Stuff I’ve been reading, or not

The Pavlov biography and volume two of Moore on Thatcher — both superb — having been taking a lot of my reading time, so you should not take my limited attention for some of these books as a mark against them.

James A. Harris, Hume: An Intellectual Biography.  I quite liked and admired the parts I read, my main hesitation is that such books have to compete against…reading Hume himself.  In any case many commentators seem to consider this the definitive study.  If you think maybe you should read this, you should.

Paul Murray, The Mark and the Void.  He is the author of the novel Skippy Dies, which has a strong cult following, this one.  Australian, snarky, deals with a financial crisis.

Richard McGregor, The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers.  As Chris Blattman wrote, a very good book.  In China, never underestimate the role of The Party.

Louise O. Fresco, Hamburgers in Paradise: The Stories Behind the Food We Eat.  A  pro-capitalist, pro-globalization, pro-technology food book, or so it seems.  I am eager to spend more time with this one.

Jamie Holmes, Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing.  How to turn uncertainty and ambiguity to your advantage as a thinker, I kind of enjoyed it.

Riad Sattouf, The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984.  A graphic novel set in Libya, Syria, and France, very moving and effective.

The new Umberto Eco novel, Numero Zero, didn’t do much for me.