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David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

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Re: David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

#12
post #2

My pre-ordered copy of "The Dawn of Humanity", hot off the press, just arrived yesterday, from Bookshop.org, right on schedule. I am preparing to experience all my cherished preconceptions exploding.

I'm ashamed to admit I've never actually read any of Graeber's books, even though I'm fairly anarchist-leaning. I really need to change that. I didn't even know that he finished another one before he died, so I guess I'll have to add that to my list as well.

Don’t waste your time with his nonsense

Re: David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

#14

It's a well-written biography and Graeber comes across as a great guy but on the other hand the Brad DeLong takedown linked in the article [1] is quite something. I'm wondering how he wrote a 500 page book on debt without really understanding banking? [1] https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/01/the-very-last-david-g...

David Graeber had an account here and defended himself from DeLong's accusations in a comment [1]. They even had an exchange in that thread. At best I think DeLong has been pretty uncharitable to Graeber.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17163449

Re: David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

#15

It's a well-written biography and Graeber comes across as a great guy but on the other hand the Brad DeLong takedown linked in the article [1] is quite something. I'm wondering how he wrote a 500 page book on debt without really understanding banking? [1] https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/01/the-very-last-david-g...

Wow I knew Graeber was wrong about a lot but I didn’t know he claimed the Fed isn’t part of the government in that book! That’s unforgivable

Re: David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

#17
Began "The Dawn of Everything" about a week ago, still on chapter 3.

Chapter 2 was very, very good. Worth the whole book alone. It begins with by questioning "why did Rousseau wrote about inequality if 100 years before no one in western culture cared about it"? Then he goes to show how the themes of liberty and social equality came from Canadian First Nations criticism of western culture. It is very well argued, solid and mind-blowing.

Sometimes the book gets too much into petty fights. I didn't like its takes on Yuval Harari's "Sapiens" or Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel". But that's a matter of my personal taste.

Re: David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

#18
He epitomized, embodied how and what public intellectuals should be, should aspire to: the a willingness to ask hard questions, to challenge conventional preconceived notions. It seems like academia these days is more about maintaining the status quo. If your ideas are engineering debate, it means you're doing your job.

Re: David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

#19
post #14

It's a well-written biography and Graeber comes across as a great guy but on the other hand the Brad DeLong takedown linked in the article [1] is quite something. I'm wondering how he wrote a 500 page book on debt without really understanding banking? [1] https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/01/the-very-last-david-g...

David Graeber had an account here and defended himself from DeLong's accusations in a comment [1]. They even had an exchange in that thread. At best I think DeLong has been pretty uncharitable to Graeber. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17163449

Once I read Debt, I decided DeLong criticized a book which Graeber had not written. Like @heydenberk, I unfollowed DeLong.

Re: David Graeber’s Possible Worlds

#20
post #15

It's a well-written biography and Graeber comes across as a great guy but on the other hand the Brad DeLong takedown linked in the article [1] is quite something. I'm wondering how he wrote a 500 page book on debt without really understanding banking? [1] https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/01/the-very-last-david-g...

Wow I knew Graeber was wrong about a lot but I didn’t know he claimed the Fed isn’t part of the government in that book! That’s unforgivable

This is a bit of a complicated question around the Federal Reserve. For all practical purposes it is, but technically it may not be under some view points.

https://www.stlouisfed.org/in-plain-english/who-owns-the-fed...

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