Book Review of "The Handover" by David Runciman

Out now in Air Mail (my first piece for them!)

“Sam Bankman-Fried infamously preferred blogs to books. Why spend 100,000 words making an argument that could be made in 2,000—or, even better, in a skimmable X thread? With this inability to consider single issues at depth and length, it’s hardly surprising he was incapable of managing a complex crypto-currency exchange.

And yet, when it comes to the “thesis book” nonfiction genre—where the author introduces a broad, novel, timely theory, and then explains all its historical context, current relevance, and future importance—I can’t help but agree.

You can identify a thesis book at a distance. The dramatic title will begin with “The”; the subtitle starts with “How”; and the writer is invariably a professor of something or other. In this case, The Handover: How We Gave Control of Our Lives to Corporations, States, and AIs, by David Runciman, professor of politics at Cambridge University (and fourth Viscount Runciman of Doxford).

Out now in Air Mail (one of my very favourite publications, who I’m so excited to be writing for!); my review of David Runciman’s new book. Give it a read!