“Why be boring?”

Various advice to graduate students in economics, most of which I find useful regarding life-in-general,from Pete Boettke:

What I’ve been reading

Sandeep
1. The Captive Mind, by Czeslaw Milosz. An incredibly insightful tale of the Eastern intellectuals’ adoption of Russian Socialism, set for the most part in the final stages of, and just after, WWII. Full review coming soon.

2. The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History, by V.S. Naipaul. I’m beginning to favor Naipaul’s non-fiction more than his fiction, though I recommend starting with his fiction to get accustomed to his style. The book begins with Berrio’s and Ralegh’s foolish quests for El Dorado, and continues through the elimination of Indians, slavery, and Indian (sub-continental) indentured servitude. Naipaul’s research and story-telling skill makes this book the most in depth account of Spanish and British Colonialism that I’ve yet read.

3. The California Missions. A Sunset Pictorial with a wealth of fascinating information about the California Missions from San Diego up El Camino Real to Sonoma. Spain employed an explicitly clericalist method of colonial exploration throughout the New World, and the California Missions were built relatively late so we know much more about them.

4. Food: A Culinary History, compiled by Flandrin, Montanari and Sonnenfeld. I’m not reading all of this one, but selectively picking which articles I think will be valuable. So far the chapters ‘The Food of Others’ and ‘The Origins of Public Hostelries in Europe’ have been the most fascinating.

Wisdom of Elders

Charlie

Watch both parts of this video. It’ll be well worth your time.

 

 

Groundbreaking Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne captures many sentiments I have been recently pondering. Never overly dissastisfied with the instruction I recieved in public schools, I tacitly assumed their legitimacy. But as I delve ever deeper into the world of ideas, I have gradually begun to realize that our modern tendancy favoring prescriptive education treads dangerously towards indoctrination.

 

Mr. Coyne implores the graduates of his former high school in Oklahoma City to trespass upon the bounds of convention and embrace a new paradigm.