Let the Great World Spin by Collum McCann

My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is the first book I’ve read in 2010 that I would recommend to almost anyone who asks. Colum McCann integrates the lives of characters from all walks of life in New York in a way that captures the essence of the city and left me wanting to read more. 

The writing and style of the book often follow the same themes he attributes to the city. My instant favorite theme (liable to change with time): New York is a city that never looks back, doesn’t concern itself with statues or monuments or celebrate formerly great men. It is constantly looking forward, toward the next day, the next idea, the next million dollars to be made. The book felt the same way—always moving forward toward some future point, with no particular beginning and no end in sight.

Writing in 2009 about New York at the moment the Twin Towers were nearing completion necessarily triggers thoughts of the 9/11 attacks and the current city. I would have been content to consider the connection between the creation and destruction of the towers without the book addressing it specifically, though McCann does a nice job of specifically addressing the tension as the book comes to a close.

If I have a complaint, it’s that at times the connections between characters were a little to tidy, but I usually didn’t see them coming and was consistently taken by surprise at the ways in which he developed the interactions.

Overall, a great read and highly recommended.

21 Dog Years : Doing Time @ Amazon.com by Mike Daisey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars After seeing Mike Daisey’s The Last Cargo Cult — a monologue about his travels to Vanuatu at the Woolly Mammoth theater — I was really excited about this book. In the show he presents a nuanced view of capitalism and western culture, raising provocative questions about “value” and why we behave the way we do.

Unfortunately the book doesn’t extend the ideas or offer anything close to the same level of analysis.  Though it explores the connection between capitalism, society and personal wellbeing, it feels like a juvenile first draft of what he ended up writing for his performance.

Recommendation: Go see Mike Daisey in person as soon as you can. Think twice before reading this book.

The Logic of Life by Tim Harford

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of all the pop economics books I’ve read (at least 3!) in the last few years, this is my current favorite. Asserting that people act rationally — conventional economic wisdom for 300 years — is unconventional again, and this book does a nice job of putting that in some perspective.

It’s most notable for its survey of economic work that identifies off-beat, or less-visible “incentives” that cause people to behave as they do. It also provides a useful contrast to the economics laboratory studies that books like Predictably Irrational have been relying on to prove people are not inherently rational.

My only complaint is that since the author doesn’t provide any of his own research beyond the occasional anecdote, his survey of others’ work can be a bit thin and occasionally confusing. He has a newspaper writer’s knack for simplification, but oversimplification in a few instances prevented me from fully grasping the conclusions of some of the work he cites.

Overall, if you’re only going to read one pop econ book, this would be my pick.

Your thoughts?

P.S. If you don’t read Harford’s “Dear Undercover Economist” column in the FT, that’s always worth a laugh.

Ed. Note: I don’t know if this is a good place for this sort of thing, but it’s an attempt to consolidate a bit of my Web-based stuff in one place.  I am still confident that no one cares, don’t worry.