History Rules

A History Of Nauru

Peter Dauvergne | MIT Press Reader | 22nd July 2019

Nauru was a paradise in the Pacific until the first Europeans arrived with guns and whisky in the early 1800s. Degradation turned to disaster in 1899 when the island was found to consist largely of phosphate, a valuable fertiliser. Opencast mining stripped Nauru bare — and then the phosphate ran out. Nauru survives now by running detention centres for refugees deported from Australia (3,400 words)

Little Rules About Big Things

Morgan Housel | Collaborative Fund | 11th October 2022

Admirable anthology of aphorisms and axioms. "History is driven by surprising events but forecasting is driven by obvious ones". "A lot of people don’t realize what bet they’re making". "Small risks are overblown because they’re easy to talk about". "People who cause harm get the most attention". "Slow progress amid a drumbeat of bad news is the normal state of affairs".  (2,260 words)

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