Jason Bordoff
Co-Founding Dean, @ColumbiaClimate; Founding Director, @ColumbiaUEnergy; Prof of Professional Practice, @ColumbiaSIPA; fmr energy advisor to Pres @BarackObama
20+ Book Recommendations by Jason Bordoff
Oil Leaders - an Insider′s Account of Four Decades of Saudi Arabia and OPEC′s Global Energy Policy
Ibrahim Almuhanna
Oil Leaders offers an unprecedented glimpse into the strategic thinking of top figures in the energy world from the 1980s through the recent past. Ibrahim AlMuhanna--a close adviser to four different Saudi oil ministers over that span of time--examines the role of individual and collective decision making in shaping market movements.Shipments of latest book in @ColumbiaUEnergy book series have arrived. Congrats to Ibrahim AlMuhanna for this timely & very interesting look inside OPEC & Saudi oil policy decision making. See @JavierBlas review below for more. https://t.co/5EkHySGF8z https://t.co/tpjbQBAzJG
Inside Money
Zachary Karabell
A sweeping history of the legendary private investment firm Brown Brothers Harriman, exploring its central role in the story of American wealth and its rise to global power. Conspiracy theories have always swirled around Brown Brothers Harriman, and not without reason. Throughout the 19th century, when America was convulsed by a devastating financial panic essentially every twenty years, Brown Brothers quietly went from strength to strength, propping up the US financial system at crucial moments and catalyzing successive booms, from the cotton trade and the steam ship to the railroad, while managing to avoid unwelcome attention that plagued some of its competitors. By the turn of the 20th century, Brown Brothers was unquestionably at the heart of what was meant by an American Establishment. As America's reach extended beyond its shores, Brown Brothers worked hand in glove with the State Department, notably in Nicaragua in the early 20th century, where the firm essentially took over the country's economy. To the Brown family, the virtue of their dealings was a given; their form of muscular Protestantism, forged on the playing fields of Groton and Yale, was the acme of civilization, and it was their duty to import that civilization to the world. When, during the Great Depression, Brown Brothers ensured their strength by merging with Averell Harriman's investment bank to form Brown Brothers Harriman, the die was cast for the role the firm would play on the global stage during World War 2 and thereafter. The core leadership cadre, including Robert Lovett, Harriman, and Prescott Bush, were all Skull and Bones men from Yale, which is to say they accepted it as their birthright to lead. The architecture of the postwar global economy, like the architecture of the Nicaraguan economy in a previous era, was erected according to the assumptions of Brown Brothers Harriman when it came to American power. In Inside Money, acclaimed historian, commentator and long-time investor Zachary Karabell offers the first full and frank look inside this institution against the backdrop of American history. Blessed with complete access to the company's archives, as well as a thrilling understanding of the larger forces at play, Karabell has created an x-ray of American power -- financial, political, cultural - as its evolved from 1818 to the present. Unlike so many of its competitors, Brown Brothers Harriman remains to this day a private partnership, quietly forgoing the heady speculative upsides of the past 30 years but also avoiding any role in the devastating downsides. From their founding at the dawn of the 19th century to their current incarnation in the early 21st, the firm and its partners understood the need to be prepared for the worst and ready to seize the opportunities that a changing world presents, skills never more imperative than in our pandemic age. They embraced capitalism and gain, but they also shunned its excesses. Brown Brothers is no longer in the command capsule of the American economy, but in many respects, arguably, that is to its credit. If its partners cleaved to any one adage over the generations, it is that a relentless pursuit of more can destroy more than it creates.Had a chance to read an early proof copy of new @zacharykarabell book, and it's excellent (as per his others). Highly recommend. https://t.co/593ubqM0P9
The Box
Marc Levinson
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about. But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology. It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential. Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe. Published in hardcover on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. Now with a new chapter, The Box tells the dramatic story of how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur turned containerization from an impractical idea into a phenomenon that transformed economic geography, slashed transportation costs, and made the boom in global trade possible.Interesting look at how the pandemic has upended global trade infrastructure. Makes me want to reread one of the all-time great books on the global economy https://t.co/RNq0H7LupL https://t.co/IQCRy8swq8
Climate Change Science
Dr. John C. Mutter
Just read my wonderful @ColumbiaSIPA colleague John Mutter's new book, which is an excellent primer on the workings of climate change and climate prediction. If you're looking for a Climate Science 101, I highly recommend. https://t.co/NrrQ9vPDWy
Future of Coal in India
Rahul Tongia
Mark Twain observed, "I'm in favour of progress; it's change I don't like." Coal dominates Indian energy because it's available domestically and cheap (especially without a carbon tax). If the global focus is on the energy transition, how does India ensure a just transition? Managing winners and losers will be the single largest challenge for India's energy policy. Coal is entrenched in a complex ecosystem. In some states, it's amongst the largest contributors to state budgets. The Indian Railways, India's largest civilian employer, is afloat because it overcharges coal to offset under-recovery from passengers. Coal India Limited, the public sector miner that produces 85% of domestic coal, is the world's largest coal miner. But despite enormous reserves, India imports about a quarter of consumption. On the flip side, coal faces inevitable pressure from renewable energy, which is the cheapest option for new builds. However, there is significant coal-based power capacity already in place, some of which is underutilized, or even stranded. Low per-capita energy consumption means India must still grow its energy supply. Before India can phase out coal, it must first achieve a plateau of coal. How this happens cost-effectively and with least resistance isn't just a technical or economic question, it depends on the political economy of coal and its alternatives. Some stakeholders want to kill coal. A wiser option may be to first clean it up, instead of wishing it away. Across 18 chapters, drawing from leading experts in the field, we examine all aspects of coal's future in India. We find no easy answers, but attempt to combine the big picture with details, bringing them together to offer a range of policy options.@CarbonWrangler The day after the election, when all were glued to screens hitting refresh for updates, I took my mind off the counting by reading this book about Coal in India. That's how exciting it is! (or nerdy I am 🤷♂️). Check it out. It's super interesting.
The Man Who Ran Washington
Peter Baker
Co-authored by the Chief White House correspondent at The New York Times and the Washington columnist at the The New Yorker, this is a biography any would-be power broker must own: the story of legendary White House chief of staff and secretary of state James A. Baker III, the man who ran Washington when Washington ran the world. In the latter half of the twentieth century, no Republican won the presidency without his help, and the men he counseled in the Oval Office--Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush--defined more than one generation of American life. Campaign manager, chief of staff, treasury secretary, and ultimately secretary of state, James A. Baker III understood better than anyone how to make Washington work and how to pull the levers of power at home and abroad. A suave and profane Texas Democrat, Baker worked as a wealthy Houston lawyer until his best friend, George H. W. Bush, drew him into Republican politics. His first dramatic win was in 1976 as the delegate hunter who secured the Republican nomination for Ford against a challenge from Ronald Reagan. His next job, as Bush's campaign manager four years later, maneuvered Bush onto the ticket with Reagan and Baker into the most powerful office in Washington other than the Oval Office: White House chief of staff. In his years in the White House and in the cabinet, Baker was the avatar of a style of politics and governance that valued pragmatism and deal making over purity. He went from win to win--reforming the tax code, negotiating the first Middle East peace talks, managing the dissolution of the Soviet Union--until his capstone victory, as field marshal for the younger Bush's Florida recount battle, helped divide the country forever. In today's era of gridlock, The Man Who Ran Washington is an electrifying escape.💯 Can’t recall the last biography I couldn’t put down. Enthralling, indeed. A masterclass in how to acquire & wield political power, ranking alongside Caro’s work on Moses & LBJ and one of the best books on US politics I’ve ever read. 👏 @sbg1 @peterbakernyt https://t.co/Krfp9khClT
The Fracking Debate
Daniel Raimi
Daniel Raimi gives a balanced and accessible view of oil and gas development, clearly and thoroughly explaining the key issues surrounding the shale revolution. The Fracking Debate provides the evidence and context that have so frequently been missing from discussion of the future of oil and gas production.There’s a book for that. https://t.co/v0lGmQWDj3 cc @DanielRaimi https://t.co/rnWZHG9ZKu
The Riches of This Land
Jim Tankersley
Vivid character-driven narrative, fused with important new economic and political reporting and research, that busts the myths about middle class decline and points the way to its revival. For over a decade, Jim Tankersley has been on a journey to understand what the hell happened to the world's greatest middle-class success story -- the post-World-War-II boom that faded into decades of stagnation and frustration for American workers. In The Riches of This Land, Tankersley fuses the story of forgotten Americans-- struggling women and men who he met on his journey into the travails of the middle class-- with important new economic and political research, providing fresh understanding how to create a more widespread prosperity. He begins by unraveling the real mystery of the American economy since the 1970s - not where did the jobs go, but why haven't new and better ones been created to replace them. His analysis begins with the revelation that women and minorities played a far more crucial role in building the post-war middle class than today's politicians typically acknowledge, and policies that have done nothing to address the structural shifts of the American economy have enabled a privileged few to capture nearly all the benefits of America's growing prosperity. Meanwhile, the "angry white men of Ohio" have been sold by Trump and his ilk a theory of the economy that is dangerously backward, one that pits them against immigrants, minorities, and women who should be their allies. At the culmination of his journey, Tankersley lays out specific policy prescriptions and social undertakings that can begin moving the needle in the effort to make new and better jobs appear. By fostering an economy that opens new pathways for all workers to reach their full potential -- men and women, immigrant or native-born, regardless of race -- America can once again restore the upward flow of talent that can power growth and prosperity.@jasonfurman @jimtankersley Agreed. It’s a really great book.
These Truths
Jill Lepore
The challenge of retelling five hundred years of American history in a single volume has been so daunting that hardly any historian has attempted it in decades. When Jill Lepore's New York Times best-selling These Truths appeared in 2018, critics quickly hailed it as a classic--appealing not only to academics, but to thousands of astonished general readers. Picking up the book out of a feeling of civic duty, they opened its pages to discover a different kind of writing, and what the Washington Post called "an honest reckoning with America's past"--a story filled with women and men and people of every color and religion, one that wrestles with the state of American politics, the legacy of slavery, the persistence of inequality, and the nature of technological change. With These Truths, Harvard historian and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore has produced a book that will shape our view of American history for decades to come.@derek_brower best book I've read in a long time
The Apocalypse Factory
Steve Olson
A thrilling narrative of scientific triumph, decades of secrecy, and the unimaginable destruction wrought by the creation of the atomic bomb.From coal to nukes, I’ve moved on to this really interesting book. I thought I knew all about Hanford, but there’s so much more to the story and the role it played in our nuclear history. Recommend. https://t.co/DyjPUzv7xz
Soul Full of Coal Dust
Chris Hamby
In a devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize-winner, Chris Hamby, uncovers the tragic resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia, its Big Coal cover-up, and the resilient mining communities who refuse to back down. Decades have passed since black lung disease was recognized as a national disgrace and Congress was pushed to take legislative action. Since then, however, not much has changed. Big coal companies-along with their allies in the legal and medical professions-have continually flouted the law and exposed miners to deadly amounts of coal dust, while also systematically denying benefits to miners who suffer and die because of their jobs. Indeed, these men and their families, with little access to education, legal resources, and other employment options, have long been fighting to wrench even modest compensation and medical costs from our nation's biggest mining interests-all to combat a disease that could have been eradicated years ago. Tracing their heroic stories back to the very beginning, Chris Hamby, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on this issue, gives us a deeply troubling yet ultimately triumphant work that promises to do for Black Lung what Beth Macy did for the opioid epidemic. From corporate offices and mine shafts, to hospital beds and rural clinics, Soul Full of Coal Dust becomes a legal and medical thriller that brilliantly traces how a powerless band of laborers-alongside a small group of lawyers and doctors, often working out of their homes or in rural clinics and tiny offices-challenged one of the world's most powerful forces, Big Coal, and won. Full of the rich and complex atmosphere of Appalachia and packed with tales of those who have toiled in the mines of West Virginia, Soul Full of Coal Dust Sis a necessary and timely book about injustice and resistance.Really enjoying this morning. A powerful and empathetic look at the human cost of coal mining, the legal gauntlet workers must run trying to find some justice, and the communities hit first by coal’s health impacts & then the industry’s decline. https://t.co/J5wr5aDOOI
Just Mercy
Bryan Stevenson
Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Best Nonfiction@jmcurtin @eji_org Amazing book by a true American hero
Pelosi
Molly Ball
An intimate, fresh perspective on the most powerful woman in American political history, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, by award-winning political journalist Molly Ball She’s the iconic leader who puts Donald Trump in his place, the woman with the toughness to take on a lawless president and defend American democracy. Ever since the Democrats took back the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Nancy Pelosi has led the opposition with strategic mastery and inimitable elan. It’s a remarkable comeback for the veteran politician who for years was demonized by the right and taken for granted by many in her own party—even though, as speaker under President Barack Obama, she deserves much of the credit for epochal liberal accomplishments from universal health care to gays in the military. How did a 79-year-old Italian grandmother in four-inch heels become the greatest legislator since LBJ—and how will she manage her greatest challenge yet, impeachment? Ball’s nuanced, page-turning portrait takes readers inside the life and times of this historic and underappreciated figure. Based on exclusive interviews with the Speaker and deep background reporting, Ball shows Pelosi through a thoroughly modern lens to explain how this extraordinary woman has met her moment.@Ed_Crooks @shannonpareil @AimeePKeane @rkapkap @turi @aasseily @christianhern @matthewclifford @TheAnnaGat @chris_wigley @azeem @brettbivens @gonsanchezs @sowers @eporres @rahulpowar @cee @itsflamant @robertwrighter @KimGhattas @arusbridger @MazzucatoM @drissbb @jtepper2 @shumonbasar @zinkovigor @MatildeGiglio @h0d3r @emmavj @Zielina @hannahsarney @YuanfenYang @rasmus_kleis @mfilippino @ointhefield @lilahrap @Emiliyadotcom @CardiffGarcia @BobbyAllyn @EricGPlatt @SycoraxPine @elliottholt @annaknicolaou @ConorDougherty Evidently there’s a “6 books within reach and 6 tags” thing going around. Here’s latest I’ve read in lockdown @bermanjeff @neal_katyal @auren @dpatil @OSullivanMeghan @jahimes https://t.co/nB7C2gnaMM
Coffeeland
Augustine Sedgewick
"The epic story of the rise of coffee in the Americas, and how it connected and divided the modern world. Sedgewick reveals how the growth of coffee production, trade, and consumption went hand in hand with the rise of the scientific idea of energy as a universal force, which transformed thinking about how the human body works as well as ideas about the relationship of one person's work to another's. In the process, both El Salvador and the United States earned the nickname "Coffeeland," though for radically different reasons, and with consequences that reach into the present. This history of how coffee came to be produced by the world's poorest people and consumed by its richest opens up a unique perspective on how the modern globalized world works, ultimately provoking a reconsideration of what it means to be connected to far-away people and places through the familiar things that make up our everyday lives"--@Ed_Crooks @shannonpareil @AimeePKeane @rkapkap @turi @aasseily @christianhern @matthewclifford @TheAnnaGat @chris_wigley @azeem @brettbivens @gonsanchezs @sowers @eporres @rahulpowar @cee @itsflamant @robertwrighter @KimGhattas @arusbridger @MazzucatoM @drissbb @jtepper2 @shumonbasar @zinkovigor @MatildeGiglio @h0d3r @emmavj @Zielina @hannahsarney @YuanfenYang @rasmus_kleis @mfilippino @ointhefield @lilahrap @Emiliyadotcom @CardiffGarcia @BobbyAllyn @EricGPlatt @SycoraxPine @elliottholt @annaknicolaou @ConorDougherty Evidently there’s a “6 books within reach and 6 tags” thing going around. Here’s latest I’ve read in lockdown @bermanjeff @neal_katyal @auren @dpatil @OSullivanMeghan @jahimes https://t.co/nB7C2gnaMM
Edison
Edmund Morris
From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Morris comes a revelatory new biography ofThomas Alva Edison, the most prolific genius in American history.@Ed_Crooks @shannonpareil @AimeePKeane @rkapkap @turi @aasseily @christianhern @matthewclifford @TheAnnaGat @chris_wigley @azeem @brettbivens @gonsanchezs @sowers @eporres @rahulpowar @cee @itsflamant @robertwrighter @KimGhattas @arusbridger @MazzucatoM @drissbb @jtepper2 @shumonbasar @zinkovigor @MatildeGiglio @h0d3r @emmavj @Zielina @hannahsarney @YuanfenYang @rasmus_kleis @mfilippino @ointhefield @lilahrap @Emiliyadotcom @CardiffGarcia @BobbyAllyn @EricGPlatt @SycoraxPine @elliottholt @annaknicolaou @ConorDougherty Evidently there’s a “6 books within reach and 6 tags” thing going around. Here’s latest I’ve read in lockdown @bermanjeff @neal_katyal @auren @dpatil @OSullivanMeghan @jahimes https://t.co/nB7C2gnaMM
Directorate S
Steve Coll
@Ed_Crooks @shannonpareil @AimeePKeane @rkapkap @turi @aasseily @christianhern @matthewclifford @TheAnnaGat @chris_wigley @azeem @brettbivens @gonsanchezs @sowers @eporres @rahulpowar @cee @itsflamant @robertwrighter @KimGhattas @arusbridger @MazzucatoM @drissbb @jtepper2 @shumonbasar @zinkovigor @MatildeGiglio @h0d3r @emmavj @Zielina @hannahsarney @YuanfenYang @rasmus_kleis @mfilippino @ointhefield @lilahrap @Emiliyadotcom @CardiffGarcia @BobbyAllyn @EricGPlatt @SycoraxPine @elliottholt @annaknicolaou @ConorDougherty Evidently there’s a “6 books within reach and 6 tags” thing going around. Here’s latest I’ve read in lockdown @bermanjeff @neal_katyal @auren @dpatil @OSullivanMeghan @jahimes https://t.co/nB7C2gnaMM
MBS
Ben Hubbard
The gripping chronicle of the rise of Saudi Arabia's secretive and mercurial new ruler "A rare and penetrating look behind the curtain of the world's most important family and its dangerous new leader."--Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower MBS is the untold story of how a mysterious young prince emerged from Saudi Arabia's sprawling royal family to overhaul the economy and society of the richest country in the Middle East--and gather as much power as possible into his own hands. Since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has leveraged his influence to restructure the kingdom's economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran. That vision won him fans at home and on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley, in Hollywood, and at the White House, where President Trump embraced the prince as a key player in his own vision for the Middle East. But over time, the sheen of the visionary young reformer has become tarnished, leaving many struggling to determine whether MBS is in fact a rising dictator whose inexperience and rash decisions are destabilizing the world's most volatile region. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, MBS reveals the machinations behind the kingdom's catastrophic military intervention in Yemen, the bizarre detention of princes and businessmen in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton, and the shifting Saudi relationships with Israel and the United States. And finally, it sheds new light on the greatest scandal of the young autocrat's rise: the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, a crime that shook Saudi Arabia's relationship with Washington and left the world wondering whether MBS could get away with murder. MBS is a riveting, eye-opening account of how the young prince has wielded vast powers to reshape his kingdom and the world around him.@Ed_Crooks @shannonpareil @AimeePKeane @rkapkap @turi @aasseily @christianhern @matthewclifford @TheAnnaGat @chris_wigley @azeem @brettbivens @gonsanchezs @sowers @eporres @rahulpowar @cee @itsflamant @robertwrighter @KimGhattas @arusbridger @MazzucatoM @drissbb @jtepper2 @shumonbasar @zinkovigor @MatildeGiglio @h0d3r @emmavj @Zielina @hannahsarney @YuanfenYang @rasmus_kleis @mfilippino @ointhefield @lilahrap @Emiliyadotcom @CardiffGarcia @BobbyAllyn @EricGPlatt @SycoraxPine @elliottholt @annaknicolaou @ConorDougherty Evidently there’s a “6 books within reach and 6 tags” thing going around. Here’s latest I’ve read in lockdown @bermanjeff @neal_katyal @auren @dpatil @OSullivanMeghan @jahimes https://t.co/nB7C2gnaMM
Black Wave
Kim Ghattas
The bestselling author of The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power tells the gripping story of the real roots of the Middle East Sunni-Shia conflict in the 1979 Iran Revolution that changed the region forever. Black Wave is a paradigm-shifting recasting of the modern history of the Middle East, telling the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran—a rivalry born out of the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution—that has dramatically transformed the culture, identity, and collective memory of millions of Muslims over four decades. Like George Packer did in The Unwinding, Kim Ghattas follows everyday citizens whose lives have been affected by the geopolitical drama, making her account both immediate and intimate. Most Americans assume that extremism, Sunni-Shia antagonism, and anti-Americanism have always existed in the Middle East, but prior to 1979, Saudi Arabia and Iran were working allies. It was only after that year—a remarkable turning point—that Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia began to use religion as a tool in their competition for dominance in the region, igniting the culture wars that led to the 1991 American invasion of Iraq, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS. Ghattas shows how Saudi Arabia and Iran went from allies against the threat of communism from Russia, with major roles in the US anti-Soviet strategy, to mortal enemies that use religious conservatism to incite division and unrest from Egypt to Pakistan. Black Wave will significantly influence both perception of and conversation about the modern history of the Middle East.@Ed_Crooks @shannonpareil @AimeePKeane @rkapkap @turi @aasseily @christianhern @matthewclifford @TheAnnaGat @chris_wigley @azeem @brettbivens @gonsanchezs @sowers @eporres @rahulpowar @cee @itsflamant @robertwrighter @KimGhattas @arusbridger @MazzucatoM @drissbb @jtepper2 @shumonbasar @zinkovigor @MatildeGiglio @h0d3r @emmavj @Zielina @hannahsarney @YuanfenYang @rasmus_kleis @mfilippino @ointhefield @lilahrap @Emiliyadotcom @CardiffGarcia @BobbyAllyn @EricGPlatt @SycoraxPine @elliottholt @annaknicolaou @ConorDougherty Evidently there’s a “6 books within reach and 6 tags” thing going around. Here’s latest I’ve read in lockdown @bermanjeff @neal_katyal @auren @dpatil @OSullivanMeghan @jahimes https://t.co/nB7C2gnaMM
Power after Carbon
Peter Fox-Penner
The electricity sector is facing its toughest test: eliminate carbon emissions while meeting much larger demands for power and adjusting to massive disruptions in its markets, technologies, business models, and policies. Peter Fox-Penner unwinds the industry's fast-moving challenges and makes realistic recommendations for this essential industry.@DrAdamWarren One edit: Replace (or supplement) Smart Power with Peter's new book https://t.co/FXxCXszFxd
Crude Volatility
Robert McNally
Crafting an engrossing journey from the Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1860s to today's Middle East, Crude Volatility shows how past periods of stability and volatility in oil prices help us understand the new boom-bust era. Robert McNally explains how oil became so central to our world and why it is subject to such extreme price fluctuations.if you have not read this book, you really should. I'm re-reading it now (for obviously reasons) and am reminded how exceptionally well done and timely it is. https://t.co/iugdd3pKE6
Energy
Richard Rhodes
@Ed_Crooks Additions: https://t.co/WdZAW1xrEx https://t.co/XJRXhe87Bg @Bob_McNally
Why We Sleep
Matthew Walker PhD
“Why We Sleep is an important and fascinating book…Walker taught me a lot about this basic activity that every person on Earth needs. I suspect his book will do the same for you.” —Bill Gates A New York Times bestseller and international sensation, this “stimulating and important book” (Financial Times) is a fascinating dive into the purpose and power of slumber. With two appearances on CBS This Morning and Fresh Air's most popular interview of 2017, Matthew Walker has made abundantly clear that sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when it is absent. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remains more elusive. Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity. In this “compelling and utterly convincing” (The Sunday Times) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book. Written with the precision of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Sherwin Nuland, it is “recommended for night-table reading in the most pragmatic sense” (The New York Times Book Review).Same! One of the most consequential books I read in 2019. https://t.co/4EyDCUxXqZ
The Man Who Solved the Market
Gregory Zuckerman
Jim Simons is the greatest moneymaker in modern financial history. His record bests those of legendary investors, including Warren Buffett, George Soros and Ray Dalio. Yet Simons and his strategies are shrouded in mystery. The financial industry has long craved a look inside Simons's secretive hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies and veteran Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman delivers the goods. After a legendary career as a mathematician and a stint breaking Soviet codes, Simons set out to conquer financial markets with a radical approach. Simons hired physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists - most of whom knew little about finance - to amass piles of data and build algorithms hunting for the deeply hidden patterns in global markets. Experts scoffed, but Simons and his colleagues became some of the richest in the world, their strategy of creating mathematical models and crunching data embraced by almost every industry. Simons and his team used their wealth to upend the worlds of politics, philanthropy and science. They weren't prepared for the backlash. In this fast-paced narrative, Zuckerman examines how Simons launched a quantitative revolution on Wall Street, and reveals the impact that Simons, the quiet billionaire king of the quants, has had on worlds well beyond finance.New reading arrived just in time for long flight to Abu Dhabi. 👍 can’t wait. @GZuckerman https://t.co/PLno4HQemB
The Fracking Debate
Daniel Raimi
Daniel Raimi gives a balanced and accessible view of oil and gas development, clearly and thoroughly explaining the key issues surrounding the shale revolution. The Fracking Debate provides the evidence and context that have so frequently been missing from discussion of the future of oil and gas production.If you're curious about the methane figures cited in this piece, and how they compare to other academic research on the topic (they're at the very high end of a range of estimates), check out @ColumbiaUEnergy book by @DanielRaimi, The Fracking Debate. https://t.co/KVmYMqF8vq https://t.co/2DXtskeKTN
Open
Kimberly Clausing
With the winds of trade war blowing as they have not done in decades, and Left and Right flirting with protectionism, a leading economist forcefully shows how a free and open economy is still the best way to advance the interests of working Americans. Globalization has a bad name. Critics on the Left have long attacked it for exploiting the poor and undermining labor. Today, the Right challenges globalization for tilting the field against advanced economies. Kimberly Clausing faces down the critics from both sides, demonstrating in this vivid and compelling account that open economies are a force for good, not least in helping the most vulnerable. A leading authority on corporate taxation and an advocate of a more equal economy, Clausing agrees that Americans, especially those with middle and lower incomes, face stark economic challenges. But these problems do not require us to retreat from the global economy. On the contrary, she shows, an open economy overwhelmingly helps. International trade makes countries richer, raises living standards, benefits consumers, and brings nations together. Global capital mobility helps both borrowers and lenders. International business improves efficiency and fosters innovation. And immigration remains one of America's greatest strengths, as newcomers play an essential role in economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Closing the door to the benefits of an open economy would cause untold damage. Instead, Clausing outlines a progressive agenda to manage globalization more effectively, presenting strategies to equip workers for a modern economy, improve tax policy, and establish a better partnership between labor and the business community. Accessible, rigorous, and passionate, Open is the book we need to help us navigate the debates currently convulsing national and international economics and politics.everyone who found that trade section of the debate lacking should read @KClausing's great book Open https://t.co/TxtKLhdey7 https://t.co/wn6tUJMFXT
The Fifth Risk
Michael Lewis
"[Michael Lewis's] most ambitious and important book." --Joe Klein, New York TimesEveryone should read Michael Lewis’ The Fifth Risk to know about the life-saving work done by NWS civil-servant meteorologists being inexcusably undermined here (& data scientists like @dpatil) to predict tornados, hurricanes, etc. Weakening public confidence in them is dangerous https://t.co/caZR8CNZtt
Midnight in Chernobyl
Adam Higginbotham
A New York Times Best Book of the Year A Time Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Winner From journalist Adam Higginbotham, the New York Times bestselling “account that reads almost like the script for a movie” (The Wall Street Journal)—a powerful investigation into Chernobyl and how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the history’s worst nuclear disasters. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering one of the twentieth century’s greatest disasters. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a “riveting, deeply reported reconstruction” (Los Angeles Times) and a definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. “The most complete and compelling history yet” (The Christian Science Monitor), Higginbotham’s “superb, enthralling, and necessarily terrifying...extraordinary” (The New York Times) book is an indelible portrait of the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will—lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary.Midnight in Chernobyl is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, a gripping & thrilling account of the nuclear disaster. Really enjoyed spending time on @ColumbiaUEnergy podcast today talking with its author @HigginbothamA. Coming soon. https://t.co/me2rcRE7oy