Tyler Cowen started a real bandwagon of listing your top ten most influential books (Caplan, Wilkinson and Kieran all listed The Bell Curve, though not for the same reasons). I’m not going to jump on because I’m too young for that sort of retrospective. Instead I’ll just list some stuff I’ve read recently but haven’t blogged about. Taking the train means I have more time to read (and access to more books) but less time to blog. Give your own examples (if you haven’t done so already), comment on the ones listed, or suggest some more.
Catching Fire by Richard Wrangham
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Culture of Defeat by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Hystories by Elaine Showalter
Violence and Social Orders by Douglass North and two other less important people (at the repeated recommendations of agnostic and as a contrast to “A Farewell to Alms”)
The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs
Today I went to pick up The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life, but it wasn’t where the catalog said it would be, so instead I’ve got Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State. Fortunately, Goffman’s work (or at least one edition of it) appears to be available online. In the future, I plan on reading Paul Collier to (balance out William Easterly) and Mancur Olson (to balance out North, Wallis & Weingast).
UPDATE: A while back I gave up fiction for the sake of my epistemic hygiene (and also because non-fiction seemed more interesting). If that just sounds bizarre to you, you may be interested in First Things’ Tournament of Novels.
UPDATE 2: Check out Austin Bramwell, who judges some involuntary contestants in a signalling-through-booklists competition and then applies the same criteria to himself. His The Right to Remain Silent from a few years back inspired a number of good and not so good reads on my part. Still have to get to Schumpeter.
March 29, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Philosophy and History
The whole Nietzsche corpus, specifically Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols, The Anti-Christ, and The Genealogy of Morals
(AudiobooksForFree.com has Zarathustra mp3 for free, and Librivox.org has The Anti-Christ, Beyond Good and Evil, and The Joyful Wisdom downloadable for free.)
Man and Technics, Oswald Spengler
The State, Franz Oppenheimer
The Fatal Conceit, F. A. Hayek
The Culture of Critique, Kevin MacDonald
March 30, 2010 at 8:54 am
If you’re interested in Goffmann, then you’ll probably enjoy the fabulously crafted, marvelously erudite, and psychologically acute work of William Ian Miller. (You’ll be hooked, I trust, by the opening chapter of Faking It.)
Nietzsche is of course De rigueur, but don’t settle for the public domain translations. Instead: Parkes’ Oxford UP translation of Zarathustra; Clark and Swenson’s Hackett translation of the Genealogy; the Cambridge UP translations of Beyond Good and Evil, Gay Science, Late Notebooks, and the edition of his late published works translated by Norman. Large’s Oxford UP translation of Ecce Homo and Handwerk’s Standford UP translation of Human, All too Human are also quite recommendable.
March 30, 2010 at 9:29 am
For reasons I find difficult to articulate, I was really impressed with George Steiner’s short study of Martin Heidegger. Also recommended for its clarity and brevity is Simon Critchley’s “Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction.” It’s one of those Oxford primers, which are usually pretty good.
There are more than a few nonfiction books that have influenced my thinking in one way or another over the past few years. Here’s a baker’s dozen plus two:
1. Flim-Flam!, by James Randi
2. Defending the Undefendable, by Walter Block
3. The Sensory Order, by F. Hayek
4. The Bell Curve, by Herrnstein and Murray
5. Men, Women, and Chain Saws, by Carol Clover
6. Confessions of a Holocaust Revisionist, by Bradley Smith
7. The Inevitability of Patriarchy, by Steven Goldberg
8. The Samurai, The Mountie, and The Cowboy, by David Kopel
9. Better Never to Have Been, by David Benatar
10. The Jewish Century, by Yuri Slezkine
11. Hystories, by Elaine Showalter
12. Erotic Innocence, by James Kincaid
13. Paved with Good Intentions, by Jared Taylor
14. The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
15. Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, by Daniel Dennett
March 31, 2010 at 10:09 pm
A veritable carnival of crap.
“the south will rise again in ten thousand years to be lung’s undead slave!” – lung
March 30, 2010 at 9:54 am
Oh, I forgot to mention The Nurture Assumption, by Judith Rich Harris.
March 30, 2010 at 10:20 pm
JKR:
I probably won’t be getting into much philosophy (particularly of the Continental variety) anytime soon. And I cower at the thought of having to pick the correct translation of a book.
I actually host Oppenheimer’s “The State” in one uninterrupted piece. I gave my two cents on it here.
I actually have CoC and some other part of the trilogy on my computer, but as with most books downloaded to my harddrive I haven’t actually attempted to read it. I had told myself before that I would first read Slezkine (discussed here and here), and now I’m thinking Cuddihy might have more of the “outside view”.
I think Spengler’s work is also online, and the other Spengler hasn’t quite scared me off.
I probably will have to read Hayek one of these days, even if he is apparently a poor distiller of his own ideas.
Rob:
Hopefully Anonymous has recommended Miller. I think I saw the spine for “Faking It” (great title, which put “Making It” in mind). I should check it out.
Chip:
I namechecked Showalter in a recent OB post on multiple-personality, and it seems our appreciation is not exceptional. In liue of a review, I’d like to reiterate my complaint about her not grappling with the Szaszian (or other) critique of psychotherapy. Like Louis Menand, she notices something’s fishy but completely fails to ask whether therapy actually does any good and recommends it anyway. She even acknowledges that she was wrong before to have hopes in some form of therapy (feminist? humanist? I forget) but thinks that just in practice it has failed to reach the potential she imagined.
The Selfish Gene was good, though (like the Bell Curve) I had gotten much of its message third and fourth hand by the time I read it. I recommend people also read the book which inspired Dawkins when he was young, John Maynard Smith’s “The Theory of Evolution”. Since I also enjoyed “The Ancestor’s Tale”, I think I’ll also check out The Extended Phenotype and The Blind Watchmaker. I was actually a bit dissapointed by Dennet, but found the Nurture Assumption fantastic.. When looking for Goffman I also saw “No Two Alike” which I suppose I should also read.
I’ve been thinking a bit about oppositional pairs of books. In addition to the above, Matt Zeitlin gives an interesting example in his first entry here. Since I can’t expect everyone to click every one of the numerous links I drop, the dialectic due is Edward Said in “Orientalism” and Marshall Sahlins in “How Natives Think”. The latter is part of an argument Sahlins had with Gananath Obeyesekere (who unintentionally serves as a living argument against Said). There are also more direct oppositional pairs like Daniel Goldhagen’s “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” and Norman Finkelstein’s “A Nation on Trial.
March 31, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I think I’ve seen studies showing that certain kinds of behavioral therapy are effective in treating specific phobias and disorders, but I doubt the case can be made for psychotherapeutic approaches of more Freudian heritage. I think the salient insight of the Szaszian critique of psychotherapy is that, however it’s couched or medicalized, the process consists of nothing more than talking and listening. This is how people work out all manner of problem, of course, and I would see no harm were it not for the scientific (and arguably “priestly”) pretense the process is given when it is undertaken for the purpose of treating whichever nebulously defined “disease” is in current fashion.
Showalter’s omission might be excused inasmuch as it is somewhat beyond the scope of her unifying thesis (which, if memory serves, is supported by apt references to Foucault, if not Szasz), but I agree that it remains conspicuous given that so many of the “hystories” she examines were/are amplified by psychotherapeutic methods. None of this is to argue against your point that citing Szasz is considered bad poesy in academic circles. That much is obvious.
By all means, pick up a copy of “No Two Alike.” It contains at least one truly compelling account of a full-on academic debunking that may not have happened were it not for Harris’s persistent sleuthing. And Harris’s breezy style is so engaging that the depth and originality of her Big Idea regarding the basis for individual differences catches you off guard. It’s one of the few books that I expect to read again.
March 31, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Embarrassing to admit, but before I read Dennett’s book, I don’t think I had seriously considered how Darwinian reasoning might apply in extra-biological contexts. That’s why I consider it to be personally influential. Dennett’s concept of “universal acid” preoccupies me and subtly informs my thinking about pretty much anything and everything.
I actually read Finkelstein’s monograph on the heels of Goldhagen’s celebrated work. Another good point-counterpoint is “Born to Rebel” versus “The Nurture Assuption,” though that match is a bit skewed since Sulloway is a litigious prevaricator.
March 31, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I tend to avoid reading about reality precisely because I value epistemic hygiene (although I’d never call it that) – there’s so much desire to have others adopt our favorite belief systems that finding the golden needle in the haystack of lies became too much of a hassle.
I only read non-fiction on select topics where my knowledge base is sufficiently broad and stable that I can at least attempt to identify the baloney in a systematic way.
I am often glad that people like you exist, TGGP, because you investigate deeply into subjects which I care about but don’t care enough about to research – and without that work opinions on those topics aren’t worth diddly.
March 31, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Chip:
I’m not merely annoyed that Showalter omitted something I find interesting, but that she actually promotes psychotherapy based on no evidence and aware of lots of counter-evidence. Szasz does indeed agree that talking can be helpful, Robyn Dawes found that accredited therapists were about as effective as a random teenage girl (caveat: Eliezer could have misremembered that bit).
On Dennet, I had heard many of his ideas from other sources and found his own presentation of them underwhelming.
Harris (who I will reiterate is the best science writer I’m aware of) demolished “Born to Rebel” so thoroughly I kind of wonder what could be left. I could be misremembering though.
melendwyr:
Authors of fiction presumably want you to adopt favored beliefs as well. And there’s no golden needle at all! Even wrong non-fictional books tend to have some silver or bronze needles.
The more you know about a topic, the less marginal returns you should expect from reading about it. I know I concentrate a lot in some areas of subject matter compared to others, my defense is that unlike Hopefully Anonymous I don’t have much to protect. I would still characterize my knowledge as quite shallow in most areas though.
Sabotta:
I don’t think anyone mentioned the South, so I don’t see the relevance. Perhaps you should make recommendations of your own (books, not movies).
April 2, 2010 at 11:49 am
I forgot to mention The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain. A deeply philosophical work in its own right. (also free at audiobooksforfree.com)
I haven’t read Democracy the God that Failed, but judging from Hoppe’s lectures around the topic and Mencius’ nod, I imagine it’s worthwhile.
Gold: Once and Future Money, by Nathan Lewis is a great introductory work. It’s not precisely Austrian, the author is a supply sider, but it introduces so much of the logic of economics that it’s a great starter.
More advanced students of economics need to transcend even the Austrians and give attention to post-keynesian arguments, like those developed by winterspeak, Steve Keen, Michael Hudson. Austrians seem to have a real problem understanding the post-gold standard economy, and even the nature of banking in gold or fiat conditions.
Free banking authors like Selgin and White I believe have the better arguments, although Moldbug is very convincing when he gets on an economics rant. I believe he reconciles the two viewpoints by distinguishing between the gold standard and a fiat economy.
There are limits to any purely economic understanding of the world. Read widely.
April 4, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Some googling turned up this shady-seeming filehosting site where I downloaded Hoppe’s book. It’s also the only Hoppe book available at the library, which means I may actually get around to reading it some day.
Even though I’ve probably read more Austrians than any other school of economics and should be ideologically sympathetic, I’ve never bought into it and remain basically neo-classical in leanings. I’ve highlighted Post-Keynesians (and more specifically, Steve Keen) before, but never really taken it seriously. Funny enough, Scott Sumner claims that Keynes’ thinking really only applies to a gold-standard economy.
April 4, 2010 at 8:29 pm
I thought of another opportunity for contrast: One of Lukac’s books on WW2 to counter Buchanan (and perhaps Baker).
April 10, 2010 at 12:36 am
Its amusing to see any lefty mentioning the Bell Curve never actually listing its arguments in a straightforward manner and attempting a thorough rebuttal. Its always innuendo, ad hominem and plain insults. Having searched in vain for honest rebuttal attempts by lefties and coming up empty, can I use Bayes theorem to radically increase my probability estimate of the truth value of its content, considering I haven’t read it myself?
April 10, 2010 at 2:32 pm
1. Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond.
2. The Mismeasure of Man, by Stephen Jay Gould.
3. Not In Our Genes, by Richard Lewontin.
4. An End To Evil, by David Frum.
5. World War Four, by Norman Podhoretz.
6. America Alone, by Mark Steyn
7. The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman.
8. Reinventing The Melting Pot, by Tamar Jacoby
9. The Next Hundred Million, by Joel Kotkin.
10. The New Antisemitism, by Gabriel Schoenfeld.
April 10, 2010 at 2:40 pm
What, no Franz Boas? No Project for a New American Century position papers? Good list but you are missing out on some really great stuff.
April 10, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Contemplationist, online there is The Bell Curve Flattened. A group of statisticians (and one historian) appear to have grappled with its methodology in Intelligence, Genes, and Success: Scientists Respond to The Bell Curve, but I haven’t read it myself. James Heckman is a fairly serious fellow, though also prone to vitriol, who has written quite critically of it.
Occidentalaccidental dissent, I actually did enjoy “Guns, Germs and Steel”. Boaz is too old for the list and PNAC papers are another category of literature.April 10, 2010 at 6:42 pm
> I actually did enjoy “Guns, Germs and Steel”
Well worth reading for the clever head, I admit. Which is not to say I think it’s had a good influence on the not-so-clever world. (And by clever I don’t simply mean intelligent.)
April 10, 2010 at 8:04 pm
I tend to stump for the view that ideas don’t matter. People will name-check Diamond but behave pretty much the same as if they’d never heard of him.
April 10, 2010 at 8:22 pm
> I tend to stump for the view that ideas don’t matter
And I’m somewhere between you and JM Keynes on that issue – maybe closer to you. Small sample size, but I know ueber-SWPLes who ueber-read Diamond’s book. And what delights they experienced – as any sort of saintly or priestly caste must somehow come to experience some kind of rarefied delight. Quite often, the delight of submission to those who wield a more fundamental species of power, which might include the power to *author* such a book.
I don’t dislike economic/material/Darwinian determinism – as a *tool* – as a *basis* which gets moderated as we *build* and subtlize. In fact that is what I practice, in my little attempts to understand history.
April 11, 2010 at 12:51 pm
TGGP, I thought GGS was a great read too. The problem is Diamond wants people to think it’s a question of whether genetic intelligence differences exist or play any role at all; whereas the question really is how much of a role they play. The denial is intentional and egregious and apart from making it easier to shut up nasty racists it can do no good at all in the long run. Frankly, these people need the crap kicked out of them.
April 11, 2010 at 9:37 pm
I haven’t met people who had that reaction to Diamond, but perhaps that’s just because I usually only hear commentary about it from readers of GNXP.
Diamond doesn’t devote that much attention to IQ (I don’t think he actually knows too much about the topic), but his glaring error on that front was to ignore the possibility that different geographic histories resulting in different genetic profiles for things like IQ!
April 11, 2010 at 9:56 pm
I’m not certain whether or not you guys are saying otherwise — but I’m pretty sure Diamond doesn’t even acknowledge that there are (or even might be) any group differences in the first place. Let alone acknowledge that such differences might (or might not) be genetic (or otherwise intractable).
Instead, he tries to explain why Europe and NE Asia got ahead (due to arbitrary geo-historical factors) despite being exactly the same as other peoples.
April 12, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Diamond gives a decent story of how people who started off equal could end up unequal due to geography. One of the factors he talks about is exposure to disease resulting from agriculture & denser populations (the “Germs” in the title). Selection for disease resistance has been a MASSIVE factor. The “Red queen theory” suggests it’s the reason we’re not all aesexual!
May 16, 2010 at 2:42 pm
[…] Comment I’ve pointed out Austin Bramwell’s list of books most influential on him before, but I’m doing so again because I found that two of them are available online. John Henry […]
July 12, 2010 at 10:41 pm
[…] on your perspective denotes extensive knowledge or excessive sympathy with regard to Arabs. Edward Said got famous for criticizing “Orientalists”, apparently a more European phenomena, for […]
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