A fitting accompaniment for law school exams... also my third last Book a Week. Hard to believe.
December 9-15: Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
Non-Fiction (1993 - 193 pp.)
Now apparently also the provenance of a TV show and a health food line, Chicken Soup for the Soul started as this solitary book. It is compiled by two motivational speakers, and consists of a collection of stories submitted by various people, mostly from the United States. Others are by Canfield and Hansen. Each details someone who did something extraordinary. The usual fare consists of people who ran after having their legs amputated, children who sold more cookies than the other children, that sort of thing. The overarching message - that people should be nice to each other and that we can all do something special in the world - is a good one, no matter how cynical the recent economy may have made people.
A few of the stories surprised me, some in a good way, some not so much. "The Animal School" shows a libertarian leaning that I was not expecting, not so much for being libertarian as such but because a book by motivational speakers doesn't strike me as political. "I Love You, Son" is probably the most touching story here, for the combined reasons of speaking to what it means to be a father as well as making me look back a little guiltily on my own experiences as a child. (It concerns whether children ever truly appreciate their fathers enough.) "Rest in Peace" is probably my favourite story, having to do with telling people to bury everything they think they can't do, and it resonates the most with my life. "Service with a Smile" is an adorable story that will resonate with every dog lover. "The Touch of the Master's Hand", aside from its uplifting message about the value we often miss in things, mentions potage, which I know better than most thanks to reading If Walls Could Talk this past August.
"Big Ed" and "Just Say It!" discuss the difficulties people have telling each other they love each other, and not in that first time ever telling a significant other way but even within a family. That something so natural should be so difficult is something I find troubling. "I Know You, You're Just Like Me" may have seemed heartwarming such a short time after the collapse of the USSR but is, to make an understatement, less than heartwarming to Central Europeans. "Ask, Ask, Ask" and "Tommy's Bumper Sticker" feel overly reliant on the fact that their protagonists are children; relying on being a cute child to sell products should not be seen as the hallmark of salesmanship. "Rick's Little Quest", "John Corcoran", and "She Saved 219 Lives" send some likely unintentionally morose messages. The first validates a young man's decision to drop out of school, the second discusses the successes of a man who was admitted all the way through the education system despite being illiterate, and the third glosses over someone's premeditated forgery of birth certificates. None of those warm my heart in the least, no matter what good came at the end.
Hypothetically, Chicken Soup for the Soul is an exercise in challenging everyone to be the best s/he can be, regardless of adverse circumstances. "Run, Patti, Run" is the story that embodies this message the best. At the end of a story about a woman who ran record-setting distances in face of epilepsy, in question form no less, it asks, "If Patti Wilson can do so much with so little, what can you do to outperform yourself in a state of total wellness?" Whether this is inspirational or guilt-inducing depends on who you are, I suppose.
Ease of Reading: 10
Educational Content: 4
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Saving Money: 10 Things I Will Do, 5 Things I Won't
Maybe it's the terrible economy. Maybe it's the wider availability of technology, not least sites like this one. Maybe it's just that I'm an adult now. For whatever reason, it seems like for the past little while, money-saving columns are everywhere. As someone who develops some economics-based personal finance in my spare time, I figure that rather than bore you with the theoretical analysis that shapes my money decisions, I'll throw my hat into the "I do these things to be frugal" ring like everyone else.
A few articles I've picked up today are this one by a guy, this one by a girl, this other one by the same girl saying what she won't do to save money, and this one by a different girl who makes it gender-neutral. Most of the tips are good (like harvesting seeds from your garden), some aren't so much so. One that absolutely needs mention right here is the tip at the end of the last article: that you "shop" at lost and found bins. That is something I've never seen as a money-saving tip before. It's so beyond the pale I can't justify putting it on my list of things I won't do to save money, if only because it would never have occurred to me. It's not quite as bad as forging food stamps or stealing from the Salvation Army, but it feels like it's trending toward that end of the ethical spectrum.
Before I begin with my list of ways I do and refuse to spend money, I may as well begin by saying why it's important I noted the above links by gender. Something that I had probably known but had never really realized is that I save a significant amount of money just by being a man. I have never bought makeup or feminine hygiene products (that's what they're called now, right?) in my life. If tasked to do so, I'm sure I would appear very confused to the store's employees.
Another thing that's worth mentioning is that certain tips that are great for some people simply don't work for others. For example, the biggest single way I save money is by not having a car. No purchase or lease costs, no gas, no insurance... which turns around and becomes thousands in savings, vacations, and the peace of mind to know I can treat myself to a few extras without going broke in the process. However, I understand not having a car simply isn't an option for those who don't live in urban or other eminently walkable areas. I'm sure everyone has his/her own version of this: some people don't drink, others have family and friends all nearby so they have less need to buy plane tickets, and so on. I also don't smoke, which is helpful but is pretty normal for my generation.
Here are 10 Ways I Save Money and 5 Ways I Refuse to Save Money.
To save money, I...
1. Make use of the local library, as well as free promotional e-books.
Libraries, especially campus libraries, have amazing selections of books. Books that have passed into the public domain are often available as free e-books, and many newer indie authors are releasing their books for free. Thanks to the free e-book option, I've read books as far-flung as Bleak House and Machine of Death, both of which I'd recommend. Without these resources, Book a Week may not have been possible. Although I love my home library dearly, I simply don't need to own a hard copy of every book I ever read. Moving a lot helped this decision along too. I still buy books I feel like I'll want around in paper form but I spend a lot less on books than before.
2. Use coupons mercilessly.
I know this is on everyone's list, so it's not exactly the most original thing here. It's on everyone's list for a reason. It's also a great way to buy clothes, as opposed to the horror stories of patching up holes the size of a Buick. My favourite coupon-driven purchase: a pair of running shorts, from $36 down to $2. Remember, when combining coupons, take the percentage discount before the flat dollar discount.
3. Use hotel soaps and shampoos at home.
For those who travel even semi-frequently, this is a great way to save. I honestly have difficulty recalling the last time I bought shampoo. I understand each container won't last most people almost a month like it does for me, but even so... A fringe benefit is that you get to try a bunch of different kinds.
4. Make sure I do full loads of laundry.
I have way too much experience with commercial washers and dryers for someone of my tender years. As a result, watching a few articles of (usually white) clothing bounce around inside a washer or dryer is a frustrating use of a couple bucks. Waiting to wash darks or lights until I have a full load's worth, or close to it, saves money that is otherwise spent on absolutely nothing.
5. Think purchases through before making them.
This doesn't mean waiting weeks on end to see if you still want to buy something. That's a great way to lose out on sales. It just means having a logical reason for making every purchase, even if that purchase is a chocolate bar by the checkout counter. If you don't feel like you can defend a purchase to someone asking you why you made it, it's probably not a good idea. ("I'm worth it" isn't a defence.)
6. Don't throw out food.
This one seems simple, yet people throw out food all the time. Knowing what's in your fridge and freezer not only helps determine when you need to eat certain things but also prevents you from accidentally buying something you already have. Not letting food expire - or refusing to keep buying foods that often do, like a seldom-used salad dressing - is another way to stop spending money for nothing.
7. Take more napkins than necessary from fast-food restaurants.
This was more of a thing from my undergrad days, considering how rarely I eat fast food now. (Saving there too.) I don't see napkins as something to buy from a store. They're used for a few seconds and then discarded. Hard to justify paying for something with that quality when the place where you last bought a sandwich on the way home from work/school will do it for you. It doesn't have to result in guests knowing where you went last week, either, if you keep cloth napkins around for company and use the ones you got for free when you're by yourself.
8. Keep plastic bags from the grocery store.
I use my canvas grocery bags all the time. I own about half a dozen of them, most of them given to me for free. During big trips, when those bags are full, I'll generally get plastic bags. They've carried my track shoes to the gym/track, they've sat inside small garbage cans, and they've also been great donations to my parents for when the cat's litter needs to be cleaned out. Throwing out plastic unnecessarily isn't just horrible for the environment, it's literally throwing away something you could be using.
9. Reuse freezer bags.
Whenever they're empty, I wash them with soap and water. Then they can hold more of whatever was in them before, usually meat. Like the plastic bags above, there's no reason to throw something out that is still just as good as when you got it. The difference with freezer bags is that you actually paid for them. (For those who pay 5 cents per plastic bag at the grocery store, this still applies to you.)
10. Don't put off purchases until the last minute.
If an item you're looking to replace isn't something you only ever need one of (like a pair of shoes), there's nothing wrong with owning more than one while the original's life is fading. If said item is something you only ever need one of (like a microwave), it may be worth trading a couple extra months of life for a huge discount on the successor. Desperation doesn't come out to getting the best deal. The more time you give yourself to replace something, the more chances you give yourself to come away with a great deal.
Hopefully all that applies to everyone as much as is possible with personal finance, as much as peoples' individual circumstances vary. I've also excluded ways to make the most of credit card reward points, as I view that as more of a way to make money than to save it. All that said:
To save money, I won't...
1. Do anything that takes more time than it's worth.
Whenever I undertake a task that results in a financial net gain, I view it as though I'm performing a job. For example, if I attend a one-hour focus group and am given $50 for my efforts, I view myself as, for that hour, a $50/hr focus group attendee. That same logic is applicable in the home. If I take half an hour to make a meal that cost $2 of ingredients, provides no leftovers, and doesn't involve any creativity on my part, rather than microwave a prepackaged $4 meal, I'm essentially working as a low-level chef for $4/hr. (The difference in costs, doubled because I used half an hour as my example.) Those little ways to save money around the home could actually be short-term sub-minimum wage jobs in disguise. There are better uses of my time.
2. Cut my own hair unless I actually want a buzz cut.
For whatever reason, this one comes up frequently on frugality lists, including the men's one above. If a buzz cut is your personal style and you feel reasonably capable of doing a good job, go for it. If not, just go to a barber and fork over the cash. It's one thing to be defined by your frugality in terms of the wisdom of doing things like, say, not wantonly dumping food in the trash. It's another thing entirely to be so defined by frugality that people can tell you're frugal by looking at you. Worse yet, imagine if everyone followed this advice, resulting in the only difference in men's haircuts being measurable in small numbers. A personal style is not something I'd give up for a few bucks.
3. Compromise my clothing choices, whether for fashion or for quality.
I haven't done any formal research on this but I'm willing to guess that the average person wears clothing every day. There are so many sales on clothing from various retailers you'd think there was a world oversupply so blatant they'll have to turn the unsold items into rags. Fashion-wise, the personal style comment above applies. Wear what you'll enjoy wearing, because if you buy any reasonably good clothes they'll last for a while. Quality-wise, better clothes last longer. If a clothing item costs twice the price of a lesser counterpart but lasts at least twice as long, you aren't really paying more for it at all. Much like with the fridge and freezer example above, knowing which clothes you own is helpful so you can make the best of your durable purchases.
4. Regift.
It may seem resourceful and frugal to regift - if you're the one doing the regifting. Now imagine you're the person who bought that gift in the first place, possibly spent hours picking out just the right one, and it gets regifted. Not exactly quite so cheery anymore, are you? If someone buys you a gift, that gift is for you. It's not a proxy that waives your need to buy someone else a gift. Regifting is also less generous, as it removes the time and effort that demonstrate your care for the recipient. The only real defence for regifting is that neither the person whose gift is being shipped off nor the person who's getting a gift you didn't put any time or money into will usually end up knowing. In all, you've shown no appreciation for the time someone took to pick out a gift for you, shown no effort in shopping for someone else in your life, and justified the whole exercise by keeping both of those people in the dark. If that's how far you're willing to go to save money, I'll start hesitating before buying gifts for you at all.
A notable exception is if you truly believe something you got is absolutely perfect for someone else and the original giver agrees with you. This tends to occur more in terms of things like gift card swaps than in the giving of actual items. In this case, though, you're regifting in order to make a good faith attempt at making multiple people in your life happier, not to save money.
5. Cut up the credit card.
In addition to the aforementioned reward points, a credit card represents flexibility. I never carry a balance and view a credit card expense as though I had paid cash. Certain purchases, especially online ones, require a credit card. (One curious quirk of living in Canada versus the States is that Canadians don't have Visa debit cards.) There's also no guarantee I'll have enough cash in my wallet to cover a purchase every time I leave home. An unexpected sale at the grocery store could be out of reach but for a card sitting on the night table at home.
On that note, feel free to buy something at the grocery store that isn't on your list... as long as it's reasonably priced and you'll eat it. Handcuffing yourself doesn't make you more responsible, only less able to pounce on deals.
A few articles I've picked up today are this one by a guy, this one by a girl, this other one by the same girl saying what she won't do to save money, and this one by a different girl who makes it gender-neutral. Most of the tips are good (like harvesting seeds from your garden), some aren't so much so. One that absolutely needs mention right here is the tip at the end of the last article: that you "shop" at lost and found bins. That is something I've never seen as a money-saving tip before. It's so beyond the pale I can't justify putting it on my list of things I won't do to save money, if only because it would never have occurred to me. It's not quite as bad as forging food stamps or stealing from the Salvation Army, but it feels like it's trending toward that end of the ethical spectrum.
Before I begin with my list of ways I do and refuse to spend money, I may as well begin by saying why it's important I noted the above links by gender. Something that I had probably known but had never really realized is that I save a significant amount of money just by being a man. I have never bought makeup or feminine hygiene products (that's what they're called now, right?) in my life. If tasked to do so, I'm sure I would appear very confused to the store's employees.
Another thing that's worth mentioning is that certain tips that are great for some people simply don't work for others. For example, the biggest single way I save money is by not having a car. No purchase or lease costs, no gas, no insurance... which turns around and becomes thousands in savings, vacations, and the peace of mind to know I can treat myself to a few extras without going broke in the process. However, I understand not having a car simply isn't an option for those who don't live in urban or other eminently walkable areas. I'm sure everyone has his/her own version of this: some people don't drink, others have family and friends all nearby so they have less need to buy plane tickets, and so on. I also don't smoke, which is helpful but is pretty normal for my generation.
Here are 10 Ways I Save Money and 5 Ways I Refuse to Save Money.
To save money, I...
1. Make use of the local library, as well as free promotional e-books.
Libraries, especially campus libraries, have amazing selections of books. Books that have passed into the public domain are often available as free e-books, and many newer indie authors are releasing their books for free. Thanks to the free e-book option, I've read books as far-flung as Bleak House and Machine of Death, both of which I'd recommend. Without these resources, Book a Week may not have been possible. Although I love my home library dearly, I simply don't need to own a hard copy of every book I ever read. Moving a lot helped this decision along too. I still buy books I feel like I'll want around in paper form but I spend a lot less on books than before.
2. Use coupons mercilessly.
I know this is on everyone's list, so it's not exactly the most original thing here. It's on everyone's list for a reason. It's also a great way to buy clothes, as opposed to the horror stories of patching up holes the size of a Buick. My favourite coupon-driven purchase: a pair of running shorts, from $36 down to $2. Remember, when combining coupons, take the percentage discount before the flat dollar discount.
3. Use hotel soaps and shampoos at home.
For those who travel even semi-frequently, this is a great way to save. I honestly have difficulty recalling the last time I bought shampoo. I understand each container won't last most people almost a month like it does for me, but even so... A fringe benefit is that you get to try a bunch of different kinds.
4. Make sure I do full loads of laundry.
I have way too much experience with commercial washers and dryers for someone of my tender years. As a result, watching a few articles of (usually white) clothing bounce around inside a washer or dryer is a frustrating use of a couple bucks. Waiting to wash darks or lights until I have a full load's worth, or close to it, saves money that is otherwise spent on absolutely nothing.
5. Think purchases through before making them.
This doesn't mean waiting weeks on end to see if you still want to buy something. That's a great way to lose out on sales. It just means having a logical reason for making every purchase, even if that purchase is a chocolate bar by the checkout counter. If you don't feel like you can defend a purchase to someone asking you why you made it, it's probably not a good idea. ("I'm worth it" isn't a defence.)
6. Don't throw out food.
This one seems simple, yet people throw out food all the time. Knowing what's in your fridge and freezer not only helps determine when you need to eat certain things but also prevents you from accidentally buying something you already have. Not letting food expire - or refusing to keep buying foods that often do, like a seldom-used salad dressing - is another way to stop spending money for nothing.
7. Take more napkins than necessary from fast-food restaurants.
This was more of a thing from my undergrad days, considering how rarely I eat fast food now. (Saving there too.) I don't see napkins as something to buy from a store. They're used for a few seconds and then discarded. Hard to justify paying for something with that quality when the place where you last bought a sandwich on the way home from work/school will do it for you. It doesn't have to result in guests knowing where you went last week, either, if you keep cloth napkins around for company and use the ones you got for free when you're by yourself.
8. Keep plastic bags from the grocery store.
I use my canvas grocery bags all the time. I own about half a dozen of them, most of them given to me for free. During big trips, when those bags are full, I'll generally get plastic bags. They've carried my track shoes to the gym/track, they've sat inside small garbage cans, and they've also been great donations to my parents for when the cat's litter needs to be cleaned out. Throwing out plastic unnecessarily isn't just horrible for the environment, it's literally throwing away something you could be using.
9. Reuse freezer bags.
Whenever they're empty, I wash them with soap and water. Then they can hold more of whatever was in them before, usually meat. Like the plastic bags above, there's no reason to throw something out that is still just as good as when you got it. The difference with freezer bags is that you actually paid for them. (For those who pay 5 cents per plastic bag at the grocery store, this still applies to you.)
10. Don't put off purchases until the last minute.
If an item you're looking to replace isn't something you only ever need one of (like a pair of shoes), there's nothing wrong with owning more than one while the original's life is fading. If said item is something you only ever need one of (like a microwave), it may be worth trading a couple extra months of life for a huge discount on the successor. Desperation doesn't come out to getting the best deal. The more time you give yourself to replace something, the more chances you give yourself to come away with a great deal.
Hopefully all that applies to everyone as much as is possible with personal finance, as much as peoples' individual circumstances vary. I've also excluded ways to make the most of credit card reward points, as I view that as more of a way to make money than to save it. All that said:
To save money, I won't...
1. Do anything that takes more time than it's worth.
Whenever I undertake a task that results in a financial net gain, I view it as though I'm performing a job. For example, if I attend a one-hour focus group and am given $50 for my efforts, I view myself as, for that hour, a $50/hr focus group attendee. That same logic is applicable in the home. If I take half an hour to make a meal that cost $2 of ingredients, provides no leftovers, and doesn't involve any creativity on my part, rather than microwave a prepackaged $4 meal, I'm essentially working as a low-level chef for $4/hr. (The difference in costs, doubled because I used half an hour as my example.) Those little ways to save money around the home could actually be short-term sub-minimum wage jobs in disguise. There are better uses of my time.
2. Cut my own hair unless I actually want a buzz cut.
For whatever reason, this one comes up frequently on frugality lists, including the men's one above. If a buzz cut is your personal style and you feel reasonably capable of doing a good job, go for it. If not, just go to a barber and fork over the cash. It's one thing to be defined by your frugality in terms of the wisdom of doing things like, say, not wantonly dumping food in the trash. It's another thing entirely to be so defined by frugality that people can tell you're frugal by looking at you. Worse yet, imagine if everyone followed this advice, resulting in the only difference in men's haircuts being measurable in small numbers. A personal style is not something I'd give up for a few bucks.
3. Compromise my clothing choices, whether for fashion or for quality.
I haven't done any formal research on this but I'm willing to guess that the average person wears clothing every day. There are so many sales on clothing from various retailers you'd think there was a world oversupply so blatant they'll have to turn the unsold items into rags. Fashion-wise, the personal style comment above applies. Wear what you'll enjoy wearing, because if you buy any reasonably good clothes they'll last for a while. Quality-wise, better clothes last longer. If a clothing item costs twice the price of a lesser counterpart but lasts at least twice as long, you aren't really paying more for it at all. Much like with the fridge and freezer example above, knowing which clothes you own is helpful so you can make the best of your durable purchases.
4. Regift.
It may seem resourceful and frugal to regift - if you're the one doing the regifting. Now imagine you're the person who bought that gift in the first place, possibly spent hours picking out just the right one, and it gets regifted. Not exactly quite so cheery anymore, are you? If someone buys you a gift, that gift is for you. It's not a proxy that waives your need to buy someone else a gift. Regifting is also less generous, as it removes the time and effort that demonstrate your care for the recipient. The only real defence for regifting is that neither the person whose gift is being shipped off nor the person who's getting a gift you didn't put any time or money into will usually end up knowing. In all, you've shown no appreciation for the time someone took to pick out a gift for you, shown no effort in shopping for someone else in your life, and justified the whole exercise by keeping both of those people in the dark. If that's how far you're willing to go to save money, I'll start hesitating before buying gifts for you at all.
A notable exception is if you truly believe something you got is absolutely perfect for someone else and the original giver agrees with you. This tends to occur more in terms of things like gift card swaps than in the giving of actual items. In this case, though, you're regifting in order to make a good faith attempt at making multiple people in your life happier, not to save money.
5. Cut up the credit card.
In addition to the aforementioned reward points, a credit card represents flexibility. I never carry a balance and view a credit card expense as though I had paid cash. Certain purchases, especially online ones, require a credit card. (One curious quirk of living in Canada versus the States is that Canadians don't have Visa debit cards.) There's also no guarantee I'll have enough cash in my wallet to cover a purchase every time I leave home. An unexpected sale at the grocery store could be out of reach but for a card sitting on the night table at home.
On that note, feel free to buy something at the grocery store that isn't on your list... as long as it's reasonably priced and you'll eat it. Handcuffing yourself doesn't make you more responsible, only less able to pounce on deals.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
This Week's Book: Haunted
So I finally read a book by the vaunted Chuck Palahniuk, perhaps best known for the film rendition of Fight Club. (Yes, I've at least seen that. I am, however, a unique and special snowflake.) Haunted was a fun read - I liked the pacing and the angle.
December 2-8: Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
Horror (2005 - 411 pp.)
The premise of Haunted is an interesting one: a whole ton of writers on a retreat that consists of being locked in a building for three months. They make the best of the time, if that's what you consider slowly killing each other and themselves. Most have names in some way related to their conditions, like the lip-free Baroness Frostbite or the psychic Countess Foresight. Each tells a sordid, twisted back story through a strategically placed vignette. These stories, interspersed with poems about the characters, sit between the twenty-four chapters.
The book is at the same time hilarious, scary and disturbing. My favourite story is "The Nightmare Box", which on its own could have been the premise for an entire collection of stories. My least favourite is "Obsolete", which didn't present anything I found particularly gripping and was one of the longest to boot. The book's funniest quotation comes about halfway through: "You could put Mahatma Gandhi into a convent, cut off his nuts, shoot him full of Demerol, and he'd still take a shot at your face if you played him that 'Wind Beneath Your Wings' song." (186-187) (For those interested in reading this book, this is in no way spoiled. When you see it in context, you'll hopefully double over just like I did.) Most of the stories are entertaining, with helpful insights into how the characters got to be who they are. There is relatively little character development during the chapters, which Palahniuk uses to focus on the horrifying character of the writers' retreat.
Amazingly, the characters know what awaits them. There's no element of kidnapping here. The book starts with the question: "If you were planning to be stranded on a desert island for three months, what would you bring along?" (6) In some ways still the kid who grew up reading choose your own adventure books, I naturally had to compile a list of my own. My suggestions appear to have been too practical for Haunted's deranged writers; not a single one had thought to bring astronaut ice cream or GORP (i.e. calorie-dense foods that won't spoil easily), a Brita filter in case the water isn't very good, lightweight synthetic outerwear to maximize the warmth-to-space ratio in the suitcase, and of course a whole ton of pens, pencils and paper. Each writer presumably took the last of those, although we curiously never see anyone writing during this retreat. It all consists of building a story. How each character builds stories is the story.
Palahniuk started on the mishmash of short stories that would eventually morph into Haunted all the way back in 1991. This was no surprise to me, as throughout the book I kept feeling like I was reading something from the '90s. Maybe Haunted would have been a more effective release 5-10 years before it came out. The strings of one-word sentences detailing how bleak the world is just didn't feel edgy anymore in 2005, for example. Regardless, I enjoyed it, and the story behind "Guts" was especially amusing considering that was one of my favourite entries.
Ease of Reading: 8
Educational Content: 2
December 2-8: Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
Horror (2005 - 411 pp.)
The premise of Haunted is an interesting one: a whole ton of writers on a retreat that consists of being locked in a building for three months. They make the best of the time, if that's what you consider slowly killing each other and themselves. Most have names in some way related to their conditions, like the lip-free Baroness Frostbite or the psychic Countess Foresight. Each tells a sordid, twisted back story through a strategically placed vignette. These stories, interspersed with poems about the characters, sit between the twenty-four chapters.
The book is at the same time hilarious, scary and disturbing. My favourite story is "The Nightmare Box", which on its own could have been the premise for an entire collection of stories. My least favourite is "Obsolete", which didn't present anything I found particularly gripping and was one of the longest to boot. The book's funniest quotation comes about halfway through: "You could put Mahatma Gandhi into a convent, cut off his nuts, shoot him full of Demerol, and he'd still take a shot at your face if you played him that 'Wind Beneath Your Wings' song." (186-187) (For those interested in reading this book, this is in no way spoiled. When you see it in context, you'll hopefully double over just like I did.) Most of the stories are entertaining, with helpful insights into how the characters got to be who they are. There is relatively little character development during the chapters, which Palahniuk uses to focus on the horrifying character of the writers' retreat.
Amazingly, the characters know what awaits them. There's no element of kidnapping here. The book starts with the question: "If you were planning to be stranded on a desert island for three months, what would you bring along?" (6) In some ways still the kid who grew up reading choose your own adventure books, I naturally had to compile a list of my own. My suggestions appear to have been too practical for Haunted's deranged writers; not a single one had thought to bring astronaut ice cream or GORP (i.e. calorie-dense foods that won't spoil easily), a Brita filter in case the water isn't very good, lightweight synthetic outerwear to maximize the warmth-to-space ratio in the suitcase, and of course a whole ton of pens, pencils and paper. Each writer presumably took the last of those, although we curiously never see anyone writing during this retreat. It all consists of building a story. How each character builds stories is the story.
Palahniuk started on the mishmash of short stories that would eventually morph into Haunted all the way back in 1991. This was no surprise to me, as throughout the book I kept feeling like I was reading something from the '90s. Maybe Haunted would have been a more effective release 5-10 years before it came out. The strings of one-word sentences detailing how bleak the world is just didn't feel edgy anymore in 2005, for example. Regardless, I enjoyed it, and the story behind "Guts" was especially amusing considering that was one of my favourite entries.
Ease of Reading: 8
Educational Content: 2
Monday, December 3, 2012
The House Embraces Millennials
Absolutely great to see for America: http://www.nj.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2012/12/houses_new_kids_on_the_block.html
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Movember
It's for a good cause and it's everywhere. Donate to help prostate cancer awareness! Compliments on the 'stache optional.
http://ca.movember.com/mospace/6455305
http://ca.movember.com/mospace/6455305
Monday, November 26, 2012
This Week's Book: Priceless
I met a couple interesting benchmarks this week. This is the first time I've started a book for Book a Week before the week in question began (I started this one on Saturday evening). I'd previously had a rule against that, but after seeing how late I could read books in the summer, why not allow this? The important thing is that fifty-second book will be read by the end of the year. The other accomplishment is that this is the earliest in the week I've completed a book. Before this, it was The Satanic Bible, finished on the Wednesday of its week.
I think I'm about done for anything behavioural this year. Interesting read.
November 25-December 1: Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value by William Poundstone
Non-Fiction (2010 - 288 pp.)
Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value adds to the growing stash of general interest material in behavioural decision theory. Much of this work is by psychologists or economists, but Priceless is by a professional writer. The best comparison would be Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. This perspective is interesting in that William Poundstone is able to report of others' theories without advancing any of his own, so his fifty-seven snippets are anecdotes about a subject rather than forays into it. The format fits the book nicely. The question the book asks is: how are prices set, and why do we keep falling for them?
The first part of the book is a recap of any book dealing with behavioural decision theory. Some of those books are referenced in this list (Thinking, Fast and Slow; Predictably Irrational) and they all have largely the same messages about phenomena like anchoring, the endowment effect, and other classic staples of the discipline. Having read a few of the articles during my education, I would recommend skipping straight to those if you already know why people will pay less for tickets than they would want in return for them.
The highlight of Priceless is the substantial material on psychophysics, a field with which I was unfamiliar prior to reading. The connection between sensory perception and physical sensation is far outside of any of the social sciences training I have received, yet it is among the most interesting psychology-related subdisciplines I could have imagined. How far does a floor need to move before someone standing on it notices? What if the person is concentrating on something else and has no idea what is about to occur? Questions like these surface in various parts ofPriceless. Their connections to marketers' pricing schemes vary. The quality of the anecdotes is universally high.
My problems with the portrayal of the ultimatum game could take up an entire entry and more. In light of this, it is too bad so much of the book considers the ultimatum game. Regardless, the ultimatum game responses make plenty of sense in a game theoretic context, with a general veto being the equivalent of a fight response in a first-entry deterrence game. The veto is not an irrational, emotional response; it is a reasoned method of threatening the proposer with punishment. Aside from this and similar issues, the constant "economists are all wrong" diatribe is worn and was never true. Chapter 9's anecdote about Maurice Allais and Milton Friedman demonstrates this quite handily. Some of the studies inPriceless leave much to be desired, but Poundstone was in no position to conduct them. Most of the studies were very interesting, though.
An enjoyable read for those interested in behavioural decision theory. Books like these make me suspect I have a streak of the dreaded homo economicus in me.
Ease of Reading: 7
Educational Content: 6
I think I'm about done for anything behavioural this year. Interesting read.
November 25-December 1: Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value by William Poundstone
Non-Fiction (2010 - 288 pp.)
Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value adds to the growing stash of general interest material in behavioural decision theory. Much of this work is by psychologists or economists, but Priceless is by a professional writer. The best comparison would be Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. This perspective is interesting in that William Poundstone is able to report of others' theories without advancing any of his own, so his fifty-seven snippets are anecdotes about a subject rather than forays into it. The format fits the book nicely. The question the book asks is: how are prices set, and why do we keep falling for them?
The first part of the book is a recap of any book dealing with behavioural decision theory. Some of those books are referenced in this list (Thinking, Fast and Slow; Predictably Irrational) and they all have largely the same messages about phenomena like anchoring, the endowment effect, and other classic staples of the discipline. Having read a few of the articles during my education, I would recommend skipping straight to those if you already know why people will pay less for tickets than they would want in return for them.
The highlight of Priceless is the substantial material on psychophysics, a field with which I was unfamiliar prior to reading. The connection between sensory perception and physical sensation is far outside of any of the social sciences training I have received, yet it is among the most interesting psychology-related subdisciplines I could have imagined. How far does a floor need to move before someone standing on it notices? What if the person is concentrating on something else and has no idea what is about to occur? Questions like these surface in various parts ofPriceless. Their connections to marketers' pricing schemes vary. The quality of the anecdotes is universally high.
My problems with the portrayal of the ultimatum game could take up an entire entry and more. In light of this, it is too bad so much of the book considers the ultimatum game. Regardless, the ultimatum game responses make plenty of sense in a game theoretic context, with a general veto being the equivalent of a fight response in a first-entry deterrence game. The veto is not an irrational, emotional response; it is a reasoned method of threatening the proposer with punishment. Aside from this and similar issues, the constant "economists are all wrong" diatribe is worn and was never true. Chapter 9's anecdote about Maurice Allais and Milton Friedman demonstrates this quite handily. Some of the studies inPriceless leave much to be desired, but Poundstone was in no position to conduct them. Most of the studies were very interesting, though.
An enjoyable read for those interested in behavioural decision theory. Books like these make me suspect I have a streak of the dreaded homo economicus in me.
Ease of Reading: 7
Educational Content: 6
Saturday, November 24, 2012
This Week's Book: The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
Probably a less engaging review this time, if only because I'm beat. This was funny.
November 18-24: The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
Satire (2007 - 312 pp.)
The Best Laid Plans is rightly organized into two parts. The first details a Liberal campaign trail in a Conservative stronghold, following an unwilling candidate with a budget of $157.23 and all of about half a dozen supporters. The second explores possibilities of what could happen if a Member of Parliament is more forthright than his peers, which is a massive understatement. The protagonist of the book is the aforementioned unlikely MP's executive assistant, who invariably becomes a pincushion of abuse.
The first part is hilarious, and is exactly what I was hoping I'd be reading. The campaign angle lends itself to all kinds of mishaps, which drag the reader through a tragicomedy of stepping in excrement, woefully unorganized meetings, and being chased by dogs during canvassing. I would be remiss in saying the second part gets too political, as this is a political satire, but that's the feeling I get. The faux-heartwarming story of the firebrand MP isn't as compelling as the campaign story. That the Conservative enemy is being fought on the basis of tax cuts, instead of a more visceral potential Liberal fear like an anti-environment or anti-labour policy, feels empty. The romance subplot between our protagonist and the riding's former Liberal candidate's granddaughter doesn't add much. I really enjoyed this book - I just felt like the climax happened halfway through.
Thanks to a non-RYM friend for the recommendation and for letting me borrow the book.
Ease of Reading: 9
Educational Content: 2
November 18-24: The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
Satire (2007 - 312 pp.)
The Best Laid Plans is rightly organized into two parts. The first details a Liberal campaign trail in a Conservative stronghold, following an unwilling candidate with a budget of $157.23 and all of about half a dozen supporters. The second explores possibilities of what could happen if a Member of Parliament is more forthright than his peers, which is a massive understatement. The protagonist of the book is the aforementioned unlikely MP's executive assistant, who invariably becomes a pincushion of abuse.
The first part is hilarious, and is exactly what I was hoping I'd be reading. The campaign angle lends itself to all kinds of mishaps, which drag the reader through a tragicomedy of stepping in excrement, woefully unorganized meetings, and being chased by dogs during canvassing. I would be remiss in saying the second part gets too political, as this is a political satire, but that's the feeling I get. The faux-heartwarming story of the firebrand MP isn't as compelling as the campaign story. That the Conservative enemy is being fought on the basis of tax cuts, instead of a more visceral potential Liberal fear like an anti-environment or anti-labour policy, feels empty. The romance subplot between our protagonist and the riding's former Liberal candidate's granddaughter doesn't add much. I really enjoyed this book - I just felt like the climax happened halfway through.
Thanks to a non-RYM friend for the recommendation and for letting me borrow the book.
Ease of Reading: 9
Educational Content: 2
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