‘Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief’ by Lawrence Wright
"Foundationalism ... is a state of limited ends with unlimited means, and transcendence is not offered through the state ..."
‘Great Society: A New History’ by Amity Shlaes
"The degeneration heralded by the New Left did not manifest itself into sudden existence, it had long been in preparation, and had multiple parents, not just the Frankfurt School."
‘Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World’ by Graham Allison
"Lee is also retrograde about other cultures. His talk of India is interesting mostly for Lee’s thinly-veiled contempt for Indian society and culture, tempered with a recognition that India has a big, therefore relevant, economy."
‘The New Politics of Sex: The Sexual Revolution, Civil Liberties, and the Growth of Governmental Power’ by Stephen Baskerville
The feminists’ power extends into the broader society. The cover of the Atlantic Monthly boasts “The End of Men,” and Hanna Rosin proclaims “women are taking control of everything.” Unfortunately, this is not a false claim.
‘The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy’ by Mariana Mazzucato
"Most of all, this book is an attack on the financial industry as extractive and unproductive, something I have also long believed but could not precisely say why, even though I have a lot of direct experience with that industry."
‘The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time’ by Karl Polanyi
"It overshoots in its criticism of the free market, and falls short on its claims of historical explanation. Karl Polyani’s prescriptions are, moreover, vague and worthless. There is some truth in this book, but it is buried beneath too much dross."
‘Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia’ by Christina Thompson
... Given different raw materials, metals especially, the Polynesians might have made great conquerors.
‘Frederick the Second: Wonder of the World 1194-1250’ by Ernst Kantorowicz
One wonders, what would a man like Kantorowicz, or a man like Frederick, say if he saw Germany today?
‘The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction’ by Matthew B. Crawford
"...There is a solution: willed attention to concrete practices that require skill."
‘The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey’s Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924’ by Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi
Usually this extermination, or part of it, is referred to as the Armenian Genocide, except by the Turks, who to this day deny their crimes, and so don’t refer to it at all. That usual term is misleading, however. As Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi document exhaustively, the primary target was all Christians, and the primary goal religious cleansing of the Turkish nation.
‘Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain’ by Brian Catlos
Catlos does not make the mistake of ascribing advanced science and medicine to Islam, much less to Muslim Spain. In all of the Muslim world, including Spain, astronomy was fairly sophisticated, for religious and astrological reasons, but mathematics and medicine, and all other science, were second-order, second-rate, and even often frowned upon.
‘How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation’s Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education’ by Arne Duncan
It turns out to be a rambling and incoherent set of recollections...