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How Asia Works

Joe Studwell

Recommended by 2 people on the record.

The bar next to each date shows how long ago it was said: 7d is days, 4yr is years.

Oliver W. Kim loved it
Reading How Asia Works was a formative intellectual experience for me—a jolt out of the mathematical slumber of PhD coursework. I have a complex relationship with the text (more on this in a moment), but I still recommend it effusively to anyone who wants to learn about East Asia.

on global-developments.org · 10 Feb 2026 · Report

Bill Gates liked it
How Asia Works is not a gripping page-turner aimed at general audiences, but it’s a good read for anyone who wants to understand what actually determines whether a developing economy will succeed.

on gatesnotes.com · 8 Dec 2014 · Report

This book on rcmnd →

That little bar

It says how long ago something was said, so you can tell last month from 2014 without doing the arithmetic. Full and green is recent; it drains and cools as the date gets older, and empties completely at about 6 years.

A striped bar means the date itself is an estimate — the source did not carry an exact one. An entry with no date at all gets no bar.