It's also interesting that the audiobook is doing so well, since the hardback is so in your voice that it might as well be an audiobook. Reading it, I couldn't get your twang out of my head.
But the "economics" best seller lists are hilarious. Of your fellow-best-selling-travelers, I've only Graham (many years ago, when there still was such a things as value investing) and and some snippets of Tzu. Besides you, the only actual economist on the list that I recognize is Hassett, who (to break my no ad-hominem remarks) has always struck me as a hack. Your book is quite an upgrade to this outfit!
Slouching is a great book. I'm still digesting it. Things I would like to read more about now after having read it:
1. A discussion of the history of the corporate laboratory. The examples in the book are the ones you might think of, GE, Westinghouse. What are the other less well known but probably well run labs? Where are the management innovations where the corporations figured out which research to develop further.
2. The university-government-corporate research partnerships. Iowa State develops the world's first digital computer (https://www.ece.iastate.edu/the-department/history/history-of-computing/), Blue Cheese, purified the uranium that went into the atomic bombs of the Manhattan project...this seems to me particularly American if not in first-mover, at least in scale. We do this in a large way here and in fact patents are a big part of university production. How does that fit in?
University of Pennsylvania held a symposium on university/corporate research agreements back in 1982 and the proceedings were published "Partners in the Research Enterprise: University-Corporate Relations in Science and Technology." (alas the book is not in print) I meant to send Brad a note about this book when I finished reading the publication draft of Slouching but it slipped my mind. It covers some very good stuff and came out just as the biotech revolution began. There were several key participants at the symposium from two of the early biotech companies, Genentech and Cetus (no longer in existence but one of their scientists won a Nobel Prize for PCR technology)
One of the very interesting chapters was about a research agreement between Du Pone and Julius Nieuwland, a chemist at Notre Dame. Nieuwland was a Holy Cross Father and had adopted a vow of poverty. Du Pont could not pay him directly but did provide funds for books he ordered for the university library. Part of Nieuwland's work was tangential to the discovery of neoprene and Notre Dame eventually recieved $2m in royalties.
You asked about the books on the two Amazon lists and which ones we have read. I've read non only Ben Graham's summary book but each of the major editions of Security Analysis (which explains why in retirement, I don't have to be a Wal-Mart greeter), Sun Tzu,, one of the Dalio books which I felt explained very little and his ranking might only be a result of incessant promotion on LinkedIn, and of course Slouching.
That's it. I don't tend to read pop books on economics. I would recommend the book I'm reading right now, "How Minds Change" by David McRamey. He reinforces what I learned some years ago, it takes a great deal of effort to change peoples minds when they have deeply ingrained opinions. We all need to become experts in 'Deep Canvassing' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_canvassing -- It will only become way more important this Wednesday!!
I am reading Slouching now.
Five stars. Would read again.
Seriously, it really is excellent. Well done, Brad.
:-)
Thank you very much...
I was disappointed my review on Marginal Revolution wasn't featured here. On another note, John Gray will be talking with Tyler Cohen on Civic Future.
I imissed it! What is the URL?
It's also interesting that the audiobook is doing so well, since the hardback is so in your voice that it might as well be an audiobook. Reading it, I couldn't get your twang out of my head.
But the "economics" best seller lists are hilarious. Of your fellow-best-selling-travelers, I've only Graham (many years ago, when there still was such a things as value investing) and and some snippets of Tzu. Besides you, the only actual economist on the list that I recognize is Hassett, who (to break my no ad-hominem remarks) has always struck me as a hack. Your book is quite an upgrade to this outfit!
Ray Dalio is not dumb at all—although he is very quirky indeed. Miller and Roubini are certainly worth reading, probably Galloway, and perhaps Zeihan…
Other than that, I think you are 100% correct..,
Slouching is a great book. I'm still digesting it. Things I would like to read more about now after having read it:
1. A discussion of the history of the corporate laboratory. The examples in the book are the ones you might think of, GE, Westinghouse. What are the other less well known but probably well run labs? Where are the management innovations where the corporations figured out which research to develop further.
2. The university-government-corporate research partnerships. Iowa State develops the world's first digital computer (https://www.ece.iastate.edu/the-department/history/history-of-computing/), Blue Cheese, purified the uranium that went into the atomic bombs of the Manhattan project...this seems to me particularly American if not in first-mover, at least in scale. We do this in a large way here and in fact patents are a big part of university production. How does that fit in?
University of Pennsylvania held a symposium on university/corporate research agreements back in 1982 and the proceedings were published "Partners in the Research Enterprise: University-Corporate Relations in Science and Technology." (alas the book is not in print) I meant to send Brad a note about this book when I finished reading the publication draft of Slouching but it slipped my mind. It covers some very good stuff and came out just as the biotech revolution began. There were several key participants at the symposium from two of the early biotech companies, Genentech and Cetus (no longer in existence but one of their scientists won a Nobel Prize for PCR technology)
One of the very interesting chapters was about a research agreement between Du Pone and Julius Nieuwland, a chemist at Notre Dame. Nieuwland was a Holy Cross Father and had adopted a vow of poverty. Du Pont could not pay him directly but did provide funds for books he ordered for the university library. Part of Nieuwland's work was tangential to the discovery of neoprene and Notre Dame eventually recieved $2m in royalties.
Neat!
thanks
You asked about the books on the two Amazon lists and which ones we have read. I've read non only Ben Graham's summary book but each of the major editions of Security Analysis (which explains why in retirement, I don't have to be a Wal-Mart greeter), Sun Tzu,, one of the Dalio books which I felt explained very little and his ranking might only be a result of incessant promotion on LinkedIn, and of course Slouching.
That's it. I don't tend to read pop books on economics. I would recommend the book I'm reading right now, "How Minds Change" by David McRamey. He reinforces what I learned some years ago, it takes a great deal of effort to change peoples minds when they have deeply ingrained opinions. We all need to become experts in 'Deep Canvassing' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_canvassing -- It will only become way more important this Wednesday!!