Tag Archives: books

Aphorists Mentioned

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I was partaking in my typical news-geek hobby of listening to news shows on NPR (in this case, All Things Considered), and I caught the end of an interview with author James Geary. His obvious love for aphorisms (or, as my 8th graders would probably call them, “sayings”) was captivating. He described them as tidbits of brain candy (that’s me paraphrasing). He was talking about his new book, “Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists“, and I was immediately sold. I took a ride to the local Barnes & Noble after school today, and I picked up a copy.

If you’re a fan of aphorisms, and would like to know more about the people who wrote them, I highly recommend this book. Perhaps, you’ll find your brain on a sugar high afterwards.

A Freaky Read

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I have been a big fan of Stephen J. Dubner and Steve Levitt ever since reading “Freakonomics” two years ago. I discovered their blog a few months back, and that has helped rekindle that feeling of Science explaining Life that made me love the book so much. They recently “upgraded” to become part of the New York Times website, which has allowed them to include videos and many more cool features.

The recent posts on their site have centered around the most controversial topic in the book, the correlation (note: not causality) between the drop in U.S. crime rate during the 1990′s and the legalization of abortion in the 1960′s. We learn more about the research that led to the scientific paper on which this part of the book was based. Great reading for conservatives and liberals alike.