theory

don't know if i read too much explicit works of theory this year, but i read a couple books on economic history that might qualify:

Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not by Prasannan Parthasarati: not as much a history of the Great Divergence as its title suggests, it's more about the causes of the industrial revolution in England. the author is an expert on Indian textiles, which were a major driver of the world economy from the 15th to the 19th C, and at times i think he can be a bit blinkered as a result of that relatively narrow focus. he argues that the industrial rev was caused by a combination of market competition from those indian textiles, ecological damage due to mismanagement, meaning that england was forced to use coal rather than wood for fuel because of the dwindling forests, and state policies that encouraged domestic production, first for dyers and then for the textiles themselves. i learned a lot but had feel like it could've benefited from a broader scope and feel like it didn't touch on the colonization of the New World enough.

I read another book that I can't for the life of me remember the title of so this might not be as useful lol. Anyway it was a collection of essays about global trade from 1492-present. some of the essays were really insightful and left me wanting more but some were banal and felt like they were just saying "isn't trade neat?". a few of the essays were about trade around the pacific and indian oceans before europeans began arriving en masse and then in the early days of european traders when they were still expected to conform to local customs more than vice versa and i thought those were the most interesting essays. there was an interesting chapter in the book that was all about the spread of drugs and other addictive substances, with chapters on coca and later cocaine, coffee, and coca-cola. there was another interesting essay in there about how it can be argued that the industrial revolution actually began in the sugar industry of haiti when it was a french slave colony. the book's conclusion took a very different tone than most of the rest of the book and it was about how global trade has fucked the world with climate change and essentially enslaved the third world, which felt like a real gut punch - even these lib authors who clearly love the notion of trade aren't blind to its terrible effects. hopefully i'll remember the title in the morning if no one else does.

someone at my job before me must have been studying economic history because these books and a couple of others were sitting around in the employee lounge. i picked up global markets transformed, 1870-1945 which was presumably left by the same person and hope to read it next year. I also hope to read Ecological Imperialism by Alfred Crosby next year since i have an interest in invasive species and spent a lot of time studying them and working with them back in college and for a few years afterwards. i'd also like to read one of eric foner's books next year and that book on prehistoric art seems really interesting op, i'm a sucker for cave paintings.

some fiction:

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon: second pynchon after Inherent Vice. got a lot of good laughs out of me and i enjoyed it a lot, but felt like it wasn't as focused as IV. When it hit it hit hard though. will probably try to get my hands on Mason & Dixon or Gravity's Rainbow next year. in their absence i'll probably start rereading inherent vice soon. damn i love that book and movie.

White Noise by Don Delillo: first delillo. read this one around the same time as Vineland, a bit of a postmodern kick i guess. i liked it but felt like it was hitting me over the head with its themes. will still be on the lookout for other delillo books next year though, especially Libra.

started reading the passenger by cormac mccarthy but didn't finish it. i've read probably about a half dozen mccarthy books and while i've liked most of them i wasn't really feeling this one. i'll probably return to it at some point. i also picked up the violent land by jorge amado which seems interesting, haven't read any brazilian fiction before if i recall.