Anyway, all that being said and done, I should talk about the books, shouldn't I? I'll go from oldest to most recent. Here are the first two (they're related):
Freakonomics
"A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything"
By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
SuperFreakonomics
"Global Cooling, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance"
By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Simply put, Freakonomics and it's sequel has one basic concept in mind: incentives cause people to do things. Or, to put in one word, it's about incentives. It's an extremely popular book, and for good reason-it has wonderful examples, shows surprising (but logical) points to make, and talks about some controversial issues. Even kokopelli1015 has read excerpts, but hasn't read the entire thing. I do talk about Freakonomics in this post, but I know few of you will read that post, so quick review- has some controversial issues about discrimination and abortion as a heads up, and talks a lot about crime, and obviously, the role of incentives in the crime. It also talks about a lot of other things, so even if none of those seem appealing to you, there's a whole lot of hidden treasures in that book that's worth reading for. SuperFreakonomics is the one I read recently, though. Another heads up: there is inappropriate content in the first chapter, but it doesn't look at it in a you-know-what light, but in more of an analytical view- looking at data and whatnot. Still, get it checked out by an adult if you want before you read it to be safe. It's been a little while, but I do know that this book doesn't focus all that much on crime as Freakonomics, but talks about other subjects as well. It's got a pretty extensive chapter on global warming and some (easy) ways to combat it. My personal favorite chapter is the last one, on monkeys (that's where the question box came from! I forget what my family and I were talking about to get to monkey hair...). Both books, though, are honestly quite amazing and will change the way you look at things. Really. It did that to a hard-core science fan, and I'm sure that most people will find it a wonderfully fascinating read. There's even a really interesting blog for Freakonomics that I'd recommend to read as well.
Trade-Off
"Why Some Things Catch on and Others Don't"
By Kevin Maney
This book was amazing. Really. It's all about a simple concept that's behind which products catch on- and which don't. This basic concept is fidelity (quality) vs. convenience. A product will go off well in the market if it either has super high fidelity or super high convenience. It is impossible to have both- and trying to make a product have both is chasing the "fidelity mirage," which sounds all too possible but is a fool's errand. This, along with other spin-offs of the fidelity vs. convenience trade-off is more thoroughly explained in the book. There are tons of real, vivid, examples of products that have failed- and succeeded wildly. While some may not be as well-known to us, like the company Tesla Motors, others we are all too familiar with (e.g. the iPhone and some other well known companies). I don't think that I'll ever look at anything the same after I read this- especially right after reading this, you keep thinking about whether it's high convenience, high fidelity, or a bit of both. Ever wonder how the whole revamp of the question box rewards system sprang into being? Well, this book was part of the answer. Really, it's a great book, and I'd highly recommend you read it.
Admittedly, these three books aren't quite science related, but they're really great books that puts a spin on your perspectives of things. Try them out and see what you think, and you may be surprised that non fiction books can be just as interesting as Twilight, in different ways.
Trade-Off
"Why Some Things Catch on and Others Don't"
By Kevin Maney
This book was amazing. Really. It's all about a simple concept that's behind which products catch on- and which don't. This basic concept is fidelity (quality) vs. convenience. A product will go off well in the market if it either has super high fidelity or super high convenience. It is impossible to have both- and trying to make a product have both is chasing the "fidelity mirage," which sounds all too possible but is a fool's errand. This, along with other spin-offs of the fidelity vs. convenience trade-off is more thoroughly explained in the book. There are tons of real, vivid, examples of products that have failed- and succeeded wildly. While some may not be as well-known to us, like the company Tesla Motors, others we are all too familiar with (e.g. the iPhone and some other well known companies). I don't think that I'll ever look at anything the same after I read this- especially right after reading this, you keep thinking about whether it's high convenience, high fidelity, or a bit of both. Ever wonder how the whole revamp of the question box rewards system sprang into being? Well, this book was part of the answer. Really, it's a great book, and I'd highly recommend you read it.
Admittedly, these three books aren't quite science related, but they're really great books that puts a spin on your perspectives of things. Try them out and see what you think, and you may be surprised that non fiction books can be just as interesting as Twilight, in different ways.
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