What I’ve been reading
1. Douglas Wolk, Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean. My consumer surplus from this book was huge. The author calls it an "economic history" of the graphic novel; he hasn’t read Bob Fogel but it remains one of the best introductions to any topic.
2. Martin Krause, La Economia Explicada a Mis Hijos, and Por el ojo de una aguja. Economics, explained through the medium of literature and fables, from an Argentinian classical liberal.
3. Jennifer Michael Hecht, The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think is Right is Wrong. The claim is that happiness follows from self-knowledge, self-control, self-realization, and awareness of death. There is little consideration of what is the proper margin for each.
4. Alfredo Jose Estrada, Havana: Autobiography of a City. One of the best city biographies, almost as good as the books on Cairo.
5. Ruth Rendell, The Water’s Lovely. I used to think she was past her peak, but the first third of this is superb and the rest stays pretty good.