This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you've found that you enjoy. Post what you're reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.
Rules:
- Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
- If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
- Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
- Use the "Other Media" thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn't fit under any of the established categories.
- Use the "Meta" thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.
The Origins of Political Order, by Francis Fukuyama. Fukuyama seems to have a bit of a bad reputation in Lesswrong, but I found it to be quite unjustified. I have quite a lot of background knowledge in history and the first third or so of the book was just crammed with revelations it had taken me years of reading to realize. I think it's very important to realize that modern, western institutions are not in any sense the default, dependent on certain cultural attitudes, and exactly how various countries managed to not develop them that might have.