Newsletter 165

Email not displaying correctly? [1]View it in your browser.
    Links:
      1. *|ARCHIVE|*

Writing Worth Reading

[2]A Spy In The Archives
    Links:
      2. http://b.rw/heLgW6

Sheila Fitzpatrick | LRB | 25 November 2010

Historian's terrific memoir of life as an exchange student in 1960s Moscow.
  Getting briefed beforehand by MI6. Making Russian friends. Learning to charm
  bureaucrats. Generally falling in love with the place

[3]
The Truth About Footballers And Money
    Links:
      3. http://b.rw/hH3KdZ

Rohan Ricketts | Sabotage Times | 25 November 2010

Former pro footballer recalls days of excess. First came the jaw-dropping
  pay cheque. Then the jewellers, the cars, the hangers-on. Throwing money
  away. Literally. And the envy of others that can turn violent

[4]Ten Years Talking Tech
    Links:
      4. http://b.rw/g2I7on

David Pogue | NYT | 24 November 2010

Times columnist on lessons learned from 10 years covering tech and gadgets.
  First lesson: things (like TV) don't kill other things (like radio). They
  co-exist. Second: eventually everything goes always-on

[5]
Ways The Mafia Improved The US
    Links:
      5. http://b.rw/gCBjgF

Thaddeus Russell | Lew Rockwell | 25 November 2010

Imagine  an  America without jazz. Where alcohol was still illegal. No
  Broadway, Vegas or Hollywood. No racial integration or freedom to be gay in
  public. Renegade historian says gangsters made America a better place

[6]
What Will Break By 2036
    Links:
      6. http://b.rw/eExVWh

Nicholas Nassim Taleb | Economist | 23 November 2010

Big things will break down. Smaller, nimbler things will survive. Large,
  debt-laden  exchange-listed  companies will yield to family firms. Big
  countries will survive in name, but power will be with city-states

[7]
What Should Copyright Do?
    Links:
      7. http://b.rw/h1Oduq

Cory Doctorow | Guardian | 23 November 2010

Discursive essay on costs and benefits of copyright and licensing. Best
  system probably the "performing rights" model. Creators can't restrict use
  of their work, but they can be assured a fair income

[8]Sense And Nonsense About Happiness
    Links:
      8. http://b.rw/gubFYq

Diane Coyle | Enlightened Economist | 25 November 2010

Britain starts collecting statistics on national well-being. But is it
  approaching  the issue in the right way? And shouldn't we be trying to
  measure other things, such as obligations being foisted on future taxpayers?

[9]Happy Endings
    Links:
      9. http://b.rw/eHFh6o

Lionel Blue | Five Books | 25 November 2010

Unbelievably sweet interview with British rabbi, discussing books that cheer
  him  up. Some spiritual, some less so. "Mills & Boon give me the happy
  endings I want. I fall asleep thinking the world a nicer place"

[10]Cognitive Cost Of Expertise
    Links:
      10. http://b.rw/hBgPBz

Jonah Lehrer | Frontal Cortex | 19 November 2010

Experts remember complex patterns: a London taxi driver holds a map of the
  city in his head. But randomise the pattern, and the advantage disappears:
  it's a rare cabbie who can cope with a sudden detour

[11]Ireland's Abandoned Horses
    Links:
      11. http://b.rw/hqZZKU

Marco Evers | Spiegel | 24 November 2010

Middle-class families bought horses as status symbols in boom years. Now
  they can't afford to keep them. Animals abandoned, starving. Healthier ones
  can be killed for meat. Horse steaks exported to France

[12]European Defaults And Chinese Inflation
    Links:
      12. http://b.rw/gcZDe7

Michael Pettis | China Financial Markets | 24 November 2010

Recommended mainly for the first note, on European defaults (though the note
  on China is good too). This debt crisis is Eurozone's equivalent of US civil
  war. It will emerge unified, or shattered

[13]The Searchers
    Links:
      13. http://b.rw/i64yjG

Austin Ramzy | Time | 22 November 2010

Heartbreaking.  Tens of thousands of Chinese children were stolen from
  parents, sold to families far away, as criminal gangs exploited new freedom
  of movement in 1970s and 1980s. One child's tale

[14]Topic: China's Rise
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/topics/chinas-rise

Paul Kennedy, Niall Ferguson, Richard MacGregor and others on the history,
strategy, politics and values of the world's new superpower. [15]Continue
reading...
    Links:
      15. http://thebrowser.com/topics/chinas-rise

[16]Today on FiveBooks: Martin Sixsmith on Why Russia isn’t a Democracy
    Links:
      16. http://fivebooks.com

About [17]The      Browser: _Editor_, [18]Robert      Cottrell; _Managing
  Partner_, [19]Al Breach. Please [20]write to us if you would like to make a
  comment on the site, or suggest a link.
  [21]Unsubscribe *|EMAIL|* from this list | [22]Forward to a friend
    Links:
      17. http://thebrowser.com
      18. robert@robertcottrell.com
      19. albreach@mac.com
      20. robert@robertcottrell.com
      21. *|UNSUB|*
      22. *|FORWARD|*

*|IF:REWARDS|*
  *|REWARDS_TEXT|*
  *|END:IF|*