Not sure exactly, but there are some popular books I dislike. I read the first chapter of Dawn of Everything and was unimpressed. See Holden Karnofsky’s “book non-review”. Also, I tried to read Sapiens and I could not get through two chapters of it. C. R. Hallpike’s review captures my feelings about it.
Re methods of analysis, I am highly skeptical of cyclical theories of history (Turchin/cliodynamics).
But generally as long as you’re looking at data and other evidence, and applying logic, you should be able to discover some nugget of truth.
Not sure exactly, but there are some popular books I dislike. I read the first chapter of Dawn of Everything and was unimpressed. See Holden Karnofsky’s “book non-review”. Also, I tried to read Sapiens and I could not get through two chapters of it. C. R. Hallpike’s review captures my feelings about it.
Re methods of analysis, I am highly skeptical of cyclical theories of history (Turchin/cliodynamics).
But generally as long as you’re looking at data and other evidence, and applying logic, you should be able to discover some nugget of truth.