I have been reading a lot on this trip, and am currently on book number 50 in 8 months. I have mainly been swapping books at various hostels, but have also bought a few second hand books and downloaded books. Books swaps are great because you sometimes end up reading books you would have never picked otherwise, and I have found some gems. I decided to write this post because I have just finished reading one of the those amazing books that changes your whole perspective on how things work and makes you feel inspired to get up and do something.
The books is called The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel and is about how modern society values everything through the market, the impact that this world view has including the social and ecological costs and some alternatives. It is an excellently written and well researched booked with cohesive intelligent arguments. He put into words so many things that I felt were wrong but was unable to into articulate why.
One of the arguments that really struck a chord with me relates to what he describes as the 'privatisation of profit and the socialisation of risk'. This seems like a perfect description of the problems behind the recession in Ireland at the moment. Bankers and developers were allowed to earn massive profits from the property bubble and behave in a reckless matter, but when the whole thing crashed, it is the citizens that pick up the tab.
Some of the other sections that I found really interesting discussed externalities (things the price we pay for goods doesn't include, for example, the cost of cleaning up pollution that falls to the Government, i.e. the tax payer, instead of the company that creates the mess) and our current ideas around ownership and property (ideas that are so ingrained in our psyche but are relatively new ways of thinking). Read this book, immediately, if not sooner!
Some other books that I thought were excellent and would recommend are;
AD 500 by Simon Young
This book is written as a travelogue for 'civilised' Greeks travelling to the 'barbaric' islands of Ireland and Britain around AD 500. It is hilarious, describing some of the really odd customs of the time and showing the Greeks destain with a bit of casual racism.
World without End by Ken Follett
Ken Follett started off writing crime thrillers, a genre I like to dabble in. He then started writing historical novels, as you do, and turned out to be particularly talented at it. This is the second novel in the series charting life in Knightsbridge from 1327. It follows the struggles of and between the towns people, the merchants and the clergy. Like the first book, one of the chief characters is a builder with a turbulent love life.
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
I remember a lecturer in college asking if we thought there was gender equality in Ireland, and everyone shrugging and saying yeah. How wrong we were. Even just in terms of work issues, women still earn less on average than men for doing the same job, have a whole host of barriers preventing them from getting the good jobs in the first place, carry most of the burden when it comes to child care and domestic work.
Anyway back to the book, this looks at a the modern face of sexism, where it may not be as blatant as in the 1950s (and madmen!) but exists in a more subtle but still destructive form. She says if you want to see if sexism exists ask two questions - Is it polite? Do men have to do it? Feminism is nearly seen as a dirty word now, but it is not about man hating or an 'us and them' mentality. It is about mutual respect, cooperation and equality. This book has some great arguements and will have you laughing your head off at the same time.
Marching Powder by Rusty Young
This is a real backpacker book, and we have spotted it in loads of book exchanges and backpacker bookshops. In fact, it was recommended to us by a backpacker, thanks Simon! It is about an English drug smuggler who ends up in a Bolivian jail. The jail is not like a normal prison and runs like a mini economy, with shops, restaurants and businesses. The prisoners even have to buy their cells. Many wives and kids live in the jail also. The book describes his experiences living in the jail, including running tours to travellers!
The books is called The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel and is about how modern society values everything through the market, the impact that this world view has including the social and ecological costs and some alternatives. It is an excellently written and well researched booked with cohesive intelligent arguments. He put into words so many things that I felt were wrong but was unable to into articulate why.
One of the arguments that really struck a chord with me relates to what he describes as the 'privatisation of profit and the socialisation of risk'. This seems like a perfect description of the problems behind the recession in Ireland at the moment. Bankers and developers were allowed to earn massive profits from the property bubble and behave in a reckless matter, but when the whole thing crashed, it is the citizens that pick up the tab.
Some of the other sections that I found really interesting discussed externalities (things the price we pay for goods doesn't include, for example, the cost of cleaning up pollution that falls to the Government, i.e. the tax payer, instead of the company that creates the mess) and our current ideas around ownership and property (ideas that are so ingrained in our psyche but are relatively new ways of thinking). Read this book, immediately, if not sooner!
Some other books that I thought were excellent and would recommend are;
AD 500 by Simon Young
This book is written as a travelogue for 'civilised' Greeks travelling to the 'barbaric' islands of Ireland and Britain around AD 500. It is hilarious, describing some of the really odd customs of the time and showing the Greeks destain with a bit of casual racism.
World without End by Ken Follett
Ken Follett started off writing crime thrillers, a genre I like to dabble in. He then started writing historical novels, as you do, and turned out to be particularly talented at it. This is the second novel in the series charting life in Knightsbridge from 1327. It follows the struggles of and between the towns people, the merchants and the clergy. Like the first book, one of the chief characters is a builder with a turbulent love life.
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
I remember a lecturer in college asking if we thought there was gender equality in Ireland, and everyone shrugging and saying yeah. How wrong we were. Even just in terms of work issues, women still earn less on average than men for doing the same job, have a whole host of barriers preventing them from getting the good jobs in the first place, carry most of the burden when it comes to child care and domestic work.
Anyway back to the book, this looks at a the modern face of sexism, where it may not be as blatant as in the 1950s (and madmen!) but exists in a more subtle but still destructive form. She says if you want to see if sexism exists ask two questions - Is it polite? Do men have to do it? Feminism is nearly seen as a dirty word now, but it is not about man hating or an 'us and them' mentality. It is about mutual respect, cooperation and equality. This book has some great arguements and will have you laughing your head off at the same time.
Marching Powder by Rusty Young
This is a real backpacker book, and we have spotted it in loads of book exchanges and backpacker bookshops. In fact, it was recommended to us by a backpacker, thanks Simon! It is about an English drug smuggler who ends up in a Bolivian jail. The jail is not like a normal prison and runs like a mini economy, with shops, restaurants and businesses. The prisoners even have to buy their cells. Many wives and kids live in the jail also. The book describes his experiences living in the jail, including running tours to travellers!
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