Booknotes 4.30

Sanctuary, by Edith Wharton, published 1903, fiction. Another of her novellas. I quite liked it, especially (and I know I already said this of her other novella) the interiority and crisp, crisp prose which my brain loves. Things like this: “She had begun to perceive that the fair surface of life was honeycombed by a vast system of moral sewage.” The time skip was unexpected but worked for me.

The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri (translated by John Ciardi), published 1321 (translation published 1977), poetry. I came into this really wanting to love it but left disappointed, though I don’t know yet whether the reason for that was Ciardi’s translation (a fixable problem) or Dante’s style (less so). Still, for the sake of trying to be more well versed in medieval lit, I’m glad I read it.

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, published 2012, nonfiction. An interesting exploration into why some nations are rich and some poor, with the thesis that the root cause is not geography or clime — contra Jared Diamond — but selfish elites siphoning up the poor nations’ wealth. Found this interesting: “Economies based on the repression of labor and systems such as slavery and serfdom are notoriously noninnovative. This is true from the ancient world to the modern era. In the United States, for example, the northern states took part in the Industrial Revolution, not the South.” (The elites running extractive institutions often fear innovation because it can transfer their power to the people.) Appreciated the chapters at the end about countries that eventually broke out of the vicious circle and moved from extractive institutions to more inclusive ones. All in all, a useful new lens for looking at the world.

Saturation Point, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, published 2024, science fiction. Quite liked it. The world felt similar to the one in Alien Clay, at least in some ways, and that’s not a bad thing.