Finished off three books recently.
"The Upside of Irrationality" by Dan Ariely. This is a follow up to his successful "Predictably Irrational". Dan is a behavioral psychologist who does work in the field "behavioral economics". The first book is much better. In "Upside" he shows that people have pride and people will choke under pressure. What a surprise.
"The Lady Tasting Tea" by David Salsburg which is a series of stories about the rise and development of statistics. Much more compelling and interesting than I could have predicted.
Lastly, "This Time Is Different" by Reinhart and Rogoff. Eight centuries of financial crisis is who the book describes itself. Largely an empirical description of national debt defaults (both internal and external), hyperinflations, currency crashes, and banking crises. About one third of the book is data set references. This was a huge amount of work where they have barely begun to scratch empirical investigations. Their main message is hard not to hold onto once finishing: people will continue to think the future is different, but it won't be.
I think I've earned a respite from technical nonfiction. I'll be looking to something lighter, like the early history of beer in the US.
Finally, I have this update from Bard:
I tried James W. Hall and find him not to my taste. He has all the subtlety of street repair.
Way in the plus column is Four Fish by Paul Greenberg. The book was inspired by Mark Kurlansky's book Cod, which I had read a couple years ago. In fact, late in the section on cod the author even has dinner with Kurlansky, who also wrote the book of short stories I mentioned not long ago. Four Fish examines the seafood industry with a focus on sea bass, salmon, cod, and tuna. Some of it you'll have heard before but much of it will be new. He offers detailed analyses of fish farming and commercial fishing as they relate to these and other species, and offers suggestions for the future of fish and people. This is not a book for people who just want to be told which fish to order in a restaurant and which ones not to order. Greenberg is an experienced sport fisherman who brings a balanced and deep perspective to the subject.
"The Upside of Irrationality" by Dan Ariely. This is a follow up to his successful "Predictably Irrational". Dan is a behavioral psychologist who does work in the field "behavioral economics". The first book is much better. In "Upside" he shows that people have pride and people will choke under pressure. What a surprise.
"The Lady Tasting Tea" by David Salsburg which is a series of stories about the rise and development of statistics. Much more compelling and interesting than I could have predicted.
Lastly, "This Time Is Different" by Reinhart and Rogoff. Eight centuries of financial crisis is who the book describes itself. Largely an empirical description of national debt defaults (both internal and external), hyperinflations, currency crashes, and banking crises. About one third of the book is data set references. This was a huge amount of work where they have barely begun to scratch empirical investigations. Their main message is hard not to hold onto once finishing: people will continue to think the future is different, but it won't be.
I think I've earned a respite from technical nonfiction. I'll be looking to something lighter, like the early history of beer in the US.
Finally, I have this update from Bard:
I tried James W. Hall and find him not to my taste. He has all the subtlety of street repair.
Way in the plus column is Four Fish by Paul Greenberg. The book was inspired by Mark Kurlansky's book Cod, which I had read a couple years ago. In fact, late in the section on cod the author even has dinner with Kurlansky, who also wrote the book of short stories I mentioned not long ago. Four Fish examines the seafood industry with a focus on sea bass, salmon, cod, and tuna. Some of it you'll have heard before but much of it will be new. He offers detailed analyses of fish farming and commercial fishing as they relate to these and other species, and offers suggestions for the future of fish and people. This is not a book for people who just want to be told which fish to order in a restaurant and which ones not to order. Greenberg is an experienced sport fisherman who brings a balanced and deep perspective to the subject.
