I’ve read a fair amount lately, but not a lot of it in books – mostly reading journal articles. But I did have the pleasure of finishing Eileen Gunn’s collection of short stories, Stable Strategies and Others, which deserves to be much better known than it is. The collection ends with a brilliantly done group story, Green Fire, co-written with three others, and chronicling the adventures of Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and future Admiral Grace Hopper as they perform secret Tesla experiments in WWII. If that’s not enough of a teaser, the "title story" is the most hilarious mix of corporate strategy and biotechnology I’ve ever read.
Steven Levitt’s book Freakonomics is a different kettle of fish altogether. It’s interesting how much press this book is getting, and I hope people are reading it. The message overall is the power of setting aside "common sense" or "received wisdom" and doing actual data analysis on everyday phenomena, in hopes of really understanding how our social world really works. This shouldn’t be exceptional stuff to long-time practitioners in the social sciences, but somehow it is, most disciplines being trapped in formal theory on the one hand and anecdotal but non-rigorous empirical study on the other. Levitt has the potential to open a lot of eyes with his counter-intuitive but analytically rigorous work, and I recommend this book highly.
Probably another gap in book posting coming up; I’m finishing Schwarz’s book Freedom Regained (see book links on the left for the ref), and a couple of other hefty tome-like things which will take awhile. Oh, and I’m thoroughly enjoying Banville’s The Untouchable, but I’m not yet ready to write about it.
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Del. Teacher Charged With Raping Student, 13
allowing friend to watch and distributing alcohol to a minor, authorities said.
Jerusalem’s Fall, Division and Liberation
trying to appease the Arabs, the European Union forcibly divides Jerusalem. Other prophecies reveal that Jerusalem will suffer under the EU
Brown’s Work Pays Off With Playoffs
coach and his staff didn’t leave Quicken Loans Arena until about 1:30 a.m. Thursday
Mavs Run up the Score
Moore in the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The team has carved a new identity under Johnson, one that demands defense, discipline
Bush to Send Up to 6,000 Troops to Border (AP)
Bush said Monday night he would order as many as 6,000 National Guard troops
Estrogen-Only Hormone Therapy Deemed Safe
illions of Women Affected When HRT Was Found to Pose Health Risks
The Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times
istakes in newspaper stories are becoming increasingly common.
Customer Service Center
Searchable Directory of Online Sources “Source Locator” … To begin, supply search criteria for any field(s) in the search form below …
Jason Terry Turns a Bit Older and Wiser
of THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS reports, Jalayah Terry waits as patiently as a 5-year-old can. Dallas put Phoenix to
Computer Simulations Help Nations Prepare for Flu Pandemic
a team of researchers analyzed how effective travel restrictions, school closures, drug distribution
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Selects Parlano MindAlign to Enhance its Real-Time Communications
UK- (Business Wire) -June 21, 2005 – Parlano, Inc., a leading provider of intelligent enterprise instant
Will We Ever Jump The Snark?
Coulter to try and defend the seemingly indefensible showed just how far removed we are from what used to be considered civility.
Updates on Mozilla 1.7.5, Firefox 2.0, Thunderbird 1.0, and Nvu 0.6
be stepping away from incrementing version number. [Update: thanks to our readers who pointed out that 1.7.4 was reserved for any neccessary security
Wise: In Heat of the Night, a Champion Is Born
the course of Miami’s first NBA title is charted in two weeks or less, a number of dates and acquisitions
Wall Street Rally Pushes Dow Above 11,000
all Street Rally Pushes Dow Above 11,000 After Several Weeks of Hefty Losses
Senate Approves New Treasury Secretary
to sharpen America’s competitive stance. Paulson’s nomination is not expected