A Farewell to Alms (Gregory Clark)
Much has already been said about the content (see the Marginal Revolution discussions) so I won't say anything more on that front. Instead, a personal anecdote. As an undergrad, I often finished economics courses thinking "wow, economists sure know a lot about X, Y, and Z." I was convinced by these classes that economists usually thought about problems "in the right way" but there was already so much that had been done I wondered how I could ever contribute. When I took Prof. Clark's class (as an undergrad about 4 years ago), and he made many of the arguments in this book, I thought "wow, there's still so much interesting and important work to do!" I felt that excitement again reading the book.
The Game (Neil Strauss)
Yes, the book about pickup artists. Yes, I started it after watching the VH1 show The Pickup Artist which is the most entertaining thing on TV the past few weeks. (The star of the show is a lead character in the book.) Yes, the behavior is nauseating. But that's why the show and the book are so interesting--it actually seems to work. The book is worth recommending from a purely intellectual perspective. Of course, it's also interesting for the shock value of the "exploits" that are described (quite vividly, I might add.) The unexpected highlight was learning about the inner-workings of the *community* of pickup artists. Seriously. They have online discussion groups and whatnot. And many of the leaders would fly around the world to teach "the art" in workshops that cost over $1500 a person. Who knew?
Much has already been said about the content (see the Marginal Revolution discussions) so I won't say anything more on that front. Instead, a personal anecdote. As an undergrad, I often finished economics courses thinking "wow, economists sure know a lot about X, Y, and Z." I was convinced by these classes that economists usually thought about problems "in the right way" but there was already so much that had been done I wondered how I could ever contribute. When I took Prof. Clark's class (as an undergrad about 4 years ago), and he made many of the arguments in this book, I thought "wow, there's still so much interesting and important work to do!" I felt that excitement again reading the book.
The Game (Neil Strauss)
Yes, the book about pickup artists. Yes, I started it after watching the VH1 show The Pickup Artist which is the most entertaining thing on TV the past few weeks. (The star of the show is a lead character in the book.) Yes, the behavior is nauseating. But that's why the show and the book are so interesting--it actually seems to work. The book is worth recommending from a purely intellectual perspective. Of course, it's also interesting for the shock value of the "exploits" that are described (quite vividly, I might add.) The unexpected highlight was learning about the inner-workings of the *community* of pickup artists. Seriously. They have online discussion groups and whatnot. And many of the leaders would fly around the world to teach "the art" in workshops that cost over $1500 a person. Who knew?
3 comments:
Workshops? We didn't even have Happy Days, "The Fonz, Arthur Fonzarelli", to use as an example back when! Simple economics rise to the forefront once again! Build a better mousetrap and they will come. Ha-ha.
You pasted the wrong link. Both links lead to the Game thing...
Thanks for the heads up.
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