What Ham is Reading…

I mentioned a couple days ago trying to get comfortable cracking open the pages of an actual book.  No simple task when you’ve spent the last four years doing all of your research and education in front of a 17 in monitor.  Technology dazzles, simple paper and ink do not.

Obviously, though, it isn’t the presentation that should hold us, but the message, right?  Okay, hat tip to Marshall McLuhan for that bit o’ wisdom.

After several fits and starts, I’ve covered several chapters of Steven D. Levitt’s and Stephen J. Dubner’s “Freakonomics”.  And I’ve found it to be quite refreshing.  As Rachel Stern describes the text at the Beaconhill Institute;

Out of the rarefied air of academia, Levitt taking center stage shows that economics is not a “fourth or fifth language” but an exciting tool that can be used to represent how the world actually works. With interests in cheating, corruption, and crime, Levitt explores the unasked questions of everyday life.

Now, if you’re the type of person who’s surfing across the channels and stop on the the discovery channel, then you’ll probably enjoy this book.  While the concepts certainly engage the reader’s ability to conceptualize, the prose is digestible and does not impede the discussions.

School Teachers and Sumo Wrestlers

Did you know a simple algorithmic equation caused some Chicago teachers to be fired for cheating?  And how exactly does this relate to economics?  Well, you’ll have to figure that out by reading it yourself!