* 5 books that didn't seem to fit onto any other list, and

* 3 addenda which will also go, retroactively, onto the "first hand accounts", "women's history" and "literary and cultural history" lists.

THE STRAGGLERS

* David P. Silverman: Ancient Egypt
* Linda Schele & David A. Freidel: A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya

* Stefan Zweig: Joseph Fouché
* David Graeber: Debt: The First 5,000 Years
* Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time

THE ADDENDA

* Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
* Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Gulag Archipelago

* Agatha Christie: An Autobiography

Just browsing the bookstore and came across this book.

And checked this site. The problem with this site is the non fiction book reviews are seriously lacking. 

One star for this book? Seriously? 

And crap book like 50 Shades get close to 5 stars? 

No. That's not right.

This is in my to-read pile. But first listen to what he going to say about this book. 

The quality is not that good. But listen to it is okay. I found Thomas Frank annoying as he take up too much of the interview time. 

If you like to know more, then read the book. 

I would start with a 4 stars. 

First half 5 stars, second half 3 stars.

When I was in the 5th grade, we had a social studies unit centered around a book called Life On Paradise Island. It was a cartoonish book that told the tale of how a modern economy is developed. It started with the islanders trading coconuts for fish. Of course things got complicated when the coconut guy didn't need or want fish, but he wanted a hut built and the hut builder wanted something else. Eventually a stone currency was developed and it made trading so much easier and lead to thing like inter-island trade, unions, recessions, and even war. The whole thing was supposed to be a microcosm of how an economy works, and I must say that it left an impression on me since I still remember it. The whole premise is that barter leads to the concept of money and once you have money, all sorts of things can happen. Turns out, that premise may not be right.

In Debt, the author debunks the theory that barter begets money. His basic premise is that debt came first. Not being an economist, this seems a bit like a chicken & egg argument. However, the author presents the concept of worth and debt in an anthropological and sociological context which is very compelling. The first half of the book is strong, especially with respect to human relationships and worth. The chapter called Honor and Degradation, or, On the Foundations of Contemporary Civilization goes into the dynamics of human relationships and discusses slavery at length, a topic that I realize I know very little. The chapters after the middle ages were ok, just not as interesting to me. The book was refreshingly free of any capitalism vs. socialism (aka left vs. right) debates, and even argues that parts of our lives are very communistic.

This comic does in one cartoon what the first chapter of Debt, the First 5000 Years does (pretty well) in one chapter. That said, Debt is really worth your time.

You only have to look at the length of the other reviews this book has generated -- and the deep thought and critique contained within them -- to realize that this is a book will make you think.

Graeber's examination of the history of debt and its role in civilization has forced me to re-examine everything I thought I knew about human history. 

I won't claim this book is a quick read, but the prose is engaging and conversational, even when discussing difficult and heady concepts. It's the ideas that forced me to take my time, and allow this book to change my view of things. 

Is capitalism a form of debt slavery? Maybe. Is it worth asking that question? Definitely.