merjet Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 LINKReisman put a much shorter review of Piketty's book on Amazon (link). There are many comments to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syrakusos Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Less than a minute needed for that. It was pretty clear from the hot labels that my opinions would be aligned with Reisman and against Piketty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francisco Ferrer Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you. I'd forgotten what a pleasure it was to read Reisman's cold, implacable logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikee Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Thanks Merlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reidy Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I haven't read the book. (Have you? Has anybody? One early notice predicted that Piketty would have the highest bought-to-read ratio of any author since Stephen Hawking.) I haven't followed the reviews in any detail, and I've only skimmed Reisman's. That said, I can't help noticing how quickly Piketty's media stardom came and went. After all that smoochy-faced initial coverage one would have figured that he and his book would stay in vogue for at least a year, but they faded within months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Since I follow many financial-investing media, I can attest it was all flash in a pan--a very small flash. --Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william.scherk Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I haven't read the book. (Have you? Has anybody? One early notice predicted that Piketty would have the highest bought-to-read ratio of any author since Stephen Hawking.)The book is sitting on my shelf, giving me a baleful look right now (it's a library copy, I was the thirteenth in the reserve line, it seems newer than new). I am afraid of it. I can't even claim to have finished the Illustrated Brief History of Time.I haven't followed the reviews in any detail, and I've only skimmed Reisman's. That said, I can't help noticing how quickly Piketty's media stardom came and went. After all that smoochy-faced initial coverage one would have figured that he and his book would stay in vogue for at least a year, but they faded within months.Reisman is good writer. I'm going to take the time to re-read his review carefully. I think it will stand in for Objectivist reaction for some time, since he has actually plodded through the beast to the end.Any splashy, touted, notable, notorious, or 'very important' book can slip back from the edge of Astonishingly New, and still maintain sales and attention. A search of Google News shows plenty of interest this month in Piketty, plenty of discussion, plenty of reviews. It is still on the top sales charts for business/economics books, and still in the top twenty non-fiction bestseller lists.And it is still looking at me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 It is still on the top sales charts for business/economics books, and still in the top twenty non-fiction bestseller lists. Bill, did you notice whether it was purchased by universities/colleges/etc. for assignment to classes.A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william.scherk Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 It is still on the top sales charts for business/economics books, and still in the top twenty non-fiction bestseller lists. Bill, did you notice whether it was purchased by universities/colleges/etc. for assignment to classes.Nope, and I don't know how to get at those particular metrics. Books will always bought by institutions for their libraries, ballyhooed or not, I figure, so that may be a constant factor, subject to a few swings. I will say putting Piketty's book on a course reading list seems cruel and unusual indeed. Of course this book has the allure of food for economists (who are still masticating its contents and yammering about it), but these surely are special kinds of humans, like mathematicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Bill, did you notice whether it was purchased by universities/colleges/etc. for assignment to classes.Nope, and I don't know how to get at those particular metrics. Books will always bought by institutions for their libraries, ballyhooed or not, I figure, so that may be a constant factor, subject to a few swings. I will say putting Piketty's book on a course reading list seems cruel and unusual indeed. Of course this book has the allure of food for economists (who are still masticating its contents and yammering about it), but these surely are special kinds of humans, like mathematicians.Thanks Bill.Gave it a shot, you are quite good at digging out data and details.A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Bottom up is freedom in action. Top down is statism. Piketty is top down. So was Alan Greenspan. Piketty as a Marxist, Greenspan as a Keynesian. Look behind the curtain. They aren't bad men, just bad wizards. One to be--yeah, right, but he's trying--the other, been there, done that. --Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted August 26, 2014 Author Share Posted August 26, 2014 I put my own review of Piketty's book on Amazon. It's in the one-star category dated August 26, 2014.If you find it helpful, please click the Yes button immediately below it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Merlin,Good review.I dinged it.I have that damn book. Everytime I look at it on the shelf of stuff I want to read next, similar to William's experience, it falls to the bottom of the priority list all by itself. Here are some posts from a few months back on OL about this. There is even a video with Piketty himself talking.Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 The Winter 2015 issue of the Cato Journal includes a very good review (link) of Piketty's book. Other than my review on Amazon, this is the only review I have seen that discusses charitable donations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now