As long promised (sorry!), here are some books and a few papers I recommend. I’ve read at least some of (almost) all of them and (almost) all of most titles I refer to (not all the textbooks). Please leave errors and suggestions below, I’ll tweak and add over time and notify of updates. In particular I’ll add textbooks, history and philosophy which I’ve largely left out.
Great stuff. Do you still actively use Anki to remember all this? I feel like Nielsen's essay on it should be a first port of call before getting too trigger happy with the buy-it-now button on Amazon, as is my tendency.
For Modern fiction try 'The Man Who Was Thursday' by GK Chesterton. It has Echoes of Master and Marguerita, and occupies a little hidden corner in Western Literature.
Great list. Id add Ernest Becker’s Denial of Death as an example of what motivates people and particularly people in power. We are all engaged in immortality projects. Also agree that Good Strategy, Bad Strategy is awesome and very underread in business
I’ve read a bit of/about Yarvin and while he seems to be an astute observer and critic of modern power structures, he seems to have no serious idea what to replace them with. He says (IIRC) something about a CEO-like monarch who would be accountable something like a board of directors, but doesn’t contend with all the ways that could go horribly wrong.
He reminds me of Marx. If he does turn out to be influential, it’ll most likely be because his ideas made the world a worse place.
Suggested other books you might want to recommend:
-Zero to one
-All out war by Tim Shipman
-books about the Obama campaign from Axelrod and Plouffe
Expansion for this article:
-what books people actively SHOULD AVOID reading (I believe you have criticism the work of Matthew Goodwin for example).
-what YouTube videos do you recommend?
Question: why did you recommend Kissinger’s book? Do you reject the criticisms of his foreign policy?
My own unwanted unsolicited recommendations:
- Suspicious Minds (a pre-Trump presidency book on psychology of conspiracy theories).
-Permanent Record by Ed Snowden (politics on NSA leaks aside, the passages about being inside the dysfunctional intelligence agencies with outdated equipment and incompetency seemed relevant to this blog).
-This is Paradise (general life in North Korea).
-Securing Democracy (a book about Brazilian politics, designed to inform non Brazilians).
-Relentless Pursuit (a book about Jeffrey Epstein by a lawyer who was a major enemy of his - reveals manipulation in the legal system, media and government).
-Manufacturing Consent (book on how the media chooses what to cover and what to ignore).
-Merchants of doubt (how companies have created doubt over tobacco health issues and climate change).
Jun 26, 2022·edited Jun 26, 2022Liked by Dominic Cummings
Great list; for the record, Richard C. Wirthlin’s book is not “Richard Worthlin” but Dick Wirthlin with Wynton C. Hall, The Greatest Communicator: What Ronald Reagan Taught Me About Politics, Leadership, and Life (New York: Wiley, 2004).
Among many things a portrait of man who communicated with rare talent — not only his sweet voice but ability to set out ideas (often against the grain) and then wrap then in compelling or even fun stories and anecdotes: the ideas became familiar but rarely boring due in part to Reagan’s inner reserves of narrative.
Wirthlin’s volume is compelling in many ways; a portrait of man whose public frame was undergirded by personal commitment (though not obsession with) to those ideas and the rare wisdom to being good to his word.
One example of the book’s insight and learning is on page 68: In July 1980, while campaigning, Wirthlin, Reagan’s pollster, pleaded with the candidate to cancel an increasingly problematic hustings — a speech on states’ rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers in their early twenties, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were murdered in 1964 — and which, according to Wirthlin’s own most recent data, was no longer necessary as Reagan has pulled sufficiently ahead of the southern candidate himself, President Carter.
Reagan did not wish to cancel. Wirthlin persisted. Reagan explained himself. “Dick, one thing I learned as an actor was that once the billing is set you don’t pull out.”
Re Jean O'Leary, I don't have any links but Patty Owen worked very closely with her and Groves. She was about 12 years younger and she and Jean were lifelong friends. She may have published some insights.
Excellent post as usual! Without a shadow of a doubt, Come and See was the most disturbing war film I’ve ever seen. The horror the eastern front are grossly overlooked in lieu of Wester Glory films like Saving Private Ryan or Dunkirk, etc, etc. Since you’re a man with an eclectic palette, I’m truly surprised you don’t have any Tarkovsky films on this list (ie Stalker or Andrei Rublev) but I highly recommend taking that Russian metaphysical journey before the west “cancels” him like they did with Tchaikovsky.
Did you mention in books 'Ordinary Men' Have yet to wade though all but looks vv interesting. Film list yup really great-highly recommend 'Elvis' not wishing to rain on your highbrow list but it is EEEEPIC.
Re: ‘how to predict the news?’ Worth reading Robert Schiller’s recent book on ‘narrative economics’ (think there’s a short version/article that does the same job in pdf floating around online somewhere). I don’t agree with all of it but there is definitely something in the central thesis, and it’s particularly interesting to try and understand the role of ‘narrative’ to economic events such as inflation, alongside the underlying structural factors.
Re snippets why not mention in bold on yr twitter HEADS UP NEW SNIPPETS FOR SUBSCRIBERS and add snippets to regular substack...? I am not on Twitter but I do check in on the ones they let you look at before barring so catch updates.
Naive Decision Making: Mathematics Applied to the Social World , Tom Korner, 2008. An enjoyable journey through many aspects of mathematical decision making, with pithy observations, anecdotes and quotations. Basic calculus is the only prerequisite.
The Pleasures of Counting, Tom Korner, 1996. Tom's approach puts the maths into the context of how it is used to solve real-world problems - giving an insight into the development of applied mathematics. An eclectic mix of topics eg the outbreak of cholera in Victorian Soho, the Battle of the Atlantic, African Eve and the design of anchors.
Essential companion (and very much ignored by most Americans) to The Federalist Papers - the so-called Anti-Federalist Papers (AFP):
http://resources.utulsa.edu/law/classes/rice/Constitutional/AntiFederalist/antifed.htm
Here is a decent briefer on the AFP:
https://history.nycourts.gov/about_period/antifederalist-papers/
Re Monnet ~ https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/october-2020/the-eu-godfathers-wall-street-roots/ and Draghi ~ https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2021/the-sphinx-who-reshaped-europe/
Regards
Great stuff. Do you still actively use Anki to remember all this? I feel like Nielsen's essay on it should be a first port of call before getting too trigger happy with the buy-it-now button on Amazon, as is my tendency.
For Modern fiction try 'The Man Who Was Thursday' by GK Chesterton. It has Echoes of Master and Marguerita, and occupies a little hidden corner in Western Literature.
Great list. Id add Ernest Becker’s Denial of Death as an example of what motivates people and particularly people in power. We are all engaged in immortality projects. Also agree that Good Strategy, Bad Strategy is awesome and very underread in business
I’ve read a bit of/about Yarvin and while he seems to be an astute observer and critic of modern power structures, he seems to have no serious idea what to replace them with. He says (IIRC) something about a CEO-like monarch who would be accountable something like a board of directors, but doesn’t contend with all the ways that could go horribly wrong.
He reminds me of Marx. If he does turn out to be influential, it’ll most likely be because his ideas made the world a worse place.
Suggested other books you might want to recommend:
-Zero to one
-All out war by Tim Shipman
-books about the Obama campaign from Axelrod and Plouffe
Expansion for this article:
-what books people actively SHOULD AVOID reading (I believe you have criticism the work of Matthew Goodwin for example).
-what YouTube videos do you recommend?
Question: why did you recommend Kissinger’s book? Do you reject the criticisms of his foreign policy?
My own unwanted unsolicited recommendations:
- Suspicious Minds (a pre-Trump presidency book on psychology of conspiracy theories).
-Permanent Record by Ed Snowden (politics on NSA leaks aside, the passages about being inside the dysfunctional intelligence agencies with outdated equipment and incompetency seemed relevant to this blog).
-This is Paradise (general life in North Korea).
-Securing Democracy (a book about Brazilian politics, designed to inform non Brazilians).
-Relentless Pursuit (a book about Jeffrey Epstein by a lawyer who was a major enemy of his - reveals manipulation in the legal system, media and government).
-Manufacturing Consent (book on how the media chooses what to cover and what to ignore).
-Merchants of doubt (how companies have created doubt over tobacco health issues and climate change).
I don’t read as much as you - please can you recommend your top three - politics, strategy and life please
Great list; for the record, Richard C. Wirthlin’s book is not “Richard Worthlin” but Dick Wirthlin with Wynton C. Hall, The Greatest Communicator: What Ronald Reagan Taught Me About Politics, Leadership, and Life (New York: Wiley, 2004).
Among many things a portrait of man who communicated with rare talent — not only his sweet voice but ability to set out ideas (often against the grain) and then wrap then in compelling or even fun stories and anecdotes: the ideas became familiar but rarely boring due in part to Reagan’s inner reserves of narrative.
Wirthlin’s volume is compelling in many ways; a portrait of man whose public frame was undergirded by personal commitment (though not obsession with) to those ideas and the rare wisdom to being good to his word.
One example of the book’s insight and learning is on page 68: In July 1980, while campaigning, Wirthlin, Reagan’s pollster, pleaded with the candidate to cancel an increasingly problematic hustings — a speech on states’ rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers in their early twenties, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were murdered in 1964 — and which, according to Wirthlin’s own most recent data, was no longer necessary as Reagan has pulled sufficiently ahead of the southern candidate himself, President Carter.
Reagan did not wish to cancel. Wirthlin persisted. Reagan explained himself. “Dick, one thing I learned as an actor was that once the billing is set you don’t pull out.”
Re Jean O'Leary, I don't have any links but Patty Owen worked very closely with her and Groves. She was about 12 years younger and she and Jean were lifelong friends. She may have published some insights.
Excellent post as usual! Without a shadow of a doubt, Come and See was the most disturbing war film I’ve ever seen. The horror the eastern front are grossly overlooked in lieu of Wester Glory films like Saving Private Ryan or Dunkirk, etc, etc. Since you’re a man with an eclectic palette, I’m truly surprised you don’t have any Tarkovsky films on this list (ie Stalker or Andrei Rublev) but I highly recommend taking that Russian metaphysical journey before the west “cancels” him like they did with Tchaikovsky.
Did you mention in books 'Ordinary Men' Have yet to wade though all but looks vv interesting. Film list yup really great-highly recommend 'Elvis' not wishing to rain on your highbrow list but it is EEEEPIC.
Re: ‘how to predict the news?’ Worth reading Robert Schiller’s recent book on ‘narrative economics’ (think there’s a short version/article that does the same job in pdf floating around online somewhere). I don’t agree with all of it but there is definitely something in the central thesis, and it’s particularly interesting to try and understand the role of ‘narrative’ to economic events such as inflation, alongside the underlying structural factors.
Re snippets why not mention in bold on yr twitter HEADS UP NEW SNIPPETS FOR SUBSCRIBERS and add snippets to regular substack...? I am not on Twitter but I do check in on the ones they let you look at before barring so catch updates.
Maths:
Naive Decision Making: Mathematics Applied to the Social World , Tom Korner, 2008. An enjoyable journey through many aspects of mathematical decision making, with pithy observations, anecdotes and quotations. Basic calculus is the only prerequisite.
The Pleasures of Counting, Tom Korner, 1996. Tom's approach puts the maths into the context of how it is used to solve real-world problems - giving an insight into the development of applied mathematics. An eclectic mix of topics eg the outbreak of cholera in Victorian Soho, the Battle of the Atlantic, African Eve and the design of anchors.