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Monthly Archives: March, 2016

The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution (Francis Fukuyama)

Like Daniel Burnham, Francis Fukuyama makes no small plans. “The Origins of Political Order” aspires to be nothing less than an all-encompassing explanation of...

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Civilization in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm (Lewis Dartnell)

“The Knowledge” is meant as an assist to the human race. But to properly aid the human race, in a post-apocalypse future, two things...

Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan (Hugh Thomas)

“Rivers Of Gold” is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking for a compact treatment of the early Spanish empire in...

Proof: The Science of Booze (Adam Rogers)

“Proof” is an outstanding book. Neither too short nor too long for its topic, it crisply discusses various elements of the production of (ingestible)...

The Richest Man Who Ever Lived (Greg Steinmetz)

The Richest Man Who Ever Lived is pop history, designed to appeal to modern readers by putting a modern gloss on a medieval man....

The Devil’s Pleasure Palace (Michael Walsh)

I read this book because it seemed like it would be an interesting companion to James Burnham’s “Suicide of the West.” Burnham’s book explains...

Lights Out (Ted Koppel)

“Lights Out” is an introductory work to the topic of US electrical grid vulnerability. It covers, in a brief and somewhat padded manner, the...