Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In this information age, it seems a shame to remain burdened by conventional wisdom or mislead by rumor. I remember having a smile of satisfaction when I first came across snopes.com, a site where rumors are researched and debunked. Finally I had a place I could point whenever someone tried to hit me over the head with another urban legend. "Be careful on your trip! You don't want to wake up in an ice bath with a kidney missing!"

"Don't worry about me! Head on over to snopes.com and I'll call you later!"

The nice thing about the Snopes was that someone did research for you. You may have known or suspected that the kidney-heist story was a little far fetched, but though we have more information available to us today than ever before, it still takes effort to effectively process that information. And depending on the data involved, it might take some real skill as well.

Freakonomics does to conventional wisdom what Snopes did to urban legends. The economists who wrote the book used techniques such as regression analysis to sort through large piles of data and made some interesting discoveries. There is isn't any theme to the topics, only that a large amount of comprehensive information happened to be available for analysis.

I certainly recommend it. The whole thing is quite interesting, it's a quick and easy read, and you're left feeling a little more insightful about the world -- perhaps less likely to take conventional wisdom at face value.

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Invoking Darkness by Jeanne Cavelos


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this series.

By the end of the third book we know just about everything there is to know of the Technomages. Galen's story remains compelling to the very end. And revisiting the conflict between the Shadows and the Vorlons was a treat. I read this final book in just a few days; I couldn't wait to see how it ended.

In my previous reviews I remarked that I wasn't sure if someone unfamiliar with the series would enjoy the books as much as a Babylon 5 fan. The reason became clear to me while reading this final book, because much more time is spent with characters that were already well established in the Babylon 5 world. Although the characters are depicted true to the series, little time is spent developing their character in the novel; it is assumed that the readers are already familiar with their histories and motivations. Specifically, we spend several chapters with John Sheridan. But an unfamiliar reader would not gain any sense at all that this was the strong, dynamic leader of the alliance, save for being told so.

Speaking of fans, there is a parallel story that gives a behind the scenes look at major events from the television series. It rounds out several scenes that required a more than healthy dose of disbelief during the television series and make the book all the more interesting.

This is must-have trilogy for Babylon 5 fans and anyone who enjoyed Galen's character in Crusade.

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Summoning Light by Jeanne Cavelos


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was paced somewhat slower than the first in the series, and the scope more narrow. Whereas the reader is invited to feel wonder and fear as Galen learns about himself and his world in the first novel, this second book is filled with a bit drudgery. There was also a lot of introspection, which served to further weight down the story.

I've often thought that one the things that drew people to the Harry Pottery series was the constant sense of wonder and discovery. In fact, I suppose this is actually a characteristic of most good fantasy. Fiction spares us from the daily tedium that grinds wonder into the mundane.

I did enjoy this novel: It's not written poorly by any stretch, the prose flows well enough. And I love the idea of the Techo-Mages, the Shadows, and the Vorlons. --Reading this trilogy is a return to my favorite themes in the Babylon 5 world.

But to be sure, it's not as good as the first. And I'm still unsure if people other than a Babylon 5 viewers would enjoy the story as much as fans.

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Here's what my most recent book binge looked like. This round is a little light on the fiction and heavier on good intention.

I've been guilty in the past of buying books that sounded like a good idea at the time, and then never reading them. I hope not to make that mistake again by taking a page from Dawn's reading habits and not dwelling too much on a book, not reading it as though there will be a quiz later. There isn't any reason, for example, to read the acknowledgments, or the edition's preface, or even the introduction unless you're really that interested. It isn't necessary to dwell on "filler" content when you come across it, for fear of missing some life changing nugget of knowledge.

I remember when my lung collapsed for the first time. I was in college and missed two or three weeks of classes. Ordinarily I would have simply canceled my classes for that semester. Unfortunately I had just canceled the previous semester of classes due to the drama of moving out of my parent's house and living on my own for the first time. I forget the details, but dropping a second semester of classes would have gotten me kicked out of the honors program or some such thing. So I went to each of my teachers, told them why I'd been out, and asked if I could try to catch up. One of the classes I was taking at the time was Calculus, which brings me to the point of this story. I read the stupid thing like it was a fiction book instead of a reference. (Though I did get end up getting a 'B'.)

Anyway, I'm curious to see if I actually make it through the negotiating book and two grammar books. I think I will though; they're written by the same people that write the Grammar Girl podcast, which I enjoy a lot. --In fact if you listen to podcasts, I can recommend this one to you. It's produced well and very educational. I could do without the sponsor announcement every single episode, especially sine they're rather short, but that's my only complaint.



Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In


Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)


Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (Quick & Dirty Tips)


Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking


Emotional Intelligence 2.0


What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character


Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose



Darkness at Sethanon

Casting Shadows by Jeanne Cavelos



I was so pleasantly surprised by this novel! On several occasions I laughed out loud or proclaimed, "Oh no!" And I don't think I can give a novel any higher praise than that.

I stumbled across Casting Shadows while doing a search on Amazon for the Babylon 5 spin-off Crusade. I was looking for reviews after watching Crusade because it was so terrible; I was curious if others thought it as bad as I did. While reading those reviews I saw an ad for this book.

Though I didn't like the series, I was intrigued with the idea of the Techno-Mages while watching Crusade. In fact Galen and the Techno-Mages were the only thing I really enjoyed about the series, and so my curiosity was piqued. When I also saw how many good reviews had been posted for this book, I reluctantly decided to give it a try.

The book was a quick, easy read, and well written. In fact, I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed all the characters, and fans of Babylon 5 will find the Babylon 5 universe faithfully reproduced.

Casting Shadows tells the story of Techno-Mages leading up to the Shadow War. Those familiar with Crusade will recognize the main character Galen right away. The novel follows him as he completes his training and becomes a Techno-Mage in his own right.

My only disappointment as I write this is that the next novel in the series hasn't arrived yet in the mail. Sadly these books are out of print and so I've had to order them used. I don't mind ordering used books at all, but book dealers seem to recognize that they can squeeze the fans for a little extra cash here. I paid about $10 a piece for the 1st and 3rd book. For the second book I shelled out $25.

I think Babylon 5 fans will love this book; I highly recommend it. I don't know if those unfamiliar with the Babylon 5 story will enjoy it quite as much, though I do think it stands on it's own and is a good read regardless.

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