The Greatest Sentence Ever Written: Book Review
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written , Walter Isaacson, 2025. It’s: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” a key part of the Declaration of Independence. Isaacson wants to analyze it in some detail, but only 70 pages, which includes several appendixes. “The declaration they were writing was intended to her
The Winner's Curse: Book Review
The Winner’s Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies—Then and Now , 2025, Richard Thaler and Alex Imas. Behavioral economics is a combination of economics and psychology, possibly other social sciences. Formal neo-classical models are simplistic and formal, with complex math using calculus. They call for optimizing something, perhaps profitability. In the real world of accounting, I can suggest how to increase revenue and reduce costs, but I have no ability to maximize profit.
Abundance: Book Review
Abundance , Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, 2025. Progress is expected, but institutions must work efficiently: “for liberals, recognizing...
Everything is Tuberculosis: Book Review
Every is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection , John Green, 2025. I had no idea how deadly tuberculosis...
The Sum of US: Book Review
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, Heather McGhee, 2021. Heather McGhee is a lawyer and formerly...
The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Book Review
The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope , Jose Andres, 2023. This is something of a memoir of Andres about...
Who is Government?: Book Review
Who Is Government: The Untold Story of Public Service , Michael Lewis, 2025. This is something of a follow-up of Lewis’s book The Fifth...
The Taste of War: Book Review
The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food (2012), Lizzie Collingham. Chapter 1: Introduction: War and Food. Some 20 million...
On Freedom: Book Review
On Freedom: Book Review On Freedom , Timothy Snyder (2024). The book covers a lot of material and has several perspectives that are...
The Back Channel: Book Review
The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal , 2019, William J. Burns. Burns spent 33 years in the State...
The Serviceberry: Book Review
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World , Robin Kimmerer, 2023. This book is a follow up to Braiding Sweetgrass...
Braiding Sweetgrass: Book Review
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants , Robin Kimmerer, 2013. Kimmerer is a...
Democracy Awakening: Book Review
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America , Heather Cox Richardson, 2024. Democracies can die because of voting, but why?...
The Light Eaters: Book Review
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth , Zoe Schlanger, 2024. Schlanger...
Technology: Book Review
Technology: A World History , Daniel Headrick, 2009, a quick review of tech development, with world-wide coverage. Editor’s Preface....