In our newsletter this summer, we shared books recommended by Brian C. Anderson, City Journal editor and host of City Journal's 10 Blocks Podcast. In an August episode with Manhattan Institute executive vice president Vanessa Mendoza, Anderson shared a list of seven books that range from Adam Smith to V.S. Naipaul. Explore this unique list below, and listen to the full episode here.
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The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief, by V.S. Naipaul
This book, The Masque of Africa, is probably Naipaul’s last great work, or his last major work; it came out a few years ago. It’s a look at how religion has affected Africa—not only its indigenous religions and its animisms but also the foreign impositions of Christianity and Islam. And I imagine that, like his other works, it’s going to be written in spare, unflinching, prose."—Brian C. Anderson
V. S. Naipaul died last month. Read his 1990 Manhattan Institute lecture, Our Universal Civilization. - Leo Strauss on Political Philosophy: Responding to the Challenge of Positivism and Historicism, edited by Catherine H. Zuckert
- Invested: How Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Taught Me to Master My Mind, My Emotions, and My Money (with a Little Help from My Dad), by Danielle and Phil Town
- Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life, by Edith Hall
- Room to Dream, by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna
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Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown
“This book, Essentialism, is really talking about how to commit yourself to key purposes in your life and strip away the nonessential. We are all feeling busier and busier. What is the area in which you are bringing the most value? How can you do that better? And how can you cut down on things that are sidetracking you?”—Brian C. Anderson
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Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy, by George Gilder
"This book is looking at the emergence of blockchain technology and posits that it’s going to undermine the current ad-based revenue model that drives the Internet today by making possible other kinds of commercial transactions that don’t involve advertising and that will disrupt [traditional search engines].”—Brian C. Anderson
George Gilder gave the 1999 Wriston Lecture for the Manhattan Institute, titled "Political Principles of the Telecosm."