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Power and Progress
Turkish-American economist and recent Nobel prize winner, Daron Acemoglu, along with British-American economist and also recent Nobel prize winner, Simon Johnson, penned the 2023 book Power and Progress. Given the star power, one starts the book with high expectations. There are a number of books that survey the history of innovation, such as Ridley’s 2020 […]
Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam
I read this book in an appropriate location, while on a recent trip to Malaysia, where this book was penned. Syed Muhammad Naquib al Attas is a Malaysian philosopher and has written a list of publications, this book, “Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam – An Exposition on the Fundamental Elements of the Worldview of […]
The World For Sale
This is a 2021 Oxford University Press book, which I expected to more on the academic end but leans toward storytelling and a mass market book. The stories are interesting and well told. Book might be a good audiobook for trains or driving. Written by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, both are journalists. “Without the […]
End Times
Why do nations rise and fall, different theorists and theories abound, in “End Times – Elites, Counter-Elites and the Path of Political Disintegration” (2023) Peter Turchin gives some answers. What I really appreciate about Turchin’s work is the methodological rigor and the use of data. His approach takes in components of culture, history, geography and […]
Frames of War
Judith Butler has penned many well read and influential publications. Frames of War (2010) is a collection of (revised) essays that were written between 2004 and 2008. The content covers some challenging territory, including details of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Not sure these books are well worth obtaining, but attracted me to a collection of […]
How Innovation Works
Matt Ridley’s book How Innovation Works (2020) is a mass market book that offers a thematic run down of innovations (in health, energy, transportation, etc). The chapters are mostly brief descriptions, with little on the “so what?” of the innovation processes. When there are very interesting questions, such as simultaneous innovations in distant locations, these […]
Telling About Society
Howard Becker’s 2007 “Telling About Society” is a collection on a diverse ways to tell a story. This book is about the art of storytelling for social scientists, drawing on sociological roots. Useful reference book for thinking about communication, and in parts potentially manipulation and propaganda. A few notes: “If you know the audience the […]
Empire, Global Coloniality and African Subjectivity
The book “Empire, Global Coloniality and African Subjectivity” is authored by one the leading scholars of ideas relating to decolonization and coloniality. In this 2013 book, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni draws out the meaning and implications of coloniality, and sets the foundation for his widely cited 2018 book (Epistemic Freedom in Africa). There are chapters on South Africa […]
The Idea of Development in Africa
Taking its cue from another book, The Idea of Africa, this book presents the idea of the idea of development with a focus on Africa – its emergence, meanings, and connotations – and how its conceptualization is deeply rooted in colonialism. “The Idea of Development: A History” (2021) is written by Corrie Decker and Elisabeth McMahon, […]
Nobody
Media personality and journalist Marc Lamont Hill wrote “Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyon” (2016). The book aims for a broad audience. Several chapters detail the histories and people who were killed by police or racially motivated murders. Others zoom out to the systems of mass incarceration […]
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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