Recommended Reading : August 2010
Blog posts and articles:
- Have you ever wondered why China has accumulated such vast foreign exchange reserves over the past few years? And why they’re lending it back to the West instead of spending the money in China? This well-researched article by James Fallows, one of my new favorite non-fiction writers, breaks it down.
- Rude Pundit on the Biden vs. Palin vice-presidential debate (throwback to 2008) (note: extremely NSFW). This amused me, a lot.
- A post I really liked from my friend Christian’s blog. Excerpt: “Those who steal from others do so out of a sense of entitlement, but I know that I am entitled to nothing. Entitled to nothing, I am grateful for everything…”
- Demonbaby is a pretty cool blog. It hasn’t been updated in a couple of years, but I recommend it anyway, the writer has some great travel stories (NSFW). I like the one titled “Weird Shit from Russia” but all of them are good.
- The Transantiago story : This is a great, and highly recommended case study. It should be considered a parable that addresses human nature, economic incentives, and the government’s role in all of it. Quote:
Here is the real problem with the “greed is always bad, public provision is always good” perspective… it makes no sense to assume that, under some circumstances (private buses), people are greedy, and under others (government buses), people are benevolent.
Books:
Blind Into Baghdad
This is a great, non-partisan, non-ideological look at the events and decisions leading to the 2003 Iraq - American war. It also addresses issues with the occupation. This is required reading for most senior US military personnel working on the Iraq occupation, and I can see why.
by Peter Singer
, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s followup, 
, is highly recommended.
by Gaddis
by Harris
by Sachs
