Bakunin > Recent Status Updates

"His central figures are loners, far more at home in their own company than in society. They are unevenly intelligent, self-indulgent and self-absorbed to the point of solipsism, and given to wide swings, even extremes of mood. They are abnorally susceptible to the virus of boredom [and] they veer from this to the opposite and equally disorienting state of extreme euphoria"

"Intriguingly, the chess tables crossed class barieers: one might find Wall Street bankers playing against homeless men from Skid Row, or Ivy Leaguers facing down high-school dropouts. As for the park itself, it was an American version of a Middle Eastern bazaar, with folk singers, storytellers, beggars, political dissidents, soapbox orators, and even the occasional snake charmer"

A little disappointed. This is written more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. As a consequence of this much of what is written gives the impression of being speculative. The author makes inferences which are highly speculative in nature such as: his solitary childhood became a catalyst for his involvment in chess. Had his mother been more at home perhaps he would not become so obssessed with this game etc

The leaders of the greek expedition have been killed and now Xenophon takes it upon himself to lead these soldiers back to their homeland. Exciting! Reads like a true adventure story while providing interesting details of people's everyday life.

This is a depiction of the war against all which rages in the underclasses. I had no idea things were that bad. It reminds me of the world portrayed in Maxim Gorkys autopbiography, the difference being that the family structure is mostly absent.

Wonderful so far. It really provides a compelling portrait of the period. It provides insight into how the Greeks reasoned as well as how they lived while also providing a thrilling story. This could indeed be made into a movie.

It is interesting to compare Ted's story with that of his brother. Ted writes in great detail and with references to external facts in order to corroborate his side of the story. He is at times pedantic while his brother has a much more literate style.

Much better than what I expected. This is a refresher course on stoicism as well as a biography of one of its most famous adherents. The author frequently writes about how close stoicism is to modern cognitive therapy. I also notice very strong similarities with buddhism.

Magnificent. The ornamental prose is really quite enthralling.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of CEOs focusing on capital allocation until I read this book. Nor had I heard of CEOs focusing more on investment strategies rather than managing companies. All the 8 CEOs mentiioned in this book ran highly decentralised organizations and focused on strategic investment rather than PR or marketing.

Amazing. Best literary work I've read in a while! Its dark brooding language sweeps one off ones feet. I am reminded of Butcher's Crossing.

Lane expounds upon the nature of "hubris" and how this relates to the Greek notion of justice. Justice is about civilizing hubris which the greeks viewed as a status violation. One wonders what the Greeks would make out of the modern world! Also fascinating to read about the Athenian form of democracy; how officials were chosen by lot, how the Athenian constitution was changed at 11 times during a 300-year period.

So far a little disappointed I was expecting to read more about how the greeks tried to avoid stasis, that is to say increasing polarization.

Interesting but maybe too long. I woud've wanted to read more about his childhood and his adventurous grandparents.

Ober makes a good case for why the greek flourishing: "as a result of fair rules and competition within a marketlike ecology of states promoted capital investment, innovation and rational cooperation in a context of low transaction costs" I was also unaware of how egalitarian the Greek were. The low gini coefficient was a bit of a surprise for me.

Fantastic! To quote Tyler Cowen: "You can think of this book as how an economist might think about ancient Greece". Focuses on institutions and provides an in depth analysis of new data from over a thousand city-states. The consumtion rate of these city states provide a picture of how affluent the poleis were in comparison to modern states.

Overwhelming. I did not know how revolutionary these pre-socratic thinkers (or rather scientists) were. No other culture had every posited that the Earth hung in space (without falling down). Anaximander started a conceptual revolution!

Överraskande bra!