Literarature: The Paris Review – Winter 2024-2025
Category Archives: Previews
Fredric Jameson on the Art of Criticism: “Ideological critique has to end up being a critique of the self. You can’t recognize an ideology unless, in some sense, you see it in yourself.”
Reviews: Best Books On Foreign Affairs Of 2024
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
by Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman
In a revelatory book, Farrell and Newman describe how the United States has turned its control over information networks into a hidden tool of economic domination—and warn of the risks of Washington’s weaponization of data power for ordinary people, as well as for the global financial system.read the review
To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power
by Sergey Radchenko
In a major reconsideration of Cold War history, Radchenko examines the Soviet Union’s competing ambitions for revolution, security, and legitimacy—and how Soviet leadership, blinded by its own hubris and aggression, set the stage for the downfall of the USSR. read the review
Freedom From Fear: An Incomplete History of Liberalism
by Alan S. Kahan
Kahan argues that what unifies liberals across the centuries, including those involved in building and defending liberal democracy today, are their efforts to build societies free from the fear of arbitrary power. He sculpts a masterful and beautifully written history of liberalism’s long intellectual journey. read the review
Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
In this sobering study, Levitsky and Ziblatt demonstrate how the United States’ enduring constitutional order—one forged in a pre-democratic age—increasingly thwarts the will of an expanding multicultural majority in favor of a shrinking rural white minority.read the review
Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
by Anne Applebaum
Focused on the sophisticated and networked world of autocracy, dictatorship, and tyranny, Applebaum argues that what separates hardcore autocratic states, such as China and Russia, from softer illiberal and authoritarian regimes, such as those in Hungary, India, and Turkey, is the ruthlessness and reach of their dictatorial power and their deep hostility to the Western-led democratic world.read the review
Arts & Literature Preview: Kenyon Review – Fall 2024
The New York Times Magazine – Dec. 8, 2024
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (December 7 2024): The 12.8.24 Issue features William Langewiesche on the secret Pentagon war game how nuclear escalation spirals out of control; Daniel Bergner on a mysterious gap in psychosis rates; Alexis Okeowo on an endless war in Ethiopia; and more.
The Secret Pentagon War Game That Offers a Stark Warning for Our Times
The devastating outcome of the 1983 game reveals that nuclear escalation inevitably spirals out of control.
The Interview: Tilda Swinton Would Like a Word With Trump About His Mother
The Academy Award-winning actress discusses her lifelong quest for connection, humanity’s innate goodness and the point of being alive.
Ethiopia’s Agony: ‘I Have Never Seen This Kind of Cruelty in My Life’
A rare look inside a region still reckoning with the toll of war crimes, even as new conflicts roil the nation. By Alexis Okeowo
America’s Hidden Racial Divide: A Mysterious Gap in Psychosis Rates
Black Americans experience schizophrenia and related disorders at twice the rate of white Americans. It’s a disparity that has parallels in other cultures. By Daniel Bergner
Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine – Dec. 9, 2024
BARRON’S MAGAZINE (December 7, 2024): The latest issue features ‘The Bull Case for Investing Abroad’…
International Roundtable: 4 Experts, 12 Stock Picks
Investing abroad has been a tough sell, but overseas markets offer growth—and value.
MicroStrategy Is Winning by Breaking Wall Street’s Rules. Avoid the Stock.
Investors effectively are paying nearly $240,000 for each of the company’s 402,100 Bitcoins, well above the market price.
What Happens if You Die Without a Will? You Could Leave Heirs—and Pets—With Even More Grief.
People can avoid messy family fights by preparing a will. It needn’t be a complicated document.
Inflation Isn’t Dead Yet. How to Protect Your Retirement Income.
Rising prices are here to stay. Use these investments to beat the inflation trap.Long read
Research Preview: Science Magazine-Dec. 6, 2024
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Programming tissue-sensing T cells that deliver therapies to the brain
‘Brutal’ math test raises the bar for AI
Model-stumping benchmark shows human experts remain on top—for now
Beneath Antarctica’s ice, a fiery future may await
Researchers probe volcanoes’ response to a changing world
War-torn Ukraine is breeding drug-resistant bacterial strains
Urgent action underway to bolster treatments and prevent dangerous microbes from spilling across borders
Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Dec. 6, 2024
Times Literary Supplement (December 4, 2024): The latest issue features ‘HIs Other Country’ – The James Baldwin revival continues in the 100th anniversary year of his birth. A trickle of biographies has become a flood, and the causes for which he stood, racial equality and gay rights, speak to the times.
Knowing his name – Celebrating the centenary of James Baldwin’s birth
Bring back the big fish
Record-label scouts chase ‘strange compositions’
No sacred cows
A video game challenges the history of Argentina
By Mia Levitin
The Economist Magazine – December 7, 2024 Preview
America’s gambling boom should be celebrated, not feared
The gambling frenzy is mostly about people being free to enjoy themselves
France steps into deep trouble
It has no government and no budget, and is politically gridlocked
Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea should resign, or be impeached
His coup attempt was foiled. But grave tests still remain for the country
Joe Biden abused a medieval power to pardon his son
The president’s reversal is understandable, hum
MIT Sloan Management Review – Top 2024 Articles
MIT Sloan Management Review (December 4, 2024): Looking beyond AI, many of our top 10 stories involve tough culture and people management challenges, like dealing with the informal meetings that happen after formal meetings (No. 2) and getting people to stop self-censoring with company leaders (No. 5). These two stories, by Phillip G. Clampitt and Jim Detert, respectively, truly struck a nerve with readers. At a time of radical change, communication and trust have never been more important.
#10
Building Culture From the Middle Out
Spencer Harrison and Kristie Rogers
Midlevel leaders are critical to fostering an organizational culture that’s healthy and vibrant.
#9
Video — RTO Mandates: Hard Truths for Leaders
Brian Elliott
In this brief video, learn what the latest research and current examples say about return-to-office mandates — and what leaders can do instead to boost productivity and retain talent.
#8
Eight Essential Interview Questions CEOs Swear By
Adam Bryant
Get beyond job candidates’ pat answers to hiring managers’ standard queries by recasting questions to elicit thoughtful responses.
#7
Seven Truths About Hybrid Work and Productivity
Lynda Gratton
To get the most from hybrid work, leaders should prepare for trade-offs, make expectations clear, and think harder about how productivity is measured.
#6
How Tech Fails Late-Career Workers
Stefan Tams
Managers must make deliberate choices to support older workers’ use of complex technologies.
#5
What You Still Can’t Say at Work
Jim Detert
Most people know what can’t be said in their organization. But leaders can apply these techniques to break through the unwritten rules that make people self-censor.
#4
Return-to-Office Mandates: How to Lose Your Best Performers
Brian Elliott
Your organization’s highest-performing employees want executives to focus on outcomes and accountability, not office badge swipes.
#3
The Future of Strategic Measurement: Enhancing KPIs With AI
Michael Schrage, David Kiron, François Candelon, Shervin Khodabandeh, and Michael Chu
This artificial intelligence and business strategy report looks at how organizations are using AI to evolve their key performance indicators to better align with their strategies and deliver on enterprise goals.
#2
Hard Truths About the Meeting After the Meeting
Phillip G. Clampitt
Leaders must encourage respectful debate during meetings and use related strategies to avoid toxic post-meeting dynamics.
#1
Five Key Trends in AI and Data Science for 2024
Thomas H. Davenport and Randy Bean
These developing issues should be on every leader’s radar screen, data executives say.
Research Preview: Nature Magazine – Dec. 5, 2024
Humble scientists earn more trust
Study participants rated fictional scientists who admitted their own knowledge gaps as more credible.
The cells that help the immune system fight lung cancer
Neighbouring cells bolster the immune cells’ tumour-fighting abilities.
Antarctica’s first known amber whispers of a vanished rainforest
The only continent where amber had not been found no longer has that distinction, thanks to a sediment core drilled just offshore.
This dwarf planet might have its very own ice volcano
Relatively warm regions of the object called Makemake could also be explained by a dusty planetary ring.
Boomers Daily 