Something happened during the week and I bought a load of books. About five. Before I discovered IRC, and a bunch of other places, I used to read quite a bit. But I can’t keep on track of the books I have; and I’m having trouble organising myself getting to libraries which benefits the libraries (except during library fine write off week when I did far better out of it than the library season did) so I’m not borrowing books much.
Outstanding I have two borrowed books to read, and on top of those two, now, these new ones. I am in the zone of factual writing at the moment; there is something wrong with fiction. I think if I am honest, however, most of the books I have ever bought are non-fiction with some exceptions.
Freakonomics however sort of passed me by, probably because it was a bit too populist. However, I happened across something on their blog – it must have been via twitter – and when I had some time to kill in Easons in Heuston the other day, zubzubzubz I had two new books. Which I read in order.
I don’t know what to make of them. Yes, very well written, and yes, very thought provoking. But difficult to assess because….they deal in a reality but that reality is one of the US and culturally, I don’t quite understand it. I’ve never worked there. Not only that, the thing i feel about the US is that there is no unifying American culture. Life in New York is different to life in Detroit, in Chicago, in the rural hinterland, or the redneckzones if you like to California. There are some unifying themes, but pretty much as in Europe, I wonder if those are more political/economic than culture. And despite the fact that Steven Levitt may be an economist, the simple fact is that I agree he is really more a behavioural scientist.
The books are interesting because they do really highlight some ideas that people may not consider; in particular the law of unintended consequences. But I think in some respects it might be more interesting – as a European – to see how we could use various and assorted pieces of data to understand how our society works in much the same way.
What was interesting about the books – in very much a law of unintended consequences way – is that it made me reconsider going back to college looking at maths, economics and statistics. I’m not sure I want to – god knows I know what it’s like not to have much free time – but….hmmmmm, there are interesting things that can be looked at.
Do I recommend the books? Well they are easy to read, and they are definitely suitable fodder for a train journey. They pretty much are popular books, and maybe, a bit like me, they would cause people to take a deeper look at the world around them.
A bit like Bad Science by Ben Goldacre though, a key outcome of reading the books are to deepen your general cynicism about what people tell you. I’m not sure that it’s a good thing to live in an ever deepening pool of cynicism and doubt and this is one reason that despite pretty good grounding in economics and what happened in Ireland, I am less and less willing to engage with the news on the subject.
I don’t do star reviews; ultimately I’d say this: take a look at the back of the book and see does it sound like you’d be interested. If yes, then the simple fact is that the books are very, very well written. If not, then the fiction block is around here somewhere.
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