TOPIC · 22 BOOKS
Society and politics
Books I have read about society and politics, brought together across genres, periods and countries.
VIEW IN THE CATALOGUE →
👍🏼GoodEl proyecto Williamson
John GrishamThe true story of an unjust conviction and everything that can go wrong in a judicial system when cops and prosecutors decide too soon who is guilty.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodBueno para comer
Marvin HarrisMarvin Harris once again explains food habits that seem irrational from the economy, environment and social organization.
👍🏼👍🏼⭐️ExcellentThe Black book of communism
Stéphane CourtoisA huge and very hard book on the repression and crimes committed by different communist regimes, which I found very important because of the number of cases and countries it brings together, although it requires time and attention.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodThe Creative Spark
Agustín FuentesOne of the anthropology books I have enjoyed most. Despite its length, I found it light and engaging. The author explains the origins of creativity in human beings.
👍🏼GoodFeria
Ana Iris SimónIt's a tale of a Spanish woman from twenty years ago who has nothing to do with the present, told through her childhood in a village. A family of holidaymakers, foster parents, and normal life outside of so much political correctness that we are now surrounded by.
👍🏼👍🏼⭐️ExcellentThe Basic Laws of Human Stupidity
Carlo CipollaA very funny book about human stupidity. The author divides people according to the consequences of their actions. If you do something and you lose and the other person wins, you have no choice. If both win, you're smart. If you win and the other loses, you're a bandit. And if you lose and the other one loses too, you're definitely stupid. It is a quick read and I really recommend it.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodMagnetizado
Carlos BusquedThe author enters the mind of an Argentine serial killer in 1982 who killed several taxi drivers. Through interviews and other documents, Carlos Busqued is able to relive what was going through Ricardo Melogno's head at age twenty and what led him to commit those murders.
👍🏼GoodPalaces for the People
Eric KlinenbergHow and why certain public infrastructures can help the development of depressed areas by making it easier for people to socialize.
👍🏼👍🏼⭐️ExcellentFactfulness
Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling y Anna Rosling RönnlundOne of the books that has helped me the most to understand the world through data and to distrust many of the intuitions we take for granted. It explains how our vision is often far more pessimistic than reality and how biases, headlines and our way of thinking make us misinterpret progress. An important book for making better decisions and looking at the world more rigorously.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodEspaña tiene solución
Íñigo Espinosa de los MonterosIt is an interesting and easy-to-read book on some of Spain's great problems and the reforms that the author believes are necessary to solve them.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodLa gran manipulación: cómo la desinformación convirtió a España en el paraíso del coronavirus
Jano GarcíaI really liked it. It explains very well how the media is being used by the government to manipulate and deceive us with the pandemic in order to have more control over the population.
👍🏼👍🏼⭐️ExcellentAI Superpowers. China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order
Kai-Fu LeeI loved it, I ate it. A book where you learn about artificial intelligence, how China works, how America competes, the future, and very interesting proposals on how to deal with what's coming technologically.
👍🏼👍🏼⭐️ExcellentCows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches
Marvin HarrisAn anthropology book about customs and beliefs that, viewed from the outside, may seem completely illogical. Harris attempts to explain how many arose as rational responses to material conditions of his time. It's one of those books that makes you look at any human habit and wonder what problem it was trying to solve in the first place.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodCannibal Killers: Monsters with a taste for murder
Moira MartingaleHistory of cannibalism and current accounts of cannibal killers, why it happens, the mind of the cannibal killer. It's a strong and very graphic book at times, but very interesting if you like the subject or are one of those who watch serial killers on Netflix.
👍🏼👍🏼⭐️ExcellentEmpire of Pain
Patrick Radden KeefeThe story of the family that created oxycodone and caused the opioid crisis in America. Great book, great story, very well documented, and I'm not surprised it was on every business book ranking last year.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodThe future of capitalism
Paul CollierThis book made me think a great deal about the current economic and social system. I agree with much of its analysis of capitalism and almost none of its proposals. I do not think they would work.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodConspiracy Theories
Quassim CassamWhy people believe in conspiracy theories, share them, profile those people, and how these theories usually respond to the political agenda of radical ideologies.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodEl reparto de África
Roberto CeamanosOr how the Europeans destroyed and complicated the future of Africa by our greed and moral superiority - which we still retain.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodShah of Shahs
Ryszard KapuścińskiI loved it, it's the kind of book I enjoy, and besides Kapuscinski never fails. This book is a vision and a critique of Iran's Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi regime and the 1979 Iranian revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.
👍🏼👍🏼Very goodWar is a racket
Smedley ButlerA brief and forceful book against the business of war, especially interesting because it was written by Smedley Butler, one of the most decorated American military men of his time. Its argument is very simple: wars enrich companies and a few while soldiers and society pay the cost.
👍🏼👍🏼⭐️ExcellentPrisoners of Geography
Tim MarshallA journey through how mountains, rivers, seas, deserts and borders have shaped world politics, helps us understand why some countries act as they do, why certain conflicts reappear, and why geography continues to weigh even though we have satellites, planes and the Internet.
👍🏼👍🏼Very good