Two more books

Not too long ago I read a couple of young adult books. I took it to another extreme this week and read a childrens book. It wasn't my fault, though. My boss was checking in some books while I was doing something else and she said, "I love this book". "What is it?", I asked.
"Click, Clack, Moo".
"Never read it".
"Well, you have to read it right now".

So I did. It was very funny. It's a kid book except for one page that is meant for the parent reading the book which in itself is hysterical because it is an integral part of the story but is over the head of kids. I enjoyed it a lot and will have to get it for my nieces.

The other book I read this week had some humor, too, and more adult themes. I picked up Discover Your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen because I was trying to find his new book, Create Your Own Economy. Library didn't have it but I thought I'd go ahead and read a book of his because I've wanted to do so. I've read stuff on his blog before and liked how he thinks.

Cowen talks about stuff that interests me (art, music, food) but I don't always agree with his ideas. Some, like trying whatever menu item sounds the worst when you're at a restaurant, rings true (I tend to go unusual instead of yuck-sounding. Cowen's belief is that restaurants are businesses and they're not going to put crap on their menus. Everything is there for a reason. Lobster shell stuffed with chicken nostrils is likely a specialty of theirs and as such, is probably really good. Stuff like roasted chicken, which you can do pretty easily at home, should be avoided at restaurants because it's unlikely to be anything special (an example of unusual sounding which I really enjoyed at a place called Symposium in Lancaster - Nuts and Berries Pork - hazelnut encrusted pork medallions with triple berry sauce; laced with Frangelica & Chambord, served with hazelnut & blueberry ravioli. Man that was good).

Other things, like not completing books and movies because you can get the gist of them from just part and can thus spend ninety minutes watching half an hour of three movies instead of all of one, I just didn't care for in the least.

Cowen also talks about what our true incentives are and how to uncover them. He feels that we are unduly influenced by appearances and will like things that are popular rather than trying to truly get to what we actually like (in the case of art and music, for example).

Again, somewhat interesting stuff but nothing earth-shattering enough for me to suggest you run out and read it.