The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
The new edition of Vincent van Gogh's letters is magnificent.
When Labour Costs Are Low
Bollywood movies provide cross-country evidence for Baumol's cost disease in the performing arts.
The Impossible Dazzlingly Achieved
Viktoria Mullova's new recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin is breathtaking.
Tall People Live Better Lives On Average
That's from a recent paper entitled "Life at the Top: The Benefits of Height" by economists Angus Deaton and Raksha Arora.
Misha Glenny: McMafia
On the cover of my copy of McMafia it says that “anyone with even the smallest interest in how the world really works should read this book”. I’m not really sure whether this really is how the world really works, but it sure is an eye-opener.
Literature, Rationality and Rational Choice Theory
Are fictional characters on average more rational than one would expect based on empirical findings of how people actually behave or not?
Roberto Bolaño: The Savage Detectives
The Savage Detectives is quite simply a magnificent novel. This is why I read literature.
Borges and Perec on Classifying Animals
In his short story The Analytical Language of John Wilkins Borges famously lists a hilarious classification of animals found in an apocryphal Chinese encyclopedia. In Penser/Classer Georges Perec lists an equally hilarious classification drawn from various official documents.
Joseph O'Neill: Netherland
It has won the PEN/Faulkner Award and it has been almost unanimously praised, but perhaps that is precisely the problem. The novel nestles itself comfortably in the nicely made corner lounge of current taste.
Richard Avedon at FOAM
A large retrospective at FOAM, Amsterdam celebrates the work of Richard Avedon.
Peter Brook: The Empty Space
This is one of those books of which I'm ashamed to admit I only just read it. It is, as it says on the back cover of my paperback edition, required reading for anyone working in dance or theatre.
The Wealth of Nations
Of course I’d like to have more purchasing power and pay lower taxes and I too disagree with some of the ways the government of my country allocates its budget. But there is a different form of private wealth which depends on the public infrastructure of the country you live in.