Tag Archives: review

Review of “The Lucifer Principle” (H. Bloom), or: Fascism is the Natural State

Posted on July 15, 2010 by AK

Depressingly fatalist, morbidly truthful, irresistibly Nietzschean. That’s Howard Bloom’s “The Lucifer Principle” in a nutshell: a meandering trawl through disciplines such as genetics, psychology and culture that culminates in a theory of evil, purporting to explain its historical necessity, its creative … Continue reading →

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If Malthus and Ibn Khaldun were to meet for coffee…

Posted on April 8, 2010 by AK

Then you might get something like Peter Turchin’s War and Peace and War, which I’ve finally read on the recommendations of Kolya and TG. Ranging from Ermak’s subjugation of the Sibir Khanate to the rise of Rome, Turchin makes the … Continue reading →

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Review of “Limits to Growth” (Meadows et al.)

Posted on February 16, 2010 by AK

If I could recommend just one book to someone with a business-as-usual outlook, someone who believes human ingenuity and free markets will always bail us out of any resource scarcity or environmental problem, it would be Limits to Growth: The 30-Year … Continue reading →

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Lessons from Byzantium

Posted on December 5, 2009 by AK

I finally watched the film Гибель Империи. Византийский урок (Death of an Empire: the Byzantine Lesson), narrated by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, the father-confessor of Vladimir Putin. This film takes a stylized interpretation of the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire … Continue reading →

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Cliodynamics: Mathematizing History

Posted on December 4, 2009 by AK

One of the most interesting emerging sciences today, in my opinion, is cliodynamics. Their practitioners attempt to come to with mathematical models of history to explain “big history” – things like the rise of empires, social discontent, civil wars, and … Continue reading →

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Review of “Guns, Germs, and Steel” (J. Diamond)

Posted on December 3, 2009 by AK

While trawling through my computer archives, I stumbled across this book review of Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel” from five years ago. Overall, it’s a great book, better than his follow-up “Collapse”, which is also interesting – especially in … Continue reading →

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The Road to Economic Sovereignty

Posted on October 19, 2009 by AK

Review of “Kicking Away the Ladder” (H. Chang) Chang, Ha-Joon – Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002) Category: economy; history; industrial policy; Rating: 5/5 Summary: Kicking Away the Ladder:How the Economic and Intellectual Histories of Capitalism Have … Continue reading →

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Soviet Resilience under Fire

Posted on October 16, 2009 by AK

Review of “Moscow War Diary” (A. Werth) Werth, Alexander – Moscow War Diary (1942) Category: history, Soviet Union, WW2; Rating: 4/5 On 22nd June 1941, the armed columns of Nazi Germany began rolling into Russia, heralding the start of the Great … Continue reading →

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