Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Clever Econ, Vonnegut vs. Bush, Hershey Empire: New Paperbacks

By Edward Nawotka

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Your typical street thug can expect to be shot twice, arrested six times and have a one in four chance of being killed, in exchange for an average wage of less than $10 an hour.

An altogether better idea, writes Tim Harford in his fascinating book ``The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, Why the Poor Are Poor -- and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!'' (Random House), would be to join a crime syndicate. Organized crime tends to eschew casual violence, and by involving itself in legitimate businesses is a more sustainable and, consequently, more profitable proposition.

The ``Dear Economist'' columnist for the Financial Times, Harford applies Economics 101 concepts of supply and demand, and competition and efficiency, to explain the economics of everyday life and, among other things, how buying coffee from Starbucks increases U.S. imports, which consequently affects the trade deficit, potentially leading to long-term interest-rate increases, which may jeopardize economic growth.

Much like Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's popular ``Freakonomics,'' Harford manages to simultaneously entertain as well as edify with a string of ``who knew?'' revelations.

Other highlights this month include:

``Arthur & George'' by Julian Barnes (Vintage). The acclaimed English writer's most recent book is one of his best: The fictionalization of a true-life case in which author Arthur Conan Doyle rose to the defense of George Edalji, a half Scots, half-Indian lawyer wrongfully convicted of terrorizing his local farm community by writing obscene letters and mutilating cattle.

``A Man Without a Country'' by Kurt Vonnegut (Random House). Octogenarian Vonnegut has made no secret of his disdain for the Bush administration and puts his ire on full display in this pithy collection of essays from the past five years, which covers the war in Iraq, creative writing, socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs and myriad other personal enthusiasms and irritants.

``Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams'' by Michael D'Antonio (Simon & Schuster). This page-turning biography of Hershey describes a benevolent corporate dictator who built his chocolate empire, Hershey Co., but found his business triumph tempered by personal tragedy.

``The Flight of the Creative Class'' by Richard Florida (HarperCollins). Florida, an economist and author of the bestseller ``The Rise of the Creative Class'' looks at why skilled workers such as financial managers and software programmers are leaving the U.S. for better paid jobs abroad and what this implies for the future of American business.

``Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead'' by Tamara Draut (Anchor). A bracing look at the economic challenges young professionals face when entering the job market and establishing careers, from paying back crippling student loans to becoming unwilling cannon fodder in generational war against their experienced, entrenched elders.

``At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68'' by Taylor Branch (Simon & Schuster). The concluding volume in Branch's magisterial trilogy documenting the civil rights movement begins with an account of the 1965 Selma marches, covers the passage of the Voting Rights Act and concludes with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

``The Diviners'' by Rick Moody (Back Bay). This half-baked satire from the author of ``The Ice Storm'' depicts a cadre of ambitious Hollywood hopefuls trying to attach themselves to a treatment for a 13-part miniseries that tracks a group of water dowsers from ancient to modern times, even after it's proven to be merely a piece of authorless, buzz-worthy nonsense.

``Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia'' by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin). Gilbert's charming, if self-indulgent, chronicle of a post- divorce, soul-searching sojourn describes how she got fat, meditated and once again fell in love.

``Apex Hides the Hurt'' by Colson Whitehead (Anchor). One of the country's most talented young novelists, Whitehead offers an engaging, albeit minor, work about a down-on-his-luck brand consultant beckoned to a rural Midwestern town in order to give it a new name: Will it be New Prospera, which reflects the town's ambition to become a hi-tech haven, or something that harks back to its origins as a utopia for freed slaves?

(Edward Nawotka is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

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