Abulafia has undertaken an extremely ambitious project: to write a summary of the entire history of the Mediterranean, from the first people to cross its waters all the way to today. He mostly succeeds, which makes this a very impressive book.
1491 is a summary of recent changes in (scholarly) understanding of the peoples in the Americas immediately before Columbus. Part I argues that there were many more people here than you think. Part II argues that they got here much earlier than you think. Part III argues that they had a much larger impact on the environment than you think. The new understanding of the Americas is really cool. I just wish that the book had been written by one of the scientists, instead of a professional popular science writer. It is obvious to me, from reading it, that the author is not and never has been a scientist.
Piketty has written a data-driven book on economic history, which is accessible to a broad audience. The book is full of graphs (even more so than this review) and involves calculations and equations in its arguments. In my opinion, this makes it a better work of scholarship than most other books about history. As with most (all?) books on economics, there is a political bias. What bias? Well, this is a book with the word ‘Capital’ written in big red letters across the cover. It has been politically influential. Piketty convinced Elizabeth Warren to advocate for a wealth tax. The power of capital, relative to income, fell dramatically during the World Wars and Great Depression. Since then, capital has been making a comeback. Piketty expects this trend to continue. The growth of capital is inherently faster than the growth of income in a capitalist society, except during major crises like World Wars. To counteract this, Piketty proposes a global tax on wealth.
Indo-European is by far the most successful language family. Of the 15 most commonly spoken languages, 10 are Indo-European. This is not just a result of European colonialism: through most of history, including today, the largest Indo-European state has been centered in either India or Persia. Who were the original Indo-Europeans? How did they come to such dominance?
Weather, Macroweather, and the Climate is an excellent book on climate science. Lovejoy engages both climate scientists and climate skeptics and attempts to persuade both. It tries to be accessible to a general audience, but I think it ends up being accessible to almost any scientist or engineer. This book is more about climate than about climate change. Lovejoy does not mention climate change until the 6th chapter, out of 7 chapters total. Instead, his main goal is for you to understand the patterns of motion in the atmosphere.
A radical view of evolution, founded on a very different understanding of time and knowledge.
