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Archive for May 24th, 2008

Cherry-Picking from Complexity Digest

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

Forgot about Complexity Digest for a while. Some great stuff there – a sampling:

A theory for the formation of large agrarian empires  by Peter Turchin (PDF)

New Insights Into The Dynamics Of The Brain’s Cortex – Science Daily

Natural Security: Ecologist Says Evolution Offers Important Lessons for Security Policy  – AAAS

In regard to the last one: the need for consilient thinking is starting to penetrate the bureaucracy – about goddamn time.

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Adding to my “Antilibrary”

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

A while back, around these parts we all compared our “antilibraries” of unread books. Well, despite not having any time lately to blog, much less read through the stacks of books that I already have, I went out and bought a few more. LOL!   

Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World

After Tamerlane: The Global History of Empire Since 1405

The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus

Journals: 1952-2000

Thumbing through a few of these was interesting. Schlesinger’s partisanship and hagiographic defense of the Kennedy family are of course, well known but his private writings are sprinkled with many sharp observations that the old historian-courtier never let loose in public when he was alive.

Posted in authors, book, reading | 4 Comments »

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