1) Yegor Gaidor's article on Soviet collapse is discussed by Felix Salmon and Tyler Cowen, the later has several interesting comments.
2) Roderick MacFarquhar reviews "Nixon and Mao; The Week that Changed the World" by Margaret MacMillan in The New York Review of Books. Andrew Leonard wonders whether Taiwan screwed up China's chances of democracy.
3) Pankaj Mishra reviews Martha Nussbaum's"The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future".
4) Tyler Cowen and his readers recommend some books that may help learn economics in spare time. Pardha Dasgupta's "Economics, A very short introduction' is not mentioned but looks promising. Some of these I have read and it did not help. Perhaps not surprising in view of the recent discussions. For the latest round, see Mark Thoma and Steve Waldman.
Studies by sociologists Mike Reay and Marion Fourcade of economists are also worth remembering.
5) Andrew Leonard has twopostson microfinance. The best that I have read so far on this topic is Rajshekhar's postin fracturedearth.
6) Guru and Tabula Rasahave posts on 're-reading books'.
