"The Managerial Revolution"

Not a corporate-manager-type book,
despite the prominent pyramid graphic

Political theorist James Burnham published "The Managerial Revolution" in 1941 in the shadow of a depression and world war.¹  He observed that capitalism had recently had a bad run and appeared to be in an unstoppable decline, but saw little evidence that it was being replaced by socialism. In fact, socialism itself, as practiced by Russia, appeared to be morphing into something quite different from its ideals. Stalin's five-year plans, European fascism, and Roosevelt's New Deal seemed to point to a different way of organizing societies and economies around governmental planning. A new class of official, the Manager, would hold power in the coming regimes.

"Anabasis"

I read the Henry Graham
Dakyns translation

"Anabasis" – sometimes translated as "The March of the Ten Thousand" – is Xenophon's autobiographical account of the tribulations of an army of Greek mercenaries hired by Cyrus the Younger to fight against his brother, Achaemenid king Artaxerxes II. Cyrus is cut down by a javelin in the Battle of Cunaxa, and the Greeks are left stranded and surrounded by enemies with no supplies, shelter, or even pay¹.

"Waking Up"

 

That face looks like clouds.

"Waking Up" was a book group read by proxy: I added it to my list after one of the participants in our discussion of "Zen Mind, Buddhist Mind" recommended it. Author Sam Harris presents spirituality as a psychological need distinct from religious belief and its associated rituals, a search for meaning outside the mundane.

"Swann's Way"

The cookie that launched
4000+ pages (not a joke)

My book group decided to tackle Proust's seven-volume A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, usually translated as "In Search of Lost Time," over the next two years. The idea is to space out the reading and schedule multi-month breaks between volumes so we have time to read other things in the meantime. For my part, I find the optimism required to schedule anything out that far in advance quite admirable, and there's no way I'd read this work on my own, so I decided to join in and see what the draw is...and, of course, see how the original compares to Monty Python's classic All-England Summarize Proust Competition.

"Immune"

 

Not so mysterious after reading this book

"Immune" is a book about, well, the immune system, created by the head writer of Kurzgesagt. They animate some of my favorite science videos on the internet, so this book was a day one buy for me.

"The Way of Kings"

Michael Whelan's cover art is gorgeous

I learned about Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series from a video talking about his approach to worldbuilding. Sanderson apparently spent years fleshing out the setting, history, and characters before starting "The Way of Kings," and it shows.

A few minor plot details follow.