The Science of Good & Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow The Golden Rule by Michael Shermer

This is Shermer’s third book in his pseudo-trilogy, the first two of which were Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe. The first book was an interesting look at people who believe in UFOs, witches, holocaust denial, and other, well, weird things. The second got more into the nature of belief from a scientific and social point of view.

This one takes on morality and suggests an evolutionary basis for doing good. It’s a good, sound dissertation on the topic.

And, as always, he has lots of interesting side stories, studies and statistics. One bit I’ll bring out because it gave me a jolt:

Consider that, according to polls, 95% of the citizens of the United States believe in God. Elsewhere, I read that Agnostics and Athiests account for about 0.9%.

And consider this excerpt:

A 1999 Gallup poll… When asked, “If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be an X would you vote for that person?” (with X representing Catholic, Jew, Baptist, Mormon, black, homosexual, woman and athiest), while six of the eight received more than 90 percent approval, only 59 percent would vote for a homosexual and less than half, 49 percent, would vote for an athiest.

That means I belong to a group that is more of a minority than homosexuals, blacks, hispanics, jews, and Asians. Roughly on a par with Native Americans and Alaska natives. In addition, we’re more mistrusted than all of the traditionally villified groups in the U.S. (They didn’t put terrorists on the poll, but I’m confident we’d have a better chance at the White House than Osama. Maybe.)

For the first time in my life as a white, heterosexual, middle class male from the midwest, I believe I might qualify for some sort of Affirmative Action.

I’m writing my congressperson.

Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

This is not technically a book I’ve read, but rather one I’ve abandoned on page 59.

There are often books I set aside and come back to later.

But it is extremely rare that I come across one like this one, where I have no intention of coming back to try it again. Although I may be betraying a lack of intelligence or sophistication, I find it unreadable and uninteresting. To be fair, the person who recommended it to me said it was a bit chaotic, likening it to James Joyce. I’ve never read James Joyce, so that didn’t serve as much of a warning.

Also, the book has things I can’t much abide by: dream sequences. I almost universally hate dream sequences. I hate them in movies, tv shows and books. I’m not even crazy about hearing about people’s dreams, unless they involve me and/or sex. When this book isn’t describing a dream sequence in stream-of-consciousness, it is telling the actual story in a dreamlike stream-of-consciousness. Yuck.

So that’s that. Anyone want a book?

The Shakespeare Miscellany by David Crystal and Ben Crystal

Stacey picked this book up in New Jersey, thinking it might make a good addition to the Georgia Shakespeare bookstore.

It’s random, but interesting. Basically, a bunch of facts, stories and quotes about Shakespeare in no discernable order. In fact, I’d say some were out of order, giving facts that were needed to understand other facts after the fact, so to speak.

Many, many tidbits that I will probably never remember, but enjoyed hearing at the time.

If you see it at the Georgia Shakespeare bookstore, buy it!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

I read this book. I liked it.

And that’s all the spoilers I’ll make.

Investment Fables: Exposing the Myths of “Can’t Miss” Investment Strategies by Aswath Damodaran

Aswath Damodaran is a professor at NYU. He writes very accessible books on investing and valuation, and makes several of them available for free on the internet as well as streaming videos of his lectures. This book is not available online, but it’s part of the Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommended reading list. There were all sorts of good tidbits of information here and he does a good job of demonstrating why a lot of stupid strategies are, in fact, stupid. At the same time, he points out ways in which the strategies could be modified to be effective. For example, instead of just investing in low P/E stocks, look for low P/E stocks with a few other character traits that will help you to avoid stocks that are low for a reason.

There was one bit that bothered me so much that I dog-eared the page. From page 439, which relates to aribitrage strategies:

Third, even if the information is correct and investors, on average, form expectations properly, there might still be investors who are willing to trade a prices that do not reflect these expectations. Thus, an investor who assesses the value of a stock to be $50 might still be willing to buy at $60, because he or she believes that it can be sold to someone else for $75 later. Investors who see this irrationality and are willing to bet on it or against it may be able to make higher returns in the long term. This presumably is what successful investors like Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch bring to the process.

I was fine with it up until the last sentence. What on earth was he talking about? Both Buffett and Lynch were famous for not buying something for more than it was worth and hoping someone else will buy it still higher. They ridicule other people for doing it.

I can only assume this is a typo, because the rest of the book is spot on.

The Cartoon History of the Universe II by Larry Gonick

I love this series. I’ve now read all three books, so theoretically I should know everything about the history of the universe. I don’t, but at least I was entertained, and picked up a bit or two.

But the main thing on my mind is a convergence of facts. I’ve noticed that once I learn a new word, I suddenly start to see and hear the word everywhere. It’s spooky, but I chalk it up to skewed perception.

But what’s odd is that the past three books I’ve been reading over the last month all have mentioned or involved the caste system of historic India. Before these three books, I really knew nothing of the Indian caste system. Hadn’t really heard of it, though I am aware that most societies have classes of sorts, and some are more formal than others.

In Lamb by Christopher Moore, The Cartoon History II by Larry Gonick and The Confusion: Volume Two of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson, major plot points of these books take place in India, and detail the caste system:

1. Brahmans (priests)
2. Kshatriyas (warriors)
3. Vaisyas (farmers/merchants)
4. Sudras (laborers)

Because this society believes in reincarnation and kharma, a person never leaves the caste they are born into in his or her life. It is assumed that if they are born into a higher caste, they did a good job in their former life and deserve their new position. No upward mobility here.

What’s more, I’ve been reading The Confusion off and on for over a year now. But I didn’t get to the part of the book that takes place in India until a few days after I’d finished Lamb and Cartoon History!

At least the fourth book I am reading right now, Investment Fables by Aswath Damodaran, won’t bring up the Indian caste system.

Wait a minute! ASWATH DAMODARAN IS INDIAN! Aaaaaah!

(cue twilight zone music)

Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

This is a darn fine Moore book. He writes amusing mind-candy, and this one is pretty tasty.

Jesus knew Kung-Fu! Awesome! And I love the idea that God created Man because Angels were… well, stupid.

So, now I’ve read all the C. Moore books but:

The Stupidest Angel : A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
Bloodsucking Fiends: a Love Story