I guess I’ve been quasi-book tagged by Jodi at the Asia Pages.
How many books I’ve owned
A lot, not including all the ones I’ve stolen from the Flying Yangban.
The last book I bought
Probably Foucault’s Pendulum.
The last book I read
See above. Although I tend to re-read a lot of stuff. Gotta do something on the john, after all.
Five books that have meant a lot to me
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by Paul Kennedy. In depth, yet fun to read, Kennedy’s seminal work was the single biggest influence on how I view Great Power politics.
The Enigma of Japanese Power, by Karel van Wolferen. To be read in conjunction with Chalmers Johnson’s Japan: Who Governs?. Everything you wanted to know about the political economy — and more — of a capitalist development state. Not necessarily 100 percent applicable to Korea’s case, but you’d be surprised how much is. Should point out that The Enigma is broken up into relatively short and interesting sections, making it especially good bathroom reading.
The End of North Korea, by Nick Eberstadt. Toss up with — and how’s this for disconnect — Korea’s Place in the Sun, by Bruce Cumings. OK, so we’re still waiting for the end, but Dr. Eberstadt’s work really left an impression, and is probably a better description of North Korean political economy and explanation of why North Korea does the things it does than its detractors would like to admit. Meanwhile, if I had to recommend to someone one book about Korea, it would be Cumings’ work.
The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac. Left an incredible impression on me, along with Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Read it on the train through northern California and Oregon.
Orientalism, by Edward Said. No, I’m not joking. I remember really, really hating it the first time I read in college. After further reading, it grew on me.
Next victims
The Oranckay (whenever his host gets his head out of his ass), The Flying Yangban, and Hunjangui Karuchim.
19 Comments
hey… i want to bring an article to your attention but… not sure how to do that. perhaps i’m too sleepy but i can’t find an email address on your blog. anyway…
http://times.hankooki.com/lpag.....753460.htm
I read Kennedy’s Rise and Fall of the Great Powers a few years ago for a very strange reason. In the Interchange series of ESL books, an audio clip describes a journalist’s life in Japan and he said it was easier to read ‘Rise and Fall…’ in a non-english-speaking country. I prefered Diamond’s “Guns, germs and steel”.
“Guns, Germs and Steel” is also excellent. Haven’t read “Rise and Fall” but I will put it on my list now for future reading!
Diamond’s book is deterministic crap; mono-causal explanations of complex human phenomena are always bad, but when that sole model is the physical environment, well…
I recommend Victor Davis Hanson’s Carnage and Culture for a better mono-causal explanation of the Western dominance, if you elect to go that route. As for Kenndy’s book, it’s already been long-discredited by intervening events.
…. well what? is your opposition to determinism based on more than just an aversion to determinism… or do you have something to say? is diamond deterministic? yes. does he make a very convincing argument? yes. so, my question to you is simple: what precisely is your issue with advocating and explanation of events that is based on the determinism of our physical environment? or… do you simple reject this type of determinism out of hand because of something your professor told you way back in the day?
Marmot, there are no Korean books in that list. I’m somewhat surprised, given that you are a fluent reader in the language. Then again, maybe you’re just tired from reading Korean for a living every day!
I figured you might have read Orientalism (I haven’t myself, but I’m familiar with the gist of it), given the comments you made in another post a few weeks ago about the Chinese Playboy model who was adorned with cultural accoutrements.
i agree about kennedy. try, for instance, “Bound to Lead,” the classical rebuttal to kennedy.
by joseph nye, sorry
Both Paul Kennedy and Jared Diamond wrote thought-provoking, yet easy-to-read books on complex subjects. Are their analyses complete and borne out by history-reality 100 percent? No. Do they present well thought-out frameworks for viewing their particular chosen subjects? Absolutely, yes.
I disagree with Diamond’s geographical determinism, but his book gave me much food for thought (particularly the nature of “auto-catalytic” trends in history), which is rare today since most scientists tend to concentrate on the increasingly obscure irrelevancies in a quest to do something “new” (read “easier”).
I would also recommend two other seminal works for the modern “thinking man”:
1. A History of Warfare by John Keegan and
2. Transformation of War by Martin van Creveld.
By the way, Victor Davis Hanson writes rousing stuff (particularly about the blood, sweat, tears part of classical warfare) and wonderful op-eds to boot, but he is, er, a bit lacking in the craft of history as science. I share his fondness and admiration of the Western culture, but sometimes he goes overboard.
Rise and Fall was essentially Paul Kennedy’s way of predicting America’s decline and fall because of Reagan’s military expansion during the 1980’s. Too bad he did not use the Soviet Union instead as an example. The book is yet another shining example of how political science is clearly not a science. The guy spouts a whole bunch of historical trivia, but much of it was irrelevant or plain wrong. His comparison of 1980’s America to a declining Roman empire - all because of military expenditures, although amusing, was simply another example of liberal wishful thinking.
Next victims
The Oranckay (whenever his host gets his head out of his ass), The Flying Yangban, and Hunjangui Karuchim.
Challenge taken!
The Yangban’s book tag
Since I’ve been ‘tagged’ by the Marmot, I guess I should post the book thingy. How many books I’ve owned I’ve owned many 300-400 hundred in my lifetime.
“300-400 hundred” ~= 30,000 - 40,000?
btw, for what it’s worth, i, too, thought ggs was too one-sided, geared toward backing an argument, not much of balance (but it seems that was the author’s intention from the outset).
orientalism read too much like whining (i only skimmed it though). i agree with mr. said’s points, but geeze. and it’s not even straight-up whining, it’s this academic, hair-splitting type of whining. although i could see that it’s hard to make such points without sounding whiny.
hey, jhang-fei, you live in philly?
Book tag
The Marmot passed on the “book tag” making rounds in the blogosphere; how come it took so long to concoct this?
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