Milo and the Calf

Author: seanv2

  • Review: Sach’s The End of Poverty

    The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Jeffery Sachs You, being a smart person who is up on contemporary debates in economics and development and/or are a reader of Vanity Fair, probably already know all about Jeffrey Sachs. Sachs made his name giving “shock therapy” to various third world economies. He recommended they…

  • Review: Johnson’s To The Edge

    To the Edge: A Man Death Valley and the Mystery of Endurance Kirk Johnson An early example of what has become a bit of a mini-genre – the middle age man with little athletic background who goes on to compete in a profoundly grueling endurance event along the way learning about himself, and the chosen…

  • Review: Brown’s Angels and Demons

    Angels & Demons – Movie Tie-In Dan Brown You would think that after I finished this piece of utter crap I wouldn’t have carried on and read the DaVinci Code. But I did. Anyone who has looked at my other reviews know my taste in literature is suspect at best, but even I couldn’t stomach…

  • Review: Cuito’s Koolhaas / OMA

    Rem Koolhaas: Oma (Archipockets) Aurora Cuito I bought this little art book with a brief intro to Koolhaas’s ideas and buildings in the gift shop of his Seattle public library (which is still one of the most amazing building I have ever been in). It isn’t much of a book really, mainly picture from the…

  • Review: Dewey’s Liberalism and Social Action

    Liberalism and Social Action (Great Books in Philosophy) John Dewey Ah John Dewey, oh voice of reasonable engagement with Hegel and logic. Why does no one talk about you much anymore? Perhaps because his view of government as a agent for the promotion of individual freedom and social good is too milk toast for today’s…

  • Review: Levitt and Dubner’s Freakanomics

    Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner There are at least two ways you can read Freakanomics – as a fun and interesting little book that uses data to tell us little things about ourselves and the world. Or, you can see it as econometrics gone apeshit…

  • Review: LeCarre’s Spy Who Came In From The Cold

    The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A George Smiley Novel (George Smiley Novels) John LeCarre This is the one that made LeCarre’s name. It is a dark look at the horrible machinations of the KGB and MI6 at the height of the cold war, and the price that a number of foot soliders…

  • Review: Pelacanos The Night Gardner

    The Night Gardener George Pelacanos As you probably know, most of the writers for the Wire are actually accomplished crime novelists including Denis Lehane, Richard Price and this guy, George Pelacanos. Pelacanos made his name in crime circles writing hardboiled detail rich police procedurals taking place in Washington, D.C. This is the first book by him…

  • Review: Sen’s Identity and Violence

    Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (Issues of Our Time) Amartya Sen Amartya Sen is kind of a hero of mine. He is totally brilliant, diverse in his interests, politically principled while practical, and an economist who understands economics do not explain the totality of the human experience. This is a little book he…

  • Review: Bradley’s Saudi Arabia Exposed

    Saudi Arabia Exposed : Inside a Kingdom in Crisis, Updated Edition John Bradley With the amount of attention Saudi Arabia gets in the western press, you’d think that there would be a metric ton of decent books out there on the modern history of Saudi Arabia. You’d be wrong.   This one by journalist John…