All Written Out

There is a very good reason I have not been posting much on this blog. I have been writing about 10 posts a week on a discussion forum I've been involved with for the past few months. That's part of my studies of research commercialisation. Spending so much time checking references on my posts and articulating my thoughts properly there has left me all but drained to string 2 sentences together. I would just like to go and type 'bla bla bla bla' there sometimes. Really getting to be no fun anymore. I have to say I have learn a lot from that experience though.

Anyways, reading To Kill a Mockingbird at the moment. I get quite sad sometimes that there are so many classic that I may never find the time to read, so many books, so little time. I must really restrict myself to read good books. From reading this book, my first thoughts are that plot is not that important. As long as the emotions and characters are believable, relatable, and loveable I will be more than glad to read a story that has been told time and time again.

Also, I just watched a movie called Howl. Though the movie itself isn't very nice, the story is quite good, about Allen Ginsberg and the trial regarding the publication of Howl and Other Poems. It is a really inspiring story of a poet and his journey. It may be to artsy-fartsy for some people's taste, it was bordering on that for me. But the story pulled through. So it was half decent.

SuperFreakonomics

by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

This is the follow up book to Freakonomics. Pretty interesting read in the same vein of the previous book. If you enjoyed the last book you'd probably enjoy this one. This one covered prostitution, patterns and details, altruism and global warming.

This book felt a bit shorter than the previous one, sort of felt like just half a book. I would have liked to have more to read actually. Finished this one in 2-3 days, without even trying much to read.

Anyways, this is an easy, casual read. Nothing too heavy, I think I liked the first book better though simply for the breadth and length of the book.

Freakonomics

by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

This book is about the economics of very weird situation. So really made a really interesting read. One study was on why the crime rate dropped during the 1990s so suddenly when it was expected crime rate to be continuously on the rise, as it had been for the past decade or two before. However it began to drop drastically without anyone knowing why. Many guesses were made, such as better policing, better living conditions etc. However this book said that it was due to abortion finally being legalized in US. People who would go through abortion are those with low socioeconomic living conditions. So if these children were never born, then there wouldn't be any criminals in the first place. I bet pro-life people just got in all sorts of bother after hearing this theory. Anyways, the proofs described in the book seems quite convincing.

Other examples are on what sumo wrestlers and school teachers have in common, why drug dealers still live with their moms, how the Ku Klux Clan like a real-estate agent, and what makes a perfect parent. These are really topics for economics study, though totally unconventional. Such a wonderful read.

I bought this books several months ago and have only been reading it since about a month ago. This book took quite a while for me to finish. The version I read is the revised edition, with new material. Still it's pretty thin, 250+ pages. Just been so busy with studies and research so yeah.

One final separate note on the theory of abortion as the main cause of dropping crime rate. In Malcolm Gladwell's book (can't remember which) he actually specifies a theory called the Broken Windows theory which was said to be not the main contributor to crime rate drop by this book. So even with these convincing arguments, one can never really be sure which is true. Even the experts cannot agree! So always take all this information with a grain of salt.

The Importance of Being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde

This is one wonderful classic that I read several weeks ago. Just got around to writing about it because I've been so hectic with studies. Well, my recollection about it might be a bit hazy now. So short synopsis from good 'ol wiki here.

First, I did not even know that this was a play. I thought it was some highfalutin literature on life in Victorian England and several people being quite pompous about life and preaching how we should live. I thought they'd be teaching us how to live life, and that is by being earnest.

Oh yes, I was very wrong. This play was funny from start to finish. At times it read a little like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the way the dialogues developed. I would definitely go see it if they play it here. And probably would read it again sometime, nice short read.