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April 05
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Erin
gave
 
to:
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Hardcover)
by Dan Ariely
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
Erin said:
"Overall, a great, quick read. (It took me about 4 days.) Ariely's voice was a bit annoying - his writing feels contrived and unnatural in his summaries at the end of many of the chapters. Also, I continually returned to the question of what Arie...more
Overall, a great, quick read. (It took me about 4 days.) Ariely's voice was a bit annoying - his writing feels contrived and unnatural in his summaries at the end of many of the chapters. Also, I continually returned to the question of what Ariely's definition of rationality is - for such a prevalent concept in the book to go undefined felt like a huge gaffe.
That said, the experiments were very entertaining, and he raises a number of issues worth contemplating. Just the fact that someone is out there loudly and empirically questioning neoclassical economic theory is commendable....less
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March 29
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Erin
gave
to:
The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court (Paperback)
by Bob Woodward, Scott Armstrong
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in March, 2008
Erin said:
"I love Bob Woodward, and this book does not disappoint. It does, however, raise some serious questions about the freakish and arbitrary decision making that took place at the court in the 1970's. Seriously - Justices are described as making decisio...more
I love Bob Woodward, and this book does not disappoint. It does, however, raise some serious questions about the freakish and arbitrary decision making that took place at the court in the 1970's. Seriously - Justices are described as making decisions for the least logical reasons: caprice, whim, coin toss... This is particularly distressing if you think about the fact that they were making decisions about the death penalty, abortion, busing, etc. But if you don't think about that aspect, this book is downright entertaining.
...less
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February 22
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Erin
gave
to:
The Logic of Life (Hardcover)
by Tim Harford
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Erin said:
"This book starts out extremely strong - the first 5-6 chapters are really, really interesting and really, really well written. The last two chapters overstep their bounds a bit; his argumentation gets a little attenuated the broader he reaches. But...more
This book starts out extremely strong - the first 5-6 chapters are really, really interesting and really, really well written. The last two chapters overstep their bounds a bit; his argumentation gets a little attenuated the broader he reaches. But, the first 5 pages of the final chapter are amazing.
I recommend this book to other geeks who like to read about economics....less
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January 05
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Erin
marked as to-read:
Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink (Hardcover)
by David Remnick
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Erin
gave
to:
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart (Hardcover)
by Ian Ayres
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Erin said:
"Reviews of this book described it as the next Freakonomics, so I picked it up. I guess it was kinda like Freakonomics, in that it was written by a super-smart academic, and it was about numbers. Oh, but it wasn't really like Freakonomics at all bec...more
Reviews of this book described it as the next Freakonomics, so I picked it up. I guess it was kinda like Freakonomics, in that it was written by a super-smart academic, and it was about numbers. Oh, but it wasn't really like Freakonomics at all because it sucked....less
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Erin
gave
to:
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (Hardcover)
by Jeffrey Toobin
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Erin said:
"I really, really love Jeff Toobin. The first 30 pages are superb - they are extremely well-written, and they do an amazing job of setting the scene. He succeeds in straddling the fence between journalistic writing and tabloid. There's enough juice...more
I really, really love Jeff Toobin. The first 30 pages are superb - they are extremely well-written, and they do an amazing job of setting the scene. He succeeds in straddling the fence between journalistic writing and tabloid. There's enough juice to amuse the reader, but enough substance so that you're not embarrassed to be reading it on MUNI....less
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December 12
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Erin
marked as to-read:
The Kite Runner (Paperback)
by Khaled Hosseini
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Erin
marked as to-read:
Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice (Hardcover)
by Joan Biskupic
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Erin
gave
to:
The Most Democratic Branch: How the Courts Serve America (Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands' Adolescent Mental Health Initiative)
by Jeffrey Rosen
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in February, 2008
Erin said:
"I LOVE Jeffrey Rosen. I would marry Jeffrey Rosen. Whenever he has a piece in the NYT Magazine, I read it first, even before the Ethicist. But, this book failed to satisfy. I have two major complaints:
1) His fundamental argument is that the c...more
I LOVE Jeffrey Rosen. I would marry Jeffrey Rosen. Whenever he has a piece in the NYT Magazine, I read it first, even before the Ethicist. But, this book failed to satisfy. I have two major complaints:
1) His fundamental argument is that the courts retain legitimacy when they make decisions that comport with the Constitutional views of the majority of the country. For most cases, he suggests measuring this majority opinion via Congress, since they are supposed to represent their constituents' views. He doesn't really answer the obvious question: how does deferring to Congress' interpretation of the Constitution equal legitimacy? I would think that the test for the legitimacy of the courts would be a situation where the courts disagree with Congress, but Congress acquiesces to the Courts because the dispute falls within the purview of the Courts. Isn't that more affirming of legitimacy than the idea that if the courts agree with Congress, the courts' views are legitimate?
2) Jeffrey Rosen gives short shrift to the counterargument, which I understand to be the prevalent view: that the courts enforce the Constitution to protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority. He mentions this view for a few sentences, maybe a paragraph, in the opening chapter. I would like more information about his argument vis-a-vis this claim. I bet it's missing because his argument doesn't hold up.
Even though I don't see the causality that he attempts to prove and urges, this book is still interesting as a history lesson. And Jeffrey Rosen is still one of my faves....less
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