Marty Manley on economics, politics, technology, and culture

Archive for December, 2006

A Freak of Nurture

Michael Lewis on Race, Class, and Football Michael Lewis (author of the must-read Liar’s Poker and Moneyball as well as the somewhat less terrific New New Thing) recently published The Blind-Side: Evolution of a Game. Despite the title, this book is only partly about football. Lewis likes to describe an industry undergoing a fundamental transformation [...]

The Immortal Game

During the summer of 1972, I worked as a cook in a small resort in New York’s Hudson Valley. It was a small, family-run place patronized entirely by elderly Jews from New York city that hired me, a goyem from southern California, sight unseen. I passed as Jewish well enough — my hair was curly, [...]

Income Inequality: a feature of modern capitalism — or a bug?

The always-worthwhile Richard Posner has a thoughtful perspective on income inequality here. Judge Posner starts by noting that economic inequality is growing in the United States and many other developed and developing countries – not because more income goes to the richest quarter but because within the rich, a tiny group of super rich have [...]

Something's Happenin' Here. What it is Ain't Exactly Clear….

Quick, what is the title of the best selling hardback nonfiction book in history? Hint: the first run was an unheard of half million copies. It has now sold 24 million copies in 56 languages. It has been the bestselling book in the world for the past three years. Congratulations if you named A Purpose [...]

Triumph of the Philoperisterons

Every now and again someone comes along and makes me change my mind. They assault my prejudices with facts, challenge my beliefs with evidence, and even cause me to reinterpret certain life experiences. I could defend the old ways of course, but why bother? The other guy is right and I have been wrong. Time [...]

Echo Echo

Recent coast-to-coast flights gave me time to enjoy two cop novels that reveal a lot about the genre and maybe about ourselves. Echo Burning is the 2001 Lee Child potboiler featuring Jack Reacher; Echo Park is the newest Michael Connelly police procedural starring Harry Bosch. Both are airport books that demand little of a reader [...]