Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has to hold the record as my most avoided book ever. A friend lent it to me twelve years ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. He probably wonders where the hell it went. The problem is, I know my friend’s penchant for esoteric works of much vaunted philosophical richness, and at heart I’m a lazy bastard who doesn’t like to think much. Well, it’s not that I don’t like to think, but I hate being bored, and boring was what this book looked to be. But let me tell you, this amazing piece of work is anything but boring.
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Economics gets a bad rap. To the layperson, the mere mention of economics evokes thoughts of suited bankers, interest rates, taxation and finance. Economists are seen as just another goon from the pantheon of Finance. Greenpeace doesn’t like them. They’re one of those guys whose reason for being is to help big business make more money, or to prevent countries from going broke. Read the rest of this entry »

Why has the world turned out the way it has? Most of the money and power lies with modern cultures of European origin. We all know the history or European powers in centuries past invading and colonising the continents of Africa, the Americas, Australia and parts of Asia, and we usually understand that in terms of relative technological advantage. But why did Europeans have that technological advantage? Underlying the debate for many years has been the insidious contention that the root cause for these imbalances is a fundamental European mental or moral superiority. For everyone who has found that explanation unsettling, but who has been unable to offer a convincing alternative view, Guns, Germs and Steel is a godsend.

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