Today’s book review is Superforecasting: The art and science of Prediction, by Philip E Tetlock and Dan Gardner. When I explain my work as an actuary to people not involved in finance, I explain that I work out how much money the insurance company needs to set aside from the premiumsContinue Reading
Today’s book review is of The Son also rises: Surnames and the history of social mobility, by Gregory Clark. This book is an extremely wide-ranging attempt to answer the question of how much your parents matter to your ability to make your way in the world. A common way of measuringContinue Reading
Today’s book review is a bit different for this blog – the book is a fairly dense history of a part of the world that doesn’t get much attention these days. It is Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane, by S Frederick Starr. I bought this bookContinue Reading
I’ve written up my annual page about what I read in 2015 here. This year there was a lot of history, inspired by my travels. In this post, I’m just mentioning the books that I enjoyed the most. First, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the DigitalContinue Reading
Today’s book review is of I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time, by Laura Vanderkam. Those of my readers who know me in real life will know that I have recently started a new job (hence the lack of blog posts here).Continue Reading
I’ve written up my annual page about what I read in 2014 here. In this post, I’m just mentioning the books that I enjoyed the most. First, The Wife Drought, by Annabel Crabb. I reviewed that one here, and you can see I really enjoyed it. It’s my pick for the year. Second, The SixthContinue Reading
Today’s book review is The Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See, by Max H Bazerman, Harvard Business School Professor. Bazerman is a scholar of decision making, and is Co-Director of the Harvard Kennedy’s School Centre for Public leadership. His thesis is that fundamentally that if you become better atContinue Reading
Today’s review is of The Wife Drought, by Annabel Crabb, Australian political writer and commentator. When I heard about this book, I knew I had to have it. I’ve been a fan of Annabel Crabb’s writing since she wrote sketches in the SMH about the 2007 election. And I have readContinue Reading
Today’s review is of a short e-book: Navigating the Path to Industry: A Hiring Manager’s Advice for Academics Looking for a Job in Industry, by M T Nelson. This book may seem only tangentially relevant for readers of this blog. It is written to help academics thinking of moving intoContinue Reading
#GIRLBOSS, by Sophia Amoruso, is part memoir, part business advice, part self-help book, written by the founder of Nasty Gal, an online fashion retailer which is, after seven years of life, making $100m in annual sales – all online, with bricks and mortar stores coming soon. It is a light breezy read ofContinue Reading