made up of huge chapters on cities golden ages: artistic, technological, administrative and so on. So there’s Athens and Elizabethan England and Paris, but there’s also Silicon Valley and Berlin (the premier electrical city in the world, a fact forgotten after WWII broke it in half) and Tokyo. There’s Rome, and so on.

There’s a lot there. For example, a real history of Silicon Valley (half entrepreneurial, half government support); the fact that some tech golden ages are government driven (Tokyo/Berlin) and some are largely private (Manchester and Detroit , and so on.

What nurtures artistic golden ages? What causes technological ones? How do great cities handle their massive growth?

All good stuff. Just as interesting is that the book is older. It is written just before the internet take-off. Seeing how major players in Tokyo missed the boat, despite having understood the strategy, is fascination.

In addition to such big picture books, I want to discuss a few more intimate books, about how we think and act as individuals.

So those are the ideas behind this year’s book reviews.

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Finally, I should note that I fundraise for two reasons. First, I need the money. For many years, I didn’t raise money because I didn’t need it. But food and rent are like taxes and death, alas. The second reason is related to the first: how much people give, both in these fundraisers and thru the year, is something I have to take into account when I decide how much to write for the blog.

‘Cause that food and rent.

In any case, if you value my writing, and you aren’t having money issues, I hope you’ll give.