Hello All!
As some of you might know I am the buyer for the largest bookstore in the country and a Russia/Eastern Europe watcher. Sitting on the convergence of these two interests of mine, I feel it would be a good idea to share a few books about the situation in 🇺🇦 🇷🇺
Probably the most commonly found book in British bookshops is ‘The Gates of Europe’ by @SPlokhy who is one of the most popular Ukraine scholars in the West, a professor at Harvard and director of Harvard Ukraine Inst. You’ll see his books come up again
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I’ve really enjoyed the @timjudah1 book ‘In Wartime’. It’s a beautiful portrait of the human side of the conflict. Life behind frontlines and the barricades. Really helps understanding what normal Ukrainians are living with.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMKNkquWQAAKAu-.jpg)
Obviously if I was to list all the best books on Russian history, this thread would never end so only adding a few relevant to the current crisis
Starting with a general and short but no less impressive and fresh history of Russia by the one and only @MarkGaleotti
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There is nothing more prophetic than the writing of Anna Politkovskaya . The reading of her books and articles formed my first opinions on Russia. She spoke Nothing but the Truth but paid the ultimate price…
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMKQRAPXsAk0TMp.jpg)
@wiczipedia published the brilliant investigation into the nature of Russian disinformation campaigns in US during the Trump times but also in Ukraine and Georgia (the latter chapter fascinating) so if you enjoyed Peter Pomerantsev you’ll love this
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Be nice to authors and ban the trolls.
Goodnight x
The above list is missing 'Bloodlands' by Timothy Snyder. It's my favourite book of all time and is about the fate of living between Russia and Europe. I've only not listed it because the author's more recent and Putin specific book is there. Bad omission by me. Read it.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMX6sQVXEAY9Pxc.jpg)
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I’m torn on how to approach the idea of luck. I’m the first to admit that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. To be born into a prosperous American family in 1960 with smart parents is to start life on third base. The odds against my very existence are astronomical.
I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.
In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.
So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.
Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.
Ironies of Luck https://t.co/5BPWGbAxFi
— Morgan Housel (@morganhousel) March 14, 2018
"Luck is the flip side of risk. They are mirrored cousins, driven by the same thing: You are one person in a 7 billion player game, and the accidental impact of other people\u2019s actions can be more consequential than your own."
I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.
In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.
So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.
Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.