S2.03 Goats On Wings
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
by Charles C. Mann
More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.
Recommended by Lionel
The Wakeful Wanderer’s Guide to New New England & Beyond
A runaway aristocrat, a Luddite tyrant, a spy, and a unicycling historian battle for the future of humanity in this post-capitalism, post-cataclysm, cyber-hippie, climate-fiction adventure.
In the parlor of the Lester Sunshine Inn, up the Hudson from the flooded remains of lower Manhattan, a man named Marto plans a unicycle ride through scenic New New England. Marto is a post-apocalyptic travel writer with a head full of implants. He live-posts his experiences to his fans, adding his own cheerleading style of historical and cultural context to the mix. His interconnected followers rarely go anywhere, preferring to view the world remotely, making Marto a curiosity.
Written and recommended by Jim
Author Series | Robert Gaudi | The War of Jenkins' Ear
In the early 18th century, the British and Spanish Empires were fighting for economic supremacy in the Americas. Wars blossomed like violent flowers for nearly a hundred years, from the War of Spanish Succession, culminating in the War of Jenkins' Ear. This war would lay the groundwork for the French and Indian War and, eventually, the War of the American Revolution. The War of Jenkins' Ear was a world war in the truest sense, engaging the major European powers on battlefields ranging from Europe to the Americas to the Asian subcontinent.
Tom Keene
Tom Keene is the co-anchor of “Bloomberg Surveillance,” Bloomberg’s morning program where the day’s conversation on economics, finance and investment begins.
The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy
by Mariana Mazzucato
In this scathing indictment of our current global financial system, The Value of Everything rigorously scrutinizes the way in which economic value has been determined and reveals how the difference between value creation and value extraction has become increasingly blurry. Mariana Mazzucato argues that this blurriness allowed certain actors in the economy to portray themselves as value creators, while in reality they were just moving existing value around or, even worse, destroying it.
The book uses case studies - from Silicon Valley to the financial sector to big pharma - to show how the foggy notions of value create confusion between rents and profits, a difference that distorts the measurements of growth and GDP.