Freakonomics, Quirkology and Microtrends

Do these three books ever compliment each other! I certainly didn't want to be the last person on earth to read Freakonomics, which is a fascinating marriage of intrigue and data mining. The authors put forth such ideas such as that abortion in the 70s lead to a drop in crime in the 90s; that there is something to your first and how cheating teachers in Chicago were uncovered with an algorithm. My favourite part was the chapter devoted to crack gangs - apparently they are run in almost the same manner as pyramid schemes.

Quirkology was in much the same vein, but more fun and funny, as Richard Wiseman shares some of his own studies as well as famous studies on human behaviour, from financial astrololgy to finding the world's funniest joke. That last one was definitely the best chapter. Of interest to me was a brief couple pages on the types of greeting cards that people buy :-) It's all about the quirky questions in life that scientists set out to prove.

Microtrends rounds out this trifecta. It's almost encyclopedic in nature, devoting a few pages each to such topics as pro-Semites, the stained glass ceiling, extreme commuters and new Luddites. This book uncovers the little things that could become the next big thing as society advances.

Hmm...

I wonder if this recent Penny Arcade strip was inspired by a gotcha from the movie On the Beach. The movie was rather unremarkable in some regards, but that moment was a good one!