Thugrade

I'm comparing the colorful photographs of Worldwide and OG on Facebook, and the gushing coverage in the local newspaper of the Triangle's Annual Gay Pride Parade with the decision of the Serbian government to cancel the planned parade in Belgrade this weekend in the interests of the safety of shopkeepers and public safety. I don't know the whole story, but I reserve the right to reject the decision unequivocally.

September Books

The full list for 2013 is here. Cowen's book is my favorite among this month's titles, but I enjoyed the Liebling (Hat tip Master P) and will visit more of his work.

Word Freak:Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players, Stefan Fatsis

Stefan Fatsis, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and National Public Radio regular, recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble players while exploring the game's strange, potent hold over them—and him.
Scrabble might truly be called America's game. More than two million sets are sold every year and at least thirty million American homes have one. But the game's most talented competitors inhabit a sphere far removed from the masses of "living room players." Theirs is a surprisingly diverse subculture whose stars include a vitamin-popping standup comic; a former bank teller whose intestinal troubles earn him the nickname "G.I. Joel"; a burly, unemployed African American from Baltimore's inner city; the three-time national champion who plays according to Zen principles; and Fatsis himself, who we see transformed from a curious reporter to a confirmed Scrabble nut.
He begins by haunting the gritty corner of a Greenwich Village park where pickup Scrabble games can be found whenever weather permits. His curiosity soon morphs into compulsion, as he sets about memorizing thousands of obscure words and fills his evenings with solo Scrabble played on his living room floor. Before long he finds himself at tournaments socializing—and competing—with Scrabble's elite.
But this book is about more than hardcore Scrabblers, for the game yields insights into realms as disparate as linguistics, psychology, and mathematics. Word Freak extends its reach even further, pondering the light Scrabble throws on such notions as brilliance, memory, competition, failure, and hope. It is a geography of obsession that celebrates the uncanny powers locked in all of us. This edition includes a new 2013 afterword by the author.

Note: The key to being good at competitive Scrabble is knowing all the allowable words of 2-4 letters, playing strategically and finding bingos. It also seems to require a touch of madness. Enjoyable throughout, though a trifle long.

Tales from Ovid, Ted Hughes

When Michael Hofmann and James Lasdun's ground-breaking anthology After Ovid (also Faber) was published in 1995, Hughes's three contributions to the collective effort were nominated by most critics as outstanding. He had shown that rare translator's gift for providing not just an accurate account of the original, but one so thoroughly imbued with his own qualities that it was as if Latin and English poetwere somehow the same person. Tales from Ovid, which went on to win the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, continued the project of recreation with 24 passages, including the stories of Phaeton, Actaeon, Echo and Narcissus, Procne, Midas and Pyramus and Thisbe. In them, Hughes's supreme narrative and poetic skills combine to produce a book that stands, alongside his Crow and Gaudete, as an inspired addition to the myth-making of our time.

Note: Not sure that verse adds anything to my favorite stories. Perhaps the opposite. Call me a rube, but I prefer Robert Graves.

How to Write for Children: And Get Published, Louise Jordan

Huge numbers of people want to write for children, but it is notoriously difficult to find a publisher in this increasingly competitive area. This inspiring and practical guide from acknowledged expert on children's publishing, Louise Jordan, offers the very latest information on market trends and gives valuable advice on: developing your ideas, themes and style; presenting proposals and manuscripts; approaching publishers and agents; and what you need to know once your book has been accepted for publication. Children's publishing has its own set of rules and demands, but this helpful guide will show you how to make your work stand out from the crowd and appeal to commissioning editors, and, of course, your intended audience.

Note: Do it well. Know the market. Be persistent.

Ecological Imperialism:The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900, Alfred Crosby.

People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world--North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain because in many cases they were achieved by using firearms against spears. Alfred Crosby, however, explains that the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his classic work and again evaluates the ecological reasons for European expansion. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the widely popular and ground-breaking books,The Measure of Reality (Cambridge, 1996), and America's Forgotten Pandemic (Cambridge, 1990). His books have received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Medical Writers Association Prize and been named by the Los Angeles Times as among the best books of the year. He taught at the University of Texas, Austin for over 20 years

Note: Focus on the middle part of the guns, germs and steel troika. A little dry, but useful perspective on the creation of mini-europes around the world. Less about the other part of the exchange, but the flow of germs seems to have been largely one directional.

The Tyranny of E-mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox, John Freeman.

John Freeman is one of America’s pre-eminent literary critics; now in this, his first book, he presents an elegant and erudite investigation into a technology that has revolutionized the way we work, communicate, and even think.

There’s no question that email is an explosive phenomenon. The first email, developed for military use, was sent less than forty years ago; by 2011, there will be 3.2 billion users. The average corporate employee now receives upwards of 130 emails per day; by 2009 that number is expected to reach nearly 200. And the flood of messages is ceaseless: for increasing numbers of people, email means work now occupies home time as well as office hours.

Drawing extensively on the research of linguists, behavioral scientists, cultural critics, and philosophers, Freeman examines the way email is taking a mounting toll on a variety of behavior, reducing time for leisure and contemplation, despoiling subtlety and expression in language, and separating us from each other in the unending and lonely battle with the overfull inbox. He enters a plea for communication which is slower, more nuanced, and, above all, more sociable.

Note: People spend too much time informing themselves and others about unnecessary details. There is a sinister side of email that undermines personal and organizational productivity. Don't send, if possible; check only twice a day (never at the beginning or end of the day); and consider alternative media.

Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, AJ Liebling.

The author shares his memories of Paris in 1926 and 1927 when he was a student there and describes French cuisine, customs, and urban life

Note: Like a cross between "A Movable Feast" and that show on Food Network where that annoying guy with the spiky hair visits diners; and I mean this as both compliment and criticism. Easy to read.

Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation, Tyler Cowen

The widening gap between rich and poor means dealing with one big, uncomfortable truth: If you’re not at the top, you’re at the bottom.

The global labor market is changing radically thanks to growth at the high end—and the low. About three quarters of the jobs created in the United States since the great recession pay only a bit more than minimum wage. Still, the United States has more millionaires and billionaires than any country ever, and we continue to mint them.

In this eye-opening book, renowned economist and bestselling author Tyler Cowen explains that phenomenon: High earners are taking ever more advantage of machine intelligence in data analysis and achieving ever-better results. Meanwhile, low earners who haven’t committed to learning, to making the most of new technologies, have poor prospects. Nearly every business sector relies less and less on manual labor, and this fact is forever changing the world of work and wages. A steady, secure life somewhere in the middle—average—is over.

With The Great Stagnation, Cowen explained why median wages stagnated over the last four decades; in Average Is Over he reveals the essential nature of the new economy, identifies the best path forward for workers and entrepreneurs, and provides readers with actionable advice to make the most of the new economic landscape. It is a challenging and sober must-read but ultimately exciting, good news. In debates about our nation’s economic future, it will be impossible to ignore.

Note: Never boring predictions about the future from my favorite economics blogger: get ready for greater inequality and machine assisted living; make sure your children are comfortable with technology if you want them to succeed.

Piperade

Last Saturday, the red peppers were in, and everyone was buying sacks of them to make ajvar. When I came upon this situation 15 years ago in Skopje, I decided to buy one pepper to see what all the fuss was about, and the seller treated me with disdain: "One pepper," she sneered, taking a break from doling out orders of multiple kilograms.

My friend's father used to always ask me to tell that story when we came over to her house for dinner: he never failed to be amused by the idea of buying a single pepper.

So, mindful of this transgression, I bought half a dozen last Saturday, along with a kilo of tomatoes. Nobody said a word and I returned home with my dignity intact.

Except I forgot about them, and yesterday I found myself with an abundance of vegetables in the fridge that weren't getting any younger; so I decided to make some piperade. I had planned to serve it alonsgide some lamb chops or chicken, but the weather was so miserable yesterday that I spent the day indoors, and chose instead, to serve it over boiled potatoes. I'll do the same tonight with the leftovers, over rice or pasta, and this site has lots of other idea.

Piperade

Peel and dice six tomatoes (take off the stem, cut an X in the other side, put them in boiling water for ten seconds, and then into a bowl of ice water. When they have cooled, the skins can be easily pulled off). Heat some olive oil in a pan, and add some prosciutto, chopped. When it has crisped up, remove it with a slotted spoon and reserve. Add 2 medium onions, chopped and saute until they are translucent. Add 2 cloves of garlic, minced, 2 tbs smoked paprika, a pinch of red pepper flakes and 3 red peppers, diced. Add prosciutto, salt and tomatoes (you could use canned and no-one would notice). Simmer for ten minutes.

Change Management

At home, we don't use a lot of cash--most transactions are plastic--but we do occasionally, and the change builds up on my dresser, where Worldwide periodically dumps her numismatic detritus. Every so often I go on a change management kick to clear it off, using cash for smaller purchases. People always look at you funny when you give them exact change, as if you are putting them out by making them slot all those coins into the four different bins in the register; as a result, I never use more than four pennies, or coins totaling more than a dollar--I'm not a sociopath for crying out loud. The automatic checkouts at the supermarket are great for this, as they are one of the few machines that accept pennies, and you don't have to interact with a human. I'll sometimes go to the Harris Teeter in the middle of the night and patiently use a jar of change to pay for an order of groceries.

OK, that was a joke; I don't obsess over it. But it is a little game I can play, where I win when I have a neat stack of quarters on my dresser for the air pump at the neighborhood gas station. Thanks to modern technology I no longer need them for parking, or on I-95.

But people in the WC do obsess over change. There are 80 denars to the dollar, and bills run from 10,20,50,100,200,500,1000,2000; coins 1,2,5. Cash machines dispense 1,000s  and 2,000s (although a select few also have 500s) and if you give a cashier at the supermarket a 1,000 note for an order that totals 821 denars, she will ask you if you have 21 denars and check your wallet as you look, suspicious that you are keeping the precious change to yourself. When you don't, she will often have to check with her colleagues or the manager to find the proper bills and coins; nobody ever seems to have any small bills or coins.

The woman at my local bodega always clucks approvingly when I give her exact change. It's a little thing, but it gives me a tiny spark of good feeling. They say one of the easiest ways to increase your happiness is to make other people happy. It's not a big deal, sure, but it makes my and her life run just a little bit more smoothly; and that should be, if not celebrated, at least noted.

Underestimating The Challenge of Systems Integration

My girl, Megan Mcardle, an economics writer with an IT background, raises a few technical issues regarding the exchanges that will soon make it as easy to buy healthcare as it is to order a book on Amazon:

People tend to think that computers doing things they couldn’t do must be very smart and advanced, while computers doing things they can easily imagine -- like making a Travelocity-style website for health insurance -- must be basically pretty simple. After all, any clerk or insurance agent with the right security clearances could do basically what the exchanges were supposed to do, minus one shiny interface. So why would it take longer than three years? Startups build websites in a few months!

But as any developer will tell you, it’s more likely to be the opposite. Teaching a computer to calculate a ballistic trajectory, which is something that people have difficulty doing quickly, is pretty easy; that’s why NASA could launch the Apollo 13 missions with computers much less powerful than your laptop. But it’s really hard to teach a computer to recognize faces, which is something that you do instantly, hundreds of times a day, without thinking about it. Computers are incredibly specific -- every little thing has to be broken down for them just so. Moreover, when you’re trying to put different computers together, all those very specific instructions begin to clash. Suddenly you realize that one computer thinks that dogs are an example of “pets” and one computer thinks that dogs are an example of “animals” and how do you get them to talk about dogs without accidentally telling one computer that a crocodile is a pet?

As someone who has worked on a slew of failed integration projects over the last 25 years (with a few, small victories scattered here and there), this rings awfully familiar. I said before the election that the President deserves a chance to implement his signature piece of legislation. I hope he knows what he's doing.

Too Many Trophies

Interesting Op-ed in the paper about the problems with today's generation getting too much positive feedback and how this does not prepare them well for a future in which, as my boy Tyler Cowen points out in his new book (which I've just started), an increasing share of the pie is going to a decreasing number of people.

I've read two books on the subject that focus on children over the last couple of years, Mindset and Grit, and I recommend them both, although they are sometimes a little slow-going. I've also been following the recent back and forth about the legitimacy of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule, which I think is a little misinformed, and I think his response demonstrates what is the basic point: that talent only gets you so far, and hard work is what separates you from your similarly talented peers.

I suspect, like most things, the answer for parents is a balanced approach, along with the acknowledgment that not all kids are the same. That's thin gruel, but it's better than the extremes on either end of the spectrum.

W.H. Auden

Nice piece by Worldwide favorite Alexander McCall Smith on W.H. Auden. I was introduced to him in English 140, Introduction to Poetry, at the University of Toronto in 1987. It is no longer on the calendar, although my professor, John Reibetanz, seems to be still on the faculty. The poem was "As I Walked Out One Evening," and, looking at it this morning, I can't remember why it resonated--I would love to have a transcript of our discussion that day.

I've found him to be hit or miss, but "At the Party" is in my poetic pantheon:

Unrhymed, unrhythmical the chatter goes,
Yet no-one hears his own remarks as prose.

The full poem is here. I revisit it often.

Book Club

Two years ago, I had an idea for a book club: when I read a book that I thought someone else would enjoy, I would pass it on to them, and encourage them to do the same. I figured that this would have incredible network effects, and that, pretty soon, I'd be getting all of my reading material this way. Also, around that time Amazon claimed that it would be allowing purchasers of e-books to loan them to others.

I gathered three books to send. Young Jeezy got the Game, Ken Dryden's introspective look at life in the NHL, which Bill Simmons calls the best sports book ever; Old Granddad got "The Brain that Changes Itself" a truly fascinating look at how, by training, people of all ages are able to reprogram their neural circuits to develop new skills and circumvent blocked conduits; and my friend Master P got Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World.

The success of this endeavor was more measured than I'd hoped.  None of my Kindle purchases were among those"available for lending;" either the Potomac-bound volume, never arrived or it remains unacknowledged to this day; and when I asked Jeezy about the Game: he said he wasn't interested. End of story.

But master P thanked me effusively and not long thereafter A Time of Gifts appeared in my mailbox. I responded with the Book of Disquiet, and when I was home in September, Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris and Is Paris Burning were waiting for me, which was a lovely surprise.

So the relationship has been more polar than the "many-to-many" network I'd envisioned, but nonetheless, I count it as extremely successful, and I look forward to the exchange for years to come.

JV Home opener.

Put down your Hamlet boys, today's the day.
There's lots of time for school, now it's time to play.
Fans in the stands and we're clapping our hands,
Finally the football season's underway.

Tyler Cowen Talks Hoop

My favorite economics blogger and fellow Bullets fan and food lover has a new book out. It's a little disconcerting that the "Great Stagnation" has been replaced by "Average is Over" so quickly, but predictions are hard, especially about the future, as Yogi Berra is once reported to have said.

He has an interesting interview on ESPN, in which he opines that the NBA should get rid of the draft to prevent tanking and that, as in the theme of his book, the top talent is undervalued, and middle level players (for example, all of the veterans on the current Wizards roster) are overpaid.

Interesting throughout, although the interviewer seems to be somewhat new to the profession. I've read all of Cowen's books over the last ten years and there is something to recommend in every one.

Bananas

Summer seems to be over in the WC. The peaches are gone from the market and the mornings and evenings are turning cool. I actually didn't mind having a suit jacket on as we walked over to a meeting at the Ministry this morning.

Of course, cool weather means bananas, nobody's favorite fruit, but one of the few things that everyone in the family will eat. As I was finishing the second banana of the season this morning, I noticed that it was from Ecuador, harborer of Julian Assange. I didn't think that I had ever seen a banana (or possibly anything) from the mysterious country with the latitudinal name. When I tried to envision those blue Chiquita stickers in my mind, all I could see was "Costa Rica."

Turns out that Chiquita (a North Carolina company btw), does do a lot of growing and processing in Costa Rica, but, via the ever invaluable Wikipedia,  although India is the biggest producing state (30 million tonnes or 20% of world production), Ecuador is the biggest exporter, accounting for 30% of total exports, almost three times its nearest competitor.

 Turns out that over 40% of the country's bananas go to the EU, compared to only 20% in the U.S. I'll conduct a Facebook poll and see what everybody is eating.

Peace at Last

On Friday, Worldwide wondered how the raging trade war between Kosovo and Macedonia was affecting life in Belgrade.

"Um, trade war?" I asked.

Well, breathe easy. According to RFE, the dispute has been settled, and Kosovars can presumably now buy the ingredients for their Ajvar at the Skopje Green Market, although there might be some other bureaucratic impediments to importation, and they would doubtless defend to the death the superiority of the local product over the stuff on the other side of the border.

Playing the Mule

I volunteered to bring back anything that my staff might want from, as Blue Rodeo called it, the "land of endless malls." Here is what they asked for:

• Assorted makeup and skin cream(15 items)
• Nail polish (5 bottles)
• Handbags (2)
• Watches (2)
• Leather Coat (1)
• Chromecast (1)

I was able to order everything but the chromecast via Amazon (it is sold out and you can only buy it from price gouging resellers), so the swag was waiting for me when i got home. As luck would have it, the website suggested that the Durham Best Buy had two of the season's hottest gadget in stock, and a visit confirmed the assertion.

When I asked about the makeup, I was told that the appeal was purely price-driven--that a $2 box (if that's the word) of eye-shadow would cost five times more in the WC. Which is weird to me, since everything seems so cheap, but I guess the market is different for luxury goods.

For myself I brought 5 pounds of good coffee and  my favorite cup, which has been a part of my morning for the last 14 years. The former is much better than what I can buy here (and cheaper too!) and the latter brings a comforting touch of the familiar to my life.

Running Vacation to Ground

Back in the White City for the final three months of my tenure. I will try to keep blogging, but I'm not sure that there is much novel left for me to discover and share. Which means that Big D in the House might start to look more like the North American edition.

Speaking of which, I was amused by this article, a list of Washington Words. Particularly enjoyed a "Washington Read," which means scanning a book's index for your name.

Mayhem Salad

I got out into the country twice last week, which usually means lunch.And lunch is serious business; rakia, followed by appetizers, soup,salad and meat and potatoes.But in Pozega, I discovered something I hadn't had before (I later learned that it was part of my pljeskavieca with everything, but it was lost in a riot of excess).

When I remarked on how tasty one of our appetizers was--a spicy cream cheese served along prosciutto, tomatoes and bread--my translator told me that its name was "mayhem salad." She sent me the recipe the following day, and Google translated "urnebes" as "hoopla" while another colleague preferred "bedlam." But you get the picture: a riot of flavor.

For Old Granddad's birthday party, I decided to create a canape based on the plate described above--to do beforehand what I did at the table. I cut pita triangles, topped them with a slice of prosciutto, a smear of mayhem and a slice of tomato.

I was quite pleased with the result, although a quick toasting would have made the pita a lot better. Try it. You'll like it. And it's dead simple.

Mayhem Salad
Combine 1/2 lb of feta, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. red pepper flakes and 2 cloves of garlic in a food processor. Blend until smooth. 

Song of the Day

I know it's only been one day since the last post of this nature, but I'm so pleased with today's edition that I had to share:

If you want time for your cereal
Than you better get up, do you hear me girl;
Saying why must I be awake?
Hey! Must be the morning.

August Books

Six Memos for the Next Millennium

Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino, one of the world's best storytellers, died on the eve of his departure for Harvard, where he was to deliver the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures in 1985-86. Reticent by nature, he was always reluctant to talk about himself, but he welcomed the opportunity to talk about the making of literature. In the process of devising his lectures--his wife recalls that they were an "obsession" for the last year of his life--he could not avoid mention of his own work, his methods, intentions, and hopes. This book, then, is Calvino's legacy to us: those universal values he pinpoints for future generations to cherish become the watchword for our appreciation of Calvino himself.

What about writing should be cherished? Calvino, in a wonderfully simple scheme, devotes one lecture (a memo for his reader) to each of five indispensable literary values. First there is "lightness" (leggerezza), and Calvino cites Lucretius, Ovid, Boccaccio, Cavalcanti, Leopardi, and Kundera--among others, as always--to show what he means: the gravity of existence has to be borne lightly if it is to be borne at all. There must be "quickness," a deftness in combining action (Mercury) with contemplation (Saturn). Next is "exactitude," precision and clarity of language. The fourth lecture is on "visibility," the visual imagination as an instrument for knowing the world and oneself. Then there is a tour de force on "multiplicity," where Calvino brilliantly describes the eccentrics of literature (Elaubert, Gadda, Musil, Perec, himself) and their attempt to convey the painful but exhilarating infinitude of possibilities open to humankind.

The sixth and final lecture - worked out but unwritten - was to be called "Consistency." Perhaps surprised at first, we are left to ponder how Calvino would have made that statement, and, as always with him, the pondering leads to more. With this book Calvino gives us the most eloquent, least defensive "defense of literature" scripted in our century - a fitting gift for the next millennium.

Note: He is very well read. Not sure I learned anything else from these lectures. But perhaps the fault is mine.

Being Wrong: 

Adventures in the Margin of Error

Kathryn Schulz

To err is human. Yet most of us go through life assuming (and sometimes insisting) that we are right about nearly everything, from the origins of the universe to how to load the dishwasher. In Being Wrong, journalist Kathryn Schulz explores why we find it so gratifying to be right and so maddening to be mistaken. Drawing on thinkers as varied as Augustine, Darwin, Freud, Gertrude Stein, Alan Greenspan, and Groucho Marx, she shows that error is both a given and a gift—one that can transform our worldviews, our relationships, and ourselves.

Note: Very hard to consider the possibility of error in our worldview, even though we are constantly wrong about all matter of things.

Turn Around Bright Eyes: 

The Rituals of Love and Karaoke 

Rob Sheffield

Once upon a time I was falling apart. Now I'm always falling in love.

Pick up the microphone.

When Rob Sheffield moved to New York City in the summer of 2001, he was a young widower trying to start a new life in a new town. Behind, in the past, was his life as a happily married rock critic, with a wife he adored, and a massive collection of mix tapes that captured their life together. And then, in a flash, all he had left were the tapes.

Beyoncé , Bowie, Bon Jovi, Benatar . . .

One night, some friends dragged him to a karaoke bar in the West Village. A night out was a rare occasion for Rob back then.

Turn around

Somehow, that night in a karaoke bar turned into many nights, in many karaoke bars. Karaoke became a way out, a way to escape the past, a way to be someone else if only for the span of a three-minute song. Discovering the sublime ridiculousness of karaoke, despite the fact that he couldn't carry a tune, he began to find his voice.

Turn around

And then the unexpected happened. A voice on the radio got Rob's attention. The voice came attached to a woman who was unlike anyone he'd ever met before. A woman who could name every constellation in the sky, and every Depeche Mode B side. A woman who could belt out a mean Bonnie Tyler.

Bright Eyes

Turn Around Bright Eyes is an emotional journey of hilarity and heartbreak with a karaoke soundtrack. It's a story about finding the courage to move on, clearing your throat, and letting it rip. It's a story about navi- gating your way through adult romance. And it's a story about how songs get tangled up in our deepest emotions, evoking memories of the past while inspiring hope for the future.

Note:The writing, as always, is honest and fresh. His music is my music, and he knows everything.

How Children Succeed: 

Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

Paul Tough

Why do some children succeed while others fail?

The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs.

But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough traces the links between childhood stress and life success. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to help children growing up in poverty.

Early adversity, scientists have come to understand, can not only affect the conditions of children’s lives, it can alter the physical development of their brains as well. But now educators and doctors around the country are using that knowledge to develop innovative interventions that allow children to overcome the constraints of poverty. And with the help of these new strategies, as Tough’s extraordinary reporting makes clear, children who grow up in the most painful circumstances can go on to achieve amazing things.

This provocative and profoundly hopeful book has the potential to change how we raise our children, how we run our schools, and how we construct our social safety net. It will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

Note: Grit and self-control are undervalued predictors of success.

TheMagic of Belgrade

Momo Kapor

Note: Another series of essays on life in Belgrade. The author’s voice loses a little of its freshness the second time around, and sometimes it feels like he’s trying to make a deadline, but it is enjoyable throughout and my only real criticism is that it is not as good as its predecessor. That’s unfair.

ThisWill Make You Smarter

John Brockman

Featuring a foreword by David Brooks, "This Will Make You Smarter" presents brilliant--but accessible--ideas to expand every mind.

"What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?" This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to the world's most influential thinkers. Their visionary answers flow from the frontiers of psychology, philosophy, economics, physics, sociology, and more. Surprising and enlightening, these insights will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the world.

Daniel Kahneman on the "focusing illusion" - Jonah Lehrer on controlling attention - Richard Dawkins on experimentation - Aubrey De Grey on conquering our fear of the unknown - Martin Seligman on the ingredients of well-being - Nicholas Carr on managing "cognitive load" - Steven Pinker on win-win negotiating - Daniel C. Dennett on benefiting from cycles - Jaron Lanier on resisting delusion - Frank Wilczek on the brain's hidden layers - Clay Shirky on the "80/20 rule" - Daniel Goleman on understanding our connection to the natural world - V. S. Ramachandran on paradigm shifts - Matt Ridley on tapping collective intelligence - John McWhorter on path dependence - Lisa Randall on effective theorizing - Brian Eno on "ecological vision" - Richard Thaler on rooting out false concepts - J. Craig Venter on the multiple possible origins of life - Helen Fisher on temperament - Sam Harris on the flow of thought - Laurence Krauss on living with uncertainty

Note: Disappointing, though perhaps due to expectations. Essays too short to get much out of. Perhaps better read in snippets.

Song of the Day

Back in the Chill this week, and you know what that means:

Wake me daddy, when it's time for school,
Wake me daddy, with a song that's cool.
Hey, daddy, wake me.