I thought this was an interesting comparison to make concerning professions. It does a good job showing that cheating goes on in all areas of life, no matter how unlikely it may seem to be. The incentives that they talk about would be referred to as external justification for actions in The Social Animal. I did actually learn something from that book.
The only problem I had with this section was the idea of the bagel dude displayed at the end of the chapter: most people are basically good. In The Social Animal, that author also expressed the same feelings, that people are generally, or naturally, good. This is completely contrary to a book that is a little more truthful than any I'll be reading in the future, which tells us that every single person is sinful from birth. The idea that people are naturally good is completely backwards. Data may prove (like the 87% of people pay for bagels) that people are generally good, but how did they get this way? They definitely didn't come out of the womb being pleasant and respectful. You could say that it was the parents that made the child generally good (possibly by passing on Christianity) with their superior parenting techniques (this could very well be discussed later in this book, not sure yet). So all I'm saying is that I don't side with Socrates or Paul Feldman, bagel selling extraordinaire, that people are generally good.
Ku Klux Klan Similar To A Group Of Real-Estate Agents: Information Asymmetry
This was another interesting chapter. There's some pretty funny parts about the KKK in the chapter I enjoyed. I kinda got the feeling after two chapters that the authors were somewhat of pessimistic guys warning against all different sorts of conspiracies, but I realize that this kind of stuff undoubtedly does happen more than I know of or would like to think. They use a lot of interesting stories and statistics to convey their theme of each chapter. I'm looking forward to read why drug dealers live with their mommies. My guess, their moms really enjoy dancing with Mary Jane and don't want their providers o far. Not using their paper for writin', but for rollin' doobies.
Why Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms: Crack
Turns out I was off with Mary Jane, its cocaine that draws in the dough. The story he starts with was very well told and easy to read. There are also some funny parts in this part of the book too. I like how everything preceding this chapter starts to fit in, opposed to my earlier thought that this book was going to be a bunch of odd parallels between different groups of people. They do a good job of creating a sense of eagerness to learn how all these things correlate with one another.
Where Have All The Criminals Gone?: Abortion
In this chapter the authors claim that the biggest reason for the decline in crime in the 1990s is legalized abortion. While reading the bulk of the chapter it was pretty obvious that that was the solution being presented (along with the introduction including the Roe v. Wade story). I also obviously disagreed with that being a good solution to reducing crime, thinking that was what the authors were going to endorse. Contrary to my thinking, the authors distance themselves, as they has been doing in previous chapters, from conveying their personal opinion. They give the reader the information and allow you to process it in whatever way you choose. So far this book has proved to be an interesting source of, as the cover of the book plainly states, "exploring the hidden side of everything".
What Makes A Perfect Parent: Schooling
This chapter was a bit dull for me. The several statistics that were rattled off from one set of school data were a bit boring and repetitive for me. There were a few key points that seemed to be worthwhile, like the difference between casualty and correlation. Basically all I took from the section was that a child's intelligence comes more from heredity and the way parents are than their actual parenting skills. The only books that I'd consider necessary when raising a child are books regarding the baby's health. I won't spend a dime on any one's opinion on how to mold my child into a certain figure.
A Roshanda By Any Other Name: Names
All the name statistics were interesting and fun to look at, especially the Shuh Teed mishap. Once I got to the end of the book, I really enjoyed the epilogue. I thought this was an excellent ending to the book. The epilogue stated what I was pretty much thinking throughout the entire book, that all of these statistics are nice (in my opinion somewhat trivial) possibilities, but they can't determine what an individual will turn out to be. They stress the "random factor" (or as we call it, GOD). The Unabomber reference was great (I did actually have to look up who Ted Kaczynski was again). It wraps up the book by again sayin that the point of the book is to ask question, which is a good skill to have.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book. It wasn't my favorite book I've ever read (sorry Strusz), but it was good.
TOTAL READING TIME: 17 hr.
Page: Complete 207 Pages
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