Note: a version of this article will be appearing in Wealth and Investment Monitor in Feb 2023. Our monetary system is being disrupted by cryptocurrencies, perhaps for good, but it seems like mainly for worse in days of late. These “network-made” assets now account for about 5–7% of the world’s…

Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat 👍 An excellent book that analysis the “formula” that strongmen (they are always men) like Mussolini and Putin use to rise to power and stay in control. This book is well-researched and relevant at any time, but Strongmen is particularly informative as Putin’s war against the Ukrainian people rages. Putin seems…

by Yanis Varoufakis 👍 — Yanis is a famous economist and voice of market-based socialism in the modern world. He has written several interesting books, and I am in the process of reading most of what he has written. Another Now is his first (and perhaps last) work of fiction, one in which he imagines…

A Child and a Country at the End of History 👍 by Lea Ypi Free is a fascinating memoir told by Le Ypi, who grew up in Albania during the 80s. There she learned about the history of her country, socialism, and soviet-style communism from teachers, friends, and community members who either believed in the state’s propaganda or had to pretend to believe in…

I learned a valuable lesson in high school when a paper that I had saved to my computer (an Apple IIe) was lost. With a typing speed hovering around 10 words a minute, it was painful. Since that experience, I have backed up my data and made sure I knew…

by Neal Stephenson Many people are currently discovering Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash, a novel from 20 years ago in which he described the metaverse. Stephenson has an uncanny ability to see where technology is going in his books and often predicts the future with great accuracy. For example, ransomware attacks were…

The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton This book tells the fantastic story of Angela Merkel as told by her official biographer. …

How America Criminalizes the Poor in the Name of Justice 👍 — by Tony Messenger There has always been a high cost to being poor — renting instead of owning, payday loans instead of credit, and purchasing one meal at a time instead of the month’s groceries. If you or I are arrested, we will make bail and return home. We have…

An amazing feat of cinematography, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is one of the first full-length animated films ever produced (it is the only surviving one, two others were lost). Produced using a silhouette animation technique, this film took three years to film, each frame an individual shot (24 frames…