Andreew Seymour

This book gave me many new unique insights into the development of the world economy and ultimately changed my perspective on the international capitalist system for the better; for these reasons I strongly recommend this book. The book goes into detail explaining and analysing the policy and institutional evolution that occurred throughout economic development of the, what he calls, NDCs. He then compares this to the institutional development and policy make up of todays developing countries commenting on the inadequacy of contemporary orthodox economic advice often imposed on such countries. He breaks down how such advice is hypocritical, and perhaps a method of neocolonialism, through historical references, whilst stressing the need for more historical induction in modern policy making and institutional reform; the latter being a critically under researched, though ever so important, field. I’m by no means an expert on economic literature, or any non fiction for that matter, but I thought the detail this book went into was consistent and just at the appropriate level, never wandering too far into nuance, whilst also providing numerous comprehensive conclusions for each chapter throughout. This clarified the previously presented information nicely and made it digestible. The arguments seemed well constructed and accounted for any scepticism or criticisms the reader or anyone else may have felt, and although certain sections were dull (banking and corporate law to name a couple) it was just a matter of personal preference and the majority of the book was interesting and informative. I will say however that this book probably wasn’t the best introduction to economic literature and I went in to it blind, having to struggle through a fair bit of it, but even then I would recommend it and it’s likely others out there will get more out of it than me.

I’m not a big reader, nor an experienced one in comparison to a lot of people leaving reviews here. One thing I will say is that the author does a really good job of conveying what it’s like to be in the mind of an angsty teenager who is trying to understand the world. I feel like we have all had a stage in our lives in which we also felt fed up and annoyed at all the imperfections in other people and in life, and I whilst others may find this theme tedious and annoying to read about (given how much detail Holden often goes into), I think that it gives a good insight into how teenagers whilst trying to understand what the world is all about often overthink life to an unproductive degree, putting them into an existential spiral and loniliness. When I was reading it I often had to put the book down for a while because I found myself worrying that Holden’s negative depressing view of the world was rubbing off on me, and that I was going to turn into him, but in retrospect that just shows more how astoundingly good at conveying that teenagery confusion and angst this book is. I also think I shouldn’t be afraid of exploring such views of the world. In conclusion I liked the book very much and think the writing is extremely good. (Btw I am a teenager so my review may be a bit biased as I find it easier to relate to Holden)