Yes, your friends are more popular than you. They are also having more fun than you. And people care more about what your friends think than about what you think. They are also more likely to dress like your friends and act like your friends. But don’t despair. There is nothing you can do about it. Matthew Jackson explains why in The Human Network: How Your Social Position Determines Your Power, Beliefs, and Behaviors. The book is an explanation of network theory—how … [Read more...] about Choose Your Friends Wisely
Life Advice
Outsmarting Economists
Sometimes a book title seems very, very promising. Can You Outsmart an Economist? 100+ Puzzles to Train Your Brain is such a title. Economics! Puzzles! Together in one place! I really wanted to love this book. I mean I really, really, really wanted to love this book. Sigh. It’s good, not great. Oddly, with a different title, I think I would have liked it more. Then again, with a different title, I don’t think I would have ever read it. The problem: there isn’t very much … [Read more...] about Outsmarting Economists
The Golden Rule Redux
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar said that. According to his son, Tom, it is the most famous of all Zig Ziglar quotes. It’s an upbeat and memorable rephrasing of Adam Smith’s key insight into how an economy works. But, Ziglar isn’t talking about theoretical economics; he wants to sell you an idea. Before his death in 2012, Ziglar had become one of the more famous motivational speakers, the type of speaker … [Read more...] about The Golden Rule Redux
Quite a Little Fellow
"Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand bringing them about yourself? You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!" That is Gandalf talking to Bilbo at the end of The Hobbit. First things first, if you don’t know about Gandalf or Bilbo or … [Read more...] about Quite a Little Fellow
The Personal is Not Political
“The personal is political” is easily one of the most pernicious claims made in the history of political thought. Rather impressively, it simultaneously degrades both political thought and personal life. Are you defined by your politics? Sadly, far too many people go off to college and are taught that their fundamental identity as a person is nothing more than the set of political beliefs they espouse. It is quite tragic. Philip Roth explores this matter in the novel I Married a … [Read more...] about The Personal is Not Political
A Failed Life?
From the first page of John Williams’ Stoner, we know this is the tale of a failure. Not a Grand Failure whose failures are in any way noteworthy. Just the routine kind of failure where nothing in life ever really works out very well and then after death nobody ever thinks about the person again. Lest you be worried that this review contains spoilers, this is all on the first page of the story of William Stoner. He did not rise above the rank of assistant professor, and few students … [Read more...] about A Failed Life?