Two Mexicos coexist, one an insular land of hard-to-kill monopolies in politics and business, the other more outward-looking, embracing modernity and even the United States. In “Amarres perros” pundit-politician Jorge Castañeda recalls a life of trying to change the balance. This is my review.
Category: Columns, Commentary & News
Selected news analysis and commentary/opinion pieces, mostly written for Reuters and Reuters Breakingviews.
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Review: Choking on digital exhaust
Government and corporate mass surveillance of citizens is an aberration on a par with child labor or environmental pollution, argues security expert Bruce Schneier in “Data and Goliath.” He offers a rousing call for resistance, and hope for change – a few decades hence. Read my review.
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Review: Monetizing the moment
The Mad Men are watching you. Here’s my column on privacy and online ads in Mike Smith’s “Targeted.”
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Review: Fixing the CIA – a novel approach
Could an outsider best reform the CIA in the wake of torture revelations? In David Ignatius’ novel “The Director,” a pro-privacy tech CEO tries to drag an agency that has lost its way into a new world of tighter rules, leaky secrets and cyberthreats. Good idea, uneven results. Read my review.
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Review: A user’s guide to slacking at work
The shirk ethic, or tips for workplace idleness: my review of “Empty Labor” by Roland Paulsen. -
Review: “The Peripheral” by William Gibson
It’s dystopia, but not as we know it. This is my review of William Gibson’s new novel “The Peripheral. -
Review: Walking cure for cash-strapped U.S. cities
With financial woes hitting American cities big and small, urban revival requires attracting residents who prefer foot power to cars, says city planner Jeff Speck in “Walkable City.” A demographic bulge of millennial workers and empty-nesters want walkability. Build it, and they will come. Here’s my review.