What I'm reading

I just ordered another three books from the Great Canadian series. They are great biographies because they give you a taste, but are short enough to read in a day or two if you want. It's also almost a project that feels like a meditation on the idea of a biography as you get a sense of what the biography can offer as your run through the many authors with their different styles and ideas.

I'm currently reading concrete reveries by Mark Kingwell, who I read quite a bit a few years back but haven't paid as much attention to since.

I just finished two books, one from the aforementioned Extraordinary Canadians series on Mordecai Richler, and though an interesting one, it wasn't one of my favourites. I guess it seemed to go more into his soul, than the others. His supposed arrogance and rudeness disappeared in this telling. Though it might have made it more human you felt like something was missing, that some things were glossed over. Interesting to learn about his story though, for example though attached and known as being all about Montreal, I was surprised to learn that he spent much of his life overseas.

The other book I read was by Tyler Cowen who's site marginal revolution has made it's way into my RSS reader. It's an interesting thesis, that the internet and modern technology now privileges those who can be more like autistics. In that they order information different and have other characteristics that so called 'normal' people should pay attention to.

Now it's an intriguing thesis and he sort of pulls it off, but aside from exploring some aspects of autism and labelling certain of their characteristics, the links he is able to make with them I find difficult to follow and not that useful. For example in a chapter about diplomacy, he suggests that we can learn from autistics to be more objective. I'm not sure how useful a lesson that is. Overall it was a disappointment, but it doesn't mean it wasn't interesting

Why Mexicans don't drink Molson

I have finished reading the book Why Canadians don't drink Molsons by Andrea-Mandel Campbell. I first heard of it on the radio program the Sunday Edition. I had high hopes for it, but unfortunately I found it lacking, not necessarily with its message but I found the way it was presented lacking.

Now I found the second part of the book more impressive than the first half. I suppose because I heard the radio interview the first part lacked anything new, because all her examples on the radio and the stories were from the first half of the book. I found the book chock full of anecdotes and smaller examples but I found that the author had problems painting the bigger picture. She does a better job in the second half of the book, but I found the larger context missing a bit.

Now this isn't to say that she doesn't try, she constantly worries about the challenge posed by China as of course many business people are becoming increasingly interested. I found it hard to figure out who her audience was. I found the book itself in the business section, but it seems in some sections to be aimed towards a larger audience.

I guess my biggest complaint was that it really didn' take aim at any specific myths or problems. Its central thesis has been examined by other claiming the Canadian business sector has failed. Including George Grant's lament for a nation (although of course this was from what we would now consider the 'left') It had the opportunity to go beyond that, and I don't think that it did. Of course being a largely pro-market commentary it blamed government for pretty much everything even while showing that it did have potential. I think this paragraph is a good example and deserves to be quoted here

“If Canadians don’t believe in themselves, it’s largely because government is sending them signals that it shouldn’t. If Canadians think big business is bad, it’s because government is confirming their suspicions. If Canadians glorify the middle of the road it’s because that’s what government espouses. If Canadians are indecisive and risk averse, it’s because that’s how they see the government behave. If Canadians don’t know their place in the world, it’s because their government is lost” (page 311)

For someone who largely sees government intervention in a negative light, she sure ascribes a lot of power there to government.

I will be posting a longer review in the future my other
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