Hey, NYT, we read!

My god, the NY Times published a terrible op-ed piece today called, "There’s a Very Good Reason College Students Don’t Read Anymore."

Are phones the culprit? No! Apparently its because: "Once students graduate, the jobs they most ardently desire are in what they proudly call the 'sellout' fields of finance, consulting and tech. To outsiders, these industries are abstract and opaque, trading on bluster and jargon. One thing is certain, though: That’s where the money is."

I wonder if the author has ever met anyone in finance, consulting or tech. Yes, every field has it charlatans, but the interesting people in these fields are voracious readers -- you have to be, given how demanding and dynamic these fields are.

So, in response, here are some of the books I found interesting, helpful, enjoyable or even a bit disappointing over the past year (recommendations in bold):

• Phantom Orbit," a thrilled about GPS networks by David Ignatius
• "Understanding Urban Warfare," by Liam Collins and John Spenser -- the sections on public affairs and strategy are especially helpful
• "Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity," by Michelle Cameron
• "What is ChatGPT Doing...and Why Does it Work?" by Mathematica founder Stephen Wolfram (which caused me to buy a bunch his other books)
• "The Shadow Game," by Rodger Carlyle (all his other books are much better)
• "Dead Drop," by MP Woodwork (okay, I have a weakness for spy novels, even ones not as literary as those by Eric Ambler or Charles McCarry)
• "Craftman Homes and Bungalows," by Gustav Stickley (the book isn't as good as the furniture)
• "How the Bible Became Holy," by Brown Professor Michael Satlow (always good when you can ask the author questions about a book after you finish it)
• "The Boiling Moat" by Matt Pottinger -- pretty thoughtful I think about strategy for the democracies in the western Pacific
• "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience," by Mikhaly Csikszentmihalkyi, every tech function should be thinking about how its engineers can achieve flow, even if nobody can spell the authors name (as a note, my great-grandfather changed his name to something spellable in English when he came to this country!)
• "Arctic Sun," by Jack Grimwood -- good to reach on a plane
• "Positive Judaism," by Rabbi Darren Levine -- probably none of us are thinking about positive psychology as much as we should
• "The Happiness Hypothesis," by Jonathan Haidt -- again an interesting perspective on positive psychology
• "For Profit: A History of Corporations," by William Magnuson -- book not as good as the topic
• "2054," by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis -- such a forgettable novel about AI that I've already forgotten what it's about
• "Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815," by Roger Knight -- the book to read if you care about early modern British military (as naturally I do)
• "The Attack," Kurt Schlicter -- polemical and somewhat tendentious, but a fast read
• "Against all Enemies," by Thomas Wing -- serviceable US versus PRC war novel
• "The Academy," the conclusion to David Poyer's Navy Cycle (and a bit of a disappointment)
• "The Golden Gate," by Amy Chua -- a wonderful mystery novel
• "The Last Election," by Andrew Yang and Stephen Marche -- hard to imagine a stupider or more naive political thrilled; no, that's not try Sen. Barbara Boxer's novel was worse, but it was closer
• "The Year That Broke Politics," By Luke Nichter -- if you think the 2024 election has been out there, you should reach out 1968
• "Plain Words," but Sir Ernest Gowers -- not the best book on writing, but it provides a lot of insight into Sir Humphrey in "Yes, Minister"
• "White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan," by Mick Ryan -- thoughtful scenario for how a war in the Pacific might unfold
• "White Fox," by Owen Matthews -- most recent in a series of atmospheric historical espionage novels built around a high cold war era, morally conflicted KGB operative
• "Down the River unto the Sea," by Walter Mosely -- modern noir done well
• "Pedigree: how elite students get elite jobs," by Lauren Rivera -- really, really, really bad, but since it draws on research done in about 2007 it feels like a letter from a lost world
• "Coup d'Etat" by Edward Luttwak --- obviously not as essential as his book on strategy, but still good information to have, because you never know
• "Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction," by Antulio J Echevarria -- takes a very structured approach to strategy
• "The End of the World is Just the Beginning," by Peter Zeihan -- not his best; read "The Accidental Superpower" instead
• "Stubborn Attachments," by Tyler Cowen -- thinking systematically about sustaining economic growth feels pretty important to me
• "The Puzzle of Prison Order," by Brown University's David Skarbek, who is one of my favorite academics