Anh Vu's Books by Status
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I learned more about war playing Total War and Civs than I did from reading this book. It is war101 for dummies with the classic like
- Keep your troops fed
- Try flanking
- Try to lie to your opponent
and don't let me start with those business bros who think this book is life changing
The ideal way to read this book is to read and take notes every case file presented in it, ignore all the deductions that they give you and come up with your own. The writing is simple but effective in creating intrigue, the overarching plot is fine but the weakest part of the books comes from the absolute asspull deduction from the narrator and his friend. They never/ or barely made mistake or misled the reader into a dead-end. Simple but enjoyable read, i will probably check out Strange Pictures soon
This might be comparable to a college dissertation, with the writer coming up with a hypothesis first and spending the remaining pages trying to find evidence and justifying it. I would not mind if that's what the author is going for here, but it is not a good read, nor an interesting one.
The author spends the whole book cherry-picking events, stats, and stories to prove that institutions are the difference between rich and poor countries. With a pseudo-Eurocentrism view of the world, the author disregards all other theories that affect countries, such as geography, climate, and culture. The author casually forgot to mention the effects of globalisation or the example of a one-party state like China being the next superpower.
I am not an Economist, Politician, or someone who knows much about Geopolitics. As a casual reader, this book is not interesting. If you're looking to learn more about history, pick up another history book. If you are looking to learn more about the economy, pick up another economics book. Why Nations Fail tries to position itself in the middle and falls off its face because of that.
