Books of the month — September 2022
Seven books, briefly reviewed: Patxo Unzueta on football, Mintzberg, Víctor Lapuente, Rosa Montero, Padura, Anna Wiener's Uncanny Valley, and Nussbaum.
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A mí el pelotón. Y otros escritos de fútbol. Patxo Unzueta. I knew Unzueta from his journalism and from his essays on politics and Basque nationalism. When he died recently I wanted to know what else he had written, and I came across this fantastic collection of pieces, notes and columns on football. Superb.
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Bedtime Stories for Managers. Henry Mintzberg. This university professor has done a great deal to popularise the "science" of management. Here he does it with humour and with plenty of recommendations to keep managers from ruining their own companies.
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El regreso de los chamanes. Víctor Lapuente. Highly recommended for understanding the features of populist, unpragmatic political management. It works just as well for rethinking companies and human organisations.
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El peligro de estar cuerda. Rosa Montero. A tribute to instability. Refreshing.
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Havana Blue. Leonardo Padura. My first book featuring the detective Mario Conde. I love everything Padura writes, so I enjoyed this one very much too.
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Uncanny Valley. Anna Wiener. A recommendation from Almudena Caballero. An honest, highly skilled look at digital business from the privileged vantage point of customer support teams.
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Citadels of Pride. Martha C. Nussbaum. A good analysis of sexual aggression, resting on the central thesis that it is directly bound up with power. As usual with Nussbaum, she assembles good examples of how such bubbles form, develop and become naturalised.