Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Few Good Reads

Dear all,

I've been trying to stay current while out in the Niger Delta.

Articles I like:

Africa's Eastern Promise by Deborah Brautigam (this is one of the most even-keel articles I've seen on China in Africa)

Resume Search Optimization (okay, so I'm a resume nerd, but this was a neat explanation of the different between online applications and offline resumes)

"Africa's Children" is a series following 10 children from birth and tracking them as part of a test of the Millenium Development Goals.

An installment by a friend of mine: "Nigeria: Confidant Martins" by Shyamantha Asokan

Nigeria's banks: Lagos in limbo, also by Shyamantha Asokan

Books I've read while here that I recommend:

Untapped: The Scramble For Africa's Oil Wealth by John Ghazvinian. (He has a great sense of humor, examines this problem from many angles, AND his economic explanation of the oil curse is one of the clearest I've seen)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (this is technically a reread)

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan (a little depressing, a series of stories told from the perspective of children, but not very happy stories)

China into Africa (a very good collection of a wide range of articles and perspectives)

What books do you recommend?

Best,
Alena

3 comments:

  1. I just finished Say You're One of Them. I'm not sure I would really recommend it. I typically think that one ought to balance the horribly horribly depressing with some sense of optimism...

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  2. yeah, its pretty depressing. but sometimes life is. then again, i study genocide for a living, so perhaps i've got a dark side anyway..

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  3. "Oil and politics in the Gulf of Guinea" by Ricardo Soares de Oliviera

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