Book Review: Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters by Miller and Kanazawa

I thought this was a very interesting book, but it is clearly somewhat controversial and unpopular. The authors basically attempt to demonstrate how many aspects of human nature (i.e., human behavior) can traced back to evolutionary selection. They take a few very simple ideas (e.g. humans want to pass on their genes as much as possible) and apply those ideas to try and answer questions about human nature (e.g., why are most violent criminals men). I found some of their explanations likely, some plausible, and some unlikely, and I also believe most people will find at least a few explanations to be unlikely and borderline offensive. So, if you like interesting books and don't mind reading a few claims that you will disagree with, you will probably enjoy this book. If you do not like reading stuff you disagree with, avoid this book. Grade: B.

Book Review: Googled by Ken Auletta

The subtitle for this book is, "The End of the World as We Know It", which is very appropriate since the focus of this book is on how much the world has changed as a result of Google. The first 200+ pages of the book review the history of Google from Mr. Brin and Mr. Page at Stanford to 2009. This history is interesting, well written, and well researched, but I thought a few useful details were left out. Specifically the very brief description of PageRank (paraphrase: a page's importance is determined by the number of links to the page) did not really do justice to the complexity of the algorithm. The last 100+ pages (which should have been reduced to less than 50 pages) is on the relationship between new media (with Google being the main representative of the new media and the internet) and old media (newspapers, TV, movies, magazines, etc.). This section is basically a lengthy description of how Google and the internet is a threat to old media, but the author avoided predicting the future or proposing solutions. Before closing, here's a short summary of the old media situation from my perspective:
(1) TV - should continue to attract a large audience, but time-shifting (DVR) use will increase significantly--also, internet delivery will increase significantly, but they will include ads for monetization.
(2) Movies - should mostly maintain popularity unless the exponential price increases continue.
(3) Newpapers - RIP -- they'll move to the internet and put up pay walls for local coverage -- no one will pay for national/world coverage, which will only be supported by ads.
(4) Magazines -- small to significant decline in the total number of print magazines with many moving to the internet, but this will happen very slowly since we like glossy paper and an alternative does not exist.

Overall, I recommend the book even if it drags a little at times. Grade: B

Parking at Montana State U.

I am both an alumni and a faculty member at Montana State University. I think it is fair to say that I love the university, work hard to make it better, and I believe that the students here and my colleagues are wonderful people that do great work. That said, this university has one significant area of weakness that I would like to see improved significantly. The people that park at MSU are the worst "parkers" in the world. (Yes, I just made that word up.) I swear that at least 1 out of ever 20 cars here take up 2 parking spacing because people are unable to park reasonably close to existing, parked cars. The common excuse people use is that the parking lines are covered with snow, but this is a stupid excuse --- just park within 3 or 4 feet of a car that is already parked!! Even when the line are visible, people park right over top of them! Please, I'm begging...the university police need to ticket people that are unable to park within 3 or 4 feet of the cars that are already parked. If you straddle a yellow parking line, you should get a ticket! Please, citizens of MSU, this is the biggest barrier between us and university nirvana.

Book Review: Mountains Beyond Mountains

This is a book by Tracy Kidder about Dr. Paul Farmer and his work on healthcare in one of the poorest regions in Haiti and beyond. It felt like a timely book for me to read since Haiti has been in the news a significant amount recently due to the earthquake. I learned a lot about Haiti and health care policy for the poor, and I highly recommend the book simply because I think we could all stand to learn more about these topics. The quality of the writing was a little up and down with the first 200 pages being very well written, but the last 100 pages tended to wander a little and could have been more focused. All in all, however, Kidder is an excellent writer (much better than me), and I'll certainly consider other books by him. Finally, I found Dr. Farmer to be an amazing and intriguing individual. I wouldn't make all the same choices he has made, but I can't help but be impressed by him and applaud him for all that he has done for the poor of Haiti. He is certainly someone that can teach me some important things about the world.

Book Reviews

Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

I think that I have read every book that Klosterman has written. The focus of his past books has generally been rock music, and they have been both funny and interesting. His latest book really shows how he is evolving as a writer. The book is a collection of essays, but the focus of many of the essays is not on music. Further, the book has a more focused, less breezy style. With most book, I can skip 10% of the sentences because I know what they will say. This book, however, I had to re-read 10% of the sentences to make sure I fully understood them. Very good book, but it is a different style than his past books. Grade: B+

Ford County by John Grisham

This is Grisham's first book of short stories, and all the stories are set in Ford County Mississippi and include a white, southern lawyer (because, well, Grisham always writes about white southern lawyers). This book is impossible to grade because some of the essays are dull and boring (grade-level: D), but other essays are interesting and thought-provoking (grade-level: B+). I cannot recommend that you go out, buy this book, and read it. However, if you have an hour free, stop by your local library and read the last two short stories (they were my favorites).

A Few Quick Book Reviews

What the Dog Saw: Malcolm Gladwell

This is a collection of essays published over the last decade in the New Yorker. If you haven't previously read the essays in that magazine, I would describe this book as a must read. Most of the essays are excellent, interesting, and thought provoking. I would describe 75% of the essays as Grade A. A few of the essays were a little boring and felt dated (especially the essay sharing its title with the book), but I'm sure that even the essays I didn't like would appeal to many people.

Pirate Latitudes: Michael Crichton

I think of Michael Crichton as my favorite fiction writer for about a ten year period (roughly, 1988-1998). His best books (Rising Sun, Sphere, Congo, the Andromeda Strain) are some of my all time favorite fiction books. Pirate Latitudes was found on Mr. Crichton's computer after his death, and it was publish posthumously this year (2009). I enjoyed reading the book (it only took a couple days), it is clearly better than anything some author's publish, but it wasn't his best work. It also clearly isn't Crichton's worst book either -- it is equal in quality to the Great Train Robbery or Eaters of the Dead, and better than, say, Airframe. I wish we knew more about this book. Did Michael Crichton just finish it before his death and intend to publish it? Did he finish it years ago and just kept it around for the day when he needed money? Did he write it years ago, but he wasn't happy with it and kept hoping he could come back to it and finish it some day? The publisher claims it was written concurrently with another recent book (Next), but, frankly, I don't believe them (or maybe I just think they are wrong). It feels more like Crichton's earlier work (Eaters of the Dead, the Great Train Robbery). We'll never know -- I'm just thankful to have a couple more Crichton novels in my life (I say "couple" because there was, apparently, another novel found on his computer!) Finally, Spielberg is turning Pirate Latitudes into a movie. I think this could work as a movie -- although the book is very violent.

The Help: Kathryn Stockett

Honestly, I bought this book because the reviews on Amazon were so overwhelmingly positive. The book is, at times, very good and thought provoking. At other times it was boring. I recommend this book because it describes, with amazing insight, a time and place (Mississippi in the 1960's) not that from from where I am at this moment. I think that I forget just how cruel and hateful some people are, and, at the same moment, how loving and kind other people are. I hope that I can be like Skeeter and not Hilly. In summary, I think 100 pages could be cut from this book, and it would be an A, but, as is, I have to give it a B+.

Weather

I've lived in both Bozeman, MT (very dry and very cold winters) and Chandler, AZ (very dray and very hot summers) for multiple years. I also consider myself to be a lover of moderate weather. I'm not much of a skier, so I don't love the cold snow, and I'm not much of a swimmer, so I don't love the sun. Considering all these things...I consider myself to be the world's foremost expert on the tolerability of very hot versus very cold weather. What is easier to survive -- the winters in Montana where the temperature dips down to 20 below or the summers in Arizona where the heat reaches 115. Some people love the cold or the hot, and, for them, the answer is simple. For the average person, however, the debate comes down to two facts:

(1) very cold weather (define here as below zero) is both very painful and very inconvenient because you need to wear so many layers. Very cold weather is undebatably more painful than very hot weather.

(2) the Arizona heat is simply relentless since you expect triple digit highs every day from May 15 till Sept. 15. The Montana cold may be painful and annoying, but it usually lets up after a week or two.

There are a number of lesser considerations: (a) the Arizona heat that keeps you indoors happens when the days are longest, and the nice weather happen when the days are relatively short, (b) you don't have to shovel photons, and (c) the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors is, on average, less in Arizona. However, these are all smaller issues. Ultimately, if you have to choose Montana weather or Arizona weather it is simply a question of do you like your pain short and severe (i.e., Montana) or milder but relentless (i.e., Arizona).