I have fallen horribly behind on my reading – it looks unlikely that I will read 50 books before the year’s end; however, I will strive to read as much as I can between hospital shifts and training runs.
Book #5: Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide by: Hal Higdon; pages: 256.
Book #6: Freakonomics by: Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner; pages: 242.
Book #7: Devil in the White City by: Erik Larson; pages: 447.
I had read Higdon’s Marathon two years ago while considering training for the London Marathon of 2005. I revisited the book a few weeks into training for the Portland Marathon (I’ve been blogging about my progress with this on my running blog). Much of the focus is on injury prevention, which I can appreciate.
Freakonomics is a fascinating book that demonstrates, with raw data, some startling findings, such as a correlation with the drop in violent crime and the implementation of legalized abortions following Roe v. Wade; numbers demonstrating that realtors get more money for their own homes than for those of their clients; and evidence that children may not benefit from being read to by their parents.
Devil in the White City was one of the most interesting books I’ve encountered in quite some time. The author very effectively juxtaposes the construction of the Chicago World’s Fair (Columbian Exposition) of 1893 with the violence created by H.H. Holmes, America’s first known serial killer. I’m highly recommending this one.
Stats:
- 143/365 – 39.17% of 2006 complete
- Books Read – 7/50 – 14.0%
- Pages Read – 1343/15000 – 8.95%
Good reading topics. One thing I have learned over time is becareful with correlation analysis. Did you know that the Rsquared for the correlation between the decrease of pirates and global warming is slightly over .94?
The joys of having a masters in finance and economics is we can prove anything with numbers! LOL
Still your point is well taken and I think it reflects the decrease in values especially in matters relating to life.
Enjoy your reading and vacation!
Actually, if I recall correctly, the goal was to prove not just correlation, but causation for each of the several topics they covered. There was a section in the book where they explained the distinction and their methodology for proving causation.
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