Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2025-12-23
Books mentioned on ‘This is Something that Traditional Economics Isn’t Prepared to Deal With’ | The Ezra Klein Show
Tracy Aloway recommended Breakneck by Dan Wang, Northwoods by Amy Pease, and Marriage at Sea by William Clark Russell. Joe Weisenthal recommended MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE by Herman Melville, Orality and Literacy by Walter J. Ong, and No sense of place by Joshua Meyrowitz.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Breakneck
Breakneck by Dan Wang is a bestselling book exploring China's engineering-driven quest for the future and offering a comparative look at the political economies of the United States and China.
Recommended“Dan Wong's new book breakneck break neck is excellent for comparing the political economy of the US and China and a lot of the things we just discussed”
Where to get it
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Northwoods
Northwoods by Amy Pease is a contemporary fiction novel that centers on an old, mysterious house in New England and weaves a surreal narrative around its inhabitants and history.
Recommended“best fiction I read this year new fiction is Northwoods which is the sort of surreal story about an old house in New England”
Where to get it
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Marriage at Sea
Marriage at Sea is a historical fiction and maritime adventure novel by William Clark Russell that depicts nautical perils and dramatic escapes.
Recommended“Marriage at Sea, which is a true story of a couple in the 1970s that get shipwrecked by a something whaling related. Whale. Oh, that's great. And survive at sea.”
Where to get it
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MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville is an epic American novel that chronicles the obsessive, self-destructive quest of Captain Ahab to hunt down the giant white whale that maimed him.
Recommended“I read Moby Dick this year and it changed my life and I've read a bunch of sort of whaling related books... Just read Moby Dick people if you haven't.”
Where to get it
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Orality and Literacy
Orality and Literacy by Walter J.
Recommended“Walter's orality and literacy which I've been talking about a lot which is basically the way like our communication environment is such that we're like an oral society increasingly”
Where to get it
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No sense of place
No Sense of Place is a media theory book by Joshua Meyrowitz that explores how electronic media, particularly television, alters social behavior by dissolving traditional physical boundaries and redefining public and private spheres.
Recommended“So yeah, no sense of place by Josh Myroitz is my last one.”
Where to get it
