Press & Media

"The Book I Could Not Put Down"

Lincoln D. Gomez · #YourFavoriteLawyer LinkedIn newsletter · also in Trempan (LEGAL column, p. 12) · 24 May 2026

"Aruba may have gained not only a respected economist and policy thinker, but also a remarkably mature literary voice capable of contributing meaningfully to conversations far beyond our shores."

"Rendell has mastered something exceptionally difficult: the ability to weave deeply personal and emotional human experiences into what many would consider the cold, technical world of economics. Humanizes these ideas without diluting their intellectual depth. That is rare. Very rare."

"Buy it because it will move you. Buy it because if you are someone who keeps a stack of books beside your bed every year, this is one that belongs on that stack."

"It grabbed me from the first pages and didn't let go"

Jessica Besselink, MBA · Project Officer, HopeAruba Movement · LinkedIn · June 2026

"What I admired most was his ability to connect the deeply personal with the systemic. Through a family crisis, he explores larger questions about resilience, expertise, culture, identity, and the institutions we build around ourselves."

"I also appreciated how economic principles were explained through real-life situations rather than abstract theory. Complex concepts became accessible because they were attached to lived experience."

"Some books entertain, others linger. This one continues to invite reflection, and I believe many readers will come away with a deeper understanding than they started with."

Trempan, LEGAL column

Lincoln "Dello" Gomez · Trempan (Aruban newspaper) · 24 May 2026

The Lincoln Gomez review ran simultaneously in his LinkedIn newsletter and in the Aruban newspaper Trempan as a two-page LEGAL column feature, with the English review on the left and a Papiamento companion column on the right. The print placement gives the review reach into Papiamento-language readership beyond the English LinkedIn audience.

USM Library adds The Conch Paradox

University of St. Martin · usm.sx · 29 September 2026

On Monday 28 September, Rendell gave an inscribed copy of the second edition to Stacey Thomas, the USM Librarian. Students, faculty and staff can borrow it through the USM Library. The release ran ahead of the public talk on campus on 30 September, with an introduction by USM Research Coordinator Raymond Jessurun. He is quoted in the release:

"For small island societies, resilience cannot only be about our ability to recover and return to what existed before. We also have to ask whether the systems we depend on continue to serve us and whether they allow us to adapt, grow and respond to new realities. The Conch Paradox gives us an opportunity to have that conversation within our own St. Martin context and, importantly, to involve our students in thinking critically about the future of their society."

Rendell, in the same release:

"St. Martin knows this chapter better than I do. Most of the economy comes in through one door, and in 2017 as well as during COVID everyone here saw what happens when that door shuts. I would rather spend Wednesday hearing how people here read it than reading it to them."

The conch paradox

Biblioteca Nacional Aruba · bibliotecanacional.aw · 18 September 2026

Sr. Rendell de Kort a entrega 2 ehemplar di su buki ‘The conch paradox: rethinking resilience’ na sra. Astrid Britten, directora di Biblioteca Nacional Aruba e siman aki.

E buki ta un interlaso di narativa personal, estudio economico y historia natural pa explora con nos por nabega den un mundo cu ta birando mas insigur, no door di traha capanan mas fuerte sino door di desaroya e conocemento pa sa ki ora proteccion ta bira restriccion y ki ora transformacion ta bira necesario.

Sr de Kort ta un economista di desaroyo y ta un investigado PhD cu ta studia resiliencia economico den Estadonan Chikito den Desaroyo, cu specialisacion enfoca riba Caribe Hulandes. Sr de Kort ta presenta tanto experencia profesional como experencia personal pa compronde con sistemanan chikito y vulnerabel ta nabega retonan existencial mientras nan ta mantene na caracter esencial.

E buki aki lo ta den circulacion pronto y ta disponibel tambe den biblioteca di Universidad di Aruba y e ta na benta na libreria local. Pa mas informacion por fabor, bishita e website di sr. Rendell de Kort.

The Conch Paradox weaves together personal narrative, economic research, and natural history to explore how we might navigate an increasingly uncertain world, not by building stronger shells, but by developing the wisdom to know when protection becomes constraint, and when transformation becomes necessary.

Rendell de Kort is a development economist and PhD researcher studying economic resilience in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), with specialized focus on the Dutch Caribbean. Born and raised in Aruba (Savaneta), Rendell brings both professional expertise and lived experience to understanding how small, vulnerable systems navigate existential threats while maintaining their essential character.

"Boek van Arubaanse econoom De Kort geprezen als 'uitzonderlijk naar elke maatstaf'"

Dick Drayer · aruba.nu · 27 May 2026

"The Conch Paradox: Rethinking Resilience van de Arubaanse econoom en onderzoeker Rendell de Kort begint opvallend veel aandacht te trekken binnen intellectuele en maatschappelijke kringen op Aruba."

aruba.nu picks up the Lincoln Gomez review, summarising the book's thesis on resilience, its relevance for small island economies under climate and tourism pressure, and Gomez's framing of The Conch Paradox as a marker of Aruba's emerging orange economy — creativity, knowledge, and intellectual property as engines of small-island development.

"When Your Greatest Strength Becomes Your Biggest Weakness"

Featured in Rona Coster's Bati Bleki column · When in Aruba · 24 November 2025

Featured in Rona Coster's Bati Bleki weekly column, written by Rendell in Rona's voice and published with her blessing as a pre-launch introduction to the book's central idea. Walks readers from the queen conch's shell to Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath to Aruba's tourism dependency, and closes with the question: "What's your conch shell?"