Review: The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics

The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fascinating journey. Basically a modern version of Macchiavelli's "The Prince" or Hobbes's "Leviathan", but of course, now we have so many more data points and so much more history to learn from. This book also applies to democracies, and how the rulers can gain more power in these settings as well.

Ultimately, the authors are optimistic about the US and other democracies. We'll see how that pans out...


https://4201mass.blogspot.com/

View all my reviews

Review: The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World

The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World by Adrian Wooldridge
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very interesting look at the history of "meritocracy" and its inevitable "aristocratic" outcome. I can't say I really agreed with his conclusions after all the analysis, but it was still an interesting read. You see how having a "meritocracy" will lead to able people coming to power (if done right), but then they will find a way to consolidate power/wealth/etc. for their families, leading to another aristocracy.

Also, in the conclusions, emulating Singapore's education style is fine, but flaunting that they only dedicate 8% of their focus on humanities seems to be a grave mistake. We are seeing the consequences of much of this now, with silicon valley bros who make fun of humanities suddenly "discovering" some new eternal truth that we've all known about for millennia (I'm not a humanities major by a long shot, having studied business and econ, but I absolutely recognize its merits).

Also, his concluding paragraph on how "the West" can keep ahead of "Asia" is all a bit too jingoistic for me.

Still, read it for the good theory and information from the past.



https://4201mass.blogspot.com/

View all my reviews

Review: The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un

The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un by Anna Fifield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was 100% fascinating. Given the rare glimpses and the misinformation involved with North Korea, it is all sorts of interesting to have someone give a coherent (or as coherent as can be expected) account of Kim Jong-un's life.

Having attended school in Switzerland a few years prior to Kim Jong-un, I had heard various rumors about him and his siblings there, so it was good to read something that made a bit more sense.

Some of the information was truly surprising, such as the use of meth in North Korea. Some of those user rates seemed extremely high, so I wonder if they can be verified in any way.

The chapter on the talks with Trump was excellent: "After all, the leaders of the two countries had only seven years of political experience between them. Six of them were on Kim Jong Un's side." And then they struck a deal. The country that has reneged on ALL of its nuclear deals promised a vaguely worded agreement of working toward the denuclearization of the peninsula (which, weirdly, would include South Korea). In exchange the U.S. ordered the suspension of US military exercises with South Korea (which was a surprise to South Korea and Japan).

When Kim Yo-Jong (Kim Jong-un's sister) went to South Korea for the olympics, she stayed in the hotel suite, but she brought her own cot to sleep in, and didn't leave one fingerprint or strand of DNA. When Kim Jong-un attended the summit in Singapore, his agents occupied his suite for two days after he left in order to get rid of every single trace of DNA he may have left. As much as the west likes to make fun of them, these guys really seem to know what they're doing now.

View all my reviews