17.《21世纪资本论》Capitalism in the 21st Century

The book we are going to talk about today is called Capitalism in the 21st Century, the masterpiece of the famous French economist Thomas Piketty. This book is about the contemporary polarisation of the rich and the poor. It is an academic book, as thick as a slate, but it managed to "break out" as soon as it was published and became a pop culture icon, with a copy said to be handed out on the streets of New York at the time.
 In fact, there are two ways to read such a classic work. One is to read it seriously. In high quality American high schools, students are expected to read about ten serious books each summer, some of which they have to write reviews of and present in class after the school year has begun. Those serious books include both literary masterpieces such as The Red and the Black, War and Peace, and The Odyssey, as well as critically acclaimed or influential works in the humanities and social sciences such as Capitalism in the 21st Century and A Brief History of Mankind.
 You see, in American high schools, the book, Capitalism in the 21st Century, is read intensively as a contemporary classic.
 However, there is another way to read this academic slab, which is to pick only the most important points.
 In fact, this is the truth that "it is better to believe in a book than to have no book at all".
 Now that we have finished reading classic academic books, let's talk about Piketty himself.
 Piketty was a proper genius, earning a double PhD at the age of 22, and his PhD thesis was named best of the year. Harvard University, the University of Chicago and MIT all offered him an appointment, and Piketty eventually went to MIT as an assistant professor. Piketty was very good at mathematical analysis and was a good fit at MIT, but after three years he decided to leave.
 He says, "I found that economics departments in American colleges and universities were very closed circles, and many professors had no interest in fields other than economics." In Piketty's mind, on the other hand, economics professors should be vain, cultural masters with knowledge of astronomy and geography, not nerds with their heads stuck in a pile of mathematical models all day. He felt that the French cultural environment was more suited to him.
 On his return to France, at the age of 25, Piketty became a researcher at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, and at the age of 29, a professor of economics at the Institut Supérieur des Sciences Sociales. When Piketty was 34, the then French Prime Minister de Villepin commissioned him to create the Paris School of Economics, with the main competition being Piketty's alma mater, the London School of Economics and Political Science, of which Piketty was the first president. Piketty jokingly said that this was the first time in his life that he had "practised capitalism first hand".
 Piketty's managerial skills proved to be as good as his academic ones. The economics department of the Paris School of Economics is now ranked first in France and second in Europe. You see, Piketty is amazing in that he can be both a great thinker and a successful entrepreneur, both in parallel.
 A true genius always remains sceptical and does not blindly follow in the footsteps of others.
译文：
 今天要聊的这本书，叫《21世纪资本论》，法国著名经济学家托马斯·皮凯蒂的代表作。这本书讲的是当代的贫富分化问题。一本学术书，像板儿砖一样厚，但是它一出版就成功“出圈”，成为一种流行文化符号，据说当时纽约街头人手一本。
 其实，对于这样的经典著作，有两种读法。一种就是严肃地读。美国高质量的高中，学生们在每一个暑假大约要读10本严肃的著作，有些在开了学以后还要写评论，并且在课堂上做宣讲。那些严肃的著作，既包括一些文学名著，比如《红与黑》《战争与和平》《奥德赛》等等，也包括一些受到好评或者影响力较大的人文社科著作，比如《21世纪资本论》《人类简史》等等。
 你看，在美国高中，《21世纪资本论》这本书，是被当作当代经典来精读的。
 不过，对于这种学术大板砖，也有另外一种读法，就是只挑最重点的内容读。
 其实，这就是“尽信书不如无书”的道理。
 好，说完了经典学术书的读法，下面我们再来聊聊皮凯蒂本人。
 要知道，皮凯蒂是一个妥妥的天才学霸，22岁就获得双博士学位，博士论文被评为年度最佳。哈佛大学、芝加哥大学、麻省理工都给他发了聘书，皮凯蒂最终去了麻省理工，任助理教授。皮凯蒂非常擅长数理分析，在麻省理工如鱼得水；但是3年之后，他却决心离开麻省理工。
 他说，“我发现美国高校的经济系是很封闭的圈子，很多教授对经济学之外的领域毫无兴趣。” 而在皮凯蒂心中，经济学教授应该虚怀若谷，上知天文、下知地理的文化大师，而不是整天把脑袋扎进数学模型堆里的书呆子。他觉得，法国的文化环境更适合他。
 回到法国后，25岁的皮凯蒂成为法国国家科学研究院研究员；29岁时就成为法国社会科学高等研究院经济学教授。皮凯蒂34岁时，时任法国总理德维尔潘委托他创建巴黎经济学院，主要的竞争目标就是皮凯蒂的母校——伦敦政治经济学院，由皮凯蒂出任首任校长。皮凯蒂戏称，这是他“生平第一次亲身实践资本主义”。
 事实证明，皮凯蒂的管理才能和他的学术才能一样出色。巴黎经济学院的经济系，目前在法国排名第一、欧洲排名第二。你看，皮凯蒂就是厉害，可以既是伟大的思想家，又是成功的企业家，二者并行不悖。
 真正的天才，总是保持着怀疑精神，不盲目追随别人的脚步。