James Salzman

A very detailed history of drinking water, one of the building blocks of civilization. What shapes prevailing perceptions of the relative safety of the water we drink and are such perceptions accurate? This book also examines the political forces that surround the commodification of water. What happens when societies treat water as a public good vs. societies that treat it as a product to be sold for profit?

At the risk of making a truly insufferable pun, this book was fairly dry. I'm not sure if it was the prose or the narrator of the audiobook but I found myself drifting away instead of paying attention. Still, there was lots of good information in here and those with an interest in the topic will find lots to appreciate about the book.… (more)

Who knows what we own?

The key thesis of this book is that our core ownership stories are wrong. They contend the each of us uses some version of six ownership stories:
1. First come, first served;
2. Possession is nine-tenths of the law;
3. You reap what you sow—we own the fruits of our labors;
4. My home is my castle—I own what is attached to me;
5. Our bodies, our selves, and
6. The meek shall inherit the earth—family property stays in the family.

The authors are law professors, and they use a series of engaging real-life legal disputes to demonstrate that each of these rules are open to broad and conflicting interpretations. One key flaw in our simplistic ownership stories is that they are based on a binary view of ownership—either my story is correct, and I deserve full ownership of the property, or yours is correct and you deserve full ownership. The authors advocate thinking in terms of gradations of ownership (which they model with a light dimmer) rather than full ownership models (which they model with an on/off switch).

They offer a few broad principles that can be used to reduce conflict and resolve ownership disputes. These include considering:
• What ownership decision serves to best advance the collective well-being,
• Reframing the problem using design tool alternatives including
o ex post or ex ante considerations,
o rules or standards,
o exclusion or governance,
o setting baselines, and
o liberal commons.

They end with the statement “If there is one lesson from this book, it’s that mine reflects a choice among competing stories.”

This is a well written, entertaining, informative, well researched, thought provoking, and important book.… (more)