I rarely finish reading books that I start, though about a month ago I finished Alexander Etkind’s book “Nature's Evil: A Cultural History of Natural Resources”. I read it in Russian, and I hope its English translation is as good as original.

I liked how our common history is explained and analyzed through the prism of natural resources. How the physical and chemical qualities of each resource determine people’s life. How, in multiple cases, the resources that some region has, becomes a root cause of political system and struggles that people leaving in this region experience. It is very intellectually fulfilling reading.

(English version: https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Evil-Cultural-History-Resources/dp/1509547584/, Russian version: https://www.litres.ru/aleksandr-etkind/priroda-zla-syre-i-gosudarstvo/chitat-onlayn/)