The Age of Napoleon by Will and Ariel Durant

Napoleon is a hero of French history. As a historical figure he was a truly remarkable person becoming emperor of France and conquering the whole of Europe. Eventually the rise of Napoleon was ended at the battle of waterloo after a long war with Russian and English forces but rarely has the world seen such a meteoric rise to power. Such remarkable conquest has solely been the domain of others in history such as Alexander the great and Genghis Khan. At the height of his power, Napoleon was the master of Europe and his legacy is an entire era of European history characterized by enormous changes and advancements in military science and organization.

The Napoleonic era also laid the foundations for the modern French state and in a sense created the consciousness which was required to set in motion the movements towards modern democracy all over the world. It represented the end of the divine right of kings and birth of the age of reason and democracy. It was also an awakening which came slightly after the beginning of the enlightenment and modern science and essentially represented the social and political revolutions which followed the renaissance at the end of the dark ages.

This brilliant book composed by Will and Arial Durant is a tour de force of historical analysis. The book presents this period of history with insight and a deep understanding of the relevance of the book to the contemporary world. It recently attracted the praise of the maverick billionaire Elon Musk who posted with praise for the book on Twitter. As a man of science and engineering, it seems unlikely that Mr Musk would have an appreciation of historical writing so an endorsement from him speaks volumes to the way in which the book maintains a broad appeal to people from all walks of life and is able to make a potentially dull subject interesting and accessible to everybody.

Elon Musk recently stated that he loved this book

Warren Buffet: The Intelligent Investor

Warren Buffet, also known as the Oracle of Omaha is arguably the most successful investor in history. His uncanny ability to pick the right stocks and make good investments has made him one of the wealthiest people in the world and one of the worlds most widely respected investors. He is also known for his ability to give timely and apt advice. In his book, the intelligent investor he sets out a number of strategies which he has used to propel him to the very top of the business and investment world.

Warren Buffet: One of the most successful investors in history

Buffet has not only accumulated an immense amount of personal wealth from his work, he has also run a major investment company known as Berkshire Hathaway which is recognised as one of the best investment and funds management companies in the world as well.

He explains a lot of the knowledge that he has acquired as well as the methods of investment analysis which he has developed over a lifetime of figuring out ways of making money. A number of now famous investment concepts are addressed in his book including the idea of value investing over the medium to long term, the idea of competitive moats around businesses which protect them from competition and his model of being prepared to pay for high quality companies as investments. He also explains how he has arrived at the strategies for wealth creation which he has used and proven over many years of investing and being involved in business.

Himself an avid reader, Buffet has worked with the authors of this book which distills and brings into the public domain a lifetime of experience in investing successfully. Much of Buffets accumulated wisdom and knowledge is contained within his writings in this book which also builds on the other books he has written. The book is written in succinct, clear and easy to understand language making the knowledge contained in it accessible to everyone. It comes highly recommended.

The Green New Deal

The Great Depression in America in the 1930s was a pivotal time in history for a number of reasons. It was the time of the birth of Keynesian economics which was the idea that the in order to get out of the recession, the government had to borrow money and spend to stimulate the economy rather than continue to try to save money which had the effect of shrinking the economy and therefore the tax base available to the government which turned into a vicious cycle of negative growth. The set of policies which successfully ended the vicious cycle of saving and recession were introduced by Roosevelt who famously introduced the agenda as a ‘New Deal’ for America.

In 2020 as the world is again faced with a crippling economic crisis and horrific income and wealth inequality, the idea of a New Deal is again coming into fashion except that the world is also faced with another major crisis in the form of Global Climate Change and environmental destruction. Humanity has almost run out of its carbon budget which cannot be exceeded if catastrophic climate change is to be avoided. Biodiversity loss is also at existential crisis levels in the natural history of the planet.

It seems that it is again time for a radical shift in environmental and economic policy to ensure the future of our species and global civilisation. Jeremy Rifkin is a famed economist who has published a number of books previously on the ideas which have informed the development of these policy ideas. In the book below, he has set out an intellectual framework for the Green New Deal around renewable energy, the internet of things and taxation reform which addresses the obsence disparities of wealth and income which have emerged in the past decades of unrestrained capitalism.

Cryptocurrencies: Scam or Innovation?

Opinions on the topic of cryptocurrencies range from them being the greatest scam in history to a revolutionary innovation of such depth and power so as to rival the invention of the internet itself. Warren Buffet famously described them as ‘rat poison’ and they have been compared to tulips as in the investment bubble which took hold in the late 1500s in Europe around the newly discovered flowers. Technologists familiar with the technology point to its potential benefits in relation to the creation of efficiencies and increase in security features in relation to transactions in financial markets and supply chains. Bulls on cryptocurrency also point to the power of having an immutable distributed ledger which cannot be controlled by any one person or organisation but is instead verified and secured by a distributed network of independent computers.

To truly understand the technology of cryptocurrencies is a monumental task requiring an in depth knowledge of cryptography and the associated mathematics. There are however a number of elements of the technology which are unique and do serve a purpose to society in a way that could never have been achieved before. It also requires an in depth knowledge of computer science and networking including distributed systems. Understanding the social and economic implications of the development of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology requires a knowledge of economics and even political science.

Bitcoin, for example, relies on a form of encryption known as elliptical curve encryption which is based on the mathematical properties of elliptical curves. This form of encryption is far more secure than the algorithms which more traditional cryptography is based on. The verification of transactions is achieved through the solving of extremely hard mathematical problems which is done by powerful computers around the world that receive a small reward each time that they solve a problem. If you are interested to learn more about cryptocurrencies, there are number of excellent books appearing on the topic, but the one at the moment we most recommend is listed below.

Elon Musk: Real Life Iron Man

From the world saving commercial project of Tesla to the planet Colonising projects of SpaceX, if there is one thing that Elon Musk has never been accused of, its thinking too small. Elon Musk is an innovator and entrepreneur arguably unique in world history due to the size and scale of his ambitions and his ability to achieve them. Musks successes began when he sold a company called Zip2 and then later Paypal both of which netted him enough money to retire if he wished. He had no interest in doing so and invested all of his riches in created two of the most ambitious and innovative companies in the world, Tesla and Space X. At certain critical points both companies could have failed and plunged Musk into bankruptcy and evaporating the fortunes he made as a young entrepreneur.

One of the remarkable things about the projects Elon Musk is involved in is the humanitarian objectives behind his ambitions. As a man with a strong knowledge of and interest in science, Musk has always believed that climate change is a major threat to the future of humanity and recognised that the fossil fuel basis of transport is something which we must innovate away from in order to solve the ongoing climate change crisis. That is the reason he took an equity stake in solar city and in Tesla as an electric car manufacturer. Another dream is to make humanity a space faring civilisation which is the reason behind the development of SpaceX and in particular the reusable rocket technology which promises to make space accessible for the purposes of industries like tourism and the vast expansion of the present communications based space activities.

Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of Musk’s achievements are that he is not simply a dreamer. He has great dreams and the ability to achieve them. Although sometimes his dreams are slightly altered and plans are adjusted at times, it is rare to find in one person both an immense capacity for imagination and the ability to implement the dreams that come from this. The documentary available on Amazon explores the life of a truly remarkable person and comes highly recommended.

Trumpty Dumpty by John Lithgow

John Lithgow is a famed actor from the movies like the crown and bombshell and TV series like 3rd Rock from the Sun. He has recently composed a brilliant book of poems about the Trump Presidency. Like the man himself, it is is a work of great humor and humanity and has become one of the best selling books on Amazon in recent times. It promises to bring a light hearted attitude to the dark times we are going through during the COVID19 pandemic.

Malcolm Turnbull, An Autobiography

The previous Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull has published a biography with fascinating insights to the recent history of Australia and the life story of a remarkable man. Malcolm Turnbull has been a lawyer, merchant banker, entrepreneur and politician in a career circulating at the highest echelons of Australian society for several decades. His frank and at times brutally honest account of the events of his life and recent political events in Australia is fascinating reading for any student of history or politics or any citizen of Australia.

Could We Colonize Mars One Day?

Mars is perhaps the next great scientific challenge of our time. We are just on the cusp of the point of human history where the goal of humans landing on Mars is becoming a practical reality. It is a goal which fires the imagination. It seems like the next natural progression in science and technology from the manned missions to the moon which occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It has been speculated that the leap in technology required to reach mars is actually less than what was required to reach the moon when that mission was first contemplated in the early 1950s around the time of the great speech of President John F. Kennedy when he said “We choose to go to the moon.” Presidents Obama and Trump have both directed funding towards manned missions to Mars and expressed strong interests in the project. There is broad based political support for the mission. Historically political will and the funding for NASA which flows from that have in fact been the most difficult problems for the development of space exploration.