I've read a few books since the last time I posted about them. I finished "The Next 100 Years" a month or so ago - it speculates about the next century of history, and posits a fairly bright future for the US in that time. I'm not entirely sure I agree with the various projections made by the author, but it's thought provoking.

After that, I read an interesting book about the first publication of Soviet archives after the fall of the USSR - "Inside the Stalin Archives". The book isn't really about the horrors of the Soviet system (although it's got plenty of that) - it's much more the story of how Jonathan Brent (the author) navigated the ins and outs of post-Soviet Russia in the scholarly pursuit of history. It's a fascinating read on those grounds alone, and I highly recommend it.

Finally, I just finished "The Paradox of Choice" - a great little book that explores why it is that we feel so much worse when we have so much more. Basically, in the developed world we've set our expectations so high that virtually nothing can satisfy many of us: we're simply convinced that in the sea of abundance we swim in, there must be a better (vacation/gadget/marriage/what have you) out there somewhere. I really enjoyed this book, and came to the realization that it's not really about me - I've always been upbeat and optimistic, and nothing really gets me down for long. If you are the sort of person who ends up regretting many everyday decisions though, you'll learn a lot by reading this book. Either way, I recommend it.

Technorati Tags: history, sociology