FiveBooks Newsletter 52

FiveBooks began on a high this week, with Nobel prize-winning economist Paul
Krugman discussing [5]why he is a liberal. Also on the site, evolutionary
biologist Jerry Coyne talks [6]Darwin and Dawkins, we ask Gretchen Rubin
[7]how to be happier, and award-winning documentary maker [8]Peter Taylor
says “the fight against Al-Qaeda isn’t over, and anyone who thinks it is
because Bin Laden is dead is living in cloud-cuckoo-land.”
Links:
5. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/paul-krugman-on-inspiration-liberal-economist
6. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jerry-coyne-on-evolution
7. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/gretchen-rubin-on-how-be-happier
8. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/peter-taylor-on-al-qaeda

Next week, look out for five books on Latin America, the history of food …
and an exclusive interview with US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on
his intellectual influences, from Henry Adams to Marcel Proust.

FiveBooks News

[9]Peter Taylor on Al-Qaeda
Links:
9. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/peter-taylor-on-al-qaeda

Friday June 24

The award-winning BBC documentary maker tells us what he’s learned in 10
years investigating Al-Qaeda, and suggests what we should read to understand
where the group came from, and what it’s still trying to do [10]Continue
reading…
Links:
10. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/peter-taylor-on-al-qaeda

[11]Gretchen Rubin on How to Be Happier
Links:
11. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/gretchen-rubin-on-how-be-happier

Thursday June 23

The author who gave us _The Happiness Project_ passes on tips for happier
living, with a little help from Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin and a nun
with humour on her mind [12]Continue reading…
Links:
12. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/gretchen-rubin-on-how-be-happier

[13]Jerry Coyne on Evolution
Links:
13. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jerry-coyne-on-evolution

Wednesday June 22

The evolutionary biologist tells us why Darwin is still essential reading
and sifts the vast amount of more recent writing on evolution for books that
are both inspiring to scientists and accessible to general readers
[14]Continue reading…
Links:
14. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jerry-coyne-on-evolution

[15]Kaushik Basu on the Indian Economy
Links:
15. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/kaushik-basu-on-indian-economy

Tuesday June 21

The chief economic adviser to the Indian government says there’s a Gandhian
way of evaluating society that takes account of both growth and inequality,
and tells us why his job is an anthropologist's dream come true [16]Continue
reading…
Links:
16. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/kaushik-basu-on-indian-economy

[17]Jonny Steinberg on Identity in South Africa
Links:
17. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jonny-steinberg-on-identity-south-africa

Monday June 20

The journalist and author discusses five books with strikingly different
interpretations of what it means to be South African today, whether black or
white [18]Continue reading…
Links:
18. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jonny-steinberg-on-identity-south-africa

[19]Paul Krugman on Inspiration for a Liberal Economist
Links:
19. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/paul-krugman-on-inspiration-liberal-economist

Sunday June 19

Continuing our weekly series on American progressivism, we talk to the Nobel
prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman, on why he counts himself a liberal
[20]Continue reading…
Links:
20. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/paul-krugman-on-inspiration-liberal-economist

[21]Michele Bachmann's Holy War
Links:
21. http://b.rw/jOCry5

Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone | 22 June 2011

Aspiring Republican gets the Taibbi treatment. "Bachmann is exactly the
right kind of completely batshit crazy. Not medically crazy, not
talking-to-herself-on-the-subway crazy, but grandiose crazy, late-stage Kim
Jong-Il crazy" [22]More like this
Links:
22. http://thebrowser.com/browsings