Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The cover of the book calls this "The explosive follow-up to Freakanomics," but I think I definitely liked the first book better. That's not to say that this book isn't good... it is, but personally I liked the first book better.

In case you haven't read either book, in which case I suggest you get your name on the waiting list at your local library, these books are not about economics in the typical sense of the word. There's no discussion of "the economy" or how our spending/lending practices will cause trouble. Instead, these books take a few basic economic principles such as supply and demand and the trickle down effect and take a look at how they operate in our society. In some ways it feels like a sociology book more than an economics book... but it definitely doesn't feel like a textbook any way you look at it.

I don't really know how to talk about this book without having to get into a whole bunch of details, but one of the things I thought was the most interesting was the discussion on altruism and the environment. For a long time, sociologists/economists were doing experiments that proved people were basically altruistic, but they had one big design flaw in the experiments... the people knew they were being watched. When people didn't know they were being watched, they were decidedly less altruistic and behaved much more like what we would expect people to behave like. What does this have to do with the environment you may ask? Well, what doesn't it have to do with the environment? Basically what it comes down to is the fact that people won't change something that doesn't have a negative consequence for them (and even then people won't necessarily change). Which means (in my own opinion, not that of the book) that for individuals in a society to become more eco-friendly they need to either A) see the negative impact of humanities actions on the environment, take it to heart, and change their ways; B)have negative consequences set in place (either through laws with penalties being enacted or through a social ridicule program--such as that against smoking); or C)make the eco-friendly options cheaper.

Personally, I think that option A is the most effective because you're getting people to actually care about the cause which means they'll care more about being eco-friendly in all aspects of their lives, but it's a slow, winding road and you'll never get everyone to see your point of view (especially since the majority of people don't have the luxury of time or money to care about how their decisions impact the environment or themselves). Option B just leads to a lot of laws, which I'm against because I don't think that making laws is that effective. Which leaves Option C... making it economically advantageous to be eco-friendly. As someone at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder right now, I think this is the best way to enact massive change.

Think about it this way. You're the owner of a chain of grocery stores and you've just been convinced that the number of plastic bags used by customers in your store is solely responsible for global warming, so you'd like to encourage people to quit using so many disposable plastic bags for their produce and to carry all their purchases to their car. The most effective way to get people to re-use their bags or to use sturdier cloth bags is to start charging them for each new disposable bag they use. If you were going to be charged $.10 for every bag you used, you'd be a lot more likely to spend $1.00 to buy a cloth bag to carry your things in because you would see a return on your investment relatively quickly. And this isn't just a hypothetical situation... in the Midwest there's a grocery store chain called Aldi who charges for every bag used, and you know what? People will do anything they can most of the time to not have to buy one of their bags. They either bring they're own bags or they'll use the boxes that the cans and other packages come in so that they can save that $.30 or $.40 per trip. I doubt that every customer in the store cares about being eco-friendly, yet most of them are participating in an act that is eco-friendly. What if more businesses worked like this?

So, back to the book. Freakanomics and Superfreakanomics are great books to get you thinking about things. Some of their statistics and arguments are a little out there, but the authors' intent was to get you thinking about the world around you in a different way. I think they definitely achieve this in a way that is accessible to the masses. At least I find these books to be entertaining.

P.S. If I'm going to reach my reading goal I have 354 days left to read 121 books (including the books I'm currently reading.

P.P.S. I just won another book from Goodreads Firstreads! This one is called Attila and it's about Attila the Hun... I'm pretty excited!

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

I know I said I wasn't going to read a book I didn't own until I finished reading all the books I did own, but when the wait list for a book is two months, you read it when the library tells you it came in. That being said...

This was worth the wait. Three Cups of Tea is the heartwarming true story of Greg Mortenson's mission to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan to provide a secular, nonextremist education for every child. And I think that's what sets this book and this cause apart from others. Mortenson has found a way to connect an already worthwhile cause to America's fight against terrorism. He argues that many of the extremist come from extremists schools funded by extremist groups. If we really want to fight terrorism, we need to provide an alternative education that doesn't force American values or knowledge on this population.

Mortenson's cause and approach to fighting terrorism and poverty really caused me to pause and reconsider how Americans "solve" problems. The American government throws billions and billions of dollars in aid money without it really doing much long-term good. Where as Mortenson with a few thousand dollars (he estimates it costs about $20,000 to build and fund a school) can change the mindset of an entire village for a lifetime. What if we took that approach to solving problems both in the world and in our own country. Instead of offering unemployment or welfare, give grants for people to be able to continue their education and still provide for their families that way people without any usable skills can afford to get training (whether that means taking a few computer classes so they can be a secretary, going to vo-tech to become an auto mechanic, or going to a university so they can get a degree) and people who may have outdated training can take a refresher course. What if, instead of sending tons of food over to starving nations, we sent more agriculture specialists over to help local farmers find foods that will grow in their areas that provide adequate nourishment?

And I think the thing I love the most about Greg Mortenson's mission is that he allows himself to only focus on education. He doesn't go into a town, bring them all-new Western style clothes, lots of food, and modern amenities. He goes into villages where people have asked him to come, employs the local men to build a school out of local materials, employs a school teacher and then leaves (well of course he keeps tabs on the school). He avoids contaminating the villages as much as possible with his Western ideals (although one could question how Western his ideals are since he spent most of his childhood in Africa).

Bottom line: read this book if you haven't already. I've read a lot of reviews where people say they don't love the writing style, but this book isn't about the writing. It's about the message. And in my opinion, the message is one everyone needs to hear.

Google Books vs. Amazon Kindle for PC

I've had a war going on inside my head and although it's winding down, a trick play on either side could start it all back up again. I recently discovered Amazon Kindle for PC. You can actually buy any Kindle book you want without having a $250 Kindle!! Which is absolutely fantastic! Since discovering this I've been trying to decide which is better... Google Books or Kindle for PC. Here are the pros and cons of each. Note: I was NOT paid by either company to write this review and I am only looking at PC based reading options (aka... the actual Kindle may have some distinct advantages that I'm not mentioning). This is more a review for those who are interested in e-books but don't want to invest a lot of money in an e-book reader quite yet.

Google Books- Pros

• It's a web based thing, so you can access the book you want from any computer (you can save books to your "library" so that you don't have to search for it every time you want to read it).
• You won't be tempted by all the books you could purchase if you only want to look at free books.
• It's a digitized page of a book, so you see pictures, diagrams, etc. and page numbers.
• Since it's a digitized page of a book, you can have a better sense of how far along you are.
• You can skip to the chapter you want to start at.
• They have most of the classics whose copyright has expired.
• You can find lots of random fun things to look at just by browsing their page.
• You can download some books as a PDF or EPUB (both of which are compatible with the Barnes and Noble Nook e-book reader, but not the Kindle)
  
• If you can't (or don't want to) read the full book on Google Books you can search for it at your local library or book store through links on the page.
• Google Books has an application for iPhone/iTouch an Android powered phones.
• They have 1.5 million public domain books and have just reached an agreement to sell full access to books still under copyright (authors and their publishing companies will receive 63% of the profits) which should (according to the blog world) bring the total up to 3 million books available for full reading.
  

Google Books- Cons

• It's a web based application, so you have to have Internet access to read a book on there (unless you have the foresight to download it to a PDF earlier).
  
• You can't adjust font sizes.
• Even if the book is saved in your library, it won't save your place in the book, so you have to remember it yourself.
• Google Books doesn't have it's own e-book reader, so unless you want to by a Barnes and Noble Nook your only options for reading the book include eye strain from looking at a computer screen for too long, trying to read on an iPhone/iTouch or Android phone, or downloading the whole thing as a PDF and then printing (aka... you probably won't want to read for an extended period of time without investing some serious cash).
  

Amazon Kindle for PC

• The book is stored on your computer, so you don't have to be connected to the Internet to access and read books you've already downloaded (meaning you could read War and Peace on an airplane without it taking up any room in your luggage!).
• They have lots of free versions of classics (umm... I downloaded 55 books in one afternoon) as well as versions you can pay for (I'm assuming the versions you pay for might include pictures or something like that... I don't really know).
• You can buy current bestsellers if you want to for a lot cheaper than getting it hardcover in the bookstore.
• It saves your place. Theoretically I could start a book on my Kindle, and pick up right where I left off reading on Andy's iTouch or a Kindle (if I had one).
• If you want to invest some money, you can buy a Kindle which offers a much better, more book like reading experience (Andy's Aunt Cindy got one for Christmas and it really is nice to read on).
• You can adjust the size of the font for easier reading if you need to.
• The one click purchasing brings up a list of other books you might be interested in (which is why I downloaded so many books in one afternoon).
  

Amazon Kindle for PC- Cons

• No page numbers which makes me feel a little lost.
• No pictures (at least not in the books I downloaded, although admittedly I only downloaded the books I could get for free, so maybe books you pay for include pictures).
• You have to download the Kindle application to your PC and then download books to it (making it harder to use spontaneously at your grandparents' or a friend's house if you wanted to).
• You have to set up an Amazon account (which I doubt many people are opposed to doing, but if you prefer to have as few accounts as possible, you may find this to be annoying).
  
• Less books available than Google, and less interesting old magazines.
• Not compatible with a Mac.
  

Overall, I think I like Google Books better what sent me over the edge on that side was the fact that A) Google books is literally a snap shot of a book... you can't get a better digital book experience than that and B) the sheer number of books available! Amazon Kindle definitely has it's place in the world, but let's face it Google rocks! I'm excited to see whether Google decides to market it's own e-book reader or if they just partner with the Nook and other readers who support PDF and EPUB file formats.

All this research has led me to decide that if I ever get an e-book reader, it will be one that supports the file formats of Google Books (such as the Nook) so that I can download books from there. Until then though, I'll be using my computer and the library to satisfy my love of books.