Still reading

I haven't book blogged in a while, primarily because I haven't read anything that I feel others must read. Unfortunately I have read a few books lately that I feel the need to talk about for the opposite reason -- to warn you away from them.

First up is the latest pop econ book from Steven Landsburg. Though Freakonomics got all the attention (and I've suggested The Undercover Economist as a better choice), Landsburg's Armchair Economist really got the pop econ thing going back in the 1990s. Now I guess he's decided to try to cash in on the (relative) surge in popularity for such books. The problem is Landsburg targets the wrong audience.

Like Freakonomics, Landsburg's book applies economic analysis to decidedly uneconomic (as popularly understood) issues -- everything from HIV to stupid legislators. While these issues might appeal to non-economists, his reasoning won't. Basically he's taking lunch table discussions between economists to the masses. I'm not saying regular folks aren't able to understand the reasoning, but if you don't have a good bit of formal training (more than just introductory classes) you'll probably dismiss the arguments out of hand. If you're familiar with the research or even the methods of research, you realize Landsburg is onto something, even if you disagree with his conclusions. Most people, though, don't have that background and Landsburg, understandably, doesn't devote the needed time or effort to explaining the underlying theories.

Hence, I fear this book will be beloved by "insiders" (trained economists) and totally ignored by "outsiders" (almost everyone else). I don't think it's a shame that another econ book will be disregarded by the general public, but I think books like this hurt the image of the profession. An intelligent layman could see this (the catchy title is guaranteed to draw in the curious), note the positive blurbs by big names in the field, and then be totally let down by the book itself and thereby conclude that economists really are all wet. I'd be much happier if this book had been targeted toward economists rather than pushed as the next Freakonomics.

On the fiction front, I tried to read The Yiddish Policemen's Union, the new novel by Michael Chabon. While I still think Chabon's first book was excellent (and Wonder Boys wasn't bad either), I haven't liked much of his writing since then. Given my old love of comic books (and the enormous praise and Pulitzer), I waded through Kavalier and Clay but I didn't like it. Now with the Yiddish Policemen I'm done with him. This book was years (6 or 7 maybe?) in the making and it was even delayed for a year to allow for some "fine tuning". I think it could have used another year or two of tuning. After waiting that long, I expect a really good book. Instead I found a book with 3 serious (in my opinion) contradiction errors (things like saying his 15-year marriage ended and then when we meet the ex-wife he says he spent 12 years married to her) within the first 50 pages! In addition, the story just plodded! Chabon tried to do noir, but noir is predicated on action. Action, unfortunately, is sorely missing from the book. I finally gave up after about 150 pages.

On the positive side, I am reading two books that have not yet offended me. First, though I'm a couple of decades late on this one, I finally pulled The Sportswriter off my shelf. Though Ford is unnecessarily flowery at times, I like the feel of the book so far. I am afraid, though, that it may descend to unacceptable levels of self pity. I hope not.

Second, and the one I'm most excited by, I picked up a copy of The Last Season the other day. It's the story of the most experienced back country ranger in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park who just up and disappeared on day in 1996. While the teases don't reveal his ultimate fate, the only mystery appears to be whether he was "done in" or whether he chose to do himself in. I'm not very far in, but so far it is gripping in the way that only the best non-fiction books can be.

Well that gets you caught up on my summer reading. Summer classes (for me) will be over soon, though, and then I start my summer project. In case you've forgotten, I intend to try, once more, to make it through this ungainly tome. Sigh!