This is my "best of 2k18" thread. Only things that deeply changed how I see reality. Only ones nobody on my feed is talking about. Most reading this year was on radically different modes of governing. That means: successful governments, sans liberal democracy. So—lots on China
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Best book (value / effort): Mao's Invisible Hand, ed. Heilmann + Perry. China's concrete governance methodologies are influenced by Mao-era experimental practices—which in some cases do what others expect democracy and markets to. First chapter PDF: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30821257/Embracing_Uncertainty.pdf?sequence=4 …
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Best book (total value): Politics, the Central Texts (Unger) (still reading tbh) Deep dive on how to think about institutions that shape society, and what it takes to change them. Big claims on underlying epistemological mistakes of all sides, + the mythic histories underlying…
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…false ideas about what is truly unchangeable and structural, and what is incidental yet disguised as structural. Full PDF is available on Unger's website, along with an almost unfathomable amount of content. Worth reading a few shorter pieces at random: http://www.robertounger.com/en/category/social-and-political-theory/ …
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Interlude: top research methods of 2018: 1. Google two "unrelated" things you vaguely believe are linked. Usually, someone more versed than you has already written up how. This is like cheating at thinking. 2. Like a piece? Search for a rebuttal. Then, a rebuttal of that rebuttal
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My #1 PDF of the year. - Cui Zhiyuan, "Partial Intimations of the Coming Whole," on how Bo Xilai's methods in Chongqing reflect a search for a Georgist hegemony, in a Gramscian sense. Also, a bit of what you might call "Marx Reaganism." Truly great. http://en.lishiyushehui.cn/uploads/topic/top_4ec350bd025e0.pdf …
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Rapid mode: Wang Shaoguang, "Representative and Representational Democracy": https://www.readingthechinadream.com/wang-shaoguang-representative-and-representational-democracy.html … Andrea Long Chu, "On Liking Women": https://nplusonemag.com/issue-30/essays/on-liking-women/ … "In The Eternal Inferno, Fiends Torment Ronald Coase With The Fate Of His Ideas" http://www.harrowell.org.uk/blog/2018/01/31/in-the-eternal-inferno-fiends-torment-ronald-coase-with-the-fate-of-his-ideas/ …
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One more: Qian Xuesen's "A New Discipline of Science The Study of Open Complex Giant System and Its Methodology", in which a leading Chinese rocket scientist solves "wicked problems" with cybernetics. Apparently hugely influential. https://arena-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/3266387/b5f47a194bfdb67234197a3cc61ef470.pdf?1545950197 …
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Two more books that aren't exactly unknown, but are great: 1. Joe Studwell's "How Asia Works": great insights about development in East Asia. 2. MLK Jr's last book, "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?": MLK's thought is weirder than I think anyone wants you to think.
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honestly, every item featured here deserves its own thread. might come back later and do another thread where I just quote tweet every one of these in order with more deets
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