Summary I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated. -Poul Anderson Donella Meadows was an integral part of a group out of MIT who pioneered the art of “systems analysis”. How does one analyze a system? It starts by defining what the essence of a system is. According to Meadows a system is a group of things material or immaterial that interrelate to cause a behavior which persists through time. In plain English, behaviors are things we observe like floods or forest fires. Systems are the relevant variables that have an effect on the observed behavior, like rain or ground cover. In analysis, behavior is typically the easy thing to observe while defining the variables that constitute the system underneath can be quite a task and isn’t solved but often requires flexibility and good judgement. ...

Summary Mayer initially planned to go to Germany in 1935 to interview Hitler himself. He failed to secure an interview but discovered, to his horror, that the Nazi movement had more mass appeal than he had previously expected. He decided to switch tactics and focus on the experience of the man on the ground. How does a person, who in most other respects would be considered normal or even good, get swept up in a genocidal ideology? After the war he moved to a small town that had strong support for the NSDAP before, during, and after WW2. He made genuine relationships with 10 of the residents and engaged them in extended interviews. The first half of this book is essentially these interviews, organized into a clear timeline. The second half is Mayer attempting to psychoanalyze Germany as a whole based on what he had learned from these interviews. ...

Summary This book centers on the literary type of the “superfluous man” and a Byronic hero. In some ways this character anticipates modern antiheroes like Patrick Bateman or Walter White, at least in broad outline. It is widely treated as the first major Russian psychological novel in prose. The book opens from the perspective of a writer traveling through the Caucasus. The writer befriends Maksim Maksimych, a veteran staff captain, who regales him with stories—chief among them the tale of Bela, in which Pechorin figures. After further travel they meet Pechorin himself. The reunion is stiff: Pechorin is polite but distant and soon leaves for Persia. He had long ago left his notebooks with Maksim; when Maksim reminds him, Pechorin says he may do what he likes with them. The offended Maksim is about to destroy the papers when the narrator takes them instead. Much of what follows comes from those diary extracts (Taman, Princess Mary, The Fatalist), in Pechorin’s own voice. ...

Summary The US grid has been referred to as the world’s most complicated machine, and Bakke thinks this machine is at risk of breaking down. Bakke starts by describing the way that power moves through the grid into our homes and businesses. Once the basics are established, she gives a brief history of electricity’s early commercial use and the first versions of the grid that emerged as a result. The first grids were largely makeshift affairs, made to service single houses or a few blocks at a time. The technology was so new that there wasn’t a standard way of doing things. This created a lot of headaches and made electricity expensive and fragile. It was the monopolist Samuel Insull who would bring order to the chaos in the industry. By buying up hundreds of these independent electricity producers, he turned electricity into a standardized product that the masses could afford. This was the beginning of the modern grid as we know it. ...

Summary On September 30, 1965, a group of officers and soldiers of uncertain provenance executed six of Indonesia’s top military generals and one lieutenant, throwing the country into chaos. Parts of what became Indonesia had been under European colonial pressure since the early 16th century, but for a brief moment after WW2 ended, Indonesia was left without a master. Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta stepped up and issued a proclamation of independence. The Netherlands, their previous colonial rulers, were none too pleased and attempted to restore their control over the country. They ultimately failed, facing local resistance and strong pressure from the United Nations and the United States. ...

This is a cursory look at the countries that have been arbitrarily grouped together since before WW1. He focuses mainly on Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and what used to be Yugoslavia. Even though the grouping of “The Balkans” is largely one of convention, Kaplan argues that the suffering and tragic histories act as a glue that makes their stories inseparable from each other. Instead of writing a full review, I’ll relate a story that I found illustrative of the complexities of the region. ...

Summary Notes of a Native Son is a collection of ten essays by the legendary writer and critic James Baldwin. Born in poverty in 1924, Baldwin would escape into books and writing. He was raised by a preacher and started writing quite young; his early experiences in church left an indelible mark on his writing style for the rest of his life. The contents of the essays vary widely. Some are extended thoughts on a book or a movie, while others recount an event experienced personally. They are complex and emotional. ...

After reading biographies of Washington and Jefferson, I was quite excited to read more about Hamilton. I thought he would be a shoo-in for my favorite Founding Father, but the reality of his character proved more complex. Some of my favorite things about Hamilton: He was the first Secretary of the Treasury and the genius behind the creation of American banking and foreign credit. He was a prolific writer, producing the rough equivalent of 70 novels by the time he was 49. ...

Summary Are you tired of hearing news stories about Kashmir and wondering why Pakistan and India can’t just get along? Can we ever hear any positive news from Sudan? Why does it seem to be in a constant state of turmoil? Why are the borders of some countries straight lines instead of the usual squiggly ones? The world of geopolitics is a complicated place, and there are many approaches one can take to understand it. In Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall argues that the most probable route is to look to the land itself for the answers. The main thesis of the book is that there is not enough focus on the ‘geo’ part of ‘geopolitics’. We often spend too much time talking about various ideologies or technologies as driving world events, when reality is often much more affected by land features. For example, on paper it is hard to imagine why the massive empires of China and India have rarely engaged in full-scale conflict—that is until you realize they are separated by the tallest mountain range in the world. This also explains why Tibet is so fiercely contested, as it represents a high ground that neither country is interested in ceding to the other side. ...

“How does it happen that a writer who’s not even very good—and I can say that, I’ve read four or five of his books—gets to be in charge of the world’s destiny? Or of the entire universe’s?” “If he’s not very good why didn’t you stop at one?” **Dark Tower VII, Chapter III ** Stephen King is the Lay’s Potato Chip of authors. His omnipresence makes him an easy target for abuse. The above quotation captures it perfectly. King is a bad writer, but an excellent storyteller—in the same way that Lay’s makes bad chips, but the kind you can’t stop eating. ...