We live tweet events so why don't we live blog our books? They may last longer than a Premier League match or election night special, but we read them continuously and their covers bound a discrete event. During their course our support veers between characters or new facts prompt us to change intellectual direction. They ebb and flow like all tweet worthy events.
Well, starting over again was an excellent idea. Being able to read in hundred-page chunks is the best way to enjoy this book.
It is a work of staggering research and near genius. And a testament to the raw power of history. Individual fortunes and the minor "events" of short outlook history are nothing in the long view. When we talk about the Post-War years as a major period of history, how arrogant we are. Interpreting history on a three century scale produces insights not otherwise possible. This is what Piketty does, examining rates of growth, capital to income ratios, and rates of savings across long stretches of history. What an inconsequential half-century we have just finished. Yes, major events blew apart the lives of those who lived it, but through a macroeconomic lens they make up an aberrant blip.
The only difficulties in reading this book are the joyful self-interruptions needed to pause and think on the consequences of Piketty's revelations.
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