1. The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love, by Richard Restak. A good summary of a bunch of results I already knew, but a suitable introduction for most readers. It doesn’t cover neuroeconomics.
2. Light in August, by William Faulkner. I am rereading this, wondering whether I should use it for my Law and Literature class in the spring. My memory was that this is the "easy" classic Faulkner but the text is tricker than I had remembered. Not quite as good as As I Lay Dying or Absalom, Absalom.
3. Matthew Kahn, Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment. From Brookings, a good and balanced treatment of the intersection between environmental and urban economics. Here is Matt’s blog.
4. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion. I’m still at p = .05, if only because I fear such a heavy reliance on the anthropic principle. This book didn’t sway me one way or the other. And while I am not religious myself, I am suspicious of anti-religious tracts which do not recognize great profundity in the Bible. Furthermore, as Dawkins recognizes, civilization requires strong loyalties to abstract principles; I’m still waiting to see a list of the relevant contenders to choose the best. Here is Dawkins speaking.
5. Michael Lewis, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. I loved Liar’s Poker and Moneyball but this one did not grab me at all. I stopped. Perhaps the reader needs to love football. Here is a radio interview with the author. Here is his NYT article.
Re: #5 The Blind Side
I really do enjoy football and I just finished The Blind Side. I wish I had stopped.
The book was short on insights and seems to be written primarily to ride the tail of Moneyball and tell the story of the author’s school friend, Sean Tuohy.
I watched the prospect featured in the book, Michael Oher, in part of his game last night and came away thoroughly unimpressed. He appeared to give up a lot of ground and tended to loaf. As a disclaimer, I am not a football scout.
The Divorce Judge.Cervantes.
6 Books on History.( Artajerjes and the corrupt judge)
Herodotus.
I found Michael Lewis’s ‘Moneyball’ absolutely superb – one of the best books about _science_ I have read, as well as one of the best sports books.
But Coach which followed it was just terrible, and a rip off (luckily, I didn’t buy it). Terrible not in its writing, but in what it was saying.
And the Blind Side sounds very dubious.
I think this illustrates the problem of being a professional author – you just have to keep producing. Still, Lewis will be remembered for Moneyball, and baseball fans remember for a long, long time…
blindside is a total waste of time.
high on aggrandizement and cliche, low on substance and insights.
Re: Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes
Please forgive me if my neuroeconomics definition is defficient, but the book focuses on behavioral economics.
There is significant content taken from Gilovich’s previous book, How We Know What Isn’t So, but it is now framed within behavioral economics. This and the addition of a co-author make Why Smart People… a much easier read.
I recommend reading the book, and also giving as a gift to that family member who isn’t that great with their personal finances. The book’s breadth is much better than its depth, as you could probably tell from the table of contents.
I, too, am interested in reading about behavioral finance and neuroeconomics,
particularly with regard to questions such as over- and under-reaction in
the stock market. I’ve done some hunting on google, but mostly come
up with newspaper articles describing the research without actually summarizing it in
any useful depth. Can someone point me to a book or the articles in question?
FYI, I was many years ago an undergrad econ major, but at this point am
pretty close to a layman for practical purposes.
are you guys crazy? I couldn’t put “The Blind Side” down! I read it in one day in two sittings.
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