Books

Day two: Cod 

It’s hard to credibly convey how compelling Kurlansky’s books are, given the seemingly dull subject matter. The prose is merely fair, but the research is  impeccable and he mixes colorful illustrative anecdotes in at the perfect pace.

My then 5yo never lost interest, which is strong testimony. Four stars for its type. 

His books on salt and onions are also worth reading. For the sake of calibration, I’d cite At Home and The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson as five star examples of the class.

Day three: Basic Economics 

Ok, banger. 

I read this on the strength of its appearance at the top of https://danromero.org/books/ and I loved it. 

Its North Star is “Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses.”

Even the genuinely basic parts felt refreshing and instructive. 

But the application of the fundamental principles to real life cases like rent control had me going “yeah… yeah!”

It’s strongly pro-market, and part of why I liked it is that it deftly confirmed my priors. 

But I think even a flag waving socialist would have to concede that it’s well crafted (even if they believe that it’s ultimately misguided). 

I gave copies as gifts last year to friends and family. I’d recommend it over Wealth of Nations by a mile (reading Adam Smith didn’t change my life lol). 

5 stars, strong recommendation