johaneriksson.se

Some quick comments on a couple of books I’ve read recently. I’ll switch to Swedish on the books that are exclusively in that language. Books in English first:

• The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill. The first two parts of Churchill’s books about the Second World War. Covers the inter-war period, and goes on until the British forces leave Norway in 1940. It’s very interesting to learn the thoughts of an important figure in the middle of the events, and I sympathise with Churchill’s warnings of naïve complacency — albeit well meaning — towards aggressive powers. They are relevant today.
• The Logic of Life by Tim Harford. I enjoyed Harford’s previous book, The Undercover Economist, and this one is rather similar. While it’s well written and offers good illustrations of key economic principles, I don’t feel that I learned all that much. Still, I had a good time reading it.

And the Swedish books:

• Det nya kalla kriget – vart går Ryssland av Mats Johansson. Ämnet är viktigt, och utvecklingen i Ryssland oroande, men boken känns ganska ytlig och ger inga djupare insikter om drivkrafterna i den ryska situationen. Den ägnar dessutom väl mycket tid åt Sovjetunionens ondska, utan att göra några försök att koppla ihop den med dagens Ryssland.
• Alexander den Store av Bengt Liljegren. En tämligen intressant överblick, om än litet bristande i stilistiken. Jag tyckte dock att den var rätt givande som introduktion till en fascinerande person, både briljant och fasansfull.

Currently I’m reading The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan. He writes surprisingly well, and I’ve enjoying the opening chapters.

—-

Andra intressanta bloggar om: böcker
Technorati Tags: books