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Hello, my name is Micaela. Originally Italian, female, living in Lima, Peru, for the moment...
Like all of you, I enjoy reading and I read almost exclusively non-fiction books that deal with politics, economics, environment, philosophy and so on. However, it is frustrating not having a soul to discuss them with afterward. Maybe I am wrong but my perception is that fiction book lovers are many more in number. I was very happy when I found among your current non-fiction book discussions books titles I already read.

I can't help ya with the non fiction stuff but interesting to know about Lima. My fiancé's family is from Peru and we love this local Peruvian restaurant here in Austin TX that is owned by a family from Lima

Welcome to the community!

Which of our past book selections have you read?

I do like discussing politics and economics, but not so much the fringe stuff, conspiracy theories, etc. I am pretty mainstream.

I read: why nations fail - The passion of western mind - Guns, germs and steel - The blank slate, and other things of authors like Howard Bloom, Richard Dawkings, Sam Morris - Hanna Arendt - Chomsky and also McKibben.
I guess I am mainstream like you Harry!

micaela wrote:I read: why nations fail - The passion of western mind - Guns, germs and steel - The blank slate, and other things of authors like Howard Bloom, Richard Dawkings, Sam Morris - Hanna Arendt - Chomsky and also McKibben.
I guess I am mainstream like you Harry!

I am a big fan of Jared Diamond, who wrote "Guns, germs and steel," though my brother-in-law, a university professor of history, dislikes both popular presentations and geographical determinism.

Diamond's basic story is that some effects were so strong that European dominance over New World peoples, when the meeting came about, was almost foreordained. Horses, disease immunity and to some extent advanced technology in the form of weaponry, gave Cortez and Pizarro insurmountable advantages, and these things were outcomes of geographical forces.

In development economics, one of the big questions is cultural influence on economic development. This is a somewhat more subtle question, involving the nature of the constraints going forward. My reading, plus (limited) observation of developing countries, suggests that to a large extent there is a cultural constraint on how fast modern technological skill can be acquired, but that in general catching up is easier than inventing stuff for the first time.

Haven't read "Why Nations Fail" yet. Did you find it insightful?

You're into the same sort of books that appeal to me, micaela.

We're about to select some new books for group discussion so I hope you find the time to join the discussions.

what a pity!

Yeah! Actually I followed a bit the group discussion about next month possible option for non-fiction and before leaving US (I was there for Thanksgiving) I bought 4 books among those mentioned in the posts and more interesting for me: Dirty Wars by Jeremy Swahili; Saving Capitalism by Robert Reich; Islam by Harris & Nawaz and Between the world and me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Do you have any preference among these four titles?

Cool avatar!

My favorite would be "Islam and the Future of Tolerance."