Shelf Life

Shelf Life

March 1, 2015

How the World Works

An elder statesman explains the roots of global divisions; an economist debunks fair trade; and an Olympic rowing team shows the power of true teamwork.

World Order  by Henry Kissinger. Penguin Press, 2014. A foreign policy is a handy thing to have. Henry Kissinger would like us to get one. This book, the nonagenarian’s 14th, could easily devolve into name-dropping […] Read More

January 1, 2015

Conflict, Compassion and Change

A stubborn CEO revives an industry, a physician laments his own, and a technologist’s optimistic polemic

Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local—and Helped Save an American Town by Beth Macy. Little, Brown, 2014. My father was a furniture man. He owned a small-town furniture store until I […] Read More

November 1, 2014

Searching for Truth

…in nutrition research, free-market economics and online

The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet By Nina Teicholz. Simon & Schuster, 2014. No one reads this book because of the nine years of scientific reporting it […] Read More

September 1, 2014

Dividing, Succeeding and Analyzing

Why we can’t get along; managing companies better; overhyping GDP 

 The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apartby Bill Bishop. Mariner Books, 2009.We blame political partisanship for all sorts of things: gerrymandering, humongous campaign contributions, plots on the right or […] Read More

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