What public figures publish and believe, in their own words.
About this feed
Highlights: posts that did unusually well for the person who wrote them, everything they published at length, each release and new project, and every belief — at most two a day from anyone. Day by day, newest day first; within a day, the people with the most beliefs on this site come first. Nothing else orders it. Show everything instead.
The quoted blocks are what people actually said; a beneath one is the belief those words support, in korrents' wording. Nobody here wrote their own page.
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Top people in Politics
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5 January 2025
20 December 2024
From one piece Will all our drugs come from China? 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
China now starts about a quarter of the world's new clinical trials, more than Europe does.Their words
Chinese companies are now responsible for about a quarter of new trial starts — more than Europe.
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Their words
I don’t think many in the West have yet fully internalized a mental model of China as a source of genuine innovation.
17 December 2024
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Lovedrcmnd.app
The Seventh FloorTheir words
one in a series about the CIA’s efforts to subvert Russian spies
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Lovedrcmnd.app
The New MapTheir words
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin explores the changing landscape of energy, geopolitics, & climate change.
16 December 2024
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Usesrcmnd.app
Tech Lead JournalTheir words
discussions from software engineering leaders, with a focus on Asia and Europe.
9 December 2024
From one piece Debanking (and Debunking?) 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Americans are not, as a routine matter, cut off from the financial system for their politics.Their words
This does not happen as a matter of routine in the United States.
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korrents.com
A US deposit account is a credit product, and cannot be made otherwise without breaking it.Their words
For one thing, typical deposit accounts in the U.S. are actually credit products. It's baked in and can't be baked out without making them unfit for purpose.
7 December 2024
From one piece Low Spanish Costs are not About Decentralization 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
There is nothing to learn from any American transit project within living memory except what not to do.Their words
The truth is that there’s nothing that can be learned from American projects within living memory except what not to do.
Low Spanish Costs are not About Decentralizationpedestrianobservations.com
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Their words
In truth, the UK shares high costs with more decentralized countries, and Spain shares low ones with more centralized ones.
Low Spanish Costs are not About Decentralizationpedestrianobservations.com
1 December 2024
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Their words
Since women did not pose an economic threat, far-right politicians have instead galvanised society-wide opposition to immigration.
10 November 2024
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korrents.com
What stands between us and cheap lightweight vehicles is that they are illegal, not that they are hard to build.Their words
Cheap, lightweight people movers are currently illegal in many situations, so regulation is a barrier.
Human Driving Increases Transportation Cost 10xaustinvernon.site
6 November 2024
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Lovedrcmnd.app
A People's History of the United StatesTheir words
The winners write the history books.
1 November 2024
From one piece Why is Fertility Collapsing, Globally? 4 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Government payments and benefits aimed at raising birth rates do not reverse the decline.Their words
Across the OECD, governments are upping their spending. But a wealth of research suggests these fail to mitigate the downward trend.
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korrents.com
A multi-ethnic society only gets the benefits of diversity if it deliberately builds a shared national identity.Their words
However, productive collaborations are not inevitable. Just look at ethnic violence in South-East Asia or Hindu Nationalism in India. Nation-building is really valuable, learning from multi-ethnic, democratic Indonesia.
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korrents.com
Europe is losing the competition for talented migrants because it is not an attractive enough destination.Their words
Europe’s real problem is that we are not a competitive destination.
+ 1 more
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korrents.com
As every population ages, countries will have to compete for migrants rather than choose freely among them.Their words
One more word of caution: the world is a closed and shrinking box. As all populations age, competition for talent will only intensify.
16 October 2024
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Their words
We cannot say that we are free if we allow our government to dictate to us what experiences we may or may not have in our inner consciousness, while doing no harm to others.
13 October 2024
7 October 2024
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Their words
The platforms have installed themselves in a position of power, but they are also vulnerable. They must do everything perfectly to maintain that position of power—not enrage their users too much, not push the regulators too far, not miss any of those competitors who are seeking to take a portion of that power.
2 October 2024
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korrents.com
Without SpaceX, neither the United States nor Europe would have adequate access to space of its own.Their words
But for SpaceX, both the US and Europe would lack adequate strategic access to space.
1 October 2024
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Their words
Unfortunately, I see no strong reason to believe AI will preferentially or structurally advance democracy and peace, in the same way that I think it will structurally advance human health and alleviate poverty.
30 September 2024
From one piece Ed Barnhart: Maya, Aztec, Inca, and Lost Civilizations of South America | Lex Fridman Podcast #446 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Spain and Portugal are unfairly maligned by the Black Legend: it was the diseases that killed the Americas.Their words
I think that the Spanish and the Portuguese get unfairly maligned in what’s been called the Black Legend, that they just marched into America and murdered everyone. That’s not the fact. It was the diseases that murdered everyone.
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Their words
In fact, strangely, the majority of plants that are actually psychotropic, not just mood altering, are from here in the Americas. There are very few drugs that will make you hallucinate outside of the Americas.
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korrents.com
Calling North America's earthworks mounds is a western bias; what those people built were pyramids.Their words
but what they built were pyramids. They look like mounds now, and they didn’t build them out of stone. That’s kind of our just inherent western bias. Something that’s built out of stone is sophisticated, and something that’s built out of dirt is rudimentary.
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korrents.com
Maya hieroglyphs must have been readable across several spoken languages, the way Chinese characters or Latin were.Their words
There must have been a way that multiple languages understood the same writing system. Or maybe there was something like Latin. You know how there was a period in Europe where most people were illiterate and there was this priesthood who all understood Latin and they wrote in Latin? Maybe the hieroglyphs represent a kind of Latin in the ancient Maya world.
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korrents.com
The oldest people in the Americas are in South America, because the first wave went furthest and got isolated there.Their words
One of the fascinating things that DNA is showing us, which actually blood types were showing us way before that, is that the oldest people in the Americas are in South America, the ones that got separated early and didn’t mix their DNA, like the people in the Amazon.
17 September 2024
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Their words
Another challenge for Class II biotechs is that even if you have a nifty computational drug discovery platform, you are still often bottlenecked by the rest of the drug development process. It takes 1,000 (or more!) small steps to advance a drug through discovery, development, and past the regulators.
5 September 2024
From one piece Why Can't the U.S. Build Ships? 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
The U.S., on the other hand, never appears to have been strongly motivated to make its shipbuilding industry an international success.
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Their words
The U.S. Navy estimates that China’s shipbuilding capacity is 232 times our own.
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Their words
But in turning these innovations into competitive industries, America has come up short.
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korrents.com
Wartime shipbuilding surges have never left America with a commercial shipbuilding industry afterwards.Their words
But the U.S. again failed to transform its enormous shipbuilding effort into a successful commercial shipbuilding industry.
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Their words
Shipbuilding is labor intensive, and we see a repeated pattern of it moving to countries with low-cost labor: from Britain to Japan, then to Korea, then to China.
22 August 2024
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korrents.com
The neoliberal order did not simply spread around the world: the United States made it global.Their words
In fact, the US was a key actor in making the neoliberal order go global.
The end of the great order under the Heavenbranko2f7.substack.com
10 August 2024
31 July 2024
25 July 2024
3 July 2024
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Lovedrcmnd.app
About Dry GrassesTheir words
About Dry Grasses (Turkey, CC) 3.9 This is my favorite film directed by Ceylan, and that’s high praise. At times it feels like a long Russian novel. Engrossing from beginning to end, despite its 3¼ hour length. This one also could have been entitled “Evil Does Not Exist”.
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Mixed onrcmnd.app
The Broken IceTheir words
The Broken Ice (China) 3.2 A few decades ago, I would have been more impressed by this film, which is roughly in the style of Jia Zhangke. Now it seems a bit derivative.
1 July 2024
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The Wages of DestructionTheir words
Some audiobook recommendations: The Story of Civilization by Durant Iliad (Penguin Edition) The Road to Serfdom by Hayek American Caesar by Manchester Masters of Doom by Kushner The Wages of Destruction by Tooze The Storm of Steel by Junger The Guns of August by Tuchman
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The IliadTheir words
Some audiobook recommendations: The Story of Civilization by Durant Iliad (Penguin Edition) The Road to Serfdom by Hayek American Caesar by Manchester Masters of Doom by Kushner The Wages of Destruction by Tooze The Storm of Steel by Junger The Guns of August by Tuchman
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The Guns of AugustTheir words
Some audiobook recommendations: The Story of Civilization by Durant Iliad (Penguin Edition) The Road to Serfdom by Hayek American Caesar by Manchester Masters of Doom by Kushner The Wages of Destruction by Tooze The Storm of Steel by Junger The Guns of August by Tuchman
+ 2 more
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Storm of SteelTheir words
Some audiobook recommendations: The Story of Civilization by Durant Iliad (Penguin Edition) The Road to Serfdom by Hayek American Caesar by Manchester Masters of Doom by Kushner The Wages of Destruction by Tooze The Storm of Steel by Junger The Guns of August by Tuchman
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
American CaesarTheir words
Some audiobook recommendations: The Story of Civilization by Durant Iliad (Penguin Edition) The Road to Serfdom by Hayek American Caesar by Manchester Masters of Doom by Kushner The Wages of Destruction by Tooze The Storm of Steel by Junger The Guns of August by Tuchman
30 June 2024
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Likedaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
The Dark Lord's DaughterTheir words
Mind candy fantasy for younger readers, in which Mr. and Mrs. Middle America's beloved adoptive daughter turns out to be from Somewhere Else, which comes calling. It's very fluffy, which I was in the mood for, and Wrede is always reliably enjoyable.
10 June 2024
3 June 2024
29 May 2024
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American FoundingTheir words
Buy it! Read it!
29 April 2024
25 April 2024
From one piece Speech on Europe, Sorbonne, 25 April 2024 (Elysee English transcript) 3 beliefs · elysee.fr
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korrents.com
Europe is mortal — it can die, and whether it does depends entirely on choices Europeans make now.Their words
My message today is simple. Paul Valéry said, at the end of the First World War, that we now know that our civilizations are mortal. We must be clear on the fact that our Europe, today, is mortal. It can die. It can die, and that depends entirely on our choices. But these choices must be made now.
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Their words
And so yes, the era when Europe bought its energy and fertilizers from Russia, had its goods manufactured in China, and delegated its security to the United States of America, is over.
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Their words
We cannot sustain the most stringent environmental and social norms, invest less than our competitors, have a more naive trade policy than them and think that we will continue to generate jobs. This no longer holds together.
15 April 2024
29 March 2024
25 March 2024
From one piece Preventing a “Space Pearl Harbor”: Rep. Turner leads the charge 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
If a Chinese spacecraft can dock with a friendly satellite to refuel, repair, or transport it, the same robotic arm can also disable a US satellite’s solar panels and antennas. Alternatively, China can use these spacecraft to tow satellites into locations where they can, at best, only sub-optimally perform intended duties such as early warning, surveillance, or geolocation.
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Their words
Based on public commercial data that tells a lot about the military potential of these dual-use robotic spacecraft, we have shown that China can manufacture and deploy 200 such spacecraft as early as 2026, enough to cripple critical US satellites in geosynchronous, highly elliptical, and other orbits, and thus severely degrading space support to wartime operations.
22 March 2024
From one piece Annie Jacobsen: Nuclear War, CIA, KGB, Aliens, Area 51, Roswell & Secrecy | Lex Fridman Podcast #420 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
So you don’t have wise decision makers. Long gone are the days where we had presidents who had advisors on both sides of the aisle. That’s really important, because you want to have differing opinions. But as things become more viperous, both here in the United States and in nuclear armed nations, all bets are off at whether your advisors are going to give you good advice.
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Their words
I’m coming back at you with a very dark answer and a very big number. And that number is 5 billion people.
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Their words
there is an absolutely existential flaw in the system, which Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta confirmed with me, which is that our ICBMs do not have enough range. If we launch a counterattack against, say, North Korea, our ICBMs must fly over Russia. They must fly over Russia.
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Their words
So, in addition to the Launch on Warning concept, there’s this other insane concept called Sole Presidential Authority. And you might think, in a democracy that’s impossible, right? You can’t just start a war. Well, you can just start a nuclear war if you are the commander in chief, the President of the United States. In fact, you’re the only one who can do that.
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Their words
Because we have that policy, Launch on Warning, which is exactly like it says. It means the United States will not wait to absorb a nuclear attack. It will launch nuclear weapons in response before the bomb actually hits.
13 March 2024
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korrents.com
Making American farms more productive shrinks cropland in the rest of the world by more than it adds at home.Their words
Nelson Villoria estimates that for every 1% gain in Total Factor Productivity (inputs required per unit of output) in the US, croplands in the rest of the world shrink by 0.7%.
10 March 2024
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Likedrcmnd.app
China’s World ViewTheir words
Senior academic advisor to the Chinese Communist Party feels most political tensions come from a misunderstanding of China’s world view, hence the subtitle “demystifying to prevent global conflict”, and his intrinsic desire to explain. I love its insights and historical context, especially around “Respect-centered diplomacy” and how the CCP is structured.
4 March 2024
From one piece Serhii Plokhy: History of Ukraine, Russia, Soviet Union, KGB, Nazis & War | Lex Fridman Podcast #415 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
And the Soviet collapse is continuation of the disintegration of the Russian Empire that started back in 1917, that was arrested for some period of time by the Bolsheviks, by the Communist ideology, which was internationalist ideology. And then came back in full force in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
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Their words
So if NATO is the real concern, it would be probably not completely unreasonable to expect that if not every single soldier, but at least half of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine would be moved to protect the new border with NATO in Finland.
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Their words
The United States of America didn’t want the Soviet Union to collapse and disintegrate. They didn’t want that at the start of the Cold War in 1948. We now have the strategic documents. They were concerned about that, they didn’t want to do that. And certainly they didn’t want to do that in the year 1991.
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Their words
Russia and Russian identity was formed around the state, and has difficulty imagining itself outside of the state, and that state happened to be imperial for most of Russian history. Ukrainian project came into existence in revolt against the state.
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Their words
So for him, the biggest tragedy is not the loss of life, the biggest tragedy is the loss of the great power status or the unity of those whom he considered to be Russian nations.
20 February 2024
From one piece Bill Ackman: Investing, Financial Battles, Harvard, DEI, X & Free Speech | Lex Fridman Podcast #413 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
An independently owned platform is a necessary counterweight to the government and the mainstream media.Their words
So having an independently owned powerful platform is very important for truth, for free speech, for hearing the other side of the story, for counterbalancing the power of the government.
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Their words
The problem is the defamation law in the US is so favorable to the publisher, to the media, and so unfavorable to the victim. And the incentives are all wrong.
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korrents.com
The DEI movement on campus comes out of a Marxist socialist way of looking at the world.Their words
A friend of mine sent me Christopher Rufo's book, America's Cultural Revolution, which is sort of a sociological study of the origins of the DEI movement and critical race theory. I found it actually one of the more important books I've read and also I found it quite concerning. Ultimately, DEI comes out of a kind of Marxist socialist way to look at the world.
23 January 2024
From one piece 2023 letter 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
And Xi Jinping has formally de-prioritized economic growth as China’s top task.
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Their words
So it feels to me that the US is treating its deficiencies — an inability to build stuff or create a functional system for admitting high-skilled migrants — as mysteries to be endured rather than problems to be solved.
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korrents.com
China will not fade away, so America has to reform itself for a protracted contest with a peer competitor.Their words
It is that China will not fade away, meaning that America must reform itself for a protracted contest with a peer competitor.
+ 2 more
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Their words
As I’ve written in each of my previous letters, the party’s strangling of free expression has rendered China into a pitiful underperformer relative to Japan and South Korea in the creation of cultural products.
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Their words
Though companies are relocating production to India and Vietnam, China is going to remain the world’s largest manufacturer for many more years to come.
12 January 2024
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Likedaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old ManTheir words
The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David Von Drehle. It’s a short, great read.
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Recommendsaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
American RustTheir words
I also recommend Philipp’s other novel, American Rust
3 January 2024
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Their words
Labor costs are not an excuse!
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Readrcmnd.app
The Opium WarTheir words
I’ve started to do a China history deep dive and this was on the list
7 December 2023
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korrents.com
Demanding simple answers to hard questions is itself a political harm, not just an intellectual one.Their words
The stubborn thirst for simple answers to hard questions is bad for America.
Stop Demanding Dumb Answers To Hard Questionspopehat.substack.com
1 December 2023
29 November 2023
From one piece Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
According to my numbers, in the United States there will be a net of 3.24 million new low-skill jobs, but there will also be 4.7 million fewer people in the labor force.
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Their words
Governments should create three tracks for people who come to live in their country. One track is that of people who hope to become Spanish. Another is that of those who we are going to allow to live and work here; the third is that of those of we are going to allow to be in Spain out of necessity.
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korrents.com
Anti-immigration parties gain ground by generating fear, not by winning the argument about what immigration does.Their words
The thing about the far-right parties is that they are trying to get people to equate all foreigners in a country with a threat to our future, but they are only gaining ground because of their ability to generate fear.
+ 2 more
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Their words
When you separate those two questions in public dialogue, the negative attitudes disappear.
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korrents.com
Without immigrants Spain’s labour force falls from 22.6 to 15.7 million by 2050, far too few to run its economy.Their words
In the absence of immigrants, between 2020 and 2050 Spain’s labor force (its active population) will drop from 22.6 to 15.7 million people. You’re not going to fill all the jobs needed in a modern and sophisticated economy like that of Spain’s with 15.7 million people.
27 November 2023
20 November 2023
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Their words
“Your criticism violates my right to free speech” is a fatuous but common American sentiment.
My Free Speech Means You Have To Shut Uppopehat.substack.com
17 November 2023
From one piece John Mearsheimer: Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, China, NATO, and WW3 | Lex Fridman Podcast #401 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Russia's refusal to accept NATO on its border is exactly what the United States demands for its own neighbourhood.Their words
Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And if we don't like great powers coming into our neighborhood, it's hardly surprising that the Russians did not want NATO on their doorstep.
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Their words
All the evidence is that Hispanics are integrating into the American mainstream more quickly and more effectively than the European immigrant groups that came starting around 1835.
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korrents.com
Removing Putin would not end the war, because whoever replaced him would be more hawkish than he is.Their words
My second point is if he doesn't remain in power and he's replaced, I would bet a lot of money that his replacement will be more hawkish and more hard line than Putin is.
+ 2 more
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Their words
And I believe that there is a good chance you would've had World War II in the absence of Hitler. I believe that Germany was very powerful, it was deeply worried about the balance of power in Europe, and it had strong incentives to behave aggressively in the late 1930s, early 1940s.
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korrents.com
The war in Ukraine will not end in a peace agreement but in an unstable frozen conflict.Their words
I don't think there's any real prospect of a meaningful peace agreement. I think it's almost impossible. I think the best you can hope for at this point is, at some point the shooting stops, you have a ceasefire, and then you have a frozen conflict. And that frozen conflict will not be highly stable.
12 November 2023
10 November 2023
From one piece Permitting Reform Or Death 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
The binding constraint on building anything in America is permitting and litigation, not money.Their words
Yet solar development is hopelessly snarled by dozens of different development regulations which begin with the assumption that it will permanently and severely harm the environment unless proven otherwise, at exhaustive length.
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korrents.com
Delay in permitting clean energy kills more Americans every year than the September 11 attacks did.Their words
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 killed 2996 people in a day of singular horror. Our ongoing indifference to regulatory inefficiency, considering only the area of green energy development, kills more people every year – more than 10 people per day, and that’s only within the US.
9 November 2023
From one piece Elon Musk: War, AI, Aliens, Politics, Physics, Video Games, and Humanity | Lex Fridman Podcast #400 4 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
Look, I think I would just recommend do not send the flower of Ukrainian youth to die in trenches, whether he talks to Putin or not, just don’t do that. Whoever goes on the offensive will lose massive numbers of people and history will not look kindly upon them.
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korrents.com
China will incorporate Taiwan, peacefully or militarily, and from its own standpoint that outcome is not in doubt.Their words
Yes, China has been very clear that they’ll incorporate Taiwan peacefully or militarily, but that they will incorporate it from their standpoint is 100% likely.
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Their words
After World War II, the US could have basically taken over the world in any country, we’ve got nukes, nobody else has got nukes. We don’t even have to lose soldiers. Which country do you want? And the United States could have taken over everything and it didn’t. And the United States actually helped rebuild countries.
+ 1 more
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korrents.com
China's history says it is not an acquisitive power: it is not going to go out and invade a whole bunch of countries.Their words
The good news, the history of China suggests that China is not inquisitive, meaning they’re not going to go out and invade a whole bunch of countries.
4 November 2023
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Family MealTheir words
Bryan Washington's novel Family Meal: Bryan is the great millennial fiction writer of food, among many other talents. His descriptions of cooking and meals are fantastically rich, as much for the food itself as for the social and emotional exchange involved.
1 October 2023
From one piece GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter? 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
The truth is that moral hazard concerns very often are worse with government programs than with markets.
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Their words
In my own view, both markets and states are spontaneous orders, and government is not uniquely the product of “taxis” or “rationalist constructivism.”
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Their words
I am myself skeptical that there is a clearly defined notion of who “the right people” might be, and thus I am on public choice grounds far more skeptical of government than Keynes was.
24 September 2023
5 August 2023
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korrents.com
You cannot make America build subways ten times cheaper while only ever talking to Americans.Their words
You can’t change the United States from a country that builds subways for $2 billion/km in New York and $1 billion/km elsewhere to a country that does so for $200 million/km if all you ever do is talk to other Americans.
18 July 2023
17 July 2023
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Unshackled: A Practical Guide For Highly-Skilled Immigrants To Thrive In The United StatesTheir words
breaks down how legal immigration works in America in a way that is friendly, accessible, and human
14 July 2023
29 June 2023
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korrents.com
Trading the oligarchy that currently runs America for a monarchy under Elon Musk would be a trade worth making.Their words
But I mean, would I trade right now the current oligarchy which runs America for the monarchy? Yeah, I would. Sure. For the Elon monarchy, yeah.
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Lovedaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
The Great Depression: A DiaryTheir words
This fantastic work is a primary source material to one of the darkest times in American economic history.
27 June 2023
From one piece Supreme Court Clarifies "True Threats" First Amendment Exception 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
A threat loses First Amendment protection only if the speaker was at least reckless about it being taken as a threat.Their words
Now, finally, the Court has resolved the question: the First Amendment requires that, at a minimum, the government prove that a speaker was reckless about whether their statement would be interpreted as threatening.
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Their words
As I’ve argued before, the so-called “objective standard” can be very difficult to administer in this big diverse messy country where we often don’t share a common sense of reality and there is no uniform “reasonable person.”
20 June 2023
6 June 2023
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Their words
The single greatest risk of AI is that China wins global AI dominance and we – the United States and the West – do not.
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Their words
It’s not exactly news that the American government’s support for biofuels increases food prices, intensifies global hunger and wastes taxpayer dollars.
A Climate Killer Disguised as a Climate Solutionmichaelgrunwald.substack.com
29 May 2023
12 April 2023
4 March 2023
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Their words, before
My view is that it’s going to take more than this regulatory campaign to defeat dynamism in China.
Their words now
What I did not sufficiently appreciate is that a state that would so casually decapitate a sector like online tutoring would also have the will to visit catastrophe upon whole cities.
19 February 2023
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Their words
tech barons are ordinary mediocrities, no better and no worse than the monopolists that preceded them, and any differences come down to affordances in technology and regulation, not an especial wicked brilliance.
12 January 2023
From one piece High Costs are not About Precarity 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
Importantly, low-cost countries with more clientelism and politicization of the state tend to be more deferential to the expertise of engineers.
High Costs are not About Precaritypedestrianobservations.com
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Their words
This is not about precarity, because this is not a precarious project; this is about total ignorance and incuriosity about best practices, which emanate from a place that doesn’t natively speak English and doesn’t trade in American political references.
High Costs are not About Precaritypedestrianobservations.com
1 January 2023
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Their words
With our current capability, NASA would struggle to keep a crew alive for six months on the White House lawn, let alone for years in a Martian yurt.
10 December 2022
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical TechnologyTheir words
Chris Miller tells us the history of how microchips were developed, emphasizing the critical role of the government, and especially defense procurement.
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Lovedrcmnd.app
Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant SuccessTheir words
Absolutely. It is incredibly enjoyable and readable. The authors, in a way that is very rare for economists, find small stories that paint big pictures for the points they make.
8 December 2022
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Recommendstheir ownrcmnd.app
The Late AmericansTheir words
Also, please preorder The Late Americans so I can write more homosexual novels—it comes out next year!
22 November 2022
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Their words
the real goal was to make their users more legible, primarily for advertising purposes, but also to law enforcement and other authorities.
13 October 2022
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Likedrcmnd.app
Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War IITheir words
a fascinating book on the bloody aftermath of WWII as the destruction wound down
31 August 2022
26 August 2022
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Their words
The thing is, being a particularly complex or efficient agrarian economy doesn’t seem to have been the most important thing for producing the industrial revolution or it almost certainly would have happened earlier and probably not in Europe.
19 August 2022
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The European MiracleTheir words
I recommended Eric Jones’ The European Miracle
25 July 2022
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Their words
In my opinion the root cause of this bug is that when a white american developer sees a terminal they immediately interpret it as this idealized cartesian plane where they can lay out any writing they want in neatly-spaced characters that behave in "predictable" ways (in other words, behave exactly like English).
1 July 2022
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The Early Chinese Empires: Han and QinTheir words
Mark Edward Lewis' The Early Chinese Empires: Han and Qin is probably the best companion piece to your Sima Qian readings
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Mixed onrcmnd.app
Early China: A Social and Cultural HistoryTheir words
Feng Li's Early China: A Social and Cultural History is a staid yet serviceable overview of the pre-imperial period.
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900Their words
David Graff's Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 is actually a political-institutional history of China from 200 AD-1000 AD, and is probably the best political narrative history we have for the time period.
22 June 2022
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Likedrcmnd.app
Awaken the Giant WithinTheir words
This 1992 book changed everything about my life. It’s my Bible. Most of my beliefs come from it. I read it many times at a formative age, but re-read it now 30 years later, taking notes. It’s not a perfect book. It’s too verbose and full of expired American references. But its core messages are the wisest, most effective life philosophy I’ve ever encountered. You choose how you feel. Your emoti…
6 June 2022
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Lovedrcmnd.app
The Lincoln HighwayTheir words
Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes.
1 June 2022
From one piece Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Rates 5 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Quantitative rules are not a reliable tool for ensuring government debt sustainability.Their words
I am skeptical of the use of quantitative rules to ensure debt sustainability.
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Their words
The analysis in this chapter has shown that there is no such thing as a universal threshold over which debt becomes unsustainable, and that the relevant debt level depends on many factors, in particular the real interest rate on debt.
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Their words
assessing debt sustainability is as much art as it is science.
+ 2 more
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Their words
The proposition is that the cancellation of the bonds held by the central bank would decrease the amount of interest payments and thus the debt service of governments. And indeed, it would. But it would have another effect—namely, to decrease the revenues of the central bank and thus the profits that the central bank turns in to the government. This second effect would be exactly of the same size as the first, and the net effect on the government budget constraint would be equal to zero.
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Their words
A longer maturity of debt protects the government from a temporary increase in the short run interest rate, and it gives it more time to adjust to a permanent increase.
7 March 2022
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Their words
These misperceptions may bedevil people's efforts to understand and change their social worlds, distort the democratic process, and turn imaginary trends into real ones.
1 March 2022
1 January 2022
16 August 2021
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Their words
We are transitioning from a world where everything is made in China, to one where everything is designed and sold by China too.
20 July 2021
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Their words
Rather: NSO’s genius is that they’ve done something that attackers were never incentivized to do in this past: democratize access to exploit technology.
A case against security nihilismblog.cryptographyengineering.com
19 June 2021
8 January 2021
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Likedrcmnd.app
Americana: A 400-Year History of American CapitalismTheir words
Americana traces the history of American-style Capitalism, reminding us the political economy is far more complex than the simple labels we tend to use. Reality is far messier, filled with externalities, complications and comprises then is predicted by academic theories.
28 October 2020
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Likedaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
Permanent RecordTheir words
If you care about privacy, or want to understand what the NSA and CIA really do to monitor Americans, this book is an important read. It explains from beginning to end how Snowden became the privacy hero he is today, why he decided to leak the information, and how he did it. It's an interesting and important read, but also probably 100 pages too long.
4 October 2020
3 September 2020
24 June 2020
15 June 2020
From one piece Committing $250k this Year to Racial Justice Efforts 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Ending systemic racism in the United States requires a large-scale anti-racist movement.Their words
It will take a monumental anti-racist movement to change the underlying conditions that allow racism in the United States to flourish.
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Their words
These are just three of the names on the list of thousands of Black men and women who lost their lives to the systemic racism that is woven into the fabric of this country.
4 June 2020
From one piece Black Death, COVID, and Why We Keep Telling the Myth of a Renaissance Golden Age and Bad Middle Ages 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Plague receded from Europe through fourteen generations of natural selection, not through any advance in medicine.Their words
when plague finally diminished in Europe, not because of any advance in medicine, but because fourteen generations of exposure gave natural selection time to work
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Their words
As a Renaissance historian, I feel it’s my job to shoulder the other half of the load by talking about what the Renaissance was like, confirming that our Medievalists are right, it wasn’t a better time to live than the Middle Ages
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korrents.com
The plague did not pass through in 1348 and leave: it stayed endemic in Europe for nearly four centuries afterwards.Their words
in school they talk as if the plague swept through in 1348 then went away, but the bubonic plague did not go away, it remained endemic, like influenza or chickenpox today, a fact of life.
6 February 2020
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Likedaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
Dreams of El DoradoTheir words
My wife Amanda is the real reader in our house, and last month she came home from the library with Dreams of El Dorado: A history of the American West, by H. W. Brands. I moved quickly through its 480 pages (with an occasional photo), and thought it was one of my more enjoyable recent reads.
25 December 2019
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Lovedrcmnd.app
LabyrinthsTheir words
I was most influenced by the essays in the book, and I ended up being attracted to the same sort of writers as Borges, mostly Anglo-American writers of 1820-1920.
4 December 2019
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Lovedrcmnd.app
American by DayTheir words
American by Day is engagingly written. Miller isn't afraid to write characters who are opinionated. They don't hold their tongue about what they believe in, they let rip. People are angry, people are passionate. I love the unorthodoxy of it, I suppose.
14 August 2019
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korrents.com
Mass shootings are a relatively small share of American gun deaths compared to other causes.Their words
Mass shootings are a relatively small phenomenon even by the standard of American gun deaths.
26 July 2019
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Their words
Human error is blamed for over 90 percent of industrial and automobile accidents. It is the leading cause of aviation accidents, and medical error is reported to be the third-largest cause of death in the entire United States. Horrifying? Yes, but why do we label it “human error”? It is design error.
1 June 2019
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Life and FateTheir words
These were the notebooks that we worked on in Moscow and one realised that here was most of the raw material for Life and Fate which I think is probably the most important work of fiction about World War II.
28 May 2019
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Recommendsaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
The Silk Roads: A New History of the WorldTheir words
Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World: The trade routes which connected the East and the West also led to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. In the midst of our budding trade war, perhaps some history on trade between China and the world might shed some light on current affairs.
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Recommendsaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal WestTheir words
David McCullough, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West: Ever since I read The Wright Brothers” (on an earlier summer reading list of ours — and it was fantastic) I have been a fan of the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough writes about. This tale of how the American Northwest Territory was settled looks intriguing.
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Recommendsaffiliate linkrcmnd.app
Rockonomics: A Backstage Tour of What the Music Industry Can Teach Us about Economics and LifeTheir words
Alan B. Krueger, Rockonomics: A Backstage Tour of What the Music Industry Can Teach Us about Economics and Life: From the economist who revealed the secrets of the minimum wage comes this look at the economics of the music industry. Its disruptions by technology to economics of songwriting and concert tours, the music industry offers important financial lessons. Kreuger, an economic rock star himself (he was former chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers) left us far too soon.
20 May 2019
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Lovedrcmnd.app
A Gentleman in MoscowTheir words
A Gentleman in Moscow is an amazing story because it manages to be a little bit of everything.
30 June 2018
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best WinesTheir words
This a journalistic book, a very sound bit of journalism by Suzanne Mustacich. She is based in Bordeaux, but she clearly travelled to China an awful lot and unravelled a most amusing commercial battle that went on in the early years of this decade between the Bordeaux chateau owners and merchants on the one side and Chinese business people on the other.
1 January 2018
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Lovedrcmnd.app
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American ImaginationTheir words
So the author, Neal Gabler, who has written the best biography on Walt Disney. And it’s a phenomenal book.
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Readrcmnd.app
Age of AmbitionTheir words
If you don’t really understand or know a lot about China today, this is one perspective. Good book.
29 November 2017
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Food in Chinese CultureTheir words
It was probably the first book in English to bring serious academic scrutiny to Chinese food culture, and to use the scholarly techniques applied to other subjects to food, offering the views of different experts on different periods of Chinese history.
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
Classic Food of ChinaTheir words
Classic Food of China was really her great work, though. I think it was the last book she produced before she died, some years ago. It's one of the few really well-researched historical and cultural Chinese cookery books.
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
China to ChinatownTheir words
He has drawn together all kinds of different sources that would be a lot of work to find on your own.
+ 1 more
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Recommendsrcmnd.app
The Food of ChinaTheir words
It offers a good counterpart to the KC Chang. It's very well researched and comprehensive, covering all aspects of Chinese cooking – ingredients, cooking techniques, history, agricultural system and so on.
19 November 2017
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Their words
The American Psychological Association (APA) just issued guidelines for treating trauma. Patients and therapists would be wise to ignore them.
18 September 2017
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Lovedrcmnd.app
The AlexiadTheir words
There are several jewels of medieval Greek literature but Anna Komnene's is probably the brightest. She was the daughter of one of the emperors—she was porphyrogenita—and it is the first narrative history written by a woman in any European language. It's a text that is incredibly florid, very beautiful, and extremely interesting.
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Lovedrcmnd.app
The Cherry OrchardTheir words
So, as a kind of period piece that captures Russia in the late 19th, early 20th century, it's the most poignant text I've ever read.
1 March 2017
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Mixed onrcmnd.app
Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and HealthTheir words
Facing Addiction in America is also the first governmental attempt to ground policy not in prejudice but in research, not in conjecture but in science. It collates an impressive body of evidence to illuminate the pathological processes and impacts of substance addiction in the human brain and body, and suggests evidence-based practices for treatment and prevention.
10 January 2017
From one piece The Real Reason Your City Has No Money 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
It's a predicament that nearly every American city, with very few exceptions, finds itself in.
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Their words
This thinking is how you end up with two dollars of public infrastructure for every one dollar of private investment.
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Their words
All this infrastructure is a bad investment. America needs a different model of growth and development.
5 December 2016
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Lovedrcmnd.app
The Myth of the Strong LeaderTheir words
But to read Archie Brown’s fascinating book, The Myth of the Strong Leader, is to see an illustration that leaders like Suárez, who served as prime minister of Spain from 1976 to 1981, possess leadership styles and capacities that are incredibly effective, and depressingly rare.
1 August 2016
Nothing matches.
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