The books that dominate are “recent, trendy, and unchallenging.” Racism has been the most popular subject the last two years. Many books feature adolescent protagonists. Works dealing with immigration and environmentalism or, to use the trendier term, sustainability, were featured frequently. Several colleges selected works about transgender identity. Books about military and diplomatic history, particularly ones that depict valor on the battlefield and prudence and statesmanship in government, are rare.
To me, the lesson from the typical recommended reading list is one of dogmatic conformity. If you go back to my list, I think you will find a lot more diversity. My goal is to stimulate someone to think, not to drive home a particular set of beliefs.
No books about solar power or carbon sequestration?
Your list certainly had a lot more diversity. What I find interesting about these lists is that it seems to me that almost none of them recommend or include books that deal with the more basic question of how a person ought to conduct themselves in the world. Books about the “micro” of constructing a good social order on the individual level rather than these socio-political-economic tomes that treat individuals as just another aggregate variable.
Which of the books that you recommended in your list do you think presents the most interesting critique of the libertarian worldview?
This is a weird question.
Arnold, do you know if such a thing exists at all?
Some might say it would be Lord of The Flies.
If you were to ask me for the best critique of the libertarian world view I would pick something not on this list. Maybe Mark Weiner’s Rule of the Clan, or maybe my current favorite, Martin Gurri’s Revolt of the Public
It seems to me that there are two types of of books to read that might be of permanent value.
!. so-called “Classics” in the cannon that people have been reading for a long time. The Bible, Greek and Roman classics, Aquinas, Machiavelli, John Locke, etc. Most of these works are rich and demanding. They bear and reward reading multiple times.
2. Books that increase the reader’s analytical power and intellectual sophistication through models or assertions backed with evidence. _Micromotives and macrobehavior_ by Thomas Schelling comes to mind–not even a long book! _Guns germs and steel_ by Jared Diamond is another good example (flawed but methinks destined to be a classic). Another example (love it or hate it) might be _The black swan_ by Taleb. Or perhaps The Great Divergence by Kenneth Pomeranz.
These books also bear re-reading. .They tend to be much newer–I can’t think of many books like this that are much older than 30 years–often they are 10 years old.
3. The books mentioned in the article above (beach reading) fall into neither of those categories. They are journalistic in nature–able to hold the reader’s attention. They are often consciousness-raising and concscience-pricking. Probably they are of limited long term value. What’s worse, some of them may wilt under careful scrutiny (such as happened with _I, Rigoberta Menchu_ or _Three cups of tea_.
4. I am reminded of Joseph Epstein’s anecdote that the late Edward Shils learned that his son had been assigned to read in college _The best and the brightest_ and said said in annoyance “That–is the sort of book one reads in an airport.”
6. Perhaps the powers that be might aspire to assign books that are harder and more like “Desert Island Books”–things that could be relied upon while stranded for years on an island. The problem with those books is that often they are hard to read, and less and less is the typical student willing and able to read demanding books except under duress or for an immediate compelling reward.
Doesn’t college have to get so bad as to equal the marginal switching cost?
I think the person / firm who invents tests that measure knowledge / skills independent of college degrees–that person / firm is going to make a fortune.
More things like CPA exams, actuary exams, language proficiency ratings by expert rating panel, and the Thiele Fellows. Charles Murray has talked about this, and Kevin Carey. It is starting to happen.