Other Stuff: Peter Qvortrup's reading list for me!

You might have noticed that below my Jeff's Place title that it says that my blog is about "Music, Hi-Fi, and Other Stuff".

That's because Jeff's Place is my personal blog about music, hi-fi, and other stuff, with the "other stuff" being miscellaneous things that are on my mind that I want to write about that I find interesting, and I think family, friends, or a few of you might find interesting too.

My blog has never been about being a business like most blogs are, it generates zero money for me, as all the content you see here I provide for free. Rather Jeff's Place is my hobby that satisfies my love of writing about things that interest me.

The advertising you see on the right side-bar of Jeff's Place is from Positive Feedback, and that is how they cover the expenses for hosting my Jeff's Place blog at Positive Feedback.

I am glad to have this arrangement with Positive Feedback, it frees me from the duties of paying for and managing a blog so I can just do what I enjoy - writing - Thank you Dave & David!

While this arrangement with Editors Dave & David allows me to do what I like to do - write - my hope is that it also provides benefit to Positive Feedback by drawing additional readers to their site so that it is worthwhile for them to keep hosting Jeff's Place, and of course I hope that those of you reading Jeff's Place posts enjoy reading them as much as I do writing them for you.

In addition to the topics of music and hi-fi, in the past I've written personal "other stuff" about family, travel, photography, books, and other random topics.

This particular "other stuff" post is about books, and in particular books that Peter Qvortrup (Audio Note UK) recommended to me while I was visiting him in Brighton, UK, in the August & September timeframe this year.

I've always loved to read, but during my working years I read so much at work I didn't feel like reading much other than the occasional mystery or novel during my free time.

Now that I am retired, I am indulging my love of reading again with a passion!

Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK.

While I was in the UK in August & September I had some absolutely fascinating discussions with Peter Qvortrup about the current economic-political situation in the world, and I have to say Peter is one of the most interesting conversationalists I've had the pleasure of visiting with in a good long while.

Peter trained at the university as an economist, and was planning on being an economist until his audio hobby took hold of him and it blossomed into a business.

I was so fascinated by some of the economics and political topics we discussed, I asked Peter if he wouldn't mind putting together a short reading list for me to help me to get more acquainted with the topics we had discussed.

While you may not be aware of it, each of the topics of these books affects your daily life, what you experience in the world around you, and how you feel about yourself on a daily basis, and what your future will be like.

Here's the list of books Peter recommended to get me started, all of which are available from Amazon in case you're interested (the photo above):

Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy, August 20, 2015, by Michael Hudson

Above I mentioned that Peter trained at the university as an economist, and was planning on being an economist until his audio hobby took hold of him and it blossomed into a business.

The author of this book - Michael Hudson - did just the opposite of what Peter did. Michael didn't start out to be an economist, but rather had studied music and the history of culture at the university, and then during a moment of serendipity an interest in economics took hold of Michael and it blossomed into a career in economics.

Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy, August 20, 2015, by Michael Hudson

About the book: Imagine if you will for a moment the circulatory system of the human body, which is a system of organs that circulates blood, nutrients, and lymph throughout the body to keep it healthy, fight disease, and so forth.

Now imagine that same circulatory system of the human body as the world economic system, and the blood, nutrients, and lymph that circulates though it as the flow of funds through the world economic system.

In our world economic system, what are the equivalent of the system of organs that the funds flow through, and what makes for a healthy world economic system, and what are the diseases that it has to fight off to stay healthy?

Just like with the circulatory system of the human body, there are systems of organizations, institutions, and processes that determine the flow of funds in the world economic system, and how well they are functioning - and the incursion of "disease" - determines overall economic "health".

I'm just getting started with this book, and it is absolutely fascinating, with every page providing new illumination of how the world works.

Here's a few topics of intrigue from Part 1, "From the Enlightenment to Neo-Rentier Economies":

Part one discusses the history of the financial sectors rise to power, Feudalism's rentier legacy, theories of Locke to Mill, the ""All-Devouring "Magic of Compound Interest"", "How the One Percent holds the 99 Percent in Exponentially Deepening Debt", and the failed attempt to industrialize banking.

Here's a few topics of intrigue from Part II, "Wall Street as Central Planner":

Part two discusses such fascinating topics as the origins of the stock market, the stock market as a predatory arena, finance vs. industry, bubbles, the banking coup of 2008, corrupt giveaways, and the perilous path from democracy to oligarchy that has occurred.

Here's a few topics of intrigue from Part III, "Austerity as a Privatization Grab":

Part three discusses fascinating topics like "Europe's Self-imposed Austerity", the pro-bank and anti-labor agenda, how high finance turns democracy to junk, the road to debt serfdom, and finance as warfare, to name just a few.

Here's a few topics of intrigue from Part IV, "There is an Alternative":

Part four discusses the fight for our lives in the 21st Century, and "Coda: The Greek Tragedy that Threatens to Sink the Euro."

... and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption From Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year (THE TYRANNY OF DEBT), November 15, 2018, by Michael Hudson

I haven't got started reading this one yet, it's the next one on my list.

... and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption From Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year (THE TYRANNY OF DEBT), November 15, 2018, by Michael Hudson

This was selected as one of the "Best Books of 2018 in Economics" by The Financial Times, and they said about it:

"In ...and forgive them their debts, renowned economist Michael Hudson – one of the few who could see the 2008 financial crisis coming – takes us on an epic journey through the economies of ancient civilizations and reveals their relevance for us today. For the past 40 years, in conjunction with Harvard’s Peabody Museum, he and his colleagues have documented how interest-bearing debt was invented in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, and then disseminated to the ancient world. What the Bronze Age rulers understood was that avoiding economic instability required regular royal debt cancellations. Professor Hudson documents dozens of these these royal edicts and traces the archeological record and history of debt, and how societies have dealt with (or failed to deal with) the proliferation of debts that cannot be paid – and their consequences. In the pages of ...and forgive them their debts, readers will discover how debt played a central role in shaping ancient societies, and how it continues to shape our world – often destructively."

Against Elections, April 17, 2018, by David Van Reybrouck, with an introduction by Kofi Annan

Another fascinating book, that is described as "A small book with great weight and urgency to it, this is both a history of democracy and a clarion call for change."

From the Amazon description:

"Without drastic adjustment, this system cannot last much longer," writes Van Reybrouck, regarded today as one of Europe's most astute thinkers. "If you look at the decline in voter turnout and party membership, and at the way politicians are held in contempt, if you look at how difficult it is to form governments, how little they can do and how harshly they are punished for it, if you look at how quickly populism, technocracy and anti-parliamentarianism are rising, if you look at how more and more citizens are longing for participation and how quickly that desire can tip over into frustration, then you realize we are up to our necks."

Not so very long ago, the great battles of democracy were fought for the right to vote. Now, Van Reybrouck writes, "it's all about the right to speak, but in essence it's the same battle, the battle for political emancipation and for democratic participation. We must decolonize democracy. We must democratize democracy."

Against Elections, April 17, 2018, by David Van Reybrouck, with an introduction by Kofi Annan

"As history, Van Reybrouck makes the compelling argument that modern democracy was designed as much to preserve the rights of the powerful and keep the masses in line, as to give the populace a voice. As change-agent, Against Elections makes the argument that there are forms of government, what he terms sortitive or deliberative democracy, that are beginning to be practiced around the world, and can be the remedy we seek. In Iceland, for example, deliberative democracy was used to write the new constitution. A group of people were chosen by lot, educated in the subject at hand, and then were able to decide what was best, arguably, far better than politicians would have.

A fascinating, and workable idea has led to a timely book to remind us that our system of government is a flexible instrument, one that the people have the power to change."

The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does Not Pay, February 13, 2018, by Guy Standing

Another fascinating book, this one about who's really in control of your life and well being? Do you think it's you? Ha!

The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does Not Pay, February 13, 2018, by Guy Standing

Here's the description from Amazon:

"Guy Standing reveals the devastating effects of the construction of a global market economy. At the heart of the problem is the construction by successive governments, working in the interests of elites, of the most unfree market system ever created. A system in which property, financial, physical and intellectual, is controlled by a tiny but enormously powerful rentier class."

Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism, by Paul A. Boghossian

Here's the Amazon description of another fascinating read:

"The idea that science is just one more way of knowing the world and that there are other, radically different, yet equally valid ways, has taken deep root in academia. In Fear of Knowledge, Paul Boghossian tears these relativist theories of knowledge to shreds. He argues forcefully for the intuitive, common-sense view-that the world exists independent of human opinion and that there is a way to arrive at beliefs about the world that are objectively reasonable to anyone capable of appreciating the relevant evidence, regardless of their social or cultural perspective. This short, lucid, witty book shows that philosophy provides rock-solid support for common sense against the relativists; it is provocative reading throughout the discipline and beyond."

Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism, by Paul A. Boghossian

Also, here's a trailer for a fascinating video that Peter shared with me about inequality, an interview with Paul Verhaeghe, professor of clinical psychology and psychoanalysis at the University of Ghent. You can see the full video interview HERE.

Hint: "Neoliberalism" is not to be confused with "liberalism".

"Neoliberalism" is an economic term for the "... 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism and free market capitalism (Wikipedia)" whose function is to flow funds to the rich at the expense of the average wage earner's life, liberty, and happiness, and to keep those so affected in the dark about it.

"Liberalism" is "... a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed, and equality before the law (Wikipedia)" that is intended to improve the life, liberty and happiness of all people, a good thing.

It is an irony that the economic theory and practice of "neoliberalism" that is popular today is at the opposite end of the spectrum of morality from the social concept of "liberalism" that is intended to improve the average person's life, and the similarity of the names can cause confusion.

So in short the focus of the video interview is that "neoliberalism" is an economic practice that is a bad thing for society, creating all kinds of ills for people, with its intent of taking things away from you at your own harm, in order to flow your hard-earned money to the rich who are in power, and "liberalism" is a social movement that wants to improve the average person's life.

For lots more interesting discussion, check out Renegade Inc., which has been one of the most interesting and thought provoking websites I've encountered in a long time.

Renegade Inc. was founded by award winning film producers and economists Megan and Ross Ashcroft, and covers a lot of ground that you've never heard about from the mainstream media.

From their "About" page"

"Renegade Inc. examines everything we got wrong about the economy, policy, finance, business, tech & culture that led us to this god awful moment in history and where we go from here. The site is designed to throw down the gauntlet in terms of how we talk about and report on the economy, finance, business, tech, policy and culture. Often these categories are poorly reported on. We hope to be the new standard against which other reporting is measured."

The Invention of Tradition, March 26, 2012, by Eric Hobsbawm

This next book wasn't recommended to me by Peter, but rather by an obnoxious fellow from Wales that I met while traveling in Scotland, but he knows a good book when he reads it!

Do you really know what you think you know about the world around you?

Are the political, religious, economic, military, science, and cultural traditions that we accept as truth on a daily basis really true, or were some of them recent fabrications?

Here's the description of the book from Amazon:

"Many of the traditions which we think of as very ancient in their origins were not in fact sanctioned by long usage over the centuries, but were invented comparatively recently. This book explores examples of this process of invention - the creation of Welsh and Scottish 'national culture'; the elaboration of British royal rituals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the origins of imperial rituals in British India and Africa; and the attempts by radical movements to develop counter-traditions of their own. It addresses the complex interaction of past and present, bringing together historians and anthropologists in a fascinating study of ritual and symbolism which poses new questions for the understanding of our history."

The Invention of Tradition, March 26, 2012, by Eric Hobsbawm

All of these books topics intrigue me, although I'm just getting started reading through them.

As I mentioned earlier, even though you may not be aware of it, each of the topics of these books affects your daily life, what you experience in the world around you, and how you feel about yourself on a daily basis, and what your future will be like.

They're worth a read so you can make up your own mind about if the world you perceive around you is really the reality you think it is, or is it something different entirely?

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!

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