Review: Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems

Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems by Abhijit V. Banerjee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The authors bring up an interesting fact at the beginning. Economists have a bad rap. The public will confuse them with TV business evangelists, paid by corporations, and probably also with bankers themselves, while real economists aren't earning millions to tout a company stock, but analyzing data to look at trends, etc. According to them a good way to tell the difference is if the 'economist' tries to predict the future (real economists won't do so, since they know it's impossible). I think the economics profession would do well to hire some marketing specialists. After all, if economists do what they do for the public good, they should probably work on being recognized and taken seriously. 

The issue with reading lots of econ books is that you keep encountering the same "revolutionary experiments" and "studies" over and over again. This one has the obligatory trust/ultimatum game, various Kahnemann/Tversky findings, etc. I'm not saying they shouldn't have included them, since they are important points, but just that readers who are into economics will have seen these before. 

Actually, the section on past immigration, which I expected to be a repeat, had some points that were new to me. I had no idea Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were so against German immigrants, and thought they wouldn't integrate with the others. That was new to me (I've heard about other politicians from 100 years ago saying the same about Italian, Irish and Jewish immigrants. 

All in all, however, this book has some very interesting points. At times I thought they showed some bias politically (not with their anti-Trump talk, which was warranted), but there was also a lot of nuance and plenty of data to prove their points. 

Some other notes I took:

"Let's be clear: Tax cuts for the wealthy do NOT create greater wealth"

In the US, 33% of those born in the bottom quintile will stay there, while only 7% will make it to the top quintile. This is the lowest level in the OECD. 

In Europe, these numbers are 26% and 11% respectively. 

"Economics is too important to be left to economists"

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Review: What Makes a City?

What Makes a City? by Park Seongwon
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Maybe I'm thin-skinned. I was actually enjoying this collection, and the short stories seemed to connect, almost in a Paul Auster-ish way. But when I got to a story about child-rape I didn't really feel any desire to continue (or finish the story, to be fair). I might revisit the other stories later, but I've had it for now. 

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Review: About Her and the Memories that Belong to Her

About Her and the Memories that Belong to Her by Mieko Kawakami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'd have to give this 5 stars. It is a very short story, but poignant and memorable. It probably won't affect me as much as The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, but in terms of short stories it is definitely in the top 5. I appreciate it when an author can create an entire world, with characters you can believe in (whether in a positive or negative way), and have a fluid plot, just in the space of a few pages. Many short story collections cannot, let alone one short story by itself. 

This story did so. The main character isn't necessarily likable, and in many ways becomes less so as the story progresses, but she also becomes more nuanced. 

Recommended for anyone interested in delving into contemporary Japanese literature, and/or anyone with a spare 30 minutes. 

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Review: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To be clear, this is much more than a biography of Robert Moses. I read that Obama read this book when he was 22 and was "mesmerized", and I can certainly see why. This book discusses the evolution of a city over the decades, as well as how politics and power all played a role. 

RM is obviously a singular character, and Robert Caro seems to have written the definitive biography of the man, in detail that at times is staggering. 

His influence over the papers sometimes seems incredible and heartbreaking. Such as how he completely destroyed the Sunset Park neighborhood, the spuyten duyvil neighborhood, so many minority neighborhoods, East Tremont Road, Manhattantown, but no paper published the residents' point of view. In fact, I'm inclined to think that many run down parts of New York were that way thanks to his actions. 

It is sad to see how he loses his power later on, but remembering what he did to so many people, it is, in many ways, karma (even though the specific scandals and reversals weren't necessarily due to the most deserving issues). 

This should be read by anyone interested in New York, or in Urban planning, or in Power, and pretty much everyone else. 

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Review: A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place by Seichō Matsumoto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think I enjoyed this story more than "Inspector Imanishi Investigates" by the same author, although that one was made more interesting by the details of various parts of Japan and the different accents. 

This was originally published in 1971, and in many ways it shows. The pace is rather slow, and the people unremarkable. On the other hand, it is a glimpse into Japanese life in the late 60's/early 70's, with a mysterious death and its aftermath thrown in the mix. What's not to love?

4.5 stars

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Review: Mannequin

Mannequin by Ch'oe Yun
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was ready to give up on this book after around 50 pages, but several reviews by people whose opinions I value pushed me to continue. I can't say I'm happy I did. 

I'm sure there is value in the book, but it's rife with the type of symbolism I usually don't catch, or, if I do, it does nothing for me. A lady of almost supernatural beauty is completely used by her family. She runs away, and other strangers find her beautiful, but rather than recognize her, she comes to symbolize things that are missing or wrong in their lives (I think). In the meantime there are other parts, dealing with her family members, with Conch, a diver who quickly forgot his wife (who died on their wedding night) and decided to chase after the beautiful "goddess", and with a very very young mother with a baby whose section I really didn't get. 

I think I appreciate stories that stand more firmly in reality. Too bad, I really enjoyed the other book I read by Ch'oe Yun, "The Last of Hanako". 

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Review: Uncomfortably Happily

Uncomfortably Happily by Yeon-Sik Hong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I'm starting to really enjoy graphic novels. Granted, I've read very few of them, so I am super picky when I do. But regardless, this was a fun, endearing novel. The characters are by no means perfect, and sometimes downright unlikeable, but always quite relatable, especially as the story progresses. 

Either way, it seems long (at 572 pages), but it was a great read. 

5 stars. 

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Review: Inspector Imanishi Investigates

Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seichō Matsumoto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an excellent find. A Japanese detective novel written in 1961, about a tenacious police officer (Imanishi) investigating an odd murder. 

The book brought the inspector (and another policeman, partly) around Japan, from the North to the South to Ise Shrine to Shimane, and discusses the different accents (a point that turns out to be important). 

It was different from many contemporary detective novels, and reminded more of something like Inspector Maigret, or Hercule Poirot. It wasn't a fast-paced action-packed novel, but more of a slow-going, but relentless one. 

There were a few coincidences too many, and some points seemed a bit of a stretch, but overall it was a great read. 

4.5 stars

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Review: Amrita

Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is probably among my favorite Banana Yoshimoto books, although I would have been just as satisfied (perhaps more so) if it had ended halfway through. I don't think much more was added with more story, given that there isn't much of a plot. There is her usual surrealism, which is always comparable to, but slightly different from, Murakami's. Otherwise it is just the story of a girl, her mother, her little brother, and other characters. It is a blend of the somewhat incredible and the very mundane, showing how life often is that way, and continues despite what happens or has happened.

I did enjoy reading it all the way through, however, since it made me nostalgic for Japan. I'm not really sure why.





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Review: Business Model Generation

Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I remember hearing about this book around 10 years ago, and when I was in Taiwan it was very popular (I think it had been recently translated into Chinese), and there was more than one entrepreneur meetup where someone showed up carrying this book. So I had been curious about it for a while and, when I saw it at 2nd and Charles, I decided to give it a go. 

We'll see how well this pans out for me. All I can say is I have gone through this and will be applying these steps to my business. Going through the model and following the steps already allowed me to find some alternate options for my business (e.g. adding a freemium option and trying to partner up with some providers). 

In the meantime I actually really found it useful. It allowed me to look at all the aspects of my business with an objective eye. Some points didn't apply to me (as can be expected), and I found the "creative" design to be a distraction at some points, but all in all it was a great exercise. I ended up using a bunch of post-it notes on all its tables, and found the progression made sense. 

I also appreciated that it was somewhat 'academic', for lack of a better term. Too many of these business books try to be too user-friendly, which often means trying to take away any exercise or process that might seem tedious. Not so with this book. So at times it felt like a bit much, but I think these exercises were needed in the end. Once again, we'll see how it pans out...

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