Newsletter 818
Best of the Moment
The Billionaires Next Door
Chrystia Freeland | Reuters | 15 October 2012
The very rich are different, and not only because they have more money. They are insulated, arrogant, hypocritical, prone to paranoia, indifferent to the misfortunes of others, and convinced of their own special virtue Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/billionaires-next-door)
Show Me The Money
Cass Sunstein | New Republic | 5 October 2012
Corporations overwhelm consumers with complex fee structures, pages of fine print. It's not quite fraud, but it's close. Regulators must step in to enforce simplicity. Competition won't do that when the market rewards opacity Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/show-me-money-0)
What Can You Really Know?
Freeman Dyson | NYRB | 18 October 2012
"For most of the 25 centuries since written history began, philosophers were important. They had a deep influence in the worlds of politics and morality as well as in science and scholarship." Not any more. But why not? Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/what-can-you-really-know)
Why No One Has Been Right About Libya
John Dickerson | Slate | 18 October 2012
"The next debate should get into big questions: What is the biggest crisis you've faced? How do you define the national interest? What is a sufficient justification for military action?" But the conversation is headed elsewhere Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/why-no-one-has-been-right-about-libya)
Difference Engine: End Of The Electric Car?
NV | Economist | 15 October 2012
Is there a more efficient way of storing electricity for use in vehicles, other than charging batteries or making hydrogen for fuel cells? "A growing body of opinion seems to think liquid air is the answer" Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/difference-engine-end-electric-car)
People Of The Bookshelf
Geraldine Brooks | Global Mail | 11 October 2012
On shelving books. You can do it alphabetically—or with a human touch. "I arrange my shelves as I would guests at a dinner party. Claire Messud and Alice Munro? I’m sure they’d get on. Norman Mailer and Anne Michaels? I think not" Comments (https://thebrowser.com/articles/people-bookshelf)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)
FiveBooks Interview
(https://thebrowser.com/interviews/audrey-penn-on-books-teenagers)
Audrey Penn on Books for Teenagers
The children’s author picks five books she loved as a teenager – all stories of struggle in the face of adversity which she identifies with her own struggle with disability Read on (https://thebrowser.com/interviews/audrey-penn-on-books-teenagers)
Featured Special Report
(https://thebrowser.com/reports/moral-philosophy)
Moral Philosophy
Can we have morality without God? Does surveillance make us better? Do babies have morals? Get to grips with some big questions of right and wrong Read on (https://thebrowser.com/reports/moral-philosophy)
Reader Recommendations
@nuzav (http://twitter.com/nuzav) Joe Queenan: My 6,128 Favorite Books - t.co/ZSXXyCxt t.co/ZPUY4r3h via @WSJ (http://twitter.com/WSJ) #browsings (http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#browsings) More like this (http://thebrowser.com/browsings)
Book of the Day
Book of the Day (https://thebrowser.com/recommended/physiology-taste-by-jean-anthelme-brillat-savarin)
The Physiology of Taste by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Gary Taubes says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/gary-taubes-on-dieting) : “This book used to be described as the most famous book ever written about food. He has several chapters on the cause and prevention of obesity”FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive)
Quote of the Day
Corey Robin, on capitalism (http://crookedtimber.org/2012/10/18/forced-to-choose-capitalism-as-existentialism)
"The moral secret of capitalism is not that we are free to choose, but that we are forced to choose"
More quotes (http://thebrowser.com/quotations)