Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

I first encountered Freakonomics in a Wall Street Journal book review. It sounded quite enticing, and I was overjoyed when I discovered my roommate at camp had a copy of it. The book completely held up to my expectations, and I learned so much. If only every book were like that.

Basically, Freakonomics is a slightly random compilation of socioeconomic studies conducted by the two authors. They run the gamut from real estate to abortions, from cheating teachers to trends in baby names. I'm a bit nomenclatural, in that I love to name things, and so given names have always fascinated me. The study detailed in the book explained how names for new babies start at the top of the socioeconomic ladder and work their way down, until even the poorest parents discard them as too low-sounding. The authors presented a list of the names mothers with the most years of schooling gave their children recently- Linden, Finnegan, Emma, Maeve, Marie-Claire, Sophie, Aidan, Bennett, and Harper, to name a few. They postulated that these will be rampant amongst all income brackets and educational levels by 2015.

It is encouraging to see skills taught in school actually put to practical use. The authors have been described as being what every kid majoring in economics aspires to be. I hope a few more pop up. I can't get enough of this sort of information. All math should be like this- practical, and entertaining.

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Aliens crash-land in England and wreak havoc on the countryside, leaving the citizens scurrying for their lives, until a common virus sabotages the aliens' immune system and obliterates them.

War of the Worlds was not incredible. The narrative was rather detached, and lacking in scope. I did not get the impression the aliens attacked anything outside of England, so it was not really a "world" war. Even though the story was told in the first person, it felt entirely impersonal. I was frustrated. The Time Machine was enjoyable, original, and thought-provoking, but War of the Worlds just seemed like a prolonged drama with a convenient little plot twist at the end.

Overall, I was quite bored with the whole thing. It took some stamina for me to get through it. Wells should have embellished the story, fleshed it out into something more substantial. As it is, it was a great concept, but a disappointing execution.