A high-level, if uneven, summary of major trends in national and international economic development, with predictions about...
A new look at economic trends across the United States compares thriving regions with less successful areas.
In this debut book, Nevin analyzes the economy of the United States against other major world powers and also examines regional trends and strengths within the country’s borders. The volume draws heavily on statistical data, from demographics to gross domestic product, and the author demonstrates a comprehensive knowledge of the major economic data categories, from median workforce age to housing prices to cross-industry metrics. The conclusions he draws about other countries’ economic viability are often sweeping and unconventional: Britain “has just never recovered from World War II”; South Koreans “need to acquire North Korea in a leveraged buy-out.” Switching its focus to the United States, the work addresses Rust Belt stagnation, the stability of major East Coast cities, and the ongoing growth in Western states, describing a bright future for many parts of the country. The volume also makes broad assessments of cultural groups: “Where would we be without [Hispanics and Asians] and their pro-business inventiveness?” Nevin asks; Palm Springs “is a crashing bore unless you are gay or into pottery throwing or both.” The book concludes with a series of concise analyses and recommendations for investing in infrastructure and business, and though Nevin sees some regions in a clear and irreversible decline, the overall tone remains optimistic. There are some questionable inferences drawn from population data, like attributing the birthrate decline of the 1960s in part to the John F. Kennedy assassination. The descriptions of personal finance guidelines and economic forces are also likely to raise eyebrows (for example, “In every state and metropolitan area a very rigid formula guides the economy. Every time a basic job is added to the economy, two support jobs are created”). Throughout the work, Nevin’s tone occupies the border between conversational and folksy. But the author is not always clear about the source of the volume’s data; many charts include only partial source citations and others omit attribution entirely
A high-level, if uneven, summary of major trends in national and international economic development, with predictions about the zones likely to be strongest in the near future.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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