[This Week's Books] The Culture of Narcissism and More

The Lie of Interest

Interest rates may appear to be just numbers, but in finance, they are also the language in which desire is most artfully packaged. Jonathan Bier begins with the age-old question of what constitutes a fair rate and ventures into the world of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency lending market. The high yields promised by the crypto ecosystem appeared as evidence of innovation, but the book traces the underlying credit structures, collateral, quasi-deposit models, and the fragile links between stablecoins and DeFi.

Following the yield bubble of 2021 and the great collapse of 2022, it becomes clear that the problem is not merely a deviation unique to cryptocurrencies, but rather a long-standing delusion that finance has repeated over time. Risk did not disappear; it simply changed names, and interest was not free money but the price of uncertainty borne by someone else. The book’s progression—from the history of interest rates to the collapse of Celsius and proof-of-stake yields—is somewhat technical, but it frames the crypto market not as an episode of greed, but as a microcosm of modern finance. (Written by Jonathan Bier | Translated by Ark 127 | NonceLab)

Doom Loop

Globalization was once touted as the promise that would make everyone wealthier. Eswar S. Prasad traces how that promise transformed into a destructive cycle that fuels inequality, protectionism, political polarization, and the US-China hegemonic rivalry. The flows of trade and capital have become weapons rather than channels of cooperation, and dollar hegemony remains a peculiar safety mechanism that the world clings to, even amid America’s instability.

The perspective is broad. The book ties together currency competition, the weakening of international organizations, middle-power diplomacy, and the risks of AI and digital currencies to reveal the fractures in the global order. However, as every crisis is described as part of a single cycle, the reading is dense and optimism is scarce. Nevertheless, by presenting chaos as a structure in which economics, politics, and geopolitics are intertwined rather than as isolated events, the book delivers a heavy impact. (Written by Eswar S. Prasad | Translated by Park Jaeyoung | 21st Century Books)

The Vessel of Stock Investing

Stocks may seem like a numbers game, but for those opening their first account, the first challenge is psychological. Shigeru Fujimoto tells the story of Shinpei, a man in his 40s shaken by work and family life, who is introduced to investing through a fictional encounter with a 90-year-old active trader. The book’s structure—profit, psychology, standards, decision-making, intuition, and opportunity—serves less to impart technical stock knowledge and more to broaden the perspective of those intimidated by money.

Fujimoto’s advice favors the mindset needed for longevity in the market over flashy techniques for picking stocks. There is no perfect timing, fear often springs from ignorance, and investing is ultimately about developing one’s own judgment. Although the narrative is somewhat dramatic, wrapped in the tale of a master with 71 years of investment experience, the way it translates the basics—navigating between fear of loss and the excitement of first profits—into a story makes it easy to read for beginners. (Written by Shigeru Fujimoto | Translated by Park Sunyoung | Dasan Books)

Novels of the Orange-Hued Beach

Summer may seem long, but in truth, it is a time that quickly wears away. Kwon Hyeyoung's "Ttibuttibu Random Slide" captures the gravity-free days of a character enduring unemployment with jobless benefits after quitting their job, while Kim Hyejin’s "Jump Rope" seizes moments of subtle change as a character repeatedly circles a park after a breakup. Mundane objects and actions—rare sticker slides, a playground slide, the daily jump rope in the same spot—create a strange rhythm of summer.

Both stories move, not through major events, but via the subtle tremors of repetition. Time that seems uneventful, actions that appear useless, and chance encounters leave the characters in slightly different places as they pass. Even the format—being a waterproof book—adds to the effect; while the book may seem light as a holiday accessory, it actually lingers with the impatience and sense of loss that summer brings. (Written by Kwon Hyeyoung and Kim Hyejin | Minumsa Publishing)

The Myth of Fascism

Fascism does not operate on lies alone. Federico Finchelstein sees in it a more persistent force: myth. Placing Freud, Borges, and Carl Schmitt side by side, he explores how fascism replaces reason and fact with narratives of hate and transcendence. The uncomfortable episode in which Freud is asked to write a dedication for Mussolini reveals that even anti-fascist intellectuals were not entirely free from the pressure of myth.

The book is dense. Psychoanalysis, literature, jurisprudence, and political theology are all intertwined, while Borges’s literary labyrinths and Schmitt’s friend-enemy distinction illuminate the dark heart of fascism from different angles. Still, when we recall how today’s politics once again lean on strong leaders, conspiracy theories, fake news, and myths of hostility, the difficulty of this book reads not as a detour but as a necessary path. Fascism is not a monster of the past, but something revived by the desire to turn reality into a more bearable story. (Written by Federico Finchelstein | Translated by Ahn Kyunam | Editus)

The Culture of Narcissism

Narcissism is no longer just a personality trait of someone who lingers too long in front of a mirror. Christopher Lasch elevates the term to a symptom of the times. As community weakens, historical consciousness vanishes, and daily life is engulfed by political impotence and consumer culture, people cling more to self-preservation and self-presentation than to others or the world. Though a classic dissecting 1970s American society, it reads even more chillingly in an age overflowing with social media and self-improvement discourse.

The discomfort of the book lies in that it does not leave narcissism as someone else’s disease. Amid society’s demands to manage a better, safer, more attractive self, we become ever more fixated on ourselves, yet feel increasingly empty. Lasch’s prose is challenging, but his questions are clear: Why does a society obsessed with self-care lose its capacity to imagine others and the future? (Written by Christopher Lasch | Translated by Kim Taehui | Philosophic)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.