PEPIJN VAN DIJK
innovation | strategy | politics
I turned to this book on the advice of a real non-fiction book worm, wanting to give more depth and context to my attempts to better understand the revived antisemitism in...
Boekestijn, a historian and former liberal MP, is on a mission. He is specifically interested in the (potential) damage aid does to poor countries and he formulates a detailed list of...
Hands down the best political biography I’ve read. The book gives great insights in the man and the President Lyndon Baines Johnson was, telling the story of a turbulent era in...
The latest book by the Belgian prodigy (32 year-old professor of International Relations in Brussels). His analyses are stronger than his solutions and the book as a whole is somewhat chaotic...
Insider’s account of Europe during the crisis, with Luuk van Middelaar probably as Van Rompuy’s ghost writer. Only for the political gourmets.
Liked it, but not as much as many of his other books, especially A Wild Sheep Chase or Kafka on the Shore.
Fine overview of the EU, with a dash of investigated journalism. It stands out for its optimism about the European project and the author’s strong belief in the possibility of top-down change.
Taught me some valuable lessons on the trouble Russia is in, Putin’s role and the Russian character. Terribly difficult country.
Ian Bremmer is the new star of international relations, his book is clever, easy to read and has a clear concept. We live in a wold where no G-20, G-3, G-8 has...
Delightful little book consisting of intertwined stories about people struggling with modern life, ranging from banal (quarreling in a supermarket) to somewhat stranger (a youngster taking himself for Celine Dion) –...
Stunning, delightful book. Loved every page of it. It’s exciting to read and the sheer injustice inflicted upon Dreyfuss made me mad – 120 years after the whole episode started!
A shock. Has all the ingredients to be an awful boy-goes-time-traveling-ferrytale , but it is nothing short of a fantastic book. Having read quite some war novels, this one took me...
It’s subtitle reads The Origins of Power, Prosperity an Poverty. And that’s exactly what I took from the book. Help is needless if a society doesn’t have working institutions, rule of...
An instant hit at its reissue – and rightly so. It’ the perfect depiction of buffalo’s on the prairies of 19th century America – it made me, more than ever, wanted...
Dutch biography on Charles de Gaulle. Probably not the best, but served its goal: to better understand the greatness of the man and the way he inspired France (by saying no).
Brilliant. If I had to choose one book to take with me to a deserted island, this is the one. It’s insightful, erudite, innovative (at least to me). It took me...
PEPIJN VAN DIJK 