Book Reviews

Much less applicable to general topics or modern warfare than I thought.

** Tidy Narrative ** Few books can make any claim to have stopped nuclear war. But as JFK famously read Tuchman’s Guns of August, his understanding of the real possibilities surround unintentional escalation kept him from heeding to the cacophony of war hawks pushing for all out invasion of Cuba during the missile crisis. Half a century later, is this book still the the premier book to understand this era? I would say, no. ...

Mistakes were made. And made. And made.

A book about the culture. How it is created, the meaning we give it, the supposed truths that such culture creates. There is definitely meat on the bones here, just gotta think some more about what that meat really is. Much better than I expected, glad I read the unabridged version.

This is a really poorly written book .

3.5 Stars Rounding up. 2023 was a return to the new normal – full-time work resumed, but at OpenAI. Daily commutes resumed, but on a skateboard. On the home front, our decision to teach our children Chinese has been a case study in unintended consequences, with this decision affecting their interactions with each other, with us, and with the broader world. In reading, 2023 focused on four areas - books directly relevant to my profession, catching up on nonfiction around China, understanding America’s military foreign policy in the 20th century, and strategies to raise a family. I ended up reading about 120 books, and here were the best of the lot: ...

Teen Screens, Few Surprises I learned surprisingly little from this book. It offers some useful surveys and specifics, and I like the idea of making it a teen-centered approach, but the analysis rarely cuts deep. The strongest sections show how cancel culture becomes a social battleground for high schoolers, and how platforms themselves shape behavior—“the medium is the message.” Performative compliments as the default register online, or the way Snap streaks keep the platform alive, are more telling than the broad claims about “social media” as if it were a monolith. ...

**Star Wars: Mission Impossible ** Mercy Kill follows the story of remaining members of Wraith squadron, which is the remaining members of Rogue squadron, which is the remaining side cast members from rebels in the original trilogy 30 in-universe years ago. Plot points revolve more around intrigue than star fighting which is a shame. Only Piggy gets character development through the book, and if you haven’t read the rest of the Rogue Squadron series and New Jedi Order, you’ll be lost. Andor, which is essentially the prequel with side characters to the prequel with side characters by the writer of the Bourne series, is similar and better. ...

First: The title has a typo. It should be titled ‘Obama’s war’ as there is no reporting on decisions related to Iraq. The Good: Woodward has remarkable access. He paints a picture that makes sense, and has more anecdotes about the top levels of government than anyone. Woodward shows how decision making happens, and that White House politics is really a permutation of regular office politics (both in Republican and Democrat administrations). He keeps good track of all the actors rather than relying too extensively on a few, and is remarkably good at maintaining as neutral tone as possible- neither praising nor condemning the administration or its members. ...

**为何读历史？ ** 除了纯粹的好奇或享受故事之外，历史是我们的最容易探索不同时代的方法，通过做比较审视现代社会的情况和事件发生的根源。在西方，好多历史家已经把西方文化和政治 写成故事 ，但对西方作家来说，中国历史知只是一堆紊乱的事实的叠加，包含没完没了的名字、日期和事实。 在这本书中，钱穆放弃了中国历史的细节，从而给读者详细讲解中国历史的深刻趋势。 一开始，钱穆以反驳“中国只是专制”作为他的主要论点。“所以说中国自秦以来两千年政治都是一样，都只是“专制”两字一可包括尽了。其实是不然的"虽然这个制度的最高统治者是某个皇帝，大部分的决定与职权还是掌握在政府机构手里。从汉代以来，这个政府制度的基础是读书人。我们只能把它叫做“读书人的政府”，或称“士人政府”。甚至连明代 中国也应该是一种“士人政权”，政府大权都掌握在读书人——“士”的手里。这也表现出中西文化泾渭分明：西方文化依靠监督神职人员来走出黑暗时代，而中国依靠知识分子。 中国政治制度的优点之一是开始用考试来黜陟。当廉吏尤为艰难，在汉代，每郡满二十万户口只能举一个廉吏。虽然中国科举和政治制度有弊端，但是，中国的“考试和铨叙，都有一定的客观标准。” 这种制度可以减轻权力交接所导致的混乱。 和Gibbon讲述古罗马的方式相似，钱穆也很乐意批评制度的缺点。譬如，“讲到中国的地方行政，只能说是汉代好，唐代还比较好，宋代就太差了”； 或者讲到明代：”可惜是西方历史这一阶段是进步的，而中国这一阶段则退步了。” 但作者最不认可的制度还是清代。。他认为，清代的制度代表中国政治制度的退步和腐败。 除了描述抽象制度之外，历史也应该帮助读者明白世界目前的状况。 《中国历代政治得失》挖掘出中国历史中的有用的细节。比如，中国目前的征税制度为什么会是这样？ 这跟宋代的改革有关。“看王荆公的免役法，则知道清代，直到今天中国社会不再有力役了。”又比如，中国为什么这么鼓励学习呢？ “正因宋代人那样尚文轻武，所以“好铁不打钉，好男不当兵。” 这些知识和回答正是我读历史的原因。