[This Week's Books] The Rites of Achilles and More

The Rites of Achilles

When gladiators fought for their lives in the Colosseum of ancient Rome, the spectators were not simply watching a match. The emperor used the vast arena and the gladiators' contests to flaunt his power. The 1936 Berlin Olympics likewise showed that sports could serve as a stage for conveying national ideology and political propaganda. Huh Jinseok, a professor at Korea National Sport University who is a poet and former journalist, views sports as a form of media. The stadium, the athletes' bodies, and even the roar of the crowd are all channels for conveying social messages.

The book explores 14 themes, beginning with play culture in ancient Greece and ranging from the Roman gladiator Spartacus and Emperor Commodus to bodily culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Bruce Lee, and modern sports stars. In particular, it examines how the Olympic flame, athletes' bodies, and the spatial design of stadiums visualize authority and collective aspirations. It also analyzes the relationship between television broadcasts, the making of stars into heroes, fandom, and consumer spending. Rather than limiting sports to match results or records, it explores them as a phenomenon where power, the cultural industry, and the desires of the public intersect. (Written by Huh Jinseok | Geulnurim)

Why Do Budgets Fail?

Even when the same 10 billion won is invested, some projects deliver results while others end in waste. Nor does an increase in the budget necessarily improve people's lives. Jeong Hwancheol, a professor at the National Assembly Training Institute who previously served as a legislative review officer on the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and as director of budget analysis at the National Assembly Budget Office, examines the national budget from planning and execution through to settlement. The author proposes "Pil-ta-ji-seong" as the conditions for a good budget: necessity, validity, sustainability, and results. Simply claiming that a project is necessary is not enough to justify spending taxpayers' money on it.

The book explains "the Ten Budget Principles," ten criteria for evaluation: total scale, balance, fairness, transparency, participation, efficiency, results, accountability, the future, and fiscal soundness. It also includes practical review methods, such as "the Six Budget Questions," which examines a project's responsible entity, timing, amount, personnel, target, and impact. The author points out entrenched practices such as backroom budget allocations, KakaoTalk budgets, closed-door budgets, and sidewalk-block budgets, and proposes improvements, including greater transparency in the National Assembly's small subcommittee and performance-focused budget settlement reviews. The appendices include a budget project assessment form, sample budget questions, and a budget audit checklist for public institutions. The book stresses that we should ask where, why, and how the money was spent, rather than how much was secured. (Written by Jeong Hwancheol | Jinhan M&B)

When You Uncover People, You Give Away Your Love

On her way home from work, a poet looking out at the city lights finds unexpected comfort in Na Hee-deok's poem "Cold, Round Light." Seeing lights made possible by someone's overtime work, she thinks that she, too, having struggled to get through the day, might shine in someone else's eyes. This collection of essays by poet Yoo Suyeon explores the emotions of life through poems, song lyrics, and movie lines that she has held close over the years. A poem by Heo Su-gyeong, which she encountered in a bookstore as a high school student living alone, later leads to a scene in which she faces her reflection in a taxi window after a love has ended.

The book explores the texture of the heart through five strands: sadness and anxiety, envy and hatred, love and parting, and the passage of time. In other people's words, the author finds not only comfort but also the hurt and embarrassment she has tried hard to conceal. The book begins with the confession on page 10: "When I found myself in someone else's words, I felt a little less alone." Rather than hastily overcoming emotions or dressing them up as something beautiful, she acknowledges that there may be circumstances even she has yet to understand. She suggests that reading unfamiliar words can ultimately become a way of understanding oneself. (Written by Yoo Suyeon | Originals)

The Infinity Machine

Under the tables at chess tournaments, wooden boards were installed to stop players from kicking one another. Demis Hassabis, who became captain of England's under-11 chess team at age nine and a master at 13, grew up amid this fierce competition. He later founded the artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepMind, driven by the dream of building a machine that could surpass human intelligence. Economic journalist Sebastian Mallaby reconstructed the story behind the AI revolution after interviewing Hassabis for more than 30 hours and speaking with around 100 people involved. The book follows pivotal moments in technological progress, from AlphaGo's 2016 victory over Go master Lee Sedol to AlphaFold, which brought innovation to the prediction of protein structures.

The book also focuses on how scientific ideals collide with the logic of capital and power. Through Google's acquisition of DeepMind, conflicts among its co-founders, and competition with OpenAI, it reveals internal tensions and power struggles over who would lead AI development. Hassabis, who received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, still has his sights set on artificial general intelligence (AGI). He argues that an international oversight body is needed to ensure that the race to develop AI does not come at the expense of safety. Who will create, own, and control intelligence superior to human beings? This book goes beyond the history of AI to ask what the future order of power will look like. (Written by Sebastian Mallaby | Translated by Lee Jung-geol | Wisdom House)

The Emotion Economy

Clearing snow becomes a tourism product, and the experience of having a cup of coffee can turn into affection for a brand. Consumers do not always choose products based only on price and quality. Their expectations before a purchase, satisfaction after using a product, and trust in a company can also influence their choices. Marketing expert Jo Myeonggwang says that the more precisely artificial intelligence (AI) analyzes consumer behavior, the more important it is to focus on human emotions. Through 16 examples, including Disney's personalized experience design, Gentle Monster's spatial design, and Coca-Cola's happiness marketing, he examines how emotions are converted into economic value.

The author analyzes how affection for a brand leads to repeat purchases and recommendations. The book features Zappos, which sells customer experiences beyond shoes; Dove campaigns that have resonated with consumers; and Netflix, which provides personalized content. The importance of emotions is not limited to consumers. Employees' experiences of being respected and finding meaning in their work also affect how they treat customers and the quality of service. The book explores the relationship between customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX), and addresses ethical issues related to collecting and using emotional data. Its message is that the more technology improves efficiency, the more a company's competitiveness depends on its ability to understand people's feelings. (Written by Jo Myeonggwang | Snack Books)

Museorok

Looking at an inkstone once used by his father, Lee Tae-jun recalls a winter night in Vladivostok. The object had been placed by his father's bedside in the place of exile where he died. The short essay "Go-wan," in which Lee revisits memories held in the old inkstone, captures his attitude toward objects. A new edition has been published of the essay collection by Sangheo Lee Tae-jun, the novelist behind "A Moonlit Night" and "The Stone Bridge," and the author of "The Art of Writing." First published by Bakmunseogwan in 1941, the book brings together 57 pieces under a title meaning "records written without any particular order." For this edition, the text was checked against the original first edition and corrected, and the original cover was restored.

In the sound of raindrops falling on plantain leaves on a rainy day, Lee finds a cool beauty; in the empty walls of a hospital, he reflects on the meaning of a space people can depend on. In "Books," he writes about the pleasure not only of reading but also of looking at and touching books. His essays move from observations of objects to literary criticism, an affection for old things, and travel writing. The collection also includes "For Whom Shall I Write," which expresses the grief of losing Kim Yu-jeong and Yi Sang in the same period, and "Haechon Ilji," a record of the summer he spent on the east coast in 1936. In Lee's gaze, which never takes an old bowl, a carpenter's handiwork, or a book for granted, readers can encounter the depth of expression achieved by modern Korean prose. (Written by Lee Tae-jun | Cheongsaek Jongi)

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