I love that economics professors are starting to speak up on the issue I've always harped on, though it would be nice to see more in depth advice and suggestions to remedy the problem. I've highlighted a few things that students, professors, and universities can do here: "To Purchase, Rent, or Pirate? The Broken Economics of Textbooks in the Digital Age" http:/
The tax issue is just a drop in the bucket given the rapidly increasing cost of textbooks. We really need to look at the bigger economic competitive structure of how the market works. I've written some extensive thoughts here: "To Purchase, Rent, or Pirate? The Broken Economics of Textbooks in the Digital Age" http:/
Sometimes, more important, is thinking about the longer term economic decisions of how textbooks are purchased: "To Purchase, Rent, or Pirate? The Broken Economics of Textbooks in the Digital Age" http:/
Some good specific examples here, but there is some more depth and nuance to the bigger problem with textbooks.
I recently wrote some of my thoughts about the economics of textbooks and pricing as well as their long term effects here: "To Purchase, Rent, or Pirate? The Broken Economics of Textbooks in the Digital Age" http:/
Big History specifically and purposefully looks at history from a much broader perspective, knowing full well that it's going to miss the complexity of large portions of what is going on at the much smaller scales. But it does this because different structures and ideas emerge at these larger scales. We see different types of things going on that we don't see at the smaller time scales.
If you analogize it to a chess game, there are some very simple and straightforward rules which are responsible for a terribly complex potential number of moves and games to be played. Most history has been studied at the level of "let's take a look at the first three moves of a game of chess" or let's look at the last three moves. This type of close examination doesn't allow for the broader sweeping view of entire games. Both Boris Spassky and a typical four year old could play the same 4 opening chess moves, but the complexity of competing against them diverges rapidly as the game progresses. By looking at the bigger picture, one can better appreciate what is happening later in the game. This also gives one a better platform for analyzing smaller portions of the mid-game as well.
I would suggest that Christian's audio lectures in [book:Big History: The Big Bang, Life On Earth, And The Rise Of Humanity|7956320] do a far better job of showing this viewpoint than his text [book:Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History|745703].
I would say that big history is anything but "new age-y pseudo-science", and because it is rooted more heavily in physics, cosmology, biology, chemistry, microbiology and various other hard science disciplines, it is actually on more solid grounding than most other history-based courses. Those who have read C.P. Snow will recognize that big history has a grounding in both of the "two cultures" rather than being solely entrenched in just one. It's somewhat akin to taking a complexity theory-based approach to economics compared to the older 18th and 19th century simplified approaches followed by Adam Smith, Keynes, et al well into the 1980's. With approaches to economics exemplified by Kahneman/Tversky or more modern schools like the Santa Fe Institute, there is more being uncovered by shifting paradigms and taking more nuanced approaches to the subject than using the simplifications of the past.
Taking new approaches doesn't necessarily invalidate prior work in these fields, it just provides a broader basis for how all the various parts interact to create a larger whole.
Christian is without a doubt a historian through and through, and is quite upfront about his general lack of scientific expertise and background. He has however spent quite a bit of time working with and consulting physicists, chemists, biologists, and other scientists to supplement the appropriate portions of his bigger thesis. I would say though, that he's got firm footing in both of C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures."
Christian references Prigogine only once, though includes two Prigogine related footnotes in the last quarter of the text. He's not as Prigogine-centric as [author:César Hidalgo|13831217] is in his recent [book:Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies|25472587], which touches on some of the related physics of information theory and entropy (and general complexity theory - although I don't recall him using this specific term) as they relate to economics. I'd classify Why Information Grows as a "big history" book, though Hidalgo wasn't aware of the conceptualization of "big history" when he wrote it.
I wrote a slightly longer review of Christian's book(s) on my blog: http:/
#bighistory
Some of technology bleeding into government has to do with the overly high cost of making links from technology into government. Cesar Hidalgo’s recent book “How Information Grows” (MIT Press, 2015) actually looks at the economics of improving efficiency and suggests some excellent ways that government could lower the hurdle to improve efficiency more quickly.
@charlestonchoo To dip your toe back in, try @cesifoti's new book Why Information Grows: about math, physics, economics, HR, & leadership
@CharlieRoseShow #Suggestion: Interview @cesifoti in relation to his book How Information Grows. Preview: http:/
If you've ever wondered what a crackpot research "paper" looks like http:/
The concept of "crystallized information" is very lovely, and I see it being quite useful. Interestingly it's also a self-referential word, because it is itself.
I recall economics texts focusing on land, labor, and capital and completely missing out on information. This book suggest an interesting means of mathematically institutionalizing the latter - something I've always wanted a simple way to do.
I'm on page 25 of 256 of Why Information Grows
I love that his definitions of information, knowledge, and knowhow are more concrete than most(all?) authors. He gives W. Weaver a bit too much priority in Shannon's work; also doesn't mention the original title of Shannon's Bell Labs paper or its significance. I love his concrete examples of the Bugati, Rubic's cube, and DNA. His philosophy seems to fit in with my own so far; can't wait to get to the economics.
@cesifoti Thanks for the link! I presumed that you may have a simpler list that your editor had you flesh out further to better fit the form of a popular press text rather than the sparser forms usually found in academia. I've read a good number of the references I've run across so far, but was more curious to get a snapshot of the overlap and gaps in our respective reading lists. Fortunately Goodreads.com actually has a tool for creating such a Venn diagram.
Most of my "holes" thus far are on the economics side, which I anticipated.
Cesar Hidalgo on economic complexity: Why information grows http:/
BBC interview with @cesifoti on book Why Information Grows http:/