Governments have trillions of dollars in assets, from companies to forests, but they are often poorly managed. Two investment experts explain how things could be improved by ring-fencing assets from political meddling² in independent holding companies. Professional managers could sweat them as if they were privately³ owned.

 

 

If the world is to avoid future banking⁴ collapses⁵, or at least limit their economic impact, people need to think clearly about what the finance sector⁶ is for. This book does the job.

 

 

A crunchy book that analyses policy discussions in detail but avoids dullness, thanks to its unapologetic support for robust⁷ government intervention⁸.

 

 

Why people don't behave the way economic models predict lies at the heart of this brilliant intellectual history by the founder⁹ of this once-obscure blend of psychology¹⁰ and economics.

 

 

Economists¹² still have a lot of explaining to do. Dani Rodrik reassures¹³ those outside the profession of the helpfulness of economists, and also removes some of the wishful thinking from his colleagues.

 

 

Any country thinking of hosting an international sporting jamboree should read this book to see what a bad deal the IOC and FIFA seek to foist¹⁴ on them. Hamburg has just voted against bidding for the 2024 Olympic games. Clever move.

 

 

The author, a columnist¹⁶ for the New York Times, clearly thinks people are too full of themselves. A thoughtful polemic¹⁷ on why the self-regarding Facebook generation should move from narcissism¹⁸ to thoughtfulness. They'd be much happier.

 

 

Why organisations will have to change radically²⁰ to make work-life balance a reality, by a respected foreign-policy expert who left her high-octane government job to spend more time with her two teenage sons. A rational, well-argued call to arms. Move over Sheryl Sandberg.

 

 

In a homage²¹ to James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time", a father writes a warning letter to his teenage son about growing up black.

 

 

One of Britain's foremost tenors²⁴, Ian Bostridge has performed Schubert's "Winterreise" more than 100 times. He knows every last nuance²⁵ of the work and his book offers many fresh insights that will inform the enjoyment²⁶ of both old admirers and newcomers to the music.

 

 

Most of Earth's mammals possess luxuriant fur. Only one seeks to remove it. A curious account of hair-erasing, and why people have tried clamshell razors, lasers, lye depilatories, tweezers²⁷, waxes, threading and electrolysis to try and free themselves from hairiness.

 

 

How Antonio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, better known as Nem of Rocinha, became a drug-dealer after his daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease and he needed the cash -- and how he eventually took over an entire Brazilian shantytown.

点击收听单词发音