Book monitor

Unfortunately I do not have time to read nearly as many books as I would like.  However, I have decided it might be worth me occasionally listing books that look interesting even if I may not get round to reading them.

* William Rosen’s The Most Powerful Idea in the World (Random House) is a study of the central role of steam power in the industrial revolution. It evidently goes along with the idea that productivity per head took off in about 1800 (although he says there was slow growth from the 12^th century onward. Probably best read in conjunction with watching the episode eight of Jacob Bronowski’s excellent The Ascent of Man documentary.

* Howard Friel’s The Lomborg Deception (Yale) along with Bjorn Lomborg’s rebuttal (there is also a counter-rebuttal from Friel). In my experience Lomborg is a meticulous scholar – even if I do not always agree with his conclusions.

* Luis Felipe López-Calva and Nora Claudia Lustig (eds), Declining Inequality in Latin America (Brookings).