Editor’s Note: Jim Doti is president emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University.
To get your mind off the travails of the upcoming presidential election, I hope you’ll be able to check out some of my fave books and films from the past year.
Funny how much one can learn from books. Take, for example, Egyptian hieroglyphics. I always thought that translating them was a breeze once the Rosetta Stone was discovered.
Not so. The full story is told in “The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone” by Edward Dolnick, and what an amazing story it is.
Did you ever wonder about the quadrillion ants in the world? If so, the novel “Anthill” by the famous Harvard entomology professor E.O. Wilson is the book for you. In addition to a glimpse into an anthill, I’m convinced its Huck Finn-type character draws heavily from E.O. Wilson’s early life. I particularly liked this book’s reasoned account of responsible conservation.
I have come to love the works of Joseph Epstein, who has written 30 books. I think I’ve read most of them, including his three books of short stories, of which “Fabulous Small Jews” is my favorite. You may have read Epstein’s engrossing and humorous op-eds in the Wall Street Journal. He just wrote his autobiography, “Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life: Especially if You’ve Had a Lucky Life.” Perhaps my special love of this book is because, like me, he grew up in Chicago and went to the University of Chicago, but I think anyone will enjoy it. Plus, it’s very funny.
In his autobiography, Epstein writes about a game he and his fellow English professors at Northwestern Univeresity used to play at their TGIF get-togethers. The game involves admitting to a book one is totally embarrassed about never reading.
One of the profs admits to never finishing “War and Peace.” That admission reminded me that I needed to get to Leo Tolstoy’s magnum opus before I’m taken out of the game. I’m pleased to report that I beat that deadline and finally finished reading it.
While I’ll admit it’s a bit of a slog getting through the beginning—or maybe the first half—it was well worth the effort. The Harvard economist Alexander Gerschenkron seems to agree since he wrote that he has read War and Peace “no fewer than fifteen times.”
I found Tolstoy’s comparison of the clash between Napolean’s and General Mikhael Kutusov’s grand armies in Russia particularly absorbing, so much so that General Kutusov is a new hero of mine. In many ways, War and Peace is a book about strategic vision as well as the meaning of life.
Before reading “Personality and Power,” I had never read anything by the leading historian Ian Kershaw. What an incredible writer! His sharp portraits of key European figures of the 20th century led to a better understanding of the use and abuse of power as well as the elements of effective leadership.
It’s been kind of a thin year for me as far as films are concerned, but I did discover a few gems. My favorite can be seen on Netflix: “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” This true coming-of-age film made in 2019 tells about a young boy in Africa who figures out how to get water to his village.
This beautiful movie is also a beautiful homage to libraries.
With war raging in the Ukraine and the Middle East, you probably don’t need a vivid retelling of the horrors of war. But if you’re up to it, I recommend the engrossing 2013 three-part film, “Generation War.”
It’s an epic account of the Eastern Front during WWII that’s told from the German perspective.
People have often asked me how I find time to read so many books. Here’s a handy hint: I always have either a Kindle in my pocket or Powerbeats in my ears. So if I run into you this summer, and I see you reading from a Kindle while waiting in some long line, I’ll high five you.
