By request, book recommendations
Michelle Bradly of Elephant Communications and I got a request last week for an East-West reading list. So, here is my list, along with some current reads and a few extras. A couple of comments before I get to the list.
First, I try to read at least a book a week, in some combination with other books at the same time. I’m finishing up these four books now:
An Anthropological Toolkit (Zeitlyn)
The Subtle art of not Giving a F*ck (Manson)—barstool Buddhism
Red Flags (Magnus)
Materializing Thailand (Van Esterik)
Invitation to a Banquet (Dunlop) I’m lovin’ it!
Second, this list is my favorite books on China/Thailand/Anthropology/professional development. Kind of eclectic (polite for weird). Some are old classics that have influenced my thinking for decades, some are very specialized, some are just fun. And I’ve added a section at the end for books that I’m reading/have recently read/will read that are (supposed to be) good, but I’m not yet sure if they are great.
Now my lists:
China:
Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics (Huang)—changed how I see China
Gifts, Favors, and Banquets (Yang)—Guanxi textbook
Chinese Negotiating Style (Pye)
Factory Girls (Chang)
River Town (Hessler)
Anxious Wealth (Osburg)
From the Soil (Fei)
My Country and my people (Lin)
China’s Crony Capitalism (Pei)
Wealth into Power (Dickson)
China’s Gilded Age (Ang)
Chen Village (Chan)—this book is why I’m an Anthropologist
Thailand:
The Way Thais Lead (Persons)—Best. Book. On. Thailand.
The lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk (McDaniels)—I love this!
Siam Mapped (Winichakul)
Modern Thai Buddhism (Ito)
Owners of the Map (Soranzetti)
The King Never Smiles (Handley)
Buddhist Kingdom as Modern Nationstate (Keyes)
Mediums, Monks, and Amulets (Kitiarsa)
Other:
Crucial Conversations ((Grenny, et al)
Orientalism (Siad)
Imagined Communities (Anderson)
Doing Business Across Cultures (Storti)
The Cultural Dimension of Global Business (Ferraro & Briody)
The Culture Map (Meyer)
Anthro Vision (Tett)
The Moment you can’t Ignore (Dornfeld & O’Connor)
You got to have Wa (Whiting)—Just for fun
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn)
Sacred High City Sacred Low City (Heine)
Newish books that I’m not yet sure if they make the Recommended List:
Sovereign wealth (Liu)
The world according to China (Economy)
Beijing Rules (Allen)
Chinese Economic Statecraft (Norris)
The Dictator’s Dilemma (Dickson)
America Second (Fish)
Red Roulette (Shum)—Very Good
Punks, Monks, and Politics (Ferrarese)
The Crown and the Capitalists( Wongsurawat)
The Rise and Fall of the EAST (Huang)—Very Good
