Lee Kuan Yew reads like a genius on the page — Singapore expelled from Malaysia, then the climb to absurd prosperity. I think his assessment of welfare systems is especially astute; parts of it sat uncomfortably close to things I'd seen in Britain.
His views on press freedom I wouldn't want transplanted wholesale into a British context — chilling, even when he's honest that Singapore traded liberty for order. Still, I learnt a lot, and I have real respect for Singapore and for Asian economic development more generally, much of which echoes the Singaporean and Japanese model.
Long, occasionally self-satisfied, never boring for me. Living in Shanghai, bits felt like reading a parallel manual.