Laurie’s Comments (group member since Jun 15, 2008)

Laurie’s comments from the Nonfiction Boot Camp group.

There also is a good discussion of the collapse of the banking system (for non-economists!) on This American Life this week:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio...

First of all, since I'm an economic lightweight, I have to say "Bad Money" was one of those books where I had to read many paragraphs twice. Of course I've been helped by everything I've read and heard in the past year--before then, I would sit out any discussion that included words like credit derivatives or debt monetization. But pretending that it's too hard doesn't seem like a smart move anymore, and I think this book gives a good overview of the genesis of recent events. On the down side, it was published in April 2008, so it's already dated and doesn't take into account the disastrous past year, or the policies introduced by the new administration. However, the basic critique of the structure of the American economy still holds.

In a relatively short 340 pages, Phillips describes the consequences of the U.S.'s misguided economic policies, mounting debt, failing housing market, and dependence on oil, and the end of American domination of world markets. He begins with a very brief discussion of the decline of previous leading world economic powers—especially the Dutch and British--saying that the U.S. has the same hallmark of the end of those empires: an economy completely dominated by the financial sector (which he describes as "hubris driven") and the miscalculations and abuse that dominates this sector. (In the last 30 years financial services have grown from 11% of GDP to 21%, and manufacturing has declined from 25% to 13%). He also discusses the role of individual debt in the current crisis, and in some really chilling passages describes how critical it is to the financial sector that individuals are ensnared in easy credit and debt.

Apparently, Kevin Phillips began his career as a Republican strategist, but he seems to have left that set of beliefs far behind. However, he skewers Bill Clinton as well as recent R presidents and policies, esp the law passed in 1999 which opened up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies (the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.) He also believes that all of the candidates in last year's presidential race--indeed, almost everyone in Washington--is so beholden to investment bankers and hedge fund managers that any effecting reform is unlikely.

From Ellesee:

1. Islam: The Straight Path - from posts, this is a often used in university courses but quite readable. 3rd edition 2005. Covers history, politics as well as general intro to Islam beliefs/ practices.

2. What Everyone Needs To Know About Islam - in a Q and A format, not as in depth as #1 history/politics wise but straightforward. Not as biased per reviews one way or the other.

And Bruce

Islam: A Short History - around 200 pages (Karen Armstrong)

Muhammad: A Biography of the Poet (Karen Armstrong)

And...

Heavy Metal Islam (Mark Levine)

Feel free to weigh in, even if you haven't had a chance to read. There's a lot going on, and it doesn't seem to be getting better any time soon.

I'm reading "Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism" (Kevin Phillips). More this weekend...

Hi Bruce--I'm glad you've joined us! We do need to pick a couple of books for March. I'm slacking on my duties. I know there were a couple of titles brought up about Islam, I'll go back and see if I can pull those. I have Heavy Metal Islam sitting right here on my desk--I think I'm going to read that, but a companion history book might be good (200 pages--my kind of history:). What do you guys think--is this "everyone read your own thing"' working?

As for Feb., I have about 100 pages to go on "Big Money," which isn't the best written book I've read lately, but regardless is really good (in a scary way.) I'm planning on finishing this weekend, and I'll post again then. I also bought the Niall Ferguson book, but that might have to wait.

Hello all new people--feel free to comment/start a discussion on anything you'd like, or just introduce yourselves. We have topic areas chosen for all of 2009, which I'll post in a minute. We haven't chosen the books for each month though, so please make suggestions. Hope everyone is staying warm, unless you're in a warm place right now, in which case I'm very jealous.

Feel free to suggest books at any time!

Feb: global financial crisis
March: Islam
April: the environment
May: China
June: cosmology/physics
July: basic economics
August: food/cooking
Sept: the natural world/biology
Oct: U.S. Supreme Court
Nov: art/art history
Dec: humor

Do you all want to try and keep it to a choice of 2 books a month? Are these ok for Jan?

Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

I’m glad I stuck with Big Dead Place—I rambled through the first 3 chapters over slowly over December, but then the pace really picked up and I was (sort of) hooked (it’s only 250 pages ☺). It is very much of its time just as Shackleton's Incredible Voyage seems like it might’ve been—BDP was published in 2005. The blurb on the back says it “shatters the well-worn clichés of polar literature,” and it IS a little self-consciously hip, but in a fun way.

The author (Nicholas Johnson) has worked off and on in Antarctica for 5 years, and his book details life at McMurdo Base and the US South Pole Station. He weaves a little bit of the darker side of official Antarctic history into the story of his fellow workers, who are mostly a bunch of drunken oddballs or annoying petty bureaucrats (in fact the bureaucrats and corporate lackeys are portrayed as much worse than the harsh climate—it’s kind of an icy Office Space, if anyone has seen that movie). Not much “triumph of the human spirit” here—although most people seem to come expecting a transcendent experience, what they end up getting is something quite different.

You don’t get much of a sense of natural place in the book, either—for being about an isolated continent, it’s extremely crowded with people. What you do get is a profound sense of the strangeness of it all, and the people who are attracted to that strangeness. Unfortunately, petty rivalries eventually take over completely. For all of the humor, by the end of the book things are looking pretty bleak.

If you’re tempted to read it, take a look at his website first (http://bigdeadplace.com/). I think much of it is excerpted here, and it might be enough to satisfy your curiosity.

great ideas...

Feb: global financial crisis
March: Islam
April: the environment
May: China
June: cosmology/physics
July: the natural world/biology
August: food/cooking
Sept: basic economics
Oct: U.S. Supreme Court
Nov: art/art history
Dec: humor/humour (haha?)

OK, let's fill this in a little more:

Feb: global financial crisis
March: Islam
April: the environment
May: China
June: cosmology/physics
July: the natural world/biology
August:
Sept: basic economics
Oct: U.S. Supreme Court
Nov:
Dec:

I left August blank for now--it'd be nice to find something light for August and December, as so many people seem to take holidays during those months.

Photos would be great!

Feb: global financial crisis
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
Sept:
Oct:
Nov:
Dec:

Suggestions from other thread: the environment, cosmology/physics, philosophy, the U.S. Supreme Court

Other ideas: Islam (I got "Heavy Metal Islam" for Christmas--can't wait to read it, but also am interested in more historical/political texts), China, basic economics

Happy New Year! OK, I'm just on page 20 of Big Dead Place--why don't we push the Antarctica books into January, and choose a few new ones on the economic crisis for February? Also, maybe we can go ahead and come up with 10-11 more categories and rough out the rest of the year to get a head start on things.

Hey all...I just picked up Big Dead Place today while out holiday shopping. I'm off for the next 2 weeks and plan on finishing it then--it's pretty short. Will post as soon as I can, probably toward the end of the month.

A couple of more on the economic crisis for January:

The Subprime Solution: How Today's Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34...

Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

And one on the history of finance:

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27...

You want to add the book back to your own reading list?

Congrats on the new baby, Fran! You'll have a great holiday--it's so much fun with little kids around.

Amal, I'm so glad you're posting. I thought this group would be so much more interesting if it was international. As for A Brief History of Time--I can't imagine anyone would think Hawking would be an easy read :)

I think December's choices worked out well, where we picked a topic and then a selection of books on the topic. The flexibility might be good for .1 locating the book, 2. finding something you like and want to read, and 3. making discussion more interesting. Looks like so far we have suggestions for cosmology/physics, philosophy, the U.S. Supreme Court and the global financial crisis. Whew.

How about starting with the financial crisis in January, then moving into Hawking and some other cosmology books in February?

I’ve had this book on my list since last spring—I have a couple of Irish friends, and I started following the Irish debate and referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which was held in June (it was voted down.) I’m very interested in where Europe is going from here and what a more closely-knit European Union might look like, and I thought this might be a good place to start.

First of all, it was way more about the years before 1945 than I expected—I know Sheehan had to lay the groundwork, but it’s a brief book (less that 300 pages—just the way I like them!) and the post-WWII discussion is kind of limited. But given that he’s saying that Western Europe has become politically and socially demilitarized primarily because the first half of the century was so bloody and violent, it makes sense. Europe was exhausted and ashamed in 1945, and there seemed to be a real desire never to see real war again. They abandoned their empires en masse, liberal democracy took hold (with plenty of lovely social programs), and they started pulling the European Union together—which now seems to have kind of stalled.

So what’s up with this for the rest of the world? In the last chapter Sheehan explains “Why Europe Will Not Become a Superpower”—saying basically that the EU is already a superstate economically, but its failure to develop a common foreign and defense policy will keep them from superpower status. Are the U.S. and Europe drifting apart—and is this good? Bad? Irrelevant? Is the notion of European soft power as scary as American hard power? I’ve heard the EU spoken about (by Europeans) as leading the world by being a “moral example,” which sounds vaguely….American, and a little dangerous.

Hey all...I'm about halfway through and really hope we can start a good discussion on Where Have All the Soldiers Gone soon. I have a freelance project that's due on Monday, so I'll be crashing on that over the weekend but will finish and post something before Thanksgiving (Nov. 27 for those outside the U.S.) If someone wants to take the lead, by all means please feel free. I'll pull the titles for December now and put up a poll (as I need another diversion from finishing my work:)

Hope everyone is having a good November!