Category: ENGLISH

Ha-Joon Chang describes how rich countries are denying and preventing the same policies that made them rich to begin with – protectionism and tariffs. He argues that after getting rich, developed nations used the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization for “ladder kicker”, which he thinks is the biggest obstacle to poverty alleviation. Ha-Joon Chang also has a bunch of economics lecture series open from his Cambridge classes, called Economics for People. He won me from the trailer, where he says that economists (I could argue it applies to other academics and not just economist) have megalomania: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaNTRFOkp0Q&list=PLmtuEaMvhDZbNVIDHA-MTVH0sLb5HP7Pn&ab_channel=NewEconomicThinking

We have understood the climate crisis for decades, but progress to prevent the most significant catastrophe in human history is still lacking. The same goes for policies regarding smoking. Why is this? This book chronicles how certain experts have actively skewed the discourse, the science, and delayed needed action, both on actions related to the climate crisis and on tobacco regulations. Also check this interview from Planet Critical: https://youtu.be/UZk4Xjn6tEY?si=oRoglHgGZ3JvY368

Capitalism is incompatible with limiting and tackling global warming – and the political right understand this very well. They have known this very well for decades, and that’s why they’ve worked so hard on misinforming the public, inflating the uncertainties, the costs of action, etc. Because they knew the real truth: on a capitalist world, we cannot address this catastrophe. Naomi writes extremelly compellingly, engaging, and interesting way.

As timely now as ever, Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman break with tons of data and logic how the corporate-backed mass media are ideological institutions that carry system-supportive propaganda function. Starting from basic descriptions, like the simple fact that mass media institutions are profit seeking institutions, and thus they must align with the financial interests of the owners such as corporations and investors. Importantly, most of the profit comes from advertising, not from subscriptions or sales, meaning they must align with the advertisings’ interests. Indeed, the media are not selling news to the readership, instead, the readership is the product, and the buyer are the advertisement companies.  Check out an illustrated summary of Manufacturing consent here: https://seanmichaelwilson.weebly.com/manufacturing-consent---illustrated.html, a discussion on it on Jacobin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z_4HdnUdHA&t=193s&ab_channel=Jacobin, and a documentary I really enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li2m3rvsO0I&t=3491s&ab_channel=InquiretheMind

Kids create philosophy on their own. This book follows both the author’s kids, as well as conversations with other kids, and then takes you into the history of the philosophical theories that kids develop. From the question how did a cat got a flea? From another cat? And that one, and the one before… ? Up to his own child answering a question Scott couldn’t answer himself to his own father: what does it mean to be a philosopher? (it’s the art of thinking, his kid stated). Scott argues that kids are the most creative thinkers out there. He also engages with topics like slavery, colonialism, the holocaust, sexism, trans rights, and discusses how to engage these topics with kids, and how kids engage and construct arguments surrounding these difficult…

Everyone knows the Lord of the Flies. The fictional novel in which children are left on an island alone, which brings out the most terrible parts of humans. What almost nobody knows is what happened when real kids, in the real world, found themselves alone in an isolated island. The real Lord of The Flies Six children ran away from their boarding school in Nuku'alofa and crashed in an island alone. What happened? They brought out the best of themselves – and of humans. They organized themselves democratically, working as a team. One of them broke his leg, and his friends take care of him and make him 'the boss'. They were found a year later, they were in perfect shape, had kept their fire alive for the whole year.…

We believe debts are a moral duty – one must pay one’s debts! A job is always creating value to society, right? Graeber’s work, an anarchist and anthropologist who sadly died in 2020, summarizes and criticizes so many of our societal ideas and dogmas that we take for granted. It is a joy to listen to as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kikzjTfos0s&t=32s&ab_channel=RSA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZIINXhGDcs&t=20s&ab_channel=TalksatGoogle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eR_95slEFw&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

Suffices to say you’ll understand multiple stats principles better after reading this book than after reading most stats book (I read many prior to reading this book), and that you’ll never think of your brain and ‘rationality’ on the same way again. Written by the only psychologist who ever won a Nobel prize in economics (not that I consider Nobel prices a meaningful thing!). He also writes a beautiful first chapter describing his amazing friendship Amos Tversky, and how their friendship guided them to find holes in the way they thought – and push to fill them.

There is an opposite image of the world if one considers which countries and people cause and have caused the catastrophe (the richer, the guiltier), and those who have neither contributed to the problem, nor have they benefited from our high carbon economy (the poorer, the most affected). Climate change is developing throughout colonial and racist lines, between nations and within a nation. Those who cause the crisis do not suffer its consequences – at least not yet – and those who didn’t cause it, suffer the most. With extensive and compelling data, this is a must from anybody who cares in the very least about social justice. The numbers are heartbreaking – but information is the first step to help.

Why is inequality a problem, shouldn’t we just want to lift people out of poverty independently of whether there are billionaires or not? These and multiple lines of argument are analyzed logically and clearly by Nathan Robinson. Unlike most of us on the left, Nathan actively engages with the arguments that are frequently put forward by the right, trying to understand why they are persuasive, and why they can be compelling, and where do they go wrong. He outlines lines of counter arguments to follow. A must for anybody on the left