Recommended Reads

As I will be a late adopter to mobile Internet access, so I will likely be a late adopter to e-readers: I totally buy the convenience of the word made digitized, but there's something about sinking into bed with a physical book that makes for a far more relaxing transition to sleep, than if I was staring at something glowing back at me. So wake me up when you can replicate that, Amazon/Apple/B&N.

In the meantime, it's time to start another hopefully regular segment here on Musings: Recommended Reads. Here are some books I've read in the past few months that I would particularly commend to you. I welcome your take on these reads, as well as your own recommendations of what I should dive into next.

Thunderbolt Kid (Bryson). Laugh out loud funny account of the author's Iowan childhood.

Little Book of Forensics (Owen). Very cool detail on some of our more infamous crime scenes; a must if you're into the whole CSI thing.

Logic of Life (Harford). This dude is fast becoming my favorite young economist.

Discover Your Inner Economist (Cowen). What can this George Mason University econ prof teach you about where to get good eats around the world? A lot, apparently.

Dr. Sears' L.E.A.N. Kids (Sears). After I read this, I began to insist on fruit at every meal for our kids.

The Language Instinct (Pinker). A fascinating exploration into the nature of language and grammar, which argues that this is as innate to us as learning to walk.

I suppose I should do you the extra favor of creating hyperlinks to Amazon so you can find out more, but I'm feeling lazy. Some day, Mark Zuckerberg is going to listen to me and turn Facebook into one big online mall. People should be able to share about books, music, housewares, entertainment venues: you name it, and you will be able to drag and drop it into a shopping cart, to buy immediately or keep an automatic eye on for price drops. Mark Z, you need to decide to either partner with Amazon or call them out as your next conquest, because years from now, we're going to wonder why this didn't happen sooner.