Great Books

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As an avid reader, I am always tempted to write reviews distilling the insights of good books and inviting people to discover them for themselves. There isn’t always time for that though! So, as a minimum, I list and briefly describe here some of the great books I have come across, chiefly in the deeply interrelated areas of leadership, politics, history, and human nature.

I don’t include all the worthy classics but focus on those works that I find to be of particular relevance to political work or are simply remarkably original and thought-provoking (and often underrated). Many I wish I had discovered earlier and will be quite readable for teens and young adults interested in leadership and government.

Bio/politics

Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871)

Still, remarkably enough, the best exploration of human evolution and its implications for human nature and societies. Lucidly synthetic and even downright poetic in places.

Aristotle, Politics (~320 BC)

“Man is by nature a political animal.” This foundational work of Western political science remains eminently readable. One gets a sense of how politics worked among the diverse city-states of the ancient Greek world—democracies, oligarchies, and autocracies—with continuing relevance for their modern equivalents. Aristotle also provides a biological and communitarian vision of citizenship, grounded in civic participation and the rule of law, aimed towards individual excellence and collective flourishing.

Jonathan Anomaly, Creating Future People (2020)

This short book is the best I have read on the potentialities and dilemmas of using emerging biotechnologies, such as gene editing and embryo selection, for human enhancement. Anomaly explores the risks and opportunities of cognitive, moral, esthetic, and immune-system enhancement with the clarity and rigor of a practical philosopher.

Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate (2002)

Harvard University professor Steven Pinker’s classic work on the evolutionary foundations of human nature and psychology. Well-written, insightful, informed by a broad and deep engagement with the humanities (often lacking in works of evolutionary psychology), The Blank Slate is an excellent primer on its topic and the skewed politics of academia.

Robert Plomin, Blueprint (2018)

In Blueprint, Robert Plomin, one of the top behavioral geneticists in the world, provides a survey of his career, of the techniques of his field (twin studies, statistics, genome analysis), and especially of their insights into human nature, namely the genetic factors in personality and intelligence differences. A must-read for anyone interested in the roots of individual differences.

Nicholas Wade, A Troublesome Inheritance (2014)

Nicholas Wade, formerly the science writer of the New York Times, collects and synthesizes the insights from studies in population genetics, showing how geography and culture have driven somewhat divergent evolutionary paths (for example, traditional Judaism’s emphasis on endogamy has led Ashkenazi Jews to have a distinct genetic profile with higher risk for certain diseases, while the caste system in India has similarly led to genetic differences between castes). The gene-culture coevolution of the human race remains an underexplored topic, thought one crucial to the future of our species.

Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham, Nazism (1988-2001)

This excellent series reveals the day-to-day functioning of government in Nazi Germany by reproducing diverse primary sources (especially government documents) alongside highly enlightening historical context and analysis. These are the books for understanding why the Third Reich was so compelling for millions of Germans, why it proved such a formidable foe, and why it committed evil acts on such a vast scale. I wish there were series of equal quality for other major or unique states, such as the United States, Israel, and the People’s Republic of China.

Leadership

7 Habits Of Highly Effective People: Stephen R. Covey: Amazon.co.uk: Covey,  Stephen R.: 9781471129391: Books

Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)

The best book for improving, as it says on the cover, your personal effectiveness. Stop being a passive spectator of your life and get to it: realize what is in your control, define your values and aspirations, plan concrete actions every week to gradually achieve them, and, by listening to others and expressing yourself with courage and consideration, seal win-win agreements. Listicles are your friend!

From Third World to First : The Singapore Story: 1965-2000 by Yew, Lee Kuan  (2000) Hardcover : Amazon.co.uk: Stationery & Office Supplies

Lee Kuan Yew, From Third World to First (2000)

The one-tome tutorial on good government in the postwar era. In less than a generation, Lee Kuan Yew oversaw Singapore’s transformation from an impoverished and insecure British port colony into a world-class city-state and the most developed nation in all Asia. His memoirs exude the energetic effectiveness and dispassionate analytical insight that made it possible.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

The private spiritual notebook of Rome’s famous philosopher-emperor—Marcus Aurelius has prominent roles in at least two Hollywood films, notably Gladiator. These scribblings miraculously survived and have been passed down to us, revealing the Stoic world-view and demanding ethos of the man holding the highest responsibilities in the Roman world.

The Meditations express practices that helped Marcus as a leader: self-discipline, compassionate dialogue, acceptance, loving gratitude, and much else. An inspiring accidental work.

Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive (1967)

Your papa’s management guru still has a lot of worthy insights. Drawing from lessons learned from business, government, and war, this short book is packed with practical advice for knowledge workers and managers everywhere: how to manage time, focus on contribution, work to people’s strengths, etc. Above all: “The effective executive gets the right things done.”

Charles de Gaulle, The Edge of the Sword (1932)

A favorite of Richard Nixon’s, de Gaulle’s youthful essay is a powerful synthesis on leadership and its components: intelligence, instinct, initiative, constancy, sensitivity and adaptability to changing circumstances, charisma, vision, and above all character. While leadership must be adapted to every epoch, it is striking that many of de Gaulle’s principles are, in their own way, expressed by leaders operating in completely different environments, such as Steve Jobs.

De Gaulle’s reflections on the necessity of military excellence and the complex interrelations between civilian and military leaders, and in particular how social values are transformed in wartime, carry a particular poignancy given the current war in Ukraine.

Henry Kissinger, Leadership (2022)

Kissinger, at 99 years of age, wrote and published this 528-page book. Why? Because he wants to share his wisdom with the world and help you be a better leader. Kissinger shares his own insights on leadership and drills down on the strategies of six great leaders he knew personally (Adenauer, de Gaulle, Nixon, Sadat, Lee Kuan Yew, and Thatcher). Essential reading for the leaders of today and tomorrow.

Peter Thiel, From Zero to One (2012)

Mandatory reading for anyone interested in understanding the realities of entrepreneurship, innovation, and practical futurism (development and application of new technologies). Summary review and key quotes here.

Yamamoto Jōchō, Hagakure (~1700)

These recorded sayings of a retired samurai provide insight not only into the ethical code that governed Japan for centuries, but tremendous practical advice for daily discipline, planning, advising of superiors, colleagues, and subordinates, and much else. Perhaps the most demanding and practical ethos I have come across.

The great Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima wrote a solid guide to Hagakure, but honestly the book is mostly self-explanatory.

Other noteworthy books

Raymond Aron, The Opium of the Intellectuals (1995) [Almost everything by Aron is worthwhile.]

Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 950-1350 (1993)

George Church and Ed Regis, Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves (2012)

Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending, The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution (2009)

Francis Fukuyama, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (2002) [Reviewed here. All of Fukuyama’s books are worth reading, whatever one thinks of their conclusions.]

Kai-Fu Lee, AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order (2018) [Reviewed here.]

Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher, The Age of AI: And our Human Future (2021)

Mika Ojakangas, On the Greek Origins of Biopolitics: A Reinterpretation of the History of Biopower (2016)

Jeremy Rifkin, The European Dream: How Europe’s Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream (2004)

Jean Quatremer, Les maîtres de l’Europe (2005)